Useless Wagner Trivia 1: The Ring at Warp Factor Four

Your humble editor has many interests apart from Wagner or indeed "classical" music. One of the more "occult"ones is in Star Trek -  in all of its variants apart from Enterprise perhaps (and no, I don't own even one Federation costume - least you get the wrong idea). But why do I mention this here? Well, during a recent reading session I discovered that both Wagner and the Ring are only ever mentioned once in any of the the Star Trek series or films. In the "Star Trek The Next Generation" episode: "The Inner Light"to be precise.

The full script of the relevant conversation, between Captain Picard, Lieutenant Commander Geordi La Forge and First Officer William Riker is reprinted below.  While you will be able to impress any Trekkie friends you might have with that bit of information, of more interest is that it seems that in the 24 century (or 23 century depending on who you believe), the Ring will be conducted at a rather faster pace than we are used to: 9 hours for the entire cycle! Oh, and people will hear it all performed at one sitting.  One must pity the orchestra and performers.

Now,  go-out and "out geek" the most obsessive fan. "Full Warp ahead"

Script:

4    INT. BRIDGE

 PICARD, RIKER, DATA, WORF, and GEORDI at their
 positions; N.D.'s as necessary. There is a
 light-hearted mood on the bridge.

     PICARD
   The last time I encountered
   Admiral Gustafson... I ended up
   spending nine straight hours at
   the opera.

     GEORDI
   Nine hours... ?

     PICARD
   The entire "Ring" cycle at one
   sitting...

     RIKER
   That's a little too much Wagner
   for me.

     PICARD
   And for me... but not, apparently,
   for Admiral Gustafson. She went
   back the next day and sat through
   it all again. I warned her that
   this time --

Star Trek: The Inner Light. Tribute