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Published Jul 10, 2023

Remembering Manny Coto, 1961 – 2023

StarTrek.com honors the late writer/producer/director and his contributions to the Star Trek universe.

Getty Images / StarTrek.com

StarTrek.com is deeply saddened to report the passing of the Emmy Award-winning writer/producer/director Manny Coto, who passed away on July 9, 2023, at the age of 62.

Fans of Star Trek knew him best for penning several episodes for the third season of Star Trek: Enterprise , before assuming the role of showrunner for the series’ fourth and final season. Coto wrote or co-wrote the stories/teleplays for 14 episodes across both seasons. The series’ fourth year was widely considered its best, reinvigorating the fanbase.

Born June 10, 1961, in Havana, Cuba, Coto’s love of Star Trek: The Original Series would lead him to pursue a career in Hollywood, with his earliest works spanning the realm of science fiction and horror, including Alfred Hitcock Presents , Tales from the Crypt , and The Outer Limits . Prior to his work on Star Trek: Enterprise , he created, wrote, and directed the series Odyssey 5 . Coto’s most notable works includes 24 , Dexter , 24: Legacy , American Horror Stories , and American Horror Story .

Speaking to StarTrek.com in 2014 , as a lifelong Star Trek fan, Coto recalled his personal mission following Brannon Braga and Rick Berman’s promotion of him to executive producer for the fourth season, “I wanted to tell more complex stories. One of the first things I wanted to do was tell stories in three-episode arcs where we could actually create little min-feature films…. And I wanted to tell more sweeping tales that tied into The Original Series because Enterprise was a prequel and I felt that, at a certain point, the show should begin to tack towards things that we remembered from The Original Series. I thought it would be nice and fun and tremendously rich to explore facets of The Original Series and of the Star Trek universe that were there but had not been fleshed out.”

In the same interview, Coto regarded his first work with the franchise, the episode “Similitude,” with pride, “I thought it presented a fascinating dilemma and a great opportunity for drama. Also, that was very sentimental for me because if was the first episode of Star Trek that I’d written, and I was very pleased with the way it came out. The entire experience on that was incredibly magical.”

The entire Star Trek family sends their condolences to Coto’s family, friends, loved ones, and fans around the world.

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The Story Behind The Star Trek Franchise's Most Controversial Theme Song

It's hard to imagine there are many Trekkies in the world who are immensely fond of Russell Watson's rendition of "Where My Heart Will Take Me," the theme song to "Star Trek: Enterprise." Imagine if Rod Stewart were straining to produce a particularly stubborn bowel movement, and you can hear the gravelly strains of Mr. Watson's vocals. The insipid lyrics wax elegiac about the progress we've made "getting from there to here," and how the singer's "time is finally near." No one can hold back the song's narrator as he has "faith of the heart." Nothing's gonna bend or break him. The effect of the song is more or less equivalent to a black-bordered inspirational poster hung on a corporate office wall next to a cubicle. You have strength of the soul. 

One might be able to see why the makers of "Star Trek: Enterprise" wanted a pop song, with lyrics, to lead into their new 2001 TV series. The previous "Star Trek" shows all began with bold, orchestral themes that evoke the excitement and exhilaration of jetting off into the cosmos. "Enterprise" was to be the fourth new "Trek" series in 14 years, and would be the first to run by itself since the debut of "Star Trek: Deep Space Nine" in 1993. The series wanted to set itself apart, and a pop song seemed like the way to go. 

In the helpful oral history book "The Fifty-Year Mission: The Next 25 Years: From The Next Generation to J. J. Abrams," edited by Mark A. Altman and Edward Gross, the shows creators, writers, and directors all talked about the theme song and what led to their (dubious) decision to include Russell "The Voice" Watson's dulcet groans into official "Star Trek" canon. 

It's been a long road...

I didn't mention Rod Stewart above by accident. "Where Will Heart Will Take Me" actually began its life as a 1998 Stewart song called "Faith of the Heart," written by serially Oscar-nominated songwriter Dianne Warren. It was initially penned for Tom Shadyac's execrable, treacle-smeared Hollywood biopic "Patch Adams," and the song's ultra-sentimental tone perfectly matches the corniness of the movie itself. "Faith of the Heart" hit #20 on the Billboard Adult Contemporary charts, and peaked at #4 in Canada. A 1999 cover by Christian/Country artist Susan Ashton made it as far as #51 on the Hot Country Songs chart. 

Russell Watson began his singing career as a mere lad and began winning radio singing contests in his 20s. In 1999, he sang "God Save the Queen" at the rugby Challenge Cup Final at Wembley Stadium, and England really took notice. Two years later, Watson released his first album, "The Voice" (not related to the TV game show of the same name) and it was a massive success; "The Voice" is the first album to hold the #1 spot on both the U.S. and U.K. classical charts at the same time. Watson, lacking in the "stuffy" pretensions of modern opera and willing to sing pop songs, gained the nickname of "The People's Tenor." He was also called, rather theatrically, "The Voice," after that first album. In short, he was hot s*** in 2001.

Brannon Braga and Rick Berman, the creators of "Star Trek: Enterprise," likely knew all about Watson and his cresting popularity. The two wanted a pop song — mostly at Berman's insistence — but, as it turns out, not that pop song. Braga remembers what he wanted to use, and how awful he thought "Where My Heart Will Take Me" was.

Getting from there to here...

Braga originally wanted a temp track they were using to become the actual "Enterprise" theme song. He was a big U2 fan, it seems. He was not, however, a fan of Russell Watson. Braga said: 

"Rick and I felt that a song would set the slightly more contemporary feeling we were going after with Enterprise. For the longest time, we had a temporary song we cut the main titles to, U2's 'Beautiful Day.' If we had used that—or could have afforded it-that would have been a great song. Those main titles with U2 are amazing. It's hip and cool, whereas the song we ended up with is awful. I'm a big fan of Diane Warren, she's a great songwriter, but this particular song and the way it was sung was tacky." 

For the record, "Beautiful Day" doesn't really have the "bold" qualities of classic "Star Trek" orchestral openings, but it is a sight better than what we got. Braga continued: 

"I still cringe when I hear it and, by the way, I think the song had a lot to do with people's adverse reaction to the show. If you look at the main titles themselves, it's a really cool sequence. But the song is awful, just awful." 

If it was that awful, why was it selected as the theme song for "Enterprise"? Berman revealed that it was the culmination of ideas that all seemed great at the time, but that ultimately combined very poorly. Opening montage, lyrics about progress, talented songwriter, hot pop singer. It seemed like all the pieces were correct, and everything was on track to be great. They could reach any star.

It's been a long time...

Berman remembers the process well. He said: 

"This is another example of my being stubborn, right or wrong. I thought it would be nice to have a theme song. Nobody had ever done it before. I knew that I wanted the animation at the opening instead of just being the flying-through-space stuff that had existed on all the other 'Star Trek' shows. But I wanted it to be sort of a compilation of the science and the people that led up to the space flight. Our visual effects people put together an amazing visual montage. Then we went to a very famous, contemporary composer named Diane Warren, who's written huge hits."

So far, so good. For the record, the opening montage is wonderful. It begins with footage of the first sailing ships on Earth in long-ago times, and quickly walks the audience through the history of navigation. There is a three-masted sailing vessel, a modern ship, a space shuttle. At some point, the montage passes from real-world ships into the fictional crafts of "Star Trek." It ends with the title vessel, warping into adventure.  

Berman recalls Warren:

"...[W]ent through a whole bunch of songs and we came up with this tune that she had written. The lyrics seemed perfect. Then she got all excited, there was a British singer named Russell Watson and he was a very hot performer — kind of semi-operatic and pop performer — and he agreed to sing it. It basically spoke to exactly what we were looking for a dream of going out into the unknown and the whole idea of bringing one's heart to what matters. We recorded the song and put it to the animation and everybody thought it was terrific. And the audience hated it."

But my time is finally near...

Indeed. The semi-operatic sound of "Where My Heart Will Take Me" was hated pretty much unilaterally. The idea of opening a "Star Trek" show with a pop song wasn't a bad idea in itself, necessarily, but audiences made it quite clear that Watson's wailings weren't wanted. Eventually, at the start of the show's third season, the song was remixed to add more electric guitars and drums, hoping to trick audiences into thinking it was more upbeat. Watson's vocals, perhaps unfortunately, remained. Berman liked the remix. No one else did. He said: 

"In the second or third year, the network said to us, 'Can you rewrite the song and could you make the song hipper?' We left the vocal on, but we did a completely different instrumental with a lot more electric guitars and things to make it a little more rock 'n' roll. I don't know if anybody was truly satisfied with that. I, for one, can tell you that I thought it was a great opening and I'm not alone in that. I don't think I'm in the majority, but I'm not alone." 

Many of the other producers and writers on "Enterprise" were fine with moving away from a Jerry Goldsmith or Alexander Courage-penned orchestral overture, but none of them liked "Where My Heart Will Take Me." Writer Mike Sussman liked the shake-up, but not "kind of shaking it up in many of the wrong ways. Let's say all the wrong ways." Producer Antoinette Stella recalled that everyone was "shocked" when they heard the song at the series' first screening. "Everybody talked about it after we saw the pilot," she said. "Sometimes you try to be different and they work ... and sometimes they don't."

I will see my dreams come alive at night...

Chris Black, one of the staff writers on "Enterprise" noted that the song was perhaps terrible, but that it was ultimately perfect for the tone of the show. It was about aspiring and touching the furthest star, etc. etc. There were worse things in the world that one should reserve their hate for. Black said: 

"If you listen to the lyrics of that song, they're appropriate. Are the lyrics cheesy? Absolutely. But is it saying something about the characters of the Star Trek universe that I think is appropriate? Absolutely. I don't hate it or love it. Everybody hates it. I don't hate it. I hate Nazis. I don't hate the theme song from 'Enterprise.'"

The editor of Film Score Monthly, Lukas Kendall, noted that "Where My Heart Will Take Me" has aged like fine milk. It was derided in 2001 and still has no fans 22 years later. He asked:

"Is there anybody who likes that song? The choice was ridiculed at the time and comes across no better today. I would not be opposed to the use of a song in principle, but it was the wrong one-a Diane Warren power ballad from 'Patch Adams?' Really? Even the producers seemed to hedge when they had the backing track redone for season three, but they had too much invested to dump it entirely."

In the pages of /Film, it was previously written that modern pop music always feels a little out of place in "Star Trek." The franchise takes place in a post-capitalist society. Adding recognizable commercial pop into the proceedings adds an unavoidable corporate element to Trek. Kendall noted the clash between Trek's typically classical bent and its own need for an insufferable power ballad. 

I will touch the sky

Kendall continued: 

"The producers broke one of their own rules: 'Star Trek' has become pop culture, but there is no pop culture within 'Star Trek,' because it punctures the reality. They tried rebranding with a mainstream radio song instead of another 'space theme for nerds,' so to speak — the desperate attempt to reach a bigger audience — but it was cheesy and lame." 

Many years later, the makers of "Star Trek: Lower Decks" got to affectionally (?) take a swipe at "Where My Heart Will Take Me." William Riker (Jonathan Frakes), while serving as captain on board the U.S.S. Titan, liked to while away his free time interacting with the "Enterprise" characters on the ship's holodeck. This was a reference to the final episode of "Enterprise," wherein Riker did that very thing. As he returned to the bridge after one of his holographic sojourns, he idly commented that he loved visiting the past and that "it's been a long road, getting from there to here." Trekkies instantly recognized Dianne Warren's opening lyric. 

It's worth noting that all the "Star Trek" shows to follow "Enterprise" went enthusiastically back to the "space theme for nerds" model, providing each series with a unique orchestral score. The third season of "Stra Trek: Picard" even repurposed Jerry Goldsmith's theme for "Star Trek: First Contact" wholesale.

Fun trivia: in what might have been a fit whimsical irony, "Where My Heart Will Take Me" was used as the wake-up alarm for mission specialist Richard Mastracchio on the Space Shuttle Endeavour  in 2007.

Hearts were broken. Lessons were learned. "Star Trek" will never again have The Voice.

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The best writers of "Star Trek"

This list includes writers from all of the Star Trek series, especially since many of them worked on more than one. Only writers who wrote more than one episode.

1. Ronald D. Moore

Producer | Battlestar Galactica

Ron Moore was a member of the Kappa Alpha literary society during his time at Cornell University. He dropped out of college during his senior year, after which he moved to Los Angeles, California, with a friend in hopes of becoming a working writer. He was two weeks away from joining the United ...

Best Episodes: Yesterday's Enterprise (10/10) with Behr/Manning/Beimler All Good Things... (10/10) with Brannon Braga Trials and Tribble-ations (10/10) with Rene Echevarria Family (9.5/10) The Defector (9.5/10) Reunion (9.5/10) with Brannon Braga/Thomas and Jo Perry Relics (9.5/10) First Contact (9.5/10) with Piller/Menosky/Bischoff/Bailey Data's Day (9/10) with Harold Apter Our Man Bashir (9/10) Rightful Heir (9/10) The Die is Cast (9/10) The Search: Part I (9/10) The House of Quark (9/10) Rejoined (9/10) with Rene Echevarria Sons of Mogh (9/10) The Pegasus (9/10) Redemption II (9/10) Redemption (9/10) Gambit: Part II (9/10) Tapestry (8.5/10) Sins of the Father (8.5/10) The Next Phase (8.5/10) Thine Own Self (8.5/10) Looking for par'Mach in All the Wrong Places (8.5/10) (The Next Generation/Deep Space Nine/Voyager)

2. Ira Steven Behr

Producer | Star Trek: Deep Space Nine

Graduate of Lehman College in New York City, Behr studied Mass Communications and Theater, and was offered a playwriting scholarship at Brandeis University. Instead, Behr elected to move to Los Angeles and pursue a career in writing comedies for television and film. However, instead of comedies, ...

