It was 42 years ago today… September 8, 2008
by TrekMovie.com Staff , Filed under: TOS, Trek Franchise , trackback
On September 8th, 1966, the world was transported for the first time to the 23rd century and the final frontier. On TV screens across America, "The Man Trap" introduced Star Trek and ushered in a franchise that endures to this day. Some fans recall the day, but for many more, they were too young or not even yet born to experience that moment in TV history.
"The first adult space adventure"
Although science fiction was not new, it was new to do an hour long sci-fi space drama in the evening. Star Trek was taking space adventure to the adults and treating it seriously. Here are some promos and interviews done before Star Trek aired.
Series Premiere promo [note: date for promo is Sept. 15th]
"Man Trap promo"
Interviews with Shatner and Nimoy
Things change…
Much has changed in the last 42 years, politically, culturally, technologically, and more. It is a testament to the the timelessness of the characters and the stories, combined with the foresightedness of Gene Roddenberry and his writers to create a show that still resonates to this day. But to give you a sense of the tim in which Star Trek was born, here are some other examples of what that era was like.
Cars were bigger
Toys were cooler (and more dangerous)
Man was just taking his first steps into space
(Gemini 11 launched September 12th, 1966)
Men and women had their own colleges (and the men wore ties all the time)
The Beatles were ‘bigger than Jesus’
(US tour ended August 29th, 1966)
Some things stay the same…
Star Trek isn’t the only thing that has endured all these years. This year the two biggest movies were Iron Man and The Dark Knight, (featuring Michael Caine in a supporting role), all of which can be linked back to 1966.
Iron Man cartoon from 1966
Trailer for "Alfie" starring Michael Caine
(top film at the box office in the Fall of 66)
Live-action Batman TV series premired in 1966,
spawning a feature film in the summer of 66
Relive the beginning
NBC decided to start off with "The Man Trap" instead of the pilot "Where No Man Has Gone Before," because they felt the monster sci-fi story was a stronger opener. WNMHGB ended up airing third after "Charlie X." Next summer Star Trek is back with a feature film, and the ‘origin story’ that we never saw, but today you can relive what it was like seeing Trek for the first time by watching "The Man Trap."
[click to watch at CBS.com in SD or remastered in HD]
Happy Birthday Star Trek, live long and prosper!
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Blimey i was 7 years old!
Didnt get Star trek until 1968 here in the UK!
Happy birthday, Star Trek!
I was born in 1987, twas just a twinkle in me ol father’s eye when Star Trek premiered, but i’ve seen every episode of TOS, most of them many times.
HAPPY BIRTHDAY STAR TREK!!!
May you Live Long and Prosper
I was nine years old and was there from day one.
I wasn’t around yet but it’s a great show. I love all of Star Trek and wish it a happy 42nd birthday, and hope for many more.
Happy Birthday Star Trek! Greatest franchise ever.
OK, I was 4.
I don’t remember exactly when I started watching, but I always thought I saw the orginal broadcast of at least some of these.
AND — these kids today are wimps. What fun is a toy that can’t at least knock your teeth out? Whamm-O!
Did any of those Beedle Guys go on to do anything big?
Surely an appropriate day for a new STAR TREK movie trailer?
7. Kids today dont know real toys
back in my day we played with Lawn Darts
but apparently the fact that they routinely killed kids playing with them garnered complaints and the guvment banned them
http://www.cpsc.gov/CPSCPUB/PREREL/PRHTML97/97122.html
kids need to cowboy up.
42nd birthday!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
the universe works in strange ways…
now if it was the 47th… then that WOULD be strange! :-)
THE BEATLES!!!! lol YES!
I saw 42 years ago today, I said, Sgt. Pepper taught the band to play.. lol
Re: 9. Anthony Pascale
” 7. Kids today dont know real toys …back in my day we played with Lawn Darts… but apparently the fact that they routinely killed kids playing with them garnered complaints…”
We also played un P.C. games like “Cowboys and Indians” with cap guns that looked real, had candy cigarettes, and we NEVER wore helmets when riding our bikes. . .
I was only 4 when it started, but my Dad liked it and I remember it (along with Bonanza and Wild Wild West) as the shows we always watched. I liked Trek so much that I had a Spock haircut in my 1968 school photo!
I remember crying when I was told Trek was on too late for me (during the 3rd season) when it went to 10 o’clock!
Thank God for the 6 o’clock re-runs on channel 2 in the 1970’s! …
…those were the days… no web, only Starlog….
lol shatner moment for Adam west…
good……..thinking……. robin
;p;
…well, Starlog was more of a 1970’s referencer than a 1960’s one…
but you get the point…
‘We’ve all got our rights you know’ ‘Harold’ Man, John was a legend, and quizzes were so much harder back in 1966. Happy Birthday Trek
Sweet! I know what i’m watching when I get home today!
I have it on good (parental) authority that I, not quite two years old, watched “The Man Trap” on my fathers knee on this day in 1966.
I honestly can’t remember a time Star Trek has not been an important part of my life.
42 years and still loved by millions upon millions. Happy birthday to the series that started it all! May Star Trek continue to live long and prosper!
Heh, I wasn’t born for another 20 years! Star Trek is such a great outlook on the future, I hope it never dies!
Hate to admit it, but I was there, I was very young and that creature scared me to bits, I also remember watching it on a small RCA black and white television. That show (Star Trek) changed my life!!
September 8, 1966. – I came exactly one year too late.
Anyway:
Happy Birthday, Star Trek!
My parents weren’t even married in 1966… I was born much later… :-D
Happy Birthday, Star Trek!
