STAR TREK TOS 50th - JACK DONNER - Hand-Signed Autograph Card - LIMITED EDITION for Sale

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STAR TREK TOS 50th - JACK DONNER - Hand-Signed Autograph Card - LIMITED EDITION:
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STAR TREK TOS 50th - JACK DONNER, Sub Commander Tal - LIMITED EDITION Personally Signed Autograph Card issued by Rittenhouse in 2016.

STARTREK (The Original Series TOS)

StarTrek is an American science fictiontelevision series created by Gene Roddenberry that follows theadventures of the starship USSEnterprise(NCC-1701)and its crew. It later acquired the retronym of StarTrek: The Original Series (StarTrek: TOS or simply TOS)to distinguish the show within the media franchise that it began.

Space:the final frontier. These are the voyages of the starship Enterprise.Its five-year mission: to explore strange new worlds, to seek out newlife and new civilizations, to boldly go where no man has gonebefore.

Theseries was produced from September 1966 to December 1967 by NorwayProductions and Desilu Productions, and by Paramount Television fromJanuary 1968 to June 1969. Star Trekaired on NBC from September 8, 1966, to June 3, 1969, and wasactually seen first on September 6, 1966, on Canada\'s CTV network.Star Trek\'sNielsen ratings while on NBC were low, and the network canceled itafter three seasons and 79 episodes. Several years later, the seriesbecame a bona fide hit in broadcast syndication, remaining sothroughout the 1970s, achieving cult classic status and a developinginfluence on popular culture. Star Trekeventually spawned a franchise, consisting of six additionaltelevision series, thirteen feature films, numerous books, games, andtoys, and is now widely considered one of the most popular andinfluential television series of all time.

Theseries contains significant elements of Space Western, as describedby Gene Roddenberry and the general audience.

Creation

On March11, 1964, Gene Roddenberry, a long-time fan of science fiction,drafted a short treatment for a science-fiction television seriesthat he called Star Trek.This was to be set on board a large interstellar spaceship named S.S.Yorktown in the 23rd century bearing acrew dedicated to exploring a relatively small portion of the MilkyWay Galaxy.

Roddenberrynoted a number of influences on his idea, some of which includes A.E. van Vogt\'s tales of the spaceship SpaceBeagle, Eric Frank Russell\'s Marathonseries of stories, and the film ForofferdenPlanet (1956). Some have also drawnparallels with the television series RockyJones, Space Ranger (1954), a spaceopera which included many of the elements that were integral to StarTrek—the organization, crewrelationships, missions, part of the bridge layout, and even sometechnology. Roddenberry also drew heavily from C. S. Forester\'sHoratio Hornblower novels that depict a daring sea captain whoexercises broad discretionary authority on distant sea missions ofnoble purpose. He often humorously referred to Captain Kirk as\"Horatio Hornblower in Space\".

Roddenberryhad extensive experience in writing for series about the Old Westthat had been popular television fare in the 1950s and 1960s. Armedwith this background, the first draft characterized the new show as\"Wagon Trainto the stars.\" Like the familiar WagonTrain, each episode was to be aself-contained adventure story, set within the structure of acontinuing voyage through space. All future television and movierealizations of the franchise adhered to the \"Wagon Train\"paradigm of the continuing journey, with the notable exception of theserialized Star Trek: Deep Space Nineand the third season of Star Trek:Enterprise.

InRoddenberry\'s original concept, the protagonist was Captain RobertApril of the starship S.S. Yorktown.This character was developed into Captain Christopher Pike, firstportrayed by Jeffrey Hunter.

Development

In April1964, Roddenberry presented the StarTrek draft to Desilu Productions, aleading independent television production company. He met with HerbSolow, Desilu\'s Director of Production. Solow saw promise in the ideaand signed a three-year program-development contract withRoddenberry. Lucille Ball, head of Desilu, was not familiar with thenature of the project, but she was instrumental in getting the pilotproduced.

The ideawas extensively revised and fleshed out during this time – \"TheCage\" pilot filmed in late 1964 differs in many respects fromthe March 1964 treatment. Solow, for example, added the had a first-look deal with CBS. Oscar Katz, Desilu\'s VicePresident of Production, went with Roddenberry to pitch the series tothe network. They refused to purchase the show, as they already had asimilar show in development, the 1965 Irwin Allen series Lostin Space.

In May1964, Solow, who previously worked at NBC, met with Grant Tinker,then head of the network\'s West Coast programming department. Tinkercommissioned the first pilot – which became \"The Cage\".NBC turned down the resulting pilot, stating that it was \"toocerebral\". However, the NBC executives were still impressed withthe concept, and they understood that its perceived faults had beenpartly because of the script that they had selected themselves

NBC madethe unusual decision to pay for a second pilot, using the scriptcalled \"Where No Man Has Gone Before\". Only the characterof Spock, played by Leonard Nimoy, was retained from the first pilot,and only two cast members, Majel Barrett and Nimoy, were carriedforward into the series. This second pilot proved to be satisfactoryto NBC, and the network selected StarTrek to be in its upcoming televisionschedule for the fall of 1966.

Thesecond pilot introduced most of the other main characters: CaptainKirk (William Shatner), chief engineer Lt. Commander Scott (JamesDoohan) and Lt. Sulu (George Takei), who served as a physicist on theship in the second pilot but subsequently became a helmsmanthroughout the rest of the series. Paul Fix played Dr. Mark Piper inthe second pilot; ship\'s doctor Leonard McCoy (DeForest Kelley)joined the cast when filming began for the first season, and heremained for the rest of the series, achieving billing as the thirdstar of the series. Also joining the ship\'s permanent crew during thefirst season were the communications officer, Lt. Nyota Uhura(Nichelle Nichols), the first African-American woman to hold such animportant role in an American television series; the captain\'syeoman, Janice Rand (Grace Lee Whitney), who departed midway throughthe first season; and Christine Chapel (Majel Barrett), head nurseand assistant to McCoy. Walter Koenig joined the cast as Ensign PavelChekov in the series\' second season.

InFebruary 1966, Star Trekwas nearly killed by Desilu Productions, before airing the firstepisode. Desilu had gone from making just one half-hour show (TheLucy Show), to deficit financing aportion of two expensive hour-long shows, Mission:Impossible and StarTrek. Solow was able to convinceLucille Ball that both shows should continue.

Production

Once theseries was picked up by NBC the production moved to what was thenDesilu Productions Gower street location. It was previously the mainstudio complex used by RKO Pictures and is now part of the ParamountPictures lot. The series used what are now stages 31 and 32. Theshow\'s production staff included art director Matt Jefferies.Jefferies designed the starship Enterpriseand most of its interiors. His contributions to the series werehonored in the name of the \"Jefferies tube\", an equipmentshaft depicted in various Star Trek series. In addition to workingwith his brother, John Jefferies, to create the hand-held phaserweapons of Star Trek,Jefferies also developed the set design for the bridge of theEnterprise(which was based on an earlier design by Pato Guzman). Jefferies usedhis practical experience as an airman during World War II and hisknowledge of aircraft design to devise a sleek, functional andergonomic bridge layout.

Thecostume designer for Star Trek,Bill Theiss, created the striking look of the Starfleet uniforms forthe Enterprise,the costumes for female guest stars, and for various aliens,including the Klingons, Vulcans, Romulans, Tellarites, Andorians, andGideonites among others.

Artistand sculptor Wah Chang, who had worked for Walt Disney Productions,was hired to design and manufacture props: he created the flip-opencommunicator, often credited as having influenced the configurationof the portable version of the cellular telephone. Chang alsodesigned the portable sensing-recording-computing \"tricorder\"device, and various fictitious devices for the starship\'s engineeringcrew and its sick bay. As the series progressed, he helped to createvarious memorable aliens, such as the Gorn and the Horta.

Season 1(1966–67)

NBCordered 16 episodes of Star Trek,besides \"Where No Man Has GoneBefore\". The first regular episodeof Star Trek,The Man Trap,aired on Thursday, September 8, 1966 from 8:30–9:30 as part of anNBC \"sneak preview\" block. Reviews were mixed; while ThePhiladelphia Inquirer and SanFrancisco Chronicle liked the new show,The New York Timesand The Boston Globewere less favorable, and Varietypredicted that it \"won\'t work\", calling it \"anincredible and dreary mess of confusion and complexities\".Debuting against mostly reruns, StarTrek easily won its time slot with a40.6 share. The following week against all-new programming, however,the show fell to second (29.4 share) behind CBS. It ranked 33rd (outof 94 programs) over the next two weeks, then the following twoepisodes ranked 51st in the ratings.

