Star Trek: 10 Biggest Historical Events That Never Happened

In 1994, the S.S. Birdseye was launched from Earth. The recent boom in cryonics offered the wealthy a chance at new life, freezing themselves until such a time that their illnesses could be cured. 

The Birdseye, however, drifted in space for several centuries. eventually being discovered by the Enterprise-D in The Neutral Zone. An extended scene in the script suggests that the module was brought far into space by other parties, stealing some of the inhabitants, while ignoring the others.

The real-world interest in cryonics was nothing new by the time The Neutral Zone was produced in the late 80s, so the idea that the super-rich might be freezing themselves by 1994 wasn't that far-fetched. The name of the module was inspired by Clarence Birdseye and Birds Eye Frozen Foods - an in-joke that never made it to screen, perhaps wisely, as it would be a little hard to take the Romulan threat seriously knowing that three fish fingers were walking around the ship.