I'm surprised no one mentioned Scotty's hand in the Season 3 Episode 17 '"That Which Survives". In the episode there is a considerable amount of time where the camera will be focussed on James Doohan's (Scotty's) hand as he is fixing a delicate part of the warp drive while it is in operation. James Doohan reportedly stated that this is all fine but the set will have to be built reversed so as to focus on his left hand. When questioned on this bizarre request he is reported to have said "This is why." as he shows them he is missing half of his right hand ring finger due to a WWII war injury. Apparently eyes bugged out and coffee cups hit the floor as no one on the set had known until that moment.
Budget-conscious and resourceful as they were (read "Cheap") they, of course, had a work-around. We saw Scotty's hands on one or two occasions, but they were not James Doohan's. Whenever we needed to see both of Scotty's hands, there was a tight close-up of JUST the hands -- and they were Eddie Paskey's hands. In the movies, of course, the bigger budget meant that Scotty could afford a pair of gloves.
Small point of correction -- it was his middle finger that he lost during the aftermath of D-Day, not his ring finger. In addition, despite his efforts to hide it, there are probably a dozen or more episodes in which his missing finger can be glimpsed. These include in "Tomorrow was Yesterday" when he's telling Kirk that they have no place to go in the past timeline; in "The Trouble with Tribbles" when he's carrying the armload of tribbles; In "Catspaw" when it's clear he only has three fingers holding a phaser; when he's holding Mira around the waist in "The Lights of Zetar"; or at about 20 minutes into "Friday's Child." It can also be seen from the low angle shot as he reaches into the box in "The Enemy Within," though only if you freeze frame the shot.
@@jenaauerstedt7650 It is also quite clear in the STNG episode 'Relics' when Scotty and Picard are on the TOS bridge sharing drinks. I was unaware of these other scenes. I just remember the story of the first time it became a 'production issue'.
@@malachiXX By the time of the feature films and "Relics" on TNG, Doohan (who wasn't doing much acting otherwise by that time in his life) had come to accept that his injury would not put off his fans -- he was, after all, an important player in one of the most iconic television series of all time. In Star Trek IV: The Voyage Home, for example, he and Uhura are eating together and he makes no effort to hide his finger at all. The same is true of that scene on the bridge in "Relics."
To enhance the discussion to a broader scope, sometimes I am tempted to tell people that have some distinct aspect of their physique (as Scotty's finger or a scar), to just say "excuse me, but can I have a close look at that? Then I am not constantly distracted trying to peek at it and hoping you don't notice, which you DO notice for the whole conversation and are rightfully annoyed. But when I looked at it once directly, I have seen it, case closed, and I can look you in the eye without my eyes wandering off all the time, way more relaxing." Would we as society be able to attain more of such openness of differences (in all kinds of ways, physical or mental or opinion), I think we could get way better along. Well, that would mean we then achieved a strategy to accept our difference, our individuality, and see that not as something divisive, but as part of the other and of ourselves. Sorry for that rant - but more and more I see how in seemingly tiny details there hide fundamental aspects, also of our society.
When I was a kid, maybe 5 years old, my dad bought and built a model of the original enterprise and he let me play with it sometimes while he watched to make sure I didn't damage it. After doing this a few times he (foolishly) trusted me with it and wouldn't watch me while playing with it anymore, and one time I went outside with it, flipped it upside down, and began scooting it through the dirt, then used the saucer kind of like a shovel to dig a hole. It got a little scratched up and certainly dirty. When he came outside to check on me and saw it, I remember it so clearly. At first he looked at me so angry but then his face quickly softened and he started smiling and he said, "You know what? In 10 years, I probably won't even know where this thing is anymore anyway." He didn't let me play with it anymore without supervision, but after a while I lost interest in it, he ended up packing it up somewhere. Years later I happened to think about it and asked him if he knew where it was, and he had no idea, it was lost to time like most things he bought that he never really needed. Seeing that upside down enterprise in this video reminded me of all of that. It reminds me of another story. I was really big into Legos as a kid, and one year for christmas one of my aunts bought me a Merlin lego minifig on a keychain. When it came time to open presents, in my big family everyone had big piles of gifts in front of each person and sometimes they were mistakenly given to the wrong people and stuff like that, and that merlin keychain ended up in my dad's pile. It just had my name on it and nothing else, and somehow or another someone thought it was from me to my dad rather than for me. When he saw it was from me and opened it, he really loved it and thought I had wanted to give it to him. My aunt pulled me aside and told me what happened, that she had got it for me, but he thinks I got it for him, but he loved it so much I let him keep it and never told him it was actually for me, so in a way, I did give it to him. He put it on a lanyard and hung it around the rear view mirror in his car. Throughout the years as he got new cars, he always moved merlin to hang right there from the rear view mirror right up to the day he died. Even after he got into a bad car accident that crushed his knee, he took Merlin out of the car with him when he went because he was scared it would get lost and they would total his car. Now I have Merlin, the gift I was always meant to have in the first place. It probably wouldve been lost or destroyed if it had been mine as a kid, but now it is my most precious possession and I hang it around the rear view mirror of my cars because every time I look at it, it reminds me of my dad and how much he loved me.
For me things like your Merlin is what connects me to my parents. I connect nothing with a grave, we never went to the cemetery (as our ancestors died far, far away), it is not a place of shared experience. I connect them with objects, locations where we were. My father was a big builder of all kinds of boxes, for loudspeakers, for tools, all kinds of stuff. Cherish this Merlin and the story. maybe it becomes a family heritage. I was also a big Lego builder, over 50 years ago. By the way, of course there was a big box handmade by my father for my block to sort into. The big important part was a BOOK by Lego, with examples how you could build practically ANYthing just using the basic blocks that then existed. It was a trigger for your own imagination, to use the examples and see what you could change them into with your set of blocks. The modern Lego in my opinion lost that quality of creativity. It thrives in complete models, as sets, with hundreds of special parts that are only for this one purpose. In principle build it once, and then put it on display, and when you disassemble it, you have to carefully save all the parts for an eventual rebuild. The universal "pins" that made up the versatility of Lego have been degraded to styling elements, in principle a cult symbol. E.g. when building a Lego globe with continents and seas on the surface, why do the special parts need pins outside and are not flat (other than company identity)? Funnily, that somehow seems to go in parallel with the general development of society, the abundance of perfect offerings brings you into a consumer mentality, instead of doing your own thing (as nothing fitting is available) you do what all others do, what is prefabricated. Far beyond Lego, you can apply it to movies, research in topics you are interested in, from science to politics to conspiracies.
True! It was such a complex character. I never even considered a sexy subtext to his befriending of the doctor, but in hindsight it makes a lot of sense, especially if Andrews portrayed him with that in mind as stated. But obviously a man like Garak would have no qualms about pansexuality, being as devious and chimerical as his job (& life) implies he would have to be, I could never figure why he chose the doc to ultimately reveal himself to, as best he could, in his naked complexity. I'm gonna have to watch all of ds9 again!
The one thing about Garak is you wonder if he's really working for the Obsidian Order under guise as a humble, outcast tailor, or he's actually an outcast, but IAW the talent for prevarication any operative would have to cultivate; he keeps others "guessing". But don't worry, it's all "true"...ESPECIALLY THE LIES.
@@danielkeel9265 I really didnt care either way about Garak being gay or not, I do wonder why they decided to attempt a love interest for him by adding Zeyal Dukats daughter. ? did the PTB think they would offend if they let the fans think Garak might be gay?
The Dominion war was very important. It showed how the highly evolved humans of Starfleet and the Federation fared under adversity. Some like Commander Sisco actually made a deal with the devil in order to save everything that they held dear.
If you're going to tell a story about models, talk about the Mysterious Romulan Warbird that was designed during the original series, shown to Gene, approved, accidently knocked over, and shattered. To make schedule, they "re-used" the Klingon warship as a Romulan vessel and even added dialogue between Scotty and Spock to cover over why it was that way.
And they had a Klingon ship ONLY because Stephen Whitfield had done a deal with Matt Jefferies to design model kits for AMT, whose master tooling models and built-up kits could be used as filming miniatures on the show...And without that deal, we never would have had that Flying Butter Dish shuttlecraft, either. It's a long story, and... ...It's complicated.
For those of you who don't know, some behind the scenes footage of TNG was taken for an episode of Reading Rainbow, Levar Burton's then concurrently running series for kids on PBS.
Nichelle’s fan mail wasn’t hidden from her. The 1st couple of letters she received were racist rants so she stopped asking for them. After talking to Dr. King she talked to Gene who showed her that she had a lot of fan mail. He kept them for her when she didn’t want them.
she paved the way for many, and is a testament to Gene's ability to deal with social issues, in a way that nobody else has been able to match. too many shows today are about as subtle is a sledge hammer when it comes to dealing with social issues.
@@radaro.9682 I never said some of it wasn't, Was speaking of the case of Nichelle, and her role on the show. She was just there from the start not treated differently no cringe moment of crew discussing her presence on the ship. She was just there, yes many of the story lines dealt more directly with social issues, because that was the whole premise of the show.
@@JustJay1281 Then I'm missing something.....and I'm asking because I'm autistic and could just be not processing something obvious: can you give me examples of "not subtle" with modern entertainment? I see a ton of obvious but performative actions taken on screen that don't really address anything. The ICE story line with Rios for example. They were generic bad guys with little to no real comment on immigrant struggles. And zero Kirk, Picard, or Sisco monologues. I don't disagree with your clarification. But would like to get more of your perspective. Thanks!
@@radaro.9682 I'm not sure whether you mean modern entertainment in general or modern Trek. I don't watch modern Trek, but in other entertainment, there are annoying things like passionate, semi-pornographic gay kissing in sci-fi, and having "diversity" in ancient Rome or ancient Scandinavia and calling it "historical".
Andrew Robinson played Garek to Ingenious Perfection! Being an Agent of the Obsidian Order, it was always ambiguous as to whether he was a Hero or Villain!
...Tinker, Taylor, or soldier that spies, the gardener and grass all have prying eyes... ... not even the chef, just someone who cooked; best beware of your meal and don't get rooked... ... electricians and roofers; experts at eavesdropping; the best laid of plans they soon will be stopping... ... the servants and amateurs, whatever their walks, we know they're the worst, because EVERYONE talks... ...all the commonplace, everywhere, seen but not noticed - bring about your demise, when on you they are focused... (allegedly Garak's favorite nursery rhyme, culled from the files of section 31)
When gender ideology is forcefully pushed down my throat I despise it. On the other hand, Garak the Master Spy having a non-defined sexuality, and also having a romantic crash on Bashir makes a lot of sense and spices up the character even more, so next time I re-watch DS9 I will look it that way.
Honestly I think if you took Gene's belief about what Star Trek ought to be to their logical extent, I think you would eliminate almost all of the episodes, literally, each episode revolves around some conflict usually just about the aliens, but often involving humanity itself as well. The only difference with the dominion war is that it wasn't over in one episode like the original series would've done.
Well, that and the Section 31 stuff. Section 31 in general would probably be something Gene would have hated, to say nothing of the specific things they did in the war.
@@DaPopeANata yes, I will agree with you there about section 31... But I don't think that Gene's views were against people that were still cynical about the world existing in the future. Boiling down most section 31 stories, you come out with someone who is cynical about humanity being proven wrong by the heroes
Gene Roddenberry got way too full of himself with the success of the franchise. He damn near killed ST:TNG in the first season; the best thing that happened was that Paramount more or less "kicked him upstairs" to a Senior Executive role where he actually did very little.
People always use the scene from “Mirror, Mirror” when talking about how they filmed the Enterprise’s left side. Except they didn’t do it that way for that episode in the original effects. They used the old three-foot model which was finished on both sides. It still had the bussard collectors and deflector from “The Cage” so in homage when they updated the effects they kept that look for the ISS Enterprise. The “old look” was scene in original stock shots throughout the series anyway.
Given that the "Mirror" Universe isn't a "perfect" reflection (not only the politics and personalities, but even their very uniforms, which SOMEHOW get switched, should be a giveaway), that the ISS-Enterprise, NCC-1701, has some subtle differences should be no surprise. It would have been more fitting, if, say, rather than the outright assassination of Chris Pike that supposed the ruthless mirror version of James Tiberus Kirk did, he'd overthrown him, but instead of killing him, crippled him so he had to live out the rest of his days in that infernal chair, only able to "beep" his yea/nay, and likely with a built-in "agonizer" to boot.
Another little known fact was that the Smithsonian owned model of the original Enterprise spent years on display there in the basement of the Gift Shop of the Air and Space museum. This was before it's most recent "overhaul" :)
@@Rigel_Chiokis I have a picture of that from a school trip to DC (from Iowa!). The Air & Space Museum was one of the main reasons I wanted to go on the trip!
LOL, no, the Dr. King story did not suddenly come out in 2011. Star Trek fans knew about that many, many years before. I'd heard that story already in the late 70's as an ST fan. It was not some hidden secret at all.
