Once Star Trek reruns began to be seen across the country in syndication, the show attracted a whole new audience of viewers.  It was on everyday at the same time, and it was easy for viewers to catch episodes.  

This all helped to contribute to Star Trek's popularity in the 1970s.  Clubs sprang up, conventions were held and fanzines were printed.  In this unique environment, Bjo and a friend came up with the idea of the book, The Star Trek Concordance.

Bjo and John tell us the story of the Concordance, as well as the letter writing campaign that resulted in the name of NASA's first space shuttle being named Enterprise.

Co-hosts Bob Turner and Kelly Casto talk with Bjo and John in part 2 of their interview with these Star Trek legends.  Without them, the show might not have achieved a third season, and possibly would not have gone into syndication.  And without reruns being seen across the country, Star Trek would have died after cancellation and been forgotten.

Bjo and John Trimble tell a story about being on the Star Trek set in early 1968 and learning, unofficially, that the show was to be cancelled.  During their drive home, John innocently commented, "There ought to be something we could do about that." Upon hearing those words,  Bjo's mind began to come up with ideas and and by the time they arrived home, the two had the basics of a plan to save Star Trek.

Co-hosts Bob Turner and Kelly Casto talk with Bjo and John on this episode of 70s Trek.

The plan they came up with was a letter writing campaign that, according to some counts, flooded NBC with one million letters!  Of course, the network relented and Star Trek got its third season.

If that was all that Bjo and John accomplished, their names would be forever tied with the franchise as the couple who saved the show.  Their efforts guaranteed that that Star Trek had enough episodes to go into syndication after its original run.  Syndication, of course, was a major factor that contributed to the show's return.

But Bjo's and John's association with Trek didn't end there.  Listen to our interview to hear more about their contributions.

It was the moment in the 1970s that Star Trek became a cultural phenomenon.  NASA’s first space shuttle was originally called Constitution. But President Gerald Ford renamed it Enterprise in 1976 to honor the show, its fans and its impact on our society.

Co-hosts Bob Turner and Kelly Casto describe the development of the shuttle and how it came to be named Enterprise.

The idea of a reusable spacecraft was first described by NAZI scientists during World War II.  One of them, Werner von Braun, would work for NASA after the war and described the very process by which man would go to space.  It involved a reusable vehicle.

After reaching the moon in 1969, President Nixon ordered NASA to begin working on the shuttle program and to make sure its focus was tightly defined: Orbital experiments and the eventual construction of a space station.

Construction on the first vehicle began in 1974, and as news of its completion reached the public, two Star Trek fans had the idea to get it named Enterprise.  They contacted Bjo and John Trimble who had started the 1968 letter writing campaign that got Star Trek a third season.  With their know-how, a new campaign was put into action.

NASA and the White House received between 400,000 and 500,000 letters asking for the first shuttle to be named Enterprise and President Gerald Ford agreed.

But that's not the full story.  Listen to this week's episode to hear all the details.

This week on 70s Trek, co-hosts Bob Turner and Kelly Casto talk about our favorite moments centered around Captain James T. Kirk.  As the captain of the Enterprise and the main character on the show, he had a lot of great scenes and choosing our favorites wasn't easy.

What made it difficult was the fine acting that William Shatner brings to the role.  While many detractors make fun of him for his occasional choppy form of speaking, the bulk of his work on Star Trek is excellent and under rated!

Kelly's Favorite Kirk Moments:

1. The Trouble with Tribbles - Kirk's disgust for Barris
2. City on the Edge of Forever - Kirk stops McCoy from saving Edith Keeler
3. Balance of Terror - Kirk plays a chess match with the Romulan commander
4. The Corbomite Maneuver - Kirk bluffs
5. The Conscience of the King - Kirk seduces the crazy chick

Bob's Top 5 Kirk Scenes: 

1. The Naked Time - Kirk pulls it together to get the job done
2. Return to Tomorrow - Kirk explains what the mission of the Enterprise is all   about
3. The Doomsday Machine - Kirk is unflappable as the Constellation is about to be destroyed
4. The Ultimate Computer - Kirk and McCoy have a heart-to-heart
5. Arena - Kirk makes a cannon to be the Gorn

Kelly's Honorable Mention:

• Amok Time - Kirk steps up to save Spock

Bob's Honorable Mentions:

• The Enterprise Incident - Kirk as a Romulan
• The Changeling and The Return of the Archons - Kirk outsmarts computers
• Who Mourns for Adonais -"Would it have hurt us, I wonder, just to have gathered a few laurel leaves."

