Today, Star Trek is nothing less than a cultural phenomenon. It would be almost impossible to grow up in the United States without at least hearing the names Kirk and Spock, and the absolute devotion of Star Trek fans has made them one of the most famous fanbases anywhere. And yet, the iconic status of Star Trek was not always assured. When Star Trek (later known as Star Trek: The Original Series) premiered in September 1966, its ratings were high, but as time went on the show attracted less of an audience and was canceled after three seasons. However, the show was kept alive through the devotion of a growing number of fans, and Star Trek was eventually resurrected through a collection of massively successful movies and TV shows.
Take a look at the history of Star Trek: The Original Series, the show that started it all, from its creation to its revival in Star Trek: The Motion Picture through notable events, memorable episodes, and even some fan history.
April 1964: Gene Roddenberry’s Pitch
Star Trek was created by Gene Roddenberry, a television writer and producer who envisioned a science fiction show in the style of television westerns. Submitted to Lucille Ball’s Desilu Studios in April 1964, Roddenberry’s pitch contains many details that any fan would recognize, including a doctor nicknamed “Bones” and even a character named Mr. Spock. As described on Badass Digest, some at the studio were skeptical of the show’s potential. However, Lucille Ball herself fought for its creation, and a science fiction legend was born.
November-December 1964: “The Cage”
The pilot of Star Trek, ”The Cage”, began filming on November 27, 1964, according to production notes included in StarTrekHistory.com’s account of the episode’s creation. “The Cage” is quite different from other episodes of the show, featuring a different cast. For example, instead of William Shatner’s Captain James T. Kirk, the captain of the Enterprise in “The Cage” is Robert April, played by Jeffrey Hunter. Leonard Nimoy’s Spock is present however.
“The Cage” was rejected by NBC, the studio that eventually aired the show. NBC’s reasoning has often been attributed to the overly-cerebral nature of the episode, but an article on io9.com lists several other reasons that the episode was rejected, including its sexual elements and the fact that the Enterprise’s first officer was female.
March 1965: A Second Chance
The rejection of Star Trek’s original pilot could have been the end of the show forever. Fortunately, Desilu Studios fought for the show, and NBC decided to fund a second pilot. The title of the new pilot was “Where No Man Has Gone Before,” and it replaced Jeffrey Hunter’s Captain Robert April with William Shatner’s James T. Kirk. The episode was eventually aired as the third episode in the lineup of the first season.
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September 8, 1966: The Voyages Begin
Star Trek premiered on NBC on September 8, 1966. The first episode shown was The Man Trap, a story about a shape-shifting creature that attacked Enterprise crew members for their salt. As Time reports, many of the show’s initial reviews were not kind. However, the show earned strong ratings in its premiere, winning out its timeslot.
November 1966: “The Menagerie” and A Full Order
The two-part episode “The Menagerie” was one of two Star Trek episodes to receive a Hugo Award (the other being “The City on the Edge of Forever”). It used footage from the discarded pilot “The Cage” to tell the story of the Enterprise’s former captain Christopher Pike. Part 1 aired on November 17,1966, and Part 2 aired on November 22,1966.
Also in November 1966 the ratings for the show were officially good enough for NBC to order a full season, leading to the production of the rest of the first season.
December 15, 1966: The Romulans Arrive
On December 15, 1966, the episode ”Balance of Terror” was broadcast. It served as the introduction for the Romulans, some of the most famous villains in Star Trek. An interesting feature of the episode was its casting of Mark Lenard, who would later play Spock’s father, as the Romulan commander.
January 19, 1967: Gorn!
The episode “Arena”, which aired on January 19, 1967, is most famous for its hilariously over-the-top fight scene between Captain Kirk and the green reptilian alien known as a Gorn. It’s a must-watch for anyone who enjoys the campier side of Star Trek.
February 16, 1967: KHAAAAAN
The episode “Space Seed” depicts the Enterprise’s encounter with a ship full of people from the 20th century in a cryogenic slumber. Intrigued, they wake up the crew, only to discover that some things are best left sleeping… especially if they’re superhumans from the 1990s.
This episode introduced Ricardo Monalbán’s Khan, probably the best known villain in all of Star Trek. Khan would of course play a huge role in the 1982 Star Trek film Star Trek II: The Wrath of Khan, and also served as the villain in 2013’s Star Trek: Into Darkness.
April 6, 1967: The Guardian of Forever Doesn’t Mess Around
April 1967 saw the premiere of the episode “The City on the Edge of Forever”, regarded by many to be the best episode of the original series of Star Trek. It tells the story of an incident in which Kirk and Spock must chase an ill Dr. McCoy through a time portal known as the Guardian of Forever, which leads them to New York City in the 1930s. Kirk and Spock work to find McCoy and restore the damage he has done to their timeline while Kirk finds love with an optimistic social activist.
