“Star Trek” (1966-1969), a television show created by an old boyfriend of Nichelle Nichols, Gene Roddenberry, was the first true science fiction show on US television. It did not do well at the time, but it lived on in reruns and in time gave rise to 13 films, hundreds of books and five other television series – with a sixth one on the way. It all began 50 years ago tonight: September 8th 1966.

The TV Guide listing for the first episode of “Star Trek”, 1966. It gives you an idea of how strange the show seemed then.
The television series, listed by when they first appeared:
- 1966-69: Star Trek
- 1973-74: The Animated Series
- 1987-94: The Next Generation
- 1993-99: Deep Space Nine
- 1995-01: Voyager
- 2001-05: Enterprise
- 2017-??: Discovery
Listed by when they take place:
- 2100s:
- 2151-55: Enterprise
- 2200s:
- 2256-??: Discovery
- 2266-69: Star Trek (exactly 300 years after it first aired)
- 2269-70: The Animated Series
- 2300s:
- 2364-70: The Next Generation (about 377 years after it first aired)
- 2369-75: Deep Space Nine
- 2371-78: Voyager
“Star Trek”, the original series, was about the adventures of the starship Enterprise (pictured at top). Each show opened with:
“Space: the final frontier. These are the voyages of the starship Enterprise. Its five-year mission: to explore strange new worlds, to seek out new life and new civilizations, to boldly go where no man has gone before.”
NBC wanted to kill the show after the first year of its five-year mission: not enough people were watching. But so many fans wrote in that NBC kept it on for two more years, yet it never did get a large audience in the 1960s. But throughout the 1970s it seeped into the culture through reruns. By 1976 its most devout fans had become known as Trekkies, now a word in the dictionary. By the 1980s, with the rise of cable television, it no longer needed a huge audience to remain on air.
The three main characters of the first series:
- Captain Kirk (William Shatner) – the captain.
- Spock (Leonard Nimoy) – his science officer and best friend.
- Bones (DeForest Kelley) – the ship’s doctor.
Catchphrases:
- Kirk: Beam me up, Scotty.
- Bones: He’s dead, Jim.
- Bones: I’m a doctor, not a …
- Spock: Fascinating.
- Spock: Live long and prosper.
To keep costs down and keep it interesting:
- Aliens are humanoid: beings from other worlds are roughly human in mind and body – and speak suspiciously good English.
- The Enterprise has:
- warp drive so it can travel faster than light, but
- shockingly bad transporters that fail at the worst possible moment.
Race: “Star Trek” was one of the first shows on US television to show Black and Asian Americans in a non-stereotyped way. It did that with the characters of Uhura (Nichelle Nichols) and Sulu (George Takei).
That said, there are some racist tropes:
- White paternalism – Kirk thinks he knows best, upending those new civilizations. Not unlike what the US was doing in Vietnam at the time.
- Ethnic Girls Are Easy – Kirk has no trouble getting with women on other worlds.
- Ethnic Sidekick – Spock, who is half human, half Vulcan.
- Humans Are White – Most humans on the show are White. Sulu and Uhura are tokens, Uhura herself is a double token, not unlike those Black weatherwomen on the evening news.
– Abagond, 2016.
See also:
- Star Trek: The Doomsday Machine – one of the best episodes.
- Nichelle Nichols
- How to tell if a character is a stereotype
- White paternalism
- Humans Are White:
570
My favorite Star Trek catchphrase is:
WE ARE THE BORG!
WE WILL ASSIMILATE YOU! YOU MUST COMPLY!
RESISTANCE IS FUTILE!
(Kind of like racism/white supremacy)
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Sulu and Uhura were more than just tokens. They were barrier breakers like Jackie Robiinson, the beginning of TV presenting nonwhite characters in prominent roles. They were “firsts”. Along with a handful of other 60s shows that featured black characters and Cato/Bruce Lee. To call these pioneers tokens would be like calling the first black president a token….wait a minute…
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The first what? What about Amos ‘n’ Andy or Beulah?
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Meh…i had no choice but to watch it as the adults in my family controlled what i watched. I guess at the time, i enjoyed it.
However, as an adult, i never had a urge to watch it again.
I did however, had a strong urge to watch the 1985 Twilight zone series as a teen. I love it so much, i own the 6 DVD set of the 1985 The Twilight zone. ^_^
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<< watching the very first episode of star trek. "The Man Trap" Something about an alien that can assume human male and female form.
