History Trivia / StarTrekTheOriginalSeries

** In "[[Recap/StarTrekS1E19TomorrowIsYesterday Tomorrow is Yesterday]]," which aired in 1967, it's mentioned that three astronauts are going to lift off for a moon landing "next Wednesday." ''Apollo 11'' would launch two years later — on a Wednesday.

* AccidentallyCorrectWriting: In "[[{{Recap/StarTrekS2E26AssignmentEarth}} Assignment: Earth]]", the ''Enterprise'' travels back in time to 1968. and it's mentioned that "an important assassination" will take place and that a government coup will take place in Asia. Martin Luther King Jr. and Robert Kennedy were both assassinated later that year, and this was the year of Iraq's July 17 Revolution in which the Ba'athist Party and UsefulNotes/SaddamHussein first came to power.

** Creator/GraceLeeWhitney was the primary catalyst for the development of the (in)famously DangerouslyShortSkirt worn by female crew and officers. Whitney, a dancer, wanted the uniform to show off her legs, and pushed for a short microskirt. She also contributed to the design of what would eventually become the tricorder, assisting Roddenberry with designing a gadget she could carry in a bag around her shoulder to assist Kirk during away missions.

** In "[[{{Recap/StarTrekS1E19TomorrowIsYesterday}} Tomorrow Is Yesterday]]" the ship is thrown back in time by an encounter with a "black star". At the time, there was no widely-accepted term for a star which had collapsed into a singularity and had gravity so strong light could not escape, which we now call a "black hole". The term "black hole" was not generally accepted until later in 1967.
** In "[[{{Recap/StarTrekS1E29OperationAnnihilate}} Operation -- Annihilate!]]", Spock reports light intensity (also called illuminance or, archaically, brightness) in candles per square inch, a variant on the traditional foot-candle (which would be 144 times an "inch-candle"). The currently preferred measure of illuminance is the lux, or lumen per square metre.
** In "[[{{Recap/StarTrekS2E3TheChangeling}} The Changeling]]", Kirk shows Nomad a map of the solar system with nine planets. This was before the upgrade of Ceres, the downgrade of Pluto and the discovery of Eris.
** In "[[{{Recap/StarTrekS2E6TheDoomsdayMachine}} The Doomsday Machine]]", the air pressure aboard the ''Constellation'' is measured in Pounds per Square Inch. kPa (kilopascal) is currently the preferred measure of pressure.
** In "[[{{Recap/StarTrekS2E15TheTroubleWithTribbles}} The Trouble with Tribbles]]", Bones uses the word "bisexual" for the concept which is now referred to as "hermaphroditic".
** In "[[{{Recap/StarTrekS2E18TheImmunitySyndrome}} The Immunity Syndrome]]", Spock reports the dimensions of the giant space amoeba in miles. Most scientists prefer the accuracy of the metric system and would use kilometers instead. Especially noticeable since kilometers were used earlier in the episode when reporting how far away the thing was.
** In "[[{{Recap/StarTrekS2E23TheOmegaGlory}} The Omega Glory]]", Captain Tracey thinks that the extended lifespan of the Omegans is due to a local disease, and hopes to isolate it and reproduce its benefits for other populations, but his hopes come to nothing after [=McCoy=] determines that the lifespan is the result of a genetic adaptation. Roddenberry didn't foresee that a genetic adaptation allowing for long life would today be just as identifiable, and perhaps in the future just as reproducible, as a serum.
** In "[[{{Recap/StarTrekS3E15LetThatBeYourLastBattlefield}} Let That Be Your Last Battlefield]]", Spock rightly points out that "evolution is man evolving from apes" is a grossly misleading and deliberate mischaracterization--but describes evolution as life forms [[EvolutionaryLevels evolving from "lower" to "advanced" stages]]. Now, evolution is understood as life forms changing over time to suit their environment. While they ''usually'' become more complex than their ancestors, they do sometimes become less complex if losing a trait 1. makes them more successful in their environment or 2. doesn't hurt them either way.

