James Doohan lost his right middle finger during WWII. Most of his scenes are shot to hide it. However, it is very noticeable in the episode "Catspaw." Scotty is hypnotized and holding a phaser pistol on Kirk & Spock in Korob & Sylvia's dining hall. When Scotty is in the shot, only two fingers are holding the butt of the phaser.

In only one episode ("Mirror, Mirror") does Scotty address Kirk as "Jim".

"Shore Leave" is the only episode in which the U.S.S. Enterprise is seen orbiting a planet from right to left. The I.S.S. Enterprise also does this briefly in the parallel universe, in the teaser to "Mirror, Mirror", but by the beginning of Act I, it is again orbiting from left to right.

"A Piece Of The Action" is the only episode in which the Enterprise phasers are used to stun.

In the "Tomorrow is Yesterday" episode, the Enterprise crew intercepts a radio report that the first manned moon shot will take place on Wednesday. Apollo 11 was launched nearly two years after the filming on 16 July 1969, a Wednesday.

Due to budget constraints, the element of "parallel" or "mirror" Earth planets was used on several occasions to keep set and make-up costs down. (i.e. "Miri", "Bread and Circuses", "A Piece of the Action", "Patterns of Force" and more.)

Martin Landau was originally offered the role of Spock, but declined. Later, Leonard Nimoy, who did accept the part, took over the role of disguise-expert on Mission: Impossible when Landau left that show. Landau later headed his own sci-fi series, "Space: 1999".

The transporter was a plot device intended to eliminate the pacing and production problems involved in depicting the ship landing and taking off all the time. Budgetary constraints on effects were also a consideration. The first landing of a starship would not occur until Star Trek: Voyager episode 2.1, The 37's, broadcast 28 August 1995.

Shortly after the cancellation of the series, the staff of the marketing department of the NBC TV network confronted the network executives and berated them for canceling Star Trek, the most profitable show on the network in terms of demographic profiling of the ratings. They explained that although the show was never higher than 52 in the general ratings, its audience profile had the largest concentration of viewers of ages 16 to 39, the most sought after television audience for advertisers to reach. In other words, the show, despite the low ratings, had the precise audience advertisers hungered for, which was more than ample justification to consider the show a big success.

In 2000, Star Trek is listed in the Guinness Book of Records as having the largest number of spin-off productions, including the feature film series and the numerous TV series.

Many elements of the Spock character were improvised by Leonard Nimoy during production. For instance, the "Vulcan neck pinch" was his suggestion during filming of "The Enemy Within" for how Spock could subdue an opponent. The "Vulcan salute" was created during the production of "Amok Time" using a version of a traditional Jewish religious hand gesture as a distinctive Vulcan greeting.

Sulu and Uhura didn't have first names in this series. Sulu did get a first name (Hikaru) but not until Star Trek VI: The Undiscovered Country. Fans have tried to give Uhura a first name ("Nyota" or "Penda") but there has never been any official confirmation. Gene Roddenberry said Uhura has only the one name, which is Swahili for "freedom".

Lloyd Bridges and Jeffrey Hunter (who had played Captain Pike in the original pilot) both turned down the role of Captain Kirk.

The episode "Assignment: Earth" was written to introduce a hoped-for spin-off series that never materialized. It would have featured Robert Lansing as Gary Seven, Barbara Babcock as Isis, and Teri Garr as Roberta Lincoln. In the new series, the intrepid three would have worked to make sure humanity achieved the destiny glimpsed via the Trek characters and Seven's mysterious extraterrestrial information.

The first interracial kiss on American network television was in the episode "Plato's Stepchildren," which aired on 22 Nov 1968, when Captain Kirk (William Shatner) kissed Lieutenant Uhura (Nichelle Nichols). The studio expressed some concern, and it was suggested instead that Spock should kiss Uhura 'to make it less of a problem for the southern [US] audience'. Some stations in the South originally refused to air the episode. Kirk did not kiss Uhura *voluntarily*; they were forced to do it by aliens controlling their bodies. So the first interracial kiss, although between two of the good guys, was the moral equivalent of sexual assault.

