From Newsgroup: alt.tv.star-trek.tos
From Address: graemecree{at}aol.com
Subject: The alt.tv.star-trek.tos FAQ

It's been a while since we've re-posted the FAQ, so...
http://graeme.50webs.com/trek/tosfaq/index.htm
THE ALT.TV.STAR-TREK.TOS FAQ 
Reposted for those who are new here. 
Sections I-IV originally written by ConnMoore (connmoore {at}aol.com), used
with his permission, and revised by Graeme Cree. Sections V-VI by Graeme
Cree. 
Does anyone have any suggestions? Something you'd like to add or modify,
respond in the newsgroup please!  
FAQ
 Welcome to alt.tv.star-trek.tos. This document is here to answer some of
the most basic questions about this newsgroup. 
 
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I. INTRODUCTION
 
 1. WHAT IS STAR TREK?
 For those among us living in a cave the last 40+ years, Star Trek was a
television science fiction show that aired on NBC television for three
seasons, from 1966, until 1969, and which chronicled the adventures of the
Starship Enterprise, a paramilitary exploration vessel sent out by an
organization known as Starfleet Command to explore strange new worlds on
behalf of the United Federation of Planets. It has become, in the
interceding years, a global phenomenon, with sequels and prequels made of
the original show. There are now Star Trek books, movies, comics, cartoons,
games, etc. and they all spawned from the original television series. 
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 2. WHAT DOES THIS NEWSGROUP DISCUSS?
 This newsgroup is devoted to discussion of all things regarding the
*original* Star Trek NBC series (known by the abbreviation
"TOS"). Because Star Trek has ingrained itself in so many areas
of entertainment and culture, those discussions can be far afield, so
almost everything is on topic here, since almost everything can be
connected to Star Trek. A reference to the relevance to Star Trek is
usually appreciated in all subjects discussed here. This group is not a
moderated one. 
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 3. CAN I BE INVOLVED IN THE DISCUSSION?
 Of course! Star Trek is nothing if not inclusive. You might want to read a
few posts, and learn the nuances of this group, but you are more than
welcome to jump right in. Be aware that many of the people that post here
are very broad in their knowledge of all things Trek. If you are going to
disagree with someone, be prepared to back it up with facts and references
to the show. If you have a specific question, you may be able to see if it
has been answered before, by going to http://www.google.com, and searching
for previous posts containing key words of your question. 
 
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II. TREK SLANGUAGE
 
 4. THAT'S ALL WELL AND GOOD, BUT I SEE ALL THESE STAR TREK RELATED WORDS
AND ACRONYMS BEING THROWN ABOUT. WHAT DO THEY MEAN?
 As with any culture, Star Trek has created a bit of its own language. Here
are some of the phrases that are part of the world of Star Trek. 
B&B: B&B: Everywhere else, this stands for "Bed &
Breakfast". Here, it refers to the last initials of the two men, Rick
Berman and Brannon Braga, that were in charge of the Star Trek franchise
from Gene Roddenberry's death, through the end of Enterprises' run.
Sometimes not held in high esteem by fans of TOS, because of perceived lack
of respect for that show, but they take heat from fans of all the shows. 
CANON: Short dictionary definition of Canon: "A body of works or
writings recognized as approved or official." In Star Trek
"Canon" is a word thrown about to indicate absolute truths about
what happened on the show. Thus, what constitutes canon is the actual
content of the episodes of the various Star Trek television shows and
theatrical features. For obvious reasons, this excludes fanfic. It also
excludes the novels, technical manuals, and other products such as the
comic books from Gold Key, Marvel, and DC, despite the fact that these are
"officially licensed" products. In addition, the half-hour
animated television series featuring the voices of most of the cast of Star
Trek (TAS) is generally excluded from canon as well, possibly because it
was produced by Filmation, rather than Paramount, though no official reason
has been given. Interpretations of Canon create a lot of the discussions in
alt.tv.star-trek.tos. 
CLASSIC TREK: Another name for The Original Series, which was used in the
late 80's, after the premier of The Next Generation, when the "New
Coke" fiasco was fresh in everyone's mind, the idea being that The
Next Generation was to New Coke what The Original Series was to Coca-Cola
Classic. A few wits went so far as to apply the nickname "Diet
Trek" to the Animated Series. With the advent of the internet, the
name "Classic Trek" gradually gave way to the easier-to-type
"TOS". Nowadays, the term "Classic Trek" can be taken
to loosely refer to the entire onscreen adventures of the original crew,
namely the original Series, the Animated Series, and the first 6 Star Trek
movies. 
DS9: Abbreviation for the fourth Star Trek series, Star Trek: Deep Space
Nine, which appeared as a syndicated show from 1993 to 1999. This was the
first show to not feature the starship Enterprise, as it was set aboard a
stationary space station. Its only connection to The Original Series is an
occasional reference to that show. This show takes place at roughly the
same time period as TNG, roughly 80 years after TOS. 
ENTERPRISE (Ship): Name of the ship (Registry Number NCC-1701) that is used
throughout the run of The Original Series. This ship was finally destroyed
in the motion picture, Star Trek III: The Search for Spock. 
ENTERPRISE A: (Ship) Ship introduced at the very end of Star Trek IV and
used during the next two TOS movies. 
ENTERPRISE (Show): The sixth and most recent show in the Star Trek
franchise. Enterprise was the first 'Star Trek' franchise series to be set
prior to the events of TOS (approximiately 100 years earlier). Show debuted
on The Paramount Network in 2001, and ran for four seasons, ending in 2005.
The only connection to the Original Series was the use of the name
Enterprise and some of the alien species and planets first mentioned in The
Original Series, though such references frequently contradicted previously
established facts. 
FANFIC: Short for Fan Fiction. Unlicensed writings about TOS characters by
fans of the show. 
REDSHIRTS: Security Guards that appear on the show, usually only long
enough to die a grisly death. They are named this because of the color of
their shirts. (Duh) 
RETCON: "Retroactive Continuity". A process where things that
were considered true in an early episode are changed in later episodes,
sometimes deliberately, sometimes accidentally. In many cases, the last
word is considered, the authoritative one, though this is sometimes highly
debatable. Also, not all changed concepts are necessarily mutually
exclusive. For example, if Captain Kirk has one middle initial in the
pilot, but a different middle initial is used every other time such is
referenced, this could be considered a change, or it could just be that
he's got two middle initials. 
SLASH: A term used by writers of fanfic to indicate a pairing of two or
more Star Trek characters. The term comes from the "slash" used
between the characters in the writing. Such as, Spock/Chapel, which would
be fan fiction that would have a Spock and Christine Chapel relation in it.
Slash fiction can take many forms, homosexual; heterosexual and multi
species pairings are not uncommon. There are four other newsgroups,
alt.tv.star-trek.tos.slash, alt.sex.fetish.startrek,
alt.startrek.creative.erotica, and alt.startrek.creative.erotica.moderated,
specially devoted to discussions of this nature. 
K/S: A particular type of slash fan fiction devoted to theorizing a
homosexual relation Kirk and Spock. This particular genre of fanfic has
been the subject of a long-term trolling attack on this newsgroup that has
stretched over several years. The topic is, strictly speaking, off topic
here, and belongs rather in one of the four newsgroups mentioned above. 
TAS: Abbreviation for The Animated Series, which ran for two seasons in
1973 and 1974. This was the first sequel to TOS. No longer considered Canon
by the powers at Paramount, but it did have Gene Roddenberry's approval,
and direct participation, and had many of the Original Series actors and
writers working on it. 
TMP: Abbreviation for Star Trek: The Motion Picture, the first Star Trek movie. 
TNG: Abbreviation for Star Trek: The Next Generation, the 3rd Star Trek
series, and the second sequel to the original. This show appeared in
syndication for 1987 until 1994. This show takes place approximately 80
years after The Original Series, and had an all-new cast, with only very
rare appearances by cast members from TOS 
TOS: Acronym for "Star Trek", the original series, that ran from
1966 until 1969 on NBC television. This show (along with TAS) is the
primary focus of this group, and is by far the best of any Star Trek
series. :) All other Star Trek shows are pale imitations of this, the
original and the most entertaining. 
TPTB: Abbreviation for "The Powers That Be". Usually used in a
derisive tone when you are PO'ed about something that the creators of the
show have done. 
TIIC: Acronym for "The Idiots In Charge". A more derisive term for TPTB. 
VOYAGER (Show): Name of the ship and series featured in the fifth Star Trek
series, Star Trek: Voyager, which appeared on The Paramount Network, from
1995 until 2001. Set in the same time frame as The Next Generation, about
80-90 years after the events of TOS, this show has only passing references
to The Original Series. 
 