Iam an avid fan of Star Trek, and would simply die if it wastaken off the air. In my opinion it is the best show on television.

—M.P.,Oswego, New York, February 20, 1967

StarTrek\'s first-season ratings would inearlier years likely have caused NBC to cancel the show. The networkhad pioneered research into viewers\' demographic profiles in theearly 1960s, however, and, by 1967, it and other networksincreasingly considered such data when making decisions; for example,CBS temporarily cancelled Gunsmokethat year because it had too many older and too few younger viewers.Although Roddenberry later claimed that NBC was unaware of StarTrek\'s favorable demographics,awareness of Star Trek\'s\"quality\" audience is what likely caused the network toretain the show after the first and second seasons. NBC insteaddecided to order 10 more new episodes for the first season, and ordera second season in March 1967. The network originally announced thatthe show would air at 7:30–8:30pm Tuesday, but it was insteadgiven an 8:30–9:30pm Friday slot when the 1967–68 NBCschedule was released making watching it difficult for the youngviewers that the show most attracted.

Season 2(1967–68)

StarTrek\'s ratings continued to declineduring the second season. Although Shatner expected the show to endafter two seasons and began to prepare for other projects, NBCnonetheless may have never seriously considered cancelling the show.As early as January 1968, the Associated Press reported that StarTrek\'s chances for renewal for a thirdseason were \"excellent\". The show had better ratings forNBC than ABC\'s competing Hondo,and the competing CBS programs (#3 GomerPyle, U.S.M.C. and the first half-hourof the #12 CBS Friday Night Movie)were in the top 15 in the Nielsen ratings. Again, demographics helpedStar Treksurvive. Contrary to popular belief among its fans, the show did nothave a larger audience of young viewers than its competition while onNBC. The network\'s research did, however, indicate that StarTrek had a \"quality audience\"including \"upper-income, better-educated males\", and otherNBC shows had lower overall ratings. The show was unusual at the timein its serious discussion of contemporary societal issues in afuturistic context, unlike Lost in Spacewhich was more \"campy\" in nature.

Look!Look! It doesn\'t stop! They\'re lined up all the way down the street!

—NormanLunenfeld, NBC executive, on the mail trucks delivering Star Trekfans\' letters

Theenthusiasm of Star Trek\'sviewers surprised NBC. The network had already received 29,000 fanletters for the show during its first season, more than for any otherexcept The Monkees.When rumors spread in late 1967 that StarTrek was at risk of cancellation,Roddenberry secretly began and funded an effort by Bjo Trimble, herhusband John and other fans to persuade tens of thousands of viewersto write letters of support to save the program. Using the 4,000names on a mailing list for a science-fiction convention, theTrimbles asked fans to write to NBC and ask ten others to also do so.NBC received almost 116,000 letters for the show between December1967 and March 1968, including more than 52,000 in February alone;according to an NBC executive, the network received more than onemillion pieces of mail but only disclosed the 116,000 figure.Newspaper columnists encouraged readers to write letters to help savewhat one called \"the best science fiction show on the air\".More than 200 Caltech students marched to NBC\'s Burbank, Californiastudio to support Star Trekin January 1968, carrying signs such as \"Draft Spock\" and\"Vulcan Power\". Berkeley and MIT students organized similarprotests in San Francisco and New York.

Theletters supporting Star Trek,whose authors included New York State Governor Nelson Rockefeller,were different in both quantity and quality from most mail thattelevision networks receive:

Theshow, according to the 6,000 letters it draws a week (more than anyother in television), is watched by scientists, museum curators,psychiatrists, doctors, university professors and other highbrows.The Smithsonian Institution asked for a print of the show for itsarchives, the only show so honored.

Inaddition:

Muchof the mail came from doctors, scientists, teachers, and otherprofessional people, and was for the most part literate–and writtenon good stationery. And if there is anything a network wants almostas much as a high Nielsen ratings it is the prestige of a show thatappeals to the upper middle class and high brow audiences.

Andnow an announcement of interest to all viewers of Star Trek.We are pleased to tell you that Star Trek will continue to beseen on NBC Television. We know you will be looking forward to seeingthe weekly adventure in space on Star Trek.

—NBCannouncer, March 1, 1968

NBC—whichused such anecdotes in much of its publicity for the show—made theunusual decision to announce on television, after the episode \"TheOmega Glory\" on March 1, 1968, that the series had been renewed.The announcement implied a request to stop writing, but insteadcaused fans to send letters of thanks in similar numbers.

Season 3(1968–69)

NBC atfirst planned to move Star Trekto Mondays for the show\'s third season, likely in hopes of increasingits audience after the enormous letter campaign surprised thenetwork. But in March 1968, NBC instead moved the show to 10:00pmFriday night, an hour undesirable for its younger audience, so as notto conflict with the highly successful Rowan& Martin\'s Laugh-In on Mondayevenings, from whose time slot Laugh-Inproducer George Schlatter had angrily demanded it not be rescheduled.In addition to the undesirable time slot, StarTrek was now being seen on only 181 ofNBC\'s 210 affiliates.

Roddenberrywas frustrated, and complained, \"If the network wants to killus, it couldn\'t make a better move.\" He attempted to persuadeNBC to give Star Treka better day and hour, but was not successful. As a result of thisand his own growing exhaustion, he chose to withdraw from the stressof the daily production of Star Trek,though he remained nominally in charge as its \"executiveproducer\". Roddenberry reduced his direct involvement in StarTrek before the start of the 1968–69television season, and was replaced by Fred Freiberger as theproducer of the television series. NBC next reduced StarTrek\'s budget by a significant amountper episode, as the per-minute commercial price had dropped from$39,000 to $36,000 compared to the Season 2 time slot. This caused asignificant decline in the quality of many episodes for the 1968–69season, which emphasized \"monster of the week\" stories.Nichols described these budget cuts as an intentional effort to killoff Star Trek:

WhileNBC paid lip service to expanding Star Trek\'s audience, it nowslashed our production budget until it was actually ten percent lowerthan it had been in our first season ... This is why in the thirdseason you saw fewer outdoor location shots, for example. Topwriters, top guest stars, top anything you needed was harder to comeby. Thus, Star Trek\'s demise became a self-fulfillingprophecy. And I can assure you, that is exactly as it was meant tobe.

The lastday of filming for Star Trek was January 9, 1969, and after 79episodes NBC cancelled the show in February despite fans\' attempt atanother letter-writing campaign. One newspaper columnist advised aprotesting viewer:

YouStar Trek fans have fought the \"good fight,\" but theshow has been cancelled and there\'s nothing to be done now.

In 2011,the decision to cancel Star Trekby NBC was ranked #4 on the TV Guide Network special, 25Biggest TV Blunders 2.

INFORMATIONABOUT STAR TREK (THE ORIGINAL SERIES):

StarTrek is an American science-fiction television series created by GeneRoddenberry that follows the adventures of the starship USSEnterprise (NCC-1701) and its crew. It later acquired the retronym ofStar Trek: The Original Series (Star Trek: TOS or simply TOS) todistinguish the show within the media franchise that it began.

Theshow is set in the Milky Way galaxy, roughly during the 2260s. Theship and crew are led by Captain James T. Kirk (William Shatner),first officer and science officer Spock (Leonard Nimoy), and chiefmedical officer Leonard McCoy (DeForest Kelley). Shatner\'s voice-overintroduction during each episode\'s opening credits stated thestarship\'s purpose: Space: the final frontier. These are the voyagesof the starship Enterprise. Its five-year mission: to explore strangenew worlds, to seek out new life and new civilizations, to boldly gowhere no man has gone before.

Theseries was produced from September 1966 to December 1967 by NorwayProductions and Desilu Productions, and by Paramount Television fromJanuary 1968 to June 1969. Star Trek aired on NBC from September 8,1966 to June 3, 19692 and was actually seen first on September 6,1966, on Canada\'s CTV network. Star Trek\'s Nielsen ratings while onNBC were low, and the network cancelled it after three seasons and 79episodes. Several years later, the series became a bona fide hit inbroadcast syndication, remaining so throughout the 1970s, achievingcult classic status and a developing influence on popular culture.Star Trek eventually spawned a franchise, consisting of fiveadditional television series, thirteen feature films, numerous books,games, toys, and is now widely considered one of the most popular andinfluential television series of all time.

Theseries contains significant elements of Space Western, as describedby Gene Roddenberry and the general audience.

