DEVELOPMENT
Star Trek was created as a TV series in 1966 by Gene Roddenberry. He sold it as a western, but in space, and modeled it on Jonathan Swift’s Gulliver’s Travels, with each episode combining an adventure with a morality tale.
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| Title used for the first season Wikipedia |
Star Trek creator Gene Roddenberry first wrote for the series Highway Patrol under the pseudonym "Robert Wesley" as he was still in the LAPD at the time.
The original name for the starship in Star Trek was "Yorktown," not "Enterprise".
THE SHOWS
Many of the pipes seen in the starship on the original Star Trek series had the label "G.N.D.N." which stood for "Goes Nowhere, Does Nothin…"
The Star Trek Transporter (teleportation) was created due to save money and episode length on showing the ship land on the planet as the original plan.
In the first Star Trek series, stardates were bogus—the writers were told to pick any combination of four numbers plus a percentage point.
Because of TV censorship, actress Mariette Hartley was not allowed to show her belly button on Star Trek [episode #78 "All Our Yesterdays" in 1969] but later Gene Roddenberry got even when he gave Hartley "two" belly buttons in the 1973 sci-fi movie Genesis II.
The original Star Trek ran for only three series from 1966-69 before it was cancelled. In only became cult viewing when it was repeated after the 1969 moon landing.
After the first series was cancelled William Shantner, who played Captain James Kirk, was out of work and had to live in a camper van.
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| "Spock's Brain" was the first episode of the third season. |
Reruns and syndication from 1969 were a huge success creating a cult following which led to Star Trek: The Next Generation in 1987.
The canonical reason for most of the alien races to be humanoid in Star Trek is an ancient humanoid species seeding the oceans of many worlds with DNA codes 4.5 billion years before the start of the series, directing the evolution of life towards a physical pattern similar to their own.
The Star Trek theme has lyrics. Gene Rodenberry exercised an option to write lyrics for composer Alexander Courage's instrumental theme because he wanted half of the royalties. The lyrics were never used on the TV series.
THE CHARACTERS
Spock was originally supposed to be a Martian, but Gene Roddenberry changed his home to the fictional Vulcan because he feared humans will already land on Mars during the show‘s runtime and make it look outdated.
Vulcan was a fictional planet that Roddenberry created specifically for Spock. He wanted to create a planet that was similar to Earth in many ways, but also had some key differences. For example, Vulcans are logical and rational, while humans are often emotional and irrational. This contrast between Vulcans and humans was one of the things that made Star Trek so popular.
Initially, NBC asked Gene Roddenberry to get rid of the "guy with the pointy ears" because they were worried about his "satanic" appearance. Luckily, Roddenberry refused to cut Spock from the show.
Spock was originally going to have red skin, but the idea was scrapped because the makeup looked like blackface on a monochrome television.
Spock's famous Vulcan salute, ‘Live long and prosper', was inspired by a priestly blessing Leonard Nimroy saw as a child, when he attended a synagogue service with his father.
Leonard Nimoy released multiple albums, including a two sided record titled Two Sides of Leonard Nimoy. One side featured him singing songs as Spock; the other side featured songs related to his personal interests.
Contrary to common belief, Captain Kirk (William Shatner) never uttered "Beam me up, Scotty" in Star Trek.
Gene Roddenberry never gave Captain Kirk a birthplace more specific than the state of Iowa. In 1985, when trying to find a theme for its annual festival, the town of Riverside voted to proclaim itself the future birthplace of the Starfleet officer. Roddenberry gave the town his blessing.
Lieutenant Uhura's name means “freedom” in Swahili. When Nichelle Nichols read for the part of a communications officer in Star Trek, she had a copy of Robert Ruark's Uhuru with her. When Gene Roddenberry heard what the word meant, he changed the character's name to Uhura.
James "Scotty" Doohan was badly wounded during World War II losing fingers on one hand. To hide this Star Trek used a hand double but his injury can be seen when he carries Tribbles in the famous episode.
Because the character of Montgomery Scott in Star Trek inspired so many students to pursue careers in engineering, the Milwaukee School of Engineering presented James Doohan with an honorary degree in engineering.
Sir Patrick Stewart (Captain Jean-Luc Picard) is an anagram of “I scrap Star Trek wit”.
Michael Dorn (Worf) has appeared more times as a regular cast member than any other Star Trek actor in the franchise's history, spanning 5 films and 272 television episodes.
The Klingons were created by screenwriter Gene L. Coon, and first appeared in the 1967 Star Trek episode "Errand of Mercy". They were named after Lieutenant Wilbur Clingan, who served with Star Trek creator Gene Roddenberry in the Los Angeles Police Department.
Spock's famous Vulcan salute, ‘Live long and prosper', was inspired by a priestly blessing Leonard Nimroy saw as a child, when he attended a synagogue service with his father.
Leonard Nimoy released multiple albums, including a two sided record titled Two Sides of Leonard Nimoy. One side featured him singing songs as Spock; the other side featured songs related to his personal interests.
