Vulcan Comics

Pop Quiz. What do Lucille Ball, an ex-cop and a sharp marshes, green skinned alien have in common? Believe it or not, the cop and the Vulcan both worked for the redheaded comic icon during the early days of "Star Trek".

Writer / producer Gene Roddenberry's military drama, "The Lieutenant", attracted the attention of executives at Desilu Productions, the production company owned
Lucille Ball. In early 1960, was a Desilu production companies most successful in television and looking to expand and Gene Roddenberry was one of writer / producers recruited by the studio.

Because Desilu had many first glance with CBS, where they were "Star Trek" there, only to be told that the network had already bought a science fiction show from producer Irwin Allen and I just wanted ideas for what became "Lost in Space." Shortly after, they managed to sell NBC on shooting a pilot.

Gene Roddenberry was an idealist in many ways and I wanted to "Star Trek" to reflect his own ideas of equality and social justice, making the first network series to feature people from many nationalities, races and even species to work together in this first pilot, "the cage." But apparently, he crossed the line when he threw a woman, actress Majel Barrett, the second command ship.

NBC liked the concept, but hated the pilot, who had ordered a second and in the process of downgrading Ms. Barrett from the direction of a nurse. But she eventually married the boss and became the only actor to have been in every "Star Trek" series (She's the voice of the onboard computer on all the Trek series and had a recurring role on "Star Trek: The Next Generation "). As for the second pilot, she has sold the series to NBC and began what would become one of entertainment franchises most successful of all time.