Best Episodes: Yesterday's Enterprise (10/10) with Moore/Manning/Beimler The Way of the Warrior (9.5/10) with Robert Hewitt Wolfe The Maquis: Part II (9.5/10) Past Tense: Part II (9.5/10) with Rene Echevarria Homefront (9.5/10) with Robert Hewitt Wolfe Second Sight (9/10) with Mark Gehred-O'Connell & Robert Wolfe The Adversary (9/10) with Robert Hewitt Wolfe Paradise Lost (9/10) with Robert Hewitt Wolfe Little Green Men (9/10) with Robert Hewitt Wolfe Captain's Holiday (9/10) Qpid (9/10) The Jem'Hadar (8.5/10) The Search: Part II (8.5/10) Through the Looking Glass (8.5/10) with Robert Hewitt Wolfe Rules of Acquisition (8.5/10) The Homecoming (8.5/10) Bar Association (8.5/10) with Robert Hewitt Wolfe Heart of Stone (8.5/10) with Robert Hewitt Wolfe (The Next Generation/Deep Space Nine)

3. René Echevarria

Producer | The 4400

After graduating with a degree in History from Duke University in 1984, Rene Echevarria moved to New York City to pursue a career in theater. He joined the Circle Repertory Lab Company in 1985, where he assistant directed a production of Victor Muniz' play "Darts", and acted in a production of ...

Best Episodes: I, Borg (10/10) Trials and Tribble-ations (10/10) with Ronald D. Moore Lower Decks (9.5/10) Past Tense: Part II (9.5/10) with Ira Steven Behr Explorers (9.5/10) Improbable Cause (9.5/10) Birthright Part II (9/10) Ship in a Bottle (9/10) Rejoined (9/10) with Ronald D. Moore Equilibrium (8.5/10) Facets (8.5/10) Mind's Eye (8.5/10) The Offspring (8.5/10) Preemptive Strike (8.5/10) ...Nor the Battle to the Strong (8.5/10) True Q (8.5/10) Crossfire (8.5/10) (The Next Generation/Deep Space Nine)

4. Peter Allan Fields

Writer | Star Trek: The Next Generation

Peter Allan Fields was born on May 12, 1935. He was a writer and producer, known for Star Trek: The Next Generation (1987), Star Trek: Deep Space Nine (1993) and McCloud (1970). He died on June 19, 2019 in the USA.

Best Episodes: The Inner Light (10/10) with Morgan Grendel Duet (9.5/10) Necessary Evil (9.5/10) The Circle (9/10) Half a Life (9/10) Crossover (8.5/10) with Michael Piller Dax (8.5/10) with D.C. Fontana Blood Oath (8/10) (The Next Generation/Deep Space Nine)

5. Melinda M. Snodgrass

Melinda M. Snodgrass was born on November 27, 1951 in Los Angeles, California, USA. She is a writer, known for Star Trek: The Next Generation (1987), Wild Cards and Odyssey 5 (2002).

Best Episodes: The Measure of a Man (9.5/10) The High Ground (9.5/10) The Ensigns of Command (9/10) (The Next Generation)

6. Michael Taylor

Director | Global Warming: The Signs and Science

Michael Taylor is known for Global Warming: The Signs and Science (2005), The Dead Zone (2002) and The Great Warming (2006).

Episodes: The Visitor (10/10) (Deep Space Nine/Voyager)

7. Robert Hewitt Wolfe

Robert Hewitt Wolfe was born in 1964 in Waterbury, Connecticut, USA. He is a producer and writer, known for Star Trek: Deep Space Nine (1993), Andromeda (2000) and Alphas (2011).

Best Episodes: The Way of the Warrior (9.5/10) with Ira Steven Behr The Wire (9.5/10) Homefront (9.5/10) with Ira Steven Behr Second Skin (9.5/10) Second Sight (9/10) with Mark Gehred-O'Connell & Ira Steven Behr Shadowplay (9/10) The Adversary (9/10) with Ira Steven Behr In the Hands of the Prophets (9/10) Paradise Lost (9/10) with Ira Steven Behr Little Green Men (9/10) with Ira Steven Behr Hard Time (9/10) Past Tense: Part I (8.5/10) Through the Looking Glass (8.5/10) with Ira Steven Behr Invasive Procedures (8.5/10) Bar Association (8.5/10) with Ira Steven Behr Heart of Stone (8.5/10) with Ira Steven Behr (The Next Generation/Deep Space Nine)

8. Bradley Thompson

Bradley Thompson is known for Battlestar Galactica (2004), For All Mankind (2019) and CSI: Crime Scene Investigation (2000).

Episodes: The Assignment (9/10)

9. David Weddle

David Weddle is known for Battlestar Galactica (2004), For All Mankind (2019) and CSI: Crime Scene Investigation (2000).

10. Michael Piller

Writer | Star Trek: Insurrection

Michael went to school in New York before taking a creative writing course. The professor for this course told everyone, "There are enough bad writers out there. There needn't be anymore". Michael recalls that the professor would rip up his writing and he would be so broken-hearted. This professor ...

Best Episodes: The Best of Both Worlds: Part Two (10/10) Ensign Ro (9.5/10) First Contact (9.5/10) with Moore/Menosky/Bischoff/Bailey The Perfect Mate (9.5/10) The Best of Both Worlds: Part One (9.5/10) Time's Arrow (9/10) with Joe Menosky Melora (9/10) with Evan Somers & Steven Baum & James Crocker The Masterpiece Society (9/10) with Adam Belanoff Emissary (8.5/10) Unification II (8.5/10) Caretaker (8.5/10) with Jeri Taylor Evolution (8.5/10) Crossover (8.5/10) with Peter Allan Fields Booby Trap (8.5/10) with Ron Roman/Richard Danus A Man Alone (8/10) (The Next Generation/Deep Space Nine/Voyager) *He also co-wrote Yesterday's Enterprise(10/10), but is uncredited.

11. Jerome Bixby

Writer | The Man from Earth

Jerome Bixby was born on January 11, 1923 in Los Angeles County, California, USA. He was a writer and composer, known for The Man from Earth (2007), Star Trek (1966) and Fantastic Voyage (1966). He died on April 28, 1998 in San Bernardino, California, USA.

Episodes: Mirror, Mirror (10/10) By Any Other Name (9/10) with D.C. Fontana (The Original Series)

12. Paul Schneider

Writer | Star Trek

Paul Schneider was born on August 4, 1923 in Passaic, New Jersey, USA. He was a writer and producer, known for Star Trek (1966), The Six Million Dollar Man (1974) and Options (1989). He was married to Margaret Schneider . He died on October 13, 2008 in Riverside, California, USA.

Episodes: Balance of Terror (9.5/10) The Squire of Gothos (9/10) (The Original Series)

13. Jeri Taylor

Producer | Star Trek: The Next Generation

Jeri Taylor was born on June 30, 1938 in Evansville, Indiana, USA. She is a producer and writer, known for Star Trek: The Next Generation (1987), Star Trek: Voyager (1995) and Quincy M.E. (1976). She was previously married to David Moessinger and Dick Enberg .

Best Episodes: Unification I (9.5/10) The Wounded (9.5/10) Chain of Command: Part II (9.5/10) -uncredited The Drumhead (9.5/10) The Outcast (9/10) Eye of the Needle (9/10) with Bill Dial Caretaker (8.5/10) with Michael Piller The 37's (8.5/10) with Brannon Braga Night Terrors (8.5/10) with Pamela Douglas Silicon Avatar (8.5/10) (The Next Generation/Voyager)

14. Brannon Braga

Writer | Star Trek: Generations

Brannon Braga was born on August 14, 1965 in Bozeman, Montana, USA. He is a producer and writer, known for Star Trek: Generations (1994), Star Trek: The Next Generation (1987) and Star Trek: First Contact (1996).

Best Episodes: Timescape (10/10) All Good Things... (10/10) with Brannon Braga Reunion (9.5/10) with Ronald D. Moore/Thomas and Jo Perry Parallels (9.5/10) Cause and Effect (9/10) Birthright Part 1 (8.5/10) Frame of Mind (8.5/10) The 37's (8.5/10) with Jeri Taylor Parallax (8.5/10) Schisms (8.5/10) Emanations (8/10) (The Next Generation/Voyager/Enterprise)

15. Naren Shankar

Producer | CSI: Crime Scene Investigation

Naren Shankar is the Executive Producer/Showrunner of the critically acclaimed television adaptation of the international best-seller science fiction novel series, The Expanse, an Amazon Prime Original Series from Alcon Television Studios. Naren spent eight seasons as a Writer-Executive Producer and...

Best Episodes: The Quickening (9.5/10) Gambit: Part I (9/10) Face of the Enemy (9/10) Preemptive Strike (8.5/10) Heroes and Demons (8.5/10) Homeward (8.5/10) (The Next Generation/Deep Space Nine/Voyager)

16. Gene Roddenberry

While in junior high school, he became interested in science fiction, and years later while reading a copy of 'Astounding Stories' when he was working as an airline pilot, he decided to give it up and become a writer. He moved West and joined the Los Angeles police force to gain experience that ...

Best Episodes: The Menagerie, Part II (10/10) The Menagerie, Part I (9.5/10) The City on the Edge of Forever (9.5/10)* Space Seed (9/10)* with Gene L. Coon & Carey Wilber Encounter at Farpoint (9/10) with D.C. Fontana (The Original Series/The Next Generation) *He also co-wrote The City on the Edge of Forever and Space Seed but is uncredited on both.

17. Gene L. Coon

The son of U.S. Army Sgt Merle Jack ''Pug'' Coon and decorator Erma Gay Noakes, Eugene Lee Coon was born in Beatrice Nebraska on January 7, 1924. At four years old, he sang on the radio at WOAW-AM in Omaha. He knew twenty four songs, including one in French and one in German. As his boyhood went on...

Best Episodes: The City on the Edge of Forever (9.5/10)* Space Seed (9/10) with Carey Wilber & Gene Roddenberry A Taste of Armageddon (9/10) with Robert Hamner Errand of Mercy (8.5/10) The Devil in the Dark (8.5/10) (The Original Series) *He also co-wrote The City on the Edge of Forever but is uncredited.

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Why Star Trek: Enterprise Had THAT Terrible Theme Song

"Where My Heart Will Take Me," the opening theme to Star Trek: Enterprise, had reason to be scorned. Over time, however, its reputation has improved.

Among Star Trek: Enterprise ’s more contentious quirks was its opening theme song: a reworked version of Rod Stewart’s “Faith of the Heart” entitled “Where My Heart Will Take Me.” It’s very much a product of its time, and in the ensuing years has become something of a guilty pleasure among the Star Trek faithful. It’s the kind of infectious earworm that takes days to get rid of, and it’s definitely an anomaly among Star Trek themes. Fans at the time did not take it well.

Before Enterprise , Star Trek shows stuck resolutely to classic orchestral themes. That started with Alexander Courage’s iconic introduction to the original Star Trek , and was emulated by The Next Generation, Deep Space 9 and Voyager. Star Trek: The Next Generation appropriated Jerry Goldsmith’s theme from Star Trek: The Motion Picture, which is telling: all of them aimed for an operatic sound indicative of epic theatrical films. When Enterprise began, the producers wanted to break from that tradition in a big way.

RELATED:  Star Trek's Longest Running Series, Revealed

It Was Supposed to Help Enterprise Bridge Our Present with Trek’s Future

Enterprise was posited as a prequel to the original series: detailing the early days of humanity’s exploration of the stars, and the eventual formation of the Federation. Producer Brannon Braga told Starlog magazine that he felt the era had more unexplored dramatic potential than something closer to the original series, and that the characters would respond to challenges differently than the characters in other Trek series had. The song was intended as part of that principle: a firm break from what Trek had become, but also a link between the present day and the bright future the franchise promised.

That, however, could have found better expression elsewhere. The song adopted a soft-rock power ballad format, presumably in order to reach as wide an audience demographic as possible. But the supposedly inspiring lyrics fell flat against Enterprise’s impressive visual title montage of real-life heroes like Amelia Earhart and Gus Grissom. And while the orchestral scores from earlier Trek shows felt evergreen, this one dated itself almost as soon as it had dropped.

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The Song Itself Had a Difficult Background

The choice of song was strange too. Rather than commissioning their own, the producers simply reskinned the Stewart song with new lyrics, giving it the air of a cheap knock-off. Stewart himself – a notorious womanizer – left his second wife less than a month before the song hit the charts, rendering its heartfelt tone disingenuous from the start. A few hastily added lyrics weren’t going to change that. Furthermore, Stewart wrote it for Patch Adams , the infamous Robin Williams tearjerker reviled for its excess sentimentalism.

In short, it felt very corporate: assembled for reasons that had little to do with Star Trek and presented as a change of pace that went badly off the mark. Trekkies responded as Trekkies sometimes do: with anger, rejection and organized demands to replace the song with something else. Enterprise stuck with it, however, and kept it as part of the opening credits for the whole of its run.

The song has since attained a kind of scruffy charm among the Trek faithful, and an apt companion to Enterprise, which similarly took some time for parts of the Star Trek community to warm to. Today the two are intertwined, and the high quality of the show itself lends the comparatively clunky theme song an affection it might otherwise merit. It even earned a playful dig on Star Trek:  Lower Decks   -- as sure a sign as ever that Trekkies are ready to forgive if not forget.

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Screen Rant

Star trek: every captain of the enterprise.

Star Trek has featured many starships named Enterprise. Along with Kirk and Picard, here's every Enterprise Captain from each movie and TV series.

Here is a breakdown of all USS Enterprise Captains across the various Star Trek movies, live-action series, comics, and books. Beginning with Star Trek: The Original Series , the Starship Enterprise has been at the very heart of the enduring sci-fi franchise created by Gene Roddenberry in 1966. Of course, the two most famous Captains of the Enterprise are James T. Kirk (William Shatner) and Jean-Luc Picard (Patrick Stewart), who shared the big screen together in 1994's Star Trek Generations, but Captain Christopher Pike (Anson Mount) is quickly achieving greatness in Star Trek: Strange New Worlds.

Star Trek has introduced other successful spinoffs set on different starships like Star Trek: Voyager and Star Trek: Discovery , as well as the space station-based Star Trek: Deep Space Nine . But, in the eyes of many fans, it isn't truly Star Trek unless it's about the Enterprise . The men and women who have commanded the Enterprise rank among the greatest heroes in Star Trek, because they know that when they sit in that chair, they can make a real difference. These are the accomplishments of all USS Enterprise Captains from every TV show, movie, and alternate reality.

The 22nd Century - USS Enterprise NX-01

Captain Jonathan Archer (Scott Bakula) - Star Trek: Enterprise 's titular starship was the first United Earth starship that could travel at Warp 5. Captain Archer commanded it during its missions which created pivotal alliances that ultimately led to the founding of Star Trek 's United Federation of Planets, which Archer presided over in 2161 – marking him among the most important of all USS Enterprise Captains.

