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121-487: The degree of Trekkies' devotion has produced conflicted feelings among the cast and crew of the show. Creator Gene Roddenberry initially encouraged the fan participation, but over the years became concerned that some fans treated the show with a quasi-religious zeal as though it were "scripture." While some stars have been vocally critical of the franchise's most devoted fans, others including Sir Patrick Stewart have defended Trekkies. There has been some disagreement within

242-516: A Southern Baptist ; however, as an adult, he rejected religion, and considered himself a humanist . He began questioning religion around the age of 14, and came to the conclusion that it was "nonsense". As a child, he served in the choir at his local church, but often substituted lyrics as he sang hymns. Early in his writing career, he received an award from the American Baptist Convention for "skillfully writing Christian truth and

363-617: A Virgil Finlay portrait of the character. Perhaps the first large gathering of fans occurred in April 1967. When actor Leonard Nimoy appeared as Spock as grand marshal of the Medford Pear Blossom Festival parade in Oregon, he hoped to sign hundreds of autographs but thousands of people appeared; after being rescued by police, "I made sure never to appear publicly again in Vulcan guise",

484-517: A pilot's license through the United States Army Air Corps -sponsored Civilian Pilot Training Program . He enlisted with the USAAC on December 18, 1941 and married Eileen on June 13, 1942. He graduated from the USAAC on August 5, 1942, when he was commissioned as a second lieutenant . He was posted to Bellows Field , Oahu, to join the 394th Bomb Squadron , 5th Bombardment Group , of

605-458: A producer and have full creative control. He wrote another script for Ziv's series Harbourmaster titled "Coastal Security" and signed a contract with the company to develop a show called Junior Executive with Quinn Martin . Nothing came of the series. He wrote scripts for a number of other series in his early years as a professional writer, including The Jane Wyman Show , Bat Masterson and Jefferson Drum . Roddenberry's episode of

726-473: A 1975 convention According to Michael Jindra of the University of Wisconsin-Madison , the show's fandom "has strong affinities with a religious-type movement", with "an origin myth, a set of beliefs, an organization, and some of the most active and creative members to be found anywhere". While he distinguishes between Star Trek fandom and the traditional definition of religion that requires belief in divinity or

847-691: A Vulcan, into the plot for Star Trek: The God Thing . He had a similar disdain for Judaism . Despite working closely with Jewish writers and stars such as Shatner, Nimoy, and Koenig for the series, Nimoy said of Roddenberry, "Gene was antisemitic, clearly," qualifying that Roddenberry was anti-religious, seeing Jews as a religious group, adding "but I saw examples not only of [Roddenberry] practicing antisemitism, but of him being callous about other peoples' differences as well.” As with Christianity, Roddenberry similarly dismissed that there were any deliberately Jewish principles or allusions included in Star Trek , telling

968-444: A close, Roddenberry once again faced the threat of cancellation. He enlisted the help of Asimov, and even encouraged a student-led protest march on NBC. On January 8, 1968, a thousand students from 20 schools marched on the studio. Roddenberry began to communicate with Star Trek fan Bjo Trimble , who led a fan-writing campaign to save the series. Trimble later noted that this campaign of writing to fans who had written to Desilu about

1089-545: A contract with Screen Gems that included a guaranteed $ 100,000, and became a producer for the first time on a summer replacement for The Tennessee Ernie Ford Show titled Wrangler . Screen Gems backed Roddenberry's first attempt at creating a pilot. His series, The Wild Blue , went to pilot, but was not picked up. The three main characters had names that later appeared in the Star Trek series: Philip Pike, Edward Jellicoe, and James T. Irvine. While working at Screen Gems, an actress, new to Hollywood, wrote to him asking for

1210-524: A fan panel to discuss 'The Star Trek Phenomenon.'" Some fans were so devoted that they complained to a Canadian TV station when it preempted an episode in July 1969 for coverage of Apollo 11 . Nothing fades faster than a canceled television series they say. So how come Star Trek won't go away? Associated Press, 1972 However, the Trekkie phenomenon did not come to the attention of the general public until after

1331-521: A fashion that serves different interests." Jenkins' subsequent monograph Textual Poachers (1992), which was written "to participate in the process of redefining the public identity of fandom", also focused at least in part on Star Trek fans. The central trio of Kirk, Spock and McCoy was modeled on classical mythological storytelling. Shatner said: There is a mythological component [to pop culture], especially with science fiction. It's people looking for answers – and science fiction offers to explain

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1452-558: A film based on Asimov's " I, Robot " and also began work on a Tarzan script for National General Pictures . After initially requesting a budget of $ 2 million and being refused, Roddenberry made cuts to reduce costs to $ 1.2 million. When he learned they were being offered only $ 700,000 to shoot the film, which by now was being called a TV movie, he canceled the deal. NBC announced Star Trek 's cancellation in February 1969. A similar but much smaller letter-writing campaign followed news of

1573-402: A half-hour later (moving from 9:00 to 9:30). Powerful Laugh-In producer George Schlatter objected to his highly rated show yielding its slot to the poorly-rated Star Trek . Instead, Laugh-In retained the slot, and Star Trek was moved to 10:00 pm on Fridays. Realizing the show could not survive in that time slot and burned out from arguments with the network, Roddenberry resigned from

1694-464: A journalist, "You Jews have a lamentable habit of identifying those characteristics in a society that you deem positive and then taking credit for inventing them.” Before his death, Roddenberry became close friends with philosopher Charles Musès , who said that Roddenberry's views were "a far cry from atheism ". Roddenberry explained his position thus: "It's not true that I don't believe in God. I believe in

1815-415: A kind of God. It's just not other people's God. I reject religion. I accept the notion of God." He had an ongoing interest in other people's experiences with religion, and called Catholicism "a very beautiful religion. An art form." However, he said that he dismissed all organized religions , saying that for the most part, they acted like a "substitute brain... and a very malfunctioning one". Roddenberry

