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Star Trek: The Original Series

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Star Trek: The Original Series
File:TOSopeninglogo.JPG
Created byGene Roddenberry
StarringWilliam Shatner
Leonard Nimoy
DeForest Kelley
Opening themeStar Trek: The Original Series (theme song)
Ending themeStar Trek: The Original Series (theme song)
Country of origin United States
No. of episodes79
Production
Running time60 min. per episode
Original release
NetworkNBC
ReleaseSeptember 8, 1966 –
June 3, 1969

Star Trek is a science fiction television series created by Gene Roddenberry which aired from September 8, 1966 through June 3, 1969, with a total of 79 episodes aired and 80 episodes produced. Although cancelled after its relatively short run, the program was placed in syndication, where it spawned a strong fan following. The success of the program was followed by five additional television series and ten theatrical movies. The Guinness Book of Records lists it as having the largest number of spinoffs. Though the show was released as and is offically titled simply Star Trek, it has acquired the retronym Star Trek: The Original Series (sometimes shortened to ST:TOS or TOS), in order to distinguish this first series from the sequels which followed (all of which comprise the Star Trek universe or franchise).

Set in the 23rd century, Star Trek follows the adventures of the starship Enterprise and her crew, led by William Shatner as Captain James T. Kirk and Leonard Nimoy portraying his science officer, Mr. Spock. Shatner's voiceover at the beginning of each episode—with the exceptions of both pilots, "The Cage" and "Where No Man Has Gone Before"—stated the ship's purpose:

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.

When Star Trek debuted on NBC in 1966, it was not successful; ratings were low and advertising revenue was lackluster. During the show's second season, the threat of cancellation loomed. The show's devoted fanbase conducted an unprecedented letter-writing campaign, petitioning NBC to keep the show on the air. The fans succeeded in gaining a third season, however NBC moved the show to 10 P.M. on Fridays (the 'Death Slot', so named because relatively few people watch television at that time), and ratings remained poor. The series was cancelled at the end of its third season. The show became successfully popular in reruns, and thus the Star Trek saga was born.

Awards

Although it never won a single Emmy, Star Trek was nominated for the following awards: Outstanding Dramatic Series (Gene Roddenberry and Gene L. Coon), 1967; Outstanding Dramatic Series (Gene Roddenberry), 1968; Outstanding Supporting Actor (Leonard Nimoy as Mr. Spock), 1967, 1968, 1969; Outstanding Guest Appearance (Frank Gorshin as Commissioner Bele), 1969; Individual Achievement in Art Direction and Allied Crafts (Jim Rugg), 1967; Individual Achievement in Cinematography (Darrell Anderson, Linwood G. Dunn, and Joseph Westheimer), 1967; Individual Achievement in Film and Sound Editing (Douglas Grindstaff), 1967; Outstanding Achievement in Film Editing (Donald R. Rode), 1968; Special Classification of Individual Achievement for Photographic Effects (The Westheimer Company), 1968; Outstanding Achievement in Art Direction and Scenic Design (John Dwyer and Walter M. Jeffries), 1969; Outstanding Achievement in Film Editing (Donald R. Rode), 1969; Special Classification Achievements for Photographic Effects (The Howard A. Anderson Company, The Westheimer Company, Van der Veer Photo Effects, Cinema Research), 1969.

Eight of its episodes were nominated for one of science-fictions top awards, the Hugo Award, in the category "Best Dramatic Presentation". In 1967 the nominated episodes were "The Naked Time", "The Corbomite Maneuver", and "The Menagerie". In 1968 all nominees were Star Trek episodes: "Amok Time", "Mirror, Mirror", "The Doomsday Machine", "The Trouble with Tribbles", and "City on the Edge of Forever". Unlike the Emmys, Star Trek won both years for the episodes "The Menagerie" and "City on the Edge of Forever".

In 1968 Star Trek's most critically acclaimed episode, "City on the Edge of Forever" won the prestigous Writers Guild of America Award for Best Original Teleplay (written by Harlan Ellison).

Broadcast history

Star Trek originally aired on the NBC television network. All times are Eastern Standard Time.