The 23rd Century - USS Enterprise NX-0002

Admiral/Captain Charles Rasmussen - A Federation Starfleet Admiral and instructor at Starfleet Academy, Charles Rasmussen captained the Constitution-class ship NX-0002, during which Rasmussen also sacrificed his life to save his crew. This occurs in an issue of the Star Trek: The Original Series comics called "Shakedown."

The 23rd Century - USS Enterprise NCC-1701

Captain/Admiral Robert April - Captain April first appeared in Star Trek: The Animated Series , where he was voiced by James Doohan. In the 23rd century, Robert April was the first Captain of the Constitution -class USS Enterprise NCC-1701 deep space heavy cruiser when it launched in 2245. Christopher Pike was his First Officer during the starship's first five-year mission. Admiral April (Adrian Holmes) is a recurring character in Star Trek: Strange New Worlds.

Captain/Fleet Captain Christopher Pike - The Captain of the Enterprise in Star Trek: Strange New Worlds , Christopher Pike leads a new five-year mission of exploration. Pike counts Enterprise legends like Lt. Spock (Ethan Peck) and Number One (Rebecca Romijn) among his crew. In a few years, Fleet Captain Pike will suffer a horrific accident that leaves him trapped in a wheelchair. Jeffrey Hunter played Pike, Leonard Nimoy played Spock, and Majel Barrett played Number One in the original Star Trek pilot, "The Cage."

Vice Admiral/Captain Katrina Cornwell (Jayne Brook) - Starfleet Vice Admiral Katrina Cornwell temporarily assumed command of the USS Enterprise and then later transferred it back to Pike in 2258. This was part of the efforts to keep the Enterprise out of the war with the Klingons. At the Battle near Xahea, Cornwell ends up sacrificing her life in order to save the ship from an undetonated photon torpedo. Before that, in 2257, Cornwell also temporarily commanded the USS Discovery.

Captain/Admiral James T. Kirk (William Shatner) - The most legendar y Enterprise Captain of the 23rd century, Kirk's five-year mission was seen in Star Trek: The Original Series. Spock (Leonard Nimoy) held the dual role of the Enterprise 's First Officer and Science Officer. Kirk's Starship Enterprise engaged in numerous pivotal missions that resulted in Kirk's promotion to Admiral at the end of his voyages. Outside of the main series and movies (and often even outside of the Star Trek universe), Captain James T. Kirk continues to be referenced in animated series such as Star Trek: Lower Decks and Star Trek: Prodigy.

Captain Zarlo - In the Star Trek comic book series, Kirk gets assigned to take on a secret mission against the Klingons on the planet of Mobita, and Captain Zarlo gets assigned to replace Kirk as Captain of the Enterprise.

Captain Willard Decker (Stephen Collins) - In Star Trek: The Motion Picture , Captain Will Decker was in command of the retrofitted Starship Enterprise when Admiral Kirk demoted him to First Officer and took command of the mission to intercept V'Ger. Decker merged with V'Ger at the end of the film and was listed as "missing in action".

Captain Spock (Leonard Nimoy) - In 2285, Spock was promoted to Captain and commanded the Enterprise , which was primarily used as a training vessel. In Star Trek II: The Wrath of Khan , Admiral Kirk once again assumed command when Khan Noonien Singh (Ricardo Montalban) stole the Genesis Device, which resulted in Spock's death.

Captain Lawrence H. Styles (James B. Sikking) - The arrogant and appropriately named Styles was actually the captain of the experimental USS Excelsior , which chased but failed to catch up to the Enterprise , ending up stolen and used in Kirk's mission to resurrect Spock. In the Star Trek novel "Prime Directive," Styles temporarily assumed command over the Enterprise during its refit after it was severely damaged. Styles has a similar attitude to Kirk, which is why they severely dislike each other (and mainly why their dynamic works).

The 23rd Century - USS Enterprise NCC-1701-A

Captain James T. Kirk - After stealing the Enterprise to resurrect Spock, and subsequently saving Earth from a space probe seeking to communicate with humpback whales in Star Trek IV: The Voyage Home , Admiral Kirk was demoted to Captain and given command of the new USS Enterprise NCC-1701-A. Kirk's Enterprise-A in Star Trek V : The Final Frontie r and Star Trek VI: The Undiscovered Country met God and helped secure peace with the Klingon Empire before the Enterprise-A was decommissioned.

The 23rd Century - USS Enterprise NCC-1701-B

Captain John Harriman (Alan Ruck) - The Excelsior -class USS Enterprise-B was launched in 2293 under the command of Captain John Harriman. Their shakedown cruise is infamous for encountering the Nexus, which resulted in the presumed death of Captain Kirk, as seen in the prologue of Star Trek Generations.

The 24th Century - USS Enterprise NCC-1701-C

Captain Rachel Garrett (Tricia O'Neill) - The Ambassador -class USS Enterprise-C made only one appearance, in the Star Trek: The Next Generation episode "Yesterday's Enterprise". The Enterprise-C was meant to be destroyed at Narendra III while defending a Klingon outpost from a Romulan attack, but it fell through a time vortex that altered the timeline. Captain Garrett died before the Enterprise-C could return to its proper era and set the timeline right.

The 24th Century - USS Enterprise NCC-1701-D

Captain Jean-Luc Picard (Patrick Stewart) - Star Trek: The Next Generation 's Galaxy -class USS Enterprise-D was designated as the flagship of the United Federation of Planets. Under the command of Captain Jean-Luc Picard, the Enterprise-D's numerous missions involved multiple first contacts with new species, diplomatic and military engagements, and scientific pursuits. The Enterprise-D was destroyed on Veridian III in Star Trek Generations but the D was rebuilt and saved the galaxy one last time in Star Trek: Picard season 3.

Acting Captain William T. Riker (Jonathan Frakes) - In TNG 's "The Best of Both Worlds" two-parter, Captain Picard was abducted by the Borg and turned into Locutus. Commander William Riker became the Enterprise-D's Acting Captain and led the successful rescue of Picard and defeat of the Borg, after which Picard resumed his role as Captain of the Enterprise.

Captain Edward Jellico (Ronny Cox) - Perhaps the most despised Captain of the Enterprise, Edward Jellico was assigned to take over the Federation flagship when Picard went on a secret mission and was captured and tortured by the Cardassians in the "Chain of Command" two-parter. After alienating the crew and clashing with Riker, Jellico returned the Enterprise-D back to Picard once he was rescued.

The 24th Century - USS Enterprise NCC-1701-E

Captain Jean-Luc Picard - The Sovereign -class USS Enterprise-E was the most advanced starship in the Federation when it was assigned to Captain Picard prior to Star Trek: First Contact. Continuing as the Federation flagship, the Enterprise-E was the setting of three Star Trek: The Next Generation movies and the crew successfully faced the Borg, the Son'a, and the Remans led by Picard's clone, Shinzon (Tom Hardy).

Captain Worf (Michael Dorn) - Captain Picard was promoted to Admiral and left the USS Enterprise-E to lead the Federation's mission to rescue the Romulans from their sun going supernova. Worf was promoted to Captain of the Enterprise , but the ship was lost under mysterious circumstances. In Star Trek: Picard season 3, Worf insisted what happened to the E was "not my fault."

The 25th Century - USS Enterprise NCC-1701-F

Admiral Elizabeth Shelby (Elizabeth Dennehy) - The Odyssey -class USS Enterprise-F made its lone appearance in Star Trek: Picard season 3. Under the command of Admiral Shelby, the F was intended to lead Starfleet's Frontier Day celebration before the starship was retired. Tragically, the Enterprise-F and the rest of the assembled Starfleet were assimilated by the Borg, and Shelby was apparently killed at the end of Star Trek: Picard season 3.

The 25th Century - USS Enterprise NCC-1701-D

Commodore Geordi La Forge (LeVar Burton) - In Star Trek: Picard season 3, Commodore Geordi La Forge oversaw the Fleet Museum on Athan Prime where he painstakingly restored the USS Enterprise-D in secret. Geordi got to unveil his surprise to Admiral Picard and his fellow Enterprise-D crew mates as they warped off to save the galaxy on Frontier Day. When Picard beamed to the Borg Cube to rescue his son, Jack Crusher (Ed Speleers), Geordi became Acting Captain of the Enterprise-D. La Forge led the Enterprise's assault against the Borg Cube and successfully rescued Picard and friends before ending the threat of the Borg, at last.

The 25th Century - USS Enterprise NCC-1701-G

Captain Seven of Nine (Jeri Ryan) - The Constitution III-class USS Titan-A was rechristened as the USS Enterprise-G at the end of Star Trek: Picard season 3 . The Titan's First Officer, Seven of Nine, was promoted to Captain of the Enterprise, with Commander Raffi Musiker (Michelle Hurd) as her First Officer and Ensign Jack Crusher (Ed Speleers) appointed as Special Counselor to the Captain. Seven also makes history as the first LGBTQI Captain of the Enterprise.

Star Trek Alternate Reality Enterprise Captains

The 22nd century mirror universe - iss enterprise nx-01.

Captain Maximilian Forrest (Vaughn Armstrong) - In the Mirror Universe, the NX-01 ISS Enterprise was commanded by Captain Forrest. In the Star Trek: Enterprise "In a Mirror, Darkly" two-parter, Forrest engaged in a tug-of-war for control of the Enterprise with Commander Jonathan Archer until he was killed by Tholians. However, Archer took command of the USS Defiant, a 23rd-century Constitutio n-class starship from the Prime Universe.

23rd Century United Earth Fleet Timeline - USS Enterprise NCC-1701

Captain James T. Kirk (Paul Wesley) - In an alternate reality created by Romulan interference in Earth's 21st-century history, Captain James T. Kirk commanded the USS Enterprise, a starship in the United Earth Fleet . The UEF was mired in an endless war with the Romulans, which humanity was losing. Kirk and Lt. La'an Noonien-Singh (Christina Chong) traveled back to 21st-century Toronto to reset the course of history back to Star Trek's proper Prime Timeline, but Captain Kirk was tragically shot and killed by a Romulan time traveler named Sera (Adelaide Kane) in Star Trek: Strange New Worlds season 2, episode 3, "Tomorrow and Tomorrow and Tomorrow."

The 23rd Century Mirror Universe - ISS Enterprise NCC-1701

Captain Christopher Pike - The ISS Enterprise' s original Captain was assassinated by James T. Kirk prior to the events of the Star Trek: The Original Series season 2 episode, "Mirror, Mirror".

Captain James T. Kirk - After he killed Pike, Captain Kirk maintained his control over the Enterprise thanks to a device called the Tantalus Field, which allowed him to vaporize his enemies remotely. Kirk was briefly switched with his Prime Universe counterpart, who posed as the Mirror Kirk until they were switched back to their proper realities.

Captain Spock - When the Mirror Kirk returned to the ISS Enterprise , Spock relieved him of command, took the Tantalus Field, and also Kirk's mistress Marlena Moreau (Barbara Luna).

"All Good Things..." Timeline - USS Enterprise NCC-1701-D

Admiral William T. Riker - In the future reality seen in TNG 's series finale, "All Good Things..." , the refurbished Enterprise-D (which had a third nacelle allowing the starship to reach Warp 13) was Riker's personal flagship.

26th Century - USS Enterprise NCC-1701-J

Captain Dax - In the Star Trek: Enterprise episode "Azati Prime", Captain Archer was brought to a potential 26th-century timeline where the Universe -class U.S.S. Enterprise-J was under the command of Captain Dax, a Trill who hosts the Dax symbiote that once joined with Jadzia (Terry Farrell) and Ezri (Nicole de Boer) from Star Trek: Deep Space Nine.

J.J. Abrams Star Trek Kelvin Timeline - USS Enterprise NCC-1701

Captain Christopher Pike (Bruce Greenwood) - In the alternate Kevin timeline created by J.J. Abrams' Star Trek 2009 reboot, Christopher Pike was Captain of the Enterprise, which was the Federation flagship, when Starfleet mobilized to save Vulcan from the time-traveling Romulan named Nero (Eric Bana).

Acting Captain Spock (Zachary Quinto) - After Pike was abducted by Nero, First Officer Spock became Acting Captain, which was challenged by cadet James T. Kirk, who later assumed command of the Enterprise as Acting Captain, leading to Nero's defeat.

Captain James T. Kirk (Chris Pine) - As thanks for saving the Earth from Nero, Kirk was promoted to Captain and given command of the Enterprise. Kirk remained Captain in Star Trek Into Darkness and then launched a five-year mission of exploration.

Kelvin Timeline - U.S.S. Enterprise NCC-1701-A

Captain James T. Kirk - Three years into their five-year mission, the Enterprise was destroyed by Krall (Idris Elba). After Kirk saved the Starbase USS Yorktown from Krall, he was given command of the newly-built Constitution -class USS Enterprise-A at the conclusion of Star Trek Beyond .

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Harlan Ellison wrote Star Trek’s greatest episode. He hated it.

The famously cantankerous science-fiction legend died this week. The story of “City on the Edge of Forever” represents his career in miniature.

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Share All sharing options for: Harlan Ellison wrote Star Trek’s greatest episode. He hated it.

Harlan Ellison, the legendary, legendarily irascible speculative fiction writer who died this week at age 84 , wrote the greatest episode of Star Trek ever made. And he hated it.

“The City on the Edge of Forever” aired on April 6, 1967, late in the original series’ first season , and won acclaim for capturing everything Star Trek could do at its best while suggesting weighty themes and emotional depths only hinted at in previous episodes. It won the Hugo Award for Best Dramatic Presentation and the Writers Guild of America Award for Best Episodic Drama on Television. Ellison accepted both. Neither salved his bitterness that the episode had been rewritten.

At the Hugos he dedicated the award to “the memory of the script they butchered, and in respect to those parts of it that had the vitality to shine through the evisceration.” “The City on the Edge of Forever” that aired may have been praised by virtually everyone who saw it, but it wasn’t his “City on the Edge of Forever,” and a compromised triumph was no triumph at all for Ellison. Ellison would spend the next several decades being publicly aggrieved by “City on the Edge of Forever.”

Was the reaction overkill? Of course. Overkill was part of Ellison’s persona. He held grudges. He deployed lawsuits liberally, sometimes successfully. (He’s now acknowledged in the credits of The Terminator thanks to one such suit.) He boasted of assaulting his publisher in the ’80s . And many never looked at him the same way after he groped author Connie Willis at the Hugos in 2006, for which he apologized — then grew angry when the apology wasn’t immediately accepted.