Kids today are wimps. Back when I was young, chemistry sets still had actual chemicals in them (such as small amounts of radioactive material and sulfuric acid). They even had instructions for what was essentially a home urinalysis kit. You could kill yourself with lawn darts, shoot ozone depleting freon powered rockets into the sky, buy stink bombs from the local 7-Eleven, knock your teeth out with the Whammo wheelie kit for your bike, and easily get your hands on a BB gun. It was survival of the fittest. Ah, those were the days…
I watch the first episode that day as a pie-eyed 12 year old. Fell in love with her. She still beats deep in my heart like none other.
I can remember quite clearly when my father walked into my room as I watched Star Trek on a Truetone (Western Auto) b&w television, and said he wanted to speak to me. I asked if I could wait till the episode was over..he agreed. At the shows end I went to the dining room table with pencil and paper in hand. I began drawing the Enterprise while my father started telling me of the bird and the bees.
Two very moving experiences all at once.
So after 42 years I still love Star Trek…….and the other things my father told me that eye-opening night.
I was born one year before TNG started, but I hope Star Trek goes on for much longer :)
being born in 73 i obviously missed it first time round, but watching TOS is a vivid memory of childhood for me – i guess i watched reruns in the mid-late 70’s on the BBC.
one of my earliest memories of watching TV was star trek around the age of 3 or 4, one scene specifically, which I didn’t discover until a couple of years ago was the opening scene for ‘dagger of the mind’ where the crazy guy gets out of the box that’s been transported up to the enterprise. it wasn’t until i finally got hold of a season 1 box set and watched the episodes in order that i was able to fill in the blanks. i also have a distinct recollection of watching ’space seed’ at a neighbours house – again, not until later in life was i able to identify the actual episode.
anyway, here’s to the next 42 years!
Born in 1980, I actually grew up with TNG.
However, I eventually did discover, and enjoy, the original series.
Amazing that after 42 years, Star Trek is still boldly going…
Anyone remember Creepy Crawlers? Toxic plastic poured into molds that act as an unprotected heating element. Good times!
http://www.snowcrest.net/fox/cc.html
It turns out that i’m five months older that Star Trek, so i didn’t get into it until the early seventies, it always seemed to be on the TV over here in the UK.
My grandmother died a few years ago and whilst my parents were sorting through here stuff they found drawings I had made of the Enterprise and The Klingon D7 blasting at each other when i was just six or seven years of age.
I can’t remember a time when Trek wasn’t my favourite programme on TV (well, along with Doctor Who).
I’m just waiting for the (hopefully enevitable) Blu-ray version of the remastered TOS series to be released and I for one and looking forward the the release of the new movie – for which I have great hopes, I have my fingers crossed that I get the same buzz from it that I still do from hearing the first few seconds of the opening titles of Star Trek!
I remember the first time I saw Star Trek. Must have been about 1975. I was used to watching the Tarzan TV series after school. One day I came home and a new show was on in it’s place and I was quite distressed. The episode was “Amok Time.” I grudgingly watched it and about halfway through, I saw them use the transporter for the first time. From then on I was hooked.
It’s weird though, because I distinctly remember thinking Spock was a bad guy. I guess because he was throwing his Pon Farr temper tantrums LOL.
Ok, I was 11 at the time. The big thing was Batman… but I did find ST, and it got into my blood! In view of the ST Enterprise being cancled, ST The Experience closing, I’m glad TOS has been remastered, (is 3-D next?) Sooooo we now have 8 or 9 months to wait untill the movie (baby) comes out?
Any way, Happy Birthday to all ST Fans, all over the world!!!
42 Years ago today, there where 4 days left for my minus 11th birthday, yet, I’m a huge TOS fan (And TNG, DS9, VOY and ENT fan)
Happy birthday and Long and prosper life to Star Trek!
#30 I too was 11 when Trek premiered and at my house we watched every Thursday night.
Weird…I was watching Man Trap on my iPod this morning without even realizing today was the day…
Happy Birthday Trek!
I was born in ‘66. My three favorite shows appeared that year. Batman and Star Trek were two of them.
Happy Birthday, Trek! Keep on Boldly going!
Well, Star Trek is important and all, but the REALLY important question is: Without using my Way-Back Machine, where can I get a Wheelie-Bar? :^)
Hmm, Romulans travel back in time and install a Wheelie-Bar on a young Jim Kirks bike … cracks his head, has phobia about dangerous stuff, doesn’t go into space … future changed for Romulan good …
8 years old when the series first premiered. Missed Man Trap but caught all the rest of the episodes.
42 years later here we are. Man, time flies or what?
Happy Birthday Star Trek!
…the adventure continues…
They went with “The Man Trap” because “Where no man has gone before” was considered to be too “Cerebral” like the first pilot
[...] but, mock all you want, the show has had a giant influence in my life. I’d like to think that Gene Roddenberry’s vision of a united Earth, devoid of racism, sexism and cultural exceptionalism helped shape both my [...]
My dad was just days away from his sixteenth birthday when Star Trek first aired…my mother, just past her ninth…yet here am I today, a few months away from my thirtieth birthday, a die hard Trek fan to the end…proud of what’s come before, and gladly anticipating what’s yet to come. Happy Birthday ol’ girl…
…the Human Adventure is just beginning…
[...] Full article addthis_url = ‘http%3A%2F%2Fwww.sarkle.net%2Fscifi%2F2008%2F09%2F08%2Fit-was-42-years-ago-today%25e2%2580%25a6%2F’; addthis_title = ‘It+was+42+years+ago+today%E2%80%A6′; addthis_pub = ”; [...]
I was twelve. Took me a couple of weeks to really like the show, which I found a little confusing at the premiere.
As far as my personal experience could tell me, in those pre-Internet pre-fan press days, there were four other people watching the show. LOL
That salt monster really scared the hell out of me as a kid.