Creation

File:STInBeauty.jpg
The original starship Enterprise

A longtime fan of science fiction, in 1960 Roddenberry put together a proposal for Star Trek, a science fiction television series set on board a large interstellar space ship dedicated to exploring the galaxy. Some influences Roddenberry noted were A. E. van Vogt's tales of the Space Beagle, Eric Frank Russell's Marathon stories, and the 1956 science fiction film Forbidden Planet. Parallels have also been drawn with the 1954 tv scifi series Rocky Jones, Space Ranger, a much less sophisticated space opera that nevertheless included many of the elements (organization, crew relationships, missions, elements of bridge layout, and even some technology) that made up Star Trek.[1] Roddenbery also drew heavily from the Horatio Hornblower novels depicting a daring sea captain exercising broad discretionary authority on distant missions of noble purpose; his Kirk character was more or less Hornblower in space.[2] Roddenberry had extensive experience in writing westerns that were particularly popular television fare at the time, and pitched the show to the network as a "Wagon Train to the stars."[1]

In 1964, Roddenberry secured a three-year development deal with leading independent TV production company Desilu (founded by comedy stars Lucille Ball and Desi Arnaz). In Roddenberry's original concept, the protagonist was named Captain Robert April of the "S.S. Yorktown". Eventually, this character became Captain Christopher Pike. The first pilot episode, "The Cage", was made in 1964, with actor Jeffrey Hunter in the role of Pike.

At a time when racial segregation was still firmly entrenched in many areas of the United States, Roddenberry envisaged a multi-racial and mixed-gender crew, based on his assumption that racial prejudice and sexism would not exist in the 23rd century. He also included recurring characters from alien races, including Spock, who was half human and half Vulcan, united under the banner of the United Federation of Planets.

Other innovative Star Trek features involved solutions to basic production problems. The idea of the faster-than-light warp drive was not new to science fiction, but it allowed a narrative device that permitted the Enterprise to quickly traverse space. The matter transporter, where crew members "beamed" from place to place, solved the problem of moving characters quickly from the ship to a planet, a spacecraft landing sequence for each episode being prohibitively expensive. The famous flip-open communicator was introduced as a plot device to strand the characters in challenging situations by malfunctioning, being lost or stolen, or out of range; absent such a device, the characters could simply beam up at the first sign of trouble.[3]

The Star Trek concept was first offered to the CBS network, but the channel turned it down for the more mainstream Irwin Allen production, Lost In Space. Star Trek was then offered to NBC, who commissioned and then turned down the first pilot (NBC executives would later be quoted as saying that the initial pilot episode was 'too cerebral'). However, the NBC executives were favorably impressed with the concept and made the highly unusual decision to commission a second pilot: "Where No Man Has Gone Before". Only the character of Spock (played by Leonard Nimoy) remained from the original pilot, and only two cast members (Majel Barrett and Leonard Nimoy) carried on to the series. Much of the first pilot's footage was utilized into a later two-part episode, "The Menagerie".

In the second pilot, the main characters, Captain Kirk (William Shatner), chief engineer Lieutenant Commander Scott (James Doohan) and Lieutenant Sulu (George Takei) were introduced, only Sulu's title in this episode was Ship's Physicist and later changed to Helmsman in subsequent episodes. Chief medical officer and the captain's confidante Dr. Leonard McCoy (DeForest Kelley) (a Dr. Piper was present on the pilot) , Yeoman Janice Rand (Grace Lee Whitney) and communications officer Lieutenant Uhura (Nichelle Nichols) were introduced later. Roddenberry's inclusion of the Asian Sulu and black Uhura, both of them intelligent, well-spoken professionals, was a bold move when most television characters of the time were white and those who weren't were often presented in a highly stereotypical manner.