Ellison was famous for his contributions to science fiction and American literature, which extend well beyond his Star Trek script. But he was also famous for his grievances. The story of “The City on the Edge of Forever” represents that duality in miniature, and helps explain what made him both a beloved and divisive figure.

Star Trek ’s best episode is credited to Harlan Ellison alone. It was a lie he would not let stand.

Here’s the version of “The City on the Edge of Forever” that’s been seen by countless viewers since 1967: After administering a small dose of a dangerous drug to Lt. Sulu (George Takei), Dr. McCoy (DeForest Kelley) accidentally administers a massive dose to his own abdomen after getting knocked about when the Enterprise hits some interference from a strange time distortion.

Driven temporarily mad, McCoy beams down to the nearest planet, home to the Guardian of Forever, a talking portal that allows visitors to travel through time and space. When McCoy uses it to travel back to Depression-era New York, the Enterprise ’s landing party learns their ship has disappeared. Whatever McCoy has done has distorted history in such a way that the universe as they know it has ceased to exist.

Captain Kirk (William Shatner) and Mr. Spock (Leonard Nimoy) give chase, in time learning that McCoy has changed time by saving the life of Edith Keeler (Joan Collins), the near-saintly proprietor of a soup kitchen. If allowed to live, her idealistic message of pacifism and tolerance will delay the United States’ entry into World War II, allowing Hitler to develop the atomic bomb, win the war, and dominate the Earth — shutting the door on the hopeful future imagined throughout the series.

And so, as Spock says twice in the episode — first as a question then as a statement arrived at through cold, hard logic — Edith Keeler must die. The only problem: Kirk has fallen in love with her and isn’t sure he can bring himself to let her die. But, after reuniting with McCoy, he does just that, stopping the doctor from saving Edith from a truck that strikes her down in the street.

Many elements contribute to the episode’s greatness. The Guardian’s planet is an eerie, dreamlike place, one that inspires Kirk to comment, with understated poetic flair, “These ruins stretch to the horizon.” Journeyman director Joseph Pevney wisely lets the atmosphere, both of the alien world and 1930s New York, do a lot of the work.

Then there’s Shatner, who, often justifiably, gets a lot of flak for laying it on thick, but his performance here is measured. His love for Edith feels real, far removed from the flings seen in previous episodes. So does his heartbreak.

Yet much of the brilliance can be traced back to the script. Star Trek had raised philosophical issues before, but few as thorny as whether taking one life can be justified in the name of a greater good. And not just any life: Kirk falls for Edith because she’s virtuous and beautiful and finds him charming, sure, but also because she’s the living embodiment of the utopian principles he’s sworn to uphold as a member of Starfleet.

She believes in humanity’s potential to overcome hatred and selfishness, in the possibility of the better future in which Kirk lives. But to make that future possible, he has to let her die. She has the right message at the wrong time. It’s a Kobayashi Maru scenario in the form of a tragic romance.

It’s a near-perfect episode of television, recognized as such from the moment it aired. The credits bore only one name: Harlan Ellison.

Ellison knew it was a lie. He’d seen the script through several drafts, only to have it reworked, at Star Trek creator Gene Roddenberry’s insistence, by D.C. Fontana, Gene Coon, Steven W. Carabatsos, and Roddenberry himself. Ellison asked his name be taken off, but backed down. It would be the last time he backed down on this matter.

Most writers would sit back, take the praise, and keep quiet about the sausage-making process. Ellison wasn’t most writers, telling anyone who’d listen what had happened to his script, all the alterations and adjustments that made it lesser than the version he’d dreamed up. In 1975, during a short-lived rapprochement with Roddenberry, Ellison published the original version in his collection Six Science Fiction Plays , allowing the curious to compare and contrast the version they knew with the version that might have been.

Ellison’s version shares much of the filmed version’s bone structure. The time travel, Edith Keeler, the central moral question are all there. But it also contains a murderous drug-dealing crew member (an element Roddenberry found out of sync with his vision of an idealized future and a squeaky clean Starfleet), alternate-universe space pirates summoned into existence by the altering of time, 9-foot aliens (who would become the much more budget-friendly talking portal), and a World War I veteran named Trooper.

Most significantly, at the climactic moment, Kirk can’t bring himself to let Edith die. It’s Spock who makes the choice. Ellison saw Kirk as a man who, at a critical juncture, couldn’t let the love of his life die to save the universe. Roddenberry thought otherwise. The question of which feels truer to Kirk, and to Trek , serves as a litmus test for fans of the show.

Without Ellison’s talent and imagination, “The City on the Edge of Forever” wouldn’t have existed. Applying the butterfly effect to its absence — appropriate, given the episode’s plot — the Star Trek we know today wouldn’t have been possible without the ripples of complexity and moral ambiguity Ellison helped introduce to the series. (Not that Ellison had anything nice to say about the later series.)

But Ellison, whose early history includes multiple stories of running away from home, could seemingly never live comfortably in any world, even a world he helped create, be it Star Trek or the larger world of speculative fiction, which he helped shape with his work and his championing of other writers. Because Ellison could always imagine a better world, one in which “The City on the Edge of Forever” aired without evisceration, one in which the same sort of piggish shortsightedness that led to that evisceration wasn’t allowed to run rampant in so many aspects of life, one in which everyone finally saw he was right.

Reflecting on “The City on the Edge of Forever” years later, Ellison wrote, “The solitary creator, dreaming his or her dream, unaided, seems to me to be the only artist we can trust.” Ellison did a lot of that sort of dreaming. Sometimes the dreams went astray.

Ellison always had to have the last word. And then he’d just keep talking.

Ellison’s adventures in the TV trade — there would be more, and more frustrations — prompted him to write about television for the Los Angeles Free Press, unsparing observations collected in the influential 1970 book The Glass Teat and its sequel, The Other Glass Teat . It also assured he’d keep prose as his primary profession, helping to shepherd and elevate the literary careers of others.

The landmark collection Dangerous Visions , a collection of stories from science fiction stars and stars-to-be, appeared the same year as “The City on the Edge of Forever.” Again, Dangerous Visions followed in 1972. (A long-promised third volume never arrived.) He mentored Octavia Butler and others. He wrote. And wrote. And wrote. In a 2013 interview with the Guardian , Ellison put his tally at around 1,800 short stories, novellas, essays, and scripts. Today, “The City on the Edge of Forever,” both the filmed teleplay and Ellison’s original drafts, represent only a tiny fraction of his output and influence.

But even with his version of “The City on the Edge of Forever” available for the world to read, the matter felt unsettled for Ellison. It didn’t help that Roddenberry was out there telling his version of the story, claiming that Ellison’s script was filled with budget-breaking elements and that he had Commander Scotty dealing drugs.

Ellison knew better. The pirates were added at Roddenberry’s insistence and Scotty never dealt drugs in any drafts. He didn’t even appear in any drafts. Then there was all that money others were making from the episode, money that seemed never to find its way to Ellison.

This would not stand. So in 1995, four years after Roddenberry’s death, Ellison published “The City on the Edge of Forever” again, this time as a standalone book titled The City on the Edge of Forever: The Original Teleplay . The book includes two treatments for the episode; Ellison’s final draft of the screenplay; testimonials from Fontana, Kelley, Nimoy, and others; and a new introduction from Ellison designed to set the record straight.

The opening sets the tone:

“Speak no ill of the dead? Oh, really? Then let’s forget about a true introductory essay to this book. Let’s give a pass to setting the record straight. Let’s just shrug and say, ah, what the hell, it’s been more than thirty years and the bullshit has been slathered on with a trowel for so damned long, and so many greedy little pig-snouts have made so much money off those lies, and so many inimical forces continue to dip their pig-snouts in that Star Trek trough of bullshit that no one wants to hear your miserable bleats of “unfair! unfair” … that it ain’t worth the price of admission, Ellison.”

And so it goes for 90 profane, repetitive, discursive, hilarious, pitiless, insightful pages. It’s, in its own way, classic Ellison, who turned interviews into monologues. Smart interviewers generally knew to get out of his way and just let him talk. In the end, Ellison always had the last word. And then he just kept talking.

Ellison was sometimes too much, and too much in ways that are hard to excuse; offenses committed out of an excess of passion are still offenses. But, oh, that passion. Ellison simply had to fight back against every perceived slight and loss. He even had to fight back against any wins that weren’t on his own terms. He left behind miles of scorched earth and a towering body of work. He reshaped science fiction and changed the way his readers looked at the world. It wasn’t enough. Nothing ever was.

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Remembering ‘Star Trek: Enterprise’s Much-Maligned Finale, 15 Years Later

Between Star Trek: Discovery ,  Picard and the newest forthcoming Star Trek series , all on streamer CBS All Access, it’s a wondrous time to be a Trekker. Fifteen years ago, however, it seemed the sci-fi franchise was ending on a sour note, leaving the airwaves for the first time in 18 years with the series finale of Star Trek: Enterprise , which turned out to be an episode many fans and critics flat-out hated .

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“These Are the Voyages…,” the series’ 98th episode, written by Enterprise co-creators Rick Berman and Brannon Braga, aired on May 13, 2005. It opens with Capt. Archer ( Scott Bakula ) piloting the Enterprise (the NX-01) home to Earth in 2161 for the ship’s decommissioning, while gearing up to give a speech at the signing of the Federation Charter. But when the voice of Star Trek: The Next Generation ’s Commander William Riker (Jonathan Frakes) freezes the story, viewers realize that the Enterprise ’s final journey is just a holodeck simulation.

In fact, it is the year 2370, and Commander Riker—troubled by the events of the TNG episode “The Pegasus”—is revisiting the events of the year 2161 at the urging of TNG ’s Lieutenant Commander Deanna Troi (Marina Sirtis).

Riker watches as Archer, en route to Earth, gets roped into a rescue mission that ultimately claims the life of Commander Trip Tucker (Connor Trinneer). Through these holodeck visions, Riker finds inspiration for how to proceed in the Next Generation timeline.

Indeed, the holodeck contrivance and the nostalgic appearances of Riker and Troi turned off fans and critics alike. “That framing story, which is a self-serving epitaph on the part of TNG producers Berman and Braga, doesn’t do the Enterprise cast justice,” Sci Fi Weekly ‘ s Patrick Lee said at the time. “It reduces them to the status of lab rats, and Riker’s supercilious observation is condescending … It’s not surprising that the epilogue for the weakest Trek series ended up so anticlimactic.”

“For the first time ever in Trek history, a series ends with holographic versions of the real characters fans spent years following,” Phil Pirrello wrote for a Hollywood Reporter retrospective last month. “It’s shocking how much wrong they managed to pack into one normal-sized episode of television.”

Fan reactions at the time ranged from neutral to negative. “That’s how Trek comes to an end after a run of 18 consecutive years—with a somewhat ponderous whimper that still manages to show its self-affection,” fan reviewer Jamahl Epsicokhan wrote after the episode aired. “Maybe too much misdirected affection for TNG . And not enough for the characters we’ve been watching for the past four seasons.”

Commenters on Epsicokhan’s post, however, weren’t so charitable—and expressed vitriol toward Braga and Berman. “It was just a total mess,” one wrote. “Why bring back two TNG characters? Why kill off Trip? Why set it years after the previous episode? The blame lies in the people who wrote the episode, responsible for [ Enterprise ’s] failure in the first place.”

Wrote another, “What exactly did the cast of Enterprise do to deserve this finale?”

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Perhaps some of the cast members were wondering the same thing. Jolene Blalock, who played Vulcan Commander on the show, called the finale “appalling” in an interview with the Toronto Star . Anthony Montgomery, a.k.a. Ensign Travis Mayweather, told TV Zone Special , “I feel there could have been a more effective way to wrap things up for our show as well as the franchise as a whole. It just seemed to take a little bit away from what the Enterprise cast and crew worked so diligently to achieve over the past four years, do you know what I mean?”

For his part, Frakes admitted in 2008 that “everybody probably” feels the episode was a disservice to Enterprise . “The theory was it was a valentine to the fans,” he added in an IF Magazine interview, “but the reality is it was a bit of a stretch to have us shut down their show.” (Less than a year later, he said the episode “stinks.” )

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Braga defended the episode at the time , but at a 2017 panel at the Star Trek Las Vegas convention, he gave fans a mea culpa . “I thought it was the coolest thing ever when we were writing it, the idea of doing a ‘lost episode’ of The Next Generation , but they’re going to the holodeck to look back at Enterprise ,” he said at the time, per TrekMovie.com . “Rick and I thought was a great sendoff to Star Trek , and it didn’t work out so well … It was a kind of a slap in the face to the Enterprise actors. I heard it from everybody. It was the only time Scott Bakula was ever mean to me. I regret it.”

Even a transcription site prefaces its “These Are the Voyages…” transcript with a warning: “Transcriber’s note … Worst Trek Episode Ever!”

Luckily, writers Roberto Orci and Alex Kurtzman and producer J.J. Abrams reinvigorated the franchise with the 2009 film Star Trek , which honored the original story while finding a new “final frontier” in an alternate timeline—and kicked off a $1 billion big-screen trilogy. And in 2017, the franchise returned to the small screen with Discovery , the first of many CBS All Access Star Trek series on the air or in the works.

Now that “These Are the Voyages…” isn’t the last story Trekkers will get from the franchise, perhaps they’ll come to view the episode as Sirtis did in 2005: “a good episode” but not “a good last episode.”

What did you think about the Enterprise series ender? Let us know in the comments below.

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Who sang the Enterprise theme ...

Question: Who sang the Enterprise theme song, "Faith of the Heart"? It wasn't Rod Stewart, but could it have been Scott Bakula, aka Captain Jonathan Archer?Answer: It could've been, I suppose. But it wasn't. "Faith of the Heart," written by Diane Warren and originally performed by Rod Stewart for the Patch Adams soundtrack, was sung by rising U.K. opera star Russell Watson during the show's opening credits. Watson comes from humble beginnings, initially earning a living as a bolt fitter in Manchester and practicing his singing on the side. From there, "The People's Tenor" (I love that name — a tenor for the rest of us) has come into his own as a best-selling singer and was even named a Goodwill Ambassador to the United Nations. Now, if only one could say the same for the song itself, which creat

Question: Who sang the Enterprise theme song, "Faith of the Heart"? It wasn't Rod Stewart , but could it have been Scott Bakula , aka Captain Jonathan Archer?

Answer: It could've been, I suppose. But it wasn't.

