A Brief Guide to Star Trek

stories, many of which worked within Roddenberry’s restrictions, while others set out to expand
Star Trek
beyond what was possible on 1960s television. The growing fan base for
Star Trek
demonstrated there was so much more to be explored in the concept Gene Roddenberry had brought to the screen for three short years. They took on the task of producing new stories in lieu of any new ‘official’
Star Trek
, and would continue to do so even when the show returned in a series of movies and on TV. Many of those involved in fandom, fanzines and the various ‘Save
Star Trek
’ campaigns would go on to enjoy professional media careers, some closely connected with
Star Trek
itself.

    The success of the original episodes in syndication and the vis -ible growth of
Star Trek
fandom convinced Paramount to look once again at a property they still considered to have been something of a failure at the end of the 1960s.
    An approach had been made early in 1973 by Lou Scheimer, president of the animation studio Filmation, to adapt
Star Trek
into a Saturday morning TV cartoon show. This may not have been how Gene Roddenberry had imagined
Star Trek
being resurrected, but as far as Paramount was concerned it was the only game in town: they could make some money for no outlay, while continuing to raise the profile of
Star Trek
among audiences.
    Scheimer, who’d produced animated superhero shows such as
Superman
,
Batman
and
Teen Titans
, was a fan of the original
Star Trek
. However, he wasn’t the only animation professional interested in the potential of an animated
Star Trek
series. Hanna Barbera – home of
The Flintstones
, the most successful TV cartoon before
The Simpsons
– had also entered talks with Paramount about bringing the show back as a cartoon.
    This wasn’t the first time Scheimer had pursued
Star Trek
. Back in 1969, just as the series was going off air, he’d contacted Paramount with a plan for a series of animated adventures set aboard Starfleet’s training ship
Excalibur
, featuring some of the original
Enterprise
crew alongside new teenage recruits. Involved in the talks then was broadcaster NBC, who expressed concern that any planned series should be educational as well as entertaining. That project had not advanced beyond initial discussions, but in 1973 Scheimer found himself pursuing animated
Star Trek
once again.
    Paramount would not sanction such a show without Roddenberry’s creative involvement, while Roddenberry would not get involved in the project unless he had complete creative freedom. ‘I got in touch with Roddenberry’, Scheimer told Andy Mangels for
Star Trek Magazine
, ‘and we hit it off very nicely. It re-established his relationship with Paramount. It literally brought them back together again. Paramount was happy because they had shows to distribute and we guaranteed the cost. Roddenberry was happy because he got to do exactly what he wanted to do. He was the one who asked me to hire D. C. Fontana. It was one of the easiest relationships I ever had with anybody.’ Scheimer’s willingness to accommodate all parties seems to have allowed his bid to win out over that of the bigger and more experienced Hanna Barbera.
    With D. C. Fontana aboard as story editor, Roddenberry took up the role of executive consultant, guiding the series and ensuring it held true to
Star Trek
as he conceived it. Here was a chance to tell new
Star Trek
stories in a visual form, but one not limited by traditional physical television production. Writers of previous
Star Trek
live-action episodes, such as David Gerrold, Samuel A. Peeples and Steven Kandel were hired to add to the new show’s authenticity. A series of seventeen (later extended to twenty-two) thirty-minute shows was commissioned by NBC Daytime, with a budget of $75,000 per episode. A total of seventy-five artists would produce between 5,000 and 7,000 drawings for each episode. The first eight hours of animationhad to be created in just five months so the series could meet its September 1973 transmission date. ‘Limited animation’ was employed, which meant that instead of twenty-four drawings per second – as in an animated feature film – the new
Star Trek
episodes would only feature on average six drawings per second.
    ‘We made a deal with the network [NBC] that we would do it, but we had total story control’, Scheimer said. ‘They had no input. They didn’t want any because they were happy with what they were getting. They could