Star Trek
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Star Trek is an American science-fiction franchise spanning six unique television series and ten feature films, in addition to hundreds of novels, computer and video games, fan stories, and other works of fiction. All are set within the same fictional universe created by Gene Roddenberry during the mid-1960s. Since its debut, Star Trek has become one of the most popular names in the history of science fiction entertainment, and one of the most popular franchises in television history.
Star Trek depicts an optimistic utopian future where humanity has united with other sentient species in the galaxy. The central characters are members of the United Federation of Planets, who explore the galaxy, encountering new worlds and civilizations. The protagonists are essentially altruistic; however, the nature of the Galaxy is conflict. Many Alien species abound in the universe, who try by military might, or by subterfuge, to destroy the Federation. Starfleet, the scientific, exploratory, and military arm of the Federation does its best to protect the UFP from Alien threats.
Television series
Star Trek originated as a television series in 1966, although it had been in the planning stages for at least six years prior to that[1]. Although the show was cancelled in its third season due to low ratings, its cult success allowed it to serve as the inspiration for five additional Star Trek television series. Altogether, the six televisions series comprise a total of 726 episodes and thirty seasons worth of television.
Star Trek: The Original Series (1966–1969)
Star Trek: The Original Series debuted on NBC on September 8, 1966, having aired in Canada some days earlier. Created by Gene Roddenberry, and starring William Shatner as Captain Kirk, it told the tale of the crew of the starship Enterprise and their five-year mission "to boldly go where no man has gone before."
The first episode aired, "The Man Trap," was actually the fifth episode produced. Originally, Roddenberry had created a pilot entitled "The Cage," with a very different cast, led by veteran actor Jeffrey Hunter. This design was rejected by NBC, the network that ordered the pilot through Desilu. However an unprecedented second pilot was commissioned, "Where No Man Has Gone Before," which featured an almost entirely new cast led by Shatner. Only the character of Spock remained, at Roddenberry's insistence. "Where No Man Has Gone Before" was the third episode aired, while "The Cage" was reworked into a two-part episode, "The Menagerie."
The Original Series was not highly rated in its network run, but fan support helped to keep it on the air for three years.[citation needed] The last original episode, "Turnabout Intruder," aired on June 3, 1969. The series subsequently became phenomenally popular in syndication, ultimately spawning the film and television sequels that followed. Released as simply Star Trek, it has in recent years become known as Star Trek: The Original Series, abbreviated as ST:TOS or TOS, or as "Classic Trek," retronyms to distinguish it from its sequels and the franchise. All subsequent films and television series, except the animated series of the 1970s, have had secondary titles included as part of their official names. The original series currently airs on G4 and is to debut on TV Land in September 2006.
Star Trek: The Animated Series (1973–1974)
Star Trek: The Animated Series was produced by Filmation and ran for two seasons, with a total of 22 half-hour episodes. It featured most of the original cast performing the voices for their characters with the exception of Walter Koenig, who was not asked to return due to budgetary limitations. While the freedom of animation afforded large alien landscapes and exotic life forms, budget constraints were a major concern and animation was of moderate quality.
A few episodes are especially notable due to contributions from well known science-fiction authors. Although originally sanctioned by Paramount, with the introduction of Star Trek: The Next Generation, the series is no longer considered to be canon, which has caused controversy among some fans. The episode "Yesteryear" is considered by some sources such as the Star Trek Encyclopedia to be a partial exception concerning the events depicted in Spock’s youth (although it still officially remains non-canon along with the rest of TAS). Even so, elements of the animated series have worked their way into official canon, such as Kirk’s middle name, Tiberius, first revealed in TAS and made official in Star Trek VI: The Undiscovered Country. Star Trek: Enterprise also incorporated several TAS concepts into canon. So, while the series itself is not strictly canon, it has been used as "canon fodder." TAS also came back to television in the mid 1980s on the children's cable network Nickelodeon, and in the early 1990s on cable network Sci-Fi Channel. The series was aired under the name Star Trek, but has become widely known under the retronym Star Trek: The Animated Series (or abbreviated as ST:TAS or TAS).