Despite the controversy of the first interracial kiss of Kirk and Uhura on television in the episode "Plato's Stepchildren," they never actually kissed on-screen - Kirk turns away from the camera as they draw closer keeping Uhura in front of him, obscuring the fact that their lips stay an inch or so apart.

In the episode "The Trouble with Tribbles" Tribbles continue to fall on Kirk after the container should have emptied out onto him. It is later revealed in the “Star Trek: Deep Space Nine” Episode "Trials and Tribble-ations" that the Tribbles are being tossed down the hatch at Kirk as they are being discarded for not being a Tribble-bomb which Sisko and Dax are attempting to find.

Gene Roddenberry originally conceived the Klingons as looking more alien than they do in the series, but budget restriction prevented this. When Star Trek moved to the big screen, he was finally able to make Klingons look more alien. The resulting continuity break between TOS and the movies and later series was finally addressed in the “Star Trek: Deep Space Nine” episode "Trials and Tribble-ations" in which the character of Worf confirms that something did happen to make the Klingons appear human, but he refuses to elaborate.

The episode "Balance of Terror", focusing on the Enterprise hunting a cloaked Romulan destroyer, was inspired by the film The Enemy Below.

Gene Roddenberry once hypothesized that the Enterprise carried a platoon of Starfleet Marines, but they never appeared onscreen in the original series. The Starfleet Marines would eventually make an appearance, but not until Star Trek VI: The Undiscovered Country and “Star Trek: Deep Space Nine”. The idea was revived with the addition of a group of "space marines" beginning in the 2003-2004 season of Star Trek: Enterprise.

One of the writers, D.C. Fontana, was told to use the initials "D.C." by Gene Roddenberry because studios at the time generally wouldn't hire women writers. Her first name is Dorothy.

Dr. McCoy's handheld "medical scanners" were actually modified salt and pepper shakers. Another medical device, seen in the episode "Court Martial" is obviously a hand-held microphone.

Contrary to popular belief, Captain Kirk never said "Beam me up, Scotty" in any episode.

Stardates were established in order to keep the audience guessing as to when the series takes place. A calendar year for the adventures of the Enterprise crew is never given in any episode, and Roddenberry said the series could have taken place anywhere from the 21st to the 31st Centuries. By the time of Star Trek: The Next Generation, however, calendar years for Trek adventures had been established and the official Star Trek Chronology now indicates that the original Star Trek TV series takes place between the years 2266 and 2269.

Both pilots for Star Trek - "The Cage" and "Where No Man Has Gone Before" - were the only episodes of Star Trek not filmed at the current-day Paramount Studio lot in Hollywood. They were filmed at the present day Sony Pictures Culver Studios in Culver City, California.

Jerry Goldsmith was Roddenberry's first choice to write the theme for this series. Years later, Goldsmith wrote the theme to Star Trek: The Motion Picture which later was used for Star Trek: The Next Generation.

Victor Lundin appeared in the show "Errand of Mercy". Although he did not have a speaking part he was the first Klingon to appear in the original Star Trek Series.

In the hallways of the Enterprise there are tubes marked "GNDN", these initials stand for "goes nowhere does nothing".

The series' opening credits has lyrics that were never used. They were written by Gene Roddenberry so that he would receive a residual for the theme's use alongside the theme's composer, Alexander Courage.

Actor Mark Lenard, best known for his role as Sarek, Spock's father, was the first actor to play a member of all three of the major alien races: Romulan, Vulcan, and Klingon (he is the commander of the Klingon attack group at the beginning of Star Trek: The Motion Picture.

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.

When NBC was promoting Star Trek in magazines, all shots of Spock's pointed eyebrows and ears where airbrushed out of the pictures because NBC thought that no one would watch the show due to Spock's resemblance to the Devil.