Creation:

OnMarch 11, 1964, Gene Roddenberry, a long-time fan of science fiction,drafted a short treatment for a science-fiction television seriesthat he called Star Trek. This was to be set on board a largeinterstellar spaceship S.S. Yorktown in the 23rd century, whose crewwas dedicated to exploring a relatively small portion of our galaxy,the Milky Way.

Someof the influences on his idea that Roddenberry noted included A. E.van Vogt\'s tales of the spaceship Space Beagle, Eric Frank Russell\'sMarathon series of stories, and the film Forofferden Planet (1956).Other people have also drawn parallels with the television seriesRocky Jones, Space Ranger (1954), a less sophisticated space operathat still included many of the elements—the organization, crewrelationships, missions, part of the bridge layout, and even sometechnology—that were part of Star Trek. Roddenberry also drewheavily from C. S. Forester\'s Horatio Hornblower novels that depict adaring sea captain who exercises broad discretionary authority ondistant sea missions of noble purpose. Roddenberry often humorouslyreferred to Captain Kirk as \"Horatio Hornblower in Space\".

Roddenberryhad extensive experience in writing for series about the Old Westthat had been popular television fare earlier in the 1960s and the1950s. Armed with this background, the first draft deliberatelycharacterizes the new show as \"Wagon Train to the stars.\"Like the familiar Wagon Train, each episode was to be aself-contained adventure story, set within the overarching structureof a continuing journey, rather than being bound to the samelocation. With the notable exception of Star Trek: Deep Space Nine,all future television and movie realisations of the franchise wouldadhere to the \"Wagon Train\" paradigm of the continuingjourney.

InRoddenberry\'s original concept, the protagonist was Captain RobertApril of the starship S.S. Yorktown. This character was developedinto Captain Christopher Pike, first portrayed by Jeffrey Hunter.

Development:

InApril 1964, Roddenberry presented the Star Trek draft to DesiluProductions, a leading independent television production company. Hemet with Herb Solow, Desilu\'s Director of Production and LucilleBall, head of Desilu Studios. Solow and Ball saw promise in the ideaand signed a three-year program-development contract withRoddenberry.

DesiluProductions had a first-look deal with CBS. Oscar Katz, Desilu\'s VicePresident of Production, went with Roddenberry to pitch the series tothe network. They refused to purchase the show, as they already had asimilar show in development, the 1965 Irwin Allen series Lost inSpace.

InMay 1964, Solow, who previously worked at NBC, met with Grant Tinker,then head of the network\'s West Coast programming department. Tinkercommissioned the first pilot – which became \"The Cage\".NBC turned down the resulting pilot, stating that it was \'toocerebral.\' However, the NBC executives were still impressed with theconcept, and they understood that its perceived faults had beenpartly because of the script that they had selected themselves.

NBCmade the unusual decision to pay for a second pilot, using the scriptcalled \"Where No Man Has Gone Before\". Only the characterof Spock, played by Leonard Nimoy, was retained from the first pilot,and only two cast members, Majel Barrett and Nimoy, were carriedforward into the series. This second pilot proved to be satisfactoryto NBC, and the network selected Star Trek to be in its upcomingtelevision schedule for the fall of 1966.

InFebruary 1966, Star Trek was nearly killed by Desilu Productions,before airing the first episode. Desilu had gone from making just onehalf-hour show (The Lucy Show), to deficit financing a portion of twoexpensive hour-long shows, Mission: Impossible and Star Trek. Solowwas able to convince Lucille Ball that both shows should continue.

Production:

Oncethe series was picked up by NBC the production moved to what was thenDesilu Productions Gower street location. It was previously the mainstudio complex used by RKO Pictures and is now part of the ParamountPictures lot. The series used what are now stages 31 and 32. Theshow\'s production staff included art director Matt Jefferies.Jefferies designed the starship Enterprise and most of its interiors.His contributions to the series were honored in the name of the\"Jefferies tube\", an equipment shaft depicted in variousStar Trek series. In addition to working with his brother, JohnJefferies, to create the hand-held phaser weapons of Star Trek,Jefferies also developed the set design for the bridge of theEnterprise (which was based on an earlier design by Pato Guzman).Jefferies used his practical experience as an airman during World WarII and his knowledge of aircraft design to devise a sleek, functionaland ergonomic bridge layout.

Thecostume designer for Star Trek, Bill Theiss, created the strikinglook of the Starfleet uniforms for the Enterprise, the costumes forfemale guest stars, and for various aliens, including the Klingons,Vulcans, Romulans, Tellarites, Andorians, and Gideonites amongothers.

Season1 (1966–67):

NBCordered 16 episodes of Star Trek, besides \"Where No Man Has GoneBefore\". The first regular episode of Star Trek, The Man Trap,aired on Thursday, September 8, 1966 from 8:30–9:30 as part of anNBC \"sneak preview\" block. Reviews were mixed; while ThePhiladelphia Inquirer and San Francisco Chronicle liked the new show,The New York Times and The Boston Globe were less favorable, andVariety predicted that it \"won\'t work\", calling it \"anincredible and dreary mess of confusion and complexities\".Debuting against mostly reruns, Star Trek easily won its time slotwith a 40.6 share. The following week against all-new programming,however, the show fell to second (29.4 share) behind CBS. It ranked33rd (out of 94 programs) over the next two weeks, then the followingtwo episodes ranked 51st in the ratings.

Season2 (1967–68):

StarTrek\'s ratings continued to decline during the second season.Although Shatner expected the show to end after two seasons and beganto prepare for other projects, NBC nonetheless may have neverseriously considered cancelling the show. As early as January 1968,the Associated Press reported that Star Trek\'s chances for renewalfor a third season were \"excellent\". The show had betterratings for NBC than ABC\'s competing Hondo, and the competing CBSprograms (#3 Gomer Pyle, U.S.M.C. and the first half-hour of the #12CBS Friday Night Movie) were in the top 15 in the Nielsen ratings.Again, demographics helped Star Trek survive. Contrary to popularbelief among its fans, the show did not have a larger audience ofyoung viewers than its competition while on NBC. The network\'sresearch did, however, indicate that Star Trek had a \"qualityaudience\" including \"upper-income, better-educated males\",and other NBC shows had lower overall ratings. The show was unusualin its serious discussion of contemporary societal issues in afuturistic context, unlike Lost in Space which was more \"campy\"in nature.

Theenthusiasm of Star Trek\'s viewers surprised NBC. The network hadalready received 29,000 fan letters for the show during its firstseason, more than for any other except The Monkees. When rumorsspread in late 1967 that Star Trek was at risk of cancellation,Roddenberry secretly began and funded an effort by Bjo Trimble, herhusband John and other fans to persuade tens of thousands of viewersto write letters of support to save the program. Using the 4,000names on a mailing list for a science-fiction convention, theTrimbles asked fans to write to NBC and ask ten others to also do so.NBC received almost 116,000 letters for the show between December1967 and March 1968, including more than 52,000 in February alone;according to an NBC executive, the network received more than onemillion pieces of mail but only disclosed the 116,000 figure.Newspaper columnists encouraged readers to write letters to help savewhat one called \"the best science fiction show on the air\".More than 200 Caltech students marched to NBC\'s Burbank, Californiastudio to support Star Trek in January 1968, carrying signs such as\"Draft Spock\" and \"Vulcan Power\". Berkeley andMIT students organized similar protests in San Francisco and NewYork.

Theletters supporting Star Trek, whose authors included New York StateGovernor Nelson Rockefeller, were different in both quantity andquality from most mail that television networks receive: The show,according to the 6,000 letters it draws a week (more than any otherin television), is watched by scientists, museum curators,psychiatrists, doctors, university professors and other highbrows.The Smithsonian Institution asked for a print of the show for itsarchives, the only show so honoured.

Inaddition: Much of the mail came from doctors, scientists, teachers,and other professional people, and was for the most part literate–andwritten on good stationery. And if there is anything a network wantsalmost as much as a high Nielsen ratings it is the prestige of a showthat appeals to the upper middle class and high brow audiences.

Season3 (1968–69):

NBCat first planned to move Star Trek to Mondays for the show\'s thirdseason, likely in hopes of increasing its audience after the enormousletter campaign surprised the network. But in March 1968, NBC insteadmoved the show to 10:00 pm Friday night, an hour undesirable for itsyounger audience, so as not to conflict with the highly successfulRowan & Martin\'s Laugh-In on Monday evenings, from whose timeslot Laugh-In producer George Schlatter had angrily demanded it notbe re-scheduled. In addition to the undesirable time slot, Star Trekwas now being seen on only 181 of NBC\'s 210 affiliates.