1936-605: A life ". "For crying out loud," Shatner continues, "it's just a TV show!" He asks one Trekkie whether he has "ever kissed a girl". The embarrassed fans ask if, instead of the TV shows, they should focus on the Star Trek films instead. The angry Shatner leaves but because of his contract must return, and tells the Trekkies that they saw a "recreation of the evil Captain Kirk from episode 27, ' The Enemy Within .'" Although many Star Trek fans found

2057-415: A lot of people. For the unusual people at this convention, it's a big part of their lives, a help to them. I'm glad there are people who need something important in their lives and I'm glad they've found it in our shows. I don't want to elaborate on that; there are just some special people here who need the show in a special way. The religious devotion of Star Trek ' s fans began almost immediately after

2178-686: A meeting. They quickly became friends and met every few months; the woman was Majel Leigh Hudec , later known as Majel Barrett. He created a second pilot called 333 Montgomery about a lawyer, played by DeForest Kelley . It was not picked up by the network but was later rewritten as a new series called Defiance County . His career with Screen Gems ended in late 1961, and shortly afterward, he had issues with his old friend Erle Stanley Gardner . The Perry Mason creator claimed that Defiance County had infringed his character Doug Selby . The two writers fell out via correspondence and stopped contacting one another, though Defiance County never proceeded past

2299-503: A multi-ethnic crew on an airship traveling the world, based on the film Master of the World (1961), with fellow writer Christopher Knopf at MGM . As the time was not right for science fiction, he began work on The Lieutenant for Arena Productions. This made it to the NBC Saturday night lineup at 7:30 pm and premiered on September 14, 1963. The show set a new ratings record for

2420-444: A newborn baby was "baptized" into the "Temple of Trek" amid chanting. Star Trek museum exhibits, film studios, attractions, and other locations such as Vulcan, Alberta offer opportunities to perform pilgrimages to "our Mecca ". A fan astounded Nimoy by asking him to lay his hands on a friend's eyes to heal them . Ethan Peck , a later Spock portrayer, said "When I'm meeting fans, sometimes they're coming to be confirmed , like I'm

2541-552: A priest". Fandom does not necessarily take the place of preexisting faith, with Christian and New Age adherents both finding support for their worldviews. Star Trek writer and director Nicholas Meyer compared the show to the Catholic Mass : Like the mass, there are certain elements of Star Trek that are immutable, unchangeable. The mass has its Kyrie , its Sanctus , Agnus Dei , Dies Irae , and so on... Star Trek has its Kirk, Spock, McCoy, Klingons , Romulans , etc., and

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2662-455: A producer of science fiction, despite his background in Westerns and police stories. He later described the period, saying, "My dreams were going downhill because I could not get work after the original series was cancelled." He felt that he was "perceived as the guy who made the show that was an expensive flop." Roddenberry had sold his interest in Star Trek to Paramount Studios in return for

2783-577: A proposed novel based upon his rejected 1975 screenplay for a proposed low-budget ($ 3 to $ 5 million) Star Trek film preceding the development of Phase II throughout 1976. Attempts to complete the project by Walter Koenig , Susan Sackett , Fred Bronson, and Michael Jan Friedman have proven to be unfeasible for a variety of legal and structural reasons. While at Los Angeles City College , Roddenberry began dating Eileen-Anita Rexroat. They became engaged before Roddenberry left Los Angeles during his military service, and they married on June 20, 1942, at

2904-769: A salary to produce the series, and celebrated by purchasing a new Rolls-Royce for $ 100,000. The arrangement did not entitle him to be executive producer of the series. Paramount was already concerned about the original cast not returning, and fearing fan reaction if Roddenberry was not involved, agreed to his demand for control of the show. Roddenberry rewrote the series bible from an original version by David Gerrold , who had previously written The Original Series episode " The Trouble with Tribbles ", and The Animated Series follow-up, " More Tribbles, More Troubles ". According to producer Rick Berman , Roddenberry's involvement in The Next Generation "diminished greatly" after

3025-480: A secular parallel to the Catholic Mass ". Roddenberry compared the franchise to his own philosophy by saying: "Understand that Star Trek is more than just my political philosophy, my racial philosophy, my overview on life and the human condition." He was awarded the 1991 Humanist Arts Award from the American Humanist Association . In the late 1980s, it was likely that Roddenberry was afflicted by

3146-544: A third of the profits but this did not result in any quick financial gain; the studio was still claiming that the series was $ 500,000 in the red in 1982. He wrote and produced Pretty Maids All in a Row (1971), a sexploitation film directed by Roger Vadim , for MGM. The cast included Rock Hudson , Angie Dickinson , Telly Savalas , and Roddy McDowall alongside Star Trek regular James Doohan and notable guest star William Campbell , who had appeared in " The Squire Of Gothos " and " The Trouble with Tribbles ". Variety

3267-480: A thousand people asking questions as if the events in the series actually happened. A Newsweek cover article in December 1986 also cited many such stereotypes, depicting Star Trek fans as overweight and socially maladjusted "kooks" and "crazies". The sketch and articles are representative of many media depictions of Trekkies, with fascination with Star Trek a common metaphor for useless, "fetishistic" obsession with

3388-422: A topic; fans thus often hide their devotion to avoid social stigma . Such depictions have helped popularize a view of devoted fans, not just of Star Trek , as potential fanatics. Reinforced by the well-known acts of violence by John Hinckley Jr. and Mark David Chapman , the sinister, obsessed "fan in the attic" has become a stock character in works such as the films The Fan (1981) and Misery (1990), and

3509-483: A very devoted audience. The first Star Trek fanzine , Spockanalia , appeared in September 1967, including the first published fan fiction based on the show. Star Trek creator Gene Roddenberry , who was aware of and encouraged such activities, a year later estimated that 10,000 wrote or read fanzines. The mainstream science fiction magazine If published a poem about the Star Trek character Spock , accompanying

