125 votes

They ARE Klingons, and it's a long story... What's the story?

IN-Universe - As Worf said, it's something not discussed with non-Klingons. OUT of Universe - To summarize, it's a very meta in-joke. In the original series, they had a limited budget, and makeup ...
VBartilucci's user avatar
122 votes
Accepted

They ARE Klingons, and it's a long story... What's the story?

Viral Mutation This apparent discrepancy was explained in Star Trek Enterprise. Long story short, Klingons experimented with genetic mutation to make themselves stronger, much like what was ...
ShemSeger's user avatar
  • 5,405
115 votes
Accepted

Has the autodestruct sequence ever not been aborted on a Starfleet vessel?

Yes In Star Trek III: The Search for Spock, the USS Enterprise (NCC-1701 - from TOS) is famously destroyed by the autodestruct sequence following the boarding of the Klingons:
Often Right's user avatar
  • 69.1k
115 votes
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Starship Enterprise: Always flying left-to-right?

The large model of the Enterprise used to film those shots was rather unfinished on the port (left) side and had plugs for the power cables for the lights on the port side. So the big 11 foot model ...
M. A. Golding's user avatar
82 votes
Accepted

Were McCoy's medical instruments Swedish salt shakers?

Yes, they were. The following excerpt from an article quotes Gene Roddenberry himself (via the authoritative book The Making of Star Trek) as saying: [Feinberg] went out and bought a selection of ...
Praxis's user avatar
  • 111k
75 votes
Accepted

Was J.R.R. Tolkien a fan of the original Star Trek series?

Probably not. Tolkien didn't own a television and wasn't really interested in modern culture, preferring to attend the opera, lectures on poetry, and listen to occasional programs on the wireless. He ...
Valorum's user avatar
  • 676k
72 votes

Has the autodestruct sequence ever not been aborted on a Starfleet vessel?

Yes. In Voyager: Deadlock, Janeway blows up the Voyager.
Valorum's user avatar
  • 676k
68 votes
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Why does this review of Star Trek IV include an image of Link from Legend of Zelda?

It's a simple visual pun, drawing attention to the fact that the design on the front of Spock's robe: bears a resemblance to the Triforce: an iconic symbol of the Legend of Zelda franchise. There's ...
ApproachingDarknessFish's user avatar
66 votes
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Kirk and Spock friendship in Original Series

There are direct references to their friendship in all of the forms you have described: statements by Kirk, statements by Spock, and statements by other crew members (McCoy in particular).   TOS "...
Praxis's user avatar
  • 111k
63 votes

Why does Captain Kirk wear green in the DS9 episode Trials and Tribble-ations?

The Command Tunics in TOS Were Actually Green The costume designer for TOS was Bill Theiss: William Ware Theiss - the designer of all the Starfleet uniforms and alien costumes seen in the 79 ...
Zoe Torres's user avatar
63 votes

Does same-species racism exist in Star Trek?

There was "Let That Be Your Last Battlefield,” a remarkably unsubtle clunker of an episode, in spite of its worthy message. SPOILER-NOT-SPOILER: The pair above is the mirror image of the other, i.e., ...
Chris B. Behrens's user avatar
62 votes
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What was the first 3D CGI used in Star Trek?

According to the CGI article on Memory Alpha: The very first CGI used was in Star Trek II: The Wrath of Khan, where Lucasfilm Graphics Group, then a subsidiary of Industrial Light & Magic (ILM),...
Mwr247's user avatar
  • 15.8k
61 votes
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Do we ever see a 23rd Century Starfleet Officer with facial hair?

TV Canon We have Captain Chandra from TOS: Court Martial And in the same vein as @N_Soong's answer, we do see two Starfleet Officers in the 23rd Century (courtesy of the episode DS9: Trials and ...
Valorum's user avatar
  • 676k
59 votes

Has the autodestruct sequence ever not been aborted on a Starfleet vessel?

In "Where No Man Has Gone Before", the Enterprise picks up a ship recorder from the SS Valiant, a ship that had crossed the edge of galaxy 200 years earlier. The recorder indicated that the Valiant's ...
Keith Thompson's user avatar
59 votes

Was Roddenberry really so far ahead of his time on race?

Let me give a bit of qualification for my source, which is me. I was born in late 1962, so I'm working with the memories of someone who was 7 when Star Trek ended its run. But I remember the news ...
Tango's user avatar
  • 107k
59 votes
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Why does Kif appear at the end of "Where No Fan Has Gone Before"?

