I’m a serious Star Trek fan. For years, I heard about Gene Roddenberry pitching Star Trek to TV executives as Wagon Train set in the stars. I could not believe it when I found online a copy of Gene Roddenberry’s legendary Star Trek pitch . The pitch is 16 pages long and dated March 11th, 1964. Star Trek first aired on September 8th, 1966.

I consider myself fairly knowledgeable about Star Trek, so I was amazed at how much I learned in these 16 pages. I don’t want to spoil anything, but here are a few items that really stood out.

In the first Star Trek pilot, “The Cage”, the captain of the Enterprise is Captain Christopher Pike, played by Jeffrey Hunter. In Roddenberry’s pitch, the captain isn’t Christopher Pike nor is it Jim Kirk.

Why does Spock have pointed ears? They make a lot more sense once you know Spock’s original skin color.

The Enterprise wasn’t Roddenberry’s first choice for the starship’s name.

Transporters and handheld phasers aren’t mentioned. If you read between the lines, it’s pretty easy to figure out why transporters were added.

My favorite part? The brief sketches for over 20 proposed episodes. Some of them are classics like “A Piece Of The Action”. But most, such as episodes based on 1984 and A Connecticut Yankee In King Arthur's Court, were never produced.