Roddenberrywas frustrated, and complained, \"If the network wants to killus, it couldn\'t make a better move.\" He attempted to persuadeNBC to give Star Trek a better day and hour, but was not successful.As a result of this and his own growing exhaustion, he chose towithdraw from the stress of the daily production of Star Trek, thoughhe remained nominally in charge as its \"executive producer\".Roddenberry reduced his direct involvement in Star Trek before thestart of the 1968–69 television season, and was replaced by FredFreiberger as the producer of the television series. NBC next reducedStar Trek\'s budget by a significant amount per episode, as theper-minute commercial price had dropped from $39,000 to $36,000compared to the Season 2 time slot. This caused a significant declinein the quality of many episodes for the 1968–69 season, whichemphasized \"monster of the week\" stories. Nichols describedthese budget cuts as an intentional effort to kill off Star Trek:

WhileNBC paid lip service to expanding Star Trek\'s audience, it nowslashed our production budget until it was actually ten percent lowerthan it had been in our first season ... This is why in the thirdseason you saw fewer outdoor location shots, for example. Topwriters, top guest stars, top anything you needed was harder to comeby. Thus, Star Trek\'s demise became a self-fulfilling prophecy. And Ican assure you, that is exactly as it was meant to be.

Thelast day of filming for Star Trek was January 9, 1969, and after 79episodes NBC cancelled the show in February despite fans\' attempt atanother letter-writing campaign. One newspaper columnist advised aprotesting viewer:

YouStar Trek fans have fought the \"good fight,\" but the showhas been cancelled and there\'s nothing to be done now.

In2011, the decision to cancel Star Trek by NBC was ranked #4 on the TVGuide Network special, 25 Biggest TV Blunders.

Syndication:

Althoughmany of the third season\'s episodes were considered of poor quality,it gave Star Trek enough episodes for television syndication. Mostshows require at least four seasons for syndication, becauseotherwise there are not enough episodes for daily stripping. KaiserBroadcasting, however, purchased syndication rights for Star Trekduring the first season for its stations in several large cities. Thecompany arranged the unusual deal because it saw the show aseffective counterprogramming against the Big Three networks\' 6 pmevening news programs. Paramount began advertising the reruns intrade press in March 1969; as Kaiser\'s ratings were good, otherstations, such as WPIX in New York City and WKBS in Philadelphia,also purchased the episodes for similar counterprogramming.

Throughsyndication, Star Trek found a larger audience than it had on NBC,becoming a cult classic. Airing the show in the late afternoon orearly evening attracted many new viewers, often young. By 1970,Paramount\'s trade advertisements claimed that the show hadsignificantly improved its stations\' ratings, and the Los AngelesTimes commented on Star Trek\'s ability to \"acquire the mostenviable ratings in the syndication field\". By 1972, what theAssociated Press described as \"the show that won\'t die\"aired in more than 100 American cities and 60 other countries, andmore than 3,000 fans attended the first Star Trek convention in NewYork City.

Fansof the show became increasingly organized, gathering at conventionsto trade merchandise, meet actors from the show, and watch screeningsof old episodes. Such fans came to be known as \"trekkies\",who were noted (and often ridiculed) for their extreme devotion tothe show and their encyclopedic knowledge of every episode. Unlikeother syndicated reruns, prices for Star Trek rose, instead offalling, over time, because fans enjoyed rewatching each episodemany, often dozens of, times; People in 1977 stated that the show\"threatens to rerun until the universe crawls back into itslittle black hole\". By 1986, 17 years after enteringsyndication, Star Trek was the most popular syndicated series; by1987 Paramount made $1 million from each episode; and by 1994 thereruns still aired in 94% of the United States.

FromSeptember 1 to December 24, 1998, the Sci-Fi Channel broadcast a\"Special Edition\" of all The Original Series episodes in anexpanded 90-minute format hosted by William Shatner. About 3–4minutes of each episode that had been edited out of the syndicatedshows for additional commercial time were restored for the \"SpecialEdition\" broadcast. In addition to introductory and post-episodecommentary by Shatner, the episodes included interviews with membersof the regular production team and cast, writers, guest stars, andcritics (titled as \"Star Trek Insights\"). The episodes werebroadcast in the original broadcast sequence, followed by \"TheCage,\" to which a full 105-minute segment was devoted. LeonardNimoy hosted a second run from December 28, 1998 to March 24, 1999,but not all the episodes were broadcast because the show was abruptlycancelled before completion.

Remasterededition:

InSeptember 2006, CBS Paramount Domestic Television (now known as CBSTelevision Distribution, the current rights holders for the Star Trektelevision franchises) began syndication of an enhanced version ofStar Trek: The Original Series in high definition with new CGI visualeffects.

Underthe direction of Star Trek producer David Rossi, who consulted withMike and Denise Okuda, the visual and special effects were recreatedto give Star Trek: The Original Series a more modern look. Specialattention was given to such elements as the Enterprise, alien planetsand their images depicted from space, planets seen from orbit, alienspacecraft, and technology such as computer readouts, viewscreenimages, and phaser beams.

Therestoration and enhancement was performed by CBS Digital. Alllive-action footage was scanned in high definition from itsfirst-generation 35 mm film elements. While it was possible toretouch and remaster some visual effects, all new exterior ship,space and planet shots were recreated under the supervision ofEmmy-nominated visual effects supervisor Niel Wray.

Asnoted in the \"making of\" DVD feature, first generation\"original camera negatives\" were used for all live-actionfootage but not for external shots of the ship and planets. Notablechanges include new space shots with a CGI Enterprise, and other newmodels (for example, a Gorn ship is shown in \"Arena\"),redone matte background shots, and other minor touches such astidying up viewscreens.

Asmall number of scenes have also been recomposed, and sometimes newactors have been placed into the background of some shots. Inaddition, the opening theme music has been re-recorded in digitalstereo.

Thefirst episode to be released to syndication was \"Balance ofTerror\" on the weekend of September 16, 2006. Episodes werereleased at the rate of about one a week and broadcast in a 4:3aspect ratio. Despite the HD remastering, CBS chose to deliver thebroadcast syndication package in Standard Definition (SD TV). The HDformat is commercially available through Blu-ray, or by download suchas iTunes, Netflix, and Xbox Live.

Whilethe CGI shots were mastered in a 16:9 aspect ratio for futureapplications, they are broadcast in the U.S. and Canada – alongwith the live-action footage – in a 4:3 aspect ratio to respect theshow\'s original composition. If the producers were to choose toreformat the entire show for the 16:9 ratio, live-action footagewould have to be cropped, significantly reducing the height of theoriginal image.

OnJuly 26, 2007, CBS Home Entertainment (with distribution by ParamountHome Entertainment) announced that the remastered episodes of TOSwould be released on an HD DVD/DVD hybrid format. Season 1 wasreleased on November 20, 2007. Season 2 had been scheduled forrelease in the summer of 2008, but it was cancelled when Toshiba(which had been helping finance the remastering of the show) pulledout of the HD DVD business. On August 5, 2008, the remastered Season2 was released on DVD only. For this release, CBS and Paramount useddiscs without any disc art, making them look like the \"Season 1Remastered\" HD DVD/DVD combo discs, despite having content onlyon one side. Season 3 was released on DVD only on November 18, 2008.On February 17, 2009 – Paramount announced the Season 1 of TOS onBlu-ray Disc for a May release to coincide with the new feature filmcoming from Paramount. The second season was released in a seven discset on Blu-ray in the U.S. on September 22, 2009. The third seasonwas released on Blu-ray in the U.S. on December 15. With the releaseof the \"Alternate Realities\" box set, remastered OriginalSeries episodes were included in a multi-series compilation for thefirst time. It is unknown if future compilation releases willexclusively use the remastered episodes or not.

Inregion 2 and region 4, all three seasons of the remastered OriginalSeries became available on DVD in the slimline edition (in the UK andGermany in steelbook editions) on April 27, 2009 as well as the firstseason in Blu-ray.

Cast:

WilliamShatner as Captain James T. Kirk, commanding officer of the USSEnterprise. Shatner\'s good looks and groomed hairstyle made him apopular icon amongst young women.

