Trivia / Star Trek S1 E13 "The Conscience of the King"

• The Cast Showoff: We get to hear Nichelle Nichols' beautiful singing voice. It sure as hell beats another chorus of "I'll Take You Home Kathleen"!
• Deleted Scene: Several scenes were filmed but cut:
  • A scene between Anton Karidian and his daughter in their quarters
  • A scene of crewmen watching the performance of Hamlet on the bridge
  • A scene was filmed showing Lenore resting in sickbay after her mental breakdown
• No Budget: The Leightons' reception for the actors is represented only by Kirk and Lenore talking in a room with muffled voices heard from off-camera, presumably as there wasn't enough money to hire extras for a single scene.
• Prop Recycling: The painted backdrop of Mojave from "The Cage" can be seen as the view outside Dr. Leighton's window.
• Real-Life Relative: William Sargent and Natalie Norwick, as Tom and Martha Leighton, were also married in real life.
• Recycled Set:
  • The ship's theatre is a redress of the engineering set. Pieces of the ship's gymnasium are hanging on the walls, and the ceiling can be seen of this set in one of three glimpses in the first season.
  • The observation deck is a redress of the Romulan bridge set from "Balance of Terror".
• Technology Marches On: Kodos faked his own death with a body "burned beyond recognition" and started again with a new identity. Since the episode first aired, several technologies have become commonplace (such as DNA matching) that would have made the question of identification less difficult for the heroes. According to the admittedly-less-than-canon Star Trek: Discovery novel "Drastic Measures" he changed the records with a deceased assistant of his so that said person's DNA profile came up as Kodos.
• What Could Have Been:
  • The script originally began with a view of the city on Planet Q, with a poster advertising the Karidian Company of Players superimposed over it, then dissolving into the performance of Macbeth. Director Gerd Oswald decided this lead-up was unnecessary, and chose a more gripping opening of Macbeth's dagger shown close up.
  • In the original draft, the character whose parents had been murdered by Kodos was named Lt. Robert Daiken. When Bruce Hyde was cast in the role, the staff realized that he played the character Kevin Riley in "The Naked Time" so the character was rewritten as Riley.
  • A line scripted, but cut from the episode established that Kirk was a midshipman, fresh out of the Academy when he was stationed on Tarsus IV and witnessed the massacre. Since it happened twenty years before the events of this episode, this would have indicated that Kirk is somewhat older than what was later established in "The Deadly Years".
  • In the script, Yeoman Rand interrupted Kirk and Lenore on the observation deck to bring Kirk a report. However this event was omitted from the episode, 28 years later it was featured (as a dream flashback) in the comic book story, "The Dream Walkers".
  • An early version of the script had Kirk's father be one of the victims, only adding to Kirk's Survivor's Guilt.
• You Look Familiar: As mentioned above, Bruce Hyde was initially cast as Robert Daiken, a completely different person from his original character Kevin Riley. Ultimately averted as the writers decided to edit the script so that Hyde's character would still be Riley.

---