10 Obscure Star Trek Secrets That Took Years To Discover
A look behind the scenes of Star Trek into some of the franchise's most obscure secrets.
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00:00 We as audiences only get to see the final products of our favorite shows like Star Trek,
00:04 but there are tons of unknown moments and techniques that contributed to making the shows and films that we adore.
00:10 This list will be looking at uncovered secrets from behind-the-scenes productions of Star Trek revealed through interviews, books, and
00:16 documentaries with cast and crew members. Some of these reveals make you rethink entire storylines,
00:21 but others are just fun trivia. With that being said,
00:25 I'm Bri from Trek Culture and here are 10 obscure Star Trek secrets that took years to discover.
00:30 Number 10, the theme songs lyrics. The original series theme song composed by Alexander Courage is one of the best in Trek.
00:38 It's fast-paced, fun, and otherworldly. Totally perfect for the show.
00:42 However, many don't know that the theme song actually has lyrics. Not only the voiceover Captain Kirk,
00:48 but actual lyrics. Gene Roddenberry wrote these lyrics in order to legally receive
00:53 50% of the royalties for the song, despite the fact that the lyrics were never used.
00:58 He was actually pretty unapologetic about this fact stating, "I have to get money somewhere.
01:03 I'm sure not gonna get it out of the profits of Star Trek." The lyrics were hastily written as they were never actually intended to be
01:09 used, but seemed to be framed from the perspective of Kirk's long-lost lover
01:13 he left on Earth to explore the stars. The story was mentioned in the reference book Inside Star Trek, The Real Story, published in
01:21 1997. Number 9, the arguments over the Dominion War.
01:24 Nowadays, the Dominion War is considered to be one of the most exciting time periods in Star Trek history by many fans of Deep Space Nine.
01:32 But the writers, Ira Stephen Bear and Ronald D. Moore, had to fight hard to include it in the show. Early on, executive producer
01:39 Rick Berman wanted the Dominion War to be over within three to four episodes at most.
01:43 Berman thought that the drawn-out war arc would be too depressing and violent for Star Trek,
01:48 but Moore rebuttaled, telling him that wars are supposed to be depressing and violent.
01:52 But what was most upsetting to Berman was his belief that the war storyline went against Gene Roddenberry's vision for the franchise he created.
01:59 Specifically, his strong desire to keep the stories
02:01 optimistic and for Star Trek to be a hopeful look at what the future could be like if we did things right.
02:07 Nobody can know what Gene would think of the Dominion War as he passed away before the series began,
02:11 but his former wife, May Jill Barrett, criticized the arc in a letter written to Star Trek magazine
02:17 claiming that Gene would never have approved. During an AOL chat in 1999,
02:21 Berman spoke about how he agreed with Barrett that Gene probably wouldn't have loved the Dominion War,
02:26 but said that he was now happy with how it had turned out.
02:28 Number 8 - The Rebooted Gorn.
02:31 The merciless reptilian hunters known as the Gorn have only appeared in Star Trek a few times,
02:36 but whenever they show up, they've proven to be a worthy adversary for the Federation.
02:41 The Gorn first appeared in the classic original series episode "Arena" in a sadly dated costume that didn't do much to sell them as a
02:49 legitimate threat, though the costume was impressive for the time.
02:52 But still, the Gorn, a reptilian race stronger than humans, were compelling enough that the writers decided to bring one back in Star Trek Enterprise,
03:00 which somehow managed to look worse. The early CGI work was, again,
03:05 impressive for the time, but absolutely hilarious in retrospect.
03:09 However, many fans don't know that another reboot of the Gorn was planned for Trek,
03:14 specifically for the 2009 reboot film. According to Star Trek's magazine special in
03:19 2014, the Gorn were designed by Barney Berman and his company, the Proteus Makeup FX team, to appear in a scene at the
03:26 Roropente Prison Colony. The scene was eventually cut, so sadly we never got to see the full updated look of this new Gorn.
03:33 Finally, over a decade later, the Gorn returned in the Lower Decks episode
03:37 "Veritas," looking like a cartoonish version of their original design.
