<\/p>\n
\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0If you are not a hardcore <\/span>Star Trek<\/span><\/i> fan, then you have no reason to recognize the name Bjo Trimble. \u00a0If you are a red (or perhaps green) blooded <\/span>Trekkie<\/span><\/i>, then you probably already know that she is the woman who saved the program from being canceled after its second season. \u00a0She had a lot of help, but she was definitely the sparkplug who made it happen. Writing about the television series that most certainly \u201cboldly went where no one had gone before,\u201d William Shatner paid Trimble her due when he revisited the iconic TV series\u2019 gestation and three year run on the NBC network twenty five years after the program first aired (<\/span>Star Trek Memories<\/span><\/i> by William Shatner with Chris Kreski – Harper\/Collins 1993).<\/span><\/p>\n \u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0Bjo Trimble knew nothing about <\/span>Star Trek<\/span><\/i> in August of 1966. \u00a0She was busy organizing a \u2018futuristic fashion show\u2019 for the largest Sci-Fi gathering of the time, the twenty five year old Tricon convention in Cleveland, Ohio. \u00a0<\/span>Star Trek<\/span><\/i> creator Gene Roddenberry had asked if he could screen his soon to be aired TV series and volunteered to bring along a few costumes from the show. \u00a0Trimble had been told she had one hour and one hour only to showcase her twenty futuristic outfits. She had everything timed out perfectly, except nobody told her Roddenberry was coming. \u00a0Bjo was not a happy camper, but Gene turned on the Irish charm and offered to buy her a cup of coffee so they could discuss getting his props into the show. According to Trimble, \u201cI didn\u2019t really want to give in, but Gene was persistent, charming, and at one point, he even showed me his costumes by having three local models parade them in front of me. \u00a0I can still remember that one of these costumes was the one that Sherry Jackson wore in <\/span>What Are Little Girls Made Of<\/span><\/i>? and that the model who wore it actually had to spend most of her evening beating men off with a stick.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n \u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0The costumes were a hit, but Roddenberry was still sweating about screening the pilot. \u00a0At one point, he asked a large, loud man to pipe down during \u2018his pilot\u2019, only to be told later that he had just insulted Isaac Asimov. \u00a0As the screening wound to an end, Roddenberry was mortified when there wasn\u2019t any ovation offered by the auditorium full of Sci-Fi fans. He apparently didn\u2019t realize that they were too busy taking in the credits to see who was responsible for what they had just witnessed. \u00a0Roddenberry was greatly relieved when the room erupted in wild applause when the credit scroll ended. He dashed off a telegram to the production team in LA: \u201c<\/span>Star Trek <\/span><\/i>hit of the convention. \u00a0Voted best ever. Received standing ovation. \u00a0Gene R.\u201d He didn\u2019t happen to mention that his first rocky encounter with Bjo Trimble had forged a bond that would pay the show big dividends in the future. \u00a0He also didn\u2019t mention insulting Asimov who, despite his \u2018introduction\u2019 to the <\/span>Star Trek<\/span><\/i> universe via a shushing from Roddenberry, became a big supporter of the TV series.<\/span><\/p>\n \u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0To understand Trimble\u2019s role in getting <\/span>Star Trek<\/span><\/i> renewed for a third season, a short primer on the show is necessary. \u00a0It began in the mind of ex-World War II pilot Gene Roddenberry. Gene was fascinated with nickle science fiction magazines as a youth and started pondering some sort of literary career during the large amount of down time he had as a Pan Am pilot flying the \u2018low man on the totem pole\u2019 routes across the Pacific Ocean. \u00a0A career change to Los Angeles policeman put him closer to the action in terms of selling stories for that emerging entertainment medium called television. He got his first big break by visiting a popular watering hole frequented by agents. He drove up on his police motorcycle with the lights blazing and the siren blaring. \u00a0He strode into the bar in full regalia and sought out a particular agent named Irving Lazar. He handed him a packet containing examples of his work and left the gawking, slacked jawed agents in his wake. It was the kind of dramatic introduction that allowed Roddenberry to get a foot in the door because without an agent pitching his work, he would have ended up a full time cop and part time writer.