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III. GENERAL USENET ABBREVIATIONS
 
 5. WHAT DO SOME OF THESE OTHER NON-TREK RELATED ABBREVIATIONS AND ACRONYMS MEAN?
 Here are some basic Newsgroup words and acronyms you might see bandied about... 
AFAIK: As Far As I Know 
alt (or) alt.: Usually seen with a dot after it, as "alt."
(pronounced: alt-dot) this refers to a large variety of newsgroups that
discuss "alternative" topics. 
CROSSPOST: To post a message to several newsgroups simultaneously - an
action usually frowned on in Internet culture. 
FAQ: Frequently Asked Questions: (pronounced: fak (or) F-A-Q)A list of
recurring questions and answers related to a newsgroup, software, Web site,
or whatever. FAQ lists prevent newsgroup discussions from being overrun by
common user questions. 
FLAME: To send nasty or insulting messages, usually in response to
someone's having broken the rules of netiquette. 
FLAME WAR: When an online discussion degenerates into a series of personal
attacks against the debaters, rather than discussion of their positions. A
heated exchange. 
FWIW: For What It's Worth 
FYI: For Your Information 
GOOGLE: A search engine for searching internet sites, including Usenet. It
can be found at http://www.google.com 
HTH: Hope This (or That) Helps. 
IMHO: In My Humble Opinion. 
IIRC: If I Remember Correctly 
IMNSHO: In My Not So Humble Opinion 
IMO: In My Opinion 
J/K: Just Kidding! 
KILLFILE: Another word for message filtering. There are settings in your
usenet software that let you filter out USENET postings to some extent, by
excluding messages on certain topics or from certain people. 
LOL: Laughing Out Loud -or- Lots of Luck (or Love) 
LURK: To read messages in a newsgroup or chat area without ever posting. 
LURKER: A visitor to a newsgroup or online service who only reads other
people posts but never posts his or her own messages, thus remaining
anonymous. 
NETIQUETTE: The informal rules of etiquette that govern online interaction
on the Internet. 
NEWBIE: Somebody new to the Internet or to computers in general. 
NEWSGROUPS: A part of the Internet which allows users to "post"
and "reply to" messages from other users. 
OT: Off Topic. When starting a thread that is off the topic of TOS, it is
generally considered good Netiquette to begin the thread's title with
"OT: ", to identify it as such. 
PLONK: A shorthand way of saying "I am placing you in my killfile, so
don't bother talking to me any more because I won't hear it." Legend
has it that the word Plonk is an acronym for "Please Leave Our
Newsgroup: Killfiled". Yeah, whatever. As a word of warning, don't
tell someone you're plonking them unless you really intend to follow
through. It frequently happens that someone says they're plonking someone,
but can't resist continuing to read their messages to see their reaction.
If this person gets caught responding to the plonked person's messages a
week later, they may never hear the end of it. 
POV: Point of View. 
ROTFL: Rolling On The Floor Laughing. 
ROTFLMAO: Rolling on the Floor laughing my a$$ off. 
SHOUTING: Chatters and Usenet posters will often tell others to "stop
shouting." It's another way of saying, "TURN OFF YOUR CAPS
LOCK!" Generally speaking, chatting, posting, and sending e-mail in
all uppercase is considered rude. 
TROLL: The act of posting a message in a newsgroup that is obviously
exaggerating something on a particular topic, hoping to trick a newbie into
posting a follow-up article that points out the mistake. A
"Troll" is a person that spends all their time trying to disrupt
the normal discussion of a particular newsgroup to bring attention onto
themselves. As with all newsgroups, alt.tv.star-trek.tos has its share of
Trolls, and you will quickly learn who they are. Watch and see who seems to
be causing most of the problems in the newsgroup, and be prepared to use
your killfile. Do not let Trolls disrupt your enjoyment of the Star Trek
newsgroup experience. 
USENET: Often referred to as just the "newsgroups", USENET is a
distributed bulletin board system. 
 
