# Star Trek Production Trivia - Much of it new to me **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [October 23, 2012, 5:24pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/star-trek-production-trivia-much-of-it-new-to-me/638638 "2012-10-23T17:24:15Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![aceplace57](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/aceplace57/32/3500_2.png) [@aceplace57](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/aceplace57)\ **Post date:** [October 23, 2012, 5:24pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/star-trek-production-trivia-much-of-it-new-to-me/638638/1 "2012-10-23T17:24:15Z")
[Star Trek Production Trivia.](http://thechive.com/2012/10/23/star-trek-trivia-boldly-goes-where-no-trivia-has-gone-before-20-photos/) The Borg lights and James Doohan’s scret surprised me. GNDN made me laugh. Lots of good production trivia here. ---
**Author:** ![mlees](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/ba8739/32.png) [@mlees](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/mlees)\ **Post date:** [October 23, 2012, 6:09pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/star-trek-production-trivia-much-of-it-new-to-me/638638/2 "2012-10-23T18:09:08Z")
Your link is not working for me. ---
**Author:** ![aceplace57](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/aceplace57/32/3500_2.png) [@aceplace57](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/aceplace57)\ **Post date:** [October 23, 2012, 6:17pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/star-trek-production-trivia-much-of-it-new-to-me/638638/3 "2012-10-23T18:17:19Z")
Works fine for me. You can also visit [http://thechive.com/](http://thechive.com/) for a list of articles. Star Trek is on the first page today. > **[Movies – theCHIVE](https://thechive.com/category/entertainment/movies/)** > > Movie Facts - Find the best movie scenes, facts & theories. Click to browse fun facts about your favorite movies. Potential Spoiler Zone but Keep Calm and Chive On! ---
**Author:** ![John\_DiFool](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/john_difool/32/19543_2.png) [@John\_DiFool](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/John_DiFool)\ **Post date:** [October 23, 2012, 6:45pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/star-trek-production-trivia-much-of-it-new-to-me/638638/4 "2012-10-23T18:45:15Z")
The James Doohan and the Missing Fingers thing really bugs me. I mean, Scotty is an engineer, right? Why would we find it utterly shocking to the core to find out that he lost a couple of digits to a warp plasma phase inverting coupler (or whatever)? That could be easily worked into a scene where someone notices and asks Scotty about it, and he responds, “Well, lad, it’s a long story…” ---
**Author:** ![Ephemera](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/8baadc/32.png) [@Ephemera](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ephemera)\ **Post date:** [October 23, 2012, 6:47pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/star-trek-production-trivia-much-of-it-new-to-me/638638/5 "2012-10-23T18:47:35Z")
It wasn’t done by the directors or producers. James Doohan was self conscious about it. ---
**Author:** ![silenus](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/silenus/32/166_2.png) [@silenus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/silenus)\ **Post date:** [October 23, 2012, 7:06pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/star-trek-production-trivia-much-of-it-new-to-me/638638/6 "2012-10-23T19:06:40Z")
The man was part of the greatest amphibious assault in history and he’s self-conscious about it? People is weird. ---
**Author:** ![evildmguy](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/6de8d8/32.png) [@evildmguy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/evildmguy)\ **Post date:** [October 23, 2012, 7:21pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/star-trek-production-trivia-much-of-it-new-to-me/638638/7 "2012-10-23T19:21:27Z")
At least one thing is correct but the implication is wrong. TOS transporter effects were made via gold glitter in water. However, TNG and beyond transporter effects were made via an (Amiga) Video Toaster card, iirc. It’s the same thing that was used for Bab5. [http://www.pcmuseum.ca/details.asp?id=27](http://www.pcmuseum.ca/details.asp?id=27) [Video Toaster - Wikipedia](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Video_Toaster) - Hm. That says it came out in 90, obviously later than TNG. [CGI | Memory Alpha | Fandom](http://en.memory-alpha.org/wiki/CGI) - that link says they started using the stand alone Video Toaster but for Voyager, not TNG. So, maybe I was wrong and TNG used an ILM created effect put on top for the transporter? or they used silver in water and something else? Nope. Best I can tell, they didn’t use a lot of CGI for TNG but models or other F/X done the older way. It wasn’t until '93 that CGI did a lot more. edg ---
