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🟨🟨🟨🟨🟨 Season 1 🟨🟨🟨🟨🟨
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
0) The Cage Pilot 11/05/1965 - 10/04/1988
The crew of the Enterprise follow a distress signal to the planet
Talos IV, where Captain Pike is taken captive by a group of
telepathic aliens who create realistic illusions. The events of
this pilot are revisited in the two-part Season 1 episode "The
Menagerie".
1) The Man Trap 09/08/1966
The Enterprise visits planet M-113 for routine medical examinations
of the husband-and-wife archaeological team stationed there, but
the woman has been replaced by a shape-shifting creature, forced to
survive by extracting the salt from the bodies of the members of
the crew, killing them.
2) Charlie X 09/15/1966
The Enterprise picks up Charlie Evans, an unstable 17-year-old boy,
who spent 14 years alone on a deserted planet and lacks the
training and restraint to handle his superhuman mental powers
wisely.[2] This episode serves as the backstory for the unofficial
miniseries Star Trek: Of Gods and Men.
3) Where No Man Has Gone Before 09/22/1966
After the Enterprise attempts to cross the Great Barrier at the
edge of the galaxy, crew members Gary Mitchell and Elizabeth Dehner
develop "godlike" psychic powers, which threaten the safety of the
crew.
4) The Naked Time 09/29/1966
A strange, intoxicating infection, which lowers the crew's
emotional inhibitions, spreads throughout the Enterprise. As the
madness spreads, the entire ship is endangered.
5) The Enemy Within 10/06/1966
While beaming up from planet Alpha 177, a transporter accident
splits Captain Kirk into two beings: one "good", who is weak and
indecisive, and one "evil", who is overly aggressive and
domineering.
6) Mudd's Women 10/13/1966
The Enterprise pursues a vessel and rescues its occupants; Harry
Mudd, an interstellar con man, is transporting three mysteriously
beautiful women to become the wives of dilithium miners.
7) What Are Little Girls Made Of? 10/20/1966
In search of Nurse Chapel's fiancé, renowned exobiologist Roger
Korby, the Enterprise visits the icy planet Exo III, where Korby
has discovered an ancient machine that allows him to duplicate any
living person with an android replacement. Korby plans to use the
machine to spread controlled androids throughout the Federation,
and replaces Captain Kirk with such a duplicate in an effort to
take over the Enterprise.
8) Miri 10/27/1966
After discovering what appears to be a duplicate of the planet
Earth, Captain Kirk and his away team find a population ravaged by
a strange disease, which only children appear to have survived.
9) Dagger Of The Mind 11/03/1966
While the Enterprise is on a resupply mission to a rehabilitation
colony for the criminally insane, a former doctor — now insane —
sneaks on board the ship. Beaming down to the planet, Kirk and a
female crew member discover that the chief doctor has been using a
device that destroys the human mind. Spock performs a mind meld for
the first time in this episode.
10) The Corbomite Maneuver 11/10/1966
The Enterprise is menaced by a gigantic alien ship whose commander
condemns the crew to death. The alien ship appears all-powerful,
and the alien commander refuses all attempts at negotiation,
forcing Kirk to employ an unorthodox strategy to save the ship.
11) The Menagerie, Part I 11/17/1966
Spock hijacks the Enterprise to take his crippled former captain,
Christopher Pike, to the forbidden world of Talos IV. He then
demands a court martial, where he uses the events of "The Cage" to
tell the tale of Pike's captivity on the planet years earlier.
12) The Menagerie, Part II 11/24/1966
After witnessing the Talosians' capabilities of mental illusion,
Kirk realizes that Spock intends to return Pike to the planet to
live a life of illusion, unencumbered by his crippled
condition.
13) The Conscience Of The King 12/08/1966
While visiting an old friend, Kirk suspects a Shakespearean actor
may actually be the murderous former governor of Tarsus IV, where
Kirk grew up. Kirk invites the acting troupe aboard the Enterprise
to investigate, but soon, assassination attempts are made on Kirk
and another crewman, who was an eyewitness to the murders.
14) Balance Of Terror 12/15/1966
While investigating a series of destroyed outposts, the Enterprise
discovers a lone Romulan vessel with a cloaking device. The
Romulans, having never been seen by humans, are revealed to
visually resemble Vulcans, casting doubt on Mr. Spock's loyalty, as
the two ships become locked in a cat-and-mouse battle through
space.
15) Shore Leave 12/29/1966
Captain Kirk orders shore leave for the Enterprise crew on a
seemingly uninhabited planet in the Omicron Delta system. The
landing parties begin to see strange sights, such as a White Rabbit
a la "Alice in Wonderland", Don Juan, and a sword-wielding samurai.
Also, Kirk sees (and fights) an image of Finnegan, a rival from his
Starfleet Academy days. Spock discovers that the planet seems to be
drawing a large amount of energy from the ship's engines, placing
the Enterprise in danger.
16) The Galileo Seven 01/05/1967
Spock and a scientific party are sent to study the Murasaki 312
quasar aboard the shuttle Galileo. During the survey, the Galileo
is forced to make an emergency landing on the planet Taurus II,
where the crew fights the planet's dangerous inhabitants. As the
crew begins to make repairs, Scotty determines that the shuttle
does not have enough fuel to reach orbit carrying all seven
passengers, and Spock must contemplate leaving some of his fellow
crew behind.
17) The Squire Of Gothos 01/12/1967
The Enterprise discovers a rogue planet drifting through space,
inhabited by an eccentric being named Trelane, who uses his
apparently unlimited power over matter and form to manipulate the
crew.
18) Arena 01/19/1967
The Enterprise comes under attack by unknown aliens while
investigating the near-destruction of the Cestus III colony. While
chasing the aliens into unexplored space, both ships are captured
by the powerful Metrons, who force Kirk and the alien captain
(later identified as a member of the Gorn race) to trial by combat;
the winner's vessel will be set free, while the loser's ship will
be destroyed.
19) Tomorrow Is Yesterday 01/26/1967
After accidentally traveling back in time to 1969, the Enterprise
rescues USAF Captain John Christopher from his crippled fighter
jet. The crew struggles to return to their own time, while
simultaneously returning Christopher to the Air Force, removing his
knowledge of the future and all record of contact with the
Enterprise.
20) Court Martial 02/02/1967
Captain Kirk is placed on trial for negligence after a crewman is
killed during a severe ion storm. Kirk maintains that his actions
were proper and should not have led to the officer's death, but the
evidence seems strong against him.
21) The Return Of The Archons 02/09/1967
The Enterprise discovers a planetary population controlled by a
powerful being called Landru. While investigating, Captain Kirk and
his landing party are taken captive, and discover that the
Enterprise crew will be the next to be "absorbed" into Landru's
control.
22) Space Seed 02/16/1967
The Enterprise discovers an ancient sleeper ship, the SS Botany
Bay, which escaped from Earth's Eugenics Wars in the late 20th
century. The genetically engineered passengers, led by war criminal
Khan Noonien Singh, seize control of the Enterprise and attempt to
destroy the ship. (This episode serves as the backstory to the
second Star Trek film.)
23) A Taste Of Armageddon 02/23/1967
On Eminiar VII, the Enterprise finds a civilization at war with its
planetary neighbor. Unable to discern any signs of battle from
orbit, Captain Kirk leads a landing party to the surface, where he
discovers the entire war is fought by computer. Though the war is
simulated, citizens who are listed as virtual casualties still
report to termination booths to be killed for real. After the
Enterprise is destroyed in an attack simulation, Kirk must fight to
keep his crew from death.
24) This Side Of Paradise 03/02/1967
Despite exposure to fatal radiation, the Federation colony on
Omicron Ceti III appears to be thriving. A landing party from the
Enterprise investigates, finding the colony's population to be
healthy beyond explanation. Leila Kalomi, an old friend of Mr.
Spock's, shows the landing party strange flowers that seem to
impose a state of pure bliss and perfect health on all exposed to
its spores (even Spock), but at the cost of ambition and
self-discipline.
25) The Devil In The Dark 03/09/1967
Dispatched to the mining colony on Janus VI, the Enterprise is to
investigate rumors of a strange, subterranean creature responsible
for destruction of equipment and the deaths of 50 miners. Kirk and
Spock discover a silicon-based life form, a Horta, which lives in
the surrounding rock. After Kirk and Spock find the strange
creature, Spock performs a mind meld, discovering the reason behind
the Horta's attacks.
26) Errand Of Mercy 03/23/1967
Peace negotiations have collapsed between the Federation and the
warlike Klingon Empire. The Enterprise is ordered to protect
Organia, a peaceful planet located near the Klingon border. Kirk
and Spock beam to the surface to warn the Organians about the
Klingons, but a Klingon fleet soon arrives, forcing the Enterprise
to abandon the duo on the planet. The natives protect Kirk and
Spock, even as Kor, the new Klingon governor, orders mass
executions of the Organian people. As both Federation and Klingon
fleets converge above the planet, Kirk and Spock execute a daring
raid on the Klingon headquarters in an effort to destabilize their
control over the planet.
27) The Alternative Factor 03/30/1967
While orbiting an apparently dead planet, the Enterprise seems to
experience a strange moment of "nonexistence". Captain Kirk
discovers a man named Lazarus on the planet below, who claims the
effect was caused by his "enemy", later revealed to be an insane
version of Lazarus from an alternate dimension. The sane version of
Lazarus asks for Kirk's help in defeating his counterpart.
28) The City On The Edge Of Forever 04/06/1967
After accidentally overdosing on a powerful stimulant, Dr. McCoy
becomes unbalanced and disappears through the Guardian of Forever,
a newly discovered time portal on a remote planet. Kirk and Spock
follow after learning that McCoy somehow changed history, removing
everything they once knew, including the Enterprise. Arriving in
the 1930s, the duo meets Edith Keeler, a New York social worker,
who gives them a place to stay. As the days pass, and McCoy is
nowhere to be seen, Kirk finds himself falling in love with Keeler,
but Spock discovers that Keeler must die to restore the
timeline.
29) Operation -- Annihilate! 04/13/1967
The Enterprise arrives at Deneva - the home of Captain Kirk's
brother, Sam, and his family - and discovers that the entire planet
has been infested with large, amoeba-like aliens that have attacked
and killed much of the human population. One of these aliens
attaches itself to Spock, who volunteers to become a subject in Dr.
McCoy's medical tests. McCoy and Kirk find a cure in time to save
Spock and the remainder of the Denevan population.
🟨🟨🟨🟨🟨 Season 2 🟨🟨🟨🟨🟨
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
2x1) Amok Time 09/15/1967
Spock undergoes a Vulcan stage of life known as the Pon Farr where
he is forced to mate with his bride, T'Pring. Trouble starts when
T'Pring announces she would rather marry Stonn, a full Vulcan.
T'Pring evokes her right to have Spock fight for her. However, she
chooses Kirk as her champion, leaving Spock with a devastating
choice...
2x2) Who Mourns For Adonais? 09/22/1967
The Enterprise crew are held captive by a powerful being who claims
to be the ancient Greek God Apollo. The being demands the crew
transfer down to the planet so they may worship him. Attempting to
leave, Kirk soon discovers that he is the target of all the "God"s
wrath and anger.
2x3) The Changeling 09/29/1967
The Enterprise is sent to investigate the destruction of a star
system and its four billion inhabitants. When it arrives at the
coordinates, the Enterprise is threatened by a probe calling itself
Nomad. When Kirk identifies himself by name, Nomad mistakes him
it's creator.
2x4) Mirror, Mirror 10/06/1967
Kirk, Scott, McCoy and Uhura enter a parallel universe where the
crew of the Enterprise act as sadistic savages. Unbeknownst to
them, their evil counterparts have entered their "normal" universe
and seem determined to wreak havoc.
2x5) The Apple 10/13/1967
When a landing party beams down to the planet Gamma Trianguli VI,
they find what appears to be an idyllic paradise. They quickly
discover, however, that the planet is deadly, sporting plants that
shoot thorns, rocks that explode, and incredibly accurate lightning
bolts.
2x6) The Doomsday Machine 10/20/1967
Investigating the destruction of several planetary systems, the
Enterprise discovers a crippled starship floating in space.
Commodore Decker is the only one left on the ship and is soon found
to be less than sound-minded when he takes control of the
Enterprise and exposes it to lethal danger.
2x7) Catspaw 10/27/1967
Kirk, Spock and McCoy beam down to planet Pyris VII to discover
Scotty and Sulu have been transformed into mindless zombies by
beings known as Korob and Sylvia. The trio are taken prisoner and
soon demonstrated the extend of their captors' powers when the
Enterprise is subjected to immense heat.
2x8) I, Mudd 11/03/1967
The Enterprise is commandeered by an android masquerading as a
Starfleet officer. Calling himself "Norman", the android takes the
ship to a planet where the crew's old nemesis, Harry Mudd, has
named himself leader of the colony of androids.
2x9) Metamorphosis 11/10/1967
Escorting Federation Commissioner Nancy Hedford for emergency
medical treatment, the Galileo shuttlecraft is pulled off course by
a mysterious energy entity which deposits it on a planet where none
other than Warp Drive inventor Zephram Cochrane is living.
2x10) Journey To Babe 11/17/1967
The Enterprise plays host to Federation ambassadors on their way to
the Babel Conference, including Sarek of Vulcan -- Mr. Spock's
father. En route to Babel, Tellarite ambassador Gav is murdered and
Sarek is the prime suspect, but he soon suffers a Vulcan heart
attack. Soon thereafter, Captain Kirk is critically injured as well
leaving Mr. Spock torn between his duties as a Starfleet officer
and his duties as a son.
