70s Trek: Star Trek in the 1970s: Recent Episodes
Bob Turner & Kelly Casto
70s Trek is a fan show that explores Star Trek in the 1970s. We discuss the cast, crew, writers, the major influences and the wider culture surrounding it. Though cancelled by NBC in 1969, Star Trek was never far from the public's consciousness. It was never allowed to be! We explore how it stayed alive after cancellation and how it was resurrected to become a major motion picture in 1979.
Welcome to the first new 70s Trek episode in 3 years!
The release of the 4K, Ultra HD version of Star Trek The Motion Picture, The Director’s Edition, is such big news that co-hosts Bob Turner and Kelly Casto felt it deserved a new episode of 70s Trek.
Star Trek The Motion Picture was originally released in theaters in 1979. It culminated ten years of hard work, false starts and frustrations. The movie ran 132 minutes and it brought live action Star Trek back.
But because of problems during production, the film was little more that a rough-cut. The version we saw in theaters was never intended to be the final edit. But because of marketing commitments, director Robert Wise ran out of time.
Flash forward to 2001. Paramount agreed to let Wise and his team re-edit the folm so it would be closer to his original vision. The result was Star Trek The Motion Picture, The Director's Edition. The team tightened the editing and inserted new, updated CGI special effects.
However, this version of the film was only released in standard definition on DVD. Blu Ray had not yet been invented. So fans never got to see this verison of the film in high definition.
Until now.
Members of Wise's 2001 team have gotten access to the Paramount vaults and have gone back to the orignal camera negatives to restore The Director's Edition in 4K Ultra HD. Theyhave also updated the special effects, bringing them up to 4K, as well.
The result is a stunning film with more color, detail and dynamic sound.
The Original Series episode Journey to Babel is considered by many to be one of the best. It featured several "firsts" for the show. Among them was seeing Spock's parents and several alien species that would play a major role in the franchise in the decades to come. Co-hosts Kelly Casto and Bob Turner explore Journey to Babel and ask the question, was it the most important Star Trek episode of the 1960s? ***
It’s a place here on Earth that feels like it's an alien landscape. That’s probably why we’ve seen it used as another world so many times in TV and film. Including Star Trek. Vasquez Rocks, located just north of Los Angeles, has been used many, many times for “on location” shooting for the franchise. The craggy, rocky landscape has been seen in 10 Star Trek episodes from various series and 3 films. But how did this stunning landscape become what it is today? Co-hosts Bob Turner and Kelly Casto explore Vasquez Rocks and share what they discovered with you in this episode of The Unofficial Trek Podcast.
In The Unofficial Trek Podcast, hosts Bob Turner and Kelly Casto give their "Unofficial" take on the Star Trek universe.
From 2019 through 2019, Bob and Kelly hosted the show 70s Trek. It was a look at the events that brought a cancelled, 1960s TV show back from the dead to become a blockbuster movie in 1979. It was a decade that created a multi-million dollar franchise.
Now Bob and Kelly will look at the minutia, the concepts, the people and the news pertaining to the Star Trek Universe. It's a fascinating time for Star Trek, with a flood of content about it on the internet.
Bob and Kelly will give their "Unofficial" take. Why unofficial? Because their views are just that, they are theirs and are, therefore, "unofficial."
It's a fresh look at Star Trek from two lifelong fans who have been talking Trek for over 35 years! We hope you'll join Bob and Kelly for their next venture, The Unofficial Trek Podcast.
Visit us at these sites:
Facebook:
https://www.facebook.com/UnofficialTrek
TuneIn:
https://tunein.com/podcasts/Fantasy--Science-Fiction-Podcasts/The-Unofficial-Trek-Podcast-p1546279/
Stitcher:
https://www.stitcher.com/show/the-unofficial-trek-podcast
Spotify:
https://open.spotify.com/show/6IrNzaWSzKyf1T7b4ngZX2
Website:
https://theunofficialstartrekpodcast.libsyn.com/
One of the Star Trek productions coming in 2022 is Strange New Worlds. It will be the story of Captain Pike and the Enterprise crew before Captain Kirk commanded the ship. Since the show hasn’t premiered yet, we don’t know much about it. But co-hosts Kelly Casto and Bob Turner take a look at what we do know so far, and run through the cast. It’s the perfect topic for some "Unofficial" takes and a Trek Chat.
In The Unofficial Trek Podcast, hosts Bob Turner and Kelly Casto give their "Unofficial" take on the Star Trek universe.
From 2019 through 2019, Bob and Kelly hosted the show 70s Trek. It was a look at the events that brought a cancelled, 1960s TV show back from the dead to become a blockbuster movie in 1979. It was a decade that created a multi-million dollar franchise.
Now Bob and Kelly will look at the minutia, the concepts, the people and the news pertaining to the Star Trek Universe. It's a fascinating time for Star Trek, with a flood of content about it on the internet.
Bob and Kelly will give their "Unofficial" take. Why unofficial? Because their views are just that, they are theirs and are, therefore, "unofficial."
It's a fresh look at Star Trek from two lifelong fans who have been talking Trek for over 35 years! We hope you'll join Bob and Kelly for their next venture, The Unofficial Trek Podcast.
Visit us at these sites:
Facebook:
https://www.facebook.com/UnofficialTrek
TuneIn:
https://tunein.com/podcasts/Fantasy--Science-Fiction-Podcasts/The-Unofficial-Trek-Podcast-p1546279/
Stitcher:
https://www.stitcher.com/show/the-unofficial-trek-podcast
Spotify:
https://open.spotify.com/show/6IrNzaWSzKyf1T7b4ngZX2
Website:
https://theunofficialstartrekpodcast.libsyn.com/
In July of 2021, the YouTube channel "The Popcast” posted a video entitled "This is how STRANGE NEW WORLDS will bring OLD TREK and NEW TREK Together!" The video discussed the divide between fans of Old Trek, Star Trek episodes and movies produced between 1966 and 2005, and fans of New Trek that began with J.J. Abrams 2009 Star Trek film. The video told us of a recent survey that took place across YouTube, Reddit and Twitter. 2000 Trek fans were asked how they identified with 3 statements. Here they are: 1. New Star Trek is good, I wish people would just accept the changes. 2. I’m watching because it’s Star Trek, but I really hope it gets better. 3. It’s a dumpster fire! I hate it and I’ll never watch new Star Trek.
Here are the results:
-28% said New Trek is good, and people should accept the changes.
-32% said they were watching because it’s Trek, but they hoped it would get better.
-40% said it’s a dumpster fire and they won’t watch.
That 40% number by itself is alarming. But it’s really staggering to see that 72% don’t think it’s good or won’t watch it at all!
Co-hosts Bob Turner and Kelly Casto have some opinions about why this might be happening...And of course, it’s all unofficial.
With the release of the film No Time to Die in the fall of 2021, James Bond is back in the popular culture again. It’s the 25th Bond film, and co-hosts Bob Turner and Kelly Casto of The Unofficial Trek Podcast thought it might be fun to have a chat about their favorite British spy. What does Bond have to do with Trek, you might ask? Well, the two franchises, Star Trek and James Bond, have a lot of crossover when it comes to their audiences. So for that reason, a Trek chat seems appropriate.
Imagine flying through the galaxy, minding your own business and suddenly you see a structure that is very large. It's so big, in fact, that it surrounds a star! It's a Dyson Sphere!
This week we explore the concept of a Dyson Sphere, first seen in the Star Trek universe in the Season 6 episode "Relics" from The Next Generation.
First proposed in 1937, the concept was first scientifically theorized by futurists Freeman Dyson in 1960. This week hosts Kelly Casto and Bob Turner talk about this concept and what it might actually look like, scientifically speaking.
Imagine driving through downtown Las Vegas and looking up to see a giant, life-sized USS Enterprise. That almost happened in the early 1990s. But the project morphed into something very different and became The Star Trek Experience. Hosts Bob Turner and Kelly Casto give their "unofficial" take on both projects and talk about their experiences visiting The Star Trek Experience. For those curious about the USS Enterprise project, known as the Las Vegas Enterprise, you can read about it here. ***
Here's episode 3 from The Unofficial Trek Podcast:
A recent article from the website RedShirtsAlwaysDie.com reports that UPN Executives blamed beloved Star Trek Actor Scott Bakula for the bad ratings that the show experienced in its second, third and fourth seasons.
Hosts Bob Turner and Kelly Casto give their "unofficial" take on what led to the cancellation of Star Trek Enterprise. Here's a sneak peak: It was not Scott Bakula.
Read the article here and join Kelly and Bob for a lively discussion.
In The Unofficial Trek Podcast, hosts Bob Turner and Kelly Casto give their "Unofficial" take on the Star Trek universe. From 2019 through 2019, Bob and Kelly hosted the show 70s Trek. It was a look at the events that brought a cancelled, 1960s TV show back from the dead to become a blockbuster movie in 1979. It was a decade that created a multi-million dollar franchise. Now Bob and Kelly will look at the minutia, the concepts, the people and the news pertaining to the Star Trek Universe. It's a fascinating time for Star Trek, with a flood of content about it on the internet.
Bob and Kelly will give their "Unofficial" take. Why unofficial? Because their views are just that, they are theirs and are, therefore, "unofficial."
It's a fresh look at Star Trek from two lifelong fans who have been talking Trek for over 35 years! We hope you'll join Bob and Kelly for their next venture, The Unofficial Trek Podcast.
Visit us at these sites:
Facebook:
https://www.facebook.com/UnofficialTrek
TuneIn:
https://tunein.com/podcasts/Fantasy--Science-Fiction-Podcasts/The-Unofficial-Trek-Podcast-p1546279/
Stitcher:
https://www.stitcher.com/show/the-unofficial-trek-podcast
Spotify:
https://open.spotify.com/show/6IrNzaWSzKyf1T7b4ngZX2
Website:
https://theunofficialstartrekpodcast.libsyn.com/
The co-hosts of 70s Trek, Bob Turner and Kelly Casto, have launched a new show called The Unofficial Trek Podcast. In this show, hosts Bob Turner and Kelly Casto give their "unofficial" take on the concepts, the people and the news pertaining to the Star Trek Universe. It's a fascinating time for Star Trek, with a flood of content about it on the internet. Bob and Kelly will give their "Unofficial" take. Why unofficial? Because their views are just that, theirs and are, therefore, "unofficial."
It's a fresh look at Star Trek from two lifelong fans who have been talking Trek for over 35 years! We hope you'll join Bob and Kelly for their next venture, The Unofficial Trek Podcast.
Visit us at these sites:
Facebook:
https://www.facebook.com/UnofficialTrek
TuneIn:
https://tunein.com/podcasts/Fantasy--Science-Fiction-Podcasts/The-Unofficial-Trek-Podcast-p1546279/
Stitcher:
https://www.stitcher.com/show/the-unofficial-trek-podcast
Spotify:
https://open.spotify.com/show/6IrNzaWSzKyf1T7b4ngZX2
Website:
https://theunofficialstartrekpodcast.libsyn.com/
Welcome to this Bonus Trek episode of 70s Trek. We wanted to get back together and talk about the recent news of the re-merger between CBS and Paramount. And it officially happened on August 13.
Now the larger company, CBS, will absorb the newer version of Viacom which owns BET, Comedy Central...and Paramount.
It started as a 1955 spy novel by Ian Fleming. But it took over 24 years for the book to be made into a movie. And other than the name, the film barely resembled the book.
But the producers of the James Bond movies deliberately chose this story because of what was happening in the 1970s.
We chose to do this movie as a 70s Trek episode because one of our loyal listeners has been asking us to do an episode about Moonraker for some time. To be honest, we weren't sure there was a connection with Star Trek in the 1970s.
Then Calvin Bowles made a point that we couldn’t ignore. The next movie scheduled after “The Spy Who Loved Me” that Bond producer, Cubby Broccoli, intended to make was “For Your Eyes Only”.
In fact, at the end of the credits for "The Spy Who Loved Me," audiences read that James Bond would return in his next adventure, "For Your Eyes Only."
But then a funny thing happened on the way to the production office. A little movie called Star Wars changed Hollywood forever in 1977!
So producers chose to make Moonraker instead and put James Bond in space.
So Moonraker is very much a product of the Star Wars phenomenon and it helped to get audiences ready for another space adventure, "Star Trek The Motion Picture."
So thanks Calvin for your messages and you great information.
It started as an ambitious theatrical film. After performing well in theaters, Battlestar Galactica became a weekly TV series on the ABC network.
But when people think of the original Battlestar Galactica, they think of it being a rip off of Star Wars, or being outdated and very stuck in the style of the 1970s.
But it’s actually a ground-breaking show. It brought cinematic special effects to TV and told a story that was very unique for the time.
In addition to being a unique TV experience, Battlestar Galactica also stoked the fires for more science fiction. When it was cancelled after the 1st season, there was a fan campaign to get it back on the air, which shows how loyal sci-fi fans had become.
So BG kept fans excited for more sci fi, which kept the audience yearning for more when Star Trek hit the big screen.
If it suffers, it’s only because it was ahead of its time. The TV production and story telling techniques of 1978 weren’t ready for a large scale show like Battlestar Galactica.
Look at Ronald D. Moore’s 2003 version. While he updated it, the core of the show remained the same and the 1978 version is very much alive and well in that 2003 version.
Of course, Ron Moore is a Star Trek alum from the 1990s. Another Trek alum on Battlestar Galactica was John Kolicos. In 1967, he played the first ever Klingon, Kor.
And if you’re talking ties, you have to mention Jonathon Harris. Even though he wasn’t in Trek, he did play Dr. Smith on Lost in Space. In BG he lent his voice to the Cylon character Lucifer.
Just three weeks after the premier of Star Trek The Motion Picture, the decade of the 1980s began.
With the new decade came an explosion in popularity for the Star Trek franchise and it all happened with The Motion Picture.
For most critics and moviegoers, though, the film was a disappointment. It didn’t live up to the expectations.
But luckily, the film brought in enough money for Paramount executives to consider making a sequel. It kicked off what would become an incredible, multi-million dollar franchise throughout the ‘80s and into the ‘90s.
The film proved to Paramount that a substantial audience would come out and see a Trek film, which urged them to make more.
Since 2009 there has been three new Star Trek movies, one new series with another four reportedly in development.
Yet enthusiasm for the franchise among die hard fans is low. What’s going on? We’ll explore what is going on in Star Trek today in this episode.
What's Going on? When it comes to connected TV and film universes, Star Trek was the first franchise to do it. Not Marvel.
But that might not happen anymore. And it all has to do with who owns Star Trek. But trying to figure out which corporate entity owns the property can get a bit confusing.
And it’s been that way from the beginning.
A lot of people think Gene Roddenberry and his production company Norway were the original owners. They weren’t.
The original owner was Desilu Studios and in 1968 Paramount Pictures, itself owned by Gulf + Western, purchased Desilu and Star Trek along with it.
In 1994, Viacom purchased Paramount for $9.75 Billion! Star Trek was still controlled and operated by Paramount, the franchise essentially had a new owner.
This next fact seems unrelated, but it isn’t. In 2000, Viacom merged with CBS Corporation.
Interestingly, Viacom was created by CBS back in 1952 as the network’s syndication division. Then it was called CBS Films but was later renamed Viacom.
It was spun off into its own company in 1971.
Back to the year 2000, and Viacom was then owned by National Amusements. The majority owner of that company was Sumner Redstone.
In 2005, Redstone decided to break Viacom apart into two companies, essentially undoing the 1999 merger. The entity known as Viacom became CBS Corporation. It owned all TV and radio divisions, along with Simon and Schuster publishing.
CBS would also own all of the television properties, including Star Trek.
The head of the new CBS Corporation was Les Moonves.
The second company created was a new version of Viacom. It held Paramount studios, MTV and BET networks.
Viacom with Paramount, retains the Star Trek feature film library, and according to some, the rights to make new feature films.
But the exact terms of the rights, and who can do what are not clearly known. And this is where things get a bit murky. But you needed this background to follow and understand what’s happening today.
Throughout the run of 70s Trek we’ve been telling you about what happened in the 1970s. But how did we get our information? We did a lot of digging and looked at multiple sources for each episode. This week we tell you about those sources.
Anyone who has written a research paper in high school or college will remember that there are two types of sources: Primary and Secondary.
Primary sources are those that are original to the event in question. They provide firsthand evidence or testimony to what happened or what people were thinking.
These include court documents, newspapers articles, autobiographies, corporate memos, letters and even photos or videos.
Secondary sources are those written after the fact either using primary sources, or using other secondary sources.
Here on 70s Trek, we used primary sources when we could. But most were secondary sources.
In this episode of 70s Trek, it's part 2 of our conversation with author Marc Cushman as he tells us stories from his new book, These Are the Voyages: Gene Roddenberry and Star Trek in the 1970s, Volume 1.
Cushman wrote three volumes on The Original Series entitled, These Are the Voyages. Each was an episode by episode examination of the production of each and every show. They are a must read for any Star Trek fan.
Now Cushman brings the same research to the decade of the 1970s as he tells the story of how Star Trek came back from network cancellation.
His book is the perfect companion to 70s Trek.
The 1970s were a fascinating time. In fact, they brought about the Star Trek franchise.
Without the ‘70s, Trek would not have had the success it experienced in the ‘80s, ‘90s and beyond. That’s why it’s so interesting that a new book is being released about Star Trek in the the decade of the 1970s.
To quote a most popular Vulcan, this book is “Fascinating.”
This week we have an interview with March Cushman, the man who wrote, “These Are the Voyages: Gene Roddenberry and Star Trek in the 1970s, Volume 1.”
