In 1976, Gene Roddenberry’s first attempt to bring Star Trek back was rejected by Paramount. That story, known as The God Thing (see 70s Trek Episode 45), explored the nature of God. It explained that the all powerful was actually a broken robot spaceship that visited Earth multiple times. This was not a story that Paramount wanted to make, never mind sink millions of dollars into. So while the studio looked elsewhere for Star Trek movie ideas, Gene decided to ask his assistant, Jon Povil, to give it a try. Tat treatment was known as Star Trek II. This was…
Month: October 2017
This is a rebroadcast of Episode 11. It was just 47 days after Star Trek was cancelled when Neil Armstrong and Buzz Aldrin walked on the moon. The timing also seems intentional today. Co-hosts Bob Turner and Kelly Casto talk about the first moon landing and its impact on the original series on this episode of 70s Trek. As American astronauts walked on the moon in the years between 1969 and 1972, Star Trek entered syndication. Suddenly, what seemed far-fetched in the 1960s, was becoming real in the 1970s. Apollo 11 helped people realize that space exploration was real. Star…
While many believe he played the first Star Trek doctor, DeForest Kelley actually played the third. He followed John Hoyt’s Dr. Phillip Boyse from the first Star Trek pilot, The Cage and Paul Fix’s Dr. Mark Piper from Where No Man Has Gone Before, the second pilot. But it was DeForest Kelley’s portray of Dr. Leonard McCoy that has become iconic in popular culture. “Bones” was cantankerous, irritable, irascible, and even at times belligerent! But what would Captain Kirk or Mr. Spock be without Dr. McCoy? The character regularly questioned Kirk’s or Spock’s stance on a topic and made them think about the…
Star Trek Discovery debuted on September 24. The highly anticipated first episode aired on the CBS network. Subsequent episodes will appear on the streaming service, CBS All Access. CBS had a bumpy road getting Discovery produced. The new series was announced in early 2016. Former Voyager writer Bryan Fuller was chosen to create the show and act as its show runner. But Fuller left after a few months over “creative differences” with CBS. He was replaced by Gretchen Berg and Aaron Harberts who saw the show through to production. The new series is unlike anything seen in the Star Trek…