2x11) Friday's Child 12/01/1967
Sent to negotiate a mining treaty on planet Capella IV, Kirk
discovers a Klingon agent has infiltrated the culture and become
embroiled in a deadly conflict. Kirk and Spock must reveal the
Klingon's involvement before it's too late and the planet plunges
into permanent civil war.
2x12) The Deadly Years 12/08/1967
An Enterprise landing party finds an entire research team on Gamma
Hydra IV suffering from rapid aging. Soon thereafter, Captain Kirk,
Mr. Spock, Dr. McCoy, Scotty and Lieutenant Galway begin to suffer
from the affliction as well. Concerned about his command ability,
Commodore Stocker convenes a competency hearing against Kirk with
Mr. Spock as the prosecutor.
2x13) Obsession 12/15/1967
When an entire landing party is killed, Captain Kirk leads the
Enterprise on a mission to destroy a malevolent entity that nearly
destroyed him eleven years earlier.
2x14) Wolf In The Fold 12/22/1967
Scotty is implicated in a series of murders on planet Argelius II.
Hengist, the local authority, wants to arrest Scotty, but Kirk
intervenes and seeks the help of a priestess to clear his
Engineer's name. Unfortunately, she's killed and once more the
blame seems to fall at Scotty's feet...
2x15) The Trouble With Tribbles 12/29/1967
The Enterprise crew must contend with secret agents, insulting
Klingons and furry Tribbles on a mission to protect a shipment of
quadrotriticale stored aboard Space Station K-7.
2x16) The Gamesters Of Triskelion 01/05/1968
Captain Kirk, Chekov and Uhura are kidnapped from the Enterprise
and held captive on the planet Triskelion where they are forced to
participate in barbaric exhibitions for the amusement of the unseen
"Providers".
2x17) A Piece Of The Action 01/12/1968
Captain Kirk, Mr. Spock and Dr. McCoy beam down to the planet Sigma
Iotia to find the culture contaminated by a previous visit by the
U.S.S. Horizon and modelled after Chicago's gangs of the 1920s.
2x18) The Immunity Syndrome 01/19/1968
After losing contact with the U.S.S. Intrepid and the Gamma 7-A
star system, the Enterprise encounters a giant amoeba that is
preparing to reproduce.
2x19) A Private Little War 02/02/1968
On a planet Captain Kirk had visited thirteen years earlier, he
finds that the Klingons have been arming one side of the planet's
natives and disrupting the balance of power. Meanwhile, injured on
the planet's surface, Mr. Spock fights for his life in sickbay.
2x20) Return To Tomorrow 02/09/1968
Captain Kirk, Mr. Spock and Dr. Ann Mulhall volunteer their bodies
to three super-beings so they can experience corporeal form once
again, but one of the beings soon refuses to give up Mr. Spock's
body.
2x21) Patterns Of Force 02/16/1968
The Enterprise finds that Federation historian John Gill has
instituted Nazi-ism on the planet Ekos.
2x22) By Any Other Name 02/23/1968
The Enterprise is captured by extragalactic aliens known as the
Kelvans who plan to use the ship to return to their own galaxy; a
voyage that will take over 300 years.
2x23) The Omega Glory 03/01/1968
The Enterprise encounters the U.S.S. Exeter abandoned in orbit of
Omega IV. After boarding the ship, the landing party finds that the
crew has been killed by a mysterious virus and that the ship's
captain may be violating the Prime Directive.
2x24) The Ultimate Computer 03/08/1968
The Enterprise is outfitted with the new experimental multitronic
unit, the M-5, a computer that may threaten the future of human
exploration of space, but the experiment soon takes a terrible turn
for the worse.
2x25) Bread And Circuses 03/15/1968
Captain Kirk, Mr. Spock and Dr. McCoy are taken prisoner on planet
892-IV where they find that the culture has taken a form very
similar to ancient Rome.
2x26) Assignment: Earth 03/29/1968
The Enterprise travels through time to the year 1968 to fulfil its
role in history when they encounter the mysterious Gary Seven, a
space traveller with an unknown intent for an orbital nuclear
warhead.
🟨🟨🟨🟨🟨 Season 3 🟨🟨🟨🟨🟨
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
3x1) Spock's Brain 09/20/1968
A woman appears on the Enterprise, incapacitates the crew, and
removes Mr. Spock's brain. Captain Kirk leads a landing party to
Sigma Draconis VI where the crew finds the males and females of the
planet to be totally separated, leaving us all to wonder "what do
they want with Spock's brain?"
3x2) The Enterprise Incident 09/27/1968
An unusually restless Captain Kirk suddenly orders the Enterprise
into Romulan territory where the ship is quickly surrounded by
enemy forces.
3x3) The Paradise Syndrome 10/04/1968
When an asteroid threatens to destroy a primitive civilization,
Captain Kirk is stricken with amnesia and mistaken for a God by the
natives. Calling himself "Kirok", the only thing he can remember of
his real life, he takes a wife named Miramanee who soon caries his
child.
3x4) And The Children Shall Lead 10/11/1968
The Enterprise finds the Starnes expedition to Triacus dead with
the exception of their children, who grieve no loss for their
parents. But are the children really emotionless or are they being
controlled by an evil alien?
3x5) Is There in Truth No Beauty? 10/18/1968
The Enterprise picks up Kollos, an ambassador from the Medusan race
-- a species so ugly as to cause insanity to those who look at
them, along with specialist Laurence Marvick and telepath Dr.
Miranda Jones. When Marvick attempts to kill Kollos, he goes mad
and steers the Enterprise into an unexplored region.
3x6) Spectre Of The Gun 10/25/1968
Captain Kirk, Mr. Spock, Dr. McCoy, Scotty and Chekov are put in
the roles of the Clanton gang by the Melkotians as punishment for
trespassing in their space and face a showdown with the Earps at
the O.K. Corral.
3x7) Day Of The Dove 11/01/1968
All out mayhem sweeps through the Enterprise when the Starfleet
crew are pitted against a Klingon crew by an alien that thrives on
the hate of others.
3x8) For The World Is Hollow, And I Have Touched The Sky
11/08/1968
When Dr. McCoy is stricken with xenopolycythemia, a terminal
disease and learns he has a year to live, he retires from
Starfleet, but not before the Enterprise encounters the
asteroid-ship Yonada, on a collision course with a Federation
planet.
3x9) The Tholian Web 11/15/1968
The Enterprise encounters the U.S.S. Defiant slipping into the
mirror universe and the ship's crew brutally murdered by their own
hands. But before the landing party can escape, Captain Kirk is
pulled into interspace along with the Defiant. In order to save the
captain, Mr. Spock risks the Enterprise in a battle with the
Tholians.
3x10) Plato's Stepchildren 11/22/1968
On the planet Platonius, the Captain Kirk, Mr. Spock, Lieutenant
Uhura and Nurse Chapel become the toys of the telekinetic
Platonians, who hold Dr. McCoy in their custody.
3x11) Wink Of An Eye 11/29/1968
The super-accelerated Scalosians, invisible to the naked eye, plan
to use the Enterprise crew to sustain their civilization. When
Ensign Compton and Captain Kirk drink the Scalosian water, they
super-accelerate into the "Scalosian realm."
3x12) The Empath 12/06/1968
On a planet in the Minaran star system, Kirk, Mr. Spock and Dr.
McCoy encounter a mute alien, whom McCoy names "Gem" and the Vians,
who torture the crew.
3x13) Elaan Of Troyius 12/20/1968
The Enterprise transports the Dohlman of Elas, Elaan, to her
wedding with the leader of the planet Troyius, but when Captain
Kirk falls under the spell of Elaan's tears, it leaves the
Enterprise vulnerable to a Klingon attack.
3x14) Whom Gods Destroy 01/03/1969
Captain Kirk and Mr. Spock are held hostage by Captain Garth, one
of Kirk's heroes, but also an insane man who has captured the Elba
II insane asylum.
3x15) Let That Be Your Last Battlefield 01/10/1969
Commissioner Bele pursues Lokai, both from the planet Cheron,
aboard the Enterprise. But when Bele tries to take control of the
ship, Captain Kirk has no choice but to arm the vessel's
self-destruct sequence.
3x16) The Mark Of Gideon 01/17/1969
On a diplomatic mission to the planet Gideon, a world plagued by
overpopulation, Captain Kirk is captured and trapped inside an
exact duplicate of the Enterprise with O'Donna, a Gideon woman he
finds there.
3x17) That Which Survives 01/24/1969
Captain Kirk, Dr. McCoy and Sulu are trapped on an unexplored
planet with a woman who has looks that could kill and a touch that
certainly does, while the Enterprise screams through space on a
warp factor to destruction.
3x18) The Lights Of Zetar 01/31/1969
While transporting Lieutenant Mira Romaine to Memory Alpha, the
Enterprise is invaded by a mysterious energy storm that attacks the
young officer.
3x19) Requiem for Methuselah 02/14/1969
On a desperate search for ryetalyn to cure the Enterprise of
Rigellian Fever, Captain Kirk, Mr. Spock and Dr. McCoy encounter
Flint, a man who is more than he appears and his daughter Rayna,
whom Kirk takes a liking to.
3x20) The Way To Eden 02/21/1969
The Enterprise takes aboard insane Dr. Sevrin and his group of
"hippie" followers on their quest to find the planet Eden,
including one who is a long-lost-love of Ensign Chekov.
3x21) The Cloud Minders 02/28/1969
On the planet Ardana, the Enterprise finds class inequities between
the rulers of the planet who live in the cloud city of Stratos and
the working class Troglytes who toil on the surface.
3x22) The Savage Curtain 03/07/1969
A replica of Abraham Lincoln invites Captain Kirk and Mr. Spock to
beam down to the planet Excalbia where they meet Surak of Vulcan
and are pitted against Colonel Green, Zora, Genghis Khan and
Kahless the Unforgettable in a battle of good versus evil.
3x23) All Our Yesterdays 03/14/1969
On a mission to investigate the planet Sarpedion, whose sun is
about to go nova, Captain Kirk, Mr. Spock and Dr. McCoy are pulled
into the planet's past; Kirk into a time of witchcraft and
superstition and Mr. Spock and Dr. McCoy into the Sarpedion ice age
where they meet a beautiful woman named Zarabeth.
3x24) Turnabout Intruder 06/03/1969
Dr. Janice Lester forcibly trades bodies with Captain Kirk to
obtain what she always wanted: command of a starship, but when
"Captain Kirk" begins to exhibit strange behaviour, the Enterprise
crew turn to mutiny. In this final adventure, Mr. Spock, Dr. McCoy
and Scotty are sentenced to death by what appears to be their
captain.
In the hallways of the Enterprise there are tubes marked "GNDN" - -
these initials stand for "goes nowhere does nothing".
When NBC was promoting Star Trek in magazines, all shots of Spock's
pointed eyebrows and ears were airbrushed out of the pictures
because NBC thought that no one would watch the show due to Spock's
resemblance to the Devil. However, this concern was quickly
invalidated upon the series' airing with Spock becoming not only
one of the most popular characters, but also a sex symbol with
young female viewers, an audience reaction no one in the cast or
crew anticipated. Spock's resemblance to the devil is subtly hinted
at at the end of Star Trek: Catspaw (1967)(#2.7) when McCoy & Kirk
say "I wonder if there are there any demons on board this ship"
while looking at Spock.
Leonard Nimoy recounted The A.V. Club in July 2010: "the gesture
that I introduced into 'Star Trek', the split-fingered Vulcan
salute, we'll call it... that came from an experience - I'm going
all the way back to my childhood again - when I was about eight
years old, sitting in the synagogue at high holiday services with
my family. There comes a moment in the ceremony when the
congregation is blessed by a group of gentlemen known as Kohanim,
members of the priestly tribe of the Hebrews. And the blessing is
one that we see in the Old and New Testament: 'May the Lord bless
you and keep you; may the Lord cause His countenance to shine upon
you', and so forth. When they give this blessing, you're told not
to look! You're supposed to avert your eyes. I peeked, and I saw
these guys with their hands stretched out-there were five or six of
them, all with their hands stretched out toward the congregation-in
that gesture, that split-fingered gesture. Sometime later, I
learned that the shape that hand creates is a letter in the Hebrew
alphabet, the letter shin, which is the first letter in the word
Shaddai, which is the name of the Almighty. So, the suggestion is
that they're using a symbol of God's name with their hands as they
bless the congregation."
Shortly after the cancellation of the series, the staff of the
marketing department of NBC confronted the network executives and
berated them for cancelling this show, the most profitable show on
the network in terms of demographic profiling of the ratings. They
explained that although the show was never higher than number
fifty-two in the general ratings, its audience profile had the
largest concentration of viewers of ages sixteen to thirty-nine,
the most sought after television audience for advertisers to reach.
In other words, the show, despite the low ratings, had the precise
audience for which advertisers hungered, which was more than ample
justification to consider the show a big success.
Leonard Nimoy's father was a barber, who was still operating a
barbershop at the time the series became popular. In a mid-1960s
interview with 16 Magazine, Nimoy revealed that youngsters often
came into the shop asking for a "Mr. Spock" haircut, never
realizing that "Mr. Spock's dad" was cutting their hair.
Gene Roddenberry and James Doohan (Lieutenant Commander Scott),
after death, had vials containing small amounts of their ashes
launched into orbit via satellites. Doohan's family also tried to
petition NASA to bring another small vial of his ashes to the ISS,
which was subsequently denied. Not being deterred, they reached out
personally to an astronaut going up to the ISS and were able to get
them to "smuggle" them aboard.
James Doohan (Scotty) lost his right middle finger during World War
II. Most of his scenes are shot to hide it. However, it is very
noticeable in Star Trek: Catspaw (1967). When Scotty is holding a
phaser pistol on Kirk and Spock, only two fingers are holding the
butt of the phaser. This is also noticeable in Star Trek: The
Trouble with Tribbles (1967), when Kirk's food comes out of the
food dispenser filled with tribbles and Scotty walks in carrying a
big load of tribbles.