“The City on the Edge of Forever” won a Hugo Award for Best Dramatic Presentation, and its tragic love story is a must-see.
September 1967: Spock Gets His Own Magazine
Before the internet, fanbases had far fewer ways to communicate with each other than they do today. One option was fanzines, which were magazines in which fans wrote articles, stories, poetry, and other pieces about their favorite fandoms. Spockanalia was the first fanzine to focus entirely on Star Trek, and it was important to the communication of early Star Trek fans with each other and with the show cast and creatives.
As this StarTrek.com article depicts, Spocknalia contained not only materials written by fans but also letters written by Star Trek actors such as DeForest Kelley and Leonard Nimoy in-character, along with information on the show’s canon from writers and messages from Gene Roddenberry. Samples from Spocknalia and another Star Trek fanzine called ST-Phile can be found here.
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September 15, 1967: Season Two Begins
The premiere episode of Season Two was the classic “Amok Time,” in which a sudden behavior change in Spock requires a visit to the planet Vulcan (shown for the first time). “Amok Time” is famous for the dramatic fight scene between Kirk and Spock.
October 6, 1967: Never Trust a Bearded Spock
The fourth episode of Season Two was “Mirror, Mirror”, in which the crew of the Enterprise encountered a violent alternate universe. Kirk, McCoy, Uhura, and Scotty are stuck aboard the alternate universe’s Enterprise, in which Spock, for some reason, had a beard.
December 22, 1967: Why Piglet, Why?
“A Wolf in the Fold” doesn’t make many “Best Of” lists: it’s downright bizarre and pretty sexist. The story involves the Enterprise crew spending time on a planet where women keep being murdered, and Scotty appears to be the murderer. The murder mystery seems pretty average until things start getting really weird- like “the ghost of Jack the Ripper traveling through space and possessing people” weird. In addition to being baffled by the bizarre plot, viewers may also recognize the voice of the planet’s chief administrator, Hengist. That’s because Hengist is played by John Fiedler, who provided the voice of Piglet in the Disney Winnie-the-Pooh movies and TV shows. I won’t spoil what happens to his character, but let’s just say you’d never imagine Piglet saying that.
December 29, 1967: Tribbles Are Quite Troublesome
Fortunately for those watching as the series aired, the episode after “A Wolf in the Fold” was much better. “The Trouble With Tribbles” is a classic comedic episode in which tribbles, best described as adorable living furballs, cause massive problems for the Enterprise due to their insane breeding habits. “The Trouble With Tribbles” is remembered as being one of the best episodes of the Original Series, and it was ranked #6 in a TIME piece on the 10 Best Star Trek Moments.
1968: Boldly Going Where No Fanfic Had Gone Before
Much has been said about Star Trek’s contributions to science fiction and technology. However, Star Trek is also responsible for a major moment in fandom history. Slash fan fiction, a genre of fan-written stories in which two usually male characters from a book, movie, TV show, or other medium become romantically involved, despite not being in a relationship in the actual story, is said to have begun with the 1968 Star Trek fan fiction “The Ring of Soshern.,” a 105 page story written by Jennifer Guttridge. In the story, which is described in this Guardian piece on the history of fan fiction, Kirk and Spock become more than just friends after Spock unexpectedly goes into Pon Far (the Vulcan mating state seen in “Amok Time”). Today, slash fanfic is a prominent part of almost every fandom in existence. Fans of such popular pairings as Supernatural’s “Destiel” (Dean/Castiel) and Sherlock’s “JohnLock” (Holmes/Watson) owe it all to Kirk and Spock.
January 1968: The Enterprise Faces an Unconventional Enemy
By January 1968, things weren’t looking very good for Star Trek. Ratings were down, and cancellation rumors were rampant. According to Television Obscurities, a massive fan letter-writing campaign began when news sources began running such stories as the Hartford Courant’s “’Star Trek” Doomed, Renewal is Unlikely.” The Los Angeles Times even has a picture of a protest held by students in January 1968 against cancellation. Although it is unclear whether NBC was planning to cancel the show at the time, the massive outcry had the effect of a notice assuring fans that the show would live on airing at the end of the episode “The Omega Glory” in March. Star Trek had one more season to go.
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September 20, 1968: “Brain and Brain, What is Brain?”
The third and last season of Star Trek is well-known for not being up to par with the rest of the series, and its ratings suffered as a result.
