Honestly, if you ask a casual fan about Yvonne Craig, they’re going to shout "Batgirl!" before you even finish the sentence. And hey, fair enough. She was iconic in the purple spandex. But for the Trekkies? She’s Marta. The green-skinned, knife-wielding, poetry-reciting Orion who nearly ended Captain Kirk’s career with a thermal detonator and a seductive dance.
It’s wild how much one guest appearance can stick in the collective memory of a franchise that’s been running for sixty years. She only appeared in one single episode of the original series—the third-season outing "Whom Gods Destroy"—yet she’s basically the blueprint for every "green-skinned space babe" trope that followed.
But behind the scenes? It was kinda a nightmare.
The Toxic Reality of Being Green
You might think being a lead guest star on the hottest sci-fi show on TV would be glamorous. It wasn't. For Yvonne Craig, playing Marta meant enduring a makeup process that sounds more like a chemistry experiment gone wrong than a Hollywood transformation.
Back in 1969, they didn't have the sophisticated, skin-safe silicone paints we see on Strange New Worlds. They were basically winging it. Susan Oliver had played the first Orion (Vina) in the pilot, but by the time Yvonne showed up for "Whom Gods Destroy," the production crew had actually lost the original makeup formula. They had to invent a new one on the fly.
It was a disaster.
The new green paint wouldn't stay on. Yvonne later described how the crew decided to spray her with Liquid Bandage to seal the color in. If you've ever used that stuff on a paper cut, you know it stings. Now imagine it covering your entire body. When she sweated under the hot studio lights, the makeup would bubble and peel, leaving what she called "moss" hanging from her armpits.
The worst part? Removing it required acetone. She was essentially bathing in paint thinner every night to get the green off, only to have her skin burned and raw before doing it all over again the next morning.
Shatner, Toupées, and the "No-Touch" Rule
William Shatner has a reputation. We all know it. But during the filming of Yvonne Craig's Star Trek episode, his main concern wasn't just his lines—it was his wardrobe.
Because the green makeup was so unstable, it got on everything. Shatner apparently got pretty "pissy" (Yvonne's words, not mine) about the prospect of her staining his gold command tunic. This created a massive problem for the script. How do you film a high-tension seduction scene when the leading man is terrified you're going to leave a green smudge on his shoulder?
Yvonne, being a pro, decided she’d just play with his hair instead. She figured the makeup wouldn't show up as easily there.
That led to one of the most famous behind-the-scenes stories in Trek history. One night, while going to say goodnight to the cast, she walked in on Shatner holding his hair in his hand. She had no idea he wore a toupée. It was a "the illusion is shattered" moment that she recounted with a laugh for decades at conventions.
The Scandalous Dance That Banned the Episode
If you lived in the UK in the 70s or 80s, you probably didn't see "Whom Gods Destroy" for a long time. The BBC actually banned the episode. They cited "sadistic plot elements" and, more importantly, Marta’s dance.
Yvonne was a classically trained ballerina. She had been the youngest member of the Ballet Russe de Monte Carlo. When it came time for Marta to perform for Kirk and the mad Captain Garth (played with delicious over-the-top energy by Steve Ihnat), she didn't just wiggle; she performed a genuine, high-level dance routine.
The costume was a feat of engineering. It was held together by a system of hooks and eyes that dug into her neck because it was so heavy, yet it was cut so high and low that it left very little to the imagination. The combination of the "risqué" outfit, the suggestive movements, and the fact that Marta eventually tries to stab Kirk made the British censors clutch their pearls until 1994.
Why Marta Actually Matters
It’s easy to dismiss Marta as just "eye candy," but if you actually watch the episode, Yvonne Craig brings a manic, tragic energy to the role that most guest stars lacked. Marta isn't just a slave girl; she's an inmate in an asylum for the criminally insane. She’s erratic. One minute she’s reciting Shakespeare (Sonnet 18, to be exact), and the next she’s trying to blow up the landing party.
She represents the danger of the "Orion" archetype before it became a parody of itself.
A Few Facts You Might Have Missed:
- The Batman Connection: Yvonne was the second actor from the Batman '66 series to guest star in a row, following Lee Meriwether.
- The Explosive Exit: Unlike many Trek villains who just go to jail, Marta is literally blown up by Garth in a demonstration of power. No sequel for her.
- The Stunt Queen: Because of her ballet background, Yvonne did almost all her own physical work, just like she did as Batgirl.
The Actionable Legacy
If you're a fan of 60s sci-fi or just interested in the history of television, there’s a lot to learn from Yvonne Craig's brief stint in the Trek universe. She was a pioneer of the "action woman" role, proving that you could be feminine, physical, and a little bit dangerous all at once.
What you should do next:
- Watch "Whom Gods Destroy": Look past the hammy acting of Steve Ihnat and focus on Yvonne’s movement. You can see the ballerina in every step she takes.
- Read her memoir: It’s called From Ballet to the Batcave and Beyond. She’s incredibly honest about the grind of 60s TV production.
- Check out "The Cage": Compare her Marta to Susan Oliver’s Vina. It’s a fascinating look at how the Orion concept evolved from a dream-illusion to a violent reality.
Yvonne Craig passed away in 2015, but she remains the gold—or rather, green—standard for Orion characters. She took a role that could have been a footnote and turned it into a permanent piece of pop culture history. Honestly, Kirk was lucky he only walked away with a few scratches.
