Star Trek was burning up syndication in 1976, making Paramount millions! The anticipation for some type of Star Trek return was palpable and the release of the album Inside Star Trek seemed like more evidence to that fact.
The record is a collection of interviews with members of the cast and audio clips from Gene Roddenberry's college tour. Those actors who appear are William Shatner, DeForest Kelley, Nichelle Nichols and Mark Lenard. Leonard Nimoy was invited to participate but he declined because of his declining relationship with Roddenberry.
Also on the album is an interview with Science Fiction author Isaac Asimov.
The album was re-released in 1999 with an extended version of the soundtrack for Star Trek: The Motion Picture. In the re-release, five extra tracks were included.
Photos, film clips or audio from Roddenberry's college tours are very rare. So having them appear on this album makes it all the more valuable. But it also stands as a remarkable document of Gene’s, Shatner’s, Kelley’s and Nichols’ thoughts about Star Trek at that moment in time in the mid-1970s.
From that perspective, Inside Star Trek is a goldmine!
The audio clips used in this podcast are the property of Columbia/Legacy Records and Sony Music Entertainment, Inc.
