Did You Know That...?

Did you know that...?

• James T. Kirk was originally going to be called Robert M. April according
  to the first outline of the show.
• The original conception of Mr. Spock was someone of a heavy lidden an satanic
  visage with a red complexion.
• The cost of the first pilot was $630,000, unheard of at the time of television.
• The original variety review of 14/09/1966 panned the network debut episode
  describing William Shatner as "wooden and uncertain about his function",
  and Leonard Nimnoy's bizarre hairdo as "a dilly".
• Walter Koenig's (Chekov) accent was easy to come by as both his parents
  were born in Lithuania.
• There are around 600 Star Trek fan clubs around the world boasting approx.
  100,000 members with around 500 Trekker conventions held anually.
• The Original Series broke television barrieres by casting a multi-racial
  crew with Sulu (Asian), Uhura (black), Chekov (Russian), Spock (half Vulcan
  / half Human), and Scotty (Scottish). Whoopi Goldberg (Guinan on TNG) Was
  inspired by Roddenberry's multi-racial casting nothing that "...I had
  a place in the future."
• Star Trek VI sees Michael Dorn (Worf on TNG) playing his own granfather
  as a lawyer in the Klingon court.
• Some of the most valuable Star Trek paraphernalia are water pistols and
  lunch boxes made in the 1960's and worth up to several hundred dollars apiece.
• The soundtrack for the various Star Trek incarnations are strong sellers
  - even a sound effects CD!.
• There is a model of the Starship Enterprise on display at the Smithsonian
  Institution's National Museum of American History.
• Star Trek The Next Generation has earned 14 Emmy Awards to date.
• Majel Barret (Mrs Roddenberry), Nurse Chapel on The Original Series also
  plays Lwaxana Troi (Deanna's mother) on The Next Generation.
• Ethan Phillips (Neelix on Voyager) also plays the Ferengi Farek on the TNG
  episode "Menage a Troi".
• The first appearance of a Klingon battle cruiser was in the original episode
  "Elaan of Troyius".
• Over 10 million Star Trek videos have been sold.
• Collectively, Star Trek has generated close to $2 billion in revenue.
• Star Trek is seen in more than 100 countries and has been translated into
  dozens of languages.
• Every month, a classic Star Trek or Star Trek: The Next Generation novel
  is published by Pocket Books.
• More than 63 million Star Trek books are in print and have been translated
  into more than 15 languages including Chinese, Norwegian, Hungarian, and Hebrew.
• "Trekkies," now called "Trekkers," are the only fans
  listed by name in the Oxford English Dictionary.
• Star Trek conventions are held every weekend of every year in at least four
  different U.S. cities, annually attracting more than 300,000 U.S. fans and
  an estimated one million fans worldwide.
• The first U.S. Space Shuttle, the "Enterprise," was given its
  name after NASA received 400,000 requests from Star Trek fans.
• A 1993 study from Purdue University found that children learn more about
  science from Star Trek than from any other source.