Monday, May 25, 2009

On Top Ten Star Trek Facts

On Top Ten Star Trek Facts

I repeat: Top Ten STAR TREK FACTS which are 100 per cent of FACT (May contain slight traces of lie)

10. The part of Spock in the 2009 movie was originally offered to A-Team star Mr T, but he objected to "flyin' about in no damn-fool spaceship".

9. TV's John Cleese is such a fan of the original series that we copied the classic "I'm terribly sorry, he's from the Planet Vulcan" running gag when he came to write Fawlty Towers. The rest, as they say, is history

8. The Japanese version of Star Trek is called "Super Happy Good Luck Space Crab: The Next Generation"

7. Big-name stars who have worn the ill-fated Star Trek 'Red Shirt' include TV's Sir Robin Day, music's Sir Ringo Starr and soaps' Dirty Den. Ringo bucked the trend by surviving for two whole episodes.

6. From the diaries of noted 17th century naval administrator Samuel Pepys: "May 14th 1663. Sea. The final frontier. These are the voyages of HMS Enterprise, on a five year mission to sail round and round the Isle of Wight until we are sick. And so to bed"

5. Original scripts from the series show Captain Kirk joined on the bridge of the Enterprise by his brother Rodney, his Uncle Albert and dim-witted Vulcan sidekick Trigger

4. 'Classic' Star Trek is still banned in three US states over its lack of a convincing ginger character. The arrival of Dr Crusher in Next Generation only fuelled accusations of "tokenism" from lawmakers

3. Producers have confirmed that the major villains in the next Star Trek movie will be Jonathan Ross's musical back-up "Four Poofs and a Piano"

2. Dr Leonard 'Bones' McCoy can trace his ancestry back to celebrity granny-killer Harold Shipman, hence the nickname

1. Filmgoers will be interested to learn that funnyman Ricky Gervais had an uncredited cameo in the recent movie. He plays a Romulan henchman on Nero's ship, and can be seen doing his trademark funny dance during the climactic battle scene

Bonus fact: In the pilot episode of Star Trek: The Next Generation, French starship captain Jean-Luc Picard's opening line was "Good moaning – I was pissing by the transporter room when I heard two shats from a phoser pistol". Sadly, Arthur Bostrom quit the production to join Allo Allo

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