03:41 And we also got the Strange New Worlds episode "All Those Who Wander." The Gorn in that episode were younglings,
03:47 seen battling to the death to decide who's the alpha, and their design greatly resembled the
03:52 Velociraptor-like appearance of the Enterprise Gorn, albeit with much more convincing lighting and movement. After the
03:59 disappointment of not seeing the Gorn at all when they returned in "Memento Mori,"
04:03 this was a very welcomed callback. Number 7 - Garak's secret love for Bashir.
04:08 Unfortunately, good LGBTQ+
04:11 representation was very difficult to get past media executives when "Deep Space Nine" was airing, because many in charge feared the backlash it would generate.
04:19 This is why, despite Andrew Robinson, the actor who played Garak, and the writers both wanting Garak to be portrayed as queer,
04:26 we never saw it on screen.
04:28 However, Andrew Robinson did state that his iconic performance of Garak on the show was inspired by queer culture, and that he actively tried
04:36 to portray him crushing on Dr. Bashir, which really does clear a lot up in retrospect.
04:41 He confirmed the latter explicitly in the "Deep Space Nine" documentary "What We Left Behind," stating, "At first,
04:47 he just wanted to have sex with him. That's absolutely clear."
04:49 He also said in the past, "I started out playing Garak as someone who doesn't have a defined sexuality. He's not gay.
04:56 He's not straight. It's a non-issue for him."
04:59 So while it took far too long for Star Trek to include its first LGBTQ+ characters,
05:04 it's interesting to speculate on whether Garak truly did have these deeper feelings for Bashir, as Robinson claimed.
05:10 Number 6 - The original plans for the Borg.
05:13 As most fans know, the Borg were introduced in the "Next Generation" episode "Q Who," in which Q transported the Enterprise D into Borg space
05:22 to give humanity a taste of what horrors awaited them in deep space.
05:25 However, less people are aware that the Borg were actually planned to be introduced several episodes prior in the Neutral Zone.
05:33 In the episode, Starfleet and the Romulans were investigating their colonies that were destroyed near the Neutral Zone.
05:38 We never learned who destroyed these colonies,
05:40 but when the Enterprise D entered Borg space in "Q Who," scans revealed that a planet destroyed by the Borg was destroyed in exactly the same manner as the Neutral Zone colonies.
05:50 Star Trek "The Next Generation" companion reference books explain that the Borg were originally planned to appear in this episode,
05:56 kick-starting a three-episode trilogy in which the Borg would be introduced as the new main enemy of the Federation,
06:02 prompting the Romulans to join forces with them to save the entire Alpha Quadrant.
06:06 The book goes on to explain that these plans were postponed and then later changed due to a writer's strike in 1988.
06:13 Number 5 - The reason for the Next Generation's uniform redesign.
06:17 Star Trek's Next Generation uniforms were redesigned in the third season,
06:21 changed from the tight-fitting one-piece style jumpsuit into a more comfortable two-piece collared jacket and pants combination.
06:28 A look that more fans would prefer as it just looks more comfortable and more like something that people would actually want to wear into work every day.
06:34 According to Patrick Stewart in many interviews over the years, the old uniforms didn't just look uncomfortable,
06:40 they were actually causing him severe back pain.
06:43 He even said in an interview with BBC Radio 1 that there were talks of a possible lawsuit if the uniforms weren't fixed.
06:49 Some cast members even stated that the material of the old uniforms was causing them to overheat under the studio lights.
06:55 The new uniforms designed by the show's new costume designer Robert Blackman,
06:59 not only looked way better, but were also way more comfortable for the cast.
07:03 Number 4 - The reason Nichelle Nichols decided to stay.
07:06 Nichelle Nichols had to deal with a lot of racist harassment during the first season of the original series,
07:12 and later even learned that studio executives were hiding her fan mail.
07:16 Nichols justifiably wanted to leave the show at this point,
07:19 but changed her mind after a chance encounter with Dr. Martin Luther King Jr.
07:23 She told Dr. King about her desire to leave the show, but he convinced her to stay,
07:28 telling her that Ohura was one of the few black characters on television that wasn't stereotyped,
07:33 and that was treated as an equal on the cast.
