Live Long and Prosper: The Ultimate "Star Trek" Quiz

Estimated Completion Time
6 min
Live Long and Prosper: The Ultimate "Star Trek" Quiz
Image: CBS

About This Quiz

Space: the final frontier. An even though the original "Star Trek" series aired over 50 years ago, space still remains the final frontier. Maybe that's what makes all the "Star Trek" episodes so relevant and popular even today. But can you remember all the details about your favorite "Star Trek" episodes, the crew of the Enterprise or those aliens who threatened the safety of others? Time to test yourself. Check out this stellar quiz and enjoy the ride.  

Gene Roddenberry created the hugely popular "Star Trek" concept. He would take moral dilemmas and put them against a space background for an added twist. The drama and conflicts were relatable, yet otherworldly. The success of the original series spawned countless other space TV series and several "Star Trek" movies. The public's imagination and enchantment with space can only be measured in light years. 

But how about you? Do you remember "The Trouble with Tribbles" episode or the episode when Spock is betrothed? How about Lieutenant Uhura's first name (Nyota)? What was Bones always saying to Jim? If these are easy to answer, you'll love this quiz. It's for you and the Trekkie in all of us. Take the quiz now. The future is waiting. 







Which of the following is NOT true about tribbles?
They talk too much.
They eat too much.
They reproduce too quickly.
They don't like Klingons.
Correct Answer
Wrong Answer

Tribbles are small, furry, ball-like creatures that make a high-pitched purring noise. According to Spock, tribbles “do have one redeeming characteristic … They do not talk too much.”

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Which of these "Star Trek" villains was (in Chekov’s words) “a genetically engineered criminal” who, in Star Trek’s version of history, ruled much of Earth during the Eugenics Wars in the 1990s?
Harcourt Fenton Mudd
Khan Noonien Singh
Gary Seven
Klingon Commander Koloth
Correct Answer
Wrong Answer

This character returned to threaten the galaxy’s safety in both "Star Trek II" (1982) and "Star Trek Into Darkness" (2013). Khan Noonien Singh was the genetic “superman” who fled Earth in a “sleeper ship,” only to be awakened in the 23rd century. Ricardo Montalban played Khan in the original series episode “Space Seed.” Benedict Cumberbatch played him in "Star Trek Into Darkness."

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To which of these extraterrestrial races are Vulcans most closely related?
Romulans
Klingons
Organians
Talosians
Correct Answer
Wrong Answer

The Romulans were a Vulcanoid species that rejected peace and logic in favor of aggression and conquest. They only appeared in two episodes of the original series (“Balance of Terror” and “The Enterprise Incident”) but became a major Federation adversary in "Star Trek: The Next Generation."

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Where on Earth did James T. Kirk grow up?
Calgary
Mojave
Iowa
Colorado
Correct Answer
Wrong Answer

As Kirk tells Dr. Gillian Taylor in "Star Trek IV: The Voyage Home" (1984), “I’m from Iowa — I only work in outer space.” In "Star Trek" (2009), the Enterprise is seen being built in Iowa, closely linking the captain and his vessel.

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In the episode “The City on the Edge of Forever,” who played the saintly social worker Kirk must let die in order to save the course of future history?
Jane Wyman
Elizabeth Taylor
June Tyler
Joan Collins
Correct Answer
Wrong Answer

Joan Collins made her mark playing the scheming, self-centered Alexis Carrington on the 1980s primetime soap opera "Dynasty." Scriptwriter Harlan Ellison modeled Edith Keeler after 1930s evangelist Aimee Semple McPherson.

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Which character joined the show in its second season as an effort to appeal to younger viewers?
Chekov
Sulu
Uhura
Scotty
Correct Answer
Wrong Answer

Chekov debuted in “Catspaw,” complete with a (quickly discarded) Monkees-style wig. Gene Roddenberry claimed he also created Chekov as a tribute to Russia’s pioneering space achievements.

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Which of these was an Enterprise shuttlecraft seen during the original series?
Sagan
Galileo
Newton
Einstein
Correct Answer
Wrong Answer

The Galileo figured in several episodes, as did a Galileo II. The animated "Star Trek" showed viewers a shuttle named after another famous astronomer, the Copernicus.

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In “The Naked Time,” we learn that Mr. Sulu secretly fancies himself a character from what swashbuckling story?
The Three Musketeers
The Adventures of Robin Hood
Ivanhoe
Knights of the Round Table
Correct Answer
Wrong Answer

His inhibitions erased by a virus, Sulu runs amok in the Enterprise’s corridors with a fencing foil, shouting “Richelieu, beware!” — a reference to "The Three Musketeers" (as is Spock’s reference to Sulu as “d’Artagnan”).

