The Biggest Star Trek Secret of the Past 50 Years is a Musical One
Everyone in Federation Space (and probably a good chunk of the Delta Quadrant) knows the theme song to the original Star Trek, a show that had its premiere 50 years ago this week.
After William Shatner’s “Space: the final frontier” opening, Alexander Courage’s music swells and what sounds like a woman’s voice–a soprano performing some vocalizations–as the USS Enterprise whooshes by.
Here are a couple of secrets about one of the best-known TV theme songs in the galaxy.
Shatner was never happy with his read of those opening lines. Ask him today about them and he’ll say that he never managed to get the right tone.
There are many stories about the woman’s voice used in the theme. Some maintain that what we hear is an ondes Martenot, a pre-synth keyboard instrument from France. The truth seems to be that we hear a real woman–Loulie Jean Norman–who was brought in by Courage. At least at first.
You’re not hearing things, either. Norman’s vocalizations did change over the three seasons the show was on the air. For the first season, her voice was mixed with flute and organ. Creator Gene Roddenberry then asked for a remix with more of an emphasis on Norman’s voice.
Then, a problem. It was discovered that under Norman’s arrangement with the Screen Actors Guild, she was entitled to royalties on re-runs. As a result, her voice was mixed out of the recording and the organ (or perhaps the mythical ondes Martenot) was brought up in the mix. Producer Herbert Solow was the person responsible for making that financial decision. He didn’t tell Courage about it for 27 years.
And here’s the biggest secret: The Theme from Star Trek (that’s its official title) has lyrics. Actual words. Why? Not because he ever expected anyone to ever sing them. Roddenberry wanted a 50% share of the publishing royalties the theme would generate. He wrote the lyrics–without telling Courage, of course, which greatly pissed him off.
Here’s what we’ve been missing out on all these years.
For more ways the music of Star Trek rocked, check out this story at the LA Times.
Here’s another secret, you know that Talosian alien in the pilot episode with Christopher Pike? That’s actually a woman actor playing it
Could filled the video with Kirk kissing women.
Any Trekkie / Trekker worth his or her “salt” (an inside joke for fans of the show’s “Man Trap” episode, which aired 50 years ago this week!) should already know that Gene Roddenberry wrote words for ‘The Theme From Star Trek.’ After all, those lyrics appeared as the epigraph in the 1968 book “The Making Of Star Trek, which any TRUE fan should have read by now. By the way, that best seller was written by Stephen E. Poe (using his pen name, Stephen Whitfield) AND (you guessed it) Gene Roddenberry. However, here’s something most Trek fans DON’T know! (The following is from the book “Inside Star Trek.”) Poe shared a co-author credit with Star Trek creator Gene Roddenberry. Poe actually wrote the entire book (except for that above-mentioned epigraph!), but made a deal with Roddenberry, in which they agreed that Roddenberry would proofread the book and make his corrections and notifications before it went to print. For this, he would receive co-author credit AND half of the future royalties. However, Roddenberry was not able to review the book due to harsh production deadlines, but received the co-author credit, as well as half of the royalties, ANYWAY. Sound familiar? I guess Alexander Courage wasn’t around to warn Poe about that!