3630-442: Is a pleasure to be, in any numbers. Why else would they have been involved in Star Trek , an intelligent, interested, and involved show?" In 1998, the fan studies scholar Henry Jenkins published the journal article "Star Trek Rerun, Reread, Rewritten," in which he defended the behavior of Star Trek fans from an academic angle, arguing that they were "'poachers' of textual meanings who appropriate popular texts and reread them in

3751-422: Is that those who did were not treated very well in the end ... I'm just afraid that if it goes too far and it appears that I have created a philosophy to answer all human ills that someone will stand up and cry, 'Fraud!' And with good reason. I'm not a guru and I don't want to be. Gene Roddenberry, 1976 That there are no cries of "Amen, Brother," is simply a matter of style. Calgary Herald , describing

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3872-402: The 2013 film second. In 1980, Roddenberry submitted a treatment for a proposed sequel about the crew preventing the alien Klingons from thwarting the assassination of John F. Kennedy . Mindful of the tumult that suffused the production of Star Trek: The Motion Picture , Paramount rejected the proposal. After he was replaced on the project by television producer Harve Bennett , Roddenberry

3993-593: The Department of Defense over potential plots. The department withdrew its support after Roddenberry pressed ahead with a plot titled " To Set It Right " in which a white and a black man find a common cause in their roles as Marines. "To Set It Right" was the first time he worked with Nichols, and it was her first television role. The episode has been preserved at the Museum of Television and Radio in New York City. The show

4114-623: The Thirteenth Air Force , which flew the Boeing B-17 Flying Fortress . On August 2, 1943, while flying B-17E-BO, 41-2463 , "Yankee Doodle", out of Espiritu Santo , the plane Roddenberry was piloting overran the runway by 500 feet (150 m) and crashed into trees, crushing the nose and starting a fire as well as killing two men: bombardier Sgt. John P. Kruger and navigator Lt. Talbert H. Woolam. The official report absolved Roddenberry of any responsibility. Roddenberry spent

4235-564: The 1970s and 1980s. In what Shatner described as one of "so many instances over the years" of fan excess, police captured a man with a gun at a German event before he could find the actor. The Saturday Night Live segment mentioned many such common stereotypes about Trekkies, including their willingness to buy any Star Trek -related merchandise, obsessive study of trivial details of the show, and inability to have conventional social interactions with others or distinguish between fantasy and reality. Brent Spiner found that some could not accept that

4356-468: The 23rd century". Brannon Braga said that Roddenberry made it known to the writers of Star Trek and Star Trek: The Next Generation that religion, superstition, and mystical thinking were not to be included. Even a mention of marriage in a script for an early episode of The Next Generation resulted in Roddenberry's chastising the writers. Nicholas Meyer said that Star Trek had evolved "into sort of

4477-599: The 23rd century? Improbable! If man survives that long, he will have learned to take a delight in the essential differences between men and between cultures Gene Roddenberry, 1968 Gene Roddenberry Eugene Wesley Roddenberry Sr. (August 19, 1921 – October 24, 1991) was an American television screenwriter and producer who created the science fiction series and fictional universe Star Trek . Born in El Paso, Texas , Roddenberry grew up in Los Angeles, where his father

4598-454: The Edge of Forever " after Roddenberry rewrote Ellison's script to make it both financially feasible to film and usable for the series context. Even his close friend Don Ingalls had his script for " A Private Little War " altered drastically, and as a result, Ingalls declared that he would only be credited under the pseudonym "Jud Crucis" (a play on "Jesus Christ"), claiming he had been crucified by

4719-473: The Man Behind Star Trek , he states that Roddenberry watched The Undiscovered Country alongside the producers of the film at a private screening two days before his death, and told them they had done a "good job". In contrast, Nimoy and Shatner's memoirs report that after the screening, Roddenberry called his lawyer and demanded a quarter of the scenes be cut; the producers refused. Roddenberry wrote

4840-471: The Word more spice than nourishment, so I am interested in a statement couched in dollars and cents of what this means to the Roddenberry treasury." Roddenberry said of Christianity, "How can I take seriously a God-image that requires that I prostrate myself every seven days and praise it? That sounds to me like a very insecure personality." At one point, he worked a similar opinion, which was to have been stated by

4961-566: The actor who played Data was human, Nimoy warned a journalist to perform the Vulcan salute correctly because "'Star Trek' fans can be scary. If you don't get this right you're going to hear about it", and Roddenberry stated I have to limit myself to one [convention] in the East and one in the West each year. I'm not a performer and frankly those conventions scare the hell out of me. It is scary to be surrounded by

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5082-563: The actor wrote. Another was in January 1968, when more than 200 Caltech students marched to NBC's Burbank, California studio to support Star Trek 's renewal. The first fan convention devoted to the show occurred on 1 March 1969 at the Newark Public Library . Organized by a librarian who was one of the creators of Spockanalia , the "Star Trek Con" did not have celebrity guests but did have "slide shows of 'Trek' aliens, skits and

5203-448: The affair as she did not want to be "the other woman to the other woman". Barrett and Roddenberry had an apartment together by the opening weeks of Star Trek . He had planned to divorce Eileen after the first season of the show, but when the show was renewed, he delayed doing so, fearing that he would not have enough time to deal with both the divorce and Star Trek . He moved out of the family home on August 9, 1968, two weeks after

5324-472: The application of Christian principles into commercial, dramatic TV scripts". For several years, he corresponded with John M. Gunn of the National Council of Churches regarding the application of Christian teachings in television series. However, Gunn stopped replying after Roddenberry wrote in a letter: "But you must understand that I am a complete pagan, and consume enormous amounts of bread, having found

5445-399: The audience reaction to Roddenberry's speech at a 1975 convention Religious aspects of Star Trek fandom nonetheless grew, according to Jindra, with the show's popularity. Conventions are an opportunity for fans to visit "another world...very much cut off from the real world...You can easily forget your own troubles as well as those of the world", with one convention holding an event in which