**Author:** ![Voyager](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/voyager/32/133_2.png) [@Voyager](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Voyager)\ **Post date:** [October 23, 2012, 7:30pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/star-trek-production-trivia-much-of-it-new-to-me/638638/8 "2012-10-23T19:30:07Z")
> [@aceplace57](#): > > [Star Trek Production Trivia.](http://thechive.com/2012/10/23/star-trek-trivia-boldly-goes-where-no-trivia-has-gone-before-20-photos/) > > The Borg lights and James Doohan’s scret surprised me. GNDN made me laugh. > > Lots of good production trivia here. Be aware that some of the stuff on the side is somewhat NSFW. Not enough to block, but enough scantily clad women to maybe cause a problem for some. The ST stuff is great. ---
**Author:** ![gonzoron](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/a6a055/32.png) [@gonzoron](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/gonzoron)\ **Post date:** [October 23, 2012, 7:31pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/star-trek-production-trivia-much-of-it-new-to-me/638638/9 "2012-10-23T19:31:17Z")
The one about Worf’s head strikes me as odd. I’m pretty sure those things are single-use. you wouldn’t use the same one for a whole season. Maybe the _mold_ to make them was stolen? ---
**Author:** ![Ethilrist](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/ethilrist/32/4604_2.png) [@Ethilrist](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ethilrist)\ **Post date:** [October 23, 2012, 7:57pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/star-trek-production-trivia-much-of-it-new-to-me/638638/10 "2012-10-23T19:57:38Z")
> [@silenus](#): > > The man was part of the greatest amphibious assault in history and he’s self-conscious about it? > > People is weird. It could have cost him work. ---
**Author:** ![aceplace57](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/aceplace57/32/3500_2.png) [@aceplace57](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/aceplace57)\ **Post date:** [October 23, 2012, 8:36pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/star-trek-production-trivia-much-of-it-new-to-me/638638/11 "2012-10-23T20:36:17Z")
Somebody that knows Morse code needs to check out the Borg flashing lights and see what names were used. The article said it was production crew names. I wonder if that was only TNG or did they do it in the Trek movie and Voyager too? The Chippendale dancers in Wrath of Khan made me laugh. ---
**Author:** ![John\_DiFool](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/john_difool/32/19543_2.png) [@John\_DiFool](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/John_DiFool)\ **Post date:** [October 24, 2012, 1:53am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/star-trek-production-trivia-much-of-it-new-to-me/638638/12 "2012-10-24T01:53:33Z")
> [@Ethilrist](#): > > It could have cost him work. That’s the most unintentionally ironic thing I’ve read on the board this month (given that it is election season, that’s saying something). ---
**Author:** ![cochrane](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/cochrane/32/10441_2.png) [@cochrane](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/cochrane)\ **Post date:** [October 24, 2012, 2:08am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/star-trek-production-trivia-much-of-it-new-to-me/638638/13 "2012-10-24T02:08:30Z")
I love how the producers tried to stiff Wil Wheaton when the actors lobbied for a salary increase. “We’ll promote Wesley to lieutenant.” “Great. What should I tell my landlord, ‘Don’t worry, I made lieutenant’?” ---
**Author:** ![kenobi\_65](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/kenobi_65/32/13178_2.png) [@kenobi\_65](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/kenobi_65)\ **Post date:** [October 24, 2012, 2:48am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/star-trek-production-trivia-much-of-it-new-to-me/638638/14 "2012-10-24T02:48:42Z")
I became friends with a gentleman named [Al Smutko](http://www.imdb.com/name/nm0810737/), who worked on TNG and Voyager as construction co-ordinator (head of the setbuilding team). (I was one of the founders of the “[Al Smutko Fan Club](http://www.imdb.com/name/nm0810737/bio#trivia)” mentioned in his IMDB profile.) Al took my wife and me on a tour of the Voyager set in '96. When we were on the Engineering set, he noted that the warp cores for the movie Enterprise, the Enterprise-D, and the Voyager, were all built in the exact same place, on the same set – when they built the set for ST:TMP, they dug a hole in the floor of the soundstage, to create the appearance that the warp core extended well below the main “floor” of engineering. Every succeeding engineering set used that same hole in the floor for the same purpose. ---