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IV. THE MAIN PEOPLE BEHIND STAR TREK
 
 6. WHO ARE SOME OF THE MAIN CHARACTERS IN THE SHOW?
 
CAPTAIN KIRK, (James T. R. Kirk): Captain of The Enterprise during the
entire run of The Original Series. Played by William Shatner. 
COMMANDER SPOCK: Half Vulcan, Half Human First officer and Science officer
of the Enterprise throughout the run of The Original Series, played by
Leonard Nimoy. Has a father, Sarek (Played by Mark Lenard), and a mother,
Amanda (Played by Jane Wyatt). Referred to as "Lt. Commander
Spock" in a couple of First Season episodes, though his braid never
reflected this. 
LT. COMMANDER MCCOY, (Leonard H. McCoy): Chief Medical Officer of the
Enterprise throughout most of The Original Series. Played by Deforest
Kelly. Nicknamed "Bones" by Captain Kirk. 
LT. COMMANDER SCOTT, (Montgomery Scott, aka Scotty): Chief Engineer of the
Enterprise throughout the Original Series run. Played by James Doohan. 
LT. UHURA: Chief communication officer aboard the Enterprise throughout
most of the Original Series run. Played by Nichelle Nichols. 
LT. SULU, (Hikaru Sulu): Helmsman aboard the Enterprise during most of the
Original Series run. Played by George Takei. 
ENSIGN CHEKOV, (Pavel Andreivich Chekov): Helmsman and weapons officer
during the second and third seasons of The Original Series run. Played by
Walter Koenig. 
YEOMAN RAND, (Janice Rand): Blonde yeoman that appeared in 8 episodes, all
in the first half of the First Season, and in four of the six TOS movies.
Played by Grace Lee Whitney. 
NURSE CHAPEL, (Christine Chapel): Nurse on the Enterprise, played by Majel
Barrett, who married Gene Roddenberry after the series. 
LT. RILEY, (Kevin Riley): Crewman who played an important part in two first
season TOS episodes. Played by Bruce Hyde. 
CAPTAIN PIKE, (Christopher Pike): Captain on the Enterprise before Kirk, in
the original series pilot episode. This pilot was never broadcast during
the series run, but most of it was integrated into a 2-part series episode,
and slightly modified versions of the original pilot were later released on
VHS and DVD. Pike was played by Jeffery Hunter. 
LT. AREX: Tripedal (3 arms, 3 legs) navigator who appeared in the Animated
Series as a replacement for Mr. Chekov. Lt. Arex was played by James
Doohan. 
LT. M'RESS: Felinoid communications officer, used in a few Animated
episodes as a backup to Lt. Uhura. Lt. M'Ress was played by Majel Barrett. 
LT. LESLIE: The best all-around utility man in Starfleet, Mr. Leslie (named
after one of William Shatner's daughters) can be seen in more than half the
episodes of the series, performing virtually every ship function imaginable
(including command!). His top specialties seemed to be engineering,
security, and showing concern at the action going on in the foreground of
the screen. Though he rarely spoke, he has a small but devoted cadre of
admirers, and his own dedicated webpage at
http://hometown.aol.com/led4acs/LeslieArchives.html (NOTE: This page
currently offline, and not yet re-located).. Mr. Leslie was played by Eddie
Paskey, who has a personal webpage at http://www.eddiepaskey.com. 
LT. GALLOWAY: Another utility redshirt, played by David L. Ross, who served
mostly as security guard and transporter officer. Less well known than
Leslie, he appeared in only a half dozen or so episodes, and does not have
his own dedicated webpage, but he did manage to pull off the trick of
coming back from the dead; the least important character on the show to
ever do so. 
ENTERPRISE COMPUTER (Majel Barrett and others): Several actors and
actresses have played the voice of the Enterprise computer, but the most
frequently heard voice was that of Majel Barrett, who played the
"role" at least once in all six Star Trek series. She was the
most frequently heard voice of the computer in TOS. 
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 7. WHO ARE SOME OF THE MAIN ACTORS AND CREATIVE PEOPLE BEHIND THE SHOW?  
GENE RODDENBERRY: Creator, Producer and Executive Producer of Star Trek,
and the guiding force behind it for the first two seasons. Nicknamed
"The Great Bird of the Galaxy", after a line from the show's
premier episode. 
GENE L. COON: Writer and Line Producer on TOS, and one of the most
important creative voices in the show's run. Creator of the Klingons. 
DOROTHY "D.C." FONTANA: Influential writer, and script consultant
on TOS. Many of the best and most creative episodes come from her. 
FRED FREIBERGER: Line Producer of TOS during its third and final season.
Many fans of the show blame the decline in the show's quality on him,
though there were other factors at work also. 
BOB JUSTMAN: Associate Producer and later Co-Producer of TOS, who knew more
about the nuts and bolts of putting an episode together than anyone. 
HERB SOLOW: Desilu Executive who sold Star Trek to NBC. Along with Justman,
wrote a book called Inside Star Trek in the mid 1990's, that detailed the
making of the series. The name "Sulu" was derived from Solow's
name. 
ALEXANDER COURAGE: Musician who composed the series title theme, and did
the music for a couple of first season episodes. Probably gets a bundle of
money every time a Trek sequel plays those Dah-da-daaaaa,
da-da-da-da-dahhh, Da-Daaaaaah opening notes. 
 
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V. FREQUENTLY ASKED QUESTIONS
 
