The Star Trek FAQ - TOS & TAS

***STAR TREK (TOS/TAS) FAQ***
Version 3.0
December 27, 2004

- by Lord Garth

The purpose of this FAQ is to provide basic information about the original and animated Star Trek that's either of general interest or might not be remembered. It's not comprehensive.

_____________________________

Updates

Version 3.1 (06/15/05): Changed tentative TAS DVD release date.
Version 3.0 (12/27/04): New questions, "The Basics" TAS, and Phase 2 sections added.
Version 2.1 (9/1/04): Minor tweaks.
Version 2.0 (8/31/04): Everything!
Version 1.0 (4/17/02): The FAQ is created.

__________

Table of Contents

Part I. The Basics
Part II. DVD Information
Part III. The Original Series
Part IV. The Cast
Part V. The Animated Series
Part VI. Phase 2

______________________________

Part I. The Basics

1. Who created Star Trek?

• Gene Roddenberry (1921-1991). His second wife, and girlfriend during TOS, was Majel Barrett. Now you'll know why he wanted to keep her on the show.

2. Who starred in the original Star Trek?

• William Shatner... Captain James T. Kirk
• Leonard Nimoy... Mr. Spock
• DeForest Kelley... Dr. Leonard McCoy, a.k.a "Bones"
• Grace Lee Whitney... Yeoman Janice Rand (1966)
• James Doohan... Lt. Cmdr. Montgomery Scott, a.k.a. "Scotty"
• Walter Koenig... Ensign Pavel Chekov (1967-1969)
• Nichelle Nichols... Lieutenant Uhura
• George Takei... Lieutenant Sulu
• Majel Barrett... Nurse Christine Chapel

__________

Part II. DVD Information

1. Why subtitle it "The Original Series" (TOS) on the DVD's?

• To distinguish the original Star Trek from the rest of the franchise, in case there was any doubt.

2. Was TOS ever released on DVD before?

• Twice. In 2004, TOS was released into three season sets. Previously it was released from 1999-2001 in 40 volumes, with two episodes per volume.

3. Why are there only three sets?

• Despite having the Enterprise on a "five-year mission", Star Trek only lasted three years, from 1966-1969.

4. Will the DVD's have these episodes in airdate or production order?

• Airdate order.

5. When will be TAS released on DVD?

• March 15, 2005.

• The latest tentative date is September 6, 2005 (as of 06/15/05).

__________

Part III. The Original Series

1. Is it Dr. Spock or Mr. Spock?

• Mr. Spock. He was the science officer but not the doctor. That's McCoy. Dr. Spock was a real-life child psychologist.

2. Will "The Cage" be included?

• Yes, but it's tacked onto the end of the third season. Don't ask me why...

3. What's "The Cage"?

• "The Cage", starring Jeffery Hunter as Captain Pike, is the first episode of Star Trek. A pilot episode to show NBC what Star Trek would be like. It was produced in 1964 and had a mostly different cast. The only two familiar castmembers are Lenoard Nimoy (as Spock) and Majel Barrett (as "Number One"). NBC rejected Star Trek for being "too cerebral" and ordered a second pilot.
  
  Footage from "The Cage" was later re-used in "The Menagerie".

4. And what's the second pilot?

• "Where No Man Has Gone Before", starring William Shatner as Captain Kirk. It was produced in 1965 and the entire cast was replaced except for Leonard Nimoy (Majel Barrett returned later in the role of Nurse Chapel). This time Star Trek was accepted and it was added to NBC's 1966 fall schedule.
  
  The fact that "Where No Man Has Gone Before" was produced a year before the rest of the first season is why it looks so different.

5. Why did Yeoman Rand leave in the middle of the first season?

• Several episodes had shown Kirk and Rand to be interested in each other and the writers and producers didn't want Captain Kirk tied to one woman throughout the entire series.

6. Wasn't the character dropped because the actress had a drug addiction?

• There is speculation as to whether or not there may have been more to why Grace Lee Whitney was left but the official reason is indeed the one above.

7. Where is Chekov in the first season?

• Chekov doesn't appear until the second season.

8. But "Space Seed" is a first season episode! So how does Khan know Chekov in The Wrath of Khan?

• It was an oversight on the producers' part. Two common rationalizations are that Chekov was in the lowerdecks at the time or that he just wasn't seen. Any other rationalizations can be used as well.

9. Why do the Klingons in TOS look so different?

• It was a make-up change. Plain and simple. No explanation was ever given. Or, as Worf would say, "We do not discuss it with outsiders."

10. How do stardates work?!

• Stardates, in TOS, are a four-digit number that's used to mark time. Stardates aren't consistent from episode to episode and were used so that the writers wouldn't have to pin-down Star Trek to an exact date on the Gregorian calendar.

