6 eye-opening things you never noticed in the Star Trek episode ''Is There in Truth No Beauty?''

Take a closer look at the fascinating uniforms, spaceships, tartans and wigs.

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Deep Dive: Star Trek ’’Is There in Truth No Beauty?’’
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"Is There in Truth No Beauty?" may not be considered one of the essential Star Trek episodes, but each story in the Original Series contains fascinating onscreen details and tidbits of trivia.

From the casting to the wardrobe to the credits, this early tale from season three is quite unique in several ways. Let's beam down and take a closer look.

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1. It's the first time we see Scotty wear a tartan.

They don't call him Scotty for nothing. Montgomery Scott shows off his heritage in this episode, as part of his full dress uniform. He sports a traditional Scottish tartan for the first time. He wears it on one other occasion in the Original Series, later in "The Savage Curtain" (right). Though, for some reason, he changes his sock color from white to red. That black-and-white tartan is authentic. That's one of the ancient tartan patterns of the Scott clan.

2. A college librarian with no TV experience wrote the episode.

Jean Lisette Aroeste began working in library acquisitions at Harvard in the mid-'50s. In the '60s, she moved to California, becoming a reference librarian at UCLA. It was there she decided to try her hand at writing a Star Trek script. With no experience in television, Aroeste penned "Is There in Truth No Beauty?" Desilu Productions must have liked it because she later contributed the screenplay for "All Our Yesterdays." These two episodes would be her only work in Hollywood.

3. Diana Muldaur wore a wig because she had recently played a different character.

Trekkies are an observant bunch. No doubt television viewers at home mumbled, "Hey… I recognize her," when Miranda beamed aboard the Enterprise at the opening of this episode in the fall of '68. You see, Diana Muldaur portrayed the character. She had guest-starred on the show months before, as Dr. Ann Mulhall in "Return to Tomorrow." To attempt to disguise that casting fact, producers put Muldaur in a dark wig for "Is There in Truth." They figured nobody would notice she went from a brunette to having black hair? two decades later, Muldaur would land a recurring role on Star Trek: The Next Generation as Doctor Pulaski.

4. This Vulcan medal was pure product placement.

Scotty was not the only character in full dress. Kirk and Spock are also togged up in their fancy uniforms. Spock in particular sports an "IDIC" medal, which Miranda comments on. That Vulcan award stands for Infinite Diversity in Infinite Combinations, and while that sounds noble and philosophical, it was in truth crass commercialism. Gene Roddenberry insisted on inserting the medallion into the episode — he was selling replica medallions to Trekkies through his personal marketing company, Lincoln Enterprises. He just wanted to sell some merch. Nimoy balked at talking up the trinket onscreen as Spock, so the script was rewritten to have other characters discuss its importance.

5. It was Eddie Paskey's final work on the show.

Let's hear it for the lesser-known Redshirts. They have a reputation for drawing the short straw when it comes to Star Trek missions, but a few lower-ranking crew members endured. Eddie Paskey was working at the gas station used by the Desilu Studio when he was plucked to appear on Star Trek. His character Lieutenant Leslie appeared (uncredited) in 60 episodes. He also worked as William Shatner's stand-in and body double. However, as they were filming this episode in July of '68, Paskey suffered a bad back injury in a fight scene. To boot, the bright lights of the set gave him unbearable headaches. (He can be seen in two subsequent episodes in order of airing, which we filmed earlier in the production schedule.)

6. The remastered version added an original design concept for the Enterprise.

In the final scene of the episode, the Enterprise finally delivers Miranda to the Medusans. In the original version, they stop at the Medusan homeworld. However, in the digitally remastered HD versions that now air, the studio replaced that moment with a rendezvous between the Enterprise and a Medusan ship. The funny thing is, that Medusan ship almost was the Enterprise. Concept artist Matt Jefferies, the brilliant mind that designed the Enterprise, sketched several possible looks for Captain Kirk's ship, including one that featured a large sphere at its head. It looked just like this Medusan craft. See it on Forgotten Trek.

