Star Trek: How the Original Series Changed From Pitch to Execution

[TMC]

http://www.denofgeek.com/us/tv/star-...h-to-execution

The Star Trek we first saw on September 8, 1966 was quite a different beast than the one first proposed by Gene Roddenberry.

It was 50 years ago on September 8th that the first episode of a new series called Star Trek aired on NBC-TV (it had run two days earlier, on September 6, in Canada), changing the course of both television and sci-fi history forever.

But while the characters and settings of that show — Captain Kirk, First Officer Spock, the U.S.S. Enterprise, etc. — are as familiar to us now as any other pop culture icons, creator Gene Roddenberry's initial concept featured a different array of names, places and potential storylines — some of which did eventually make it into the final show in vastly altered shapes...

Roddenberry had been developing the basic idea for Star Trek as far back as 1960, but it wasn’t until 1963 that he began to put some of the concepts into concrete form. Roddenberry was producing his first series at the time (The Lieutenant, for MGM) and told the studio about his idea for a new sci-fi series. Although MGM ultimately passed, Roddenberry did write a treatment that provided the springboard for him to further flesh out the idea of this space adventure.

Roddenberry kept pitching his series to other production companies, using a document now popularly called Star Trek is… as his template. Written on March 11, 1964, Star Trek is… spells out characters, the name of the vessel, the show's basic themes, some production requirements, and even a short list of ideas for potential episodes. It is here where we can see the roots of Star Trek as we know it take hold.

This brief written proposal was the basis of all that would follow over the five decades since. And it all started with Desilu Productions — and a forward-thinking exec named Herb Solow — giving Roddenberry a production deal to develop his show in April of 1964. How much of that first proposal changed and/or made it to the screen by the time premiere episode "The Man Trap" aired that first week of September 1966? Let’s take a look at some of the major elements...