No television series has enjoyed such a unique and unlikely path to becoming a cultural phenomenon as "Star Trek." Creator Gene Roddenberry's pioneering vision for an adult, ambitious and allegorical science fiction series featuring explorers aboard the starship Enterprise experienced rocky beginnings as a failed pilot deemed "too intellectual" by NBC.
But the network gave the premise a second chance and, with the addition of more action and an appealing triumvirate of new leads Captain Kirk, Mr. Spock and Dr. McCoy, fueled by William Shatner, Leonard Nimoy, and Deforest Kelley's delightful chemistry, the forward-thinking series got a second chance at life, airing for the first time 50 years ago today, on Sept. 8, 1966.
What followed has become legendary in the creation of what would become a full-fledged franchise, including the highly-rated syndicated series "Star Trek: The Next Generation" and its subsequent shared-universe series; the box office-dominating films that rebooted the "Star Trek" originals with new actors; tie-in novels and comic books; and a massive merchandising empire.
But, at its core, "Star Trek" has always been a story about humanity, both on screen and behind the scenes. And to that effect, Moviefone has spent the last several months of the sci-fi phenom's golden anniversary in the company of many of the key creative people at the heart of its various incarnations, gathering their takes on what it's meant to them to occupy a place within the singular sensation called "Star Trek."
I mean, I wrote a book called "I'm Working on That" based on Stephen Hawking's statement, when he walked into the set of "Star Trek" and saw these cheesy boards painted to look like ... what's the stuff we use for energy? ... dilithium crystals. That's how we were able to go so fast to cover the vast distances of space. Stephen Hawking said "I'm working on that." It goes out in waves, and it seems somewhat innocuous, because it's a television show, but in this case, this phenomenon has lasted 50 years.
Even if you think it's completely ridiculous, you have to kind of say, "What is this that's gone for 50 years? I've got to at least check it out." There's something going on here, and it's affected a lot of people. We've all had people come to us and say, "It's because of your show, it's because of you, that I am now a doctor or a scientist or ..." So there's something more going on there than meets the eye. There's a wonderful action-adventure show, but there's also something deeper and more profound.
Dorothy "D. C." Fontana (writer and story editor, "Star Trek: The Original Series," "Star Trek: The Animated Series," "Star Trek: The Next Generation"): We told good stories, I think. I've said this over and over: we were telling stories about things that were going on in our world, under the guise of science fiction. We were telling stories about racism, and sexism, and political things that were going on in our country, and in the world. We were doing stories about, well, just about anything -- the Vietnam War, that was a big one. Nobody else could mention the Vietnam War, or even that we were in it, but we could, under the guise of science fiction.
We reached out to people. We tapped them on the head and say, "Hey, are you paying attention?" But we were doing it in the guise of interesting science fiction stories. We had some great science fiction writers on the show, especially in the first year, who brought that wonderful element of exploring topical themes under the guise of science fiction.
I appreciate in this latest installment playing a character that was a bit more existentially indecisive and lost and seeking some sort of new guidance, or new propulsion, or new energy behind what he was going to do, because sometimes things change when you're a little bit older.
Then later on when I got the show, it was about, "Wow, great! It's a great character. I'm going to do a really great job. I'm really happy about this. I'm a working actor again." And then it became the people I worked with. That was the most exciting part.
David Gerrold (writer, "The Trouble with The Tribbles," associate producer, "Star Trek; The Next Generation"): Gene Roddenberry gave us "Star Trek" [and] he was passionate about "Star Trek." And if it hadn't been for him, we'd have never had the show. So we have this incredibly iconic thing that is going to change our culture for generations to come, because it's about the possibilities of the future, it's about a future where we're all thriving and doing well and all have opportunities and we're all included.
it's a very positive view of the future, and I give Gene enormous credit for that, because I don't think anybody else has been able to create that kind of a vision of a future that works for all of us, with no one and nothing left out.
I think it's so important for us to see that now as a society. Not just in America, although really specifically here, but the whole world. We need to not be afraid of everyone who's different. We've got to embrace our differences and realize that we're stronger together, and we're all inherently the same when it gets down to it.
