For many, Chief Engineer Montgomery Scott is their favorite character.  He was a mix of old-world charm, a loving father to his engines, and an 18th century sailor - An old-salt.

Yet when the ship was in danger, Scotty was always there to save the day, even when Kirk and Spock were not on board.

Jimmy Doohan did an incredible job creating and portraying this character.  He instilled warmth, comedy, and leadership which all made Mr. Scott a complex character that fans loved!

This week on 70s Trek co-hosts Bob Turner and Kelly Casto present their Top 5 Scotty Moments from the show.  What are your favorites?  Tell us at our Facebook page.

Today it's considered a science fiction classic. Steven Spielberg's 1977 film Close Encounters of the Third Kind was unlike any alien encounter film that came before it.  It ended on a positive note and did not portray the aliens as conquerors.  

The film earned $492 million worldwide, or $1.2 Billion in 2018 dollars!  This phenomenal success played a role in the re-emergence of Star Trek.  It convinced Paramount executives that there was a permanent audience for quality science fiction movies and that their decision to make Star Trek The Motion Picture was the right one.

After Close Encounters, the studio no longer second-guessed its decision.  It was "full speed ahead!"

On this week's 70s Trek, we tell you about this Spielberg's sci-fi classic.

Even though Star Trek Phase II was officially cancelled by Paramount in August 1977 to make The Motion Picture instead, the production team working on the show didn’t know it. 

Paramount decided to keep its decision a secret until it had all the business arrangements in order first.  So the Phase II team was kept in the dark, purposefully.  They continued on as if nothing had ever happened.

Because as far as they knew, it hadn’t!

So the production crew continued to hire actors, redesign the Enterprise and build new sets.  Of course, as the crew ramps up for a production that will never happen, the creative team also needed story ideas.

Former Roddenberry assistant and new story editor Jon Povil listened to hundreds of pitches, trying to find just the right stories that fit Star Trek's unique requirements.

On this episode of 70s trek, co-hosts Bob Turner and Kelly Casto tell you about the second group of stories that would have made up the first season of Star Trek Phase II.

Production was moving forward on the first Star Trek TV spin-off, Phase II, in the summer and fall of 1977.  

Even though Paramount, in August 1977, had already decided that Phase II was dead.  

To ensure that they had all of the cast contracts in place for the coming movie...and to make sure that this time, the production would move forward...the studio waited until March 1978 to tell the world about this new version of the production, Star Trek The Motion Picture.

And of course during that time, between August ‘77 and March ‘78, nobody working on Phase II knew that it was dead.  They were kept in the dark.

So work on the show continued.  Along with building the sets, signing the cast, and creating a new model for the Starship Enterprise...the production staff needed stories.

In the book, Star Trek Phase II, the authors Judith and Garfield Reeves-Stevens explain that Jon Povil, the story editor for the show, had to listen to hundreds of pitches from writers!

From those pitches, 13 emerged as the best stories that fit the show’s hour-long format, and Star Trek’s unique universe.

In this episode of 70s Trek, we tell you about six of them:

1. Tomorrow and the Stars
2. Cassandra
3. The Child
4. Kitumba Parts 1 and 2
5. Practice in Walking
6. Deadlock

Next week, we tell you about the last seven scripts.

In the summer of 1977, Gene Roddenberry was busy making plans for a new TV show that would be the first Star Trek spin-off. Star Trek Phase II would update the look and feel of the original series so it would fit the 1970s.  Of course, that included the look of the Enterprise, as well.

It's an intriguing idea: There was almost a Star Trek show in 1978 that would have featured a redesigned USS Enterprise.  The knowledge of Phase II stayed hidden from fans for decades.  But internet websites have brought this lost series to light in recent years.

Now, when you search "Star Trek Phase II" on the internet, there’s a huge amount of content.  You can find a multitude of articles, videos and images.  There's even a pretty well-known fan film group that chose the name, "Star Trek Phase II" when they told the continuing adventures of the Starship Enterprise.

On top of all of that, there’s been even more content in the last few months with the recent release of a starship model of the Phase II Enterprise by the company Eaglemoss, as part of their Star Trek Starships Collection.

The release of that model is interesting timing, since that’s the subject of this week's episode. 

On this episode of 70s Trek we talk about the first Star Trek spin off.  And it is not The Next Generation. The first, planned, live-action sequel to The Original Series was actually a show called Star Trek Phase II.

After spending two years looking for the right Star Trek film script in the mid 1970s, Paramount executives began to think that making a Trek movie might not work.  Thus, they began to shift their thinking, and started looking at Star Trek from the view point of its origins: A television property.

While the Star Trek activity played itself out, Paramount was looking into creating a fourth television network. It was an idea the company had considered before.  Now with Trek moving back toward being a TV show, it seemed natural to move forward with the new network with a new Star Trek TV show as its anchor.

