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The Origins of 11 Famous Star Trek Lines

By rick marshall | nov 6, 2015.

Few franchises have had the cultural impact of the various Star Trek television series and movies, and nowhere is that more evident than in the snippets of dialogue that have become a part of the American vernacular—and in some cases, found their way abroad, too. Here are 11 of the most notable Star Trek catchphrases, as well as a little more information about their origins.

1. "Live Long and Prosper"

The Vulcan greeting and the finger-separating hand gesture that accompanies it first appeared in the second season of Star Trek: The Original Series , during an episode titled “Amok Time.” Spock himself (actor Leonard Nimoy) has made no secret of the fact that the gesture and phrase were his idea, and that he based them on Orthodox Jewish blessings he remembered from his childhood. In the Jewish blessing, the position of the fingers forms the Hebrew letter “Shin,” which represents the name “Shaddai” (Almighty God). Nimoy put his own spin on the traditional gesture by holding up just one hand (instead of both) and changing up the verbal blessing slightly.

2. "Highly Illogical..."

While Spock never shied away from questioning the logic of those around him—usually Kirk—it wasn't until the second season that he took things up a notch and deemed the actions of the native inhabitants of planet Omega IV “highly illogical” in the episode titled “The Omega Glory.” Previously, it had always just been “illogical” or, in rare cases, “most illogical,” but it took a pair of natives attacking Kirk in a jail cell for Spock to pair his trademark raised-eyebrow reaction with the term “highly illogical.” The phrase would then be repeated in several more episodes, as well as the subsequent films and J.J. Abrams' reboot of the franchise.

Bonus: “Highly Illogical” was also the name of Leonard Nimoy's 1993 music album featuring several songs he recorded in the 1960s (including “The Ballad of Bilbo Baggins”) as well as a few new tunes.

3. "Beam Me Up, Scotty"

One of the most interesting aspects of this phrase—a request directed at Chief Engineer Montgomery “Scotty” Scott for transport back to the USS Enterprise—is that it was never actually uttered in any of the Star Trek television series or movies. More often than not, the command was akin to “Three to beam up” or more directly, “Beam them up,” with the closest approximation being “Beam us up, Scotty” in a few episodes of the Star Trek animated series. However, William Shatner did say this line while reading the audio version of his novel Star Trek: The Ashes of Eden .

4. "I'm A Doctor, Not A..."

Everyone knows that Dr. Leonard McCoy is not an engineer, a coal miner, or an escalator, but that never stopped him from reminding his fellow crew members. The first time DeForest Kelley uttered his famous catchphrase as we know it was in a first-season episode titled “The Devil in the Dark.” In that episode, McCoy saw fit to let Kirk know that he was a doctor, not a brick-layer. It's worth noting that an earlier episode, “The Corbomite Maneuver," had him asking Capt. Kirk, “What am I, a doctor or a moon-shuttle conductor?” but it wasn't until much later in the season that we got the full line that would later be heard in just about every subsequent series, as well as the Star Trek films. The line even made it into J.J. Abrams' 2009 reboot, with Karl Urban (as McCoy) exclaiming, “I'm a doctor, not a physicist!”

5. "Make It So"

Captain Jean-Luc Picard's signature line was a part of Star Trek: The Next Generation from the very start, with actor Patrick Stewart uttering what would become his character's most memorable catchphrase in the pilot episode, “Encounter at Farpoint.” The episode was written by Gene Roddenberry himself, so it's likely that he wrote the line for Picard, though the phrase has been in use for quite a while in military circles as a way to tell someone to proceed with a command.

6. "To Boldly Go Where No Man Has Gone Before..."

The infinitive-splitting opening narration for each episode of Star Trek: The Original Series (with the exception of the pilot episodes) was famously recited by William Shatner, but the actual origins of the line are uncertain at best. Some reports suggest that it was inspired by a 1958 White House press booklet promoting the space program, though some have speculated that it came from a statement made by explorer James Cook following an expedition to Newfoundland. Writer Samuel Peeples, who authored the pilot episode “Where No Man Has Gone Before,” is often credited with the decision to make the phrase such a significant part of the series. The line was eventually repeated—with a few minor tweaks—in each iteration of the series and films.

7. "Khaaannnn!"

Possibly the most meme-friendly line of dialogue ever to come out of the Star Trek universe, this scream of rage originated in (no surprise here) Star Trek II: The Wrath of Khan . Left marooned on a dead planet by the evil villain Khan then taunted about his predicament, Kirk let loose with a primal roar—and the rest was viral-video history.

