The Emmys could not ignore Star Trek, either. And that, in itself, was newsworthy. Science fiction had never been favored by the Academy of Television Arts and Sciences, The Twilight Zone being the only exception, nominated as Best Dramatic Series for one of its five seasons on CBS. Only one. Rod Serling also received two Emmys for Outstanding Writing, and was nominated for a third. But the other writers, including Richard Matheson, Jerry Sohl, and George Clayton Johnson, had been ignored. As were the directors. As were the composers. As were the set designers and makeup artists. As were the special effects technicians. As were the guest performers. As was the host. The Outer Limits was snubbed far worse. During its two-year run, the series garnered only one nomination at the Emmys: Jack Poplin was considered in the category of Best Art Direction. All else involved with this stylistic series were, in the eyes of the Academy, unworthy of recognition. But things were changing.
Leonard Nimoy recalled being at home with his wife on Monday, May 1, when he received a telegram from The Academy of Television Arts & Sciences. He was so surprised and overcome by the news that he joined his wife in doing a very un-Spock-like thing -- he cried. Nimoy, and Spock, had been nominated for an Emmy.
The actor later said, “I thought, ‘Whoa. Wow. What a thrill.’ Particularly because the nominations are done by your fellow actors, and I thought, ‘They're getting it, they can see what I'm doing.’ It just really moved me deeply.” (128-18)
The press revealed the complete list of nominations the following day.
In the hybrid category of Individual Achievement in Art Direction and Allied Crafts, Star Trek’s Jim Rugg and his “Mechanical Special Effects” competed against those of Voyage to the Bottom of the Sea, the Make Up for “Mark Twain Tonight,” the Make Up and Costume Design for “Alice Through the Looking Glass,” as well as the Art Direction and Set Decoration for “Death of a Salesman.” It was a strange mix of apples and oranges.
In the category of Cinematography, Jerry Finnerman’s excellent work was ignored. In fact, only one Cinematographer was nominated, for the overly-bright lighting and run-of-the-mill camera work on Bonanza, and strangely, this was in competition against the Photographic Special Effects of L.B. Abbot for The Time Tunnel and Voyage to the Bottom of the Sea, and The Howard Anderson Company, for Star Trek.
In the category of Film and Sound Editing, Douglas H. Grindstaff was again acknowledged (as he had been by MPSE), and was pitted against a pair of film editors from Mission: Impossible, and a team of four sound editors who collaborated on Voyage to the Bottom of the Sea.
Nimoy’s name showed-up in the category of Best Supporting Dramatic Actor, competing against Leo G. Carroll for The Man from U.N.C.L.E., and Eli Wallach, for the dramatic special, “The Poppy Is Also a Flower.” The character NBC had originally wanted off the series, the satanic-looking half-human that the network feared would alienate viewers in the South, was now acknowledged as a true contender.
The biggest surprise regarded the biggest trophy -- Star Trek, the most nominated science fiction series for a single year in the history of television, was being considered for the all-important category of Outstanding Dramatic Series, against I Spy, Run for Your Life, The Avengers, and Mission: Impossible. Win or lose, this was historic -- no science fiction program had ever been nominated, let alone perceived, as a Best Drama.
The 19th Annual Emmy Award ceremony took place on June 4, 1967. It was an important night for Desilu. Star Trek entered the room with its five nominations. The Lucy Show had garnered three, including one for the boss lady herself. Mission: Impossible had six. With these three shows, the little studio trying so hard to prove something to the industry had 14 nods from its peers.
Roddenberry, Coon, Justman, and Nimoy were there in their rented tuxedos, with their wives decked-out in recently-purchased gowns, all seated at the Desilu table. Herb Solow was also present, sitting close to the other nominees: Lucy and Gale Gordon from The Lucy Show, and members of the Impossible Missions Force, including creator Bruce Geller, producer Joe Gantman, and stars Martin Landau and Barbara Bain.
The technical awards came first. Jim Rugg, an apple in that apples and oranges category, lost to a pair of oranges, the prize being shared between Costume Design for “Alice Through the Looking Glass” and Make Up for “Mark Twain Tonight.” The Howard Anderson Company lost to Irwin Allen’s effects guru, for his work on The Time Tunnel and Voyage to the Bottom of the Sea. And Douglas Grindstaff gave it up to the team from Voyage to the Bottom of the Sea. There was little surprise when Leonard Nimoy and Leo G. Carroll watched Eli Wallach give the acceptance speech for Best Supporting Actor. As for Best Drama, even the Star Trek people were betting on I Spy or Mission: Impossible. The former, clearly the favorite for television’s top prize, had won the Golden Globe award earlier in the year as Best Series on TV.