**Author:** ![Peter\_Morris](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/peter_morris/32/359_2.png) [@Peter\_Morris](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Peter_Morris)\ **Post date:** [October 24, 2012, 4:39am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/star-trek-production-trivia-much-of-it-new-to-me/638638/15 "2012-10-24T04:39:34Z")
> [@aceplace57](#): > > … James Doohan’s scret surprised me. Similarly, Gary Burghoff, (Radar from M_A_S\*H) has a [withered hand](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gary_Burghoff#Dysmelia). And Matthew Perry is missing a fingertip. ---
**Author:** ![Hail\_Ants](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/h/dc4da7/32.png) [@Hail\_Ants](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Hail_Ants)\ **Post date:** [October 24, 2012, 6:00am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/star-trek-production-trivia-much-of-it-new-to-me/638638/16 "2012-10-24T06:00:23Z")
> [@aceplace57](#): > > The Chippendale dancers in Wrath of Khan made me laugh. Fanboys love to point out that they were all also the wrong age. They were too young to be Khan’s comrades from the 20th century, but too old to be their grown up children. Also the James Horner one, I thought he was in an earlier scene right at the beginning of ST:II when Kirk leaves the Kobiashi-Maru simulator he was the extra with the ‘futuristic’ backpack vacuum cleaner. Pretty sure this was on the DVD commentary. Also, the Ferengi were supposed to be TNG’s main villain (being that peace had been made with the Klingons). The fans’ reaction to their appearance & behavior however resulted in them being more comic relief instead (and lead to the creation of the much more menacing enemy The Borg!) I also don’t really believe the ‘Worf’s stolen headpiece’ story. It was more likely replaced in the second season simply because the first season one _ **looked awful** _ (it was probably stolen & deliberately smashed by one of the show’s F/X guys!) ---
**Author:** ![Miller](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/miller/32/481_2.png) [@Miller](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Miller)\ **Post date:** [October 24, 2012, 9:28am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/star-trek-production-trivia-much-of-it-new-to-me/638638/17 "2012-10-24T09:28:07Z")
> [@gonzoron](#): > > The one about Worf’s head strikes me as odd. I’m pretty sure those things are single-use. you wouldn’t use the same one for a whole season. Maybe the _mold_ to make them was stolen? What makes you think that? Hell, the cheap ass ones they sell in the Halloween stores are reusable. Why would professional grade latex prosthesis be less durable? ---
**Author:** ![WotNot](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/e19b73/32.png) [@WotNot](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/WotNot)\ **Post date:** [October 24, 2012, 9:49am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/star-trek-production-trivia-much-of-it-new-to-me/638638/18 "2012-10-24T09:49:35Z")
> [@Miller](#): > > What makes you think that? Hell, the cheap ass ones they sell in the Halloween stores are reusable. Why would professional grade latex prosthesis be less durable? Because that’s how they’re made – very thin, so as to be flexible and look natural on camera, particularly around the edges where they’re glued to the performer’s face. They’re also glued firmly so they don’t come off easily, and often layered with other latex pieces and then makeup applied on top. There’s usually no way to remove them without tearing them. ---
**Author:** ![The\_Other\_Waldo\_Pepper](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/the_other_waldo_pepper/32/12370_2.png) [@The\_Other\_Waldo\_Pepper](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/The_Other_Waldo_Pepper)\ **Post date:** [October 24, 2012, 11:44am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/star-trek-production-trivia-much-of-it-new-to-me/638638/19 "2012-10-24T11:44:32Z")
> [@John\_DiFool](#): > > Scotty is an engineer, right? Why would we find it utterly shocking to the core to find out that he lost a couple of digits to a warp plasma phase inverting coupler (or whatever)? That could be easily worked into a scene where someone notices and asks Scotty about it, and he responds, “Well, lad, it’s a long story…” Now imagine him playing that scene right after Doctor McCoy grows someone a replacement kidney. ---
**Author:** ![Sister\_Vigilante](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/9de0a6/32.png) [@Sister\_Vigilante](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sister_Vigilante)\ **Post date:** [October 24, 2012, 4:20pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/star-trek-production-trivia-much-of-it-new-to-me/638638/20 "2012-10-24T16:20:54Z")
> [@Miller](#): > > What makes you think that? Hell, the cheap ass ones they sell in the Halloween stores are reusable. Why would professional grade latex prosthesis be less durable? Spock’s ears were recreated from scratch for every episode too. And from what I read, painful to wear. [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/star-trek-production-trivia-much-of-it-new-to-me/638638.md?page=2)