Star Trek : The Original Series Star Trek : The Original Series ( formerly called just Star Trek ) is the first " Star Trek " series . The first episode of the show aired on on CTV in Canada , followed by a airing on NBC in America . The show was created by Gene Roddenberry as a " to the Stars " . " Star Trek " was set in the 23rd century and featured the voyages of the starship " Enterprise " . " Star Trek " was later , or TOS , after several spin - offs aired . The show lasted three seasons until canceled in . When the show first aired on TV , and until lowering budget issues in its third season resulted in a noticable drop in quality episodes and placed in a 10pm Friday night death slot by the network , " Star Trek " regularly performed respectably in its time slot . After it was canceled and went into syndication , however , its popularity exploded . It featured themes such as a Utopian society and racial equality , and the first African - American officer in a recurring role . Ten years later , reunited the cast on the big screen aboard a refurbished USS " Enterprise " . They appeared in five subsequent films , ending with in 1991 , during production of the spin - off series and shortly before Gene Roddenberry ' s death . Several original series characters also appeared in the seventh movie , , and in other " Star Trek " productions . Summary . " " Space : the final frontier . These are the voyages of the starship " Enterprise " . Its five - year mission : to explore strange new worlds , to seek out new life and new civilizations , to boldly go where no man has gone before . " " Main cast . Also starring . In addition , the following regulars were listed in the end credits as co - stars : Episode list . Season 1 . TOS Season 1 , 29 episodes : Season 2 . TOS Season 2 , 26 episodes : Season 3 . TOS Season 3 , 24 episodes : Behind the scenes . Concept . " Star Trek " was created by Gene Roddenberry , whose interest in science fiction dated back to the 1940s when he came into contact with " Astounding Stories " . Roddenberry ' s first produced science fiction story was " The Secret Weapon of 117 " , which aired in 1956 on the Chevron Theatre anthology show . By Roddenberry was producing his first television series , " The Lieutenant " , at MGM . In 1963 , MGM was of the opinion that " true - to - life " television dramas were becoming less popular and an action - adventure show would be more profitable ( this prediction turned out to be right , and led to series such as " The Man from U . N . C . L . E " ) . Roddenberry had already been working on a science fiction concept called " Star Trek " since , and when he told MGM about his ideas , they were willing to take a look at them . As the production of " The Lieutenant " came to an end , Roddenberry delivered his first " Star Trek " draft to MGM . The studio was , however , not enthusiastic about the concept , and a series was never produced . Roddenberry tried to sell his " wagon train to the stars " format to several production studios afterward , but to no avail . In , it was rumored that Desilu was interested in buying a new television series . Desilu was a much smaller company than MGM , but Roddenberry took his chances , greatly aided with the help of Desilu Executive Herb Solow . This led to a three - year deal with Desilu in . The first attempt to sell the " Star Trek " format to broadcasting network CBS ( Desilu had a first proposal deal with the network ) failed . CBS chose another science fiction project , ' s more family - oriented " Lost in Space " instead of Roddenberry ' s more cerebral approach . But in , NBC ' s Vice - President of Programming Mort Werner agreed to give Roddenberry the chance to write three story outlines , one of which NBC would select to turn into a pilot . One of the submitted story lines , dated , was an outline for , and this was the story picked up by NBC . Now , the daunting task that Roddenberry and his crew faced was to develop the " Star Trek " universe from scratch . Roddenberry recruited many people around him to help think up his version of the future . The RAND Corporation ' s Harvey P . Lynn acted as a scientific consultant , Pato Guzman was hired as art director , with Matt Jefferies as an assisting production designer . This phase of creativity and brainstorming lasted throughout the summer , until in the last week of the final draft of the " The Cage " script was delivered to NBC , after which shooting of the pilot was approved . The first pilot . In early October , preparations for shooting " The Cage " began . A few changes in the production crew were