Gene Roddenberry told me in 1973 that he thought NBC had made a business decision to cancel the marginally-rated series and he quashed the rumor that it was his personal disagreements with the network brass the led to the end of Star Trek the original series. But, it’s clear that NBC did not fully realize the value of Star Trek while it was on the air. After Star Trek was cancelled by that network, the methods of measuring television audience became more sophisticated than they had been in the 1960s. It was too late to save Star Trek the original series, but while the 79 episodes certainly performed poorly in a strict head count of viewers, in the 1970s, audience demographics research proved that Star Trek was the perfect vehicle to attract and maintain viewer loyalty–precisely what advertisers want.

Hear Roddenberry’s comments about demographics. Because this proven demographic power suggested an equally powerful financial return for the studio, Star Trek was brought back into production by Paramount Pictures.

In 1973, the animated series premiered on Saturday mornings on NBC, with episodes that featured the voices of the original series cast. Roddenberry got creative control of this series as he explained in a 1973 interview. There are 22 animated half-hour episodes that featured a collection of highly credentialed writers, such as Samuel A. Peeples, D.C. Fontana, Marc Daniels, Margaret Armen, and David Gerrold, who never before had written scripts for a Saturday morning animated network series. Yet, an animated series was insufficient to satisfy a growing audience demand for more Star Trek on television.

Paramount Pictures then decided to do a Star Trek motion picture for theatrical release instead of producing a new television version. In the 1970s, Paramount was considered creating a fourth television network and a Star Trek reborn on the new network certainly must have given the studio executives at that time visions of dollar signs. United Paramount Network (UPN) ultimately was launched in 1995, but plans moved forward in the 1970s to produce Star Trek as a movie for worldwide theatrical release instead of a television series. In 1979, ten years after the NBC cancellation of the original series, Paramount Pictures released Star Trek: The Motion Picture, directed by Robert Wise, produced by Gene Roddenberry, and starring all of the original series cast members.

The film’s plot is built upon themes of death and rebirth, which can be evaluated as a metaphor for the entire Star Trek franchise. Although produced by Gene Roddenberry, this film marks a departure from the clear idea content direction for Star Trek that had first been fixed by Roddenberry in the mid-1960s. Also, since the movie ran over two hours in its original release in 1979, a change of pace compared to the television series was necessary in how a story is told on screen. While visually this movie was a delight for Star Trek fans, the story seems at times bloated and not very focused.

This writer concludes that the Star Trek franchise was changed in fundamental ways starting with this movie. Then, throughout the 1980s, 1990s, and 2000s, the total output from the entire Star Trek franchise only occasionally lives up to the original ideological vision upon which Roddenberry and other producers and writers had initially won an intense audience following and loyalty in the 1960s.

Star Trek has always had an innate ability to embed idea content to persuade an audience about religion, politics, sexual behaviors, and other controversial themes. But, has this proven power been used as deliberately or as effectively after the 1960s?

This is a complex question, but the simple answer is no.

Once Paramount Pictures chose to go with the production of a major motion picture in the late 1970s, it was inevitable that sequels would follow. The first of many sequels was released by Paramount Pictures in 1982 entitled Star Trek II: The Wrath of Khan. It was followed in 1984 with Star Trek III: The Search for Spock, with Star Trek IV: The Voyage Home in 1986, and Star Trek V: The Final Frontier in 1989.

The production and release of major motion pictures for a business such as Paramount Pictures is a very expensive proposition. So, Star Trek as a franchise of major motion pictures out of business necessity had to be shifted to a focus on getting a return upon investment rather than focusing on the use of science fiction in movies to put forth ideas for adults to ponder.

Compared to all subsequent Star Trek productions, the original series in the 1960s had been produced without a lot of money, and the original intent in the 1960s was to get away with controversial ideas by embedding them witin science fiction characters and stories. All of that changed starting in the 1970s. Star Trek was shifted because of business priorities from a primary focus on presenting controversial or provocative idea content to presenting spectacular action and adventure on screen. And who can blame Paramount Pictures for doing this, especially when everyone in those days could look at how financially successful the James Bond motion picture franchise was.

Creator Effect

There is also the important matter of the man with the prime idea, Gene Roddenberry. He created Star Trek and guided its development and production personally at the outset. He was involved–in varying degrees–in the production of the first six Star Trek motion pictures for theatrical release.

He also created Star Trek: The Next Generation, which premiered in 1987 as a syndication Paramount release, giving Roddenberry a “second chance” with a Star Trek television series. The studio intended to keep producing Star Trek also as major motion pictures with the cast and characters from the original series. Roddenberry also was involved with Star Trek VI: The Undiscovered Country, the last motion picture to feature the cast and characters from the original series.

Roddenberry reportedly felt that certain elements of the fifth and sixth Star Trek movies were not true to his original creation. But, it should not surprise anyone that other creative influences inevitably would change Star Trek over the decades. One person cannot retain control over an entire television and motion picture franchise as decades pass, unless they start their efforts at a very young age. In 1964, Roddenbery was in his 40s when he first developed ideas for what would become Star Trek on NBC-TV in 1966. He was in his 60s when Star Trek: The Next Generation debuted. He died at age 70 in October 1991. In his final years, Roddenberry remained involved in the production of the first four seasons of his creation, Star Trek: The Next Generation, but others took over after his death, and the series ran a total of seven seasons until 1994.

There have been three other television spinoffs of Star Trek in the post-Roddenberry years. Star Trek: Deep Space Nine ran for seven seasons (1993-1999). Star Trek: Voyager ran for seven seasons (1995-2001). Star Trek: Enterprise ran four seasons (2001-2005).

There also have been four post-Roddenberry Star Trek motion pictures. Star Trek Generations (1994) features a time travel story in which both Captain James T. Kirk and Captain Jean-Luc Picard appear together. Three other Star Trek movies complete the set of ten, including Star Trek: First Contact (1996), Star Trek Insurrection (1998), and Star Trek: Nemesis (2002), the last movie to feature the cast and characters from Star Trek: The Next Generation.