** The series was mistreated by NBC from the very beginning of it being broadcast: the network aired the episode, "[[Recap/StarTrekS1E1TheManTrap The Man Trap]]" as the first episode over the protests of the producers who knew it was one of their weaker productions because it had a monster in it. As such, the series got some very poor reviews because of this premiere and the series had struggle from then on to turn that bad impression around.

* ScullyBox: According to producers Herbert F. Solow and Robert H. Justman, Creator/WilliamShatner originally wore 1.5" lifts in his shoes so he would appear taller than Creator/LeonardNimoy. Since Shatner was only 5'9", the combination of lifts and the 2" heels of his shoes brought his height to over 6'. It distorted his posture to such a degree. his stomach stuck out. Understandably, Creator/GeneRoddenberry forbid him to wear them, instead opting to dress Nimoy and Creator/DeForestKelley in shoes with only a 1" heel as opposed to Shatner's 2" heel.

** That big ass tape deck that Kirk uses to record his CaptainsLog on, as seen in "[[{{Recap/StarTrekS1E9DaggerOfTheMind}} Dagger of the Mind]]".

** In "[[{{Recap/StarTrekS1E13TheConscienceOfTheKing}} The Conscience of the King]]", Kodos faked his own death with a body "burned beyond recognition" and started again with a new identity. Since the episode first aired, several technologies have become commonplace (such as DNA matching) that would have made the question of identification less difficult for the heroes.

** In "[[{{Recap/StarTrekS1E14BalanceOfTerror}} Balance of Terror]]", Spock removes a panel to reveal that some internal electronics have caught fire. (And then he puts the fire out with his hands. Love that Vulcan stoicism.) It seems unlikely that an interstellar spaceship wouldn't have an over-current protection device that would prevent such a fire.

** Overlaps with a sort of physical SeinfeldIsUnfunny with communicators resembling early-2000s flip phones whose form factor was directly inspired by Star Trek communicators...

** The Vulcan mind-meld, neck pinch and salute are all examples of this. All were suggestions made by Creator/LeonardNimoy. In the case of the first two, they replaced more mundane, conventional ideas in the original scripts (respectively, a simple interrogation in "[[{{Recap/StarTrekS1E9DaggerOfTheMind}} Dagger of the Mind]]", and Spock slugging evil Kirk with a pistol butt in "The Enemy Within").

** In [[{{Recap/StarTrekS1E4TheNakedTime}} "The Naked Time]]", Uhura's response to being cast as the "fair maiden" in Sulu's swashbuckling fantasy ("Sorry, neither.") was an ad lib by Creator/NichelleNichols during rehearsals.

** "[[{{Recap/StarTrekS3E6SpectreOfTheGun}} Spectre of the Gun]]" was originally planned to be filmed on an existing Western town set on the backlot. However, serious budget cuts for the series' third season made this impossible. So, it was instead made on a soundstage in a surreal, incomplete, plainly artificial environment. Though some (including Creator/LeonardNimoy) were skeptical over this move, it's now largely viewed to have been a good choice for the story.

** During the making of "[[{{Recap/StarTrekS2E23TheOmegaGlory}} The Omega Glory]]", producer Robert Justman [[http://www.startrek.com/article/starfleet-insignia-explained informed]] costume designer William Theiss that he'd given Captain Ron Tracey an incorrect badge on his uniform; he should have had the same badge as the Enterprise crew. Justman allowed the error to stay in the episode, which may have led to the [[CommonKnowledge common fan misperception]] that the badge shapes are different for every ship, as opposed to representing the kind of assignment the character was on.

* FanNickname: The (unnamed) alien in "[[{{Recap/StarTrekS1E1TheManTrap}} The Man Trap]]" is almost universally known as "the salt vampire".

** In "[[{{Recap/StarTrekS2E3TheChangeling}} The Changeling]]", Kirk shows Nomad a map of the solar system with nine planets. This was before the upgrade of Ceres, the downgrade of Pluto and the discovery of Eres.