Star Trek: Phase II (1978; unproduced)
Star Trek: Phase II was set to air in 1978 as the flagship series of a proposed Paramount television network, and 12 episode scripts were written before production was due to begin. This series would have put most of the original crew back aboard the Enterprise for a second five-year mission, except for Spock, because Leonard Nimoy did not agree to return; a younger full-blooded Vulcan named Xon was planned as a replacement, although it was still hoped that Nimoy would make guest appearances. Sets were constructed and several minutes of test footage were filmed. However, the risks of launching a fourth network and the popularity of the then-recently released film Star Wars led Paramount to make a Star Trek film instead of a weekly television series. The first script of this aborted series formed the basis of Star Trek: The Motion Picture, while two others were eventually adapted as episodes of Star Trek: The Next Generation.
Star Trek: The Next Generation (1987–1994)
Star Trek: The Next Generation (also known, colloquially, as The Next Generation, NextGen, ST:TNG, or TNG) is set nearly a century later and features a new starship (also named Enterprise) and a new crew, venturing once again where "no one has gone before."
It premiered on September 28, 1987, with the two-hour pilot episode, "Encounter at Farpoint," and ran for seven seasons, ending with the final episode, "All Good Things..." on May 23, 1994. The show gained a considerable following during its initial run. Even during that time, the show was produced solely for syndication.
Star Trek: The Next Generation had the highest ratings of all the Star Trek series and was the #1 syndicated show during the last few years of its original run. It was the only Star Trek series, and the only syndicated series, to ever be nominated for an Emmy for Best Dramatic Series during its final season in 1994. Because of its widespread acceptance, The Next Generation is sometimes regarded as a kind of 'golden age' for Star Trek.
Star Trek: Deep Space Nine (1993–1999)
Star Trek: Deep Space Nine (ST:DS9 or DS9) ran for seven seasons and was the first Star Trek series to be established without any direct input from (the now deceased) Gene Roddenberry. It starred Avery Brooks as Commander (and, later in the series, Captain) Benjamin Sisko, the first black man in the commanding role of a Star Trek series. This was also the first Star Trek series that did not take place primarily aboard a starship, although the USS Defiant was frequently used.
It chronicles the events surrounding the space station Deep Space Nine, which in the first episode is found to be in the proximity of a uniquely stable wormhole that provides immediate access to the distant Gamma Quadrant. This immediately makes the station an important strategic asset, as well as a vital center of commerce with a largely unexplored area of space. The station also finds itself involved in the repercussions of the lengthy war between the Bajoran and Cardassian races, and Sisko comes to assume a unique spiritual role for the Bajorans as the Emissary of the Prophets.
Deep Space Nine sheds some of the utopian themes that embodied the previous versions of Star Trek, and focuses more on war, religion and political compromise. It also contains far more overt humor than the previous series attempted. Of the various spin-offs, Deep Space Nine has a particularly rabid fan base, who call themselves "Niners". New characters such as wily Cardassian spy Garak inspired cult-like followings of their own.
Star Trek: Voyager (1995–2001)
Star Trek: Voyager (also known as ST:VOY, ST:VGR, VOY or Voyager) was produced for seven seasons, and is the only Star Trek series to feature a female, Captain Kathryn Janeway, as the commanding officer.
The plot of Voyager mirrors somewhat those of The Odyssey and Lost in Space, with the USS Voyager and crew stranded in the Delta Quadrant, seventy thousand light years from Earth, by an entity known as "The Caretaker." Given a 70-year voyage back to Earth, the crew must avoid temptations and defeat challenges on its long and perilous journey home. The series' story arcs prominently featured the Borg, including the addition of a regular Borg character, the voluptuous Seven of Nine (Jeri Ryan).
It was during this show's run that criticism of producer Rick Berman began to mount, coinciding with the growth in popularity of online discussion forums that amplified the message of a vocal group of fans who felt Berman was no longer welcome as the franchise leader. The addition of Seven of Nine, and other changes to the series, were regarded as attempts to enliven the show and add a sexual element.
Star Trek: Enterprise (2001–2005)
Star Trek: Enterprise (named simply Enterprise during its first two seasons and the first few episodes of its third, and abbreviated as ST:ENT or ENT) is a prequel to the other Star Trek series. The pilot episode, "Broken Bow," takes place ten years before the founding of the Federation, about halfway between the "historic" events shown in the movie Star Trek: First Contact and the original Star Trek series. This series depicts the exploration of space by the crew of the Earthship Enterprise, a new, NX-class starship, which is able to go farther and faster than any humans had previously gone. Its theme began, showing humans and Vulcans eventually becoming friends.
