10 Things You Didn't Know About How Star Trek Got Started

8. Captain January, Anyone? How About Captain Flagg?star trek william shatner Roddenberry didn't want Shatner to simply replace Hunter in the role of Capt. Pike. Instead, he chose to create a new commander for the Enterprise €“ and that meant coming up with a new name. Roddenberry compiled a list of possible last names, including the aforementioned January and Flagg. Also under consideration were Drake, Christopher, Thorpe, Richard, Patrick, Raintree, Boone, Hudson, Timber, Hamilton, Hannibal, Neville, and North. Fortunately, the producers settled on the shortest name on the list: Kirk. In hindsight, it's hard to imagine the crew answering to a guy named Hannibal or Timber. And the prevalence of macho, outdoorsy names like Boone and Hudson seems to reflect the popularity of TV Westerns during the 1960s.

Contributor

Debbie Gilbert is an award-winning journalist who's been writing for magazines and newspapers since 1988. A Memphis native who grew up near Graceland, she became a Star Trek fan in 1975.