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Star Trek is an American science fiction television series created by Gene Roddenberry that follows the adventures of the starship USS Enterprise (NCC-1701) and its crew. It acquired the retronym of Star Trek: The Original Series (TOS) to distinguish the show within the media franchise that it began.
- 3
- 79 (list of episodes)
- September 8, 1966 –, June 3, 1969
- NBC
Grace Lee Whitney as Janice Rand, Captain's yeoman. John Winston as Kyle, operations officer. Michael Barrier as Vincent DeSalle, navigator and assistant chief engineer. Roger Holloway as Roger Lemli, security officer. Eddie Paskey as Leslie, various positions. David L. Ross as Galloway, various positions. Jim Goodwin as John Farrell, navigator.
ActorCharacterSeasons(tc)Seasons(1)MG [a]Does not appearDoes not appearMDoes not appearDoes not appearGStar Trek: Created by Gene Roddenberry. With Leonard Nimoy, William Shatner, DeForest Kelley, Nichelle Nichols. In the 23rd Century, Captain James T. Kirk and the crew of the U.S.S. Enterprise explore the galaxy and defend the United Federation of Planets.
- (92.9K)
- 2 min
- TV-PG
- 274
Since 1967, hundreds of original novels, short stories, and television and movie adaptations have been published. The first original Star Trek novel was Mission to Horatius by Mack Reynolds, which was published in hardcover by Whitman Books in 1968.: 131
- Overview
- Opening credits
- Main cast
- Production crew
- Episode list
- Behind the scenes
- Related topics
- Media
- External links
(referred to as Star Trek prior to any spin-offs) is the first Star Trek series. The first episode of the show aired on 6 September 1966 on CTV in Canada, followed by a 8 September 1966 airing on NBC in America. The show was created by Gene Roddenberry as a "Wagon Train to the Stars". Star Trek was set in the 23rd century and featured the voyages of the starship USS Enterprise under Captain James T. Kirk.
was later informally dubbed The Original Series, or TOS, after several spin-offs aired. The show lasted three seasons until canceled in 1969. When the show first aired on TV, and until lowering budget issues in its third season resulted in a noticable drop in quality episodes and placed in a 10 pm Friday night death slot by the network, Star Trek regularly performed respectably in its time slot. After it was canceled and went into syndication, however, its popularity exploded. It featured themes such as a Utopian society and racial equality, and the first African-American officer in a recurring role.
"Space: the final frontier. These are the voyages of the starship Enterprise. Its five-year mission: to explore strange new worlds, to seek out new life and new civilizations, to boldly go where no man has gone before."
– William Shatner (opening title narration)
•Main Title Theme (Season 1) file info (composed by Alexander Courage)
•Main Title Theme (Season 2-3) file info (composed by Alexander Courage)
Starring
•William Shatner as Captain Kirk
Also starring
•Leonard Nimoy as Mr. Spock •DeForest Kelley as Dr. McCoy (1967-1969; co-star 1966-1967) In addition, the following regulars were listed in the end credits as co-stars: •James Doohan as Scotty •Nichelle Nichols as Uhura •George Takei as Sulu •Walter Koenig as Chekov (1967-1969) •Majel Barrett-Roddenberry as Christine Chapel •Grace Lee Whitney as Janice Rand
•Gene Roddenberry – Creator, Writer, Producer, Executive Producer
•Gene L. Coon – Writer, Producer
•John Meredyth Lucas – Writer, Producer, Director
•Fred Freiberger – Producer (1968-69)
•Robert H. Justman – Associate Producer (Season 1-2), Co-Producer (Season 3), First Assistant Director (two pilots)
•D.C. Fontana – Writer, Script Consultant (1967-68)
First pilot Season 1
TOS Season 1, 29 episodes:
Season 2
TOS Season 2, 26 episodes:
Season 3
TOS Season 3, 24 episodes:
Concept