8. "I'm Givin' Her All She's Got, Captain!"

Much like “Beam me up, Scotty,” this famous catchphrase often associated with USS Enterprise Chief Engineer Montgomery “Scotty” Scott in Star Trek: The Original Series was never said in this exact form by actor James Doohan in the series or subsequent films. The closest approximation is a line in the second-season episode “The Changeling,” when Kirk asks Scotty to divert more power to the ship's shields. Scotty responds with, “Giving them all we got.” However, Doohan did utter every word of the famous line as part of a cameo in 1993's Loaded Weapon , in which he turns up as a panicky police officer trying to fix a coffee machine. Similarly, Simon Pegg used the same line “I'm givin' her all she's got, Captain!” in 2009's Star Trek reboot, in which he plays a young Montgomery Scott.

9. "Nuclear Wessels"

Russian crew member Pavel Andreievich Chekov's inability to pronounce the letter “V” became a recurring joke after the character was introduced in the second season of Star Trek: The Original Series as the ship's navigator. While it made for some funny moments throughout the series and subsequent movies, one of the most memorable pronunciation gaffes occurred during Star Trek IV: The Voyage Home , when Chekov begins asking passers-by in 1980s San Francisco where he can find “nuclear wessels.” Even though Walter Koenig had been playing the character for almost 20 years before The Voyage Home hit theaters, the two-word line soon became indelibly connected with his portrayal of the character.

10. "Resistance Is Futile"

This famous line was first uttered by robotic aliens The Borg in the epic third-season finale of Star Trek: The Next Generation , titled “Best of Both Worlds, Part 1.” Not only did the 1990 episode offer up one of the greatest cliffhangers in television history, but it also coined a phrase that would live forever in the nightmares of fans—mainly because it was recycled for use in countless other series and films down the road.

11. "Set Phasers To Stun"

It was established early on in Star Trek: The Original Series that the phasers used by the crew of USS Enterprise had a “stun” setting (as mentioned in “The Man Trap” episode), and both Kirk and Spock often found themselves instructing their crewmates to use the non-lethal capabilities of their standard-issue weapons. However, it wasn't until the second season of Star Trek: The Animated Series that we first heard Kirk issue the command “Set phasers to stun.” The line eventually became an oft-repeated order in subsequent series, turning up in both Star Trek: Deep Space Nine and Star Trek: The Next Generation , as well as many of the movies (including 2009's reboot).

This article originally appeared in 2013.

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Kirk: Captain of the Enterprise , hmm? Picard: That's right. Kirk: Close to retirement? Picard: I'm not planning on it. Kirk: Well, let me tell you something: Don't. Don't let them promote you. Don't let them transfer you. Don't let them do anything that takes you off the bridge of that ship, because while you're there, you can make a difference.

The one where Picard meets Kirk and they ride horses together before fighting a Human Alien trying to get into heaven.

Star Trek Generations is the seventh movie in the Star Trek film series, released in 1994. This is the first movie featuring the cast of Star Trek: The Next Generation . Billed as a Crossover ( Cross Through ?) with Star Trek: The Original Series , although the main TOS representative, apart from the last adventure , is given The Cameo for this one.

It's shortly after the end of the Next Generation TV series, which ended its run just before this film was released. Our baddie is Dr. Soran ( Malcolm McDowell ), a Mad Scientist with a malicious agenda reaching back seventy-eight years to when he was "saved" from the Nexus by Kirk, who then disappeared into it himself and was presumed dead . Soran now plans to blow up a couple of suns to get back into the Nexus, but Picard gets Kirk to leave the Nexus and join him for a bridge-dropping climax.

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Patrick Stewart as Captain Jean-Luc Picard

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Generations stands as a mediocre changing of the guard for crews of the Enterprise, with a dull plot that sometimes seems like an expanded episode of the television series.

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Star Trek: Generations is 15015 on the JustWatch Daily Streaming Charts today. The movie has moved up the charts by 9749 places since yesterday. In the United States, it is currently more popular than Dynasty but less popular than In the Aisles.

Captain Jean-Luc Picard and the crew of the Enterprise-D find themselves at odds with the renegade scientist Soran who is destroying entire star systems. Only one man can help Picard stop Soran's scheme...and he's been dead for seventy-eight years.

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Professor Jean-Christophe Cloutier Featured in OMNIA Office Artifacts Series

June 7, 2024

See this coverage as it originally appeared in OMNIA : https://omnia.sas.upenn.edu/story/office-artifacts-jean-christophe-cloutier

Office Artifacts: Jean-Christophe Cloutier

Discover the stories behind six prized items in the office of Cloutier, Associate Professor of English, including a poster signed by Adam West, a Charlie Chaplin figure, and a Star Trek Enterprise bottle opener.