I've known about the lyrics to the TOS theme since the 1970s, not 1997. We had fanzines and paperbacks that sought out anything and everything Star Trek and printed it. Plus we had an LP entitled Inside Star Trek relating facts of the show.
My guess is some of these facts are sourced on the Internet, so they seem more recent because that's probably the farthest back they can find mention of it.
Beyond the rim of the star-light, My love Is wand'ring in star-flight. I know he'll find in star-clustered reaches Love, strange love a star woman teaches. I know his journey ends never, His star trek will go on forever. But tell him while he wanders his starry sea, Remember, remember me.
I remember a person not associated with Star Trek said it was pretty tacky to take credit for other people's work like that, and he felt he didn't need to do that for his shows.
The lyrics to the TOS theme song (recorded by @Miles Batty, below) appeared in "The Making of Star Trek" (1968 paperback), by Stephen Whitfield and Gene Roddenberry. I loved Star Trek and learned all about it from that book. They lyrics stuck with me, too.
As great as Gene Roddenberry was, I'm glad he was surrounded by people who would push back on some of his ideas. Star Trek is at it's best when it's a result of a collaborative effort after all. That and I can't imagine how wrong that really long flyby of the refit Enterprise in the first movie if the ship were upside down.
I can because the Mobile Suit Gundam fandom has joked it's the Zeon Musai-class Light Cruiser, which has then been semi-canonized by Gundam: The Origin in it's depiction of the civilian Arcana-class Cargo Ship the Musai was covertly developed from. The Arcana is a spine supporting an almond-shaped Saucer and two Engine Pylons, aka the classic Connie layout of Star Trek, where as on the flipped Musai this spine is the mount for Particle Cannon turrets.
@@DonaldWWitt Now I can't not see this! Given that Mobile Suite Gundam came out after TOS, I can see how it was inspired by it now. I never even thought about it until now!
Anytime anyone says Star Trek has to keep true to Gene's vision, remember that he made Patrick Stewart wear a wig, because in the future, baldness would be "cured."
apparently it's the ONLY story she seemed to have, where you got tired of hearing it.....ofcourse, had she left the show, it would have been a Tasha Yar/Denise Crosby career regret.....Nichelle had an affair with Roddenberry, so I doubt her threat to leave was substantial....
The Roddenberry lyrics to the theme song were included in the classic 1968 book, "The Making of Star Trek." So, it hardly took "years" for this knowledge to come out. The "upside down Enterprise" saga was also described in the aforementioned book.
Yep. The upside down Enterprise looks a lot like some L Ron Hubbard sketches from the early 60s for one of his books...bears a resemblance to DC8 spaceships which is a staple of Scientology origin scripture. There's a lot of Scientology in Star Trek.
@@james_tiberius_kirk73 now pull up a 1963 season episode of 12 O Clock High scored by Dominick Frontiere. Here's one you don't have to watch fully. "12 O'clock High S1Ep29" with Gary Lockwood. Get back to me.
Both the Gorn and the Caitians/Ferasans have been redone very tastefully in the game, Star Trek Online, which does a great job including all of the Trek universe, from TOS to Discovery and Picard, as well as everything in between, such as Lower Decks and the alternate reality movies started in 2009, and continues to incorporate new canon as it becomes available. They are even playable as your captain, as well as many other non- human races/species in the Trek universe.
@@xnouztion2660 No. Ferasans/Caitians, the cat people. They are a divergent species like the Romulans /Vulcans. The Caitians are in the Federation, and the Ferasans are part of the Klingon empire. I have a Ferasan Captain as my primary character on the Klingon side, and a Caitian officer on one of my Federation ships.
The story about the Borg was also that they were actually planned to be Insectoids. But that would have conquered with the idea/concept of the Jarada. The Jarada were never shown on screen in TNG and the Borg's technological design was done because it simply was too expensive to create believable insect-like costumes.
I thought too they were a refactoring of the little crab aliens that had the pointy gill sticking out the neck of whoever they possessed, when the ep fell flat they spun the new “menace” into the Borg?
The same was true for the Talosians. They were to be cephlapods with 8 or 10 arms. You see a shadow of the failed costume in the cage beside Pike. This makes Vina's line....they'd never seen a human before, make a lot more sense. For cost they just did the typical Outer Limits alien. The pulsing heads were pretty good for 1965. Spock's mindmeld description of the Kelvins was taken from the original script notes for The Cage.
@@STho205 I didn’t view the Alien creatures as insects-I just saw them as nightmarish monsters. Unlike Starship Troopers, where the aliens were just gigantic ants, as I can recall.
Funny thing about upside-down starships. During the making of Star Trek II, the Reliant originally had nacelles atop the saucer, but when the drawings were sent to Havre Bennett he viewed them upside-down and liked it, so he signed off on it. They decided they really have didn't have time to correct him so they ended up tossing on the rollbar to balance things out
It was to be evocative of the Romulan ship...as the final battle was evocative of Balance of Terror. They turned it over because they didn't want to be too obvious. Original script for Balance, the Romulan ship was supposed to be a dead copy of an Earth saucer ship, with a torpedo launcher attached and a bird paint job. That's why the script had the espionage subplot and why Scotty said no warp, simple impulse. The idea was the ship had been copied from an older Earth ship before stardrive sections were added. It also saved building a new model....however after filming they found they had enough in the budget to build a new model....so they edited most of the copy cat lines.
@@STho205 In James Blish's adaptation (adapted, apparently, from an early draft of the script) he writes that the Romulan ship looked like "an exact copy of the Enterprise." That, however, would have meant either building a Romulan version of the Enterprise, or repainting the existing one -- and ain't nobody gonna do that.
@@willmfrank that was the original intent. Taking the saucer of the 3 ft model, and applying some tubes and a paint job. The extended footage of the Outpost commander reacting and saying Earth Design exists...but I haven't seen it in years. Most likely the model rework and unwork was going to cost as much as a new model.
@@STho205 It's a pity that Stephen Whitfield didn't work out the deal with AMT a little earlier -- they could have built it by kit-bashing a hobby-shop Enterprise.
...unheard lyrics to a television or movie theme song is a "thing" throughout the industry... ...a standard practice of show producers, in order to make money via royalties from the song everytime it is played, as explained in the video... ...for example, during Johnny Carson's tenure on "The Tonight Show" Johnny Carson received $800 (mid 1980s Dollars) every time the show's theme song would play, due to the fact that Johnny Carson wrote the song's lyrics...
I think the dominion war was the single best arc in Star Trek. No matter how perfect federation society is, (which it’s not, but still) there would ALWAYS be other factions that disagreed and wanted control. If someone fights you your only options are fighting or surrender.
It always bugged me that ships never run into each other at random angles. Even if there was a reason to use the galactic plane as up/down, ships should still encounter each other upside down.
@@ai4px TNG played with that idea a couple of times. In one episode, they run across a human-like species with a language so difficult to translate that it takes some time for the Universal Translator to start translating all of their words. Then in "Darmok," they play with the idea that it might be possible to translate the words, but the meaning is unclear because the aliens all speak in metaphors which are references to their own history - which of course the Enterprise crew don't know.
@@melkiorwiseman5234 that was actually a really good episode. I love that tng explored concepts of actually alien cultures that are more like aliens than like different races of humans that just looks slightly different and speak a different language but are otherwise identical. Wish voyager did that more.
At 2:55 ...I've been to the Vasquez Rocks in California where the famous battle took place...and, yes...they sell Gorn and Kirk souvenirs in the gift shop...
To add to the lyrics story, once it was discovered that Gene would receive 50% of the royalties for the theme song, Alexander Courage was so angry that he never worked for Paramount again.
@3:05 I remember the CG work for the Gorn on Enterprise being considered hilariously bad even when the episode first aired. It was not "impressive for the time".
I saw Trek in first run; I thought Uhura was the most important 'face' in Star-Fleet! The Enterprise was the Fleets best and most capable ship, but it was Uhura who spoke! Not the Captain...'hailing frequencies open' means she has already negotiated communications protocols, made introductions, found the real leaders and not some underling. The first voice and face anyone in the Galaxy ever saw of the Federation was hers!
I appreciate that this video’s thumbnail, despite the clickbaity appearance, is actually a genuine part of the video. Even better, this video has interesting information about Star Trek!
I've often felt like Garak reminds me of some people I know who have a sort of undefined sexuality. I love the way he is portrayed and the way he and Bashir go on to form an interesting and complex relationship. Also, I'm so glad Nichelle stayed on and influenced us all for the better!
Garak is an (ex-)spy. Between that, and the way he was played, I was always under the impression that the whole goal with him was that we could never be sure what was really going on in his head.
When gender ideology is forcefully pushed down my throat I despise it. On the other hand, Garak the Master Spy having a non-defined sexuality, and also having a romantic crash on Bashir makes a lot of sense and spices up the character even more, so I next time I re-watch DS9 I will look it that way.
Uhura was just a great character. At no time did I care about her skin color as it was irrelevent. It says more about you than anything that you focus on that.
Andrew Robinson gave a masterful performance as Garak, and while maybe a little subtle flirtation would have been in character, I feel more would have taken away from his mystique. Having him remain detached was part of what gave his character a dangerous allure.
5:26 "However, less people are aware..." FEWER people are aware. People are not flour or grains of salt, but they come in discrete units (and not discreet units), so you use the terms more and FEWER, never more and less.
First entry - Iow Gene Roddenberry was an unapologetic thief who stole money that should have gone to composer Alexander Courage. For all his vision of a bright future where everyone gets along (one of the best, most unique, and sadly most unrealistic aspect of the Star Trek franchise imo), GR could be a real bastard to other people in real life.
Gene Roddenberry pulled the same crap on Stephen Whitfield. He insisted that "The Making of Star Trek" be credited to "Stephen E. Whitfield and Gene Roddenberry," even though Gene Robber-Baron had nothing to do with writing the book. Whitfield interviewed Roddenberry and, at Roddenberry's insistence, published the transcripts of Roddenberry's responses as if they were Gene's writings.
Speaking of the Making of Star Trek, that book came out in the 70s….and included the lyrics Roddenberry wrote. It didn’t take that many years to discover this “secret”.
@@jasontoddman7265 Re-read the footnote at the bottom of p. 21; Whitfield doesn't say it in so many words, but he drops a few hints: "Quotes from Gene Roddenberry throughout the book are printed in this distinctive typeface, for easy identification. All other statements, opinions, or recounting of events are the words of S.E.W., unless otherwise identified." Said "distinctive typeface," by the way, is to have GENE RODDENBERRY'S QUOTES IN ALL CAPS; it's an elegant way of showcasing Roddenberry's BLOATED SENSE OF SELF-IMPORTANCE. And on p. 402 of "Inside Star Trek: The Real Story," Herb and/or Bob write: "Roddenberry also agreed to edit the manuscript as it progressed. Whitfield, however, had to give Roddenberry fifty percent of the book's royalties, or there was no deal." They go on to say that G.R. didn't actually do any editing until it was too late, and the book went to press "largely as Whitfield had written it."
At 7:10 ...as a young white kid watching Star Trek reruns in the early 70's, I fell in love with Uhura...she was beautiful, smart, and kind...If she had left the show, I would have been devastated...I finally got to meet Nichelle in 2014 at Pensacon...she was still lovely...
Regarding the Gorn I prefer the way they currently look in Star Trek online. It's more refined to a lizard-like appearance. Some people may not know this about STO but the current models for the Gorn in the game are an upgraded look. The early game before any expansions had them looking more like the one from TOS. lol
@@PrototypeSpaceMonkey True lol. And if we get down to It, we also have Nords (Klingons) different types of Elves (Vulcans, Romulans), and I think Tellarites could be Dwarves since they're small and swear a lot. lol
"...a hopeful look at things if we did things right." "You can do everything right and still lose." Capt Picard, TNG The Dominion War is about a great many things. One of them being the Federation/Starfleet doing everything right, according to them, and everything still goes "ass end up". Albeit mainly because they were dealing with the totally unreasonable Founders, who viewed all others beneath them. And anyone who dared "stand upright and tall" needed to be conquered, culled, or rendered extinct.
My biggest issue with the complaint that modern Star Trek "isn't optimistic enough" is that often it seems to be slung around whenever the modern franchise demonstrates any negative aspect of humanity. Trek has a history of showing us dark, grim or uncomfortable things and they aren't just limited to the "alien" races of Trek, even humans and the Federation weren't above critical examination from as far back as TOS. The best of Trek often wants us to look our darker selves squarely in the eye and think about things we may not wish to. Optimism comes from a lot of places and can be shown in a lot of ways. I've always felt like it's far more powerful, more optimistic, to show that there will be those of us willing to acknowledge and push back against our darker impulses and grow in doing so rather than pretend Trek's humans just magically evolved into morally perfect space elves.
