Star Trek: The Original Series & Utopian Futurism
Classic Science Fiction Television
Chapter 3 · Star Trek: The Original Series & Utopian Futurism
A Show, and a Pitch, Ahead of Its Time
Star Trek: The Original Series, created by Gene Roddenberry, aired on NBC from 8 September 1966 to 3 June 1969, running three seasons and 79 episodes. Roddenberry's own real pitch to the network described it memorably as "Wagon Train to the stars" — a western, relocated into space.
A Deliberately Optimistic Future
The show depicts a genuinely utopian future — a post-scarcity, post-war Earth united into a United Federation of Planets — a deliberate, well-documented departure in tone from much of the era's more dystopian science fiction. This optimistic vision is widely understood, both by scholars and by Roddenberry's own stated philosophy, as a defining, intentional choice rather than incidental world-building.
A Genuinely Groundbreaking Cast
Nichelle Nichols played Lieutenant Uhura, described as the first African-American woman to hold such an important role in an American television series. George Takei played Sulu, an Asian-American helmsman. Walter Koenig joined in Season 2 as Chekov, a Russian navigator.
Nichols and Martin Luther King Jr.
Nichols nearly left the show after its first season for a Broadway role. At an NAACP banquet, she met Dr. Martin Luther King Jr., who personally told her she couldn't leave — that "for the first time on television, we will be seen as we should be seen." She stayed the following day.
A Kiss, and a Contested "First"
"Plato's Stepchildren," which aired on 22 November 1968, features a kiss between Captain Kirk (William Shatner) and Uhura (Nichelle Nichols).
Cancelled, Then Saved, Then Cancelled Anyway
NBC planned to cancel the show after Season 2 due to low ratings. A genuine grassroots letter-writing campaign, organized in significant part by fan Bjo Trimble, generated roughly 116,000 letters between December 1967 and March 1968, and is generally credited with saving the show for a third season.
A Show That Thrived After It Died
After cancellation, the show became a genuine cult hit in syndicated reruns — by 1986, the most popular syndicated series on American television, reportedly earning around $1 million per episode in reruns by 1987. This real syndication success is directly credited with fueling the franchise's later films and its eventual, much larger expansion.
The Vulcan Salute
Actor Leonard Nimoy created the Vulcan salute himself, for the 1967 episode "Amok Time." Per his own 1975 autobiography, I Am Not Spock, the gesture was based on the Birkat Kohanim, the Jewish priestly blessing, forming the shape of the Hebrew letter Shin — a gesture Nimoy remembered from a childhood synagogue visit with his grandfather.
Popular Claims, Checked
| Popular Claim | The Honest, Verified Picture |
|---|---|
| Chekov was added because of a Pravda article | A genuinely disputed, unverified claim; Koenig himself gave a different account |
| The 1968 kiss was TV's first interracial kiss | Widely repeated, but genuinely not accurate — earlier examples predate it |
| The kiss itself was a real, direct kiss on camera | Contested — Shatner and Nichols gave different accounts in their own memoirs |
Questions to Sit With
Chekov's origin has two real, competing explanations — one about Cold War diplomacy, one about teen market appeal. Does it matter to you which version is actually true, or does the character's own real cultural impact stand apart from either explanation?
The "first interracial kiss" claim is popular but inaccurate. Why do you think this kind of simplified, slightly wrong "first" narrative tends to stick in popular memory more firmly than the more complicated real history?
Star Trek was saved from cancellation by fan letters, then cancelled anyway a year later, only to become massively successful after it ended. What do you think this sequence of events says about how poorly a network's own real-time ratings can sometimes predict a show's actual lasting value?
Quick Reference — Chapter 3
- Star Trek: The Original Series (NBC, 1966–1969) — Roddenberry's real "Wagon Train to the stars" pitch, a deliberately utopian United Federation of Planets
- A genuinely groundbreaking cast — Nichols (Uhura), Takei (Sulu), Koenig (Chekov) — with Chekov's own origin honestly split between two real, competing accounts
- Nichols nearly left after Season 1; Martin Luther King Jr. personally convinced her to stay
- The 1968 Kirk/Uhura kiss is widely but inaccurately called "the first" interracial kiss on US TV, and its own on-camera reality is itself disputed
- Bjo Trimble's real fan letter campaign (~116,000 letters) delayed cancellation by one season, before the show was cancelled anyway after Season 3
- Massive syndication success after cancellation directly fueled the franchise's later growth
- Leonard Nimoy created the Vulcan salute, based on a Jewish priestly blessing gesture from his own childhood
What's Next
Chapter 4: Star Trek: The Next Generation & Expanding the Universe.