Prior to writing this volume, Marc wrote the book...or books...on Star Trek The Original Series...literally. His 3-volume set on that show, “These are the Voyages,” are a must read for any Star Trek fan.
This week on 70s Trek, we have an interview with the author, Marc Cushman.
Star Trek The Motion Picture not only marked the return of Trek, but it also changed The Star Trek universe in multiple ways. In fact, it would never be the same again.
In some ways those changes were good and in some ways they caused problems. Consider the conundrum that the new Klingon foreheads represented!
But the film took the universe in a completely new direction. The Animated Series was very much a continuation of The Original Series. Meanwhile, Phase II was to be an evolution of the 60s show. But The Motion Picture revolutionized what Star Trek was so it could compete with other science fiction franchises such as Star Wars.
The impact of those changes was felt in every version of Star Trek that followed in the 1980s, ‘90s and early 2000s.
During the 1970s, it was one of the most widely read magazines by kids. Dynamite Magazine was published by Scholastic, Inc. from 1974 to 1992. During its run, it was the most successful magazine for the company...ever!
Dynamite was an educational magazine that was distributed through schools. So it was widely read by kids. If you were a public school kid in the 1970s and 80s, you probably remember it.
The publication covered things that young people were into: Athletes, actors, musicians, and popular TV shows and films. It especially featured sci-fi adventure shows and movies. That included Star Trek.
So this week, Dynamite gets the 70s Trek-treatment as we tell you all about it.
Gene Roddenberry and Paramount had been working on it for 4-½ years, and fans had been waiting for over ten. In December 1979, it was finally here. Star Trek The Motion Picture was in theaters.
And this week we will be going to the movies as co-hosts Bob turner and Kelly Casto finally talk about this film.
It was December 7, 1979. The decade of the 1970s only had three weeks left. Fans were finally getting a chance to see Star Trek The Motion Picture. For them, this movie was the answer to their hopes and dreams. Star Trek was returning, and being a Trekkie was being validated with a major motion picture in the theaters.
For Gene Roddenberry there had to be a feeling of relief and exhilaration, as well. He had been through so much frustration during the decade as he tried to bring Star Trek. Finally, it was up there, on the big screen.
During this week's show, Bob and Kelly will look at the movie based on their recollections and try to answer the following questions:
- Is it a traditional Star Trek Story?
- Is the film well-executed?
- What works and what does not?
- Does it hold up today?
- What would you change?
He was one of the original producers of Star Trek and helped launch the show. John D. F. Black was hired in 1966 as an Executive Story Consultant. He passed away in November 2018 at the age of 85. With his passing so recent, we felt it appropriate to remember him on this episode of 70s Trek.
It was the 10th episode to air in the first season, but was actually the first one to go in front of the cameras after Star Trek had been sold to NBC.
The Corbomite Maneuver aired on November 10, 1966. And despite it being made over 50 years ago, it is still a really good episode.
As 70s Trek approaches Star Trek’s first movie, we thought it would be fitting to look back to Star Trek’s first episode. We wanted to draw an imaginary line between the first Trek episode filmed, and the first movie.
The episode was filmed in late May 1966 and it was the first time that the whole cast was together. DeForest Kelley and Nichelle Nichols did not appear in the 2nd pilot, Where No Man Has Gone Before.
Corbomite was also the first time we saw the characters in the positions they would be in for the rest of the series. Sulu was the helmsman, Uhura the communications officer, and so on.
This is the first time that the crew's "look" was finally established, as well. The men are wearing the colorful uniform shirts with the black collars that we’ll see in the rest of the series. We also see the famous mini skirts and plunging necklines on the female officers, as well.
Co-hosts Bob Turner and Kelly Casto talk about the production an some of the stand out, on-screen moments on this episode of 70s Trek.
It was the first major film adaptation of a TV show...A show that had been off the air for ten years! December 7th, 1979: It’s the day Star Trek The Motion Picture premiered.
And fans had been eagerly awaiting this day for ten years.
In his book “Star Trek Creator,” David Alexander described that Gene Roddenberry and Robert Wise worked on the film until the last minute.
He wrote, “...perhaps not finishing the film so much as simply doing as much as they could in the time permitted...and then stopping.”
Robert Wise took a print of the film with him for the premiere that was fresh from the lab.
When arrived in DC, there was a lot of excitement and anticipation for the film. In her book “The Making of Star Trek The Motion Picture,” Susan Sackett writes, “The fans had been mentally standing in ticket lines before the lines ever existed. As early as February 1979, The Star Trek production offices were swamped with requests for premiere tickets.”
The tagline of 70s Trek has been, “The decade that built a franchise.” This week, we take a deep dive into the 1970s. The show has been about how Gene Roddenberry, Paramount Pictures and others worked in the 70s to bring Star Trek back.
But it’s also our contention that the decade itself was a major player in Trek’s return, too. So this week, we’re talking the 70s. And that could include anything from the Vietnam War to...The James Gang!
The Decade So when we think about the 1970s, it’s a mashing of images and sounds. The 70s was this great blending of clothing styles, musical styles and colors.
The 70s started, obviously, where the 60s ended. So there is a carry over of what was happening in 1969. Things like The Vietnam War, protests about the war, the hippie culture, and student unrest were extended well into the 1970s.
But in the 70s, it seems like a harsh dose of reality kicked in and the psychedelic 60s came to an end. There is perhaps no event that symbolizes this idea more than the Kent State shootings in May 1970. Four students were shot and killed by the Ohio National Guard after four days of riots and protests on the campus of Kent State University in Ohio.
That event was such a big deal that the band Crosby, Stills Nash and Young wrote a song about it called, ”Ohio.” It was getting national airplay just two weeks after the shootings.
This tragic event has been called, "The Day the 60s Died." And unfortunately, it typifies a lot of the sad events that happened during the decade.
While the decade had its share of rough times, there was plenty of fun, too. Listen to this episode of 70s Trek as we explore the 1970s.
On this episode of 70s Trek, we’ll discuss the man who designed V’Ger. Syd Mead was brought in to do one job: That was designing something strange and unusual for the alien craft seen in Star Trek The Motion Picture.
What he created was actually the second V’Ger model. The first was made by Abel and Associates. It didn’t turn out so well...just like so much that was connected with this film. The model was only four-feet long and looked like a submarine.
After Abel and Associates were fired, the new visual effects supervisor, Douglass Trumbull, hired Syd Mead to do a new design. The resulting model was 68-feet long! Big enough to show on screen how large and imposing V'Ger was meant to be.
His creation looks like it has organic origins, like it was grown, rather than built. Unfortunately, we never get to clearly see the whole model in the theatrical version of the film, only sections up close.
This week we are wrapping up Gene Roddenberry’s novelization of Star Trek The Motion Picture. This was Gene’s only book and was based on an early script by Harold Livingston. Of course, the script was based on a story by Alan Dean Foster, the author of the Log books during the 70s.
In this episode, Bob Turner and Kelly Casto will look at chapters 14 through 28 and give their thoughts on the book.
Listen to 70s Trek Episode 115 for part 1 on this novel.
It’s the first Star Trek novel published by Pocket Books, and the only book Gene Roddenberry ever wrote. The novelization of Star Trek The Motion Picture was based on an earlier version of Harold Livingston’s script.
Because of that, there are some distinct differences between the movie and the book. Co-hosts Bob Turner and Kelly Casto tell you what they are on this episode of 70s Trek.
When it was released in the fall of 1979, the novel for Star Trek The Motion Picture immediately landed on the Bestseller’s list, selling nearly one million copies.
The novel is important because it establishes Kirk’s middle name as Tiberius. It also states that Will Decker’s father was Commodore Matt Decker. That character appeared in The Original Series episode, The Doomsday Machine. Neither of these things was ever mentioned on TV or in films.
The book also gave a name to the type of Klingon Battle Cruiser we see in the film. It is known as the K't'inga Class.
Of course, of all the novels written over the decades, this is the only one that can be considered canon. After all, it was written by The Great Bird of the Galaxy himself.
When Star Trek The Motion Picture hit theaters, fans saw two new additions to the cast.
During The Original Series, we got to meet guest characters that helped to tell that week’s story. But they were never members of the crew.
But when we meet Decker and Ilia, they are the first, new, significant crew members to join the ship since Ensign Chekov in the 2nd season.
While we only see these characters in this movie, they do have meaningful roles in the film. That could be due to the fact that the script for The Motion Picture was originally to be the pilot film for the aborted TV show, Star Trek Phase II. That story was called In thy Image.
Had Phase II gotten the green light and moved into production, Decker and Ilia played by Collins and Khambata would have been ongoing, major characters.
This week we’ll tell you about actors Stephen Collins and Persis Khambata.
As the promotion for Star Trek The Motion Picture geared up, Paramount made sure there was plenty of merchandise released to promote the film in December 1979.
One of those items was a comic adaptation of the film. Gold Key Comics had been publishing its Star Trek series since 1967. With a new Star Trek movie about to be released, Paramount decided it was time to end Gold Keys involvement.
The last Gold Key issue to be published was issue 61, marked March 1979, just months before the premiere of The Motion Picture.
Paramount wanted a fresh new take in the comics, and one that reflected Star Trek’s new direction. So they decided to go with Marvel, the home of Spider-Man, The Hulk and the Fantastic Four.
This week we’ll tell you about Marvel's involvement with Star Trek, starting with the adaptation of The Motion Picture.
He is an unsung hero from The Original Series. Associate producer Bob Justman was a key figure in keeping the production side of Star Trek functioning on time ...and on budget.
He came to Star Trek in 1965 and started at the beginning, working on the first pilot, The Cage. Justman stayed until 1968, working on 14 of the 24 shows in the third season.
Like Gene Coon, Bob Justman had a real impact on the show while he was there. He was a major player in getting Star Trek off the ground and functioning as a production.
On this episode of 70s Trek, co-hosts Bob Turner and Kelly Casto tell you about Associate Producer Bob Justman.
Show Notes Robert "Bob" Harris Justman was born July 13, 1926 in Brooklyn
⁃ As a boy he really liked Science Fiction
⁃ His father Joseph Justman was in the produce business. He and his partners did very well.
⁃ In 1944, Bob signed up for the draft. He didn’t get drafted so he went to the draft board and asked why he wasn’t drafted. They said he wasn’t needed. He told them he wanted to go so they sent him the PE building in LA for a physical. He failed due to his eye sight. He protested so they sent him to Ft MacArthur to get a real physical and made it.
⁃ While Bob was in the Navy during WW II his father, Joseph, founded the Motion Picture Center studio
⁃ He rented it to Lucille Ball and Desi Arnaz and in 1950 they bought. The studio became part of Desilu Studios.
⁃ When Bob returned from the navy he worked at the produce firm. He didn’t get paid very well so when his dad asked him to come to LA to work in the motion picture business he decided to leave the produce firm and go to LA.
⁃ He hung around the studio for a time until his money ran out. He then went to one of the producers and asked for a job. This landed him his first job working on the film “Three Husbands” as a production assistant
Justman had quite a career in film and TV as a Production Assistant and Assistant director prior to TOS
⁃ Production assistant on such films as
⁃ 1951's
⁃ The Scarf (featuring Celia Lovsky),
⁃ New Mexico (featuring Jeff Corey and John Hoyt)
⁃ M (featuring Norman Lloyd and William Schallert)
⁃ He Ran All the Way (also with Norman Lloyd),
⁃ 1952's
⁃ Japanese War Bride (with George D. Wallace),
⁃ Red Planet Mars
⁃ Abbott and Costello Meet Captain Kidd (with Leonard Mudie)
⁃ 1953's
⁃ The Moon Is Blue - made in 2 version an english version and a german version
⁃ The Moonlighter.
⁃ Assistant Director and producer
⁃ To be an assistant director you had to be in the Director’s Guild. At the time, to get in the Guild you had to be either the son of a member or be nominated by a studio which was only allowed one nomination a year. He didn’t have either but he requested to be accepted anyway. After waiting an agonizing 30 minutes for an answer the president of the Assistant Directors Counsel, Bob Aldrich, went to him, shook his hand and said, “Welcome brother”
⁃ everyone starts as a 2nd assistant director. It only took Justman about a year to become 1st assistant director which was unheard of
⁃ After Superman Justman was approached to be 1st assistant director on a series of 3 films called “The Americans” which never saw the light of day
⁃ As an assistant director, Justman worked with director Bob Aldrich on several projects.
⁃ They first worked together on the 1952-53 NBC series The Doctor, - This was his first AD job
⁃ after which they collaborated on such films as Kiss Me Deadly (1955) and
⁃ Attack (1956, featuring William Smithers).
⁃ Justman's other films where he was assistant director included;
⁃ The Big Combo (1955, featuring John Hoyt and Whit Bissell),
⁃ Blood Alley (1955, starring Paul Fix),
⁃ While the City Sleeps (1956, with Celia Lovsky)
⁃ Director - Fritz Lang
⁃ Noticed Justman looking at his set plans and Lang spent time to explain the plans to him even though Justman was the 2nd AD
⁃ This was technics that Justman used in the future
⁃ Lang had issues with John Drew Barrymore
⁃ Barrymore looked to his wife for direction instead of Lang which did not make him very happy
⁃ Green Mansions (1959, starring Nehemiah Persoff), and
⁃ 1962's Mutiny on the Bounty (featuring Antoinette Bower, Torin Thatcher and stunts by Paul Baxley).
⁃ Justman was also an assistant director on television shows such as
⁃ The Adventures of Superman (1953-58, 78 ep)
⁃ associate producer for all 78 episodes and
⁃ assistant director on the classic series during its 1954-55 season.
⁃ Justman says that George Reeves was a trooper given what he was put thru
⁃ One time the wire broke and he dropped down to the cement
⁃ Justman learned early to schedule certain shots very carefully. As an example he tells a story about how Reeves would drink his lunch so when he would do the spring-board jump out the window he sort of missed and hit his knees on the window sill
⁃ The Thin Man (1958-59, 31 ep)
⁃ Northwest Passage (1958-59, 13 ep)
⁃ Philip Marlowe (1959-60, 26 ep)
⁃ Alcoa Presents One Step Beyond (1959-1961)
⁃ Produced at the same time as the more well-known The Twilight Zone (1959)
⁃ Some stars included Cloris Leachman, Warren Beatty, Jack Lord, Christopher Lee, Elizabeth Montgomery, Donald Pleasence, and William Shatner,
⁃ Dr. Kildare (1961-66, 6 ep)
⁃ Was asked by the President of MGM TV if Justman new any composers. Justman had heard some of Jerry Goldsmith’s scores and recommended him. As we talked about in Episode XXX This was one of Goldsmith’s breakout opportunities.
⁃ Justman and Goldsmith have never met
⁃ The Outer Limits (1963-65, 20 ep)
⁃ He served as the assistant director for all 20 episodes and a Production Manager in 1964
⁃ Appeared in the 1964 episode "A Feasibility Study" (directed by Byron Haskin, written by Joseph Stefano, and starring David Opatoshu)
⁃ Worked with Shatner on “Cold Hands, Warm Heart” (1964)
⁃ Sally Kellerman, James Dohan
⁃ Lassie (1965-66, 4 ep)
⁃ My Friend Flicka (1956-57)
⁃ While the City SleepsFritz Lang
⁃ In Oct 1964 Justman met GR at Desilu to talk to him about Associate Producer role for the first TOS pilot “The Cage”. Justman recommended Byron Haskin saying that he (Justman) did not have enough post production experience
⁃ first to call Gene Roddenberry "The Great Bird of the Galaxy," drawn from a throwaway line from the original series episode "The Man Trap"
- That takes us to October 1964.
- Gene Roddenberry was in pre-production for Star Trek’s first pilot, The Cage and he needed an associate producer.
- An Associate Producer’s job is to do the dirty work on a show. This person makes sure both the production and post-production phases are running smoothly for every episode.
- They are also responsible for making sure each episode doesn’t run over budget.
- So with a show as complicated as Star Trek was going to be, Gene needed an experienced hand.
- He asked James Goldstone who had worked with Gene on The Lieutenant if he had any suggestions. He recommended Bob Justman.
- Justman met with Gene for about 30 minutes and Gene offered him the job.
- While Justman really wanted it, he turned down Roddenberry’s offer.
- He felt Star Trek’s post-production needs would be great, and he was afraid he didn’t have the experience to get the job done.
- But they also needed an experienced assistant director.
- Justman was, at the time, working on The Outer Limits.
- But Desilu’s Executive in Charge of Production, Herb Solow, called and asked if Justman could work for Star Trek temporarily, just 6 weeks.
- And that was it. The deal was done and Justman came to Star Trek.
- Now the original position that Justman had interviewed for, associate producer, went to Byron Haskin.
- He was an experienced producer, but was hard to get along with.
- And as work started on The Cage, he and Roddenberry butted heads a lot.
- Rodenberry would want a certain effect on a shot, and Haskin would tell him it couldn’t be done. Period. He gave Gene no alternative ideas.
- Often times, Justman was in the middle of these disputes trying to nudge Haskin to come up with something
- Work on The Cage finished, and NBC rejected it. But invited Roddenberry to try again.
-
When Star Trek was offered to do the second pilot, Gene asked Justman back.
- This time, though, he gave him the job of associate producer. Gene had had enough of Haskin.
-
Because of the budget on the 2nd pilot, when post-production finished on it, so did Justman’s job. This was the summer of 1965.
- But Desilu had attracted a number of pilot projects that needed produced.
- So Solow decided to make Justman the associate producer on all of them. This way he could stay at Desilu and be close by if Star Trek was picked up.