@@troikas3353 That complaint comes from old Trek never being shrill and condescending when it showed dark, grim, uncomfortable negative aspects of humanity. Unlike new trek that never seems miss an opportunity to do that any chance they get.
I liked the Dominion War arc. It seems reasonable that not all Species in the Universe will abide by any Federation Utopia Ideals, and Maybe just want to be Bad Ass and CONQUER every other Species who dares challenge them!
@@randynutt5660 It's sad they totally dropped the ball afterwards. The obvious follow on show would have been a show about the Federation administering the remains of the Cardassian Empire and rebuilt the Cardassians into a functioning society. DS9 was about how the Federation fought a war and still remained the Federation. What they compromised, what they didn't. This follow on show should have been how they won the peace. Analogous the the US occupation of Japan. Small scale proxy conflicts like Korea, Vietnam and the Malaysian crisis. A second show could have been spun off the Nemesis movie. The Remans have a successful revolution and escape the weakened Romulan Empire. Kind of like Kazon, but competent. They hate the Romulans for centuries of oppression. Irrationally blame the Federation for not doing anything about their mistreatment. So now the Federation has to deal with that conflict. But instead we got the underwhelming Enterprise. A massive jump in the wrong direction and backwards.
@@lokisgodhi For me, I'd have liked a massive upscaling of the Federation Alliance to full on membership. Kinda like an idealized version of the UN actually empowered to establish a postwar order free from the kinds of wars that engendered it. Also, plucky members of Starfleet leading a desperate war effort against an implacable foe with incredible war technologies. Eventually bringing in reserved and inscrutable space elves in giant ships, their antagonistic warlike neighbors with a penchant for wicked knives, ritualistic combat, and space bird ships, and a short disagreeable species with many useful talents and organic looking ships. Am I describing the Earth-Romulan War or the Dominion War? Always felt that the peace that followed while not perfect would have been an amazing thing to investigate. If for nothing else to fix the error in TNG in deciding to bring back the TOS mainstays the Romulans and Klingons as astropolitical rivals to the Federation. Given the point of Trek is that the choices humans and others made to get where they are are the correct ones then the idea both (a xenophobic slave-holding police state and a corrupt, militaristic feudal monarchy) can keep up with the Federation for centuries is the biggest negation of that point.
All the chapters in this video have Ss substituted for Gs, Os substituted for Qs, and Vs substituted for Us “Theme gong’g” “Garak’g gecret” “Reagon” “Quer the upgide down” “The Enterprige”
The lyrics are _Beyond the edge of the starlight_ _My love is wandering in starflight_ _I know he'll find in star clustered reaches_ _Love, strange love a star woman teaches_ _I know his journey ends never_ _His Star Trek will go on forever_ _So tell him as he wanders his starry sea_ _Remember, remember me_ And that, folks, is from memory.
@@randynutt5660 Well... He DID write "Nightingale Woman" as an ode to his airplane: "My love has wings Slender, feathered things With grace in upswept curve and tapered tip..."
Here's an obscure bit of trivia about the TOS theme song: In music, a "contrafact" is when a new melody is written over the existing chord changes to another song. Jazz musicians have been doing this since the beginning, with the changes to Gershwin's "I Got Rhythm" being the most widely used (the theme song to "The Flintstones" uses Rhythm changes). TOS theme is actually a contrafact over the changes to the jazz standard "Out of Nowhere," but that's not the most obscure part! In the season 1 TNG episode "The Big Goodbye," Picard enters his holodeck Dixon Hill detective program. As he's walking down the hallway to his office, he passes a cleaning lady who has a radio playing in her cart. Which song is on the radio? "Out of Nowhere," of course!
uM... Don't know where you got your info but Nichelle was telling her story about Dr. King years and years before the date you cite. Like, during the 20th century!!
The upside down Enterprise reminded me of an old ST novel, where McCoy was the only senior officer left to command the Enterprise because...reasons... and he had to meet a Klingon vessel. Taking advantage of the Klingon misconception of Kirk as a warlord, McCoy impersonates Kirk and acts like a crazy warmonger by meeting the Klingon ship upside down, which presents both the phaser banks and the photon torpedo launchers towards the other vessel while hiding and thus protecting the bridge dome.
@@frankharr9466 As I think about it, not when you're having a diplomatic meeting, you'd want your weapons sheathed in starship terms to avoid antagonizing the other party. And in typical starship combat where distances can be in thousands of kilometers and weapon yields in the isotons it really doesn't matter.
fyi to fans, "secret" #1 ( 10:01 ) about the full size filming model Enterprise - the restoration, history, and current display information are available here on youtube at the Smithsonian Channel. ☺
When you're discussing the season 2 model's left side, the clips you show are from the modern (1990's) rendering that went into the remastered version. It does not depict the model being discussed!
I think when they say "obscure" facts that took years to discover, they mean it took them years to discover, Trekkies knew the "obscure" facts long before they were born.
Classical liberalism seems pretty at odds with the space communism thing no scarcity etc thing he was going for though. Unless u mean like classically leftist since classical liberalism would be seen as right wing today by most
Nice! Brie’s back. 🖖 The lyrics for Star Trek’s original theme were first seen in The Making of Star Trek by Gene Roddenberry & Stephen E. Whitefield. The Dominion War was one of Trek’s best ideas. Starfleet DOES have a military role, something those spoiled by TNG’s utopia aspect. Apparently Roddenberry ignored the episodes Balance of Terror and Errand of Mercy. The Ferengi captain out to kill Picard in The Battle was out to avenge his son who was killed at Zeta Maxia, a tale recounted in the novel Star Trek: The Buried Age.
Roddenberry ignored a lot of what was done on TOS. There was also Court Martial, The Menagerie, Arena, The Ultimate Computer... it does kind of go on. As he got older, he began believing the fairy tales about himself (the utopian prophet) as Star Trek grew in popularity during the early 70s syndication run into the 80s. It's what caused the constant on-set battles while filming The Motion Picture - which resulted in Roddenberry's "demotion" for all subsequent films. And it drove Roddenberry's initial demands for TNG that, again, led to Paramount sidelining him after season 2. Sure, his health was part of it, but there was more to it that his health.
I agree. Its his ego- he started believing his own press. Lance Parkin’s The Impossible Has Happened notes how he began objecting to anything that didn’t fit his ‘vision’. Thankfully Harve Bennett was advised not to feel responsible to Roddenberry; in effect, his ego reduced him to a figurehead. Even Rick Berman went ahead and presented Trek as he saw it best once Roddenberry passed on.
..."Red light on the right, ship returning in the night"... ...also known in abbreviated form as "Red, Right, Returning"... ...port side (left side of the ship) is colored red... ... starboard side (right side of the ship) is colored green... ...if the red light is on the right of the green light, the ship's bow is pointed towards you..
On Garak crushing on Bashir. Several years ago I got to talk to Fraser Hines, who was one of the Second Doctor's companions on Doctor Who. I mentioned that his character and another companion named Victoria seemed to have a little crush on each other. He said they played it that way on purpose, but they had to be subtle, because if it was too obvious, then they'd have to write that the two characters had fallen in love, and if they fell in love, the BBC would order that they'd have to get married, and married people couldn't be companions, so they'd be off the show. Funny how TV execs' minds work sometimes.
Dominion War thoughts: I’m all for the optimistic future but Trek also has its foot firmly in reflecting where we are and showing us how we might triumph over these issues, not just having already triumphed over them in the past
I can see the opposite in that it's Star Trek not Star Wars. But yeah I liked the Andorians in Enterprise even though their beef is something we are so used too. ~ just can't stop ranting ~ It was kinda weird seeing humans having to teach aliens instead of learning from them as we've never stopped doing the same ole same ole. Same old trope in future humans as the old, the savior complex. They touched on that a bit with the "Cogenitor" episode and in others would embrace it fully. Everyone thinking we'd be learning a little from Vulcans but it's all they learned because of us, and to not go as hard because they were worse than us that made them who they are now. It was looking like they woulda been the next Romulans how they were protrayed before the human interference.
"A very welcomed callback." In SNW? Nothing about any of these new series is welcome to fans. And yeah, duh. We all noticed Garak crushing on Bashir. And we were all creeped out by it. Which is how it seems to have been intended.
The Miranda-class also famously fell victim to this from the get-go. Originally the nacelles were supposed to be on top and the spoiler that runs across the back was going to be the deflector apparatus. However, when the drawings were shown to the model-makers they were upside down so they built the ship as we now known it.
@@draconusfrigidus Not quite true. They drawing were shown to the producer in charge, who signed off on the plans upside down. Because he thought the ship's nacelles were on the bottom. So it ended up being built that way.
The original TNG uniforms were made from a material that was hard to clean… and they began to smell awful. Also they had to make a special jacket for Ensign Ro when she took the jacket part off to put on a refugee, so they put magnets in the “invisible” center seam to make it look like it had no discernible fasteners.
early Spandex material from the 1980s was terrible. It's similiar to Dederon. Dederon shirts also started smelling awful quickly cuz you started sweating in them easily.
7:38 Good reference! I *highly* recommend the Television Academy interviews! ⭐️ They’re long form, hours and hours, but it’s just so wonderful to see and hear all our favorites tell their story. Nicholls’ interview is captivating. Other interviews include Shatner (twice!), Nimoy, Takei, Koenig and Burton in the cast; writer DC Fontana; Solow, Justman, Finnerman (also Moonlighting), Harve Bennett and a few more behind the scenes. And also Berman gives his side… I hope the Academy does many more interviews from the TNG/DS9/VOY era.
LOTS of facts left out with Nichelle's story. Almost as if they were painfully omitted for dramatic affect, as if her ordeal wasn't already dramatic enough... Kinda sleazy to present it the way you did. She's the one who requested to not receive any more fanmail after she saw the first few that were horribly racist. The producers were never 'hiding' them, they were protecting her by doing what she asked. That's a BIG difference. She didnt threaten to leave because because they were hiding the good fan mail either, it was due to the trauma if the racists ones she saw. She had an affair with Gene so the idea of leaving seemed rather... an excuse more than a threat. After her talk with Dr. King, she sees all the fans that she hadn't not seen due to her fear dominating her judgemrnt and asking not to see the mail. That is a completely different set of circumstances and context than what's presented on this video.
I read about the upside enterprise in a fan book in the 1970's. The original plan was for it to be upside down as we know it. But they flipped in part so that it obviously couldn't land on a planet surface They didn't have the budget to film landing sequences which is why they created transporters.
I like how whenever Berman comes up, it's always to do something stupid, or argue against good ideas... Yet it took a pile of scandals for them to finally fire him.
Also, they forgot to mention, Shatner was one of the worst people on the set when it came to screwing over Nichols. That's part of why no one liked him.
One of the things that irked me in the 3rd season onward, when they were using the 1st/2nd season uniforms for background players, that no one thought to run a $1 black magic marker over the colored bead on the black shoulder inserts.
I may be remembering wrong, but I thought the reason some background non-speaking characters in TNG S3 used the old S1/S2 uniforms was the new ones were for "officers only"; thus the backgrounders were unranked crewman. In reality their budget only allowed for enough 2 piece uniforms for the main characters. Took a couple more seasons to create enough 2 piece uniforms...
@@waynestarron5068 I don't remember the officers only thing being mentioned on the show. Not redressing everyone was a real world budget thing. It was just such a half assed thing that broke the suspension of belief. Especially in a world with replicators and matter recycling. I just thought it was funny that no one thought about trying the black magic marker thing. It would have likely covered the colored stripe and made in unnoticeable or less noticeable to the camera.
I was going to write what Knightshade08 (a year ago apparently) wrote but Nichelle told the story about how she met Dr. King several times at the conventions over the years. What I remember was Nichelle was a master storyteller. Her face lit up when she told her audience about her time on the show and the movies. She never said anything bad about anyone. She loved to talk to the fans. I was 15 (now 51) when I first heard the story of how Dr. King convinced her to stay on the show. I am surprised that the story took so long to go viral, but one never knows what will take the internet by storm. I am sure there is a UA-cam video of her telling the story somewhere.
5:38 "We never learned who destroyed these colonies" -- Yes, we did. It was the Borg. In _The Neutral Zone_ the Romulans investigating the destroyed colonies state that when they saw the level of destruction, they knew it could not have been the Federation. In _Q Who_ the Enterprise finds a planet which was attacked in the same manner by the Borg.
That was basically what they said in this video. She just didn't mention that we didn't learn who destroyed the colonies IN THAT EPISODE. But what she said afterward was exactly what you just said.
7:00 Separate pants and shirts is good. The addition of the collar I'm torn on. Removing the coloured stripe on the top within the black shoulder area should not have happened.
Regarding the uniform change for TNG, Michael Dorn (If memory servers) would basically flex and stretch towards the end of a shoot and rip out all the seams of his costume. Also the color of those costumes are actually different than what you see on screen, do the film tech (not sure if this was just cameras used in TV) but the shades would be different which caused them to have to switch colors until they found the correct reds and greens etc. And that came directly from a member of STNG staff (who looked exactly like Jonathan Frakes but was not Jonathan Frakes. If you know you know)
I feel the upside-down one looks not only better, it would also take so much force off of the connector pipes when the ship is landed. I'm not sure if the ship did ever land anywhere, though.