LeonardNimoy as Commander Spock, the ship\'s half-human/half-Vulcan scienceofficer and first/executive officer (i.e. second-in-command). Spockis the only character from the original pilot to appear in the airedseries. Spock is to this day one of the most popular iconic figuresof science fiction. Spock was originally written to be a sex symbolfor the show, but Shatner\'s Captain Kirk took his place.

DeForestKelley as Lieutenant Commander Dr. Leonard \"Bones\" McCoy,the Enterprise\'s chief medical officer.

JamesDoohan as Lieutenant Commander Montgomery \"Scotty\" Scott,chief engineer and second officer (i.e. third-in-command)

NichelleNichols as Lieutenant Nyota Uhura, communications officer

GeorgeTakei as Lieutenant Hikaru Sulu, helmsman

WalterKoenig as Ensign Pavel Chekov, a navigator introduced in the show\'ssecond season

MajelBarrett as Nurse Christine Chapel. Barrett, who played the ship\'sfirst officer in \"The Cage\", also voiced the ship\'scomputer.

GraceLee Whitney as Janice Rand, the captain\'s yeoman. Although Randappears in several promotional images for the show, she stoppedappearing midway through the first season.

Whilestill casting the roles, Gene Roddenberry did not mandate Bones McCoyand Spock be male. According to Nichelle Nichols, \"They gave mea three-page script to read from that had three characters namedBones, Kirk and somebody called Spock, and they asked me if I wouldread for the role of Spock. When I looked at this great text, I saidto myself, \'I\'ll take any one of these roles,\' but I found the Spockcharacter to be very interesting, and I asked them to tell me whatshe Spock was like.\"

Itwas intended that Sulu\'s role be expanded in the second season, butowing to Takei\'s part in John Wayne\'s The Green Berets, he onlyappeared in half the season, with his role being filled by WalterKoenig as the relatively young, mop-topped Russian navigator EnsignPavel Chekov. When Takei returned, the two had to share a dressingroom and a single episode script. The two appeared together at theEnterprise helm for the remainder of the series. There may be sometruth to the unofficial story that the Soviet Union\'s newspaperPravda complained that there were no Soviets among the culturallydiverse characters. This was seen as a personal slight to thatcountry since the Soviet Russian Yuri Gagarin had been the first manto make a spaceflight. Gene Roddenberry said in response that \"TheChekov thing was a major error on our part, and I\'m still embarrassedby the fact we didn\'t include a Russian right from the beginning.\"However, documentation from Desilu suggests that the intention was tointroduce a character into Star Trek with more sex appeal to teenagedgirls. Walter Koenig noted in the 2006 40th anniversary special ofStar Trek: The Original Series that he doubted the rumor aboutPravda, since Star Trek had never been shown on Soviet television. Ithas also been claimed that the former member of The Monkees, DavyJones, could have been the model for Mr. Chekov.

Inaddition, the series frequently included characters (usually securitypersonnel wearing red uniforms) who are killed or injured soon aftertheir introduction. So prevalent was this plot device that itinspired the term \"redshirt\" to denote a stock characterwhose sole purpose is to die violently to show the dangerouscircumstances facing the main characters.

Characterizations:

StarTrek made celebrities of its cast of largely unknown actors. Kelleyhad appeared in many films and television shows, but mostly insmaller roles that showcased him as a villain. Nimoy also hadprevious television and film experience but was also not well known.Nimoy had partnered previously with Shatner in a 1964 episode of TheMan from U.N.C.L.E., \"The Project Strigas Affair\", and withKelley (as a doctor) in a 1963 episode of The Virginian, \"Man ofViolence\", both more than two years before Star Trek aired forthe first time. Before Star Trek, Shatner was well known in thetrade, having appeared in several notable films, played Cyrano deBergerac on Broadway, and even turned down the part of Dr. Kildare.However, when roles became sparse he took the regular job afterJeffrey Hunter\'s contract was not renewed. After the episodes aired,many performers found themselves typecast because of their definingroles in the show. (Star Trek: The Next Generation actor Michael Dornstated in 1991, however: \"If what happened to the first cast iscalled being typecast, then I want to be typecast. Of course, theydidn\'t get the jobs after Trek. But they are making their sixthmovie. Name me someone else in television who has made six movies!\"

Thethree main characters were Kirk, Spock, and McCoy, with writers oftenplaying the different personalities off each other: Kirk waspassionate and often aggressive, but with a sly sense of humor; Spockwas coolly logical; and McCoy was sardonic, emotional, and illogical,but always compassionate. In many stories the three clashed, withKirk forced to make a tough decision while Spock advocated thelogical but sometimes callous path and McCoy (or \"Bones,\"as Kirk nicknamed him) insisted on doing whatever would cause theleast harm. McCoy and Spock had a sparring relationship that maskedtheir true affection and respect for each other, and their constantarguments became popular with viewers. The show so emphasizeddialogue that writer and director Nicholas Meyer (involved with theStar Trek films) called it a radio drama, showing an episode to afilm class without video to prove that the plot was stillcomprehensible.

TheSpock character was at first rejected by network executives, who wereapprehensive that his vaguely \"Satanic\" appearance (withpointed ears and eyebrows) might prove upsetting to some viewers, and(according to Leonard Nimoy) they repeatedly urged Roddenberry to\"drop the Martian\". Roddenberry was also dismayed todiscover that NBC\'s publicity department deliberately airbrushed outSpock\'s pointed ears and eyebrows from early publicity stills sent tonetwork affiliates, because they feared that his \"demonic\"appearance might offend potential buyers in the religiouslyconservative southern states. Spock, however, went on to become oneof the most popular characters on the show, as did McCoy\'simpassioned country-doctor personality. Spock, in fact, became a sexsymbol of sorts—something no one connected with the show hadexpected. Leonard Nimoy noted that the question of Spock\'sextraordinary sex appeal emerged \"almost any time I talked tosomeone in the press…I never give it a thought…to try to dealwith the question of Mr. Spock as a sex symbol is silly.\"

Characters\'cameo appearances in later series:

Thesequel to the original series, Star Trek: The Next Generation, whichpremiered in 1987, was set about 100 years after the events of TOS.As that show and its spin-offs progressed, several TOS actors madeappearances reprising their original characters:

Leonard\"Bones\" McCoy, now a 137-year-old admiral, inspects theEnterprise-D during its first mission in \"Encounter atFarpoint\", briefly meeting the android officer Lt. Cdr. Data.

Scotty,now chronologically 147 years old, but still only physically 72 yearsold after spending 75 years trapped in a transporter buffer, isrescued by the Enterprise-D crew and resumes his life in \"Relics\".Working along with Chief Engineer Geordi La Forge, Scotty uses somecreative engineering to save the Enterprise. A grateful CaptainPicard lends him a shuttlecraft indefinitely.

Spock,now a Vulcan ambassador, goes underground in the Romulan Empire inhopes of fostering peaceful coexistence with the Federation andreunification with Vulcan society (\"Unification, Parts I andII\"). He also appears in the 2009 reboot film where his sciencevessel originated from the 24th century–era of TNG. He ends upstranded in the 23rd century of the film series, where he settles onnew Vulcan; in the sequel film Star Trek Into Darkness, he iscontacted by his younger self-regarding the villainous Khan NoonienSingh.

Sarek,Spock\'s father, continues to be an ambassador for the next centuryuntil his final mission during which he evidences signs of BendiiSyndrome. He later dies suffering from this affliction, but notbefore giving Captain Picard key information for locating his missingson (\"Unification\").

JamesKirk disappears in 2293 during the maiden voyage of the Enterprise-Bas seen in the film Star Trek: Generations. However, 78 years laterKirk is recovered from The Nexus, an alternative plane of existence,by Enterprise-D Captain Jean-Luc Picard in the same film. Kirk\'s timein the 24th century is short however; he is killed while helping todefeat Dr. Tolian Soran.

Kang,Koloth, and Kor, the three Klingons featured in \"Day of theDove\" (Kang), \"The Trouble with Tribbles\" (Koloth) and\"Errand of Mercy\" (Kor), continue to serve the Empire wellinto the 24th century. They appear in the Star Trek: Deep Space Nineepisode \"Blood Oath\" in which Kang and Koloth are killed.Kor later appears in two more episodes: \"The Sword of Kahless\"and finally in \"Once More Unto the Breach\" where hehonorably dies in battle, fighting in the Dominion War. A youngerversion of Kang, from the era of Star Trek VI: The UndiscoveredCountry, later appears in the Star Trek: Voyager episode \"Flashback\".