"Faith of the Heart," written by Diane Warren and originally performed by Rod Stewart for the Patch Adams soundtrack, was sung by rising U.K. opera star Russell Watson during the show's opening credits. Watson comes from humble beginnings, initially earning a living as a bolt fitter in Manchester and practicing his singing on the side. From there, "The People's Tenor" (I love that name a tenor for the rest of us) has come into his own as a best-selling singer and was even named a Goodwill Ambassador to the United Nations.

Now, if only one could say the same for the song itself, which created quite a storm in the Trek community. It's tough to find a fan who's ambivalent about it. (Admittedly, it's tough to find a Trek fan who's ambivalent about anything .) Those who hated the song started petition drives to get it dumped, while those who championed it screamed just as loudly to have it left alone.

The Trouble with Tribbles (episode)

• View history
• 1.2 Act One
• 1.3 Act Two
• 1.4 Act Three
• 1.5 Act Four
• 2 Log entries
• 3 Memorable quotes
• 4.1 Story and script
• 4.2 Cast and characters
• 4.3 Production
• 4.4 Effects
• 4.6 Continuity
• 4.7 Apocrypha
• 4.8 Reception
• 4.9 Remastered information
• 4.10 Production timeline
• 4.11 Video and DVD releases
• 5.1 Starring
• 5.2 Also starring
• 5.3 Co-starring
• 5.4 Featuring
• 5.5 Uncredited co-stars
• 5.6 Stunt doubles
• 5.7 References
• 5.8 External links

Summary [ ]

The USS Enterprise is en route to Deep Space Station K-7 for assistance with an important assignment regarding a disputed planet . One parsec from the nearest Klingon outpost (" Close enough to smell them ," as Chekov puts it), the post is near Sherman's Planet , which is claimed by both sides.

In the Enterprise 's briefing room , Captain James T. Kirk , Commander Spock , and Ensign Pavel Chekov review the area's history: twenty-three years after the inconclusive Battle of Donatu V , the Organian Peace Treaty is set to grant control of Sherman's Planet to the party that can demonstrate it can develop the planet's resources most efficiently.

Lieutenant Uhura reports from the bridge that K-7 has issued a Code One alert , which signals that it is under attack. Kirk orders a speed increase to warp factor 6, while Uhura initiates a red alert .

Act One [ ]

The Enterprise arrives at maximum warp, ready for a fight, only to find no battle. Beaming over with Spock, Kirk demands an explanation from station manager Lurry , but is told he was ordered to do so by Nilz Baris , a Federation undersecretary in charge of the Sherman's Planet development project.

Baris and his aide, Arne Darvin , fear that the Klingons might try to sabotage the Federation's best hope to win control of the planet – a high-yield grain known as quadrotriticale , the only Earth grain that will grow on the planet. Tons of the grain are stored at the station, and Baris demands from Kirk security and protection. Kirk still believes they have misused the Priority One designation, but assigns only two guards to the station, and allows shore leave for the Enterprise crew.

On leave, Uhura and Chekov meet a dealer named Cyrano Jones , who is trying to wholesale to the skeptical bartender various rare galactic items, among them, spican flame gems and furry little creatures that Jones calls tribbles . While they bicker over the price, Chekov notices a tribble has eaten a quadrotriticale sample left on the bar and Uhura is enchanted by it. Jones gives the tribble to Uhura, a move the bartender claims will ruin the market but Jones claims will help spur more sales.

Back on the Enterprise , Kirk receives an order from Starfleet Admiral Fitzpatrick to render any and or all aid that Baris may require. The admiral informs Kirk that the safety of the grain – as well as the project – is the captain's responsibility. Kirk is exasperated, and just then learns from Uhura that a Klingon battle cruiser has arrived within a hundred kilometers of K-7. Kirk orders the ship to go to red alert and for Lurry to be notified. Lurry, however, discounts a possible attack, as the Klingon ship 's captain , Koloth , and first officer, Korax , are sitting in his office. Kirk orders the red alert canceled.

Act Two [ ]

Koloth's ship orbiting Deep Space K-7

Kirk beams over with Spock and the Klingons assert their rights to shore leave under the terms of the Organian treaty. Kirk reluctantly accedes, but sets limits of twelve at a time, with one guard from the Enterprise for each Klingon soldier.

In the recreation room aboard the Enterprise , Uhura's tribble gives birth to a litter. The sounds the tribbles make seem to have a soothing effect on Humans . Dr. McCoy takes one of the offspring to study it. Meanwhile, Kirk argues with Baris about the adequacy of the security Kirk is providing, until Kirk claims he is getting a headache . Going to sickbay for treatment, Kirk sees that McCoy's tribble has also produced a litter. McCoy reports that almost 50% of their metabolism is geared towards reproduction.

Kirk tells crewmembers beaming over to shore leave on K-7 to avoid trouble with the Klingons. Montgomery Scott declines shore leave, but Kirk, concerned for him getting too wrapped up in his technical journals , orders him over to keep an eye on the others and to enjoy himself.

At the bar aboard K-7, Jones tries to sell more tribbles. The Enterprise crew aren't interested, and the tribbles and the Klingons react to one another with loud hostility. The bartender is uninterested in more tribbles either – the one he acquired earlier is already multiplying. Korax starts insulting the Enterprise crew, first by comparing the Humans to Regulan bloodworms . He then tries to provoke Chekov by repeatedly insulting Kirk, but Scott restrains Chekov. Korax then turns his attention to Scott by insulting the Enterprise itself, first calling it a garbage scow , then just garbage, provoking Scott to punch Korax in the face and start a brawl between the two groups. The barman retreats and Jones dispenses himself some drinks in his absence. Security officers from the Enterprise arrest the brawlers and restore order, and shore leave for both ships is canceled.

Act Three [ ]

Kirk interrogates his men on who started the fight

Kirk interrogates the crew involved in the brawl, but none are forthcoming about who started it. Kirk orders that they are all confined to quarters until he determines who started the brawl. After Kirk dismisses his officers, Scott confesses to Kirk in private that he started the fight after Korax insulted them, recalling some of the more colorful examples. Kirk presses further and is perplexed to find that Scott didn't start fighting until Korax insulted the Enterprise but realizes it was due to an engineer's sensitivities. Kirk restricts Scott to quarters, to which Scott happily complies, anticipating time off to catch up on his journals.

In sickbay, Spock and McCoy have a characteristic debate on the aesthetics and utility of tribbles, Spock in particular, notes to McCoy their one redeeming characteristic – they do not talk too much. The question soon attracts Kirk's attention. There are tribbles all over the bridge, including one in his chair . McCoy reports this is because they are "born pregnant" and are swamping the ship with their rampant reproduction. Kirk orders Uhura to call for Jones to be detained on K-7 – and to " get these tribbles off the bridge. "

On K-7, Spock berates Jones for removing tribbles from their natural predators and letting them over-breed. Jones counters with excuses and insists that, at six credits each, they're making him money. Then Baris confronts Kirk on the insufficient security detail for the quadrotriticale. Baris claims Jones is " quite probably a Klingon agent ," but Kirk is unconvinced by the evidence and finds that Jones has done no worse than disrupt activities on K-7, which is not unprecedented. " Sometimes, all they need is a title, Mr. Baris ", Kirk pointedly concludes, and he and Spock return to the Enterprise .

" This is my chicken sandwich and coffee. "

Back on board, the tribble problem has worsened. Kirk can't even get a meal, as tribbles have gotten into the food synthesizers . Scott reports that the tribbles are circulating through the Enterprise 's ventilation ducts , ending up in machinery all throughout the ship. Spock points out that there are comparable ducts aboard K-7 that lead to the grain storage tanks. Realizing the implication, Kirk orders all the tribbles removed from the Enterprise and rushes to K-7, gaining access to one of the storage compartments, but when he opens the overhead door, an avalanche of tribbles buries him.

Act Four [ ]

" First, find Cyrano Jones, and second… close that door. "

Kirk finally climbs out from the pile of tribbles – a population Spock estimates at 1,771,561 – and Spock discovers that they are gorged on the grain. Baris claims Kirk's orders have turned the project into a disaster and that he will call for a Starfleet board of inquiry against Kirk.

Koloth and Korax

But Spock and McCoy notice that many of the tribbles in the pile are dead or dying. Kirk orders McCoy to find out why they died, though McCoy protests that he doesn't yet know what keeps them alive.

Kirk assembles all the principals in Lurry's office. Koloth demands that Kirk issue an official apology to the Klingon High Command , though Baris says that would give the Klingons the wedge they need to claim Sherman's Planet. Koloth also asks that the tribbles be removed from the room. The guards do so, but they pass Darvin, at which point the tribbles shriek just as they did around the Klingons. With his medical tricorder , McCoy reveals Darvin to be a Klingon. He poisoned the grain with a virus that prevents its victim from absorbing nutrients, which is how the tribbles died. " They starved to death. In a storage compartment full of grain, they starved to death! " Kirk summarizes. Darvin is arrested, the Klingons are ordered out of Federation territory within the next six hours, and Kirk says he could learn to like tribbles.

The Enterprise crew gets the last laugh when Scott tells Kirk where he placed the tribbles

In K-7's bar, Kirk and Spock then give Jones a choice: twenty years in a rehabilitation colony for transporting a harmful species, or pick up every tribble on the station (which Spock calculates would take 17.9 years). Jones accepts the latter. Back aboard the Enterprise , Kirk is happy to find the ship has been swept clean of tribbles, and asks Spock, McCoy, and Scott how they did it. They all deflect Kirk's questions until Scott reluctantly replies that before the Klingons went into warp, he beamed all of them into their engine room, " where they'll be no tribble at all. " The crew share a good, long laugh at this.

Log entries [ ]

• Captain's log, USS Enterprise (NCC-1701), 2268

Memorable quotes [ ]

" One parsec, sir. Close enough to smell them. " " That is illogical, Ensign. Odors cannot travel through the vacuum of space. " " I was making a little joke, sir. " " Extremely little, ensign. "

" Wheat. So what? "

" I have never questioned the orders or the intelligence of any representative of the Federation. Until now. "

" Is that an offer or a joke? " " That's my offer. " " That's a joke. "

" Once this lovely little lady starts to show this precious little darling around, you won't be able to keep up with them. "

" Its trilling seems to have a tranquilizing effect on the Human nervous system. Fortunately, of course … I am immune … to its effect. "

" Kirk, this station is swarming with Klingons! " " I was not aware, Mr. Baris, that twelve Klingons constitutes a swarm. "

" Do you know what you get if you feed a tribble too much? " " A fat tribble. " " No. You get a bunch of hungry little tribbles. "

" When are you going to get off that milk diet, lad? " " This is vodka. " " Where I come from, that's soda pop. Now this is a drink for a man. " " Scotch? " " Aye. " " It was invented by a little old lady from Leningrad . "

" Oh…I just remembered: There is one Earth man who doesn't remind me of a Regulan bloodworm . That's Kirk. A Regulan bloodworm is soft and shapeless. But Kirk isn't soft. Kirk may be a swaggering, overbearing, tin-plated dictator with delusions of godhood, but he's not soft. "

" Of course, I'd say that Captain Kirk deserves his ship. We like the Enterprise . We, we really do. That sagging old rust bucket is designed like a garbage scow. Half the quadrant knows it. That's why they're learning to speak Klingonese . " " Mr. Scott! " " Laddie… don't you think you should… rephrase that? " (Mocking Scott's accent) " You're right. I should. " (Normal voice) " I didn't mean to say that the Enterprise should be hauling garbage. I meant to say that it should be hauled away as garbage. "

" What's the matter, Spock? " " There's something disquieting about these creatures. " " Oh? Don't tell me you've got a feeling. " " Don't be insulting, Doctor. "

"I see no practical use for them." "Does everything have to have a practical use for you? They're nice, they're soft, they're furry, and they make a pleasant sound." "So would an ermine violin , Doctor, yet I see no advantage to having one."

" They do indeed have one redeeming characteristic. " " What's that? " " They do not talk too much. "

" Too much of anything, Lieutenant, even love, isn't necessarily a good thing. "

" In my opinion, you have taken this important project far too lightly. " " On the contrary, sir. I think of this project as very important. It is you I take lightly. "

" My chicken sandwich and coffee . This is my chicken sandwich and coffee. " " Fascinating. "

" I want these things off my ship! I don't care if it takes every man we've got – I want them off the ship! "

" Well, until that board of inquiry, I'm still the captain. And as captain, I want two things done. First, find Cyrano Jones. And second … " (A tribble lands on Kirk's head) " … close that door. "

" They don't like Klingons. But they do like Vulcans. Well, Mr. Spock, I didn't know you had it in you. " " Obviously tribbles are very perceptive creatures, Captain. " " Obviously. " (Carrying tribbles, Kirk walks over to Baris) " Mister Baris, they like you. Well, there's no accounting for taste. "

" I gave them to the Klingons, sir. " " You gave them to the Klingons? " "Aye, sir. Before they went into warp I transported the whole kit and kaboodle into their engine room, where they'll be no tribble at all. "

Background information [ ]

Story and script [ ].

• This script, one of Star Trek 's most popular, was David Gerrold 's first professional sale ever. His working title for the episode was "A Fuzzy Thing Happened to Me…". Writer/producer Gene L. Coon did heavy rewrites on the final version of the script. ( Inside Star Trek: The Real Story , p 333)
• The tribbles were originally to have been called 'fuzzies', but the name was felt to be too close to a book called Little Fuzzy . Other names considered by David Gerrold were 'shaggies', 'goonies' and 'pufflies' as well a dozen other unknown names. ( Star Trek - A Celebration , page 215)
• While the episode was in production, Gene Roddenberry noticed that the story was similar to Robert Heinlein 's novel, The Rolling Stones , which featured the "Martian Flat Cats". Too late, he called Heinlein to apologize and avoid a possible lawsuit. Heinlein was very understanding, and was satisfied with a simple "mea culpa" by Roddenberry. ( Inside Star Trek: The Real Story , pp 333–334)
• According to Bjo Trimble , the story for this episode is based upon the short story, Pigs Is Pigs . ( "To Boldly Go…": Season 2 , TOS Season 2 DVD special features)
• There is a popular story about a line Spock delivers in this episode, "he heard you, he simply could not believe his ears," being placed in the episode as a tribute to Mad Magazine's then-recent Star Trek parody. The December 1967 issue of Mad Magazine (released around October 1967) featured the magazine's first spoof of Star Trek (titled Star Blecch ). It featured a similar line as a joke about Spock's ears (Spock: "…I don't believe my ears!" Kirk: "I don't believe your ears either, Mr. Spook"). As this episode was filmed in August 1967, it was likely just a coincidence since the magazine had not been published yet at the time of filming. The cast did see and appreciate the Mad Magazine spoof when it came out, but a [[StarTrek.com] article stated they likely saw it during the filming of "A Private Little War," in October. [1] There is no record of the cast or writers seeing the spoof before the magazine was released.
• Chekov quips that Scotch whisky "was invented by a little old lady from Leningrad ." That Russian city, originally St. Petersburg, had its name changed to honor Vladimir Lenin , leader of the Communist revolution in 1917. The name St. Petersburg was restored in 1991, after the breakup of the USSR. Some versions that summarize this episode claim Chekov drinks whisky; in fact after Chekov drinks his Vodka, Scott then gives Chekov the full glass of their companion Freeman while Scott drinks his whiskey.
• When Scott is confined to quarters after fighting the Klingons he remarks that he'll be able to study technical manuels; in Star Trek:The Next Generation Relics (episode) Picard offers the 147 year old Montgomery Scott a change to study technical manuels; Scott declines because as he put it "Im not 18 anymore and I cant start out like a raw cadet."