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| Spock, as played by Leonard Nimoy, as seen in the pilots of Star Trek |
Contrary to common belief, Captain Kirk (William Shatner) never uttered "Beam me up, Scotty" in Star Trek.
Gene Roddenberry never gave Captain Kirk a birthplace more specific than the state of Iowa. In 1985, when trying to find a theme for its annual festival, the town of Riverside voted to proclaim itself the future birthplace of the Starfleet officer. Roddenberry gave the town his blessing.
Lieutenant Uhura's name means “freedom” in Swahili. When Nichelle Nichols read for the part of a communications officer in Star Trek, she had a copy of Robert Ruark's Uhuru with her. When Gene Roddenberry heard what the word meant, he changed the character's name to Uhura.
James "Scotty" Doohan was badly wounded during World War II losing fingers on one hand. To hide this Star Trek used a hand double but his injury can be seen when he carries Tribbles in the famous episode.
Because the character of Montgomery Scott in Star Trek inspired so many students to pursue careers in engineering, the Milwaukee School of Engineering presented James Doohan with an honorary degree in engineering.
Sir Patrick Stewart (Captain Jean-Luc Picard) is an anagram of “I scrap Star Trek wit”.
Michael Dorn (Worf) has appeared more times as a regular cast member than any other Star Trek actor in the franchise's history, spanning 5 films and 272 television episodes.
The Klingons were created by screenwriter Gene L. Coon, and first appeared in the 1967 Star Trek episode "Errand of Mercy". They were named after Lieutenant Wilbur Clingan, who served with Star Trek creator Gene Roddenberry in the Los Angeles Police Department.
Majel Barrett was the voice of most onboard computer interfaces throughout the Star Trek. series. Barrett died on December 18, 2008, aged 76, as a result of leukemia. She recorded an entire library of phonetic sounds before her passing which allowed her voice to be used as the computer for future generations.
In 1993, Stephen Hawking became the only person to portray himself on Star Trek when he appeared in "Descent," the 26th episode of the sixth season of The Next Generation, He features in a scene playing poker with Newton, Einstein and Data.
Star Trek: The Motion Picture was the first movie set in the Star Trek universe. It was made in 1979 by Paramount Pictures.
Star Trek: The Motion Picture's final production cost was approximately $46 million. It earned $139 million at the worldwide box office, falling short of studio expectations, but enough for Paramount to propose a less expensive sequel.
"The needs of the many outweigh the needs of the few" is not a quote from some ancient philosopher or legal code. It is a quote from Star Trek II: The Wrath of Khan.
Kim Cattrall, while filming Star Trek IV: The Undiscovered Country, posed for photos on the Enterprise bridge wearing nothing but Vulcan ears. Fearing harm to the franchise, Leonard Nimoy had the pictures destroyed.
The majority of Star Trek takes place within the Milky Way galaxy, however there are some episodes and movies that feature characters traveling to other galaxies.
In 1993, Stephen Hawking became the only person to portray himself on Star Trek when he appeared in "Descent," the 26th episode of the sixth season of The Next Generation, He features in a scene playing poker with Newton, Einstein and Data.
THE MOVIES
Star Trek: The Motion Picture was the first movie set in the Star Trek universe. It was made in 1979 by Paramount Pictures.
Star Trek: The Motion Picture's final production cost was approximately $46 million. It earned $139 million at the worldwide box office, falling short of studio expectations, but enough for Paramount to propose a less expensive sequel.
"The needs of the many outweigh the needs of the few" is not a quote from some ancient philosopher or legal code. It is a quote from Star Trek II: The Wrath of Khan.
Kim Cattrall, while filming Star Trek IV: The Undiscovered Country, posed for photos on the Enterprise bridge wearing nothing but Vulcan ears. Fearing harm to the franchise, Leonard Nimoy had the pictures destroyed.
FUN STAR TREK FACTS
Enthusiastic Star Trek fans are usually called Trekkies. The word was first used by science fiction editor Arthur W. Saha when he saw people wearing fake Vulcan ears at a convention in 1967.
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| By pop culture geek - Flickr: Star Trek Federation Officers, |
English comic actor and writer Stephen Fry's dissertation in his final year at Cambridge University was titled "Apollonian And Dionysian Themes In The Plots Of Star Trek." He once said: “Most of human history and art can be expressed in Star Trek plots.”
There is no word for “hello” in Klingon. The nearest is nuqneH, meaning “What do you want?”
The UK group T'Pau, best known for their 1987 hit "Heart and Soul", was named after a Vulcan high priestess on Star Trek. Their frontwoman Carol Decker was watching an episode when the character appeared, and when she suggested the name, the band went for it.
The phrase "It's life, Jim, but not as we know it" did not originate in Star Trek, but instead in the parody song "Star Trekkin'",
The first man to have his ashes taken into space was Star Trek creator Gene Roddenberry in 1992. Those ashes were brought back to earth but 7gm of them were scattered in space five years later.
Source Daily Express
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