The original Star Trek aired from 1966 to 1969, and it still spawns intriguing facts that keep fans buzzing. Some of its tech ideas—like a computer devoted solely to library holdings—now look quaint, while the miniskirts required of female officers feel downright sexist. Yet the transporter beam and deflector shields remain ahead of their time, proving the series’ lasting influence.
Intriguing Facts About the Original Star Trek Crew
10 Captain James T. Kirk
For years everyone believed the kiss between Captain James Tiberius Kirk and Lieutenant Nyota Uhura was television’s first interracial kiss. Research shows it was actually the third. The moment occurs in the season‑three episode “Plato’s Stepchildren” (Nov 1968), where the crew visits the telepathic planet Platonius. The locals force Kirk to seduce Uhura, resulting in a passionate on‑screen kiss.
The British Film Institute notes earlier examples: doctors Giles Farmer and Louise Mahler exchanged an interracial kiss on the soap opera Emergency Ward 10 in 1964, and a 1962 Granada Play of the Week production featured a black‑white kiss between Lloyd Reckford and Elizabeth MacLennan. NBC executives weren’t sure how audiences would react, but they ultimately left the Kirk‑Uhura kiss in the episode. While not the very first, it still stands as a barrier‑breaking moment watched by far more viewers than the earlier British productions.
9 Commander Spock
Leonard Nimoy, the actor behind Commander Spock, invented the iconic Vulcan salute and its accompanying greeting. In the episode “Amok Time,” Spock first uses the salute when meeting the matriarch of his home planet. The hand gesture—two fingers together, a gap, then the other two together—mirrors a ritual performed by Jewish priests (Kohanim) during high‑holy‑day blessings. Nimoy explained that the salute represents the Hebrew letter shin, the first letter of Shekinah, the feminine aspect of the Divine that enters the synagogue.
The salute is usually paired with “Live long and prosper,” Nimoy’s summary of a Jewish prayer echoing the Hebrew phrase Shalom aleichem (“peace be upon you”). Nimoy also created Spock’s famous nerve pinch. The original script for “The Enemy Within” called for Spock to “lunge out from behind one of the generators” to knock out an opponent. Nimoy thought a punch was too primitive for the 23rd century, so he devised the subtle pinch that renders a foe unconscious. Director Leo Penn was convinced after William Shatner demonstrated the maneuver by dramatically passing out on cue.
8 Lieutenant Commander Leonard ‘Bones’ McCoy
DeForest Kelley, who played the cantankerous chief medical officer Leonard “Bones” McCoy, almost never joined the original series. Gene Roddenberry first offered him the role of Mr. Spock, which Kelley declined. After the network rejected the initial pilot “The Cage,” Roddenberry was encouraged to try again. With William Shatner locked in as Kirk and Leonard Nimoy as Spock, Kelley accepted the part of McCoy and became one of Kirk’s closest confidants.
7 Lieutenant Commander Montgomery ‘Scotty’ Scott
James Doohan, the actor behind the ship’s chief engineer, named his character after his mother’s father. A master of accents, Doohan chose a Scottish dialect for Scotty because, in his experience, Scots make the best engineers. Despite their on‑screen camaraderie, Doohan admitted he liked Captain Kirk but “sure don’t like Bill,” describing Shatner as insecure, self‑centered, and a camera hog.
6 Lieutenant Nyota Uhura
Roddenberry’s first choice for the communications officer’s surname was “Zulu,” but because Nichelle Nichols is African‑American, he switched to “Uhura.” In Swahili, uhuru means “freedom,” and Roddenberry feminized it by adding an “a.” Nichols faced occasional racial hostility on set and discovered she was the only lead without a contract, prompting her to consider quitting. Civil‑rights leader Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. intervened, praising her as a “wonderful role model,” which helped her stay on the show.
5 Ensign Hikaru Sulu
The surname originally earmarked for Uhura became that of the Asian helmsman, Ensign Hikaru Sulu, played by George Takei. Roddenberry intended to develop Sulu in the second season, but Takei was busy filming The Green Berets with John Wayne. During Takei’s absence, Walter Koenig stepped onto the bridge. When Takei returned, he shared a dressing room—and a script—with Koenig, initially feeling jealous and fearing replacement. Over time, the two actors discovered common ground and forged a lasting friendship, even as they continued to appear side by side: Takei as helmsman, Koenig as navigator.
4 Ensign Pavel Chekov
Walter Koenig was recruited as a recurring cast member because Roddenberry wanted a younger face to attract teenage viewers. The character, Ensign Pavel Chekov, was envisioned as a brilliant but inexperienced prodigy—eager to prove himself, a bit tactless, and fond of the ladies. Chekov’s presence allowed Kirk to adopt a paternal role toward the fresh‑out‑of‑Starfleet‑Academy graduate. The strategy worked: fan letters from younger viewers poured in, prompting Roddenberry to promote Koenig to a regular cast member.
3 Nurse Christine Chapel
The pilot episode featured no Nurse Christine Chapel. Instead, Majel Barrett, who would later portray Chapel, appeared as an unnamed first officer. NBC executives objected to a woman in that role and demanded Roddenberry replace her with a man—an insistence that led to Leonard Nimoy becoming Spock, Kirk’s second‑in‑command. Barrett later married Roddenberry after the series ended and was given the role of Chapel, a character she found “wishy‑washy.” She joked that Chapel was hopelessly in love with Spock, who “only comes into heat once every seven years,” dubbing him a “real loser.”
2 Yeoman Janice Rand
Although Yeoman Janice Rand proved popular with audiences, Roddenberry wrote her out of the series. Grace Lee Whitney, who played Rand, explained that the producer didn’t want Captain Kirk to maintain a steady romantic relationship with any woman—especially one who might become a recurring love interest. Episodes hinted at a budding romance, but the character was eliminated so Kirk could keep his “only female” as the USS Enterprise itself. Later, Whitney reconciled with Roddenberry and returned for Star Trek: The Motion Picture and several subsequent films.
1 Kirk’s Predecessor
In the original pilot, Christopher Pike, portrayed by Jeffrey Hunter, commanded the Enterprise. When the pilot was rejected, Hunter informed Roddenberry that he no longer wanted to play the starship’s captain, preferring a film career. Pike reappears in the two‑part season‑one episode “The Menagerie,” looking far worse for wear. After rescuing children from deadly “delta rays,” Pike is left paralyzed and scarred, confined to a wheelchair, and able to communicate only through a beeping machine—one beep for “yes,” two for “no.” The episode portrays him as existing in a state of “living death,” until he escapes into a vivid fantasy where he is once again whole. Footage from the unaired pilot “The Cage” provides flashbacks of a younger Pike, intertwining his heroic past with his tragic present.