<\/span><\/p>\n \u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0Writing scripts and teleplays isn\u2019t an exact science so there are more story outlines that find the circular file than get turned into teleplays. \u00a0Teleplays may survive to become pilots, but unless the pilot makes an impression on the suits who will sign off on it becoming a series or TV movie, it can die even if it is a great story. \u00a0This is precisely what happened to the first <\/span>Star Trek<\/span><\/i> pilot \u00a0Roddenberry filmed after jumping through all the hoops needed to sell NBC on his \u2018<\/span>Wagon Train<\/span><\/i> to the stars\u2019 concept. \u00a0After the whole <\/span>Star Trek<\/span><\/i> framework from ship to crew to mission had been worked up, \u00a0the NBC executives watched the pilot episode. They loved it – but they didn\u2019t buy it.<\/span><\/p>\n \u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0In the conventional TV wisdom of 1963, it was deemed to be \u2018too cerebral\u2019 for the average TV watcher (meaning \u201ctoo much thinking involved and not enough action\u201d). \u00a0Ordinarily, this would have signalled the death of <\/span>Star Trek,<\/span><\/i> but NBC surprised Roddenberry by authorizing a second pilot with \u2018conditions\u2019. \u00a0The first was that it could not cost a nickel more than $300,000 (the first pilot clocked in at a modest $686,000). \u00a0Secondly, they had to reuse as many of the sets from the first pilot as they could (thus saving more money). Lastly, he must recast the entire crew, including his girl friend Majel Barrett (who played a no-nonsense second in command referred to as Number One) and a half-human\/half Vulcan character named Mr. Spock. \u00a0Roddenberry agreed to two and one half of these conditions, but he needed the Spock character to remind viewers that this was the story about an interplanetary spacecraft. After some tricky negotiations where he promised to dump the Number One character and keep Mr. Spock in the background, Roddenberry pressed on with writing the action packed second pilot. \u00a0It should be noted that cutting his girl friend wasn\u2019t as cold blooded as it sounds: Barrett returned as nurse Chappel and has hung around long enough to be cast in just about all of the various spin offs in the <\/span>Star Trek<\/span><\/i> universe.<\/span><\/p>\n \u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0It was during the recasting phase that characters familiar to Trekkies began to appear: \u00a0DeForest Kelley signed on as Dr. McCoy (although he had been offered the Spock character for the first pilot), George Takei as Mr. Sulu, Nichelle Nichols as Lt. Uhura, and James Doohan as Chief Engineer Montgomery Scott. \u00a0Roddenberry had written and produced a serial called <\/span>The Lieutenant<\/span><\/i> prior to the development of <\/span>Star Trek<\/span><\/i>. \u00a0All of the principles listed above had appeared on that show in some capacity. \u00a0All they needed was a leading man and for that Roddenberry turned to an upcoming Canadian actor named William Shatner. \u00a0They spent the next year inventing the <\/span>Star Trek<\/span><\/i> universe and when they screened the second pilot in early 1966, the suits loved it and immediately placed it on the fall schedule. \u00a0While Roddenberry agreed to all the conditions that had been laid down by NBC to get his show picked up, he had no intention of hiding his secret weapon in the background. \u00a0He did resculpt the character of Spock by toning down his emotional tendencies (he actually showed some stress and anxiety in the first pilot) and giving him the less emotional, \u00a0somewhat stern personality of the now deposed Number One character.<\/span><\/p>\n \u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0The first season went reasonably well. \u00a0There were the usual problems with special effects, cost overruns, endless revisions of scripts; \u00a0in other words, the typical things that plague any new TV or movie production. When it came time for the NBC luminaries to choose the lead off program, they picked the worst story of the three available, thus ensuring the first audience ratings would not be terrific. \u00a0As the story telling improved, a form of Spockmania suddenly broke out. Fan clubs were being organized and the same brass who wanted the character dumped for the second pilot instructed Roddenberry to feature him more than ever. Shatner admits that he had a bit of \u2018leading man angst\u2019 about Leonard Nimoy\u2019s sudden shooting star career trajectory, but Roddenberry assured Bill that a great leading man like himself could only benefit from such a strong supporting cast. \u00a0Shatner may have only heard the \u2018great leading man\u2019 part, but it worked.