On at least two occasions ("Miri" & "City on the Edge of Forever") the exterior Mayberry set from "The Andy Griffith Show" was used. In "City," as Kirk walks Edith home, they pass by the easily recognizable courthouse, Floyd's barbershop, Emmett's repair shop, and the grocery.

In several episodes, prop beverage bottles were modified from existing alcohol bottles. Aldeberan Whiskey bottles were Cuervo Gold 1800 Tequila bottles. Bottles used for Saurian Brandy were George Dickel Tennessee Sour Mash Whiskey carafes.

According to official blueprints of the Enterprise, published in 1975, among features on the ship that were never mentioned on the TV series were: two auxiliary bridges, a second sickbay area, a swimming pool, a garden, and a 6-lane bowling alley. This last item, no doubt included in the blueprints as a joke, is the earliest known case of humor creeping into the background of Star Trek's designs; this would become commonplace in the TV series of the 80s and 90s.

According to the Hollywood Entertainment Museum, as of fall 2003 only a few pieces of the original 1960s bridge survive. The museum, on Hollywood Blvd., incorporates two original turboshaft doors into its Star Trek display, while a Los Angeles bookstore reportedly owns the original captain's chair.

In the episode "Assignment: Earth", Spock mentions all the events that would happen the week of 1968 that they arrived in. Among the events he mentioned was an important political assassination. A few days after that episode aired, Martin Luther King Jr. was shot and killed in Memphis, Tennessee.

After viewing the popularity of characters such as Robin on the "Batman" series and shows like "The Monkees", the producers decided to introduce Ensign Pavel Chekov in the second season in order to attract more teenage viewers, especially girls, to the show. 'Walter Koenig' was selected due to his resemblance to Davy Jones.

A bowling alley aboard the USS Enterprise, as shown in the 1975 blueprints, was actually mentioned in the episode "The Naked Time. " In that episode, Lt. Riley declares that "a formal dance will be held in the bowling alley at 1900 hours tonight." However, he was also quite delusional, so it's not certain that the bowling alley he spoke of actually existed.

Mr. Spock was played as much more emotional and "human" in the original rejected pilot, "The Cage". This is very noticeable during the flashback sequences of the two-part episode, "The Menagerie". The flashbacks were simply scenes from the original pilot, re-edited into the new episodes.

Ranked 1 in TV Guide's list of the "25 Top Cult Shows Ever!"

The 'Star Trek Crews' from all the Star Trek series were ranked 2 in TV Guide's list of the "25 Greatest Sci-Fi Legends"

Early drafts for the Harlan Ellison episode "City on the Edge of Forever" included a guest character, an Enterprise crew member who dealt in addictive drugs; it was this character who escaped into the past, via the Guardian of Forever. Gene Roddenberry asked him to change this element, on the grounds that no member of *his* crew would ever use or deal in illegal drugs. According to Ellison's account in the book "Harlan Ellison's the City on the Edge of Forever: The Original Teleplay That Became the Classic Star Trek Episode", for years after the series was cancelled, Roddenberry said that Ellison's original draft had been unusable because "he had Scotty dealing in interplanetary drugs" - although Mr. Scott does not even appear in that draft.

The episode "Requiem for Methuselah", in which Kirk's heart is broken by the death of an android woman with whom he has fallen in love, was first aired on Valentine's Day, 1969.

Scotty's full name is Montgomery Scott. The name was improvised on the spot by James Doohan and Gene Roddenberry: 'Scott' because Roddenberry liked Doohan's Scottish brogue, and 'Montgomery' because it's Doohan's middle name.

In the episode "Spectre of the Gun", Kirk, Spock, Scotty and Dr. McCoy are placed in the OK Corral as the Clanton gang, facing off against Wyatt Earp and his brothers. In the 1957 film Gunfight at the O.K. Corral DeForest Kelly played the part of Morgan Earp.

