Star Trek Debuts on US Television

It's a sunny day on September 17th, 1976, on a tarmac outside an aerospace factory in Palmdale, California.

As two large hanger doors slide open, 55-year-old Gene Rodmer eagerly shifts to the edge of his seat in a temporary grandstand set up on the airfield spot.

Gene wouldn't normally find himself in a huge industrial complex like this.

He's a television writer and producer, best known for the science fiction series, Star Trek.

But today, Gene is part of a large crowd here to view the ceremonial rolling out of a prototype space shuttle.

He's been invited because the new machine has been named after the fictional spaceship in Gene's TV show, The Enterprise.

A flat airport tractor roars to life and slowly pulls the space shuttle Enterprise out of the hanger.

A military band begins a drum roll as the shuttle's nose rolls into view.

The crowd bursts into applause, awed by the sheer size of the world's first reusable spacecraft.

Then, as the tail of the shuttle emerges, the band's drum roll switches to a familiar tune.

Gene grins as he realizes that the band is playing the Star Trek theme.

10 years ago, Gene was inspired by the American space program to create his iconic television series.

Now, his television series is inspiring the American space program.

The first space shuttle wasn't supposed to be named after a television starship.

NASA planned to name its new craft Constitution and scheduled its public unveiling for September 17th, Constitution Day.

But by the 1970s, Star Trek had become so popular that thousands of people wrote to the White House requesting that President Gerald Ford change the shuttle's name.

And Ford bowed to the pressure.

Watching the unveiling of the Enterprise will be a remarkable honor for Star Trek and its creator, as well as a shocking turn of events, given the many difficulties that almost prevented Star Trek from first appearing on American television on September 8, 1966.

From Noiser and Airship, I'm Lindsay Graham, and this is History Daily.

History is made every day.

On this podcast, Every Day, we tell the true stories of the people and events that shaped our world.

Today is September 8th, 1966.

Star Trek debuts on US television.

It's March 1964 in Los Angeles, California.

42-year-old Gene Roddenberry taps the keys of his typewriter, working slowly and methodically, trying to make every word count.

The document he's working on is a 16-page outline for a new television series, and there's a lot writing on it.

Gene needs a studio to pick up his idea, or he'll have to quit his job as a television scriptwriter and go back to patrolling the streets as a traffic cop.

For the past 10 years, Gene has slowly made a name for himself in the industry, churning out episodes for several different shows.

Last year, the NBC network funded Gene to create his own television series called The Lieutenant, a show that focused on the lives of US.

Marines with themes loosely based on Gene's own wartime experiences as a bomber pilot.

But NBC canceled The Lieutenant after only one season.

It had struggled to gain an audience and production was hamstrung by a long list of restrictions on subject matter laid down by the Department of Defense.

Frustrated by the government's intervention on his last project, all Gene wants now is to write freely without oversight from any external parties and he thinks he's found a way.

The show Gene is working on today is called Star Trek and it's far removed from anything happening on Earth, at least on the surface.

Gene imagines a spaceship roving around the galaxy several centuries in the future, exploring new planets and encountering new peoples.

Like many writers, Gene has been inspired by the Cold War space race.

During the last two years, both the USSR and USA have launched their first manned space flights.

US President John F.

Kennedy responded to the Soviets winning that contest by announcing America's intention to put a man on the moon by the end of the decade.

But aside from taking advantage of contemporary interest in space travel, Gene also intends Star Trek to reflect events back on earth.

He wants to write about social issues of the day, the war in Vietnam, feminism, racism, and the environment.

But by setting his social commentaries in space, Gene thinks he'll be able to write what he wants without higher powers trying to censor or edit his work.

And when Gene and his agent pitch Star Trek to the big television networks, NBC agrees to fund the production of a pilot episode.

But Gene still faces an uphill task if he's to deliver the pilot on time.

Although he's pitched the idea of an intergalactic voyage, Gene has no experience writing science fiction.

So he borrows books from a fellow scriptwriter and begins a crash course on all things sci-fi.

