Gene Roddenberry's original concept for Star Trek was that of a "Wagon Train to the Stars", and included the Starship Yorktown plus significantly different characters from the ones we know today.

Mark Lenard, best known for his role as Sarek, Spock's father, was the first actor to play a member of all three of the major alien races: Vulcan, Romulan (in the episode "Balance of Terror"), and Klingon (the commander of the Klingon attack group at the beginning of Star Trek: The Motion Picture (1979)).

Hikaru Sulu, served as helmsman of the U.S.S. Enterprise.

In 2327, Jean-Luc Picard received an artificial heart after he was stabbed by a Nausicaan during a bar brawl.

As a Sub-Commander serving the Vulcan High Command, T'Pol was stationed aboard the original Enterprise in April 2151, as an observer to Captain Jonathan Archer and his crew, who the High Command insisted were not ready for interstellar space exploration. After the success of the Enterprise's initial mission led to the vessel being given an extended exploration mandate, T'Pol requested to stay aboard as science officer.

When Ronald Reagan visited the set of Star Trek: The Next Generation during filming of "Redemption" (1991), he remarked: "I like them [the Klingons]. They remind me of Congress."

Vulcans developed warp drive capabilities around the 9th century B.C. (Earth time), long before Klingons (9th century A.D.), Borg (15th century A.D.), and Humans (21st century A.D.).

One of "the hundred" sent out by the Founders long ago to explore the galaxy, Odo was found adrift in 2356 in the Denorios Belt by Bajorans. Since Odo had not yet learned how to morph into a humanoid appearance, he appeared in his natural gelatinous form. Bajoran scientists, not sure of what Odo actually was, put him in a container and labeled it "unknown sample".

The language's basic sound, along with a few words, was first devised by actor James Doohan ("Scotty") and producer Jon Povill for Star Trek: The Motion Picture, which marked the first time the language had been heard on screen. In all previous appearances, Klingons spoke in English.

Michael Burnham was the first human to attend the Vulcan Learning Center and Vulcan Science Academy as a xenoanthropologist.