70s Trek: Star Trek In The 1970s

Once Star Trek reruns began to be seen across the country in syndication, the show attracted a whole new audience of viewers.  It was on everyday at the same time, and it was easy for viewers to catch episodes.   This all helped to contribute to Star Trek's popularity in the 1970s.  Clubs sprang up, conventions were held and fanzines were printed.  In this unique environment, Bjo and a friend came up with the idea of the book, The Star Trek Concordance. Bjo and John tell us the story of the Concordance, as well as the letter writing campaign that resulted in the name of NASA's first space shuttle being named Enterprise. Co-hosts Bob Turner and Kelly Casto talk with Bjo and John in part 2 of their interview with these Star Trek legends.  Without them, the show might not have achieved a third season, and possibly would not have gone into syndication.  And without reruns being seen across the country, Star Trek would have died after cancellation and been forgotten.

Bjo and John Trimble tell a story about being on the Star Trek set in early 1968 and learning, unofficially, that the show was to be cancelled.  During their drive home, John innocently commented, "There ought to be something we could do about that." Upon hearing those words,  Bjo's mind began to come up with ideas and and by the time they arrived home, the two had the basics of a plan to save Star Trek. Co-hosts Bob Turner and Kelly Casto talk with Bjo and John on this episode of 70s Trek. The plan they came up with was a letter writing campaign that, according to some counts, flooded NBC with one million letters!  Of course, the network relented and Star Trek got its third season. If that was all that Bjo and John accomplished, their names would be forever tied with the franchise as the couple who saved the show.  Their efforts guaranteed that that Star Trek had enough episodes to go into syndication after its original run.  Syndication, of course, was a major factor that contributed to the show's return. B

It was the moment in the 1970s that Star Trek became a cultural phenomenon.  NASA’s first space shuttle was originally called Constitution. But President Gerald Ford renamed it Enterprise in 1976 to honor the show, its fans and its impact on our society. Co-hosts Bob Turner and Kelly Casto describe the development of the shuttle and how it came to be named Enterprise. The idea of a reusable spacecraft was first described by NAZI scientists during World War II.  One of them, Werner von Braun, would work for NASA after the war and described the very process by which man would go to space.  It involved a reusable vehicle. After reaching the moon in 1969, President Nixon ordered NASA to begin working on the shuttle program and to make sure its focus was tightly defined: Orbital experiments and the eventual construction of a space station. Construction on the first vehicle began in 1974, and as news of its completion reached the public, two Star Trek fans had the idea to get it named Enterprise.  They contacted Bj

This week on 70s Trek, co-hosts Bob Turner and Kelly Casto talk about our favorite moments centered around Captain James T. Kirk.  As the captain of the Enterprise and the main character on the show, he had a lot of great scenes and choosing our favorites wasn't easy. What made it difficult was the fine acting that William Shatner brings to the role.  While many detractors make fun of him for his occasional choppy form of speaking, the bulk of his work on Star Trek is excellent and under rated! Kelly's Favorite Kirk Moments: The Trouble with Tribbles - Kirk's disgust for Barris City on the Edge of Forever - Kirk stops McCoy from saving Edith Keeler Balance of Terror - Kirk plays a chess match with the Romulan commander The Corbomite Maneuver - Kirk bluffs The Conscience of the King - Kirk seduces the crazy chick Bob's Top 5 Kirk Scenes:  The Naked Time - Kirk pulls it together to get the job done Return to Tomorrow - Kirk explains what the mission of the Enterprise is all   about The Doomsday Machine - Kir

Nichelle Nichols was born Grace Dell Nichols in 1932 in small town near Chicago, Robbins, Illinois.  Young Grace was drawn to singing, dancing and acting early on, getting her first professional gig at the age of 14. She soon made a name for herself, meeting the big stars of the day.  This included Duke Ellington.  The musician was so impressed with her that he invited her to tour with him. After starting a family, she created her own touring show and did so well, that she was able to move her family to Los Angeles.  There she landed a part in the movie    Starring Sidney Poitier, Dorothy Dandridge and Sammy Davis, Jr. She soon caught the attention of casting director Joe D'Agosta (who would later do the same job on Star Trek) who hired her for a part on The Lieutenant.  This was the first show Gene Roddenberry created.  On the episode "To Set it Right," she played the wife of an African-American officer who was dealing with racism.  A big topic for 1964.  It was during this time that she and Roddenberry deve