Star Trek: Enterprise was promoted as being more accessible for newcomers to the Star Trek franchise, as well as for taking place during the formative years of the Federation. Ratings for Enterprise started strong, but declined rapidly (see the main article for discussion as to possible reasons); and, as it had done during the initial airing of The Original Series, fan support during Enterprise's second and third seasons helped keep the series on the air. At the start of Enterprise’s fourth season, writer and executive producer Manny Coto took over as the primary “showrunner” from Rick Berman and Brannon Braga. The fourth season of Enterprise was the most critically lauded season of the series, and several websites and critics contend that this is the season when Enterprise finally lived up to its potential. Despite that, the show continued to lose ratings during the fourth season, and Paramount cancelled the show in early 2005.
Feature films
Ten Star Trek films have been produced by Paramount Pictures. The first six continued the adventures of the TOS cast; the later four featured the TNG cast.
A common and fondly-held superstition among fans is that the even-numbered Star Trek films are superior to the odd-numbered Star Trek films. A statistical test based on IMDB data lends credence to this conclusion [1].
Star Trek II, IV, VI and Star Trek: First Contact are usually considered the fan-favorites, while Star Trek I and V are usually at the bottom (though I has since received quite a bit of positive re-evaluation in the wake of an acclaimed "Director's Edition" revision released on DVD). This is not wholly applicable, however; Star Trek III followed on from the success of II, which continued into Star Trek IV. Another exception is X (Star Trek: Nemesis), which was one of the most critically derided Star Trek films. Many critics accused it of attempting to imitate the plot (and success) of Star Trek II. Despite fetching the lowest revenue at the box office in Star Trek history, its 2003 DVD release sold well. A new, eleventh (and as-yet-untitled) film in the series has been announced for release in 2008.
Although North American and UK releases of the films were no longer numbered following the sixth film, European releases continued numbering the films.
Other storylines and canonicity
The Star Trek canon comprises the five live-action TV series and ten motion pictures. The animated series, books, comic books, video games, and other materials based on Star Trek, though licensed by Paramount Pictures, are generally considered non-canon, as are fan-made (or "fanon") productions set within the Star Trek universe.
Outside of the television series and motion pictures produced by Paramount pictures, the Star Trek franchise has been officially expanded and elaborated on by various authors and artists in the so-called "Star Trek Expanded Universe," despite the fact that Paramount does not consider these derivative works canon[citation needed]. The creators of these works are generally free to tell their own stories set in the Star Trek universe, and are free to either keep an existing continuity, or use their own. (Similarly, writers for TV and film are under no obligation to pay heed to any of the derivative works.) These works often expand the backstories of characters, species, planets, etc, already seen in the official live-action productions. For example, the Voyager novels Mosaic and Pathways are known to have given essential background information for characters in the Voyager live-action series.
The Star Trek series has also inspired many unofficial fan-made productions. For example, in recent years, Star Trek fan films have been created for distribution over the Internet. Currently, Star Trek: Hidden Frontier which is a continuation of the timeline after the Dominion War from the perspective of a station and fleet in the Briar Patch, and Star Trek: New Voyages, a "continuation" of the original Star Trek, are prominent fan series. While none of these projects are licensed by Paramount, some have attracted participation from official cast and crew.[citation needed]
Current status and the future of the franchise
Reruns of The Next Generation and Deep Space Nine are aired regularly on Spike TV in the United States. Spike TV will also begin airing reruns of Voyager in the fall of 2006, as part of its original deal for all three series. TOS, TNG, and Voyager air daily in Canada on Space: The Imagination Station, which also purchased Enterprise for daily rebroadcasts starting in the fall of 2005. In December 2005, Comcast's G4 network announced it had obtained the syndication rights for both TNG and TOS. G4 has been airing TNG since January 8 and currently airs Star Trek 2.0 (featuring the original Star Trek accompanied by various interactive features), while Spike will continue to broadcast TNG as well. In the UK, reruns of The Next Generation, Deep Space Nine, Voyager and Enterprise air regularly on Sky One and Sky Two, TOS is also being shown on the Sci-Fi Channel weekdays at 7pm, and the terrestrial network Five recently began showing Voyager on weekday afternoons. In Australia, reruns of TOS, TNG, DS9, Voyager and Enterprise air regularly on Foxtel/Austar's TV1 and TV1 +2 (Foxtel/Austar Digital subscribers only) during the late Sunday night "Sci-Fi Sector" which also shows other sci-fi shows such as Stargate SG1.
