Line #95 Trivia/StarTrek


1	Works in this franchise with their own Trivia pages:
2
3	* Series:
4	[[index]]
5	** ''Trivia/StarTrekTheOriginalSeries''
6	** ''Trivia/StarTrekTheAnimatedSeries''
7	** ''Trivia/StarTrekTheNextGeneration''
8	** ''Trivia/StarTrekDeepSpaceNine''
9	** ''Trivia/StarTrekVoyager''
10	** ''Trivia/StarTrekEnterprise''
11	** ''Trivia/StarTrekDiscovery''
12	** ''Trivia/StarTrekPicard''
13	** ''Trivia/StarTrekLowerDecks''
14	** ''Trivia/StarTrekStrangeNewWorlds''
15	** ''Trivia/StarTrekProdigy''
16	[[/index]]
17
18	* Films:
19	[[index]]
20	** ''Trivia/StarTrekTheMotionPicture''
21	** ''Trivia/StarTrekIITheWrathOfKhan''
22	** ''Trivia/StarTrekIIITheSearchForSpock''
23	** ''Trivia/StarTrekIVTheVoyageHome''
24	** ''Trivia/StarTrekVTheFinalFrontier''
25	** ''Trivia/StarTrekVITheUndiscoveredCountry''
26	** ''Trivia/StarTrekGenerations''
27	** ''Trivia/StarTrekFirstContact''
28	** ''Trivia/StarTrekInsurrection''
29	** ''Trivia/StarTrekNemesis''
30	** ''Trivia/StarTrek2009''
31	** ''Trivia/StarTrekIntoDarkness''
32	** ''Trivia/StarTrekBeyond''
33	[[/index]]
34
35	----
36	* AccidentallyCorrectWriting: The trinary star system 40 Eridani (approximately 16 light-years from Earth) was declared by Gene Roddenberry to be the real-world location of the Vulcan system, which was alluded to in ''Series/StarTrekEnterprise'' and then confirmed by a map in ''Series/StarTrekDiscovery''. In 2019, astronomers confirmed the existence of a number of "super-Earths" (rocky planets more massive than Earth, much like the fictional Vulcan) orbiting the primary star 40 Eridani A.
37	* CastTheRunnerUp: The franchise does this a lot (often overlapping with YouLookFamiliar as a number of actors played one-shot roles and then moved up to playing recurring or regular characters):
38	** Creator/DeForestKelley was originally offered the part of Spock. This is borne out by a casting memo for the original pilot listing both Kelley and Creator/LeonardNimoy as candidates for the role, although most sources indicate Nimoy was Roddenberry's first choice for the part. He turned it down, but eventually accepted the role of Dr. [=McCoy=] (the first two pilots had different doctor characters). Creator/NichelleNichols also claimed she was offered the role, although this is dubious.[[note]]It is generally accepted that she was auditioned to have ''some'' kind of part in the series, Uhura having not been created for her yet, and lacking a character for her to play, they had her read Spock's lines as a gauge for her overall acting talent.[[/note]]
39	** Spock was almost recast between Seasons 1 and 2 of the original series, as Leonard Nimoy was unsure if he wanted to continue. The top choices to replace him? Mark Lenard and Lawrence Montaigne, both of whom had appeared as Romulans in the first season episode "Balance of Terror". When Nimoy ultimately agreed to return, neither man got their chance to be Spock, but Lenard famously returned as Spock's ''father'', Ambassador Sarek in the episode "Journey to Babel" as well as reprising the role several times in subsequent series and films, while Montaigne would portray Spock's romantic rival Stonn in the episode "Amok Time".
40	** Creator/PatrickStewart auditioned three times. Once for Data and twice for Picard. Once bald and once wearing a hairpiece.
41	** Patrick Stewart's chief competition for the part of Picard was Stephen Macht, who would go on to appear as General Krim in [=DS9=]'s Season 2 three-part premiere. Also up for the part had been Mitchell Ryan, who appeared as Riker's father in TNG's second season episode "The Icarus Factor" and Barrie Ingham, who memorably played Irish stereotype Danilo O'Dell in the same season, the episode being "Up the Long Ladder".
