60 Fun Facts About Star Trek: the Original Series

On which US network did Star Trek originally air from 1966 to 1969?

The network cancelled it after three seasons and 79 episodes; TV Guide Network later ranked the decision the fourth-biggest TV blunder ever.

How many episodes of the original Star Trek were made?

That total, including the three-season run, was barely enough for daily syndication, where the show finally found its audience.

Gene Roddenberry pitched Star Trek to the networks as what?

He also called Kirk "Horatio Hornblower in space", after C.S. Forester's sea captain.

Which company, headed by Lucille Ball, produced Star Trek's pilots and first season?

Ball was instrumental in getting the pilot made and, in early 1966, was persuaded not to drop the show along with Mission: Impossible.

What was the title of the first Star Trek pilot, rejected by NBC as "too cerebral"?

NBC took the unusual step of paying for a second pilot; the first one's footage was later recycled into a two-part episode.

Which actor played Captain Christopher Pike in the first pilot?

Lloyd Bridges had turned the role down; when Hunter's contract was not renewed, William Shatner took command as Kirk.

What was the title of the second pilot, the one NBC accepted?

It introduced Kirk, Scotty and Sulu, who was a physicist in the pilot before becoming helmsman.

Which episode was the first to be broadcast, on September 8, 1966?

The studio chose it to lead off because of its horror plot about a shape-shifting creature that drains salt from its victims.

Fans nicknamed the shape-shifter of the first broadcast episode what, after its craving?

It posed as Nancy Crater on planet M-113; the creature was redesigned for the 2009 film but did not make the cut.

Which cast member joined in season two as Ensign Pavel Chekov?

He was cast largely for his resemblance to Davy Jones of the Monkees, filling in while George Takei was away making a war film.

George Takei missed half of season two because he was filming which John Wayne movie?

Roddenberry later called it a "major error" not to have had a Russian aboard from the beginning.

NBC's publicity department airbrushed which feature of Spock out of early photos sent to affiliates?

Executives feared his "demonic" look would offend the religiously conservative South and kept urging Roddenberry to "drop the Martian".

Which fan led the 1967-68 letter-writing campaign, secretly funded by Roddenberry, that won a third season?

NBC admitted to almost 116,000 letters, though one executive said more than a million pieces of mail arrived.

Students from which university marched on NBC in January 1968 with 'Draft Spock' signs?

More than 200 of them turned out; NBC then took the unusual step of announcing the renewal on air after "The Omega Glory".

For its third season NBC moved Star Trek to what notoriously bad time slot?

The move avoided a clash with Laugh-In on Mondays; Roddenberry said if the network wanted to kill the show "it couldn't make a better move".

Who replaced Roddenberry as producer for the troubled third season?

The per-episode budget was cut to $175,000, and only "The Paradise Syndrome" was shot largely outdoors that year.

Which art director designed the Enterprise and is honoured by the name of its equipment shafts?

The "Jefferies tube" appears in every later Star Trek series; Wah Chang built the props and Bill Theiss designed the costumes.

Which prop, designed by Wah Chang, is often credited with inspiring the flip phone?

Chang, a former Disney artist, also created several of the show's memorable aliens.

Before Roddenberry settled on Enterprise, what name had he intended for the starship?

He was fascinated by the aircraft carrier USS Enterprise; the NCC registry nods to the NC aircraft code assigned to the United States.

The 11-foot filming model of the Enterprise has long been on display at which Smithsonian institution?

The Smithsonian also asked for a print of the show for its archives during the original run, the only series so honoured at the time.

Which studio executive added the "stardate" concept to Star Trek?

As the studio's director of production, he had signed Roddenberry to a three-year development deal in 1964.

Composer Alexander Courage lost half of his theme royalties because Roddenberry did what?

The move let Roddenberry claim co-composer credit; Courage called it legal but unethical and scored no second-season episodes.

How many Emmy Awards did the original Star Trek win during its run?

It was nominated for Outstanding Dramatic Series, and Nimoy earned three supporting-actor nominations, but the show never won.

Which science-fiction prize did Star Trek win in a special 1968 presentation?

Two individual episodes also won the Best Dramatic Presentation category outright.

Which science-fiction author wrote "The City on the Edge of Forever"?

He won the Writers Guild award for his original script and the Hugo for the aired version, and complained about the rewrites for decades.

In "The City on the Edge of Forever", which actress played Edith Keeler, the soup-kitchen worker Kirk loves?

Kirk and Spock travel through the Guardian of Forever to Depression-era New York to undo the damage done by a drugged McCoy.

"The Trouble with Tribbles" was the first professional script by which writer?

The Klingons had poisoned a shipment of quadrotriticale grain, and Scotty beams the tribbles onto their ship: "no tribble at all".

Which Star Trek series digitally inserted its cast into 'The Trouble with Tribbles' for the 30th anniversary?

"Trials and Tribble-ations" aired in 1996 and even explained why Klingons looked different in the 1960s.

What was the name of the derelict ship carrying Khan and his followers in "Space Seed"?

Ricardo Montalbán was the casting director's first choice; the 1982 film The Wrath of Khan is a direct sequel.

"Amok Time", the only episode with scenes on Spock's home planet, introduced which concept?

Theodore Sturgeon's script also gave the world the Vulcan salute and "live long and prosper".

