A Brief Guide to Star Trek (10 page)

Roddenberry screened ‘Where No Man Has Gone Before’ to a 500-strong fan audience, who welcomed the new show with a standing ovation. This was just the prelude to Thursday, 8 September 1966 when NBC aired ‘The Man Trap’ as the first episode of
Star Trek
. Most critical reaction was lukewarm, seemingly preferring to postpone judgement until the series had run a little longer. Only the
Hollywood Reporter
wholeheartedly endorsed the new series as a ‘winner’. One appreciative viewer, though, was Lucille Ball, who sent a note to the production team’s Desilu offices congratulating them all on having ‘a hit on your hands’ and expressing how ‘proud and happy I am’.

Never one to waste anything, Roddenberry had come up with an idea on how to use the material shot for ‘The Cage’ pilot episode – and keep the production on schedule at the same time. That pilot could not now be screened as so much had changed in terms of cast, approach and even the look of the show. However, by concocting a ‘wraparound’ story featuring the current
Enterprise
crew, Roddenberry figured he could use the material from ‘The Cage’ as a flashback, with the common link being Spock. The result was the two-part tale ‘The Menagerie’. Spock hijacks the
Enterprise
, along with the now-crippled Captain Pike (Sean Kenney standing in for the non-returning Jeffrey Hunter), and returns to Talos IV. Trapped aboard the
Enterprise
, Kirk and Starbase Commodore Mendez stage an investigation into Spock’s actions – aided by a
visual record of his previous visit to Talos IV, transmitted from the now forbidden planet itself. The new material was shot in just five days at a lesser cost than a regular episode, while the participants in ‘The Cage’ were paid additional fees for the reuse of their material. The result was a cheaper-than-usual two-part
Star Trek
story (the only one in
The Original Series
) that made the universe of the show appear just that little bit larger – and helped the production make up for time lost when it slipped behind schedule.

Leonard Nimoy’s Spock rapidly proved to be the break-out character in
Star Trek
. NBC had initially objected to his look and depiction in ‘The Cage’ and ‘Where No Man Has Gone Before’ – even going to the lengths of ‘doctoring’ publicity material to tone down his Vulcan ears. Executives had urged Roddenberry to drop the ‘satanic-looking’ character, but the series’ creator was not to be dissuaded. He knew that
Star Trek
needed a regular alien character as part of the
Enterprise
crew, alongside his diverse selection of humans. Just as the Lone Ranger needed his Tonto, the Green Hornet his Kato, so Captain Kirk needed Spock by his side.

Roddenberry knew that the character opened up a whole universe of story possibilities that would otherwise be difficult to reach. His half-Vulcan, half-human heritage meant that Spock was a conflicted character from the beginning, striving to live up to the Vulcan ideals of non-emotionalism, yet torn by his genetic human leanings. In early episodes this would be explored through Nurse Christine Chapel’s crush on Spock and how he dealt with the very human feelings she brought out in him.

It was under the influence of a mood-altering drug that Chapel admitted her feelings for Spock (in ‘The Naked Time’), while Spock’s experience of Pon farr (the Vulcan mating ritual) would bring out Chapel’s maternal instincts (in ‘Amok Time’). Their relationship developed in odd ways through
The Original Series
, with Chapel housing Spock’s consciousness within her own mind
in order to save him from Henoch, an evil disembodied energy being (in ‘Return to Tomorrow’, an inspiration for the Spockcentric trilogy of
Star Trek
movies, II–IV), while the pair ‘enjoyed’ a forced kiss while controlled by bored telepaths (in ‘Plato’s Stepchildren’). Much later, Spock himself expresses his infatuation with Chapel while under the effect of Harry Mudd’s love potion (in the episode ‘Mudd’s Passion’, from the mid-1970s animated
Star Trek
series).