Cast and characters [ ]

• George Takei ( Hikaru Sulu ) does not appear in this episode. For much of the second season, he was filming The Green Berets . Many scenes written for Takei were switched over to Walter Koenig. ( "To Boldly Go…": Season 2 , TOS Season 2 DVD special features)
• William Shatner recalled the great enjoyment all the cast had filming this episode. He noted, " The trouble we had with 'Tribbles' was [to] keep your straight face. It was just a lot of fun. " ( "To Boldly Go…": Season 2 , TOS Season 2 DVD special features)
• Guy Raymond (the bartender ) also played a bartender in beer commercials during the '60s, in which he commented on the strange occurrences in his bar.
• Michael Pataki is another actor who guested in two series of Star Trek , appearing as Karnas in TNG : " Too Short A Season ".
• Some of the extras in the bar are wearing turtleneck uniforms from " The Cage " and " Where No Man Has Gone Before ", another couple of extras are wearing colonist jumpsuits from " The Devil in the Dark ". The gentleman who seems to be enjoying watching the fight and another man are wearing Finnegan 's and his stunt double's uniforms from " Shore Leave ", another one is wearing a uniform of the Antares worn by Ramart or Tom Nellis in " Charlie X ". A woman is wearing Aurelan Kirk 's costume from " Operation -- Annihilate! ".
• Ed Reimers, who plays Admiral Fitzpatrick , was the TV spokesman for Allstate Insurance in the 1960s. In a funny sequence from the blooper reel, he catches a tribble thrown at him from offstage and, proffering it to the camera, says, " Oh, and Captain: you're in good hands with tribbles " (a play on the Allstate motto, "You're in good hands with Allstate.")
• William Schallert later guest starred as Varani in DS9 : " Sanctuary ".
• James Doohan insisted on doing his own stunts in the barroom brawl. Jay Jones only doubled for him in a few brief fight sequences.
• This is one of the few episodes in which Doohan's missing right middle finger (lost due to injuries sustained during the invasion of Normandy in World War Two) is apparent. It can also be noticed as he carries a large bundle of tribbles to Captain Kirk, complaining that they've infested Engineering.
• This is one of the few times in the series that Scott and Chekov have a conversation with one another. (However, in " Friday's Child ", when Scott remarks, "Fool me once, shame on you; fool me twice, shame on me," Chekov quips that the saying was invented in Russia.) Along with Kirk , they would be featured together in Star Trek Generations .
• Paul Baxley is credited as "Ensign Freeman," but is wearing lieutenant's stripes, as pointed out in DS9 : " Trials and Tribble-ations " when Miles O'Brien mistakes Freeman for Captain Kirk and Julian Bashir questions his rank insignia.
• William Campbell ( Koloth ) and Charlie Brill ( Arne Darvin ) both reprised their roles in Star Trek: Deep Space Nine more than 25 years later: Campbell in " Blood Oath " and Brill in " Trials and Tribble-ations ".

Production [ ]

• Wah Chang designed the original tribbles. Hundreds were sewn together during production, using pieces of extra-long rolls of carpet. Some of them had mechanical toys placed in them so they could walk around. ( "To Boldly Go…": Season 2 , TOS Season 2 DVD special features) The original tribbles became sought-after collector's items, and quickly disappeared from the prop department. According to Gerrold, 500 tribbles were constructed for the episode and the tribble-maker, Jacqueline Cumere, was paid US$350.
• In a 2016 interview, Christopher Doohan recalls being on set during the production of this episode: " My father would often bring my brother and I along with him to the set when the show was shooting, " Chris recalled. […] " He would park us in the shuttle craft and tell us to stay put." " Of course "staying put" is a difficult assignment for seven year-old twin boys… and one day they couldn't resist leaving the confines of the shuttle… and going where no child had gone before. As it happened, the day they chose coincided with the shooting of "The Trouble With Tribbles", one of the series' stranger – and enduringly popular – episodes… Chris and his brother, Montgomery, crept around the set, keeping away from the active shooting, until they came to three tall cabinets with doors just out of reach. " " We were curious to know what was INSIDE, " Chris recalls. " So my brother got on my shoulders and slid the cabinet open. Instantly, more than 200 tribbles came tumbling out, nearly burying us. Not only did it scare us, but we knew we would be in big trouble if Dad – or anyone else – found out. So we rushed back to the shuttle. Five minutes later Dad appeared… and praised us for being so well-behaved! " Thirty years later Chris mustered up the courage to tell his dad the real story. " And he got mad at me, " Chris said with a bemused shake of the head. " It was like it had just happened yesterday! " [2]
• During production of the "buried in tribbles" scene, it took up to eight takes (a considerable number) to get the avalanche of tribbles to fall just right. Gerrold wrote in The Trouble with Tribbles , " If Captain Kirk looks just a little harried in that shot, it's not accidental. Having… tribbles dropped on you, eight times in one day, is NOT a happy experience. " DS9 : " Trials and Tribble-ations " later established that the continuously falling tribbles hitting Kirk were in fact thrown by Benjamin Sisko and Jadzia Dax , frantically searching for the bomb placed by the future Darvin. In reality, the tribbles kept falling out of the hatch because members of the production crew had no direct line of sight with William Shatner during the filming of the scene and could not tell when there were "enough" tribbles; a barrier in the set separated them from the storage compartment, which was filled with prop tribbles. In order to set up the avalanche scene, crew members kept throwing tribbles over the wall to ensure that the bin remained as "full" as possible; when the compartment was empty, these tribbles then fell onto Shatner's head as the crew tossed them one by one. Near the end of the scene, a perplexed Shatner – already chest-deep in tribbles – can clearly be seen turning his head toward the wall behind him, wondering when the prop men will stop. ( The Trouble with Tribbles ; "To Boldly Go…": Season 2 , TOS Season 2 DVD special features)
• Spock's estimate of how many tribbles there are in three days, dead or alive, starting with one tribble producing a litter of ten every twelve hours is exactly correct, assuming that every tribble always has a litter of ten. Tribble reproduction is exponential, starting when one tribble makes ten. In twelve hours the total number is eleven. twelve hours later, each of the eleven tribbles produce ten, making the count 110 babies. Include the original eleven tribbles, and the total is 121. The formula for tribble reproduction is x=11 n/12 , where x is the total, and n is the number of hours. Given three days (72 hours), the final result becomes 11 6 , which equals exactly 1,771,561.
• According to David Gerrold 's The World of Star Trek , tribble props were misplaced about the set and were being found for several months after the production of the episode.
• William Campbell ( Koloth ) took some of the 500 tribbles home, throwing about 40 of them into a plastic bag and giving them away to neighborhood kids. ( Star Trek - A Celebration , page 215)

Effects [ ]

• Sound effects editor Douglas Grindstaff combined altered dove coos, screech owl cries, and emptying balloons to create the tribble sounds.
• The Enterprise miniature seen out of Lurry's window doesn't move, but if it was orbiting at the same speed the station was rotating, this would make sense.
• The miniature is actually one of the plastic model kits that AMT was selling at the time. In the 1970s, AMT produced a model of the K-7 space station itself, complete with a tiny Enterprise . SCTV blew up a Klingon ship with phaser blasts from some of these K-7 model kits in a low-budget effects spoof of The Empire Strikes Back in 1981.
• Footage of K-7 was recycled in " The Ultimate Computer ".
• According to Michael and Denise Okuda's text commentary on this episode for the second season DVD set, the last fresh footage of the Enterprise was done for this episode. In every episode to follow, the shots of the ship were all stock footage. It is possible that the last of the footage of the Enterprise was filmed during this production of this episode as it is true that they did not film any shots of the Enterprise after season two. But there will be five more episodes going by production order that have previously unseen shots of the Enterprise . " Journey to Babel ", " The Gamesters of Triskelion ", " The Immunity Syndrome ", " The Ultimate Computer ", and " That Which Survives " all have new shots of the Enterprise . [3]
• The bar set, including the bartender's costume, is recycled from " Court Martial ", with slight modifications, mostly in decoration.

Continuity [ ]

• Star Trek returned to the events of this episode in the Star Trek: Deep Space Nine episode " Trials and Tribble-ations " to celebrate the franchise's 30th anniversary .
• " More Tribbles, More Troubles " is the TAS sequel to this episode.
• Tribbles were seen in the bar scene (wherein McCoy is apprehended by "Federation security") being petted by a couple patronizing the establishment, on an adjacent table in Star Trek III: The Search for Spock .
• Mr. Scott is glad to be confined to quarters-it would give him time to catch up on enginerring technical manuals; later in " Relics " Scott admits that he can't catch up with current technology.
• Bantam Books published a series of novelizations called "foto-novels," in which took photographic stills from actual episodes and arranged word balloons and text over them, to create a comic book formatted story. The third installment was an adaptation of this episode.
• The Organian Peace Treaty mentioned by Chekov in the teaser is a reference back to the first season episode " Errand of Mercy ".
• Despite McCoy and the Enterprise crew being ignorant of tribbles, later productions indicated that they were already known to Starfleet by this time, having been used as a food source for lab animals, as pets, and even at one point being considered as a possible food source for an entire colony (" The Breach ", " The Trouble with Edward ", and Capt. Gabriel Lorca kept a tribble in his ready room aboard USS Discovery ).

Apocrypha [ ]

• Although Kirk comments in the episode on the irony of tribbles in a grain storage bin dying of starvation, in James Blish 's novelization of the episode, Spock also remarks on the elegant symmetry of the respective misdeeds: the poisoning of the grain eliminated the tribble infestation before it exhausted the cargo, whereas the tribbles disclosed the poisoning with no loss of Human life.
• In the Star Trek: Myriad Universes story The Chimes at Midnight , which explores the timeline from TAS : " Yesteryear ", the Enterprise 's first officer Thelin discovered Darvin's role in poisoning the quadrotriticale. Darvin remained a Federation prisoner for several months until a prisoner exchange was arranged with the Klingons.
• In the Star Trek: Myriad Universes story " Honor in the Night ", Cyrano Jones and his tribbles were all killed by an explosion on board his vessel while it was docked at K-7 in 2267. The explosion was caused by an accidental overload in the ship's impulse drive . Consequently, Arne Darvin's sabotage of the quadrotriticale was never discovered (since there were no tribbles left alive to expose him), and the poisoned grain was shipped to Sherman's Planet, where it cost the lives of thousands of colonists. Baris assumed leadership of the remnants of the Human colonies there. He used his considerable expertise in dealing with Klingons (including Darvin, who revealed his true identity to Baris, whom Darvin had grown to respect) to deal with the situation, and eventually became President of the United Federation of Planets . While he had a long and distinguished presidential career and was fondly remembered by the citizens of the Federation (including Leonard McCoy , a lifelong friend), Baris never got over his long-standing feud with Darvin.
• A cat version of "The Trouble with Tribbles" was featured in Jenny Parks ' 2017 book Star Trek Cats .

Reception [ ]

• This episode was nominated for a Hugo Award in 1968 as "Best Dramatic Presentation", but lost to the version of " The City on the Edge of Forever " that was actually shown on-air.
• In a 1985 interview, director Joseph Pevney named "The Trouble with Tribbles" as the best episode he directed. He added that they couldn't do an episode like that anymore, because the franchise has become "deadly serious" (interestingly enough, one year after the interview took place, the light-hearted, comedic Star Trek IV: The Voyage Home premiered in theaters, and in 2019 the tribbles would be featured in the comedic mini-episode " The Trouble with Edward "). [4]
• Pevney also commented that he " Fell in love with that show. I really enjoyed doing it, and I enjoyed working with Leonard and Shatner to make them think in terms of typically farce comedy. The show was successful and I was happy about that. I was proven right that you can do a comedy if you don't kid the script, and if you don't kid Star Trek . If you stay in character, you can have wonderful fun with Star Trek , and the kinds of things you can do with it are endless – if you don't lose the whole flavor of Enterprise discipline. " ( These Are the Voyages: TOS Season Two )
• Despite the broad popularity of this episode among fans, series Co-Producer Robert H. Justman wrote in his book Inside Star Trek: The Real Story that he never liked this episode, as he felt the characters parodied themselves, and that the episode's over-the-top humor lacked believability.
• Third season producer Fred Freiberger also disliked the show. David Gerrold recalled that when he pitched a sequel for the episode, Freiberger replied that he didn't like the original because "Star Trek is not a comedy. " Gerrold's pitch later evolved into the Animated Series episode " More Tribbles, More Troubles ". ( Captains' Logs: The Unauthorized Complete Trek Voyages , p. 97)
• Writer Samuel A. Peeples was another individual who worked on the original series but found this episode to be problematic. " I thought that the one with the fuzzy little creatures wasn't my idea of what the show should be, " he remarked. " It was awfully cute and awfully nice, but it covered an area that I felt was unnecessary for that particular type of series. " ( The Star Trek Interview Book , p. 120)
• Gene Roddenberry also disliked "Tribbles" and the overall tendency for more comedy-oriented episodes, which became prominent under Gene Coon 's tenure as producer, feeling that it deviated from his image of the show, opting for the much more serious approach which dominated Star Trek during his time as line producer in the first half of season 1 . As Pevney put it, " This was the first out-and-out comedy we had done on the series, and Roddenberry was not in favor of it too much. He didn't cotton the idea of making fun on this show. " Eventually these disagreements between Roddenberry and Coon became one of the major reasons why the latter left the series mid-season 2. ( These Are the Voyages: TOS Season Two )
• Roddenberry's opinion of the episode seemed to have changed over the years as he later picked it as one of his ten favorite episodes for the franchise's 25th anniversary. ( TV Guide August 31, 1991)
• William Campbell ( Koloth ) recalled that, after this episode was aired, his neighbor's son consequently addressed his wife as "Mrs. Klingon". ( The World of Star Trek )
• This was voted the best episode of Star Trek by viewers of Sci-Fi Channel's Star Trek 40th Anniversary Celebrations.
• It was also voted the best episode by Empire magazine when they ranked the series #43 on their list of "The 50 Greatest TV Shows of All Time." [5]
• The book Star Trek 101 (p. 18), by Terry J. Erdmann and Paula M. Block , lists this episode as one of "Ten Essential Episodes" from the original Star Trek series.
• Having been a big fan of the original Star Trek series during her youth, Diane Warren – the songwriter who wrote Star Trek: Enterprise 's theme tune, " Where My Heart Will Take Me " – cited this installment as her favorite episode of TOS, upon being interviewed shortly after the start of Enterprise . She went on to say, " That's one of the episodes that, even after all these years has stayed in my mind. " ( Star Trek: Communicator  issue 145 , p. 57)
• Doug Jones , who avidly watched Star Trek: The Original Series as a child along with his family, also selected this as one of his favorite Star Trek episodes. " As a youngster, that was a fun episode […] I like happy endings, I like low-stakes stories myself, and so that was kinda like, 'Oh, there's the fun episode.' " [6]