Yesterday, for the first time, I hopped on over to CBS com and checked out an early re-mastered episode “The Corbomite Maneuver”. It’s been a long time since I have had the opportunity to watch the entire episode, and it was a great story and was executed wonderfully. If you haven’t taken the opportunity to check it out, I highly recommend it.
It was great to see those interviews from the set. I had not seen those before.
I was nine. Had to do extra household chores for the privelege of staying up until 11:00 (Trek aired at 10 on the West coast). Worth every second…..happy birthday to a franchise and a philosophy that perseveres. Ooops, almost said “lives long and prospers!”
Happy Star Trek Day, brothers and sisters!!
I find it mind-boggling, and exciting, that it’s 42 years later … and we still have ahead of us a new Star Trek adventure starring Leonard Nimoy!!
#29
My “first time” was a very similar experience. I was 6 or 7 in 1972 or 1973. I had never even HEARD of Star Trek when I was turning the channel knob looking for something on the 5 TV stations that we got. I came upon Space Seed just as the landing party was beaming into the Botany Bay for the first time. Like with you, it was the transporting out of thin air is what caught my attention. When I later saw Spock, I gave the show my full attention.
It’s funny you should say that about Spock (being a bad guy , that is). I remember being a bit confused about whether Spock was a good guy or not because: a.) he was evil-looking with his pointed ears and pointed eyebrows, and b.) he was an alien. How many good-guy aliens were there on TV and movies back then?
I was 20 – I had a crush on Spock – I still have a crush on Spock 42 years later.
I was 12 years old back in 1966. I saw the first episode of Star Trek on KNBC-4 Los Angeles and haven’t missed an episode yet. Of course I’ve seen each episode at least 100 times or more.
Let’s see, 79 x 100 = 7,900…………………………OH MY! LOL!
Happy Birthday Star Trek!
Happy Birthday, Star Trek!!
“Treat her like a lady, and she’ll always bring you home.”
Well, I was born in 1987, one day before TNG premiered, and it’s a plus too not be as old as Star Trek yet ;-)
Oddly, although I like all the shows today, I happened upon TOS first around 2000, when it aired every afternoon on the sci-fi channel an hour or so after I got out of school. I remember ducking out of my responsibilites a few times when they had all day marathons.
since then I’ve embraced the other series (it took me awhille to accept Star Trek without the original crew.) and have most of the shows on dvd, but I look back fondly on seeing it all the first time back then.
I grew up in the 70’s and actually saw the animated series before TOS in syndication. I loved them both and Classic Trek remains my favorite to this day. Happy Birthday, Star Trek. The world has definitely been a better place with you in it.
I was born three weeks after the show premiered. My dad has been a fan since the beginning.
I was there from the beginning at the age of 15. It has remained a part of my life and It will continue to be as long as I live. Happy birthday Star Trek.
I was six. Every week I asked if I could watch “Star Track.” My grandparents corrected me on the pronunciation and told me yes, I could watch that foolish show. Sigh … another sign of the times. My dad, however, told me that it was the best show on TV and our new favorite, so I could watch it with him whenever it was on. He also gave his parents instructions to let me watch it at their house whenever it was on when I was there. He was one of those rare viewers who recognized the show’s quality and potential from the first. Sigh. Memories. Here’s to you, dad, wherever you are. And happy birthday, “Star Trek.” And many more.
I was 2. I didn’t start watching until the reruns in the mid-1970’s. I’ve loved it ever since! Happy Birthday, Star Trek!!
I was born in March 1967… I have pictures of me in front of the black and white TV with a shot of the Enterprise on it. i may have been a few months old watching season two… but it made me a lifelong Trek fan :)
I was 5, methinks, when I discovered “Trek” in 1975. Rerun on channel 39 in Dallas.
I distinctly remember flipping channels after school, and stumbling across this image of two men in a corridor. The one on the right was in a gold shirt with some kind of badge. The one on the left in a blue shirt, same kind of badge… and pointed ears?!
I was hooked.
When my son was six months old, Mommy & I would watch TNG blocks on SciFi Friday nights. James started conducting Goldsmith’s theme soon thereafter…
Good times! Good times…
I was 5 when I discovered “Trek” in 1975, on channel 39 in Dallas. I remember flipping channels after school one day, stumbling across this image of two men in a corridor. The man on the right was wearing a gold shirt with some kind of badge. The man on the right, a blue shirt, same kind of badge… and pointed ears?! What was this?
At that moment, I was hooked.
When my 6-yr-old son was 6 months old, Mommy & I would watch TNG blocks on SciFi Friday nights. The little one soon started conducting Jerry Goldsmith’s them every time the show started.
Good times! Good times…
Oops. Duplicated that. Sorry. Anthony, feel free to delete the second post.
I was 5. At the time it premiered I was a big Lost in Space fan (Hey, I was 5 – cut me some slack). My Dad couldn’t stand LIS. My Mom would laugh at us… her husband the Trek fan and her son the LIS fan. It didn’t take me long to convert (though my love for Penny Robinson endures to this day!).
I have many warm memories of being allowed to stay up late with my dad to watch Star Trek. Through the years my dad and I had our high and low times, but our common interest in Trek always kept us close when it seems that we had nothing else in common.
For better or worst, Trek has been one of the most influencing factors in my life. Keep on Trekkin!!!
I have to thank good old WPIX in New York City for running the syndicated Trek at 6pm every weekday as I started grade school. Home of the Yankees, too. And, boy would I be pissed when extra innings ruined by daily dose of Trek (unless the Yanks won, of course).
It’s funny now to think that TNG debuted 21 years ago, also on WPIX in New York, anyway. I still have my tape of the original broadcast along with the “daily countdown” promos which were run the week prior to “Farpoint.”
