A Brief Guide to Star Trek

now also working successfully in movies. Roddenberry then scripted the fifth episode of Glen A. Larson’s comedy Western series
Alias Smith and Jones
, ‘The Girl in Boxcar #3’, which aired in February 1971. Professionally, things were rather quiet for the
Star Trek
creator in the immediate aftermath of the show’s cancellation.
    During this period there was a dramatic change in Rod -denberry’s personal life: he divorced his wife Eileen in 1968 and married Majel Barrett in a Shinto-Buddhist ceremony in Japan in 1969. The marriage had to be legalised later in the US in December once Roddenberry’s divorce was finalised.
    At the dawning of the new decade, Paramount seemed keen to divest itself of
Star Trek
. As the show’s creator and executive producer, Roddenberry was apparently offered the opportunity to purchase all rights to the show for a figure in the region of $150,000. This was, however, beyond Roddenberry’s means, both personally and in terms of commercial fundraising or bank loans. There was little sign that
Star Trek
would ever recover its original investment, so Roddenberry didn’t feel he was missing out on a potential future windfall. Others, however, such as
Star Wars
creator George Lucas, would later learn from Roddenberry’s mistake. Roddenberry would continue to benefit from the show to the tune of one-third of any future profits, but without any guaranteed creative input into the show’s future direction (if, indeed, it were to have any).
    Certainly,
Star Trek
did not seem to have an immediate future, consigned to the television graveyard of off-network syndication where old series went to die. This meant entire seasons of shows being sold to many individual local TV stations, often at knockdown prices. It was seen as a way of generating additional revenue, especially for shows such as
Star Trek
that had not made a profit during their first-run network screenings. Over 100 was the ideal number of shows required for successful syndication in the 1960s and 70s because that allowed daily ‘stripping’ of the show five days a week with the same episodesonly coming around twice a year or so.
Star Trek
had fallen short of the 100-episode target, but at seventy-nine episodes, the package of three years worth of shows was considered just about worthwhile for syndication. By January 1972
Variety
reported that
Star Trek
was airing in over 100 local markets in the US and another seventy overseas.
    This move into syndication would not only prove to be the saviour of the original show, but also the jumping-off point for the revival of
Star Trek
as a fully-fledged franchise of several more spin-off TV series and a hugely successful run of movies.
Star Trek
found new life and new viewers in syndication. Airing every day, often in an after-school slot, the show attracted school kids in their millions, as well as teenagers and students who had missed the first run of the series on NBC (especially in its third series’ 10 p.m. Friday graveyard slot).
Star Trek
slowly but surely began to embed itself in American and then worldwide popular culture. Although the show had enjoyed a burst of popularity when it first aired, that had quickly faded during the lacklustre third series and
Star Trek
was on its way to being forgotten. Characters and phrases (including the iconic ‘Beam me up, Scotty’) became commonplace thanks to syndication, while the show was increasingly referenced in other TV programmes, newspapers and magazines.
Star Trek
fandom was building, and this would be instrumental in Paramount eventually reviving the concept.

    The evidence for the growth of
Star Trek
fandom came in January 1972 with the first ever
Star Trek
fan convention in New York. There had been many science fiction conventions since the 1930s, such as the ones Roddenberry had attended to drum up interest in his new series. However, there had never before been a science fiction convention solely dedicated to a single TV show.
    The organisers expected somewhere in the region of 500–600 attendees and had arranged to borrow twenty episodes of the show from Paramount to screen at the event. For three days, like-minded
Star Trek
fans could meet, discuss and view theshow and start to build a community. Some, like the convention organisers, had previously come together as part of the various ‘Save
Star Trek
’ campaigns that had kept the show on air for three years. Others were isolated, mostly teenage viewers, who were happy