** Grace Lee Whitney was the primary catalyst for the development of the (in)famously DangerouslyShortSkirt worn by female crew and officers. Whitney, a dancer, wanted the uniform to show off her legs, and pushed for a short microskirt. She also contributed to the design of what would eventually become the tricorder, assisting Roddenberry with designing a gadget she could carry in a bag around her shoulder to assist Kirk during away missions.

** A quirk of production: Malachi Throne provided the voice (but not the face) for the Talosian Keeper in the unaired ''Trek'' pilot, "[[{{Recap/StarTrekS1E0TheCage}} The Cage]]". Almost two years later, Throne was cast as Commodore Mendez for "The Menagerie" two-parter, which recycles footage from first pilot. His voice for The Keeper had to be electronically altered so the audience wouldn't recognize it as the same guy.

** Creator/JamesDoohan had a degree in Engineering and even used it to save Creator/GeneRoddenberry from danger when they went out boating and ran into trouble. No record exists of him saying that the boat "cannae take much more of this" though. [[note]] It came into play when someone asked about Scotty's {{Unishment}} in "[[{{Recap/StarTrekS2E15TheTroubleWithTribbles}} The Trouble with Tribbles]]" spending shore leave in his quarters with tech journals. The reply was "Scotty reads tech journals because ''James Doohan'' reads tech journals." [[/note]]

** Grace Lee Whitney had some choice words about the episode "[[Recap/StarTrekS1E5TheEnemyWithin The Enemy Within]]" later on:

** Creator/LeonardNimoy's favourite episodes were "[[Recap/StarTrekS1E24ThisSideOfParadise This Side of Paradise]]", "[[Recap/StarTrekS2E1AmokTime Amok Time]]", "[[Recap/StarTrekS1E28TheCityOnTheEdgeOfForever The City on the Edge of Forever]]", "[[Recap/StarTrekS1E4TheNakedTime}} The Naked Time]]", "[[Recap/StarTrekS2E10JourneyToBabel Journey to Babel]]" and "[[Recap/StarTrekS1E25TheDevilInTheDark The Devil in the Dark]]".

** Creator/WilliamShatner was disliked by most of the cast of the show, who accused him of stealing lines and screentime from them. Some saw it as an "us and them" situation (Shatner, Creator/LeonardNimoy and Creator/DeForestKelley on one side, and Creator/JamesDoohan, Creator/GeorgeTakei, Creator/NichelleNichols[[note]]When the two filmed their famous kiss, they both stated in their memoirs that keeping the scene unedited despite the racial tensions of the time was the ''only'' thing they ever agreed on[[/note]] and Creator/WalterKoenig on the other). Furthermore, Shatner was initially jealous of Nimoy's popularity, while Nimoy was apparently unaware of Shatner's jealousy. Apparently, Shatner was oblivious to much of his co-stars' disdain, until he sat them down for interviews while working on the book ''Star Trek Memories,'' and many of them called him out over his glory-hogging, especially Creator/NichelleNichols. Shatner has at least ''somewhat'' mellowed out since then.

** The first BBC broadcast of "[[Recap/StarTrekS1E8Miri Miri]]" led to protests over its allegedly over-horrific nature (since it involved children in peril and adults getting killed), and as a result it and three later episodes--"[[Recap/StarTrekS3E10PlatosStepchildren Plato's Stepchildren]]", "[[Recap/StarTrekS3E12TheEmpath}} The Empath]]" and "[[Recap/StarTrekS3E14WhomGodsDestroy}} Whom Gods Destroy]]"--were suppressed from BBC broadcasts of the show until the 1990s due to being considered excessively violent and horrific.

** Grace Lee Whitney was the primary catalyst for the development of the (in)famously DangerouslyShortSkirt worn by female crew and officers. Whitney, a dancer, wanted the uniform to show off her legs, and pushed for a short microskirt. She also contributed to the design of what would eventually become the tricorder, assinting Roddenberry with designing a gadget she could carry in a bag around her shoulder to assist Kirk during away missions.