5566-454: The cancellation. Because of the manner in which the series was sold to NBC, it left the production company $ 4.7 million in debt. The last episode of Star Trek aired 47 days before Neil Armstrong stepped onto the moon as part of the Apollo 11 mission, and Roddenberry declared that he would never write for television again. After the cancellation of Star Trek, Roddenberry felt typecast as

5687-581: The chapel at Kelly Field. They had two daughters, Darleen Anita and Dawn Allison. During his time in the LAPD, Roddenberry was known to have had affairs with secretarial staff. Before his work on Star Trek , he began relationships with Nichelle Nichols and Majel Barrett . Nichols wrote about their relationship in her autobiography Beyond Uhura only after Roddenberry's death. At the time, Roddenberry wanted to remain in an open relationship with both women, but Nichols, recognizing Barrett's devotion to him, ended

5808-503: The civil service test and was given a police commission there. During his childhood, Roddenberry was interested in reading, especially pulp magazines , and was a fan of stories such as John Carter of Mars , Tarzan , and the Skylark series by E. E. Smith . Roddenberry majored in police science at Los Angeles City College , where he began dating Eileen-Anita Rexroat and became interested in aeronautical engineering . He obtained

5929-456: The convention into two factions, the "enlightened" who had seen the preview and the "unenlightened" who had not. However, the humanist Roddenberry disliked his role as involuntary prophet of a religion. Although he depended on Trekkies to support future Star Trek projects, Roddenberry stated that It frightens me when I learn of 10,000 people treating a Star Trek script as if it were Scripture. I certainly didn't write Scripture, and my feeling

6050-517: The crash; eleven passengers required hospital treatment (including Bishnu Charan Ghosh ), and eight were unharmed. Roddenberry resigned from Pan Am on May 15, 1948, and decided to pursue his dream of writing, particularly for the new medium of television. Roddenberry applied for a position with the Los Angeles Police Department on January 10, 1949, and spent his first sixteen months in the traffic division before being transferred to

6171-578: The day-to-day running of Star Trek , although he continued to be credited as executive producer. Roddenberry cooperated with Stephen Edward Poe, writing as Stephen Whitfield, on the 1968 non-fiction book The Making of Star Trek for Ballantine Books, splitting the royalties evenly. Roddenberry explained to Whitfield: "I had to get some money somewhere. I'm sure not going to get it from the profits of Star Trek ." Herbert Solow and Robert H. Justman observed that Whitfield never regretted his 50–50 deal with Roddenberry, since it gave him "the opportunity to become

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6292-481: The early days of Star Trek , and he specifically wrote the part of the character Number One in the pilot with her in mind; no other actresses were considered for the role. Barrett suggested Nimoy for the part of Spock . He had worked with both Roddenberry and Barrett on The Lieutenant , and once Roddenberry remembered the thin features of the actor, he did not consider anyone else for the part. The remaining cast came together; filming began on November 27, 1964, and

6413-498: The fandom as to the distinction between the terms "Trekker" and "Trekkie." Some characterize Trekkers are "more serious" in comparison to the "bubble-headed" Trekkies, while others have chosen the term Trekker to convey that they are "a rational fan." Leonard Nimoy advocated for the use of "Trekker" over "Trekkie". Overall, the term "Trekkie" is more commonly used. Many early Trekkies were also fans of The Man from U.N.C.L.E. (1964–1968), another show with science fiction elements and

6534-481: The fee with the officers who actually investigated the real-life case. He became then technical advisor for a new television version of Mr. District Attorney , which led to him writing for the show under his pseudonym "Robert Wesley". He began to collaborate with Ziv Television Programs and continued to sell scripts to Mr. District Attorney , in addition to Ziv's Highway Patrol . In early 1956, he sold two story ideas for I Led Three Lives , and he found that it

6655-511: The film Planet of the Apes . It was watched by an even greater audience than Genesis II. CBS scrapped Genesis II and replaced it with a television series based on the film; the results were disastrous from a ratings standpoint, and Planet of the Apes was canceled after 14 episodes. The Questor Tapes project reunited him with his Star Trek collaborator, Gene L. Coon, who was in poor health. NBC ordered 16 episodes, and tentatively scheduled

6776-460: The first chronicler of television's successful unsuccessful series." Whitfield had previously been the national advertising and promotion director for model makers Aluminum Model Toys , better known as "AMT", which then held the Star Trek license, and moved to run Lincoln Enterprises , Roddenberry's company set up to sell the series' merchandise. Having stepped aside from the majority of his Star Trek duties, Roddenberry sought instead to create

6897-432: The first episode of the Star Trek series went into production; Desilu was contracted to deliver 13 episodes. Five days before the first broadcast, Roddenberry appeared at the 24th World Science Fiction Convention and previewed "Where No Man Has Gone Before". After the episode was shown, he received a standing ovation. The first episode to air on NBC was " The Man Trap ", on September 8, 1966, at 8:00 pm. Roddenberry

7018-595: The first few seasons of The Next Generation under Roddenberry as an "insane asylum". In 1990, Nicholas Meyer was brought in to direct the sixth film in the series: Star Trek VI: The Undiscovered Country . Creatively, Meyer clashed with Roddenberry, who felt that having the Enterprise crew hold prejudices against the Klingons did not fit with his view of the universe. Meyer described a meeting with Roddenberry he later regretted, saying His guys were lined up on one side of

7139-513: The first manifestations of cerebrovascular disease and encephalopathy as a result of his longstanding recreational use of legal and illicit drugs, including alcohol , methaqualone , methylphenidate , Dexamyl , and cocaine (which he had used regularly since the production of Star Trek: The Motion Picture ). Roddenberry also used cannabis for many years, although its cumulative impact on his health remains unclear. Throughout much of his career, he had routinely used stimulants to work through

7260-462: The first season, but the nature of his increasingly peripheral role was not disclosed because of the value of his name to fans. While Berman said that Roddenberry had "all but stopped writing and rewriting" by the end of the third season, his final writing credit on the show (a co-teleplay credit) actually occurred considerably earlier, appearing on " Datalore ", the 13th episode of the first season. Although commercially successful from its inception,

