Trek’s humble origins are almost hard to believe. When TV producer Gene Roddenberry pitched his “Wagon Train to the Stars” to NBC, it had already been rejected by CBS in favor of Lost in Space. Then, even after the Peacock finally did pick it up, they dismissed the pilot, starring Jeffrey Hunter as Captain Christopher Pike of the USS Enterprise, as “too cerebral,” and demanded a re-shoot. Only Leonard Nimoy as Mr. Spock survived the cast change for a new pilot built around a hammy Canadian named William Shatner, who, so far, had only scrounged together a career out of bit parts in movies like Judgment at Nuremberg and a couple very memorable Twilight Zone appearances.

Needless to say, expectations for Star Trek were low. And though it did face cancellation after just three seasons, it’s become one of our most venerable franchises, having spawned five subsequent series and eleven movies. Much of what has followed since has been so good, in fact, that it’s almost easy to write off the original series as mere camp: heavy-handed messages conveyed through overripe performances amid garish papier-mâché sets. Those who do just that, do so at their own peril. The original series’ budget-limitations actually spurred creativity, such as when the Romulans were revealed to be the evil cousins of our lovable, logical Vulcans. Sure, they were only related because Trek’s production company Desilu (yes, that Desilu) couldn’t afford to come up with original makeup for another alien race. But how much more interesting that became as storytelling! The Vulcans, those most stalwart founding members of the United Federation of Planets, were now looked upon with suspicion by Starfleet’s more xenophobic humans and forced to ask themselves whether their embrace of pure logic is indeed meaningful or just a fragile lie meant to conceal their true passions. If Star Trek had been given a greater budget, it would have looked more polished, to be sure, but would that kind of guerrilla, seat-of-the-pants storytelling impulse have survived?