60 years ago, NBC aired the first episode of Star Trek, a television show that became a pop culture phenomenon. The original series starred William Shatner as Captain James T. Kirk, who led his diverse crew of humans and at least one alien, on adventures in space.
"Space: The Final Frontier. These are the voyages of the Starship Enterprise," Kirk says, narrating in the title sequence of each episode. "Its five-year mission: to explore strange new worlds, to seek out new life, and new civilizations. To boldly go where no one has gone before."
Over the decades, the original series and its spinoffs earned generations of devoted fans. They're commemorating Star Trek's 60th anniversary with worldwide celebrations, from the Hollywood Walk of Fame to New York Comic-Con to the International Space Station, where one astronaut plans to wear a badge from Star Trek: Strange New Worlds.
At the Science Museum in London, fans hope to set a Guinness World Record for the most people performing the Vulcan Salute — a greeting made famous by Star Trek's beloved half-human, half-alien character Spock.
In Los Angeles recently, the show was honored at a Writers Guild Foundation fundraiser by the cast of the hit TV series The Pitt. Actor Noah Wyle, a Star Trek fan, performed as Captain Kirk. Onstage before an audience at The Lodge Room in Highland Park, Wylie and his castmates read the script of the show's first episode The Man Trap.
NBC aired that first episode on September 8, 1966 (the world premiere was broadcast two days earlier, in Canada). Besides Shatner, the show also featured actors DeForest Kelley as Dr. Leonard "Bones" McCoy, Leonard Nimoy as first officer Spock, whose mother was an Earthling and his father from the planet Vulcan.
"You could characterize Star Trek as being outlined in Greek drama: A hero's got to solve a problem and get back home," says Shatner, now 95, one of the last living main cast members from the original series.
Weeks ago, he told NPR that the show's creator, Gene Roddenberry, had been inspired by a TV show about a wagon train going West — only his show would be set in space…a Wagon Train to the Stars.
"They made a pilot and then NBC saw it and said, 'we don't like the script, we don't like the cast, but we like the idea,'" Shatner recalls.
That's when comedy legend Lucille Ball stepped in. Her production company, Desilu, had produced the pilot. Shatner says she was instrumental in getting it a second pilot. Nimoy was the only actor to return. And Shatner was cast as Kirk.
"I saw this magical world," Shatner recalls. "They took themselves a little seriously, you know, ponderous a little bit here and there. So my contribution may have been: let's add some humor."
Speaking in dramatic pauses and with a twinkle in his eye, Shatner was a charming hero.
But after its third season, the network canceled the series. Shatner says Star Trek fans rallied to return it to the air. In syndication, the show continued its popularity, leading to prequels, sequels on TV and in film, video games, podcasts and fan fiction.
The original series from the '60s had introduced technological concepts such as a handheld communicator — which inspired the invention of the flip phone.
The show also posed sci-fi ideas, such as the potential dilemmas of time travel and encountering new and strange life forms. It also spurred progressive conversations relevant to the 20th century.
One episode in 1968 is credited with showing the first interracial kiss on television, between Captain Kirk and Lieutenant Uhuru, played by Nichelle Nichols.
"It was a thrilling way to make history," chuckles Shatner.
He says he admires all 79 episodes of the original Star Trek, including another one about race that featured two aliens that were mirror images of each other — half-white and half-Black.
"They hated each other. It was great prejudice," Shatner notes. "But looking at two guys, black and white, it seemed idiotic. And so it didn't take any much of a stretch to say how idiotic racism is."
George Takei, now 89, played Sulu, a helmsman of Japanese ancestry. At the San Diego Comic-Con this year, he talked to NPR about the diversity of Star Trek's cast, including a Black woman as the communications officer, a Scottish chief engineer and a Russian navigator... in addition to assorted aliens.
"We have a lot of phrases from Star Trek: Live long and prosper, Boldly go where no one has gone before," Takei said. "But of them all, the one that I think is the most significant is I.D.I.C.: Infinite diversity in infinite combinations."
Takei notes the original series aired at a time when Americans protested the Vietnam War, suffered through political assassinations, and demonstrated for civil rights.
"Gene Roddenberry thought that we would learn from the turbulence of our times back in the 60's and build a better future," says Takei.
60 years later, he says society still has much to learn from the Star Trek philosophy, which Roddenberry often talked about.
"We believe that the often-ridiculed mass audience is sick of this world's petty nationalism and all its old ways and old hatreds. There is an intelligent life form out on the other side of that television tube," Roddenberry said on an album recorded in 1976, "The whole show was an attempt to say that humanity will reach maturity and wisdom on the day that it begins not just to tolerate, but to take a special delight in differences in ideas and differences in life forms."
That philosophy is appreciated by Star Trek fans, a/k/a Trekkies, who've been meeting up in cosplay at conventions for decades.
Among them is Michael Nguyen, a 40-something who's been a Star Trek fan most of his life. He has more than 50 Star Trek costumes and is part of NYC Away Team, a group of Trekkies who do volunteer work in New York City.
"The ethics of Star Trek and that concept of a hopeful future, being respectful of other cultures," he says, "All of those things have stayed constant."
Gene Roddenberry died in 1991. His wife, Majel Barrett, who played Nurse Chappell on the original series, died in 2008. They're survived by a son, Rod, a TV producer and CEO of Rodenberry Entertainment.
NPR asked Rod Roddenberry about his father's legacy. "I think he'd be very proud of the fact that Star Trek has tried new things. Some have been successful, some maybe not," he says. "So I think the only thing I think you could say is thank you to everyone who's worked on it and seriously all the fans."
Captain's log, Stardate 43687.7
There are no new Star Trek TV shows currently in production. But there is another movie in the works.
At Comic-Con in San Diego, writer/director duo Jonathan Goldstein and John Francis Daley talked about how they plan to reboot the franchise.
"The script is in progress and we're very excited about it," Daley said.
Goldstein added, "It won't be the characters that you've seen previously, and I think it will probably be a little further into the future than we've been before. Our hope with this is to satisfy the fans, but also bring people in who may not consider themselves lovers of Star Trek, and surprise them.
Star Trek has been more than just a classic TV show... With its optimistic vision of the future, it inspired generations of astronauts, engineers and fans who have let the franchise continue to live long and prosper.
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