I hope Trek lasts a long time. It needs its beauty sleep every now and then, but then so do we all.
I was born not long before the end of the first season of TOS (March 1967). My mother tells me I was a fan from the start, though, since she watched the show with me in her arms before putting me to bed.
I rediscovered the show in re-runs when I was five or six years old and have been hooked ever since. Like many others here, Trek has been a huge influence on my life. I skipped school to attend the movie premieres when I was a teenager and watched TNG religiously when I was in college and grad school. DS9 was the last Trek show I watched faithfully; VOY and ENT just never captured my attention. I’m a TOS guy at heart, though. If I were stranded somewhere with just TOS and the films from that era to watch, you’d not hear a discouraging word from me.
Happy Birthday, Star Trek, and here’s to many, many more!
I was 10 1/2 on Sept 8, 1966. I remember watching “The Mantrap” and I was hooked! I sent away for autographs from Kirk & Spock and I still have them to this day. The very first Enterprise model kit was released a few months later (the first Star Trek product?).
Most kids of my generation wanted to be astronauts and were interested in the space program and all the missions that were going on at the time. When Star Trek came along it certainly help fuel our interests.
Even though it wasn’t a ratings success at the time, it got anywhere from 12 to 18 million viewers during its run. Many more people watched the show back in the day then came to view subsquent spin-off series.
STAR TREK LIVES!!!
I recall way back when I was a kid in 1989 , my parents had gone out shopping or to eat or some such thing and left my older bother in charge of me on a Saturday , I must have been 6 or 7 . Next thing I know the TV gets changed over to a tall man with bumpy forehead , speaking to other men with bumpy foreheads .
“I AM WORF ! SON OF MOGH! I AM HERE TO CHALLENGE THE LIES THAT HAVE BEEN SPOKEN OF MY FATHER!!!”
That is the day my love affair with the franchise began .
Happy Birthday Star Trek
From one warrior to another …….Qa’Pla!!!
I was 10 years old and caught the last five minutes of “The Man Trap”.
My first comment was “Who is the guy with the ears?”.
My bedtime was 9PM. It took a couple of weeks, but I got it to 9:30 on Thursday night to watch Star Trek.
I missed Charlie X and WNMHGB, but saw the rest of them first run (with one or two exceptions in the first season.)
Nice B-day tribute. Thanks to all that contributed! I look forward to spinning a remastered episode tonight in celebration!
Great article – Thanks for all the links and a trip down memory lane.
How did those kids participate in the College Bowl without being able to Google, Twitter or text to get the answers? As Mr Spock would say ‘Impressive”.
In Canada, Star Trek was shown on September 6, 1966 on CTV for the first time, two days earlier than the US release date for some reason. Seldom do or did you see anything earlier than the official US release date but we did on that occasion. I didnt see it at the time but as a Canadian Trekkie, I was always proud of that.
My dad was eleven months old and my mom a year away from being born this day in ‘66, so it goes without saying that I wasn’t there to experience the first run. Or the second run, either, or any other important run afterwards. (Really, who talks about the mid-2000’s syndication runs? :P ) The first time I saw ‘The Man Trap,’ in fact, was last year’s remastered version airing– not exactly a historic viewing. :P
But to me, even though it’d have been nice to be a part of all this way-back-when, that I got into it anyway just speaks about how Trek’s appeal is still strong all these years later. People today can still randomly catch an episode on TV, watch it and say, ‘hey, this is pretty cool!’ and end up loving the show, and I think that’s great. It’s a multigenerational thing, not one that’s unconsciously restricted to one group or another; anyone can enjoy Star Trek, get something from it’s philosophy and messages and just like an awesome show. I love that about Star Trek.
OK, so I was 4 when Sta Trek was cancelled, but I do remember seeing some episodes during the first run. It wasn’t until the reruns during the afternoons of the ‘70″s that it started to have a real impact on me.
In true Trek fashion we all would watch an episode and then argue whether anything we saw would eventually be debated online as canon.
The best thing about Star Trek as a youngster were the absolutely fantastic play adventures me and my buddies on the block (even the girls!) would have. I was always Kirk and about 90% of our “plots” would be rescuing a crew member who had contracted a “space sickness”. The other 10% we were a landing party and everyone else on the block was a dangerous alien to be spied upon and, if necessary, phasered into oblivion.
We scared the hell out of Mr. and Mrs. Ottmeir during our attacks.
Typonian scourge. I was 4 when Star Trek was cancelled.
I probably pronounced it the way I wrote it above, though.
These comments/recollections are great to read!
I’m not sure which episode it was but I have a very vivid memory – - – I was around three years old, in my pajamas, and I can absolutely recall seeing a weird show on the television with a man with pointed ears, etc…
This memory came to me many years later as I watched a rerun of TOS – - it was like total recall, very bizarre!
Great tribute and clips!
I was NINE. I remember it all first-hand.
Life is….. strange. Actually, now I know how my grand dad felt.
wow what memories, I had a stingray bike. Does anyone remember lawn Jarts? The metal ones that you threw back and forth to hopefully land in a circle. The problem with those was they were like metal spears with fins on them, they were finally taken off the market because people were getting speared on various parts of the body, and with those metal tips, they were very dangerous, then they tried plastic tips, but it just was not the same.
People that weren’t born at the time of the original series think that Chicago, America, Boston, Kansas and Asia are just places…and not bands!
I saw Star Trek one time in the year it premiered. Seems we always watched something else (whatever was on the other 3 channels).
I really connected with it in reruns (and after dad passed away). I was entranced and so immersed in the Star Trek world. I wanted to live there and maybe my focus was some type of refuge.
