- 18 minutes ago
A look behind the scenes of Star Trek into some of the franchise's most obscure secrets.
Category
🎥
Short filmTranscript
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 was inspired
04:33by queer culture, and that he actively tried to portray him crushing on Dr. Bashir, which
04:38was Henry What We Left Behind, stating,
04:41At first he just wanted to have sex with him. That's absolutely clear. He also said in the past,
04:46I started out playing Garak as someone who doesn't have a defined sexuality. He's not gay,
04:51he's not straight, it's a non-issue for him.
04:53So while it took far too long for Star Trek to include its first LGBTQ plus characters,
04:59it's interesting to speculate on whether Garak truly did have these deeper feelings for Bashir,
05:04as Robinson claimed.
05:06Number 6, the original plans for the Borg.
05:09As most fans know, the Borg were introduced in the Next Generation episode Q Who, in which Q
05:14transported the Enterprise D into Borg space to give humanity a taste of what horrors awaited them in
05:20deep space. However, less people are aware that the Borg were actually planned to be introduced
05:25several episodes prior in the Neutral Zone. In the episode, Starfleet and the Romulans were
05:30investigating their colonies that were destroyed near the Neutral Zone. We never learned who destroyed
05:34these colonies, but when the Enterprise D entered Borg space in Q Who, scans revealed that a planet
05:39destroyed by the Borg was destroyed in exactly the same manner as the Neutral Zone colonies.
05:44Star Trek The Next Generation companion reference books explain that the Borg were originally
05:49planned to appear in this episode, kickstarting a three-episode trilogy in which the Borg would be
05:54introduced as the new main enemy of the Federation, prompting the Romulans to join forces with them
05:59to save the entire Alpha Quadrant. The book goes on to explain that these plans were postponed and
06:04then later changed due to a writer's strike in 1988.
06:08Number 5, the reason for the Next Generation's uniform redesign.
06:12Star Trek's Next Generation uniforms were redesigned in the third season, changed from the tight-fitting
06:17one-piece style jumpsuit into a more comfortable two-piece collared jacket and pants combination.
06:23A look that more fans would prefer, as it just looks more comfortable and more like something
06:27that people would actually want to wear into work every day. According to Patrick Stewart in many
06:31interviews over the years, the old uniforms didn't just look uncomfortable, they were actually causing
06:36him severe back pain. He even said in an interview with BBC Radio 1 that there were talks of a possible
06:41lawsuit if the uniforms weren't fixed. Some cast members even stated that the material of the old
06:47uniforms was causing them to overheat under the studio lights. The new uniforms, designed by the
06:52show's new costume designer Robert Blackman, not only looked way better, but were also way more
06:56comfortable for the cast.
06:58Number 4, the reason Nichelle Nichols decided to stay.
07:01Nichelle Nichols had to deal with a lot of racist harassment during the first season of the original
07:06series, and later even learned that studio executives were hiding her fan mail.
07:10Nichols justifiably wanted to leave the show at this point, but changed her mind after a chance
07:16encounter with Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. She told Dr. King about her desire to leave the show,
07:21but he convinced her to stay, telling her that Uhura was one of the few Black characters on
07:25television that wasn't stereotyped, and that was treated as an equal on the cast. This random
07:31encounter with one of the most influential civil rights leaders in history helped Nichols realize the
07:35importance of her role on the show. Nichols didn't publicly recall the story until an interview with
07:40Television Academy Foundation in 2011, in which the story soon went viral.
07:46Number 3, the origin of the Constellation Class.
07:49The battle, an episode of The Next Generation's first season, introduced us to the USS Stargazer,
07:54one of Picard's old ships. The Stargazer was abandoned after a devastating battle against
07:59unknown attackers, who were later revealed to be the Ferengi. In the episode, the Ferengi salvaged the
08:04vessel and used it to lure Picard into a trap as revenge for him killing the Ferengi years ago.
08:09However, the ship in this episode was originally supposed to look very different. The book,
08:15Star Trek The Next Generation Companion, revealed that the original script described the Stargazer
08:19as Constitution Class, the same kind of vessel as Kirk's Enterprise. By the time the production team
08:25decided to change the model of the ship, they had already filmed several scenes where characters like
08:29Wesley and Geordi refer to the ship as a Constitution Class vessel. So the actors re-recorded their lines
08:35as Constellation Class, and the new takes were placed over the old footage. The name Constellation
08:40was chosen because it sounded so similar to the word Constitution, so the overdubbing is not super
08:46noticeable. But if you look for it, you can still tell that Geordi is definitely saying a Constitution
08:52Class starship. Number 2, the argument over the Upside-Down Enterprise.
08:56The original Enterprise went through a lot of changes before the production team finally settled
09:01on the classic design that we all know today. Matt Jeffries, the lead designer behind the ship,
09:06considered a ring-shaped ship, which later became canonized as the Enterprise XCV-330,
09:12and a more familiar design, but with a sphere replacing the saucer. This is also the design that
09:18inspired the Daedalus-class ships. Eventually, however, they settled on the shape of the ship,
09:22but one of the weirdest arguments between Jeffries and Gene Roddenberry was over the
09:26orientation of the model. Star Trek The Magazine, Volume 1, Issue 10, included an interview with
09:32Matt Jeffries where he recalled showing Roddenberry the model for the first time. He said that the
09:36model, unbalanced due to its weird shape, flopped upside down from the strings it was hanging from.
09:41Apparently, Gene loved the look of the Enterprise upside down, and Jeffries had a really difficult
09:46time trying to unsell him on it. Jeffries fortunately won the argument in the end, because,
09:51let's face it, flipped Enterprise just looks really wrong.
09:55Number 1. The Enterprise Model's Bad Side
09:57The special effects team behind the original series had to use a lot of strange and creative
10:02methods to save money on the show. For example, the main physical model of the original Enterprise
10:07was only ever filmed from its right side. This is because the special effects team decided to run
10:12electrical wiring along the left side for the lights, and keeping the left side hidden proved to
10:17be easier than trying to hide the wiring. The Enterprise was mostly seen from
10:21its right side on the show and for promotional photos. But, when it needed to be seen from
10:26the left side, the video was mirrored and the lettering on the hall was replaced with reverse
10:30decals so that the text could be read normally. There's very little information online about
10:35the model's left side, but you can find images of the wiring in the reference book
10:39To Boldly Go, rare photos from the TOS Soundstage Season 2. Additionally, the Smithsonian National Air and Space
10:45Museum in Washington DC acquired the model in 1974. And Margaret Weitkamp, a curator at the museum,
10:52talked about the lack of detail on the left side in an interview with the Washington Post in 2017,
10:58shortly after the model went through a full restoration at the museum. And that was 10 obscure Star Trek
11:03secrets that took years to discover. I hope that even the most seasoned of you Trekkies learned
11:07something new today. If you enjoyed this video and you want to see more from us, make sure you
11:11subscribe to Trek Culture below. You can also find us on Twitter at Trek Culture, and you can find me
11:16on Twitter at TrekkieBree. Until next time, live long and prosper.
Be the first to comment