70s Trek is a fan production and does not receive any profit. Intro and Outro Music was purchased from Free Play Music.

 Copyright 2017 - 70s Trek

Nichelle Nichols was born Grace Dell Nichols in 1932 in small town near Chicago, Robbins, Illinois.  Young Grace was drawn to singing, dancing and acting early on, getting her first professional gig at the age of 14.

She soon made a name for herself, meeting the big stars of the day.  This included Duke Ellington.  The musician was so impressed with her that he invited her to tour with him.

After starting a family, she created her own touring show and did so well, that she was able to move her family to Los Angeles.  There she landed a part in the movie    Starring Sidney Poitier, Dorothy Dandridge and Sammy Davis, Jr.

She soon caught the attention of casting director Joe D'Agosta (who would later do the same job on Star Trek) who hired her for a part on The Lieutenant.  This was the first show Gene Roddenberry created.  On the episode "To Set it Right," she played the wife of an African-American officer who was dealing with racism.  A big topic for 1964. 

It was during this time that she and Roddenberry developed a romantic relationship.  While it was short-lived, Roddenberry remained impressed with Nichols and with her help, created the role of Lt. Uhura.

After Star Trek, Nichols worked for NASA in the mid-70s recruiting women and minorities to join the space program.  She was able to bring in some very notable names including Sally Ride, Guion Bluford, Judy Resnick, Ron McNair and Charles Bolden.  After flying six missions, Bolden would later become the head of NASA.

Nichol's last official performance as Uhura was in 1991 in the film Star Trek VI: The Undiscovered Country.  But she reprised the role in 2007 in the fan-made web-based film, Star Trek: Of Gods and Men.

In 2016, she received The Life Career Award from the Academy of Science Fiction, Fantasy and Horror Films. 

70s Trek is a fan production and does not receive any profit. Intro and Outro Music was purchased from Free Play Music.

Copyright 2017 - 70s Trek

If you were a child in the 1970s and you were around a TV after school, chances are you watched Lost in Space.  

The show celebrated its 50th Anniversary in 2015 and it still has a lot of die-hard fans!  But it has just as many detractors, too. Co-hosts Bob Turner and Kelly Casto talk Lost in Space on this week's episode of 70s Trek.  

Lost in Space appealed to a younger audience than Star Trek did in the 70s.  But it also formed the basis for a love of sci-fi for kids who grew up in this decade.  If you watched Lost in Space as a ten-year-old, you were pretty likely to watch Star Trek when you were 13.  

While Star Trek and Lost in Space both take place away from the Earth...the comparisons end there.  In fact, Gene Roddenberry said something very similar when asked about Lost in Space.  He said “it does very well what it sets out to do.  But it is a very different show.”

Maybe the difference lies with the creators themselves.  Gene wanted to talk about big issues, and tell morality tales wrapped in Sci-Fi metaphors.  

Irwin Allen was a storyteller who wanted to get TV shows on the air.

Join us as we look back to Lost in Space.

Lost In Space: Original Television Soundtrack: GNP Crescendo Records, CBS Television.

70s Trek is a fan production and does not receive any profit. Intro and Outro Music was purchased from Free Play Music.

Copyright 2017 - 70s Trek

He worked on Spartacus, Harold and Maude, Pete’s Dragon, Butch and Sundance: The Early Days, The Man With One Red Shoe and Star Trek.  Costume designer William Ware Theiss is responsible for creating some of the most memorable costumes in Hollywood, including those on Star Trek.

Co-hosts Bob Turner and Kelly Casto take a look at the man and his designs.

Early in his career, he worked as Cary Grant’s assistant and helped him become, “The Best Dressed Man in Hollywood.”