I would tape the show on my cassette player and then play them over and over. I knew all dialog by heart. I would draw the ships. I would try to calculate the warp factors. I am sure my Mom and brothers thought I was bonkers.
Star Trek has always moved me. I can’t imagine the world with out it.
Happy Birthday STAR TREK!!!!!!!!!!
It would have been really cool if they could have released the new movie today! Oh well.
Happy Birthday Star Trek!
Been a fan for 15 years, Happy Birthday Star Trek!
59
Jason P. Hunt –
I remember those days. It was “KTXS TV 39″ and Hogan’s Heroes was on right after. Good days.
77> And Chicago actually started out as the Chicago Transit Authority.
And is that Paul McCartney in a band before he was in Wings? Wow…
(really, I’m kidding… )
Man! Those were the days. I was born too late
I was only a year old but caught the first set of syndicataion reruns.
Andy,
I had to look it up. KXTX-39 is now a Telemundo affiliate… my, how things change.
I remember watching “Hogan’s Heroes” and “The Lone Ranger” along with all the other westerns on Saturday.
j
It was the reruns in the late 70’s for me…It doesn’t matter though. My first episode was “Amok Time”, and it’s all history from there!
I love TOS!!!!
My first trip to the movies without a parent was in 1982 (TWOK).
Thanks to everyone who put this together – it was a lot of fun. And a reminder of how far Trek was ahead of it’s time. To younger people who think the TOS sets look tacky, this is a reminder that much of what was “invented” for Trek influenced the development and appearance of technology decades later.
The first episode I remember watching was The Doomsday Machine. I was young and it scared the living daylights out of me. I could not sleep for nights afterward because I was afraid one of those things would come by and wipe us out. Of course, I was much older when I figured out that it was supposed to be scarey in an analogy of Nuclear proliferation and the cold war.
I then really began to watch it during syndication! Syndication, what a great invention :)
Nice article and clips. I have no memory of first season first run Trek, but I vividly remember some of the second and third season and the NBC promo for Trek with weird music. I had the AMT Enterprise kit and I remember thinking how strange it was — it didn’t look like anything else, but I still liked it. By 1973 Trek was in syndication and I got hooked.
People often forget that Star Trek started life as a serious adult drama trying to push the accepted limits of television. It was the NYPD Blue of the 60s, showing as much skin as it could and telling stories that challenged some of the then-accepted conventions of television. Although, I could go into how it could’ve gone further if it weren’t for Roddenberry’s ego but that’s another story and essay. Nevertheless, Trek, especially in its first-season, was a naturalistic space series with human drama at the center.
Over the years, Trek has been viewed as family fare, especially TNG. It probably started with the 70s syndication of the series when it aired during dinner time for most American families (something that’s been stated by MBR from time-to-time). DS9 was perhaps closet to the intent of the original series as a adult drama. I’m hoping the Abrams and company restore Trek to that notion of serious, naturalist human drama in a space setting.
Paul McCartney? Isn’t he that guy that did a few songs with Michael Jackson?
Anyway, I was 1 when it premiered, but I was an avid viewer as it was syndicated in the 1970s.
It was my dad’s 31st birthday – I was 6 years old. I’ve been a Trekker ever since.
On another note, I thought the Clutch Cargo cartoons were bad, until I saw the Iron Man piece. Wow, what a horrid piece of animation! I laughed out loud.
And @#81 – KTXS was the station I worked for in Abilene, Texas, back in the late ’80s. KXTX is Channel 39 in Dallas (used to be KDTV). #85 is right about it being a Telemundo affiliate now, but back in the day it had Star Trek reruns and Texas Rangers baseball.
One thing hasn’t changed, though – the Rangers are still bad. :-)
Falcon, are you in Dallas? I am (work) in Richardson.
It seems like yesterday.
Happy Birthday, Star Trek.
Next year, I’m hoping that we’ll be celebrating the rebirth of the franchise with the success of the new movie.
Memories…my first episode was “Amok Time” that my sitter was watching on my parent’s TV while they were out…probably around 1972 or so (I was about 6). I remember that they used to show even the “Next Voyage” promos after the shows at that time as I distinctly remember being a little scared at the “Who Mourns for Adonais?” promo that was shown…who was this guy who seemed to terrorize people with lightening bolts and other “super” powers when they were just out and about? :)
Then about 6 months to a year later, my mom and I were sitting around and I was bored so she brought out the TV Guide to see what was on. She ran down the list (it wasn’t that long back then :) ), and there was Trek. I remembered that I had watched the episode with my sitter previously, and I already had an interest in astronomy and space so I thought (in my young mind) to give Trek another try .
It was “Whom Gods Destroy”…not a great episode by any means, but for whatever reason, I was hooked after that. I watched pretty religiously after that and quickly had seen every episode multiple times. I remember being absolutely blown away by episodes like “The Doomsday Machine” and “Arena” and somewhat scared by “Wolf in the Fold” and certainly by the sight of the salt vampire in “The Man Trap.” And I still watched the mushy or the slower episodes that I didn’t so much care for such as “Metamorphosis” or “Conscience of the King”…I remember being embarrassed when Kirk or someone else would kiss on screen :) … I have since realized the worth of many of these types of episodes as an adult of course…
As I currently rewatch the “Wild, Wild West” on DVD…it just seemed that TV shows such as TOS, WWW, the original Twilight Zone, and others of the time were somehow more fufilling back then…none of these crazy, “quick cuts” that today’s directors are so fond of that don’t allow the viewer to absorb an actor’s performance or any of the relevance of dialogue and its delivery. And don’t even get me started on reality TV :( :( …
Anyway, long live Trek and TOS in particular this day…
Jon
I caught Trek in syndication after its cancellation but I noticed here that Trek, during its original 3 year broadcast, was an NBC product. As a young child I remember that we never could get NBC very well on our black and white TV. Moving the rabbit ears around, adjusting the dials etc never helped either. It was always fuzzy when and if you got any reception. I wonder if this had something to do with the poorer ratings the original broadcasts experienced. I don’t think NBC was ever watched in my parents household because of the lousy reception/broadcasting experienced.