Members of Roddenberry's production staff included art director Matt Jefferies. Jefferies designed the Enterprise; his contribution was commemorated in the so-called Jefferies tube, which became a standard part of the (fictional) design of Federation starships. Jefferies' starship concepts arrived at a final saucer-and-cylinders design that became a template for all subsequent Star Trek space vehicles. Jefferies also developed the main set for the Enterprise bridge (based on an original design by Pato Guzman) and used his practical experience as a WWII airman and his knowledge of aircraft design to come up with a sleek, functional, ergonomic bridge layout. Costume designer William Ware Theiss created the striking look of the Enterprise uniforms and the risqué costumes for female guest stars. Artist and sculptor Wah Chang, who had worked for Walt Disney, was hired to design and manufacture props: he created the flip-open communicator, the portable sensing-recording-computing tricorder and the phaser weapons. Later, he would create various memorable aliens, such as the Gorn.

The series introduced television viewers to many ideas which later became common in science fiction films: warp drive, teleportation, wireless hand-held communicators and scanners, directed energy weapons, desktop computer terminals, laser surgery, starship cloaking devices, and computer speech synthesis. Although these concepts had numerous antecedents in sci-fi literature and film, they had never before been integrated in one presentation and most of them were certainly new to TV. Even the ship's automatic doors were a novel feature in 1966.

Characterizations

Star Trek made celebrities of its cast of largely unknown actors. Kelley had appeared in many films and TV shows, but mostly in smaller roles. Shatner and Nimoy also had previous TV and film experience but neither was very well-known (although Shatner had starred as the terrified air traveler in the classic Twilight Zone episode "Nightmare at 20,000 Feet"). After the episodes aired, many performers found themselves type-cast due to their roles.

The three main characters were Kirk, Spock, and McCoy, with writers often playing the different personalities off each other: Kirk was passionate and often aggressive, Spock was coolly logical, and McCoy was sardonic but always compassionate. In many stories the three clashed, with Kirk forced to make a tough decision while Spock advocated the logical but sometimes callous path and McCoy (or "Bones," as Kirk nicknamed him (short for "sawbones," a traditional pejorative nickname for doctors)) insisted on doing whatever would cause the least harm. McCoy and Spock had a sparring relationship that masked their true affection and respect for each other, and their constant arguments became very popular with viewers. The Spock character was at first rejected by network officials who feared that his vaguely "satanic" appearance (with pointed ears and eyebrows) might prove upsetting to some viewers. The network had even airbrushed out Spock's pointed ears and eyebrows from publicity materials sent to the network affiliates. But Spock went on to become one of the most popular characters on the show as was McCoy's impassioned country-doctor personality. Spock, in fact, became a sex symbol of sorts, something nobody connected with the show had expected.

The series was created during a time of cold war politics, and the plots of its episodes occasionally reflected this. The original series shows encounters with other advanced spacefaring civilizations, including the Klingons and the Romulans, both of which were involved in separate "cold wars" with the Federation.

Episodes

See related article List of Star Trek: The Original Series episodes

In terms of its writing, Star Trek is notable as one of the earliest science-fiction TV series to utilize the services of leading contemporary science fiction writers, such as Harlan Ellison and Theodore Sturgeon, as well as established TV writers. Series script editor Dorothy C. Fontana (originally Roddenberry's secretary) was also a vital part of the success of Star Trek — she edited most of the series' scripts and wrote several episodes. Her credits read D.C. Fontana at the suggestion of Gene Roddenbury since he felt that she may not be taken seriously because she was a woman and almost all writers, epecially in the area of science fiction, were men.

Several notable themes were tackled throughout the entire series. Arguably, the most important was the exploration of major issues of 1960s USA, like sexism, racism, nationalism, and global war. Roddenberry utilized the allegory of a space vessel set many years in the future to explore these issues. Star Trek was the first television show to feature an interracial kiss (in the episode Plato's Stepchildren), although because of the censorship of such displays prevalent at the time, it was depicted as being compelled by an alien of great mental ability, not as a voluntary act.

One of the most celebrated episodes was "The City on the Edge of Forever" written by Harlan Ellison, which garnered both the Hugo Award and Writers Guild Award. Guest starring a then unknown Joan Collins, the story dealt with the concept of time travel and changing the future, later utilized in films such as The Terminator (the end credits of the film give acknowledgement to the works of Ellison) and Back to the Future.

