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There's a lot of scenes to impress you with!
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00:00We all know what the first duty of every Starfleet officer is.
00:03We've had the lecture from Picard.
00:05Of course, we could always opt instead for Garak's definition of the truth.
00:09However, with nearly six decades of success and a multitude of new adventures on the horizon,
00:14you certainly can't accuse Star Trek of a lack of imagination.
00:17And if TV and film is the art of trickery in the pursuit of believability,
00:21then it is, on contraire, all lies, especially the truth.
00:26With more scenes and scenarios than you can shake a Klingon painstick at,
00:29we certainly have plenty of these professional porkies to be impressed with.
00:33Think of Riker giving the order to fire at the end of the best of both worlds.
00:37Kirk and Spock seeing the faces of the Romulans for the first time.
00:40Janeway's first and last set a course for home.
00:43Sisko and Defiant standing off against the Dominion fleet,
00:46or Archer fleeing the exploding Zindi weapon, to name but a few.
00:50Some Star Trek moments, however, as remarkable as they already are,
00:53only gain in stature when you learn of the effort, ingenuity, skill, sacrifice,
00:58and occasionally the arguments it took to make them.
01:01The real truth behind the following scenes will make you watch them with a newfound sense of awe.
01:06With that being said, I'm Bree from Trek Culture,
01:08and here are 10 Star Trek scenes even more impressive when you know the truth.
01:12Number 10. Shuttlepod 2.
01:15One of the best episodes of Star Trek Enterprise's mixed bag first season is Shuttlepod 1.
01:19Intended as a money-saving bottle show, it featured no guest stars or background cast,
01:24and only six of the main characters, focusing principally on Lieutenant Reed and Commander Tucker,
01:29who are stranded in space.
01:31It had all the makings of a rather forgettable episode.
01:34Crucially, Dominic Keaton and Connor Trenere, the pair who play them, are also best friends.
01:39Thinking Enterprise has been destroyed and that there's no hope for rescue,
01:43the two begin to bicker over their fate.
01:45Finally, however, they choose to crack open the bourbon, drown their sorrows,
01:49and toast their deceased shipmates,
01:51all while freezing their butts off in an acting tour de force.
01:54The drunk scene, and indeed every scene in the Shuttlepod,
01:58is made all the more impressive when you know some behind-the-scenes details.
02:01As the two actors discuss in their appropriately named podcast Shuttlepod,
02:05Connor and Dominic received the script for this episode several days in advance.
02:09This, as well as their real-life camaraderie,
02:12allowed them to rehearse to the point where they were off-script,
02:14a rarity in television, making the whole thing more like a two-hander play.
02:18Furthermore, the Shuttlepod itself was cut in half during filming,
02:22allowing for more intimate shots.
02:24So that the actor's breath would be visible on screen,
02:26six air conditioning units were used,
02:28and dry ice packs placed beneath the set
02:30such that filming was only possible in 20-second increments as it was so cold.
02:35Number 9. B4's Parts
02:37Star Trek Picard has divided quite a few people.
02:40Season 1 started a bit too sweary for folks,
02:42and ended with someone nodding off while pressing Ctrl-V.
02:46Season 2 fared a little better in spite of a solid opener.
02:49Still, some of the stronger scenes that had fans thankful for the pause button
02:52included all the throwbacks to the next generation.
02:55Who wasn't brimming with glee when Picard visited his vault at the Starfleet archives?
03:00For good nostalgia like this, you need a good prop master.
03:03On Picard, this fell to Jeff Lombardi.
03:05For one rather brief scene in the first episode of Season 1,
03:08he seemingly went to extraordinary lengths for his craft.
03:11In it, Picard is at the Daystrom Institute to find out more about Dodge.
03:15At one point, Dr. Agnes Jurati opens a drawer that contains the dismembered Soong-type android
03:20and data lookalike B4.
03:22To achieve this, Lombardi decided he wanted to use as many of the old data parts as possible.
03:27The problem with this was that a lot of the old Trek props
03:30had been auctioned off and scattered across the world.
03:32Rather than build a new model,
03:34Lombardi and CBS archivists managed to contact people who had bought these data parts in the auction.
03:39Data's head had been sitting in a crate in Calgary,
03:42and his torso a crate in Hong Kong.
03:44These were then recovered and used with little to no alterations or touch-ups as B4 in the scene.
03:50Number 8.