7381-425: The help of Samuel A. Peeples , " Where No Man Has Gone Before ". NBC selected the last one, leading to later rumors that Peeples created Star Trek , something he always denied. Roddenberry was determined to make the crew racially diverse, which impressed actor George Takei when he came for his audition. The episode went into production on July 15, 1965, and was completed at around half the cost of "The Cage", since

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7502-670: The idea to Mort Werner at NBC, this time downplaying the science fiction elements and highlighting the links to Gunsmoke and Wagon Train . The network funded three story ideas and selected "The Menagerie", which was later known as " The Cage ", to be made into a pilot. (The other two later became episodes of the series.) While most of the money for the pilot came from NBC, the remaining costs were covered by Desilu. Roddenberry hired Dorothy Fontana, better known as D. C. Fontana , as his assistant. They had worked together previously on The Lieutenant, and she had eight script credits to her name. Roddenberry and Barrett had begun an affair by

7623-463: The inexplicable, the same as religion tends to do. Although 99 percent of the people that come to these conventions don’t realize it, they’re going through the rituals that religion and mythology provide. 7,200 of the Elect are there to bear witness, and those 79 episodes are their revealed texts, the scarred tablets by which their lives here and now and beyond are charted. Calgary Herald , describing

7744-710: The issue of Spock's growing popularity and the possibility that his character would overshadow Kirk. Asimov suggested having Kirk and Spock work together as a team "to get people to think of Kirk when they think of Spock." The series was renewed by NBC, first for a full season's order, and then for a second season. An article in the Chicago Tribune quoted studio executives as stating that the letter-writing campaign had been wasted because they had already been planning to renew Star Trek . Roddenberry often rewrote submitted scripts, although he did not always take credit for these. Roddenberry and Ellison fell out over " The City on

7865-426: The look is of people who consume it, habitually and at length; overfed and undernourished, eruptive of skin and flaccid of form, from the merely soft to the grotesquely obese". He noted their fixation on one subject: The facial expression is a near sultry somnolence, except when matters of Star Trek textual minutiae are discussed; then it is as vivid and keen as a Jesuit Inquisitor 's, for these people know more of

7986-643: The marriage of his daughter Darleen. In 1969, while scouting locations in Japan for MGM for Pretty Maids All in a Row , he proposed to Barrett by telephone. They were married in a Shinto ceremony, as Roddenberry had considered it "sacrilegious" to have an American minister in Japan perform the ceremony. Roddenberry and Barrett had a son together, Eugene Jr., commonly and professionally known as Rod Roddenberry , in February 1974. From 1975 until his death, Roddenberry maintained an extramarital relationship with his executive assistant, Susan Sackett . Roddenberry grew up

8107-403: The media cited Beatlemania and Trudeaumania as examples to describe the emerging "cultural phenomenon". 6,000 attended the 1973 New York convention and 15,000 attended in 1974, much larger figures than at older events like the 4,500 at the 32nd Worldcon in 1974. By then the demand from Trekkies was large enough that rival convention organizers began to sue each other. The first UK convention

8228-456: The mid-1990s Star Trek —now called within Paramount " the franchise " and its "crown jewel"—had become the studio's single most-important property, and Paramount sponsored its first convention in 1996.) The entire cast reunited for the first time at an August 1975 Chicago convention that 16,000 attended. "Star Trek" Lives! , an early history and exploration of Trekkie culture published that year,

8349-513: The more established array of approximately 3,600 fans and industry professionals who attended the 32nd World Science Fiction Convention in Washington, D.C. in 1974) led Paramount to hire Roddenberry to create and produce a feature film based on the franchise in May 1975. The studio was unimpressed with the ideas being put forward; John D. F. Black's opinion was that their ideas were never "big enough" for

8470-611: The most dedicated constituencies in the country". "Unprecedented" crowds visited a 1992 Star Trek exhibit at the Smithsonian Institution 's National Air and Space Museum , and in 1994, when Star Trek reruns still aired in 94% of the United States, over 400,000 attended 130 conventions. By the late 1990s an estimated two million people in the United States, or about 5% of 35 million weekly Star Trek watchers, were what one author described as "hard-core fans". The Trek fandom

8591-608: The newspaper unit. That became the Public Information Division, and Roddenberry became the Chief of Police's speech writer. In this position, he also became the LAPD liaison to the very popular Dragnet television series, providing technical advisors for specific episodes. He also did his first TV writing for the show, taking actual cases, and boiling them down to short screen treatments that would be fleshed out into full scripts by Jack Webb's staff of writers, and splitting

8712-486: The novelization of Star Trek: The Motion Picture . Although it has been incorrectly attributed to several other authors (most notably Alan Dean Foster ), it was the first in a series of hundreds of Star Trek -based novels to be published by the Pocket Books imprint of Simon & Schuster , whose parent company also owned Paramount Pictures Corporation . Previously, Roddenberry worked intermittently on The God Thing ,

8833-502: The original Star Trek series, which premiered in 1966 and ran for three seasons. He then worked on projects including a string of failed television pilots. The syndication of Star Trek led to its growing popularity, resulting in the Star Trek feature films , which Roddenberry continued to produce and consult on. In 1987, the sequel series Star Trek: The Next Generation began airing on television in first-run syndication ; Roddenberry

8954-576: The pilot stage. The project finally wound up as the NBC series Sam Benedict with Edmond O'Brien in the title role, produced by MGM. E. Jack Neuman took the creator's credit; claiming the character was based on real-life San Francisco lawyer Jake Ehrlich . In 1961, he agreed to appear in an advertisement for MONY (Mutual of New York) as long as he had final approval. With the money from Screen Gems and other works, he and Eileen moved to 539 South Beverly Glen, near Beverly Hills . He discussed an idea about