Cheers!
85
You’re right it’s was KXTX TV 39. KTXS was an Abilene station. I thought about it as I was going to lunch. I wrote that wrong.
There was also “KTVT Channel 11…The Super ones to watch” out of Ft Worth. Their lineup included “Wild Wild West” at nigh tand “It Takes a Thief” in the morning. They also had “Slam Bang Theater” which showed cartoons and their sponsor was Siegels Wine of the Week. A liquor store sponsoring kid’s cartoons. Different times.
I was 13 and, yes, I watched the premier.
It was a great time for sci-fi: “Voyage to the Bottom of the Sea” on Sundays, “Lost in Space” on Wednesday and “Star Trek” on Thursday.
Happy Birthday, Star Trek!
[...] It was 42 years ago today… | TrekMovie.com On September 8th, 1966, the world was transported for the first time to the 23rd century and the final frontier. On TV screens across America, “The Man Trap” introduced Star Trek and ushered in a franchise that endures to this day. Some fans recall the day, but for many more, they were too young or not even yet born to experience that moment in TV history. [...]
[...] It was 42 years ago today… | TrekMovie.com On September 8th, 1966, the world was transported for the first time to the 23rd century and the final frontier. On TV screens across America, “The Man Trap” introduced Star Trek and ushered in a franchise that endures to this day. Some fans recall the day, but for many more, they were too young or not even yet born to experience that moment in TV history. [...]
[...] It was 42 years ago today… | TrekMovie.com On September 8th, 1966, the world was transported for the first time to the 23rd century and the final frontier. On TV screens across America, “The Man Trap” introduced Star Trek and ushered in a franchise that endures to this day. Some fans recall the day, but for many more, they were too young or not even yet born to experience that moment in TV history. [...]
I remember in 1966, at 7 years old, my folks wouldn’t let me watch Star Trek because it came on at 8:30pm. My bedtime. Some of my school buddies however, were allowed more flexible schedules and would talk about the episode that aired the night before, to which I would listen intently. All the talk was how cool Capt. Kirk was, and somebody named Mr. Spock, with pointed ears. “Pointed ears?” To see a character that appeared at first glance, odd, but to also be in authority just added to the curiosty. Spock was cool too, we concluded.
My folks relented and let me watch future episodes. I remember watching the episodes and trying to imagine as I watched them, how the various shades of gray shirts worn by our heroes would translate into the blue, ochre and red shirts, as they were reported to have been by my more fortunate friends whose parents were the proud owners of color televisions. Eventually, my folks relented on that one too, and made the big transition from black and white to a Clairtone color TV. It was then that I saw for myself, the best science fiction show, in all its vibrant colors.
I was 43 days old! I’ve watched it for as long as I remember watching TV. It’s THE BEST!!!
today is never a good day too die.
- Wow..Star Trek is old….maybe a new tv trek series is needed in order to reborn the sci-fi art and the trek world too…anyway..HAPPY BIRTHDAY STAR TREK…
Is this Thing on…Oh…I was 55 when Star Trak first appeared on the ‘Boob Tube’..That makes me old that dirt…
Err…. OLDER Than DIRT..
Happy Birthday Star Trek!!!
Great tribute. I was 4 when TNG premeired and I have been in love with Star Trek since I was about 8 years old. I have now seen every episode and look forward to more trek to come!
I just filled my pants with a big pile of TNG… I only like TOS
STAR TREK LIVES
Happy 42nd!
The first time I can remember seeing TOS was in the early 90’s. One of the local channels here in L.A. (KCOP channel 13) ran an all-day TOS marathon. The one thing I can distinctly remember is the scene from Tomorrow is Yesterday where Captain Christopher can see the Enterprise flying by him bucking and weaving in the air. At the time, though, I have to admit I found it kind of boring. I never had much interest inTrek after that until Voyager came along.
I was 3 years old when it aired. The first episode that I watched was “The Paradise Syndrome” which aired in the third season. Now, I have seen all the episodes of all TOS, TNG, DS9, VOY and ENT plus all the movies. Now being 44, I look forward to the 11th movie installment of Star Trek next year.
As an addendum to post #112:
I should add that I was about seven or eight years old at the time. I don’t know if that makes any difference.
#110—-LMAO!
Happy birthday, Star Trek. From someone who’s been a fan since premier night in 1966. :-)
i was 6 months old. thanks heaven the BBC broadcasted it during the early 70’s.
Happy Birthday to star trek: the original series – its still the best star trek even after all these years. classic television.
a time to remember gene too i think for his wonderful vision and to all those guys who brought it to life both in front of and behind the camera. Thank you- we salute you all
greg
UK
HAPPY BIRTHDAY STAR TREK!!!
I was not quite two years old and did not catch the fever until I saw the reruns on Channel 48 in Philadelphia. That was the early 70’s I think…..
hi
i was 6 months old. im so glad that the BBC screened it in the early 1970’s.
happy birthday to star trek the original series. its still the best star trek after all these years. well done to all those who made it happen not least the people in front of and behind the camera who brought it all to life.
a time to remember mr roddenberry too who gave us his wonderful creation to enjoy and brighten our lives.
thank you one and all.
