Forty-five years ago today the words, “Space the final frontier” were heard coming out of
the mono television speakers of the day. On Thursday, September 8th at 8:30pm viewers tuned into the first aired episode (the actual second pilot wasn’t aired until later). For 3 seasons the valiant crew of the U.S.S. Enterprise fought Gods and monsters with the occasional psycho Starship captain thrown in for good measure. No one ever suspected the impact 79 episodes of a television series would have on the world.
‘The Man Trap’ though a monster of the week story really tells the story of lost love. Captain Kirk (William Shatner), Doctor McCoy (DeForest Kelley) and crewman Darnell (Michael Zaslow) beam down to planet M-113 for a routine check up of scientific personnel. This just isn’t a routine stop for Dr. McCoy it seems that an ex-flame of his is married to the main researcher on this planet. This is long overdue reunion for McCoy and Nancy (Jeanne Bal) and the doctor is a bit nervous about seeing her. When she walks in McCoy sees her as she was 10 years ago, Kirk sees her as a more mature woman and Darnell sees her as “a girl I left behind on Wrigley’s Pleasure Planet.” Nancy volunteers to go find her husband and as she ventures out into the archeological site, Darnell follows. While she is gone Robert Crater (Alfred Ryder) shows up and immediately goes on the defensive about how the Federation has no right intruding on his planet. It is mentioned that they have already seen Nancy. McCoy says she looks as she did when they last saw each other, Kirk mentions seeing gray in her hair. Crater assures McCoy that the next time he sees her he will see her the way he should. A scream from outside draws the men out into the ruins where they find Nancy standing over the body of Darnell, McCoy checks him and for the first time we hear the famous, “He’s dead, Jim!”
That is how the first episode pulled us in and Star Trek hasn’t let go yet. 45 years and we are still looking up at the stars hoping to catch a glimpse of a Starship in standard orbit. Directed by Marc Daniels and written by George Clayton Johnson this episode was a great introduction to Gene Roddenberry’s vision of the future. One funny story that I have heard over the years at the countless conventions that I have attended involves Leonard Nimoy and this episode. In Nimoy’s tale, there was a reporter on the set during the filming of ‘The Man Trap’ and he told the reporter that Star Trek was a more cerebral approach to science fiction television, not just the monster of the week with which audiences were accustomed. Nimoy was called to the set and as the cameras rolled under the watchful eye of the press, Nimoy in full Spock make up uttered the line, “It was the creature. It attacked me!” This was not exactly the more cerebral approach.
The fact was that Star Trek was many things, it was cerebral sci-fi, sometimes too much so which is why the original pilot didn’t air in it’s entirety for 20 years. Star Trek despite the plastic rocks and weak special effects was a great television. Gene Roddenberry painted the future as a place where mankind learned that hate, prejudice and greed were all but memories. Star Trek also in a strange way predicted cell phones and i-Pads. I am still waiting for my personal transporter.
After the cancellation in 1969 Star Trek returned as a Saturday morning cartoon for one season. The animated series was mediocre with only one or two stand out episodes. Following the demise of the animated series Paramount set its sites on starting a fourth television network with Star Trek as the anchor show. Star Trek: Phase II was in pre-production when it was decided that with the success of Star Wars, Star Trek could make the transition to the big screen. On December 7th 1979 Star Trek: The Motion Picture premiered. A very slow moving story that relied more on the special effects than plot it, did open the door for future Star Trek movies. The original cast starred in movies until 1991 with the release of Star Trek: The Undiscovered Country.
Star Trek the Original Series will always hold a special place in the hearts of those who grew up it as the only Star Trek around. 45 years is a long time for a television show to still be loved by both new and old fans. I suspect that 45 years from now people will still be talking about plastic rocks and bad special effects and saying how groundbreaking it really was for the time. Star Trek continues to entertain and will continue to entertain generations to come.
