ALL SCI-FI

[Bogmeister]

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STAR TREK People in THE SEVENTIES

The seventies are generally regarded as the black hole or the wasteland of Star Trek culture, even referred to by some as the 'Lost Years' or, less severely, the 'In-Between' years.

The decade began just after TOS was canceled and ended with the release of the first Star Trek motion picture. The eighties contained most of the Star Trek films with the original cast, while TNG began on TV in 1987.

The nineties contained most of the TNG films, the DS9 series and the Voyager series. The first decade of the 21st century comes closest to matching the Trek drought of the seventies, but there was the Enterprise series in the first half of the decade, as well as the final TNG film in 2002.

Of course, the new Star Trek film was released in 2009.

But there were things happening in the seventies related to Star Trek; it was not a complete Big Empty of things Trek.

The TOS episodes were sold into syndication and began playing all over the place as the seventies started — the reruns — usually at better times than during the initial run. The series rapidly gained more fans, especially since many of the new viewers had missed the episodes when they played in 1966 or 1967.

By 1973 the show had been syndicated to 146 markets. In the UK, the BBC began airing the 1st season episodes as the sixties were ending. The first Star Trek sci-fi conventions were held, first expecting hundreds of Trekkies, then thousands.

And just what was happening with Roddenberry and the actors from TOS as the seventies decade began?

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Gene Roddenberry's first project as producer/writer after TOS was the film Pretty Maids All in a Row (1971), starring Rock Hudson, a satirical murder thriller. He then returned to TV, attempting to recapture the success of Star Trek with several TV pilot movies which were geared towards getting a new sci-fi series started: Genesis II (TV-73), The Questor Tapes (TV-73) and Planet Earth (TV-74). None of these resulted in a series. He then tried the genre of horror/the occult with Spectre (TV-77), but this also did not generate a series.

Majel Barrett (Nurse Chapel) married Roddenberry as TOS ended. She appeared in small roles in most of Roddenberry's post-Trek projects: Genesis II (TV-73), The Questor Tapes (TV-73), Planet Earth (TV-74) and Spectre

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William Shatner (Kirk): Shatner dove into the realm of movies-for-TV, appearing in genre telefilms such as Sole Survivor (TV-70), Vanished (TV-71), The People (TV-72), Horror at 37,000 Feet (TV-73) and [b]Pray For the Wildcats[/b] (TV-74), as well as guest-starring on episodes of other TV series such as The Name of the Game, The Sixth Sense, Hawaii 5-0, Ironside, Mission: Impossible, The Six Million Dollar Man, Kung Fu, and Mannix.

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One of the M:I episodes, Encore, was sci-fi flavored, involving going back to a past era (sort of) as if it were time travel, and The Six Million Dollar Man, Burning Bright, was obviously a sci-fier. Shatner even appeared in a short TV series for half-a-season in the middle of the decade, The Barbary Coast (1975-76).

There was also the little-seen TV movie, The Tenth Level, in 1976:

_______________________ The Tenth Level


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Shatner kept busy — he also began to co-star and star in low budget genre theatrical films such as Big Bad Mama (1974), Impulse (1974), The Devil's Rain (1975) and Kingdom of the Spiders (1977). He even did a one-man show in '77 which showed off his speaking voice.

[size=22]Leonard Nimoy (Spock): Nimoy smoothly moved into a new 2nd-lead role on the Mission: Impossible TV series, as the disguise master, Paris, where he stayed for 2 years. He also tried his hand at made-for-TV films, such as Baffled and The Alpha Caper (both TV-73), but not nearly as much as Shatner.

He also played a villain in the western Catlow (1971). He guest starred on TV in Night Gallery and Columbo. In 1975, he had his book published, "I Am Not Spock." His TV/film appearances petered out in the 2nd half of the decade as he switched to the stage to the plays Sherlock Holmes and Equus; just before the first Trek film, he had a supporting role in the Invasion of the Body Snatchers film remake in 1978.


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DeForest Kelley (McCoy): De Kelley guest starred in episodes of a few TV series like Ironside and Owen Marshall early in the decade and appeared, billed 4th, in the eco-horror film Night of the Lepus (1972). But he was essentially retired as the 2nd half of the decade began.

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George Takei (Sulu): Takei guest-starred on TV in episodes of Ironside, Kung Fu, The Six Million Dollar Man and Hawaii 5-0. He became interested in local politics, running for city council of L.A. in 1973. He lost, but he was appointed to the board of directors of the Southern California Rapid Transit District.

Nichelle Nichols (Uhura): Nichols shifted to her music career after TOS was canceled. She did appear in a supporting role in the blaxploitation film Truck Turner (1974). Late in the decade, in 1977, she began to work for NASA as a recruiter.

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All the above actors also lent their voices to the Star Trek animated series (1973-74), detailed in another forum.

Walter Koenig (Chekov): Koenig guest-starred on TV in 1970 as a recent immigrant with a German accent on The Men From Shiloh (Crooked Corner) and then in Medical Center and Ironside, as well as on 2 episodes of the sci-fi series The Starlost, as the alien Oro. He also had a tiny role in Roddenberry's The Questor Tapes (TV-74). He wrote one episode for the Star Trek animated series, The Infinite Vulcan, and one for The Land of the Lost.

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As the early seventies wore on, most of the above actors also found a way to supplement their income by appearing as guests at Star Trek conventions. This was especially beneficial to Doohan, Nichols, and Koenig, who had barely any acting work as the 2nd half of the decade began. Additionally, Doohan visited colleges and universities, over 250 of them, for fees paid.

Some of the other actors, including Shatner, also visited colleges quite a bit. Also, some of the actors appeared on the Tom Snyder talk show, around 1976.

Star Trek cast on Tom Snyder's Tomorrow, 1976, Part 1


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Star Trek cast on Tom Snyder's Tomorrow, 1976, Part 2


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Star Trek cast on Tom Snyder's Tomorrow, 1976, Part 3


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Star Trek cast on Tom Snyder's Tomorrow, 1976, Part 4


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Star Trek cast on Tom Snyder's Tomorrow, 1976, Part 5


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BoG
Galaxy Overlord Galactus

[Pow]

I remember seeing this interview when it was first broadcast back in 1976.

Harlan Ellison really livened up the conversation when he came out to join the guests.

Ellison is a take-no-prisoners kind of guy and clearly and firmly let everyone know what he felt about Star Trek:TOS and its failures and flaws.

It was interesting to hear about his story on how Gene Roddenberry had contacted him to co-write the script for Star Trek:The Motion Picture.

Funniest line was Roddenberry's "We have a starting date for filming but no script; that's better than some folks who have a script but no starting date."