11. Didn't McCoy say first contact was made with the Klingons 50 years ago in "Day of the Dove"?

• This line has never been said. No one who's watched this episode has found it, cut or uncut.

12. Was Spock the first Vulcan in Starfleet?

• It's never said. In fact, "The Immunity Syndrome" mentions all-Vulcan crew onboard the USS Intrepid, which would suggest against it.

__________

Part IV. The Cast

1. What's William Shatner been up to lately?

• A lot. Aside from Priceline commercials, he's starring in the primetime series Boston Legal, a spin-off from The Practice. Negotiations are still underway for William Shatner to make an appearance on Star Trek: Enterprise, whether or not this will materialize is unknown. William Shatner has also come out with a CD called Has Been.

2. Who from the original cast has passed away?

• With the exception of DeForest Kelley, the rest of the main cast is still alive.

3. I heard James Doohan was in poor health.

• Unfortunately, James Doohan has recently been diagnosed with Alzheimer’s and has already made his last convention appearance.

4. When are the birthdates of the cast and creator?

• William Shatner... March 22, 1931
• Leonard Nimoy... March 26, 1931
• DeForest Kelley... January 20, 1920 (died June 11, 1999)
• Grace Lee Whitney... April 1, 1930
• James Doohan... March 3, 1920
• Walter Keonig... September 14, 1936
• George Takei... April 20, 1937
• Nichelle Nichols... December 28, 1933
• Majel Barrett... February 23, 1932
• Gene Roddenberry... August 19, 1921 (died October 24, 1991)

5. Where can I find out more information about the cast?

• You can find out on the Internet Movie Database. It has information on their birthdays and other film or related projects they've done.

__________

Part V. The Animated Series

1. How did TAS come about?

• By 1973 NBC decided it had made a mistake in canceling the original Star Trek and wanted to bring it back. When they realized that it would cost more than they wanted to spend to reconstruct the sets a compromise was made that Star Trek would return as an animated series.

2. But wasn't TAS a cartoon on Nick?

• It was only rerun on Nickelodeon during the 1980's. That's not when it was produced.

3. Why does almost every guest character sound like Scotty, Chapel, or Uhura?

• 1970's animation was notorious for its low budgets which also extended to the voice cast, leading James Doohan, Nichelle Nichols, and Majel Barrett to provide most of the voices.

4. So where's Chekov?

• Incidentally, the low budget for voice actors is also why Walter Keonig had to be cut.

5. Who are Arex and M'Ress?

• Arex and M'Ress are two alien characters added to the series. Arex is the navigator with three arms and he's voiced by James Doohan. M'Ress looks like a cat and she's voiced by Majel Barrett.

6. How long did TAS last?

• The first season aired in fall 1973 and lasted 16 episodes. Six more episodes were added in fall 1974, bringing the total to 22.

7. When does TAS take place?

• After the third season of TOS. Essentially it's a fourth (and fifth) season, except animated.

__________

Part VI. Phase 2

1. What happened after TAS?

• During the few years after TAS, Paramount tried to bring back live-action Star Trek in the form of a movie but no one could come up with what was deemed an acceptable story so the movie was scrapped.

2. What's Phase 2?

• In 1977, after the movie project feel apart, Paramount wanted to create its own network: the Paramount Television Service (PTS). The flag-ship series for PTS was going to be Star Trek: Phase 2, set to premiere in February 1978.

3. What would've changed from TOS?

• The look of the Enteprise would've been updated for the 70's and all of the original cast would be back, except Leonard Nimoy. Spock would've been replaced with a 20-year-old full-Vulcan named Xon. Also added to the cast would've been Decker and Ilia.

4. So what happened?

• Paramount backed away from creating its own network until 1995 (in the form of UPN), Phase 2 was cancelled in pre-production, and upon the theatrical releases of Star Wars and Close Encounters of the Third Kind, Paramount decided to turn what would've been the pilot episode of Phase 2, "In Thy Image" into Star Trek: The Motion Picture (TMP). Leonard Nimoy returned for TMP, eliminating the need for Xon. Decker and Ilia, obviously, made into the final film.

5. Why aren't the movies covered?

• They go beyond the scope of the FAQ.

______________________________

DISCLAIMER: Permission to reproduce this document anywhere on the Internet is granted so long as the author is credited.

The latest version is the last one I plan to make. If someone wants to take over from me in the future, please contact me through lord_garth@trekbbs.com.

There's a lot of miscellaneous trivia that was suggested that might be fun but not enough of it was suggested or complete enough to put into a separate category of its own even though they're things I would've liked to include despite the fact that the main objective is to stick to the point. For that I apologize.

(Edited by Mallory 06/15/05 to update the TAS DVD release date)

 

An updated version of the FAQ is has been posted in this thread.