"Star Trek" premieres September 8, 1966 on NBC, launching what would become the most "successful failure" in television history. While the series lasts for only three seasons due to low ratings, it eventually finds new life in syndication, growing into one of the longest-running and highest-grossing media franchises of all time.
The show's creator, Gene Roddenberry, a decorated B-17 World War II and Pan American World Airways pilot, traded the cockpit for a badge with the Los Angeles Police Department—an unlikely springboard to Hollywood. Providing technical advice to the popular crime series "Dragnet," he leveraged his role into a screenwriting career by penning episodes for "Dragnet" and various other shows. In April 1964, Roddenberry submitted a 16-page outline and a $2 check to register a new show idea with the Writers Guild of America West. It was called "Star Trek."
8 Ways the Original ‘Star Trek’ Made History
The cult-classic sci-fi series made an enduring cultural impact way beyond the world of television.
The cult-classic sci-fi series made an enduring cultural impact way beyond the world of television.
Roddenberry pitched the show as a “space western,” describing it as a “‘Wagon Train’ to the Stars”—a reference to a popular 1957 Western series set on the American frontier. "Star Trek" ventured into another frontier: space, the final one. As the show’s iconic opening monologue declares, the series chronicled the voyages of the Starship Enterprise on its mission “to explore strange new worlds, to seek out new life and new civilizations, to boldly go where no man has gone before.”
"Star Trek" also boldly went where no other shows had gone before by assembled one of American television’s first multiracial casts. It also famously aired its first kiss between an African American and a white American—with Nichelle Nichols as Lieutenant Nyota Uhura and William Shatner as Captain James T. Kirk—a milestone for a country grappling with racism and civil rights issues.
How the Original ‘Star Trek’ Addressed the War in Vietnam
In one episode, Klingons were stand-ins for the Soviets.
In one episode, Klingons were stand-ins for the Soviets.
Through suspenseful adventure, richly-drawn characters—along with starships and warp capabilities—"Star Trek" explored some of the most relevant political and social issues of the time. While an avowed science fiction fan, Roddenberry confessed setting "Star Trek" in space was a ruse for escaping the harsh television censorship of the 1960s. “It seemed to me that perhaps if I wanted to talk about sex, religion, politics, make some comments against Vietnam and so on, that if I had similar situations involving these subjects happening on other planets to little green people, indeed it might get by, and it did,” he marveled.
Ratings, however, were lackluster. "Star Trek" never cracked Nielsen’s “Top 20 Programs” during its run on NBC. Relegated to the Friday 10:00 p.m. time slot in its third season, the show was canceled after 79 episodes. Yet, like the iconic Vulcan greeting “live long and prosper,” the series did just that. Through syndication, it spawned an impressive legacy of spin-off shows, feature films and thousands of devoted "Trekkies"—firmly establishing its place in the cultural lexicon.
