Star Trek is an American science fiction television series created by Gene Roddenberry that follows the adventures of the starship USS Enterprise (NCC-1701) and its crew.

[7] On March 11, 1964, Gene Roddenberry, a long-time fan of science fiction, drafted a short treatment for a science-fiction television series that he called Star Trek.

Roddenberry noted a number of influences on his idea, some of which includes A. E. van Vogt's tales of the spaceship Space Beagle, Eric Frank Russell's Marathon series of stories, and the film Forbidden Planet (1956).

Commander Scott (James Doohan) and Lt. Sulu (George Takei), who served as a physicist on the ship in the second pilot, but subsequently became a helmsman throughout the rest of the series.

[citation needed] Artist and sculptor Wah Chang, who had worked for Walt Disney Productions, was hired to design and manufacture props: he created the flip-open communicator, often credited as having influenced the configuration of the portable version of the cellular telephone.

Reviews were mixed; while The Philadelphia Inquirer and San Francisco Chronicle liked the new show, The New York Times and The Boston Globe were less favorable,[32] and Variety predicted that it "won't work", calling it "an incredible and dreary mess of confusion and complexities".

Frederik Pohl, editor of Galaxy Science Fiction, wrote in February 1967 of his amazement that Star Trek's "regular shows were just as good" as the early episodes that won an award at Tricon in September.

[25] When rumors spread in late 1967 that Star Trek was at risk of cancellation, Roddenberry secretly began and funded an effort by Bjo Trimble, her husband John, and other fans to persuade tens of thousands of viewers to write letters of support to save the program.

[53] More than 200 Caltech students marched to NBC's Burbank, California studio to support Star Trek in January 1968, carrying signs such as "Draft Spock" and "Vulcan Power".

[39]: 116–117 [55] The announcement implied a request to stop writing—NBC's policy of replying to each viewer mail meant that the campaign cost the network millions of dollars[46]—but instead caused fans to send letters of thanks in similar numbers.

NBC at first planned to move Star Trek to Mondays for the show's third season, likely in hopes of increasing its audience after the enormous letter campaign that surprised the network.

[71]: 138 [25] Paramount began advertising the reruns in trade press in March 1969;[72] as Kaiser's ratings were good, other stations, such as WPIX in New York City and WKBS in Philadelphia, also purchased the episodes[73]: 91–92  for similar counterprogramming.

Gene Roddenberry said in response that "The Chekov thing was a major error on our part, and I'm still embarrassed by the fact we didn't include a Russian right from the beginning.

Before Star Trek, Shatner was well known in the trade, having appeared in several notable films, played Cyrano de Bergerac on Broadway, and even turned down the part of Dr. Kildare.

[70] The Spock character was at first rejected by network executives, who were apprehensive that his vaguely "Satanic" appearance (with pointed ears and eyebrows) might prove upsetting to some viewers, and (according to Leonard Nimoy) they repeatedly urged Roddenberry to "drop the Martian".

"Bread and Circuses", "Miri" and "The Omega Glory" depict such worlds; "A Piece of the Action", "Patterns of Force" and "Plato's Stepchildren" are based on alien planets that have adopted period Earth cultures (Prohibition-era Chicago, Nazi Germany and ancient Greece, respectively).

Several publications have ranked the ten best episodes of Star Trek: Of the twenty-one different episodes listed above, thirteen – "Where No Man Has Gone Before", "The Enemy Within", "The Naked Time", "Balance of Terror", "The Galileo Seven", "Arena", "Space Seed", "This Side of Paradise", "The Devil in the Dark", "A Taste of Armageddon", "The Corbomite Maneuver", "The Man Trap", and "The City on the Edge of Forever" – are from the first season and six – "Amok Time", "The Doomsday Machine", "Mirror, Mirror", "The Trouble with Tribbles", "A Piece of the Action", and "Journey to Babel" – are from the second season.

Season One The Birth of a Timeless Legacy Starfleet Access for "Space Seed" Sci-Fi Visionaries Interactive Enterprise Inspection Billy Blackburn's Treasure Chest: Rare Home Movies and Special Memories Kiss 'n' Tell: Romance in the 23rd Century Starfleet Access for "Errand of Mercy" Starfleet Access for "Amok Time" "Content to Go" featurette via Mobile-Blu: Writing Spock "Content to Go" featurette via Mobile-Blu: Creating Chekov "Content to Go" featurette via Mobile-Blu: Listening to the Actors "More Tribbles, More Troubles" audio commentary by David Gerrold DS9: "Trials and Tribble-ations" "Trials and Tribble-ations": Uniting Two Legends Star Trek: The Original Series on Blu-ray "Trials and Tribble-ations": An Historic Endeavor Starfleet Access for "The Trouble with Tribbles" "Content to Go" featurette via Mobile-Blu: Spock's Mother To Boldly Go...

[citation needed] Netflix began online streaming of five of the six Star Trek television series on July 1, 2011; Deep Space Nine followed on October 1, 2011.

The massive worldwide box office success of Star Wars in mid-1977 sent Hollywood studios to their vaults in search of similar sci-fi properties that could be adapted or re-launched to the big screen.

Following the huge opening of Columbia's Close Encounters of the Third Kind in late December 1977, production of Phase II was canceled in favor of making a Star Trek film.

[135] Roberto Orci and Alex Kurtzman wrote a screenplay that impressed Abrams, featuring new actors portraying younger versions of the original series' cast.

During this period, the company produced a line of 8" figures featuring Captain Kirk, Mr. Spock, Leonard McCoy, Mr. Scott, Lt. Uhura, "Aliens" (a Klingon, a Neptunian, the Keeper, a Gorn, a Cheron, a Romulan, a Talosian, an Andorian, and a Mugato), and numerous playsets.

[citation needed] EMCE Toys hired original Mego packaging artist Harold Schull to illustrate new artwork for Sulu, Chekov, Khan, and the Gorn.

[citation needed] EMCE Toys is continuing the Mego revival with the production of more Star Trek figures, including Captain Pike and the Salt Vampire.

[140] In 1977–1978, before home video was widely available, Mandala Productions and Bantam Books published FotoNovels of TOS that included direct adaptations of actual color television episode frames (with word balloons) in comics format.

[141] They also introduced the new series Star Trek: Early Voyages, which dealt with Christopher Pike's adventures as captain of the Enterprise (as depicted in the rejected TOS pilot "The Cage").

[146] The 1999 film Galaxy Quest portrays the lives of a once-popular television space-drama crew who are kidnapped by real aliens who have mistaken the fictional series for reality.

Asimov corrected himself with a follow-up essay to TV Guide claiming despite its inaccuracies, that Star Trek was a fresh and intellectually challenging science fiction television show.

The critical consensus reads, "An optimistic ode to humanity, Star Trek may look dated, but its gadgetry and solid storytelling solidify its place as one of pop culture's most enduring franchises.