07:35 This random encounter with one of the most influential civil rights leaders in history
07:39 helped Nichols realize the importance of her role on the show.
07:42 Nichols didn't publicly recall the story until an interview with the Television Academy Foundation in 2011,
07:48 in which the story soon went viral.
07:51 Number 3 - The origin of the Constellation class.
07:54 The Battle, an episode of The Next Generation's first season,
07:57 introduced us to the USS Stargazer, one of Picard's old ships.
08:01 The Stargazer was abandoned after a devastating battle against unknown attackers,
08:05 who were later revealed to be the Ferengi.
08:07 In the episode, the Ferengi salvage the vessel and use it to lure Picard into a trap
08:12 as revenge for him killing the Ferengi years ago.
08:15 However, the ship in this episode was originally supposed to look very different.
08:19 The book Star Trek The Next Generation Companion revealed that the original script
08:23 described the Stargazer as Constitution class, the same kind of vessel as Kirk's Enterprise.
08:29 By the time the production team decided to change the model of the ship,
08:32 they had already filmed several scenes where characters like Wesley and Geordi
08:36 refer to the ship as a Constitution class vessel.
08:38 So the actors re-recorded their lines as Constellation class,
08:42 and the new takes were placed over the old footage.
08:44 The name Constellation was chosen because it sounded so similar to the word Constitution,
08:49 so the overdubbing is not super noticeable.
08:52 But if you look for it, you can still tell that Geordi is definitely saying a Constitution class starship.
08:58 Number 2 - The argument over the upside down Enterprise.
09:02 The original Enterprise went through a lot of changes before the production team finally
09:06 settled on the classic design that we all know today.
09:09 Matt Jeffries, the lead designer behind the ship, considered a ring-shaped ship,
09:13 which later became canonized as the Enterprise XCV-330, and a more familiar design,
09:19 but with a sphere replacing the saucer.
09:22 This is also the design that inspired the Daedalus class ships.
09:25 Eventually, however, they settled on the shape of the ship,
09:28 but one of the weirdest arguments between Jeffries and Gene Roddenberry
09:31 was over the orientation of the model.
09:33 Star Trek The Magazine, Volume 1, Issue 10, included an interview with Matt Jeffries,
09:38 where he recalled showing Roddenberry the model for the first time.
09:41 He said that the model, unbalanced due to its weird shape,
09:44 flopped upside down from the strings it was hanging from.
09:47 Apparently, Gene loved the look of the Enterprise upside down,
09:50 and Jeffries had a really difficult time trying to unsell him on it.
09:53 Jeffries fortunately won the argument in the end, because,
09:56 let's face it, flipped Enterprise just looks really wrong.
10:00 Number 1 - The Enterprise Model's Bad Side
10:03 The special effects team behind the original series had to use a lot of strange and creative
10:07 methods to save money on the show.
10:09 For example, the main physical model of the original Enterprise was only ever filmed from
10:14 its right side.
10:15 This is because the special effects team decided to run electrical wiring along the left side
10:19 for the lights, and keeping the left side hidden proved to be easier than trying to
10:23 hide the wiring.
10:24 The Enterprise was mostly seen from its right side on the show and for promotional photos,
10:29 but when it needed to be seen from the left side, the video was mirrored and the lettering
10:33 on the hall was replaced with reverse decals so that the text could be read normally.
10:38 There's very little information online about the model's left side, but you can find
10:42 images of the wiring in the reference book "To Boldly Go"
10:45 rare photos from the TOS soundstage season 2.
10:48 Additionally, the Smithsonian National Air and Space Museum in Washington, D.C.
10:52 acquired the model in 1974, and Margaret Weitkamp, a curator at the museum,
10:57 talked about the lack of detail on the left side in an interview with the Washington Post
11:01 in 2017, shortly after the model went through a full restoration at the museum.
11:06 And that was 10 obscure Star Trek secrets that took years to discover.
11:10 I hope that even the most seasoned of you Trekkies learned something new today.
11:13 If you enjoyed this video and you want to see more from us, make sure you subscribe
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11:18 You can also find us on Twitter @TrekCulture, and you can find me on Twitter @TrekkiBrie.
11:23 Until next time, live long and prosper.