Star Trek at 50 by Egantx7

When Gene Roddenberry originally pitched the series, he described the starship captain/star as being similar to what fictional captain of the Napoleonic era created by C.S. Forester.

While Star Trek originally appeared on NBC, it was not produced by NBC. Initially, Trek was produced by this company for its first season and a half before this company was sold off to Gulf + Western to become part of Paramount Television (which produced the last season and a half). This company was founded in 1950 by a famous husband and wife team, and its name came from an amalgamation of their names. Identify this company that got Star Trek going along with series like The Untouchables and, of course, I Love Lucy

"The City on the Edge of Forever" is routinely listed as the best episode of the series (Kirk and Spock travel into the past to repair damage that a deranged McCoy has done ... only to learn that this means allowing a beloved pacifist to die so that she won't prevent U.S. entry into World War II). That pacifist, Edith Keeler, was played by this then unknown actress. Identify this actress, the sister of a best-selling author, who would make a name for herself playing Alexis Carrington on the series Dynasty.

Majel Barrett (later Majel Barrett-Roddenberry) along with Leonard Nimoy, were the only actors from "The Cage" to regularly appear in the series. In "The Cage", Barrett played the first officer, and was not given a name, but was instead called by this two word moniker which was borrowed from the Royal Navy. By what two word name was she known, the same two word nickname given to First Officer William Riker by Captain Picard on Star Trek: The Next Generation, and which will apparently be used to name the main character in the much anticipated upcoming Star Trek: Discovery?

The episode "Plato's Stepchildren" sees the crew at the mercy of telekinetic aliens who have modeled their small civilization on the teachings of the title philosopher. This episode has a historic moment between William Shatner and Nichelle Nichols, one that was guaranteed to happen when Shatner intentionally blew coverage takes that omitted this historic moment. What happened in this episode that was a first for U.S. network television (we'll be liberal on the wording).

One of the great memes to emerge from Star Trek is Dr. McCoy's oft repeated admonishment when he was asked to perform some miracle: "I'm a doctor, not a BLANK". There are six instances when McCoy used that line in the original series (once it was "I'm a surgeon, not a BLANK). Give ANY one of the words that McCoy used to fill in the blank. All of them, save one, are professions (one of them is actually a medical specialty), while the other was a mechanical conveyance that was never seen in use on the show. One job you have to think likely didn't exist in 's time, but still exists in Wyoming, West Virginia, western Pennsylvania, southern Illinois, and parts of Kentucky.

While today USS Enterprise is synonymous with Star Trek, in Gene Roddenberry's original draft, Enterprise was not the name of the starship. The starship's original draft name was this, a name shared with five previous U.S. Navy vessels. Named for an early-mid October 1781 Revolutionary War battle/siege in eastern Virginia, give this original name of the starship USS Enterprise, a name shared by the United States' sole aircraft carrier to be sunk at the Battle of Midway.

In the episode "Let That Be Your Last Battlefield", the Enterprise pick up a law enforcement officer (Bele) and a radical freedom fighter (Lokai) who have been involved in a centuries long chase. Making the least subtle point in television history about the evils of racism, the pair eventually make it home to see that both sides in their war have destroyed themselves. What was the distinguishing biological difference between the Bele and Lokai? (we'll be lenient)

When the studio began shopping around Trek to the networks, CBS was the first to show interest. After a 2 hour pitch meeting, Roddenberry was furious to hear "Thank you, we have one of our own that we like better."

What series, which ran from 1965-68, and featured a couple of slightly different themes by an unknown composer named Johnny Williams, was the "one of our own" science fiction show that was being referred to by CBS executives?

Month and numeric date needed. Whenever there was a closeup of Scotty's right hand controlling the transporter, you could be assured that this was another actor because actor James Doohan was missing the middle finger on that hand. That missing finger (and wounds in his leg and chest) came on the evening after a very long day of work as a Captain in the Royal Canadian Army. On what famous date in 1944 did Doohan get wounded after leading 120 men in helping to take Juno Beach.

Trek's original pilot (called "The Menagerie", but later re-titled "The Cage" since that became the title of a later episode) was not well received at NBC, and NBC famously paid for a second pilot episode, something that had never happened in TV history to that time. The next time this would happen would be when this series' first pilot "Justice for All" met with disappointment at ABC, prompting CBS to nab the show and commission a new pilot with the likes of Sally Struthers and Rob Reiner in supporting roles. Identify this landmark sitcom which premiered in 1971, running for nine seasons.

Chekov was created as a character for Season 2. This was largely because George Takei would be gone for nine episodes making what film with John Wayne? Considered propaganda today, the Japanese Takei portrayed a reformed member of the Viet-Minh helping the title group to win in Vietnam.