109
votes
Accepted
Do Star Trek characters wearing red shirts have the highest death rate on the original show?
Red shirts have a skewed death rate in TOS due to the nature of their job. The Security role is handled by Ops, which all wear red shirts (Scotty, the engineer, is also Ops). So red shirts die in ...
- 67.8k
32
votes
Accepted
Why is Kirk's middle initial wrong in series 1 episode 3 of Star Trek?
It was a mistake.
Out of universe, just a production goof. In universe, Gary Mitchell made a human error.
From Memory Alpha:
The gravestone Mitchell creates for Kirk says "James R. Kirk". ...
- 8,350
30
votes
Why did the original Star Trek change the Enterprise captain?
Out of universe
In the original pilot for Star Trek that aired in 1965...
It didn't. The general viewing public didn't see it and didn't know anything about Captain Pike when Star Trek first aired ...
- 499
27
votes
Was the smoke in this scene accidental or a practical effect serving to depict something?
makes no sense as anything intentional.
Well, it could.
The operation being conducted on Sarek is on his heart and involves major blood transfer from Spock.
There is a process for sealing of blood ...
- 133k
25
votes
Why did the original Star Trek change the Enterprise captain?
The pilot, titled "The Cage", was never broadcast until 1988, therefore no explanation was required.
Elements of The Cage were used in the episode "The Menagerie", presented as ...
- 351
25
votes
Accepted
Is the food of the type created by the synthesizer in By Any Other Name ever shown again?
The same colorful food can be seen on more than one occasion.
For instance:
food offered to the ambassadors in Journey To Babel.
The Conscience Of The King
- 2,057
18
votes
Accepted
Was the Star Trek episode Catspaw originally intended as a Halloween episode or was it just coincidence?
Or was there a story that a writer had submitted that had some scary Halloween related elements that they ended up showing during Halloween?
Mostly..but the timing was deliberate.
Information can be ...
- 133k
17
votes
Physiological changes in Klingons between Star Trek TOS and Star Trek TNG
This drastic change in appearance for Klingons was a bit of a running joke among fans during later series of Star Trek. The writers even acknowledged it during an episode of Deep Space Nine which sees ...
- 35.5k
17
votes
Was the Enterprise 1701-A ever severed from its nacelles?
No, but the Constitution Class appears to have that ability. The Enterprise certainly needed to jettison its nacelles in TOS: The Savage Curtain (and Kirk anticipates that they can do this), although ...
- 9,462
12
votes
Why did the original Star Trek change the Enterprise captain?
When the second pilot was to be filmed Jeffery Hunter the original Captain Pike was not available because he was making a movie. This is according to the book The Making Of Star Trek pages 135-136.
- 479
10
votes
Was there cigarette smoking on "Star Trek (The Original Series)"?
Never happened in the Original Series, but St. John Talbot smokes in the fifth Star Trek film
Not the Original Series, but in Star Trek V: The Final Frontier, a Federation ambassador named St. John ...
- 7,357
9
votes
Was the smoke in this scene accidental or a practical effect serving to depict something?
According to StarTrek.com it's cryogenic fog from the cryogenic surgery
https://www.startrek.com/article/your-tos-questions-answered
Question: In “Journey to Babel,” Sarek (Mark Lenard) becomes
...
- 219
9
votes
Accepted
Androids in Star Trek TOS compared to Star Trek TNG
The main difference between Mudd-Androids and Soong-Androids is that Mudd-Androids were created by a long dead alien race in the Andromeda galaxy, while Soong-Androids were the first real human built, ...
- 67.8k
7
votes
Physiological changes in Klingons between Star Trek TOS and Star Trek TNG
The original explanations were:
They Always looked like that, the budget just didn't allow it. Don't pay attention to the man behind the curtain:
Gene Roddenberry tried to explain the differences ...
- 67.8k
7
votes
Why was Grace Lee Whitney so highly billed in Star Trek TOS?
Whitney was a known entity to Roddenberry having worked with him before and had worked quite extensively in TV before.