- Some of the work he did included Desilu’s other big show, Mission Impossible.
- Star Trek was picked up by NBC in March 1966.
- And Justman’s first task was to move the starship sets from the soundstage where the 2nd pilot was shot, to a new soundstage that would be its home for the series.
- This was actually a monumental task.
- Each section had to be removed, crated and put back into place on the new soundstage in exactly the same configuration.
- The move resulted in some of the sets being redesigned, and reworked for the series.
- One of those sets was the bridge that got a big make over.
- As the show started production, it was Justman’s job to make sure all the little details were taken care of.
- Some of this work included analyzing scripts and establishing production budgets for them,
- Making sure production on one episode, production and post production on a 2nd were all moving forward simultaneously and on schedule.
- Any issues for any shows in any of these stages, were Justman’s to work out.
- Along with his day-to-day duties, Justman also acted in one episode of the series, though he is not creditied for it,
- He is the voice of a security guard in the episode Conscience of the King.
- He also found time to come up with a story idea.
- He came up with the basic story for the episode Tomorrow is Yesterday.
- In fact, he laid that story out in a memo to Gene on April 12, 1966.
- When he didn’t hear anything for 8 months, he sent a reminder to Gene about the idea.
- At that point, the show was hungry for scripts, so Roddenberry approved of the idea and assigned Dorothy Fontana to write the screenplay.
- But in his second memo, you cans ee a little of Justman’s wit.
- He wrote at the end, “Please let me hear from you at your earliest convenience, as otherwise I feel I shall be forced to sell this story idea to “Time Tunnel.” ”
- That’s just one example of Justman’s wit, and it is pretty legendary.
- He would often let his sarcastic sense of humor and dry wit fly in memos.
- An example of his humor can actually be seen in the closing credits of the show.
- For Herb Solow’s credit, Justman intentionally chose a picture of the Balok dummy from the Corbmite Maneuver and positioned Solow’s credit just under the glaring eyes of Balok.
- Justman later wrote in the Book Inside Star Trek, “I thought it a fitting tribute, as did Herb, who thanked me profusely, thereby depriving me of some heavy-duty gloating. I still have the original credit and display it in my office at home, suitably framed in the cheapest, junkiest frame I could find.”
- And there’s another incident that speaks to Justman’s humor.
- The show was shooting a script that was still being written by Roddenberry.
- The last shot was about to be completed, and if they didn’t get the new pages for the next scene, they would be forced to shut down production. That costs money!
- So Justman went to Gene’s office. Roddenberry kept writing away, and didn’t acknowledge Justman.
- Justman waited a few minutes and finally asked, him, “How much longer Gene?”
- Roddenberry ignored him and kept writing.
- Justman waited some more. At one point Gene looked up, thinking about something, ignored Justman, and went back to work.
- Justman later wrote, “He shouldn’t have done that. I climbed up onto his desk and stood there, looking down at him. ‘That’ll teach him to ignore me, I thought.”
- After a few minutes more, Gene finally ripped the pages free of the typewriter, finished scribbling on them, and without looking at Justman, reached up and handed them to him.
- Without saying anything, Justman jumped down and went to the set.
- This became a standard routine through the 1st and 2nd seasons of the show. Whenever Gene was still writing, Justman would jump up on his desk and wait for the pages.
- But there’s a little addendum to this story.
- There came a time when Justman tried to get in Gene’s office and the door was locked.
- He realized that there was an electronic latch on the door that, when Justman entered the outer office, Gene’s secretary would activate.
- Not to be out done, Justman waited until the secretary left on an errand. Found the switch and unlocked Gene’s door.
- Then without saying a word, he entered Roddenberry’s office, walked past Gene who was busy writing, and exited through another door at the other end of the office.
- Justman wrote, “We never discussed it, not even in later years. It was our own private joke and it helped cement an already close friendship.”
- The 2nd year of Star Trek was by far its best. It’s when all the right people were active in the right positions.
- Speaking of positions, Justman told Roddenberry at this time that he wanted to move up to a full producer’s position for Star Trek’s third season, and Gene agreed it was probably time.
- With the letter writing campaign at the end of the 2nd year, Star Trek’s third season was guaranteed.
- But it wasn’t going to go the way anyone thought it would.
- NBC first told Roddenberry that Star Trek would be on at 7:30 on Monday.
- Then it changed the position to Friday at 8:30.
- But, it finally settled on Fridays at 10pm, a time when Star Trek’s core audience would not be home watching TV.
- It was this move by NBC that prompted Roddenberry to move out of his producer role and become the Executive Producer of the show.
- That position is further up the chain of command, and has nothing to do with the day-to-day operations.
- Roddenberry had, in effect, quit Star Trek.
- As pre-production for the third season began, the show had no story editor.
- So Justman jumped in and started reading and analyzing stories and scripts. Then he would forward his thoughts to Gene.
- Roddenberry never responded and seldom read Justman’s reports.
- To make matters worse, there was no one to rewrite scripts. Justman urged Roddenberry to hire someone.
- Gene finally got back to him and said, “Good news Bob, Star Trek’s going to have a new producer this year.”
- Justman thought gene was about to say, “It’s you.”
- Instead, Roddenberry said, “Fred Freiberger’s coming in as our new producer…”
- Hustman was stunned. “Gene, I thought I would be producer.”
- “You will,” said Roddenberry. “You’ll be a co-producer.”
- The new studio, Paramount, and NBC wanted an experienced hand at the help of such a complicated show. Justman was viewed as a nuts and bolts guy, and Roddenberry didn’t fight for him.
- Justman’s attitude toward Star Trek never recovered.
- In fact the morale of the entire cast and crew began to sink. Star Trek was not a fun place to work anymore.
- Gene was now gone. Frieberger had to labor to understand the show. And the bulk of the daily chores fell on Justman.
- He later wrote, “I was alone, struggling against insuperable odds.”
- Without Roddenberry, the writing process was no longer about good stories. It was now just budget-driven. Justman wrote, “There were no highs and no lows---just a boring in-between…The Star Trek I knew, and was proud to be a part of, was no more.”
- He expressed his concerns to paramount’s head of TV, Doug Cramer.
- Cramer asked Justman to stay and promised him his pick of future pilots to work on if he did.
- Justman said he’s love to do a pilot for Cramer, but he wanted out of his contract.
- Paramount came back and offered more money, but that wasn’t what Justman wanted.
- Justman was burned out.
- That’s when Herb Solow called. He was now the head of MGM Television and he offered Justman a full producers job on the pilot for “Then Came Bronson.”
- He quit Paramount the next day and, according his own words, became persona non grata at Paramount for the next 18 years.
- After Star Trek, Justman went on to work on shows like Search and Man from Atlantis.
- In 1987, he rejoined Gene Roddenberry and others from The Original Series on Star Trek The Next Generation.
- He served as Supervising Producer for 17 episodes in the first season.
- In 1996, he and Herb Solow published their book, Inside Star Trek: The Real Story. If you haven’t read this one, it is a very captivating look at what was going on behind the scenes at Star Trek.
- Bob Justman died of Parkinson’s Disease in 2008.
- Some of this work included analyzing scripts and establishing production budgets for them,
When it comes to special effects professionals from the 1970s, two names came to mind: Douglas Trumbull and John Dykstra.
When Doug Trumbull was brought in to do the effects on Star Trek The Motion Picture, he was given carte blanche to get them produced on time. To do this, he recruited a team of some of the best visual effects people in the world.
That included his friend, John Dykstra. He served as the supervisor of visual effects on projects like the original Battlestar Galactica and Star Wars. In 1979 he jumped in to help create over 500 visual effects for The Motion Picture.
But the workload ahead of them was considerable: They needed to create more special effects than those in Star Wars and Close Encounters of the Third Kind...combined!
Of course for Dykstra to work on The Motion Picture, he had to have a pretty significant background.
Silent Running Back in 1971, Trumbull was recruiting recent college grads to work with him on the film Silent Running. This was to save money due to the film’s low budget. Dykstra’s job was to film the movie's models.
In 1975, George Lucas tried to get Doug Trumbull to work on his new film, Star Wars. ButTrumbull was already working on Close Encounters of the Third Kind. So he recommended Dykstra.
While working on that film, Dykstra developed a new computer controlled camera system for the visual effects, the first of its kind, ever!
However, Lucas saw Dykstra's development work as tinkering, and not focusing on the shots he needed produced for his movie. When Lucas finished principle photography, he dismissed Dykstra.
Battlestar Galactica From there, Dykstra was hired to do the visual effects for the three-hour premiere for Battlestar Galactica. While the effects are impressive and ground-breaking, 20th Century Fox filed suit against Universal, claiming that Battlestar was plagiarized from Star Wars. They argued that the TV show had similar design style and visual effects.
The suit was eventually settled out of court.
Principal photography wrapped on Star Trek The Motion Picture on January 26, 1979. Most of the cast and crew headed off to other work. But director Robert Wise and those working on the film’s post production stayed on the job. They had less than 11 months to get the film ready.
The Final Shot The last scene shot for the film was the one that saw Decker and the Ilia-probe merge. The lighting for this shot was so bright that actors Stephen Collins and Persis Khambatta both complained about vision problems the following day. Of course, their vision did eventually clear.
When that shot was complete, everyone went home and director Robert Wise went on a short vacation. When he returned, it was time to start editing. They had a lot to do in a short period of time because of delays.
Visuals Were Behind the Eight Ball Production on the film had run over schedule. On top of that, the visual effects were essentially non-existent. Abel and Associates, the company contracted to create the film's visual effects, had accomplished very little by the end of January 1979. That firm was fired and Douglas Trumbull was brought in. He had 500 special effects shots to create and only six months to do them.
We cover Trumbull and the visual effects in Episode 102 of 70s Trek.
Music Another area that needed completed was the musical score. Composer Jerry Goldsmith had been hired to create the soundtrack. It proved so complicated, though, that Goldsmith was still recording music on December 1, just five days before the premiere.
Editing Of course, the film needed to be edited. Todd Ramsay had been piecing together shots since production started in August 1978. But as the production on the visual effects and the musical score dragged on, it pushed the editing of the film back further.
By the fall of '79, it became obvious that there would not be enough time for a preview of the movie. So as the final elements were added the film had to be copied for the over 3,000 theaters that were to show it around the country.
Shipping Rows upon rows of film canisters sat on the floor of a MGM sound stage waiting for the final reel to come out of the developer so they could all be shipped.
The Motion Picture did arrive in theaters on time, but director Bob Wise didn't think of this version as a final cut. He felt that things had been rushed so much that the film that went out was really just a rough cut.
The premiere of Star Trek The Motion Picture was set for December 7, 1979. As that date grew closer in the fall of '79, there was a flood of products released into stores, all designed to help promote the film.
On this episode of 70s Trek, co-hosts Bob Turner and Kelly Casto discuss some of the products that tied into the film.
The merchandise that was released took many forms. There were books, comics, models, games, toys and more that all tied into the movie. Some were unique such as the gold, 14-inch Mr. Spock Grenadier decanter. Or first-time products such as the McDonald's Star Trek Meal, the first-ever tie-in promotion for a Happy Meal.
Some were curious, too. Such as Paramount's decision to release The Motion Picture for the home viewing market on Super 8 film. This choice came as Betamx and VHS tapes were growing in use and the home film market was dying.
Interestingly, the move by Paramount makes Star Trek The Motion Picture the only film or program in the franchise to be released on Super 8.
With his work on Star Trek The Motion Picture, he created the musical template for the franchise for the next 26 years. Composer Jerry Goldsmith re-imagined what Star Trek music could be in 1979. He created a score unlike anything that had come before.
This week, co-hosts Bob Turner and Kelly Casto talk about this award-winning composer who made a lasting impact on the franchise.
It’s safe to say that the legacy of Jerry Goldsmith is that he set the standard, and in deed the template, for what Star Trek music would be for the following 26 years.
Even if he didn’t work on it, every movie and TV show that followed through 2005 all had his influence. They were all the same musically.
And it’s all because of the work Jerry Goldsmith did for The Motion Picture.
When it was revealed at the end of Star Trek The Motion Picture that a Voyager probe was actually the mysterious V’Ger, moviegoers experienced instant recognition.
Voyager 1 and 2 had launched just two years before and in 1979, both probes were in the news again as they approached Jupiter. So audiences easily recognized the name and the shape of the Voyager probe in the movie. Talk about being timely! The star Trek production team hit a home run with this surprise reveal.
NASA Inspires Livingston and Roddenberry It’s brilliant what Harold Livingston and Gene Roddenberry did. By placing a Voyager probe at the center of the story for The Motion Picture, they tied their futuristic movie to real events that were happening in 1979.
Voyager 1 was in the news in the fall of 1978 as it approached Jupiter. Clearly Livingston and Roddenberry heard the news, and decided to make it part of the story.
And Voyager 1 and 2 remained in the news from January to August in 1979 as both probes passed by Jupiter. So audiences heard the name Voyager, and saw images of the probes for 8 months in 1979. So all of it was still fresh in their minds when they watched Star Trek The Motion Picture in December 1979.
On this week's episode of 70s Trek, Bob turner and Kelly Casto tell you about the two Voyager space probes that inspired The Motion Picture.
In 1978, a movie hit theaters that showed just how far special effects had come. Superman The Movie Wowed audiences and set the bar really high when it came to special effects.
The tagline in the marketing campaign for Superman The Movie was, “You’ll believe a man can fly.” That tagline was something of a message to the creators of the new Star Trek movie. By December 1978, principle photography was wrapped and it had moved into post-production.
But you could say that with Superman’s impressive special effects and story, Star Trek needed to ensure that audiences, “would believe space travel is real.”
And pressure was already mounting internally on the production as it ran over schedule and budget. Visual effects were going poorly, as well, as the company in charge of producing them fired not long after.
Then, there was Superman The Movie, a huge blockbuster hit in the same genre. That had to add the pressure to the production team.
But Superman did something else for The Motion Picture. It got audiences ready. It’s safe to say that the two franchises probably share fans. So Superman just got that fan base jazzed up and excited.
After the dust settled from Superman and we were well into 1979, fans most likely began looking to December for the premiere of Star Trek The Motion Picture.
In 1979, visual effects supervisor Doug Trumbull walked into an impossible situation on The Motion Picture and completely turned it around.
Douglas Trumbull It’s fair to say that when you think about visual effects from the 1970s, two names come to mind: John Dykstra and Doug Trumbull.
During the 1960s and 70s, Trumbull developed an impressive resume. When he finally came to Star Trek in 1979, he had worked on four of the biggest sci-fi movies in the previous 11 years.
And it was that experience that helped him do the impossible on The Motion Picture.
Trumbull came to Star Trek late, and as a result had very little time to execute on a huge amount of work. The company that had previously been hired to produce the effects, Abel & Associates, had produced practically nothing that could be used.
Trumbull joined the production after Abel had been fired. He only had 6 months left until the premiere date and had 525 special effects shots to produce. This was a near impossible task.
Added to this situation was the impending class action law suit that theater owners threatened to bring if The Motion Picture did not arrive by December 7, 1979, its opening date.
So Trumbull needed to produce the needed shots or there would be, literally, hell to pay. The pressure was immense.
In this episode of 70s Trek, we’ll tell you about Doug Trumbull, who could easily be called, “The Man Who Saved Star Trek The Motion Picture.”
In the 1970s, there was a version of Star Trek produced that did not feature the original actors. The audio adventures of Star Trek produced by Power Records did have a different cast and featured all-new stories of the crew of the Enterprise.
They stand out as something unique in the 1970s. It is the first produced version of Star Trek that featured an entirely new cast. Unfortunately, we don’t know who they are. The voice actors were not listed on the albums and they don’t appear anywhere on the internet. So their identities have been lost through the years.
There is more about these stories that we don't know, as well. For instance, these stories were sold with comic books. And the identities of the illustrators and writers for some of them are not listed.
But we do know that there were a few big names connected with the stories. Several were written by some notable names like comic book writers Neal Adams, Dick Giordano, John Buscema and Cary Bates.
Another writer of these stories was author Alan Dean Foster. He penned the Star Trek Log Books and would go on to create the story for Star Trek - The Motion Picture.
She was not only a major contributor to The Original Series, but also broke new ground for women in the 1960s.
Dorothy Fontana went from Gene Roddenberry’s secretary to being the Script Consultant on the show in just a few months. It was her story telling skill and intellect that made those stories she touched...memorable.
She achieved what few women could in the mid-1960s. Not only did she have a professional career, but she achieved a position that, at that time, was usually reserved only for men.
And she did it before she was 30!
So it seems fitting for our 100th episode that we’re talking about someone who had such a huge impact on Star Trek, while also being a ground-breaking figure.
It was the moment that many Star Trek fans thought would never happen. Production on The Motion Picture began on August 7, 1978. After being off the air for nine years and experiencing so many false starts, it seemed hard to believe that work on a Star Trek project was really happening!
It had been 3,497 days since production ended on the last episode of Star Trek's original run, Turnabout Intruder. That was the last time that live-action Star Trek had been in front of the cameras.
That was way back on January 9, 1969. And now some 9½ years later, a new Star Trek was finally in production. This time, a major motion picture.
Production took 125 days and wrapped on January 26, 1979. After that, it was time for the special effects and post-production team to work on the film.
There was just 11 months before the premiere.
When Paramount decided to make Star Trek The Motion Picture, executives wanted to make sure that everything got updated from the 60s show. That included the Enterprise. This week we tell you about how the starship was redesigned.