The legend that Gene Roddenberry was holding the sketch of the Enterprise he approved upside-down is untrue - he was far too involved in the design process to make such a mistake. This legend likely came to be because on the first run of the first TV Guide cover to feature Star Trek, the Enterprise was pictured upside down due to a confused cover editor.

Leonard Nimoy (Spock) is the only actor to appear in every episode of the series.

Leonard Nimoy and Majel Barrett are the only actors to appear in both the first ("The Cage") and last ("Turnabout Intruder") episodes of the series.

In "Catspaw", the alien voices of the revealed forms of Sylvia and Korob are actually the sounds made by newly-hatched alligators calling for their mother.

Continuity error: It takes a while for character names and back histories to settle during the first season and there are many inconsistencies.

Continuity error: In "The Enemy Within" Evil Kirk's phaser changes between cuts in the shoot-out in Engineering.

Continuity error: In "The Alternative Factor" Lazarus' goatee changes several times.

Audio/visual unsynchronized: In "Tholian Web" Chekov screams though his mouth does not move.

Revealing mistake: In "Return of the Archons" when Kirk's landing party are running from falling rocks, one of the rocks bounces off the head of a crewman.

Continuity error: In the episode "Journey to Babel" Gav (the Tellarite ambassador) is sitting at a table holding a drink which repeatedly switches hands between shots.

Continuity error: In "The Trouble With Tribbles" Chekov's drink repeatedly changes hands between shots.

Anachronism: "City on the Edge of Forever" is set in New York in 1930, but a shot of front of building shows a fallout shelter sign.

Factual error: The episode "The City On the Edge of Forever" makes several mentions of "the new Clark Gable movie". But, as this episode was set in 1930, not only did Clark Gable not make any movies that year, but he was not a prominent film star yet (his first lead role was in 1931's Sporting Blood).

Continuity error: The color of a phaser beam depends on the weapon's setting ("stun" or "kill") but the colors are inconsistent between episodes.

Revealing mistake: In "Charlie X", Charlie is being examined by Bones, but when we cut to a close-up on the display screen, we see a reflection of Charlie standing up staring at something off camera.

Revealing mistake: In "Catspaw", the skeleton next to McCoy in the dungeon has a seam on its skull where it had been sawn open. This seam is typical for medical skeletons.

Revealing mistake: In "Catspaw", when Sylvia and Korob appear in their "natural forms" at the end of the episodes, the wires animating the puppets are clearly visible.

Continuity error: The Star Trek Universe is inconsistent in its use of measurement standards. In "Obsession", Ensign Garrovick describes a gaseous creature as being "several cubic meters" in size, but his distance as "about twenty feet away". These discrepancies continue through all the Star Trek series and movies.

Continuity error: In "The Cage", the sound of The Keeper's voice constantly changes. This is because the video was put together from footage used in "The Menagerie" using Vic Perrine's voice, and 'rediscovered' footage with Malachi Throne's voice. Vic Perrine was used to dub the keeper in "The Menagerie" because Malachi Throne appeared in the episode in person as Commodore Mendez. Originally, the whole pilot episode used Malachi Throne's voice for the keeper.

Revealing mistake: In "Space Seed", when Kirk punches out the glass in Khan's stasis chamber, his elbow knocks the phaser out of his holster, which McCoy later discreetly pushes out of the way.

Crew or equipment visible: In "Where No Man Has Gone Before", when Kirk fires his phaser rifle at the the rock, the explosive device is partially visible.

Continuity error: In "Mudd''s Women", in the scene in which Leo Walsh/Harry Mudd and his "cargo" are under guard in the conference room and he is briefing the women on how to handle the impending interrogation, he calls one of them "Rose". The three women are named Magda Kovas (Susan Denberg), Eve McHuron (Karen Steele) and Ruth Bonaventure (Maggie Thrett). Furthermore, since his is fairly early in the first season and the back-stories are still a little inconsistent, the Enterprise engine power is focused through lithium instead of dilithium.

