50 years later, ‘Star Trek’ still boldly going

The story is well-known – it’s part of entertainment folklore, in fact.

On Sept. 8, 1966, a science fiction show called “Star Trek” debuted on NBC. Pitched by creator Gene Roddenberry as “ ‘Wagon Train’ to the stars” (what with the extreme popularity of Westerns at the time), “Star Trek” was disliked by critics from the first episode and struggled to find an audience.

The audience it did find, however, was devout, creating a pop culture romance that would quite literally redefine what fandom meant.

Saved from near-cancellation in its second season by a letter-writing campaign, the program limped along for three seasons (check out the last one to see what a show looks like after its budget has been slashed) and 79 episodes before being put out of its commercial misery.

And that, most folks involved thought, was that.

Except it’s 50 years later, and we’re all still talking about it.

Thanks to vigorously syndicated reruns, the audience for “Star Trek” exploded. There were novels and toys and games and more novels. The first “Star Trek” convention was held in 1972, three years after the show was axed.

An animated version ran from 1972 to 1974. The movie franchise started in 1979: 13 films, of greatly varying quality, have been made. A new TV show, “Star Trek: The Next Generation” appeared in 1987, followed by “Star Trek: Deep Space Nine,” “Star Trek: Voyager” and “Star Trek: Enterprise,” which ended in 2005. For 18 years, there was at least one “Star Trek” show on television, and often two. A new series, “Star Trek: Discovery,” is due in January.

As of its 50th anniversary, Roddenberry’s little sci-fi show that (initially) couldn’t has sprawled into 726 television episodes, 13 movies, more than 400 novels, more than 100 games (tabletop, role-playing, pinball, card and video), 16 comic book series and millions of fans across the globe.