made : Roddenberry hired Morris Chapnick , who had worked with him on " The Lieutenant " , as his assistant . Pato Guzman left to return to Chile and was replaced by Franz Bachelin . Matt Jefferies finalized the design for the " Enterprise " and various props and interiors . By , the sets were ready to be constructed on stages Culver Studios Stage 14 , 15 , and 16 . Roddenberry was not happy with the stages , since they had uneven floors and were not soundproof , as Culver Studios had been established in the silent movie era when soundproofing had not been an issue to consider . Eventually , in , the rest of the series was shot on Paramount stages 9 and 10 , which were in better shape . Casting of the characters was not a problem , apart from the lead role of Captain Pike ( still known as " Captain April " at this point , later renamed " Captain Winter " before finally choosing " Pike " ) who Roddenberry convinced Jeffrey Hunter to play . Leonard Nimoy ( Spock ) had worked with Roddenberry on " The Lieutenant " . Majel Barrett , also a familiar face from " The Lieutenant " , got the part of the ship ' s female first officer , Number One . Veteran character actor John Hoyt , who had worked on many science fiction and fantasy projects before , was chosen to play the role of Doctor Phillip Boyce . Young Peter Duryea and Laurel Goodwin were hired as José Tyler and Yeoman J . M . Colt , respectively . The extras were cast from a diversity of ethnic groups , which was significant because integration was not a usual occurrence in 1960s television , and segregation was still a reality in the United States . To produce the pilot episode , Robert Justman was hired as assistant director ; he had worked on shortly before . Makeup artist Fred Phillips was brought in as well , whose first job it was to create Spock ' s ears . Another veteran from " The Outer Limits " was producer - director Byron Haskin , who joined as associate producer . On , the first scenes of " The Cage " ( or " The Menagerie , " as it was briefly known ) , were shot . Filming was scheduled to be eleven days , however the production went highly over budget and over schedule , resulting in sixteen shooting days and US $ 164 , 248 plus expenses . But there were still a lot of visual effects to be made . An eleven - foot filming model of the , designed by Matt Jefferies , was built by Richard Datin , Mel Keys , and Vernon Sion in Volmer Jensen ' s model shop , and was delivered to the Howard Anderson Company on . In , the final version of " The Cage " was delivered at NBC and screened in New York City . NBC officials liked the first pilot . Desilu ' s Herb Solow says that NBC was surprised by how realistic it looked , and that it was " the most fantastic thing we ' ve ever seen . " The reason the pilot was rejected was because it was believed that it would attract only a small audience , and they wanted more action and adventure . They also had problems with the " satanic " Spock and the female first officer ( Number One ) . However , NBC was convinced that " Star Trek " could be made into a television series , and that NBC itself had been at fault for choosing the " The Cage " script from the original three stories pitched . Also , after spending US $ 630 , 000 on " The Cage " ( the most expensive TV pilot at the time ) , they didn ' t want to have their money wasted . NBC then made the unprecedented move to order a second pilot . The second pilot . For the second pilot , NBC requested three story outlines again . These were by Samuel A . Peeples , and and by Roddenberry . Although it was the most expensive of the three , NBC chose , as it had the most action and most outer space spectacle . However , the other two premises were also made into episodes of the series later . Filming the second pilot began in , and took nine days to complete . The entire cast of was replaced except Spock . Jeffrey Hunter chose not to reprise his role as Captain Pike , mostly by the advice of his wife , who felt that " science fiction ruins her husband ' s career " . Roddenberry wanted both Lloyd Bridges and Jack Lord for the role of the new captain , however both declined . Finally William Shatner , who had previous science fiction experience acting in episodes of " The Twilight Zone " and " The Outer Limits " , was chosen . The new captain was named James R . Kirk ( later renamed James T . Kirk ) . For the role of the chief medical officer , Roddenberry chose veteran actor Paul Fix . Canadian actor James Doohan got the role of chief engineer Scott , and young Japanese - American George Takei was featured as ship ' s