03:50Tension on Deck
03:51Alright, this entry will be a little more familiar to you by now,
03:54unless of course you've been hiding under a styrofoam rock.
03:57Star Trek Voyager changed quite a bit from the start of its fourth season onwards.
04:01Kes was out, and Seven was in.
04:03It was clear that the producers wanted to sex things up a bit,
04:06and this, understandably to a degree, ruffled a few feathers.
04:10It's fair to say that Kate Mulgrew, Captain Janeway,
04:12wasn't at all happy with the arrival of Seven of Nine.
04:15As the first female captain,
04:17she felt she had a responsibility to set the tone for the representation of women in power,
04:21and was hurt by the shift in attention to the newer character.
04:24Unfortunately, she took this out on Ryan,
04:27to the point where the latter often felt nauseous before going into work,
04:30because it was that miserable.
04:32In a 2019 interview,
04:34Ryan notes that the scenes with Mulgrew in astrometrics were particularly challenging for her to act.
04:39Yet, when watching, these are some of the most intimate,
04:42most emotional, and best-played scenes of any episode.
04:46Case in point, in the fourth season episode, Hope and Fear,
04:49Seven reveals to Janeway, in astrometrics,
04:51her desire to remain in the Delta Quadrant,
04:53instead of returning to Earth with the crew in the Dauntless.
04:56While the scene is wrought with tension,
04:58both give powerful and nuanced performances.
05:01All the more so, given the off-screen drama.
05:03Number 7.
05:04Bougeau's Bridge
05:05Kate Mulgrew wasn't the first Catherine Janeway.
05:08Catherine Janeway wasn't even the first Catherine Janeway.
05:11This title goes to French-Canadian actress,
05:13Genevieve Bougeau,
05:14as Nicole Janeway,
05:15for a grand total of two days filming on the pilot of Caretaker.
05:19Without some on-set problems,
05:20we would never have had any scenes with Kate Mulgrew as captain.
05:24Bougeau was an Academy Award-winning film actor,
05:26and was hired without screen testing.
05:28When filming began, however,
05:30the radically different mechanics of episodic television
05:32proved to be an issue.
05:34Multiple takes were required for each shot,
05:36instead of the usual one or two.
05:38And the director was reportedly frustrated
05:40with Bougeau's often strange and underwhelming delivery.
05:43Footage does exist of these scenes,
05:44and it's true that by comparison with Mulgrew,
05:47the performance is a bit lackluster.
05:49By lunchtime of her second day,
05:51Bougeau was clearly upset.
05:52Held up in her trailer,
05:53she expressed regret about accepting the role,
05:56and desired not to continue.
05:57Despite the huge costs involved,
05:59the decision was made to move forward without her.
06:01This meant they had no captain,
06:03and the entire production schedule was upended
06:05until they found one.
06:07Kate Mulgrew didn't arrive for nearly two weeks
06:09after production had originally begun.
06:11Long hours and a fast pace
06:12were required to make up for this lost time,
06:15but the mood changed for the better.
06:16There was no longer a need for long rehearsals
06:18or multiple takes.
06:19Bougeau's bridge scenes were reshot,
06:21and the cast began to bond.
06:23Number 6.
06:24The Wrap of Khan
06:25Wrath of Khan is the best of the Star Trek films,
06:28and no, I won't be taking any arguments about that.
06:30Our scholarly cast of characters
06:32quote from Dickens, Milton, Shakespeare, and Melville.
06:35Then, of course, we have the less literary,
06:37but nonetheless etched into cinema history books,
06:40cry from Kirk to his nemesis.
06:42Whoever said in space,
06:43no one can hear you scream.
06:45Even in Star Trek Into Darkness,
06:46the most masterful, most heart-wrenching scene
06:49is that of the two old friends saying one last goodbye.
06:52Well, at least as far as we know at that point.
06:54A few facts from behind the scenes
06:55make Spock's death even more impressive, however.
06:58Firstly, Leonard Nimoy was none too keen
07:00to return for a second film,
07:02but it was the thought of being able to play Spock's death
07:05that persuaded him.
07:06An early idea would have had the character killed off
07:08in the first scene
07:09until it was moved to later in the script.
07:12Spock was also meant to stay dead,
07:14but Nimoy had such a good experience
07:16that he wanted to return.
07:17On the set, the scene was filmed
07:19in front of a restricted number of people,
07:21and members of the crew reportedly burst into tears
07:23during the scene.