A big night for Lucy and Desilu – 14 nominations, 5 wins
Even though Star Trek was not to go home a winner, this was nonetheless Desilu’s night. Mission: Impossible was the big winner, not just as Outstanding Dramatic Series, but also for Outstanding Continued Performance by an Actress in a Leading Role in a Dramatic Series, Outstanding Writing Achievement in Drama, and Outstanding Achievements in Film and Sound Editing. No other show took home this many awards in 1967. And while The Lucy Show won only a single Emmy, it was the one that counted the most, at least to Lucy. She was crowned the funniest gal in television.
Herb Solow remembered, “Bruce Geller, Barbara Bain, and Mission Producer Joe Gantman had already removed their dessert plates and proudly positioned their glistening gold Emmys before them. Roddenberry, Coon, and Justman, having little choice, continued trying to enjoy their desserts.” (161-3)
It was unlikely that Star Trek was going to be able to deliver all four of the final first season episodes ordered by NBC, as announced by Daily Variety on December 9. “The City on the Edge of Forever” and “Operation: Annihilate!” -- episodes 28 and 29, respectively -were both a week late in delivery to the network. “The Alternative Factor,” the botched episode intended to be the final new show to air, had to be pulled forward on the broadcast list to No. 27. The scripts for Paul Schneider’s “Tomorrow the Universe” and Theodore Sturgeon’s “Amok Time,” both commissioned in December, and D.C. Fontana’s “Friday’s Child,” in development during January of 1967, were not going to be ready in time to keep Desilu Stages 9 and 10 from going dark for at least a couple weeks, thereby costing the studio substantial monetary losses. At the studio’s request, NBC cut its order back to 29 episodes. That final episode (“Operation: Annihilate!”) wrapped on February 22 and aired on April 13, 1967.
Robert Justman was delegated the task (or given the honor) of selecting which first season episodes would repeat on NBC. Of course, he took in consideration suggestions from Roddenberry, and from NBC, and from the fans, based on their letters to the show.
“The Man Trap,” the first episode to air, was the first to not make the rerun list. According to A.C. Nielsen, more people had seen this Star Trek than any other, so, in Justman’s mind, why watch it again? The mixed -- but mostly bad -- reviews “Man Trap” garnered after that much-watched premier also factored into Justman’s decision.
“The Enemy Within,” a well-received episode by fans and critics alike, was not in such great favor at the network, due to Captain Kirk’s alter-ego’s attempted rape of Yeoman Rand. It also presented a continuity problem. Now that it was established that the Enterprise carried shuttlecraft, viewers might well wonder why one wasn’t used to rescue Sulu and his landing party from the freezing planet. Despite this, the creative staff was proud of “Enemy” and it did make the first list of potential repeats Justman submitted to NBC in late March, 1967. A week later, on April 4, it was removed from the roster and replaced with “The Devil in the Dark,” an episode that Roddenberry, at this time, did not care for, but which NBC regarded highly.
“Dagger of the Mind” was an episode the creative staff and the NBC programmer
s didn’t seem to particularly like or dislike. It merely was. And, so, it was merely omitted.
“The Conscience of the King” was, for the most part, liked by the staff, but not by Stan Robertson at NBC, who found it completely lacking in action or adventure.
“The Galileo Seven” cost a good chunk of money to make, but many at Star Trek, Leonard Nimoy included, felt separating Kirk and Spock in the way this story did was, by and large, an experiment gone wrong.
“Court Martial,” based on the fan mail, was well-liked. The staff, however, considered it a “dog.”
“Errand of Mercy,” which gave us our introduction to the Klingons, and the surprise ending involving the true nature of the Organians, was liked by many, but not by Justman. It didn’t make the cut.
“The Alternative Factor,” a rare case where creative staff, NBC, and the fans were in complete agreement, was the first season’s one undeniable misfire. The gutting of the subplot -- the love story between white Lazarus and a black female engineering officer -- was one reason for the failure. The other, of course, was the last minute recasting caused by the sudden departure of John Drew Barrymore. All involved wanted to forget this Trek.
“Operation: Annihilate!” was the final dropout. It is certainly not a bad episode. But the creative staff had struggled with the cluttered script and never felt confident that they had worked all the bugs out.