Greg
UK
I WAS 14,WHEN STAR TREK DEBUTED,AND I SAW THE FIRST EPISODE AND EVERY EPISODE IN ORDER FOR THREE SEASONS.THE GOOD,THE BAD AND THE DOWNRIGHT UGLY.BUT I DID WATCH.I FEEL IN LOVE WITH THE GOOD CAPTAIN AND HIS CREW AND ALL THEIR BOLD ADVENTURES.OH,THE GOOD OLD DAYS OF HOPE FOR THE HUMAN RACE!!
HAPPY BIRTHDAY STAR TREK AND LONG MAY YOU PROSPER!!!
42 years……fascinating!!!!ΤΟ ΣΤΑΡ ΤΡΕΚ ΓΑΜΑΕ!!Ι
Gratulerer med dagen Star Trek!
I was barely over one year old on the eve of Star Trek’s debut, so it was a couple of years more until the series began to shape (or warp?) my mind permanently. My first memories were of watching it Thursday nights on NBC, before it eventually went into syndication.
My mom thought the series was a bit “silly” whereas my dad, a design engineer, defended the show. He claimed to enjoy the “concepts” and “neat gadgets.” I’d bet he didn’t have any problem with the chicks in mini-skirts either; as did my namesake who met his fate in the premier episode…
With apologies to James Earl Jones and the writers and producers of ‘Field of Dreams’, I thought that, since we are commemorating the anniversary of Trek’s debut on network TV and the impending film next May that the following (tweaked just a bit for our purposes) was appropriate:
“The one constant through all the years… has been Star Trek. America has been ruled by it like an army of steamrollers. It’s been erased like a blackboard, rebuilt, and erased again. But Star Trek has marked the time. This TV series, this universe. It’s a part of our past….It reminds us of all that once was good…and it could be again.
People will come, Ray. People will most definitely come.”
I blame “The Mantrap” episode for my mother’s refusal to let me watch Trek during the first run. The salt vampire freaked her out quite a bit, so that was it; no more Trek for 8-year-old me!
Thank God for Ted Turner and WTBS, The Superstation, for airing re-runs during the 70s!
Peace. Live long and prosper, Trek!
The Vulcanista }:-|
Ok, so how many of you would really WANT kids of today playing with some of the toys you had?
And for those of you that do have kids, how many of you would LET them play with lawn darts?
I’m an 80’s-90’s kid, and I never wore a bike helmet until I participated in the RAGBRAI ride in Iowa. I was lucky enough that I never fell on my skull.
(With the economy and health care in the state it is today, you can’t afford to NOT have your kid wear a helmet while riding a bike)
That was so fun! Thanks for posting all those nostalgic videos.
‘Star Trek’ spoke of a simpler time, when it was thought that mankind would outgrow greed, religious fanaticism, and ignorance — things which seem to be embraced in today’s world.
[...] It was 42 years ago today… (0) [...]
I decided, for Star Trek’s birthday, to follow the link to the remastered The Man Trap as a celebration. I was born in 1988, not getting into Trek until seven years ago (I distinctly remember being into it during the 35th anniversary). Here’s hoping Trek continues for another 42 years.
Happy Birthday Star Trek. :)
I was 11 when Star Trek started. Even though I enjoyed the Irwin Allen shows as a young boy, Star Trek has always been the best.And it was many years later when I found out what haggis is.
#1-Wheelie bar= cool, particularly when you do it with BARE FEET!
#2-As with fireworks, we seem to blame all the trouble on the products and not the idot kids that mangle themselves. I survived nicely, thank you.
#3-440 cubic inches of American made goodness in that there Chrysler. Yessir, I’d be feeling young if I tore around in that car. Needs a wheelie bar, though.
#4-Say what you will about that Iron Man “cartoon”, it still had twice the animation of your typical Pokemon cartoon.
Boldly going after 42 years!
Happy BDay Star Trek.
I was 5. Remember the original run more for the arguments between my older brother and my parents over watching it on our ONE TV. LOL By the time TAS arrived I was an avid fan. Been watching ever since.
Now to figure out the cosmic significance of being 47 when TOS turns 42
:-D
I was also 11 when Star Trek debuted. Looking back I think my parents must have been quite hip to let me watch it. I’M GLAD THEY DID!!
Have been watching every chance I get, since.
HAPPY BIRTHDAY, GUYS!!
kg
I suppose I’m a second generation fan. I didn’t start watching until the first movie was released…plus, I wasn’t born until ‘75.
It was 42 years ago today that Captain Kirk taught the crew to play…..there’s your Beatle reference for the day
Oh yeah, there are actually a couple of Beatle-Trek references out there.
One is Paul was asked to do some music for a pilot Gene was making sometime before the first Trek film.
During the Paul is Dead rumors, the supposed person that replaced Paul was named William Campbell…
I was 11 years old. At the time I was watching Voyage to the Bottom of the Sea and Lost in Space. When Star Trek came around, it didn’t take long for me to decide that it was way, way above the Irwin Allen shows. Ah, those were the days lying on the floor in front of the new color t.v., just a few feet away from the screen.
I guess this is as good a place to pass this bit of info along: TNG “All Good Things” Parts I & II airs tonight on SciFi at 10:00 p.m. EDT.
Peace. Live long and prosper.
The Vulcanista }:-|
Well I was born in 68 and it was not till i was about 7 or 8 that i feel for the best scifi show ever. Star Trek. Happy Birthday Star Trek.May you live long and Prosper.
Ooops. “All Good Things” Part I airs at 9:00 p.m. EDT tonight!
I too first watched on the old Channel 48 in Philly after coming home from school. I was in to the Space Program and thought how cool would it be if this was the future .
As someone of Scottish heritage I was thrilled that a Scot was part of the main part of the crew and was never refered to as British or “gasp”
English.