Remastered information [ ]

• "The Trouble with Tribbles" was the ninth episode of the remastered version of The Original Series to air. It premiered in syndication on the weekend of 4 November 2006 and featured significantly enhanced shots of the K-7 space station, now including the orbiting D7-class IKS Gr'oth . The Enterprise can now be seen more often from Lurry's office, moving toward the left side of the window as it orbits K-7. The remastered episode is marked by the introduction of a revised digital model of the Enterprise , allowing for more detailed and accurate shots of the ship to be created.
• None of the special shots from the DS9 tribute episode was included in the remastered version. Furthermore, the Gr'oth 's design is different from the Greg Jein model seen in the Deep Space Nine episode. That ship is greener, with an avian pattern on it, where this version of the Klingon ship is grey and does not bear that pattern, bringing it more in line with TOS counterparts.
• Coincidentally, the episode that aired after this was " Mirror, Mirror ". Scenes from both episodes were used in Star Trek: Deep Space Nine 's " Trials and Tribble-ations ".

Production timeline [ ]

• Treatment "The Fuzzies" by David Gerrold : February 1967
• Story outline "A Fuzzy Thing Happened to Me": 13 June 1967
• Revised story outline: 23 June 1967
• Second revised story outline: 26 June 1967
• First draft teleplay "The Trouble with Tribbles": 30 June 1967
• Second draft teleplay: 19 July 1967
• Revised draft by Gene L. Coon : 21 July 1967
• Final draft teleplay by Coon: 25 July 1967
• Revised final draft: 1 August 1967
• Additional page revisions: 15 August 1967 , 16 August 1967 , 18 August 1967 , 21 August 1967
• Day 1 – 22 August 1967 , Tuesday – Desilu Stage 9 : Int. Bridge , Sickbay
• Day 2 – 23 August 1967 , Wednesday – Desilu Stage 9 : Int. Briefing room , Transporter room , Admiral Fitzpatrick's office (redress of a wall in Transporter room)
• Day 3 – 24 August 1967 , Thursday – Desilu Stage 9 : Int. Recreation room (redress of Briefing room); Desilu Stage 10 : Lurry's office
• Day 4 – 25 August 1967 , Friday – Desilu Stage 10 : Int. Lurry's office , Storage corridor
• Day 5 – 28 August 1967 , Monday – Desilu Stage 10 : Int. Storage corridor , K-7 Bar
• Day 6 – 29 August 1967 , Tuesday – Desilu Stage 10 : Int. K-7 Bar
• Score recorded: 5 October 1967
• Original airdate: 29 December 1967
• Rerun airdate: 21 June 1968
• First UK airdate: 1 June 1970
• Star Trek Fotonovel #3: 1973 - ISBN 055312689X
• The Trouble with Tribbles : The Birth, Sale and Final Production of One Episode paperback: 1973
• The Trouble with Tribbles: The Birth, Sale and Final Production of One Episode paperback: 1976
• The Trouble with Tribbles: The Birth, Sale and Final Production of One Episode paperback reissue: 12 April 1987 - ISBN 0345347889
• " Trials and Tribble-ations ", incorporating "Trouble" footage: 4 November 1996
• Remastered airdate: 4 November 2006

Video and DVD releases [ ]

• US RCA CED Videodisc release: 1 April 1982
• Original US Betamax release: 1986
• US LaserDisc release: 11 October 1986
• UK VHS release (two-episode tapes, CIC Video ): Volume 22 , catalog number VHR 2357, 2 April 1990
• Japan LaserDisc release: 25 March 1993
• US VHS release: 15 April 1994
• As part of the UK VHS Star Trek: The Original Series - Tricorder Pack collection: catalog number VHR 4373, 3 June 1996
• UK re-release (three-episode tapes, CIC Video): Volume 2.5, 5 May 1997
• UK LaserDisc release: 11 August 1997
• As part of the US VHS Star Trek - Tribbles Gift Set : 6 October 1998
• Original US DVD release (single-disc): Volume 21, 24 April 2001
• As part of the TOS Season 2 DVD collection
• As part of the Star Trek: Fan Collective - Klingon DVD collection
• As part of the TOS-R Season 2 DVD collection
• As part of The Best of Star Trek: The Original Series DVD collection
• As part of the Star Trek: The Original Series - Origins Blu-ray collection

Links and references [ ]

Starring [ ].

• William Shatner as Capt. Kirk

Also starring [ ]

• Leonard Nimoy as Mr. Spock
• DeForest Kelley as Dr. McCoy

Co-starring [ ]

• William Schallert as Nilz Baris
• William Campbell as Koloth
• Stanley Adams as Cyrano Jones
• Whit Bissell as Lurry

Featuring [ ]

• James Doohan as Scott
• Nichelle Nichols as Uhura
• Michael Pataki as Korax
• Ed Reimers as Admiral Fitzpatrick
• Walter Koenig as Chekov
• Charlie Brill as Arne Darvin
• Paul Baxley as Ensign Freeman
• David L. Ross as Guard
• Guy Raymond as Trader

Uncredited co-stars [ ]

• William Blackburn as Hadley
• Dick Crockett as Klingon brawler 1
• Frank da Vinci as Vinci
• Steve Hershon as security officer
• Roger Holloway as Roger Lemli
• William Knight as Moody
• Starfleet officer 1
• Bob Miles as Klingon brawler 2
• Bob Orrison as Klingon brawler 3
• Eddie Paskey as Leslie
• Gary Wright as DSK-7 officer
• Human civilian
• Human colonist
• Human waitresses 1 and 2
• Human workers 1 and 2
• Starfleet cadets 1 and 2
• Human DSK-7 officer 3 and 4
• Command lieutenant 1
• Command lieutenant 2
• Command crew woman
• Crew woman 1
• Crew woman 2
• Crew woman 3
• Operations crewman
• Sciences crew woman
• Sciences lieutenant
• Sciences lieutenant 1
• Sciences lieutenant 2
• Security guard 1
• Security guard 3

Stunt doubles [ ]

• Phil Adams as stunt double for Michael Pataki
• Richard Antoni as Klingon (stunts; unconfirmed )
• Jay Jones as stunt double for James Doohan
• Jerry Summers as stunt double for Walter Koenig

References [ ]

20th century ; 2067 ; 2245 ; 2261 ; 2285 ; agent ; agriculture ; air vent ; all hands ; amount ; analysis ; ancestry ; animal ; Antarean glow water ; apology ; area ; assistant ; assumption ; asteroid ; asteroid locator ; astronomer ; attraction ; authority ; average ; baby ; background check ; bar ; bargain ; battle ; battle stations ; Bible ; bisexual ; bloodstream ; board of inquiry ; body ; body temperature ; " Bones "; bottle ; breeding ; bucket ; Burke, John ; Burkoff, Ivan ; Canada ; chance ; Channel E ; charge : chicken sandwich ; code 1 emergency ; coffee ; commander ; communication channel ; computation ; computer analysis ; confined to quarters ; contact ; cork ; Cossack ; course ; creature ; credit ; criminal ; D7 class (aka Klingon battle cruiser , Klingon warship ); day ; deal (aka transaction ); death ; declaration of hostilities ; Deep Space Station K-7 ; defense alert ; delusion ; Denebian slime devil ; development project ; dictator ; diet ; diplomatic incident ; disaster ; disaster call ; dissection ; Donatu V ; door ; ear ; Earth ; effect ; emergency ; engineering ; environment ; ermine violin ; evidence ; experience ; Federation ; Federation law ; Federation territory ; feeling ; field ; figure ; French language ; friend ; food processor ; garbage ; garbage scow ; genie ; general quarters ; generation ; government ; grain ; Gr'oth , IKS ; habitat ; hair ; harassment ; headache ; heartbeat ; hip ; history ; home ; honesty ; hour ; Human (aka Earther , Earthman ); Human characteristic ; hybrid ; inert material ; initial contact ; instruction manual ; insult ; intelligence ; intention ; invention ; irons ; job security ; joke ; Jones' spaceship ; kilometer ; Klingon ; Klingon Empire ; Klingonese ; Klingon High Command ; Klingon agent ; Klingon outpost ; knowledge ; lab ; Leningrad ; lily ; litter ; " little old lady from Leningrad "; lobe ; logic ; love ; machinery ; maintenance crew ; maintenance manual ; market ; markup ; maternity ward ; metabolism ; milk ; Milky Way Galaxy ; million ; minute ; money ; month ; morning ; mutual admiration society ; mutual understanding ; national ; nature ; nervous system ; nourishment ; nursery ; observation ; odor ; offense ; offer ; " off the record "; Old Britain ; opinion ; order ; Organian Peace Treaty ; organism ; parasite ; parsec ; penalty ; Peter the Great ; percent ; perennial ; persecution ; plan ; planet ; poison ; polishing ; pouch ; practicality ; predator ; pregnancy ; price ; pride ; priority 1 distress call ; priority A-1 channel ; profit ; proof ; prospector ; pun ; punch ; purr ; quadrant ; quadrotriticale ; question ; rate of reproduction ; recreation ; red alert ; Regulan blood worm ; rehabilitation colony ; relationship ; representative ; reproduction ; result ; robber ; Royal Academy ; Russian ; rust bucket ; rye ; sabotage ; sample ; Scotch whisky ; Scots language ; scout ; search ; security guard ; sensor ; shape ( shapeless ); Sherman's Planet ; Sherman's Planet freighter ; shipment ; shopping ; shore leave ; sitting ; soda pop ; solar year ; soldier ; space ; Spacematic ; space station ; sphere of influence ; Spican flame gem ; spy ; Starfleet Command ; starship ; starvation ; station manager ( manager ); station manager's office ; stock ; stone ; storage compartment ; subspace distress call ; subspace silence ; surveillance ; technical journal ; teeth ; thief ; thing ; thousand ; tin ; title ; ton ; tone of voice ; transporter room ; treatment ; tribble ; tribble homeworld ; triticale ; Undersecretary in Charge of Agricultural Affairs ; vacuum ; virus ; vodka ; volume ; Vulcan ; week ; wheat ; " whole kit and caboodle, the "; year

External links [ ]

• "The Trouble with Tribbles" at StarTrek.com
• " The Trouble with Tribbles " at Memory Beta , the wiki for licensed Star Trek works
• " The Trouble with Tribbles " at Wikipedia
• " The Trouble with Tribbles " at the Internet Movie Database
• " The Trouble with Tribbles " at MissionLogPodcast.com , a Roddenberry Star Trek podcast
• 1 Abdullah bin al-Hussein

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Long-lost first model of the USS Enterprise from ‘Star Trek’ boldly goes home after twisting voyage

The first model of the USS Enterprise is displayed at Heritage Auctions in Los Angeles, April 13, 2024. The model — used in the original “Star Trek” television series — has been returned to Eugene “Rod” Roddenberry, the son of “Star Trek” creator Gene Roddenberry, decades after it went missing in the 1970s. (Josh David Jordan/Heritage Auctions via AP)

Joe Maddalena, executive vice president of Heritage Auctions, left, and Eugene “Rod” Roddenberry, the son of “Star Trek” creator Gene Roddenberry, shake hands over the recently recovered first model of the USS Enterprise at the Heritage Auctions in Los Angeles, April 13, 2024. The model — used in the original “Star Trek” television series — has been returned to Eugene, decades after it went missing in the 1970s. (Josh David Jordan/Heritage Auctions via AP)

Joe Maddalena, executive vice president of Heritage Auctions, left, and Eugene “Rod” Roddenberry, the son of “Star Trek” creator Gene Roddenberry, view the recently recovered first model of the USS Enterprise at Heritage Auctions in Los Angeles, April 13, 2024. The model — used in the original “Star Trek” television series — has been returned to Eugene, decades after it went missing in the 1970s. (Josh David Jordan/Heritage Auctions via AP)

• Copy Link copied

DALLAS (AP) — The first model of the USS Enterprise — used in the opening credits of the original “Star Trek” television series — has boldly gone back home, returning to creator Gene Roddenberry’s son decades after it went missing.

The model’s disappearance sometime in the 1970s had become the subject of lore, so it caused a stir when it popped up on eBay last fall. The sellers quickly took it down, and then contacted Dallas-based Heritage Auctions to authenticate it. Last weekend, the auction house facilitated the model’s return.

Eugene “Rod” Roddenberry, CEO of Roddenberry Entertainment, said he’s thrilled to have the model that had graced the desk of his father, who died in 1991 at age 70.

“This is not going home to adorn my shelves,” Roddenberry said. “This is going to get restored and we’re working on ways to get it out so the public can see it and my hope is that it will land in a museum somewhere.”

AP AUDIO: Long-lost first model of the USS Enterprise from ‘Star Trek’ boldly goes home after twisting voyage.

AP correspondent Margie Szaroleta reports on the return of the original model of the USS Enterprise from the TV show “Star Trek.”

