Star Trek: 10 Things You Didn’t Know About Vulcans

10. Satanic Panic

Gene Roddenberry's 1964 pitch for Star Trek gave us our earliest glimpse at a Vulcan (or "half-Martian" as he is then described). For "Mr. Spock," "The First Lieutenant," Roddenberry wrote:

The first view of him can be almost frightening — a face so heavy-lidded and satanic you might almost expect him to have a forked tail. […] [H]e has a slightly reddish complexion and semi-pointed ears.

The devilish half-alien creation didn't appeal to everyone, however.

Famously unhappy with the "too cerebral" first Star Trek pilot, The Cage, network NBC made the unusual decision to commission a second. Fearing the reaction of the Bible Belt to Roddenberry's 'demonic' demi-terrestrial, they wanted "the guy with the ears" gone before any 'man' could go again.

Roddenberry had to fight hard to keep Spock on the bridge, and even after NBC relented, they remained concerned about a religious backlash. As Herbert Solow, executive at Star Trek production company Desilu Studios, put it:

It was as if they believed that, after Satan had been cast out of the Garden of Eden, he was […] cast into Star Trek as science officer Spock.

The panic over Spock 'satanic' attained strange heights when promotional material was airbrushed to round Spock's ears and straighten his eyebrows. As Star Trek began to air, NBC tried to limit Spock's screentime and kept pushing for a change to 'more regular' make-up.

In fact, the audience had an altogether different reaction to the pointy ears. 'Spockmania' had begun and so had the story of the Vulcan people.