9075-411: The process. Roddenberry's work rewriting " The Menagerie ", based on footage originally shot for "The Cage", resulted in a Writers Guild arbitration board hearing. The Guild ruled in his favor over John D. F. Black , the complainant. The script won a Hugo Award , but the awards board neglected to inform Roddenberry, who found out through correspondence with Asimov. As the second season was drawing to

9196-468: The production details of Star Trek than Roddenberry, who created them, and are a greater authority on the essential mystery of Captain Kirk than [William] Shatner , who fleshed it out. In December 1986, Shatner hosted an episode of Saturday Night Live . In one skit, he played himself as a guest at a Star Trek convention, where the audience focuses on trivial information about the show and Shatner's personal life. The annoyed actor advises them to " get

9317-402: The production of Star Trek. The conventions began to build the fan support to bring back Star Trek, leading TV Guide to describe it, in 1972, as "the show that won't die." In 1972 and 1973, Roddenberry made a comeback to science fiction, selling ideas for four new series to a variety of networks. Roddenberry's Genesis II was set in a post-apocalyptic Earth. He had hoped to recreate

9438-540: The remainder of his military career in the United States and flew all over the country as a plane crash investigator. He was involved in a second plane crash, this time as a passenger. He was awarded the Distinguished Flying Cross and the Air Medal . In 1945, Roddenberry began flying for Pan American World Airways , including routes from New York to Johannesburg or Calcutta, the two longest Pan Am routes at

9559-491: The rest of the universe Roddenberry bequeathed us. The words of the mass are carved in stone, as are fundamental elements—the Enterprise , Spock, the transporter beam , and so forth—in Star Trek. Meyer has also said: The words of the Mass remain constant, but heaven knows, the music keeps changing... Its humanism remains a buoyant constant. Religion without theology. The program's karma routinely runs over its dogma. Intolerance in

9680-497: The room, and my guys were lined up on the other side of the room, and this was not a meeting in which I felt I'd behaved very well, very diplomatically. I came out of it feeling not very good, and I've not felt good about it ever since. He was not well, and maybe there were more tactful ways of dealing with it, because at the end of the day, I was going to go out and make the movie. I didn't have to take him on. Not my finest hour. In Joel Engel's biography, Gene Roddenberry: The Myth and

9801-544: The series Have Gun – Will Travel , "Helen of Abajinian", won the Writers Guild of America award for Best Teleplay in 1958. He also continued to create series of his own, including a series based on an agent for Lloyd's of London called The Man from Lloyds . He pitched a police-based series called Footbeat to CBS, Hollis Productions, and Screen Gems . It nearly made it into ABC 's Sunday-night lineup, but they opted to show only Western series that night. Roddenberry

9922-494: The series to follow The Rockford Files on Friday nights; the pilot launched on January 23, 1974, to positive critical response, but Roddenberry balked at the substantial changes requested by the network and left the project, leading to its immediate cancellation. During 1974, Roddenberry reworked the Genesis II concept as a second pilot, Planet Earth , for rival network ABC, with similar less-than-successful results. The pilot

10043-558: The series was initially marred by Writers Guild of America grievances from Fontana and Gerrold, both of whom left the series in acrimonious circumstances; frequent turnover among the writing staff (24 staff writers left the show during its first three seasons, triple the average attrition rate for such series); and allegations that Roddenberry attorney Leonard Maizlish had become the producer's "point man and proxy", ghostwriting memos, sitting in on meetings, and contributing to scripts despite not being on staff. Writer Tracy Tormé described

10164-426: The sets were already built. Roddenberry worked on several projects for the rest of the year. In December, he decided to write lyrics to the Star Trek theme; this angered the theme's composer, Alexander Courage , as it meant that royalties would be split between them. In February 1966, NBC informed Desilu that they were buying Star Trek and that it would be included in the fall 1966 television schedule. On May 24,

10285-435: The show existed, its reruns were syndicated to 125 American TV stations and 60 other countries, and news reports on the convention caused other fans, who had believed themselves to be alone, to organize. Some actors, such as Nichelle Nichols , were unaware of the size of the show's fandom until the conventions, but major and minor cast members began attending them around the United States. The conventions became so popular that

10406-596: The show was cancelled in 1969 and reruns entered syndication . The first widely publicized fan convention occurred in January 1972 at the Statler Hilton Hotel in New York, featuring Roddenberry, Isaac Asimov , and two tons of NASA memorabilia. The organizers expected 500 attendees at the "First International Star Trek Convention" but more than 3,000 came; attendees later described it as "packed" and like "a rush-hour subway train". By then more than 100 fanzines about

10527-451: The show's debut. When Roddenberry previewed the new show at a 1966 science-fiction convention, he and his creation received a rapturous response: After the film was over we were unable to leave our seats. We just nodded at each other and smiled, and began to whisper. We came close to lifting [Roddenberry] upon our shoulders and carrying him out of the room...[H]e smiled, and we returned the smile before we converged on him. The showing divided

10648-532: The show, urging them to write NBC, had created an organized Star Trek fandom . The network received around 6,000 letters a week from fans petitioning it to renew the series. On March 1, 1968, NBC announced on air, at the end of "The Omega Glory", that Star Trek would return for a third season. The network had initially planned to place Star Trek in the 7:30 pm Monday-night time slot freed up by The Man from U.N.C.L.E. completing its run. That would have meant Rowan & Martin's Laugh-In had to start

10769-402: The sketch to be insulting it accurately portrayed Shatner's feelings about Trekkies, which the actor had previously discussed in interviews. He had met overenthusiastic fans as early as March 1968, when a group attempted to rip Shatner's clothes off as the actor left 30 Rockefeller Plaza . He was slower than others to begin attending conventions, and stopped attending for more than a decade during

10890-552: The studio, even when one scenario involved the end of the universe. Several ideas were partly developed including Star Trek: The God Thing and Star Trek: Planet of the Titans . Following the commercial reception of Star Wars , in June 1977, Paramount instead green-lit a new series set in the franchise titled Star Trek: Phase II , with Roddenberry and most of the original cast, except Nimoy, set to reprise their respective roles. It