07:24Nimoy also commented that the reactor room was,
07:27in essence, airtight,
07:29so the crew had to pump air in for him to breathe.
07:31This also had to be turned off
07:33in order for Shatner to deliver a line.
07:35Number five, Arena Accident.
07:37In the original series' first season episode, Arena,
07:40we meet the Gorn for the first time.
07:42By today's gut-busting Strange New World standards,
07:44the Gorn costume may look like it was bought on the cheap
07:47from a local Halloween store,
07:49and the fight scenes look like they got
07:51the work experience guy or girl in to choreograph it.
07:54But you know what?
07:55It's still a great episode,
07:56and it continues to rank among the most popular.
07:59Now, making more of an impression
08:00than pushing that boulder off the rock face
08:02or constructing that cannon
08:04is the truth behind certain scenes.
08:06During the shoot,
08:07Shatner was standing too close
08:08to one of the prop explosions when it went off.
08:11This left him with particularly bad tinnitus
08:13for the rest of his life.
08:14Leonard Nimoy was similarly affected,
08:17so one assumes this took place
08:18during the filming of the scenes
08:20on Cestus 3 and Act 1.
08:22Shatner has spoken extensively
08:23on how this disease severely impacted his mental health,
08:26to the point where he didn't know
08:28if he could survive the agony
08:29until he received habituation therapy.
08:32He went on to be the spokesperson
08:33for the American Tinnitus Association,
08:35an organization he credits
08:37with literally saving his life.
08:38He has raised money towards research
08:40and even spoken to the United States Congress
08:42on the illness.
08:43Shatner certainly suffered greatly for his art
08:45to give us these few scenes.
08:47Fortunately, he now manages to live
08:49with the condition that it resulted in.
08:51Number four, life support and laryngitis.
08:54The immensely talented
08:55and multi-award winning actress,
08:57Louise Fletcher,
08:57who we sadly lost in September of 2022,
09:00was iconic in Star Trek for her role
09:03as the devious Kai Nguyen in Deep Space Nine.
09:06She will be deeply missed,
09:07and in this entry we'll discover another reason as to why.
09:10Nguyen is forced to take over,
09:12but insists that she needs Burial's counsel
09:14for the talks to be a success.
09:16She strong arms Burial and Dr. Bashir
09:18into more and more medical procedures to ensure this.
09:21Nguyen appears in the vast majority of scenes,
09:23and it's Louise Fletcher,
09:25so they're already impressive.
09:26What you probably didn't know, however,
09:28is that Fletcher was suffering
09:29from a rather bad bout of laryngitis
09:31at the time of filming.
09:32The actors had to loop all of her lines post-production,
09:35which she recalled simply with humor.
09:37As producer Ira Stephen Bear noted,
09:39we would look at her and say,
09:41Jesus, she has no business being up.
09:43She should be in bed,
09:44but she was a real trooper.
09:45This is an absolute credit to Fletcher
09:47that her performance remained so nuanced
09:49when she was so ill.
09:51Her head-to-head scenes with Bashir
09:52in the wardroom, for example,
09:54is an acting masterclass on how to play duplicity
09:57with merely the tilt of a head.
09:58Number three, The Tumble with Tribbles.
10:01One of the most memorable
10:02and well-received episodes of the original series
10:04introduced us to everyone's favorite
10:06rapidly reproducing, Klingon-detecting,
10:09pesky, purring furball.
10:10Concept names for which included
10:12The Fuzzies, The Puffleys,
10:14and even The Shaggies.
10:16Which, actually,
10:17you should try testing that last one out
10:18on a UK audience
10:19for the name of the asexual Little Proliferators.
10:22The episode makes an impression
10:23for its comedic timing and witty puns.
10:26The scene in which Kirk opens a hatch
10:27only to be buried by a mountain of gorged Tribbles
10:30stands out in this scene.
10:32For this and the entire episode,
10:34hundreds of Tribbles were made
10:35from sewn together rolls of carpet
10:37and the odd mechanical toy
10:38to make some of them move.
10:40The Kirk inundation scene
10:41took an astounding eight takes,
10:43and the reason the Tribbles kept tumbling
10:44is because the crew had no direct line of sight
10:47with the actor,
10:48so they just continued to throw the creatures
10:50one by one to make sure there were enough.
10:53In the scene,
10:54Shatner can be seen looking somewhat befuddled
10:56and bemused as Tribbles continue
10:58to rain down on him.