The series was originally produced at Desilu Studios, which was
owned by Lucille Ball. Ball heavily advocated for the show, and it
was largely her influence with NBC which lead to a second chance
after rejection of the original pilot. Ball was also said to be a
genuine fan of the show, and often is affectionally referred to as
Star Trek's Godmother.
The uniforms were color coded to show what division of the ship the
crew member was assigned to. The colors were:
🟦blue: sciences, including medicine
🟨gold: command (including navigation and weaponry);
🟥red: operations (including engineering, security, and ship's
services, such as communications)
It was a few shows into regular series production before red shirts
appeared, however, with Uhura and Scott being seen in command gold.
In practice, the gold uniforms often appeared apple green, which
some have attributed to local interference with television signals.
However, the command tunic was actually green, but under most
lighting conditions on the set it appeared gold. The true color can
be seen in Kirk's special "wrap-around" tunic and to some extent in
the special occasion "dress" uniforms, both of which were made out
of other materials which reflected the light differently. The
uniforms were dry-cleaned, but the velour tended to shrink, so they
had to constantly be altered which is why they often looked short
on the actors and actresses.
Gene Roddenberry created Uhura and Nurse Chapel especially for
Nichelle Nichols and Majel Barrett respectively, both of whom were
having affairs with Roddenberry. Nichols broke off her affair with
Roddenberry not long after the series began; Barrett eventually
married him, and they remained together until his death. Barrett
also played another two roles in the later "Trek" series: Lwaxana
Troi, and the voice for Starfleet's computers (up through the
2009).
In 2000, the show was listed in the Guinness Book of Records as
having the largest number of spin-off productions, which included
the feature film franchise and the numerous television series.
It's revealed in Star Trek: Wolf in the Fold (1967) that Scotty's
full name is Montgomery Scott. The name was improvised by James
Doohan and Gene Roddenberry: "Scott" because Roddenberry liked
Doohan's Scottish brogue, and "Montgomery" because it's Doohan's
middle name.
Scotty's first name is mentioned again in Star Trek: Is There in
Truth No Beauty? (1968)
It's mentioned in Star Trek: Day of the Dove (1968)(#3.7) that
Chekov is an only child
Sulu is clearly attracted to ("has a crush on") Uhuru. This is
indicated in Star Trek: The Naked Time (1966)(#1.4) & Star Trek:
Mirror, Mirror (1967)(#2.4)
Nurse Chapel also has a crush on Spock. This is indicated very
clearly in Star Trek: The Naked Time (1966)(#1.4). In fact she even
tells him that she is in love with him in Star Trek: Amok Time
(1967)(#2.1).
On at least two occasions (Star Trek: Miri (1966) and Star Trek:
The City on the Edge of Forever (1967)) the exterior Mayberry set
from The Andy Griffith Show (1960) was used. In "City", as Kirk
walks Edith home, they pass by the easily recognizable courthouse,
Floyd's barbershop, Emmett's repair shop, and the grocery.
The shimmer of the transporter beam was actually a film of aluminum
powder being blown into the air by an industrial fan, under a
bright spotlight.
Leonard Nimoy modeled Spock after George Burns and his cigar.
George's amused and unflustered acceptances of Gracie Allen's
ramblings influenced Spock's interactions with Dr. McCoy. This is
what led to the whales in Star Trek IV: The Voyage Home (1986)
being named George & Gracie.
Had the series been renewed for a fourth season, producers planned
to bring back Koloth from "Star Trek: The Trouble with Tribbles
(1967)" as a recurring villain. The fourth season would also have
seen Roger C. Carmel playing Harry Mudd for the third time, and an
introduction of McCoy's daughter Joanna.
Largely reflecting their on-screen roles as Kirk and Spock, William
Shatner and Leonard Nimoy came to be close friends in real life.
However, some of the other cast members, notably James Doohan
(Scotty) and George Takei (Sulu), have said they found it difficult
to work and deal with Shatner, who they felt had a massive ego.
Shatner regularly hugged the spotlight at the expense of other
actors, whereby he often insisted that his character be given the
good lines of others. This resulted in Doohan and Takei taking a
dislike to him on a personal level. To his credit, Shatner later
apologized for his behavior while interviewing Walter Koenig
(Chekov) in Shatner's Raw Nerve (2008). He explained that at the
time, the studio wanted the show to be all about Kirk, Spock and
McCoy, and the other characters were regarded as little more than
extras. Since the other actors never really discussed their
frustrations with each other until long after the show ended,
Shatner was unaware of their real feelings, and wished that someone
had just come up to him at the time to set him straight.
Many elements of the Spock character were improvised by Leonard
Nimoy during production. For instance, the "Vulcan neck pinch" was
his suggestion during filming of "Star Trek: The Enemy Within
(1966)" for how Spock could subdue an opponent. The "Vulcan salute"
was created during the production of Star Trek: Amok Time (1967)
using a version of a traditional Jewish religious hand gesture as a
distinctive Vulcan greeting.
The slanting crawlway that leads up to the warp-drive nacelles is
referred to as a "Jefferies tube." This is a reference to art
director Walter M. Jefferies.
Leonard Nimoy's make-up had a faint greenish hue to it, because of
his green Vulcan blood. Because the make-up was hand-mixed, the
amount of green varied slightly, and in many shots (even close-ups)
it's not really visible.
Two models of the U.S.S. Enterprise were used on this show. One is
three feet long and the other is eleven feet long.
James Doohan was cast largely for his ability to speak in multiple
accents and dialects. Gene Roddenberry had no set nationality or
ethnic background in mind for the Chief Engineer. Upon being cast,
Doohan tried out many accents for the character, and along with
Roddenberry determined the Scottish accent worked best. Doohan also
pointed out the history of great engineers of Scottish origin or
descent, most notably Robert Fulton. Gerry Anderson's series
Fireball XL5 (1962) also featured a Scottish engineer called Jock
Campbell.
William Shatner requested his name in the opening credits be ten
percent larger in size than those of his co-stars, Leonard Nimoy
and DeForest Kelley.
The series' running gag, "I'm a doctor, not a..." may have
originated in the mystery "The Kennel Murder Case (1933)." The
coroner in that movie, played by Etienne Girardot, repeatedly
claims to be a doctor not a reporter, detective, etc.
The eleven-foot studio model of the U.S.S. Enterprise is on display
in the National Air and Space Museum of the Smithsonian Institution
in Washington, D.C.
Stagehands would pull the turbolift doors on cue with ropes and
cables. They would also slide panels by to give the illusion of
decks being passed inside the turbolift cars. Some of the more
familiar bloopers are that of main actors nonchalantly running into
sliding doors that hadn't opened as their characters needed to show
full faith in the technology of the Enterprise while stagehands
often missed their cues. One of the show's "blooper reels", often
shown at Star Trek conventions, includes a full minute of shots of
William Shatner walking into various doors and reacting with
profanity.
Even though they played father and son, Mark Lenard (Sarek) was
only six years older than Leonard Nimoy (Spock).
Gene Roddenberry originally conceived the Klingons as looking more
alien than they do in the series, but budget restriction prevented
this, although a very metallic cast to the skin was added to the
make-up design in the third season. When the show finally was made
into a series of movies, the higher budget and demands of film
finally enabled what Rodenberry had envisioned to come to fruition.
The resulting continuity break between the original series and all
other Star Trek projects was addressed by a humorous comment from
Gene Roddenberry, as a "difference between Northern and Southern
Klingons". On-screen explanations were played with. In Star Trek:
Deep Space Nine: Trials and Tribble-ations (1996) where members of
DS9 travel back in time, Dr. Bashir and Miles O'Brien speculated
about the differing appearance being the result of genetic
engineering or viral mutation. Worf said Klingons "do not discuss
it with outsiders". In the fourth and final season of Star Trek:
Enterprise (2001), a two-parter comes up with an explanation which
turns out to be a combination of those two things.
The first American television series to display an interracial
kiss. "Star Trek: Plato's Stepchildren (1968)" was broadcast to
considerable controversy. Though the series was well-known for its
social commentary, Nichelle Nichols later claimed that more letters
were received about the kiss between her and William Shatner than
anything else during the show's run.
According to George Takei, William Shatner had Takei's lines and
camera time cut due to Shatner's ego. Shatner denied this and their
relationship was contentious ever since. According to episode
writer Norman Spinrad, Shatner had it in his contract that he would
have more lines than anyone and had some of the other actors' lines
cut.
One of the writers, D.C. Fontana, was told to use the initials
"D.C." by Gene Roddenberry because networks at the time generally
wouldn't hire women writers. Her first name is Dorothy.
Uhura was one of the first black regular characters on any series
(predating Diahann Carroll in Julia (1968) by two years). Uhura was
especially significant as her character avoided many of the
stereotypes that were common among depictions of African Americans
on television at the time. Nichelle Nichols has said that Martin
Luther King himself told her how important it was for her to keep
playing the role, since it was so rare to see a positive portrayal
of a black character on television. Star Trek: Assignment: Earth
(1968)(#2.26). During her interview for Trekkies (1997), Nichols
said that she later heard from at least one viewer for whom King's
words had been true as a child: when Whoopi Goldberg (who went on
to star in Star Trek: The Next Generation (1987)) first watched
Star Trek (1966), she yelled out, "Momma! There's a black lady on
TV, and she ain't no maid!" In a 2011 "Storycorps" interview, Carl
McNair, brother of Ronald McNair, recalled the impact that watching
"Star Trek" had on Ron: "Now, 'Star Trek' showed the future where
there were black folk and white folk working together. I just
looked at it as science fiction, 'cause that wasn't going to
happen, really. But Ronald saw it as science possibility. He came
up during a time when there was Neil Armstrong and all of those
guys; so how was a colored boy from South Carolina, wearing
glasses, never flew a plane, how was he gonna become an astronaut?
But Ron was one who didn't accept societal norms as being his norm,
you know? That was for other people. And he got to be aboard his
own Starship Enterprise." Because of her status as the first black
person "in space," NASA hired Nichols to help recruit minorities
and women to the program. NASA Astronaut Group 8 yielded the
astronauts she helped sign, including Guion Bluford, Judith A.
Resnik, and Ron McNair. Four of those astronauts (Judith Resnik,
McNair, Ellison Onizuka, and "Dick" Scobee) perished in the Space
Shuttle Challenger, which was later commemorated during the
introduction of Star Trek IV: The Voyage Home (1986).
According to William Shatner's Star Trek TV memoirs, DeForest
Kelley was the first one considered for the role of Spock. Kelley's
own claims contradict this, however. He preferred working in
Westerns, but Roddenberry talked him into playing a lawyer in a
pilot which did not sell, and subsequently approached Kelley for
the role of a doctor, in what turned out to be a science fiction
setting. Noting that Hollywood was making fewer and fewer Westerns,
the actor accepted.
The Enterprise is a Constitution-class ship, The space shuttle
Enterprise, which was named for her after a fan lobbying campaign
of N.A.S.A., was originally supposed to be named Constitution.
Further, Enterprise NCC-1701 was named for the aircraft carrier
Enterprise CVN-65, which, along with "Old Ironsides", U.S.S.
Constitution is the longest-serving warship in the U.S. Navy,
having been commissioned in 1797.
Television shows of the era that filmed at the same studios often
shared minor cast members. It is common to see familiar faces in
episodes of this show, Batman (1966), Mission: Impossible (1966),
Get Smart (1965), The Time Tunnel (1966), Lost in Space (1965), and
The Wild Wild West (1965). Many were The Twilight Zone (1959)
veterans as well.
The series' opening theme has lyrics which were never used
(although they were published in the book "The Making of Star
Trek", by Stephen J. Whitfield). The lyrics were written by Gene
Roddenberry, not so they would be sung on-screen (which he never
intended or even wanted), but so he could take a co-writer credit,
and receive residual payments for the theme's use alongside
Composer Alexander Courage. Roddenberry did this nearly a year
after the show was first aired, taking advantage of a contract
clause, of which Courage claimed not to have been aware. Although
Courage never took the matter to court, he expressed resentment on
numerous occasions to the way Roddenberry "swindled" fifty percent
of the popular theme's royalties from him. Roddenberry's response
was, "Hey, I have to get some money somewhere. I'm sure not going
to get it out of the profits of Star Trek." After the first season
of Star Trek, the two never worked together again, although the
music has been used in various forms in many of the spin-off
projects.
In several episodes, prop beverage bottles were modified from
existing alcohol bottles. Aldeberan Whiskey bottles were Cuervo
Gold 1800 Tequila bottles. Bottles used for Saurian Brandy were
George Dickel Tennessee Sour Mash Whiskey carafes.
According to producers Herbert F. Solow and Robert H. Justman,
William Shatner originally wore 1.5" lifts in his shoes so he would
appear taller than Leonard Nimoy. Since Shatner was only 5'9", the
combination of lifts and the 2" heels of his shoes brought his
height to over 6'. It distorted his posture to such a degree that
his stomach stuck out. Understandably, Gene Roddenberry forbade him
to wear them, instead opting to dress Nimoy and DeForest Kelley in
shoes with only a 1" heel as opposed to Shatner's 2" heel.
As the first season progressed, producers feared that Leonard Nimoy
would eventually quit the series. As a result, they put together a
list of actors to consider for re-casting the role of Spock should
Nimoy have left. Amongst the actors considered was Mark Lenard who
would eventually be cast as Spock's father Sarek.
The green Captain's uniform was developed because William Shatner
tended to gain weight during the season.
