Star Trek’s Long Road To TV Began 60 Years Ago This Month

Summary 60 years ago, Gene Roddenberry took his first step towards bringing Star Trek to the screen with a successful meeting with NBC.

"The Cage" was chosen as the pilot for Star Trek, but two other potential storylines were also pitched to NBC.

While the show faced initial challenges, Star Trek: The Original Series went on to become a beloved science fiction classic.

It was 60 years ago this May that Gene Roddenberry and NBC embarked on the first step on their journey to bringing Star Trek: The Original Series to the screen. TOS premiered on NBC on September 8th, 1966, following a failed pilot, a radical overhaul, and a change of lead actor. Years before "The Man Trap" aired, Gene Roddenberry began shopping his Star Trek concept around various studios and networks, to no avail. In 1964, however, Roddenberry sold Star Trek to Lucille Ball's, Desilu production company, signing a three-year deal in April that year.

While Gene Roddenberry now had studio backing, he still needed a network partner to make his Star Trek dreams a reality. Despite Desilu's existing deal with CBS, Gene Roddenberry failed to sell his Star Trek Is... pitch document to the network, as they opted to go with Irwin Allen's Lost in Space instead. In early May, however, Gene Roddenberry had a successful meeting with NBC's Vice-President of Programming, Mort Werner, who asked him to provide him with three potential story ideas for a Star Trek pilot. Roddenberry and Werner's meeting was the first step on a long journey to get Star Trek on TV.

Related Star Trek: The Original Series Cast & Character Guide Star Trek: The Original Series features some of the most iconic characters in all of science fiction with the crew of the original USS Enterprise.

NBC Ordered Three Star Trek Storylines 60 Years Ago This Month - What Were They?

We know "The Cage" was successful, but what else was on offer?

Close

Of the three potential storylines that Gene Roddenberry pitched to NBC, "The Cage" was the one that was successfully mounted as a Star Trek pilot. For years, fans have speculated about what the two unsuccessful storylines could have been. There are some possible clues in Gene Roddenberry's Star Trek Is... pitch document, dated 1st March 1964. The front page, which describes Star Trek with the keywords "Action. Adventure. Science Fiction" also outlines six potential story ideas.

"Star Trek Is..." Story Titles Synopsis "The Next Cage" "The desperation of our series lead, caged and exhibited like an animal, then offered a mate." "The Day Charlie Became God" "The accidental occurrence of infinite power to do all things, in the hands of a very finite man." "President Capone" "A parallel world, Chicago, ten years after Al Capone won and imposed gangland statutes upon the nation." "To Skin a Tyrannosaurus" "A modern man reduced to a sling and a club in a world 100,000 B.C." "The Women" "Duplicating a page from the 'Old West'; hanky-panky aboard with a cargo of women destined for a far-off colony." "The Coming" "Alien people in an alien society, but something disturbingly familiar about the quiet dignity of one who is being condemned to crucifixion"

Four out of six of these storylines are classic episodes of Star Trek: The Original Series in an embryonic form. "The Day Charlie Became God" could describe the second of Star Trek's two pilots, "Where No Man Has Gone Before", but is also very clearly an early version of "Charlie X". The third story idea, "President Capone", would eventually be realized as Star Trek: TOS season 2, episode 20, "A Piece of the Action". The fifth potential story idea, "The Women", is an early version of "Mudd's Women", which was one of the three ideas pitched as a potential second pilot in 1965.

Other story ideas later in the Star Trek Is... document include "The Man Trap" and "The Mirror", which would later be adapted for episodes of Star Trek: The Original Series.

The 2013 reference book These Are the Voyages: TOS Season One by Marc Cushman and Susan Osborn reveals that "The Women" was also one of the three story ideas pitched to NBC in 1964. The final story was "Visit to Paradise", the outline of which was referred to in the Star Trek Is... pitch document as "The Perfect World". Although declined by NBC in 1964 in favor of "The Cage", "Visit to Paradise" would later be adapted as "The Return of the Archons", in which the USS Enterprise discovers a peaceful planet ruled by the evil computer, Landru.

Related 6 Star Trek Planets Controlled By Computers Star Trek has introduced several planets controlled by computers, some with more positive results than others.

November 2024 Marks The 60th Anniversary Of Star Trek’s Unaired Pilot

Shooting on "The Cage" began on November 27th, 1964.

Close

NBC selected "The Cage" as their preferred Star Trek pilot at the end of July, 1964. For the next few months, preparations were made to start shooting "The Cage", with Roddenberry submitting rewrites to NBC right up until the final draft being submitted on November 20, 1964. This was one week before Star Trek's first scenes were shot on November 27; the conversation between Captain Christopher Pike (Jeffrey Hunter) and Dr. Phil Boyce (John Hoyt) about the incident on Rigel VII. Shooting on "The Cage" wrapped on December 28, 1964, with the Orion slave girl scenes the last to be filmed.

The day after shooting wrapped, Roddenberry received the USS Enterprise model for use in the show. NBC declined to take Star Trek further in February 1965, because the network believed it didn't have the mass appeal that they were looking for. However, Gene Roddenberry and Desilu convinced NBC to give Star Trek a second chance, and commissioned "Where No Man Has Gone Before" a month later. Star Trek's second pilot was more positively received by the network, and NBC ordered it for broadcast in the 1966/1967 TV season, and the rest is history.

How Will Star Trek Commemorate Its Actual 60th Anniversary?

September 8th, 2026 is sooner than you think.

While nobody is expecting Star Trek to throw a big party to celebrate 60 years since the production of its failed pilot, the anniversary of "The Cage" is a reminder that Star Trek's 60th anniversary is fast approaching. At this stage it's not clear how exactly Paramount will celebrate the massive milestone in 2026, but there have been some interesting recent developments. Paramount recently confirmed that a Star Trek origin movie written by Seth Grahame-Smith and directed by Toby Haynes is part of their 2025/26 slate.

The upcoming Star Trek movie was recently described in a Variety cover story as "an origin story of sorts for the main timeline of the entire franchise". This suggests a movie that takes place between the 30th anniversary movie, Star Trek: First Contact and Star Trek: Enterprise. However, the story of Star Trek's real-world creation could make for a fascinating Gene Roddenberry biopic, which would be a leftfield choice that could be greeted warmly by fans. Whatever direction it goes in, it seems like the Star Trek origin story will be the perfect way to kick off the celebrations in Star Trek: The Original Series' 60th anniversary year.

All episodes of Star Trek: The Original Series are available to stream on Paramount+.