Continuity error: In the episode "Shore Leave", a World War II fighter plane appears and makes a strafing run at some of the crew members. As it approaches, it is an American P-51 Mustang. But in the close-up and the shot of it flying away, it is a Japanese fighter.

Factual error: End Credits, Season 1. For 13 episodes it lists the following: "SCPIPT SUPERVISOR: GEORGE A. RUTTER". The episodes are: 1. The Galileo Seven 2. The Squire of Gothos 3. Arena 4. The Alternate Factor 5. Tomorrow is Yesterday 6. Return of the Archons 7. A Taste of Armageddon 8. Space Seed 9. This Side of Paradise 10. Devil in the Dark 11. Errand of Mercy 12. City on the Edge of Forever 13. Operation: Annihilate!

Revealing mistake: In the episode "Obsession," Captain Kirk and Ensign Garrovick are fighting on the planet. When they are up against the rock wall, the entire rockface moves.

Crew or equipment visible: In "Assignment: Earth", a hand can be seen reaching over and adjusting the light display on Mr. Seven's computer.

Continuity error: The design of the Enterprise model is different in some exterior shots of the ship. Noticeable differences are that the engine nacelles have a differently designed rear and front. In some shots the front of the nacelle does not have the spinning light, it is just a brown circle. Also in the rear shots the back of the nacelle has many little holes whereas in other shots it is solid. The reason for this is some of the shots are stock footage used from the second Star Trek pilot "Where No Man has Gone Before". Since then the design of the ship had changed, however the stock shots were used many times in the actual series, hence the mistakes.

Audio/visual unsynchronized: In "Let That Be Your Last Battlefield" Lokai is scene in the conference room addressing four Enterprise crewmen. The two crewmen we hear speaking with him are Chekov and Sulu, yet when we see the four men, Chekov is not one of them.

Revealing mistake: In "Whom Gods Destroy" when Marta is attempting to stab Kirk, the camera shows a close-up of Captian Kirk holding back Marta's arm. If you look closely, you can see the green body make-up on Yvonne Craig starting to rub off on William Shatner's hands. In some scenes, you can also see that the make-up wasn't applied to the bottom of her feet.

Revealing mistake: In "Court Martial", "Space Seed", and several other episodes, it is very apparent in the fight scenes that these are stuntmen and not the principal actors.

Continuity error: In "Charlie X", when the captain of the Antares is trying to warn Kirk of Charlie's abilities, Kirk is in a corridor talking to Charlie about not slapping girls on the butt. He says, "I'm on my way to the bridge now," and gets on the turbolift wearing his usual yellow shirt. When he arrives on the bridge he is wearing the green tunic.

Continuity error: Throughout the Star Trek series, the name full name given for the character played by William Shatner was James Tiberius Kirk. However in the episode "Where No Man Has Gone Before" when Captain Kirk's long time friend Lt. Commander Gary Mitchell (played by Gary Lockwood) creates a burial plot for Kirk, the headstone reads: "James R. Kirk 1277.1-1818.7"

Continuity error: In "The Corbumite Maneuver," Sulu hears Kyle say they now have one minute, then looks up toward the screen and then back down toward his console. He is responding to a line of dialogue from the alien Balok ("You now have one minute!"), voiced by the late Ted Cassidy, that was never recorded.

Audio/visual unsynchronized: In "By Any Other Name" when Spock is playing 3D Chess with the Kelvan leader, Spock says, "Captain Kirk finds her attractive," but a close up shot of Spock shows that his lips do not move.

Revealing mistake: In "Mirror, Mirror", poorly-placed camera angles reveal the fight sequence choreography between Kirk and the "mirror" Spock. On more than one occasion, very noticeable gaps are visible as they fight.

Continuity error: In "Wolf In the Fold", Scotty's hand shifts position between shots as he is on the witness stand. More, the close-up of Scotty's hand was that of another actor. This was done to conceal the fact that James Doohan's right middle finger was missing, the result of his participation in 1944's Invasion of Normandy.

