Star Trek, Behind The Scenes

The Star Trek media franchise is a multi-billion dollar industry, currently owned by CBS. Gene Roddenberry sold Star Trek to NBC as a classic adventure drama; he pitched the show as "Wagon Train to the Stars" and as Horatio Hornblower in Space. The opening line, "to boldly go where no man has gone before," was taken almost verbatim from a US White House booklet on space produced after the Sputnik flight in 1957. The central trio of Kirk, Spock, and McCoy was modeled on classical mythological storytelling.
Star Trek and its spin-offs have proved highly popular in syndication and are currently shown on TV stations worldwide. The show’s cultural impact goes far beyond its longevity and profitability. Star Trek conventions have become popular, though they are often merged now with conventions related to other genres and series. Some fans have coined the term 'Trekkie' to describe themselves. Others, however, prefer the term 'Trekkers'. Fans of Deep Space Nine are better known as Niners. An entire subculture has grown up around the show which was documented in the film Trekkies. Star Trek was the top rank cult show by TV Guide.
The Star Trek franchise has anticipated many current technologies, including the Tablet PC, the PDA, mobile phones, and the MRI (similar to Dr. McCoy's diagnostic table). It has also brought to popular attention the concept of teleportation with its depiction of "matter-energy transport." Phrases such as "Beam me up, Scotty" have entered the public vernacular. In 1976, following a letter-writing campaign, NASA named its prototype space shuttle Enterprise, after the fictional starship. Later, the introductory sequence to Star Trek: Enterprise would include footage of the shuttle, along with images of a naval vessel also called the Enterprise, depicting the advancement of human transportation technology.
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.