1. Autographed Adam West Batman Photo 

One of my prized possessions, this photograph of Adam West as Batman from the 1960s TV show was signed to me by West at the 2012 New York Comic Con, five years before his passing. I waited in line over an hour for the autograph and when I finally arrived, West seemed to be bickering about something with Burt Ward, the actor who played Robin, and who was seated to his left. All I heard was, “Stop it, Burt.” West looked magnificent, in sunglasses and with a resplendent smile, and the frame never fails to bring a smile to my face when I walk into my office.

2. Charlie Chaplin Figure

As an undergraduate, my first major was Film Studies and I had arrived with a degree in Cinema from Montréal. I loved silent film, especially Chaplin. I’ve always gravitated toward comedies and became fascinated with Charlot and how Chaplin used to not only act, direct, and write his films but also compose the musical scores. I read his memoir, My Life , as an undergrad and his definition of humor left an indelible impact on my own life.

In it, Chaplin describes humor as that which allows us to “see in what seems rational, the irrational, and in what seems important, the unimportant. It also heightens our sense of survival and preserves our sanity. Because of humor, we are less overwhelmed by the vicissitudes of life. It activates our sense of proportion and reveals to us, that in an overstatement of seriousness, lurks the absurd.” These lines, and humor, continue to be a daily life raft.

3. Québec License Plate

This motorcycle license plate is from my home province of Québec and bears our nation’s motto Je me souviens, which means “I remember.” It is a reminder of my roots as a Québécois and native French speaker who is now, somehow, in an English department. It acts as a talisman to ward off total assimilation and keeps the dream of my next road trip alive.

4. Wolverine #1 (September 1982)

Most of my comics collection lives in my office, hidden within my specially modified filing cabinets. I love teaching comics at Penn and having my collection close at hand is a pleasure and helps me introduce students to new titles. This particular issue is near and dear to my heart as it features my long-time favorite, Wolverine, a.k.a. Logan, the laconic super-healing mutant Canuck, and was created by an all-star duo of comics legends, Chris Claremont and Frank Miller, two humans who have forever widened my sense of wonder. Like Wolverine, they are the best at what they do.

5. Overlook Hotel Mug

Stephen King’s The Shining is one of my favorite novels. I first read it as a teenager, but its true impact came when I read it again as I was trying to complete my dissertation. The protagonist, Jack Torrance, is an English teacher-writer who finds the inspiration he’s been hoping for when he encounters the basement archive of the Overlook Hotel, in Sidewinder, Colorado, where he has been hired as winter caretaker. “He walked slowly between the mountains of paper, his mind alive and ticking over possibilities in a speedy way that was exhilarating,” King writes, a sensation that I always have when poring over the right archive.

Alas, Torrance not only fails to write his book, but he ends up being consumed by work and an evil that turns him into a threat to his family—“All work and no play makes Jack a dull boy,” as the tagline goes. In addition to this mug, I also have Overlook Hotel stationary, an Overlook Hotel welcome mat right at my office door, and a Torrance Funko figure hanging from my desk lamp. He looks at me, holding a bloody axe, as I work. These items act as a reminder to enjoy my work but to not let it control me at the expense of family and those I love.

6. Star Trek Enterprise Paper Weight/Bottle Opener

This isn’t any old Enterprise—this is the Galaxy-class starship USS Enterprise “D” (NCC-1701D), Starfleet’s finest. Under the command of Captain Jean-Luc Picard, it served as the Federation’s flagship for many glorious years—notably the seven wonderful seasons of Star Trek: The Next Generation , one of my all-time favorites and most formative TV shows. It’s both a paper weight and a bottle opener. “Make it so!”

Friday the 13th, Star Trek & Felicitys Erich Anderson Dies at the Age of 67

• Erich Anderson dies at the age of 67 after "a brutal struggle with cancer."
• Anderson is best known by genre fans for his portrayal of Rob Dier in director Joseph Zito's Friday the 13th: The Final Chapter (1984).
• Anderson was a prolific television and film actor who appeared in Star Trek: The Next Generation, Felicity, NYPD Blue, Thirtysomething and dozens upon dozens of projects over his illustrious 40-year career.