The Origins The legendary Matt Jeffries designed the original Enterprise. And when Star Trek Phase II was in pre-production, Jeffries was asked to update his design.
Jeffries began his work using a drawing he made back in 1964. This was an alternate version of the ship that he created as a back up. He wanted to make sure he had something ready just in case Gene Roddenberry didn’t like the Enterprise design that Jeffries pitched for the show.
He also thought that if Star Trek lasted for several seasons, the Enterprise might need updating. So he saved these designs. Jeffries thought that if anything would change on the ship, it would be the warp engines.
In those early drawings you can see the flatter engines and the swept back support pylons that would eventually show up on the Enterprise in The Motion Picture.
The Devil is in the Details But when Paramount execs made the decision to make The Motion Picture, the Phase II design needed updating again. They were highly influenced by the movie Star Wars. In that film, the spaceship models all had a high level of details. Executives at Paramount believed that this was one of the factors that helped make that film a success.
So, it only seemed natural that the Enterprise needed lots of detail too! This started the creation of an entirely new model for The Motion Picture, one that would take nine months to create, have leading-edge technology installed in it, cost $1 million and face several accidents on the way to the studio.
One of the hallmarks of The Original Series was its use of color. In the mid to late 60s, color TVs were finally available and Star Trek went out of its way to make use of that new technology with colorful uniforms, sets and lighting.
But as pre-production was under way on The Motion Picture, director Robert Wise decided to take the film in a very different direction.
He introduced a very monochromatic look. He used shades of gray and silver everywhere and played down bright colors. He decided to do the same with the new Starfleet uniforms, as well.
His view was that the multi-colored uniforms were OK for the small TV screen, but replicating that look on the big screen, might be unrealistic to moviegoers.
He wanted the new uniforms to be simple and lack color. What we ended up seeing on the screen showed up only once. But they have become symbolic of this time in Star Trek’s history.
Some people love them and some people hate them. But no matter how you felt about them they’ve become part of Star Trek’s history and lore. When you see them, you know they’re from The Motion Picture.
Robert Fletcher Bill Theiss worked on the uniforms and costumes on The Original Series and was asked to come back to work on Phase II. But when The Motion Picture became a reality, and Bob Wise was hired to direct, Theiss was let go.
Wise wanted to go in a different direction with costumes. So he brought in designer Robert Fletcher. The costume designer was pretty established by 1978. He had created costumes for ballet, opera, Broadway plays and TV shows.
His job was to come up with a totally new look for the crew. Mini-skirts were no longer in fashion in 1978, and producers were afraid that if they included them, it might appear sexist. As we mentioned earlier, the brightly colored uniforms were also out. Wise was afraid they would detract from the story when they were seen on the big screen.
So Fletcher wanted to make sure his new uniforms didn’t detract from the action and the relationships, but also needed to make sure they looked like an evolution from the TV show.
That was his challenge when he began designing them in 1978.
Is there one episode from Star Trek, The Original Series that best exemplifies the show? Co-hosts Bob Turner and Kelly Casto believe there is and they tell you their choices on this episode of 70s Trek.
Which Episode Is It? Pretend that you have a friend that has never seen Star Trek before. You want to recommend an episode that really exemplifies what the show is about so your friend will get it.
What show would you suggest?
Is it The City on the Edge of Forever? Or Space Seed? Maybe it’s The Tholian Web?
It’s a debate that has raged for decades. What episode best exemplifies Star Trek? And everyone has their own choice. To help us make our selections...logically...we compared the episodes against certain criteria before we making our choices.
First, we define Star Trek as an action adventure drama that occasionally has a message or moral to share with the viewers.
We also considered classic Star Trek themes such as thinking their way out of a situation, Starfleet ideals, and even the friendship between the main characters.
Then we made our choices. What are they? You'll have to listen to this episode of 70s Trek.
The word “script” is defined as “the written text of a play, movie, or broadcast.” Yet is so much more that that, too. The script is also a road map that leads the actors, the production team and even the viewers through a story to a fulfilling end.
Good scripts leave you feeling satisfied. Bad scripts make you confused. And in 1978, everyone was confused about the script for the Star Trek film project.
What's Going On? In August 1977, Paramount CEO Michael Eisner decided to move the Star Trek property away from being a TV show, Phase II, and to instead make a blockbuster film, The Motion Picture.
But it didn’t go easily.
Gene Roddenberry and the production team didn’t have the main element in place needed to make a film: A good story.
In fact, the idea for the Phase II TV pilot was still being shaped and developed when Eisner decided to make the Star Trek movie. so while there was a concept, it was not a fully developed one. But Eisner wanted to shift gears to blockbuster film anyway.
The challenge was the process that the production team was working with to develop this movie. Typically a film starts with the story idea first, then you bring in the director, the actors and the production team you think can realize that vision.
Star Trek didn’t follow that process.
It already had a team in place led by Roddenberry, and actors for the established characters. What they didn't have was the story. So Star Trek was working backwards which led to the production not proceeding smoothly.
To make matters worse, there had been so many Star Trek ideas flying around since 1975 that the production team, and Roddenberry in particular, wasn’t sure where to go with the story anymore. they were simply burnt out and needed fresh ideas.
In this episode of 70s Trek, co-hosts Bob Turner and Kelly Casto discuss the many script evolutions and how a satisfying resolution for the last act was finally reached.
Their job is to die! These characters serve the role of giving the writer someone to kill so the main characters don’t have to. Of course we're talking about the "Redshirts."
The term “Redshirt” in our culture has taken on the meaning of an unimportant person who can be sacrificed. Of course, it originated on Star Trek as fans watched red-shirted security officers die over and over again.
In fact, the idea of "redshirts" has become so popular that author John Scalzi wrote the book, Redshirts. It was published in 2012. It’s a spoof on Star Trek and tells the story of a low-ranking, red-shirted officer posted on a starship. He realizes his colleagues in security are all dying off on away missions. He’s afraid he might be next. Sound familiar?
The book was a New York Times bestseller.
This week co-hosts Bob Turner and Kelly Casto take a tongue-in-cheek look at redshirts on the show. For their purposes, they define “redshirts” as any insignificant character that gets killed as part of the story. The color of the uniform shirt doesn’t matter.
The Bloodiest Redshirt Episode The Star Trek episode with the most Redshirt deaths is the Season 2 show, Obsession. Five security officers lose their lives in this episode. The most notable is Mr. Leslie, played by actor Eddie Paskey.
While we think Leslie is gone forever, he actually returns to be seen in the background of 19 other Star Trek episodes! Such was the practice of TV producers in the 1960s.
Total Redshirt Deaths The unofficial, non-scientific survey of redshirt deaths conducted by 70s Trek stands at 44. Of course,
He’s the person who brought Star Trek to the big screen.
Director Robert Wise had a long and notable career before coming to Star Trek. When producers were looking for a director, his name jumped off the page!
The hiring of Wise was a sign that the project was legitimate and the power of Paramount was behind it. It's also a sign that Gene Roddenberry and the studio execs knew they needed an experienced filmmaker to get this movie going and get it finished by its premiere date.
Robert Wise was a guy who could do that. At this point in 1978, he had worked in the business for 44 years and as a director for 36. That’s a lot of experience.
Hiring Robert Wise In August 1977, Paramount CEO Michael Eisner decided to cancel Star Trek Phase II and create a big budget film for Star Trek. As we talked about back in Episode 89 of 70s Trek, director Robert Collins had been hired to direct the Phase II TV pilot, In Thy Image in the fall of 1977.
But Paramount felt that the big budget film project needed a credible film director. Gene Roddenberry suggested Robert Wise.
The two had met years earlier at a science fiction seminar at the University of Arizona. They found they had a lot in common and talked about possibly working together someday. The new Star Trek film gave them that opportunity.
Eisner called Bob Wise and pitched the idea of him directing the movie. Wise told him he wasn’t a Trekkie, but he was willing to come down and talk about it.
At the meeting, Eisner and Jeffrey Katzenburg told him about the project and set him up in a screening room where he could watch episodes of Star Trek to get a feel for the show.
Wise told William Shatner for his book Movie Memories,
“I liked them, thought they were all pretty good, and a couple of them were really exceptional. So I went back and talked with Michael and Jeffrey one more time, and at that point things really started falling into place. I’d made the Andromeda Strain, I’d made The Day the Earth Stood Still, what better way was there to continue forward than with the crew of the Enterprise?”
Wise was hired in early March 1978. When he signed his contract, he insisted that he be given the authority of not just the film’s director, but also the executive producer. That gave him the authority to make decisions that got things done. If there was a logjam or difference of opinion about something, he could come in and tell others how to move forward.
The Search for Spock But of course, it was the role that his wife Millicent and her father played that really helped the project move in the right direction. They convinced Wise that Leonard Nimoy as Spock was essential to any Star Trek project. The film would never work without him.
So when Wise told Eisner and Katzenburg that he wanted to do the film, he also told them that the project can’t move forward without Nimoy. They agreed, and Eisner sent Katzenburg to New York to convince Nimoy to join the project.
Wise was able to convince Eisner that giving in to Nimoy’s demands about royalties and residual payments for using his likeness, was a better alternative than trying to do Star Trek without him. Paramount gave in to Nimoy's demands and within days he was attached to the project.
Spock was back.
The new Netflix documentary The Toys That Made Us is a gret way to look back at some of the toys you maight have played with as a child.
The first Episode of season 2 is all about Star Trek toys. The episode spends a considerable amount of time discussing the Mego Corporation. that is the company that made, among other things, the Star Trek line of action figures during the 70s.
The Mego Toy Corporation was able to purchase the rights for Star Trek for just $5,000! That line would eventually earn $50 million in sales in the 1970s!
Co-hosts Bob Turner and Kelly Casto talk about Mego during the 70s in this episode.
In the 1970s, Star Trek’s return had taken many forms. Multiple rejected movie ideas had finally led to one being green-lighted, The Planet of the Titans. But ultimately, Paramount cancelled that project too.
But In June 1977, Paramount announced its plans to create a 4th TV network with a new Star Trek show, Phase II, as the anchor. But just two months later, Paramount changed their plans and decided to take Star Trek to the big screen.
Meanwhile, in the fall of 1977, production is continued on Phase II, and the crew of that show did’t yet know that the show had been secretly cancelled.
On November 11, 1977, just two and a half weeks before production on Phase II was due to start, the studio announced that the television series had been cancelled in favor of a new feature film. Cast and crew who had been hired just that Monday were laid off by Friday, and construction on Phase II sets came to a halt.
These were the events that lead up to the start of pre-production on the project eventually called Star Trek The Motion Picture.
Co-hosts Bob Turner and Kelly Casto tell you about what pre-production involved on this episode of 70s Trek.
For many, Chief Engineer Montgomery Scott is their favorite character. He was a mix of old-world charm, a loving father to his engines, and an 18th century sailor - An old-salt.
Yet when the ship was in danger, Scotty was always there to save the day, even when Kirk and Spock were not on board.
Jimmy Doohan did an incredible job creating and portraying this character. He instilled warmth, comedy, and leadership which all made Mr. Scott a complex character that fans loved!
This week on 70s Trek co-hosts Bob Turner and Kelly Casto present their Top 5 Scotty Moments from the show. What are your favorites? Tell us at our Facebook page.
Today it's considered a science fiction classic. Steven Spielberg's 1977 film Close Encounters of the Third Kind was unlike any alien encounter film that came before it. It ended on a positive note and did not portray the aliens as conquerors.
The film earned $492 million worldwide, or $1.2 Billion in 2018 dollars! This phenomenal success played a role in the re-emergence of Star Trek. It convinced Paramount executives that there was a permanent audience for quality science fiction movies and that their decision to make Star Trek The Motion Picture was the right one.
After Close Encounters, the studio no longer second-guessed its decision. It was "full speed ahead!"
On this week's 70s Trek, we tell you about this Spielberg's sci-fi classic.
Even though Star Trek Phase II was officially cancelled by Paramount in August 1977 to make The Motion Picture instead, the production team working on the show didn’t know it.
Paramount decided to keep its decision a secret until it had all the business arrangements in order first. So the Phase II team was kept in the dark, purposefully. They continued on as if nothing had ever happened.
Because as far as they knew, it hadn’t!
So the production crew continued to hire actors, redesign the Enterprise and build new sets. Of course, as the crew ramps up for a production that will never happen, the creative team also needed story ideas.
Former Roddenberry assistant and new story editor Jon Povil listened to hundreds of pitches, trying to find just the right stories that fit Star Trek's unique requirements.
On this episode of 70s trek, co-hosts Bob Turner and Kelly Casto tell you about the second group of stories that would have made up the first season of Star Trek Phase II.
Production was moving forward on the first Star Trek TV spin-off, Phase II, in the summer and fall of 1977.
Even though Paramount, in August 1977, had already decided that Phase II was dead.
To ensure that they had all of the cast contracts in place for the coming movie...and to make sure that this time, the production would move forward...the studio waited until March 1978 to tell the world about this new version of the production, Star Trek The Motion Picture.
And of course during that time, between August ‘77 and March ‘78, nobody working on Phase II knew that it was dead. They were kept in the dark.
So work on the show continued. Along with building the sets, signing the cast, and creating a new model for the Starship Enterprise...the production staff needed stories.
In the book, Star Trek Phase II, the authors Judith and Garfield Reeves-Stevens explain that Jon Povil, the story editor for the show, had to listen to hundreds of pitches from writers!
From those pitches, 13 emerged as the best stories that fit the show’s hour-long format, and Star Trek’s unique universe.
In this episode of 70s Trek, we tell you about six of them:
- Tomorrow and the Stars
- Cassandra
- The Child
- Kitumba Parts 1 and 2
- Practice in Walking
- Deadlock
Next week, we tell you about the last seven scripts.
In the summer of 1977, Gene Roddenberry was busy making plans for a new TV show that would be the first Star Trek spin-off. Star Trek Phase II would update the look and feel of the original series so it would fit the 1970s. Of course, that included the look of the Enterprise, as well.
Phase II Enterprise It's an intriguing idea: There was almost a Star Trek show in 1978 that would have featured a redesigned USS Enterprise. The knowledge of Phase II stayed hidden from fans for decades. But internet websites have brought this lost series to light in recent years.
Now, when you search "Star Trek Phase II" on the internet, there’s a huge amount of content. You can find a multitude of articles, videos and images. There's even a pretty well-known fan film group that chose the name, "Star Trek Phase II" when they told the continuing adventures of the Starship Enterprise.
On top of all of that, there’s been even more content in the last few months with the recent release of a starship model of the Phase II Enterprise by the company Eaglemoss, as part of their Star Trek Starships Collection.
The release of that model is interesting timing, since that’s the subject of this week's episode.
On this episode of 70s Trek we talk about the first Star Trek spin off. And it is not The Next Generation. The first, planned, live-action sequel to The Original Series was actually a show called Star Trek Phase II.
Phase II After spending two years looking for the right Star Trek film script in the mid 1970s, Paramount executives began to think that making a Trek movie might not work. Thus, they began to shift their thinking, and started looking at Star Trek from the view point of its origins: A television property.
While the Star Trek activity played itself out, Paramount was looking into creating a fourth television network. It was an idea the company had considered before. Now with Trek moving back toward being a TV show, it seemed natural to move forward with the new network with a new Star Trek TV show as its anchor.
Then on May 25, 1977, the movie Star Wars was released. This convinced studio execs to move forward with Trek as a TV show. The thinking by execs was that moviegoers had seen their science fiction movie and would not want to see another one again for some time.
Of course, they totally misread the audience.
From this frustration of not being able to develop Trek as a film, from thinking that they had missed their chance, and Paramount’s desire to start a new TV network, Star Trek Phase II was born.
The Planet of the Apes was a true phenomenon during the decade. The 1968 film inspired four sequels, a television show, a Saturday morning cartoon and millions of dollars in merchandise during the 70s.
Co-hosts Bob Turner and kelly Casto discuss the 1968 film and how its sequels influenced Star Trek's return.
In the 1970s, writer David Gerrold supported Star Trek with enthusiasm. In fact, you might even say he was a cheerleader for the show. During the decade he wrote scripts for The Animated Series, voiced animated characters, appeared at conventions and wrote two books about Star Trek. He even appeared in The Motion Picture in 1979.
Between 1970 and 1973, just about everyone else who had been involved with Star Trek had moved on from the show. Even Gene Roddenberry was producing other TV pilots. But David Gerrold continued to rally the fans during those years and helped keep Trek alive for them.
He authored two non-fiction books about the show: The Trouble with Tribbles and The World of Star Trek. He also penned two scripts The Animated Series, More Tribbles More Troubles and Bem, and even did voice work in two episodes.
In 1977, Hollywood was shaken to its core when a little, independent film became a major hit. The movie was Star Wars and it directly impacted not only the future of the Star Trek franchise, but also the future of movie making.
The film was something new and fresh and it came at a time when people needed something new and uplifting.
America had been through some difficult times in the 70s. The watergate scandal forced Richard Nixon to resign as president. And in 1975, America pulled out of Vietnam in a less than victorious fashion. Then came gas lines, the energy crisis and high inflation.
It seemed like one problem after another was plaguing America. Then in the middle of all of that, Star Wars was released. The film was different from most 70s-era sci-fi movies. They were largely apocalyptic and took a negative view of the future.
Star Wars was a positive film with a positive message.
This week co-hosts Bob Turner and Kelly Casto talk about the actor who played the Captain of the Enterprise, William Shatner, on this episode of 70s Trek. His portrayal of the unflappable, heroic captain has become iconic. While playing Kirk wasn't difficult for Shatner, working after the show went off the air was.