Episodes such as "The Apple", "Who Mourns for Adonais?", and "The Return of the Archons" display subtle anti-religious themes. "Bread and Circuses" and "The Omega Glory" have themes that are more overtly pro-religion and patriotic. Network interference, up to and including wholesale censorship of scripts and film footage, was a regular occurrence in the 1960s and Star Trek suffered from its fair share of tampering. Many scripts had to be revised after vetting by the NBC censors and, according to one book about the series, the gaping mouth of the "salt vampire" monster in the episode "The Man Trap" was actually an in-joke which referred to the network censors' persistent habit of cutting love scenes which featured open-mouthed kisses.

The Original Series was also noted for its sense of humor, such as Spock and McCoy's pointed, yet friendly, bickering. Episodes like "The Trouble with Tribbles", "I, Mudd" and "A Piece of the Action" are written and staged as comedies. The third season episode "Spock's Brain" is an all-out parody of the show, written by the reportedly disgruntled writer/producer Gene L. Coon. Star Trek's humor is generally much more subdued in the spin-offs and movies, with notable exceptions such as Star Trek IV: The Voyage Home.

All 79 episodes of the series are in the process of being digitally remastered by CBS Paramount Domestic Television.[2]

Star Trek Memories

In 1983, Leonard Nimoy hosted a one-hour special as a promotional tie-in with the film Star Trek II: The Wrath Of Khan, in which he recounted his memories of working on The Original Series and explained the origins of things such as the Vulcan nerve pinch and the Vulcan hand salute. This special continues to be widely seen as in some areas it was included in the syndication package for The Original Series, in order to bump up the episode count to 80.[3]

Music

Theme song

The show's theme tune was written by Alexander Courage, immediately recognizable by many, and has been featured in a number of Star Trek spin-off episodes and motion pictures. The "lyrics" for the introduction were written by Gene Roddenberry without Courage's knowledge and without intending for them ever to be sung. Roddenberry would nevertheless get a 50% share of the music's performance royalties.

See related article Star Trek: The Original Series (theme song).

Dramatic underscore

For budgetary reasons, this series made significant use of "tracked" music, or music written for other episodes that were re-used in later episodes. Of the 79 episodes that were broadcast, only 31 had complete or partial original dramatic underscores created specifically for them; the remainder of music in any episode was tracked from a different episode. (It was primarily the decision of Robert H. Justman, credited as Associate Producer during the first two seasons, which episodes would have new music).

Screen credits for the composers were given out based on the amount of music he composed for, or composed and was re-used in, the episode. Some of these final credits were, though, occasionally incorrect.

Beyond the short works of "source" music (music whose source is seen or acknowledged onscreen) created for specific episodes, eight composers were contracted to create original dramatic underscore during the series run: Alexander Courage, George Duning, Jerry Fielding, Gerald Fried, Sol Kaplan, Samuel Matlovsky, Joseph Mullendore and Fred Steiner. All conducted their own music. Of these composers, Steiner composed original music for the largest number of episodes (11), and it is his instrumental arrangement of Alexander Courage's main theme that is heard over many of the end title credits of the series.

The tracked musical underscores were chosen and edited to the episode by music editors, principal of whom were Robert Raff (most of Season One), Jim Henrikson (Season One and Two), and Richard Lapham (Season Three).

(Source: "Music for Star Trek: Scoring a Television Show in the Sixties" by Fred Steiner, from Wonderful Inventions: Motion Pictures, Broadcasting, and Recorded Sound at the Library of Congress, I. Newsom, ed., published by the Library of Congress, Washington, 1985).

The original recordings of the music of some episodes were released in the United States commercially on the GNP Crescendo label. Music for a number of the episodes were re-recorded by the Varese Sarabande label, with Fred Steiner conducting the Royal Philharmonic Orchestra; and on the Label X label, with Tony Bremner conducting the Royal Philharmonic.