42	** Creator/MarinaSirtis and Creator/DeniseCrosby were originally going to play Yar and Troi respectively but switched roles at the last minute.
43	** Creator/JamesAvery and James Louis Watkins were two runners-up for the role of Worf. Watkins would be cast as Hagon in the TNG First Season episode "Code of Honor", while for Avery it would take a bit longer to make it into the ''Trek'' universe. He was ultimately cast as Klingon General K'Vagh in the ENT Season 4 episodes "Affliction" and "Divergence".
44	** Rosalind Chao was one of the actors considered for the part of "Macha Hernandez" which would become Tasha Tar eventually. She didn't make it, but later was cast in the recurring role of Keiko Ishikawa, the ''Enterprise'' botanist who marries Chief O'Brien, and as a result transferred with him to Deep Space Nine.
45	** Creator/JeffreyCombs auditioned for the part of Riker on ''Series/StarTrekTheNextGeneration''. When ''Series/StarTrekDeepSpaceNine'' rolled around, he was eventually cast in two different recurring roles, Brunt and Weyoun. The latter was meant to be a one-shot character (he was killed off in his first appearance) but the writers liked him so much they made the character's species a race of clones so they could bring him back, and he became a major villain in the series. Along with a few one-shot guest characters, he also played the recurring role of Shran on ''Series/StarTrekEnterprise'', who was in line for a PromotionToOpeningTitles until the series was canceled.
46	** Two other auditioners for Riker--Creator/BillyCampbell and Creator/ChristopherMcDonald--had one-episode guest appearances on ''TNG''.
47	** Still other candidates for Riker (or "Ryker" as it was initially spelled) show how different the character could have gone; Vaughn Armstrong and Eric Pierpoint were both in the running. Neither man was your typical "handsome leading man" type and both appeared frequently as either aliens or stern authority figures (or aliens who were stern authority figures) in multiple episodes of the franchise, across all Rick Berman-era ''Trek'' series. Armstrong is probably best known for the recurring role of Admiral Forrest on ''Series/StarTrekEnterprise'' but listing all his guest roles would take most of this page. Pierpoint is likely best known as Captain Sanders in [=DS9's=] "For the Uniform" and shady Section 31 operative Harris in ENT.
48	** Creator/AndrewRobinson tried out for the part of Odo before being cast as Garak. He was also considered for Captain Willard Decker in ''Film/StarTrekTheMotionPicture''.
49	** David Gatreaux was hired for what would have been the regular role of Lieutenant Xon, Spock's replacement, in the series ''Star Trek: Phase II'', which was greenlit and had begun production before being scrapped in favor of the first film ''Film/StarTrekTheMotionPicture''. Since the film version had the character of Spock written back in, Xon never saw the light of day, but Gatreaux was cast in the role of Commander Branch, the commanding officer of space station Epsilon IX.
50	** Creator/KevinPeterHall, known best for the film ''Film/{{Predator}}'' and other parts that made use of his over-seven-foot-tall frame, was considered for both the parts of Data and Geordi. He eventually appeared as Leyor in TNG's Season 3 episode "The Price".
51	** The producers of [[Series/StarTrekDeepSpaceNine DS9]] were so impressed by Creator/AlexanderSiddig's performance in ''A Dangerous Man: Lawrence After Arabia'' that they intended to offer him the role of Sisko, until they actually met him and realized he was far too young for the part (having been aged up for the film). Instead, they cast him in the role of the station's doctor, originally called Julian Amoros but renamed Julian Bashir to better suit Siddig's background.
52	** Creator/TimRuss auditioned for the part of Geordi [=LaForge=] on [[Series/StarTrekTheNextGeneration TNG]]. He played a number of one-shot guest roles in the franchise before being cast as Tuvok on ''Series/StarTrekVoyager''.
53	** Eric Menyuk was a finalist for the role of Data on [[Series/StarTrekTheNextGeneration TNG]]; he ended up playing the recurring role of the Traveler, Wesley Crusher's alien mentor.
54	** Creator/RobertPicardo desperately wanted to be cast in ''Voyager'', but as ''Neelix'', whom Picardo was convinced would become the show's BreakoutCharacter. Thankfully he was persuaded to take the "boring" role of the Doctor, turning that role into the breakout character, instead.