was created by Gene Roddenberry, whose interest in science fiction dated back to the 1940s when he came into contact with Astounding Stories. Roddenberry's first produced science fiction story was The Secret Weapon of 117, which aired in 1956 on the Chevron Theatre anthology show. By 1963 Roddenberry was producing his first television series, The Lieutenant, at MGM. In 1963, MGM was of the opinion that "true-to-life" television dramas were becoming less popular and an action-adventure show would be more profitable (this prediction turned out to be right, and led to series such as The Man from U.N.C.L.E). Roddenberry had already been working on a science fiction concept called Star Trek since 1960, and when he told MGM about his ideas, they were willing to take a look at them. As the production of The Lieutenant came to an end, Roddenberry delivered his first Star Trek draft to MGM. The studio was, however, not enthusiastic about the concept, and a series was never produced. Roddenberry tried to sell his "wagon train to the stars" format to several production studios afterward, but to no avail. In 1964, it was rumored that Desilu was interested in buying a new television series. Desilu was a much smaller company than MGM, but Roddenberry took his chances, greatly aided with the help of Desilu Executive Herb Solow. This led to a three-year deal with Desilu in April 1964. The first attempt to sell the Star Trek format to broadcasting network CBS (Desilu had a first proposal deal with the network) failed. CBS chose another science fiction project, Irwin Allen's more family-oriented Lost in Space instead of Roddenberry's more cerebral approach. But in May 1964, NBC's Vice-President of Programming Mort Werner agreed to give Roddenberry the chance to write three story outlines, one of which NBC would select to turn into a pilot. One of the submitted story lines, dated 29 June 1964, was an outline for "The Cage", and this was the story picked up by NBC. Now, the daunting task that Roddenberry and his crew faced was to develop the Star Trek universe from scratch. Roddenberry recruited many people around him to help think up his version of the future. The RAND Corporation's Harvey P. Lynn acted as a scientific consultant, Pato Guzman was hired as art director, with Matt Jefferies as an assisting production designer. This phase of creativity and brainstorming lasted throughout the summer, until in the last week of September 1964 the final draft of the "The Cage" script was delivered to NBC, after which shooting of the pilot was approved.
The first pilot
In early October, preparations for shooting "The Cage" began. A few changes in the production crew were made: Roddenberry hired Morris Chapnick, who had worked with him on The Lieutenant, as his assistant. Pato Guzman left to return to Chile and was replaced by Franz Bachelin. Matt Jefferies finalized the design for the Enterprise and various props and interiors. By November 1964, the sets were ready to be constructed on stages Culver Studios Stage 14, 15, and 16. Roddenberry was not happy with the stages, since they had uneven floors and were not soundproof, as Culver Studios had been established in the silent movie era when soundproofing had not been an issue to consider. Eventually, in 1966, the rest of the series was shot on Paramount stages 9 and 10, which were in better shape. Casting of the characters was not a problem, apart from the lead role of Captain Pike (still known as "Captain April" at this point, later renamed "Captain Winter" before finally choosing "Pike") who Roddenberry convinced Jeffrey Hunter to play. Leonard Nimoy (Spock) had worked with Roddenberry on The Lieutenant. Majel Barrett, also a familiar face from The Lieutenant, got the part of the ship's female first officer, Number One. Veteran character actor John Hoyt, who had worked on many science fiction and fantasy projects before, was chosen to play the role of Doctor Phil Boyce. Young Peter Duryea and Laurel Goodwin were hired as José Tyler and Yeoman J.M. Colt, respectively. The extras were cast from a diversity of ethnic groups, which was significant because integration was not a usual occurrence in 1960s television, and segregation was still a reality in the United States. To produce the pilot episode, Robert H. Justman was hired as assistant director; he had worked on The Outer Limits shortly before. Makeup artist Fred Phillips was brought in as well, whose first job it was to create Spock's ears. Another veteran from The Outer Limits was producer-director Byron Haskin, who joined as associate producer. On 27 November 1964, the first scenes of "The Cage" (or "The Menagerie," as it was briefly known), were shot. Filming was scheduled to be eleven days, however the production