** Two episodes in the third season, "[[{{Recap/StarTrekS3E17ThatWhichSurvives}} That Which Survives]]" and " [[{{Recap/StarTrekS3E20TheWayToEden}} The Way to Eden]]", were developed from storylines by Trek veteran writer D.C. Fontana, but bear the credit "Story by Michael Richards" because Fontana felt the final episodes diverged too far for her to feel comfortable putting her name on them.

** The first BBC broadcast of "[[{{Recap/StarTrekS1E8Miri}} Miri]]" led to protests over its allegedly over-horrific nature (since it involved children in peril and adults getting killed), and as a result it and three later episodes--"[[{{Recap/StarTrekS3E10PlatosStepchildren}} Plato's Stepchildren]]", "[[{{Recap/StarTrekS3E12TheEmpath}} The Empath]]" and "[[{{Recap/StarTrekS3E14WhomGodsDestroy}} Whom Gods Destroy]]"--were suppressed from BBC broadcasts of the show until the 1990s due to being considered excessively violent and horrific.
** "[[{{Recap/StarTrekS2E21PatternsOfForce}} Patterns of Force]]" was not aired on German TV before the 1990s, as the frequent use of Nazi imagery and claims of Nazism making for an efficient society meant it was (understandably, and as is quite common in the country) deemed unsuitable for entertainment in Germany. It finally made its public TV debut in 2011, though it had already been shown on German pay TV in 1996 and included in the DVD/blu-ray sets.
* {{Blooper}}: In "[[{{Recap/StarTrekS1E5TheEnemyWithin}} The Enemy Within]]", the scratches on Evil Kirk's face change side during his VillainousBreakdown near the end.

** Spock never said "It's life, Jim, but not as we know it"; that's from ''Star Trekkin'''. The closest he ever came in canon was the episode "[[{{Recap/StarTrekS1E25TheDevilInTheDark}} The Devil in the Dark]]":

*** ''Spock'', of all people, [[CharacterizationMarchesOn shouted]] "she'll blow soon" once, in "[[{{Recap/StarTrekS1E10TheCorbomiteManeuver}} The Corbomite Maneuver]]".

* CastTheExpert: Trained belly-dancer Tania Lemani appeared as the dancer Kara in "[[{{Recap/StarTrekS2E14WolfInTheFold}} Wolf in the Fold]]", and did her own choreography for the dance routine that occupies most of the character's screen time.

** Creator/HarlanEllison's opinion of "[[{{Recap/StarTrekS1E28TheCityOnTheEdgeOfForever}} The City on the Edge of Forever]]" is in the Creator Backlash Hall Of Fame.
** Grace Lee Whitney had some choice words about the episode "[[{{Recap/StarTrekS1E5TheEnemyWithin}} The Enemy Within]]" later on:

** David Gerrold, whose first script for the series was only [[Recap/StarTrekS2E15TheTroubleWithTribbles one of the most loved episodes ever]], submitted an outline called "Castles In The Air." By the time [[Recap/StarTrekS2E16TheGamestersOfTriskelion Margaret Armen]] and [[Recap/StarTrekS3E15LetThatBeYourLastBattlefield Oliver Crawford]] were through with it[[note]]Armen has teleplay credit, Gerrold shares story credit with Crawford[[/note]] it became "[[{{Recap/StarTrekS3E21TheCloudMinders}} The Cloud Minders]]," and he wasn't happy with the finished product.

