On this episode of 70s Trek, co-hosts Bob Turner and Kelly Casto are celebrating the show's 75th episode. It’s the perfect time to look back and see what we’ve covered so far and take a look at what’s around the corner.
Star Trek's Specialness
Throughout 70s Trek, we've discovered a very common theme. There are many little stories and events that surround the show and its fandom that make it special. These are things that have not happened to other other TV shows. Just Trek!
Apart from its on-screen presentations, Star Trek has a special past, a certain pedigree that sets it apart from other creations. It's what makes the franchise unique.
It's been the goal of 70s Trek to touch on some of these stories and events from the 1970s that helped shape Star Trek's rise and dramatic popular explosion.
Past Moments
Bob talk about the moments in the early 70s that brought attention to the show. When the Neilsen Ratings company moved to demographics to report TV ratings rather than just the mass numbers right after Star Trek was cancelled. Seeing how well the show performed with key demos made NBC realized it had made an incredible mistake!
When the show went into syndication, it quickly became profitable and prompted Filmation's Lou Scheimer to approach Roddenberry and NBC about doing an animated version.
In the meantime, fandom is growing rapidly as illustrated by the first Star Trek convention. Organizers expected 500, but 3,000 showed up!
All of this, and more, prompted Paramount to invite Roddenberry back to their lot to begin work on a new Star Trek feature. That began nearly a 27-month process of listening to multiple pitches, trying to fine the right story.
Books
Of course fueling fandom's fire were the many books in the early 1970s. Prized by Trek fans were the episode adaptations written by James Blish.
There was also the first Star Trek reference book, The Star Fleet Technical Manual by Franz Joseph. Bjo Trimble followed that book up with the Star Trek Concordance, a fan-produced episode guide that included much more.
Another fan-written reference book was the Star Fleet Medical Reference Manual created by a group of friends that were associated with the Federation Trading Post, an early Star Trek store. Part of that group was Doug Drexler. An Academy Award winner, Drexler would go on to work on every version of Trek from 1990 forward.
Interviews
70s Trek has also tried to present interviews with those that played significant roles with Star Trek in the 1970s Richard Arnold worked directly for Gene Roddenberry. We mentioned Doug Drexler above, and Bob Kelly also talked with Bjo and John Trimble.
Looking Forward
Coming up are episodes about Phase II, some other influences on Star Trek's next version and the production of The Motion Picture. We hope you will join us.