67-year-old Friday the 13th, Star Trek: The Next Generation, Felicity and NYPD Blue actor Erich Anderson has died of cancer. Anderson’s wife, actress Saxton Trainor, revealed her husband passed away via social media on June 1. While Anderson is undoubtedly best remembered by fans of the horror genre as the heroic character Rob Dier in Friday the 13th: The Final Chapter (1984), the thespian compiled an impressive film and television resume over his 40-year career. Trainor wrote in her Instagram post:

My husband Erich died this morning. I am sharing my brother-in-law Michael OMalleys words as I am too bereft now to write anything.

O’Malley wrote:

My brother-in-law Erich Anderson passed this morning after a brutal struggle with cancer. He had a long successful career as an actor he was on that old show 30 something; he was Felicitys father on Felicity; he was killed in a basement in a Friday the 13th movie: he was on Star Trek and dozens of other shows. He was a smart and funny guy, a fantastic cook; he wrote three great novels which you can find on Amazon. Ill miss him, but his ordeal is over.

Friday The 13th: The Final Chapter

Release Date April 13, 1984

Director Joseph Zito

Cast Clyde Hayes, Peter Barton, Kimberly Beck, Erich Anderson, Crispin Glover, Corey Feldman

Genres Thriller, Horror

Tagline Three Times Before You Have Felt The Terror, Known The Madness, Lived The Horror. But This Is The One You've Been Screaming For.

Franchise Friday The 13th

Erich Anderson's Prolific & Immeasurable Legacy

Credited as E. Erich Anderson, the actor made his feature film debut in the fourth installment of the Friday the 13th film series back in 1984. A year earlier, Anderson made his first appearance on television in the short-lived drama, For Love and Honor . Over the years, Anderson became a prolific player, particularly on TV, as he showed up on a number of high-profile series, including Dallas, Quantum Leap, Star Trek: The Next Generation, Melrose Place, Matlock, Monk and Murder, She Wrote among so many more.

Anderson’s most prolific television work came courtesy of recurring appearances on Bay City Blues, Thirtysomething, NYPD Blue and as Dr. Edward Porter — Felicity’s (Keri Russell) dad — on The WB and co-creator J.J. Abrams' Felicity. Anderson also showed up multiple times on Close to Home, Major Crimes and Bosch . And Anderson most recently participated in the Audible original podcast series, The Big Lie.

These Are the Best J.J. Abrams Shows and Movies, Ranked

Different J.J. Abrams movies and TV shows have defined many major cultural moments, with some serious highs and disappointing lows.

Following Anderson's movie role in Friday the 13th: The Final Chapter, the actor took part in a number of other widely recognized film titles, including the Chuck Norris-led Missing in Action, The Witches of Eastwick (1992 TV flick), Unfaithful and The Neighbor .

When Anderson appeared at the 2023 Frightmare in the Falls Canadian horror convention, as a part of the panel with some of his Friday the 13th: The Final Chapter co-stars, Anderson began the conversation by paying tribute to the late Ted White, who portrayed Jason Voorhees in The Final Chapter . Anderson said, courtesy of Convention Junkies :

I loved playing and hanging out with him. I played cards with him, [and] he took me for any money that was in my pocket [laughter]. And no remorse. Just like, Youre learning a lesson, son.

For those not aware of Anderson’s immeasurable and engaging participation on the convention circuit and his love for the Friday franchise and legacy, he was an extremely thoughtful, humorous and well-spoken ambassador for The Final Chapter’s enduring legacy, which Anderson played an important and not-to-be-forgotten part in.

Rest in peace, Erich Anderson our thoughts go out to Saxton Trainor and the Anderson family.

Den of Geek

The Star Trek Next Generation Character That Was Originally Drastically Different

Early plans for Star Trek: The Next Generation had very different conceptions of the main cast, including a security chief inspired by a space marine from Aliens.

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Yaphet Kotto as Jean-Luc Picard? Wesley Snipes as Geordi? Jenny Agutter as Dr. Crusher?

Gene Roddenberry considered all of these actors for Star Trek: The Next Generation before casting Patrick Stewart , LeVar Burton, and Gates McFadden. However, the most surprising alternate idea for a TNG character involved Tasha Yar, the ill-fated security chief aboard the U.S.S. Enterprise .

The Tale of Macha Hernandez

The TNG series bible, released before the show premiered as a guide for writers and actors, describes Yar in terms similar, if not completely one-to-one, with the character we know from the series. “Born at a ‘failed’ Earth colony of renegades and other violent undesirables, she escaped to Earth in her teens and discovered Starfleet, which she still ‘worships’ today as the complete opposite of all the ugliness she once knew,” the description explains.

