Questions tagged [star-trek-tos]
For questions about "Star Trek: The Original Series" which aired in 1966. Always use in conjunction with the [star-trek] tag. Users should clarify if they want to include or exclude the TOS-era films in the answers, since we have no separate tag for those.
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Why is "Droxine" a name appropriate for someone beautiful and pleasant?
In Star Trek, season 3, episode 21, "The Cloud Minders", Spock is considering his surroundings at the time, and one of its residents:
Here on Stratos, everything is incomparably beautiful ...
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What is the maximum number of Star Trek TOS characters to appear in one shot in a Star Trek property?
A (correctly) deleted answer by @EatMe to this question was interesting enough in its own right for me to ask this new question.
The deleted answer contained this photo:
The photo shows a courtroom ...
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Why did Kirk decide to maroon Khan and his people instead of turning them over to Starfleet?
I just watched the Star Trek: the Original Series episode Space Seed.
Kirk's decision to drop the charges against Kahn and just maroon Khan on Ceti Alpha V instead of turning him over to the ...
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Star Trek: TOS episode involving aliens with mental powers and a tormented dwarf
In this episode, an away team from the Enterprise (standard team with Kirk, Spock and McCoy) encounter a small community of humanoid aliens who all have psychokinetic abilities, except for a dwarf ...
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What was the first story wherein an artificial plague is created for therapeutic reasons?
In Miri from STOS, I do not think specifically an artificial virus or artificially-modified virus is mentioned, but Wikipedia says, "The party find a medical research laboratory and look through ...
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Story in which only children who receive treatment can become immortal?
I think I read this in the early 1990s.
I recall thinking that the basic premise, that it would only work if you got it young resonated -- just like if you take growth hormone as a child, indeed you ...
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Where is a call for security initially directed aboard a Starfleet vessel?
Throughout the Star Trek franchise, we see someone call out for security. It may be Kirk punching those ubiquitous hallway buttons, someone tapping their combadge, or simply someone shouting at the ...
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Why didn't Dr. M'Benga operate on "Spock's Brain"?
Dr. Joseph M'Benga was a Starfleet doctor who performed his medical internship on Vulcan. This question asks why he didn't operate on the Vulcan Sarek in "Journey to Babel". The answer to ...
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What is the earliest source for Kirk's year of birth?
By now his year and place of birth (as well as names of family members) are canonical, but I think these come from later movies and books, and the use of stardates has been discussed before.
What is ...
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Even in the 1960s, was the UI/.computer systems of The Enterprise being criticized?
I am sure modern youngsters if they have the patience to watch STOS find the limitations of the Enterprise in some respects hilarious -- Yeoman Rand actually hands Kirk reports; the transporter seems ...
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Was J.R.R. Tolkien a fan of the original Star Trek series?
I have been doing some research on the Internet today trying to find out if J.R.R Tolkien had been a fan of the original Star Trek series, which ran from 1966 to 1969. Since Tolkien died in 1973, it ...
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How were artificial boulders and rocky outcroppings & edifices constructed for the sets of the original Star Trek episodes?
As a kid getting X-rayed sitting in front of an early model color television set, I was enthralled by the rocky planets that the crew of the USS Enterprise visited.
As an adult I'm still coming to ...
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Did the Kelvan modify the Enterprise to get through the galactic barrier?
One of the first things the alien leader says, and kudos to Star Trek for recognizing this, is that Andromeda is so far that modifications to the ship will need to be made to enable it to travel fast ...
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During the Battle over Genesis in ST3: Search for Spock, what were the screens displaying when Chekov tried to raise the shields?
During the battle scene in the middle of Star Trek 3: The Search for Spock, after Scotty successfully fires two photon torpedoes into Kruge's bird of prey, Admiral Kirk orders Chekov to raise shields ...
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Similarities between TOS "The Apple" and "Who Mourns for Adonais" phaser sequences
Something I didn't pick up on when watching the original airings, but noticed while watching re-runs a very long time ago:
At the climax of "Who Mourns for Adonais", Kirk orders the ship to ...
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From which episode of TOS was this gif of Spock pulling clothes out of a dresser drawer taken?
