Fifty years after it first aired on TV, DAVID ADAMS takes a brief look at the phenomena that is Star Trek…
Having marked its 50th anniversary this year, Star Trek, the original TV series filmed in the 1960s, went on to spawn a host of spin-off TV shows and movies. Here’s some things you may not know about Star Trek…
• The TV series was created by Gene Roddenberry and was apparently originally publicly marketed as a Western in outer space, describing it as a “Wagon Train to the stars”, a reference to a popular TV series that aired in the US between 1957 and 1962.
A scene from the original Star Trek TV series.
• Following two pilots (the first was rejected), the first episode of the TV series, called ‘The Man Trap’ aired on 8th September, 1966. The series, which centred on the exploits of the crew of the starship USS Enterprise, starred William Shatner as Captain James T Kirk (the T stands for Tiberius), Leonard Nimoy as Vulcan Mr Spock and DeForest Kelley as Leonard McKoy.
• The series only ran for three seasons and 79 episodes before NBC cancelled it. Reruns of the series began in 1969 and greatly increased its popularity both in the US and abroad.
• The famous line of the TV series, “to boldly go where no man has gone before” was apparently taken from a booklet on space produced by the White House after the Sputnik flight of 1957.
• After the initial series ended, in 1973 many of the original cast – including Shatner, Nimoy and Kelley – were involved in providing voices for their characters in an animated series which ran for two seasons.
• Star Trek: The Motion Picture opened in North America in December, 1979, with mixed reviews. Nine more films followed before the film series was rebooted with Star Trek in 2009 (it’s since been followed by Star Trek: Into Darkness and Star Trek: Beyond).
• There have been four further Star Trek-related television series including The Next Generation, Deep Space Nine, and Voyager – all of which are set after the original series – and the prequel series Enterprise. A new Star Trek TV series, Star Trek: Discovery, is expected to premiere next year.
• Regular stars like Patrick Stewart (of Captain Jean-Luc Picard fame) aside, among the many other high profile personalities who have made appearances in the TV series and its later spin-offs are everyone from Kelsey Grammar and Joan Collins to Dwayne Johnson, Jason Alexander and theoretical physicist Stephen Hawking.
• The first Star Trek convention was held in January, 1972, in New York City. Several thousand fans attended. Fans are known as “trekkies” or “trekkers”.
• And lastly, despite the fact it’s quoted everywhere, no-one in the original TV series ever said “Beam me up, Scotty!” (although similar phrases were uttered).