11011-622: The success of Star Trek without "doing another space-hopping show." He created a 45-page writing guide, and proposed several story ideas based on the concept that pockets of civilisation had regressed to past eras or changed altogether. The pilot aired as a TV movie in March 1973, setting new records for the Thursday Night Movie of the Week . Roddenberry was asked to produce four more scripts for episodes, but before production could begin again, CBS aired

11132-411: The supernatural, Jindra compares Star Trek fandom to both "'quasi-religions,' such as Alcoholics Anonymous and New Age groups"—albeit more universal in its appeal and more organized—and civil religion . As with other faiths, Trekkies find comfort in their worship. Star Trek costume designer William Ware Theiss stated at a convention: The show is important psychologically and sociologically to

11253-477: The television series Black Mirror . Patrick Stewart objected when an interviewer described Trekkies as "weird", calling it a "silly thing to say". He added, "How many do you know personally? You couldn't be more wrong." (According to Stewart, however, the actors dislike being called Trekkies and are careful to distinguish between themselves and the Trekkie audience.) Isaac Asimov said of them, "Trekkies are intelligent, interested, involved people with whom it

11374-469: The time slot. Roddenberry worked with several cast and crew who would later join him on Star Trek , including Gene L. Coon , star Gary Lockwood , Joe D'Agosta, Leonard Nimoy , Nichelle Nichols , and Majel Barrett. The Lieutenant was produced with the co-operation of the Pentagon , which allowed them to film at an actual Marine base. During the production of the series Roddenberry clashed regularly with

11495-407: The time the work on the script was complete, though, those who had approved the project had left Fox and their replacements were not interested in the project. A similar fate was faced by Tribunes, a science-fiction police series, which Roddenberry attempted to get off the ground between 1973 and 1977. He gave up after four years; the series never even reached the pilot stage. In 1974, Roddenberry

11616-526: The time. Listed as a resident of River Edge, New Jersey , he experienced his third crash while on the Clipper Eclipse on June 18, 1947. The plane came down in the Syrian Desert , and Roddenberry, who took control as the ranking flight officer, suffered two broken ribs but was able to drag injured passengers out of the burning plane and led the group to get help. Fourteen (or fifteen) people died in

11737-571: The typical draft , a 64-quarterback draft board transcends "thorough" and reaches "fetishistic". This is the stuff of Star Trek conventions. In a few years, the football equivalent of "Mr. Shatner, why didn't the Enterprise use antimatter to destabilize the alien probe in the Tholian Web ?" will be "Coach Coughlin , what do you think of Scott Buisson?" In 1975, a journalist described Trekkies as "smelling of assembly-line junk food, hugely consumed;

11858-587: Was involved in the initial development but took a less active role after the first season due to ill health. He consulted on the series until his death in 1991. In 1985, Roddenberry became the first TV writer with a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame . He was later inducted into the Science Fiction Hall of Fame and the Academy of Television Arts & Sciences Hall of Fame. Years after his death, Roddenberry

11979-531: Was a police officer. Roddenberry flew 89 combat missions in the Army Air Forces during World War II and worked as a commercial pilot after the war. Later, he joined the Los Angeles Police Department and began to write for television. As a freelance writer , Roddenberry wrote scripts for Highway Patrol , Have Gun – Will Travel , and other series, before creating and producing his own television series, The Lieutenant . In 1964, Roddenberry created

12100-434: Was aired on April 23, 1974. While Roddenberry wanted to create something that could feasibly exist in the future, the network wanted stereotypical science-fiction women and were unhappy when that was not delivered. Roddenberry was not involved in a third reworking of the material by ABC that produced Strange New World . He began developing MAGNA I, an underwater science-fiction series, for 20th Century Fox Television . By

12221-720: Was also critical of how the public looked at certain religions, noting that when the King David Hotel bombing took place in 1946, the American public accepted it as the action of freedom fighters, whereas a car bombing by a Muslim in Beirut is condemned as a terrorist act. While he agreed that both parties were wrong in their use of violence, he said that the actions of both were undertaken because of their strong religious beliefs. According to Ronald D. Moore , Roddenberry "felt very strongly that contemporary Earth religions would be gone by

12342-399: Was asked to write a series called Riverboat , set in 1860s Mississippi. When he discovered that the producers wanted no black people on the show, he argued so much with them that he lost the job. He also considered moving to England around this time, as Lew Grade wanted Roddenberry to develop series and set up his own production company. Though he did not move, he leveraged the deal to land

12463-460: Was becoming increasingly difficult to be a writer and a policeman. On June 7, 1956, he resigned from the force to concentrate on his writing career. Roddenberry was promoted to head writer for The West Point Story and wrote ten scripts for the first season, about a third of the total episodes. While working for Ziv, in 1956, he pitched a series to CBS set aboard a cruise ship , Hawaii Passage , but they did not buy it, as he wanted to become

12584-430: Was circulated to eight people; Bennett attributed the subsequent plot leak of the death of Spock to Roddenberry. About 20% of the plot was based on Roddenberry's ideas. Roddenberry was involved in creating the television series Star Trek: The Next Generation , which premiered with " Encounter at Farpoint " on September 28, 1987. He was given a bonus of $ 1 million (equivalent to $ 3.2 million in 2023) in addition to

12705-464: Was completed on December 11. After post-production, the episode was shown to NBC executives, and it was rumored that Star Trek would be broadcast at 8:00 pm on Friday nights. The episode failed to impress test audiences, and after the executives became hesitant, Katz offered to make a second pilot. On March 26, 1965, NBC ordered a new episode. Roddenberry developed several possible scripts, including " Mudd's Women ", " The Omega Glory ", and with

12826-468: Was granted full creative control of Star Trek: The Animated Series . Although he read all the scripts and "sometimes [added] touches of his own", he relinquished most of his authority to de facto showrunner/associate producer D. C. Fontana. Roddenberry had some difficulties with the cast. To save money, he sought not to hire George Takei and Nichelle Nichols. He neglected to inform Leonard Nimoy of this and instead, to get him to sign on, told him that he