Which episode of TOS was this gif of Spock pulling clothes out of a dresser drawer taken from? I saw it on a Facebook comment and it's driving me crazy that I don't remember ever seeing this scene.
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What is the status of cetaceans and other animals of high intelligence on Earth in the 2200s?
Given that Spock was able to communicate with whales, is it known by the time of TOS that whales are of human or near (or superhuman) intelligence?
Do humans routinely communicate with Cetaceans? Are ...
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What are these "Personal Isolation Rooms" intended for on the Enterprise?
The 1973 Star Trek Blueprints - General Plans include a considerable number of 'PR' rooms, listed in the key as:
"Personal Isolation Room[s]"
They appear extensively on Deck 6 ("Crew ...
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Which rating (if any) did Star Trek have before the MPAA era?
From what I know the original Star Trek series has a PG-13 MPAA rating. However, MPAA rating came into existence in 1968 while Star Trek was originally launched in 1966. To my knowledge, the movie and ...
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What do we know of the technical advisors on ST:OS?
I think there is no doubt that the science in the science fiction of Star Trek in the 1960s was far superior to that found in any competing show. Some "science fiction" shows made no real ...
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Spock notes that even the highest forms of intelligence need to "play"
This should be easy for Trekkies and shouldn't be hard for me but I can't remember enough to even construct a search.
At the end of this Star Trek TOS episode Spock notes something to the effect that ...
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Would a warp core breach have destroyed the Doomsday Machine?
The 'Doomsday Machine' uses a hyper-dense alloy that not even a phaser can breach. With this in mind, what kind of damage would a warp core breach do to it? Would it have totally destroyed the machine?...
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In Doctor McCoy's sickbay bed monitors on the Enterprise, what are the units used on the measurement gauges?
Based on In Doctor McCoy's sickbay bed monitors on the Enterprise, what is "Cell Rate?", the answer here gives a list of what the gauges are for.
However the units listed either don't ...
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In Doctor McCoy's sickbay bed monitors on the Enterprise, what is "Cell Rate?"
My daughter and I were looking at the readouts above beds in Sickbay. There are measurements for Temp, Brain, Lungs and other things that are very familiar. But what could Cell Rate possibly refer to? ...
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Canonicity of some material in "Spock must die!" by James Blish?
Spock must die! was a 1970 Star Trek novel by James Blish. I read it as a kid and reread it recently after coming across a used copy. It was an enjoyable read as long as I stayed determined not to let ...
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How many times were there "Klingons on/off the starboard bow"?
There two excellent parodies contain either the phrase "Klingons on the starboard bow" or "Klingons off the starboard bow". How many times, if ever, did this exact phrase occur in ...
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What did Kirk mean by "Wheels"?
In the Original Series Star Trek episode A Piece of the Action, when Kirk and Spock have commandeered an automobile, Kirk says, "Wheels, Mr. Spock!" Are wheels obsolete, or at least very ...
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Why do "The Gamesters of Triskelion" refer to "thralls" instead of "slaves," or speak of them being "vended," rather than "sold"?
My favorite episode of the original Star Trek series, "The Gamesters of Triskelion," is about slavery. However, although the characters do occasionally refer to the situation using words ...
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Why can smoke be seen coming from McCoy's surgery on Sarek? (Journey to Babel, TOS)
After 03:58 in this YouTube clip from Star Trek TOS episode Journey to Babel there's a moment where McCoy is performing surgery on Sarek using a static medical arch-like device over Sarek's chest.
At ...
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What Star Trek episode is the "Kirk and Bones" nodding gif from?
What episode is the "Kirk and Bones nodding" gif from?
My guess is Season 1 from the apparent age and hair style of Shatner (Captain Kirk), but I couldn't find the scene in a cursory search ...
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What is the information on Captain Kirk's tombstone?
In episode 3 ("Where No Man has Gone Before"), Gary Mitchell attempts to kill Captain Kirk. Before doing so he uses his powers to create a grave and conjures a tombstone, shown here:
The ...
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Did Scotty cause the Klingon Tribble hunt?
Was Scotty directly responsible for the Klingons eradicating the Tribbles on their home world, due to his actions of transporting them to the Klingon battle cruiser?