went highly over budget and over schedule, resulting in sixteen shooting days and US$164,248 plus expenses. But there were still a lot of visual effects to be made. An eleven-foot filming model of the USS Enterprise, designed by Matt Jefferies, was built by Richard Datin, Mel Keys, and Vern Sion in Volmer Jensen's model shop, and was delivered to the Howard Anderson Company on 29 December 1964. In February 1965, the final version of "The Cage" was delivered at NBC and screened in New York City. NBC officials liked the first pilot. Desilu's Herb Solow says that NBC was surprised by how realistic it looked, and that it was "the most fantastic thing we've ever seen." The reason the pilot was rejected was because it was believed that it would attract only a small audience, and they wanted more action and adventure. They also had problems with the "satanic" Spock and the female first officer (Number One). However, NBC was convinced that Star Trek could be made into a television series, and that NBC itself had been at fault for choosing the "The Cage" script from the original three stories pitched. Also, after spending US$630,000 on "The Cage" (the most expensive TV pilot at the time), they didn't want to have their money wasted. NBC then made the unprecedented move to order a second pilot.
The second pilot
For the second pilot, NBC requested three story outlines again. These were "Where No Man Has Gone Before" by Samuel A. Peeples, and "Mudd's Women" and "The Omega Glory" by Roddenberry. Although it was the most expensive of the three, NBC chose "Where No Man Has Gone Before", as it had the most action and most outer space spectacle. However, the other two premises were also made into episodes of the series later. Filming the second pilot began in July 1965, and took nine days to complete. The entire cast of "The Cage" was replaced except Spock. Jeffrey Hunter chose not to reprise his role as Captain Pike, mostly by the advice of his wife, who felt that "science fiction ruins her husband's career". Roddenberry wanted both Lloyd Bridges and Jack Lord for the role of the new captain, however both declined. Finally William Shatner, who had previous science fiction experience acting in episodes of The Twilight Zone and The Outer Limits, was chosen. The new captain was named James R. Kirk (later renamed James T. Kirk). For the role of the chief medical officer, Roddenberry chose veteran actor Paul Fix. Canadian actor James Doohan got the role of chief engineer Scott, and young Japanese-American George Takei was featured as ship's physicist Sulu. The latter two reprised their roles in the upcoming series, though Sulu was a helmsman in the series. Other actors considered for being regulars were Lloyd Haynes as communications officer Alden and Andrea Dromm as Yeoman Smith, but neither of them were re-hired after the pilot. Many of the production staff were replaced. Robert Dawn served as head make-up artist, however Fred Phillips returned to the position in the series itself. Academy Award winner cinematographer Ernest Haller came out of semi-retirement to work as the director of photography. Associate producer Byron Haskin was replaced by Robert H. Justman, who now shared double duties as producer and assistant director. The Enterprise model was updated for the second pilot, and many new outer space effects shots were made, most of which were reused in the series itself. The sets were also updated a bit, most notably the main bridge and the transporter room. Most of the uniforms, props, and sets were reused from "The Cage", however some new props (including the never-seen-again phaser rifle) and a brand new matte painting (the planet Delta Vega) were made specially for this episode. "Where No Man Has Gone Before" was accepted by NBC and the first season of a regular series was ordered for broadcasting in the 1966-67 television season. History was made.
•TOS directors
•TOS performers
•TOS recurring characters
•TOS writers
•Character crossover appearances
•Composers
•Star Trek: The Original Series novels
•Star Trek: The Original Series comics (DC)
•Star Trek: The Original Series comics (IDW)
•Star Trek: The Original Series soundtracks
•Star Trek: The Original Series on VHS
•Star Trek: The Original Series on Betamax
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