“The Man Trap” wasn’t exactly a great start but more memorable episodes came along to define the show later in the season: “Errand of Mercy,” “Balance of Terror,” and “A Taste of Armageddon.”
Star Trek was the first Sci-Fi program to demonstrate to networks and production companies that it was possible to make a start-of-the-art show on budget and on time since its predecessors were pretty lame. You could say they stretched the on-time part though; sometimes the final editing was completed within hours of air time. I think it was also the first show to be syndicated with fewer than 100 episodes. Paramount did this to make up their financial losses producing it. Through afternoon airings, Star Trek found its audience, teenagers and tweeners. Who at NBC thought even nerds had nothing better to do on a Saturday evening when it was first run should’ve been kicking himself. I probably should read the definitive book These are the Voyages to get the real skinny.
For me, reruns of Star Trek were a TV staple during my childhood in the Seventies and Eighties. Even our local PBS affiliate carried it. Initially I didn’t quite “get it” beyond wanting to have the Mego dolls and goofy walkie-talkies. After Star Wars hit the scene and my understanding of Science Fiction grew, I grew to enjoy the adventures of the Enterprise on new levels. I do remain grateful that their predictions for the Nineties didn’t come to pass (WWIII-Eugenics Wars). People knock the gangster planet and other silly worlds they visited yet I find these things an amusing sampling of what mainstream Sci-Fi was like. Plus this saved money by utilizing Paramount’s backlot, when movie corporations had them. Today the audience is a bit more sophisticated on what aliens may look like (even NG got grief over the numerous foreheads), the distances between stars and how computers really function.
What the JJ Abrams reboot fails to capture is the show’s sense of wonder and optimism, namely how our descendants in the 23rd and 24th century will overcome the ugliness we live with today. Maybe the upcoming Discovery show implements this element. The new roleplaying game also shows promise.
On to the next 50 years!