Star Trek (TOS) FAQ

[Lord Garth]

***STAR TREK (TOS) FAQ***

- by Lord Garth

The purpose of this FAQ is to provide basic information about the original and animated Star Trek that's either of general interest or might not be remembered. It's not comprehensive.

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Updates

Version 3.1a (7/20/05): RIP, James Doohan.
Version 3.1 (6/15/05): Outdated information updated.
Version 3.0 (12/27/04): New questions, "The Basics", TAS, and Phase 2 sections added.
Version 2.1 (9/1/04): Minor tweaks.
Version 2.0 (8/31/04): Everything!
Version 1.0 (4/17/02): The FAQ is created.

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Table of Contents

Part I. The Basics
Part II. DVD Information
Part III. The Original Series
Part IV. The Cast
Part V. The Animated Series
Part VI. Phase 2

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Part I. The Basics

1. Who created Star Trek?

• Gene Roddenberry (1921-1991). His second wife, and girlfriend during TOS, was Majel Barrett. Now you'll know why he wanted to keep her on the show.

2. Who starred in the original Star Trek?

• William Shatner... Captain James T. Kirk
• Leonard Nimoy... Commander Spock
• DeForest Kelley... Dr. Leonard McCoy, a.k.a "Bones"
• Grace Lee Whitney... Yeoman Janice Rand (1966)
• James Doohan... Lt. Cmdr. Montgomery Scott, a.k.a. "Scotty"
• Walter Koenig... Ensign Pavel Chekov (1967-1969)
• Nichelle Nichols... Lieutenant Uhura
• George Takei... Lieutenant Sulu
• Majel Barrett... Nurse Christine Chapel

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Part II. DVD Information

1. Why subtitle it "The Original Series" (TOS) on the DVD's?

• To distinguish the original Star Trek from the rest of the franchise, in case there was any doubt.

2. Was TOS ever released on DVD before?

• Twice. In 2004, TOS was released into three season sets. Previously it was released from 1999-2001 in 40 volumes, with two episodes per volume.

3. Why are there only three sets?

• Despite having the Enterprise on a "five-year mission", Star Trek only lasted three years, from 1966-1969.

4. Will the DVD's have these episodes in airdate or production order?

• Airdate order.

5. When will The Animated Series (TAS) be released on DVD?

• Tentative dates have been set but nothing officially announced.

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Part III. The Original Series

1. Is it Dr. Spock or Mr. Spock?

• Mr. Spock. He was the science officer but not the doctor. That's McCoy. Dr. Spock was a real-life child psychologist.

2. Will "The Cage" be included?

• Yes, but it's tacked onto the end of the third season.

3. What's "The Cage"?

• "The Cage", starring Jeffrey Hunter as Captain Pike, is the first episode of Star Trek. A pilot episode to show NBC what Star Trek would be like. It was produced in 1964 and had a mostly different cast. The only two familiar castmembers are Lenoard Nimoy (as Spock) and Majel Barrett (as "Number One"). NBC rejected Star Trek for being "too cerebral" and ordered a second pilot.
  
  Footage from "The Cage" was later re-used in "The Menagerie".

4. And what's the second pilot?

• "Where No Man Has Gone Before", starring William Shatner as Captain Kirk. It was produced in 1965 and the entire cast was replaced except for Leonard Nimoy (Majel Barrett returned later in the role of Nurse Chapel). This time Star Trek was accepted and it was added to NBC's 1966 fall schedule.
  
  The fact that "Where No Man Has Gone Before" was produced a year before the rest of the first season is why it looks so different.

5. Why did Yeoman Rand leave in the middle of the first season?

• Several episodes had shown Kirk and Rand to be interested in each other and the writers and producers didn't want Captain Kirk tied to one woman throughout the entire series.

6. Wasn't the character dropped because the actress had a drug addiction?

• There is speculation as to whether or not there may have been more to why Grace Lee Whitney left but the official reason is indeed the one above.

7. Where is Chekov in the first season?

• Chekov doesn't appear until the second season.

8. But "Space Seed" is a first season episode! So how does Khan know Chekov in The Wrath of Khan?

• It was an oversight on the producers' part. Two common rationalizations are that Chekov was in the lowerdecks at the time or that he just wasn't seen. Any other rationalizations can be used as well.

9. Why do the Klingons in TOS look so different?

• It was a make-up change. Plain and simple. No explanation was given until Star Trek: Enterprise in 2005, a combination of genetic engineering and viral mutation.

10. How do stardates work?!

• Stardates, in TOS, are a four-digit number that are used to mark time. Stardates aren't consistent from episode to episode and were used so that the writers wouldn't have to pin-down Star Trek to an exact date on the Gregorian calendar.