Three months later in June, Gene completes the first Star Trek script.

In it, the USS Enterprise rushes to investigate rumors of a crashed spaceship on an alien planet.

A landing party goes to the surface, including several of the Enterprise's senior officers, Captain Pike, Dr.

Boyce, and an alien officer, Lieutenant Spock, played by actor Leonard Nimoy.

But with its captain on the surface, the Enterprise is commanded in orbit by a logic-driven female first officer named Number One.

Meanwhile, on the planet, Captain Pike uncovers and defeats a complex plot by an alien species.

Then, Pike and the Enterprise continue their voyage throughout the galaxy, ready for their next adventure.

Filming of the pilot episode begins in late November and wraps after two weeks, with the film shipped to a post-production studio where special effects are added.

By mid-January 1965, a rough edit is ready to be shown to NBC executives and test audiences, but the feedback is not good.

Viewers think the plot advances too slowly and describe the show as too cerebral.

They want more action and adventure, and they think the alien lieutenant Spock is too exuberant and childlike, and they hate the female second-in-command with her cold and aloof character.

Upon reading the audience feedback, Gene realizes there's no way that NBC will greenlight the production of a full season of Star Trek.

He begins considering new ideas for pitches, hoping that the failure of Star Trek will not damage his reputation in the industry too much.

But then, Gene receives some surprising news.

The NBC executives are prepared to do something they've never done before, fund a second pilot episode.

The confidence of NBC executives and Gene's sci-fi concept will give him the opportunity to fix the problems that test audiences identified, and Gene's second chance will see him learn from mistakes and introduce several new components to a story, each of which will contribute to Star Trek becoming a pop culture phenomenon.

It's July 24th, 1965 at a television studio in Culver City, California, six months after NBC executives viewed the first Star Trek pilot.

Gene Roddenberry watches attentively as an assistant cameraman snaps a clapperboard shut and the director calls action.

On set, a new batch of actors is into their fifth day filming the second Star Trek pilot, resurrecting Gene's hopes that his sci-fi series might make it to television screens after all.

Over the past few months, Gene has struggled to respond to NBC's criticisms of the first pilot without losing too much creative control of his project.

He worried that NBC might try to sideline him when he discovered that they wanted him working with another scriptwriter on the second pilot.

So Gene made some allowances.

He agreed to cut number one, the female first officer who didn't go down well with test audiences.

Gene also approved NBC's suggestion that the other major roles be recast.

Captain Pike was renamed Captain Kirk and William Shatner was hired to play him.

Other new characters include Chief Engineer Scott and Lieutenant Sulu.

But Gene refused to bow to NBC's demand that Leonard Neboy's Lieutenant Spock be cut from the cast.

He insisted that the Enterprise needed an alien crewman, but he offered a compromise by altering Spock's character.

No longer was Spock youthful and enthusiastic.

Instead, Gene decided that the cold logical demeanor previously given to number one would be inherited by Spock for the second pilot.

Fortunately, it resulted in a better dynamic between the actors and their characters, and filming has been going well.

But progress suddenly grinds to a halt when out of nowhere, William Shatner cries out in pain and grabs his face.

Gene runs onto the set to see what the problem is, only to be pushed out of the way by actors fleeing.

As he steps aside, Gene feels a sharp pain himself and realizes that a swarm of wasps has flown onto the mock-up bridge of the Starship Enterprise and has started stinging the actors.

The director has no choice but to call off filming for the day.

Gene worries that the pilot is falling behind schedule, and if he can't make one episode of Star Trek on time, then NBC executives won't have any confidence that he can keep a whole season on track.

When the cast and crew return after the weekend, the wasps' nest has been removed from the rafters.

Filming resumes, although the swelling from the sting on Shatner's face hasn't gone down, and he needs extra makeup to hide it.

Nevertheless, the episode finishes on time at the end of the week, albeit with a late finish on the final day.

But it was all worth it, because this time, when NBC executives view the rough cut, they are delighted.

