1. Giant team with one actor
The first thing you need to know about Star Trek is the genius behind it. Gene Roddenberry is the father, producer and screenplay writer of Star Trek.
2. Star Trek tells what will happen in the 23rd century
The original series is between the years 2265 and 2269.
3. It was first aired on 06 November 1966.
4. Mister Spock’s skin color was planned as red in the first template.
5. Hometown analysis from chest hair
Creator Roddenberry believed that people will not have chest hair problem in the future. Therefore, while people were reflected without “hair”, extra-terrestrial beings like Mr. Spock were reflected with hair.
6. Eddie Murphy refused to star in Star Trek.
This was a good call because the Enterprise uniform did not suit him.
7. “Beam me up Scotty!” was never said.
Although this is popular, this famous phrase was never said in the original series.
8. Only person who played himself in Star Trek: Stephen Hawking
9. Scotty that created Klingon language
The actors who played “Scotty” in the original was created with linguist Marc Ockrand.
10. The moment Martin Luther King saved Star Trek
When Nichelle Nichols wants to leave the show, Star Trek fan Martin Luther King steps in and convinces her.
11. From Uhura to space
Nichelle Nichols stays in the show and stars in the entire original series. When the series is completed, she joins NASA and continues her scientific work. Nichols is recorded as the first black and female astronaut of the world.
12. First interracial kiss in the US
On the other hand, Nichols leads the way for an interesting thing although she is known for her artistic and scientific career. The kiss between Uhura character that she plays and Captain Kirk played by William Shetner was the first black and white kiss in front of the cameras in the US.
13. By the way, Uhura means “Freedom” in Swahili
14. Economic reasons for beaming
Although we believe in the future vision of Roddenberry, beaming was invented because the budget was not enough to film the landing of Enterprise to planets. It is not wrong to say that beaming is an affordable way for interplanetary travel.
15. “We Do Spock Hair Cut”
When Star Trek is popular, Mr. Spock Leonard Nimoy’s barber father starts doing Spock Hair Cut in his shop.
16. Captain you are not polite
William Shetner who plays Captain Kirk cannot do Spock’s famous Vulcan salute.
17. Vulcan people were actually Jews
Leonard Nimoy created this salute from a hand movement of certain Jewish sects that is similar to Christian crossing.
18. Spock’s gender was at first thought as female.
19. Vulcan grip
Mr. Spock’s famous Vulcan Grip is the contribution of actor Leonard Nimoy.
20. Scotty’s missing finger
James Doohan who plays Scotty lost a finger on his left hand in Normandy Landings.
21. “Going to places that no one dares to go” motto
This phrase of the Enterprise team is actually in a report prepared during the US president Dwight D. Eisenhower period. The report of the President prepared by the Science Consultancy Committee was later shared with the public and Roddenberry added this phrase to the text inspired by the report.
22. 47 number repeated like an obsession
You will hear the number 47 frequently in Star Trek. The number which was jokingly proposed by one of the mathematicians who contributed to the screenplay writing has become an obsession and frequently repeated.
23. Made the cinema history with tens of movies in 50 years
Star Trek series has 13 movies. These are:
1979: The Motion Picture
1982: The Wrath of Khan
1984: The Search for Spock
1986: The Voyage Home
1989: The Fine Frontier
1991: The Undiscovered Country
1994: Generations
1996: First Contact
1998: Insurrection
2002: Nemesis
2009: Star Trek
2013: Into Darkness
2016: Beyond
24. A TV show corpus with thousands of hours and hundreds of episodes
1966-1969: The Original Series
1973-1974: The Animated Series
1987-1994: The Next Generation
1993-1999: Deep Space Nine
1995-2001: Voyager
2001-2005: Enterprise
2017- ….. : Star Trek
25. Future that ends sexism in fashion
Roddenberry believes that clothes in the future will eliminate gender discrimination. Although he desired the uniforms in Star Trek to have a single style, this happened in “New Generation” series.
26. The music of the first 3 series was done by Alexander Courage
Opening sequences of the original series
27. The director of the first movie is Robert Wise.
Before Star Trek: The Motion Picture, Robert Wise was known for West Side Story, The Sound of Music and Citizen Kane movies.