Shout-out to Balok This most certainly harks back to the Balok puppet based on the fact that, for at least one whole season of The Original Series, a still of the Balok puppet appeared in the closing ...
Praxis's user avatar
  • 111k
57 votes
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Female uniforms and colored panties in Star Trek TOS

Yes The Franz Joseph uniform patterns from the Star Trek Technical Manual show that matching panties are a part of the normal female duty uniform. full tech manual EDIT Some of the confusion ...
sfhq_sf's user avatar
  • 5,764
55 votes

Does James Kirk have any named superiors in Star Trek: The Original Series?

During TOS, James Kirk holds the rank of Captain and therefore anyone who holds a higher rank is his superior. In later installments the rank of Admiral (and its various sub-ranks, such as Vice ...
ApproachingDarknessFish's user avatar
54 votes
Accepted

What episode of Star Trek is this creature from?

This is from "The Enemy Within", episode 5 of season 1 of Star Trek: The Original Series. The creature is never named in the episode, although the planet they found it on is stated to be Alpha 177, so ...
Ixrec's user avatar
  • 9,110
53 votes
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Did Lucille Ball have a creative influence on Star Trek?

Yes... ish By all accounts, no other studio / network was willing to take on Roddenberry's new project called "Star Trek" - so her approval for producing the series at Desilu is probably the most ...
NKCampbell's user avatar
  • 39.9k
50 votes
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Why were Klingons and Humans enemies in TOS given that Klingons were honourable people?

The reason Humans (technically the whole United Federation of Planets) and Klingons were at odds in the TOS era is not fully explained. According to Memory Alpha, the issues between the two stemmed ...
Steve-O's user avatar
  • 6,578
50 votes
Accepted

Do they still use days of the week or months in the era of Stardates?

Yes, they use days of the week as well as months. It's a running gag in Star Trek: Generations that the necessary equipment will be installed on Tuesday. HARRIMAN: We don't have a tractor beam. ...
Philipp's user avatar
  • 8,025
49 votes
Accepted

Is the tartan worn by Scotty in "Savage Curtain" an actual clan tartan?

This Wired article says that the tartan is one of the many Clan Scott designs. It looks like pieces of the actual tartan were sold and autographed as memorabilia, with a piece recently being ...
DqwertyC's user avatar
  • 2,690
47 votes
Accepted

Are Star Trek and Devil in the Dark related?

There is an episode called "The Devil in the Dark". From the Star Trek Wikia: The Enterprise arrives at Janus VI, where an unknown monster is destroying machinery and killing the miners, ...
Matthew Barclay's user avatar
44 votes
Accepted

Why (out-of-universe) was this central Star Trek character killed?

The decision was made between The Undiscovered Country and Generations, for the purpose of having a "clean" break between the original and new casts on the big screen. William Shatner ...
Praxis's user avatar
  • 111k
44 votes
Accepted

Which Clark Gable movie did Edith Keeler want to see with Captain Kirk?

It's an anachronism, there is no such film The City on the Edge of Forever is set in the year 1930 (emphasis mine): Kirk: [reading from a makeshift tricorder] February 23rd, 1936. Six years from now. ...
Jason Baker's user avatar
44 votes
Accepted

What was the gaudily coloured equipment on the Enterprise's corridor walls in ST:TOS?

They seem to be called "wall plant-ons". Christies had at least one for sale a few years back, which you can look at here. According to the auction blurb, they're bits of wood that have been ...
elemtilas's user avatar
  • 7,375
43 votes
Accepted

Are any regular bridge crew on TNG actually members of the next generation?

No: they're actually the Next Next Next Generation Here is my in-universe reasoning. Captain Jean-Luc Picard, the oldest regular bridge officer on the Enteprise-D, was born in 2305, as per his ...
Praxis's user avatar
  • 111k
43 votes
Accepted

Spock's wardrobe malfunction

A piece of trivia states that because of the episode being the second pilot, the 'colors had not been finalized'. The familiar colors and positions of the crew had not yet been finalized when this ...
HighVoltage's user avatar
  • 1,063
42 votes
Accepted

Where is it established that Hikaru Sulu was born in San Francisco?

In Star Trek IV: The Voyage Home KIRK: Where would we find these reactors, ...theoretically? SPOCK: Nuclear power was widely used in naval vessels. [now in "Bird-of-Prey bridge"] ...
Edmund Dantes's user avatar

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