September 8
STAR TREK DAY
NBC-TV headed into “Space: the final frontier” on this day in 1966. The first episode of Star Trek, titled, The Man Trap, was seen on the network.
Although Star Trek has become a cult phenomenon, with Trekkie (or the member preferred title, Trekker) conventions held annually, the NBC series did not do well. It was regularly beaten in its time slot, and it placed #52 among all series in 1966-1967, its best season. NBC canceled the show on September 2, 1969. Star Trek did return to NBC in 1973 -- as a cartoon. The original cast provided the voices: William Shatner played Captain Kirk; Leonard Nimoy was the Vulcan, Spock; DeForest Kelley was Dr. Leonard McCoy. George Takei played Sulu; Nichelle Nichols was Uhura, James Doohan was Scotty and Chekov was played by Walter Koenig.
The crew of the U.S.S. Enterprise has done very well in recent years, having made several motion pictures and several TV spin-offs.
“Beam me up, Scotty” and, for gosh sakes, “live long and prosper.”
Those Were the Days, the Today in History service from 440 International
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