But it was still like something I had to watch. And that grew into a love of its kind of intelligence. As I got older, I started to understand just how much weight it carried, allegorically. It's meant different things to me over the years. And obviously, now, it kind of means the world to me.
I loved the humor of it, but, mostly, at the end of the day, I just loved that relationship on that bridge. That's why I wanted to do it and try and build something similar -- you can't repeat it, but similar on our show.
Bryan Fuller (writer/producer, "Star Trek: Voyager," creator/executive producer, "Star Trek: Discovery"): I fell in love with "Star Trek" before even seeing "Star Trek." And when I was a small child, too young to go to church, my brother had built a model of the Klingon cruiser and put a battery in it and turned off all the lights in the house and was flying it though.
And I saw this ship, the silhouette of this ship, and my mind was lit on fire because I wanted to know who that ship belonged to, what they were like, where did they come from? And I started asking those questions and then I got to see "Star Trek" and I got to see an even bigger world than I imagined.
Justin Lin (director, "Star Trek Beyond"): My family immigrated to the States when I was eight. They had a little fish and chips shop, and they would close at 9 and we'd have dinner at 10. At 11, "Star Trek" came on Channel 13, so my brothers and I would talk our way into just hanging out with them. So, from 8 to 18, that was our level of engagement and our family time.
I remember moving to a new country felt like it was just the five of us. But watching "Star Trek," it instilled in me that family is not just by blood. It's through shared experience. That's what "Star Trek" gave me. Our engagement was through re-runs, but every night, it was a new adventure with new obstacles and new challenges. That sense of discovery and exploration was a big part of growing up. My friends all had the little "Star Wars" figures, but we didn't have any of that: we had "Star Trek."
Michael Giacchino (music score, "Star Trek" (2009), "Star Trek Into Darkness," "Star Trek Beyond"): I grew up in the early '70s, so that's how I watched it -- I didn't see it when it first aired. But I remember the first time I saw it thinking, "What is this? What on Earth is this show?" And I just kept watching it and watching it. And then I was asking about, "Can I have the action figures? Can I have the play set? The Enterprise play set?" Which I still have all that stuff. I still have it!
It was sort of my first science fiction love. That show introduced me to science fiction, and then all of a sudden I was in love with "2001," and I just kept going from there. But it was my gateway drug into sci-fi. [The original series music is] so iconic, because we've all watched those things so many times. And Alexander Courage's theme is the greatest.
Karl Urban: If it wasn't for the fans, we wouldn't be here. This show would have been cancelled in the second season.
Simon Pegg: You've got to remember that it's because it comes out of love and it comes out of a great sort of affection for something, which you can't help but feel positive about. I get it. We all have our own feelings about "Star Trek." It means something to all of us in different ways. What we tried to do with "Star Trek Beyond" was kind of try and embrace everybody that has come before, and everyone that hasn't come yet.
It's almost like you can cross an episode of the original show with what you get from a modern blockbuster: "This is the hybrid -- it's year one and year 50 together." That was our dream.
I will say, as a fan, every single human I've ever met within the "Star Trek" franchise is awesome. It's like, this is a franchise born out of a cohesive work unit, and it really shows in the movies that they make.
Michael Dorn: I still don't know what "Star Trek" means -- I really don't! ... Bob Pine, who's Chris Pine's father, and I have been great friends since we worked on "CHiPs." I didn't know this until we had this conversation: Bob said, "You know, Michael, you created a character that's an icon. That this guy is not just some guy, I mean, this is a guy that's going to last, and it's rare. You're in the top .001% of actors who have done anything like that." And at that point, that's when I went, "My God, you're right." That's when it kind of hit me.
Jeri Ryan: It's amazing the doors this has opened for us to get to meet people that are actually doing what we pretended to be doing on the show is really cool.
Scott Bakula: I talked to a guy on the International Space Station with NASA. We sent up DVDs of our show, and he was watching it in space. We talked until Earth moved enough so we couldn't talk anymore. We talked and talked and he said, "I'm going to lose you, sir." He kept circling the planet. That was pretty cool. He made a video and sent it to us of them floating around up there and hanging out. It was combining all of it, it was completely surreal.