Of the 21 episodes to repeat, Justman had his reasons for sequencing them as he did. In a memo to Roddenberry, he wrote, “Hopefully, it would be to our advantage to be able to schedule ‘Miri’ just after school vacation starts. And I believe that ‘Arena’ would be the right kind of show to schedule either just before or just after the Fourth of July Holiday.”
With these two episodes, Justman was aiming toward a young audience. With others, he was vying for the TV Guide CLOSE-UP listing. Looking ahead at the other network’s planned competition, and certain Thursday nights when it appeared ABC and CBS had little to brag about, he scheduled episodes he believed to be both excellent and highly promotable, hoping to catch the eye of the TV Guide critics and be regarded as the night’s most outstanding program. He guessed wrong on the nights he scheduled “The Corbomite Maneuver,” “The Naked Time,” “The Menagerie, Part 1,” and “Tomorrow Is Yesterday” -all episodes he believed deserved to be singled-out. But Star Trek struck gold when the top-selling magazine in America put a spotlight on the repeats of “Shore Leave,” “Balance of Terror,” and “This Side of Paradise” as well as the late-season first run of “The City on the Edge of Forever.” No other series snagged as many CLOSE-UP listings from TV Guide during the Spring and Summer months of 1967 than Star Trek.
The rerun season began as perhaps the first-run season should have, with the series’ second pilot.
RATINGS / Nielsen 30-Market report for Thursday, April 20, 1967:
Repeat episode, “Where No Man Has Gone Before.”
When first shown in September 1966, “Where No Man Has Gone Before” won its time slot. Now it came in second for the first half-hour, and tied at first place for the finale.
Of the competition, Star Trek had a new opponent at 9 p.m. On ABC, flip-flopping with Love on a Rooftop and now beginning 30 minutes earlier, was That Girl, a quirky sitcom about the exploits of aspiring actress Ann Marie (Marlo Thomas) and her New York City writer/boyfriend (Ted Bessell). On CBS was 1961's A Raisin in the Sun, starring Sidney Poitier.
But Star Trek remained a strong contender. Yet it was in danger of being cancelled.
In the early Summer of 1967, A.C. Nielsen compiled a Top 10 list of the highest-rated series with teenages between ages 12 and 17 (the most desirable demographic for sponsors), throughout for the month of April, during the network “sweeps” period. The shows ranked as follows:
Bonanza (NBC)
The Beverly Hillbillies (CBS)
I Spy (NBC)
Gomer Pyle, U.S.M.C. (CBS)
All Star Basketball (six-game playoff series) (ABC)
Family Affair (CBS)
Thursday Night Movie (CBS)
The Avengers (ABC)
Star Trek (NBC)
Green Acres (CBS)
One must wonder why a network would consider cancelling a Top 40 series (which was Top 10 with teens), that was almost always a solid second place entry in the ratings for its timeslot, and which often hit the No. 1 spot.
The answers and the most surprising Star Trek stories follow in the second volume of These Are the Voyages.
STAR TREK first season broadcast schedule:
Air Date: Title:
9/8/66 The Man Trap
9/15/66 Charlie X
9/22/66 Where No Man Has Gone Before
9/29/66 The Naked Time
10/6/66 The Enemy Within
10/13/66 Mudd’s Women
10/20/66 What Are Little Girls Made Of?
10/27/66 Miri
11/3/66 Dagger of the Mind
11/10/66 The Corbomite Maneuver
11/17/66 The Menagerie, Part 1
11/24/66 The Menagerie, Part 2
12/1/66 (pre-emption) - Jack Benny Special
12/8/66 The Conscience of the King
12/15/66 Balance of Terror
12/22/66 (repeat) - What Are Little Girls Made Of?
12/29/66 Shore Leave
1/5/67 The Galileo Seven
1/12/67 The Squire of Gothos
1/19/67 Arena
1/26/67 Tomorrow Is Yesterday
2/2/67 Court Martial
2/9/67 The Return of the Archons
2/16/67 Space Seed
2/23/67 A Taste of Armageddon
3/9/67 This Side of Paradise
3/9/67 The Devil in the Dark
3/16/67 (pre-emption) – Ringling Brothers Circus Special
3/23/67 Errand of Mercy
3/30/67 The Alternative Factor
4/6/67 The City on the Edge of Forever (TV Guide CLOSE-UP listing)
4/13/67 Operation: Annihilate!
