TOS myths and misconceptions...

[Nerys Myk]

STAR TREK was about the Federation. Surprisingly rarely mentioned, putting retcon to the side, more often than not not Kirk spoke of Earth, Earth ships, Earth colonies, Human achievements, Human histories. Yes, there were Federation call out too, but much less than half the time.

I dunno about that one. The UFP's first mention is in the latter half of Season One (A Taste of Armageddon?) So the bulk of that season contains the Earth based references. IIRC, Seasons Two and Three are pretty consistant in referring to the UFP as political/national authorty that the Enterprise operates under. So roughly 22 as an "Earth ship" vs 40+ as a "Federation ship".

 

[Doomsday]

Myth: The Enterprise sets were made of cardboard and Christmas Tree lights.
Myth: The optical effects were done by little models hanging on strings.

Truth: Set design and optical effects technology is TOS was identical in concept and execution to contemporary "state of the art effects" for the mid to late 1960's, as evidenced by big budget films like 2001.

Sets were primarly wood construction painted and decorated to look like metal or plastic. Optical effects were pretty large wooden models (like 12 feet, right?) filmed in front of blue-screen, with an optical printing process to combine with the backgrounds.

This is precisely the same technology used in big budget SF movies.

The only difference was the amount of money they had to spend and how long they had to finalize the effects.

Given the same budget and amount of time, TOS artists could have matched or exceeded anything produced for film prior to the CGI era.

In fact, given their money and time limitations, their work was quite remarkable.

I would challenge George Lucas to produce anything superior under the same budgetary/time limitations.

 

[Ssosmcin]

You guys already pointed out the biggies. However:

Kirk said "Beam Me Up, Scotty" which we all know isn't so.

McCoy at any point in the series said "Dammit Jim..." That's a TWOK and on thingy (I hear this from comedians, who seem to have the biggest impact on public preception).

Gene Roddenberry introduced American TV to the interracial kiss. Gene was well out of the production loop by that time. Fred Frieberger gets no respect in regards to Trek. If something was good, Rodenberry got credit. If it tanked, Frieberger got the blame. Am I the only person pissed off that he not even mentioned by name in the 3rd season DVD/BD bonus features? "A new producer." Jeez...

The third season sucked. I will agree the quality slipped overall, but there were many excellent episodes in there. Frieberger also reintroduced the supporting cast into the mix to great effect. By Trek standards it was weak, but it still kicked Lost in Space's ass. A drastically reduced budget and a lack of scripts being filmable by the time Freiberger arrived certainly didn't do the "new producer" any favors. Considering what they had to work with, I think they did a pretty good job keeping the series entertaining. Star Trek only suffered in comparison to itself.

Vulcans only have sex every 7 years They would be a pretty small society if this were true. Vulcans go through Pon Far every 7 years Actually, nowhere in Amok Time was this schedule mentioned. In fact, Spock makes it pretty clear this was the first time he was experiencing Pon Far ("I hoped I would be spared this, but the ancient drives are just too strong"). It's not until The Cloud Minders that the whole 7 year thing is mentioned, in a piece of dialog that never should have been written. In Amok Time Spock nearly dies because he's too bound by tradition and privacy to tell his closest friend and commanding officer about it - but he happily blabs to Droxine in The Cloud Minders because she's "a work of art." Then Roddenberry himself compounded it during his lectures, interviews, and during the bits recorded on the LP Inside Star Trek. So, I guess it's not a misconception as it was a weird assumption made in a weak script and blown out of context by Roddenberry and fans.

This is fun.

 

[Dukhat]

Chekov was created to satisfy arguments from the Soviets that there was no Russian character aboard the Enterprise.

Complete BS. Chekov was created to satisfy the teenage girl quotient who were interested in seeing "heartthrob" Davey Jones of the Monkees. That's why Koenig had to wear a mop-top wig.

 

[Maurice]

By Trek standards it was weak, but it still kicked Lost in Space's ass.

Lost in Space was off the air by this point, just to be clear, and CBS was never aiming it as an adult sci-fi drama.

 

[Wingsley]

DAVID GERROLD was the living heart and soul of Star Trek. Seriously, have you ever heard this guy talking about himself in a interview?

Hey T'Girl!

Thanks for the great laugh!

You're too young to remember this, but in 1980 when STAR WARS: THE EMPIRE STRIKES BACK came out, there was a cartoon in STARLOG magazine that showed the famous light-sabre duel between Luke Skywalker and Darth Vader. The cartoon showed Luke being distracted by a voice from above that was saying "Use the force, dummy!" As Luke is getting his hand chopped off, he's distracted by the voice "Was that Yoda?" To which the hand-chopping Vader snickers "No, it's David Gerrold." Unforgettable, even three decades later.

 

[Mytran]

Didn't TMP mention the 23rd Century?

No. They did some vague statement about V'ger's launch from earth...

I guess thats my personal misconception!

Interestingly enough in TMoST Roddenberry often used the "23rd Century" when talking about the future.

TMP throws an interesting spanner in the works, as Decker says that Voyager 6 was launched "over 300 years ago". Voyager 1 and Voyager 2 were launched in 1977 and by 1979 (the year that TMP came out) no further ones had been commissioned. That would put TMP in 2280 at the very earliest, which also contradicts most official timelines.

 

[Wingsley]

STAR TREK is just a kid's show, a cartoon. We all know that some folks we don't like TREK will try to dismiss all Sci Fi as kid's shows. Actually, I think that TOS was a an excellent drama for adults, not kids. And I think it still holds up as the most mature drama of all the TREK series.

I would like to know the source of this particular misconception. Star Trek was never considered a kid's show. In fact from the beginning it was marketed as the first adult space adventure show, back in 1966.

