"These are the voyages of the Starship Enterprise... Its five year mission..."
(setting -- the 23rd century)
You can't get better classic Sci-Fi than this. Star Trek came to television in 1966 and left it in 1969, but it wouldn't die there. After its origional mission (a run of 79 episodes), the crew of the U.S.S. Enterprise (NCC-1701) took the helm for a newer and bolder mission...the voyage into movies. Captain James T. Kirk commanded his crew through six movies and two ships named Enterprise (the last being the NCC-1701-A). On December 31, 1991 the crew's final mission ended in retirement.
The cast and crew of the Starship Enterprise was:
Captain James T. Kirk---William Shatner (center)
Captain Spock---Leonard Nimoy
Captain Hikaru Sulu---George Takei
Commander Pavel Chekov---Walter Koenig
Captain Montgomery Scott (Scotty)---James Doohan
Doctor Leonard H. McCoy (Bones)---DeForest Kelley
Commander Uhura---Nichelle Nichols
Doctor Christine Chapel---Majel Barrett (in top photo)
Captain Kirk, Mr. Scott, and Mr. Checkov were present at the christening of the U.S.S. Enterprise (NCC-1701-B) and Kirk was killed in the seventh Star Trek movie, "Generations." In addition, Dr. McCoy had a cameo appearance in the first episode of Star Trek-The Next Generation and Mr Spock showed up in two later episodes of that series. Mr. Scott was rescued in the "Next-Gen" episode "Relics," and we got to see a holographic recreation of the bridge if the classic Enterprise.
Star Trek-Deep Space Nine featured clips of the origional crew in the episode "Trials and Tribbleations," inspired by the most loved episode of the origional Star Trek, "Trouble with the Tribbles." Mr. Sulu returned for the Star Trek-Voyager episode "Flashback" where he reprised his role as Captain of the U.S.S. Excelsior (NCC-2000). References to the origional series and characters are abundant in the three Star Trek spinoffs, and are not likely to stop.
The show introduced us to Klingons, Romulans and Vulcans, but it is most noted for its commentary on 1960s America. Star Trek was always considered groundbreaking by having a multi-cultural crew, episodes dealing with socially relevant topics like racism, and by showing us human potential. Star Trek boldly went where no one went before and opened up American television to new and exciting ideas. In many ways, it helped shape our history by showing us Gene Roddenberry's vision of our future.
