William Shatner’s Height Insecurity Forced A Change To Star Trek’s Court Martial Episode

De Lugo appeared in the season 1 “Star Trek” episode “Court Martial,” playing a Starfleet officer named Timothy. According to “These Are The Voyages: Season One,” a 2013 book by Marc Cushman and Susan Osborn, De Lugo recalled being called to set to film a scene in the Officer’s Lounge without much preparation. “[Director] Marc Daniels says, ‘Win, you stand here. Now, all the guys in the red shirts are your crew,'” De Lugo explained. “‘You’re the same as Kirk; a commander of a Starship and you’re meeting him at this bar far out in space.'” The actor says he didn’t actually know any of the backstory Daniels was telling him, as he had only been given his character’s script pages. It was years later, when he was featured on a trading card with the title of Lieutenant, that De Lugo says he found out the rank he was meant to be playing.

The former “Star Trek” guest star continued: “It was clear that my character is trying to intimidate Kirk … Shatner comes in and we do a rehearsal, and I was surprised how small he is compared to me.” The way De Lugo recalls it, Shatner was in the middle of a line in which Kirk spoke to Timothy when he suddenly stopped the shot. “He says, “Timothy,’ and starts to say something about the old gang at the Academy, and then, as he looks up at me, he calls, ‘Cut!’ He calls it,” De Lugo reminisced. He said that Shatner then “just reaches out and grabs Marc Daniels and pulls him over and whispers to him,” and whatever the actor whispered inspired Daniels to call for a break and send the actors to their trailers so “some changes” could be made.