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Are You A Fan Of Star Trek? You'll Want To Read This
From the names of the characters to the secret messages on the pipes inside the hatches and the stars who turned down the show, the Star Trek franchise is filled with "Easter eggs," subtle nods by the writers to sci fi fans who are paying close attention.
Some of them are easy to miss and that's why this article from the U.K.'s Radio Times is so interesting.
You may not believe what you didn't see. My favourite is the blink-and-you'll-miss-it reference to the actors who played Doctor Who.
Think you know Star Trek? These 13 secrets and Easter eggs surprise even die-hard fans
- newsguy1
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Here's a couple of mind blowing pieces of trivia.
Gene Roddenberry's first choice to play Spock was -- are you sitting down?
Actor George Lindsey.
If that name doesn't ring a bell, how about his famous role as Goober Pyle of Mayberry.
It is not clear why Gene thought Lindsey could be the Vulcan science officer.
But apparently he knew him.
A second choice was a much more understandable -- Martin Landau.
But he ended up in Mission Impossible instead.
Speaking of Spock, the famous Vulcan V shaped salute was invented by Leonard Nimoy who was Jewish.
The V shaped hand sign comes from ancient Jewish spirituality.
Regarding the first choice to play Captain Janeway, Canada's Genevieve Bujold, was a real mess of a casting.
She lobbied hard for the part and she was only reluctantly given the role.
After going to all that trouble she spent two days shooting the show and abruptly quit -- why? -- because the schedule was too hard for her.
The producers of Star Trek TNG at first insisted that Jean Luc Picard not be bald. So Patrick Stewart did all the auditions with a hair piece.
But the producers also decided to have a look at him with his natural bald pate, and immediately recognized it looked much better.
The first seasons of TNG had the crew wearing the one-piece uniforms with no collar.
The uniforms were made of a very snug and stifling polyester material that got steaming hot and sweaty during shooting.
So they switched to the two-piece uniforms which, were cooler, but the tunics kept riding up.
Thus, the explanation for Picard constantly pulling them down again.
It became a signature gesture of Picard, but it was just Patrick Stewart feeling annoyed at having the top half constantly creeping too high.
Levar Burton really suffered playing La Forge because his visor had to be screwed into the sides of his temples.
He had to do all the acting with metal studs digging into his flesh.
And there's plenty more where these came from.
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Re: Are You A Fan Of Star Trek? You'll Want To Read This
Didn't I read in another one of your posts that you got to interview Gene Roddenberry? Is that where some of this info came from?
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Thread Starter- Chrisphen
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Re: Are You A Fan Of Star Trek? You'll Want To Read This
A few further points of interest.
Harlan Ellison penned a nice 70-page essay shitting all over the legacy of Gene Roddenberry. I can't find it online (out of fear of Ellison's ghost suing me for copyright infringement).
'Star Trek V: The Final Frontier' had a huge budget after the success of STIV:TVH. However, ILM was too tied up with Spielberg's classic 'Hook' to work on special effects for it, so they had to go with the 'B-team' - Bran Ferrin and Associates. The results were, uh, noteworthy.
The Next Generation's episodes were shot on film, allowing for easy transfer to 4K, but the production itself was designed for standard-definition television. As a result, many shortcomings and kludges are obvious to the discerning eye.
Last edited by Chrisphen (July 9, 2026 8:05 pm)
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Re: Are You A Fan Of Star Trek? You'll Want To Read This
I spent a day with Roddenberry.
I was president of thew UBC radio station, CITR and we sponsored a Star Trek convention at the university
He was a real larger than life character and he told me a whole bunch of stories, including how her had to come up with ways to fool the studio executives in order to get some of the Trek episodes made.
After I graduated I ended up in radio news and eventually ended up in Victoria working for then, CKDA-CFMS radio.
There were rumours flying around that there was going to be a Star Trek movie so just for fun I call Paramount in LA and told them about my encounter with Roddenberry and could I get an phone interview with him.
To my surprise they agreed and set up a call.
In that conversation I asked him if it was true there was going to be a movie, and to my further surprise he confirmed it.
He had not done so up to the point.
I think the only reason he told me was that he figured I was just some small time Canadian radio reporter, so telling me was no big deal.
So I went to air with the story, and guess what, he was right.
Nobody was the slightest bit interested in my "scoop"
At the time a lot of people thought Star Trek was an old washed up TV show and weren't much interested.
But when the movie finally came out it was a big deal. and the rest is continued history.
Last edited by newsguy1 (July 9, 2026 8:15 pm)
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Re: Are You A Fan Of Star Trek? You'll Want To Read This
There is an automotive repair shop in Sudbury named Starship Marketing that I deliver parts to. I asked the owner why he didn't name the business Starship Enterprises. He said he originally applied for it, it was already taken.