169
votes
Accepted
Was Kirk and Uhura's kiss in Star Trek really the first interracial kiss on TV?
No, it was not the first
There are a couple of reasons for initial suspicion of this claim.
Reviews of the episode when it first aired did not comment on the fact that it was the first interracial ...
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108
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 ...
- 67.5k
90
votes
Are there any indications why Roddenberry chose to make Star Trek a "battleship universe"?
Aircraft carriers dominated battleships in naval fights. But there's reasons for that. The question you need to ask yourself is "would aircraft carriers dominate battleships in space too?"
First, ...
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69
votes
Accepted
Are there any indications why Roddenberry chose to make Star Trek a "battleship universe"?
I suspect that this started with Roddenberry's vision of the Enterprise.
He had some specific requirements...
"We're [...] out in deep space, on the equivalent of a cruiser-size spaceship. We ...
- 131k
49
votes
Did Star Trek: Picard get new writers for Season 2?
Based on the per-episode crew credits found on IMDB: yes, season two has new writers.
Creators
Every episode of season one and two credits Akiva Goldsman, Michael Chabon, Kirsten Beyer, and Alex ...
- 809
46
votes
Are there any indications why Roddenberry chose to make Star Trek a "battleship universe"?
They behave like the traditional role of cruisers
A battleship is a dedicated large heavily armed and armored warship designed to work with a larger fleet. It is designed to be a heavy weapons ...
- 2,018
39
votes
Accepted
Have we ever seen Data make use of his "multiple techniques" before First Contact?
Data and Tasha Yar had a drug fueled liaison during season 1 of TNG, The Naked Now. It was never spoken of again, but referenced in Season 2 Measure of a Man.
Season 1 was 2364-2365, First Contact ...
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38
votes
Are multiple scenes filmed at the same time?
Someone might be able to find specific info for Star Trek, but there is no general rule in the industry.
Scenes are rarely shot in order. They are shot according to actor and set/location availability....
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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". ...
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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 ...
- 131k
25
votes
Accepted
Do I have to watch Star Trek TV and movie series before watching Star Trek Beyond?
In the end it is really up to you. To understand and enjoy the story, all you need are the recent two movies (I'd say).
If you want to understand and notice parallels, nods to the original series, ...
- 2,769
25
votes
Accepted
At the end of Star Trek Beyond, how did Uhura know who Krall was?
Lt. Nyota Uhura is a communications specialist, with a talent for languages by ear. This extended to her analysis of Krall, as she is the only one he speaks to at length aside from Kirk. Specifically:
...
- 67.5k
25
votes
Accepted
Why isn't "Star Trek: Picard" shot in wide-screen 16:9?
From Wikipedia:
After becoming sole showrunner of Star Trek: Discovery, Alex Kurtzman signed a five-year overall deal with CBS Television Studios to expand the Star Trek franchise beyond Discovery ...
- 47.4k
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
24
votes
Did Star Trek: Picard get new writers for Season 2?
While he also seems to have about three co-writing credits on the second season (2.01, 2.02, 2.10), one major change from season one to season two was Showrunner Michael Chabon being replaced by Terry ...
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23
votes
Are there any indications why Roddenberry chose to make Star Trek a "battleship universe"?
I would suggest the jutland-vs-midway comparison is fundamentally missing the theme of the series and becoming confused because of that.
At heart, Star Trek is about The naval explorer, harking back ...
- 1,124
22
votes
Why was Ezri Dax the polar opposite of Jadzia Dax?
Well, remember that Trill hosts being super different was part of Dax's whole backstory - it was a pretty huge deal. Curzon Dax was very different from Jadzia Dax. And I'm pretty sure that Jadzia also ...
- 4,147
22
votes
Accepted
How are Star Trek medical devices attached to the neck?
Double-sided tape, already applied to the face of the prop, sticks to the actor long enough to get the shot; then if they need more resilience for subsequent shots, props/make-up can stick it more ...
- 51.7k
20
votes
Accepted
Did Picard get in trouble when he was in command of the Stargazer and lost his ship?
In the Season 2 episode The Measure Of A Man, we learn that Picard had been brought to a court martial over the loss of the Stargazer, but that he was absolved of any and all charges brought at that ...
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19
votes
Why does Chancellor Gorkon think Shakespeare was Klingon?
It was a Klingon propaganda device.
The Klingons apparently appreciated the works of Shakespeare so much that they 'retconned' him to be one of their own poets rather than a human from Earth.
From ...
- 8,344
19
votes
Accepted
How Did Kirk and Sulu Survive the Free Fall from Space Above Vulcan?
Advanced Star Trek space suits and parachutes.
They make a "space-jump". One presumes that since they have a term for it, the suits are engineered specifically for that action.
But really..falling ...
- 131k
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 ...
- 35.3k
17
votes
Accepted
What does Worf say when Data sings?
According to the script:
WORF
(groans)
Ugghhh... Irving Berlin.
And watching the clip, it sure sounds like it.
(Irving Berlin wrote Blue Skies, the song Data is singing.)
- 99.5k
17
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 ...
- 131k
15
votes
Is there any rationale for the different colours of uniforms on the different series of Star Trek?
When Roddenberry created the original series, he roughly based the uniform colors on 19th Century naval uniforms, which used various combinations of red, gold, and blue. In the original pilot, Captain ...
- 3,243
15
votes
Why is Seven of Nine called Seven of Nine?
That's not her full designation, it's a shorthand for her full "Borg Name" which is
"Seven of Nine, Tertiary Adjunct of Unimatrix 01."
Essentially that equates to at least "7-9-03-U01" which is ...
- 131k
14
votes
Why does Chekov say that he remembers Khan in “Star Trek II: The Wrath of Khan” if Chekov wasn’t in the episode “Space Seed?”
Not to compete with the above answer by CGCampbell, but just to add some further information, Memory Alpha has the following to say on the matter:
Khan's apparent recognition of Chekov and his ...
- 1,547
14
votes
Accepted
Was Kirk's retirement from the Star Trek franchise already decided in The Undiscovered Country?
According to the Development section of the Wikipedia article for The Undiscovered Country:
With the looming 25th anniversary of the original series in 1991, producer Harve Bennett revisited an ...
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Only top scored, non community-wiki answers of a minimum length are eligible