10. William Shatner and Leonard Nimoy Have Albums

One of the Big Merchandise Moves When You Had a Popular Television Series Was to Get Your Lead Actors to Record an Album or at Least a Single. Well, We Would Be Remiss If We Didn’t Present The…Uh, Performances of Captain Kirk and Mr. Spock in Their Real Personas. First up Is Shatner, Taking on Elton John’s “Rocket Man” in His Own Unique Style.

9. Martin Luther King, Jr. ’S Influence on Star Trek

As Lt. Uhura, Nichelle Nichols Was One of the First Black Actors to Be Featured in a Prominent Role on a Television Series, but Behind-the-Scenes She Dreamed of Performing on Broadway and Was Ready to Quit Star Trek Following Its First Season.

8. Following Star Trek, William Shatner Was Broke

You Would Think Coming off of a Three-Year Run of a Tv Show — and One That Was Quickly Shattering Records in Reruns — an Actor Would Be Pretty Well Off. Not So in the Case of Captain James T. Kirk Himself, William Shatner. Follow-up Work Was Hard to Come by Due to Typecasting, and He Had Just Come out of a Divorce That Left Him in a Precarious Financial Position.

7. Star Trek Ruined and Then Saved James Doohan’s Career

As It Was for Everyone Cast on the Show, Typecasting Was a Real Problem and Nearly Destroyed James Doohan’s Career. “I Did a Movie Called Man in the Wilderness in Spain with Richard Harris in 1971, ” Doohan Told Sci-Fi-Online. Com. “When I Came Back, I Would Go to Producers’ Offices to Read for Parts and the Secretaries Would Say, ‘Oh, Hi, Scotty’ and Everything Else. Then the Producers Would Say ‘I’m Sorry, but We Don’t Have a Part for a Scotsman. ’ I Only Did a Scottish Accent Once Before Star Trek, and That Included 450 Live Television Shows and 4,000 Radio Shows. but by 1971 I Had Been Typecast and Was Flat Broke. ”

6. All of the Great William Shatner Impersonations Start Here

Impersonating William Shatner’s Particular Way of Speaking, Especially the Way He Did So During the Original Star Trek, Has Become a Way of Life for Many People, but the Man Who First Mastered the Shat Is Comedian Kevin Pollack, Who You May Recognize These Days as Moishe Maisel on Amazon’s the Marvelous Mrs. Maisel.

5. Star Trek Owes Its Existence to Lucille Ball

In the Aftermath of Her Divorce from Desi Arnaz, Lucille Ball Acquired Their Desilu Studios, and She Is the One Who Gave Gene Roddenberry’s Seemingly Crazy Idea for Star Trek the Greenlight for Production.

4. Chekov Was Added Because of the Monkees

One Behind-the-Scenes Story That Gene Roddenberry Liked to Tell Was That the Former Soviet Union’s Newspaper Pravda Took Star Trek to Task for Not Including a Russian Crewmember, So in Response He Created Anton Chekov, to Be Played by Walter Koenig.

3. Leonard Nimoy Held Star Trek “Hostage” When It Came to the Motion Picture

Star Trek: the Motion Picture Was Released to Theatres in 1979, 10 Year's After the Original Series Ended Its Run, and the Entire Cast Had Been Rehired … with the Exception of Leonard Nimoy. He Simply Refused to Do It, Based on the Fact That Paramount Was Using His Likeness on Merchandise and Advertising (Including Billboards) Without Any Sort of Compensation. the Film’s Director, Robert Wise, Was Told by His Daughter, “With No Spock, There Can Be No Star Trek. ”

2. Jesus Could Have Fought Captain Kirk

In 1975 While He Was Trying to Get a Star Trek Movie off the Ground, Roddenberry Wrote a Treatment for a Project Titled the God Thing. It Didn’t Go Forward, but Year's After Roddenberry’s Death in 1991, Author Michael Jan Friedman Was Given the Treatment to Expand and Turn into a Novelization.

1. William Shatner Was Jealous of Spock’s Popularity

It Wasn’t Long After Star Trek’s Debut That the Character of Mr. Spock Began Attracting the Attention of Fans Watching the Show and the Media at Large, and the Man Playing Captain Kirk Wasn’t Having Any of It.

'Star Trek' Behind-the-Scenes: 10 Funny and Moving Secrets

By Alexander Ross

• Oct 9, 2026 • 10 min read

'Star Trek' Behind-the-Scenes: 10 Funny and Moving Secrets

Direct Answer • Key Takeaway

Whether You’re a Trekkie, Trekker, Casual Viewer or Just Confused About It All, It’s Undeniable That Star Trek Has Repeatedly Proven Itself to Be Nothing Short of Phenomenal. and That It Elevated the Star Trek Cast — William Shatner and the Late Leonard Nimoy Among Them — to Superstar Status as Well as Spawned No Less Than 10 Spin-off Series and 13 Feature Films and Countless Star Trek Behind-the-Scenes Books. Not Bad for a Show That Limped Its Way Through Three Seasons from 1966 to 1969 and Only Took off Year's Later in Reruns.

Alexander Ross

Gaming, Esports & Interactive Media Writer

Alexander Ross has covered the video game industry for a decade, writing deep dives on game design, esports tournaments, VR developments, and gaming culture.

Tags: star trek behind the scenes