Based on salary, her "billing" seems correct.
Grace Lee Whitney came ...
- 133k
6
votes
At how many different scales were starship Enterprise models produced?
Production models
It looks like five different scales were used for models used in production and shown on screen.
A 33" model was produced as a pre-production reference model, and for publicity ...
- 12.2k
5
votes
What Star Trek TOS characters have been confirmed to be appearing in Discovery?
Yes, there are a couple that I know of (now that we are closer to airing)...
~~~Spoiler Warning~~~~
James Frain will be playing Sarek--He is VERY important to the main character, Michael's (Soniqua ...
- 23k
5
votes
Physiological changes in Klingons between Star Trek TOS and Star Trek TNG
For a long time, it was acknowledged but rather explicitly 'not discussed with outsiders.'
It was later addressed in Enterprise as the result of a widespread attempt ...
- 386
5
votes
Accepted
Why did Spock and McCoy lie about not watching Kirk's final message in "The Tholian Web?"
OK, so out-of-universe, it offers the audience a chuckle. Kirk's confident assurance that his taped last orders were something moving, significant, helpful, etc. is skewered by the offhanded ...
- 11.9k
5
votes
Accepted
Was this miniature in "Requiem for Methuselah" ever used to portray the Enterprise in space?
Yes, the "three foot" model was used to film some special effects scenes of the U. S. S. Enterprise in outer space.
The "three-foot" model (actually 33 inches long instead of 36 inches) was ...
- 5,060
4
votes
Accepted
Why was Grace Lee Whitney so highly billed in Star Trek TOS?
She was originally intended to have a much larger role in the show, but was slowly written out when plans changed. She was released from her contract entirely after eight episodes.
The Wikipedia ...
- 204
4
votes
Physiological changes in Klingons between Star Trek TOS and Star Trek TNG
There are now, also, additional explanations. Star Trek: Discovery takes place about 10 years before TOS. One of it's expansions is looking at Klingons before they reform an empire, in which they are ...
- 23k
4
votes
Was there cigarette smoking on "Star Trek (The Original Series)"?
Gene Roddenberry was adamant that there not be any smoking on the show, despite pressure from the Network and sponsors, which included cigarette companies.
"I was uncooperative in other ways too....
- 9,462
3
votes
What is the history behind Scotty's hidden freezer and bottle of Scotch?
It's verra, verra, verra old scotch whisky.
Are you sure it's frost and not dust? I know they're not likely to have a lot of dust on the Enterprise, but if it was dusty when he acquired it, maybe he ...
- 1,399
3
votes
Sulu's Daughter's Parentage?
The official answer is, there is no official answer.
The biological relationship between Sulu and his daughter Demora is not specifically mentioned in either old or new timeline (although it is ...
- 847
3
votes
Androids in Star Trek TOS compared to Star Trek TNG
The main difference between Mudd-Androids and Soong-Androids is that
Mudd-Androids were created by a long dead alien race in the Andromeda
galaxy, while Soong-Androids were the first real human ...
- 31
3
votes
Accepted
Basis of the CGI model of SS Botany Bay in ST:TOS "Space Seed" re-release
The CGI model matches the form of the studio used Botany Bay, a DY-100 class ship. One of the original studio models is housed at the Smithsonian museum.
And it matches the original sketch designs of ...
- 67.8k
3
votes
Was this miniature in "Requiem for Methuselah" ever used to portray the Enterprise in space?
I can't find any information on the specific prop (source: These Are The Voyages: Vol 3 by Marc Cushman) but my understanding is that the shots of the Enterprise used in the opening credits, orbiting ...
- 133k
3
votes
Why did Spock and McCoy lie about not watching Kirk's final message in "The Tholian Web?"
In the tape Kirk asks them to work together for the benefit of the ship.
Spock and Mccoy were known to argue and disagree with each other all the time.
Lying to Kirk means that they don't have to ...
- 7,732
Only top scored, non community-wiki answers of a minimum length are eligible