‘IS THIS A JOKE?’ How a Classic Star Trek: TNG Episode Broke the Rules of the Franchise. “The episode’s final scene hinges on a surprise cameo from a future TV sitcom legend: Cheers’ Kelsey Grammer as the Bozeman’s captain, Bateson. Grammer’s casting as a captain who has seemingly been stuck in this loop for at least 90 years is one of Frakes’ favorite stories from the production. ‘This was pre-Frasier,’ Frakes says. ‘Before he had his spinoff, he was just a member of the [Cheers] ensemble. And they shot that show right around the corner from us, because we were on the same lot. And Kelsey, he was a Trekker. A huge Star Trek fan. And he asked to be on the show, like a number of actors that were fans, like Whoopi Goldberg did. That’s how I understood it. It was just one day of shooting and I had no idea. But it was fun to  shoot.’ ‘Fun’ is a word both fans of ‘Cause and Effect’ and its creators throw around often when discussing this landmark episode of the series, which, after three decades, still remains an outstanding and popular installment of the franchise, which currently clocks in at over 800 episodes.”