In the first J. J. Abrams’
Star Trek
movie, Uhura controversially filled the Chapel position in connection with the new Spock. In ‘The Man Trap’, the original Uhura had shown similar interest in romancing Spock, even though he seemed unable to comprehend the nature of her advances or her desire to take a stroll in the moonlight. ‘This Side of Paradise’ sees Spock infected by Omnicron spores, allowing him once again to drop his Vulcan inhibitions and express his human emotions, in this case falling in love with botanist Leila Kalomi on Omnicron Ceti III and ignoring Kirk’s orders. Kirk’s destruction of the spores causes Spock’s submerged anger to surface, while later – once recovered – he confesses that his time with Kalomi, although his brain chemistry was ‘altered’, had been the first time he’d truly felt happy . . .

Spock provided the outsider’s view of humanity. While his human side gave him some kinship with Captain Kirk, Doctor McCoy and the crew of the
Enterprise
, his Vulcan heritage meant that he could look upon humanity in a colder, more detached way. Certainly, in early episodes of the series it is Spock who is quick to jump to the logical, sometimes violently destructive solution to a problem. Spock calculates the odds and weighs up the options coldly. He is the first to suggest killing Gary Mitchell in ‘Where No Man Has Gone Before’ as Mitchell poses a clear danger to the
Enterprise
and her crew (and beyond). In ‘Balance of Terror’ Spock wants to destroy the Romulan ship, believing that its return, unharmed, to its own space would signal Federation weakness and lead to eventual invasion. In ‘The City on the Edge of Forever’ it is Spock
who convinces Kirk that ‘Edith Keeler must die’ in order to protect the timeline, regardless of the captain’s feelings for her (a viewpoint Kirk comes to reluctantly recognise). Although Spock, along with many of the characters in
Star Trek
, mellows as the series progresses, he never loses this outsider perspective. It was the ideal viewpoint to make the character a counter-culture icon in the late 1960s. His character was, as Spock himself might say, ‘fascinating’.

Nimoy had come to
Star Trek
a hungry, young, but serious-minded actor. He welcomed a regular role on a prime-time TV series, but for most of the rest of his life he would have very mixed feelings about playing Spock. More specifically, he (like NBC initially) was worried about the physical appearance of the character and the need to wear false ear appliances for that all-important alien look. Roddenberry had promised the actor that if they remained a problem he could come up with a story reason for their removal later in the series, but it never came to that. The character quickly became the most popular on the show – further adding to Nimoy’s mixed feelings.

Nimoy had been engaged to play a supporting role to the leading character of the captain – ironic considering how popular his character was to become – and so was being paid $1,250 per episode compared to Shatner’s leading man remuneration of $5,000. After just a handful of episodes had been filmed, and even before the show had aired, it had become clear to Nimoy’s agent that the character of Spock was taking on a role that went way beyond that of a mere supporting character. Meetings were held, but a request for increased pay was refused, with an offer to revisit the issue if the show was renewed for a second season. Nimoy, not happy with this outcome, was to hold a minor grudge against both the production’s executives and the show’s leading man for the run of the series as he felt he was being undervalued and underpaid.

Despite the success of Spock, by November 1966 Gene Roddenberry was a nervous man.
Star Trek
was doing all right,
ratings-wise, but it was by no means a hit show and so was not guaranteed a continued life beyond the initial sixteen episodes NBC had committed to. Almost as soon as the show was born, the ‘Save
Star Trek
’ campaigns began.

Star Trek
had started well with the debut episode (‘The Man Trap’) airing during an NBC ‘sneak preview’ special presentation opposite repeat programming. It won the time slot with a 40.6 per cent share (meaning the percentage of all television sets in actual use during the broadcast that were tuned to that programme). The second show (‘Charlie X’) dropped dramatically as it was broadcast opposite new programming on rival channels, scoring a 29.4 per cent share, putting NBC in second place behind CBS. For the next two episodes (second pilot ‘Where No Man Has Gone Before’ was aired third, followed by ‘The Naked Time’),
Star Trek
ranked 33rd out of the top 100 US TV shows. The next two episodes (‘The Enemy Within’ and ‘Mudd’s Women’) saw viewership collapse and the show languish at 51st place. After just six weeks on air, the first season of
Star Trek
was heading towards an average 52nd place in the top 100, a position that would not lead to automatic renewal for a second season.