Man, i forgot these episodes were an hour long…sheesh.
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Never liked or watched as a kid. Then my husband watched it, so I would try and watch it with him. Still didn’t really get into it. But then I decided to give the movie that came out in 2009, with Chris Pine a try, and I liked it. May not be a “Trekkie”, but I am a fan of the franchise now.
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First science fiction? I don’t think so. Even leaving aside the obvious “B” and Saturday morning fare, still not. Though it may have been the first prime time episodic drama in the category.
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@gro jo
“The first what? What about Amos ‘n’ Andy or Beulah?”
Don’t know Beulah but Amos n Andy certainly broke racial barriers. “Firsts” in quotes means among the first. Blacks were scarce on TV in the 60s. They were certainly among the first blacks and Orientals in heroic or positive roles on TV. Besides. As long as Obama is also called a token, I’m fine with Uhura and Sulu being called tokens.
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The fact is that that’s what the Enterprise’s crew was. A token representation of various nationalities. Token American. Token Russian. Token Scot. Token alien. Token African. Token Japanese. A virtual United Nations in space. Sulu and Uhuru are no different than the other “tokens” on the ship. I give the show props for trying to represent what was going on in the culture during that Civil Rights era. Uhuru was kind of a nod to what was happening with “Blacksploitation” movies at the time. Uhuru was TV’s Pam Grier.
Remember the episode about the literally half black alien cop persecuting a half black fugitive because he was black on the wrong side? They were grappling with the issues. Tokenism implies that no thought has gone into casting the black character’s role. This is not the case here. Sulu and Uhura are integral parts of the ensemble.
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For decades, I have seen it debated that Spock is the quintessential incarnate moniker of the Eurasian man, where half human = half white and half Vulcan, an alien but with a highly developed culture = East Asian. It was a symbol of the belief that he must choose his cultural and political affinity, yet retain some of his traits which are somehow an inalienable part of his blood. Even the character’s make-up attests to this notion, as well as the rituals associated with greetings and other behaviour.
This idea was a recurrent theme across many episodes (eg “The City on the Edge of Forever”), but obviously, a vulcan character could never actually be portrayed by an Asian man.
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OUCH!
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my first introduction to Star Trek was the movie the Wrath of Khan then my mom took me to see the 2009 reboot, which I enjoyed. I then watched the original series on netflix and it was really good- Spock is my favorite character with Bones coming in second. I really like Kirks acting- cracked me up everytime but Kirk had game tho. I swear when a female came on that screen, Kirk went straight into mack daddy mode.
My favorite episode however, was the one where there was like an evil version of the Enterprise crew and whoo they was 🔥🔥🔥
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@Fan
I never got that the Borg represented racism, instead, at least to me, the Borg represented equality gone amok. Everybody in the collective is equal and nobody is special. The Ferengi on the other hand were capitalism gone amok and were extremely racist.
The quote I remember is: “We are the Borg. Your biological and technological distinctiveness will be added to our own. Resistance is futile.”.
Come to think of it, Hilary Clinton might be the Borg Queen and Donald Trump is the Grand Nagus of the Ferengi.
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“I never got that the Borg represented racism, instead, at least to me, the Borg represented equality gone amok.”
@ eick74 – Thanks for your reply!
There may have been more than one quote, but yours does seem more recent/correct.
The BORG (from my point of view) represents THE COLLECTIVE, aka WHITENESS – the great DEFAULT and Master Race that’s always striving for perfection and will stop at nothing to achieve it, whether it’s assimilating (or destroying) the best of all cultures/worlds within its galactic reach, colonizing minds into their BORG “distinctiveness” as they stripped numerous entire species/worlds of their individuality/culture.
I guess it comes down to a matter of how we see things.
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When I was a kid, seeing my family struggle to make a living while being denied better opportunities, Star Trek inspired me as it still does today. They didn’t care that people from different galaxies looked different or spook with an accent. My favorite series was ‘The Next Generation’. Lt/Commander Worf was closest to my personality at the time. When all my struggles today, I wish there was a Star Fleet for me and my kid and gf to live out our life.
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“I wish there was a Star Fleet for me and my kid and gf to live out our life.”
lol
You don’t have to wait 200 years for a Star Fleet. There’s currently:
US Army, US Navy, US Marines, Coast Guard, Air Force
NASA
Homeland Security
FBI
FEMA
NSA
FDA
BATF
CIA
AMA
ADA
DOT
DOJ
Immigration and Naturalization
… just to name a few.