None of these are obscure. None of these are secrets. None of these took years to discover. The upside down Enterprise and the theme lyrics were written about and shown in The Making of Star Trek, which was published in 1968 while the original show was still being made. The only thing here that took any time to learn was that Robinson played Garak ambiguously queer. Your title is absolutely false. Misleading.
It was probably an entry level course, so for those that don’t know all that you do, they learned a lot. I have 2 young grandkids that disagree with you. Star Trek gave many of us a reason to make a better world. Many inventions we have now were only a thought in the 60’s. I was there watching the original when it aired. My favorite trivia was the egg carton walls and the squirt bottles in the sick bay. I’m sure you are more of a Trekkie than I am and know so much more, but we have a new generation and all these posts are great for them. They learned much.
I disagree. Im huge fan but there's always trivia to be learned or remembered. There's plenty on this channel that I've seen now that I go oh ya forgot about that. Its fine to have your opinion of this video I just feel that your comment is a bit harsh and only considers your position not the wider audience they need to write for
@Nm GG Your disagreement doesn't mean anything because I did not state an opinion. I stated facts. Look again at the title of the video, then read my comment again. I stated facts. None of these are obscure, none of them were secrets, and none took years to discover. If the title had said "10 Star Trek facts you might not know," I wouldn't have had any complaint because that would be an accurate title. The title they have is completely inaccurate in every way, as I explained clearly in my original comment.
@Nm GG There is no argument. I stated facts. So far, 22 people have apparently appreciated those facts. You're the one who seems to be having an emotional problem. I'm just amused that you seem to be having trouble with reading comprehension and basic facts. Now, have I given you enough of the attention you craved? I hope so because it's all you're getting from me. Bored now, bye now.
Behrman was right. Making the second half of DS9 all about space battles made it drop all the things that made the original premise of the show interesting.
The first few seasons of DS9 are almost unwatchable. Then, once they brought in Worf and, akin to Riker, let Sikso grow the beard, it found its "stride". As a commercial for it touted, it brought a LOT of weird-looking aliens to interact with.
Forgot one of the other huge reasons they ditched the original TNG uniforms. They smelled terrible. The material trapped BO and no amount of washing could get it out. The entire set wreaked because of it.
There is no "up" or "down" in space, so there's no reason why they couldn't show the Enterprise upside down just for fun. Maybe on approach to space dock it comes into frame upside down then does a roll to align with what is "up" for the space dock or something, that'd be kinda neat.
I always knew there was something with the Borg in the neutral zone episode due to it's the same wording that worf uses about (some great thing scooped it up from the ground) as well as in Q-Who.
@@w415800 That's not in contradiction. One can have a society that lives in a utopia while having members of your society meet those who don't live in a utopia outside your society.
As I stated elsewhere: A lot of people who cite "Gene's vision" are talking about the wrong Gene. So very much of what we know and love about Star Trek came, not from Gene Roddenberry, but from Gene Coon.
In the early 70's (70 - 72) Lincoln Enterprises (owned by Gene), sold Trek memorabilia (film clips, patches, copies of the scripts, etc). One of the items that I got from them was the score for the theme which also included the words. I think I still have it, but if I do, it's buried deep in storage along with a lot of other Trek memorabilia.
9:02 I like how this has actually happened at least twice, the second time being with the miranda class model made for the Reliant in Wrath of khan, only that time it STAYED upside down!
The Star Trek lyrics are insane. Back in the 80’s, I was taking piano lessons, and my teacher had sheet music for the TOS theme-which included the wacky 60’s torch song lyrics included. I had no idea this was a “lost secrets.”
I didn't care for the Dominion war overall; however, there are a number of great moments from it that I don't think we would have gotten otherwise for which I wouldn't wish it gone.
Yeah, I found it boring. Same with all the endless war crap in Enterprise (which is made worse by the time travel cringe factor). I guess it gave the DS9 folks something to do, but i wasnt at all interested. I like that in the original series the Federation is at war with several races but that makes up such a tiny fraction of the episodes that it never weighed down the show.
Makes me wonder what non-US areas you are referring to because I know that most parts of Europe get the episodes one day after they are aired in the US.
@@stuke666 Wow, really? I was sure they were just going to dump all up to that point released episodes on you when Paramount+ dropped on the 22nd of June. I'm watching through Paramount+ too but I'm in the Nordic region.
@@weepingscorpion8739 you would have hoped, but they wanted to make sure people didn't just do the 7 day trail watch them all then unsub before it ended, all bout that money.
in Star Trek Strange New Worlds the Online Game from the 90s.. my character.. a Ferengi.. had a number of troops.. including some Gorn.. as well as Klingons which is a long story but it boils down to some RP I did with the Qang & metal I sold them to make new ships after their war with the Federation & the Romulans.. I would spar with the Qang & they had so much respect for my Ferengi, about 50 Klingon troops (NPCs) followed me around 24/7/365 & I also had authority over tens of thousands of Ferengi troops as I was a high level Liquidator in the FCA.. I could buy just about anything in the game & also had a Romulan cloak ship which no one had.. except me and the Romulans... I actually pitched the idea for Lower Decks to Trek & they badmouthed it actually as I wanted it to be a Live Action show more along the lines of Game of Thrones but this was before Game of Thrones even existed.. in fact... I am the one who got Alexander Siddig his role on Game of Thrones & also GRRM himself wrote me back in 2005 & HBO thanked me for my contributions to the franchise.. long story I know I know but I was a very well known Trek fan since the 90s as far as that goes, I knew Aron who played Nog & others plus after they rejected my idea for Lower Decks even Rod wrote me & said.. no joke.. you know the whole Guinan thing where he says to Picard that Ro is her friend.. ROD wrote me & said... that he didn't want to be my friend... I remained friends with Aron until he died... and I know some other Trek actors.. anyway.. I said to them finally, after they mocked my idea for a GoT style Lower Decks I said fine make it a cartoon and a comedy.. I said it jokingly .. and they sat on it for a long time.. and then ultimately did it.. anyway... Star Trek Strange New Worlds Online was a great game that ran from what around 1997 until 2004 I believe was when it ended.. and it had a full combat / space and economy system as well as advanced character generation.. my main character was a Ferengi & I had other characters & I was one of two players allowed to actually 2 box since it was controlled 24/7 by moderators.. you could do the coded game at any time including trade but all combat was under review & any story outside the main story had to be submitted as a tiny plot .. approved.. and then it could be done.. and yeah combat still happened out of nowhere but a lot of times the admins would freeze it to review or even sometimes overturn it.. one time a Romulan was on Ferenginar trying to break into the FCA tower to steal my cloak ship back & I exploded the turbolift with him in it ... he didn't realize I had so many privileges including the ability to seal the lift.. so basically I put an explosive in the lift & then sealed it up & yeah he was pretty upset.. I also fought a Pakled.. Orions.. Klingons.. all sorts in that game.. I actually got pretty notorious & my character got into his 130s and was one of the longest living characters.. see if you died in the game that was it, you had to restart through character generation with a new character.. I had enhanced hearing & combat instincts on my character which wasn't completely coded into the game so I would always announced "Rolling for combat instincts" & do a roll like in a D&D game & almost always won that roll which got me things like the first attack or a dodge... I had the best armor in the game.. ships from multiple empires.. and Ferengi ships.. shuttles.. factories.. the largest privately owned building on Ferenginar which is a huge thing if you know about Ferengi economics.. a hotel.. hidden barracks & a prison.. weapon lockers.. full access to our starbase & underground command center.. some of the best guns.. including Federation and Klingon rifles.. I even had some extremely rare ancient Gorn weapons.. which I don't even recall where I got those.. I had like 3 ... and the Qang gave me a knife which I believe had zero weight so I always had that extra weapon.. I'd always carry an explosive on my character too.. I had a tricorder that could scan anywhere.. but enhanced hearing let me hear people from other places in the zone so I didn't always need it..
As a viewer from Germany I have to say that I have to stop watching these videos because of spoilers. Please keep in mind that, as you mentioned yourself, in some countries strange new worlds cannot be seen yet. The same goes for Disco S4! A spoiler warning at the beginning would be nice. Thx for noticing
Nichelle's story may have gone "viral" in 2011 but she's been telling that great story on the Convention circuit for decades.
And in interviews for at least that long. I knew about that little fact in the 80's, and I'm not a "True Fan"
Yep I heard her say this at a convention when I was younger
Was going to say the first time I saw her tell that story was in 1991 on the Star Trek 25th Anniversary special. I was probably 10.
I learned it from Trekkies documentary released in 1997. Do these people not do proper research?
She mentioned this in an interview that a clip of was shown on the Scifi Channel back in the mid 1990s.
I'm surprised no one mentioned Scotty's hand in the Season 3 Episode 17 '"That Which Survives". In the episode there is a considerable amount of time where the camera will be focussed on James Doohan's (Scotty's) hand as he is fixing a delicate part of the warp drive while it is in operation. James Doohan reportedly stated that this is all fine but the set will have to be built reversed so as to focus on his left hand. When questioned on this bizarre request he is reported to have said "This is why." as he shows them he is missing half of his right hand ring finger due to a WWII war injury. Apparently eyes bugged out and coffee cups hit the floor as no one on the set had known until that moment.
Budget-conscious and resourceful as they were (read "Cheap") they, of course, had a work-around. We saw Scotty's hands on one or two occasions, but they were not James Doohan's. Whenever we needed to see both of Scotty's hands, there was a tight close-up of JUST the hands -- and they were Eddie Paskey's hands.
In the movies, of course, the bigger budget meant that Scotty could afford a pair of gloves.
Small point of correction -- it was his middle finger that he lost during the aftermath of D-Day, not his ring finger.
In addition, despite his efforts to hide it, there are probably a dozen or more episodes in which his missing finger can be glimpsed. These include in "Tomorrow was Yesterday" when he's telling Kirk that they have no place to go in the past timeline; in "The Trouble with Tribbles" when he's carrying the armload of tribbles; In "Catspaw" when it's clear he only has three fingers holding a phaser; when he's holding Mira around the waist in "The Lights of Zetar"; or at about 20 minutes into "Friday's Child." It can also be seen from the low angle shot as he reaches into the box in "The Enemy Within," though only if you freeze frame the shot.
@@jenaauerstedt7650 It is also quite clear in the STNG episode 'Relics' when Scotty and Picard are on the TOS bridge sharing drinks. I was unaware of these other scenes. I just remember the story of the first time it became a 'production issue'.
@@malachiXX By the time of the feature films and "Relics" on TNG, Doohan (who wasn't doing much acting otherwise by that time in his life) had come to accept that his injury would not put off his fans -- he was, after all, an important player in one of the most iconic television series of all time. In Star Trek IV: The Voyage Home, for example, he and Uhura are eating together and he makes no effort to hide his finger at all. The same is true of that scene on the bridge in "Relics."
To enhance the discussion to a broader scope, sometimes I am tempted to tell people that have some distinct aspect of their physique (as Scotty's finger or a scar), to just say "excuse me, but can I have a close look at that? Then I am not constantly distracted trying to peek at it and hoping you don't notice, which you DO notice for the whole conversation and are rightfully annoyed. But when I looked at it once directly, I have seen it, case closed, and I can look you in the eye without my eyes wandering off all the time, way more relaxing."
Would we as society be able to attain more of such openness of differences (in all kinds of ways, physical or mental or opinion), I think we could get way better along.
Well, that would mean we then achieved a strategy to accept our difference, our individuality, and see that not as something divisive, but as part of the other and of ourselves.
Sorry for that rant - but more and more I see how in seemingly tiny details there hide fundamental aspects, also of our society.
When I was a kid, maybe 5 years old, my dad bought and built a model of the original enterprise and he let me play with it sometimes while he watched to make sure I didn't damage it. After doing this a few times he (foolishly) trusted me with it and wouldn't watch me while playing with it anymore, and one time I went outside with it, flipped it upside down, and began scooting it through the dirt, then used the saucer kind of like a shovel to dig a hole. It got a little scratched up and certainly dirty.
When he came outside to check on me and saw it, I remember it so clearly. At first he looked at me so angry but then his face quickly softened and he started smiling and he said, "You know what? In 10 years, I probably won't even know where this thing is anymore anyway." He didn't let me play with it anymore without supervision, but after a while I lost interest in it, he ended up packing it up somewhere. Years later I happened to think about it and asked him if he knew where it was, and he had no idea, it was lost to time like most things he bought that he never really needed.
Seeing that upside down enterprise in this video reminded me of all of that.