Portrayed by Denise Crosby, Tasha Yar did show great loyalty to Picard and the Enterprise , even if that loyalty fell short of “worship.” And though we knew she had a terrible childhood, the full details wouldn’t be known until the season four episode “Legacy.”

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But the very first description written for Yar in preparation for auditions was very different. So different, in fact, that she wasn’t even called Tasha Yar.

“LT. Macha Hernandez – 26 year old woman of unspecified Latin descent who serves as the starship’s security chief,” read the first casting call for TNG . “She is described as having a new quality of conditioned-body-beauty, a fire in her eyes and muscularly well developed and very female body, but keeping in mind that much of her strength comes from attitude. Macha has an almost obsessive devotion to protecting the ship and its crew and treats Capt. Picard and Number One as if they were saints.”

If a space-fairing Latina warrior with muscles and an attitude sounds familiar, it should.

Macha Hernandez’s description also matches Vasquez, the standout space marine from Aliens . Portrayed by Jenette Goldstein, who also appeared in director James Cameron ‘s Terminator 2: Judgment Day and Titanic , Vasquez was the standout in a space marine corps filled with colorful characters. While the other marines struggled to shake off their cryosleep (save for Al Matthews’ Sgt. Apone, of course), Vasquez starts doing pull ups and fending off dumb jokes from Hudson ( Bill Paxton ).

Every single line that Vasquez delivers is an all-timer. When the xenomorphs descend upon the marines and overwhelm them, Vasquez shouts “Let’s rock!” and starts blowing them away. She’s got a fantastic final line, telling Gorman (William Hope) just before they both die in an explosion, “You always were an asshole.”

Unsurprisingly, the first actor the producers considered for the role of Macha was Goldstein, but how the heck would a character like that fit on the deck of the Enterprise ? Especially while Roddenberry was in charge? After all, the man was famous for restricting conflict among the crew, which accounts for many of the bumps in TNG ‘s infamously uneven first season. It’s hard to see how even a TV-softened version of Vasquez could work on TNG .

Part of the answer is in the casting announcement. Macha is loyal to the Federation and Picard. So while there would surely be moments in which Macha would have leaned toward violence, a word from Picard would have made her stand down, as often happened with Worf.

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Beside Goldstein, another early frontrunner to play the character that would become Tasha Yar was Marina Sirtis. No, the English daughter of Greek parents isn’t at all Latina. But for television producers of the 1980s, brown hair was enough to signify “unspecified Latin descent.” And Goldstein isn’t actually Latina either despite playing a Latina woman in Aliens .

Interestingly, the original description for Deanna Troi said the character was a “cool, Icelandic blonde, almost Spock-like,” according to Crosby . “Marina [Sirtis] was reading for Tasha. Somewhere, about the second or third audition, Gene Roddenberry had this idea: Let’s just switch them and see what happens.”

From Macha to Tasha

When Denise Crosby became the frontrunner for the Security Officer, not even the most incurious casting director could see her as someone named Macha Hernandez. Instead, the show rewrote the character as the Ukrainian-descended Tasha Yar. With the Hernandez connection severed, most callbacks to Vasquez disappeared as well. Yar became a tough character who was told to stop fighting much more than she actually fought, unfortunately turning her into a bit of a boring presence on the Enterprise deck. Yar died an ignoble death in the 23rd episode of season 1, “Skin of Evil,” but it’s hard to begrudge all involved for abandoning the character.

Of course, Crosby did get to return in various forms throughout the show’s run, getting a proper send off for Yar in the wonderful “Yesterday’s Enterprise” and then getting to play the fun villain Sela. And Goldstein eventually found her way to Starfleet too, as a science officer aboard the Enterprise -B in Star Trek Generations and voicing the Enterprise computer on Short Treks .

Even better, the other attempt to pull from Aliens was much more successful. Roddenberry and the other TNG creators loved Lance Henriksen’s gentle but still uncanny take on an android as Bishop. They looked to that quality for Data, which they first found in actor Mark Lindsay Chapman before going with Brent Spiner . Spiner proved to be the ideal choice, not just because he brought Bishop’s disquieting kindness to Data, but also because he could expand on the character to make him unique and not just knock-off.

With time and the right casting, would Macha Hernandez have also become a distinct and beloved character? Maybe under Yaphet Kotto’s Picard and alongside Wesley Snipes’ LaForge.

Joe George | @jageorgeii

Joe George’s writing has appeared at Slate, Polygon, Tor.com, and elsewhere!