11. Didn't McCoy say first contact was made with the Klingons 50 years ago in "Day of the Dove"?

• This line has never been said. No one who's watched this episode has found it, cut or uncut.

12. Was Spock the first Vulcan in Starfleet?

• It's never said. In fact, "The Immunity Syndrome" mentions an all-Vulcan crew onboard the USS Intrepid, which would suggest against it.

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Part IV. The Cast

1. What's William Shatner been up to lately?

• A lot. Aside from Priceline commercials, he's starring in the primetime series Boston Legal, a spin-off from The Practice. William Shatner has also come out with the CD Has Been and starred in Ms. Congeniality 2: Armed and Fabulous. There were plans for William Shatner to appear on Star Trek: Enterprise during its fourth and final season but they never materialized.

2. Who from the original cast has passed away?

• With the exception of DeForest Kelley and James Doohan, the rest of the main cast is still alive.

3. When are the birthdates of the cast and creator?

• William Shatner... March 22, 1931
• Leonard Nimoy... March 26, 1931
• DeForest Kelley... January 20, 1920 (died June 11, 1999)
• Grace Lee Whitney... April 1, 1930
• James Doohan... March 3, 1920 (died July 20, 2005)
• Walter Koenig... September 14, 1936
• George Takei... April 20, 1937
• Nichelle Nichols... December 28, 1933
• Majel Barrett... February 23, 1932
• Gene Roddenberry... August 19, 1921 (died October 24, 1991)

4. Where can I find out more information about the cast?

• You can find out on the Internet Movie Database. It has information on their birthdays and other film or related projects they've done.

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Part V. The Animated Series

1. How did TAS come about?

• By 1973 NBC decided it had made a mistake in cancelling the original Star Trek and wanted to bring it back. When they realized that it would cost more than they wanted to spend to reconstruct the sets a compromize was made that Star Trek would return as an animated series.

2. But wasn't TAS a cartoon on Nick?

• It was only rerun on Nickelodeon during the 1980's. That's not when it was produced.

3. Why does almost every guest character sound like Scotty, Chapel, or Uhura?

• 1970's animation was notorious for its low budgets which also extended to the voice cast, leading James Doohan, Nichelle Nichols, and Majel Barrett to provide most of the voices.

4. So where's Chekov?

• Incidentally, the low budget for voice actors is also why Walter Koenig had to be cut.

5. Who are Arex and M'Ress?

• Arex and M'Ress are two alien characters added to the series. Arex is the navigator with three arms and he's voiced by James Doohan. M'Ress looks like a cat and she's voiced by Majel Barrett.

6. How long did TAS last?

• The first season aired in fall 1973 and lasted 16 episodes. Six more episodes were added in fall 1974, bringing the total to 22.

7. When does TAS take place?

• After the third season of TOS. Essentially it's a fourth (and fifth) season, except animated.

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Part VI. Phase 2

1. What happened after TAS?

• During the few years after TAS, Paramount tried to bring back live-action Star Trek in the form of a movie but no one could come up with what was deemed an acceptable story so the movie was scrapped.

2. What's Phase 2?

• In 1977, after the movie project fell apart, Paramount wanted to create its own network: the Paramount Television Service (PTS). The flag-ship series for PTS was going to be Star Trek: Phase 2, set to premiere in February 1978.

3. What would've changed from TOS?

• The look of the Enterprise would've been updated for the 1970's and all of the original cast would be back, except Leonard Nimoy. Spock would've left to teach at the Vulcan Science Academy and been replaced with a 20-year-old full-Vulcan named Xon as science officer. Also added to the cast would've been Decker, the new first officer, and Ilia, the new navigtor replacing Chekov who moved to security.

4. So what happened?

• Paramount backed away from creating its own network until 1995 (in the form of UPN), Phase 2 was cancelled in pre-production, and upon the theatrical releases of Star Wars and Close Encounters of the Third Kind, Paramount decided to turn what would've been the pilot episode of Phase 2, "In Thy Image", into Star Trek: The Motion Picture (TMP). Leonard Nimoy returned for TMP, eliminating the need for Xon. Decker and Ilia still made it into the film.

5. Why aren't the movies covered?

• They go beyond the scope of the FAQ.

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DISCLAIMER: Permission to reproduce this document anywhere on the Internet is granted so long as the author is credited.

Suggestions for future updates, though not promised, can be sent to lord_garth@trekbbs.com.

 

[Lord Garth]

Psssst.... T'Bonz, Mallory, I made this new version to replace the outdated one. If you don't want this one pinned, that's fine, but why keep the old one then?