 8. ARE THERE ANY OTHER STAR TREK NEWSGROUPS?
 Quite a few. Just to name some of the ones in the .alt and .rec hierarchies: 
          NEWSGROUPS DEVOTED TO THE SHOWS
 alt.tv.star-trek
 alt.tv.star-trek.tos
 alt.startrek.the-old-gen
 alt.startrek.animated
 alt.tv.star-trek.next-gen
 alt.tv.star-trek.tng
 alt.startrek.the-next-gen
 alt.tv.star-trek.ds9
 alt.startrek.deep-space-9
 alt.startrek.enterprise
 alt.tv.star-trek.enterprise
 alt.tv.star-trek.voyager
 alt.startrek.voyager
          NEWSGROUPS DEVOTED TO BOOKS AND FAN FICTION
 alt.startrek.book
 alt.startrek.books
 alt.startrek.creative
 alt.startrek.creative.all-ages
 alt.startrek.writing-staff
          NEWSGROUPS DEVOTED TO EROTICA
 alt.sex.fetish.startrek
 alt.startrek.creative.erotica
 alt.startrek.creative.erotica.moderated
 alt.tv.star-trek.tos.slash
          NEWSGROUPS DEVOTED TO GAMES
 alt.games.mtrek
 alt.games.netrek.paradise
 alt.games.rpg.startrek.quadrant
 alt.games.xtrek
 alt.holoworld.rpg.startrek
 alt.startrek.role-playing
 rec.games.netrek
 rec.games.trading-cards.startrek
 alt.startrek.rpg.gsc
 alt.startrek.sould.rpg
          STAR TREK VS. SOMETHING NEWSGROUPS
 alt.startrek.vs.babylon5
 alt.startrek.vs.battlestar-galactica
 alt.startrek.vs.dr-who
 alt.startrek.vs.starwars
          NEWSGROUPS DEVOTED TO STAR TREK PEOPLE
 alt.startrek.people.deforest.kelley
 alt.startrek.people.gene.roddenberry
 alt.tv.star-trek.jeffery-hunt
          NEWSGROUPS DEVOTED TO SPECIAL TOPICS
 alt.flame.star-trek.voyager
 alt.startrek.imperial
 alt.shared-reality.startrek.cardassian
 alt.shared-reality.startrek.klingon
 alt.startrek.lcars
 alt.startrek.tos.trekmuse
 alt.startrek.sus-amagosa
 rec.arts.startrek.current
 rec.arts.startrek.fandom
 rec.arts.startrek.info
 rec.arts.startrek.misc
 rec.arts.startrek.reviews
 rec.arts.startrek.tech
 alt.startrek.steg
 alt.startrek.teroknor
          NEWSGROUPS DEVOTED TO BINARY FILES
 alt.binaries.startrek
 alt.binaries.startrek.adult
          NEWSGROUPS RELATED TO ALIEN RACES SEEN ON THE SHOWS
 alt.startrek.bajoran
 alt.startrek.borg
 alt.startrek.cardassian
 alt.startrek.klingon
 alt.startrek.romulan
 alt.startrek.vulcan
 alt.startrek.trill
No guarantees about how active any of these groups are. With this many of
them, it's a good guess that some of them are dead, Jim. 
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 9. HOW MANY STAR TREK SERIES HAVE THERE BEEN?
 A question frequently gotten wrong, even in the press. There have, in fact
been a total of six Star Trek television series:
1. Star Trek (1966-1969)
 2. Star Trek: The Animated Series (1973-1974)
 3. Star Trek: The Next Generation (1987-1994)
 4. Star Trek: Deep Space 9 (1993-1999)
 5. Star Trek: Voyager (1995-2001)
 6. Star Trek: Enterprise (2001-2005)
In addition, there was one other unproduced series, entitled Star Trek:
Phase II, that would have premiered in the mid-to-late 1970's, featuring
most of the original cast, but which was cancelled, when the new network
that it was intended to flagship failed to materialize. 
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 10. WHAT IS THE OFFICIAL NAME OF THE 2nd STAR TREK SERIES?
 This series was broadcast under the title "Star Trek" (same as
the original). This has never been officially changed, but the series is
usually referred to as "Star Trek: The Animated Series" (or TAS,
for short), to differentiate it from the original. 
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 11. WHAT IS THE OFFICIAL NAME OF THE 6th STAR TREK SERIES?
 This series has had two official titles. At its premiere, it was called
simply Enterprise. After two seasons, of increasingly bad ratings, the name
was changed to Star Trek: Enterprise, apparently hoping that people would
watch any show, so long as it had Star Trek in the title. Rumors about
Paramount releasing new series' entitled Star Trek: The 6 o'clock News,
Star Trek's Wide, Wide World of Sports, and Star Trek: Babylon Five, are,
so far, unfounded. 
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 12. WASN'T THERE ANOTHER TELEVISION SERIES CALLED "ENTERPRISE"?
 Yes, in fact there was. Running from 1952-1958, the series Enterprise
consisted of a series of documentary films about American industry. In the
opinion of many, Trek's Enterprise was about as interesting as that other
one sounds. 
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
 13. ARE THERE ANY OTHER TITLE CHANGES I SHOULD KNOW ABOUT?
 Well, it's barely worth mentioning, but the second Trek movie, Star Trek
II: The Wrath of Khan, was originally released in theaters under the title
Star Trek: The Wrath of Khan (with no Roman numeral). The Roman numeral was
added before the movie was released on videotape. 
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 14. HOW MANY TOS EPISODES ARE THERE?
 Anywhere from 78-80, depending on how you count. If you count the show's
lone 2-parter as 2 episodes, and also count the unaired 90-minute pilot as
an episode, then there are 80 episodes. 
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 15. HOW MANY STAR TREK MOVIES ARE THERE AND HOW MANY ARE BASED ON THE
ORIGINAL STAR TREK?
 At this date, there are a total of 11 movies. The first six are based on
the original Star Trek: 
1. Star Trek: The Motion Picture (1979)
 2. Star Trek II: The Wrath of Khan (1982)
 3. Star Trek III: The Search for Spock (1984)
 4. Star Trek IV: The Voyage Home (1986)
 5. Star Trek V: The Final Frontier (1989)
 6. Star Trek VI: The Undiscovered Country (1991)
In addition, there have been four movies based on the 3rd Trek series, Star
Trek: The Next Generation: 
7. Star Trek: Generations (1994)
 8. Star Trek: First Contact (1996)
 9. Star Trek: Insurrection (1998)
 10. Star Trek: Nemesis (2002)
And also a "reboot" of the original series, directed by J.J.
Abrams, and featuring all new actors in the roles of the original
characters (although the movie does feature two Spocks, one of which is
played by Leonard Nimoy). 
11. Star Trek (2009)
Only the second through the sixth movies have roman numerals in their
titles, although fans are wont to unofficially refer to them all as if they
had them. 
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 16. WHEN DID STAR TREK TAKE PLACE?
 No precise year was ever given for the series. Indications given in the
episodes Tomorrow is Yesterday, Space Seed, and The Savage Curtain point to
the late 22nd or early 23rd century. The (non-canon) book The Making of
Star Trek, and the (canon) film Star Trek II (which takes place 10 years
after the 5 year mission ended) say 23rd century. The episode Where No Man
Has Gone Before implies a later date than that, but says nothing specific.
Later incarnations of Star Trek have retconned the date to the 2260's, for
reasons unknown. The episode The Squire of Gothos points to a date in the
28th century (!!), which is usually totally ignored by all concerned. 
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
 17. HOW MANY POST-TOS TREK EPISODES OR MOVIES FEATURE TOS CHARACTERS?
 Precious few. 
1. Encounter at Farpoint (Next Generation)
 2. Sarek (Next Generation)
 3. Unification (Next Generation)
 4. Relics (Next Generation)
 5. Blood Oath (Deep Space 9)
 6. Star Trek: Generations (Movie)
 7. The Sword of Kahless (Deep Space 9)
 8. Flashback (Voyager)
 9. Trials and Tribble-ations (Deep Space 9)
 10. Once More Unto the Breach (Deep Space 9)
 11. Star Trek (Movie)
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 18. ARE STAR TREK FANS CALLED TREKKIES OR TREKKERS?
 Both terms are correct, though Trekkers is safer, as some people actually
take great offense at the word Trekkies. 
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 19. WHY "U.S.S." ENTERPRISE? IS THE ENTERPRISE AN AMERICAN SHIP?
 No. Though intended to resemble the modern American navy in the minds of
the viewers, the U.S.S. Enterprise (called the U.S.S. Yorktown in the first
draft of the original series proposal) is not an American ship. Though the
show is pretty darn vague about Earth's political and economic future, the
Earth appears to have, if not a single world government, then at least a
unified coalition, similar to the European Common Market, and to be but one
planet (though apparently the most important one), in a galactic
federation. U.S.S., though intended to vaguely suggest America, actually
