When CineTV asked the question – What is your favorite Science Fiction series, @cinetv/cinetv-contest-15-your-favorite-sci-fi-tv-show, the answer for me is quite obvious – Star Trek. Even to this day, I still enjoy watching Star Trek, although with not the same level of dedication I had when I was young. Getting hooked on Trek at an early age has not only influenced some of my life, but also led me on a life-long Trek through Science Fiction Fandom, and it has always been a blast.
There were a lot of good episodes, and, yes, even a few turkeys here and there, but overall most of the 79 episodes during its three year run are quite enjoyable. Every fan has a list of favorites, and so do I, - “Balance of Terror”, where we meet the Romulans for the first time in a hunt reminiscent of the film Run Silent, Run Deep (1958, Clark Gable, Burt Lancaster), where a Romulan Warbird is destroying Federation outposts, testing new weapons – the Plasma Torpedo and the Cloaking Device. Tight storytelling, with perspective from both the Enterprise Crew and the Romulans. Mark Lenard played the Romulan Commander, and would return to Star Trek in another episode as Sarek, Spock’s Father - the episode "Journey to Babel".
Then there is “Mirror, Mirror”, where Nichelle Nichols gets a prominent role as Uhura ends up with Kirk, McCoy, and Scotty in an alternate universe, and meet a bearded Spock, working together to get back to their own universe. Good stuff!
There are way too many good ones to go into in a short article, however, something else I wanted to tackle is the writing – several prominent science fiction and horror authors contributed screenplays to Star Trek – Harlan Ellison with “City on the Edge of Forever”; Theodore Sturgeon with “Shore Leave” and “Amok Time”, George Clayton Johnson (of Logan’s Run fame) with “The Man Trap” (salt anyone?); Robert Bloch with “What Are Little Girls Made Of?”; Richard Matheson (I Am Legend) with “The Enemy Within”; Norman Spinrad with “The Doomsday Machine” (a favorite episode of mine), and “Wolf in the Fold”; and, of course, David Gerrold got his start with “The Trouble with Tribbles”. Writers like these made Star Trek a veritable who’s who of SF. Gene Roddneberry, Star Trek’s creator, had a hand in writing many episodes, as well as other Trek personalities including D.C. Fontana and Gene L. Coon turning in numerous scripts.
Left - Franz Joseph Schnaubelt (Star Trek Blueprints, Star Trek Technical Manual) Right - Theodore Sturgeon ("Shore Leave", "Amok Time") at STAR San Diego, circa 1978, photo by Todd Hansen
Star Trek also featured a long list of guest stars, way too numerous to list, a couple of the more important ones, in addition to the Big Three Klingons (John Colicos, William Campbell, and Michael Ansara), there was Sally Kellerman (the movie MASH - editor doesn't like the asterisks in the name...weird) in the second pilot “Where No Man Has Gone Before” and William Marshall in the episode “The Ultimate Computer” (another favorite episode of mine), who was also an accomplished Shakespearean actor, and Frank Gorshin (the Riddler in the Batman TV series) in “Let That Be Your Last Battlefield”. Many of the guest stars turned in excellent performances. And then there was Melvin Belli in “And the Children Shall Lead” which is on my short list of really bad Trek episodes. Well, they all couldn’t be great episodes, or great guest stars.
What would a Trek article be without mentioning Set Designer and Art Director Walter M. (Matt) Jefferies, the man that the Jefferies Tube is named for. Matt Jefferies designed the Enterprise as well as many space craft, and interior set designs as well as some of the props. As a side note, he was a mover and shaker in the American Aviation Historical Society and its journal; he co-authored a booklet on the A12 Shrike with another long time member of the AAHS and former editor of the Journal, Kenn C. Rust. (dammit Jim, I found out about that one after both Kenn and Jefferies had passed away! My cousin Kenn being a long time friend of Jefferies, mainly through their mutual involvement in the AAHS. I do have a copy of that booklet, and it is a good bit of pre-WW2 aviation history.)
Yep, that's me with James Doohan, 1995. You can't see it, but I am wearing a kilt.
It has been a long journey through Trekdom for me, covering many years, from my first introduction to Fandom while I was in high school, my first Con during college in San Diego (and well over a couple of hundred since then), membership in about a half a dozen clubs, and meeting many, but not all, of the mainline cast from Star Trek (never met Roddenberry or Majel Barret, may one day get to meet Shatner...one could hope), my favorite one of the main cast, is, of course, Scotty, played by James Doohan, who is, in part, the inspiration of my Klingon persona, Sqo’tty MacKlingon. Although Star Trek may not have influenced my career choice, it sure had an impact on what has been one heck of a Trek through Life.