Characters

Regular characters

Picture Role Rank Performer Position
File:Kirk001.jpg James T. Kirk Captain William Shatner Captain and commanding officer of the Starship Enterprise.
File:Spock001.jpg Spock Commander Leonard Nimoy Science officer and second-in-command; sole regular crew member that has a non-human biological parent and Kirk's best friend.
File:320x240.jpeg Leonard McCoy Lt. Commander DeForest Kelley Chief Medical Officer and the captain's closest confidant second only to Spock.
File:Jamesdoohan.jpg Montgomery Scott Lt. Commander James Doohan Chief Engineer and third-in-command (usually called "Scotty" by the captain).
File:Nichellenicholsuhura.jpg Uhura Lieutenant Nichelle Nichols Communications officer and sole female commissioned officer in the regular cast.
File:HikaruSulu001.jpg Hikaru Sulu Lieutenant George Takei Helmsman (character was a scientist in the second pilot episode).
File:EnsignC.jpg Pavel Chekov Ensign Walter Koenig Navigator. Introduced to the regular cast in the second season.
File:Janice Rand TOS.jpeg Janice Rand Yeoman Grace Lee Whitney Captain's yeoman (season 1).
File:Christine chapel.jpg Christine Chapel Nurse Majel Barrett Head nurse, assistant to Dr. McCoy.

Sulu and Uhura were not given first names in this series. Sulu's first name, Hikaru, was revealed non-canonically in Vonda McIntyre's Pocket Book novel Enterprise: The First Adventure. The name was "officially" put into the canon by George Takei in Star Trek VI: The Undiscovered Country.

Majel Barrett also provided the voice of the computer in TOS and many other Star Trek series and movies. She also played (as a brunette) the part of Captain Pike's First Officer in the pilot episode "The Cage". Barrett married Roddenberry in 1969.

The relatively young, mop-topped Russian navigator Chekov was added in the second season. The unofficial story was that the Soviet newspaper Pravda complained that there were no Russians among the culturally diverse characters which may have some truth to it. However studio documentation suggests that the intention was to introduce a character with more appeal to a teenage market, especially the female sector. It's also been known that former Monkees member Davy Jones may have served as a model for the character.[4]

Semi-regular

In addition, the series is notorious for repeatedly including characters (usually security personnel wearing red uniforms) that are killed or injured soon after their introduction. So prevalent was this plot device that it inspired the term "redshirt" to denote a stock character whose sole purpose is to die violently in order to demonstrate the dangerous circumstances facing the main characters.

Original Series cameos in later series

The sequel to the original series, Star Trek: The Next Generation, which premiered in 1987, was set approximately 100 years after the events of TOS. As that show and its spin-offs progressed, several TOS characters made appearances:

  • Spock, now a Vulcan ambassador, is said to have gone underground in the Romulan Empire in hopes of fostering peaceful coexistence with the Federation and reunification with Vulcan society ("Unification, Parts I and II").
  • Leonard "Bones" McCoy, now a 137-year-old admiral, inspects the Enterprise-D during her maiden flight in "Encounter at Farpoint".
  • Scotty, who is promoted to captain, is revealed to have spent about 70 years trapped in a transporter buffer before being rescued by the Enterprise-D crew and resuming his life in "Relics". Captain Picard indefinitely loans him a shuttlecraft, and Scott decides that he might have some more travelling left to do after all...
  • Sarek, Spock's father, continued to be an ambassador for the next century, finally retiring to Vulcan where he passes away during the events of "Unification".
  • James Kirk disappears in 2293 during the maiden voyage of the Enterprise-B while visiting with Chekov and Scotty but 75 years later Kirk is recovered from an alternate plane of existence by Enterprise-D Captain Jean-Luc Picard through the "Nexus". Kirk's emergence in the 24th century is short-lived, however, when he is killed by Dr. Soran in Star Trek: Generations.

Besides the above examples, there have been numerous non-canon novels and comic books published over the years in which TOS-era crew are depicted in the TNG era, either through time-travel or other means.

Star Trek 2.0 on G4

On April 10, 2006, an interactive version of TOS, known as "Star Trek 2.0," began broadcast on the television channel G4. Members of G4's official site are able to use the online chat and "Spock Market." Messages from the online chat may be shown during the broadcast along with "Trek Stats" and "Trek Facts." The feature debuted on the cable network G4 began playing episodes of Star Trek along with showing interactive menus. Star Trek 2.0 aired at an 11 PM time slot, but on September 5th, 2006, Star Trek 2.0 moved to a 6 PM time slot. As of October 14, 2006, Star Trek 2.0 is currently at a 4 PM−7 PM time slot.