stands for "United StarShip." Since "Starship" is only
one word, it doesn't quite work, but what the heck? 
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
 20. WHAT DOES "NCC" MEAN?
 The registration number on the hull of the Enterprise is NCC-1701. As for
what it means, this question is an excellent illustration of the way the
term "canon" works in the Star Trek universe. As you'll recall,
"canon" means "official Star Trek facts", those which
Paramount and the show's producers theoretically feel obligated to remain
true to in future productions (they frequently don't, but that's another
point entirely). With a few exceptions, "canon" is defined as
that which actually appears or is stated onscreen. Other facts, even if
deriving from officially licensed products, or from the mouth of a producer
or writer himself, are not canon. 
How does this relate to NCC? Well, according to Roddenberry himself, the
term NCC stands for "Naval Construction Contract", and was
derived from the "NC" and "NX" designations found on
private planes. *However*, this definition has never been stated onscreen,
nor any other definition either. So, officially (i.e.
"canonically"), the term NCC has no fixed meaning. Though
unofficially, it does, and we all know it. Cute, huh? 
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
 21. WHAT DO THE UNIFORM COLORS DENOTE?
 *Generally*, Gold shirts indicate command and ship operations, such as
helm and navigation. Blue indicates science and medical. Red indicates
engineering, security, communications, general ship's services, and early
deaths. There are apparent exceptions, however, so if you see a blue
bloused technician working in Engineering in The Alternative Factor, or
something like that, don't expect anybody to be able to explain it. 
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
 22. HOW DO STARDATES WORK?
 They don't. The Stardate was a non-specific system of time measurement,
designed to allow the show to be vague about specific dates. It usually
consisted of 4 digits, a decimal point, and a 5th digit. At least one
person working on the show described the process of assigning a stardate to
an episode as involving shouting out the window for a passerby to rattle
off 5 random digits. 
It probably wasn't quite that haphazard though, as the stardates more or
less gradually increased as the show progressed, starting at around 1312,
and ending up at around 5925 in the final episode. Some tru-fans, unable to
leave well enough alone, have attempted to come up with precise methods for
determining stardates, some of them quite ingenious, but none of them
having anything to do with what the people making the show were thinking.
Some fans have even attempted to convert Gregorian dates to Stardates by
taking the last two digits of the year, then two digits for the month, and
putting the day of the month after the decimal point. Hence, October 16,
1997 would be Stardate 9710.16. Isn't that precious? 
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
 23. WHY DO THE KLINGONS LOOK DIFFERENT IN THE MOVIES THAN IN THE TV SHOW?
 At the time Star Trek: The Motion Picture was released, Roddenberry said
that this is the way the Klingons were always supposed to look, they just
never had the budget to show them that way before. Though there are no
sketches extant from the 1960's showing the Klingons looking this way, it's
probably true that larger budgets are the real reason for the change.
Several fans came up with several elaborate explanations for the change in
Klingon appearance (the most entertaining being the idea that they now had
their spines up over their heads from being kicked in the butt so often by
the Federation), but the prevailing view seemed to be that we were supposed
to shut up and pretend that the Klingons had always looked that way. This
continued until the Deep Space Nine episode Trials and Tribble-ations, in
which a member of the New Look Klingons encountered several of the Original
Flavor Klingons, and admitted onscreen that there really was both a
difference and an explanation for the difference, BUT... refused to say
what the explanation was. Doesn't that make you just want to slap someone? 
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
 24. WHO WAS THE FIRST CAPTAIN OF THE ENTERPRISE?
 Warning: Canon Alert! The "first" Captain of the Enterprise was
Robert T. April, and Jeffrey Hunter was originally hired to play the part
of April in The Cage. Before filming, it was decided that "April"
wasn't a rough, tough, sonofabitchin' enough name for Roddenberry's
Captain, so the name was changed to Winter, and finally to Pike. So April
never existed, right? It's just a discarded name. 
Well, sort of. In the final episode of the Animated Star Trek, Robert T.
April actually appears as a character, and is explicitly described as the
first Captain of the Enterprise. Okay, so April DOES exist, and he served
before Pike, right? That's true both in real life and in story terms,
right? 
Well, sort of. Years later, when Paramount was formulating their definition
of "canon", they, for one reason or another, decided to
de-canonise the Animated Star Trek series, meaning that the only onscreen
references to April are no longer "official". 
So, the question, like many questions, has two answers. Officially, we
don't know who the first Captain of the Enterprise is (Pike was never
described as the first Captain, only as the *former* Captain). But
unofficially, and in the real world rather than the fictional one, the
first Captain of the Enterprise was Robert T. April. 
For what it's worth, the part of Robert T. April in the Animated Star Trek
Episode, The Counter-Clock Incident, was played by James "Scotty"
Doohan. 
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
 25. WHAT IS "THE CAGE"?
 The original pilot episode for Star Trek, filmed in December, 1964,
featuring Jeffrey Hunter as Captain Pike, Majel Barrett as Number One, John
Hoyt as Dr. Philip "Bones" Boyce, and Leonard Nimoy as Mr. Spock.
Though rejected by NBC, they were impressed enough to request (and
subsidize) an unheard-of second pilot episode (titled Where No Man Has Gone
Before; sound familiar?), which featured most of the series regulars, and
later aired as a series episode. 
However, The Cage was still such an extremely valuable piece of celluloid
(until 1987, the most expensive Trek episode ever filmed) that it was felt
it could not be allowed to sit around collecting dust on a shelf. A 2-part
sequel story called The Menagerie was written, in which about 90% of The
Cage's footage was shown in flashback form, thus enabling the show to save
a valuable week of production time. 
But there was still interest in that other 10% that had never been seen,
and so in the late 1980's, The Cage itself was released separately. 
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
 26. WHAT IS THE TITLE OF "THE CAGE"?
 No, not a trick question. The Cage was the original working title. Like
the name of the ship's captain, this title was changed during filming, to
The Menagerie. Later, when the pilot was cannibalized to create the 2-part
sequel, nobody had any idea that anyone would ever see the original version
again, and so the title The Menagerie was transferred to the 2-parter. 
When Star Trek fandom became big, and started to take an interest in the
original, unseen pilot, the original name The Cage was restored to it, to
differentiate it from the 2-part Kirk story. Since no title actually
appears onscreen in The Cage, the title change was relatively painless. 
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
 27. IS IT TRUE THAT NBC REJECTED "THE CAGE" BECAUSE THEY REFUSED
TO ALLOW A FEMALE FIRST OFFICER ON THE ENTERPRISE?
 No. This is a myth which has gotten a lot of mileage, largely because its
source was none other than Roddenberry himself. 
With the exception of Jeffrey Hunter, NBC was displeased with most of the
casting on The Cage, and especially with Majel Barrett's Number One
character. Because of her limited acting rosumo, and other reasons, they
did not believe in her ability to carry the show as its co-star. NBC
rejected the actress, but not the character, and in fact supported the
concept of a woman in a strong position of authority. The character was
