Dockterman Eliana - TIME Star Trek: Inside the Most Influential Science Fiction Series Ever

STAR TREK

Inside the Most Influential Science-Fiction Series Ever

CAPTAINS LOG: AN INTRODUCTION

AFTER 50 YEARS, THE TRUTH IS CLEAR: STAR TREK IS MORE THAN JUST A TV SHOW. ITS AN IDEA THAT CHANGED THE WORLD

BY THOMAS E. WEBER

FOR ME, IT WAS A CHILDHOOD bonding experience with my grandfather, a Scottish immigrant whose brogue had a tendency to become more impenetrable when he was exciteda trait he shared with a certain chief engineer of the U.S.S. Enterprise . Star Trek s first run had ended in 1969, but by the early 1970s, the show was beginning to find a robust second life in reruns. My grandfather and I would sit together and watch, thrilled whenever Scotty had a chance to do more than energize the transporter beam. The more I saw, the more captivating Trek s fictional future seemed. Powerful computers. Constant adventure. And people committed to doing the right thing in the face of complicated moral dilemmas. I was hooked.

So were millions of other fans around the world. Star Trek , it turned out, was something much more than a popular television show. As we mark the 50th anniversary of its first episode, the phenomenon that is Star Trek is stronger than everwith a 13th feature film arriving and a new series set to begin streaming in early 2017.

To commemorate this landmark anniversary, TIMEs editors examined the big question at the heart of all the passion and devotion: Why is Star Trek so influential? As youll see in this book, the answer is far more complex than the shows capacity for telling good dramatic stories (though Trek has produced plenty of those). No, to really understand Star Trek s appeal, you need to go back to the very beginning, as we do in A Bold Vision, to look at the DNA that Gene Roddenberry, the TV shows creator, encoded deep in its design. Roddenberry, as youll see, didnt just want to depict adventures in space. He wanted to show how the future offered the possibility of humans searching for the best in themselves and in one another.

That DNA imbued Star Trek s fictional universe with an uncanny ability to connect with our real one in a number of ways. In Diversity on the Bridge, youll learn how the shows forward-thinking casting helped inspire optimism about equal rights for all. Racing to Space details the ways Star Trek forged a link with the U.S. space programright down to a real-life space shuttle named Enterprise . Wait... Are They Making That Up? looks at the theories behind Trek s futuristic science, such as faster-than-light travel. And in The Future of Gadgets Is Now, we reveal the true stories of how the hardware of Starfleet helped inspired the technology we rely on every day.

Because alien life offered a singularly compelling way to hold a mirror up to humanity, Star Trek introduced a long line of memorable extraterrestrials. You can read the stories behind some of the most imaginative aliens in To Seek Out New Life and also find out about an actual Klingon war: a legal battle over the fictional races invented language. In Spock and Awe, youll get the inside scoop on the creation of historys most famous Vulcan and his relationship with Capt. Kirk from none other than William Shatner himself.

In Rise of the Trekker, we uncover an energy source more powerful than the Enterprise s antimatter engines: Trekkers, the dedicated fans who have kept Star Trek at the forefront of pop culture for over five decades. (We also present a completely impartial analysis of which space franchise is superior: Star Trek or Star Wars .) And in our closing chapter, A Political Enterprise, youll gain insight into the politics that have made Star Trek uniquely relevant, then and now.

Fifty years. Five TV series. Hundreds of episodes and a galaxy of characters, ships and plots. Theres plenty to explore, so read onand live long and prosper.

Weber meets Leonard Nimoy backstage at Detroits Fisher Theatre in 1976. Nimoy was starring in a stage production of Sherlock Holmes.

EVERYONE DISCOVERS THE POWER OF STAR TREK IN HIS OR HER OWN WAY.

Thomas E. Weber is TIME s executive editor.

Editor Nancy Gibbs

Creative Director D.W. Pine

Director of Photography Kira Pollack

STAR TREK

INSIDE THE MOST INFLUENTIAL SCIENCE-FICTION SERIES EVER

Editor Thomas E. Weber

Designer Skye Gurney

Photo Editor C. Tiffany Lee-Ramos

Writers Eliana Dockterman, Alex Fitzpatrick, Jeffrey Kluger, Courtney Mifsud, Susanna Schrobsdorff, William Shatner, Reed Tucker, Justin Worland, Richard Zoglin

Copy Editor Joseph McCombs

Reporter Andra Ford

Editorial Production David Sloan

TIME INC. BOOKS

Publisher Margot Schupf

Associate Publisher Allison Devlin

Vice President, Finance Terri Lombardi

Vice President, Marketing Jeremy Biloon

Executive Director, Marketing Services Carol Pittard

Director, Brand Marketing Jean Kennedy

Finance Director Kevin Harrington

Assistant General Counsel Andrew Goldberg

Assistant Director, Production Susan Chodakiewicz

Senior Manager, Category Marketing Bryan Christian

Brand Manager Katherine Barnet

Associate Prepress Manager Alex Voznesenskiy

Project Manager Hillary Leary

Editorial Director Kostya Kennedy

Creative Director Gary Stewart

Director of Photography Christina Lieberman

Editorial Operations Director Jamie Roth Major

Senior Editor Alyssa Smith

Assistant Art Director Anne-Michelle Gallero

Copy Chief Rina Bander

Assistant Managing Editor Gina Scauzillo

Assistant Editor Courtney Mifsud

Special thanks: Don Armstrong, Brad Beatson, Nicole Fisher, Kristina Jutzi, Seniqua Koger, Kate Roncinske

Copyright 2016 Time Inc. Books Published by Time Books, an imprint of Time Inc. Books 225 Liberty Street New York, NY 10281

All rights reserved. No part of this book may be reproduced in any form or by any electronic or mechanical means, including information storage and retrieval systems, without permission in writing from the publisher, except by a reviewer, who may quote brief passages in a review. TIME and the Red Border design are protected through trademark registration in the United States and in the foreign countries where TIME magazine circulates.

eISBN: 978-1-68330-274-2

We welcome your comments and suggestions about Time Books. Please write to us at: Time Books, Attention: Book Editors, P.O. Box 62310, Tampa, FL 33662-2310. If you would like to order any of our hardcover Collectors Edition books, please call us at 800-327-6388, Monday through Friday, 7 a.m.9 p.m. Central Time.

This book is not endorsed, sponsored, licensed by, or affiliated with the STAR TREK franchise, or with CBS Studios Inc., Paramount Pictures, or any other entity owning or using the STAR TREK family of trademarks.

A BOLD VISION

AT A TIME WHEN WESTERNS AND COMEDIES RULED TV, GENE RODDENBERRY DREAMED UP A DIFFERENT KIND OF SHOW. FIFTY YEARS LATER, THAT CONCEPT IS STILL GOING STRONG

BY RICHARD ZOGLIN