HikaruSulu, promoted to captain of the USS Excelsior in Star Trek VI: TheUndiscovered Country, reprises his role from that performance in theStar Trek: Voyager episode \"Flashback\". Janice Rand alsoappears in that same episode.

ArneDarvin, the Klingon disguised as a human in \"The Trouble withTribbles\", appears in \"Trials and Tribble-ations\" withthe intent to return to Deep Space Station K7 in 2267 and assassinateKirk, whom Darvin blamed for his disgrace within the Klingon Empire.

Besidesthe above examples, there have been numerous non-canon novels andcomic books published over the years in which The Original Series eracrew are depicted in the The Next Generation era, either throughtime-travel or other means. In addition, many actors who appeared onThe Original Series later made guest appearances as differentcharacters in later series, most notably Majel Barrett, who not onlyprovided the voice for most Starfleet computers in episodes of everyspin-off series (including a single appearance on Star Trek:Enterprise, where the computers normally did not speak at all), butalso had the recurring role of Lwaxana Troi in The Next Generationand Deep Space Nine. Diana Muldaur, a guest star in the episodes\"Return to Tomorrow\" and \"Is There in Truth NoBeauty?\" of the original Star Trek series, played series regularDr. Katherine Pulaski in the second season of Star Trek: The NextGeneration.

Notableguest appearances:

Guestroles on the series have featured actors such as:

GaryLockwood in \"Where No Man Has Gone Before\"

SallyKellerman in \"Where No Man Has Gone Before\"

DianaMuldaur in \"Return to Tomorrow\" and \"Is There in TruthNo Beauty\"

RicardoMontalbán as Khan Noonien Singh in \"Space Seed\". He laterreprised the role in the film Star Trek II: The Wrath of Khan

MichaelAnsara as Klingon commander Kang in \"Day of the Dove\". Helater reprised the role in the Deep Space Nine episode \"BloodOath\" and the Voyager episode \"Flashback\"

WilliamMarshall in \"The Ultimate Computer\"

JulieNewmar in \"Friday\'s Child\"

KimDarby and Michael J. Pollard in \"Miri\"

TeriGarr and Robert Lansing in \"Assignment: Earth\"

WilliamWindom in \"The Doomsday Machine\"

JohnColicos as the Klingon Commander Kor in \"Errand of Mercy\".30 years later, Colicos would reprise the role in three episodes ofDeep Space Nine.

RobertWalker, Jr. in \"Charlie X\"

LeeMeriwether in \"That Which Survives\"

RogerC. Carmel in \"Mudd\'s Women\" and \"I, Mudd\"

FranceNuyen in \"Elaan of Troyius\"

MarkLenard as the Romulan commander in \"Balance of Terror\" andas Spock\'s father Sarek in \"Journey to Babel\". He playedthe part of the Klingon Commander in Star Trek: The Motion Picture,making him the only actor to play members of three major non-humanraces. He later reprised the role of Sarek in the films Star TrekIII: The Search for Spock, Star Trek IV: The Voyage Home and StarTrek VI: The Undiscovered Country, as well as the TNG episodes\"Sarek\" and \"Unification, Part 1\"

JaneWyatt as Spock\'s mother Amanda Grayson in \"Journey to Babel\".She later reprised the role in the film Star Trek IV: The Voyage Home

GlennCorbett and Elinor Donahue in \"Metamorphosis\"

ElishaCook, Jr. in \"Court Martial\"

NancyKovack in \"A Private Little War\"

VicTayback in \"A Piece of the Action\"

JeffCorey in \"The Cloud Minders\"

BarbaraBouchet in \"By Any Other Name\"

MichaelForest in \"Who Mourns for Adonais?\"

CharlesNapier in \"The Way to Eden\"

FrankGorshin and Lou Antonio in \"Let That Be Your Last Battlefield\"

TedCassidy in \"What Are Little Girls Made Of?\"

MarietteHartley in \"All Our Yesterdays\"

JoanCollins in \"The City on the Edge of Forever\"

CeliaLovsky in \"Amok Time\"

DavidSoul in \"The Apple\"

JamesGregory in \"Dagger of the Mind\"

BarbaraAnderson in \"The Conscience of the King\"

JamesDaly in \"Requiem for Methuselah\"

JillIreland in \"This Side of Paradise\"

MelvinBelli in \"And the Children Shall Lead\"

KeyeLuke and Yvonne Craig in \"Whom Gods Destroy\"

MichaelDunn in \"Plato\'s Stepchildren\"

ClintHoward in \"The Corbomite Maneuver\"

BarbaraLuna in \"Mirror, Mirror\"

DavidOpatoshu in \"A Taste of Armageddon\"

BarbaraBabcock in \"A Taste of Armageddon\" and \"Plato\'sStepchildren\"

MorganWoodward in \"Dagger of the Mind\" and \"The Omega Glory\"

ArnoldMoss as mysterious actor Anton Karidian, alter-ego of the tyrannicalGov. Kodos of Tarsus IV in \"The Conscience of the King\".

MariannaHill in \"Dagger of the Mind\".

JoanneLinville in \"The Enterprise Incident\".

Episodes:

Inits writing, Star Trek is notable as one of the earliestscience-fiction TV series to use the services of leading contemporaryscience fiction writers, such as Robert Bloch, Norman Spinrad, HarlanEllison, and Theodore Sturgeon, as well as established televisionwriters. Series script editor Dorothy C. Fontana (originallyRoddenberry\'s secretary) played a key role in the success of StarTrek—she edited most of the series\' scripts and wrote severalepisodes. Her credits read D.C. Fontana at the suggestion of GeneRoddenberry, who felt a female science fiction writer might not betaken seriously in the majority-male field.

Roddenberryoften utilized the setting of a space vessel set many years in thefuture to comment on social issues of the 1960s United States,including sexism, racism, nationalism, and global war. In November1968, just a few months after the first televised interracial touch,the episode \"Plato\'s Stepchildren\" went incorrectly down inhistory as the first American television show to feature a scriptedinterracial kiss between characters (Capt. Kirk and Lt. Uhura),although the kiss was only mimed (obscured by the back of acharacter\'s head) and depicted as involuntary. \"Let That Be YourLast Battlefield\" presented a direct allegory about theirrationality and futility of racism. Anti-war themes appear inepisodes such as \"The Doomsday Machine\", depicting aplanet-destroying weapon as an analogy to nuclear weapons deployedunder the principle of mutually assured destruction, and \"ATaste of Armageddon\" about a society which has \"civilized\"war to the point that they no longer see it as something to avoid.

Episodessuch as \"The Apple\", \"Who Mourns for Adonais?\",\"The Mark of Gideon\", and \"The Return of the Archons\"display subtle anti-religious (owing mainly to Roddenberry\'s ownsecular humanism) and anti-establishment themes. \"Bread andCircuses\" and \"The Omega Glory\" have themes that aremore pro-Christian or patriotic.

However,the show experienced network and/or sponsor interference, up to andincluding wholesale censorship of scripts and film footage. This wasa regular occurrence in the 1960s and Star Trek suffered from itsfair share of tampering. Scripts were routinely vetted and censoredby the staff of NBC\'s Broadcast Standards Department, who copiouslyannotated every script with demands for cuts or changes (e.g. \"Page4: Please delete McCoy\'s expletive, \'Good Lord\'\" or \"Page43: Caution on the embrace; avoid open-mouthed kiss\").

Theseries was noted for its sense of humor, such as Spock and McCoy\'spointed, yet friendly, bickering. Certain episodes, such as \"TheTrouble with Tribbles\", \"I, Mudd\", and \"A Pieceof the Action\", were written and staged as comedies withdramatic elements. However most episodes were presented asaction/adventure dramas, frequently including space battles or fistfights between the ship\'s crew and guest antagonists.

Severalepisodes used the concept of planets developing parallel to Earth,allowing reuse of stock props, costumes, and sets. \"Bread andCircuses\", \"Miri\", and \"The Omega Glory\"depict such worlds, and three other episodes, \"A Piece of theAction\", \"Patterns of Force\", and \"Plato\'sStepchildren\" are based on alien planets that have adoptedperiod Earth cultures (Prohibition-era Chicago, Nazi Germany, andancient Greece, respectively). Two episodes depicting time travel(\"Tomorrow Is Yesterday\" and \"Assignment: Earth\")conveniently place Enterprise in orbit above 1960s Earth; a third(\"The City on the Edge of Forever\") places members of thecrew on 1930s Earth.

