Common Knowledge: Difference between revisions

** Every Trekkie knows that ''[[Star Trek: The Next Generation]]'' was the first spin-off, right? Ahem, wrong, on both counts. A lot of the more dedicated Trekkies remember the animated series, though technically this might have been intended as a continuation of the original series. Regardless, the fact that it tends to be forgotten is something of a shame, as compared to other cartoons at the time, it was a pretty good one. It was not only the first series in the franchise to win an Emmy, but some diehard fans claim that animation removed a lot of limits that held live action back and resulted in stories and plots ''even better'' than the series that preceded it. (''Some'' diehard fans, by the way, [[This Troper]] is ''not'' getting involved in the argument, but it exists.)

** Who was the first female Captain on ''Star Trek''? [[Star Trek: Voyager| Captain Janeway]], of course. Well... only if you count protagonists. Not counting female Captains who made cameos, the first female Federation captain to play an important role was the unnamed Captain of the U.S.S. ''Saratoga'' (''[[Star Trek IV: The Voyage Home]]'') and there was also Captain Rachel Garret from the ''Next Generation'' episode "Yesterday's Enterprise". In fact, if villains count, [[Evil Is Sexy|the Romulan Commander]] from "The Enterprise Incident" might be considered the first.

** For that matter, the claim that Kirk was the first Captain of the ''Enterprise''. Actually, he wasn't even the second. While most Trekkies do know about kirk's superior and mentor Captain Christopher Pike, very few know that the true first Captain of the Federation's flagship was Pike's own superior and mentor, Captain Robert April. He only appeared in the flesh in an episode of the animated series, but a reference in ''[[Star Trek: Discovery]]'' shows he was, in fact, the most decorated Captain in the Federation's history, truly a [[Hero of Another Story]]. <ref>For [[Bonus Points]], "Robert April" was the original name proposed for the character of the captain during development and preproduction.</ref>

** Arguably the biggest example, the claim that [[Gene Roddenberry]] was the genius behind ''Star Trek''. Now, before anyone reaches for pitchforks and torches, ''yes'', Roddenberry was a genius, plus a [[Badass]] in real life, a war hero, a visionary, a civil rights pioneer, a philanthropist, and did indeed contribute to establishing science fiction as a popular genre, but crediting him as the sole genius behind the franchise would be like giving sole credit to Kirk for all the heroic acts done by the entire crew. It is almost a travesty that few fans give [[Eugene L. Coon]] the credit he deserves; Coon was the one who thought up everything having to do with Klingons, Starfleet Command, the Prime Directive, and was even the one who designed the character of Khan Noonien Singh, likely the greatest villain in the franchise. William Shatner said of Coon that he was “the unsung hero of Star Trek”, a sentiment shared by Leonard Nimoy and most other cast members. Even many of ''[[Battlestar Galactica (1978 TV series)| Battlestar Galactica]]'' cast members praised him as the man behind ''Star Trek''. Truth be told, if Roddenberry had any flaw, it was that he didn’t like to share the spotlight.