10:59The in-universe explanation for this
11:01was later revealed in DS9
11:03to be the handiwork of Sisko and Jadzia,
11:05who were throwing Tribbles down the hatch
11:07while looking for future Darwin's bomb.
11:09Number 2.
11:10The Outcast Kiss
11:11This Season 5 episode of Star Trek The Next Generation
11:14was first broadcast on the 16th of March, 1992.
11:18In it,
11:18the Enterprise-D encounters a genderless race,
11:21the Genii.
11:22Commander Riker must work with Sorin,
11:23who is at first intrigued by human gender roles,
11:26and eventually admits that she identifies as female,
11:28a criminal perversion on her world
11:31subject to psychotactic treatment,
11:33i.e. conversion therapy or aversion therapy.
11:36The pair fall for each other
11:37and share a kiss on the planet,
11:39but Sorin is arrested and brought before a tribunal.
11:42In spite of her impassionate plea
11:44that I am not sick because I feel this way,
11:46she is sentenced to undergo this treatment.
11:48While the episode now feels more like a reflection
11:50on gender identity and transgender rights,
11:53it was intended as a discussion of homosexuality
11:55and discrimination based on sexual orientation.
11:58By this point,
11:59producers had received numerous letters
12:01criticizing the non-inclusion of gay characters.
12:04It may equally seem tepid by today's standards,
12:06and Jonathan Frakes criticized the decision
12:09to not cast Sorin as more obviously a male,
12:11if they were indeed trying to do
12:13what they called a gay episode.
12:15But the kiss and the allegory of a bigoted society
12:17punishing a supposed deviant
12:19is more impressive when you know
12:21the bitter reality of the context
12:23of that time.
12:24The first same-sex kiss on American network television
12:26was between two women on LA Law in 1991.
12:30It, of course, received numerous complaints
12:32and advertisers pulled their commercials.
12:34Big surprise!
12:35The first male same-sex kiss on a US network
12:38was only in 2000 on Dawson's Creek.
12:40As for the UK,
12:42the first gay kiss occurred on EastEnders in 1989.
12:45That brief peck caused an uproar.
12:47MPs at the time wanted the soap to be pulled from the air
12:50for promoting perverted practices.
12:52Now please excuse me as I roll my eyes so hard
12:55they fall out of my head.
12:56Number 1.
12:57Fade In, X-Space Starship.
12:59In the opening scene of the Next Generation pilot
13:01encounter at Farpoint,
13:03we are introduced to the Galaxy-class starship
13:05for the very first time,
13:06as it descends down into frame.
13:08The final draft of this script,
13:10co-authored by DC Fontana and Gene Roddenberry,
13:12makes a point to highlight the magnitude of the vessel,
13:15employing a plethora of adjectives of scale,
13:18such as the gigantic new Enterprise,
13:21immensity,
13:22enormous,
13:23immense span of the outer surface.
13:25The enigmatic reveal of Captain Picard
13:27as he walks from the shadow into the light
13:29framed by the Enterprise viewport
13:31is not featured in this draft,
13:32aside from mentions of other introductory angles.
13:35The impressive quality of these opening scenes
13:38lies not simply in the magnificent special effects
13:40and dialogue or the majestic editing,
13:43but in the fact that it was a freaking miracle
13:45that they made it to air in the first place.
13:47If you've watched the documentary Chaos on the Bridge,
13:50you'll know the title is a euphemism.
13:52Reviving Star Trek for a new series
13:5420 years after the original was a Herculean task.
13:58Writers and producers faced enormous expectations
14:00with a not-so-enormous budget,
14:02the whims and ego of Gene Roddenberry,
14:04and some dubious fans who weren't thrilled
14:06with the idea of no Kirk and no Spock.
14:09Even finding a network proved to be a challenge.
14:12Roddenberry also initially refused
14:13to write a two-hour script.
14:15Oh, and Patrick Stewart's toupee
14:17was flown halfway around the world
14:19before they finally decided to just cast him as bald.
14:21And those were 10 Star Trek scenes
14:23even more impressive when you know the truth.
14:25If you liked this video,
14:26go ahead and leave it a thumbs up.
14:28If you can think of anything that we might have missed,
14:30go ahead and leave it in the comments section below.
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14:40If you want to find us elsewhere,
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14:44at TrekCulture or TrekCultureYT.
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14:48you can do so by searching TrekkieBrie.
14:50With all that being said,
14:52I hope you all have a great rest of your day
14:54and don't forget to live long and prosper.
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