On this show, the "arrowhead" badge worn by the crew of the
Enterprise was meant to be an insignia for the Enterprise only. If
you'll notice, on any "guest" Starfleet character, they all wear
different symbols on their uniforms. And Commadores wore a
"starburst" or "sun" insignia. By the time Star Trek hit the big
screen in Star Trek: The Motion Picture (1979), the Arrowhead
insignia was adopted as the official Starfleet symbol and has
remained so throughout the movies and spin-off series, with the
exception of Star Trek: Enterprise (2001), which pre-dates this
show.
Many "guest" voices were actually supplied by James Doohan,
including those of Sargon (Star Trek: Return to Tomorrow (1968)),
the M-5 and Commodore Enwright (Star Trek: The Ultimate Computer
(1968)), Providers 2 and 3 Star Trek: The Gamesters of Triskelion
(1968)), a N.A.S.A. technician (Star Trek: Assignment: Earth
(1968)), and a radio announcer (Star Trek: A Piece of the Action
(1968)).
George Takei claimed in 2014 that his homosexuality was a guarded
secret amongst the cast. Nevertheless, he privately pitched to Gene
Roddenberry a story idea in which homosexuality would be
allegorically depicted by an alien race the crew encounters. Takei
claimed that Roddenberry liked the idea, but reluctantly decided it
would be too controversial.
During the second season, there were rumors that the series was to
be cancelled due to its low ratings. A group of science fiction
fans, led by Bjo Trimble, organized a letter writing campaign to
NBC, begging that the show be renewed for a third season. This
campaign was so successful, inundating the offices of NBC with
thousands of letters that the series was not only renewed, but
voice-over announcements were made over the credits of several
episodes of the summer reruns of the show, thanking the viewers for
their support of the show and promising that it would return for a
third season in the fall. Unfortunately, the third season episodes
were then broadcast on Fridays between 10 and 11 p.m., commonly
known as the "Friday night death slot" when viewing rates are
lowest. Combined with significant budget reductions that caused a
drop in the show's quality, the resulting drop in ratings finally
led to its cancellation, prompting allegations that the network
intentionally tried to kill the show. It wasn't until this show
went into syndication that the show attracted a large audience, and
was finally considered a success.
Kirk's nickname for McCoy "Bones" stems from the term "sawbones",
which is often used as slang for a surgeon, particularly a Naval or
Military doctor, but also appeared in westerns which Gene
Roddenberry, DeForest Kelley, and other members of the cast and
crew "cut their teeth on" prior to this show. The term refers to
the process of amputation, a distressingly common response to an
inordinate number of problems until very recently. Kirk did call
McCoy "Sawbones" once, in Star Trek: A Piece of the Action (1968).
In original scripts for Star Trek: Shore Leave (1966), Sulu called
McCoy "Sawbones". Interestingly, a different origin for the
nickname was presented in Star Trek (2009); during his first
conversation with Jim Kirk, McCoy tells about how he lost
everything in his divorce, and all he has left are his "bones".
Gene Roddenberry once hypothesized that the Enterprise carried a
platoon of Starfleet Marines, but they never appeared on-screen in
the original series. The Starfleet Marines would eventually make an
appearance, but not until Star Trek VI: The Undiscovered Country
(1991) and Star Trek: Deep Space Nine (1993). The idea was revived
with the addition of a group of "space marines", called
"M.A.C.O.S.", beginning in the 2003-2004 season of Star Trek:
Enterprise (2001).
Mark Lenard, best known for his role as Sarek, Spock's father, was
the first actor to play a member of all three of the major alien
races: Romulan (Star Trek: Balance of Terror (1966)), Vulcan (Star
Trek: Journey to Babel (1967) and other entries), and Klingon (Star
Trek: The Motion Picture (1979)).
Gene Roddenberry originally conceived Spock's skin color to be red,
which would have meant extra hours in make-up for Leonard Nimoy.
Fortunately for him, an early make-up test showed the red color
appeared as black on black-and-white televisions. As most
televisions in the '60s were still black-and-white, the idea was
dropped.
During the nine days when N.A.S.A. astronaut Dr. Mae C. Jemison was
a mission specialist on her spaceflight (STS-47, September 12-20,
1992), she would start each shift not according to N.A.S.A.
protocol for opening communications with Mission Control, but
instead with the words "hailing frequencies open." These were the
words that Lieutenant Uhura used on this show whenever she opened
lines of communication. Jemison, the first African-American woman
in space, has said in many interviews that seeing Uhura on this
show as a child was a major inspiration for her to become an
astronaut. After retiring from N.A.S.A., Jemison had a small
guest-starring role on Star Trek: The Next Generation: Second
Chances (1993), making her the first person to have travelled in
space and appeared on a Star Trek show.
Due to budget constraints, the element of "parallel" or "mirror"
Earth planets was used on several occasions to keep set and make-up
costs down. (i.e. Star Trek: Miri (1966), Star Trek: Bread and
Circuses (1968), Star Trek: A Piece of the Action (1968), Star
Trek: Patterns of Force (1968) and more.) However, although visited
in past timelines, Earth was never visited in the present time of
the USS Enterprise crew.
Stardates are used throughout the series to give the audience an
unrealistic look at the time-frame in which the series occurred.
However, NBC paid no attention to the producers' intents when
deciding on airing order, so the dates were not heard in numerical
sequence.
Captain Kirk's birthplace was established to be the state of Iowa,
according to Gene Roddenberry in his book "The Making of Star
Trek". Although an exact city was never established throughout the
series, in 1985, the town of Riverside, Iowa officially proclaimed
itself to be the "Future Birthplace of James T. Kirk". Steve
Miller, a member of the Riverside City Council, who had read
Roddenberry's book, suggested to the council that Riverside should
proclaim itself to be the future birthplace of Kirk. Miller's
motion passed unanimously, and the council later wrote to
Roddenberry for his permission to be designated as the official
birthplace of Kirk, to which Roddenberry agreed. The town is home
to many Star Trek-related attractions, events, and displays,
including a replica of the U.S.S. Enterprise (named the U.S.S.
Riverside), as well as playing host to the annual Riverside Trek
Festival.
Recently, James Doohan's son attempted to purchase a life-sized wax
replica of his father at a Hollywood wax museum auction, but was
outbid by an unidentified fan.
Sulu and Uhura didn't have first names in the series. Sulu did get
a first name (Hikaru) in source books, but it was not spoken
on-screen until Star Trek VI: The Undiscovered Country (1991). In
the season two DVD Special Features, Nichelle Nichols revealed that
she and Gene Roddenberry accepted the first name "Nyota" for her
character, which is a Swahili word meaning "Star". Uhura is a
"girly" variant of "Uhuru", Swahili for "freedom". However, the
1968 book, "The Making of Star Trek" by Stephen J. Whitfield and
Gene Roddenberry, gave her the first name of Penda. Trek fandom's
insistence on ignoring this remains a mystery, as they cite this
work on many other points. Nyota was finally spoken on-screen in
Star Trek (2009).
Grace Lee Whitney was supposed to be the lead female character,
hence her prominent role as Yeoman Janice Rand in the first season.
However, the producers let go of the character after the first half
of the first season, much to the fans' regret. Whitney, however was
asked back for most of the "Star Trek" movies, reprising her role
as Janice.
Leonard Nimoy's favorite episodes were Star Trek: This Side of
Paradise (1967), Star Trek: Amok Time (1967), Star Trek: The City
on the Edge of Forever (1967), Star Trek: The Naked Time (1966),
Star Trek: Journey to Babel (1967), and Star Trek: The Devil in the
Dark (1967).
The Klingons were created by Gene L. Coon, and first appear in
"Star Trek: Errand of Mercy (1967)." They were named after
Lieutenant Wilbur Clingan, who served with Gene Roddenberry in the
Los Angeles Police Department. In the early appearances of
Klingons, if you listen carefully most characters pronounce the
name Klingon like "Klingin".
In the mid 2000s, a competition was held amongst real-life Scottish
cities and towns to be declared as Scotty's Official Birthplace
(and Home Town). Linlithgow made a strong push, claiming direct
reference in some of the show's production notes. Aberdeen won out,
largely on the basis of a brief line of dialogue from Star Trek:
Wolf in the Fold (1967). James Doohan also said he based Scotty's
accent on that of someone he knew who had been from Aberdeen.
Spock's farewell remark "Live long and prosper" was ranked number
five in TV Guide's list of "TV's 20 Top Catchphrases" (August
21-27, 2005 issue).
In the first season, only William Shatner and Leonard Nimoy had
their names appear in the opening credits. It wasn't until the
start of the second season that the opening credits were slightly
extended to include DeForest Kelley as well. The names for James
Doohan, Walter Koenig, Nichelle Nichols, and George Takei have all
appeared in the closing credits for all three seasons of the show,
since they didn't always appear together in every episode.
The series takes place from 2266 to 2269.
A recurring theme within the series concerned the frequent death of
security crewmen wearing red uniforms. Fans who did a thorough
investigation, concluded that about seventy-three percent of
characters who died in the series wore a red shirt (yet, only ten
percent of the red shirts seen eventually died). This became such
an inside joke that the term "red shirt" later became synonymous
for a stock character in a series whose sole purpose is to be
killed off in the story. Star Trek: Catspaw (1967)(#2.7) is one
example of the other 27%, where the one fatality was wearing a
yellow shirt. It's also the only episode where Sulu has no
lines.
Ranked number one in TV Guide's list of the "30 Top Cult Shows
Ever!" (June 28, 2007 issue).
When Nichelle Nichols was asked what her favorite episode was, she
replied, "Any time Uhura got off the bridge."
Kirk never says "Beam me up, Scotty" in any episode, although this
misquote is one of pop culture's most popular Star Trek mottoes
(used frequently in spoofs), and the title of a memoir-book by
William Shatner. Kirk says many similar lines throughout the series
-"Scotty, beam us up", "Beam me up", "Scotty, beam me up", "Beam
them out of there, Scotty", et cetera - but never "Beam me up,
Scotty." The closest came during the animated spin-off "Star Trek:
The Animated Series: Yesteryear (1973)," when Kirk said "Beam us
up, Scotty."
The creation of the the show's "transporters" and concept of
beaming off and on the ship was largely due to budget constraints
and pacing issues. Gene Roddenberry was unable to find a way to
plausibly show the Enterprise repeatedly landing on and taking off
from different locations in almost every episode.
In many episodes, alien art work and wall hangings were in reality
discarded protective Styrofoam shipping box liners from tape
recorders used by fellow Desilu/Paramount show Mission: Impossible
(1966), spray painted various colors and arranged into various
combined forms.
At the time of N.A.S.A.'s first space shuttle launches, Nichelle
Nichols was an official spokeswoman for the administration.
Chekov at one point was to be British, as his looks and appearance
were modelled after The Beatles and The Monkees, who are also said
to be the inspiration for the creation of the character.
Both pilots for Star Trek - "Star Trek: The Cage (1966)" and "Star
Trek: Where No Man Has Gone Before (1966)" - were the only episodes
not filmed at the present-day Paramount Studio lot in Hollywood.
They were filmed at the present-day Sony Pictures Culver Studios in
Culver City, California.
The entire series ran before the U.S. put a man on the moon.
Favorite episode(s) of each cast member:
William Shatner: Star Trek: The Devil in the Dark (1967).
Leonard Nimoy: Star Trek: This Side of Paradise (1967).
DeForest Kelley: Star Trek: The Empath (1968).
James Doohan: Star Trek: The Doomsday Machine (1967).
Nichelle Nichols: Star Trek: Plato's Stepchildren (1968).
George Takei: Star Trek: The Naked Time (1966).
Walter Koenig: Star Trek: Spectre of the Gun (1968).
For many decades, unbeknownst to the fans, the color shirt Captain
Kirk, Mr. Sulu, and Ensign Checkov wore was NOT yellow/gold, as
everyone believes, but instead the shirts are actually green. In
recent interviews, various cinematographers who worked on the
series have stated that the series utilized two different types of
film stock. One of the film stocks caused the greens of the uniform
shirts to come out yellow/gold in the processing. The other film
stock also was a little off, which is why the gold sometimes has a
greenish hue. However, according to the crew members on the show,
the shirts were indeed an olive green. This also explains why
Captain Kirk's alternate uniform shirt of a wrap around tunic with
the "arrowhead" insignia as a belt was green as opposed to his
regular "gold" uniform. Because of the public perception that the
shirts were yellow/gold, this "error" was accepted into series and
Trek Universe canon and all of the subsequent series and films
utilized the gold color from the original series onward.
Gene Roddenberry originally envisioned the Enterprise as one of
only about twelve to fifteen starships comprising the Federation
Starfleet due to the incredible cost in time and resources in
building such vessels. This accounts for the Enterprise constantly
encountering new or relatively unknown planets and aliens, as well
as being the only ship "in range" when some crisis would break out.
This idea was gradually dropped with the advent of the movies and
especially later, with Star Trek: The Next Generation (1987) by
which time the Enterprise-D has become the flagship of an entire
armada of ships patrolling the galaxy.
Chekov was added to the show in season two in an attempt to reach
out to and expand the show's younger (particularly female)
demographics. A discredited story claimed that Chekov was created
as a Russian after Gene Roddenberry heard about the Soviet
newspaper Pravda complaining about the lack of Russian presence on
the series, specifically because the Russians were the first to put
men in space. There was no such article, as the Soviet Union did
not broadcast this show.
Jerry Goldsmith was Gene Roddenberry's first choice to write the
theme for this series. Many years later, Goldsmith wrote the theme
to "Star Trek: The Motion Picture (1979)," which was also used for
"Star Trek: The Next Generation (1987)."