 

[digifan]

Nice work, Garth. :thumbsup:

"Shatner on Enterprise that never materialized." Do yuo know how punny this sounds?

BTW, don't forget the special features of the DVDs and Paramount's push for the Las Vegas Star Trek - the Experience in the Hilton.

I am planning to attend it later this year. I heard it was a blast.

 

[Computer Voice]

I spotted a spelling mistake!

Part IV, paragraph 3, "Enteprrise".

 

[Mallory]

It's pinned. Do you want this one locked like the last one LG?

I'll let the old one slide away now.

 

[Lord Garth]

^ Nah, "the damage is done". Leave it open.

BTW, let me mention how much TAS DVD's and ENT's fourth season annoy me for making so much of the last version outdated.

I thought the original Star Trek was supposed to be a done deal.

 

[mateo]

I might mention that Shatner has won an Emmy Award for his work on The Practice. Otherwise, looks good.

 

[Blinker]

Posted by Lord Garth:
2. Will "The Cage" be included?

• Yes, but it's tacked onto the end of the third season. Don't ask me why...

Possibly because the third season needs all the sales incentives it can get.

 

[Therin of Andor]

Posted by Lord Garth:
Previously it was released from 1999-2001 in 40 volumes, with two episodes per volume.

Perhaps you should note that the twin pack DVDs weren't released internationally.

Will "The Cage" be included?
Yes, but it's tacked onto the end of the third season. Don't ask me why...

Your airdate answer in the other question (Part II, #4) tells you exactly why. Prior to the video release and subsequent TV airings of "The Cage" in the late 80s, noone got to see it unless they went to a ST convention where Gene Roddenberry was a guest.

"The Cage", starring Jeffery Hunter

That's Jeffrey.

BTW, for TAS fans, my ever-growing web page on TAS references in the latter day ST movies, TV series and all novels, comics, RPGs, etc is at:
http://www.geocities.com/therinofandor/TAS/TAS.html

 

[digifan]

^ As far as I know, this is just a rumour that had been floating around for quite sometime now. It is yet to be confirm by the official web site. I will believe and definitely buy it if the announcement is ever made.

Posted by Blinker:

Posted by Lord Garth:
2. Will "The Cage" be included?

• Yes, but it's tacked onto the end of the third season. Don't ask me why...

Possibly because the third season needs all the sales incentives it can get.

Nope. GR himself explained it. He said in the introduction to the movie that "The Cage's" original footage were recently recovered from the studio's vault and painstakingly restored. However most of the original footage were so badly degraded there were no way to restore them completely.

The box set DVDs are packaged differently from the 2 episode DVDs. The box sets had additional commentaries by the crew and staff behind the camera including some pretty interesting titbits from Matt Jeffries. Check them out.

 

[rich kolker]

Re: Walter Koenig and TAS

Although it didn't do any voice work on TAS, Walter Koenig did write an episode. The Infinite Vulcan if my memory is accurate.

 

[Just A Country Doctor]

Why do the Klingons in TOS look so different?

It was a make-up change. Plain and simple. No explanation was ever given until Star Trek: Enterprise in 2004, a combination of genetic engineering and viral mutation.

I once heard that, at the time the original series aired, it was felt that it might frighten viewers.

 

[Therin of Andor]

Posted by Just A Country Doctor:
I once heard that, at the time the original series aired, it was felt that it might frighten viewers.

What might frighten viewers??? It's not as if there were actual plans in the 60s to put bony spinal columns from base-of-neck to bridge-of-nose on all the TV series Klingons. The "Errand of Mercy" (TOS) script didn't describe Klingons at all, so Fred Phillips simply experimented with a swarthy green/brown greasepaint, bushy eyebrows and a stock Fu Man Chu mustache on John Colicos, with Colicos making suggestions as they went, a matter of hours before filming commenced.

The TMP Klingons were more of a celebration of the fact that latex appliances could be made cheaper, quicker, thinner and more elaborately for a major motion picture being made in 1978, with money to burn. (No comparison for a weekly TV series meagre makeup budget ten years earlier.)

Are you saying that TMP's Klingons were scarier than TOS's Salt Vampire ("The Man Trap"), or the Neanderthals of "The Galileo Seven", or snaggletoothed Kloog of "Gamesters of Triskelion"?

TMP's Klingons were Fred Phillips' swansong! The Klingon scenes were filmed last of all, he could finally make them less hominid, and then Phillips retired from show business - and very soon after became legally blind, unable to even assist the makeup staff for ST II.

 

[Just A Country Doctor]

Posted by Therin of Andor:

Posted by Just A Country Doctor:
I once heard that, at the time the original series aired, it was felt that it might frighten viewers.

