Posted on 11/28/2014 11:06:49 AM PST by EveningStar
Fifty years ago this Thanksgiving the crew of the starship Enterprise walked in front of cameras for the first time and began filming on a new sci-fi show that would make television history: "Star Trek". But the results of the day's filming weren't seen in their intended form for more than 20 years -- and the legendary show nearly didn't make it to the screen at all.
The brainchild of former bomber pilot and police officer turned television writer Gene Roddenberry, "Star Trek" was planned to be a utopian sci-fi show featuring a diverse crew exploring the galaxy. It began with the filming of a pilot episode on 27 November 1964 at the Desilu Productions studios (now known as Culver Studios) in Culver City, California. The shoot took a couple of weeks, with postproduction work running until 18 January 1965.
(Excerpt) Read more at cnet.com ...
ping
Coolness. Bttt
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Jeffrey Hunter: Star Trek’s version of Pete Best.
Other than analog controls on the Enterprise, they got it pretty much right.
Good move by Desilu. I didn’t know until recently that Jack Lord was offered the role.
Both were too pretty.
Zap ‘em, Sulu.
Now I feel OLD!
According to Bill Shatner, Roddenberry was having problems with Hunter's wife, so he decided to get someone else to play Captain Kirk. He asked Jack Lord, but Lord wanted half the profits and Roddenberry refused. That's when Shatner was tapped, and of course Lord went on to do Hawaii 5-0.
I have old old paperback titled The Making of Star Trek put out while the show was still on the air. It details many of the early aspects of the shows development, including sketches of the Enterprise before the final design was decided, set blueprintes, etc. Detailed show budgets are included. It is fascinating to see how little an episode’s guest star received.
Of course it’s an official publication some unsavory details are left out, but it’s a fascinating time capsule and something I’ve hung on to since childhood.
I have that book also! Live long and prosper..
Yeah, 'Book 'em, Spock', just doesn't have the right feel to it.
I’ve read a dozen times that Roddenberry was a bomber pilot and airline pilot but cannot find anywhere a single record of such service. Perhaps he invented himself as well as Star Trek.
I know Wikipedia is not liked on FR, but I found this:
In 1941, he joined the United States Army Air Corps, which in the same year became the United States Army Air Forces. He began training at Goodfellow Field (now Goodfellow Air Force Base) in San Angelo, Texas with other Civilian Pilot Training alums and graduated as a second lieutenant in September 1942, Class G.[11] He flew combat missions in the Pacific Theatre with the “Bomber Barons” of the 394th Bomb Squadron, 5th Bombardment Group, of the Thirteenth Air Force and on August 2, 1943, Roddenberry was piloting a B-17E Flying Fortress named the “Yankee Doodle”, from Espiritu Santo, New Hebrides, when mechanical failure caused it to crash on take-off. In total, he flew eighty-nine missions for which he was awarded the Distinguished Flying Cross and the Air Medal before being honorably discharged at the rank of captain in July 1945.[12][13][14] While working on Star Trek, Roddenberry would spend much of his spare time at California’s Monterey Peninsula Airport with a group of aviation enthusiasts who flew World War II fighters.
I read somewhere that the show was first pitched to CBS because the network was looking for a Sci-Fi program to add to its schedule. CBS turned down Star Trek in favor of “Lost In Space.”
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