A website devoted to the original American SF television series
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 civilisations; to boldly go where no man has gone before.
In the 23rd Century, Earth is a member of the United Federation of Planets, a peaceful alliance of democratic worlds that runs a ‘Starfleet’ of space vessels to patrol the final frontier of space.
One such starship is the USS Enterprise. Captained by James Tiberius Kirk, a courageous and unflinchingly noble commander with an eye for the ladies; first officer Mr Spock, a half-human half-Vulcan with pointed ears, arched eyebrows and a philosophy based on pure logic; Chief Medical Officer Leonard ‘Bones’ McCoy, a grumpy Southerner who insists that he is ‘just a simple country doctor at heart’; and Chief Engineer Montgomery ‘Scottie’ Scott, an old-fashioned nuts and bolts man loyally devoted to his engines.
As well as encountering strange and incredible alien races, deadly monsters, uncanny space phenomena, time travel, and universal threats to life as we know it, this crew of pioneers also has to deal with the warrior Klingons and the scheming Romulans, who threaten to destroy the stability of the Federation.
Originally conceived as a ‘Wagon Train to the stars’, the series was created by television pioneer Gene Rodenberry, as an adult science fiction series. The characters may be slightly corny, but the chemistry between them creates a sense of family. The stories are action-packed space fare, with an innovative style of storytelling, memorable special effects, and futuristic technology (such as phasers, communicators, and teleporting transporters). The series’ enduring appeal also lies in its humanity and optimism: the crew’s line up reflected a united mankind, a society free of racial and sexual discrimination; it had a black woman, Lieutenant Uhura, as communications officer, and the navigators were Japanese – Mr Sulu – and Russian – Mr Chekov.
Each episode has a morality tale, and the series constantly maintains an indomitable faith in man as an essentially noble creature, flawed and a little impulsive, but with its heart in the right place.
Unfortunately, waning ratings led to the show being cancelled after just three seasons. However, interest was kept alive by continual re-runs, and ‘Star Trek’ was later revived in an animated series, movies, and a new, cononical fourth season of adventures in comic book form. Complimenting all of these are the spin-off shows, 'Enterprise', 'Star Trek - The Next Generation', 'Star Trek - Deep Space 9' and 'Star Trek - Voyager'
Not only that, but it was recently announced that 'Lost' co-creator JJ Abrams is to direct a new 'Star Trek' movie, which will show how James T. Kirk and Mr Spock meet at Starfleet Academy and go on their first assignment. With a tentative 2008 release for the film, it looks like the Star Trek franchise still has plenty of new frontiers to explore!
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