originally intended to appear in the second pilot, until her character was
scrapped by Roddenberry himself, in order to give more importance to the
Mr. Spock character that he had fought so hard to save. Unable to admit in
later years that he had voluntarily discarded such a ground-breaking
concept, Roddenberry cooked up this "The Devil Made Me Do It"
explanation. 
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
 28. WHO IS M. LEIGH HUDEC?
 *Majel* Leigh Hudec, is the birth name of Majel Barrett. In some quarters,
the story goes that the Majel Barrett stage name was adopted so that NBC
wouldn't notice that the dark-haired actress they had rejected in The Cage
was back on the show as the blonde-haired Nurse Chapel (they noticed). This
does not seem to be true, though, as the name that appears onscreen in The
Cage is Majel Barrett, not M. Leigh Hudec, indicating that the stage name
had been adopted prior to this time. 
The name M. Leigh Hudec became mysterious largely because of the seminal
book The Making of Star Trek, which listed the actors appearing in each
episode without listing the parts they played. The name M. Leigh Hudec
appeared on that list, not Majel Barrett. The absence of the name Majel
Barrett from the list was not suggestive, since she was considered a
regular actor on the show, and regular actors were not listed. 
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
 29. DOES PARAMOUNT HAVE AN OFFICIAL STAR TREK WEBSITE?
 Yes, it's at (are you ready for this?) http://www.startrek.com. 
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
 30. WHAT DOES THE "T" IN JAMES T. KIRK STAND FOR?
 Tiberius. This was never mentioned during the original series. It was
first mentioned in the Animated Episode Bem, but fell back out of canon
when the Animated Series was de-canonised. It re-entered canon in 1991 when
it was mentioned in the movie Star Trek VI. 
Where does it come from? Some might think it comes from the Roman Emperor
who ruled from 14 AD - 37 AD. Yes, but only indirectly. Really, the name
comes from William Tiberius Rice, the lead character in Gene Roddenberry's
earlier series, The Lieutenant. 
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
 31. WHAT IS UHURA'S FIRST NAME?
 Well, I can tell you, direct from the mouth of Nichelle Nichols to me,
that Uhura's full name is Nyota Penda Uhura. But again, we run into that
sticky "canon" business. Offscreen sources, however creditable
are not sources of "Official Star Trek Facts", or
"canon" in Paramount's eyes (though perhaps they sometimes are in
other people's eyes?). 
No name other than Uhura is ever given for her onscreen, and Roddenberry
supposedly said at one point that she had no first name (though of course,
if true, that's not canon either). Where do the names Nyota and Penda come
from, then? Well, Penda is a name that originated somewhere in fandom
sometime in the 70's, and was pushed heavily by the now-defunct Trek
magazine. The name Nyota came from William Rotsler, author of the book Star
Trek II: Biographies, and was later used heavily in a Trek novel entitled
The Tears of the Singers, and perhaps others. 
So, what do these names mean? Well, all three are Swahili words. Uhura is
from the Swahili word "Uhuru", meaning "freedom". This
name came from the title of a book that Nichelle Nichols was reading in
Gene Roddenberry's office while waiting for an interview. Penda is the
Swahili word for "Love". Nyota is the Swahili word for
"Star". I should say that in my own encounter with Ms. Nichols
(at a convention), that, although I was aware of these names, I did not
suggest either one to her, but simply asked what Uhura's first name was and
let her answer. She said Nyota Penda Uhura. Not canon, but worth
mentioning. 
On a final note, it's interesting to recall that the original plan for the
Uhura character had been to transfer the name Sulu to her, and come up with
a new name for George Takei's character. (Since Takei had already appeared
as Sulu in the second pilot episode, which was later broadcast, this would
have been a continuity nightmare). 
Luckily, fearing that the similarity of the words "Sulu" and
"Zulu" might lead to unintended interpretations, this idea was
discarded and replaced with the much more sensible idea of just naming the
character after whatever book the actress happened to have under her arm.
Good thing she wasn't reading Playgirl, huh? 
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
 32. WHAT IS SPOCK'S FIRST NAME?
 All right, another convention story. In this case, not one that I can
personally attest to, but still too good not to share. The only reference
to Spock having another name is from the episode This Side of Paradise, in
which Jill Ireland asks if Spock has another name, and is told simply that
she couldn't pronounce it. 
After the release of Star Trek IV, in which Jane Wyatt had made her second
appearance as Spock's mother Amanda, Ms. Wyatt appeared at a Trek
convention and took questions from the audience. One audience member asked
her what Spock's first name was. It was a dumb question. Ms. Wyatt is an
actress, not one of the architects of the show. She had no idea. But, since
she was onstage, and since the show must go on, and since "I don't
know" is a very lame and unentertaining answer, she thought for a
moment and said "Herman". Several people tried to disagree with
her. "No, no, it's supposed to be something unpronouncable," but
she dismissed them with words to the effect of "Don't try to tell ME!
I'm his mother!" 
A joke answer, but... you know, I like it! It makes a certain sense that
the half-human Spock would have one Vulcan name and one human name. It also
makes sense that he'd be embarrassed about it, try to hide it, and dissuade
questioners with stories about how they couldn't pronounce it, so please
don't ask. Herman Spock. I like it. Not canon, but after all, it DOES come
from Spock's own mother! 
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
 33. HIKARU SULU? HOW COME THAT NAME IS LISTED IN SECTION 4 WHEN NYOTA
ISN'T, AND WHERE DOES IT COME FROM?
 Well, the reason Hikaru Sulu is listed in Section IV of the FAQ is that it
was actually mentioned onscreen in the very last Classic Trek production,
Star Trek VI. 
Where does the name Hikaru come from? Well, it was supposedly selected by
Roddenberry himself, and is the name of the central character in a classic
Japanese work known as The Tale of Genji. The first appearance of the name
in an officially licensed Trek work was in the 1981 novel The Entropy
Effect, and it finally found its way onscreen (and into canon) 10 years
later. 
Some might be wondering if I ever bothered Takei with this question the
same way I bothered Nichols? Of course. I'm a nerdy fanboy, so naturally I
asked him, a couple of years before Trek VI was released, and got that
answer: Hikaru Sulu. 
I bring this up to dispel another possible name that some may have heard.
Remember how it was mentioned that Trek magazine had been pushing
"Penda" as Uhura's first name, and succeeded in getting it kind
of unofficially accepted as her middle name, at least? Well, at the same
time, Trek magazine had a name in mind for Sulu also. They thought he
should be called Walter Sulu, as a way of showing that names didn't
necessarily have to have ethnic connotations. They pushed that name heavily
too, and even wrote at one point that George Takei thought it was a good
one. 
Well, when George Takei said "Hikaru Sulu", I asked him about
that. "There's this magazine that thinks Sulu's first name is
Walter." His eyes bugged out in surprise, and he had a pretty big
laugh about it (in those days, there was a running joke about the
inexplicable tendency of some people to get George Takei and Walter Koenig
mixed up in their minds, and to George, this seemed like just another
example of same.) If he'd ever heard "Walter Sulu" before, he
hadn't thought much of it when he did, and had long since forgotten it.
Nyota Penda Uhura, yes. Walter Sulu, no. 
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
 34. WHAT EXACTLY IS AND ISN'T INCLUDED IN STAR TREK "CANON"?
 Well, as mentioned, a good general rule is "Onscreen = canon, not
onscreen = not canon". Paramount's website, startrek.com, has the
following, more precise, but still a bit rough around the edges definition:

 As a rule of thumb, the events that take place within the live action
episodes and movies are canon, or official Star Trek facts. Story lines,
characters, events, stardates, etc. that take place within the fictional
novels, the Animated Adventures, and the various comic lines are not canon.

 There are a couple of exceptions to this rule: the Jeri Taylor penned
novels Mosaic and Pathways. Many of the events in these two novels feature
background details of the main Star Trek: Voyager characters. (Note: There
are a few details from an episode of the Animated Adventures that have
entered into the Star Trek canon. The episode Yesteryear, written by D.C.
Fontana, features some biographical background on Spock.) 
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
 35. DID ALAN DEAN FOSTER GHOST WRITE THE NOVELIZATION OF STAR TREK: THE
MOTION PICTURE?
 No! At one time it was widely believed in this newsgroup that he had, and
was stated several times. There are various links on the internet, some
saying that he did, others that he didn't. But I came across his website in
2003, and posed the question to him, which he answered personally with an
unequivocal no. 
On the other hand, he did write the novelization of Star Wars, which is no secret. 
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
 36. HOW MANY EPISODES REFER TO THE EVENTS OF OTHER EPISODES?
 Not many. TOS was made in the days before story arcs, when every episode
of a series was meant to stand on its own, so that stations wouldn't have
to worry about what order to show them in. Nevertheless, there are a few
instances, such as: 
o In By Any Other Name, Kirk directly refers to the events of A Taste of
Armageddon, mentioning Eminiar 7 by name, when he asks Spock to try the
Mind-Meld-Through-The-Wall trick he had used in that episode. It also
indirectly refers to Where No Man Has Gone Before, when Kirk mentions
having been to the barrier at the edge of the galaxy before. 
o In Turnabout Intruder, Lester/Kirk refers to the events of The Empath,
and The Tholian Web when trying to convince Spock who she is. 
oThe Trouble With Tribbles refers to the Organian Peace Treaty, which arose
as a result of the actions in Errand of Mercy. 
oI, Mudd, being a direct sequel to Mudd's Women, refers to that episode. 
oStar Trek II: The Wrath of Khan, being a direct sequel to Space Seed,
refers to that episode. 
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
 37. HOW MANY TOS CHARACTERS HAVE DIED?
 Hmmm, several come to think of it, though for most of them it wasn't serious. 
o Captain Kirk - (in Star Trek: Generations) 
o Mr. Spock - (in Star Trek II: The Wrath of Khan) 
o Dr. McCoy - (in Shore Leave) 
o Scotty - (in The Changeling) 
o Chekov - (in Spectre of the Gun) 
Of the major characters, Uhura, Sulu, Chapel, and Rand have never died. 
For what it's worth, death doesn't seem to be all that memorable an
experience. In Star Trek IV: The Voyage Home, when Dr. McCoy asked Spock
what death was like, Spock said that he couldn't explain it unless McCoy
died too, so that they'd have a common frame of reference. It completely
slipped both their minds that McCoy had died. 
Since Spock declined to answer the question, we are deprived of his
insights on death. The best answer to this question, however, might be that
provided by Arnold Rimmer in Red Dwarf, when he said that death was like
being on holiday with a group of Germans. 
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
 38. DID STAR TREK FEATURE THE FIRST INTERRACIAL KISS?
 Yes and no. Yes, in the 3rd season episode "Plato's
Stepchildren", Kirk and Uhura, under the influence of the telekinetic
and campy Platonians, are made to share a (not-so-Platonic?) kiss. But no,
the kiss was actually a faked "stage kiss". Fearful of viewer
reactions in the Deep South, they filmed the kiss both ways (real and
faked), and ended up chickening out and using the faked version. No idea
what the first REAL interracial kiss on TV was, although some have
suggested that it should be credited to Lucy and Ricky Ricardo in the
1950's. 
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
 39. WHAT IS THE F.S.N.P.?
 An acronym for the Vulcan Neck Pinch. When Next Generation was in the
works, people laughed at the idea that the production crew was pondering
not one, but two possible acronyms for Geordi's V.I.S.O.R. (neither was
ever used onscreen). But in the "Acronyms For Things That Don't Need
Acronyms Department", TOS had scored 20 years earlier, when Viewmaster
corporation coined this term for their adaptation of The Omega Glory. The
acronym stands for (are you ready for this?): "Famous Spock Neck
Pinch" (No, seriously!). I unearthed the term a few years back when
doing a webpage about Viewmaster's first Star Trek effort, and those with a
taste for the absurd have helped to keep it alive. It works best when used
redundantly (i.e. "Spock's Famous FSNP", which, spelled out,
would be "Famous Famous Spock Neck Pinch"). 
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
 40. WERE STAR TREK EPISODES BROADCAST IN THE ORDER THAT THEY WERE FILMED?
 No, but there have been two orders floating around since the early days,
as the production order of episodes was listed in a few early books. One
book even listed the first two seasons in Production Order, and the Third
Season in Broadcast Order, leading to an early myth to the effect that the
Third Season was broadcast in Production Order. In syndication, the
episodes have often been broadcast in production order, rather than the
original broadcast order. Here is a list of the episodes in Production
Order, with the Broadcast Order listed afterwards in parentheses. 
SEASON 1
 01. The Cage (-)
 02. Where No Man Has Gone Before (3)
 03. The Corbomite Maneuver (10)
 04. Mudd's Women (6)
 05. The Enemy Within (5)
 06. The Man Trap (1)
 07. The Naked Time (4)
 08. Charlie X (2)
 09. Balance of Terror (14)
 10. What Are Little Girls Made Of? (7) 
 11. Dagger of the Mind (9)
 12. Miri (8)
 13. The Conscience of the King (13)
 14. The Galileo Seven (16)
 15. Court-Martial (20)
 16. The Menagerie, Part 1 (11)
 17. The Menagerie, Part 2 (12)
 18. Shore Leave (15)
 19. The Squire of Gothos (17)
 20. Arena (18)
 21. The Alternative Factor (27)
 22. Tomorrow is Yesterday (19)
 23. The Return of the Archons (21)
 24. A Taste of Armageddon (23)
 25. Space Seed (22)
 26. This Side of Paradise (24)
 27. The Devil in the Dark (25)
 28. Errand of Mercy (26)
 29. The City on the Edge of Forever (28)
 30. Operation - Annihilate! (29)
SEASON 2
 31. Catspaw (36)
 32. Metamorphosis (38)
 33. Friday's Child (40)
 34. Who Mourns For Adonais? (31)
 35. Amok Time (30)
 36. The Doomsday Machine (35)
 37. Wolf in the Fold (43)
 38. The Changeling (32)
 39. The Apple (34)
 40. Mirror, Mirror (33)
 41. The Deadly Years (41)
 42. I, Mudd (37)
 43. The Trouble With Tribbles (44)
 44. Bread and Circuses (54)
 45. Journey to Babel (39)
 46. A Private Little War (48)
 47. The Gamesters of Triskelion (45)
 48. Obsession (42)
 49. The Immunity Syndrome (47)
 50. A Piece of the Action (46)
 51. By Any Other Name (51)
 52. Return to Tomorrow (49)
 53. Patterns of Force (50)
 54. The Ultimate Computer (53)
 55. The Omega Glory (52)
 56. Assignment: Earth (55)
SEASON 3
 57. Spectre of the Gun (61)
 58. Elaan of Troyius (68)
 59. The Paradise Syndrome (58)
 60. The Enterprise Incident (57)
 61. And the Children Shall Lead (59)
 62. Spock's Brain (56)
 63. Is There In Truth No Beauty? (60)
 64. The Empath (67)
 65. The Tholian Web (64)
 66. For the World is Hollow And I Have Touched the Sky (63)
 67. Day of the Dove (62)
 68. Plato's Stepchildren (65)
 69. Wink of an Eye (66)
 70. That Which Survives (72)
 71. Let That Be Your Last Battlefield (70)
 72. Whom Gods Destroy (69)
 73. The Mark of Gideon (71)
 74. The Lights of Zetar (73)
 75. The Cloud Minders (76)
 76. The Way to Eden (75)
 77. Requiem for Methuselah (74)
 78. The Savage Curtain (77)
 79. All Our Yesterdays (78)
 80. Turnabout Intruder (79)
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
 41. WHAT IS THE CORRECT ORDER OF THE ANIMATED SERIES EPISODES?
 Production Order is unknown, but here is the original Broadcast Order.
This order has sometimes been muddied by the fact that Trek Magazine in the
70's mistakenly put Beyond the Farthest Star at the end of the first season
(counting the first rerun as an initial showing), when it was, in fact, the
premier episode. 
SEASON 4
 Beyond the Farthest Star
 Yesteryear
 One of Our Planets Is Missing
 The Lorelei Signal
 More Tribbles, More Troubles
 The Survivor
 The Infinite Vulcan
 The Magicks of Megas-Tu
 Once Upon A Planet
 Mudd's Passion
 The Terratin Incident
 The Time Trap
 The Ambergris Element
 The Slaver Weapon
 The Eye of the Beholder
 The Jihad
SEASON 5
 The Pirates of Orion
 Bem
 The Practical Joker
 Albatross
 How Sharper Than a Serpent's Tooth?
 The Counter-Clock Incident
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
 