The actor who played Spock based the Vulcan salute on a blessing he saw as a boy in what setting?

The hand shape mirrors the Hebrew letter shin as formed by Kohanim during the priestly blessing.

In "Mirror, Mirror", what distinguishes the parallel-universe Spock?

The evil Enterprise belongs to an empire, sidearms are standard issue and Chekov is sent to the Agony Booth.

"Balance of Terror" introduced the cloaking device and which alien species?

The unnamed commander was played by Mark Lenard, who returned the next season as Spock's father Sarek.

Which episode marked the first appearance of the Klingons?

John Colicos played the Klingon governor Kor on Organia, whose placid inhabitants turn out to be beings of pure energy.

In "Arena", Kirk is forced by the Metrons to fight the reptilian captain of which species?

The story was based on a 1944 Fredric Brown tale; Kirk wins by building a makeshift cannon and then spares his opponent.

In "The Devil in the Dark", the silicon-based Horta scratches which message into the rock?

The episode also features the first use of McCoy's "I'm a doctor, not a..." catchphrase.

"Journey to Babel" introduced Spock's parents, Sarek and Amanda. Which actress played Amanda?

The episode also introduced the Andorians and Tellarites, and revealed Sarek disapproved of Spock joining Starfleet.

In "A Piece of the Action", the Iotians have modelled their whole society on a book about what?

Kirk baffles the gangsters with an invented card game called Fizzbin; other planets in the series copied Rome, Nazi Germany and ancient Greece.

Which episode is widely regarded as the worst of the series and opened the third season?

Gene L. Coon wrote it under the pseudonym Lee Cronin; it was the first episode to air in the show's new late-Friday slot.

"Plato's Stepchildren" is remembered for a kiss between Kirk and which crew member?

It was among the earliest interracial kisses on US television; the BBC declined to screen the episode because of its torture scenes.

Which actor famous as Batman's Riddler played the half-black, half-white alien Bele?

Bele had been chasing his enemy Lokai for 50,000 years in a heavy-handed but memorable parable about racism.

'The Doomsday Machine' features the wreck of which sister ship of the Enterprise?

Norman Spinrad's script pits Kirk against a planet-eating machine, an allegory for nuclear weapons.

Which future star played Roberta Lincoln opposite Robert Lansing in 'Assignment: Earth'?

It was her first significant TV role; the spin-off was never made, and Gary Seven's cat was named Isis.

What was the last original episode to air on NBC, on June 3, 1969?

Janice Lester swaps bodies with Kirk; the show had been off the air for two months before this final broadcast.

Which was the only two-part story in the original series?

It recycled the first pilot's footage as evidence at Spock's court-martial and won a major science-fiction award.

Nichelle Nichols nearly quit after season one but was persuaded to stay by whom?

She later spent decades helping NASA recruit women and minority astronauts.

James Doohan, who played Scotty, was wounded during which World War II event?

He landed at Juno Beach with the Canadian artillery and was hit, apparently by friendly fire.

Which cast member married Gene Roddenberry in 1969 and became known as "the First Lady of Star Trek"?

She played Number One in the pilot, Nurse Chapel in the series and voiced the ship's computer for decades.

George Takei spent part of his childhood in what kind of place?

His family was held at Rohwer, Arkansas, and Tule Lake, California; his 2012 musical Allegiance dramatised the experience.

Which cast member was the only Star Trek actor ever nominated for an Emmy for the series?

He was nominated three times for Outstanding Supporting Actor in a Drama and later titled his memoirs I Am Not Spock and I Am Spock.

Which country did not broadcast Star Trek until July 12, 1969, coinciding with the Apollo 11 mission?

BBC One picked it up the week humans first landed on the Moon; the network later skipped several episodes it found too unpleasant.

Which Canadian network aired Star Trek on September 6, 1966, two days before NBC?

CTV beat NBC to the premiere by two days; the series then ran on NBC until June 1969.

Which third-season episode was the only one shot largely outdoors after budget cuts?

Associate producer Bob Justman said the slashed budget kept the crew from location work, so nearly everything else was shot on stages.

Which company bought Star Trek syndication rights for its big-city stations during the first season?

Kaiser's strong rerun ratings persuaded stations like WPIX in New York to buy the episodes too, launching the show's second life in syndication.

To what per-episode figure did NBC cut Star Trek's budget for its third season?

The cut followed a drop in the per-minute commercial price from $39,000 to $36,000; season one had been budgeted at $190,000 an episode.

Which cable network ran a 90-minute 'Special Edition' of every episode, hosted by Shatner, in 1998?

Leonard Nimoy hosted a second run starting that December, but it was cancelled before all the episodes aired.

Which costume designer created the Starfleet uniforms and the looks of the Klingons and Romulans?

Theiss also dressed the female guest stars, whose barely-there outfits became a running joke of the series.

Which character, played by Grace Lee Whitney, departed midway through the first season?

Rand was the captain's yeoman; Whitney later returned to the role in several of the feature films.

The huge opening of which 1977 film led Paramount to scrap the Phase II TV revival for a movie?

Columbia's late-December hit convinced Paramount that a Star Trek feature film was the better bet, and The Motion Picture followed in 1979.

Leonard Nimoy's 1983 'Memories' TV special was a tie-in for which film?

In the hour-long special Nimoy explained the origins of things like the Vulcan nerve pinch while tying in to the film he directed.