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51 Comments

GhostHost 24 months ago
It sounds like Leonard Nimoy had a cold during filming of this episode.
orionprime01 33 months ago
Something, i don;t think people noticed, that Lt. Leslie died in the episode "Obsession". He was attacked by the cloud creature and perished.
EmBee 48 months ago
It's no wonder Lt Leslie lived through so many episodes, he was a red shirt OFFICER! Most of the dead red shirts were enlisted (they rarely had a rank other than the odd chief now and then).
Runeshaper 48 months ago
Neat facts! Live long and prosper.
DaveLewandoski 48 months ago
the remastered versions show a lot of details on the ship, but after growing up with the original, I'd rather see those
Kevin 48 months ago
What about the scene near the end of the episode when beaming Miranda to the Medusa ship. Spock and Kirk were in the transporter room and Spock places his protective googles on, but Kirk did not. How come Kirk did not go mad?
Mirramanee 48 months ago
Not one of my most favorite episodes, but still enjoyable for a diehard Trekker like me. It is a departure from the norm in that there is a certain softness (for lack of a better word) to this episode, an atmosphere of calm mixed with occasional bouts of drama and angst. The background music throughout the episode is primarily gentle, even relaxing. I find the music from this episode actually quite conducive to meditation. The same gentle music is, of course, heard throughout most other episodes but not quite so extensively as in this one. Only one other episode comes to mind that seems to use this particular music to a great extent, which was "The Empath" (which I very much like).
mackjaz Mirramanee 48 months ago
Funny, I always found The Empath too frustrating to enjoy. Also, the heavy use of violins is distracting - not at all at home in a science fiction setting.
RedSamRackham Mirramanee 17 months ago
* Yet brilliant how we never actually saw that bizarre looking alien!
TexasSteven 48 months ago
I love Star Trek. Wish it was on Sunday night as well as tonight
RobertStoll TexasSteven 48 months ago
Wish it ran at least one more season back then, like Voyage did for 4 seasons.
Pacificsun TexasSteven 48 months ago
It's on every night but Sat (when MeTV runs it) on Heroes & Icons (a sister station under the Weigel Broadcasting network). It can be found through over the air (OTA) access.
TonyClifton RobertStoll 20 months ago
I wish they would have completed their "five year mission."
Pacificsun 48 months ago
Am not sure any ST:TOS fan then or now would be dumb enough not to recognize the same actor in an episode, nor would they care. I believe Mark Lenard played two roles, as did William Campbell.

In the day, television actors well known for delivering on their reputation (and specific personality style) were utilized in many shows and multiple episodes. And for that reason acquired fan favorite recognition!!
RobertStoll Pacificsun 48 months ago
Spot on 100%!
mackjaz Pacificsun 48 months ago
I wondered why there were so many repeat performances... I imagine there were plenty of actors out there who would have loved to work on this (or any) show.
ttenchantr mackjaz 47 months ago
I think all the repeat performances in older shows come down to "known quantities." The casting directors knew and trusted certain actors so they could easily slot them into roles as opposed to endless casting calls. That and back then TV was transitory: no one was worried about spotting actors over and over again in the same show because reruns weren't a thing yet.
Pacificsun mackjaz 31 months ago
Casting Agencies were significant back then. Production couldn't afford any snafus. They just wanted a dependable, entertaining actor to fill a specific role (purpose) who was reliable and without issues. One who would work to budget. These were day-job actors for the most part, unless some very lucky break brought them to someone's attention. Production left it to the Casting Agencies to do their job (it could be time consuming).
Snickers Pacificsun 26 months ago
I'm sure you know Mark Lenard play both Spock's father Sarek and a Romulan commander as William Campbell play both Trelene in "The Squire of Gothos" and a Klingon Captain in " The Trouble With Tribbles"
Wiseguy 48 months ago
I used to buy items from Lincoln Enterprises. I still have the cloth insignia (one for each color uniform) and lots of actual film clips. Didn't buy the IDIC though.
Wiseguy 48 months ago
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Plurbus 48 months ago
I used to rip on the 3rd season episodes saying they were awful and looked cheap until I realized that not only had Gene Roddenberry bailed out as Producer but the production budget was also dramatically reduced causing the people that cared about the show to do whatever it was they could to try and complete the episodes. And if it weren't for the 3rd season the show probably would not have gone into syndicated repeats. Thank you to the Producers Writers and Actors for making the 3rd season.
pel5087 Plurbus 48 months ago
Television budgets were getting killed during the late 60's. Star Trek did well to produce some good stories unlike it's science fiction counterpart Lost in Space which got totally awful.
RobertStoll Plurbus 48 months ago
When you really get into it, and brush off all the fake accusations about it, it's a pretty good season, with some awesome episodes. Hey, it's still Star Trek and still better than all the phony CGI spinoffs that came afterwards.
Pacificsun RobertStoll 48 months ago
What I like about it (and many classic original series) is that they were unpretentious. They just put it out there, and sometimes the beauty of it is, that they didn't even know how much of an impact they were making.

