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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,
00:37is 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
01:29Trek history by many fans of Deep Space Nine. But the writers, Ira Stephen Baer 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 Moore 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 colony.
03:28The 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, Veritas, looking like a
03:39cartoonish version of their original design. And we also got the Strange New Worlds episode,
03:44All Those Who Wander. The Gorn in that episode were younglings, seen battling to the death to
03:49decide who's the Alpha, and their design greatly resembled the Velociraptor-like appearance of the
03:54Enterprise Gorn, albeit with much more convincing lighting and movement. After the disappointment of
04:00not seeing the Gorn at all when they returned in Memento Mori, this was a very welcomed callback.
04:06Number 7, Garak's secret love for Bashir. Unfortunately, good LGBTQ plus representation
04:12was very difficult to get past media executives when Deep Space Nine was airing because many in
04:18charge feared the backlash it would generate. This is why, despite Andrew Robinson, the actor who
04:23played Garak, and the writers both wanting Garak to be portrayed as queer, we never saw it on screen.
04:28However, Andrew Robinson did state that his iconic performance of Garak on the show
04:33was inspired by queer culture, and that he actively tried to portray him crushing on Dr. Bashir,
04:38which really does clear a lot up in retrospect. He confirmed the latter explicitly in the Deep Space
04:43Nine documentary, What We Left Behind, stating,
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 Garak as someone who doesn't have a defined sexuality. He's not gay. He's not
04:57straight. It's a non-issue for him. So while it took far too long for Star Trek to include its first
05:02LGBTQ plus characters, it's interesting to speculate on whether Garak truly did have these deeper feelings
05:08for Bashir, as Robinson claimed. Number 6, the original plans for the Borg. As most fans know,
05:15the Borg were introduced in the Next Generation episode, Q Who, in which Q transported the Enterprise
05:21D into Borg space to give humanity a taste of what horrors awaited them in deep space. However,
05:27less people are aware that the Borg were actually planned to be introduced several episodes prior
05:31in the Neutral Zone. In the episode, Starfleet and the Romulans were investigating their colonies
05:36that were destroyed near the Neutral Zone. We never learned who destroyed these colonies,
05:40but when the Enterprise D entered Borg space in Q Who, scans revealed that a planet destroyed by
05:45the Borg was destroyed in exactly the same manner as the Neutral Zone colonies. Star Trek The Next
05:51Generation companion reference books explain that the Borg were originally planned to appear in this
05:56episode, kickstarting a three-episode trilogy in which the Borg would be introduced as the new main
06:01enemy of the Federation, prompting the Romulans to join forces with them to save the entire Alpha
06:06quadrant. The book goes on to explain that these plans were postponed and then later changed due
06:11to a writer's strike in 1988. Number 5. 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 that
06:32people 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
06:41causing him severe back pain. He even said in an interview with BBC Radio 1 that there were talks
06:46of a possible lawsuit if the uniforms weren't fixed. Some cast members even stated that the material of
06:52the old uniforms 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 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
07:11series, and later even learned that studio executives were hiding her fan mail. Nichols justifiably wanted to
07:18leave the show at this 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 that
07:29Ohura 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, in which the
07:49story soon went viral. Number 3. 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 attackers,
08:05who were later revealed to be the Ferengi. In the episode, the Ferengi salvaged the vessel and use it to lure
08:11Picard into a trap as revenge for him killing the Ferengi years ago. However, the ship in this episode was
08:17originally supposed to look very different. The book Star Trek The Next Generation Companion revealed
08:22that the original script described the Stargazer as Constitution Class, the same kind of vessel as
08:27Kirk'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
08:37as a Constitution Class vessel. So the actors re-recorded their lines as Constellation Class,
08:42and the new takes were placed over the old footage. The name Constellation was chosen
08:46because 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
08:56a Constitution Class starship.
08:59Number 2. The Argument Over the Upside-Down Enterprise
09:02The original Enterprise went through a lot of changes before the production team finally settled
09:07on the classic design that we all know today. Matt Jeffries, the lead designer behind the ship,
09:11considered 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. This is also the design
09:23that inspired the Daedalus-class ships. Eventually, however, they settled on the shape of the ship,
09:28but one of the weirdest arguments between Jeffries and Gene Roddenberry was over the orientation of
09:32the model. Star Trek The Magazine Volume 1 Issue 10 included an interview with Matt Jeffries where he
09:38recalled showing Roddenberry the model for the first time. He said that the model,
09:42unbalanced due to its weird shape, flopped upside down from the strings it was hanging from.
09:47Apparently, 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,
09:56let'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
10:07methods to save money on the show. For example, the main physical model of the original Enterprise
10:12was only ever filmed from its right side. This is because the special effects team decided to run
10:17electrical wiring along the left side for the lights, and keeping the left side hidden proved to
10:22be easier than trying to hide the wiring. The Enterprise was mostly seen from its right side on the
10:27show and for promotional photos, but when it needed to be seen from the left side, the video was mirrored
10:33and the lettering on the hall was replaced with reverse decals so that the text could be read
10:37normally. There's very little information online about the model's left side, but you can find
10:42images 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 1974,
10:54and Margaret Weitkamp, a curator at the museum, talked about the lack of detail on the left side
10:59in an interview with the Washington Post in 2017, shortly after the model went through a full
11:04restoration at the museum. And 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. If you enjoyed this
11:14video and you want to see more from us, make sure you subscribe to Trek Culture below. You can also find
11:18us 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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