The Written Trek

An early NBC network commercial promoting the premiere of Star Trek in September 1966. The show was promoted as “the first adult space adventure.” Video source: Morlockmeat YouTube channel.

Space . . . the final frontier.

Star Trek is arguably the most successful entertainment ever birthed by television. The first episode to air, “The Man Trap,” was televised on September 8, 1966. Fifty-eight years later, the franchise is as strong as ever. Its format is so malleable that it has been a network television show, an animated show, movies, a syndicated show, more syndicated shows, launched a network, more movies, and now airs multiple spinoffs on a streaming service.

The Star Trek universe has spun off novels, comics, video games, conventions, and even erotica — the Online Archive of California maintains a collection of K/S fan fiction.

(I can imagine Spock cocking an eyebrow and muttering, “Fascinating.”)

Star Trek has been described as a crucible for examining the human condition. That crucible is the starship bridge, from which its stories inevitably begin.

Being of a certain vintage, I've watched the original series (often called TOS) many times over the decades. I have TOS on DVD, but it's also available for streaming on Paramount Plus with a subscription. The DVD collection has the original effects as well as documentaries, while the streaming service has the “remastered” version with updated effects.

On my bookshelves are many references about the history of Star Trek — not just the cast biographies, but also books written by and about Roddenberry and his producers. The history of Star Trek for me is as “fascinating” as its storytelling.

I'm a writer. Writers share many common traits. One trait is studying and dissecting what other writers write.

This blog is to study and dissect the written Star Trek. We'll go episode by episode, starting with TOS. We'll discuss how the writing evolves, decisions that were made, characters who were added, characters who were dropped, core story structure, and more.

The order in which episodes aired is not the same order in which they were produced. “The Man Trap,” for example, was the sixth episode produced. It was preceded by two pilot episodes — one which failed to sell the show to a network, and the second which did. Both pilots found their way into the first season's broadcast schedule. After the two pilots, the first produced episode was “The Corbomite Maneuver,” which was the tenth episode to air.

We'll revisit the episodes in the production order, because we want to study the evolution of the written Star Trek.

Star Trek was one of the first television shows to create a writer's guide. You can find an April 1967 version on the Boston University website. This version was written after the first season, reportedly updated by staff writer and story editor D.C. Fontana. No earlier version is publicly available; this version reflects lessons learned after the growing pains of the first season. If this blog has a homework assignment for you, it's to download and read the writer's guide.

Popular culture credits much of Star Trek storytelling to Gene Roddenberry but, as this blog progresses, we'll encounter many other influences, some of whom made contributions more significant than Roddenberry. That phrase, “Space, the final frontier . . .”? The “standard opening narration” was hastily composed by Roddenberry and two associate producers, Robert Justman and John D.F. Black. Memos reprinted in Inside Star Trek: The Real Story by Justman and Desilu Studio executive Herb Solow document that Black apparently was the first to add, “Space, the final frontier” to the opening. The narration was written by the three over a few days in early August 1966, about a month before the show premiered. The two pilots did not have the narration; according to Solow and Justman, the NBC network requested that a narration be added to the opening credits.

This was Gene's first draft:

This is the story of the United Space Ship Enterprise. Assigned a five year patrol of our galaxy, the giant starship visits Earth colonies, regulates commerce, and explores strange new worlds and civilizations. These are its voyages ... and its adventures.

It got better.

In any case, this first draft tells us that the “USS” in the starship's name stands for United Space Ship. The “five-year mission” was planned from the beginning, perhaps hoping to air five seasons, which would have produced about 125 episodes for syndication, which would have been the only way its production would have shown a profit for Desilu. The phrase “regulates commerce” intrigues, because to this day it's unclear how commerce works in the Federation. Roddenberry, apparently, foresaw the Enterprise as some sort of trade enforcer, which explains the early first season Harry Mudd episode.

The final version is perhaps the most famous opening narrative in television history.

Space . . . the final frontier. These are the voyages of the Starship Enterprise, its five-year mission:

. . . to explore strange new worlds . . .
. . . to seek out new life and new civilizations . . .
. . . to boldly go where no man has gone before.