The second pilot features far more action, including Captain Kirk defeating an enemy in a life or death bare-knuckle fight.

It doesn't take long for the network to agree to commission 12 more episodes, and Star Trek's first air date is set for the fall of 1966.

In the lead up to the show's debut, Gene puts together a guide to the Star Trek universe that script writers must follow.

He spends weeks editing the scripts to fit the constraints of their tight budget and schedule, and he introduces clever techniques to make filming more manageable.

Rather than flying to planets on spaceships, which would require another set and costly time-consuming special effects, Gene creates the idea of a teleporter that can transport characters directly to alien worlds.

He also rewrites episodes to set them on Earth-like worlds to prevent the crew needing to wear spacesuits, thereby bringing down the cost of costumes and set dressing.

Filming begins in earnest in June 1966, three months before the first episode is due to air, but still manages to stay on schedule thanks to Gene's time-saving ideas.

But one problem isn't solved until a month before the first air date.

Gene has an innovative idea for the opening titles.

Rather than a simple theme song with clips from the show, he wants Star Trek's opening to feature a voiceover by Captain Kirk describing the premise of the series.

But Gene can't compose a narration he's happy with.

Everything he comes up with is too long or complex.

And for the next week, several writers and producers look over Gene's drafts until they eventually come up with a version everyone's happy with.

Satisfied with his scripts, Gene will turn his attention to marketing.

Five days before the first episode of Star Trek debuts on television, Gene will appear at the World Science Fiction Convention.

There he will try to cultivate support among seasoned sci-fi fans, beginning his efforts to recruit a following large enough to get his show recommissioned for a second season.

His efforts will pay off, generating a decent buzz for the new program.

But Gene will have no idea just how big Star Trek's following will become.

Thank.

It's 8:30 p.m.

on September 8th, 1966, two years after Gene Roddenberry first pitched Star Trek to television networks.

A 10-year-old boy settles down in front of a television.

It's past his bedtime, but his parents have allowed him to stay up late, because like many young children, their son is obsessed with all things space.

In four days, he's looking forward to watching Gemini 11 blast off and take two astronauts beyond the atmosphere.

But tonight, the boy is eagerly awaiting the first in a new series of fictional space missions.

He gets up and crosses the living room to turn up the volume on his television, then sits down again as the new program begins.

Straight away, he's struck by the voiceover that show creator Gene Roddenberry had agonized over.

These are the voyages of the Starship Enterprise.

It's 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.

Although the young boy enjoys the first episode of Star Trek, viewing figures don't reach the level that NBC expect from a new flagship show.

After becoming stuck with a mediocre audience share, Star Trek is canceled in 1969 after three seasons and 79 episodes.

But the series gets a new lease on life when it's widely syndicated on local networks and soon gains a cult following of dedicated fans known as Trekkies.

Star Trek status as a cultural phenomenon is sealed seven years later when President Ford bows to public pressure to name NASA's prototype space shuttle after Captain Kirk's Enterprise.

Over the next five decades, the Star Trek universe only expands to become a media franchise with five different television series, 13 feature films, three streaming series, and three animated series.

Star Trek characters feature in books, video games, toys, and on countless lines of merchandise.

By 2020, Star Trek products will have created over $10 billion in revenue.

Yet without the vision of Gene Roddenberry or the optimism of NBC executives to order a second pilot, Star Trek may have been consigned to the cutting room floor before its debut episode ever had the chance to air on September 8, 1966.

Next, on History Daily, September 11th, 2021, on the 20th anniversary of the 9-11 attacks, the New York Yankees and New York Mets unite on the baseball field to remember the victims and aftermath of the tragedy.

From Noiser and Airship, this is History Daily.

Hosted, edited, and executive produced by me, Lindsay Graham.

Sound design by Katrina Zemrak.

Music by Lindsay Graham.

This episode is written and researched by Scott Reeves.

Executive producers are Alexandra Curry Buckner for Airship and Pascal Hughes for Noiser.