22 ‘Star Trek’ Easter eggs you probably missed

‘Star Trek’ (2009)

This ship is named the USS Kelvin after director JJ Abrams’s grandfather, Harry Kelvin, to whom Abrams was quite close. The word Kelvin even appears in the latest Star Wars film, also directed by Abrams, when Rey tells the droid BB-8 to “stay off Kelvin Ridge.”

Big-brained alien

On the left is a creature that was part of the Enterprise in the 1973 animated TV show, Star Trek. It’s clear he inspired the creature on the right for the 2009 film. 

Not All The Cast Was Animated

According to IMDb, the animated show wasn’t going to include actors George Takei (Sulu), Nichelle Nichols (Uhura), or Walter Konig (Checkov) to keep budgets down. Leonard Nimoy (Spock) insisted on keeping the actors in the show and successfully convinced the producers to employ two of the three. Though Koenig was not brought back as an actor, he did write the script for the episode, The Infinite Vulcan. 

Vasquez Rocks

The rocks jutting out from behind the Vulcan buildings are actually Vasquez Rocks, a southern California desert landscape, just north of Los Angeles where many episodes of the original TV series was filmed. 

Captain Kirk and the Gorn

In this photo, we see the first Kirk (William Shatner), battle a lizard-like Gorn in the episode “Arena” that was also shot at Vasquez Rocks. Many sci-fi movies have been filmed among the Martian-looking natural structures, including The Muppet Movie (1979), Little Miss Sunshine (2006) and Planet of the Apes (2001). 

Spock’s mom at the rocks

The Vasquez Rocks are seen even more clearly in this scene where Spock (Zachary Quinto) visits his ailing mother (Winona Ryder). For centuries, people on Earth have sought warm, dry climates as a way to improve their health. 

Oscar-winning screenwriter

Best known for writing the screenplay A Beautiful Mind, Akiva Goldsman has been a life-long Star Trek fan and jumped at the chance to play a Vulcan councilman. He was delighted to don the pointy ears he admired his whole life but was disappointed by one thing. 

“You can’t keep them, though, which was awful. But they were disposable molds. You weren’t allowed to take pictures, but somebody did, and I have them. It’s crazy. Just the idea that Star Trek still lives is so pleasing to me, and getting to be part of it was just a kick. I felt lucky and like a seven-year-old all at once,” said Goldsman to StarTrek.com. 

Orion Slave Girl

Green Starfleet cadet Gaila (Rachel Nichols), is clearly inspired by the Orion Slave Girl in the original series. The filmmakers gave her a makeover, however, giving her red hair instead of black. No longer a slave since slavery was outlawed by the Federation, she works for living. In the original TV series, Orions were a matriarchal society with a large sexual appetite. 

R2-D2

Spock watches debris explode over the planet Vulcan but if you look closely on the left side of the screen, you can see a tiny R2-D2 floating around in the wreckage. 

‘Star Trek Into Darkness’

According to IMDb, Benedict Cumberbatch recorded his audition tape for the 2013 film, Star Trek Into Darkness, in the kitchen of his best friend’s home, using his iPhone. The filmmakers didn’t reveal the character Cumberbatch would be playing to the actor until a week before shooting. A studio execuctive flew to London to meet Cumberbatch with a script handcuffed to his wrist. 

“Out of your Vulcan mind?”

Dr. McCoy (Karl Urban) hisses the question to Spock (Quinto), “Are you out of your Vulcan mind?” This line was first delivered in the original TV show by the original McCoy (DeForest Kelley). The character’s full name is Leonard Horatio McCoy. 

Beware the red shirt

Die-hard fans of the Star Trek TV show grew to fear any character in a red shirt because they were most likely to be killed in an episode. In this scene from Star Trek Into Darkness, Kirk (Pine), asks Checkov (Anton Yelchin), to put on a red shirt, which Checkov clearly doesn’t want to do. 

Sadly, Yelchin passed away in June of 2016. The filmmakers honored him in the end credits. 

Khan!

Spock (Quinto) mirrors the original Kirk (Shatner), in Star Trek 2: The Wrath of Khan when he yells, “Kahn!” Actor Ricardo Monalban played the character Kahn in the original TV show and in Star Trek 2: The Wrath of Khan. 

Sherlock Holmes Connection

Both Cumberbatch and Nimoy played the iconic character Sherlock Holmes, written by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle. While Cumberbatch continues to play Holmes on the BBC show Sherlock, Nimoy played him on stage in the 1970s. In Star Trek 4: The Undiscovered Country, Spock (Nimoy) quotes Sherlock Holmes, saying, “When you eliminate the impossible, whatever remains however improbable, must be the truth.” 

‘Star Trek Beyond’ 2016

In the latest film, Star Trek Beyond, Sulu (John Cho), is briefly shown with his husband and their daughter. This was meant to be a tribute to the original Sulu (George Takai), who has come out as gay and an LGBT advocate. Takai however, wasn’t happy with this choice and would have preferred one of the other characters to be revealed as gay.

Jaylah’s name

The screenwriters were so inspired by Jennifer Lawrence’s character in the 2010 film Winter’s Bone, they began to refer to the new Star Trek character as J-Law in early meetings. The name morphed into Jaylah for the script, and she is played by actress Sofia Boutella.

Sofia Boutella

Born in Algeria, actress Sofia Boutella was most recently seen in the 2010 film Kingsman: The Secret Service. But she’s also a street dancer known for dancing with Madonna on tour and modeling in a Nike campaign.

Director JJ Abrams said, “I think Jaylah is my favorite new character. She is this unbelievably spirited, sweet, funny, and tough as hell character that becomes a very important ally to the crew, and Sofia did an incredible job of bringing her to life.”

Beastie Boys return

In the film, Jaylah enjoys the “beats” in hip-hop music, including the song “Fight the Power” by Public Enemy. When it comes time for Kirk to disrupt a “hive” of aliens, he blasts more of Jaylah’s music, this time it is “Sabotage” by The Beastie Boys. The song also played in the first of the new reboots, Star Trek (2009), when young Kirk drove his dad’s car. 

‘Futurama’ reference

Matt Groening took a lot of inspiration from Star Trek when he created the animated show, Futurama. The Star Trek Beyond filmmakers gave Groening a nod when they referred to the Beastie Boys song, “Sabotage” as “classical music.” To see the fun Futurama clip, click here. 

Homage to Leonard Nimoy

Star Trek Beyond says goodbye to Leonard Nimoy by revealing that Spock Prime has died. Images of Nimoy as Spock, along with images of the original crew, are shown in the film. It’s a great tribute to the man of logic who ironically inspired much love from his fans.

Star Trek Beyond opens July 22.  

Amazon.com CEO Jeff Bezos

Amazon.com founder and CEO Jeff Bezos is a huge Star Trek fan and appears in Beyond as the Starfleet official on the right, attaching a universal translator to Kalara (Lydia Wilson). This is Bezos’ first appearance in a feature film, but we expect he’ll be back for more, maybe with his own show streaming on Amazon Prime?

50 new alien life-forms

To celebrate 50 years of all things Star Trek — yes, the TV show first aired way back in 1966 — the filmmakers of Star Trek Beyond decided to add a whopping 50 new alien species to the film. That’s a lot of latex!