Chekov's middle name was Andreievich. In Russian custom, this means
his father's name was Andrei (also transliterated Andrey). Aside
from Kirk (James T.) and McCoy (Leonard H.), he was the only
original series character whose middle name (or initial) was
revealed.
Gene Roddenberry wrote lyrics for the show's theme: Beyond/The rim
of the starlight/My love/Is wandering in star-flight/I know/He'll
find in star-clustered reaches/Love/Strange love a star woman
teaches/I know/His journey ends never/His star trek/Will go on
forever/But tell him/While he wanders his starry sea/Remember,
remember me.
The Klingons were intended to look slightly Asian in appearance,
but the idea was dropped. However, the concept of Klingon's Warrior
Class System, and Imperial nature were similar to aspects of some
Asian cultures. The Klingons came to be developed as reflecting
Soviet Communists in plots paralleling Cold War issues and tensions
of the time (with The Federation representing the U.S. and its
allies). The real-life changes in the Soviet Union/Russia would
subsequently be reflected by the Klingons in the movies and the
later Trek series. The Romulans, who were more secretive in nature,
and having an uneasy alliance with the Klingons have come to be
viewed as reflecting Red China.
The name "Sulu" is not Japanese in origin. Gene Roddenberry named
the character after the Sulu Sea, which he noted touched the shores
of all Asian countries. Actors of various different Asian
backgrounds auditioned for the part, and George Takei's Japanese
heritage largely lead to Sulu specifically being identified as
such.
Lloyd Bridges was approached to play Captain Pike in the original
pilot Star Trek: The Cage (1966) but turned it down believing that
a science fiction show would hurt his career. Jeffrey Hunter, who
played Captain Pike, was replaced after his salary demands were
deemed to be too high.
An episode was written for Milton Berle titled "He Walked Among
Us". Berle would have played a sociologist playing God in a
primitive society. Berle was a fan of the series and wanted to show
his dramatic acting range. But Norman Spinrad's script was
re-written by Gene L. Coon into a comedy. Spinrad was so angry that
he wanted the episode scrapped. Gene Roddenberry agreed to scrap it
after reading the script.
The set for Spock's quarters is simply a redressed version of the
set for Captain Kirk's.
The broadcast rights to this show in the U.K. were originally held
by the BBC, and that network banned the episodes "Star Trek: The
Empath (1968),""Star Trek: Whom Gods Destroy (1969)," "Star Trek:
Plato's Stepchildren (1968)," and "Star Trek: Miri (1966)" for many
years. "Miri" was shown once in 1970 before being proscribed and
"The Empath" was scheduled that year, but not aired. The BBC
considered this show to be a children's show and stated that the
episodes "all dealt most unpleasantly with the already unpleasant
subjects of madness, torture, sadism, and disease." British fans
cried foul, and hypocrisy as well, noting that the BBC's "Doctor
Who (1963),: aired in the same time slot, had scenes more gruesome
than anything on this show and that the BBC also purveyed "I,
Claudius (1976)," which featured torture, murder, and even
cannibalism. The banned episodes were screened at conventions,
released on video, and finally aired by the BBC in the 1990s.
Nichelle Nichols revealed in 2011 that she auditioned for
Spock.
Mr. Spock was played as much more emotional and "human" in the
original rejected pilot, Star Trek: The Cage (1966). This is very
noticeable during the flashback sequences of Star Trek: The
Menagerie: Part I (1966)/Star Trek: The Menagerie: Part II (1966).
The flashbacks were simply scenes from the original pilot,
re-edited into the new episodes.
Captain Kirk is called "Jim" (as opposed to "Captain") three times
:
in Star Trek: The Menagerie: Part I (1966)(#1.11) Spock calls him
"Jim"
Star Trek: Mirror, Mirror (1967)(#2.4) marks the only time in the
series where Scotty addresses Captain Kirk as "Jim"
in Star Trek: Catspaw (1967)(#2.7) Spock calls him "Jim" for a
second time.
Leonard Nimoy received Emmy Award nominations for Best Supporting
Actor in a Dramatic Role for each of the show's three seasons.
These would be the only Emmy Award nominations in acting categories
for any series in the Star Trek franchise.
According to the DVD commentary, many of the sets used for the
series were built with easily removable wall panels designed to
allow for easy camera placement and easy redressing of the sets for
other uses.
The episode "Star Trek: Who Mourns for Adonais? (1967)" was the
first episode to feature all seven members of the original cast,
including Walter Koenig (Chekov), who was the last to join the
cast, at the beginning of season two.
Early on in season two, to save the time in later episodes, the
producers took aside George Takei and Walter Koenig and sat them
facing the bridge's viewscreen, with the camera directly behind
them. While the camera was running, they were asked to carry on as
normal pressing buttons, et cetera for a few minutes. Then George
was told to "turn to face the camera and look worried." Then Walter
was told to do the same. Then they were told to both face the
camera and look worried. It is not known how often, or when these
shots were edited into the subsequent shows.
Martin Landau was originally offered the role of Commander Spock.
Landau was not keen on the idea of portraying a character lacking
in emotion, so Leonard Nimoy was approached, who had appeared on
The Lieutenant (1963), an earlier series produced by Gene
Roddenberry, who at the time thought that the actor would be well
cast as an alien (when he ran out of choices). Nimoy inspired the
creation of the character. Shortly after this show's cancellation,
he took over the role of disguise expert on Mission: Impossible
(1966) when Landau left that show. "Mission: Impossible" was also
filmed on the same lot, therefore, when "Star Trek" ended, Nimoy
merely went next door to go to his new job. Also, Landau went on to
star in another science fiction space exploration television
series, Space: 1999 (1975), whose last season was produced by (the
controversial) Fred Freiberger, who also produced this show's final
season.
William Shatner and James Doohan are originally Canadian.
The Star Trek crews from all of the "Star Trek" series were ranked
number two in TV Guide's list of the "25 Greatest Sci-Fi Legends"
(August 1, 2004 issue).
Although frequently referred to as a "low-budget series", this is
only in comparison to the costs of series made in the following
decades, adjusted for inflation. The typical budget per episode of
this show was almost equal to an episode of contemporary series
such as Lost in Space (1965) and Mission: Impossible (1966).
Star Trek: Shore Leave (1966) has the only scene in which the
U.S.S. Enterprise is seen orbiting a planet from right to left. The
U.S.S. Enterprise also does this briefly in the parallel universe,
in the pre-credits sequence of Star Trek: Mirror, Mirror (1967),
but by the beginning of Act I, it is again orbiting from left to
right.
The images displayed during the end credits of the show tended to
follow a specific format. The first image was either an external
shot of the Enterprise in space, or in orbit of a planet (seasons
one and two) or a shot of the Melkotian head from Star Trek:
Spectre of the Gun (1968) (season three). The second image was
often a specific scene from that particular episode aired, while
the rest of the images up until the final one were various images
from random episodes, and finally, the final image at the end of
the credits would be either a shot of the Orion slave girl (from
Star Trek: The Cage (1966)) during season one, a shot of Big Balok
(from Star Trek: The Corbomite Maneuver (1966)) during season two,
and a simple space shot for season three. Also worth mentioning is
that the opening and closing credits text for seasons one and two
were yellow, while the text for season three was light blue.
There are contradictory indicators as to just how far into the
future the series was set. A calendar year for the adventures of
the Enterprise crew is never given in any episode, and Gene
Roddenberry said the series could have taken place anywhere from
the twenty-first to the thirty-first centuries. However, in Star
Trek: Tomorrow Is Yesterday (1967), which involves a time-trip to
Earth in the 1960s, Kirk is arrested by security at Omaha Air Force
Base. When an officer threatens to lock him up for two hundred
years if he does not explain who he is and why he is there, Kirk
mutters, "That ought to be just about right." Stronger is Star
Trek: Space Seed (1967), where a ship filled with people in
suspended animation capsules is dated to the 1990s. When the first
person revived asks "How long?" a few minutes later, the response
is, "We estimate two centuries." An advance print ad for Star Trek:
The Motion Picture (1979) had a blurb across the top that began,
"In the 23rd Century...," leading fans to protest on the basis of
those two original series statements. The ad was soon changed to
bear a non-time specific blurb, but "Trekkies" refused to
acknowledge the fact that "23rd century" was an error. In Star Trek
II: The Wrath of Khan (1982), after the opening credits, the words
"In the 23rd Century" appear. By the time of Star Trek: The Next
Generation (1987), calendar years for Trek adventures had been
established and the official Star Trek Chronology now indicates
that the original "Star Trek" television series takes place between
the years 2266 and 2269. (Later, in Star Trek: Voyager: Q2 (2001),
it was said that Kirk's five-year mission ended in 2270.) It wasn't
until Star Trek IV: The Voyage Home (1986) that the 23rd century
time line is internally established, in a conversation between Kirk
and Dr. Gillian Taylor (Catherine Hicks). Also, on a 1975 episode
of To Tell the Truth (1956) in which the TTTT panel had to guess
who the real Gene Roddenberry was, host Garry Moore read from
Gene's affidavit that the show was about "life as I (Gene) imagine
it might be in the 23rd Century."
There are conflicting reasons as to why Janice Rand was written out
of the series after only eight appearances during the first season.
Gene Roddenberry has said it was a budgetary move, but others have
claimed that as the show progressed her role as the Captain's
Woman, or potential love interest for Kirk became impractical.
Other stories have claimed that Grace Lee Whitney was having issues
with alcoholism, which was said to be affecting her work on the
series. Whitney said she may have been let go to keep her quiet
over accusations of a network executive having sexually assaulted
her at a wrap party. Whitney would later return to reprise her role
as Rand, making brief appearances in some of the Star Trek movies,
and a guest appearance on Star Trek: Voyager: Flashback (1996).
William Shatner admitted in his autobiography that he and Leonard
Nimoy did not get along throughout the series. According to
Shatner, he was bothered by Nimoy's massive popularity because
Shatner felt that he was the star of the series. According to
Nimoy's memoir, Shatner demanded some of Nimoy's lines to be given
to him instead. In one incident, a photographer from Life Magazine
was on the set to do a profile on Nimoy. Shatner demanded the
photographer to be removed from the set and refused to come out of
his dressing room. Nimoy stormed off to his dressing room and
refused to come out until the photographer was allowed back.
Filming was delayed for hours while the executives pleaded with
both stars to return to work. According to Nimoy, Gene Roddenberry
sought Isaac Asimov's advice to help settle the feud. Shatner and
Nimoy eventually reconciled during the making of the "Star Trek"
film franchise and remained good friends for decades.
The Romulans and the Romulan Empire were noticeably modelled after
the Roman Empire, in clothing as well as the use of military terms
such as Centurion and Praetor. Their home planet of Romulus (with
its moon Remus) were named for the two brothers who, according to
ancient mythology, founded the city of Rome together. The Romulans
were created by Paul Schneider, who said "it was a matter of
developing a good Romanesque set of admirable antagonists, an
extension of the Roman civilization to the point of space travel."
It is never explained in Star Trek lore how these aliens (an
offshoot of the Vulcans) would end up modelling and naming
themselves after a human civilization with which they never had
contact. A fan theory states that the Romulans may have come in
contact with aliens who had also visited Earth and were worshiped
as gods by the Romans, in the same way that an alien claimed to
have been responsible for inspiring the ancient Greek civilization
in Star Trek: Who Mourns for Adonais? (1967).
One of Starfleet's Prime Directives is that it can't let the
inhabitants of planets visited learn of their technology. Yet,
there are numerous episodes where communicators, phasers, and other
sophisticated equipment is left behind.
McCoy, Spock, and Scotty were shown to still be living during the
time of Star Trek: The Next Generation (1987), taking place
approximately seventy years after the events of this show.
Ironically, however, DeForest Kelley, James Doohan, and Leonard
Nimoy were the first three primary cast members to die.
George Takei was unavailable for nine episodes during the second
season. Takei had been cast in The Green Berets (1968), which
provided scheduling conflicts.
In a TV Guide interview two months before his death, Gene
Roddenberry listed his ten favorite episodes
Star Trek: Amok Time (1967)
Star Trek: Balance of Terror (1966)
Star Trek: The City on the Edge of Forever (1967)
Star Trek: The Devil in the Dark (1967)
Star Trek: The Enemy Within (1966)
Star Trek: The Menagerie: Part I (1966)
Star Trek: The Menagerie: Part II (1966)
Star Trek: The Naked Time (1966)
Star Trek: The Return of the Archons (1967)
Star Trek: Where No Man Has Gone Before (1966)
Star Trek: The Trouble with Tribbles (1967).
Nichelle Nichols was the only regular cast member not to reprise
her role in crossovers with the Star Trek spin-off projects,
although Uhura was seen in archive footage in Star Trek: Deep Space
Nine: Trials and Tribble-ations (1996). McCoy, Spock and Scotty
appeared on Star Trek: The Next Generation (1987). Kirk, Scotty,
and Chekov appeared in Star Trek: Generations (1994). Sulu (along
with Janice Rand) appeared on Star Trek: Voyager: Flashback (1996).
While Christine Chapel did not make any such appearances, Majel
Barret would play the recurring role of Lwaxanna Troi on Star Trek:
The Next Generation (1987) and Star Trek: Deep Space Nine (1993),
as well as continuing as computer voices for all Star Trek
spin-offs until her death in 2008.
The series no longer holds the record for the first ever televised
interracial kiss due to a recently discovered recording of a the
British series Emergency-Ward 10 (1957) that predates it by two
years.
Gene Roddenberry believed the show's initial higher than expected
ratings when the series entered syndication were a fluke and
expected the sudden birth of interest in the series to die
down.
According to his character biography in the series Writer's Guide,
McCoy was divorced and had a college-aged daughter named Joanna.
