Star Trek, Behind The Scenes

Beyond Star Trek's technological innovations, one of its greatest and most significant contributions to TV history is its creation of a cast of different races and cultures in the sets. This became common in television shows in the 1980s such as L.A. Law but was controversial and daring in the 1960s. On the bridge of the Enterprise was a Japanese helmsman, a Russian navigator, a black female communications officer, and a Vulcan-Earthling first officer - among other members. Also, controversial at its time (in the episode Plato's Stepchildren), was Captain Kirk's kiss with Lt. Uhura which became a defining moment in television history as it was American TV's first scripted interracial kiss; there had already been footage of 'real-life' interracial kisses, such as on news footage and in documentaries.
Parodies
Notable parodies of Star Trek include the Star Wreck movie series, the internet-based cartoon series Stone Trek, the Star Wreck novel series, the song "Star Trekkin'" by The Firm, the song "Starship Edelweiss" by Austrian band Edelweiss, the feature film Galaxy Quest, an episode of Futurama called "Where No Fan Has Gone Before," which featured several characters from the original series, and the episode of Family Guy titled "Not All Dogs Go to Heaven" which featured the entire cast of Star Trek The Next Generation; a short skit in an episode of Stargate SG-1, a famous sketch on Saturday Night Live entitled "The Last Voyage of the Starship Enterprise", with John Belushi as Kirk, Chevy Chase as Spock and Dan Ackroyd as McCoy, as well as an episode of The Simpsons titled "Itchy & Scratchy: The Movie," which featured some of the cast of the original Star Trek television series; an Animaniacs episode entitled Star Truck featuring the cast of Star Trek The Original Series. The news satire site The Onion created a Star Trek XI based clip just before the release of the film. An adaptation by Jon Mullich of Gilbert & Sullivan's H.M.S. Pinafore that sets the operetta in the world of Star Trek has played in Los Angeles and was attended by series luminaries Nichelle Nichols, D.C. Fontana and David Gerrold.