Roddenberry turned to the science fiction fan community for support. He had already built a relationship with fans Bjo (a shortened version of Betty Joanne) and John Trimble at the 24th World Science Fiction Convention in Cleveland, and they volunteered to spearhead a fan letter-writing campaign. However, worried that NBC might respond to
Star Trek
’s falling ratings by pulling the show off air before completion of the first season, Roddenberry set about coordinating a ‘Save
Star Trek
’ campaign directly from within the show’s production office. Roddenberry himself drafted a series of letters making key points about the show, which were then offered to leading authors to use as the basis of their own campaigning efforts in support of the programme.

In November 1966 Roddenberry co-opted fantasy author Harlan Ellison to spearhead the campaign. Aimed at recruiting
more science fiction professionals, the Roddenberry-drafted letter highlighted the positive effect the existence of ‘adult’ science fiction television could have on the field as a whole. Encouraging authors and fans to write letters to their local TV stations and newspapers in support of
Star Trek
, Roddenberry’s campaign was a dry run for those that would come at the end of each of the show’s three troubled seasons on air. Among those writers who signed up to the campaign alongside Ellison were Theodore Sturgeon, Richard Matheson, A. E. van Vogt, Robert Bloch, Lester del Ray, Philip José Farmer, Frank Herbert and Poul Anderson.

Despite the low ratings, and almost in spite of the limited letter-writing campaign of 1966, NBC decided it would extend
Star Trek
’s first season by another thirteen episodes for 1966–7 and then pick up the show for a second season of episodes for 1967– 8. Recognising the series’ appeal among younger viewers, especially teenagers who were otherwise hard to reach through television drama, NBC announced
Star Trek
would return in the 7.30 p.m. slot on Tuesdays, before changing its mind and moving the show to the difficult 8.30 p.m. Friday night slot – a time when the target audience of teenagers and college students would most likely not be bothering to watch broadcast television.

It was the beginning of the long, slow death of
Star Trek
.

‘Star Trek
– despite the wild enthusiasm of science fiction aficionados – had a rough go its first year, due mainly to that purblind arrogance of the nameless decision-makers on their skyscraper mountaintops
.’ Harlan Ellison

Series creator Gene Roddenberry took a step back from the day-to-day running of
Star Trek
halfway through its first season on air. His credit changed from producer on those first sixteen episodes to executive producer for the remainder of the series. Into the second season, he continued to rewrite scripts to ensure they fitted with the
Star Trek
universe he’d created, but producer Gene Coon took a stronger hand on the script-editing front, with associate producer Robert Justman continuing to handle the physical production process. This team, along with screen-writer Harlan Ellison, were to be behind the creation of the episode cited as
Star Trek
’s all-time best instalment.

Despite his wholehearted involvement in the campaign to raise the profile of
Star Trek
with science fiction fans and professionals, Ellison would prove to be a thorn in Gene Roddenberry’s side when he came to script an episode for the series. The making of ‘The City on the Edge of Forever’ – an episode from towards the end of
Star Trek
’s debut season – was extremely troubled from the beginning.

Ellison was primarily a short story writer, essayist and
columnist who’d scripted various TV shows including two acclaimed episodes of
The Outer Limits
(‘Soldier’ and ‘Demon With A Glass Hand’) and instalments of
The Man From U.N.C.L.E
. He would go on to become a creative consultant and writer on the 1985 revival of
The Twilight Zone
and J. Michael Straczynski’s groundbreaking 1990s TV space opera
Babylon 5
(a rival to the same era’s
Deep Space Nine
). Getting a
Star Trek
script from Ellison was a priority for Justman. ‘We wanted a teleplay from Harlan as soon as possible, but despite a lot of badgering Harlan was behind schedule right from the start, taking two months to write his final revised story outline. The usual time allocated for a story was more like two or three weeks.’

In a memo Justman described the long-awaited story outline as ‘beautifully written’, but he recognised that Ellison’s proposed story contained huge challenges for practical television production. Several of Ellison’s scenes featured locations and effects that would simply be beyond
Star Trek
’s budget and may even have been challenging for a major movie production to realise.