None of this was mentioned in any episode, though there were a
couple of unsuccessful attempts to feature an appearance by Joanna.
The character of Irina (Mary Linda Rapelye) in Star Trek: The Way
to Eden (1969) was originally to have been Joanna. Joanna was
mentioned in the animated series, and also depicted or referred to
in non-canonical Star Trek novels and comics. Finally, in Star Trek
(2009), McCoy's bitter divorce is prominently mentioned during his
fist conversation with Jim Kirk (though there was no mention of a
daughter).
To keep his mouth moist, Leonard Nimoy would suck on a lollipop
between takes. When the scene was taking place off the ship, he
would often hide the lollipop inside his tricorder before they
filmed.
Many owners of a Canadian five-dollar bill would doodle on the
portrait of Sir Wilfrid Laurier to make him look like Mr. Spock,
because of his striking resemblance to him. This was also known as
"Spocking Fives". In 2013, the portrait of Laurier has been updated
to make the resemblance to Spock less obvious and to discourage
people from altering the portrait again.
The story that the U.S.S. Enterprise's registry number "NCC-1701"
was derived from Walter M. Jefferies' antique Waco biplane (FAA
registration NC17704) is mostly apocryphal. According to Jefferies
himself, the Star Fleet "NCC" was a mix of the original
international codes "NC" for United States commercial vehicles and
"CC CC" for Russian vehicles. The "1701" was selected for visual
clarity, with "17" representing the seventeenth basic Federation
ship design, and "01" marking Enterprise as the first commissioned
vessel of that design. Interestingly, there was once in fact a Waco
YKS biplane registered with the FAA as NC17701.
CBS initially expressed an interest in picking up the series, but
ultimately passed on it, since they were already developing another
science fiction television series Lost in Space (1965). CBS would
come to own and distribute the series as a result of their
corporate connections with Paramount.
Pavel Chekov was also the name of playwright Anton Chekhov's
father.
While Spock's name appears to be a singular one, he explains in
Star Trek: This Side of Paradise (1967) that he has a surname which
is largely unpronounceable for non-Vulcans.
Traditionally, science fiction stories had depicted space travel
craft as either flying saucers or oblong capsules, often shaped
like cigars or fountain pens. The design of the Enterprise combined
both traditional concepts.
According to the Hollywood Entertainment Museum, as of fall 2003,
only a few pieces of the original 1960s bridge survive. The museum,
on Hollywood Boulevard, incorporates two original turboshaft doors
into its Star Trek display, while a Los Angeles bookstore
reportedly owns the original Captain's chair.
Nexus points; changes that are of such significance that they
effect the rest of the series (such as personnel changes) or new
information is revealed:
Star Trek: The Naked Time (1966)(#1.4) Nurse Christine Chapel's
first appearance
Star Trek: Balance of Terror (1966)(#1.14) Yeoman Janice Rand's
final appearance, and also the first appearance of Romulans,
starring Mark Lenard as a Romulan
Star Trek: Amok Time (1967)(#2.1) first appearance of Chekov,
although his first name is not yet mentioned
Star Trek: The Apple (1967)(#2.5) Chekov's fist name is revealed
for the first time
Star Trek: Journey to Babel (1967)(#2.10) first appearance of
Spock's father, Sarek, also played by Mark Lenard
[It's revealed in Star Trek: Wolf in the Fold (1967)(#2.14) that
Scotty's full name is Montgomery Scott. The name was improvised by
James Doohan and Gene Roddenberry: "Scott" because Roddenberry
liked Doohan's Scottish brogue, and "Montgomery" because it's
Doohan's middle name.
Star Trek: The Way to Eden (1969)(#3.20) Chekov's middle name is
revealed to be Andreivich
Star Trek: The Savage Curtain (1969)(#3.22) final appearance of
Uhura
Star Trek: Turnabout Intruder (1969)(#3.24) only episode to air
after the death of Jeffrey Hunter.
Most episodes revolve around Kirk, Spock, and/or McCoy. Producers
often proclaimed intentions to feature stories focusing on the
supporting characters. While Scotty achieved greater prominence in
some episodes as the show went on, promised episodes centering
around Sulu, Chekov, or Uhura never materialized. For this reason,
Star Trek: The Next Generation (1987), and all henceforth series in
the Trek franchise, having taken great care to make use of their
complete ensemble casts.
Malachi Throne provided the voice of the Talosian Keeper in the
first pilot Star Trek: The Cage (1966), which was also Leonard
Nimoy's first "Star Trek" appearance. Throne was also with Nimoy
for Star Trek: The Next Generation: Unification II (1991), the
latter's final Star Trek television appearance (he appeared in some
Trek movies afterwards).
At numerous Star Trek conventions, many of the actors openly
revealed that they actively disliked William Shatner, because of
the way he would take good lines from their characters for
himself.
Considering the time period and budget of this show, one of the
most impressive realistic visual effects were the phaser beams. As
well as having a consistent sound effect, they were colored just
enough so that the viewer could actually see through them. This
made them a lot more believable as opposed to other science fiction
television and movies at the time where they were obvious
animations.
DeForest Kelley's favorite episode was Star Trek: The Empath
(1968).
Each starship and starbase had its own insignia, which was worn on
the left breast of the uniform. The Enterprise's insignia was the
now well-known arrowhead shape. The boomerang shape from the side
of the ship was the Starfleet Command insignia.
After appearances in each of the first two seasons, a script
featuring Harry Mudd was written for the third season. However,
Roger C. Carmel was unavailable to reprise the role, and the
episode was put aside for use during the show's fourth season
(which never occurred due to the show's cancellation). Carmel
returned to voice Harry Mudd in the Star Trek: The Animated Series
(1973) episode Star Trek: The Animated Series: Mudd's Passion
(1973). Mudd was also considered for appearances in Star Trek IV:
The Voyage Home (1986) and Star Trek: The Next Generation (1987),
but those ideas were scrapped due to Carmel's declining health and
subsequent death. Mudd continued to make non-canonical appearances
in various Star Trek novels, comic book stories, and other non
traditional media adaptations.
Diana Muldaur, who appeared as Ann Mulhall in Star Trek: Return to
Tomorrow (1968) and Miranda Jones in Star Trek: Is There in Truth
No Beauty? (1968), later played the character of Dr. Katharine
Pulaski during season two of Star Trek: The Next Generation (1987).
Although she appeared in almost every episode of the season, she
was never considered a regular.
James Hong auditioned for Sulu, but was passed over in favor of
George Takei. He later was cast as "Snotty" which may have been a
spoof of the name "Scotty" in Revenge of the Nerds II: Nerds in
Paradise (1987).
While there are many possible permutations of the origin of the
Vulcan greeting "Live long and prosper", in keeping with Trek's
affinity for William Shakespeare allusions, it seems entirely
possible that it was lifted from Act 5, Scene 3 of Romeo and
Juliet, where Romeo bids farewell to his best friend Balthazar for
the last time, saying "Live and be prosperous, and farewell, good
fellow."
Three of the main cast members were the children or grandchildren
of Russian-Jewish immigrants: Leonard Nimoy's parents came to North
America from the Ukraine, as did William Shatner's grandparents,
while Walter Koenig's parents were from Lithuania.
William Shatner named Star Trek: The Devil in the Dark (1967) as
his favorite episode, followed by Star Trek: The City on the Edge
of Forever (1967).
James Doohan's favorite episode was Star Trek: The Doomsday Machine
(1967).
Walter Koenig claimed he wasn't aware of being cast as Chekov,
until he was summoned to wardrobe, and one of the dressers started
to take measurements for his uniform.
Unlike Star Trek: The Next Generation (1987), not all of the same
main crew characters are always seen on the bridge, apart from
Kirk, McCoy, and Spock. This can be explained by the other "minor"
characters being on leave and/or a different shift, considering the
Enterprise would be a continually twenty-four hour operating
vessel.
In Captain's Kirk's backstory: Kirk was born to Starfleet officer
Lieutenant George Kirk and his wife Winona and he was raised in
Iowa. Inspired by his father, Kirk also joined Starfleet and after
Christopher Pike was promoted to Fleet Captain, Kirk was promoted
to Captain and became the new Captain of the U.S.S. Enterprise. In
Star Trek (2009), Spock Prime mentions this to Kirk in the
alternate time-line.
In 2017, two years after the death of Leonard Nimoy, his son Adam
Nimoy got engaged to Terry Farrell, who played Jadzia Dax on Star
Trek: Deep Space Nine (1993).
Before Star Trek, William Shatner, and Leonard Nimoy appeared in
The Man from U.N.C.L.E.: The Project Strigas Affair (1964).
Michael Ansara from Star Trek: Day of the Dove (1968) later
reprised his role as Kang in Star Trek: Deep Space Nine: Blood Oath
(1994) and Star Trek: Voyager: Flashback (1996).
In Trek Nation (2011), George Lucas cited this series as a major
influence on Star Wars: Episode IV - A New Hope (1977).
Much of the futuristic architecture depicted and set designs were
inspired by displays and pavilions featured at the 1964-65 New York
City World's Fair.
According to DVD commentary, a rotating drum with a slot cut out
for light to shine through was used to give the turbolifts the
illusion of motion.
George Takei's favorite episode was Star Trek: The Naked Time
(1966).
In the U.K., Star Trek: Miri (1966) had received a lot of
complaints by the BBC from parents of young viewers, that had felt
that the show was unsuitable for children, because it dealt with
the subject matter of madness, torture, sadism, and disease, and
the BBC later excluded (#1.8) from repeat transmissions, and was
not broadcast again until the 1990s.
The following excerpt from Star Trek Guide (April 17, 1967, page
25) instructed writers for this show on how to select stardates for
their scripts. "We invented 'Stardate' to avoid continually
mentioning Star Trek's century (actually, about two hundred years
from now), and getting into arguments about whether this or that
would have developed by then. Pick any combination of four numbers
plus a percentage point, use it as your story's stardate. For
example, 1313.5 is twelve o'clock noon of one day and 1314.5 would
be noon of the next day. Each percentage point is roughly
equivalent to one-tenth of one day. The progression of stardates in
your script should remain constant but don't worry about whether or
not there is a progression from other scripts. Stardates are a
mathematical formula which varies depending on location in the
galaxy, velocity of travel, and other factors, can vary widely from
episode to episode." The in-story definition of a Stardate would
certainly explain why they vary so much, even though the voyage
shown in the series is only "three of your Earth years", or
thirteen Earth years, if the events of the two pilots are
included.
The outwardly adversarial, but personally respectful, relationship
between the country doctor McCoy and the Captain's logical
intelligent sidekick Spock, was similar to the Gunsmoke (1955)
relationship between the logical intelligent Doctor Adams and the
Marshall's country sidekick Festus.
Vasquez Rocks was the filming location of many of this show's
episodes.
In season one, there appeared to be an endless supply of new planet
rock wall scenery. On binge watching season two, it soon becomes
apparent, and slightly confusing, that the in-studio planet
exterior set is a simply redressed re-use of the Star Trek: Amok
Time (1967) planet set. With the dirt floor as the central focus of
the planet surface set, and with a low planet horizon on the
backdrop, screen right is usually a large re-dressed tall rock
face, and screen left is smaller rocky outcrops, with various set
dressings such and foliage and re-arranged minor rocks.
Stonn, played by Lawrence Montaigne in Star Trek: Amok Time (1967),
is the only male Vulcan in the original series without a letter "K"
in his name.
Reportedly, when the show was first pitched to Desilu Studios, upon
first seeing the title Star Trek, studio owner Lucille Ball thought
the proposed series was a sitcom, or variety show about a group of
travelling U.S.O. performers.
Nichelle Nichols' favorite episode was Star Trek: Plato's
Stepchildren (1968).
William Shatner has never watched a single episode.
Walter Koenig's favorite episode was Star Trek: Spectre of the Gun
(1968).
Throughout the series, computer tapes used to record or display
information are yellow.
In The Making of Star Trek by Stephen E. Whitfield and Gene
Roddenberry, one topic was how the production team attempted to
design "futuristic" versions of everyday items. An example of this
was a futuristic salt shaker that was designed for "The Man Trap",
which was a small silver cylinder topped with an inverted silver
cone. However, it was determined that the audience would likely not
recognize this item as a salt shaker, so a traditional salt shaker
was used in the scene where Janice Rand brings Sulu his meal.
Rather than discarding the new design as a loss, it was then
decided that the redesigned salt shaker would become Dr. McCoy's
laser scalpel. In photos of the salt shaker/laser scalpel in The
Making of Star Trek, the holes for shaking out salt are clearly
visible.
Star Trek: Turnabout Intruder (1969) was the show's final episode,
and also the only one to air after Jeffrey Hunter's death.
Contrary to popular belief, William Shatner wore a hairpiece
throughout the entire series. He had been wearing one since about
the mid 1950s.
The comic strip version of this show appeared in the U.K. comic
"Joe 90" some time before the show itself aired in the U.K. A
tin-eared lettering artist wrote Captain Kirk as "Captain
Kurt".
During the second season, Leonard Nimoy performed the song "The
Ballad of Bilbo Baggins" for his album "Two Sides of Leonard
Nimoy". The song was the story of Bilbo Baggins and his adventures
in J.R.R. Tolkien's novel "The Hobbit". Spock and Bilbo Baggins
have pointy ears.
None of the Enterprise men have facial hair. Apparently, this is a
Federation mandate that may differ from time to time and place to
place: Commander Riker was allowed to have a beard in Star Trek:
The Next Generation (1987), yet Tom Paris was once reprimanded for
not having shaved in Star Trek: Voyager (1995).