Happy Birthday
Happy Birthday Trek! Awesome. It was fun to watch those promos — gosh, they are just so young! I was 3 when Trek began so I didn’t actually start watching until I was 12 or 13 when they started syndicating it every night in the mid 70s.
>>kids need to cowboy up.
I’m amazed our generation survived childhood. Kids are wrapped in cotton these days. We didn’t have car seats, heck selt belts!, and the games we played were downright dangerous in today’s terms. Fun times.
WOW! This has been some of the best reading of posts here in quite some time, thanks to everyone for sharing their thoughts and memories.
I remember seeing my first run episode during the third season, and after I saw them materialize in the transporter, I thought “WOW, THIS IS SOMETHING!” I’ve been hooked, solid, ever since.
Kirk and Spock they had them both, and wouldn’t it be something to sit back and watch it happen all over again.
Happy Birthday Star Trek! 42 years later and it’s still kick’n! I say that the “human adventure” really started beginning on September 8th, 1966.
…and the adventures continue…
YOUTUBE PROBLEMS?
I can’t get any to play… “no longer available?” What’s up? Or is it only me?
I started my Trek journey by watching the original series in syndication back in the early 80’s.
I remember my mother taking me to see ‘Wrath of Khan’ — my first time in a movie theater.
Thanks for all the great memories.
At 6years old, I remember getting to stay up late to watch TOS when originally aried. Everything from the music, to the characters, to the stories and Big E were so cool…
YouTube is down for maint. at the moment.
Actually Batman has been around far longer than Trek. It started in 1940 with some black and white movies.
I was thinking that today we were going to be treated to a cast photo. Thought it would have been kinda poignant.
#4:
I was born in 1986.
I’m one year older than you.
I was born on the day Bob Justman said they finalized the wording of the “Space: the Final Frontier” narration and dragged Shatner into a recording booth to immortalize it. I have no memories of first run Trek.
When it entered afternoon syndication when I was four, my mother tried to sell me on watching it, but I was resistant.
It wasn’t until 1972 that I watched it and fell in love with the series. My first episode was “The Gamesters of Triskelion”. My favorite was and remains “The Doomsday Machine”.
TOS and first-run TAS have prominent places in my childhood memories, and I wouldn’t trade them for the world.
I was 13 the day TOS premiered, and I distinctly remember talking my parents into watching it. I had read the ad for it in the Phoenix Gazette and knew all the new shows’ schedules. They relied on me instead of the TV Guide to tell them what was on, and I talked them into Trek and the rest, as they say…
#s 100-102- wtf?
I get pissed when you guys post once, BUT THREE TIMES!!!!!!!!!!!
you gota be kiddin me
hit the button once, not thrice
HAPPY 42nd BIRTHDAY TO STAR TREK! :)
My mum was 2 months old when Star Trek 1st aired.
I was about 6 when I 1st watched the TNG on 1st run on the BBC
I hope it will last another 42 years!
95
Jon,
“As I currently rewatch the “Wild, Wild West” on DVD…it just seemed that TV shows such as TOS, WWW, the original Twilight Zone, and others of the time were somehow more fufilling back then…none of these crazy, “quick cuts” that today’s directors are so fond of that don’t allow the viewer to absorb an actor’s performance or any of the relevance of dialogue and its delivery. And don’t even get me started on reality TV :(…”
Good post and well put.
Had the lawn darts when I was about 5 or 6 years old. Actually surprised that I never threw on straight up and have it come down and hit me in the head! Remember never wearing helmets either and getting launched from my bike on numerous occasions. Used to climb trees and go 30 feet up, cant imagine letting my son do it now. Didn’t see Star Trek until I was about 5 in 1975 or 76. I think my first episode was “Spectre of the gun” My Dad’s old tv was a complete POS!
It was 1972, I was 9 and I was at recess and some kids were playing around play shooting at each other, hiding behind rocks. I asked one of them ‘what are you playing” and he said Star Trek. I didn’t know what that was but they sure were having fun. He told me when it was so I tuned in that week: It was a re-run of ARENA. Wowowowow… this was cool.
I’ve been hooked ever since.
Later that week… I was Scotty. he was the coolest.
Man Trap was actualy one ep I honestly don’t recall ever watching in syndicaton. What a bizaare experience it was to watch it a few years ago for the first time, just as someone did in 1966.
I was there, and I’ve been beating off over Nichelle Nichols ever since.
Even though I was only 4 years old (almost 5!), I remember it well! I went for a ride with my dad and his best friend to the store. Dad bought me a 7-Up.
When we got back home, my older brothers were watching a new show called “Star Track!” (To my child’s mind, it was “Star Track!”)
“No! It’s Star Trek!” They informed me.
I was a huge “Lost in Space” fan at the time. And still am, but it was “Star Trek ” that really captivated me! Even at so young an age!
That salt sucker monster scared the shit out of me!
I’ll never forget it!
LONG LIVE STAR TREK!
Wow! Someone actually REMEMBERS that the original ads for Star Trek TOS stated “The first ADULT space adventure”. I recall it and have the ads from then (I was 12 y.o.). And even then that made an impression. There was nothing but junk “scifi” on (including 2 Irwin Allen shows), that felt insulting. The potential to be treated as though a member of an audience with brains was too much to ignore. And I am forever happy I didn’t ignore it….
LL&P BP
I was born on 8h September 1976, so always have my birthday on the same day as Star Trek… weird when I didn’t find this out til years after I’d been watching the show. All that money I spend on videos over the years!!! :)
This has been one of the BEST constants in my life. A blueprint for the way the world should be. It will never come in my lifetime, but it’s nice to have a taste of it.
I was… well my dad was 3 months old, but my grandparents watched it when it actually was on TV (and not at like 2 AM like it is now).