It reminds me of another story. I was really big into Legos as a kid, and one year for christmas one of my aunts bought me a Merlin lego minifig on a keychain. When it came time to open presents, in my big family everyone had big piles of gifts in front of each person and sometimes they were mistakenly given to the wrong people and stuff like that, and that merlin keychain ended up in my dad's pile. It just had my name on it and nothing else, and somehow or another someone thought it was from me to my dad rather than for me. When he saw it was from me and opened it, he really loved it and thought I had wanted to give it to him. My aunt pulled me aside and told me what happened, that she had got it for me, but he thinks I got it for him, but he loved it so much I let him keep it and never told him it was actually for me, so in a way, I did give it to him. He put it on a lanyard and hung it around the rear view mirror in his car. Throughout the years as he got new cars, he always moved merlin to hang right there from the rear view mirror right up to the day he died. Even after he got into a bad car accident that crushed his knee, he took Merlin out of the car with him when he went because he was scared it would get lost and they would total his car. Now I have Merlin, the gift I was always meant to have in the first place. It probably wouldve been lost or destroyed if it had been mine as a kid, but now it is my most precious possession and I hang it around the rear view mirror of my cars because every time I look at it, it reminds me of my dad and how much he loved me.
I'm not crying, you're crying.
Great anecdote on your father.
For me things like your Merlin is what connects me to my parents. I connect nothing with a grave, we never went to the cemetery (as our ancestors died far, far away), it is not a place of shared experience. I connect them with objects, locations where we were. My father was a big builder of all kinds of boxes, for loudspeakers, for tools, all kinds of stuff.
Cherish this Merlin and the story. maybe it becomes a family heritage.
I was also a big Lego builder, over 50 years ago. By the way, of course there was a big box handmade by my father for my block to sort into. The big important part was a BOOK by Lego, with examples how you could build practically ANYthing just using the basic blocks that then existed. It was a trigger for your own imagination, to use the examples and see what you could change them into with your set of blocks.
The modern Lego in my opinion lost that quality of creativity. It thrives in complete models, as sets, with hundreds of special parts that are only for this one purpose. In principle build it once, and then put it on display, and when you disassemble it, you have to carefully save all the parts for an eventual rebuild.
The universal "pins" that made up the versatility of Lego have been degraded to styling elements, in principle a cult symbol. E.g. when building a Lego globe with continents and seas on the surface, why do the special parts need pins outside and are not flat (other than company identity)?
Funnily, that somehow seems to go in parallel with the general development of society, the abundance of perfect offerings brings you into a consumer mentality, instead of doing your own thing (as nothing fitting is available) you do what all others do, what is prefabricated. Far beyond Lego, you can apply it to movies, research in topics you are interested in, from science to politics to conspiracies.
What an inspiring story!
very touching.
Andrew Robinson is SUCH an underrated talent. DS9 had a great cast, but they struck latinum landing him for Garak.
True! It was such a complex character. I never even considered a sexy subtext to his befriending of the doctor, but in hindsight it makes a lot of sense, especially if Andrews portrayed him with that in mind as stated. But obviously a man like Garak would have no qualms about pansexuality, being as devious and chimerical as his job (& life) implies he would have to be, I could never figure why he chose the doc to ultimately reveal himself to, as best he could, in his naked complexity. I'm gonna have to watch all of ds9 again!
It's better that they didn't try to introduce that element into the characters interaction over the series arc
The one thing about Garak is you wonder if he's really working for the Obsidian Order under guise as a humble, outcast tailor, or he's actually an outcast, but IAW the talent for prevarication any operative would have to cultivate; he keeps others "guessing". But don't worry, it's all "true"...ESPECIALLY THE LIES.
@@tc556guy Why not?
@@danielkeel9265 I really didnt care either way about Garak being gay or not, I do wonder why they decided to attempt a love interest for him by adding Zeyal Dukats daughter. ? did the PTB think they would offend if they let the fans think Garak might be gay?
The Dominion war was very important. It showed how the highly evolved humans of Starfleet and the Federation fared under adversity. Some like Commander Sisco actually made a deal with the devil in order to save everything that they held dear.
If you're going to tell a story about models, talk about the Mysterious Romulan Warbird that was designed during the original series, shown to Gene, approved, accidently knocked over, and shattered. To make schedule, they "re-used" the Klingon warship as a Romulan vessel and even added dialogue between Scotty and Spock to cover over why it was that way.
And they had a Klingon ship ONLY because Stephen Whitfield had done a deal with Matt Jefferies to design model kits for AMT, whose master tooling models and built-up kits could be used as filming miniatures on the show...And without that deal, we never would have had that Flying Butter Dish shuttlecraft, either.
It's a long story, and...
...It's complicated.
Diane Duane did an excellent write-up in her books and fleshed out that the Klingons were selling older tech to the Romulans / Rihannsu :)
For those of you who don't know, some behind the scenes footage of TNG was taken for an episode of Reading Rainbow, Levar Burton's then concurrently running series for kids on PBS.
Yes, I remember that ep!
Nichelle’s fan mail wasn’t hidden from her. The 1st couple of letters she received were racist rants so she stopped asking for them. After talking to Dr. King she talked to Gene who showed her that she had a lot of fan mail. He kept them for her when she didn’t want them.
she paved the way for many, and is a testament to Gene's ability to deal with social issues, in a way that nobody else has been able to match. too many shows today are about as subtle is a sledge hammer when it comes to dealing with social issues.
@@JustJay1281 Yeah, cause the nearly direct to camera speaches on philosophy aren't blunt. Come on.....
@@radaro.9682 I never said some of it wasn't, Was speaking of the case of Nichelle, and her role on the show. She was just there from the start not treated differently no cringe moment of crew discussing her presence on the ship. She was just there, yes many of the story lines dealt more directly with social issues, because that was the whole premise of the show.
@@JustJay1281 Then I'm missing something.....and I'm asking because I'm autistic and could just be not processing something obvious: can you give me examples of "not subtle" with modern entertainment? I see a ton of obvious but performative actions taken on screen that don't really address anything. The ICE story line with Rios for example. They were generic bad guys with little to no real comment on immigrant struggles. And zero Kirk, Picard, or Sisco monologues. I don't disagree with your clarification. But would like to get more of your perspective. Thanks!
@@radaro.9682 I'm not sure whether you mean modern entertainment in general or modern Trek. I don't watch modern Trek, but in other entertainment, there are annoying things like passionate, semi-pornographic gay kissing in sci-fi, and having "diversity" in ancient Rome or ancient Scandinavia and calling it "historical".
Ted Cassidy (Lurch) voicing the TOS Gorn is beyond legendary.
Not the first time he was involved working with Star Trek.
@@jasonjimerson7046 I half expected Ruk to say to Kirk, "You Raaaaaaaang."
NO shit, Ted Cassidy? Really?
Did the TOS Gorn actually say anything, or did it just sound like an asthmatic lizard?
@@c0t0d0s7 Gorn to Kirk: "I'm weary of the chase. Wait for me. I shall be merciful and quick."
Garak, a favourite character of mine, and his scenes with Quark, among the best.
Andrew Robinson played Garek to Ingenious Perfection!
Being an Agent of the Obsidian Order, it was always ambiguous as to whether he was a Hero or Villain!
...Tinker, Taylor, or soldier that spies,
the gardener and grass all have prying eyes...
... not even the chef, just someone who cooked;
best beware of your meal and don't get rooked...
... electricians and roofers; experts at eavesdropping;
the best laid of plans they soon will be stopping...
... the servants and amateurs, whatever their walks,
we know they're the worst, because EVERYONE talks...
...all the commonplace, everywhere, seen but not noticed
- bring about your demise, when on you they are focused...
(allegedly Garak's favorite nursery rhyme, culled from the files of section 31)
When gender ideology is forcefully pushed down my throat I despise it. On the other hand, Garak the Master Spy having a non-defined sexuality, and also having a romantic crash on Bashir makes a lot of sense and spices up the character even more, so next time I re-watch DS9 I will look it that way.
Honestly I think if you took Gene's belief about what Star Trek ought to be to their logical extent, I think you would eliminate almost all of the episodes, literally, each episode revolves around some conflict usually just about the aliens, but often involving humanity itself as well. The only difference with the dominion war is that it wasn't over in one episode like the original series would've done.
Well, that and the Section 31 stuff. Section 31 in general would probably be something Gene would have hated, to say nothing of the specific things they did in the war.
@@DaPopeANata yes, I will agree with you there about section 31... But I don't think that Gene's views were against people that were still cynical about the world existing in the future. Boiling down most section 31 stories, you come out with someone who is cynical about humanity being proven wrong by the heroes
Gene Roddenberry got way too full of himself with the success of the franchise. He damn near killed ST:TNG in the first season; the best thing that happened was that Paramount more or less "kicked him upstairs" to a Senior Executive role where he actually did very little.
DS9 was the best written series of the entire Star Trek franchise in my opinion.
@@joelpitts575 - Best actors too.
People always use the scene from “Mirror, Mirror” when talking about how they filmed the Enterprise’s left side. Except they didn’t do it that way for that episode in the original effects. They used the old three-foot model which was finished on both sides. It still had the bussard collectors and deflector from “The Cage” so in homage when they updated the effects they kept that look for the ISS Enterprise. The “old look” was scene in original stock shots throughout the series anyway.
Given that the "Mirror" Universe isn't a "perfect" reflection (not only the politics and personalities, but even their very uniforms, which SOMEHOW get switched, should be a giveaway), that the ISS-Enterprise, NCC-1701, has some subtle differences should be no surprise. It would have been more fitting, if, say, rather than the outright assassination of Chris Pike that supposed the ruthless mirror version of James Tiberus Kirk did, he'd overthrown him, but instead of killing him, crippled him so he had to live out the rest of his days in that infernal chair, only able to "beep" his yea/nay, and likely with a built-in "agonizer" to boot.
Another little known fact was that the Smithsonian owned model of the original Enterprise spent years on display there in the basement of the Gift Shop of the Air and Space museum. This was before it's most recent "overhaul" :)
I saw it when I was in the 5th grade
I heard that story in the late 80's and saw her tell it in a convention in the 90's.
I didn’t see the original model until many years later. I was surprised at how emotional I got.
Before that, it spent time hanging from wires at the entrance to the space section of the museum.
@@Rigel_Chiokis I have a picture of that from a school trip to DC (from Iowa!). The Air & Space Museum was one of the main reasons I wanted to go on the trip!
LOL, no, the Dr. King story did not suddenly come out in 2011. Star Trek fans knew about that many, many years before. I'd heard that story already in the late 70's as an ST fan. It was not some hidden secret at all.
I think it's even mentioned in a tng companion book.
Not sure I’d go as far as the LOL. Extreme.
It fits better into the narrative if it's suddenly discovered...
@@matthewkreps3352 Pretty sure it's mentioned in all the books. It's been a well-known anecdote for decades.
I've known about the lyrics to the TOS theme since the 1970s, not 1997. We had fanzines and paperbacks that sought out anything and everything Star Trek and printed it. Plus we had an LP entitled Inside Star Trek relating facts of the show.
I had that LP too. Gene spoke of why he cancelled the show over time slots but the lyrics sung were a total surprise to me then.
My guess is some of these facts are sourced on the Internet, so they seem more recent because that's probably the farthest back they can find mention of it.
Beyond the rim of the star-light,
My love Is wand'ring in star-flight.
I know he'll find in star-clustered reaches
Love, strange love a star woman teaches.
I know his journey ends never,
His star trek will go on forever.
But tell him while he wanders his starry sea,
Remember, remember me.
I remember a person not associated with Star Trek said it was pretty tacky to take credit for other people's work like that, and he felt he didn't need to do that for his shows.
The lyrics to the TOS theme song (recorded by @Miles Batty, below) appeared in "The Making of Star Trek" (1968 paperback), by Stephen Whitfield and Gene Roddenberry. I loved Star Trek and learned all about it from that book. They lyrics stuck with me, too.
Uhura was one of my favourite characters, and one of the most iconic to this day. So glad she chose to stay on.
As great as Gene Roddenberry was, I'm glad he was surrounded by people who would push back on some of his ideas. Star Trek is at it's best when it's a result of a collaborative effort after all. That and I can't imagine how wrong that really long flyby of the refit Enterprise in the first movie if the ship were upside down.
I can because the Mobile Suit Gundam fandom has joked it's the Zeon Musai-class Light Cruiser, which has then been semi-canonized by Gundam: The Origin in it's depiction of the civilian Arcana-class Cargo Ship the Musai was covertly developed from.
The Arcana is a spine supporting an almond-shaped Saucer and two Engine Pylons, aka the classic Connie layout of Star Trek, where as on the flipped Musai this spine is the mount for Particle Cannon turrets.
@@DonaldWWitt Now I can't not see this! Given that Mobile Suite Gundam came out after TOS, I can see how it was inspired by it now. I never even thought about it until now!
@@gwgux See, all Gene got wrong was there was a big dish there instead of Battleship Turrets!
Gene Lee Coon was my favorite writer/collaborator.🌟
Anytime anyone says Star Trek has to keep true to Gene's vision, remember that he made Patrick Stewart wear a wig, because in the future, baldness would be "cured."
