Star Trek was an American science fiction television series that first aired in 1966. It depicted a time many years in the future, where mankind wasn’t restricted by many of the cultural issues that affected the lives of those watching the television show. The crew of the Enterprise spent their time traveling through space aboard a huge spaceship, exploring new life forms, and feuding with alien adversaries such as the Klingons, Romulans, Gorn, Cardassians, and Borg. There were 10 Star Trek movies and 6 television series which were all centered on the original plot which was created by Gene Roddenberry.
Gene Roddenberry was an American scriptwriter and television producer; however, before he became famous for creating the phenomenon, Star Trek, Gene Roddenberry was a pilot. It was during the war while overseas, that he became a writer, and then the very first time he watched television he decided to shift his career focus towards Hollywood screenwriting, which is when and where he began the concept of Star Trek.
It wasn’t until after the first Star Trek series ended in 1969 that Gene Roddenberry was successful in creating the following Star Trek movies: Star Trek: The Motion Picture (1979); Star Trek II: The Wrath of Khan (1982); Star Trek III: The Search for Spock (1984) and Star Trek IV: The Voyage Home (1986). There were also two other movies made: Star Trek V: The Final Frontier (1989) and Star Trek VI: The Undiscovered Country (1991). It was these films which empowered Roddenberry to create a similar series known as Star Trek: The Next Generation.
The cast of the Star Trek: The Next Generation TV series went on to appear in Star Trek Generations (1994), the first of “The Next Generation” series of films. It was followed by Star Trek: First Contact (1996), Star Trek: Insurrection (1998) and Star Trek: Nemesis (2002).
There also came the “Reboot” series of films which featured the original Star Trek TV series portrayed by an entirely new cast. These “Reboot” films include Star Trek (2009), Star Trek Into Darkness (2013) and Star Trek Beyond (2016). An untitled fourth “Reboot” film, helmed by director Quentin Tarantino, has yet to be released as of this writing.
Star Trek: Discovery is Star Trek’s latest television series, premiering on September 24, 2017. It was written as a direct sequel to the original 1960s series, centering on the adventurous voyages of the Discovery ship. This is significant because it is the first Star Trek TV series to feature a First Officer as the leading character, and the first series to feature such a character played by an actor (or actress, in this case) of color.
The Star Trek Enterprise is the famous spaceship centered in all of the Star Trek series and movies, which was managed by an array of individuals, such as Captain Kirk and the Vulcan, Dr. Spock. The Enterprise employed many captains over the years, but the most famous one of all is probably Captain Kirk who was made famous by William Shatner with Leonard Nimoy by his side playing the character of the Vulcan, Dr. Spock.
Many years after the original series was canceled, the new series, Star Trek: The Next Generation, employed a new set of cast members including Captain Jean-Luc Picard (Patrick Stewart), Captain Kathryn Janeway (Kate Mulgrew), and finally Captain Sisko who was played by Avery Brooks.
Although Star Trek was not popular when it first aired in the late 1960s, it slowly became one of the more popular television shows and movies series by the late 1980s and into the new millennium with Voyager, Deep Space Nine and Star Trek Enterprise. The Star Trek reboot going back to Captain Kirk days was wildly successful. Star Trek has its own fan base known as, Trekkies, and they are made up of a diverse group of people that crosses many sections of society find the futuristic concept of Star Trek interesting.