Bill had a reputation for being eccentric, perhaps even rude.  But he was a perfectionist, relentlessly driving those working under him. His motto was, first and foremost: "Stop when all work is done - and not before."

His designed the iconic Starfleet uniforms as well as the wardrobe needs for guest stars.  And it's perhaps those costume pieces that Bill Theiss is best remembered.  Female guest stars, in particular, were almost guaranteed to receive some type of revealing clothing. 

But, according to Theiss, his costumes were not appealing because they showed a lot of skin.  His designs were attractive because they appeared as if it would fall off  at any moment!

Gene Roddenberry brought Bill back in July 1977 to work on the proposed show Star Trek Phase II.  That program never went into production, but Gene called upon Bill again to work on Star Trek: The Next Generation.  Bill designed the new Starfleet uniforms and all the wardrobe during the first season.  His work earned him an Emmy award and two Emmy nominations.

Bill Theiss died in 1992 due to complications caused by AIDS. 

70s Trek is a fan production and does not receive any profit. Intro and Outro Music was purchased from Free Play Music.

Copyright 2017 - 70s Trek

In 1975, as Star Trek was making money in syndication, Paramount decided it was time to develop a new Trek project.  Gene Roddenberry was offered a development deal and the project was to a motion picture with a $5 million budget.  Production was to start on July 15, 1976.

Gene came up with The God Thing.  His script had the crew of the Enterprise meeting and discovering the nature of God.  It's revealed that God is actually a computer/ship/entity that visits worlds repeatedly, creating prophets to match the level of development of that planet's society.  These prophets then guide that world's population through their evolution.

But the real twist is that the computer/ship/entity thing is not the God we know, but actually the Devil. 

When Roddenberry finished his script and turned it into Paramount, the head of the studio, Barry Diller, rejected it.  So the The God Thing was thought to be permanently shelved.  But Gene decided to take the idea and make it into a book that he would author.

But as the 70s moved on and Paramount moved from Trek project to Trek project, The God Thing book was left behind until it was discovered in 1991 by Gene's assistant Susan Sackett.  She brought it to the attention of Pocket Books and a publishing deal was reached.  Several writers worked on the manuscript, and a dust jacket was even made for the book.  But after Gene's death, the project was forgotten again.

Today, The God Thing remains a lost version of Trek. It's a look into the creator's mind, and an interesting "What-if" story from the decade of the 70s.

70s Trek is a fan production and does not receive any profit. Intro and Outro Music was purchased from Free Play Music.

Copyright 2017 - 70s Trek

What do Terri Garr, James Gregory, Clint Howard and Michael Pataki all have in common? Each guest starred on Star Trek.  Co-hosts Bob Turner and Kelly Casto take a look at some of the more notable actors who appeared on TOS.  Some you may recognize and some you may not.

In the 1960s, actors often moved from show to show, taking acting jobs where they could find them and hoping each would lead them to better jobs.  Many of them drove through the gates of Desilu and later Paramount to work on Star Trek.

Kids growing up in the 70s watching reruns of shows such as Batman, Bonanza, Wagon Train, Wild, Wild West, Gunsmoke, Mission: Impossible and Star Trek would often notice the same actor in different roles.  Their faces, voices or mannerisms jumped out at us and we struggled to figure out where we had seen that actor before.

In this episode we remember some of the more notable ones.

70s Trek is a fan production and does not receive any profit. Intro and Outro Music was purchased from Free Play Music.

Copyright 2017 - 70s Trek

In January 1969, NBC decided to not to renew Star Trek.  The show was in the middle of its third season.  Richard Nixon had just been sworn in as President, the nation had not heard the name "Watergate" yet, and over 500,000 troops were fighting a war in Vietnam.

When Star Trek was cancelled it was nearly $30 million in debt in today's dollars.  It had no future, it was a dead hulk that no one thought anything of.  Yet somehow, this quirky little show made it into syndication where it resonated with another generation viewers. In just nine years, the show would be resurrected as a major motion picture and soon become a multi-billion dollar franchise.

It all starts at the end.

70s Trek is a fan production and does not receive any profit. Intro and Outro Music was purchased from Free Play Music.

Copyright 2017 - 70s Trek