It’s no secret to anyone that Star Trek is an industry. A cultural phenomenon, Star Trek has spawned five TV series, a number of successful movies, dozens, if not hundreds of books, magazines, comic books, toys-the list goes on and on.What is surprising is that the phenomenon started with a single TV show from the 1960s that ran a mere three years and was not that successful or popular during its initial run. It wasn’t until Star Trek began in reruns that the show’s popularity took off. The original cast of the show including William Shatner, Leonard Nimoy, DeForest Kelley and the others had already moved on in their careers and were just surprised as anyone at the sudden resurgence of popularity of the sci-fi series.
I am a HUGE fan of the original series. Captain Kirk, Mr. Spock, Doctor McCoy, Chekov, Sulu, Scotty, Nurse Chapel and Uhura will always be my favorite Enterprise crew. I grew up watching their adventures and to me no other crew typifies or personifies Star Trek more than the original 1966-69 TV series cast.
Author Mark Clark and Applause Books have compiled a book about the original series and its cast and crew in a tell-all expose of the who, what, how, where, when and why behind the show. Readers will learn all about the studio politics, network shenanigan, actor and actress selections, key events and secrets left unrevealed up to this point.
What led to the show’s early demise? What was it like on the set? How was the show’s creator Gene Roddenberry able to convince the network to finance a second pilot? What were the reasons behind the show’s sudden resurgence of popularity? Why was the decision made to return the show as a big-budget movie instead of a TV series?
These are just a few of the hundreds of questions asked and answered in this-to borrow a phrase from Mr. Spock-‘fascinating’ book that digs into the meat and bones of the original series. For the true Star Trek fan this is a ‘must have’ book that contains more than its fair share of surprises and revelations.