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“I’m a doctor, not a…”
(https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MULMbqQ9LJ8)
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In Deep Space Nine, I really disliked how Captain Benjamin Sisko and Lt. Commander Worf were both basically consigned to a form of hell at the end of the series.
I have noticed that in a lot of American television, Black characters are either killed off or wounded by the end of the series. That is in contrast to British television where a Black man can not only be a lead character but also survive to the end of the series. I’m thinking specifically of two shows:
Luther with Idris Elba in the title role.
Hustle with Adrian Lester
http://www.telegraph.co.uk/culture/tvandradio/4075935/Adrian-Lester-Why-its-harder-to-act-in-Hustle-than-to-play-Henry-V.html
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@LoM
Yes, Luther is quite a gripping drama———and his character is alive at the end of each season.
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They are showing my favorite Star Trek episode on BBCA right now. Am I a fan of Star Trek (only of the original series though). I named myself after this character (robot?)..
(https://youtu.be/egyd0cnmpPo)
chuckle. I am Nomad. Die, die, everybody die.
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Now they’re showing Mirror Mirror. Uhuru goes full Pam Grier on Sulu.
(https://youtu.be/9CJdFppsHeo)
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So, “Discovery” will take place after the events of “Enterprise”, but before the original series. That ought to be interesting.
I was first introduced to the Trek Universe when I watched the animated series on Nickelodeon. I still have mixed feelings about it not having Chekov, but instead had that alien crew member. Although, I liked him.
I believe the Borg represent European imperialism. They’re all white-ish. They all want to invade and assimilate other beings into their collective. And they’re ruled by a queen.
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Now playing the Gamesters of Triskelion. in which this my favorite quote.
“Spoc, you’re out of your Vulcan mind”. I didn’t get it at first. But then again, neither did the censors.
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Star Trek was really ahead of its time in featuring blacks in prominent roles. Now playing in BBCAs Star Trek marathon, The Ultimate Computer (1968), guest starring William Marshall who would become Blacula a few years later. This powerful, erudite vaguely menacing presence on Star Trek may be what inspired the role.
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@ Nomad
“I didn’t get it at first. But then again, neither did the censors.”
Um, I just got it now. 😮
I may have to stop hanging out here. Between this and my dismal score on the African nations quiz, I am feeling way out of my league lately.
BTW, Nomad, I am also a TOS diehard. I was dragged kicking and screaming to see the first reboot movie when it came out, and now I’m pretending the whole reboot franchise doesn’t exist. In my alternate universe, it never happened. 🙂
Also, I originally watched all of TOS on a black and white TV, which vastly reduced the cheesiness of the special effects.
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“I’m pretending the whole reboot franchise doesn’t exist.”
bwwwaahhahahhahhaa…
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“Uhuru was kind of a nod to what was happening with “Blacksploitation” movies at the time”
Oops. I’m a little off in my chronology. It was a long time ago. Uhuru prefigured Pam Grier. Star Trek predates Blaxploitation. Go Star Trek! Go Star Trek!
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I especially like the K/S references in this one.
(https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7ZWaWrvJ7nA)
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What do you mean with “European”, Brothawolf? If anything, the Borg’s kind of imperialism has a distinct US-taste to it, (though, granted, that could just be the effect of the producing nation), rather than say French, Spanish, Dutch or German.
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@teddy1975
Queens (as in Borg queen) don’t exist in the US.
However they do inhabit Europe.
Note:
Hillary may be a lot of things, but she is certainly no queen – at least not yet.
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I didn’t get a chance to see this episode during the Star Trek marathon. But in it is my all time favorite quote from the series. “Die, die, everybody die (amid ebullient laughter).
(https://youtu.be/KdPDvGkvbFs)
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I forever, and always shall be, a Trekkie.
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@ Nomad
Do you think there was a little nod to the Daleks with your namesake?
“Sterilize!”
“Exterminate!”
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@Solitaire
Don’t know Daleks. Must be from one of the offshoots. Like you I pretend the whole reboot franchise doesn’t exist. I do know that they ripped off the Nomad plot for, I think, the first Star Trek movie.
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@ Nomad
Daleks are from “Doctor Who.” They predated ST:TOS by a couple years.
(https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=r-Ne4kBtaCU)
“Like you I pretend the whole reboot franchise doesn’t exist.”
Comrade!!!
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This is what really happened when the Earthlings first made contact with aliens!:
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