* Crossposted from: UserNet Star Trek Talk
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 annually.
The Original Series broke television barriers 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 
y
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 grandfather 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 
lays
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.
Army Bratt
Lmurphy@wue.cybersurf.de
http://www.geocities.com/SiliconValley/Bay/1698
... Farfrompoopin...German word for constipation.
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