Of the many Star Trek novels, there was one called "Ishmael", in
which there was a crossover with the television series Here Come
the Brides (1968), a series that starred Mark Lenard. In the novel,
Spock reveals his mother's full name to be Amanda Stempel Grayson,
a descendant of Bride's Aaron Stempel, played by Mark Lenard.
Nichelle Nichols revealed that she almost left the series after
season one but stayed because Martin Luther King, who was a fan of
the show, told Nichols she was the only black actor on TV in a role
worth having, and she was a role model to his children.
The opening Kirk voice-over containing "...where no man has gone
before" has often been criticized for being sexist and
inappropriate to the theme of twenty-third century equality. This
would be rectified in Star Trek: The Next Generation (1987), on
which "No man..." was changed to "No one..." in Picard's
voice-over. While other Star Trek series do not use the voice-over
monologue, they occasionally work it into a character's speech,
usually in the "no one" version.
In the end credits for the second season, the picture of Big Balok
from Star Trek: The Corbomite Maneuver (1966) was used when Herbert
F. Solow's credit came on. Apparently, the feelings for Mr. Solow
were rather poor, to put it mildly.
Walter Koenig appeared on another science fiction television
series, Babylon 5 (1993), where he played recurring antagonist
Alfred Bester.
Out of all the principle characters, the only ones whose living
quarters are shown on-screen are Kirk (repeatedly), Scotty (Wink of
an Eye), Spock in Star Trek: Amok Time (1967), McCoy (The Man
Trap), and Uhura in Star Trek: Elaan of Troyius (1968). Yeoman
Rand's are also seen in Star Trek: The Enemy Within (1966) and
Charlie X.
As of 2018, there are now at least three alternate presentations of
the original series run being used by broadcasters and/or streaming
video services. The original special effects version in original
aspect ratio, the original special effects version cropped top and
bottom for widescreen, the remastered special effects version in
original aspect ratio, and a re-mastered version cropped for
widescreen. All excluding additional edits certain broadcasters may
make to their showings.
In a broadcast celebration of Star Trek's 40th anniversary back in
2006, Leonard Nimoy mentioned in an interview that George Lindsey,
who played Goober Pyle on The Andy Griffith Show (1960), had been
Gene Roddenberry's first choice to portray Spock. While some
questioned the validity of Nimoy's claim, another big star
confirmed this curious piece of television history a couple of
years later. Ernest Borgnine published a memoir in 2008. In it he
wrote he and Lindsey became great friends. He said "To this day I
think that George Lindsey is one of the great guys in the world. I
can't say too much about that old boy and how he used to keep me in
stitches talking about his home in Alabama, how he gave up being a
science teacher to act, and how, my hand to God, he turned down the
part of Mr. Spock on TV's Star Trek."
Being a heavy smoker at the time, Leonard Nimoy always had his pack
of cigarettes near by after a scene had been completed.
The Fantastic Journey (1977), a short-lived science fiction series,
used sound effects from this show in a few of its episodes.
At one point, Leonard Nimoy received an acting award for his
performance as Spock. This didn't go down very well with William
Shatner, who was hoping for a nomination.
During the show's production, there were feelings of animosity
between William Shatner and James Doohan. To the end of his life,
Doohan never made peace with Shatner.
DeForest Kelley was 11 years older than William Shatner and Leonard
Nimoy. Shatner and Nimoy were born just four days apart, in
1931.
While Star Trek generally follows naval rank structure, the cuff
stripes are inconsistent. The lieutenants wear a single ensign's
stripe. Scott and McCoy, as Lt Commanders, wear the 1 1/2 stripes
of a Lt, junior grade. Spock, regularly referred to as a Lt
Commander, wears a second full stripe, which would designate a full
commander's rank. In reality, 2 full stripes represent a Lt, senior
grade. Kirk, as Captain, wears the 2 full stripes-1 half stripe of
a Lt Commander. Only Admirals are portrayed in line with reality,
with a single oversized band. In Star Trek: The Naked Time (1966),
Joe Tormolen wears a single half stripe, a rank that does not exist
at all.
By the Starfleet time period of Star Trek: Deep Space Nine (1993),
there are three Klingons who've gained great notoriety and have
achieved legendary status. Captain Kirk fought all three: Kor,
Kang, and Koloth during the run of the original series. He also
fought a phantasm of Kahless, the renowned founder of the Klingon
Empire.
First Officer Spock was from the planet Vulcan which orbited 40
Eridani A. In astronomy the planet Vulcan was a theory of a small
hypothetical planet that was proposed to exist in an orbit between
Mercury and the Sun which 19th-century French mathematician Urbain
Le Verrier hypothesized.
Despite what has been written elsewhere, the budget NBC allocated
to series 1 & 2 equated to an average of approximately $100,000 per
episode. However after season 2 the network were reluctant to
commission a third season and finally agreed to do so provided the
already tight budget was cut by 30%. This resulted in Gene
Roddenberry walking away in anger and the network appointing
producer Fred Freiberger to oversee the third (and final) season.
The third season is widely acknowledged to be inferior to the first
two, with what many perceive to be poor scripts, cut price effects
and props, filming mostly confined to the studio and other cost
cutting measures. In the years since, Freiburger earned the
nickname 'The man who killed Star Trek' although William Shatner
has gone on record defending him, saying that he was given a
thankless job to produce a whole season with a severely reduced
budget meaning he had no choice but to make compromises.
In their book Inside Star Trek: The Real Story, Robert Justman and
Herbert Solow discussed the contract dispute with Leonard Nimoy in
detail, and they included a picture of a memo with names of
potential replacements for Nimoy should he not return. Among the
names on that list were Lloyd Bochner and David Carradine.
Dr. McCoy is the only one aboard the Enterprise to (almost) always
call Kirk "Jim." Not even Spock does that, and he has just as close
a friendship.
William Shatner struggled with his weight throughout the run of the
show. He would report to the studio at the beginning of a new
season's filming in great shape having worked out during the break
and been put on a diet. However as the weeks of filming dragged on
his waistline increased. Watching stories filmed at the beginning
and end of a season show this and some later stories in the final
season appear to show Shatner wearing a corset hidden under his
tunic.
The fledgling studio Desilu didn't have the resources of the other
big studios. When the pilot, Star Trek: The Cage (1966), starring
Jeffrey Hunter as the Captain was a success, they met with Hunter
to discuss a contract for 6 more episodes. Unfortunately Hunter
brought his wife to the meeting and in the main stayed silent while
she did the talking. She made demands the studio couldn't afford
such as Fan club managers, personal transport and phones etc. When
they were told they couldn't afford it, they walked out. William
Shatner had played a captain in the film Judgement at Nuremburg. He
was contacted, turned out to be less demanding, and was hired.
The TV series "Burke's Law" featured several actresses in early
roles who became Captain Kirk's future girlfriends. These were
Celeste Yarnall, Nancy Kovak, Susan Oliver, and France Nuyen.
William Shatner himself also appeared in that series.
Spock is a full Commander as indicated by the two, solid braids on
his sleeve and this would be consistent with his being first
officer on a capital ship but he is frequently misidentified as
Lieutenant-Commander Spock, one rank grad lower than his actual
rank.
Although Starfleet is supposed to be a non militaristic
organisation, it does resemble the way the British Royal Navy of
the 18th and 19th centuries carried out its duties. Starfleet
patrols Federation space protecting interplanetary travel and trade
within its borders, as did the Royal Navy within the growing
British Empire. Starfleet vessels defend Federation space against
against attacks from outside its borders, as did the Royal Navy
against such enemies as France and Spain during the Napoleonic era.
Starfleet also carries out scientific and mapping duties as did the
Royal Navy. Examples of the Navy carrying out these duties include,
the voyages of Captain James Cook to Newfoundland and the Pacific.
The voyage of HMS Beagle, of which Charles Darwin was a member. The
joint voyages of HMS Erebus and HMS Terror, to both the Antarctic
and to find the North West Passage.
It is believed that Leslie Nielsen was the first ever "Trekkie".
According to screenwriter and story editor D.C. Fontana, in the
morning after the first episode aired, Nielsen called the
production office and praised the show.
Since that the producers had no care between the stardates
established in each episode respect its release date, stardates are
not lineal throughout the series, skipping backward and forward
without a sense. In chronological order according the stardates,
the list of the episodes are the following (attending stardate,
episode name, season number and season episode number):
-Unknown: Cage (1x01).
-1312.4: Where No Man Has Gone Before (1x02).
-1329.1: Mudd's Women (1x04).
-1512.2: Corbomite Maneuver (1x03).
-1513.1: Man Trap (1x06).
-1533.6: Charlie X (1x08).
-1672.1: Enemy Within (1x05).
-1704.2: Naked Time (1x07).
-1709.1: Balance of Terror (1x09).
-2124.5: Squire of Gothos (1x19).
-2534: Patterns of Force (2x23).
-2712.4: What Are Little Girls Made Of? (1x10).
-2713.5: Miri (1x12).
-2715.1: Dagger of the Mind (1x11).
-2817.6: Conscience of the King (1x13).
-2821.5: Galileo Seven (1x14).
-2947.3: Court Martial (1x15).
-3012.4: Menagerie, Part I (1x16).
-3013: Menagerie, Part II (1x17).
-3018.2: Catspaw (2x01).
-3025.3: Shore Leave (1x18).
-3045.6: Arena (1x20).
-3087.6: Alternative Factor (1x21).
-3113.2: Tomorrow is Yesterday (1x22).
-3134: City on the Edge of Forever (1x29).
-3141.9: Space Seed (1x25).
-3156.2: Return of the Archons (1x23).
-3192.1: A Taste of Armageddon (1x24).
-3196.1: Devil in the Dark (1x27).
-3198.4: Errand of Mercy (1x28).
-3211.7: Gamesters of Triskelion (2x17).
-3219.8: Metamorphosis (2x02).
-3287.2: Operation: Annihilate! (1x30).
-3372.7: Amok Time (2x05).
-3417.3: This Side of Paradise (1x26).
-3468.1: Who Mourns for Adonais? (2x04).
-3478.2: Deadly Years (2x11).
-3497.2: Friday's Child (2x03).
-3541.9: Changeling (2x08).
-3614.9: Wolf in the Fold (2x07).
-3619.2: Obsession (2x18).
-3715.3: Apple (2x09).
-Unknown: Mirror, Mirror (2x10).
-3842.3: Journey to Babel (2x15).
-4040.7: Bread and Circuses (2x14).
-4202.9: Doomsday Machine (2x06).
-4211.4: Private Little War (2x16).
-4272.5: Elaan of Troyius (3x02).
-4307.1: Immunity Syndrome (2x19).
-4385.3: Spectre of the Gun (3x01).
-4513.3: I, Mudd (2x12).
-4523.3: Trouble with Tribbles (2x13).
-4598: Piece of the Action (2x20).
-4657.5: By Any Other Name (2x21).
-4729.4: Ultimate Computer (2x24).
-Unknown: Omega Glory (2x25).
-4768.3: Return to Tomorrow (2x22).
-Unknown: Assignment Earth (2x26).
-4842.6: Paradise Syndrome (3x03).
-5031.3: Enterprise Incident (3x04).
-5027.3: And the Children Shall Lead (3x05).
-5121: Empath (3x08).
-5423.4: Mark of Gideon (3x17).
-5431.4: Spock's Brain (3x06).
-5476.3: For the World Is Hollow and I Have Touched the Sky
(3x10).
-Unknown: Day of the Dove (3x11).
-5630.7: Is There in Truth No Beauty? (3x07).
-5693.4: Tholian Web (3x09).
-5710.5: Wink of an Eye (3x13).
-Unknown: That Which Survives (3x14).
-5718.3: Whom Gods Destroy (3x16).
-5725.3: Lights of Zetar (3x18).
-5730.2: Let That Be Your Last Battlefield (3x15).
-5784.2: Plato's Stepchildren (3x12).
-5818.4: Cloud Minders (3x19).
-5832.3: Way to Eden (3x20).
-5843.7: Requiem for Methuselah (3x21).
-5906.4: Savage Curtain (3x22).
-5928.5: Turnabout Intruder (3x24).
-5943.7: All Our Yesterdays (3x23).
All computer tapes used to record or display information are
yellow.
Spock's species, the Vulcans, are like a race of computers, with a
reputation for an almost robotic stoicism. Centuries ago (in the
series' time line), Vulcans rejected and repressed their emotion,
devoting themselves to logic. Spock, however, is half-human and, at
times, it shows. In Star Trek: The Naked Time (1966) Spock breaks
down and cries when he is infected by a mysterious virus that
causes its victims to behave irrationally. In Star Trek: Journey to
Babel (1967) Captain Kirk and Dr. McCoy meets Spock's estranged
father Ambassador Sarek and Spock's human mother, Amanda
Grayson.
Thirty years after this show first premiered on American
television, James Doohan played another Scottish character, Damon
Warwick, in the soap opera The Bold and the Beautiful (1987).
Gene Roddenberry was reportedly impressed by Gerry Anderson's
attention to detail in his Supermarionation productions (Supercar
(1961), Fireball XL5 (1962), Stingray (1964), Thunderbirds (1965),
Captain Scarlet and the Mysterons (1967), Joe 90 (1968), and The
Secret Service (1969)) and once shared part of a bottle of Scotch
with him at Pinewood Studios.
Anderson was equally complimentary, expressing his admiration for
Roddenberry's efforts on Star Trek.
Star Trek has some ties to Anderson's series Space: 1999
(1975):
Fred Freiberger, who produced Space: 1999 (1975)'s last season,
also produced Star Trek (1966)'s final season as well.
Martin Landau was originally offered the role of Commander Spock on
Star Trek (1966), but wasn't interested in portraying a character
with no emotions (limiting his acting range). When Landau left
Mission: Impossible (1966), Leonard Nimoy, who played the role of
Spock joined the cast.