If you were a child in the 1970s and you were around a TV after school, chances are you watched Lost in Space.   The show celebrated its 50th Anniversary in 2015 and it still has a lot of die-hard fans!  But it has just as many detractors, too. Co-hosts Bob Turner and Kelly Casto talk Lost in Space on this week's episode of 70s Trek.   Lost in Space appealed to a younger audience than Star Trek did in the 70s.  But it also formed the basis for a love of sci-fi for kids who grew up in this decade.  If you watched Lost in Space as a ten-year-old, you were pretty likely to watch Star Trek when you were 13.   While Star Trek and Lost in Space both take place away from the Earth...the comparisons end there.  In fact, Gene Roddenberry said something very similar when asked about Lost in Space.  He said “it does very well what it sets out to do.  But it is a very different show.” Maybe the difference lies with the creators themselves.  Gene wanted to talk about big issues, and tell morality tales wrapped in Sci-Fi m

He worked on Spartacus, Harold and Maude, Pete’s Dragon, Butch and Sundance: The Early Days, The Man With One Red Shoe and Star Trek.  Costume designer William Ware Theiss is responsible for creating some of the most memorable costumes in Hollywood, including those on Star Trek. Co-hosts Bob Turner and Kelly Casto take a look at the man and his designs. Early in his career, he worked as Cary Grant’s assistant and helped him become, “The Best Dressed Man in Hollywood.” Bill had a reputation for being eccentric, perhaps even rude.  But he was a perfectionist, relentlessly driving those working under him. His motto was, first and foremost: "Stop when all work is done - and not before." His designed the iconic Starfleet uniforms as well as the wardrobe needs for guest stars.  And it's perhaps those costume pieces that Bill Theiss is best remembered.  Female guest stars, in particular, were almost guaranteed to receive some type of revealing clothing.  But, according to Theiss, his costumes were not appealing beca

In 1975, as Star Trek was making money in syndication, Paramount decided it was time to develop a new Trek project.  Gene Roddenberry was offered a development deal and the project was to a motion picture with a $5 million budget.  Production was to start on July 15, 1976. Gene came up with The God Thing.  His script had the crew of the Enterprise meeting and discovering the nature of God.  It's revealed that God is actually a computer/ship/entity that visits worlds repeatedly, creating prophets to match the level of development of that planet's society.  These prophets then guide that world's population through their evolution. But the real twist is that the computer/ship/entity thing is not the God we know, but actually the Devil.  When Roddenberry finished his script and turned it into Paramount, the head of the studio, Barry Diller, rejected it.  So the The God Thing was thought to be permanently shelved.  But Gene decided to take the idea and make it into a book that he would author. But as the 70s moved

What do Terri Garr, James Gregory, Clint Howard and Michael Pataki all have in common? Each guest starred on Star Trek.  Co-hosts Bob Turner and Kelly Casto take a look at some of the more notable actors who appeared on TOS.  Some you may recognize and some you may not. In the 1960s, actors often moved from show to show, taking acting jobs where they could find them and hoping each would lead them to better jobs.  Many of them drove through the gates of Desilu and later Paramount to work on Star Trek. Kids growing up in the 70s watching reruns of shows such as Batman, Bonanza, Wagon Train, Wild, Wild West, Gunsmoke, Mission: Impossible and Star Trek would often notice the same actor in different roles.  Their faces, voices or mannerisms jumped out at us and we struggled to figure out where we had seen that actor before. In this episode we remember some of the more notable ones. 70s Trek is a fan production and does not receive any profit. Intro and Outro Music was purchased from Free Play Music. Copyright 201

Like Gene Roddenberry, Walter Matt Jefferies was in the Army Air Corps during World War II and flew as a co-pilot and engineer in B-17s.  Also like Roddenberry, he was a legitimate war hero. He earned the Air Medal and the Bronze Star for his service. In civilian life, he became an aviation illustrator.  His role as an illustrator eventually lead him to Hollywood...and then to Star Trek. Gene Roddenberry hired Jefferies to do one thing: design a space ship for his new show.  He had very limited guidance from Gene: No flames, no fins and no rockets.  With those restrictions in place, it was up to Matt to find the shape of this new ship called Enterprise. His eventual design has become iconic and it has influenced every other starship design that followed in the franchise.

The Star Trek Concordance is a reference book published in 1976 by Ballantine Books.  It was written by Bjo Trimble who had already made a name for herself in fandom circles.  She was instrumental in the letter writing campaign that brought Star Trek back for its third season. The Concordance started its life as a collection of note cards made by Dorothy Heydt and Bjo.  The two grew it into an early fanzine with multiple editions for each season.  But with the growing popularity of the Original and Animated Series, Ballantine became interested in releasingThe Concordance as a full edition. This book is a great window into the past to see what the state of Star Trek was in 1976 when all we had was the Original and Animated Series. 

Gold Key Comics was an imprint of Western Publishing. It was also known as Whitman Comics.  The company began operating in 1962 and published a wide variety of comic book adaptions through 1984. Gold Key obtained the rights to print Star Trek in 1967 and continued the run until it was awarded to marvel in 1978.  These books are often overlooked or forgotten.  But they were part of the Star Trek story in the 1970s.  While they carried the show's name and included its characters, these comic adventures had very little to do with the episodes we watched in syndication in the 70s.   In fact, reading these stories is often painful.  The science is often absent from these supposed science-fiction comics.  The plots are outlandish and the characters don't behave as the characters we got to know on TV. Some will find these comic books charming or nostalgic and that's perfectly OK.  As fans of the original Star Trek, we found them difficult to take.