Nichelle has literally told that story in every Star Trek documentary she's ever been in, decades before 2011.
apparently it's the ONLY story she seemed to have, where you got tired of hearing it.....ofcourse, had she left the show, it would have been a Tasha Yar/Denise Crosby career regret.....Nichelle had an affair with Roddenberry, so I doubt her threat to leave was substantial....
What she didn't say was Martin used his authority to seduce her and enjoy sex outside of his marriage while still being a pastor or whatever.
@@captaingenius-o1c You've got a hard lip, Herbert.
The Roddenberry lyrics to the theme song were included in the classic 1968 book, "The Making of Star Trek." So, it hardly took "years" for this knowledge to come out. The "upside down Enterprise" saga was also described in the aforementioned book.
I was planning to say the same thing but wisely decided to make sure no one else beat me to it first. Alas, you did. 😁
Yep. The upside down Enterprise looks a lot like some L Ron Hubbard sketches from the early 60s for one of his books...bears a resemblance to DC8 spaceships which is a staple of Scientology origin scripture.
There's a lot of Scientology in Star Trek.
Correct on both counts. I've been watching Star Trek for 47 years.
@@james_tiberius_kirk73 now pull up a 1963 season episode of 12 O Clock High scored by Dominick Frontiere. Here's one you don't have to watch fully.
"12 O'clock High S1Ep29" with Gary Lockwood.
Get back to me.
@@james_tiberius_kirk73 I watched it ever since it first started in 1966, 56 years ago now when I was 10 years old; so I have you beat by 9 years. 😁
Both the Gorn and the Caitians/Ferasans have been redone very tastefully in the game, Star Trek Online, which does a great job including all of the Trek universe, from TOS to Discovery and Picard, as well as everything in between, such as Lower Decks and the alternate reality movies started in 2009, and continues to incorporate new canon as it becomes available. They are even playable as your captain, as well as many other non- human races/species in the Trek universe.
One of my Klingon char's officers is a Gorn. I called him Syzoth,
and made his outfit to resemble Reptile's alt from Mortal Kombat X.
You mean Cardassians/ Ferengi?
@@xnouztion2660 No. Ferasans/Caitians, the cat people. They are a divergent species like the Romulans /Vulcans. The Caitians are in the Federation, and the Ferasans are part of the Klingon empire. I have a Ferasan Captain as my primary character on the Klingon side, and a Caitian officer on one of my Federation ships.
@@tetravega567 Very cool. One of my Ferasan captain's bridge officers is a Gorn. I chose the updated version. I like him.
The story about the Borg was also that they were actually planned to be Insectoids. But that would have conquered with the idea/concept of the Jarada. The Jarada were never shown on screen in TNG and the Borg's technological design was done because it simply was too expensive to create believable insect-like costumes.
I thought too they were a refactoring of the little crab aliens that had the pointy gill sticking out the neck of whoever they possessed, when the ep fell flat they spun the new “menace” into the Borg?
The same was true for the Talosians. They were to be cephlapods with 8 or 10 arms. You see a shadow of the failed costume in the cage beside Pike. This makes Vina's line....they'd never seen a human before, make a lot more sense.
For cost they just did the typical Outer Limits alien. The pulsing heads were pretty good for 1965.
Spock's mindmeld description of the Kelvins was taken from the original script notes for The Cage.
And "Starship Trooper" showed how silly it was to have insect-like creatures as your enemy.
@@Centauri27 Alien showed you how scary it could be.
@@STho205 I didn’t view the Alien creatures as insects-I just saw them as nightmarish monsters. Unlike Starship Troopers, where the aliens were just gigantic ants, as I can recall.
Funny thing about upside-down starships.
During the making of Star Trek II, the Reliant originally had nacelles atop the saucer, but when the drawings were sent to Havre Bennett he viewed them upside-down and liked it, so he signed off on it.
They decided they really have didn't have time to correct him so they ended up tossing on the rollbar to balance things out
That's awesome! :D Never knew that!
It was to be evocative of the Romulan ship...as the final battle was evocative of Balance of Terror. They turned it over because they didn't want to be too obvious.
Original script for Balance, the Romulan ship was supposed to be a dead copy of an Earth saucer ship, with a torpedo launcher attached and a bird paint job. That's why the script had the espionage subplot and why Scotty said no warp, simple impulse.
The idea was the ship had been copied from an older Earth ship before stardrive sections were added.
It also saved building a new model....however after filming they found they had enough in the budget to build a new model....so they edited most of the copy cat lines.
@@STho205 In James Blish's adaptation (adapted, apparently, from an early draft of the script) he writes that the Romulan ship looked like "an exact copy of the Enterprise." That, however, would have meant either building a Romulan version of the Enterprise, or repainting the existing one -- and ain't nobody gonna do that.
@@willmfrank that was the original intent. Taking the saucer of the 3 ft model, and applying some tubes and a paint job.
The extended footage of the Outpost commander reacting and saying Earth Design exists...but I haven't seen it in years.
Most likely the model rework and unwork was going to cost as much as a new model.
@@STho205 It's a pity that Stephen Whitfield didn't work out the deal with AMT a little earlier -- they could have built it by kit-bashing a hobby-shop Enterprise.
Gene's lyrics were printed in the front of "The Making of Star Trek", published in 1968.
...unheard lyrics to a television or movie theme song is a "thing" throughout the industry...
...a standard practice of show producers, in order to make money via royalties from the song everytime it is played, as explained in the video...
...for example, during Johnny Carson's tenure on "The Tonight Show" Johnny Carson received $800 (mid 1980s Dollars) every time the show's theme song would play, due to the fact that Johnny Carson wrote the song's lyrics...
Came here to say this. Thanks.
Roddenberry, the original Ferengi.
And they are corny and awful.
I think the dominion war was the single best arc in Star Trek. No matter how perfect federation society is, (which it’s not, but still) there would ALWAYS be other factions that disagreed and wanted control. If someone fights you your only options are fighting or surrender.
11th obscure Star Trek secret: Sean hates into darkness
we really have to make sure. Does he?
@@kirrimkerman8784 you’re right it is up in the air still
The uniform change also gave us the Picard Maneuver 😉
It always bugged me that ships never run into each other at random angles. Even if there was a reason to use the galactic plane as up/down, ships should still encounter each other upside down.
And that they can run into some random alien race and the universal translator works every time.
It should be that almost every civilization uses one orientation, but there's one that uses the other, and they're the Australites
@@ai4px TNG played with that idea a couple of times. In one episode, they run across a human-like species with a language so difficult to translate that it takes some time for the Universal Translator to start translating all of their words. Then in "Darmok," they play with the idea that it might be possible to translate the words, but the meaning is unclear because the aliens all speak in metaphors which are references to their own history - which of course the Enterprise crew don't know.
Thank god im not the only one who thinks like that, its driven me bonkers for years, not just star trek but all space based sci fi.
@@melkiorwiseman5234 that was actually a really good episode. I love that tng explored concepts of actually alien cultures that are more like aliens than like different races of humans that just looks slightly different and speak a different language but are otherwise identical.
Wish voyager did that more.
At 2:55 ...I've been to the Vasquez Rocks in California where the famous battle took place...and, yes...they sell Gorn and Kirk souvenirs in the gift shop...
To add to the lyrics story, once it was discovered that Gene would receive 50% of the royalties for the theme song, Alexander Courage was so angry that he never worked for Paramount again.
@3:05 I remember the CG work for the Gorn on Enterprise being considered hilariously bad even when the episode first aired. It was not "impressive for the time".
I saw Trek in first run; I thought Uhura was the most important 'face' in Star-Fleet!
The Enterprise was the Fleets best and most capable ship, but it was Uhura who spoke!
Not the Captain...'hailing frequencies open' means she has already negotiated communications protocols, made introductions, found the real leaders and not some underling.
The first voice and face anyone in the Galaxy ever saw of the Federation was hers!
That's not what "hailing frequencies open" means at all.
I appreciate that this video’s thumbnail, despite the clickbaity appearance, is actually a genuine part of the video. Even better, this video has interesting information about Star Trek!
I've often felt like Garak reminds me of some people I know who have a sort of undefined sexuality. I love the way he is portrayed and the way he and Bashir go on to form an interesting and complex relationship.
Also, I'm so glad Nichelle stayed on and influenced us all for the better!
Garak is an (ex-)spy. Between that, and the way he was played, I was always under the impression that the whole goal with him was that we could never be sure what was really going on in his head.
When gender ideology is forcefully pushed down my throat I despise it. On the other hand, Garak the Master Spy having a non-defined sexuality, and also having a romantic crash on Bashir makes a lot of sense and spices up the character even more, so I next time I re-watch DS9 I will look it that way.
Uhura was just a great character. At no time did I care about her skin color as it was irrelevent. It says more about you than anything that you focus on that.
@@james_tiberius_kirk73 I suppose it does. I imagine it says that I have the sensibility to realize how other people perceive those around me.
@@meleardil I can understand that. Having anything forcefully pushed down one's throat doesn't sound pleasant
Andrew Robinson gave a masterful performance as Garak, and while maybe a little subtle flirtation would have been in character, I feel more would have taken away from his mystique. Having him remain detached was part of what gave his character a dangerous allure.
Another TOS Enterprise model fact is that its covered in an overall "Ghost Grey" paint scheme, the same as all US Navy vessels.
5:26 "However, less people are aware..." FEWER people are aware. People are not flour or grains of salt, but they come in discrete units (and not discreet units), so you use the terms more and FEWER, never more and less.
First entry - Iow Gene Roddenberry was an unapologetic thief who stole money that should have gone to composer Alexander Courage. For all his vision of a bright future where everyone gets along (one of the best, most unique, and sadly most unrealistic aspect of the Star Trek franchise imo), GR could be a real bastard to other people in real life.
Gene Roddenberry pulled the same crap on Stephen Whitfield. He insisted that "The Making of Star Trek" be credited to "Stephen E. Whitfield and Gene Roddenberry," even though Gene Robber-Baron had nothing to do with writing the book. Whitfield interviewed Roddenberry and, at Roddenberry's insistence, published the transcripts of Roddenberry's responses as if they were Gene's writings.
Speaking of the Making of Star Trek, that book came out in the 70s….and included the lyrics Roddenberry wrote. It didn’t take that many years to discover this “secret”.
@@whiplashfatigue1430 Yes; I got that book myself when it came out. Whoever scripted this video must never have heard of that book.
@@willmfrank I didn't know that, but it doesn't surprise me in the least.
@@jasontoddman7265 Re-read the footnote at the bottom of p. 21; Whitfield doesn't say it in so many words, but he drops a few hints:
"Quotes from Gene Roddenberry throughout the book are printed in this distinctive typeface, for easy identification. All other statements, opinions, or recounting of events are the words of S.E.W., unless otherwise identified."
Said "distinctive typeface," by the way, is to have GENE RODDENBERRY'S QUOTES IN ALL CAPS; it's an elegant way of showcasing Roddenberry's BLOATED SENSE OF SELF-IMPORTANCE.
And on p. 402 of "Inside Star Trek: The Real Story," Herb and/or Bob write:
"Roddenberry also agreed to edit the manuscript as it progressed. Whitfield, however, had to give Roddenberry fifty percent of the book's royalties, or there was no deal." They go on to say that G.R. didn't actually do any editing until it was too late, and the book went to press "largely as Whitfield had written it."
At 7:10 ...as a young white kid watching Star Trek reruns in the early 70's, I fell in love with Uhura...she was beautiful, smart, and kind...If she had left the show, I would have been devastated...I finally got to meet Nichelle in 2014 at Pensacon...she was still lovely...
Same here, except for the meeting.
Dominion War arc is one of my favorite in all of Trek. Im semi glad Gene didnt get a chance to stop it.
Gene was dead before DS9 launched
@@dhm1983 thats my point.
Regarding the Gorn I prefer the way they currently look in Star Trek online. It's more refined to a lizard-like appearance. Some people may not know this about STO but the current models for the Gorn in the game are an upgraded look. The early game before any expansions had them looking more like the one from TOS. lol
At this point, just make 'em look like Argonians. After all, Trek already has it's own Khajiit as well.
@@PrototypeSpaceMonkey True lol. And if we get down to It, we also have Nords (Klingons) different types of Elves (Vulcans, Romulans), and I think Tellarites could be Dwarves since they're small and swear a lot. lol
"...a hopeful look at things if we did things right."
"You can do everything right and still lose." Capt Picard, TNG
The Dominion War is about a great many things. One of them being the Federation/Starfleet doing everything right, according to them, and everything still goes "ass end up". Albeit mainly because they were dealing with the totally unreasonable Founders, who viewed all others beneath them. And anyone who dared "stand upright and tall" needed to be conquered, culled, or rendered extinct.