After Enterprise was cancelled in 2005, the Star Trek franchise found itself for the first time in over 25 years without a series or film in production or development. Though some assumed that the franchise was essentially dead, predictions of its demise are nothing new. As early as 1993–1994, when Star Trek: Deep Space Nine failed to generate the high ratings of its predecessor, magazines such as Entertainment Weekly predicted the end of the franchise. The rumored near-cancellation of Star Trek: Voyager in the mid-1990s led to more such predictions, as did the poor box-office performance of Star Trek: Nemesis in 2002 and the cancellation of Star Trek: Enterprise in 2005. However, in April 2006, the official announcement of an eleventh feature film, to be produced by Alias creator and Lost co-creator J.J. Abrams, made it probable that the franchise has not yet ended.
References
Bibliography
Star Trek may be the most documented entertainment franchise in history. Here are a few of the major reference works related to the production and influence of the franchise.
- The Making of Star Trek by Gene Roddenberry and Stephen PE. Whitfield (Ballantine Books, 1968)
- The Trouble with Tribbles by David Gerrold (Ballantine, 1973)
- The World of Star Trek by David Gerrold (Ballantine Books, 1973; revised edition, Bluejay Books, 1984)
- Star Trek Lives! by Jacqueline Lichtenberg, Sondra Marshak, and Joan Winston (Bantam Books, 1975)
- The Making of the Trek Conventions by Joan Winston (Doubleday Books/Playboy Press, 1977)
- A Star Trek Catalog edited by Gerry Turnbull (Grosset & Dunlap, 1979)
- On the Good Ship Enterprise: My 15 Years with Star Trek by Bjo Trimble (Donning Starblaze, 1983)
- Star Trek Memories by William Shatner and Chris Kreski (HarperCollins, 1993)
- Star Trek Movie Memories by William Shatner and Chris Kreski (HarperCollins, 1994)
- Beyond Uhura by Nichelle Nichols (Putnam, 1994)
- The Physics of Star Trek by Lawrence M. Krauss (Basic Books, 1995)
- City on the Edge of Forever by Harlan Ellison (White Wolf Publishing, 1996)
- Enterprise Zones: Critical Positions on Star Trek, edited by Taylor Harrison, Sarah Projansky, Kent A. Ono, Elyce Rae Helford (Westview Press, 1996)
- Inside Star Trek: The Real Story by Herbert F. Solow and Robert H. Justman (Pocket Books, 1996)
- Future Perfect: How Star Trek Conquered Planet Earth by Jeff Greenwald (Viking Press, 1998)
- Get a Life! by William Shatner and Chris Kreski (Pocket Books, 1999)
- The Ethics of Star Trek by Judith Barad Ph.D. with Ed Robertson (HarperCollins, 2000)
- I'm Working on That: A Trek from Science Fiction to Science Fact by William Shatner and Chip Walter (Pocket Books, 2002)
- Inside Trek: My Secret Life with Star Trek Creator Gene Roddenberry by Susan Sackett (Hawk Publishing Group, 2002)
- Picard: The Academy Years by M.N.Lake (Dragon Publishing, 2005)
Footnotes
- ^ The Making of Star Trek by Stephen E. Whitfield and Gene Roddenberry
External links
- StarTrek.com - The Official Star Trek website
- Memory Alpha - A Star Trek Wiki.
- The non-canon Star Trek Wiki
- The Star Trek Expanded Universe Wiki
- Daystrom Institute Technical Library - Extensive technical and series database/reference source.
- TrekToday - A popular Star Trek news site, home of the TrekBBS.
- TrekCore - A popular Star Trek reference site, featuring tens of thousands of screencaps from all series.
- Encyclopedia of Television
- TrekUnited.com - Community Site all about Star Trek and Sci-fi in general.