<\/span><\/p>\n \u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0As the first season gave way to the second season, the <\/span>Star Trek<\/span><\/i> machinery was well oiled and rolling along. \u00a0The high pressure environment caused some breakdowns and personnel changes in the production team, but each change seemed to make the show better. \u00a0Unfortunately, the ratings remained so-so and by the middle of the second season, rumours were flying that the series was about to be canceled. Bjo Trimble and her husband had become fast friends with Roddenberry and visited the set often. \u00a0It was on one of these visits during the filming of an episode called <\/span>The Deadly Years<\/span><\/i> when they caught wind of the cancellation rumours.<\/span><\/p>\n \u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0Driving home after their visit, Trimble and her husband John decided they had to do something. \u00a0They huddled with Roddenberry and a plan was crafted to start a letter writing campaign before the series was actually cancelled. \u00a0Roddenberry helped the Trimbles collect about 7,000 names of probable <\/span>Star Trek<\/span><\/i> fans before he made the conscious decision to become the bemused spectator who could feign ignorance of this fan driven revolution. \u00a0Trimble crafted a letter encouraging anyone with an interest in the show to get ten or more names on the list. By the time she had greased the wheels of this little letter writing pyramid scheme, NBC\u2019s mail room was inundated with more than a million pieces of mail imploring them to not cancel the show. \u00a0Trimble even dispatched a volunteer named Wanda Kenndal to New York to infiltrate the NBC headquarters to distribute bumper stickers (\u201c<\/span>I GROK SPOCK\u201d and \u201cSTAR TREK LIVES\u201d<\/span><\/i>) in the executive parking lot and around the building. \u00a0She managed to gain entrance to the business floors at 30 Rock and enlisted fans from the NBC staff who continued her campaign after she returned to Los Angeles. \u00a0Everyone from Johnny Carson (who was still broadcasting from New York in those days) to the NBC Board of Directors got bumper stickered (which Roddenberry could deny even though he was the one who had the bumper stickers printed to begin with).<\/span><\/p>\n \u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0In this age of Kickstarter campaigns and YouTube, getting a massive mobilization like this is happening with greater frequency. \u00a0To think that the Trimbles accomplished this in the days of \u2018snail mail only\u2019 is remarkable. NBC relented and at the end of a late winter show, they ran the following message, \u201cAnd now a message of interest to all viewers interested in <\/span>Star Trek<\/span><\/i>. \u00a0We are pleased to tell you that <\/span>Star Trek <\/span><\/i>will continue to be seen on NBC<\/span> television. \u00a0We know you will be looking forward to seeing the weekly adventure in space on <\/span>Star Trek<\/span><\/i>.\u201d \u00a0They even went so far as to promise it a new primetime place on the Monday evening schedule at 7:30 PM. \u00a0Everyone was elated and Roddenberry\u2019s stamina was renewed. The \u2018Great Bird of the Galaxy\u2019 vowed to personally produce every segment in season three.<\/span><\/p>\n \u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0There are only so many places on the primetime viewing schedule and NBC already had a highly rated program in the 7:30 Monday slot: \u00a0<\/span>Rowan and Martin\u2019s Laugh In.<\/span><\/i> \u00a0Instead of the primo Monday slot, <\/span>Star Trek<\/span><\/i> got kicked to Friday evenings when their core audience wouldn\u2019t be home watching TV. \u00a0Roddenberry pulled back on his commitment to the show and the overall quality of the scripts and production declined. \u00a0The end was near. There would be no season four. Nevertheless, Bjo Trimble had saved the show that \u2018boldly went where no man had gone before\u2019 and showed that a dedicated group of fans could get the network\u2019s attention. \u00a0The series had a hiatus until the first <\/span>Star Trek<\/span><\/i> movie revived interest in Roddenberry\u2019s baby, \u00a0but it was Trimble\u2019s campaign that solidified the foundation that the future <\/span>Star Trek<\/span><\/i> franchise(s) would be built upon. <\/span><\/p>\n \u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0Ironically, when the networks began tracking audience demographics soon after the series had been canceled, they learned that the show\u2019s core audience was shifting and that it very well may have been a ratings winner had they not pulled the plug after season three. Cancelled or not, the original <\/span>Star Trek<\/span><\/i> series is still being aired and people are still flocking to see the movies more than fifty years on. \u00a0The series reboot with actors Chris Pine and Zachary Quinto in the pivotal Kirk and Spock roles has enjoyed its own successful run. \u00a0The franchise has outlived its creator which spells \u2018successful\u2019 in any language.<\/span><\/p>\n Top Piece Video:\u00a0\u00a0Our first entry was taken down, so a little Symphonic Star Trek will have to do!