The original Star Trek came to an early end after just three seasons. That could have been the end of the wildly imaginative space adventure series, if not for its immense success in syndication. Like so many of the most enduring shows throughout television history, it needed some time to find its audience.
Creator Gene Roddenberry got his second shot at his monumental creation thanks to the second-run demand for more Starfleet adventures. Ultimately, it was a series of films that kept Star Trek alive until its return to television. But first, there was an attempt to make a sequel series for the small screen.
‘Star Trek’ nearly had a TV follow-up long before ‘The Next Generation’
Star Trek: The Original Series was a radical work for its time. It had character archetypes straight out of heady sci-fi novels, yet never seen on TV, like Leonard Nimoy’s objective-to-a-fault Spock. It brought the morality-play-of-the-week format of The Twilight Zone to a single, continuous setting. Roddenberry established a universe where humans had moved beyond scarcity and war, and showed us what we might do next.
Comic Book Resources reports that the show’s success in syndication earned Roddenberry a second shot at a live-action series: Star Trek: Phase II. Most of the original cast signed back on for the two-hour pilot.
The writers had more control over the show, so they made a pointed effort to better portray their utopia with a more diverse cast. Bigger, better sets, lavish creature designs, and more detailed models for space scenes were all part of the ambitious plans for Phase II.
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‘Star Trek: Phase II’ lived on in the first ‘Star Trek’ movie
Unfortunately, all that creative freedom came at a cost — literally. The two-hour pilot was projected to be far too expensive compared to what Paramount executives expected. Even with 13 scripts already in the can and the bulk of the pre-production completed, Red Shirts Always Die reports that a small amount of test footage is all that remains of the original Star Trek sequel series.
That is, unless one counts what Paramount decided to do with all those sets and preparation for Phase II. They heavily reworked the script and transformed it into Star Trek: The Motion Picture. The expensive, risky film became a box office hit. This instantly upgraded the prestige of the series, at a time when film was seen as a far more serious medium than television by many critics.
‘Phase II’ not making it to air may have helped the ‘Star Trek’ franchise become what it is today
Star Trek: The Motion Picture set the stage for Star Trek to become a global phenomenon. Its sequel, Star Trek II: The Wrath of Khan is hailed by many as the high point of the franchise, and one of the best sci-fi movies of all time. Had the cast been tied up in Phase II instead, that film and the enduring multimedia juggernaut it solidified may not be an ongoing concern today.
The sequel TV series that eventually emerged, Star Trek: The Next Generation, was Roddenberry’s final contribution to the franchise. That series spawned several shows and movies throughout the 1990s and 2000s.
And after a short hiatus of Star Trek content, the series returned with a reboot of the original crew in 2009. That spawned two more movies, and set the stage for another run of television on Paramount Plus. The current flagship series is Star Trek: Strange New Worlds, set in the original series timeline. Digital Spy reports that attempts at a fourth movie in the reboot timeline are still in pre-production.
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