Crew or equipment visible: In "Space Seed", as Khan hides behind a wall in engineering just before Kirk enters, someone walks in front of a stage light and the shadow of his head passes across the floor.

Continuity error: In "A Private Little War". the ape-like creature is referred to throughout as a "Mugato". However, in the closing credits, actor/stuntman Janos Prohaska (who played the creature) is credited as "The Gumato".

Continuity error: In the episode "City on the Edge of Forever", six Enterprise crewmen beam down to the planet to find Dr. McCoy. When he is recovered and they beam back up at the end of the episode, all seven beam up, despite the transporter being limited to 6 at a time.

From mid-1998 to early 1999, the Sci-Fi Channel aired Star Trek in a 90 minute weeknight slot as a special edition, airing every episode produced in their original order, complete with footage that hadn't been seen since NBC originally aired the show. It also contained commentary on each episode by members of the cast and crew. The first run through the Special Edition was hosted by William Shatner. Leonard Nimoy took over as host for the second run, but the Special Edition was taken off the air in the middle of this run. As of May 2000, the Sci-Fi Channel still airs Star Trek on weekdays and Sunday mornings in the cut down hour long syndicated format.

The episode "The City on the Edge of Forever" features background music on the VHS and laser release that's different than the broadcast version.

A one-hour retrospective on Star Trek featuring Leonard Nimoy was produced in 1983 prior to production of Star Trek III. This videotaped special is often syndicated and shown in Canada as the 80th episode of Star Trek. The original pilot, "The Cage," is sometimes syndicated with the series.

Footage from the episodes "The Trouble with Tribbles" and "Mirror, Mirror" was used in a special episode of Star Trek: Deep Space Nine in the late 1990s entitled "Trials and Tribble-ations," which featured the stars of Star Trek: Deep Space Nine digitally inserted into the original footage.

In Germany some episodes were cut or rearranged during the dubbing process (for example in the episode "Amok Time" the dialogue was changed to Spock having a disease). The episode "Patterns of Force" has never been shown on TV due to the Nazi-thematic. It was only released in the late 90s on VHS.

The second pilot of the series, "Where No Man Has Gone Before" was originally cut a bit differently than the version that exists on VHS and DVD. In the original cut, there is an opening narration by Captain Kirk stating: "Enterprise Log: Captain James Kirk commanding. We are leaving that vast cloud of stars and planets which we call our galaxy. Behind us: Earth, Mars, Venus, even our sun are specks of dust. A question: what is out there in the black void beyond? Until now our mission has been that of space law regulation, contact with Earth colonies and investigation of alien life. But now, a new task; a probe out into where no man has gone before." followed by the words Star Trek appearing on screen. They fade away and are replaced by "STARRING WILLIAM SHATNER." The episode then moves into act one, with the words "STAR TREK ACT I" appearing on screen. The episode then proceeds as normal until Scotty says "It's begun transmitting, sir." at which point, the words "TONIGHT'S EPISODE 'WHERE NO MAN HAS GONE BEFORE'" appear. After which, there is an extended pan of the Enterprise hallways with the titles "CO-STARRING LENOARD NIMOY AS MR. SPOCK" appearing and fading away, followed by "GUEST STARS GARY LOCKWOOD AND SALLY KELLERMAN." Over this scene, the red alert klaxon blares and Lieutenant Kelso repeatedly saying "Bridge to all decks. Condition: alert!" We also see Gary Mitchell walking around the corridors as well until finally cutting to Kirk and Spock entering the turbolift, at which point the episode continues as normal. Additionally, the end credits were much different in this original cut. Instead of the normal Star Trek theme playing, a different piece is used and the credits only credit the supporting characters; none of whom are referenced by name. (For example: PAUL FIX AS: SHIP'S DOCTOR, GEORGE TAKEI AS: CHIEF PHYSICIST, JAMES DOOHAN AS: ENGINEERING CHIEF, etc.)