Star Trek: 10 Weird Facts You Didn’t Know!

Here are 10 weird but true facts about Star Trek TOS.

[do]

It is absolutely not true that "The Cage" was not seen until 1986. It formed the basis of "The Menagerie, " which aired during the series's original broadcast.

[danielhanawalt]

In the early 70's when I was in the Air Force, some of my friends and myself called ourselves the Crew and went around giving Spock's live long and prosper salute. We watched Star Trek all the time. Those were the good ole' days.

[kristentaylor]

I had such a crush on Mr Spock when I saw those reruns. Wasn't old enough to see him when they first came out but when the reruns started, he was just the greatest. I even found a poster that I kept on my door that I think was called the 10 faces of Spock, from different scenes. I just adored that character

[MrFlintlock]

I fell in love from blundering onto "Devil In The Dark", when I was maybe 6. Anyhoo, had the technical manual, played ST trivia and STILL thought that SNL skit was the funniest thing I had seen to date!

[LindaB]

I was born in the early 60's and my Dad was a HUGE sci-fi fan- I remember waiting all week for a new episode of Star Trek, and sometimes being unable to find it! Star Trek was the absolute high point of our tv viewing week, and sometimes month.
The really cool thing is that it's not just a lovely fictional world, but that it was actually a great template to work towards a decent and equitable future.

[FreemanPennington-jetn]

Most people don't know that the series failed until it was re-aired as reruns in the seventies

[TheSubwaysurfer]

Dr. McCoy‘s line, “” would you like to see how fast I could put you in the hospital” was said so unexpectedly and with such malice and intend I remember busting out laughing hilariously the first time I heard it

[SpookMrsSpooky]

You missed Shatner and Nimoy appearing together pre-Trek on the Man From U.N.C.L.E. episode "The Project Strigas Affair". It was hilarious.

[WaltzingAustralia]

A fun fact that got left out here is the source of "Live long and prosper." That was something for which Thomas Jefferson was known -- and yes, the Thomas Jefferson who wrote the Declaration of Independence and was our third president. I was reading a book published in 1876, on the anniversary of the signing of the Declaration of Independence, and the introduction closed with, "In the often repeated words of our third president, 'live long and prosper.'"

[Centauri]

As a lifelong Trekker, I knew most of these facts but I still really enjoyed this video. Very fitting you slipping in that McCoy line at the very end of the video. 👌

[edgarsnake]

Great stuff. Thanks. I watched every episode when it was originally broadcast. It's a lot of fun to see the enduring interest in this flawed but still influential series.

[DanielWatkins-bylg]

Shatner was also in another episode of The Twilight zone
Where him and his fiance or wife
Get trapped in a town
Because they were listening to a tell your fortune box with the devil on the box

[Miss.Moth.]

Mr Spock was my first huge crush. Weird to have those feelings at 8yrs old. Didn’t know it was weird until I was an adult and looked back at it. WTF!

[alfredodoardi]

star trek (McCoy) breaks the fourth wall! Nice post

[chriscattelino]

Narrator, are YOU aware that Jack Lord was offered the role of Kirk but was rejected because he wanted 50% ownership, then it was offered to Loyd Bridges who rejected it because "there is no future in Science fiction." He later played Commander Cain on Battlestar Galactica. I guess he was right. THEN it was offered to Shatner.

[timwolfers]

A mistake- in "The Cage" Majell Barrett also appeared. She had long dark hair, unlike her nurse Chapel character in which she was blonde.

[timothyv]

I didn't realize that non-union equalled sweatshop.

[slipstick]

The algoithim put a short right next to this of Kelly in a movie from the early 50s saying, "I'm a doctor, not a politician."

[shrek_]

In almost every episode, Mr. Spock delivers some sort of one liner, usually directed at Dr. McCoy, with a totally deadpan face, like some sort of running gag. It was Scotty who got me interested in engineering and that led me to the US Navy.

[just_kos]

Star Trek TOS: Still the greatest and the best. I used to argue with my brother-in-law about TOS vs TNG. I pointed out that for the time, with only $100, 000 per episode, they did a great job. Had REAL sci-fi authors writing for it, like David Gerrold (who did "Tribbles" as a college project but went on to write legit sci-fi novels), Robert Bloch, Ted Sturgeon, Larry Niven (animated series), Fred Brown and Norman Spinrad. The only TNG ep with a real sci-fi author was the pilot, written by David Gerrold. I'll always be a TOS/TAS Trekkie first, and love DS9 second!