12947-513: Was having financial difficulties; its only success was The Lucy Show . Roddenberry took the Star Trek idea to Oscar Katz, head of programming, and the duo immediately started work on a plan to sell the series to the networks. They took it to CBS, which ultimately passed on it. The duo later learned that CBS had been eager to find out about Star Trek because it had a science fiction series in development— Lost in Space . Roddenberry and Katz next took

13068-400: Was held in 1974 and featured special guests George Takei and James Doohan . After this, there was an official British convention yearly. Turnout and security at the exhibition are unprecedented [with] alarm display cases and two full-time guards on hand to protect the memorabilia from overzealous fans. The New York Times on a Smithsonian Star Trek exhibit, 1992 Because Star Trek

13189-408: Was immediately concerned about the series' low ratings and wrote to Harlan Ellison to ask if he could use his name in letters to the network to save the show. Not wanting to lose a potential source of income, Ellison agreed and also sought the help of other writers who also wanted to avoid losing potential income. Roddenberry corresponded with science fiction writer Isaac Asimov about how to address

13310-498: Was named " executive consultant " for the project, a position he retained for subsequent Star Trek franchise films produced during his lifetime. Under this arrangement, he was compensated with a producer's fee and a percentage of the net profits of the film in exchange for proffering non-binding story notes and corresponding with the fan community; much to his chagrin, these memos were largely disregarded by Bennett and other producers. An initial script for Star Trek II: The Wrath of Khan

13431-528: Was not renewed after its first season. Roddenberry was already working on a new series idea. This included his ship location from Hawaii Passage and added a Horatio Hornblower character, plus the multiracial crew from his airship idea. He decided to write it as science fiction, and by March 11, 1964, he brought together a 16-page pitch. On April 24, he sent three copies and two dollars to the Writers Guild of America to register his series. He called it Star Trek . When Roddenberry pitched Star Trek to MGM, it

13552-476: Was notably fast to use the World Wide Web . The Guardian ' s Damien Walter joked that "the 50% of the early world wide web that wasn't porn was made up of Star Trek: The Next Generation fansites". There are some fans who have become overzealous. That can become terrible. They leap out of bushes, look in windows and lean against doors and listen. Since only about a dozen quarterbacks are selected during

13673-500: Was one of the first humans to have their ashes carried into earth orbit. Star Trek has inspired films, books, comic books, video games and fan films set in the Star Trek universe. Gene Roddenberry was born on August 19, 1921, in his parents' rented home in El Paso, Texas, the first child of Eugene Edward Roddenberry and Caroline "Glen" ( née  Golemon ) Roddenberry. The family moved to Los Angeles in 1923 after Gene's father passed

13794-481: Was paid $ 25,000 by John Whitmore to write a script called The Nine . Intended to be about Andrija Puharich 's parapsychological research, it evolved into a frank exploration of his experiences attempting to earn a living attending science fiction conventions. At the time, he was again close to losing his house because of a lack of income. The pilot Spectre , Roddenberry's 1977 attempt to create an occult detective duo similar to Sherlock Holmes and Dr. Watson ,

13915-505: Was released as a television movie within the United States and received a limited theatrical release in the United Kingdom. Lacking funds in the early 1970s, Roddenberry was unable to buy the full rights to Star Trek for $ 150,000 ($ 1.18 million in 2023) from Paramount. Lou Scheimer approached Paramount in 1973 about creating an animated Star Trek series. Credited as "executive consultant" and paid $ 2,500 per episode, Roddenberry

14036-446: Was set in the future the show did not become dated, and by counterprogramming during the late afternoon or early evening when other stations showed television news it attracted a young audience. The reruns' great popularity—greater than when Star Trek originally aired in prime time—caused Paramount to receive thousands of letters each week demanding the show's return and promising that it would be profitable. (The fans were correct; by

14157-422: Was the first mass-market book to introduce fan fiction and other aspects of fandom to a wide audience. By 1976 there were more than 250 Star Trek clubs, and at least three rival groups organized 25 conventions that attracted thousands to each. While discussing that year whether to name the first Space Shuttle Enterprise , James M. Cannon , Gerald R. Ford 's domestic policy advisor, described Trekkies as "one of

14278-448: Was the only member of the main cast not returning. After Nimoy discovered the deception, he demanded that Takei and Nichols play Sulu and Uhura when their characters appeared on screen; Roddenberry acquiesced. He had been promised five full seasons of the new show but ultimately, only one and a half were produced. Vociferous fan support (6,000 attended the second New York Star Trek convention in 1973 and 15,000 attended in 1974, eclipsing

14399-413: Was to be the anchor show of a proposed Paramount-owned " fourth network ", but plans for the network were scrapped and the project was reworked into a feature film. The result, Star Trek: The Motion Picture , troubled the studio because of budgetary concerns, but it was a box-office hit. Adjusted for inflation, it was the third-highest-grossing Star Trek movie, with the 2009 film coming in first and

14520-643: Was unimpressed: "Whatever substance was in the original [novel by Francis Pollini] or screen concept has been plowed under, leaving only superficial, one-joke results." Herbert Solow had given Roddenberry the work as a favor, paying him $ 100,000 for the script. Faced with a mortgage and a $ 2,000-per-month alimony obligation as a result of his 1969 divorce, he retained a booking agent (with the assistance of his friend Arthur C. Clarke ) and began to support himself largely by scheduling appearances at colleges and science fiction conventions. These presentations typically included screenings of "The Cage" and blooper reels from

14641-420: Was warmly received, but no offer was made. He then went to Desilu Productions , but rather than being offered a one-script deal, he was hired as a producer and allowed to work on his own projects. His first was a half-hour pilot called Police Story (not to be confused with the anthology series created by Joseph Wambaugh ), which was not picked up by the networks. Having not sold a pilot in five years, Desilu

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