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What were the names of the whales Kirk and crew brought back to the future in "Star Trek IV: The Voyage Home" (1986)?
Lancelot and Guenevere
Luke and Laura
George and Gracie
Bogie and Bacall
Correct Answer
Wrong Answer

The whales were named after legendary husband-and-wife comedy team of George Burns and Gracie Allen.

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What starship does Sulu command in "Star Trek VI: The Undiscovered Country" (1991)?
USS Excelsior
USS Excalibur
USS Challenger
USS Executor
Correct Answer
Wrong Answer

Sulu commanded the Excelsior. His promotion was mentioned in a scene filmed for but cut from "Star Trek II: The Wrath of Khan" (1982). The Excelsior was first seen, under a different captain, in "Star Trek III: The Search for Spock" (1984).

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What is Lieutenant Uhura’s first name?
Penda
Maya
Nyota
Kadhira
Correct Answer
Wrong Answer

Uhura’s first name was officially established as Nyota in the 2009 movie, but many fans had long accepted it as a fact. The name means “star” in Swahili.

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Who was the only guest villain to appear in more than one episode of the original "Star Trek"?
Gary Seven
Klingon commander Kor
Harry Mudd
Miranda Jones
Correct Answer
Wrong Answer

Veteran character actor Roger C. Carmel played cosmic con man Harry Mudd in two live-action epsiodes — “Mudd’s Women,” in which he ran a “mail order bride” business and “I, Mudd,” in which he ruled a planet of robots — and the animated "Star Trek" episode “Mudd’s Passion.”

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Which then-famous Hollywood actor played the Enterprise’s captain in Star Trek’s first pilot episode, “The Cage” (filmed 1964)?
William Shatner
Gregory Peck
Jeffrey Hunter
Michael York
Correct Answer
Wrong Answer

Jeffrey Hunter played Captain Christopher Pike in “The Cage,” the first of Star Trek’s eventual two pilot episodes. NBC thought “The Cage” was too intellectual for a mass audience, but thought the series showed enough potential to give it a second chance.

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In the episode “Amok Time,” what was the name of Spock’s betrothed?
T’Lar
Sarah
Maho
T’Pring
Correct Answer
Wrong Answer

T’Pring was Spock’s betrothed. They were telepathically bound to each other as children, per Vulcan custom. She broke their “engagement” by challenging Spock to fight Kirk to the death for her.

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Why does Dr. McCoy’s accidental loss of his communicator on Iota II in “A Piece of the Action” pose a problem?
The Iotians will disassemble it and learn the secrets of the Federation’s technology.
The Iotians can now contact McCoy whenever they wish.
The communicator’s radiation emissions are harmful to Iotians.
It doesn't pose a problem.
Correct Answer
Wrong Answer

When the Iotians disassemble the communicator, they will discover the transtator, which Spock says is “the basis for every important piece of equipment that we have.”

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What originally motivated Nurse Christine Chapel to join Starfleet?
To stay close to Mr. Spock, from whom she was seeking revenge
To practice medicine alongside her former teacher, Dr. McCoy
To find her missing fiancé, Dr. Roger Korby
To escape certain death on the failed colony Tarsus IV
Correct Answer
Wrong Answer

The first-season episode “What Are Little Girls Made Of?” (written by legendary horror writer Robert Bloch, author of "Psycho"), established Chapel’s engagement to Roger Korby — who had transferred his consciousness to an android body by the time the Enterprise found him.

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How does Kirk’s son, Dr. David Marcus, die?
He is killed during an undercover mission on the Romulan home world.
He is stabbed by a Klingon soldier on the Genesis Planet.
He contracts xenopolycythemia, a rare space sickness with no known cure.
He dies from prolonged exposure to protomatter, a dangerously unstable substance.
Correct Answer
Wrong Answer

David takes the knife a Klingon soldier intended for Saavik. William Shatner created the emotional moment when Kirk, hearing the news, stumbles and falls to the bridge floor, shouting, “You Klingon bastards, you killed my son!”

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In Star Trek’s history of the future, who will invent the warp drive that propels humanity to the stars at faster-than-light speeds?
Robert April
Jackson Roykirk
Richard Daystrom
Zefram Cochrane
Correct Answer
Wrong Answer

Zefram Cochrane is one of the few "Star Trek" characters played by multiple actors: Glenn Corbett in “Metamorphosis” and James Cromwell in "Star Trek: First Contact" (1996).