“StarTrek Memories”: In 1983, Leonard Nimoy hosted a one-hour special asa promotional tie-in with the film Star Trek III: The Search forSpock, in which he recounted his memories of working on the originalseries and explained the origins of things such as the Vulcan nervepinch and the Vulcan salute.

Music:

THEMETUNE:

Theshow\'s theme tune, immediately recognizable by many, was written byAlexander Courage, and has been featured in several Star Trekspin-off episodes and motion pictures. Gene Roddenberry subsequentlywrote a set of accompanying lyrics, even though the lyrics were neverused in the series, nor did Roddenberry ever intend them to be; thisallowed him to claim co-composer credit and hence 50% of the theme\'sperformance royalties. Courage considered Roddenberry\'s actions,while entirely legal, to be unethical. Series producer Robert Justmannoted in the book Inside Star Trek The Real Story, that work on thefilm Doctor Dolittle kept Courage from working on more than twoepisodes of the first season. However, Justman also believed thatCourage lost enthusiasm for the series because of the \"royalty\"issue. Courage did not score any episodes of the second season;however he did conduct a recording session for about 30 minutes of\"library cues\" for the second season, on June 16, 1967.Courage returned to score two episodes of the third season.

Laterepisodes used stock recordings from Courage\'s earlier work. Jazztrumpeter Maynard Ferguson recorded a jazz fusion version of the tunewith his big band during the late 1970s, and Nichelle Nicholsperformed the song live complete with lyrics.

Dramaticunderscore:

Forbudgetary reasons, this series made significant use of \"tracked\"music, or music written for other episodes that was reused in laterepisodes. Of the 79 episodes that were broadcast, only 31 hadcomplete or partial original dramatic underscores createdspecifically for them. The remainder of the music in any episode wastracked from other episodes and from cues recorded for the musiclibrary. Which episodes would have new music was mostly the decisionof Robert H. Justman, the Associate Producer during the first twoseasons.

Screencredits for the composers were given based on the amount of musiccomposed for, or composed and reused in, the episode. Some of thesefinal music credits were occasionally incorrect.

Beyondthe short works of \"source\" music (music whose source isseen or acknowledged onscreen) created for specific episodes, eightcomposers were contracted to create original dramatic underscoreduring the series run: Alexander Courage, George Duning, JerryFielding, Gerald Fried, Sol Kaplan, Samuel Matlovsky, JosephMullendore, and Fred Steiner. The composers conducted their ownmusic. Of these composers, Steiner composed the original music forthirteen episodes and it is his instrumental arrangement of AlexanderCourage\'s main theme that is heard over many of the end title creditsof the series.

Thetracked musical underscores were chosen and edited to the episode bythe music editors, principal of whom were Robert Raff (most of SeasonOne), Jim Henrikson (Season One and Two), and Richard Lapham (SeasonThree).

Someof the original recordings of the music were released in the UnitedStates commercially on the GNP Crescendo Record Co. label. Music fora number of the episodes was re-recorded by Fred Steiner and theRoyal Philharmonic Orchestra for the Varèse Sarabande label; and byTony Bremner with the Royal Philharmonic for the Label X label.Finally in December 2012, the complete original recordings werereleased by La-La Land Records as a 15-CD box set, with liner notesby Jeff Bond.

Episodeswith original music: Listed in production order. Episodes that wereonly partially scored are in italics.

Season1:

\"TheCage\" (Alexander Courage)

\"WhereNo Man Has Gone Before\" (Alexander Courage)

\"TheCorbomite Maneuver\" (Fred Steiner)

\"Mudd\'sWomen\" (Fred Steiner)

\"TheEnemy Within\" (Sol Kaplan)

\"TheMan Trap\" (Alexander Courage)

\"TheNaked Time\" (Alexander Courage)

\"CharlieX\" (Fred Steiner)

\"Balanceof Terror\" (Fred Steiner)

\"WhatAre Little Girls Made Of?\" (Fred Steiner)

\"TheConscience of the King\" (Joseph Mullendore)

\"ShoreLeave\" (Gerald Fried)

\"TheCity on the Edge of Forever\" (Fred Steiner)

Season2:

\"Catspaw\"(Gerald Fried)

\"Metamorphosis\"(George Duning)

\"Friday\'sChild\" (Gerald Fried)

\"WhoMourns for Adonais?\" (Fred Steiner)

\"AmokTime\" (Gerald Fried)

\"TheDoomsday Machine\" (Sol Kaplan)

\"Mirror,Mirror\" (Fred Steiner)

\"I,Mudd\" (Samuel Matlovsky)

\"TheTrouble with Tribbles\" (Jerry Fielding)

\"ByAny Other Name\" (Fred Steiner)

\"Patternsof Force\" (George Duning)

\"TheOmega Glory\" (Fred Steiner)

\"Returnto Tomorrow\" (George Duning)

Season3:

\"Spectreof the Gun\" (Jerry Fielding)

\"Elaanof Troyius\" (Fred Steiner)

\"TheParadise Syndrome\" (Gerald Fried)

\"TheEnterprise Incident\" (Alexander Courage)

\"Andthe Children Shall Lead\" (George Duning)

\"Spock\'sBrain\" (Fred Steiner)

\"IsThere in Truth No Beauty?\" (George Duning)

\"TheEmpath\" (George Duning)

\"Plato\'sStepchildren\" (Alexander Courage)

Note:Although \"The Way To Eden\" had no original score, theepisode had special musical material by Arthur Heinemann (theepisode\'s writer), guest star Charles Napier and Craig Robertson.\"Requiem for Methuselah\" contains a Johannes Brahmsinterpretation by Ivan Ditmars.

Awards:

Althoughthe series never won any Emmys, Star Trek was nominated for thefollowing Emmy Awards:

OutstandingDramatic Series (Gene Roddenberry and Gene L. Coon), 1967

OutstandingDramatic Series (Gene Roddenberry), 1968

OutstandingSupporting Actor (Leonard Nimoy as Mr. Spock), 1967, 1968, 1969

IndividualAchievement in Art Direction and Allied Crafts (Jim Rugg), 1967

IndividualAchievement in Cinematography (Darrell Anderson, Linwood G. Dunn, andJoseph Westheimer), 1967

IndividualAchievement in Film and Sound Editing (Douglas Grindstaff), 1967

OutstandingAchievement in Film Editing (Donald R. Rode), 1968

SpecialClassification of Individual Achievement for Photographic Effects(The Westheimer Company), 1968

OutstandingAchievement in Art Direction and Scenic Design (John Dwyer and WalterM. Jeffries), 1969

OutstandingAchievement in Film Editing (Donald R. Rode), 1969

SpecialClassification Achievements for Photographic Effects (The Howard A.Anderson Company, The Westheimer Company, Van der Veer Photo Effects,Cinema Research), 1969.

Eightof its episodes were nominated for one of science-fiction\'s topawards, the Hugo Award, in the category \"Best DramaticPresentation\". In 1967, the nominated episodes were \"TheNaked Time\", \"The Corbomite Maneuver\", and \"TheMenagerie\". In 1968, all nominees were Star Trek episodes: \"AmokTime\", \"Mirror, Mirror\", \"The Doomsday Machine\",\"The Trouble with Tribbles\", and \"The City on the Edgeof Forever\". Star Trek won both years for the episodes \"TheMenagerie\" and \"The City on the Edge of Forever\",respectively. In 1968, Star Trek (the T.V. show) won a special HugoAward for Dramatic Presentation. No episode was named. This was theshow\'s 3rd Hugo Award.

In1967, Star Trek was also one of the first television programs toreceive an NAACP Image Award. In 1968, Star Trek\'s most criticallyacclaimed episode, \"The City on the Edge of Forever,\"written by Harlan Ellison, won the prestigious Writers Guild ofAmerica Award for Best Original Teleplay, although this was forEllison\'s original draft script, and not for the screenplay of theepisode as it aired.

In1997, \"The City on the Edge of Forever\" was ranked #92 onTV Guide\'s 100 Greatest Episodes of All Time. In 2004 and 2007, TVGuide ranked Star Trek as the greatest cult show ever. In 2013, TVGuide ranked Star Trek #12 on their list of the 60 Greatest Shows ofAll Time.

Distribution:

Homemedia:

Episodesof the Original Series were among the first television series to bereleased on the VHS and laserdisc formats in North America in the1980s, with all episodes eventually being released on both formats.With the advent of DVD in the mid-1990s, single DVDs featuring twoepisodes each in production order were released. In the early 2000s,Paramount Home Video reissued the series to DVD in a series of threedeluxe season boxes with added featurettes and documentaries. InFebruary 2009 Paramount announced that they would release theOriginal Series on Blu-ray. Season one, two, and three were releasedon August 28, September 22, and December 15, respectively. TheBlu-ray releases let the user choose between \"Enhanced Effects\"or \"Original Effects\" via technique called multi-angle.