We met a lot of the astronauts, who would come to the set, and to actually speak to somebody who was doing it up there was just something you wouldn't expect you'd ever get to do in your life.
Michael Dorn: I was a big airplane buff when I was growing up -- I loved airplanes and I loved test pilots and I loved my cereal boxes, the boxtops with Friendship 7, John Glenn's capsule. Those are the guys that I had a chance to meet that really kind of fueled my youth. That was amazing, because you're talking about -- they went to the moon! I mean, come on! Those are the guys that I just loved.
Jeri Ryan: Specifically, for the character that I played, I heard from a lot of people on the autism spectrum who could relate to her, and said that this really helped them to see someone on TV, who kind of acted the way they did, and wasn't sure of what they were doing, and was trying to figure things out socially, and that's how they felt. And it was so touching for me, and I love that that was something that people could feel
Scott Bakula: I was at the Griffith Park Observatory with my whole family, and a gal there came up and said "Hi, I work at the Jet Propulsion Laboratory. I sort of started working there because of 'Star Trek.'" "Oh, that's very nice. What do you do?" "You know the little thing that just landed on Mars?" she said, "Well, I kind of built that."
I said, "Are you kidding?" "Yeah, and I'm actually running it around Mars." I was like, "Wow!" Yeah, and she's like, "I'm such a fan of your show." I said, "Forget about my show! How about you? You're unbelievable!"
William Shatner: For me, I love talking to people and finding the story and the character of who this person is and how they lived up to this point, and I've done shows in that way. I've just come back from Vancouver, where I was talking to the great geneticist from Amherst College, Dr. David Suzuki.
It's meeting people like Dr. Suzuki, astronaut Chris Hadfield, who I just interviewed a couple days ago at JPL -- all of JPL subscribes to "Star Trek." As does NASA. I'm doing a show for NASA, and all of NASA is enamored of "Star Trek." I went to the doctor and he said "I became a doctor because of 'Star Trek.' Now spread your legs."
Brent Spiner: I had the opportunity to meet Dr. Hawking because he did an episode of the show. We met all of the Mercury astronauts, they were all still with us at the 30th anniversary of Alan Shepard's first flight. It was overwhelming, and at that event was also Bob Hope and Walter Cronkite, and we were there, as pretend heroes.
But for me, the most rewarding experience has been meeting all of these people: all of the family of "Star Trek" that have been in all of these episodes and films. The great creative people that I've got to rub shoulders with has been amazing. It's a huge family at this point.
Zachary Quinto: Hands down, my favorite part of filming these movies is getting to spend all my time with these people who are incredible. It keeps being brought up that we've been doing this for almost ten years, which is kind of unfathomable, but it was 2007 when we made the first movie. We are truly a family to one another. Even though we only get to work together every few years, we stay in touch and we stay connected. These are people that will be in my life for the rest of it. That to me is easily the best part about the experience.
Justin Lin: I remember stepping into the hallways of Enterprise. The lights aren't on and it's still [being painted] and stuff. Just walking in there and feeling like, "Wow, I'm now part of this."
Karl Urban: Anytime you're on the bridge of the Enterprise, and there's 50 million buttons, you cannot help but go and push every single one of them. Just to see if something's going to happen.
J.J. Abrams: To be talking about the 50th anniversary is insane! I was born the same year that "Star Trek" was, and I know how old I feel. So the idea that this thing endures is incredible, and a real honor to be part of.
Simon Pegg: I love that the universe is a boundless place and there's so many adventures to be had. And as long as we have this idea that we might not just all kill ourselves and die in a big fire, we might actually become slightly more enlightened, slightly more tolerant beings and go off into space -- THAT is a lovely idea that I think secretly the vast majority of us want to achieve, you know? "Star Trek" will live forever.
Rod Roddenberry (son of "Star Trek" creator Gene Roddenberry; executive producer, "Star Trek: Discovery"): You probably can't put this, but I think my dad would say, "Holy sh*t, this is amazing!" You know, he used to do something pretty funny. He would get on stage, and he would fold his arms and kind of look at the audience and say, "Yep, just the way I planned it!" in a joking sort of way. But I know he'd be honored and thrilled, and he'd want to give so much credit to the fans. I think he'd be blown away by it, absolutely.
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