History Trivia / StarTrekS1E1TheManTrap

* RecycledScript: This episode bears a resemblance to an earlier George Clayton Johnson story called "All of Us Are Dying," later adapted by Creator/RodSerling for ''Series/TheTwilightZone1959'' episode "[[Recap/TheTwilightZoneS1E13TheFourOfUsAreDying The Four Of Us Are Dying]]". That show also involved a person who could make himself into whomever he chose.

* UncreditedRole: Garrison True and Larry Anthony both speak several on-screen lines, yet are not listed in the closing credits.

** In the original script, the moral dilemma of killing 'the last of its kind' had been more pronounced, with the creature, disguised as [=McCoy=], trying to reason with the crew. Also in that version, Professor Crater lives in the end, mourning the loss of the creature. Creator/GeneRoddenberry's rewrite for the final draft toned down the emotional aspects of the [=McCoy=] relationship in favor of a more straightforward plot, as a cornered animal, the salt creature panics and actually kills its longtime companion; Professor Crater.

** Creator/GeneRoddenberry disliked Music/AlexanderCourage's score for the episode.

* FanNickname:
** The (unnamed) alien is almost universally known as "the salt vampire". Became AscendedFanon in ''WesternAnimation/StarTrekLowerDecks'', 55 years after the episode first aired. (Memory Alpha, which is notorious for eschewing fan nicknames, had previously described the alien as the "M-113 creature".)
** Sulu's quip about the Great Bird of the Galaxy, which later became a fan nickname for Creator/GeneRoddenberry.

** The (unnamed) alien is almost universally known as "the salt vampire".

* CreatorBacklash: Creator/GeneRoddenberry disliked Music/AlexanderCourage's score for the episode.

** In the original script, the moral dilemma of killing 'the last of its kind' had been more pronounced, with the creature, disguised as [=McCoy=], trying to reason with the crew. Also in that version, Professor Crater lives in the end, mourning the loss of the creature. Creator/GeneRoddenberry's rewrite for the final draft toned down the emotional aspects of the [=McCoy=] relationship in favor of a more straightforward plot, as a cornered animal, the salt creature panics and actually kills it's longtime companion; Professor Crater.

* ScienceMarchesOn: It's mentioned that buffalo are extinct. It is true that overhunting brought the buffalo very close to extinction at the end of the nineteenth century. In the 1960s, it was a fairly reasonable assumption that buffalo might be extinct in the future, although probably not the best guess since conservation efforts had started decades earlier. Today they are no longer considered endangered at all. (The episode also mentions passenger pigeons, which were already extinct when the episode was made.)

* InspirationForTheWork: George Clayton Johnson used the 1953 science fiction novel ''The Syndic'' by Cyril M. Kornbluth as the basis for the story.

* FanNickname: The (unnamed) alien is almost universally known as "the salt vampire".

* InspirationForTheWork: George Clayton Johnson used the 1953 science fiction novel The Syndic by Cyril M. Kornbluth as the basis for the story.

* WorkingTitle: ''The Unreal [=McCoy=].'' Another early title was ''Damsel With a Dulcimer'' from Samuel Coleridge's "Kublai Khan" poem. (In the poem, Coleridge thinks that if he could remember and reproduce her song, he could re-create in the actual world the wonders he's seen.)

* WorkingTitle: ''The Unreal [=McCoy=]. Another early title was ''Damsel With a Dulcimer'' from Samuel Coleridge's "Kublai Khan" poem. (In the poem, Coleridge thinks that if he could remember and reproduce her song, he could re-create in the actual world the wonders he's seen.)

* WorkingTitle: ''The Unreal [=McCoy=]. Another early title was ''Damsel With a Dulcimer''.

** The original draft lacked much of a presence of Spock. Actually, it was Scotty who accompanied Kirk to catch Crater.

* RecycledScript: This episode bears a resemblance to an earlier George Clayton Johnson story called "All of Us Are Dying," later adapted by Creator/RodSerling for ''Series/TheTwilightZone'' episode "The Four of Us Are Dying". That show also involved a person who could make himself into whomever he chose.

** In the original script, the moral dilemma of killing 'the last of its kind' had been more pronounced, with the creature, disguised as McCoy, trying to reason with the crew. Also in that version, Professor Crater lives in the end, mourning the loss of the creature. Gene Roddenberry's rewrite for the final draft toned down the emotional aspects of the McCoy relationship in favor of a more straightforward plot, as a cornered animal, the salt creature panics and actually kills it's longtime companion; Professor Crater.