Early Life.
William Shatner grew up in Montreal, Canada and knew early on he wanted to be an actor. After college, he worked extensively on Broadway and in early television. During his early career, Bill Shatner was considered to be on the same career trajectory as Robert Redford.
Star Trek
When Star Trek's first captain, Jeffrey Hunter, decided not to return for the second pilot, Gene Roddenberry asked William Shatner to step in as the new skipper of the Enterprise.
When the show was picked up and went into production, Shatner remembers that it didn't feel like work. Instead, he considered the feeling that the cast and crew shared as being family.
After Trek
Shatner went through a lot around the time that the show was cancelled. Not only was he losing a steady job relationships from the show, but he was also going through a divorce. The long hours away from home took their toll on his marriage.
But his alimony was based on his Star Trek salary, so he needed to work and earn a paycheck. He took the steadiest job he could get: He signed on with a traveling play for the summer of 1969.
Trying to save money, he bought a used pickup truck with a collapsable camper and drove from town to town where the play opened next.
This living arrangement found him laying in his camper with a small black and white TV on his chest when Neil Armstrong and Buzz Aldrin walked on the moon on July 20, 1969. It leaves you with an ironic image: The former Captain Kirk had been reduced to watching the first real steps of man's exploration of space in the back of a used camper.
The 1970s
Shatner spent the years between 1969 and 1978 taking any acting job he could find. As a result he accumulated an impressive amount of work. In those years he worked on the following projects:
- 7 films
- 18 TV movies
- 2 mini series
- Guest-starred on 45 different TV series eoisodes
- Starred in one Prime-Time series, Barbary Coast
- And Voiced a children's TV show. Star Trek: The Animated Series.
He also worked on some of the most popular TV shows of the day:
- Hawaii 5-0
- Barnaby jones
- Six Million Dollar Man
- Medical Center
- Mission Impossible
- Marcus Welby, MD
- Mannix
- Ironside
- Kung Fu
- The Rookies
- Police Woman
- Police Story.
The Motion Picture
After several false starts, Paramount finally picked a script with which to move forward and produce a Star Trek film. Star Trek The Motion Picture went into production in 1978 and premiered in December 1979. It capped what had been a busy and frustrating decade for William Shatner.
But The Motion Picture paved the way for more movies and more success on the 1980s and the decades to follow. William Shatner proved he was a survivor in the 1970s. He overcame the obstacle of being type-cast and re-invented himself as a journey-man actor.
Ultimately, Shatner had the last laugh, re-inventing himself and finding success time and again throughout his career.
This week, 70s Trek co-hosts Bob Turner and Kelly Casto are talking about Star Trek Games from the 1970s. The show’s popularity made it a natural for games to be developed around it.
The other aspect that made it perfect for a board game was its uniqueness. Star Trek was different and memorable and in the 1970s, as the show grew in popularity, merchandisers wanted to capitalize on the brand anyway possible. That included creating board games.
Board Games The first board game showed up in 1967 when the show was still on NBC. The Star Trek Game was re-issued again in 1974 and 1975 under the same name.
In 1977, a version of 3-Dimensional Chess was released. The author of the Star Fleet Technical Manual, Franz Joesph, actually helped to create the rules of play.
With the release of Star Trek The Motion Picture right around the corner, Milton Bradley released the Star Trek Game in 1979. Of all the board games based on Trek in the decade, this was probably the best.
Role Playing Games Of course, board games were not the only types of games played in the 1970s. It was the decade when role playing grew in popularity and the Star Trek universe was perfect for the format.
The first was the Star Trek Battle Manual released in 1972. It's creator, Lou Zocchi did seek a license when creating the game, and Paramount stepped in stopped its production. The next version in 1973 had no mention of Star Trek in it.
But, Zocchi eventually did obtain the rights to use the Star Trek name and re-leased the game in 1977. He also got permission from Franz Joseph Designs to use material that published in the Star Fleet Technical Manual.
The next role playing game was released in 1978. Star Trek: Adventure Gaming in the Final Frontier was set in the TOS and TAS universe and was made to play on top of a table. It included a book that described how to play the game, and also borrowed from Joseph's Star Fleet Technical Manual.
While this game did not include game figures, you could purchase a packet of six pewter figures that stood about 1-inch tall. The figures were sculpted, crudely, to be characters from the series.
In addition to the pewter figures, players could also purchase plastic models based on Joseph's designs from the Technical Manual. GameScience created four Star Fleet starships classes with stands so they could be used in the game.
The last role playing created in the 70s was Star Fleet Battles by Task Force Games. It also borrowed from the Technical Manual. It was this game that lasted into the 80s and 90s having four major editions released over the years.
Computer Game All of these games were pretty typical for the era. They were made to play on top of a table with your friends. But there was one game developed in this era that was totally unique and totally different for the time.
In 1971, Mike Mayfield wrote the software for the first Star Trek computer game. It was played on mainframe computers. At that time there was no graphical user interface such as Windows. In fact, there were not cathode ray tube monitors, either!
The object of the game was simple: Find and destroy Klingons.
Players printed a grid generated by the software that showed you where your ship was located and also where the Klingons were. Then, you moved your virtual ship by typing in commands, then another printout would show the results. When you got close enough to the Klingon ship, you typed in a command to fire your phasers. the next printout told you whether or not you were successful.
It took time to play this game, but it quickly grew in popularity amongst computer programmers in the 1970s.
So just before the dawn of the personal computer revolution, Star Trek already had a presence with computer programmers and users.
This is also a precursor for what happened 20 years later. As the early internet was coming into being, one of the greatest presences on the web at that time was Star Trek.
The show has always been a part of cutting edge technology.
On this episode of 70s Trek, co-hosts Bob Turner and Kelly Casto are celebrating the show's 75th episode. It’s the perfect time to look back and see what we’ve covered so far and take a look at what’s around the corner.
Star Trek's Specialness
Throughout 70s Trek, we've discovered a very common theme. There are many little stories and events that surround the show and its fandom that make it special. These are things that have not happened to other other TV shows. Just Trek!
Apart from its on-screen presentations, Star Trek has a special past, a certain pedigree that sets it apart from other creations. It's what makes the franchise unique.
It's been the goal of 70s Trek to touch on some of these stories and events from the 1970s that helped shape Star Trek's rise and dramatic popular explosion.
Past Moments
Bob talk about the moments in the early 70s that brought attention to the show. When the Neilsen Ratings company moved to demographics to report TV ratings rather than just the mass numbers right after Star Trek was cancelled. Seeing how well the show performed with key demos made NBC realized it had made an incredible mistake!
When the show went into syndication, it quickly became profitable and prompted Filmation's Lou Scheimer to approach Roddenberry and NBC about doing an animated version.
In the meantime, fandom is growing rapidly as illustrated by the first Star Trek convention. Organizers expected 500, but 3,000 showed up!
All of this, and more, prompted Paramount to invite Roddenberry back to their lot to begin work on a new Star Trek feature. That began nearly a 27-month process of listening to multiple pitches, trying to fine the right story.
Books
Of course fueling fandom's fire were the many books in the early 1970s. Prized by Trek fans were the episode adaptations written by James Blish.
There was also the first Star Trek reference book, The Star Fleet Technical Manual by Franz Joseph. Bjo Trimble followed that book up with the Star Trek Concordance, a fan-produced episode guide that included much more.
Another fan-written reference book was the Star Fleet Medical Reference Manual created by a group of friends that were associated with the Federation Trading Post, an early Star Trek store. Part of that group was Doug Drexler. An Academy Award winner, Drexler would go on to work on every version of Trek from 1990 forward.
Interviews
70s Trek has also tried to present interviews with those that played significant roles with Star Trek in the 1970s Richard Arnold worked directly for Gene Roddenberry. We mentioned Doug Drexler above, and Bob Kelly also talked with Bjo and John Trimble.
Looking Forward
Coming up are episodes about Phase II, some other influences on Star Trek's next version and the production of The Motion Picture. We hope you will join us.
In February 1976, The Tomorrow Show with Tom Snyder aired an episode that looked at the popularity of Star Trek. On the set were DeForest Kelley, Jimmy Doohan, Walter Koenig, Harlan Ellison and Star Trek fan and convention holder Al Schuster.
Co-hosts Bob Turner and Kelly Casto discuss this program.
The Tomorrow Show had its origins in the 1971 Public Health Cigarette Smoking Act. that law banned cigarette advertising on television. The lost ad revenue for each of three networks was significant. NBC execs come up with the idea of extending the broadcast day by an hour to try to recoup some of the lost revenue.
Bantam began publishing Star Trek books in 1967 with the first James Blish episode adaptation, today known as Star Trek 1. Of course, the Blish books were a huge success in the 1970s.
After Star Trek the Animated Series left the air, Bantam began publishing the Star Trek Log series written by Alan Dean Foster. These were episode adaptations of the Saturday morning show.
But writing and publishing original stories on a regular basis hadn’t begun yet. Prior to 1976, there had only been one original Star Trek novel. That was Spock Must Die! by James Blish released in 1970.
Bantam Takes a Chance It’s hard to imagine today, but there was a time when book publishers were not sure that Star Trek fiction would sell. It had been six years since the release of Spock Must Die! but the editors at Bantam saw the growing Trek phenomenon in the 1970s and editor Fred Pohl decided to take a chance at original Star Trek fiction.
Strange New Worlds Their first attempt could be compared to just sticking a toe in the water to see how fiction would be received by fans. Bantam decided to publish several short stories or novellas in an anthology. What made Strange New Worlds so unique is that the stories were written by fans. It is possibly the first time that fan fiction was ever professionally published.
The editors wanted to make this collection even more special, though. So they invited Gene Roddenberry to contribute a foreword and also asked each cast member to write an introduction to one of the stories. It is the only time the actors were involved with the novels in this way.
Bantam's Star Trek Novels Strange New Worlds was a success and it emboldened Pohl to authorize professionally written fiction. The result was 12 original novels and one more anthology released between 1976 and 1981. Those books are:
- Spock Messiah! by Theodore R. Cogswell and Charles A. Spano Jr. - September 1976
- The Price of the Phoenix by Sondra Marshank and Myrna Culbreath - July 1977
- Planet of Judgement by Joe Haldeman - August 1977
- Star Trek: New Voyages 2 (anthology) edited by Sondra Marshank and Myrna Culbreath - January 1978
- Vulcan! by Kathleen Sky - September 1978
- The Starless World by Gordon Eklund - November 1978
- Trek to Madworld by Stephen Goldin - January 1979
- World Without End by Joe Haldeman - February 1979
- The Fate of the Phoenix by Sondra Marshank and Myrna Culbreath - May 1979
- Devil World by Gordon Eklund - November 1979
- Perry's Planet by Jack C. Haldeman II - February 1980
- The Galactic Whirlpool by David Gerrold - October 1980
- Death's Angel by Kathleen Sky - April 1981
Pocket Books Takes Over In 1979, Paramount decided to not to renew with Bantam and awarded Pocket Books with its publishing license. In fact, the novelization for Star Trek The Motion Picture was released in 1979 by Pocket Books, even though Bantam would continue to publish novels under its contract through 1981.
Bantam’s last Star Trek book, Death's Angel, was published in April 1981. Pocket Books released its first novel in its new Star Trek line, The Entropy Effect, just two months later.
Looking Back... The Bantam novels were significant to the Star Trek franchise because they were the first real attempt at publishing professional fiction. The 12 novels proved that their was an audience hungry for Trek stories and that they would buy!
They are also responsible for lighting the fuse that lead to the explosion in content in the 1980s, '90s, 2000s and beyond!
The gamble that Bantam made in 1976 paid off!
1976 was the year America celebrated its Bicentennial. It was also the year that a small movie called Rocky captured our hearts, and a computer company, Apple, was born in a California garage.
This was also the year that Star Trek reached it apex in terms of popularity. Its audience had grown considerably since entering syndication and now it was a firm part of American culture.
This fact was further illustrated when President Ford renamed the first NASA space shuttle Enterprise after the iconic starship from Trek.
But Star Trek got a further nod that it was reaching new heights when the late night comedy show, Saturday Night Live, did a sketch that parodied the show.
It featured John Belushi as Captain Kirk, Chevy Chase as Spock and Dan Aykroyd as Dr. McCoy and details The Last Voyage of the Starship Enterprise."
Guest host Elliot Gould plays a NBC executive boards the Enterprise and tells the crew that the show has been cancelled. It's all done for laughs, with a little message thrown in, as well. SNL writers pointed out the illogic of NBC cancelling the show because of ratings.
Of course, the show was broadcast on NBC, so it was a moment of youthful rebellion by the cast and crew. They were "giving it to the man!"
Belushi ends the bit as Kirk reading an entry into the Captain's log. "Except for one television network, we have found intelligence everywhere in the galaxy. Live long and prosper." Then the comedian added with a little wry smile, "Promise," which was a nod to Shatner's early 70s commercials for Promise margarine.
The sketch is classic SNL and is probably some of the best work by Belushi, Chase and Aykroyd. It is remembered by critics, entertainers and authors as one of the best skits ever performed on the show.
Co-hosts Bob Turner and Kelly Casto give us the history of the show and this skit.
After a year of hearing Star Trek movie pitches and ideas from creator Gene Roddenberry and science fiction writers, Paramount executives decided to take matters into their own hands.
In July 1976, they named Jerry Isenberg as the Executive Producer of the Star Trek movie project. Isenberg quickly hired two writers to work on a treatment, Chris Bryant and Alan Scott. In September 1976, they get to work and turn in a treatment at the end of the month called The Planet of the Titans.
Finally, Paramount had an idea it wanted to produce and execs ordered the writers to begin working on a script.
In the meantime, Isenberg began looking for a director. He talked with some of the big names of the day: Francis Ford Coppola, Steven Spielberg, George Lucas and Robert Wise. Each turned him down because of commitments to other projects. But finally Phillip Kaufman agreed to direct.
During this activity, artist Ralph McQuarrie was hired to develop concept art for the project. He had just finished a job working for George Lucas on a science fiction project that had not been released yet called Star Wars. McQuarrie's art shows us a Star Trek that was very different from what we saw on our TV screens.
While we never had the chance to see this movie, the impact of McQuarrie's illustrations live on today. His redesign of the U.S.S. Enterprise is the basis for the U.S.S. Discovery, the ship featured in the newest series of the franchise, Star Trek Discovery.
Planet of the Titans came the closest to actually being produced. After Bryant and Scott turned in their finished script in March 1977, Paramount rejected it in April and went on to cancel the project permanently in May.
But just a few days later, a little movie called Star Wars opened, and suddenly it seemed like Hollywood was transformed over night.
But Paramount did not understand the impact of this film, nor did it understand the sentiment of sci-fi fans in the 70s. Execs at the studio thought it was a fluke and that Star Wars had satiated the appetite for this type of entertainment. They believed they had missed their window for a science fiction film and decided to move Star Trek back to TV.
Just two weeks after Star War's opening, Paramount announced its plans to launch a new television network and a new Star Trek show that would anchor its schedule. We will tell that story in another episode.
Gene Roddenberry already had an actor in mind when he created the character Spock for his upcoming show, Star Trek. It was Leonard Nimoy. The actor had guest starred in the first series Roddenberry created, The Lieutenant. He seemed to fit the physical type that Gene had in mind for the character.
Nimoy was hired and became the only actor who was there from the first pilot, The Cage, to the second pilot, Where No Man Has Gone Before, to the last episode of the series, Turnabout Intruder.
Nimoy was a method actor, getting inside the skin of this alien character. It took its toll on him. After staying in character for 12-14 hours per day, it took him all of Saturday and half of Sunday to shed the character and become himself again. Of course, Monday morning was then just around the corner.
The stress of the difficult shooting schedule, and perhaps even the way he approached the Spock character, took its toll on Nimoy. He became an alcoholic. He eventually sought help and went into rehab after the show was cancelled.
Nimoy was something of a Renaissance man. Along with being an actor, he was a writer, poet, photographer, composer and director. He sought answers to life, and explored what it meant to be Jew in today's world.
He was also a very decent person. He fought for things that he thought needed corrected. One instance involved Nichelle Nichols and the inequity in her pay. Leonard Nimoy went to the show's producers and fought to have her pay increased.
Star Trek would not have been the same show had Leonard Nimoy not been part of it. He brought an intelligence to the character that elevated the show as a whole.
Just two years after the publication of the Star Fleet Technical Manual by Franz Joseph, some friends in Manhattan got the idea to do their own reference book. The result was the Star Fleet Medical Reference Manual(MRM).
The books was created by a group of young people who were in their teens and twenties. They knew each other through the Federation Trading Post, a store and museum in Manhattan in the mid 1970s.
Ron Barlow ran the Trading Post with Doug Drexler, who would later go on to work professionally for Trek shows in the 1990s and early 2000s. Ron's girlfriend, Eileen Palestine, a nurse, was the driving force behind the MRM. It was her idea to create the book, after seeing the success of Franz Joseph's Star Fleet Technical Manual.
The MRM was created using the primitive publishing tools of the day. The pages were created on a typewriter and the diagrams were hand-drawn. Yet this group of young people were able to compile each medical fact from Star Trek, provide diagrams and even project out details that were not presented in the show's three seasons.
While the MRM may look a bit out-dated by today's standards, it does a great job of touching on just about every medical fact or topic that was presented in Star Trek. It’s another one of those from the 1970s that told you when you first saw it, that “Star Trek Lives.”
