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A look behind the scenes of Star Trek into some of the franchise's most obscure secrets.
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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
00:08shows and films that we adore. This list will be looking at uncovered secrets from behind-the-scenes
00:13productions of Star Trek revealed through interviews, books, and documentaries with
00:17cast and crew members. Some of these reveals make you rethink entire storylines, but others
00:22are just fun trivia. With that being said, I'm Bri from Trek Culture, and here are 10
00:27obscure Star Trek secrets that took years to discover.
00:31Number 10. The theme song's lyrics. The original series theme song composed by Alexander Courage
00:36is one of the best in Trek. It'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
00:47Captain Kirk, but actual lyrics. Gene Roddenberry wrote these lyrics in order to legally receive
00:5350% of the royalties for the song, despite the fact that the lyrics were never used. He was
00:59actually pretty unapologetic about this fact, stating,
01:02I have to get money somewhere. I'm sure not gonna get it out of the profits of Star Trek.
01:06The lyrics were hastily written, as they were never actually intended to be used,
01:10but seemed to be framed from the perspective of Kirk's long-lost lover he left on Earth to explore
01:15the stars. The story was mentioned in the reference book Inside Star Trek, The Real Story,
01:20published in 1997. 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
01:29history by many fans of Deep Space Nine. But the writers, Ira Stephen Bear and Ronald D. Moore,
01:35had to fight hard to include it in the show. Early on, executive producer Rick Berman wanted
01:40the Dominion War to be over within three to four episodes, at most. Berman thought that the drawn-out
01:45war arc would be too depressing and violent for Star Trek, but more rebuttaled, telling him that
01:50wars are supposed to be depressing and violent. But what was most upsetting to Berman was his
01:54belief 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
02:04at what the future could be like if we did things right. Nobody can know what Gene would think of
02:09the Dominion War as he passed away before the series began, but his former wife, May Jill Barrett,
02:14criticized the arc in a letter written to Star Trek magazine, claiming that Gene would never have
02:18approved. During an AOL chat in 1999, Berman spoke about how he agreed with Barrett that Gene probably
02:24wouldn't have loved the Dominion War, but said that he was now happy with how it had turned out.
02:29Number 8. The Rebooted Gorn
02:31The merciless reptilian hunters known as the Gorn have only appeared in Star Trek a few times,
02:37but 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
02:47didn't do much to sell them as a legitimate 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
02:57decided to bring one back in Star Trek Enterprise, which somehow managed to look worse. The early
03:03CGI work was, again, impressive for the time, but absolutely hilarious in retrospect. However,
03:10many fans don't know that another reboot of the Gorn was planned for Trek, specifically for the 2009
03:16reboot film. According to Star Trek's magazine special in 2014, the Gorn were designed by Barney
03:22Berman and his company, the Proteus Makeup FX team, to appear in a scene at the Roropenthe prison
03:27colony. The scene was eventually cut, so sadly we never got to see the full updated look of this new
03:33Gorn. Finally, over a decade later, the Gorn returned in the Lower Decks episode,
03:37Veritas, looking like a cartoonish version of their original design. And we also got the Strange New
03:43Worlds episode, All Those Who Wander. The Gorn in that episode were younglings seen battling to
03:49the death to decide who's the Alpha, and their design greatly resembled the Velociraptor-like
03:53appearance of the Enterprise Gorn, albeit with much more convincing lighting and movement.
03:58After the disappointment of not seeing the Gorn at all when they returned in Memento Mori,
04:03this was a very welcomed callback.
04:05Number 7. Garrick's Secret Love for Bashir
04:08Unfortunately, good LGBTQ plus representation was very difficult to get past media executives when
04:15Deep Space Nine was airing, because many in charge feared the backlash it would generate.
04:20This is why, despite Andrew Robinson, the actor who played Garrick, and the writers both wanting
04:25Garrick to be portrayed as queer, we never saw it on screen. However, Andrew Robinson did state that
04:30his iconic performance of Garrick on the show was inspired by queer culture, and that he actively
04:35tried 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,
04:46stating,
04:46At first he just wanted to have sex with him. That's absolutely clear. He also said in the past,
04:51I started out playing Garrick as someone who doesn't have a defined sexuality. He's not gay.
04:56He's not straight. It's a non-issue for him.
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 Garrick truly did have these deeper feelings for Bashir,
05:09as Robinson claimed.
05:11Number six, the original plans for the Borg.
05:14As most fans know, the Borg were introduced in the Next Generation episode, Q Who,
05:19in which Q transported the Enterprise D into Borg space to give humanity a taste of what horrors
05:24awaited them in deep space. However, less people are aware that the Borg were actually
05:29planned 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
05:37Zone. We never learned who destroyed these colonies, but 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
05:49Neutral Zone colonies. Star Trek The Next Generation companion reference books explain that the Borg were
05:54originally planned to appear in this episode, kickstarting a three-episode trilogy in which the
05:59Borg would be introduced as the new main enemy of the Federation, prompting the Romulans to join
06:04forces with them to save the entire Alpha Quadrant. The book goes on to explain that these plans were
06:09postponed and then later changed due to a writer's strike in 1988.
