Retro Sci Fi Urban Legends, Misconceptions, and Assorted Errors

[Laura Cynthia Chambers]

As a result of a discussion started here: https://www.trekbbs.com/threads/would-assignment-earth-really-make-it-as-a-series.313235/

Post your mistaken beliefs about TV/movie sci fi,Trek or otherwise, here.

 

[JoseNoodles]

I always believed that the Enterprise-C model was modified to the Zhukhov, but now we know that wasn't true and that there were two Ambassador-class models.

 

[Sir Rhosis]

I believed a lot of the PR stories that would float around. I believed that Layla Sarakalo did wander, unknowingly, onto the set of THE VOYAGE HOME, and answered the nuclear wessels question. Turns out she very well knew they were filming and showed up to get some money to get her impounded car back. Knowing that she'd be paid more, she disobeyed the assistant director, who told the extras not to speak, and answered Koenig and Nichols. Nimoy liked it well enough that they reshot it a couple times and she, one assumes, got her car back with cash left over.

Sir Rhosis

 

[theenglish]

For years, I always believed that I had seen "Episode IV" before Star Wars when I saw it in the theatre. But that's probably not what you are asking.

 

[Mr. Adventure]

I believed a lot of the PR stories that would float around. I believed that Layla Sarakalo did wander, unknowingly, onto the set of THE VOYAGE HOME, and answered the nuclear wessels question. Turns out she very well knew they were filming and showed up to get some money to get her impounded car back. Knowing that she'd be paid more, she disobeyed the assistant director, who told the extras not to speak, and answered Koenig and Nichols. Nimoy liked it well enough that they reshot it a couple times and she, one assumes, got her car back with cash left over.

Sir Rhosis

That sounds like a PR story itself. (Not saying it is...)

 

[Warped9]

Early on, early 1979s, I took pretty much everything in The Making Of Star Trek as gospel until I started learning Gene Roddenberry could be full of shit.

 

[Marc]

For years, I always believed that I had seen "Episode IV" before Star Wars when I saw it in the theatre. But that's probably not what you are asking.

think that's on topic.

It's also like people thinking there was scene in ANH with Luke and Biggs but while filmed was cut from the final 1977 version.. It was in the Star Wars story book which had photos from the movie, was in the NPR radio adaption but can't remember if it was in the novelization (which must have been written fairly early as it has Luke as Blue 5).

 

[theenglish]

think that's on topic.

It's also like people thinking there was scene in ANH with Luke and Biggs but while filmed was cut from the final 1977 version.. It was in the Star Wars story book which had photos from the movie, was in the NPR radio adaption but can't remember if it was in the novelization (which must have been written fairly early as it has Luke as Blue 5).

It was in the Marvel comic too--and for years I thought I had seen that as well.

Here is another Star Wars related one.

The idea that George Lucas had always planned to make prequels or even that he thought Darth Vader was Luke's father. His original hope was that different directors would take up different tales set in the SW universe beyond what he referred to then as something like The Skywalker Chronicles.

 

[JoseNoodles]

The whole Romulans and Klingons having an alliance in TOS. No such thing was ever stated in TOS, only that the Romulans were using Klingon designs in "The Enterprise Incident". It was more games (like Starfleet Command, based on the "Star Fleet" board game) and comics making the claim which made me think such an alliance was mentioned in TOS, or possibly even in one of the TNG-era shows.

 

[Christopher]

The whole Romulans and Klingons having an alliance in TOS. No such thing was ever stated in TOS, only that the Romulans were using Klingon designs in "The Enterprise Incident". It was more games (like Starfleet Command, based on the "Star Fleet" board game) and comics making the claim which made me think such an alliance was mentioned in TOS, or possibly even in one of the TNG-era shows.

The idea of a Romulan-Klingon alliance was first mentioned in the book The Making of Star Trek, which was the source of many ideas that were widely accepted as fact despite never being stated in TOS. That book was considered an invaluable resource in its day, so its ideas were very influential among fans. Other things TMoST established include the idea that Kirk was the youngest captain in Starfleet, and that he commanded a smaller "destroyer-type" vessel before the Enterprise. It established that the dish on the front of the engineering hull was a navigational deflector. It was the second work to establish that ST took place in the 23rd century (after James Blish's episode adaptations), and it codified "mind-meld" as the standard term for what TOS had referred to by various different names including "mind touch," "mind link," and "mind fusion" (with "meld" being used only in "Elaan of Troyius" and "The Paradise Syndrome," and never in the animated series).

 

[Laura Cynthia Chambers]

I suppose you could explain that as being a failure of Federation Standard/English to decide on a translation for whatever Vulcans call it in Vulcan before settling on "mind-meld".

 

[Warped9]

I suppose you could explain that as being a failure of Federation Standard/English to decide on a translation for whatever Vulcans call it in Vulcan before settling on "mind-meld".

Not necessarily. There can be a number of different terms used to describe the same thing.

For example: jump drive, flash drive, thumb drive, usb stick and possibly others mean all the same thing.

 

[Laura Cynthia Chambers]

"It may seem inefficient and confusing to have several words for the same object or concept, but inasmuch as it inspires creativity, facilitates distinction, and adds variety, it is most logical."

 

[JD]

A lot of people seem to think Gene Rodenberry was some amazing persona and this visionary genius, but the more I learn about him the less impressed I am. It seems like most of the best parts of Star Trek came from other people, and he seems like he really was a good person. Don't get me wrong, he did a great thing by starting Star Trek and bringing together the other people who worked on it with him, but it seems like most of the best parts were not his, and some of my least favorite, like the early seasons of TNG are the ones where he had some of the most creative control. I used to include TMP in there with early TOS, but I found I liked it a lot more than I used to the last couple times I watched it.
My favorite parts of the franchise are the later seasons of TNG, the TOS movies, and DS9 and he very little to nothing at all to do with them.

 

[theenglish]

I always thought that DS9 was closer in spirit to the original Trek than TNG.

 

[Laura Cynthia Chambers]

One thing that makes it seem that way is that it stayed in one place (the station), and so it's more like a Western show. Sure, characters travel, but most of the stories center around the town/station and the people in/on it.

 

[mb22]

It was in the Marvel comic too--and for years I thought I had seen that as well.

Here is another Star Wars related one.

The idea that George Lucas had always planned to make prequels or even that he though Darth Vader was Luke's father. His original hope was that different directors would take up different tales set in the SW universe beyond what he referred to then as something like The Skywalker Chronicles.

Lucas' thoughts as expressed in an August 1977 interview with Rolling Stone magazine:

 

[Set Harth]

For years, I always believed that I had seen "Episode IV" before Star Wars when I saw it in the theatre.

You did, if you saw it in 1981.

 

[theenglish]

You did, if you saw it in 1981.

I saw it in 1977. By the time I saw it on VHS, I already knew that it was episode IV because I had seen Empire.

 

[Laura Cynthia Chambers]

even that he thought Darth Vader was Luke's father

Would his character arc (son and daughter aside) have been that different if he had just been Luke's father's friend?