physicist Sulu . The latter two reprised their roles in the upcoming series , though Sulu would be a helmsman in the series . Other actors considered for being regulars were Lloyd Haynes as communications officer Alden and Andrea Dromm as Yeoman , but neither of them were re - hired after the pilot . Many of the production staff were replaced . Robert Dawn served as head make - up artist , however Fred Phillips returned to the position in the series itself . Academy Award winner cinematographer Ernest Haller came out of semi - retirement to work as the director of photography . Associate producer Byron Haskin was replaced by Robert Justman , who now shared double duties as producer and assistant director . The " Enterprise " model was updated for the second pilot , and many new outer space effects shots were made , most of which were reused in the series itself . The sets were also updated a bit , most notably the main bridge and the transporter room . Most of the uniforms , props , and sets were reused from , however some new props ( including the never - seen - again phaser rifle ) and a brand new matte painting ( the planet Delta Vega ) were made specially for this episode . The series begins . Preparation for the first regular season began in early . All the " Enterprise " interior sets were updated , as well as the introduction of brand new uniforms . The look of the show became more colorful and more vivid . The " Enterprise " model was also updated once more . Also , the entire production was moved from Desilu ' s Culver City studios to the main Gower Street studio ' s Stage 9 and 10 ( Paramount Stage 31 and 32 from 1967 onwards ) in Hollywood . Kirk ( Shatner ) and Spock ( Nimoy ) were kept as the series stars , with Grace Lee Whitney joining the two as Yeoman Janice Rand ( replacing Andrea Dromm as Yeoman Smith ) . Whitney had worked with Roddenberry a year before on an unsold pilot titled " Police Story " . Publicity photos promoting the new series were made at this time , with the three of them , mostly using props left from the two pilots ( most notably the aforementioned phaser rifle ) . Shatner and Nimoy wore their new uniforms on these photographs , while Whitney had to wear an old , pilot version . Scott ( Doohan ) and Sulu ( Takei ) were also kept , the latter becoming the ship ' s helmsman instead of physicist . Two additions made the " Enterprise " main crew complete : DeForest Kelley was hired to play the new chief medical officer , Leonard McCoy , as Roddenberry had known him from previous projects , including the aforementioned " Police Story " . Actress Nichelle Nichols got the role of communications officer Uhura , who became a symbol of the racial and gender diversity of the show . Nichols was a last minute addition , weeks before filming began on the first regular episode . Jerry Finnerman became the new director of photography , while Fred Phillips , Matt Jefferies , and Rolland M . Brooks returned to their former positions . Writer John D . F . Black was brought in as the second associate producer ( next to Justman ) . While Roddenberry and Black handled the script and story issues , Justman was in charge of the physical aspects of production . Filming of the first regular episode , began on . Finally " Star Trek " debuted on NBC with a " Sneak Preview " episode at 8 : 30 pm ( EST ) on . NBC chose ( the fifth episode in production order ) to air first , mainly because they felt it was more of a " traditional monster story " and featured more action . The first season . In , several changes were made in the " Star Trek " production staff . Roddenberry stepped down as line producer and became the executive producer . His replacement was Gene L . Coon , who also regularly contributed to the series as a writer . While Black had also left the series , story editor Steven W . Carabatsos came in , sharing story duties with Roddenberry and Coon . To handle post - production , Edward K . Milkis was brought in by Justman . Carabatsos had left " Star Trek " near the end of the season , and was replaced by D . C . Fontana , formerly Roddenberry ' s secretary and a writer for the series . Background information . Remastered . On , CBS Paramount Television announced that , in celebration of the 40th anniversary of " Star Trek " , the show would return to broadcast syndication for the first time in sixteen years . The series ' 79 episodes were digitally remastered with all new visual effects and music . The refurbished episodes have been converted from the original film to high - definition video , making it on par with modern television formats .