STAR TREK

Gene Roddenberry originally conceived “Star Trek” as a Western epic story set in outer space. Using the guise of fantasy, he imbued the series with morality themes, among them racism, class warfare, greed, sexism, human rights, religion and the moral questions around advanced technology. As early as 1964 Roddenberry was developing the “Wagon Train in Space” series at Desilu Studios for CBS. While the show had good ratings in its first season, they dropped off in the second and Roddenberry was consistently defending the show in a war with the network. When CBS moved the show to the “Friday night death slot,” the move prompted Roddenberry’s resignation as producer of the show. Roddenberry stayed with the show, which continued only under the duress of a fan letter-writing campaign, but was cancelled in the following season. Robert M. Thompson commemorated the show’s debut in 1966 with this illustration. It was among the first images to preview the show, which eventually went where no show had ever gone before.