06:13Number five, the reason for the Next Generation's uniform redesign.
06:17Star Trek's Next Generation uniforms were redesigned in the third season, changed from the tight-fitting
06:22one-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
06:32that people would actually want to wear into work every day. According to Patrick Stewart in many
06:36interviews over the years, the old uniforms didn't just look uncomfortable, they were actually causing
06:41him severe back pain. He even said in an interview with BBC Radio 1 that there were talks of a possible
06:47lawsuit if the uniforms weren't fixed. Some cast members even stated that the material of the old
06:52uniforms was causing them to overheat under the studio lights. The new uniforms designed by the
06:57show's new costume designer, Robert Blackman, not only looked way better, but were also way more
07:02comfortable for the cast. Number four, the reason Nichelle Nichols decided to stay. Nichelle Nichols
07:07had to deal with a lot of racist harassment during the first season of the original series, and later
07:12even learned that studio executives were hiding her fan mail. Nichols justifiably wanted to leave the show at
07:19this point, but 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, but he convinced her to stay, telling her
07:28that Uhura was one of the few Black characters on television that wasn't stereotyped, and that was
07:34treated as an equal on the cast. This random encounter with one of the most influential civil
07:38rights leaders in history helped Nichols realize the importance of her role on the show. Nichols didn't
07:43publicly recall the story until an interview with the Television Academy Foundation in 2011,
07:48in which the story soon went viral. Number three, the origin of the Constellation class.
07:54The battle, an episode of The Next Generation's first season, introduced us to the USS Stargazer,
08:00one 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 use
08:10it to lure Picard into a trap as revenge for him killing the Ferengi years ago. However, the ship
08:16in 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 constitution class,
08:26the same kind of vessel as Kirk's Enterprise. By the time the production team decided to change the
08:31model of the ship, they had already filmed several scenes where characters like Wesley and Geordi
08:36refer to the ship as a constitution class vessel. So the actors re-recorded their lines as
08:40constellation class, and the new takes were placed over the old footage. The name constellation was
08:46chosen because it sounded so similar to the word constitution, so the overdubbing is not super
08:51noticeable. But if you look for it, you can still tell that Geordi is definitely saying a constitution
08:57class starship. Number two, the argument over the upside down Enterprise. The original Enterprise went
09:04through a lot of changes before the production team finally settled on the classic design that we all
09:08know today. Matt Jeffries, the lead designer behind the ship, considered a ring-shaped ship, which later
09:14became canonized as the Enterprise XCV-330, and a more familiar design, but with a sphere replacing the
09:21saucer. This is also the design that inspired the Daedalus class ships. Eventually, however, they settled on
09:27the shape of the ship, but one of the weirdest arguments between Jeffries and Gene Roddenberry was over
09:32the orientation of the model. Star Trek The Magazine, Volume 1, Issue 10, included an interview
09:37with Matt Jeffries where he recalled showing Roddenberry the model for the first time. He said
09:41that the model, unbalanced due to its weird shape, flopped upside down from the strings it was hanging
09:46from. Apparently, Gene loved the look of the Enterprise upside down, and Jeffries had a really difficult
09:51time trying to unsell him on it. Jeffries fortunately won the argument in the end because, let's face it,
09:57flipped Enterprise just looks really wrong. Number one, the Enterprise model's bad side. The special
10:04effects team behind the original series had to use a lot of strange and creative methods to save money
10:08on the show. For example, the main physical model of the original Enterprise was only ever filmed from its
10:14right side. This is because the special effects team decided to run electrical wiring along the left side for the
10:20lights, and keeping the left side hidden proved to be easier than trying to hide the wiring. The Enterprise was
10:25mostly seen from its right side on the show and for promotional photos, but when it needed to be seen
10:31from the left side, the video was mirrored and the lettering on the hall was replaced with reverse decals
10:36so that the text could be read normally. There's very little information online about the model's left
10:41side, but you can find images of the wiring in the reference book To Boldly Go, rare photos from the
10:46TOS Soundstage Season 2. Additionally, the Smithsonian National Air and Space Museum in Washington, D.C.
10:52acquired the model in 1974, and Margaret Weitkamp, a curator at the museum, talked about the lack of
10:58detail on the left side in an interview with the Washington Post in 2017, shortly after the model
11:04went through a full restoration at the museum. And that was 10 obscure Star Trek secrets that took
11:09years to discover. I hope that even the most seasoned of you Trekkies learned something new today. If you
11:13enjoyed this video and you want to see more from us, make sure you subscribe to Trek Culture below. You can also
11:18find us on Twitter at Trek Culture, and you can find me on Twitter at TrekkieBree. Until next time, live long and prosper.
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