The various Star Trek movies and TV shows are very stressful productions, due to the fact that most of the time is spent on sets and several cast members needing to wear heavy prosthetics on a daily basis. The fact that some of the shows ran for seven seasons meant that a lot of actors had to endure a long amount of time in space.

The time spent on a Star Trek set has led to many long-lasting friendships among the various casts of each show, which are maintained to this day due to all of the reunions that happen at conventions across the world. It's due to these friendships that the cast was able to let off steam when the cameras weren't rolling, which is a necessity for a show that is as exhausting to film as a Star Trek program.

The first season of Star Trek: Discovery was criticized for its lack of levity and being too serious, which is something that the other Star Trek shows never had a problem with, as a certain amount of humor is to be expected when you are dealing with rubber-headed aliens on a daily basis. We can see this going on in the pictures below, as the Star Trek actors had no problem clowning around in their extraterrestrial gear.

We are here today to take a glimpse at what happens when the cameras aren't rolling on the sets of the various Star Trek TV shows.

Here are Twenty Behind-The-Scenes Photos Of Star Trek That Completely Change Everything!

The Girls Of Orion Having A Night On The Town

Star Trek: Enterprise brought the girls of Orion back to the series after a long absence. The episode called "Bound" introduced Navaar, D'Nesh, and Maras, who are used as part of a plot to take over the Enterprise. 

The girls of Orion from "Bound" spent a lot of time wearing provocative clothing, but they didn't have to spend all of their time wearing out-there outfits, as the nature of the green makeup/paint that was used allowed them to wear other clothes, since it required a lot of work to remove the green coloring and changing clothes wasn't enough to smudge what had already been applied.

The role of Navaar (the woman on the left) was played by Cyia Batten, who also played Tora Ziyal (the daughter of Gul Dukat) in Star Trek: Deep Space Nine and Inina in Star Trek: Voyager. 

The Talosians Need To Follow Production Notes

Starfleet has a reputation for being the least strict of the military organizations in Star Trek, but they have at least one rule that is never broken, which involves traveling to a world called Talos IV. The penalty for breaking this law is execution.

The large-headed aliens of Talos IV appeared in the original pilot for Star Trek: The Original Series, with the footage being reworked into a new episode called "The Menagerie" in order to satisfy concerns about the production of the show.

The picture above shows Gene Roddenberry working with one of the actors portraying a Talosian, even though the episode was directed by Robert Butler.

The Original

The first green-skinned dancing girl to appear in Star Trek was Vina from the original pilot episode of the show. Vina was played by Susan Oliver, who had no dancing experience prior to working on Star Trek and only had a short period of time in which to learn how to belly dance before filming began.

The makeup process for Vina was far more primitive than the one used in later episodes and the green paint took a lot longer to apply and was far easier to smudge.

A documentary about the life of Susan Oliver called The Green Girl was released in 2014.

Worf Is A Yacht Enthusiast

Michael Dorn played Worf in both Star Trek: The Next Generation and Star Trek: Deep Space Nine, as well as reprising the role in all of The Next Generation movies.

Worf might have loved the thrill of battle, but that paled in comparison to the excitement of sailing a ship around the world and feeling the wind in your hair and on your forehead ridges.

The picture above was actually part of a photo shoot for Entertainment Weekly magazine, as they were doing a feature on Star Trek: The Next Generation. 

The Andorians Are Cooler Than You

The aesthetic of the Andorian race was a symptom of the limited budget of Star Trek: The Original Series, with blue skin and a set of antenna that can be hidden by a wig being cheap enough to afford with the small amount of money that was available at the time.

The design of the Andorians became more complex with each iteration of Star Trek, to the point where they received forehead bumps that were similar to those carried by Romulans in the post-TNG era. Star Trek: Enterprise used the Andorians in several storylines, allowing for their designs to be updated once more.

The Andorians homeworld is coated in ice, which may be why the guys pictured above think that they are so cool.

Spock Says Lol

It might be hard to believe now, but there was a time when pictures of Leonard Nimoy smiling were worth a lot of money to Star Trek fans. Leonard Nimoy had appeared in several movies and TV shows before Star Trek: The Original Series, but this was in the era before home video and way before the Internet existed, so it was a lot more difficult for fans to find footage from his other projects.

There was a period of time during the '60s when the Star Trek fandom was growing and fans were fascinated with the character of Spock. The Internet was still a few decades off, which meant that photocopying and distributing at fan conventions was one of the few ways in which you could acquire rare behind-the-scenes pictures of the cast of Star Trek. 

Spock Getting His Ears Stuck On

The production budget of Star Trek: The Original Series would be considered small by today's standards, which is why Spock sported a set of elf-like ears. Leonard Nimoy spent longer in the makeup chair than his co-stars due to the application of the Vulcan ears, but this was a relatively quick process compared to some of the actors in later seasons.

The Vulcan ears were also quite unintrusive and allowed the actor to function normally in-between scenes. The early pitch documents for Star Trek: The Original Series mentioned that Spock had a metal plate in his stomach that he used to consume food, which (thankfully) had to be scrapped when the show entered production.