55	** Creator/JamesCromwell was considered for Odo. He had already appeared as Nayrok on TNG's "The Hunted" and would later play several alien roles and finally, most famously, Zefram Cochrane.
56	** Creator/KimCattrall was considered for Savvik in ''Film/StarTrekIITheWrathOfKhan'' and Vixis in ''Film/StarTrekVTheFinalFrontier'' before being cast as Valeris in ''Film/StarTrekVITheUndiscoveredCountry''.
57	* DevelopmentGag:
58	** Quite a few. Jeffries Tubes were named after the visual designer of the original series (and designer of the original Enterprise) Matt Jeffries. Various shuttlecraft, such as the Justman, were also named after notable production crew. A section of Stage 16 at the Creator/{{Paramount}} studio used to portray alien planets had the nickname of "Planet Hell," which was used as a description of an appropriate planet in ''Series/StarTrekVoyager''.
59	** The ENT episode "Dear Doctor" makes a reference to sex-starved Archer's "[[FreudianSlipperySlope Pillerian Slips]]" in front of busty T'Pol. This is a cute nod to writer Michael Piller.
60	* FandomLifeCycle: Against all odds, the franchise managed to reach Level 5 of mainstream familiarity. Once [[Trivia/StarTrekTheOriginalSeries The Original Series]] ended, never a ratings darling or helped by the network, the fandom reached Cooldown and retreated to cult status. But over a decade later, ''Film/StarTrekTheMotionPicture'' led to a NewbieBoom, and the franchise has received new material to be kept alive and popular ever since. Even low points were followed by boosts such as [[Film/StarTrek2009 the 2009 film]].
61	* FranchiseOwnershipAcquisition: The rights to Star Trek have changed hands several times through corporate mergers and acquisitions. It started off being owned by Creator/DesiluStudios, which was bought by Creator/{{Paramount}} while the original series was still in production. There was later a period in the 2000s and 2010s where the film rights and TV rights were split between respectively Paramount and Creator/{{CBS}} by their mutual parent company Viacom, which caused legal headaches for licensees like ''VideoGame/StarTrekOnline'' creator Creator/CrypticStudios.
62	* KilledByRequest:
63	** Spock's death in ''Film/StarTrekIITheWrathOfKhan'' was due to Creator/LeonardNimoy's wish to be written out of the movie series. He was resurrected in ''Film/StarTrekIIITheSearchForSpock'' after Nimoy changed his mind.
64	** Creator/BrentSpiner insisted on Data's death in ''Film/StarTrekNemesis'' because he didn't think he could convincingly play an un-aging android anymore as he got older. The final film still includes a SequelHook hinting at Data's possible resurrection [[spoiler:in B-4's body]], which the ''Literature/StarTrekNovelverse'' and ''VideoGame/StarTrekOnline'' both took advantage of, but any future movies in the [[Series/StarTrekTheNextGeneration TNG]] series were derailed when ''Nemesis'' [[BoxOfficeBomb flopped]]. They ended up [[spoiler:writing him back into the series in a very different way in ''Series/StarTrekPicard'', by having Dr. Soong's son, Alton, scavenge up all memory engrams of every Soong-type android known to exist, and load them all into "Daystrom Android M-5-10", which was given a synthetic human body that aged naturally, and looked the same age as 70ish Alton himself. Data's engrams soon take over the android's body, thus reviving Data with a naturally aging body.]]
65	* LifeImitatesArt: Enough that we actually gave the franchise [[LifeImitatesArt/StarTrek its own page]]. Take the sliding doors, for one thing.
66	* LongRunners: 54 years and counting, in which time the franchise has produced 36 seasons of television, 13 theatrical films, several dozen video games, and nearly 900 novels.
67	* MemeAcknowledgement: In 2017, there was an essay written about “[[http://strangehorizons.com/non-fiction/columns/freshly-rememberd-kirk-drift/ Kirk Drift]]”, how Kirk’s reputation as a womanising hothead isn’t actually how it was in the show or movies. Christopher L Bennett was already making the CommonKnowledge an in-universe theme in his novels, but in the official book Literature/TheAutobiographyOfSpock, Spock defends his friend, and the editor gives an explicit nod to the essay.
