Gene Roddenberry

As my friend and The Flickcast podcast co-host Joe Dilworth pointed out recently, it was supposedly about 50 years ago (on or about March 11) that Star Trek creator Gene Roddenberry first put pen to paper (or fingers to typewriter) and wrote a proposal for a new sci-fi TV series.

His first words? “Star Trek is . . .”

Since that day his creation has spawned several TV series, a bunch of movies, action figures, models, conventions and whole generations of adults of all ages all over the world who dreamed of boldly going where no one has gone before. Those words, and the resulting TV series, had power . . . Power to entertain, to inform, to spark debate and highlight the important social and political issues of the time. Plus, the show was just plain fun.

I’m sure we’ll start to see all sorts of tributes and honors for this amazing and groundbreaking TV series, and the phenomenon it became, as the actual 50th anniversary of the original series, which first aired in 1966, hits in 2016. Until then, let me put in my two cents now and say “Thank You” to Gene Roddenberry and Star Trek for the countless hours of fun and entertainment.