Picard Loves To Party

The woman in the picture above is Jennifer Hetrick, who played Vash in several episodes of Star Trek: The Next Generation.

Vash debuted in "Captain's Holiday", which was an episode requested by Patrick Stewart, as he felt that the show needed more action and scantily clad women, and he wanted an episode that felt more like an old adventure film.

It seems that the short shorts worn by Captain Picard in this episode did the trick, as Patrick Stewart and Jennifer Hetrick would start dating after the episode was filmed and they were even engaged for a time.

Dax's Dots

Terry Farrell played Jadzia Dax throughout the first six seasons of Star Trek: Deep Space Nine before she left the show for a role on Becker and the Dax symbiote passed to Ezri, who was played by Nicole de Boer.

Terry Farrell had to endure extra time in the makeup chair, as the Trill of Deep Space Nine had cat-like spots on their body. Her makeup was applied by Michael Westmore, who had the chance to create the Dax spots one more time in 2014 when Terry Farrell wore the costume at a convention in Las Vegas.

The Roman numerals on the makeup job above mean that this was the 361st time that it had been done.

Aliens At The Dinner Table

There are many Star Trek actors who have suffered many hours in the makeup chair, with Michael Dorn probably spending the most time under the brush, considering how Worf appeared in more episodes of Star Trek than any other character in the series.

The majority of the alien makeup in Star Trek involved ridges that were applied to the head, with most aliens wearing bulky armor or clothes to prevent the need for more makeup. The time spent in the makeup chair meant that many actors ate their meals while looking like aliens, as it would take too much time to remove and reapply it.

The Doctor Playing Guitar

Robert Picardo played The Doctor (no, not the time-traveling one) in Star Trek: Voyager, where his story about a hologrammatic artificial life-form outgrowing his programming and striving to be seen as an equal being by his crew-mates was one of the best storylines in the show.

Robert Picardo is also a talented musician and was given the chance to sing in several episodes of Star Trek: Voyager, the most notable of which was "Virtuoso", where an entire species becomes enamored with The Doctor's voice. Picardo has admitted that the songs sung at the end of "Virtuoso" were performed by an opera singer, but it was his voice on all of the other occasions when The Doctor sang.

Janeway & Seven Having A Party

There are many who believe that the introduction of Seven of Nine to Star Trek: Voyager is what prevented the show from being canceled, as she injected new life into the story and quickly drew attention from the mainstream media for her provocative outfits.

It's odd to see Captain Janeway and Seven of Nine partying together, as Jeri Ryan (Seven's actress) has been very candid about how Kate Mulgrew (Janeway's actress) hated her during her introduction, making her experience on Voyager difficult for a long time. It wasn't until Jeri Ryan started dating Brannon Braga (executive producer of Voyager) that Mulgrew backed off and the two have since become friends.

Quark With Stephen Hawking

Stephen Hawking played himself (or rather, a hologram of himself) in the Star Trek: The Next Generation episode called "Descent", where he is one of several historical figures created by Data for a game of Poker. Hawking wins the hand, beating Data, Albert Einstein, and Isaac Newton.

Stephen Hawking was a huge fan of Star Trek and interviews about his time on the show can be found on the home releases of Star Trek: The Next Generation. When Hawking passed away in 2018, his name was added to a memorial in Star Trek Online. 

The Rock & Harry Kim

The reason why The Rock appeared in Star Trek: Voyager was actually due to UPN wanting to promote the show by bringing in a star from WWF Smackdown, as WWF programming was on UPN at that time and the people at the network wanted a crossover.

"Tsunkatse" also brought in a few actors from Deep Space Nine in order to further boost fan appeal, with Jeffrey Combs and J.G. Hertzler (who were known for playing Weyoun Chancellor Martok) appeared in new roles.

It seems that the ratings push worked, as "Tsunkatse" was the highest-rated episode of Voyager that season, with over four million homes tuning in to watch the show.

Tasha Reading Wesly A Bedtime Story

Denise Crosby only remained on The Next Generation for a single season due to how unhappy she was with the work schedule, direction of her character, and storylines she had been given.

Wil Wheaton also left Star Trek: The Next Generation, as he felt that it was interfering with his ability to find other work. It seems that both Crosby and Wheaton made the wrong decision to leave Star Trek, as it is the show that has defined both of their careers, even though Wheaton appeared in Stand By Me. 

The picture above shows both actors during the early stages of Star Trek: The Next Generation, before both of them grew weary of the show.

Spock Shilling His Album

Leonard Nimoy loved folk music, which is why he used his fame from Star Trek to pursue a career in music. You may have heard the song he made about Bilbo Baggins of The Hobbit fame, which is just one of the gems released by Leonard Nimoy during his career.

In 1967, Leonard Nimoy released an album called Leonard Nimoy Presents Mr. Spock's Music From Outer Space, which contained songs that were written from the perspective of Spock himself.

Leonard Nimoy continued to release music and spoken word albums throughout his career. He also made a Star Trek audio drama with John de Lancie, called Spock  Vs. Q, which was followed by Spock Vs. Q: The Sequel.