Farrand first became a "Star Trek" nitpicker when watching a scene in the 1990 ' episode '. In the scene, the character Wesley Crusher speaks to his mother, Dr. Beverly Crusher using his communicator badge. After responding to Dr. Crusher's reminder to get a haircut, Wesley utters a sarcastic remark, but without tapping his comm badge to terminate the connection, leading Farrand to wonder to Dr. Crusher heard the remark. This sparked a spirited discussion between Farrand and his Trekker friend as to how the communicators worked, and the inconsistencies in their depicted usage in the series.