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The TV viewing options for science fiction fans in the fall of 1966 were limited, but not nonexistent. Lost in Space was starting its second season on CBS, and Voyage to the Bottom of the Sea was heading into its third on ABC. The producer of both of those, Irwin Allen, also had The Time Tunnel debuting on ABC.
None of those shows would last beyond 1968. Nor did any of them give rise to an enduring, beloved TV and movie franchise like the other new sci-fi series that fall, Star Trek. Gene Roddenberry’s series debuted 60 years ago, airing from 8:30-9:30 p.m. ET/PT Sept. 8, 1966, on NBC.
With that in mind, I decided to watch the first episode ever aired (the original series streams on Paramount+). It’s … fine, but it only hints at some of the reasons why it would become one of the most enduring franchises in American pop culture history.
The episode that aired on Sept. 8, 1966, was called “The Man Trap.” It was the sixth episode of Star Trek to be filmed, meaning that NBC decided to air episodes out of their production order (a pattern that would repeat itself many times in the future, on shows ranging from Homicide: Life on the Street to Freaks and Geeks to Firefly). Star Trek wasn’t heavily serialized — few shows were back then — but airing this episode first has the effect of dropping viewers into the show with little beyond William Shatner‘s opening credits narration to set the scene.
