Exploring Bloopers in Star Trek - Where No Man Has Gone Before!

[@robabiera733]

I thought I knew these episodes backwards and forwards! The idea that people could fall asleep on the set makes sense when you think about it, but that shot of the actor with his head on the console is still wild!

[@Slashygirl66]

I did not see that at all. Just before that it seemed that over the console on the wall above there's no image, it's all gray.

[@borusa32]

I hope he was having a nice dream.

[@randallwong7196]

Not only is Mitchell unconscious at the transporter pad, he seems to do a little bit of walking to the correct element.

[@tonyg.3696]

😂”Why is that dude passed out on the console?” Send Capt Sisko back to wake him up.

[@krelnik]

If you're going to do a whole series of these, my favorite one of these is in Space Seed. When Kirk goes in to break the glass on Khan's cryo-freeze chamber on the Botany Bay, watch the phaser on his belt and Dr. McCoy for a hilarious one. Clearly DeForest Kelley thought they were going to yell CUT.

[@TREK-WORLD]

You've got the idea! I'll be doing the entire series, one week at a time. Then TNG and DS9. Obviously, I'll be busy for a while. 😀😀😀😀

[@morlockmeat]

Slight corrections - Andrea Dromm was never on the turbo lift. It was only Kirk, Spock and Mitchell. She was already on the bridge. Also, Dromm was still carrying the tapes in her hand, it’s just when the camera shot changes, the inconsistency was that her hands were at her sides, with the tapes still in her right hand.😊

[@MatthewCaunsfield]

The floor panels on the turbolift scene may be connected but they run in 3 different directions! The intention may have been to represent a futuristically snug fit from the various components

[@JustWasted3HoursHere]

I was thinking the same thing: The tolerances in the 23rd century might be much tighter than in the 21st!

[@virginiaconnor8350]

I enjoyed watching the bloopers at the conventions. I'm glad the dvd sets include them now, including the out-takes. Are there any DVD sets that include only both from all the series?

[@shabbysnubtide3339]

0:42 You can see this many times in the Next Generation and it always bugged me.

[@TheStarTrekApologist]

To be fair the equipment at 1:45 is really a matter of modern TV's creating errors. It would be harder to see in an old Tube telivison that cuts a bit off the sides, and the 60's TV's would cut even more off. You should take note of that in future episodes.

[@TREK-WORLD]

I actually do take the TV format (original,vhs,dvd,bluray) into account when compiling these. If something is just more visible, I’ll pull it from the list (seams, zippers, etc). But this particular error was first documented in the early 1990s in several non-fiction books I have in my collection. Those accounts predate even the laserdisc releases; so even then - the best sources for home video were VHS. And freeze frame was horrible, so the only way to find these was from standard TV speed watching. So I will always try to remove things that weren’t mistakes - but just poor tech.

[@robertknight4672]

I've seen pictures of vintage TVs with really odd shaped screens like ovals, circles and hexagons. I would think those would cut off even more.

[@manlystranger4973]

I think it is possible Dehner is a very tall 5'2" and Mitchell is a shorter than average 5'9". :) I do find the Dehner/Mitchell information pages and the pages Gary was reading to be adorable as Gene and the production department clearly thought typewriters would still be an important part of bureaucratic administrative systems for the next 300 years. Where they did predict the future closely is the fact the typewritten pages were optically scanned in some way for digital dissemination. Impressive for a time period in which the overhead projector was just coming into widespread use as the height of optical information sharing technology. I look forward to your future blooper findings. Kirk Forever!!!

[@stevenschwartzhoff1703]

And good for them keeping imperial measures! Not to mention circle-/underline-ing important things by hand.

[@TREK-WORLD]

It's the same way with the stencil signs they used for all the room names. You would have thought that they would have gone for painted on lettering rather than the signs. But who knows?

[@TheShornak]

That shot coming out of the turbo lift also shows us much more of the ceiling than we usually get to see as well. I liked that they did that. Makes it look like a more complete set. However I can't tell if we see a light at the top of if that's that top edge of the set. It's real quick and it's only in a split second as the shot first starts.

[@TREK-WORLD]

You’re right… the entire setup is really unique. It had to do with the fact that neither of the pilots were shot on the Stage 9 sets that would become the home of Star Trek. They were setup in the Gower Street facility. And there were quite a few differences between the set layout back then. Like how they used a false wall in the reverse camera scene when they got on the turbo lift. The crewman entering the lift at the last minute has a wall behind him. Yet when the doors are opened again, we see the bridge where the temporary wall had been prior. As a result, they never used that filming technique again the series.

[@paulveltum7968]

Also I think Smith is still holding the cards. She’s just palming them . If you go back and look again you can see she’s actually palming them in that scene and a following scene in this video.