** In a TV Guide interview two months before his death, Creator/GeneRoddenberry listed his ten favourite episodes - "[[{{Recap/StarTrekS2E1AmokTime}} Amok Time]]", "[[{{Recap/StarTrekS1E14BalanceOfTerror}} Balance of Terror]]", "[[{{Recap/StarTrekS1E28TheCityOnTheEdgeOfForever}} The City on the Edge of Forever]]", "[[{{Recap/StarTrekS1E25TheDevilInTheDark}} The Devil in the Dark]]", "[[{{Recap/StarTrekS1E5TheEnemyWithin}} The Enemy Within]]", "The Menagerie" (Two parter), "[[{{Recap/StarTrekS1E4TheNakedTime}} The Naked Time]]", "[[{{Recap/StarTrekS1E21TheReturnOfTheArchons}} The Return of the Archons]]", "[[{{Recap/StarTrekS1E3WhereNoManHasGoneBefore}} Where No Man Has Gone Before]]" and "[[{{Recap/StarTrekS2E15TheTroubleWithTribbles}} The Trouble with Tribbles]]"
** "[[{{Recap/StarTrekS1E25TheDevilInTheDark}} The Devil in the Dark]]" was Creator/WilliamShatner's favourite episode. He thought it was "exciting, thought-provoking and intelligent, it contained all of the ingredients that made up our very best ''Star Treks''." His father died during its filming, but Shatner insisted on going through with production, and felt closer to the cast and crew for helping him through the difficult time. "[[{{Recap/StarTrekS1E28TheCityOnTheEdgeOfForever}} The City on the Edge of Forever]]" was his second favourite.
** Creator/LeonardNimoy's favourite episodes were "[[{{Recap/StarTrekS1E24ThisSideOfParadise}} This Side of Paradise]]", "[[{{Recap/StarTrekS2E1AmokTime}} Amok Time]]", "[[{{Recap/StarTrekS1E28TheCityOnTheEdgeOfForever}} The City on the Edge of Forever]]", "[[{{Recap/StarTrekS1E4TheNakedTime}} The Naked Time]]", "[[{{Recap/StarTrekS2E10JourneyToBabel}} Journey to Babel]]" and "[[{{Recap/StarTrekS1E25TheDevilInTheDark}} The Devil in the Dark]]".
** Creator/DeforestKelley's favourite was "[[{{Recap/StarTrekS3E12TheEmpath}} The Empath]]".
** Creator/JamesDoohan's favourite was "[[{{Recap/StarTrekS2E6TheDoomsdayMachine}} The Doomsday Machine]]".
** Creator/GeorgeTakei's favourite was "[[{{Recap/StarTrekS1E4TheNakedTime}} The Naked Time]]".

** Creator/WalterKoenig's favourite was "[[{{Recap/StarTrekS3E6SpectreOfTheGun}} Spectre of the Gun]]".

* CrossDressingVoices: The Talosians in "[[{{Recap/StarTrekS1E0TheCage}} The Cage]]"/"The Menagerie" are played by female actors but their voices are dubbed by male actors, most notably, Malachi Throne, who voices the lead Talosian.

** Gary Lockwood as Gary Mitchell in "[[{{Recap/StarTrekS1E3WhereNoManHasGoneBefore}} Where No Man Has Gone Before]]".
** Phillip Pine as Colonel Phillip Green in "[[{{Recap/StarTrekS3E22TheSavageCurtain}} The Savage Curtain]]".

** Creator/WilliamShatner was disliked by most of the cast of ''Series/StarTrekTheOriginalSeries'', who accused him of stealing lines and screentime from them. Some saw it as an "us and them" situation (Shatner, Creator/LeonardNimoy and Creator/DeForestKelley on one side, and Creator/JamesDoohan, Creator/GeorgeTakei, Creator/NichelleNichols[[note]]When the two filmed their famous kiss, they both stated in their memoirs that keeping the scene unedited despite the racial tensions of the time was the ''only'' thing they ever agreed on[[/note]] and Creator/WalterKoenig on the other). Furthermore, Shatner was initially jealous of Nimoy's popularity, while Nimoy was apparently unaware of Shatner's jealousy. Apparently, Shatner was oblivious to much of his co-stars' disdain, until he sat them down for interviews while working on the book ''Star Trek Memories,'' and many of them called him out over his glory-hogging, especially Creator/NichelleNichols. Shatner has at least ''somewhat'' mellowed out since then.

