My favorite Sci-FI show, Star Trek.

In Television history, there are many and I mean many shows that stand out and that people love and speak about. Many have won awards, and the stars who starred in them became not only household names, but names that shall be remembered forever.

Among these shows, came comedians like Red Skelton, Jackie Gleason, and then you had Lucille Ball. Also for shows that held an audience and stars that did also LUcille Ball and her first husband Desi Arnaz, launched programs through their Desilu Studio, that have entertained well, but none more so than my favorite Sci-FI show, Star Trek.

Gene Roddenberry had a vision of space, time and adventure that no other person could think of, he pitched it to the studios and Desilu bought into it. Mankind among the stars, leaving earth to boldly explore outer space and beyond, to expand mankind’s knowledge and people’s imagination in such a way, was unknown before him.

Star trek the original series on tv, shot onto tv screens back in 1966. When it did at first it was in black and white and then color hit. The stories it showed of the U.S.S. Enterprise and it’s crew were fun,adventurous and very entertaining. The aliens they invented the planets they sent them to were also. Roddenberry, had a vision and Desilu Studios owned by Ball and Arnaz took the chance of making it happen and it came out well. The props were cheap and inexpensive and many made of cardboard and foam, the costumes were cheap and even the alien masks and outfits they were. But, the passion, and the sense of wonderment, never disappeared from Star Trek, even after the original was taken off air.

Star Trek came back, in a big way, in reruns, making large stars out of many of its cast, William Shatner, Leonard Nimoy and others, ended up being attached to their characters they played it was like they were a permanent part of their lives. Why, because they became identified with their characters they embraced them and enjoyed playing them. They added little quirks and traits to their characters, that came from their own lives and reality. It worked because it had an environment of an open cast and crew who worked as a team.

When Star Trek went off tv, there was a big cry, for it to return and Captain Kirk and the Crew did not reappear immediately. There was indeed a long waiting period, until someone else picked up the Star Trek, mantle and brought us Star Trek Movies, then Star Trek The Next Generation, Star Trek Deep Space Nine, Enterprise, and Voyager!

Each series that came out and each movie advanced the Star Trek storyline, it advanced the science and referenced the original keeping it all in line and intact. Star Trek I hope will never disappear, We had some great Captains and First Officers and more in the series and movies. Shatner and his James T. Kirk, Stewart and his Picard, Bakula on Enterprise, Brooks with his Sisko, and Mulgrew with her Captain Janeway! Each series seemed to overlap the next and carry forth the idea, mankind could reach the stars and mankind could advance and survive if needed, In the end though, all depended on and relied on Earth surviving, it was always the main connecting thread.

Star Trek in all it’s forms, all it’s eras, all it stars and in all the time it has been out and about, started with one man, and his ideas, Gene Roddenberry folks, and like his stories and his series and his love for his program he developed and created, his ideas still exists today and propel mankind toward space, when needed.

Gene Roddenberry had his remains upon his death fittingly launched into space, for burial. His ideas were about space, his love of exploration, his vast imagination is what made Star Trek so great and still does today.

Star Trek comes now in movies, books, comic books and it’s conventions have gone on forever it seems to me. I hope someone, is brave enough and will go boldly forward one day and create more Star Trek Movies and books, For Star Trek should never die folks and neither should the brave words of John F, Kennedy, who said, ” Mankind can and will reach the moon by the end of this decade and that was the 1960s folks, he saw it and because Kennedy foresaw it and knew it could be done, America believed and made it happen! That was a generation and a time America needed and we grew from, and we need again. I pray someday, someone with an imagination and the ability to stick to Gene Roddenberry’s basis and scope of Star Trek will produce more, to entertain all of us and to boost mankind’s imagination and hunger for life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness on Earth and way beyond in space!