After rejecting The God Thing movie treatment and two additional treatments that were referred to as Star Trek II, all from Gene Roddenberry, Paramount execs began looking elsewhere for Star Trek film ideas in January 1976.
They began to interview writers independently of Gene Roddenberry, hoping to find that one story idea that could become the first Star Trek movie and launch a franchise.
Many writers came in to pitch ideas. We focus on the three who had the best stories on this episode of 70s Trek. They include stories from John D. F. Black, Harlan Ellison, and Robert Silverberg.
John D. F. Black served as the story editor for the 1st season of Star Trek and wrote the episode The Naked Time.
Silverberg is a multi-award winning author in the sci-fi genre and a "Grand Master of Science Fiction."
Harlan Ellison is a science fiction author who has written over 1700 short stories, novellas, books and articles. He has also won numerous awards for his work and is known as "Sci-Fi's Most Controversial Figure."
Listeners can read about each of these pitches from our source material, the 1995 book Lost Voyages of Trek and The Next Generation by Edward Gross and Mark Altman.
Star Trek was burning up syndication in 1976, making Paramount millions! The anticipation for some type of Star Trek return was palpable and the release of the album Inside Star Trek seemed like more evidence to that fact.
The record is a collection of interviews with members of the cast and audio clips from Gene Roddenberry's college tour. Those actors who appear are William Shatner, DeForest Kelley, Nichelle Nichols and Mark Lenard. Leonard Nimoy was invited to participate but he declined because of his declining relationship with Roddenberry.
Also on the album is an interview with Science Fiction author Isaac Asimov.
The album was re-released in 1999 with an extended version of the soundtrack for Star Trek: The Motion Picture. In the re-release, five extra tracks were included.
Photos, film clips or audio from Roddenberry's college tours are very rare. So having them appear on this album makes it all the more valuable. But it also stands as a remarkable document of Gene’s, Shatner’s, Kelley’s and Nichols’ thoughts about Star Trek at that moment in time in the mid-1970s.
From that perspective, Inside Star Trek is a goldmine!
The audio clips used in this podcast are the property of Columbia/Legacy Records and Sony Music Entertainment, Inc.
The Enemy Below is the story of a battle between an American Destroyer captain and a German U-Boat commander during World War II. It stars Robert Mitchum as Captain Murell and Curt Jurgens as the German commander.
As you watch The Enemy Below, similarities to the Star Trek episode Balance of Terror jump out. Trek writer Paul Schneider had never written a science fiction story before. So when Gene Roddenberry asked him to submit ideas to the show, Schneider looked to The Enemy Below for inspiration. When Roddenberry sees what Schneider did, he gets behind the effort.
The result is one of the best episodes of Star Trek and a fan favorite. Co-host Bob Turner and Kelly Casto dive deep into The Enemy Below and discuss the production, the story and the similarities to Balance of Terror.
In 1976, Gene Roddenberry's first attempt to bring Star Trek back was rejected by Paramount. That story, known as The God Thing (see 70s Trek Episode 45), explored the nature of God. It explained that the all powerful was actually a broken robot spaceship that visited Earth multiple times.
This was not a story that Paramount wanted to make, never mind sink millions of dollars into.
So while the studio looked elsewhere for Star Trek movie ideas, Gene decided to ask his assistant, Jon Povil, to give it a try. Tat treatment was known as Star Trek II. This was not Star Trek II: The Wrath of Khan, but rather referred to the second iteration of Star Trek.
Roddenberry rejected it. But asked Povil to help him with another idea. The two came up with a second treatment in January 1976, also referred to as Star Trek II.
Co-hosts Bob Turner and Kelly Casto dive into both of these treatments and tell you the stories that Jon Povil and Gene Roddenberry developed, as well as the history surrounding them.
While many believe he played the first Star Trek doctor, DeForest Kelley actually played the third. He followed John Hoyt's Dr. Phillip Boyse from the first Star Trek pilot, The Cage and Paul Fix's Dr. Mark Piper from Where No Man Has Gone Before, the second pilot.
But it was DeForest Kelley’s portray of Dr. Leonard McCoy that has become iconic in popular culture. "Bones" was cantankerous, irritable, irascible, and even at times belligerent! But what would Captain Kirk or Mr. Spock be without Dr. McCoy?
The character regularly questioned Kirk’s or Spock’s stance on a topic and made them think about the moral and ethical implications of their decisions. His was the most human voice on the show.
The character is perhaps best remembered for the way he constantly needled Mr. Spock, making the point that logic was not always the correct answer for humans and that compassion deserved to be considered in any decision.
McCoy is also remembered for his "doctorisms." These took the form of a long-running gag that appeared throughout the series. When frustrated, McCoy would often say, "I'm a doctor, not a..." and then add some profession for which he felt he was being asked to comment. For example, he might say, "I'm a doctor, not an escalator!"
Bones was also famous for variations of the line, "He's dead, Jim."
But through all the different portrayals of McCoy, it was Kelley's acting ability that made him memorable. In fact, Kelley brought a unique quality to the character, something that would have been missing had another actor played the part.
De Kelley was the first of the original cast to pass. He died in 1999 from stomach cancer. After his death, Newsweek magazine published an obituary about Kelley. It started this way: "We’re not even going to try to resist. He’s dead Jim.”
Star Trek Discovery debuted on September 24. The highly anticipated first episode aired on the CBS network. Subsequent episodes will appear on the streaming service, CBS All Access.
CBS had a bumpy road getting Discovery produced. The new series was announced in early 2016. Former Voyager writer Bryan Fuller was chosen to create the show and act as its show runner. But Fuller left after a few months over "creative differences" with CBS. He was replaced by Gretchen Berg and Aaron Harberts who saw the show through to production.
The new series is unlike anything seen in the Star Trek franchise before. It is highly stylized with motion picture CGI effects. The show is also serialized, rather than episodic. So we will se a single story arc through the first season.
It is also the first Trek property that features a non-captain as the lead. Sonequa Martin-Green plays Michael Burnham, a Starfleet officer charged with mutiny. Jason Isaacs plays Gabriel Lorca, captain of the U.S.S. Discovery, a ship we don't get to see until the third episode. As we mentioned early, it is unlike anything else we ever seen in Star Trek before.
Co-hosts Bob Turner and Kelly Casto talk about discovery on this episode of 70s Trek.
Starlog Magazine began as a one-shot to honor Star Trek. But it quickly became a mainstay in the science fiction and horror genre and published through 2008.
On this episdoe, Bob Turner and Kelly Casto discuss this publication that started in the 1970s.
Starlog was in the right place at the right time. Just as important decisions about the franchise were being made behind the scenes, Starlog was there to report them In the pre-internet days of the 1970s, it served as an important vehicle to let fans know that work was being done to bring Trek back.
To further cement the close relationship between Star Trek and the magazine, Gene Roddenberry's assistant, Susan Sackett, was given the job of writing a column in each issue called The Star Trek Report. In it, she gave updates on the ever changing production.
When Star Trek returned as a major motion picture in 1979, Starlog was there, bringing fans inside and getting them ready for its debut.
The magazine was published continuously until 2008.
To get into the unemotional character of Mr. Spock, Leonard Nimoy immersed himself completely into the character for Star Trek's shooting week, which was six days.
While it was difficult to come back to a place of emotional normalcy for him, it was that immersion into the character that allowed Nimoy to give us some really great moments.
Co-hosts Bob Turner and Kelly Casto each share their Top 5.
Whether it was the Doomsday Machine, This Side of Paradise or The Naked Time, Nimoy's Spock provide the show with some major acting power.
The concept of The Six Million Dollar Man originated in a 1972 book entitled Cyborg by Martin Caidin. The story is very similar to what the TV show's open tells us: Astronaut Steve Austin has suffered a terrible accident and has lost both legs, an arm and an eye. Through the miracle of science, Austin is rebuilt using bionics.
This week co-hosts Bob Turner and Kelly Casto discuss this iconic show from the 70s that helped keep sci-fi alive.
In Cyborg and the three other novels in the series, Austin is a government assassin. Of course, in the TV series, he was a good-guy agent who helped people.
The Six Million Dollar Man was a major ratings winner for ABC and spawned an incredible merchandising empire in the 70s! Just saying it was "huge" doesn't do justice to the show's cultural impact.
In the days before cable TV and the internet, viewers only had three choices from which to choose their programming (four if you include PBS). So a popular show likeThe Six Million Dollar Man could reach a vastly greater audience in 1973 than one can today.
It reached deep into the collective consciousness. Everyone knew and could quote its opening sequence. Kids and teens ran in slow motion and used the "ch-ch-ch-ch-ch" sound effects as they demonstrated their imaginary bionic ability.
The show's popularity was far-reaching and we discuss its highlights on this episode.
Grace Lee Whitney was an experienced actress before she came to Star Trek. She had roles in several movies including Some Like It Hot with Tony Curtis, Jack Lemmon and Marilyn Monroe. She also guest starred on many TV shows in the lat 1950s and early 60s.
She was hired to do Star Trek in 1966 as a lead character, not a featured character. In fact, she was one of the first actors signed after Leonard Nimoy and William Shatner. Early publicity photos feature Whitney Shatner and Nimoy together.
She was signed to act in 13 episodes and had considered roles in several. Then, after the episode Conscience of the King, her character Yeoman Rand disappeared and wasn't seen again until Star Trek: The Motion Picture.
However, it was on a Friday evening in August 1966 that Whitney says she was sexually assaulted by a NBC executive. Then four days later, she was informed that her character was being written out of Star Trek. Her time on the Enterprise was over.
The experience started a downward spiral for Grace that lasted nearly 20 years. She discovered she had an addictive personality, and during these two decades, she gave into them.
The story of Grace Lee Whitney's life is one of success, a long fall to the bottom, and then one of redemption as she finally was able to get help and eventually help others.
Star Trek had a large regular cast for its time with seven regular roles. It also had a group of characters that made more than one appearance and in some cases, then just disappeared.
Some of the faces you see again and again, but we never get to know who they really are. These include characters like Lt. Kevin Riley, Mr. Kyle and Mr. Leslie. One character we did get to know pretty well was Yeoman Janice Rand. But she disappeared suddenly in the first half of the first season.
On this episode of 70s Trek, co-hosts Bob Turner and Kelly Casto take a look at actors Bruce Hyde, Booker Bradshaw, John Winston, Bilie Blackburn and Eddie Paskey in Part 1.
Next week, we take a look at actor Grace Lee Whitney and her character, Janice Rand.
For many, Fred Frieberger is known as "The Serial Killer." He worked on the last seasons of several beloved TV shows right before they were cancelled. As a result, fans blame him for their ultimate demise. Star Trek is included in that list of cancelled series.
But to lay the blame for Star Trek's fall at Frieberger's feet is unfair. Prior to the start of production for Season 3, there was a big mess behind the scenes at Star Trek. William Shatner and Leonard Nimoy were feuding over screen time, the production budget was cut by $9,000 per episode which was a large sum in 1968 and Desilu had been purchased by Paramount and they didn't really want the show!
To make matters worse, Desilu's executive in charge of production Herb Solow, who had brought the show to Desilu and also convinced NBC to buy it, was no longer around in season 3. Frieberger was also dealing with a network that hated Star Trek because of the actions of its creator, and had put the show in the worst time slot imaginable for its audience!
Of course, the worst part of it all was that he had been hired by an executive producer, Gene Roddenberry, who wanted nothing to do with the show anymore. He simply walked away and left it to Frieberger.
In the end, Fred Frieberger inherited a dysfunctional production that couldn't be fixed. It was a complicated mess and all the powers that could have made Star Trek's third season a success were actually aligned against the show.
Co-hosts Bob Turner and Kelly Casto tell you about the life and career of producer Fred Frieberger on this episode of 70s Trek.
Once Star Trek reruns began to be seen across the country in syndication, the show attracted a whole new audience of viewers. It was on everyday at the same time, and it was easy for viewers to catch episodes.
This all helped to contribute to Star Trek's popularity in the 1970s. Clubs sprang up, conventions were held and fanzines were printed. In this unique environment, Bjo and a friend came up with the idea of the book, The Star Trek Concordance.
Bjo and John tell us the story of the Concordance, as well as the letter writing campaign that resulted in the name of NASA's first space shuttle being named Enterprise.
Co-hosts Bob Turner and Kelly Casto talk with Bjo and John in part 2 of their interview with these Star Trek legends. Without them, the show might not have achieved a third season, and possibly would not have gone into syndication. And without reruns being seen across the country, Star Trek would have died after cancellation and been forgotten.
Bjo and John Trimble tell a story about being on the Star Trek set in early 1968 and learning, unofficially, that the show was to be cancelled. During their drive home, John innocently commented, "There ought to be something we could do about that." Upon hearing those words, Bjo's mind began to come up with ideas and and by the time they arrived home, the two had the basics of a plan to save Star Trek.
Co-hosts Bob Turner and Kelly Casto talk with Bjo and John on this episode of 70s Trek.
The plan they came up with was a letter writing campaign that, according to some counts, flooded NBC with one million letters! Of course, the network relented and Star Trek got its third season.
If that was all that Bjo and John accomplished, their names would be forever tied with the franchise as the couple who saved the show. Their efforts guaranteed that that Star Trek had enough episodes to go into syndication after its original run. Syndication, of course, was a major factor that contributed to the show's return.
But Bjo's and John's association with Trek didn't end there. Listen to our interview to hear more about their contributions.
It was the moment in the 1970s that Star Trek became a cultural phenomenon. NASA’s first space shuttle was originally called Constitution. But President Gerald Ford renamed it Enterprise in 1976 to honor the show, its fans and its impact on our society.
Co-hosts Bob Turner and Kelly Casto describe the development of the shuttle and how it came to be named Enterprise.
The idea of a reusable spacecraft was first described by NAZI scientists during World War II. One of them, Werner von Braun, would work for NASA after the war and described the very process by which man would go to space. It involved a reusable vehicle.
After reaching the moon in 1969, President Nixon ordered NASA to begin working on the shuttle program and to make sure its focus was tightly defined: Orbital experiments and the eventual construction of a space station.
Construction on the first vehicle began in 1974, and as news of its completion reached the public, two Star Trek fans had the idea to get it named Enterprise. They contacted Bjo and John Trimble who had started the 1968 letter writing campaign that got Star Trek a third season. With their know-how, a new campaign was put into action.
NASA and the White House received between 400,000 and 500,000 letters asking for the first shuttle to be named Enterprise and President Gerald Ford agreed.
But that's not the full story. Listen to this week's episode to hear all the details.
This week on 70s Trek, co-hosts Bob Turner and Kelly Casto talk about our favorite moments centered around Captain James T. Kirk. As the captain of the Enterprise and the main character on the show, he had a lot of great scenes and choosing our favorites wasn't easy.
What made it difficult was the fine acting that William Shatner brings to the role. While many detractors make fun of him for his occasional choppy form of speaking, the bulk of his work on Star Trek is excellent and under rated!
Kelly's Favorite Kirk Moments:
- The Trouble with Tribbles - Kirk's disgust for Barris
- City on the Edge of Forever - Kirk stops McCoy from saving Edith Keeler
- Balance of Terror - Kirk plays a chess match with the Romulan commander
- The Corbomite Maneuver - Kirk bluffs
- The Conscience of the King - Kirk seduces the crazy chick
Bob's Top 5 Kirk Scenes:
- The Naked Time - Kirk pulls it together to get the job done
- Return to Tomorrow - Kirk explains what the mission of the Enterprise is all about
- The Doomsday Machine - Kirk is unflappable as the Constellation is about to be destroyed
- The Ultimate Computer - Kirk and McCoy have a heart-to-heart
- Arena - Kirk makes a cannon to be the Gorn
Kelly's Honorable Mention:
- Amok Time - Kirk steps up to save Spock
Bob's Honorable Mentions:
- The Enterprise Incident - Kirk as a Romulan
- The Changeling and The Return of the Archons - Kirk outsmarts computers
- Who Mourns for Adonais -"Would it have hurt us, I wonder, just to have gathered a few laurel leaves."
70s Trek is a fan production and does not receive any profit. Intro and Outro Music was purchased from Free Play Music.
Copyright 2017 - 70s Trek
Nichelle Nichols was born Grace Dell Nichols in 1932 in small town near Chicago, Robbins, Illinois. Young Grace was drawn to singing, dancing and acting early on, getting her first professional gig at the age of 14.
She soon made a name for herself, meeting the big stars of the day. This included Duke Ellington. The musician was so impressed with her that he invited her to tour with him.
After starting a family, she created her own touring show and did so well, that she was able to move her family to Los Angeles. There she landed a part in the movie Starring Sidney Poitier, Dorothy Dandridge and Sammy Davis, Jr.
She soon caught the attention of casting director Joe D'Agosta (who would later do the same job on Star Trek) who hired her for a part on The Lieutenant. This was the first show Gene Roddenberry created. On the episode "To Set it Right," she played the wife of an African-American officer who was dealing with racism. A big topic for 1964.
It was during this time that she and Roddenberry developed a romantic relationship. While it was short-lived, Roddenberry remained impressed with Nichols and with her help, created the role of Lt. Uhura.
After Star Trek, Nichols worked for NASA in the mid-70s recruiting women and minorities to join the space program. She was able to bring in some very notable names including Sally Ride, Guion Bluford, Judy Resnick, Ron McNair and Charles Bolden. After flying six missions, Bolden would later become the head of NASA.
Nichol's last official performance as Uhura was in 1991 in the film Star Trek VI: The Undiscovered Country. But she reprised the role in 2007 in the fan-made web-based film, Star Trek: Of Gods and Men.