* HostilityOnTheSet: Creator/WilliamShatner was disliked by most of the cast of ''Series/StarTrekTheOriginalSeries'', who accused him of stealing lines and screentime from them. Some saw it as an "us and them" situation (Shatner, Creator/LeonardNimoy and Creator/DeForestKelley on one side, and Creator/JamesDoohan, Creator/GeorgeTakei, Creator/NichelleNichols[[note]]When the two filmed their famous kiss, they both stated in their memoirs that keeping the scene unedited despite the racial tensions of the time was the ''only'' thing they ever agreed on[[/note]] and Creator/WalterKoenig on the other). Furthermore, Shatner was initially jealous of Nimoy's popularity.
** Apparently, Shatner was oblivious to much of his co-stars' disdain, until he sat them down for interviews while working on the book ''Star Trek Memories,'' and many of them called him out over his glory-hogging, especially Creator/NichelleNichols. Shatner has at least ''somewhat'' mellowed out since then.

* AccidentallyCorrectWriting: In "[[{{Recap/StarTrekS2E26AssignmentEarth}} Assignment: Earth]]", the ''Enterprise'' travels back in time to 1968. It's mentioned that "an important assassination" will take place. Martin Luther King Jr. and Robert Kennedy were both assassinated later that year.
** It's mentioned in the same line that a government coup will take place in Asia. This was the year of Iraq's July 17 Revolution in which the Ba'athist Party and UsefulNotes/SaddamHussein first came to power.

* WhyFandomCantHaveNiceThings: Proving that boundaries being needed have always been a thing, Sondra Marshak and Myrna Culbreath (and by extension the slash fandom) were originally accepted by the Trek writers and cast, doing books with Shatner (“Where No Man”) and writing SlashFic with Nichols (called “Surprise”). And then they had to start pushing the idea that Kirk wanted to be raped, amongst other sexual fantasies, and the crew cut ties with them, Fontana and Gerrold especially being sick of slash fans.

* WordOfGay: Inverted. Since Creator/GeorgeTakei has come out of the closet, many have speculated that Sulu is gay too, but Takei asserted that he had played Sulu as being straight.[[note]]Sulu is the only one of the six male regulars who never has a love interest in the show, so technically we have no canon evidence of this either way. In the movies, canon is clear that he has a daughter, but makes no mention of any spouse or partner. Interestingly, only Mirror!Sulu shows any interest in women - you know, the one from the universe where everything is the opposite of how it normally is?[[/note]] However:
** It didn't stop David Gerrold from inserting some cute dialogue in the fan-staged "Blood and Fire" which has a gay couple.

** It also led to a minor controversy over the Kelvin Timeline film ''Film/StarTrekBeyond'' when they decided to make their version of Sulu gay. The writers claimed to have done this in tribute to Takei, but this backfired when Takei himself was one of the most vocal protesters against it (he has said many times before that he played Sulu as being straight, as such felt the change was pandering to him and the audience rather than being respectful to the character).
** [[https://www.theguardian.com/culture/2020/sep/05/this-much-i-know-george-takei-getting-cast-as-lt-sulu-in-star-trek-was-life-changing George]] mentioned that he tried to get Gene to do an allegory for homophobia, but the man said all the characters have to be straight if he wants to stay on TV.

* {{Tuckerization}}: The slanting crawlway that leads up to the warp-drive nacelles is referred to as a "Jefferies tube." This is a reference to art director Walter M. Jefferies.
* TypeCasting: The show is infamous for doing this to its main cast for decades to come (Creator/WilliamShatner sort of overcame the problem some twenty years later).

* UnintentionalPeriodPiece: Depending on the episode, the series has this going on alongside its {{Zeerust}}. Between the color palette, the miniskirts, the UsefulNotes/ColdWar Fed/Kling politics, the civil-rights-era Aesops and Chekhov's ''[[Music/TheMonkees Monkees]]'' hair, it comes across as some kind of Neo-'60s even when they aren't confronted with space hippies.