Then on May 25, 1977, the movie Star Wars was released.  This convinced studio execs to move forward with Trek as a TV show.  The thinking by execs was that moviegoers had seen their science fiction movie and would not want to see another one again for some time. 

Of course, they totally misread the audience.

From this frustration of not being able to develop Trek as a film, from thinking that they had missed their chance, and Paramount’s desire to start a new TV network, Star Trek Phase II was born.

The Planet of the Apes was a true phenomenon during the decade. The 1968 film inspired four sequels, a television show, a Saturday morning cartoon and millions of dollars in merchandise during the 70s.

Co-hosts Bob Turner and kelly Casto discuss the 1968 film and how its sequels influenced Star Trek's return.

In the 1970s, writer David Gerrold supported Star Trek with enthusiasm.  In fact, you might even say he was a cheerleader for the show. During the decade he wrote scripts for The Animated Series, voiced animated characters, appeared at conventions and wrote two books about Star Trek.  He even appeared in The Motion Picture in 1979.

Between 1970 and 1973, just about everyone else who had been involved with Star Trek had moved on from the show.  Even Gene Roddenberry was producing other TV pilots.  But David Gerrold continued to rally the fans during those years and helped keep Trek alive for them.  

He authored two non-fiction books about the show: The Trouble with Tribbles and The World of Star Trek.  He also penned two scripts The Animated Series, More Tribbles More Troubles and Bem, and even did voice work in two episodes.

In 1977, Hollywood was shaken to its core when a little, independent film became a major hit. The movie was Star Wars and it directly impacted not only the future of the Star Trek franchise, but also the future of movie making.

The film was something new and fresh and it came at a time when people needed something new and uplifting.

America had been through some difficult times in the 70s.  The watergate scandal forced Richard Nixon to resign as president.  And in 1975, America pulled out of Vietnam in a less than victorious fashion.  Then came gas lines, the energy crisis and high inflation.

It seemed like one problem after another was plaguing America.  Then in the middle of all of that, Star Wars was released. The film was different from most 70s-era sci-fi movies.  They were largely apocalyptic and took a negative view of the future.  

Star Wars was a positive film with a positive message.

This week co-hosts Bob Turner and Kelly Casto talk about the actor who played the Captain of the Enterprise, William Shatner, on this episode of 70s Trek. His portrayal of the unflappable, heroic captain has become iconic.  While playing Kirk wasn't difficult for Shatner, working after the show went off the air was.

Early Life.

William Shatner grew up in Montreal, Canada and knew early on he wanted to be an actor.  After college, he worked extensively on Broadway and in early television.  During his early career, Bill Shatner was considered to be on the same career trajectory as Robert Redford.

Star Trek

When Star Trek's first captain, Jeffrey Hunter, decided not to return for the second pilot, Gene Roddenberry asked William Shatner to step in as the new skipper of the Enterprise.

When the show was picked up and went into production, Shatner remembers that it didn't feel like work.  Instead, he considered the feeling that the cast and crew shared as being family.

After Trek

Shatner went through a lot around the time that the show was cancelled.  Not only was he losing a steady job relationships from the show, but he was also going through a divorce.  The long hours away from home took their toll on his marriage.

But his alimony was based on his Star Trek salary, so he needed to work and earn a paycheck.  He took the steadiest job he could get: He signed on with a traveling play for the summer of 1969.

Trying to save money, he bought a used pickup truck with a collapsable camper and drove from town to town where the play opened next.

This living arrangement found him laying in his camper with a small black and white TV on his chest when Neil Armstrong and Buzz Aldrin walked on the moon on July 20, 1969.  It leaves you with an ironic image: The former Captain Kirk had been reduced to watching the first real steps of man's exploration of space in the back of a used camper.

The 1970s

Shatner spent the years between 1969 and 1978 taking any acting job he could find.  As a result he accumulated an impressive amount of work.  In those years he worked on the following projects:

• 7 films
• 18 TV movies
• 2 mini series
• Guest-starred on 45 different TV series eoisodes
• Starred in one Prime-Time series, Barbary Coast
• And Voiced a children's TV show. Star Trek: The Animated Series.

He also worked on some of the most popular TV shows of the day:

• Hawaii 5-0
• Barnaby jones
• Six Million Dollar Man
• Medical Center
• Mission Impossible
• Marcus Welby, MD
• Mannix
• Ironside
• Kung Fu
• The Rookies
• Police Woman
• Police Story.

The Motion Picture

After several false starts, Paramount finally picked a script with which to move forward and produce a Star Trek film.  Star Trek The Motion Picture went into production in 1978 and premiered in December 1979.  It capped what had been a busy and frustrating decade for William Shatner.

But The Motion Picture paved the way for more movies and more success on the 1980s and the decades to follow.  William Shatner proved he was a survivor in the 1970s.  He overcame the obstacle of being type-cast and re-invented himself as a journey-man actor.

Ultimately, Shatner had the last laugh, re-inventing himself and finding success time and again throughout his career.