The Final Frontier: The birth of Star Trek
Sixty years ago this fall, a former military pilot brought his uniquely optimistic vision of the future to American TV screens. Here’s a look at his “ ‘Wagon Train’ to the stars”: “Star Trek.”
The 'Birth' of Star Trek
Gene Roddenberry was a native of El Paso, Texas, but grew up in Los Angeles. He flew 89 combat missions over Guadalcanal during World War II and, after the war, became a pilot for Pan Am airlines. He was awarded a commendation from the Civil Aeronautics Commission for his heroism saving passengers after his plane crashed in the Syrian desert in 1947.
Roddenberry moved back home to Southern California and worked the streets as a police officer while trying to break into the television writing business. He sold scripts to “Dragnet,” “Dr. Kildare” and “Have Gun - Will Travel” before creating a TV series concept about life in the peacetime military. “The Lieutenant” ran for 29 episodes on NBC in 1963 and 1964.
But Roddenberry’s first love was science fiction. His brainstorm: A science-fiction series that would allow him to tell futuristic action-
adventure stories that would, in fact, be morality plays that illustrated what ailed 1960s America. Roddenberry partnered with Desilu Studios — and its owner, Lucille Ball — to sell the concept to NBC.
If At First You Don't Succeed...
The first pilot episode: 'The Cage'
Paramount Pictures
“The Cage” cost $630,000 — at the time, it was the most expensive TV pilot ever made.
The lead actor, Jeffrey Hunter, had played Jesus in “King of Kings” in 1961. Majel Barrett, who starred as the ship’s first officer, later played a nurse on the show. She also became Mrs. Gene Roddenberry after “Star Trek” ended its run in 1969.
A bit disappointed, NBC took the unprecedented step of asking Roddenberry to make a second pilot episode — one with less science talk and with more old-fashioned action.
Fun-Fact!
While processing screen tests of body makeup for the green alien dancing girl, the lab — oblivious to the purpose — kept tweaking the film to turn her skin pink again.
... Try, Try Again
Pilot no. 2: 'Where No Man Has Gone Before'
Paramount Pictures
Hunter bailed on the project. Roddenberry considered Jack Lord and Lloyd Bridges for the role of the captain before settling on William Shatner.
The female lead, Sally Kellerman, went on to play Hot Lips Houlihan in the movie version of “M*A*S*H.” Kirk’s doomed pal, Gary Mitchell, was played by Gary Lockwood, who would play an equally doomed astronaut in Stanley Kubrick’s “2001: A Space Odyssey.”
The second pilot was filmed in nine days, only two days over schedule. That kept NBC happy.
Fun Fact
On the fifth day of filming, a swarm of bees attacked the set. Shatner was stung near his eye, requiring special makeup to hide the swelling.
Not Exactly A Huge Ratings Success
The second pilot did the trick. “Star Trek” debuted on NBC on Sept. 8, 1966. The first episode shown — “The Man Trap,” featuring a shape-shifting salt vampire — was the eighth filmed. NBC officials chose it because it was a straightforward action-adventure yarn.
That episode’s two guest stars, Vince Howard and Jeanne Bal, had both starred on the high school drama “Mr. Novak” that had run for two seasons on NBC from 1963-65. Two other actors who had appeared on that show, George Takei and Walter Koenig, would later wind up on “Star Trek,” playing Sulu and Chekov, respectively.
While the show was enormously popular among young people — college groups formed “Star Trek” watching parties and wore “Spock for president” T-shirts during the 1968 presidential campaign — it was not a huge ratings hit. Especially after NBC moved the show to Friday nights, when much of its fan base was otherwise occupied. NBC would pull the plug on “Star Trek” after three seasons and 79 episodes. The final new episode aired six weeks before the launch of Apollo 11.
By that time, Ball had sold most of her TV properties to Paramount Pictures. In hopes of earning back some of its production costs for the show, Paramount began selling “Star Trek” to local TV stations to be shown in syndication over and over again throughout the 1970s. The show’s fan base grew as school kids rushed home to watch reruns on afternoon TV.
“Star Trek” would be revived with what would become the first of many fan conventions in 1972. Most of the cast would reunite for an animated Saturday morning children’s series in 1973 that would do something the live-action original hadn’t done: It would win an Emmy Award.
A Cultural Phenomenon
Paramount would bring back “Star Trek” time and time again over the years. A big-budget motion picture would generate enough interest to justify a total of 13 films over 37 years.
A sequel series with an all-new cast, “Star Trek: The Next Generation,” would debut in syndication in 1987 and would be followed by three more series over the next 18 years.
After a hiatus of more than a decade, the new owner of the “Star Trek” franchise, CBS, created a new series in 1987 — “Star Trek: Discovery” — for its streaming service. A total of six new series, including two animated series, would launch over the next five years.
The franchise was brought to a full circle in 2017 with the debut of “Strange New Worlds,” a prequel series set before the original 1966 series and starring Anson Mount in Hunter’s old role as Capt. Christopher Pike, Rebecca Romijn in Barrett’s old role as the ship’s first officer and Ethan Peckas a young Mr. Spock.
The first two seasons of “Strange New Worlds” were each nominated for Primetime Creative Arts Emmy Awards. A fifth and final season of the show has been ordered.