In 1975, as Star Trek was making money in syndication, Paramount decided it was time to develop a new Trek project. Gene Roddenberry was offered a development deal and the project was to a motion picture with a $5 million budget. Production was to start on July 15, 1976.
Gene came up with The God Thing. His script had the crew of the Enterprise meeting and discovering the nature of God. It's revealed that God is actually a computer/ship/entity that visits worlds repeatedly, creating prophets to match the level of development of that planet's society. These prophets then guide that world's population through their evolution.
But the real twist is that the computer/ship/entity thing is not the God we know, but actually the Devil.
When Roddenberry finished his script and turned it into Paramount, the head of the studio, Barry Diller, rejected it. So the The God Thing was thought to be permanently shelved. But Gene decided to take the idea and make it into a book that he would author.
But as the 70s moved on and Paramount moved from Trek project to Trek project, The God Thing book was left behind until it was discovered in 1991 by Gene's assistant Susan Sackett. She brought it to the attention of Pocket Books and a publishing deal was reached. Several writers worked on the manuscript, and a dust jacket was even made for the book. But after Gene's death, the project was forgotten again.
Today, The God Thing remains a lost version of Trek. It's a look into the creator's mind, and an interesting "What-if" story from the decade of the 70s.
70s Trek is a fan production and does not receive any profit. Intro and Outro Music was purchased from Free Play Music.
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