In 2016, she received The Life Career Award from the Academy of Science Fiction, Fantasy and Horror Films.
70s Trek is a fan production and does not receive any profit. Intro and Outro Music was purchased from Free Play Music.
Copyright 2017 - 70s Trek
If you were a child in the 1970s and you were around a TV after school, chances are you watched Lost in Space.
The show celebrated its 50th Anniversary in 2015 and it still has a lot of die-hard fans! But it has just as many detractors, too. Co-hosts Bob Turner and Kelly Casto talk Lost in Space on this week's episode of 70s Trek.
Lost in Space appealed to a younger audience than Star Trek did in the 70s. But it also formed the basis for a love of sci-fi for kids who grew up in this decade. If you watched Lost in Space as a ten-year-old, you were pretty likely to watch Star Trek when you were 13.
While Star Trek and Lost in Space both take place away from the Earth...the comparisons end there. In fact, Gene Roddenberry said something very similar when asked about Lost in Space. He said “it does very well what it sets out to do. But it is a very different show.”
Maybe the difference lies with the creators themselves. Gene wanted to talk about big issues, and tell morality tales wrapped in Sci-Fi metaphors.
Irwin Allen was a storyteller who wanted to get TV shows on the air.
Join us as we look back to Lost in Space.
Lost In Space: Original Television Soundtrack: GNP Crescendo Records, CBS Television.
70s Trek is a fan production and does not receive any profit. Intro and Outro Music was purchased from Free Play Music.
Copyright 2017 - 70s Trek
He worked on Spartacus, Harold and Maude, Pete’s Dragon, Butch and Sundance: The Early Days, The Man With One Red Shoe and Star Trek. Costume designer William Ware Theiss is responsible for creating some of the most memorable costumes in Hollywood, including those on Star Trek.
Co-hosts Bob Turner and Kelly Casto take a look at the man and his designs.
Early in his career, he worked as Cary Grant’s assistant and helped him become, “The Best Dressed Man in Hollywood.”
Bill had a reputation for being eccentric, perhaps even rude. But he was a perfectionist, relentlessly driving those working under him. His motto was, first and foremost: "Stop when all work is done - and not before."
His designed the iconic Starfleet uniforms as well as the wardrobe needs for guest stars. And it's perhaps those costume pieces that Bill Theiss is best remembered. Female guest stars, in particular, were almost guaranteed to receive some type of revealing clothing.
But, according to Theiss, his costumes were not appealing because they showed a lot of skin. His designs were attractive because they appeared as if it would fall off at any moment!
Gene Roddenberry brought Bill back in July 1977 to work on the proposed show Star Trek Phase II. That program never went into production, but Gene called upon Bill again to work on Star Trek: The Next Generation. Bill designed the new Starfleet uniforms and all the wardrobe during the first season. His work earned him an Emmy award and two Emmy nominations.
Bill Theiss died in 1992 due to complications caused by AIDS.
70s Trek is a fan production and does not receive any profit. Intro and Outro Music was purchased from Free Play Music.
Copyright 2017 - 70s Trek
In 1975, as Star Trek was making money in syndication, Paramount decided it was time to develop a new Trek project. Gene Roddenberry was offered a development deal and the project was to a motion picture with a $5 million budget. Production was to start on July 15, 1976.
Gene came up with The God Thing. His script had the crew of the Enterprise meeting and discovering the nature of God. It's revealed that God is actually a computer/ship/entity that visits worlds repeatedly, creating prophets to match the level of development of that planet's society. These prophets then guide that world's population through their evolution.
But the real twist is that the computer/ship/entity thing is not the God we know, but actually the Devil.
When Roddenberry finished his script and turned it into Paramount, the head of the studio, Barry Diller, rejected it. So the The God Thing was thought to be permanently shelved. But Gene decided to take the idea and make it into a book that he would author.
But as the 70s moved on and Paramount moved from Trek project to Trek project, The God Thing book was left behind until it was discovered in 1991 by Gene's assistant Susan Sackett. She brought it to the attention of Pocket Books and a publishing deal was reached. Several writers worked on the manuscript, and a dust jacket was even made for the book. But after Gene's death, the project was forgotten again.
Today, The God Thing remains a lost version of Trek. It's a look into the creator's mind, and an interesting "What-if" story from the decade of the 70s.
70s Trek is a fan production and does not receive any profit. Intro and Outro Music was purchased from Free Play Music.
Copyright 2017 - 70s Trek
What do Terri Garr, James Gregory, Clint Howard and Michael Pataki all have in common? Each guest starred on Star Trek. Co-hosts Bob Turner and Kelly Casto take a look at some of the more notable actors who appeared on TOS. Some you may recognize and some you may not.
In the 1960s, actors often moved from show to show, taking acting jobs where they could find them and hoping each would lead them to better jobs. Many of them drove through the gates of Desilu and later Paramount to work on Star Trek.
Kids growing up in the 70s watching reruns of shows such as Batman, Bonanza, Wagon Train, Wild, Wild West, Gunsmoke, Mission: Impossible and Star Trek would often notice the same actor in different roles. Their faces, voices or mannerisms jumped out at us and we struggled to figure out where we had seen that actor before.
In this episode we remember some of the more notable ones.
70s Trek is a fan production and does not receive any profit. Intro and Outro Music was purchased from Free Play Music.
Copyright 2017 - 70s Trek
Like Gene Roddenberry, Walter Matt Jefferies was in the Army Air Corps during World War II and flew as a co-pilot and engineer in B-17s. Also like Roddenberry, he was a legitimate war hero. He earned the Air Medal and the Bronze Star for his service.
In civilian life, he became an aviation illustrator. His role as an illustrator eventually lead him to Hollywood...and then to Star Trek.
Gene Roddenberry hired Jefferies to do one thing: design a space ship for his new show. He had very limited guidance from Gene: No flames, no fins and no rockets. With those restrictions in place, it was up to Matt to find the shape of this new ship called Enterprise.
His eventual design has become iconic and it has influenced every other starship design that followed in the franchise.
The Star Trek Concordance is a reference book published in 1976 by Ballantine Books. It was written by Bjo Trimble who had already made a name for herself in fandom circles. She was instrumental in the letter writing campaign that brought Star Trek back for its third season.
The Concordance started its life as a collection of note cards made by Dorothy Heydt and Bjo. The two grew it into an early fanzine with multiple editions for each season. But with the growing popularity of the Original and Animated Series, Ballantine became interested in releasingThe Concordance as a full edition.
This book is a great window into the past to see what the state of Star Trek was in 1976 when all we had was the Original and Animated Series.
Gold Key Comics was an imprint of Western Publishing. It was also known as Whitman Comics. The company began operating in 1962 and published a wide variety of comic book adaptions through 1984.
Gold Key obtained the rights to print Star Trek in 1967 and continued the run until it was awarded to marvel in 1978.
These books are often overlooked or forgotten. But they were part of the Star Trek story in the 1970s. While they carried the show's name and included its characters, these comic adventures had very little to do with the episodes we watched in syndication in the 70s.
In fact, reading these stories is often painful. The science is often absent from these supposed science-fiction comics. The plots are outlandish and the characters don't behave as the characters we got to know on TV.
Some will find these comic books charming or nostalgic and that's perfectly OK. As fans of the original Star Trek, we found them difficult to take.
This week on 70s Trek, co-hosts Bob Turner and Kelly Casto talk about actor George Takei. Of course, Star Trek fans know George as Mr. Sulu. He had quite an extensive career before he joined Star Trek and continued to act steadily as a guest star in TV.
George also dabbled in politics in the 70s. He ran for, but did not win a seat on, the Los Angeles City Council. George was later appointed to the committee that helped design the LA Subway System.
Space 1999 was from the producers of the British TV show UFO, Gerry and Sylvia Andersen. In fact, the show grew out of UFO's unmade second season.
It was memorable for its high quality special effects, great music, energetic opening sequence and cast. It featured two familiar American actors, Martin Landau and Barbara Bain, in the starring roles. Both had worked for three years on Star Trek's sister-show at Desilu, Mission: Impossible.
Co-hosts Bob Turner and Kelly Casto look back on this short-lived series and share their insights.
If you know anything about Star Trek in the 1990s, then you'll recognize the name Doug Drexler. Doug worked on every Star Trek production from 1990 to 2005.
But before he started working in Hollywood on The Next Generation, Doug was a Star Trek fan in Manhattan in the 1970s. In fact, he worked for the first Star Trek merchandise store, the Federation Trading Post.
That led him to contributing to his first book, the Star Fleet Medical Reference Manual in 1977 and later to Gold Key's Star Trek comic books line.
His stories from this period are fun and entertaining. Doug was a Star Trek fan who would go on to live the life we all wish we had...working on Star Trek productions!
And it all started for him in the 1970s.
When we say Doug Drexler is a Super Fan, we mean it! He's not just a fan of Star Trek, though. Doug is a devoted fan to many other Sci-Fi franchises and media, including Marvel Comics!
Doug grew up in the 1960s as a Marvel Comics fan. He shares his memories of living in the Greater New York area and realizing it was the center of the Marvel Universe.
While working at the Federation Trading Post in Manhattan during the 1970s, he was able to meet many Marvel artists and writers, including Stan Lee himself!
Doug grew up as Marvel came of age and as he reminisces about that era you realize you're hearing something special.
Whether you're a fan of Marvel or not, you'll enjoy Doug's enthusiasm. Pure fun!
Before Doug Drexler won an academy award for his make up work on the film Dick Tracy...before he was nominated for two Emmys for his work on Star Trek The Next Generation...before he designed the Starship Enterprise NX-01...he was a fan of The Original Series in the 1970s!
Co-hosts Bob Turner and Kelly Cast talk to Doug about his amazing Trek career and how he discovered the show in the 1960s, only to become something of a "Super Fan" in the 1970s.
This week we have Part 1 of a two-part interview with Doug.
The Galileo 7 shuttlecraft is a legendary ship in science fiction. Almost as iconic as her mother ship, the Galileo made an impression on every Trek fan.
Just as the Enterprise model had been safely preserved at the Smithsonian Air and Space Museum, most fans thought that something similar had happened to the Galileo. But that was not the case. What really happened to this shuttlecraft prop will shock you. It's a dramatic tale worthy of a screenplay.
This week, co-hosts Bob Turner and Kelly Casto tell you the history of the Galileo 7 on this episode of 70s Trek.
Walter Koenig played ensign Pavel Chekov on Star Trek for two seasons and has the distinction of not only being the last regular cast member hired, but was also the only one not included in The Animated Series.
This week co-hosts Bob Turner and Kelly Casto discuss the actor who was brought in to lighten up the show.
Koenig graduated from college with a psychology degree, but decided to go into acting, instead. He studied acting at the prestigious Neighborhood Playhouse in New York. Some of the actors who also studied there while Walter did include Dabney Coleman, Christopher Lloyd and James Caan.
Walter auditioned for Star Trek in 1967 and was hired because of his resemblance to singer Davey Jones of the Monkees. He found out that he'd been hired not with a call or a telegram, but when someone from the costume department began to measure him for his costume.
He was hired initially to be a recurring character. But after receiving so much fan mail the producers decided to make Koenig a permanent part of the cast.
This week on 70s Trek co-hosts Bob Turner and Kelly Casto have some fun as they recast Star Trek with TV stars from the 1970s.
Did you ever sit around with your friends and talk Trek, coming up with alternative plot lines or twists? Bob and Kelly did in college and it's f those conversations that inspired this episode.
There are no right or wrong answers and the only rule is that the actors had to be on TV during the decade. Are there any good matches? It really doesn't matter because it's all done for fun.
Leave us your cast lists at www.Facebook.com/70sTrek.
Spock's Brain. It’s considered by many to be the worst Star Trek episode ever! In fact, Entertainment Weekly published a special Star Trek issue in 1995 and Spock’s Brain was picked as the worst all-time episode.
But there is more to Spock’s Brain than just a search for...well...Spock’s brain. Co-hosts Bob Turner and Kelly Casto take a deeper look at this show on this week's episode of 70s Trek.
There was a lot happening leading up to the production of this episode that may have influenced its production. Star Trek seemed to be on a high note at the end of Season Two when a fan-driven letter writing campaign saved the show.
But as the crew got to work on the third season, there were problems. There was dissension amongst the producers and the budget had been reduced to such a degree that the production of each episode was limited. The results of all of this played out on the screen throughout the third season. Spock's Brain was just the most obvious sign of what was happening behind the scenes during Season Three.
This week co-hosts Bob Turner and Kelly Casto discuss the Star Trek Log series of books by Alan Dean Foster. They were adaptations of the animated series episodes.
Foster wrote these adaptation from 1974 to 1978. There were three episodes per book in the first six books. That means Foster filled in a lot of detail that never appeared in The Animated Series. It's this aspect of the Log books that makes these books so fun to read.
In the last four books of the Log series, Foster was assigned the job of taking one 22-minute episode and making it into a novel-length story. He did this by really writing two stories that connected at the end.
After The Animated Series left the air in 1974, there was no new Trek until 1979. Foster's Log series, along with the James Blish novelizations, gave Star Trek fans something to look forward to as they hoped for something new to get produced.
This week on 70s Trek co-hosts Bob Turner and Kelly Casto talk about the first reference book about Star Trek, The Starfleet Technical Manual by Franz Joseph.
It was published in 1975, and is a great look into what Star Trek was in 1975, and what it might have been, as well.
Joseph was a designer who came upon this project because his daughter was a Trek fan. The book is full of diagrams and proposed information about Starfleet, the academy and much, much more.
Joseph closely examined frames of film from episodes to see what props, sets and consoles looked like. He then redrew them for the Manual.
But this book is also unique for how it treats the material: Joseph wrote the book as if it was an intercepted computer file from the future. He treats it as real, and enthusiastic fans in 1975 loved it!
In 1975, Gene Roddenberry and Paramount Pictures struck a deal to develop a new Star Trek feature film. The production was set to begin in July 1976 and the film would have a $50 million budget! It was the culmination of six years of growing anticipation over bringing the show back.
Co-hosts Bob Turner and Kelly Casto discuss what led to this deal and what eventually happened. The treatment, entitled The God Thing, never made it to the big screen. But while Paramount rejected Roddenberry's treatment, they didn't reject Star Trek and actively sought out ideas for a new script.
This first development deal, even though it failed, was the crucial first step in bringing a live-action Star Trek back. But it was just the first step, and there would be many more over the next four years.
In December 2016, CBS Video released the Roddenberry Vault. It is a DVD collection of never-before-seen footage from the production of Star Trek. 70s Trek co-hosts Bob Turner and Kelly Casto discuss some of the highlights from this set.
Fans thought they's seen everything there was to be seen about the original series. But in 2007, Mike and Denise Okuda were asked to catalog a large collection of film canisters by Rod Roddenberry, Gene's son. It turned out that these canisters contained hundreds of hours of lost Star Trek footage!
This footage included deleted scenes, omitted dialogue and alternate takes. Viewers get a sense of what was happening behind the scenes. There is also evidence of how some episodes evolved, even as late as when the script was being shot on the stage.
One of the more touching scenes is from the episode The City on the Edge of Forever. Fans will remember the scene between Kirk and Edith Keeler on the stairs. This collection reveals omitted dialogue from that scene that showed the depth of their growing relationship. It also showed off the acting power of William Shatner and Joan Collins.
Even the most casual fan will find this collection worth the price!
As Star Trek built its audience in the 1970s through syndication, and the Animated Series reached a new, younger audience, merchandising took off and toys were a natural.
Co-hosts Bob Turner and Kelly Casto talk about the many different toys that were based on the show.
The company Mego manufactured action figures, playlets, walkie talkies and other hand held toys. Remo created a utility belt and different versions of the phaser for kids. Dinky Toys manufactured a die cast Enterprise and Klingon Battle Cruiser. Colorforms made a Star Trek play set, too.
While these toys weren't perfect as later versions would be, they were all we had...and we loved them!
They were also evidence of the growing popularity of Star Trek during the decade. After all, if Star Trek was just a dead, cancelled show, why would manufacturers create toys based on it?
One of the best parts of growing up in the 70s and being a fan of Star Trek were the model kits from AMT. The company, formally known as Aluminum Model Toys out of Troy, Michigan, AMT recognized the value that the Star Trek license had and secured the rights to create model kits by august 1966, a full month before the show went on the air!
Co-hosts Bob Turner and Kelly Casto talk about these kits on this episode of 70s Trek.
During the original network run of Trek, AMT released just two kits, the U.S.S. Enterprise and the Klingon Battle Cruiser. Interestingly, the Klingon ship was designed by Matt Jeffries, the designer of the Enterprise, specifically for AMT. It was released as a model before it ever appeared on screen.
During the 70s, AMT saw the growing popularity of Trek in syndication and moved to release more kits. The Galileo 7 Shuttlecraft, the Romulan Bird of Prey, Space Station K-7, th eEnterprise Bridge and an Exploration Set that contained a phaser, communicator and tricorder.
If you were a fan of the show and grew up in the 70s, chances are you probably owned at least one of these kits.
Gene Roddenberry was a science fiction fan. He loved reading the books of H.G. Wells growing up. As an adult, he also appreciated films in the genre that made you think. One of his favorites was 1951's The Day the Earth Stood Still.
The film follows Klaatu, an alien who has landed on Earth with an important message for Earth's leaders, but he can't seem to get any help to deliver it. The message is that Earth, after discovering the powers of the atom, is now a threat to other worlds. The people of our world were put on notice by Klaatu: Do want you want to do here, but don't threaten to extend your violent ways to other worlds, or the Earth will be destroyed.