  • As a promotion of Star Trek 2.0, production company 72andSunny created four, 30-second long stop-motion commercials using detailed action figures of the crew. They also released a minute-long "Director's Cut"[5] of the "Cribs" clip.

Star Trek 40th Anniversary remastered series

In September 2006, CBS Paramount Television began syndication of an enhanced version of Star Trek: The Original Series with new state-of-the-art CGI visual effects.[6]

All 79 episodes are being digitally remastered with computer-generated effects that were not possible when Gene Roddenberry created the show 40 years ago. Much of the upgrades are being supervised by Michael Okuda. "We're taking great pains to respect the integrity and style of the original," says Okuda, who spent 18 years as a scenic-art supervisor on Star Trek films and spin-offs. A constant goal for the team was: What would Roddenberry have done with today's technology?" Okuda's teammates on the two-year project are his wife, Denise Okuda, with whom he's authored several Trek reference books, and 14-year Trek production vet David Rossi.

The upgraded episodes will be shown out of sequence and one per week. The first episode to be broadcast is "Balance of Terror", a fan favorite "that gives us a chance to really show off the ‘new' Enterprise," says Okuda. Due to scheduling issues, some stations instead broadcast "Miri" as the premiere episode; both episodes were scheduled for the same night.

"The exterior of the ship now has depth and detail, and it will fly more dynamically." Painted backdrops will also be brought to life: Once-empty star bases will have CGI people milling about, while static alien landscapes have been given slow-moving clouds and shimmering water. Okuda says that a view of the Earth in the episode "Miri" has been replaced with a more accurate image. (See a side-by-side comparison of the new VFX for "Balance of Terror.")

Trek's signature opening theme is also being upgraded: The music has been re-recorded in stereo, and a new singer (Elin Carlson) has been hired to wail the wordless vocals (although it should be noted that the first episodes being shown come from the first season which used a different version of the theme without the vocals; it's not known if this means the syndicated opening credits for all seasons will now be standardized a la The Flintstones).

All aspects of the series will be upgraded, even down to details such as the credits, and the Desilu logo at the end of the show.

Goofs will also be corrected: In the episode "The Naked Time" there was no visible beam coming out of Scotty's phaser when he tried to cut through the bulkhead outside Engineering. The new scene now restores a phaser beam cutting through.

The issue of upgrading past film and television works has become a controversial topic in recent years. The movement was jump started when George Lucas gave his Star Wars original trilogy of films a complete CGI makeover. There are purists on one side of the argument that do not believe that original works should be tampered with for any reason; and that the works should remain true to form. The other side - comprised of revisionists - feels that it is acceptable to upgrade portions of these works such as the special effects which will be more up to current technological levels that were not possible at the time of their creation. The usual effect of these types of changes is that the realism of particular scenes will be enhanced. The controversy for these changes usually boils over when the story or a particular character gets significantly changed. As an example the link Han shot first describes how the character of Han Solo is changed in the Special Edition version of Star Wars. Purists argue that Han Solo was a rogue and mercenary that shot his antagonist Greedo in cold blood. The new version has Solo shooting only after Greedo shoots at him first and missing. The implication is that Han Solo was shooting in "Self Defense" thus changing his roguish nature.

Revisionists argue that the overall plot of the story doesn't change and that the added special effects allows the film to be seen in greater detail and more realistically. The new Star Trek enhanced episodes began airing on the weekend of September 16, 2006, but it remains to be seen how the changes will be evaluated by fans.

See also

Wikiquote has quotations related to Star Trek: The Original Series.
  1. ^ Asherman, Allan, The Star Trek Compendium, Simon & Schuster, New York, 1981, p. 24.
  2. ^ Roddenbery, G., and Whitfield, S.E., The Making of Star Trek, Ballentine, 1968
  3. ^ Roddenbery, G., and Whitfield, S.E., The Making of Star Trek, Ballentine, 1968
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