[@gabevee3]

She didn't exit out of the lift. I never noticed the guy sleeping. I've watched this episode dozens of times. Wow

[@TREK-WORLD]

Yup! You're right. I never considered that. And I missed the real issue with Spock's position even though I stared at it over and over while making this. I LOVE that we still find new things (for ourselves) after all these years.

[@davidgaul572]

Great stuff!

[@petery4521]

Wow even with the bloopers it was better then todays trek!!

[@almanuel6140]

@ 3:14 look at the belt spock is wearing...that style of belt would have been considered archaic - a relic from hundreds of years ago....

[@user-gl5ld9vm7i]

What is that inro music? Was that on the original Star Trek series???

[@TREK-WORLD]

No, it’s an original piece of royalty free music from the KZbin creator library. Sent from my iPad

[@pittadrum8]

And the tombstone says James R Kirk

[@JustWasted3HoursHere]

Considering these early episodes were made on a shoestring budget I'd say they did pretty good, all things considered. Even when they were in the Next Generation period with a considerably larger budget, they still ran into the problem of SPEED. That is, they had the cash but not the time: Each episode was filmed in about one week. This was why each season had at least one "bottle show" where they would save time and money by filming in one or two locations and frequently reuse shots already filmed (used as "flashbacks" etc): To save time and/or money.

[@TREK-WORLD]

Absolutely! The reasons for “bloopers” are almost always related to money and speed. I think Dark Shadows is probably the all-time king of dealing with bloopers during filming that they simply didn’t have time to correct before the show had to air.

[@JustWasted3HoursHere]

@@TREK-WORLDI'll have to look into that. I love that kind of stuff, like seeing the boom microphone in the shot or cameras visible in reflections etc.

[@forddon]

This was the second pilot, The average episode budget was about $190,000, the first pilot ran $900,000 (which became the menagerie) so most of the sets and props were covered in that. I don't remember what the budget was for the second pilot, but it was a lot more than the typical episode, also they had much more time to shoot it and since this particular episode was the one that detirmined if the show would be sold they had good reason to get things right.

[@JustWasted3HoursHere]

@@forddon Good to know. It's pretty rare that a studio will allow a second pilot. Luckily someone saw something in it that had potential. And the rest, as they say, is history!

[@forddon]

@@JustWasted3HoursHere Lucille Ball went to NBC to make the request for a second pilot. Star Trek really owes a lot to her.

[@stevenschwartzhoff1703]

I am pretty sure she is still holding the cards when the cameras change from turbolift to bridge, theu are just hidden in her palm better, her arm has however straightened. She also clearly has them in later shots. Pretty good catches though.

[@tonyg.3696]

I’d like to see Gary Mitchell vs Khan in the Federation’s Speed-Read Galactic Championship Series.

[@portland-182]

The 'undershirt' appears to be padding for stunt work - it only appears before or after action.

[@SuperChicken666]

Fascinating. Good stuff, but it seems to me that bloopers were those hilarious gaffs that they would show at the end of season cast party. Too bad most of those probably ended up in the trash.

[@dennisearhart5453]

So if you stop the scene just as the medical officer steps up and pass Infront of her you can clearly see her index finger and her thumb then take note of the slightly liter tan area in-between,if her hand was empty that area would be black not a lite tan like it is.

[@TREK-WORLD]

I think you’re right. It does look to me now like she may have literally palmed the cards as she walked across the set.

[@dennisearhart5453]

@@TREK-WORLD and if you watched that episode on Paramount plus and fallow the scene through as she then walks forward towards the main screen you can see it still in her hand.

[@dennisearhart5453]

And I'm pretty sure she was never in the turbo lift.

[@dennisearhart5453]

Actually she is still holding the cards,it's just very hard to see it as they are just about the same color as her hand and mostly covered up by her hand and not to mention it is very much out of focus.

[@TREK-WORLD]

You know - I think you are right! A few others mentioned it to me as well. And it doesn’t look like she may literally have palmed them as she walked across the bridge.

[@Slashygirl66]

Omg!! So cool you found stuff I missed. The only error I found was that it was Smith holding those cards not Dehner. No one thought we would be able to pause stuff and see what was written. 5 feet 2 is definitely way off from 5 feet 9.

[@JustWasted3HoursHere]

Exactly. The producers of the original series didn't know about digital video and perfect freeze frames or even VCRs. For a 1960s TV they knew the vast majority of people would never notice.

[@daivmon]

I get to nitpick the nitpicker. The Yeoman wasn't in the Turbolift, she was waiting for the captain to arrive on the bridge. Depending on how many times the scene was rehearsed and actors don't always keep in time as previously filmed. You missed the fact that Spock was in the Turbolift and exited and Mitchell followed right after him but wasn't in the bridge shot when Kirk & Mitchell exited the Turbolift. @paulveltum7968 is correct and Yeoman Smith had the cards in both scenes.

[@TREK-WORLD]

Touché!