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What was the fate of Kirk’s close friend from Starfleet Academy, Gary Mitchell?
He died when the Romulans attacked a Federation outpost along the Neutral Zone.
He acquired godlike powers at the edge of the galaxy, and Kirk had to kill him.
He sacrificed himself to stop a relentless planet-killing machine.
He went insane when exposed to the neural neutralizer at the Tantalus Colony.
Correct Answer
Wrong Answer

Gary Mitchell mutated into a supremely powerful and malevolent being when exposed to strange energies at the galaxy’s edge. He was played by Gary Lockwood, who also played ill-fated astronaut Frank Poole in "2001: A Space Odyssey" (1968).

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Captain Kirk and his crew met beings claiming to be all but one of the following figures from human legend and history. Which one?
Abraham Lincoln
The Greek god Apollo
Leonardo da Vinci
Mozart
Correct Answer
Wrong Answer

Although they never met Mozart, the Enterprise crew did (in “Requiem for Methuselah”) meet a long-lived alien who claimed he had been classical composer Johannes Brahms, among other notables.

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Which of these games is a favorite pastime on the Enterprise in the original series?
Kal-toh
Parrises squares
Poker
Three-dimensional chess
Correct Answer
Wrong Answer

While all these games appear in various "Star Trek" series, only three-dimensional chess was a mainstay aboard the original Enterprise. In 1994, the Franklin Mint produced a wildly popular replica of the chess set.

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Which "Star Trek" character was the only one who appeared in both pilot episodes?
Captain Kirk
Mr. Spock
Dr. McCoy
Mr. Sulu
Correct Answer
Wrong Answer

NBC told series creator Gene Roddenberry to drop either Spock or Number One, the Enterprise’s female second-in-command, from Star Trek’s format. Convinced that a regular alien character was critical to the show’s integrity, Roddenberry kept Spock.

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Of what crime was Scotty accused during a shore leave gone wrong in the episode “Wolf in the Fold?”
Murdering a nightclub dancer
Disconnecting the USS Excelsior’s transwarp drive
Beaming innumerable tribbles aboard a Klingon ship
Starting a barroom brawl aboard Space Station K-7
Correct Answer
Wrong Answer

Things look bad when Scotty is found standing over a dead woman’s body with a bloody knife, but he is exonerated: He was possessed by the “Redjac,” the same alien consciousness responsible for the “Jack the Ripper” murders in Victorian England.

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How did Captain Kirk gain command of the Imperial Starship Enterprise in the Mirror Universe?
He won command from Commodore April in a friendly card game.
He assassinated Captain Pike and assumed command.
He killed his rivals with an alien weapon, the Tantalus Field.
He stole the Enterprise from Starfleet.
Correct Answer
Wrong Answer

Officers in the Mirror Universe rise through the ranks by murdering their superiors. In “Mirror, Mirror,” Spock said the evil counterparts of the Enterprise crew were “brutal, savage, unprincipled, uncivilized, treacherous — in every way, splendid examples of homo sapiens, the very flower of humanity.”

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Which episode introduced enigmatic time-traveler Gary Seven in Gene Roddenberry’s unsuccessful bid to launch a "Star Trek" spinoff series?
Assignment: Earth
Return to Tomorrow
Tomorrow is Yesterday
All Our Yesterdays
Correct Answer
Wrong Answer

“Assignment: Earth” would have followed Gary Seven (Robert Lansing), Roberta Lincoln (Terri Garr) and the shape-shifting black cat Isis as they worked to guide humanity out of its nuclear age into a better future. “Assignment: Earth” is the only episode of the original series set entirely in Star Trek’s past (the year 1968).

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Director J.J. Abrams’ 2009 "Star Trek" reveals that Captain Kirk’s father, George, served aboard which starship?
USS Roosevelt
USS Kelvin
USS Kennedy
USS Obama
Correct Answer
Wrong Answer

George Kirk served, and perished, aboard the Kelvin. Abrams has included “Kelvin” (his maternal grandfather’s last name) in many projects, including a reference to “Kelvin Ridge” in "Star Wars: The Force Awakens" (2015).

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According to the episode “The Menagerie,” what Starfleet violation is punishable by “the only death penalty left on the books?”
Willful interference in the normal development of a pre-warp civilization
Fomenting mutiny aboard a starship
Willfully crossing the Romulan Neutral Zone
Visiting the mysterious planet Talos IV
Correct Answer
Wrong Answer

Starfleet General Order Seven prohibits all contact with Talos IV. The Talosians’ extreme powers of telepathy and illusion are a danger to human life.

