That's right kids, for the first time in living color, I present my page in tribute to the man who revolutionized the way we speak english, William Shatner!
In 1966, he was asked to take the role that had previously been offered to Lloyd Bridges and Jack Lord. He took the role and has since been known as your favorite intergalactic gigolo and mine Capt. James Tiberious Kirk.
The show went on for 3 years on NBC. Much of that time, the show was being savagely beaten in the ratings. The show went off the air in 1969. It was after this time that the show took off, With the wonder of syndication, the series acheived a success it hadn't in it's intiial run.
By the time the mid seventies came about, the show has proven such a big hit that it spawned an animated series, a format that gave the creators more freedom to design more creatures, and a Star Trek convention was held. The unprecedented sucess of a little film called Star Wars brought talk of starting a whole new Star Trek series.
During the late seventies, production commenced on Star Trek II, the series about a new five year mission. Plans for the show were scrapped after Shatner convinced Nimoy, who had a big grudge with Rodddenberry at the time, to also appear. So in 1980, Star Trek The Motion Picture was released. It had proven to be a huge success and reignited the franchise.
Throughout the eighties, the film series proved to be a big money winner for Paramount and company. So much so that a new spin off series, Star Trek The Next Generation, a show which featured an Enterprise 80 years in the future, was shown on syndicated tv on 1987. After 6 films, Shanter said good bye to the character(on screen anyways) in Star Trek Generations, which prominatly featured the TNG cast. Shatner continues to write books about Kirk after the film in continuity, That's right! He didn't stay dead folks!