What might frighten viewers??? It's not as if there were actual plans in the 60s to put bony spinal columns from base-of-neck to bridge-of-nose on all the TV series Klingons. The "Errand of Mercy" (TOS) script didn't describe Klingons at all, so Fred Phillips simply experimented with a swarthy green/brown greasepaint, bushy eyebrows and a stock Fu Man Chu mustache on John Colicos, with Colicos making suggestions as they went, a matter of hours before filming commenced.

The TMP Klingons were more of a celebration of the fact that latex appliances could be made cheaper, quicker, thinner and more elaborately for a major motion picture being made in 1978, with money to burn. (No comparison for a weekly TV series meagre makeup budget ten years earlier.)

Are you saying that TMP's Klingons were scarier than TOS's Salt Vampire ("The Man Trap"), or the Neanderthals of "The Galileo Seven", or snaggletoothed Kloog of "Gamesters of Triskelion"?

TMP's Klingons were Fred Phillips' swansong! The Klingon scenes were filmed last of all, he could finally make them less hominid, and then Phillips retired from show business - and very soon after became legally blind, unable to even assist the makeup staff for ST II.

All I basically meant is, that is what I heard. Didn't mean to infer that it was true!! :thumbsup:

 

[Lord Garth]

One of the perks of turning yellow is that I was finally able to fix those embarrassing typos in the FAQ instead of letting them linger until the next update.

Next time I'll hire a proofreader.

I appreciate all the other input as well.

 

[Trubinator]

Does anybody know when TOS airs on scifi channel on USA West Coast?

 

[digifan]

Posted by Lord Garth:
One of the perks of turning yellow is that I was finally able to fix those embarrassing typos in the FAQ instead of letting them linger until the next update.

Next time I'll hire a proofreader.

I appreciate all the other input as well.

I see you are already flexing your Admin passcard powers, eh, Garth?

Now that Scotty had passed on, maybe we should get the list updated to include his death as well?

EDUT - I see you had already done so. Never mind, then.

Carry on.

 

[The Borgified Corpse]

I thought that the reason why Janice Rand stopped being on the show was because of budgetary reasons. They couldn't afford to keep paying everybody. They had to cut someone from the cast and it just happened to be her. "Budgetary reasons" is the explanation given in the "Star Trek Encyclopedia."

 

[Therin of Andor]

Posted by The Borgified Corpse:
I thought that the reason why Janice Rand stopped being on the show was because of budgetary reasons. They couldn't afford to keep paying everybody. They had to cut someone from the cast and it just happened to be her. "Budgetary reasons" is the explanation given in the "Star Trek Encyclopedia."

Grace Lee Whitney was signed quite early - under a watertight thirteen-week contract (they had to pay her every week whether a script used her or not) - while other actors in the secondary roles in Season One, such as Nichelle Nichols and Majel Barrett, were only paid when they worked. Whitney had a high profile in Hollywood at the time, having worked in some big movies and TV series.

Whitney was let go for several reasons, and most of them related to budget. (Even her now-self-admitted problems with alcohol and diet pills caused budget problems; it took them longer to make her look good onscreen.)

But they'd also painted themselves into a corner with Rand. She wasn't used in all thirteen episodes and, when she was featured, her character was involved in several strong stories that emphasized a relationship with the captain that overstepped normal working arrangements: she was assaulted by the captain (or rather, half of the captain) in "The Enemy Within" and tried to get Kirk to look at her legs in another episode ("Miri"). Where could the writers go from here, especially when the studio didn't want a continuing narrative, or the leading man tied down to one character? ("Dagger of the Mind" and "The Galileo Seven" were both originally planned as Rand episodes. "Dagger of the Mind" would have had yet another Kirk/Rand romantic scene, instead of Helen Noel.)

It was realized that dumping Whitney would solve several problems at once, again most related to budget: a new yeoman each week would give fresh new female faces for Kirk to flirt with (or at least free him up to flirt with the alien women); any replacement actress wouldn't be signed to a thirteen-week contract and the need to write a meaty part for them every week; and it would give the time Whitney needed to clean up her act. Whitney's autobiography suggests there were other, more sinister, behind-the-scenes events, too.

Roddenberry was reunited with Whitney at those early huge ST conventions in the 70s and he realised the terrible effect the sacking had on her career and personal life, and plans were made to put her into "ST Phase II" (and thus TMP) as a regular character. The script of "In Thy Image" even shows Rand in a new bridge role, that of relief communications officer, when Uhura is called away from bridge duty.

 

[digifan]

Just a quick note. Uhura was the only minor recurring support character that never given a first name. Chekov mentioned Sulu being called "Hikaru" in Generations. Note the other characters - Reiley, Kyle, Kiekso; etc does not count!