I was a fan of 'Star Trek' long before I saw a single episode. In 1969 a comic called 'Joe 90: Top Secret' went on sale in the U.K. Along with 'Joe 90', it featured 'The Champions', 'Land Of The Giants', and of course, 'Star Trek'.
By the time the B.B.C. bought it - 'Star Trek' was shown as a summer replacement for 'Dr.Who' which went temporarily off-air following Patrick Troughton's departure - I was well acquainted with the format and characters. 'The U.S.S. Enterprise' is, according to the credits, on a five year mission to explore new worlds and go where no man has gone before. The ship is commanded by 'Captain James T.Kirk', played by William Shatner. Kirk used to drive me nuts by kissing a different girl each week. Also aboard were the late DeForest Kelley as crusty 'Dr.Leonard 'Bones' McCoy' and Leonard Nimoy ( who stole the show ) as the emotionless Vulcan 'Mr.Spock'.
Some highly regarded sci-fi authors contributed scripts, including Harlan Ellison, Robert Bloch, Richart Matheson, Theodore Sturgeon, Jerry Sohl, and Norman Spinrad.
The B.B.C. endlessly re-ran 'Star Trek' throughout the '70's, usually in peak viewing time. Though regarded as a failure in the U.S.A., 'Star Trek' cast a long shadow over television science fiction for years to come, with new series such as 'Space: 1999' being rightly or wrongly compared to it.
I got a 'Star Trek' annual every Christmas until 1979! We Brits never experienced 'Trek''s decline because the episodes were screened wildly out of sequence by the B.B.C. I can remember watching 'Return Of The Archons' in 1974 and thinking it was a brand new episode! As Mr.Spock might have said: "Most illogical.".
By the time the B.B.C. bought it - 'Star Trek' was shown as a summer replacement for 'Dr.Who' which went temporarily off-air following Patrick Troughton's departure - I was well acquainted with the format and characters. 'The U.S.S. Enterprise' is, according to the credits, on a five year mission to explore new worlds and go where no man has gone before. The ship is commanded by 'Captain James T.Kirk', played by William Shatner. Kirk used to drive me nuts by kissing a different girl each week. Also aboard were the late DeForest Kelley as crusty 'Dr.Leonard 'Bones' McCoy' and Leonard Nimoy ( who stole the show ) as the emotionless Vulcan 'Mr.Spock'.
Some highly regarded sci-fi authors contributed scripts, including Harlan Ellison, Robert Bloch, Richart Matheson, Theodore Sturgeon, Jerry Sohl, and Norman Spinrad.
The B.B.C. endlessly re-ran 'Star Trek' throughout the '70's, usually in peak viewing time. Though regarded as a failure in the U.S.A., 'Star Trek' cast a long shadow over television science fiction for years to come, with new series such as 'Space: 1999' being rightly or wrongly compared to it.
I got a 'Star Trek' annual every Christmas until 1979! We Brits never experienced 'Trek''s decline because the episodes were screened wildly out of sequence by the B.B.C. I can remember watching 'Return Of The Archons' in 1974 and thinking it was a brand new episode! As Mr.Spock might have said: "Most illogical.".