All79 episodes of the series have been digitally remastered by CBS HomeEntertainment (distributed by Paramount) and have since been releasedon DVD.

Blu-ray:

Paramountreleased season one of The Original Series on Blu-ray on April 29,2009. The Blu-ray release contains both Original and Remasteredepisodes by seamless branching. Online distribution:

CBSInteractive is presenting all 3 seasons of the series via the tv.comiPhone app. The full-length episodes, without the new CGI butdigitally processed to remove the original celluloid artifacts, areavailable to users in the USA at no charge but with embedded ads.Short clips from the shows are also viewable at their web site. Thecompany has recently presented all 3 seasons of the series via theirCBS All Access premium streaming service. It has all full-lengthepisodes, without the new CGI, like the tv.com app, and is availableto users in the USA with subscription without ads interruptions.

InJanuary 2007, the first season of Star Trek: The Original Seriesbecame available for download from Apple\'s iTunes Store. Althoughconsumer reviews indicate that some of the episodes on iTunes are thenewly \"remastered\" editions, iTunes editors had notindicated such, and if so, which are which. All first season episodesthat had been remastered and aired were available from iTunes, except\"Where No Man Has Gone Before\", which remains in itsoriginal form. On March 20, 2007, the first season was again added tothe iTunes Store, with separate downloads for the original andremastered versions of the show, though according to the customerreviews, the original version contains minor revisions such asspecial effect enhancements.

Netflixbegan online streaming of five of the six Star Trek television serieson July 1, 2011; Deep Space Nine followed on October 1, 2011.

Merchandising:

StarTrek: The Original Series has inspired many commercial products,including toys, comic books, and many other materials. Actionfigures:

Inthe early 1970s the Mego Corporation acquired the license to produceStar Trek action figures, which the company successfully marketedfrom 1974–1976. During this period, the company produced a line of8\" figures featuring Captain Kirk, Mr. Spock, Leonard McCoy, Mr.Scott, Lt. Uhura, \"Aliens\" (a Klingon, a Neptunian, theKeeper, a Gorn, a Cheron, a Romulan, a Talos, an Andorian, and aMugato), and numerous playsets. (Mego also produced a \"life-size\"toy tricorder.)

Inthe mid-2000s, Paul \"Dr. Mego\" Clarke and Joe Sena foundedEMCE Toys (pronounced \"MC\") to bring Mego toys back to themarketplace. (Mego went out of business in 1983.) Working withDiamond Select Toys, current holders of the Star Trek license, thesefigures have been selling in comics shops. New characters arecurrentlywhen? being produced that Mego did not originally make, suchas Lt. Sulu, Ensign Chekov, and \"Space Seed\" villain KhanNoonien Singh. The Gorn that Mego produced had a brown Lizard head(identical to the Marvel Comics villain) on a brown body wearing aKlingon outfit. Star Trek fans had frequently wished that Mego hadmade a \"TV-accurate\" Gorn; EMCE Toys and DST produced a newgreen Gorn based on the TV episode \"Arena\". EMCE Toys hiredoriginal Mego packaging artist Harold Schull to illustrate newartwork for Sulu, Chekov, Khan, and the Gorn. EMCE Toys is continuingthe Mego revival with the production of more Star Trek figures,including Captain Pike and the Salt Vampire.

Comicbooks:

Thefirst Star Trek comics were published by Gold Key Comics between 1967and 1978. These comics were highly stylized and diverged wildly fromthe TV series continuity. Most storylines used in the Gold Key seriesfeatured original characters and concepts, although later issues didinclude sequels to the original series episodes \"The City on theEdge of Forever\", \"Metamorphosis\" and \"I, Mudd\".Writers included George Kashdan, Arnold Drake and Len Wein.Originally they were illustrated by Alberto Giolitti, an Italianartist who had never seen the series and only had publicity photos touse as references. Since Giolitti didn\'t have a publicity photo ofJames Doohan, early issues of the series had Mr. Scott drawndifferently. The original issues, most of which featured photographiccovers showing images from the series, are highly collectable. Theyare fondly remembered by fans, and a series of reprints (\"TheKey Collection\") of these original titles began to appear in2004, published by Checker. The Gold Key series had a run of 61issues. Gold Key lost the Star Trek license to Marvel Comics in 1979(although Marvel\'s license from Paramount prohibited them fromutilizing concepts introduced in the original series).

From1969 to 1973, a series of weekly Star Trek comic strips ran in theBritish comics magazine eventually known as TV Century 21. A total of258 issues were produced, as well as various annuals and specials.All were original stories. Two more annuals, under the Mighty TVComic banner, also produced original Star Trek materials. Inaddition, the weekly TV Comic reprinted serialized versions of theU.S. Gold Key comics.

In1977–1978, before home video was widely available, MandalaProductions and Bantam Books published FotoNovels of TOS thatincluded direct adaptations of actual colour television episodeframes (with word balloons) in comics format.

FromFebruary 1984 through February 1996, DC Comics held the license topublish comic books based upon the Star Trek franchise, includingStar Trek: The Original Series. The main DC Comics Star Trek titlewas published in two series, comprising 136 issues, 9 annuals, and anumber of special issues, plus several mini-series that linked TOSand the subsequent series Star Trek: The Next Generation (TNG).

MarvelComics again obtained the Star Trek license in 1996. Marvel (underthe \"Marvel/Paramount comics\" imprint) published variousone-shots and the quarterly Star Trek Unlimited series, which coveredTOS as well as TNG. They also introduced the new series Star Trek:Early Voyages, which dealt with Christopher Pike\'s adventures ascaptain of the Enterprise (as depicted in the rejected TOS pilot \"TheCage\"). Fan acceptance of these comics got off to a shaky startwhen Marvel\'s inaugural publication of its new Star Trek line turnedout to be a crossover between TOS and Marvel\'s popular superheroteam, the X-Men. However, the series turned out to be relativelypopular, registering strong sales.

Beginningin 2006, Tokyopop published two projects based upon the originalseries. The new comic anthologies, produced by Joshua Ortega, werereleased annually in September 2006 (Shinsei Shinsei) and 2007 (Kakanni Shinkou). Five artists and writer teams presented five newstories, per volume, based on the original series.

Culturalinfluence:

Roddenberrywas \"committed to a liberalism that believed in prosperity,technological progress, and universal humanity\" and at odds withthe New Left, which \"saw the evils of society as the consequencenot merely of capitalism but of technology and reason itself.\"

Parodies:

TheOriginal Series has been parodied many times in other televisionseries. Saturday Night Live produced two famous sketches parodyingThe Original Series, \"The Last Voyage of the StarshipEnterprise\" in 1976 and William Shatner\'s own \"Get a life\"sketch in 1986 (which parodied the show\'s \"trekkie\"followers). \"The Last Voyage of the Starship Enterprise\" isa twelve-minute sketch, written by Michael O\'Donoghue. It wasdescribed by TrekMovie.com as \"one of the best Star Trek parodysketches of all time\". TVSquad ranked Shatner\'s \"Get alife\" sketch alongside \"The Last Voyage...\" as one ofthe most famous parodies of the show.

TheCanadian comedy duo Wayne and Shuster parodied Start Trek as StarSchtick in the late 1970s. An entire Finnish parody series Star Wreckwas produced starting in 1992, culminating with Star Wreck: In thePirkinning in 2005, all available as legal downloads on the web.

Theseries has also been parodied on The Simpsons, Family Guy and notablyin the Futurama episode \"Where No Fan Has Gone Before\",which was described by Wired magazine as a \"touchstone\" forfans. The 1999 film Galaxy Quest portrays the lives of a once-populartelevision space-drama crew who are kidnapped by real aliens who havemistaken the fictional series for reality. The main characters areparodies of Star Trek characters, and many of the plot elements referto or parody popular 1960s TV-series customs. John Scalzi\'s novelRedshirts, winner of the 2013 Hugo Award for Best Novel, uses thetheme of red-shirted Star Fleet officers as cannon fodder.

Fanproductions:

StarTrek has inspired many fans to produce stories for free Internetdistribution. Many of these are set in the time of The OriginalSeries, including Star Trek: Phase II which was nominated for a HugoAward and received support from actors and writers who were involvedwith The Original Series.