A look behind the scenes of Star Trek into some of the franchise's most obscure secrets.
Category
📺
TVTranscript
00:00We as audiences only get to see the final products of our favorite shows like Star Trek
00:04But there are tons of unknown moments and techniques that contributed to making the shows and films that we adore.
00:10This list will be looking at uncovered secrets from behind-the-scenes productions of Star Trek revealed through interviews, books, and
00:16documentaries with cast and crew members. Some of these reveals make you rethink entire storylines,
00:21but others are just fun trivia. With that being said, I'm Bri from Trek Culture and here are 10 obscure Star Trek secrets
00:28that took years to discover.
00:30Number 10, the theme songs lyrics. The original series theme song composed by Alexander Courage is one of the best in Trek.
00:38It's fast-paced, fun, and otherworldly. Totally perfect for the show.
00:42However, many don't know that the theme song actually has lyrics. Not only the voiceover Captain Kirk,
00:48but actual lyrics. Gene Roddenberry wrote these lyrics in order to legally receive 50% of the royalties for the song,
00:55despite the fact that the lyrics were never used. He was actually pretty unapologetic about this fact, stating,
01:01I have to get money somewhere.
01:03I'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
01:09be used, but seemed to be framed from the perspective of Kirk's long-lost lover
01:13he left on Earth to explore the stars. The story was mentioned in the reference book, Inside Star Trek, The Real Story, published in
01:211997. Number 9, the arguments over the Dominion War.
01:25Nowadays, 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.
01:32But the writers, Ira Stephen Bear and Ronald D. Moore, had to fight hard to include it in the show.
01:37Early on, executive producer Rick Berman wanted the Dominion War to be over within three to four episodes, at most.
01:43Berman thought that the drawn-out war arc would be too depressing and violent for Star Trek,
01:48but Moore rebuttaled, telling him that wars are supposed to be depressing and violent.
01:52But what was most upsetting to Berman was his belief that the war storyline went against Gene Roddenberry's vision for the franchise he created.
01:59Specifically, his strong desire to keep the stories optimistic, and for Star Trek to be a hopeful look at what the future could be like
02:06if we did things right.
02:07Nobody can know what Gene would think of the Dominion War as he passed away before the series began,
02:12but his former wife, Majel Barrett, criticized the arc in a letter written to Star Trek magazine,
02:17claiming that Gene would never have approved. During an AOL chat in
02:211999, Berman spoke about how he agreed with Barrett that Gene probably wouldn't have loved the Dominion War,
02:26but said that he was now happy with how it had turned out.
02:29Number eight, the rebooted Gorn.
02:31The merciless reptilian hunters known as the Gorn have only appeared in Star Trek a few times,
02:36but whenever they show up, they've proven to be a worthy adversary for the Federation.
02:41The 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
02:49legitimate threat, though the costume was impressive for the time.
02:52But still, the Gorn, a reptilian race stronger than humans, were compelling enough that the writers decided to bring one back in Star Trek Enterprise,
03:00which somehow managed to look worse. The early CGI work was, again,
03:05impressive for the time, but absolutely hilarious in retrospect.
03:09However, many fans don't know that another reboot of the Gorn was planned for Trek,
03:14specifically for the 2009 reboot film. According to Star Trek's magazine special in
03:192014, the Gorn were designed by Barney Berman and his company, the Proteus Makeup FX team, to appear in a scene at the
03:26Roropente Prison Colony. The scene was eventually cut, so sadly we never got to see the full updated look of this new Gorn.
03:33Finally, over a decade later, the Gorn returned in the Lower Decks episode,
03:37Veritas, looking like a cartoonish version of their original design.
03:41And we also got the Strange New Worlds episode, All Those Who Wander. The Gorn in that episode were younglings,
03:47seen battling to the death to decide who's the Alpha, and their design greatly resembled the
03:52Velociraptor-like appearance of the Enterprise Gorn, albeit with much more convincing lighting and movement. After the
03:59disappointment of not seeing the Gorn at all when they returned in Memento Mori,
04:03this was a very welcomed callback.
04:05Number 7, Garak's secret love for Bashir.
04:09Unfortunately, good LGBTQ plus representation was very difficult to get past media executives when Deep Space Nine was airing,
04:17because many in charge feared the backlash it would generate.
04:20This is why, despite Andrew Robinson, the actor who played Garak, and the writers both wanting Garak to be portrayed as queer,
04:26we never saw it on screen.
04:28However, Andrew Robinson did state that his iconic performance of Garak on the show was inspired by queer culture,
04:35and that he actively tried to portray him crushing on Dr. Bashir, which really does clear a lot up in retrospect.
04:41He confirmed the latter explicitly in the Deep Space Nine documentary, What We Left Behind, stating,
04:59So while it took far too long for Star Trek to include its first LGBTQ plus characters,
05:04it's interesting to speculate on whether Garak truly did have these deeper feelings for Bashir, as Robinson claimed.
05:11Number 6, the original plans for the Borg.
05:14As most fans know, the Borg were introduced in the Next Generation episode, Q Who, in which Q transported the Enterprise D
05:21into Borg space to give humanity a taste of what horrors awaited them in deep space.
05:26However, less people are aware that the Borg were actually planned to be introduced several episodes prior in the Neutral Zone in the episode
05:34Starfleet and the Romulans were investigating their colonies that were destroyed near the Neutral Zone.
05:38We never learned who destroyed these colonies,
05:40but when the Enterprise D entered Borg space in Q Who,
05:43scans revealed that a planet destroyed by the Borg was destroyed in exactly the same manner as the Neutral Zone colonies.
