Star Trek has been around now since 1966, and has gone from meager television show to a global phenomenon that spans all known forms of media. A science fiction franchise that has been around for more than 50 years and has touched millions around the world, is bound at some point to be attached to misinformation. This was especially something easy to fall into before the internet was available to the public. Some of this misinformation from incorrectly remembered dialogue, or assumptions made by those who might have heard of the show and know its cliches, but haven’t watched it. Other issues arise due to the simple fact that the franchise has been guided by so many different visions over time, that maintaining consistency and clarity across all of the iterations is difficult. The many voices trying to express themselves in the Trek canon makes qui𒈔te a task for 🍰even hardcore fans to keep up with.
This one article may not be able to magically fix all these snags, but it will give an added perspective on the most common misconceptions and nitpicks involved with Star Trek. Join me for a journey into the Final Frontier as we examine twenty-five things that most everyone at some point or another tends to get wrong about Star Trek.
23 Wrong🌸: It's The Same As Star Wars 💃
This should seem obvious on the face of it. However, many of those who are ignorant of science fiction, and who tend to lump all of its representatives into one amorphous whole, mix up Star Wars and Star Trek as if the two are interchangeable. Though the newer Trek movies have taken on a more action-heavy, Star Wars feel, the Trek 🔜franchise fans grew up with over preceding decades is a character-driven exploration of science and the human condition, not a space fantꦗasy retelling of the Hero's Journey.
22 🍎 Wrong: Vulcans Don't Have Feelin𝔍gs
Starting with the legendary Mr. Spock, the Vulcan race in Star Trek is often regarded as being emotionless, completely dedicated to logic. However, Vulcans feel as strongly as any other alien race, if not more, and their pursuit of logic and p♔eace is part of the discipline that keeps these powerful emotions in check. S♊pock had it even tougher than his kin, being born of a human mother and a Vulcan father, always torn between the two cultures and ways of thinking.
21 "Beam Me Up, Scotty" Isn🌳't The Line
Although Captain Kirk and crew uttered multiple variations of a request for beamout, the exact phrase "beam me up, Scotty" was not uttered in Star Trek: The Original Series. The closest we get is in Star Trek IV: The Voyage Home, where Kirk flips the line into "Scotty, beam me up." This is an example of the Mandela Effect, where a misremembered line or moment 🐼ಌworks its way into the collective subconscious of fans and becomes as seemingly valid as reality.
20 Wrong: Kirk Was Wildly Promiscuous 💛
True, Captain Kirk had more than his fair share of kisses with a variety of women across the galaxy. At times it seems as though he is always running into or recalling an old flame. But most of these encounters we saw came about because of Kirk's duty, and him using every resource available to accomplish his mission; he felt it worthwhile to protect his crew or a world in return for flirting or sharing a moment of passion. He also did have restraint, resisting the allure of an Orion woman, the most alluring species in the Star Trek galaxy.
19 Wrong: The F🍃ederation Is Perfect
The Original Series did depict some Starfleet officers going off the deep end (like Captain Tracy in "The Omega Glory"), and by the time we get to Deep Space Nine, we find out about Section 31, a secret branch of the Federation that commits immoral acts for the sake of the supposed greater good. There was also blatant racism going on in Kirk's time, such as that against the Klingons in Star Trek VI. What🐷's important to note is how our heroes face these imperfection♎s and learn to rise above them.
18 Wrong: Wa🎉rp Drive Violates Relativity ♉
While we lack the technology or exotic matter necessary at this time to make something like an Alcubierre warp drive practical, the principle of warp drive doesn't violate Einstein's general theory of relativity. Worth noting as well is that by at least 1975, a Star Trek🌠 Technical Manual outlined the general concept of how warp drive could work, years before Alcubierre conducted re♊search on the subject.
17 ෴ Wrong: All Aliens Speak English
It is convenient for television that all characters end up speaking a language the audience can understand. It may not be explained satisfactorily in much of Star Trek's run, but it does at least acknowledge that the Universal Translator is what makes communication with all these new li🎃fe forms and new civilizations possible. So no, don't think that English 😼just magically happened to permeat the galaxy.
16 ౠ Wrong: Janeway Was Our First Female Captain
Not to take anything away from Kate Mulgrew as Captain Janeway being the first full-time female lead in Star Trek, but she is not the first female captain of a Federation starship we get to see onscreen. That honor goes to Madge Sinclair, who played the Captain of the USS Saratoga in Star Trek IV: The Voyage Home. Again, it's easy enough not to remember without the internet, but now we can look stuff 🌠— so don't assume.
15 ꦕ Wrong: The Enterprise Is The Only Ship In The Quadrant
In some Star Trek stories, the writers do fall back on the convenient ploy of our heroes' ship being the only one available to stop whatever bad thing is coming. The various incarnations of the Enterprise, however, are merely part of one massive fleet, and only showcase a fraction of the diverse potential of characters and stories as yet untapped in the Star Trek universe. It's an easy ꩲto overlook concept, but doe♒s keep the franchise in perspective.
14 Wrong: There Is No Religion In𒆙 Star Trek
There was certainly a push toward atheism or at least agnosticism through a large portion of Star Trek's run. Deep Space Nine delved deeper into the Bajoran mythos, exploring a concept that had largely been overlooked, saved for a scant few episodes, in the previous series. There are other traces though, of people in the Trek universe being allowed to hold onto their own beliefs. There is the Chapel on the Enterprise in The Original Series, and Chakotay is free to explore his peoples' spiritual heritage while on the USS Voyager.