This is usually blamed on its airing in a new and terrible time slot, as Television Obscurities documents. The quality of the third season is often considered to be exemplified by the season premiere episode “Spock’s Brain”, which aired on September 20, 1968. This ridiculous episode features an alien from a society in which women rule over men stealing Spock’s brain, and the Enterprise crew beaming to her planet to save it. It’s absolutely awful by pretty much anyone’s standards.
November 22, 1968: Kirk and Uhura Make History
The episode “Plato’s Stepchildren”, which was the third aired episode in the third season, is just as bizarre as many other third season episodes. The plot involves Kirk, Spock, McCoy, Uhura, and Nurse Chapel being controlled by an alien species with telekinetic powers and being forced to perform embarrassing actions.
However, the episode is extremely notable for the scene in which Kirk and Uhura kiss. The kiss was not the first interracial kiss on television, as is commonly stated, but it was the first kiss between a white person and a black person on television. This article from Comic Book Resources reveals the history behind the kiss and stories from its filming.
January 10, 1969: The Riddler in Space
Another famous guest star on Star Trek was Frank Gorshin in the episode “Let That Be Your Last Battlefield.” Gorshin is best known for playing The Riddler in the Batman TV series starring Adam West.
February 1969: The End Approaches
Despite the massive fan letter writing campaign that occurred when rumors of the show being canceled first appeared, in the end low ratings spelled death for Star Trek. According to Television Obscurities, Star Trek was officially canceled in February 1969. However, NBC did announce syndication plans, which became important in Star Trek’s gradual resurrection.
June 3, 1969: Bye for Now
The final episode of the original series of Star Trek was “Turnabout Intruder”, which aired on June 3, 1969. Despite the cancellation, fans still tried to save the show, as seen in this letter written to Boys’ Life magazine by a young fan in July 1969. Unfortunately, the end had come for the television adventures of the USS Enterprise- at least in their original form.
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1969: Syndication Saves the Day
The cancellation of Star Trek, was, of course, not the end after all. Soon after the show stopped airing it began to be syndicated, finding a new audience and fueling a growing fanbase. This 1972 article from The Milwaukee Journal depicts the growing popularity of Star Trek after the series ended. The article quotes a programming director from Los Angeles who said that “The interest in the show is greater now than it was last year, or, for that matter, when the show was on the air in prime time.” Fans formed clubs, attended conventions, and wrote letters to Paramount, which owned Star Trek, demanding its return.
January 21-23, 1972: The First Convention
Today, Star Trek is famous for its many conventions, in which fans can meet fellow fans and even meet some of the cast and crew of their favorite shows. The first Star Trek convention is considered by many to be a gathering held at the Statler Hilton Hotel on January 21-23, 1972. This StarTrek.com article provides eyewitness accounts of this first convention, which counted Gene Roddenberry and Isaac Asimov among its guests.
September 1973: The Enterprise Gets Animated
A rarely remembered part of Star Trek was the animated version of the show that aired for two seasons starting in September 1973. Titled Star Trek: The Animated Series, it was intended to bring the same style found in the original show to an animation format. The history of the Animated Series found in this article on danhausertrek.com quotes Gene Roddenberry on his intentions for the show: “We have to limit some of the violence we might have had on the evening shows. There will probably be no sex element to talk of either. But it will be Star Trek and not a stereotype kids cartoon show." Unfortunately the show was aired on Saturday mornings like children’s cartoons, and it only aired for two seasons. However, the show did receive an Emmy (the first Star Trek series to do so) and it featured the voice acting of most of the original cast. Despite this, the show was removed from official Star Trek canon by Roddenberry after it aired, meaning that the events depicted in it are not considered to be officially part of the Star Trek universe.
1977: The Series Almost Returns
In 1977 rumors of a new Star Trek series began appearing in such newspapers as the Free Lance-Star. Called Star Trek: Phase II, the series was going to feature most of the original cast minus Leonard Nimoy, according to Science Fiction Buzz. Plans for the show were finally scrapped when another way for Star Trek to return arrived in the form of a movie.
December 7, 1979: Star Trek Returns for Good
Ten years after the original series ended, Star Trek finally returned to live action in the form of Star Trek: The Motion Picture. Directed by Robert Wise, it reunited the original cast and reused ideas from the canceled Star Trek: Phase II show, as described on Tor.com. Upon release (and ever since) reviews were mixed- the film has been accused of being too slow and lacking the charming interactions between the characters that were a big part of the original show. But Star Trek was back, and it hasn’t left since.
Despite its cold reception, Star Trek: The Motion Picture led to the production of more Star Trek. Since its premiere there have been eleven other movies and four TV shows, as well as scores of novels, conventions, and even video games. Much has changed since Kirk, Spock, McCoy, and the rest of the crew of the Enterprise first appeared on television in 1966, but Star Trek lives on.
Image Credit: INFevents.com