Heritage’s executive vice president, Joe Maddalena, said the auction house was contacted by people who said they’d discovered it a storage unit, and when it was brought into their Beverly Hills office, he and a colleague “instantly knew that it was the real thing.”

They reached out to Roddenberry, who said he appreciates that everyone involved agreed returning the model was the right thing to do. He wouldn’t go into details on the agreement reached but said “I felt it important to reward that and show appreciation for that.”

Maddalena said the model vanished in the 1970s after Gene Roddenberry loaned it to makers of “Star Trek: The Motion Picture,” which was released in 1979.

“No one knew what happened to it,” Rod Roddenberry said.

The 3-foot (0.91-meter) model of the USS Enterprise was used in the show’s original pilot episode as well as the opening credits of the resulting TV series, and was the prototype for the 11-foot (3-meter) version featured in the series’ episodes. The larger model is on display at the Smithsonian’s National Air and Space Museum.

The original “Star Trek” television series, which aired in the late 1960s, kicked off an ever-expanding multiverse of cultural phenomena, with TV and movie spinoffs and conventions where a fanbase of zealous and devoted Trekkies can’t get enough of memorabilia.

This USS Enterprise model would easily sell for more than $1 million at auction, but really “it’s priceless,” Maddalena said.

“It could sell for any amount and I wouldn’t be surprised because of what it is,” he said. “It is truly a cultural icon.”

Roddenberry, who was just a young boy when the model went missing, said he has spotty memories of it, “almost a deja vu.” He said it wasn’t something he’d thought much about until people began contacting him after it appeared on eBay.

“I don’t think I really, fully comprehended at first that this was the first Enterprise ever created,” he said.

He said he has no idea if there was something nefarious behind the disappearance all those decades ago or if it was just mistakenly lost, but it would be interesting to find out more about what happened.

“This piece is incredibly important and it has its own story and this would be a great piece of the story,” Roddenberry said.

Thankfully, he said, the discovery has cleared up one rumor: That it was destroyed because as a young boy, he’d thrown it into a pool.

“Finally I’m vindicated after all these years,” he said with a laugh.

Paramount announces yet another Star Trek prequel

M ovie-industry shindig CinemaCon was the venue at which Paramount Pictures announced it has started work on a new Star Trek movie. Slashfilm reports Untitled Star Trek Origin Story will be a prequel to Star Trek (2009), J.J. Abrams’ glossy prequel to Star Trek (1966). It’ll be directed by Toby Haynes, most famous around these parts for helming episodes of Andor and Black Mirror’s USS Callister . The screenplay has been written by Seth Grahame-Smith, who wrote The Lego Batman Movie and Pride and Prejudice and Zombies .

So that we’re clear, Untitled Star Trek Origin Story will serve as a prequel to the 2009 origin story and a sequel to 2001’s origin story, Enterprise . It will likely be set before Discovery, which was conceived as a prequel to Star Trek (1966) and Strange New Worlds , which is a prequel to Star Trek (1966). And, look, if you’ll allow me to get a little personal for a moment, I am deeply overjoyed at the news. Given the dearth of origin stories, prequels and nostalgia-parades in the Star Trek universe, an Untitled Star Trek Origin Story is a welcome, necessary and life-giving addition to the franchise.

Let’s be honest, it’s high time we got something insular and backward-looking after so many years of non-stop groundbreaking, original adventures shorn from the burdens of continuity.

Lost for a generation, original ‘Star Trek’ Enterprise model finally completes its voyage home

DALLAS (AP) — The first model of the USS Enterprise — used in the opening credits of the original “Star Trek” television series — has boldly gone back home, returning to creator Gene Roddenberry’s son decades after it went missing.

The model's disappearance sometime in the 1970s had become the subject of lore, so it caused a stir when it popped up on eBay last fall. The sellers quickly took it down, and then contacted Dallas-based Heritage Auctions to authenticate it. Last weekend, the auction house facilitated the model's return.

Eugene “Rod” Roddenberry, CEO of Roddenberry Entertainment, said he's thrilled to have the model that had graced the desk of his father, who died in 1991 at age 70.

Advertisement

“This is not going home to adorn my shelves," Roddenberry said. “This is going to get restored and we’re working on ways to get it out so the public can see it and my hope is that it will land in a museum somewhere.”

Heritage's executive vice president, Joe Maddalena, said the auction house was contacted by people who said they'd discovered it a storage unit, and when it was brought into their Beverly Hills office, he and a colleague “instantly knew that it was the real thing.”

They reached out to Roddenberry, who said he appreciates that everyone involved agreed returning the model was the right thing to do. He wouldn't go into details on the agreement reached but said “I felt it important to reward that and show appreciation for that.”

Maddalena said the model vanished in the 1970s after Gene Roddenberry loaned it to makers of "Star Trek: The Motion Picture," which was released in 1979.

“No one knew what happened to it," Rod Roddenberry said.

The 3-foot (0.91-meter) model of the USS Enterprise was used in the show's original pilot episode as well as the opening credits of the resulting TV series, and was the prototype for the 11-foot (3-meter) version featured in the series' episodes. The larger model is on display at the Smithsonian's National Air and Space Museum.

The original “Star Trek” television series, which aired in the late 1960s, kicked off an ever-expanding multiverse of cultural phenomena, with TV and movie spinoffs and conventions where a fanbase of zealous and devoted Trekkies can’t get enough of memorabilia.

This USS Enterprise model would easily sell for more than $1 million at auction, but really “it’s priceless," Maddalena said.

“It could sell for any amount and I wouldn’t be surprised because of what it is," he said. “It is truly a cultural icon.”

Roddenberry, who was just a young boy when the model went missing, said he has spotty memories of it, “almost a deja vu.” He said it wasn't something he'd thought much about until people began contacting him after it appeared on eBay.

“I don't think I really, fully comprehended at first that this was the first Enterprise ever created,” he said.

He said he has no idea if there was something nefarious behind the disappearance all those decades ago or if it was just mistakenly lost, but it would be interesting to find out more about what happened.

“This piece is incredibly important and it has its own story and this would be a great piece of the story,” Roddenberry said.

Thankfully, he said, the discovery has cleared up one rumor: That it was destroyed because as a young boy, he'd thrown it into a pool.

“Finally I’m vindicated after all these years,” he said with a laugh.

• The Inventory

The Long-Lost Original Star Trek Enterprise Model Is Heading Home

After going missing from gene roddenberry's collection half a century ago, the very first model of the starship enterprise is back in his family's hands..

It was our first look at the vision of Star Trek ’s future: the original ship model of the USS Enterprise that zoomed across screens in the show’s opening credits. But after being loaned out during the making of Star Trek: The Motion Picture , it had gone missing... until now.

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After, bizarrely, it randomly turned up on eBay last fall—the first time it had been seen publicly since it had gone missing —the original model of the Enterprise made for the Star Trek pilot “The Cage” and shooting its opening titles sequences is now back in the hands of the Roddenberry estate. After the eBay seller quickly learned just what they had their hands on, the model was handed over to Heritage Auctions for authentication, and when it was confirmed to be the long-lost Trek icon , held in storage until it could be handed over to Rod Roddenberry this past weekend. “After five decades, I’m thrilled that someone happened upon this historic model of the USS Enterprise . I remember how it used to adorn my dad’s desk,” Roddenberry said in a statement provided over email. “I am tremendously grateful to Heritage Auctions for facilitating the return of this iconic piece of Star Trek history to my family.”

The original model served as the prototype for what would become the primary original 11-foot shooting model of the Enterprise , which has had a similarly long and winding history on display at the Smithsonian’s National Air and Space Museum —it was damaged, then tweaked in an a restoration that was ultimately undone to restore it to its original glory just in time for Trek ’s 50th anniversary back in 2014. Like its successor, the newly recovered model will find a life outside of a private collection: Roddenberry Entertainment intends to put it on public display.

“I can’t wait to figure out how we are going to share it with my extended family, Star Trek fans around the world,” Roddenberry’s statement concluded. “We look forward to making that announcement.”

Want more io9 news? Check out when to expect the latest Marvel , Star Wars , and Star Trek releases, what’s next for the DC Universe on film and TV , and everything you need to know about the future of Doctor Who .

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An NPR editor who wrote a critical essay on the company has resigned after being suspended

The Associated Press

April 17, 2024, 8:51 PM

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NEW YORK (AP) — A National Public Radio editor who wrote an essay criticizing his employer for promoting liberal views resigned on Wednesday, attacking NPR’s new CEO on the way out.

Uri Berliner, a senior editor on NPR’s business desk, posted his resignation letter on X, formerly Twitter, a day after it was revealed that he had been suspended for five days for violating company rules about outside work done without permission.

“I cannot work in a newsroom where I am disparaged by a new CEO whose divisive views confirm the very problems” written about in his essay, Berliner said in his resignation letter.

Katherine Maher, a former tech executive appointed in January as NPR’s chief executive, has been criticized by conservative activists for social media messages that disparaged former President Donald Trump. The messages predated her hiring at NPR.

NPR’s public relations chief said the organization does not comment on individual personnel matters.

The suspension and subsequent resignation highlight the delicate balance that many U.S. news organizations and their editorial employees face. On one hand, as journalists striving to produce unbiased news, they’re not supposed to comment on contentious public issues; on the other, many journalists consider it their duty to critique their own organizations’ approaches to journalism when needed.

In his essay , written for the online Free Press site, Berliner said NPR is dominated by liberals and no longer has an open-minded spirit. He traced the change to coverage of Trump’s presidency.

“There’s an unspoken consensus about the stories we should pursue and how they should be framed,” he wrote. “It’s frictionless — one story after another about instances of supposed racism, transphobia, signs of the climate apocalypse, Israel doing something bad and the dire threat of Republican policies. It’s almost like an assembly line.”

He said he’d brought up his concerns internally and no changes had been made, making him “a visible wrong-thinker at a place I love.”

In the essay’s wake, NPR top editorial executive, Edith Chapin, said leadership strongly disagreed with Berliner’s assessment of the outlet’s journalism and the way it went about its work.

It’s not clear what Berliner was referring to when he talked about disparagement by Maher. In a lengthy memo to staff members last week, she wrote: “Asking a question about whether we’re living up to our mission should always be fair game: after all, journalism is nothing if not hard questions. Questioning whether our people are serving their mission with integrity, based on little more than the recognition of their identity, is profoundly disrespectful, hurtful and demeaning.”

Conservative activist Christopher Rufo revealed some of Maher’s past tweets after the essay was published. In one tweet, dated January 2018, Maher wrote that “Donald Trump is a racist.” A post just before the 2020 election pictured her in a Biden campaign hat.

In response, an NPR spokeswoman said Maher, years before she joined the radio network, was exercising her right to express herself. She is not involved in editorial decisions at NPR, the network said.

The issue is an example of what can happen when business executives, instead of journalists, are appointed to roles overseeing news organizations: they find themselves scrutinized for signs of bias in ways they hadn’t been before. Recently, NBC Universal News Group Chairman Cesar Conde has been criticized for service on paid corporate boards.

Maher is the former head of the Wikimedia Foundation. NPR’s own story about the 40-year-old executive’s appointment in January noted that she “has never worked directly in journalism or at a news organization.”

In his resignation letter, Berliner said that he did not support any efforts to strip NPR of public funding. “I respect the integrity of my colleagues and wish for NPR to thrive and do important journalism,” he wrote.

David Bauder writes about media for The Associated Press. Follow him at http://twitter.com/dbauder

Copyright © 2024 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, written or redistributed.

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Long-lost first model of the USS Enterprise from 'Star Trek' boldly goes home after twisting voyage

The first USS Enterprise has boldly gone back home, solving a decades-long mystery

DALLAS -- The first model of the USS Enterprise — used in the opening credits of the original “Star Trek” television series — has boldly gone back home, returning to creator Gene Roddenberry's son decades after it went missing.

The model's disappearance sometime in the 1970s had become the subject of lore, so it caused a stir when it popped up on eBay last fall. The sellers quickly took it down, and then contacted Dallas-based Heritage Auctions to authenticate it. Last weekend, the auction house facilitated the model's return.

Eugene “Rod” Roddenberry, CEO of Roddenberry Entertainment, said he's thrilled to have the model that had graced the desk of his father, who died in 1991 at age 70.

“This is not going home to adorn my shelves," Roddenberry said. “This is going to get restored and we’re working on ways to get it out so the public can see it and my hope is that it will land in a museum somewhere.”

Heritage's executive vice president, Joe Maddalena, said the auction house was contacted by people who said they'd discovered it a storage unit, and when it was brought into their Beverly Hills office, he and a colleague “instantly knew that it was the real thing.”

They reached out to Roddenberry, who said he appreciates that everyone involved agreed returning the model was the right thing to do. He wouldn't go into details on the agreement reached but said “I felt it important to reward that and show appreciation for that.”

Maddalena said the model vanished in the 1970s after Gene Roddenberry loaned it to makers of "Star Trek: The Motion Picture," which was released in 1979.

“No one knew what happened to it," Rod Roddenberry said.

The 3-foot (0.91-meter) model of the USS Enterprise was used in the show's original pilot episode as well as the opening credits of the resulting TV series, and was the prototype for the 11-foot (3-meter) version featured in the series' episodes. The larger model is on display at the Smithsonian's National Air and Space Museum.

The original “Star Trek” television series, which aired in the late 1960s, kicked off an ever-expanding multiverse of cultural phenomena, with TV and movie spinoffs and conventions where a fanbase of zealous and devoted Trekkies can't get enough of memorabilia.

This USS Enterprise model would easily sell for more than $1 million at auction, but really “it’s priceless," Maddalena said.

“It could sell for any amount and I wouldn’t be surprised because of what it is," he said. “It is truly a cultural icon.”

Roddenberry, who was just a young boy when the model went missing, said he has spotty memories of it, “almost a deja vu.” He said it wasn't something he'd thought much about until people began contacting him after it appeared on eBay.

“I don't think I really, fully comprehended at first that this was the first Enterprise ever created,” he said.

He said he has no idea if there was something nefarious behind the disappearance all those decades ago or if it was just mistakenly lost, but it would be interesting to find out more about what happened.

“This piece is incredibly important and it has its own story and this would be a great piece of the story,” Roddenberry said.

Thankfully, he said, the discovery has cleared up one rumor: That it was destroyed because as a young boy, he'd thrown it into a pool.

“Finally I’m vindicated after all these years," he said with a laugh.

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