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TOS episode- Crew meets immortal from Earth's past
In this episode, Kirk and an away team go to another planet they find uninhabited except for a millennia-old man who claims to have been various figures in Earth's history, including Alexander the ...
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Salaries of Star Trek Guest Stars
What was the salary range of the guest stars on the original Star Trek series?
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What species are the skulls seen in Dr. McCoy's office from?
Dr. McCoy, aka Bones, has a couple of weird skulls in his office, as seen in the following picture from the episode "Is There in Truth No Beauty?" (they are highlighted with red arrows and ...
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Bridge lights dimming or changing color after "battle stations!" was declared on some ship in Star Trek TOS?
I seem to remember the lighting on the bridge of some ship1 in Star Trek TOS2 changing by design from normal to something attention-getting when "battle stations!" was announced. Changes in ...
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What was the gaudily coloured equipment on the Enterprise's corridor walls in ST:TOS?
Was any in-universe explanation given for those gaudily coloured things on the Enterprise's corridor walls?
Out-of-universe, they look very much like discarded match plate patterns from a metal ...
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Who buried Zarabeth?
In the Star Trek: TOS episode "All Our Yesterdays", guest actress Mariette Hartley plays Zarabeth, a woman who is exiled by being sent back in time alone to her planet's ice age. When Spock ...
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Starship Enterprise: Always flying left-to-right?
I am watching Star Trek together with my wife. We just finished the three seasons of The Original Series1, and are now mid-way into Star Trek Next Generation.
I don't think I have seen the Enterprise ...
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What is the fate of the USS Franklin in the Prime timeline?
During the events of Star Trek Beyond (2016), an Abramsverse/Kelvin Timeline film, the crashed USS Franklin is found and salvaged.
Looking at the actual timeline of events, the USS Franklin is ...
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Why is the bridge of the USS Enterprise rotated off the ship's centreline?
The turbolift on the Enterprise bridge is not directly behind the Captain's chair, but over his left shoulder. However external shots of the ship show the lift shaft to be on the centreline.
The only ...
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Why does Captain Krasnovsky wear a Science Division uniform? [TOS]
Across the franchise we've seen several Starfleet officers wearing unexpected colors for their rank and position. However usually there's a good explanation for these seeming aberrations - Commodore ...
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Why did Spock wear a Science Division uniform [TOS] while Decker wore Command [TMP]?
In TOS, Spock was assigned as both Kirk's First Officer and his Science Officer. Throughout the duration of the series, except for in "Where No Man Has Gone Before", Spock wears a Science ...
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What was Roddenberry's first idea for Spock?
From the Development of Spock article on Wikipedia (emphasis by me):
However, he was still apprehensive as he wanted to have a serious acting career and did not want to be made to look foolish by ...
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What happened to the original opening scene to "Whom Gods Destroy"?
I remember seeing the uncut episode of "Whom Gods Destroy" (TOS, Episode 3x16) in the 1970's which included a scene with Kirk, Spock and Scotty discussing the security question involving ...
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Star Trek TOS aliens won’t fight
Trying to recall the episode where at the end, Kirk et al confronted the aliens they were trying to defend. The aliens refused to fight for themselves for some philosophical reason.
Any ideas?
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The creature in The Man Trap -- what was the reason salt could simply not have been provided?
The creature in question is this one from "The Man Trap". I almost got the sense that despite its ability to assume the shape (or mentally project the illusion) of humans it may not have ...
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In Shore Leave were replicants sentient?
These were very sophisticated devices but iirc, definitely not alive. But just as Data and some other characters that were meant to replicate humans to an extent were, they could have been sentient.
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What book did Kirk receive at the end of the TOS episode "Court Martial"?
In the TOS episode Court Martial, Kirk's defense lawyer Samuel T. Cogley has a preference for books over computers. In one of the last scenes Kirk is gifted a book by Cogley (but physically handed ...
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Amok Time, as in “Run Amok”?
Regarding the Star Trek episode “Amok Time”, I always assumed “Amok” was a fictional sci-fi word, but then I realized it’s spelled the same as “to run amok”. Is there an intentional connection there,...
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