 -------------------------------------------------------------------------- 
 
and finally, with great trepidation, we come to 
VI. THE K/S TROLLING FOLLIES
 
No, we don't. This section is heavily condensed for the time being, as the
trolling problem longer dominates the group as it once did. Short
Explanation For the Uninitiated: one user in the group, Laura Goodwin, aka
ToolPackinMama, believes in a conspiracy theory to the effect that there
was a plot involving Gene, all the actors, all the writers, and all the
production crew, to portray Kirk and Spock as gay lovers without explicitly
coming out and saying so. It was a secret at the time because of broadcast
standards, presumably, and is a secret now, for goodness only knows why.
Somehow Gene cooked up this conspiracy, even though he described himself as
somewhat homophobic in those days, and somehow the conspiracy escaped
mention in all the Tell-All books written later (they were only Tell-Most),
even those written by people who had fallen out with Gene, and spilled a
great many of his secrets. (Similar to the way Khan kept his voyage out of
the history books, maybe). 
Though Roddenberry explicitly denied the idea, this has mattered little.
Those who tried to treat it as a legitimate discussion subject found it
handled about as rationally as most conspiracy theories. Laura had one
standard of proof for her own ideas and a completely different standard for
everyone else's. That in itself was not so bad, the Internet is heavily
populated with the less-than-logical. What made it trollish was that people
who tried to disagree, however politely, were routinely abused, lied to,
lied about, attacked by Laura, told that any disagreement they tried to
make, however politely worded, was viciously hateful, attacked by sock
puppet identities who appeared out of the blue to agree with her (or, more
bizarrely, to argue with her, in an effort to suck others into the
discussion). Most of her ideas were pretty soundly disproven, but (again,
as with most conspiracy theories), all contrary evidence was ignored, or
sometimes even conceded it to avoid the issue, and then claimed later to
have never heard been heard later. Other users reported that, in
retaliation for disagreeing with her too effectively, she had contacted
their ISP and falsely accused them of making death threats against her.
(Semi-amusingly, one user even reported that she had successfully conned an
Indian Customer Service Rep at his ISP into believing that his use of the
word "killfile" had been a death threat, and succeeded in getting
his account locked out for a day!) The identical pattern seems to played
out in half a dozen other newsgroups. 
 There was a time when more than half the newsgroup's traffic was wasted on
this, but despite frequent barrages of K/S related spam, it's mostly
ignored now, except for Laura herself, the occasional sock puppet identity,
and useful idiot, Stephan Dulka, aka Mito Minister, who seems to find the
theory strangely and personally threatening (Don't ask why!), and gives her
unlimited publicity in the mistaken belief that it somehow harms her. After
several years of her telling people who didn't like it to kill filer her,
most of them did and moved on.  
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