Star Trek

Amazingly, Star Trek was heading for cancellation after its second season but devoted fans launched a campaign to stop it. The fanaticism that ensued was unimaginable. Better known as Trekkies, these hard-core aficionados continue to organise conventions, dress like their idols and have even learned to speak Klingon.

Since Star Trek debuted in 1966, it has inspired six spin-off television series and ten feature films. Created by Gene Roddenberry, Star Trek takes place between the years 2063 and 2379 aboard a spaceship, The S.S. Enterprise. The Enterprise travels from one galaxy to another delivering a message of peace from the United Federation of Planets, based in San Francisco, California. The Enterprise crew members cohabitate peacefully with the Vulcans, a race of extraterrestrials, as manifested in the friendship between the legendary Captain James T. Kirk, played by William Shatner, and Mr Spock, played by Leonard Nimoy.

The series made a huge contribution to the development of American television with its use of special effects, virtually unknown at the time. Star Trek’s legendary ‘transporter’ was subsequently reproduced in the film The Fly (1986) and the concept of today’s flip-top cellular phone was also introduced during the series. But perhaps Star Trek’s most significant contribution was the introduction of an inter-racial cast. It was also the first American television programme to feature an inter-racial kiss, between Captain Kirk and Uhura, the ship’s communications officer played by African American actress Nichelle Nichols.