My biggest issue with the complaint that modern Star Trek "isn't optimistic enough" is that often it seems to be slung around whenever the modern franchise demonstrates any negative aspect of humanity. Trek has a history of showing us dark, grim or uncomfortable things and they aren't just limited to the "alien" races of Trek, even humans and the Federation weren't above critical examination from as far back as TOS. The best of Trek often wants us to look our darker selves squarely in the eye and think about things we may not wish to. Optimism comes from a lot of places and can be shown in a lot of ways. I've always felt like it's far more powerful, more optimistic, to show that there will be those of us willing to acknowledge and push back against our darker impulses and grow in doing so rather than pretend Trek's humans just magically evolved into morally perfect space elves.
@@troikas3353 That complaint comes from old Trek never being shrill and condescending when it showed dark, grim, uncomfortable negative aspects of humanity. Unlike new trek that never seems miss an opportunity to do that any chance they get.
I liked the Dominion War arc.
It seems reasonable that not all Species in the Universe will abide by any Federation Utopia Ideals, and Maybe just want to be Bad Ass and CONQUER every other Species who dares challenge them!
@@randynutt5660 It's sad they totally dropped the ball afterwards. The obvious follow on show would have been a show about the Federation administering the remains of the Cardassian Empire and rebuilt the Cardassians into a functioning society. DS9 was about how the Federation fought a war and still remained the Federation. What they compromised, what they didn't. This follow on show should have been how they won the peace. Analogous the the US occupation of Japan. Small scale proxy conflicts like Korea, Vietnam and the Malaysian crisis. A second show could have been spun off the Nemesis movie. The Remans have a successful revolution and escape the weakened Romulan Empire. Kind of like Kazon, but competent. They hate the Romulans for centuries of oppression. Irrationally blame the Federation for not doing anything about their mistreatment. So now the Federation has to deal with that conflict. But instead we got the underwhelming Enterprise. A massive jump in the wrong direction and backwards.
@@lokisgodhi For me, I'd have liked a massive upscaling of the Federation Alliance to full on membership. Kinda like an idealized version of the UN actually empowered to establish a postwar order free from the kinds of wars that engendered it.
Also, plucky members of Starfleet leading a desperate war effort against an implacable foe with incredible war technologies. Eventually bringing in reserved and inscrutable space elves in giant ships, their antagonistic warlike neighbors with a penchant for wicked knives, ritualistic combat, and space bird ships, and a short disagreeable species with many useful talents and organic looking ships. Am I describing the Earth-Romulan War or the Dominion War? Always felt that the peace that followed while not perfect would have been an amazing thing to investigate. If for nothing else to fix the error in TNG in deciding to bring back the TOS mainstays the Romulans and Klingons as astropolitical rivals to the Federation. Given the point of Trek is that the choices humans and others made to get where they are are the correct ones then the idea both (a xenophobic slave-holding police state and a corrupt, militaristic feudal monarchy) can keep up with the Federation for centuries is the biggest negation of that point.
All the chapters in this video have Ss substituted for Gs, Os substituted for Qs, and Vs substituted for Us
“Theme gong’g” “Garak’g gecret” “Reagon” “Quer the upgide down” “The Enterprige”
The lyrics are
_Beyond the edge of the starlight_
_My love is wandering in starflight_
_I know he'll find in star clustered reaches_
_Love, strange love a star woman teaches_
_I know his journey ends never_
_His Star Trek will go on forever_
_So tell him as he wanders his starry sea_
_Remember, remember me_
And that, folks, is from memory.
I believe that Gene Roddenberry wrote these lyrics as a 'Love Letter' to his girlfriend: Majel Barrett.
I may be wrong...
"Rim of the starlight."
All in all, not bad for a fifty-four year-old memory! ;-)
@@randynutt5660 Well...
He DID write "Nightingale Woman" as an ode to his airplane:
"My love has wings
Slender, feathered things
With grace in upswept curve and tapered tip..."
Here's an obscure bit of trivia about the TOS theme song: In music, a "contrafact" is when a new melody is written over the existing chord changes to another song. Jazz musicians have been doing this since the beginning, with the changes to Gershwin's "I Got Rhythm" being the most widely used (the theme song to "The Flintstones" uses Rhythm changes). TOS theme is actually a contrafact over the changes to the jazz standard "Out of Nowhere," but that's not the most obscure part! In the season 1 TNG episode "The Big Goodbye," Picard enters his holodeck Dixon Hill detective program. As he's walking down the hallway to his office, he passes a cleaning lady who has a radio playing in her cart. Which song is on the radio? "Out of Nowhere," of course!
uM... Don't know where you got your info but Nichelle was telling her story about Dr. King years and years before the date you cite. Like, during the 20th century!!
The upside down Enterprise reminded me of an old ST novel, where McCoy was the only senior officer left to command the Enterprise because...reasons... and he had to meet a Klingon vessel. Taking advantage of the Klingon misconception of Kirk as a warlord, McCoy impersonates Kirk and acts like a crazy warmonger by meeting the Klingon ship upside down, which presents both the phaser banks and the photon torpedo launchers towards the other vessel while hiding and thus protecting the bridge dome.
I'd thought that was just standard with that build of ship.
The book was Doctors Orders, still have the book, excellent read.
@@vintvarner16 oooh thank you! Was it as I remembered it? It was so long ago.
@@frankharr9466 As I think about it, not when you're having a diplomatic meeting, you'd want your weapons sheathed in starship terms to avoid antagonizing the other party. And in typical starship combat where distances can be in thousands of kilometers and weapon yields in the isotons it really doesn't matter.
@@the0s0ph1st Well that and you really don't want your weapon systems exposed because that just makes them easier to take out...
Errrr didn't Nichelle Nicholls recount the MLK story during the 30th anniversary special in 1996? thats a smidge sooner than 2011.
fyi to fans, "secret" #1 ( 10:01 ) about the full size filming model Enterprise - the restoration, history, and current display information are available here on youtube at the Smithsonian Channel.
☺
When you're discussing the season 2 model's left side, the clips you show are from the modern (1990's) rendering that went into the remastered version. It does not depict the model being discussed!
I think when they say "obscure" facts that took years to discover, they mean it took them years to discover, Trekkies knew the "obscure" facts long before they were born.
Correct. I've been watching Star Trek for 47 years. None of this was "News". Also, Star Trek has always been a classically Liberal TV Show.
Classical liberalism seems pretty at odds with the space communism thing no scarcity etc thing he was going for though. Unless u mean like classically leftist since classical liberalism would be seen as right wing today by most
Nice! Brie’s back. 🖖
The lyrics for Star Trek’s original theme were first seen in The Making of Star Trek by Gene Roddenberry & Stephen E. Whitefield.
The Dominion War was one of Trek’s best ideas. Starfleet DOES have a military role, something those spoiled by TNG’s utopia aspect. Apparently Roddenberry ignored the episodes Balance of Terror and Errand of Mercy.
The Ferengi captain out to kill Picard in The Battle was out to avenge his son who was killed at Zeta Maxia, a tale recounted in the novel Star Trek: The Buried Age.
Roddenberry ignored a lot of what was done on TOS. There was also Court Martial, The Menagerie, Arena, The Ultimate Computer... it does kind of go on. As he got older, he began believing the fairy tales about himself (the utopian prophet) as Star Trek grew in popularity during the early 70s syndication run into the 80s. It's what caused the constant on-set battles while filming The Motion Picture - which resulted in Roddenberry's "demotion" for all subsequent films. And it drove Roddenberry's initial demands for TNG that, again, led to Paramount sidelining him after season 2. Sure, his health was part of it, but there was more to it that his health.
I agree. Its his ego- he started believing his own press.
Lance Parkin’s The Impossible Has Happened notes how he began objecting to anything that didn’t fit his ‘vision’. Thankfully Harve Bennett was advised not to feel responsible to Roddenberry; in effect, his ego reduced him to a figurehead. Even Rick Berman went ahead and presented Trek as he saw it best once Roddenberry passed on.
A Gorn was also depicted in TAS: “The Time Trap.”
The correct terms are Starboard for the right side and Port for the left.
Port used to be called Larboard.
..."Red light on the right,
ship returning in the night"...
...also known in abbreviated form as "Red, Right, Returning"...
...port side (left side of the ship) is colored red...
... starboard side (right side of the ship) is colored green...
...if the red light is on the right of the green light, the ship's bow is pointed towards you..
@@miklosernoehazy8678 Federation ships in Star Trek have these navigation lights, as well as the Mobile Suits in the Gundam franchise.
On Garak crushing on Bashir. Several years ago I got to talk to Fraser Hines, who was one of the Second Doctor's companions on Doctor Who. I mentioned that his character and another companion named Victoria seemed to have a little crush on each other. He said they played it that way on purpose, but they had to be subtle, because if it was too obvious, then they'd have to write that the two characters had fallen in love, and if they fell in love, the BBC would order that they'd have to get married, and married people couldn't be companions, so they'd be off the show.
Funny how TV execs' minds work sometimes.
Dominion War thoughts:
I’m all for the optimistic future but Trek also has its foot firmly in reflecting where we are and showing us how we might triumph over these issues, not just having already triumphed over them in the past
I can see the opposite in that it's Star Trek not Star Wars. But yeah I liked the Andorians in Enterprise even though their beef is something we are so used too. ~ just can't stop ranting ~
It was kinda weird seeing humans having to teach aliens instead of learning from them as we've never stopped doing the same ole same ole. Same old trope in future humans as the old, the savior complex. They touched on that a bit with the "Cogenitor" episode and in others would embrace it fully. Everyone thinking we'd be learning a little from Vulcans but it's all they learned because of us, and to not go as hard because they were worse than us that made them who they are now. It was looking like they woulda been the next Romulans how they were protrayed before the human interference.
@@jayeisenhardt1337 yeah I kinda get what you’re saying about Enterprise
Got me thinking about old trek again. Today was a good day.
I learned about the lyrics to the TOS theme from the Doctor Demento Show in the 80s.
"A very welcomed callback." In SNW? Nothing about any of these new series is welcome to fans.
And yeah, duh. We all noticed Garak crushing on Bashir. And we were all creeped out by it. Which is how it seems to have been intended.
I remember reading an old Gold Key issue of Star Trek where the Enterprise was shown upside down. Figured it was just a mistake. Now, not so sure.
I've always heard the filming model was upside down, but they flipped the image onscren.
@@tetravega567 That's how the Enterprise D was filmed, it was done because of how heavy the model was. The TOS enterprise was filmed right side up.
The Miranda-class also famously fell victim to this from the get-go. Originally the nacelles were supposed to be on top and the spoiler that runs across the back was going to be the deflector apparatus. However, when the drawings were shown to the model-makers they were upside down so they built the ship as we now known it.
@@draconusfrigidus Not quite true. They drawing were shown to the producer in charge, who signed off on the plans upside down. Because he thought the ship's nacelles were on the bottom. So it ended up being built that way.
@@lokisgodhi dumb question but if it was built upside down , couldn't they just flip it over when they realised afterwards and it would be right?
It's like how the Stargate SG-1 theme has lyrics.
The original TNG uniforms were made from a material that was hard to clean… and they began to smell awful. Also they had to make a special jacket for Ensign Ro when she took the jacket part off to put on a refugee, so they put magnets in the “invisible” center seam to make it look like it had no discernible fasteners.
early Spandex material from the 1980s was terrible. It's similiar to Dederon. Dederon shirts also started smelling awful quickly cuz you started sweating in them easily.
7:38 Good reference! I *highly* recommend the Television Academy interviews! ⭐️ They’re long form, hours and hours, but it’s just so wonderful to see and hear all our favorites tell their story. Nicholls’ interview is captivating. Other interviews include Shatner (twice!), Nimoy, Takei, Koenig and Burton in the cast; writer DC Fontana; Solow, Justman, Finnerman (also Moonlighting), Harve Bennett and a few more behind the scenes. And also Berman gives his side… I hope the Academy does many more interviews from the TNG/DS9/VOY era.
LOTS of facts left out with Nichelle's story. Almost as if they were painfully omitted for dramatic affect, as if her ordeal wasn't already dramatic enough...
Kinda sleazy to present it the way you did. She's the one who requested to not receive any more fanmail after she saw the first few that were horribly racist. The producers were never 'hiding' them, they were protecting her by doing what she asked. That's a BIG difference.
She didnt threaten to leave because because they were hiding the good fan mail either, it was due to the trauma if the racists ones she saw. She had an affair with Gene so the idea of leaving seemed rather... an excuse more than a threat.
After her talk with Dr. King, she sees all the fans that she hadn't not seen due to her fear dominating her judgemrnt and asking not to see the mail.
That is a completely different set of circumstances and context than what's presented on this video.
garaks character was more mentor for protégé than booty bandit as Julian had aspersions of being a spy
and garak was a master spy
of black ops
What do you mean "Nichelle Nichols said about the encounter in 2011" - she already mentioned it during 25th anniversary special.
The Gorn actually made an appearance in the early 1970's animated ST.