Those that followed, and every imitation thereafter, were conscious of exceeding a reputation. With every effort of the original series they were bold enough to try different stories and concepts! Exactly why there were hits and misses!!
Pacificsun pel5087 31 months ago
Lost in Space has to be appreciated for what it is, and was never meant to be!! Meaning, not some technical wiz like ST-TOS. It was strongly character driven with it's limited (but clever) ensemble. It was built on a strictly good vs. evil premise, which wouldn't have survived without Jonathan Harris and Billy Mumy! If you notice it has more of a theater feel to it than most of the Shows of that time. Kind of a trademark of Irwin Allen (which you can also feel in Voyage to the Bottom of the Sea). Those Shows are so contrived that you just have to leave your belief at the door and go along for the ride of pure escapism!! I love the costuming in LIS. Each character has about 3 different outfits to their name! One for each Season of course. They were imaginatively, outstanding, once they changed from B&W to color. But any relationship to believability was ridiculous. I love the quilted Winter coats they wore!! And went crazy with the metalic looking fabric!
Snickers pel5087 26 months ago
I don't think anyone will ever forgive Lost in Space for bringing us a talking carrot.
MrDbutler69 48 months ago
Pretty cool Star Trek facts. Good for Leonard Nimoy refusing to participate in the product plug.
SteveThames 48 months ago

“in my vintage RED Star Trek costume” sorry bro 😁 you’re the doomed security guy
Beta6 48 months ago
I'll take any Trek at all. Well, an exception. That hippie one with the song "Hey Brother" in it. "The Way to Eden".
That one stunk.
Barry22 Beta6 48 months ago
"I'm gonna crack my knuckles, I'm gonna jump for joy, I got a clean bill of health from Dr. McCoy" Take that, Herbert!
Beta6 Barry22 48 months ago
OH NO!!!! I forgot Herbert! Herbert Herbert Herbert Herbert..........Oh my gosh...ewwwwww.
RobertStoll Beta6 48 months ago
No it didn't. It's an awesome episode, with some great concepts and performances. Even has a cool new ship at the beginning. Open your mind.
bnichols23 Beta6 48 months ago
Roger that. I don't care if it *did* have Skip Homeier in it, that one blew dead bears. }:(
Pacificsun Beta6 31 months ago
I dunno, Melvin Beli tramping around as some ridiculous character was pretty low, and he only got the part from a favor.
Pacificsun RobertStoll 31 months ago
I thought it was an interesting historical mark, calling out the Hippie generation and then (trying to) distill their essence in 50 minutes of running time. For what it set out to do, did pretty well. And you'd have to have lived through the era to understand the look and feel of it. Can you see discussion about the story concept: Let's put Hippies into the 24the Century and see what they do!!! Hilarious!
Snickers Beta6 26 months ago
Not as bad as " Spock's Brain". Really who can forget Brain Brain what is brain?
sandman 48 months ago
Not one of my favorite episode. But philosophy speaking, A bad episode of Star Trek is better than no Star Trek at all!
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Pacificsun orionprime01 31 months ago
Just another example of ST going over on budget, and then having to limit their set design. Oh, let's go out to the rocks again, and super-impose the spacecraft image 20 times, and then run around the Enterprise for the rest of it.

And the point of that episode was what again??
Snickers Pacificsun 26 months ago
Agree!!!!
Pacificsun sandman 26 months ago
People vilify this episode. It didn't have much for the viewer, true. But I admire it as an acting challenge for both. I mean, Sandra Smith must've looked at that script, and then WS's unique acting style, and thought, Good Gad what am I going to do with *that* because the substance of the script itself was so very minimal and preposterous. She did a pretty good job in looking masculine and WS played it to the hilt in reverse. But still, the plot was pointless and I wonder how many viewers/fans even cared. Yet Spock's Brain had something of consequence at stake and a clear "good vs evil" intention going on, while TI was just a psychological drama.
Pacificsun orionprime01 26 months ago
I'm just curious (not being sarcastic) but was it the first reference to matter vs antimatter cancelling itself out? Or has that been a basic concept of Sci Fi and ST turned it into a morality tale?
Stoney 48 months ago
A middle of the road episode overall, but better than average for the third season.
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