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From secret lyrics in the original theme song to controversial storylines that almost didn't happen, we're diving deep into the Star Trek universe. Uncover 10 obscure facts and behind-the-scenes secrets that took years to finally be revealed to fans.
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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.
00:33The 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. However, many don't know
00:44that the theme song actually has lyrics. Not only the voiceover of Captain Kirk, but actual lyrics.
00:50Gene 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
01:00fact, 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
01:15explore the stars. The story was mentioned in the reference book Inside Star Trek, The Real Story,
01:20published in 1997.
01:22Number 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 Baer and Ronald D. Moore,
01:35had to fight hard to include it in the show. Early on, executive producer Rick Berman wanted the
01:40Dominion 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 wars are
01:50supposed to be depressing and violent. But what was most upsetting to Berman was his belief that the
01:55war storyline went against Gene Roddenberry's vision for the franchise he created. Specifically,
02:00his strong desire to keep the stories optimistic, and for Star Trek to be a hopeful look at what the
02:05future could be like if we did things right. Nobody can know what Gene would think of the Dominion
02:09War as he passed away before the series began, but his former wife, Mae Jill Barrett, criticized the arc in
02:15a
02:15letter written to Star Trek magazine, claiming that Gene would never have approved. During an AOL chat
02:20in 1999, Berman spoke about how he agreed with Barrett that Gene probably wouldn't have loved the
02:25Dominion 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
02:46that didn't do much to sell them as a legitimate threat, though the costume was impressive for the
02:51time. But still, the Gorn, a reptilian race stronger than humans, were compelling enough that
02:57the writers decided to bring one back in Star Trek Enterprise, which somehow managed to look worse.
03:02The early CGI work was, again, impressive 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 2014,
03:20the Gorn were designed by Barney Berman and his company, the Proteus Makeup FX team,
03:25to appear in a scene at the Roropenthe prison colony. The scene was eventually cut,
03:30so 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. And we also got the
03:43Strange New Worlds episode, All Those Who Wander. The Gorn in that episode were younglings seen
03:48battling 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
03:57and movement. After the disappointment of not seeing the Gorn at all when they returned in
04:02Memento Mori, this was a very welcomed callback. Number 7, Garak's secret love for Bashir.
04:09Unfortunately, good LGBTQ plus representation was very difficult to get past media executives
04:15when Deep 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 Garak, and the writers both wanting
04:25Garak to be portrayed as queer, we never saw it on screen. However, Andrew Robinson did state that
04:30his iconic performance of Garak 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 Garak 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. So while it took far too long for Star Trek to
05:01include
05:02its first LGBTQ plus characters, it's interesting to speculate on whether Garak truly did have these
05:07deeper feelings for Bashir, as Robinson claimed. Number 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
05:20the Enterprise D into 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
05:30episodes prior in the Neutral Zone. In the episode, Starfleet and the Romulans were investigating
05:35their colonies that 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 the
05:46Borg 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
05:55episode, 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 to
06:11a 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
06:46talks of a possible lawsuit if the uniforms weren't fixed. Some cast members even stated that the
06:51material of the old uniforms was causing them to overheat under the studio lights. The new uniforms
06:56designed by the show's new costume designer Robert Blackman not only looked way better, but were also
07:01way more comfortable 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
07:11the original series, and later even learned that studio executives were hiding her fan mail.
07:16Nichols justifiably wanted to leave the show at this point, but changed her mind after a chance
07:21encounter with Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. She told Dr. King about her desire to leave the show,
07:26but he convinced her to stay, telling her that Uhura was one of the few Black characters on television
07:31that wasn't stereotyped and that was treated as an equal on the cast. This random encounter with one
07:37of the most influential civil rights leaders in history helped Nichols realize the importance of
07:41her role on the show. Nichols didn't publicly recall the story until an interview with the Television
07:46Academy Foundation in 2011, in which the story soon went viral.
07:50Number 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
08:04unknown attackers, who were later revealed to be the Ferengi. In the episode, the Ferengi salvaged the
08:09vessel and used it to lure Picard into a trap as revenge for him killing the Ferengi years ago.
08:15However, the ship in this episode was originally supposed to look very different. The book,
08:20Star Trek The Next Generation Companion, revealed that the original script described the Stargazer
08:25as Constitution Class, the same kind of vessel as Kirk's Enterprise. By the time the production
08:30team decided to change the model of the ship, they had already filmed several scenes where
08:34characters like Wesley and Geordi refer to the ship as a Constitution Class vessel. So the actors
08:39re-recorded their lines as Constellation Class, and the new takes were placed over the old footage.
08:44The name Constellation was chosen because it sounded so similar to the word Constitution.
08:48So the overdubbing is not super noticeable. But if you look for it, you can still tell that Geordi
08:55is definitely saying a 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
09:38where he recalled 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 show
10:27and 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 images
10:42of 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, D.C. 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
11:05restoration 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
11:18find us on Twitter at Trek Culture, and you can find me on Twitter at TrekkieBrie. Until next time,
11:24live long and prosper.