This week on 70s Trek, co-hosts Bob Turner and Kelly Casto talk about actor George Takei.  Of course, Star Trek fans know George as Mr. Sulu.  He had quite an extensive career before he joined Star Trek and continued to act steadily as a guest star in TV. George also dabbled in politics in the 70s.  He ran for, but did not win a seat on, the Los Angeles City Council.  George was later appointed to the committee that helped design the LA Subway System.

Space 1999 was from the producers of the British TV show UFO, Gerry and Sylvia Andersen.  In fact, the show grew out of UFO's unmade second season. It was memorable for its high quality special effects, great music, energetic opening sequence and cast.  It featured two familiar American actors, Martin Landau and Barbara Bain, in the starring roles.  Both had worked for three years on Star Trek's sister-show at Desilu, Mission: Impossible. Co-hosts Bob Turner and Kelly Casto look back on this short-lived series and share their insights.

If you know anything about Star Trek in the 1990s, then you'll recognize the name Doug Drexler. Doug worked on every Star Trek production from 1990 to 2005.   But before he started working in Hollywood on The Next Generation, Doug was a Star Trek fan in Manhattan in the 1970s.  In fact, he worked for the first Star Trek merchandise store, the Federation Trading Post.   That led him to contributing to his first book, the Star Fleet Medical Reference Manual in 1977 and later to Gold Key's Star Trek comic books line. His stories from this period are fun and entertaining.  Doug was a Star Trek fan who would go on to live the life we all wish we had...working on Star Trek productions!   And it all started for him in the 1970s.

When we say Doug Drexler is a Super Fan, we mean it! He's not just a fan of Star Trek, though.  Doug is a devoted fan to many other Sci-Fi franchises and media, including Marvel Comics! Doug grew up in the 1960s as a Marvel Comics fan. He shares his memories of living in the Greater New York area and realizing it was the center of the Marvel Universe. While working at the Federation Trading Post in Manhattan during the 1970s, he was able to meet many Marvel artists and writers, including Stan Lee himself! Doug grew up as Marvel came of age and as he reminisces about that era you realize you're hearing something special. Whether you're a fan of Marvel or not, you'll enjoy Doug's enthusiasm.  Pure fun!

Before Doug Drexler won an academy award for his make up work on the film Dick Tracy...before he was nominated for two Emmys for his work on Star Trek The Next Generation...before he designed the Starship Enterprise NX-01...he was a fan of The Original Series in the 1970s! Co-hosts Bob Turner and Kelly Cast talk to Doug about his amazing Trek career and how he discovered the show in the 1960s, only to become something of a "Super Fan" in the 1970s. This week we have Part 1 of a two-part interview with Doug.

The Galileo 7 shuttlecraft is a legendary ship in science fiction.  Almost as iconic as her mother ship, the Galileo made an impression on every Trek fan.  Just as the Enterprise model had been safely preserved at the Smithsonian Air and Space Museum, most fans thought that something similar had happened to the Galileo.  But that was not the case.  What really happened to this shuttlecraft prop will shock you.  It's a dramatic tale worthy of a screenplay. This week, co-hosts Bob Turner and Kelly Casto tell you the history of the Galileo 7 on this episode of 70s Trek.

Walter Koenig played ensign Pavel Chekov on Star Trek for two seasons and has the distinction of not only being the last regular cast member hired, but was also the only one not included in The Animated Series. This week co-hosts Bob Turner and Kelly Casto discuss the actor who was brought in to lighten up the show. Koenig graduated from college with a psychology degree, but decided to go into acting, instead. He studied acting at the prestigious Neighborhood Playhouse in New York. Some of the actors who also studied there while Walter did include Dabney Coleman, Christopher Lloyd and James Caan. Walter auditioned for Star Trek in 1967 and was hired because of his resemblance to singer Davey Jones of the Monkees.  He found out that he'd been hired not with a call or a telegram, but when someone from the costume department began to measure him for his costume. He was hired initially to be a recurring character.  But after receiving so much fan mail the producers decided to make Koenig a permanent part of the c

This week on 70s Trek co-hosts Bob Turner and Kelly Casto have some fun as they  recast Star Trek with TV stars from the 1970s.  Did you ever sit around with your friends and talk Trek, coming up with alternative plot lines or twists?  Bob and Kelly did in college and it's f those conversations that inspired this episode. There are no right or wrong answers and the only rule is that the actors had to be on TV during the decade.  Are there any good matches?  It really doesn't matter because it's all done for fun. Leave us your cast lists at www.Facebook.com/70sTrek.