68	* ReferencedBy: [[ReferencedBy/StarTrek See subpage]].
69	* SpinOffCookbook:
70	** ''The Official Star Trek Cooking Manual'' by Mary Ann Piccard. In-universe, the personal cooking log of Christine Chapel.
71	** ''The Star Trek Cookbook'' by Ethan Phillips and William J. Birnes. In-universe, written as if by Neelix.
72	* {{Trope Maker\|s}} for:
73	** GreenSkinnedSpaceBabe: "The Cage" (TOS)
74	** PlanetOfHats: Popularized by "A Piece of the Action" (TOS)
75	** RubberForeheadAliens
76	* UnfinishedEpisode: [[http://en.memory-alpha.org/wiki/Undeveloped_Star_Trek_projects Memory Alpha made a list.]] Highlights include:
77	** ''Series/StarTrekTheOriginalSeries'' was originally going to have an episode entitled "He Walked Among Us", which would have guest starred Milton Berle. In the episode, Berle would've played a sociologist pretending to be God in a primitive community, and it would've showcased Berle's dramatic acting range. However, Gene Roddenberry was enraged when he discovered that the script for the episode [[ExecutiveMeddling had been rewritten as a comedy]], so he ordered for the episode to be scrapped.
78	** A ''Series/StarTrekTheNextGeneration'' episode called [[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Blood_and_Fire_(Star_Trek:_The_Next_Generation) "Blood and Fire"]], featuring an openly gay couple and an AIDS allegory. Rick Berman shot it down due to the former, but it was later produced as part of the FanVid series ''WebVideo/StarTrekNewVoyages''.
79	** A ''Series/StarTrekDeepSpaceNine'' episode where Ens. Sito Jaxa from the TNG episode [[Recap/StarTrekTheNextGenerationS7E14LowerDecks "Lower Decks"]] returns as a PTSD patient after having been imprisoned in inhumane conditions. Some elements were used in season 4's "[[ButtMonkey O'Brien must suffer]]" episode [[Recap/StarTrekDeepSpaceNineS04E19HardTime "Hard Time"]].
80	** A ''Series/StarTrekVoyager'' episode where the Doctor is forced to kill someone to protect a patient, bringing him into conflict with the Hippocratic Oath.
81	** The entire planned fifth season of ''Series/StarTrekEnterprise'', due to the cancellation. Season 5 was to show the beginnings of the Federation and the roots of the Earth-Romulan War, and much of the material would be used in the ''Literature/StarTrekEnterpriseRelaunch'' novel series.
82	* WhyFandomCantHaveNiceThings: For several decades the owners of the ''Franchise/StarTrek'' IP (Creator/{{Paramount}} in its various incarnations) practiced a policy of benign neglect towards fan works, even as series like ''WebVideo/StarTrekNewVoyages'' and ''WebVideo/StarTrekContinues'' started to really push the envelope on production values. That all changed in 2016 when it became clear that Alec Peters, the lead producer of the ostensible fan film ''[[WebVideo/PreludeToAxanar Star Trek: Axanar]]'' had used money donated through Website/{{Kickstarter}} for the project to line his own pockets and set up a for-profit studio, and Creator/{{CBS}} and Paramount filed suit for copyright infringement in December 2015. At time of writing the case is still in pretrial motions, but in June 2016 C/P issued [[http://www.startrek.com/fan-films a set of highly stringent new rules]] for fan films that are essentially the death knell of the higher-quality web series.
83	* WordOfGod: Per Paramount Studios (owners of the franchise) and Gene Roddenberry (creator of the franchise) from the late-80s/early-90s, only live-action ''Star Trek'' TV episodes and films are considered canon. This has been hotly debated by fans, and occasionally ignored by scriptwriters.
84	** The concept is likely out the door since ''WesternAnimation/StarTrekLowerDecks''.
85	* YouLookFamiliar: Own page [[YouLookFamiliar/StarTrek here]].

Context Trivia / StarTrek