HISTORY OF STAR TREK

        It was 35 years ago today
        Roddenberry taught the band to play
        They've been going in and out of style
        But they're guaranteed to raise a smile...

On September 8, 1966 the first episode of Star Trek premiered on NBC.
The first episode shown was "Man Trap" aka the Salt Vampire, but that
was not the first episode recorded.

The first pilot, began on December 12, 1964 at the Desilu Studios.  
This pilot, "The Cage" starring Jeffrey Hunter as Captain Pike was seen 
2 years later inside a later, 2-part episode in November of 1966 called 
"Menagerie". The pilot also featured a female "Number One" played by Majel
Barrett, and an excitable pointed-ear "Martian" named Mr. Spock, played by 
Leonard Nimoy.

The NBC executives asked for some changes and called for a second pilot.
This second pilot, "Where No Man Has Gone Before", starred William
Shatner as Captain Kirk.  The network said, "Get rid of the woman and
the guy with the pointed ears".  So he married the woman, Majel Barret,
and kept the guy with the pointed ears.  Leonard Nimoy would not have
had it the other way around.  The woman dyed her hair blond and waited in
her husband's reception office so that when he walked in even he didn't
recognize her.  She became Nurse Chappel.  The guy with the pointed ears,
this "Martian", became less emotional, more logical, and Vulcan green
rather than Martian red (which wouldn't photograph correctly).

The series lasted for 3 of the "5 year mission" of the Starship
Enterprise, a victim of poor ratings.  Ironically, the following year,
demographics were used and it was discovered that Star Trek was appealing
to exactly the kind of audience that advertisers wanted!

The show remained incredibly popular in syndication, spawning 19 years
later another TV series, "Star Trek: The Next Generation,"
"ST: Deep Space Nine," and later "ST: Voyager." There was even an animated
Saturday morning series that ran from 1973-74 with the voices of some of
the original show. A new series, a prequel to the other series, "Enterprise" 
is expected later this month.

There are Trekkies, Trekkers, and Trek junkies.  I belong to the later.
I remember watching the previews in the summer of 1966, "A starship the
size of a city!"  I've personally seen or met all of the cast of 
"Star Trek Classic", and half of the cast of "Star Trek: The Pepsi Generation".

I've always been there the first day of the movie premiers.  On December
7, 1979, a day that will live in infamy, the first full length movie
opened, "Star Trek: The Motionless Picture".  Despite a plodding plot,
the movie did amazing well, and led to 8 more films.  The second, "Star
Trek II" The Wrath of Kahn" was considered the best by the faithful,
featuring a return engagement of a popular opponent from Kirk's past.
When it was leaked that Spock would die, a futile boycott was called.
A hasty tag-on was filmed and put on the end of the movie.  

This movie was followed by the Leonard Nimoy directed "ST III: the
Search for Spock", which was followed by "ST IV: Still Looking for Spock".
Just kidding.  "ST IV: The Search For Whales", I mean, "The Voyage
Home", was considered the most generally popular and successful of
the movies, with plenty of jokes and a modern-day San Francisco as 
a back drop.

Now that Leonard Nimoy had directed his second film, William Shatner
wanted a turn.  "ST V: What a Mistake" came out, as his first and last
excursion.  The backdrop of Yosemite couldn't pull this one out of the
fire.  

"ST VI: Quoting Lines From Hamlet" was the last of the Classic-era
movies, and featured Kirk's last heard line as Captain of the
Enterprise, a line I've been waiting for him to say for years...
It's a line quoted by another fly-boy hero of mine:
"Second star to the right and straight on till morning."

This was followed by "Star Trek Generations," a mixture of the old
Classic-era generation and an extended Pepsi-Generation episode.  Here
we see the changing of the guard as Scotty, Checkov, and Kirk inaugurate
the Enterprise NCC 1701-B.  

Subsequent movies featured the cast of the Pepsi-Generation cast: "First 
Contact" where we go back in time and meet the inventor of warp drive (faster
than light speed travel.) "Insurrection" was the most recent movie. 
"Star Trek X" is currently in pre-production for release in 2002.

        Bill Petro, your friendly neighborhood historian
        http://www.billpetro.com