The director of Earth was Robert Wise who would go on to direct Star Trek: The Motion Picture. Was he picked to direct TMP because of the job he did on The Day the Earth Stood Still?Probably.
It is thoughtful science fiction with some concepts that became part of Star Trek. For kids who grew up in the 1970s, there is also a tie to that other sic-fi show, Lost in Space. Actor Michael Rennie played the role of the Keeper in the two-part episode of the same name.
If you're a curious Trek fan, you should see The Day the Earth Stood Still.
While it in fact just a collection of sets, the Enterprise in Star Trek seems like another character. It's probably because creator Gene Roddenberry wanted that feeling to come across. He wanted the Enterprise to be something special and other writers picked up on that idea and carried it forward in future episodes.
This week co-hosts Bob Turner and Kelly Casto talk about the Enterprise and how it influenced the entire Star Trek universe.
Designer Matt Jefferies wasn't given much guidance when Roddenberry said he needed a starship. The only guidance he was given was what NOT to do. But his eventual design helped make Star Trek an iconic show and contributed to its rebirth in the 1970s.
This week on 70s Trek, co-hosts Bob Turner and Kelly Casto wrap their look at Star Trek: The Animated Series. It is the only version of Star Trek to win an Emmy, being named the best Children's Show for the 1974-1975 TV season.
The episodes we look at include:
- "Bem"
- "The Slaver Weapon"
- "The Practical Joker"
- "Eye of the Beholder"
- "Albatross"
- "Jihad"
- "How Sharper Than a Serpent's Tooth."
Orions, Vendorians and Tribbles! Oh My!
On this episode of 70s Trek, we continue our exploration of Star Trek the Animated Series. Bob Turner and Kelly Casto take a look at eight episodes from the series:
- "One of Our Planets is Missing,"
- "More Tribble, More Troubles,"
- "The Survivor,"
- "Once Upon a Planet,"
- "Yesteryear," "
- The Terratin Incident,"
- "The Ambergris Element"
- "The Pirates of Orion."
Star Trek: The Animated Series is often over-looked in the history of Star Trek. But it is noteworthy because it is the moment when Star Trek moved from being a cancelled show to a franchise.
Co-hosts Bob Turner and Kelly Casto take a look at the Animated Series in this episode of 70s Trek.
The show aired from September 1973 to October 1974 and consisted of 22 episodes. Many writers that worked on the original series lent their talents to the Animated Series, which helped the stories be consistent with the live action version. Some were also just good stories.
The Animated Series won an Emmy for Best Children's Programming. While the animation itself might be primitive, the show remains very faithful to The Original Series and is full of detail.
If you're a Trek fan, it is worth your time.
This is Part 1 of our look a the Animated Series. We discuss the following episodes:
- "Mudd's Passion"
- "The Magicks of Megas Tu"
- "The Lorelei Signal"
- "Time Trap"
- "The Infinite Vulcan"
- "Beyond the Farthest Star"
- "The Countercheck Incident."
Mr. Scott is perhaps one of the most beloved characters in all of Star Trek, largely because of the way he was portrayed by actor James Doohan.
Co-hosts Bob Turner and Kelly Casto take a look at the Canadian actor on this episode of 70s Trek.
Before Jimmy Doohan was an actor, he was a war hero, having stormed the beaches of Normandy on D-Day during the Second World War. After leaving the armed services, Doohan decided to try his hand performing. It eventually brought him to Hollywood during TV's Golden Age.
After Star Trek, Doohan supported his family through the occasionally TV episode and personal appearances.
But throughout the 70s, he stayed excited for Star Trek, believing the show would be back as a major motion picture.
After Star Trek went off the air, there was a 27-month period when there wasn’t much new science fiction on TV. Then in the fall of 1971, along came the British TV show UFO.
It was ground breaking with a unique style. But more importantly, UFO gave some comfort to the growing Star Trek audience. The fact that it was on TV said to them, “Science fiction is relevant, here’s another form of it, and it’s of to like it."
It also raised the bar for sci-fi producers. This was a smart, stylish show dealing with contemporary issues such as politics, drug abuse, adultery and divorce. UFO was not a hokey kids show.
There's a Trek connection, as well. Series star Ed Bishop voiced the character Asmodeus in the Animated Series episode The Magicks of Megas Tu.
Co-hosts Bob Turner and Kelly Casto take a look at this unique show on this episode of 70s Trek.
They did it in a way that had not been done before. Star Trek fans literally shocked the world in the 70s with their numbers, their devotion...and sometimes their behavior.
They demonstrated that there was an audience for the show. Studio executives who thought Star Trek was a dead property began tot are notice as fans published their own magazines and newsletters, attend conventions by the thousands, forced up the shows ratings in syndication and demanded that their president name the first-ever NASA space shuttle after their beloved starship, Enterprise.
Co-hosts Bob Turner and Kelly Casto take a look at Trek fandom in the 70s on this episode of 70s Trek.
One of the reasons Star Trek has always been popular is its use of language. That can really be seen in its episode titles. There’s something lyrical about them. They sound like they were pulled from classic works of literature...and in fact, some of them were.
Consider these titles:
- "For the World is Hollow and I have Touched the Sky."
- "Requiem for Methuselah."
- "The City on the Edge of Forever."
- "The Conscience of the King."
They’re not straight forward explanations about each episode. In Fact, 50 years later, many of these titles still confuse fans.
Star Trek's episode titles were unique in the 1960s and continue to be today. In fact, it is a hallmark of every Trek series to have show titles that sound a bit "high-brow."
This week co-hosts Bob Turner and Kelly Casto discuss their favorite Star Trek show titles.
It’s the story of a United Planets cruiser following up on a lost colony expedition to a far away world. There the young captain is faced with a mystery. The leader of the lost expedition very much wants to be left alone.
This is not the plot to the "Man Trap," "Requiem for Methuselah" or even "This Side of Paradise." It is actually the plot to the 1956 film Forbidden Planet. This was one of Gene Roddenberry's favorite films and is a big influence on the creation of Star Trek.
Co-hosts Bob Turner and Kelly Casto take a look at this classic film on this episode of 70s Trek.
Richard Arnold has been around Star Trek most of his life. He was at the first Star Trek convention in 1972, and has, to date, attended over one thousand!
In the 70s, Richard worked as a volunteer for Gene Roddenberry as the creator began plotting the return of Star Trek. He was there, in the Paramount offices, when Star Trek lurched from a movie, to a TV show, and back to a movie again.
While The Next Generation was in production, Richard finally became employed by Paramount and held the position of Research Consultant. As part of his job, Richard vetted proposals for manuscripts, merchandise and licensed ties-ins.
He also has the unique distinction of being an extra in both Star Trek The Motion Picture and also J.J. Abrams' 2009 reboot.
Co-hosts Bob Turner and Kelly Casto talk with Richard for this extended episode of 70s Trek.
After Star Trek's cancellation, the show's creator, Gene Roddenberry, faced limited prospects. The opinion of many industry execs was that Star Trek was a failed and dead property and Roddenberry's reputation suffered because of it.
But he did work. He wrote a movie script and tried to sell several TV show concepts. But always under the surface in the early 70s was Star Trek, now on TVs around the country in syndication. It bubbled in our collective consciousness, always there. By the middle of the decade, it was clear that the show had a huge audience and Paramount was ready to try again.
Co-hosts Bob Turner and Kelly Casto take a look at Gene Roddenberry's activities in the early years of the 1970s, and the events that led to him returning to write a Star Trek movie in 1975.
Shortly after recording Episode 11 about the James Blish books, Barnes and Noble released a leather-bound collection of some of his Star Trek adaptions. Star Trek The Classic Episodes has 43 episodes adapted into novel form by Blish.
The collection is part of Barnes and Noble's Collector Series and was released for the show's 50th Anniversary. It features beautiful art work on the front and back of the leather cover.
The one drawback of this book is that it does not list James Blish as the author on the cover, or anywhere inside. Norman Spinrad wrote the introduction and even he didn't mention Blish. Barnes and Noble does include a card affixed to the back of the book that does state Blish adapted the stories. Perhaps the fact that Blish was not on or in the book prompted them to add the card after printing.
Despite this fact, we highly suggest Star Trek The Classic Episodes for any fan that collects Trek books.
If you grew up in the 70s, and were a Trek fan, you probably came across the Star Trek series of books by James Blish. Co-hosts Bob Turner and Kelly Casto take a look at these books in this episode of 70s Trek.
James Blish started writing the episode adaptations for Bantam Books in 1967. He is credited for writing 11 books through 1975. That's when he died from cancer.
His wife Judith Lawrence finished Star Trek 12 in 1977. Blish also wrote the first Star Trek novel for adults in 1970, Spock Must Die. It was a sequel to the episode Errand of Mercy. But more importantly, it marked the beginning of publishing original Star Trek novels that continues today.
The Blish books proved that there was an audience for written Star Trek material, and it was large! From 1967 through 1975, the Blish adaptations sold over 4 million copies, which was unheard of for the science fiction genre.
Do you remember seeing The Doomsday Machine for the first time? Remember that feeling of awe you had when Mirror, Mirror first blew your mind? Which episode do you remember the most from when you were a kid?
This week, co-hosts Bob Turner and Kelly Casto each discuss their top 5 Star Trek episodes. But there's a twist. It's how Bob and Kelly remember the shows from when they were 10-years-old back in the 1970s.
They both had to go back into their pre-pubescent mindsets to remember how Star Trek impacted them at the time.
Here is their results:
Kelly:
5 - Wink of an Eye
4- Errand of Mercy
3- Tomorrow is Yesterday and Assignment Earth - They tie!
2 - Balance of Terror
1 - The Trouble with Tribbles
Honorable Mention - Wolf in the Fold
Bob:
5- Bread and Circuses
4 - Journey to Babel
3 - The Doomsday Machine
2 - Mirror, Mirror
1 - Arena
Honorable Mention - The Menagerie, Parts 1 and 2
What are your top 5 shows?
When Star Trek was cancelled in 1969, there was no reason to think that this little science fiction show would ever come back. But the show's failures actually helped drive its new success in the 1970s.
Co-hosts Bob Turner and Kelly Casto look at the syndication juggernaut that was Star Trek in the 1970s.
Failure Led to Success Star Trek had not been profitable during its NBC run. In fact, when it was cancelled, its production costs had pushed it to be over $4 million in the red. That's over $30 million in today's dollars!
The show was considered a dead property and Paramount desperately wanted to find a way to recoup some of those costs. So the studio decided to move the show into syndication. This was an interesting decision at the time because conventional wisdom stated that a show needed to have at least 100 episodes to be successful.
But Paramount's need to make some kind of profit from Star Trek was great so they decided to move forward with just the 79 episodes. The studio did not expect that the show would ever make a profit in syndication. Execs just hoped they would be able to make some money to reduce the show's deficit.
Syndication Syndication gave Star Trek a new lease on life. Kaiser Broadcasting, the first TV station group to purchase the show, used it as counter programming, scheduling it against the evening news shows by their competition. Soon other stations around the country picked up on this idea.
As a result, Star Trek was able to connect with a new audience of older children, teens and college students. This group was not interested in watching the news, but was eager to see the adventures of the crew of the Enterprise!
With the show being broadcast everyday, it became part of their daily lives and something they looked forward to seeing.
Star Trek's Ratings Almost imediately, the show began to perform well.
A March 1969 advertisement by Paramount touted Star Trek as, "A Space Breakthrough on the audience response barrier," saying it was being seen in over 65 countries.
A similar ad sent in August stated some numbers from when Star Trek aired on NBC. The the show was had a 30 share or higher, or another way to put it is that it brought in 30% of the audience watching TV. The show averaged a 39.5 share for all the 61 markets where the show was being broadcast.
In February 1970, Paramount ran another ad in Broadcast Magazine quoting the following performance numbers for Star Trek in syndication:
- WPIX in New York - up 96%
- WGN in Chicago - up 40%
- KCOP in Los Angeles - up 77%
- Minneapolis/St. Paul - up 44%
- Prividence, RI - up 30% over lead in
- Las Vegas - up 31%
- Greensboro/Winston Salem - adult viewers up 50%
This ad wrapped with the following call-to-action: "For out-of-this world Star Trek numbers in your corner of the universe, call the Paramount television office nearest you."
As the decade wore on, the show's popularity grew. An article in 1976 stated that a Star Trek episode shown during the day on Chicago's WGN was getting 374,000 viewers for reruns of reruns!
A Dead Show to "The 79 Jewels" As Star Trek gained steam in syndication, the opinion of the show by Paramount changed. By the mid-1975, when Paramount was starting to look at bringing it back, execs at the studio were concerned that a new version of Trek might damage the interest in the original It was performing so well, that studio execs quietly referred to it as "The 79 Jewels" because of the millions it brought into the studio.
It should be no surprise that the show performed well in the 1970s. It was a decade of bad news: Vietnam, Watergate, gas lines, the energy crisis. But in the background was Star Trek, reminding us all that there would be a brighter future ahead.
Seeing its positive view at a time when there was so much negativity in the real world is a major reason why Star Trek exploded in the 1970s.
The success that Trek had in reruns and the money that Paramount made from it, ensured that the property would return. The only question was when.
Star Trek has these little, unique stories that surround its production. Little things that happened that didn’t happen on other shows. This week, we’ve got another one of those stories. But it's a bigger deal. Co-hosts Bob Turner and Kelly Casto discuss the studio that produced Star Trek, Desilu. When the show first went into production, the studio was owned by Hollywood and TV great, Lucille Ball. Lucy liked Star Trek and saved the show on several occasions. A great example of her loyalty came on the last day of production on the second pilot, Where No Man Has Gone Before. Sand was accumulating on the camera dolly tracks. Lucy grabbed a broom and began sweeping the sand away to keep the production on track. In 1967 Lucy decided to sell Desilu to Paramount which was owned by Gulf+ Western. While it was the end of Desilu, this sale was necessary for the rebirth of Star Trek in the 1970s. Only a studio the size of Paramount had the capital, the vision and the ability to invest in multiple development projects in 1975, ’76 and ’77 and then be able to see it through to the opening of The Motion Picture in 1979.
Gene Coon was a writer and producer on Star Trek. Over the years he has become known as "The Forgotten Gene" or "The Other Gene" often getting confused with series creator Gene Roddenberry. But Coon's impact is immeasurable on the original series. He is credited as developing some of the cornerstones on which the Star Trek Universe is built. The Federation, the Prime Directive and the Klingons are just a few of his creations while he worked on the show. He also wrote or produced some of the most memorable episodes of the show's three-year run. Ultimately Coon's lighter feel didn't line up with the direction Roddenberry wanted to take the show and the two parted ways mid-way through the second season. Coon touched or wrote some of the best of shows Star Trek had to offer. His writing is marked by the heart and feeling that his characters showed on screen, along with a sense of humor. Co-hosts bob Turner and Kelly Casto discuss Gene Coon and his Star Trek legacy.
It was just 47 days after Star Trek was cancelled when Neil Armstrong and Buzz Aldrin walked on the moon. The timing also seems intentional today. Co-hosts Bob Turner and Kelly Casto talk about the first moon landing and its impact on the original series on this episode of 70s Trek. As American astronauts walked on the moon in the years between 1969 and 1972, Star Trek entered syndication. Suddenly, what seemed far-fetched in the 1960s, was becoming real in the 1970s. Apollo 11 helped people realize that space exploration was real. Star Trek seemed much more possible to people than it did when the series first aired.
The third installment of the J.J. Abrams-produced movies is out! The release Star Trek Beyond is part of the 50th Anniversary celebration of the franchise and there are plenty of classic Trek reference peppered throughout the film. Co-hosts Bob Turner and Kelly Casto discuss the movie on this episode.
The literary character Captain Horatio Hornblower appeared in 17 novels by author C.S. Forester. The books were published over 30 years, from 1937 to 1967. Star Trek creator Gene Roddenberry loved these stories, and patterned much of Trek, and particularly the character James T. Kirk, after them. Co-hosts Bob Turner and Kelly Casto take a look at the similarities in this episode of 70s Trek.
After five spin-offs, and twelve movies, it's hard to remember what being a fan of Star Trek was like in 1970. Then, there was only the original series. Co-hosts Bob Turner and Kelly Casto take you back to a time just after the original series went off the air and discuss the universe of Star Trek at the time. It wasn't as big as it is today, but it wasn't as small as you'd think, either. All the elements that make up the later versions of Trek were seeded in the original 79 episodes.
The creator of Star Trek, Gene Roddenberry, led an extraordinary life...before he ever created the show! Gene was a B-17 pilot in World War II and survived not one but two crashes! After the War, he signed on with Pan Am as a commercial pilot. Engine problems resulted in a third crash on the Syrian desert. Twenty-six-year-old Roddenberry saved his passengers by walking across the desert to get help. After leaving Pan Am, Gene worked as a LAPD police officer. He was a traffic cop riding a motorcycle, and later became the Chief's speech writer. It was that experience that led him to TV in the mid-1950s.
In January 1969, NBC decided to not to renew Star Trek. The show was in the middle of its third season. Richard Nixon had just been sworn in as President, the nation had not heard the name "Watergate" yet, and over 500,000 troops were fighting a war in Vietnam.
When Star Trek was cancelled it was nearly $30 million in debt in today's dollars. It had no future, it was a dead hulk that no one thought anything of.
Yet somehow, this quirky little show made it into syndication where it resonated with another generation viewers. In just nine years, the show would be resurrected as a major motion picture and soon become a multi-billion dollar franchise.
It all starts at the end.