IIRC, it was mentioned in a CINEFANTASTIQUE interview of Michael Piller in the summer of 1990 after TNG had wrapped up its third year. Piller mentioned that some people think TREK is "a kid's show".

While this was not an explicit reference to TOS, it does fit anecdotally with my conversations with people over the years. I've repeatedly talked to folks going clear back through the 1980's who regarded TREK as a kid's show, a formula show ("Spock always finds the answers") and other dismissive remarks I've heard over the years.

 

[F. King Daniel]

About the shuttlecraft:

They have freakin' warp nacelles. Not much room for debate.

...is there?

 

[johnjaypl]

Gene Roddenberry introduced American TV to the interracial kiss. Gene was well out of the production loop by that time. Fred Frieberger gets no respect in regards to Trek. If something was good, Rodenberry got credit. If it tanked, Frieberger got the blame. Am I the only person pissed off that he not even mentioned by name in the 3rd season DVD/BD bonus features? "A new producer." Jeez...

Since this was mentioned I'll add the myth that Star Trek featured the first interracial kiss (sometimes the word passionate is added) in the history of television.

As Shatner tells the story, the network guys didn't want this to happen so as a compromise they shot the scene twice. Once they actually kissed on camera. The second shot, the one that the network aired, Kirk's back was to the camera "long berfore our lips would have ever touched." They gave the illusion of kissing without ever touching lips.

 

[Myko]

Myth: Lt. Leslie was the most frequently occuring background character. Eddie Paskey left the show halfway through season 3, and William Blackburn appeared the most as Lt. Hadley.

 

[scotpens]

Myth: The Enterprise sets were made of cardboard and Christmas Tree lights.
Myth: The optical effects were done by little models hanging on strings.

Actually, that's closer to a description of the effects in Lost in Space and the other Irwin Allen shows, which seldom used opticals, relying instead on back projection and other in-camera techniques. After all, a model of the Flying Sub or the Jupiter 2 flying on a Lydecker rig is just a more sophisticated version of a toy spaceship hanging from a string.

Myth: Dr. McCoy was popularly known as "Bones" by the Enterprise crew.

In fact, unless my memory is faulty, Captain Kirk was the only one who ever called him Bones.

 

[Captain Robert April]

Myth: Lt. Leslie was the most frequently occuring background character. Eddie Paskey left the show halfway through season 3, and William Blackburn appeared the most as Lt. Hadley.

Paskey has the most appearances of any of the background actors, but not always as Leslie (for that matter, the same applies to Blackburn; he played his fair share of aliens and other types, not just Hadley).

Of course, Eddie has the edge in recognition in that he actually has some lines here and there, whereas we never heard Hadley utter so much as an "Aye, sir."

 

[Luther Sloan]

This is where TOS kinda chickened out. It never explicitly says that women cannot be command officers. Number One was second in command and left in command in Pike's absence. Throughout the series we saw women with the rank of Lt. Commander. But they never took the complete step of showing or at least making reference to a woman in command of a ship or starbase. They did skirt around it by showing a woman commanding a Romulan squadron and perhaps slyly trying to infer it could happen in Starfleet too. But they never actually showed it.

Warped 9:

My theory is that one of the new Federation members the Federation desperately desired to have within the Federation (either for a rare valuable mineral or some type of advancement) was prejudice towards having women taking up certain top command positions. So the Federation made a deal with this new member in minimizing any disrespect towards them while working together in Starfleet with them as they dictated (by no longer having any Starfleet female Captains or Admirals anymore).

At least until a new arrangement or deal was made that would change that a decade later (Of which we see evidence of a female Captain in Star Trek 4).

 

[Warped9]

^^ Don't take this too personally, but that makes no sense whatsoever. That's like saying a country will only join NATO if the American armed forces minimize the roles that women can serve in. Americans would basically say, "Screw you."

We have to take it for what it is. I don't think it was so much the writers, but the producers who were just too gun shy about showing a female in command in Starfleet. Or the idea simply didn't occur to them as hard as that may be to believe.

 

[EEE]

A misconception I had:

I origially thought the bridge viewscreen was a window.

This reminds me of nuTrek's bridge... while it made some sense, the viewscreen-window was a bit vertigo-inducing for me (granted I was sleep-deprived and suffering a severe cold when I saw the movie from one of the first rows nearest the movie screen *grin?*).

STAR TREK is just a kid's show, a cartoon.

I think this was inspired by the fact that Star Trek did a cartoon version. At the time, the vast-vast-vast-vast-vast majority (if not all) cartoons were for kids.

STAR TREK depicts some kind of futuristic utopia.

I think trekkies built this concept up into a much bigger deal than it ever was in the 60's. I think they did it to justify their fanaticism over "a kid's show, a cartoon." This is in the same vein as trekkies who call themselves "trekkers" (I still think "trekkers" are insecure trekkies)."

I think utopia would've been boring to watch for 50 minutes a week.

 

[SpyOne]

Chekov was created to satisfy arguments from the Soviets that there was no Russian character aboard the Enterprise.

Complete BS. Chekov was created to satisfy the teenage girl quotient who were interested in seeing "heartthrob" Davey Jones of the Monkees. That's why Koenig had to wear a mop-top wig.

Why can't it be both?

 

[Silvercrest]

I don't think the Soviets were that into the Monkees.

 

[Nerys Myk]

I don't think the Soviets were that into the Monkees.

Iz a vell know fact dat de Monkees vere created by little old lady from Leningrad.

 

[Captain Rob]

I don't think the Soviets were that into the Monkees.

Iz a vell know fact dat de Monkees vere created by little old lady from Leningrad.

Wouldn't that be St. Petersburg?