Space: 1999: Guardian of Piri (1975) mentions a "prime
directive".
Commander John Koenig has the same last name as Walter Koenig who
played Chekov in the Star Trek franchise, starting with the
original series (it's been confirmed by the producers to just be a
coincidence).
Space: 1999: One Moment of Humanity (1976) has almost the same plot
as Star Trek: Wink of an Eye (1968). Zamara also very closely
resembles Deela.
Space: 1999: The Immunity Syndrome (1977) has the same title as
Star Trek: The Immunity Syndrome (1968).
Space 1999's concept is similar in premise to future Star Trek spin
off series Star Trek: Voyager (1995), both are about a group of
individuals flung away from Earth with no quick way back. However,
while Voyager had an ending where the heroes eventually returned
home, Space: 1999 was canceled without a proper ending.
Catherine Schell was the first actress considered for the role of
Captain Kathryn Janeway in Star Trek Voyager.
Not only does Commander John Koenig share a set of initials with
Captain Jim Kirk, the "leader/scientist/medic" triumvirate of
Koenig/Russell/Bergman echoes that of Kirk/Spock/McCoy.
Jonathan Frakes who stared as Commander William T. Riker in Star
Trek spin off Star Trek: The Next Generation (1987) would direct
the live action version of Gerry Anderson's Thunderbirds
(2004).
Star Trek: All Our Yesterdays (1969) is the only episode to have no
scenes on the Enterprise.
With all the mishaps with the Enterprise and other Star Fleet
ships, including many times when the Enterprise crew went aboard a
"dead" ship, the artificial gravity systems always seemed to work
perfectly.
At Lt Sulu helm position, there are no screens, no dials, no gauges
and no instruments of any kind. The only controls he has are
colored buttons and some toggle switches. This means there is no
way he could enter in coordinates or do any precise navigation of
any kind.
Despite not being shown until 1988, clips of Star Trek: The Cage
(1966) were actually shown during Star Trek: The Menagerie: Part I
(1966)/Star Trek: The Menagerie: Part II (1966).
Grace Lee Whitney's role as Yeoman Rand was cut halfway through
season one and no explanation was given for her sudden
disappearance. Years later Whitney alleged that she had been
seriously sexually assaulted by a "...significant figure involved
with the show..". The man was never named but it is not thought to
be any of the cast or the show's creator Gene Roddenberry. Whitney
was effectively sacked from the show by executives who feared a
scandal and paid her off to buy her silence. Unfortunately her
career was now in tatters, her marriage was breaking apart and she
later admitted becoming an alcoholic and had started smoking
marijuana, to which she became addicted for years.
More than a decade later, during contract negotiations for Star
Trek - The Motion Picture (1979), one of the stipulations made by
actor Leonard Nimoy to reprise his role as Spock was that Paramount
bring her character back in some capacity. William Shatner had kept
in contact with her in the intervening years and told Nimoy she had
fallen on hard times. Like many of the cast, Nimoy thought she had
been treated very badly at the time and he used the negotiations as
leverage to get her a pay-check. After her cameo in the film she
appeared in three more Trek films and started to make appearances
at Trek conventions until her passing in 2015. It has never been
made public who her alleged assailant was, although many fans claim
to know the identity of individual concerned.
When Gene Roddenberry pitched the series to the American
broadcaster, National Broadcasting Company (NBC), he described it
as a "Wagon Train (1957) to the stars". Wagon train was about the
trek and early colonization of the frontier territory that would
become California.
Very few retakes of scenes were allowed due to an incredibly tight
filming schedule. This meant that the actors had to be very much on
the ball with their lines and delivery as the directors were under
immense pressure to get each set up done in one take. Typically all
the live action scenes for each episode had to be shot in 7 days
(occasionally 6, depending how far behind schedule the series was)
and the framing story for Star Trek: The Menagerie: Part I
(1966)/Star Trek: The Menagerie: Part II (1966) had to be shot in
just four days.
If a word was flubbed, a prop failed or an actor stumbled on set,
often there was no time to set up the scene again. Providing the
take was otherwise usable, it would be down to creative editing to
work around those mistakes. Several directors were not invited back
to direct further stories after taking eight days to complete
filming instead of the allocated seven. In comparison the ten days
of filming allocated to directors for filming 'Star Trek- The Next
Generation' episode twenty years later must have felt like a
luxury.
After deciding to replace Jeffrey Hunter as Capt. Kirk, Gene
Roddenberry originally offered the role to Jack Lord. But when Lord
demanded 50 percent ownership of the show, Roddenberry instead
turned to William Shatner. Lord soon went on to an iconic run as
Steve McGarrett in the original Hawaii Five-O.
When CBS had the shows remastered in the early 2000s they found
that both domestic and foreign networks were slow to pick up the
new version due to CBS hiking up the price for broadcast of the new
tapes. For several years afterwards broadcasters showed the
original unremastered tapes as rights were half the price of the
new ones. Eventually CBS gradually removed the original versions
from the market and introduced the new versions but also dropped
the prices to keep demand going.
The ages of the principle cast at the start of the series (1966)
are as follows: James Doohan and Deforest Kelley were 46, William
Shatner and Leonard Nimoy were 35, Majel Barrett and Nichelle
Nichols were 34, Walter Koenig was 30, and George Takei was 29.
After Charlie Bluhdorn bought Desilu from Lucille Ball in 1967, he
slashed the budgets of "Star Trek" and "Mission: Impossible
(1966)". Each episode of "Star Trek" and "Mission: Impossible" was
costing Desilu at least $185,000 ($1,601,352 in 2022) to produce:
the primary reason Ball decided to sell. Each series has since
become a multi-billion-dollar franchise for Viacom, which bought
Paramount in 1994.
Until her passing on July 30, 2022, Nichelle Nichols, who played
Lieutenant Nyota Uhura, was the last surviving regular female cast
member.
As of Nichelle Nichols' death on July 30, 2022, William Shatner,
George Takei, and Walter Koenig are the only surviving principal
cast members.
In Gene Roddenberry's original draft of the pilot, Captain
Christopher Pike was Captain Robert M. April, Yeoman Janice Rand
was Yeoman J. M. Colt, and the U.S.S. Enterprise was the U.S.S.
Yorktown. Robert April later became a separate character, first
appearing in Star Trek: The Animated Series: The Counter-Clock
Incident (1974) and again in two episodes of Star Trek: Strange New
Worlds (2022).
Including Grace Lee Whitney, and excluding the two pliots, there
were nine regular cast members. Three played characters who wore
gold shirts (William Shatner, George Takei & Walter Koening), three
played characters who wore blue shirts or skirts (Leonard Nimoy,
DeForest Kelley & Majel Barrett), and three played characters who
wore red shirts or skirts (Nichelle Nichols, James Doohan &
Whitney). In both The Corbornite Maneuver (1966) and Mudd's Women
(1966) however, Nichols wore the gold skirt before switching to the
red skirt for the rest of the series. After the two pilots, those
were the earliest episodes produced.
The three seasons are easily distinguished from each other by the
title sequences. First season titles have yellow lettering, and
only feature Shatner and Nimoy's credits. Second season titles also
have yellow lettering, but add Kelley's credit. Third season titles
have blue lettering.
One of the last shows to portray a future that was funny,
optimistic, and progressive before 1973's oil crisis and the fight
for the environment that, in the 1970s, changed the vision of the
future. It can be appreciated in the always cut-clean rooms and
halls of the Enterprise (including another Federation places as
Starbase 11), in the male crew (all them look short hair, no beards
and no mustaches) and in all the suits of the crew, which always
are clean.
One of the most controversial points of the series at the time of
the premiere was the inclusion of a multi-ethnic crew (Sulu is
Chinese, Chekov is Russian and Uhura is Afroamerican). Gene
Roddenberry's intention was to portray a future where the conflicts
between races and countries were overpassed, in the same way that
religion never is mentioned because in the 23rd century is no more
necessary (a strategy to avoid troubles with any religion as
Catholicism, Islamism and Judaism, etc.).
Walter Koenig's character Pavel Chekov was not introduced until
Star Trek: Amok Time (1967) (season 2, episode 1), although in
production order it was Star Trek: Catspaw (1967) (season 2,
episode 7).
In Star Trek: Charlie X (1966) Kirk establishes the total crew
aboard the Enterprise in 428 people.
Romulans were introduced in Star Trek: Balance of Terror
(1966).
In Star Trek: Tomorrow Is Yesterday (1967) Kirk establishes that
Starfleet has 12 ships like Enterprise. However, in the book "The
Making of Star Trek" by Gene Roddenberry and Stephen E. Whitfield
and published in 1973, it is mentioned the names of 14
starships.
When the series was premiered in Spain, it was dubbed to
Latinoamerican and not to Spanish. It was a practice usual, from
50s until late 80s-early 90s, that the most of English TV series
broadcast in Spain were dubbed to Latinoamerican, due to the poor
work conditions of the Spanish dub actors in the country. The
series that were sent to Spain arrived from Mexico or Argentina,
hence the Latinoamerican dub. Star Trek was not dubbed to Spanish
by first time until 1992, 26 years later of the US premiere.
Many times you will see crewmen with a clipboard and pen writing
things down as they stare at panels in various parts of the
Enterprise, but all the panels they are looking at have nothing
more than colored lights, with no names, numbers or functions.
Mission: Impossible: The Code (1969)(#4.1) was the first to air
after this show ended.
Two episodes starred a black cat: Star Trek: Catspaw (1967)(#2.7)
(named Sylvia) then later Star Trek: Assignment: Earth
(1968)(#2.26), named Isis.
Spock reveals in Star Trek: The Man Trap (1966)(#1.1) that Vulcan
has no moon.
It's mentioned in Star Trek: Charlie X (1966)(#1.2) that the
Enterprise has 428 members on board.
Love interests during the show:
Star Trek: The City on the Edge of Forever (1967)(#1.28)
Sulu is clearly attracted to ("has a crush on") Uhuru. This is
indicated in Star Trek: The Naked Time (1966)(#1.4) & Star Trek:
Mirror, Mirror (1967)(#2.4)
Nurse Chapel also has a crush on Spock. This is indicated very
clearly in Star Trek: The Naked Time (1966)(#1.4). In fact she even
tells him that she is in love with him. & Star Trek: Amok Time
(1967)(#2.1).
The word "Hell" was used five times
Star Trek: Space Seed (1967)(#1.22), when Kirk quotes Milton, "It
is better to rule in Hell than serve in Heaven",
Star Trek: The Alternative Factor (1967)(#1.27), when Lazarus tells
his counterpart, "I'll chase you into the very fires of hell!",
Star Trek: The City on the Edge of Forever (1967)(#1.28) Kirk says
"let's get the hell out of here". The first of only two times that
the word was used as an expletive, rather than a reference to the
domicile of the damned.
Star Trek: The Doomsday Machine (1967)(#2.6), when Decker describes
the berserker as "right out of hell." Kirk also says "What the hell
is going on?" when he activates the Constellation viewscreen and
sees the Enterprise being pulled into the maw of the Planet Killer.
The second of only two times that the word was used as an
expletive, rather than a reference to the domicile of the
damned.
Initially, the false ears made for Leonard Nimoy didn't fit over
his real ones. A phone call was made to the makeup department of
M.G.M., where a brand new pair of false ears were made to fit the
actor.
William Shatner wrote in his book about the show that he celebrated
his being cast as Kirk by taking his children to dinner in Los
Angeles.
DeForest Kelley's first filmed Star Trek performance was Star Trek:
The Corbomite Maneuver (1966).
James Doohan had played the minor character Lawrence Tobin in
Voyage to the Bottom of the Sea: Hot Line (1964) and Voyage to the
Bottom of the Sea: Hail to the Chief (1964), a series with some
thematic similarities to Star Trek. He was offered the role of
Chief Francis Sharkey, a regular character on that series, but
chose to play Montgomery Scott on Star Trek instead.
Catch phrases:
"Beam me up Scotty."
"That is not logical".
"Live Long and Prosper".
"Khan!.... Khan!...".
"Stardate...".
"To boldly go where no man has gone before".
"Aye Aye captain".
"Shields up...phasers ready"...
Film number 4 was made in 1985 and released in 1986 while film
number 5 was scheduled to start in October1985.
The only one(s) aboard the Enterprise personnel to consistently
call Captain Kirk "Jim," even in the presence of other officers is
Dr. McCoy (Lt. Comdr. Gary Mitchell also did this in Where No Man
Has Gone Before.) Mr. Spock has been said to be closer to Kirk than
anyone else in the universe and yet he still calls him "Captain"
like any other subordinate.
A charmed Spock stroking a black cat in the Season 2 story
"Catspaw" foreshadows Spot, the pet cat of Data in Star Trek: The
Next Generation (1987).
After the series ended, any of the writers gravitated toward the
cartoon series "Star Trek: The Animated Series (1973)", which also
starred William Shatner and Leonard Nimoy.
The U.S.S. Enterprise Officer's Manual identifies Dr. McCoy as
having been born in Atlanta, Georgia. DeForest Kelley was born in
Toccoa, Georgia.
2001: A Space Odyssey (1968) was released between the 2nd & 3rd
seasons of this show, so it's conceivable that he could have voiced
the ships computer for all the episodes of season 3.
2001: A Space Odyssey (1968) was filmed between the airing of Star
Trek: Amok Time (1967)(#2.1) & Star Trek: The Apple
(1967)(#2.5).
According to William Shatner, Gene Roddenberry originally wanted to
film Star Trek in the language of Esperanto. Shatner starred in
Incubus (1966), one of only two feature films shot entirely in
Esperanto.
17 U.S. Code § 107 : For purposes such as criticism, comment, news
reporting, teaching, scholarship, or research.