05:50Star Trek The Next Generation companion reference books explained that the Borg were originally planned to appear in this episode,
05:56kick-starting a three-episode trilogy in which the Borg would be introduced as the new main enemy of the Federation,
06:02prompting the Romulans to join forces with them to save the entire Alpha Quadrant.
06:06The book goes on to explain that these plans were postponed and then later changed due to a writer strike in 1988.
06:13Number 5, the reason for the Next Generation's uniform redesign.
06:17Star Trek's Next Generation uniforms were redesigned in the third season,
06:21changed from the tight-fitting one-piece style jumpsuit into a more comfortable two-piece collared jacket and pants combination.
06:28A 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.
06:34According to Patrick Stewart in many interviews over the years, the old uniforms didn't just look uncomfortable,
06:40they were actually causing him severe back pain.
06:42He even said in an interview with BBC Radio 1 that there were talks of a possible lawsuit if the uniforms weren't fixed.
06:49Some cast members even stated that the material of the old uniforms was causing them to overheat under the studio lights.
06:55The new uniforms designed by the show's new costume designer, Robert Blackman,
06:59not only looked way better, but were also way more comfortable for the cast.
07:03Number 4, the reason Nichelle Nichols decided to stay.
07:06Nichelle Nichols had to deal with a lot of racist harassment during the first season of the original series and later even learned that studio
07:14executives were hiding her fan mail. Nichols justifiably wanted to leave the show at this point,
07:19but changed her mind after a chance encounter with Dr. Martin Luther King Jr.
07:23She told Dr. King about her desire to leave the show,
07:26but he convinced her to stay, telling her that Ohura was one of the few black characters on television that wasn't
07:32stereotyped and that was treated as an equal on the cast. This random encounter with one of the most influential civil rights leaders in history
07:39helped Nichols realize the importance of her role on the show.
07:42Nichols didn't publicly recall the story until an interview with the Television Academy Foundation in
07:482011 in which the story soon went viral.
07:51Number 3, the origin of the Constellation class. The Battle, an episode of the Next Generation's first season,
07:57introduced us to the USS Stargazer, one of Picard's old ships. The Stargazer was abandoned after a devastating battle against unknown
08:04attackers, who were later revealed to be the Ferengi. In the episode, the Ferengi salvaged the vessel and used it to lure Picard into a trap
08:12as revenge for him killing the Ferengi years ago.
08:15However, the ship in this episode was originally supposed to look very different. The book Star Trek The Next Generation
08:21Companion revealed that the original script described the Stargazer as
08:25Constitution class, the same kind of vessel as Kirk's Enterprise. By the time the production team decided to change the model of the ship,
08:32they had already filmed several scenes where characters like Wesley and Geordi refer to the ship as a Constitution class vessel.
08:38So the actors re-recorded their lines as
08:41Constellation class and the new takes were placed over the old footage. The name
08:45Constellation was chosen because it sounded so similar to the word Constitution.
08:49So the overdubbing is not super noticeable,
08:52but if you look for it, you can still tell that Geordi is definitely saying a Constitution class starship.
08:58Number 2, the argument over the upside-down Enterprise.
09:02The original Enterprise went through a lot of changes before the production team finally settled on the classic design that we all know today.
09:09Matt Jeffreys, the lead designer behind the ship, considered a ring-shaped ship, which later became canonized as the Enterprise XCV-330.
09:17And a more familiar design, but with a sphere replacing the saucer.
09:21This is also the design that inspired the Daedalus class ships. Eventually, however,
09:26they settled on the shape of the ship.
09:28But one of the weirdest arguments between Jeffreys and Gene Roddenberry was over the orientation of the model.
09:33Star Trek The Magazine, Volume 1, Issue 10, included an interview with Matt Jeffreys where he recalled showing Roddenberry the model for the first time.
09:41He said that the model, unbalanced due to its weird shape, flopped upside down from the strings
09:46it was hanging from.
09:47Apparently, Gene loved the look of the Enterprise upside down and Jeffreys had a really difficult time trying to unsell him on it.
09:53Jeffreys fortunately won the argument in the end because, let's face it, flipped Enterprise just looks really wrong.
10:00Number 1. The Enterprise Model's Bad Side.
10:03The special effects team behind the original series had to use a lot of strange and creative methods to save money on the show.
10:09For example, the main physical model of the original Enterprise was only ever filmed from its right side.
10:14This is because the special effects team decided to run electrical wiring along the left side for the lights and
10:20keeping the left side hidden proved to be easier than trying to hide the wiring.
10:24The Enterprise was mostly seen from its right side on the show and for promotional photos.
10:29But when it needed to be seen from the left side, the video was mirrored and the lettering on the hall was replaced with reverse
10:35decals so that the text could be read normally.
10:38There's very little information online about the model's left side,
10:41but you can find images of the wiring in the reference book, To Boldly Go, rare photos from the TOS soundstage season 2.
10:48Additionally, the Smithsonian National Air and Space Museum in Washington DC acquired the model in
10:541974 and Margaret Weitkamp, a curator at the museum,
10:57talked about the lack of detail on the left side in an interview with the Washington Post in
11:022017, shortly after the model went through a full restoration at the museum.
11:06And that was 10 obscure Star Trek secrets that took years to discover.
11:10I hope that even the most seasoned of you Trekkies learned something new today.
11:13If you enjoyed this video and you want to see more from us, make sure you subscribe to Trek Culture below.
11:18You can also find us on Twitter at Trek Culture and you can find me on Twitter at TrekkieBrie.
11:23Until next time, live long and prosper.