4/20/67 (repeat) – Where No Man Has Gone Before
4/27/67 (repeat) – The Naked Time
5/4/67 (repeat) – Mudd’s Women
5/11/67 (repeat) – The Corbomite Maneuver
5//18/67 (repeat) – The Menagerie, Part 1
5/25/67 (repeat) – The Menagerie, Part 2
6/1/67 (repeat) – Charlie X
6/8/67 (repeat) – Shore Leave (TV Guide CLOSE-UP listing)
6/15/67 (repeat) – The Devil in the Dark
6/22/67 (repeat) – The Squire of Gothos
6/29/67 (repeat) – Miri
7/6/67 (repeat) – Arena
7/13/67 (repeat) – Tomorrow is Yesterday
7/20/67 (repeat) – A Taste of Armageddon
7/27/67 (repeat) – The Return of the Archons
8/3/67 (repeat) – Balance of Terror (TV Guide CLOSE-UP listing)
8/10/67 (repeat) – This Side of Paradise (TV Guide CLOSE-UP listing)
8/17/67 (pre-emption) – Music special: “An Evening at Tanglewood”
8/24/67 (repeat) – Space Seed
8/31/67 (repeat) – The City on the Edge of Forever
9/7/67 (pre-emption) – GE Theatre special: “Damn Yankees”
BIBLIOGRAPHY
WEBSITES:
www.startrekpropauthority.com
www.memorayalpha.com
www.startrek.com
www.startrekhistory.com
www.trekcore.com
orionpress/unseenelements
BOOKS:
Beam Me Up, Scotty, by James Doohan with Peter David (Pocket Books, December 1996).
Beyond Uhura: Star Trek and Other Memories, by Nichelle Nichols (G.P. Putnam’s Sons, 1994).
Best of Enterprise Incidents, The, edited by James Van Hise (Pioneer Books, 1990).
Best of Trek, The, edited by Walter Irwin and G.B. Love (Signet Books, April 1978).
Best of Trek #2, The, edited by Walter Irwin and G.B. Love (Signet Books, March 1980).
Boarding the E
nterprise, by David Gerrold and Robert J. Sawyer (Benbella Books, 2006).
Boldly Writing: A Trekker Fan and Zine History, 1967-1987, by Joan Marie Verba (FTL Publications, 1996).
Captains’ Logs, by Edward Gross and Mark A. Altman (Little, Brown and Company, 1995).
City on the Edge of Forever, The, by Harlan Ellison (White Wolf Publishing, September 1996).
Desilu: The Story of Lucille Ball and Desi Arnaz, by Coyne Steven Sanders and Tom Gilbert (Quill / William Morris, 1993).
Encyclopedia of Trekkie Memorabilia, by Chris Gentry & Sally Gibson-Downs (Books Americana, 1988).
From Sawdust to Stardust: The Biography of DeForest Kelley, by Terry Lee Rioux (Pocket Books, February 2005).
Gene Roddenberry: The Last Conversation, by Yvonne Fern (University of California Press, 1994).
Gene Roddenberry: The Myth and the Man Behind Star Trek, by Joel Engel (Hyperion, 1994).
Great Birds of the Galaxy, by Edward Gross and Mark A. Altman (BoxTree Limited, 1994).
Greenberg’s Guide to Star Trek Collectibles, by Christine Gentry and Sally Gibson-Downs (Greenberg Publishing, 1991).
I Am Not Spock, by Leonard Nimoy (Celestial Arts, November 1975).
I Am Spock, by Leonard Nimoy (Hyperion, 1996).
Inside Star Trek: The Real Story, by Herbert F. Solow and Robert H. Justman (Pocket Books, June 1996).
Longest Trek: My Tour of the Galaxy, The, by Grace Lee Whitney with Jim Denney (Quill Driver Books / World Dancer Press, 1998).
Making of Star Trek, The, by Stephen E. Whitfield and Gene Roddenberry (Ballantine Books, September 1968).
Music of Star Trek, The, by Jeff Bond (Lone Eagle Publishing, 1999).
On the Good Ship Enterprise: My 15 Years with Star Trek, by Bjo Trimble (The Donning Company / Publishers, 1983).
Shatner: Where No Man …, by William Shatner, Sondra Marshak and Myrna Culbreath (Temp Star Books, 1979).
These Are The Voyages, TOS, Season One Page 100