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What is the title of the song Uhura sings to Kevin Riley in “The Conscience of the King?”
Beyond the Rim of the Starlight
Beyond Antares
The Moon’s a Window to Heaven
Maiden Wine
Correct Answer
Wrong Answer

Uhura sang “Beyond Antares.” The episode marked the second time Nichelle Nichols sang as Uhura — and the last, until “The Moon’s a Window to Heaven” in "Star Trek V: The Final Frontier" (1989).

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Almost everyone knows the Enterprise’s chief surgeon, Dr. Leonard “Bones” McCoy. What other doctor do we see aboard the Enterprise in two episodes of the original series?
Dr. Richard Daystrom
Dr. Renee Selar
Dr. M’Benga
Dr. Clark Terrell
Correct Answer
Wrong Answer

Dr. M’Benga, played by Booker Bradshaw, was a human doctor who specialized in Vulcan medicine. He appears in “A Private Little War” and “That Which Survives.”

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Who was the first character from the original series to appear in an episode of "Star Trek: The Next Generation"?
Dr. McCoy
Mr. Scott
Ambassador Sarek
Ambassador Spock
Correct Answer
Wrong Answer

Although his character was only called “The Admiral” onscreen, DeForest Kelley appeared in “Encounter at Farpoint,” The Next Generation’s pilot episode, as an elderly Leonard McCoy, telling Data the new starship Enterprise “had the right name… Treat her like a lady, and she’ll always bring you home.”

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In the planned but never-produced "Star Trek Phase II" series, which character would have replaced Mr. Spock?
Lieutenant Ilia, the bald, highly sexual Deltan navigator
Lieutenant M’Ress, a bipedal, cat-like alien communications officer
Lieutenant Saavik, a half-Vulcan, half-Romulan science officer
Lieutenant Xon, a Vulcan science officer interested in exploring human emotions
Correct Answer
Wrong Answer

Xon was a character created to replace Spock, and David Gautreaux was cast in the part. When Phase II became "Star Trek: The Motion Picture" (1979) instead, Gautreaux played the smaller role of Commander Branch aboard the ill-fated Epsilon IX space station.

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What causes Mr. Spock to eat meat and fall in love in the third-season episode “All Our Yesterdays?”
He is under the influence of spores from alien plant life.
He is deliberately conducting a ruse to deceive a Romulan commander.
He has traveled back in time 5,000 years and reverted to ancestral ways.
He is mind-linked with an alien simulation of Genghis Khan.
Correct Answer
Wrong Answer

Lost in the past, Spock began to act like Vulcans of the past. Mariette Hartley played his love interest, Zarabeth. In two of her "Star Trek" novels, A.C. Crispin posited that Spock and Zarabeth had a son.

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What ancient Vulcan ritual — not attempted “since ages past, and then, only in legend” — restores Spock’s katra (“living spirit”) to his body in "Star Trek III: The Search for Spock" (1984)?
Fal-tor-pan
Kolinahr
Koon-ut-kal-if-fee
Kahs-wan
Correct Answer
Wrong Answer

The fal-tor-pan, the “refusion,” returns Spock’s consciousness to Spock’s body. Director Leonard Nimoy cast veteran British actress Dame Judith Anderson as the Vulcan priestess who performs the ritual in order to evoke the dignity of Celia Lovsky, who played Vulcan matriarch T’Pau in the episode “Amok Time.”

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Dr. McCoy often grouses that he’s “a doctor, not a [something else].” Which of the following has McCoy never claimed he’s not?
A bricklayer
An escalator
A coal miner
A cattle rancher
Correct Answer
Wrong Answer

McCoy never claimed to be a rancher. He uttered his more famous catchphrase — “He’s dead, Jim,” or some variation — about 20 times during the original series.

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What was the alien beverage Balok served to Kirk, McCoy and Bailey in the episode “The Corbomite Maneuver”?
Tranya
Saurian brandy
Romulan ale
Raktajino
Correct Answer
Wrong Answer

The original series featured Saurian brandy in several episodes, "Star Trek II" (1982) introduced Romulan ale, and "Star Trek: The Next Generation" established that raktajino was Klingon coffee, but Balok served tranya to his guests.

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Who was the first person or creature (in series production order) with whom Mr. Spock performed a Vulcan mind meld?
The Horta
Dr. Simon Van Gelder
Mr. Sulu
The robot probe Nomad
Correct Answer
Wrong Answer

Spock first joined minds with Dr. Van Gelder (“Dagger of the Mind”). Leonard Nimoy and the writers created the technique as an interesting way to deliver otherwise dry but necessary exposition.

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