28. Old actors who starred in 2009 Star Trek movie of JJ Abrams
Only two names from the original series were starred in 2009 movie of the series.
These were Leonard Nimoy playing Spock and Najel Barret voicing over Computer.
Majel Barret who is the “lover” of Roddenberry played Nurse Chapel in the original series.
29. The producer of the original series is Desilu Production.
The owner of Desilu Production is actor and producer Lucille Ball. Ball prevented Star Trek to be cancelled due to low rating and supported the series to continue airing.
30. There are things that money can’t buy in life.
And one of these might be your passion for Star Trek. Desilu Production is acquired by Paramount Studios. But they want to end Star Trek that loses money and has a low rating. They even promo pose money to Roddenberry to end the show.
31. Spock-eared scientists
The TV show was highly popular among scientists. Such that scientists at NASA wore Spock ears in 1967 when they send Meriner Venus space vehicle to Venus.
32. Spock’s famous ears were not going to happen
NBC directors feared that the famous ears will lead to a “Satanist” perception but the ears stayed with Roddenberry’s defense. We are glad they did.
33. Star Trek fan Jordanian King Abdullah was a guest star in the TV show
Star Trek: Voyager Series. 2. Season 20. Episode: “Investigations”
34. Meaning of uniform colors
The meaning of the uniform colors in the Original series are as follows:
Yellow: Administrative Team
Red: Supportive Team
Blue: Scientists
35. Captains journey log
“Captains Journey Log” that we commonly hear in every movie and new shooting and which is the part of the popular culture looked like this in the original series.
36. Worst Star Trek episode ever
The worst episode is selected as “Spock’s Brain” by the fans and producers. In the first episode on the 3rd season of the Original Series, the plot is about an alien going into Enterprise takes Spock’s brain off and the team is working hard to find and replace the brain. If you believe it.
37. If you are looking for a reason to purchase a colored TV
TV Guide magazine showed Star Trek as the reason to buy a colored TV in 1967 which was the beginning of these TVs.
38. Inseparable duo
Although the cast in Star Trek movies and TV shows changed, Captain Kirk and Mr. Spock were always the same. These two are the only two characters that play in all episodes and movies.
39. Jeffries canals on Computer
Narrow canals opening to Computer to reach the heart of Enterprise is named after the art director Matt Jeffries.
40. Why don’t we know Mr. Spock’s name?
We do know but we can’t tell. S’chn T’gai Spock.
41. Roddenberry’s source of inspirations
Roddenberry listed the names who inspired him in one of the interviews:
A. E. van Vogt – The Voyage of Space Beagle
Eric Frank Russell – Marathon Series Books
Jonathan Swift – Gulliver’s Travels
C. S. Foreste – Horatio Hornblower
The Forbidden Planet (1956)
42. Making Spock from Koening
Before Leonard Nimoy, Mr. Spock character was offered to Martin Landau. We are glad he did not accept it because Landau later started in Space:1999 TV show.
43. Father of flip phones
The communication devices in Star Trek series is the inspiration for the flip phones of the 90s.
44. TV show that invented the automatic door
Star Trek first suggested automatic doors which do not sound like science-fiction now.
45. Flat screens, monitors and touchscreens
While these were not possible in those days, all of these are the inseparable parts of our daily lives. We should note that monitors in the first Star Trek were unable to match the shooting speed and the crew was assigned to wake up the screen image.
46. Opposite corner Enterprise
In the first plans of Roddenberry, Enterprise was flying as you can see in the image. Although the top and bottom terms are meaningless in the space, the position on the screen was later changed.
47. I will act but I will not watch.
William Shetner hasn’t watched any Star Trek episodes including the Original Series he starred in.
48. TV show of records
Star Trek, was recorded by Guinness in 2000 as the “Most Replayed” TV show.
49. We didn’t say but…
Ferengi in the Next-generation series was inspired by typical lawyer behaviors. We don’t want to say anything about your lawyer friends but according to the screenplay writers, these creators that constantly does contracts, obsessed with money and act badly against women are like the lawyers in real life.
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