This was a great list, Brie. Thank you.
Trivia: On the cover of the 1978 children's record "Duck Wars," there's a spaceship that's obviously an upside-down version of the Enterprise.
I read about the upside enterprise in a fan book in the 1970's. The original plan was for it to be upside down as we know it. But they flipped in part so that it obviously couldn't land on a planet surface They didn't have the budget to film landing sequences which is why they created transporters.
4:15 you guys made a mistake. it should be Fortunately, not unfortunately.
6:53 Carpet shim under Data's seat
I like how whenever Berman comes up, it's always to do something stupid, or argue against good ideas... Yet it took a pile of scandals for them to finally fire him.
Also, they forgot to mention, Shatner was one of the worst people on the set when it came to screwing over Nichols. That's part of why no one liked him.
One of the things that irked me in the 3rd season onward, when they were using the 1st/2nd season uniforms for background players, that no one thought to run a $1 black magic marker over the colored bead on the black shoulder inserts.
I may be remembering wrong, but I thought the reason some background non-speaking characters in TNG S3 used the old S1/S2 uniforms was the new ones were for "officers only"; thus the backgrounders were unranked crewman. In reality their budget only allowed for enough 2 piece uniforms for the main characters. Took a couple more seasons to create enough 2 piece uniforms...
@@waynestarron5068 I don't remember the officers only thing being mentioned on the show. Not redressing everyone was a real world budget thing. It was just such a half assed thing that broke the suspension of belief. Especially in a world with replicators and matter recycling. I just thought it was funny that no one thought about trying the black magic marker thing. It would have likely covered the colored stripe and made in unnoticeable or less noticeable to the camera.
I was going to write what Knightshade08 (a year ago apparently) wrote but Nichelle told the story about how she met Dr. King several times at the conventions over the years. What I remember was Nichelle was a master storyteller. Her face lit up when she told her audience about her time on the show and the movies. She never said anything bad about anyone. She loved to talk to the fans. I was 15 (now 51) when I first heard the story of how Dr. King convinced her to stay on the show. I am surprised that the story took so long to go viral, but one never knows what will take the internet by storm. I am sure there is a UA-cam video of her telling the story somewhere.
5:38 "We never learned who destroyed these colonies" -- Yes, we did. It was the Borg. In _The Neutral Zone_ the Romulans investigating the destroyed colonies state that when they saw the level of destruction, they knew it could not have been the Federation. In _Q Who_ the Enterprise finds a planet which was attacked in the same manner by the Borg.
That was basically what they said in this video. She just didn't mention that we didn't learn who destroyed the colonies IN THAT EPISODE. But what she said afterward was exactly what you just said.
7:00
Separate pants and shirts is good. The addition of the collar I'm torn on. Removing the coloured stripe on the top within the black shoulder area should not have happened.
Regarding the uniform change for TNG, Michael Dorn (If memory servers) would basically flex and stretch towards the end of a shoot and rip out all the seams of his costume. Also the color of those costumes are actually different than what you see on screen, do the film tech (not sure if this was just cameras used in TV) but the shades would be different which caused them to have to switch colors until they found the correct reds and greens etc. And that came directly from a member of STNG staff (who looked exactly like Jonathan Frakes but was not Jonathan Frakes. If you know you know)
I feel the upside-down one looks not only better, it would also take so much force off of the connector pipes when the ship is landed.
I'm not sure if the ship did ever land anywhere, though.
None of these are obscure. None of these are secrets. None of these took years to discover. The upside down Enterprise and the theme lyrics were written about and shown in The Making of Star Trek, which was published in 1968 while the original show was still being made. The only thing here that took any time to learn was that Robinson played Garak ambiguously queer. Your title is absolutely false. Misleading.
It was probably an entry level course, so for those that don’t know all that you do, they learned a lot. I have 2 young grandkids that disagree with you. Star Trek gave many of us a reason to make a better world. Many inventions we have now were only a thought in the 60’s. I was there watching the original when it aired. My favorite trivia was the egg carton walls and the squirt bottles in the sick bay. I’m sure you are more of a Trekkie than I am and know so much more, but we have a new generation and all these posts are great for them. They learned much.
I disagree. Im huge fan but there's always trivia to be learned or remembered. There's plenty on this channel that I've seen now that I go oh ya forgot about that. Its fine to have your opinion of this video I just feel that your comment is a bit harsh and only considers your position not the wider audience they need to write for
@Nm GG Your disagreement doesn't mean anything because I did not state an opinion. I stated facts. Look again at the title of the video, then read my comment again. I stated facts. None of these are obscure, none of them were secrets, and none took years to discover.
If the title had said "10 Star Trek facts you might not know," I wouldn't have had any complaint because that would be an accurate title. The title they have is completely inaccurate in every way, as I explained clearly in my original comment.
@@paulonius42 ok dude im not gonna argue with you go ahead and be upset about a UA-cam title lol
@Nm GG There is no argument. I stated facts. So far, 22 people have apparently appreciated those facts. You're the one who seems to be having an emotional problem. I'm just amused that you seem to be having trouble with reading comprehension and basic facts.
Now, have I given you enough of the attention you craved? I hope so because it's all you're getting from me. Bored now, bye now.
Of course there are lyrics to the TOS theme song. I sing them every time I watch it: "Ahhhhhhh ahhhhhhh ahhhh ahhhh ahhhh ahhhh ahhhh..."
Behrman was right. Making the second half of DS9 all about space battles made it drop all the things that made the original premise of the show interesting.
The first few seasons of DS9 are almost unwatchable. Then, once they brought in Worf and, akin to Riker, let Sikso grow the beard, it found its "stride". As a commercial for it touted, it brought a LOT of weird-looking aliens to interact with.
The real reason the Star Trek theme has lyrics is because, in those days, a song couldn't be copyrighted without them.
Forgot one of the other huge reasons they ditched the original TNG uniforms.
They smelled terrible. The material trapped BO and no amount of washing could get it out. The entire set wreaked because of it.
I always found the character of garak as camp. Never questioned it. The character was awesome and brilliantly portrayed by AR.
There is no "up" or "down" in space, so there's no reason why they couldn't show the Enterprise upside down just for fun. Maybe on approach to space dock it comes into frame upside down then does a roll to align with what is "up" for the space dock or something, that'd be kinda neat.
Very much like the space shuttle in "2001: A Space Odyssey," as it spins to match the rotation of the space station.
Thank you for the awesome info and tidbits. :) Great job in the writing, narration, and presentation.
Love Brie as a narrator & presenter. Keep it up!
I always knew there was something with the Borg in the neutral zone episode due to it's the same wording that worf uses about (some great thing scooped it up from the ground) as well as in Q-Who.
1:53 "Gene Roddenberry's vision"
I've grown to hate this term so much...
Second.
If he wanted to show the Federation as a utopia, why make a show about voyages into uncharted territory?
@@w415800 That's not in contradiction. One can have a society that lives in a utopia while having members of your society meet those who don't live in a utopia outside your society.
As I stated elsewhere:
A lot of people who cite "Gene's vision" are talking about the wrong Gene. So very much of what we know and love about Star Trek came, not from Gene Roddenberry, but from Gene Coon.
In the early 70's (70 - 72) Lincoln Enterprises (owned by Gene), sold Trek memorabilia (film clips, patches, copies of the scripts, etc). One of the items that I got from them was the score for the theme which also included the words. I think I still have it, but if I do, it's buried deep in storage along with a lot of other Trek memorabilia.
*let the geeky commentary begin*
9:02 I like how this has actually happened at least twice, the second time being with the miranda class model made for the Reliant in Wrath of khan, only that time it STAYED upside down!
Is THAT why, in the Star Trek Online game, you can customize Miranda-class ships to have the saucer under the nacelles?
Don't know, but I wouldn't be surprised.
keep up the good work!
The Star Trek lyrics are insane. Back in the 80’s, I was taking piano lessons, and my teacher had sheet music for the TOS theme-which included the wacky 60’s torch song lyrics included. I had no idea this was a “lost secrets.”
I didn't care for the Dominion war overall; however, there are a number of great moments from it that I don't think we would have gotten otherwise for which I wouldn't wish it gone.
I think the Dominion as a whole is what saved DS9, otherwise it would have been cancelled from the second season.
Yeah, I found it boring. Same with all the endless war crap in Enterprise (which is made worse by the time travel cringe factor). I guess it gave the DS9 folks something to do, but i wasnt at all interested. I like that in the original series the Federation is at war with several races but that makes up such a tiny fraction of the episodes that it never weighed down the show.
In space there is no upside down.
A small spoiler warning for the Gorn one for SNW would have been nice, Non US fans haven't got that far yet....
Makes me wonder what non-US areas you are referring to because I know that most parts of Europe get the episodes one day after they are aired in the US.
@@weepingscorpion8739 on our paramount plus in uk we are only up to episodes 5
@@stuke666 Wow, really? I was sure they were just going to dump all up to that point released episodes on you when Paramount+ dropped on the 22nd of June. I'm watching through Paramount+ too but I'm in the Nordic region.
@@weepingscorpion8739 you would have hoped, but they wanted to make sure people didn't just do the 7 day trail watch them all then unsub before it ended, all bout that money.
in Star Trek Strange New Worlds the Online Game from the 90s.. my character.. a Ferengi.. had a number of troops.. including some Gorn.. as well as Klingons which is a long story but it boils down to some RP I did with the Qang & metal I sold them to make new ships after their war with the Federation & the Romulans.. I would spar with the Qang & they had so much respect for my Ferengi, about 50 Klingon troops (NPCs) followed me around 24/7/365 & I also had authority over tens of thousands of Ferengi troops as I was a high level Liquidator in the FCA.. I could buy just about anything in the game & also had a Romulan cloak ship which no one had.. except me and the Romulans... I actually pitched the idea for Lower Decks to Trek & they badmouthed it actually as I wanted it to be a Live Action show more along the lines of Game of Thrones but this was before Game of Thrones even existed.. in fact... I am the one who got Alexander Siddig his role on Game of Thrones & also GRRM himself wrote me back in 2005 & HBO thanked me for my contributions to the franchise.. long story I know I know but I was a very well known Trek fan since the 90s as far as that goes, I knew Aron who played Nog & others plus after they rejected my idea for Lower Decks even Rod wrote me & said.. no joke.. you know the whole Guinan thing where he says to Picard that Ro is her friend.. ROD wrote me & said... that he didn't want to be my friend... I remained friends with Aron until he died... and I know some other Trek actors.. anyway.. I said to them finally, after they mocked my idea for a GoT style Lower Decks I said fine make it a cartoon and a comedy.. I said it jokingly .. and they sat on it for a long time.. and then ultimately did it.. anyway... Star Trek Strange New Worlds Online was a great game that ran from what around 1997 until 2004 I believe was when it ended.. and it had a full combat / space and economy system as well as advanced character generation.. my main character was a Ferengi & I had other characters & I was one of two players allowed to actually 2 box since it was controlled 24/7 by moderators.. you could do the coded game at any time including trade but all combat was under review & any story outside the main story had to be submitted as a tiny plot .. approved.. and then it could be done.. and yeah combat still happened out of nowhere but a lot of times the admins would freeze it to review or even sometimes overturn it.. one time a Romulan was on Ferenginar trying to break into the FCA tower to steal my cloak ship back & I exploded the turbolift with him in it ... he didn't realize I had so many privileges including the ability to seal the lift.. so basically I put an explosive in the lift & then sealed it up & yeah he was pretty upset.. I also fought a Pakled.. Orions.. Klingons.. all sorts in that game.. I actually got pretty notorious & my character got into his 130s and was one of the longest living characters.. see if you died in the game that was it, you had to restart through character generation with a new character.. I had enhanced hearing & combat instincts on my character which wasn't completely coded into the game so I would always announced "Rolling for combat instincts" & do a roll like in a D&D game & almost always won that roll which got me things like the first attack or a dodge... I had the best armor in the game.. ships from multiple empires.. and Ferengi ships.. shuttles.. factories.. the largest privately owned building on Ferenginar which is a huge thing if you know about Ferengi economics.. a hotel.. hidden barracks & a prison.. weapon lockers.. full access to our starbase & underground command center.. some of the best guns.. including Federation and Klingon rifles.. I even had some extremely rare ancient Gorn weapons.. which I don't even recall where I got those.. I had like 3 ... and the Qang gave me a knife which I believe had zero weight so I always had that extra weapon.. I'd always carry an explosive on my character too.. I had a tricorder that could scan anywhere.. but enhanced hearing let me hear people from other places in the zone so I didn't always need it..
As a viewer from Germany I have to say that I have to stop watching these videos because of spoilers. Please keep in mind that, as you mentioned yourself, in some countries strange new worlds cannot be seen yet. The same goes for Disco S4! A spoiler warning at the beginning would be nice. Thx for noticing
No mention of the Gorn in 'Into Darkness's tie-in video game, that look a LOT like the proposed Gorn for '09.