June 15, 1967
It was 48 years ago today (which was a Thursday night on that date) that author Marc Cushman first saw Star Trek, for the NBC repeat of “The Devil in the Dark.” He told us, “Where I lived, on a dairy farm near Tillamook, Oregon, we didn’t receive the NBC station (Channel 8 out of Portland), except during the summer months when weather conditions enabled it to fade in and out, with a lot of static and a snowy images. All my friends at school, as well as the teachers, had been watching the series since its premiere the previous September, and I felt very left out. It was the most talked about show on television! And then Channel 8 finally came through on our black & white TV set and I was able to see what everyone had been talking out.”
Marc was instantly hooked, and would be inspired to become a writer because of Star Trek, and, many years later, he would pitch the story of “Sarek” to Gene Roddenberry for Star Trek: The Next Generation, and go on to write the Saturn Award-winning These Are the Voyages book series documenting the making of the first Trek series (TOS).
Okay, that’s his story. What about you? What was the first episode of Star Trek you remember seeing, and how did it change your life?
Marc was instantly hooked, and would be inspired to become a writer because of Star Trek, and, many years later, he would pitch the story of “Sarek” to Gene Roddenberry for Star Trek: The Next Generation, and go on to write the Saturn Award-winning These Are the Voyages book series documenting the making of the first Trek series (TOS).
Okay, that’s his story. What about you? What was the first episode of Star Trek you remember seeing, and how did it change your life?
Read more about the writing and making of “The Paradise Syndrome" in These Are the Voyages – TOS [Star Trek: The Original Series]: Season Three, by Marc Cushman, available now.
