

(written from a Production point of view Real World article

Lincoln Enterprises, Inc. (originally known as "Star Trek Enterprises") is a mail-order catalog company started by Majel Barrett Roddenberry and Betty Jo "Bjo" Trimble in 1967. Lincoln Enterprises specializes in memorabilia pertaining to Star Trek. The company is subordinated under the later established umbrella corporation Roddenberry Productions, headed by Gene Roddenberry and Majel's son, Eugene "Rod" Roddenberry Jr.. Until recently, its merchandise was sold through the "Roddenberry Shop" on the appropriately-named Roddenberry.com website, the current official site for all Roddenberry related companies. As of September 2019, the shop is closed.

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Origins

The actual origins of the company and its original merchandise are somewhat shrouded in lore. Bjo Trimble has stated in 2004, "Actually, John & Bjo Trimble set up the original Lincoln Enterprises. Neither Gene nor Majel had any idea how to set up a mail-order business, while the Trimbles have put together several such businesses. At Creation Grand Slam, Eugene Roddenberry acknowledged our efforts with a big hug & thanks. He is very like his father, who also believed in big bear hugs", having added to former Desilu Studios executive Herbert F. Solow that Roddenberry founded the company in order to "...give Majel something to do." (Inside Star Trek: The Real Story, 1997, p. 400) At a later point in time, Trimble has additionally stated, "John and I not only started Lincoln Enterprises for Gene, but we talked him into it. Nobody in Hollywood (in those bygone days) believed that a sales franchise could be built around, of all things, a TV show! Ha!," adding that an initial free dissemination of the below-mentioned, hugely popular, film clippings at a small local convention became the convincing factor for Roddenberry to proceed, "Gene saw that the fans really, really wanted these things that industry people generally threw away." [2] Reaffirming the statement she gave to Solow in 1997, Trimble already conceded in 1999 that, contrary to the relationship the couple had with Gene Roddenberry, theirs was a troubled one in regard to future wife Majel, "John and I set up Star Trek (now Lincoln) Enterprises for Gene, only to find that he really wanted to turn it over to his new wife, Majel. We ran several small mail-order businesses prior to setting up ST Enterprises, but always failed due to lack of money to advertise widely. Majel had no business experience, so we left and she took over, the business never really took off as it should have." [3]

Still, Gene Roddenberry decided to craftily conceal his and his paramour's legal footprints in regard to the company's establishment, partly to obscure the questionable origins of the early below mentioned production-used merchandise he offered up for sale through his company. This having been a somewhat shady activity, was actually, albeit somewhat circumferentially, conceded by Majel Barrett herself, when she later stated in a 1993 interview, with contradictory half-truths interlaced, and not altogether too convincing, "Lincoln has been in existence for probably almost a hundred years. It was originally Lincoln Publishing and it was owned by another gentleman many, many years before. His attorney was Leonard Maislich [sic.]. For some reason or another he gave the incorporation to Leonard. I don't know how it basically happened, but it really belonged to Leonard Maislich until he gave it to me in the early eighties. It [Lincoln] was merely set up for Gene to handle fan mail for Star Trek." (Strange New Worlds magazine, issue 10, Oct/Nov 1993) No records of a "hundred years" old "Lincoln Publishing" are known to exist and the "gentleman" in question was actually Roddenberry himself, as Maizlish had been Roddenberry's life-long attorney, representing him legally since long before The Original Series. By transferring title to his attorney (who, when legally registering the company, had somehow managed to antedate the company's establishing date to 6 April 1962 – hence Barrett's "has been in existence for probably almost a hundred years" remark, [4]) Roddenberry had thrown up a smokescreen if the studio ever decided to pursue the matter legally, which however they never did.

As already implied by Trimble and Barrett themselves, there had actually been another, personal reason as well to proceed in this manner, as it was also meant to hide the Lincoln revenues from Roddenberry's soon-to-be ex-wife Eileen as well. Unsurprisingly, and not entirely unjustified as the original Roddenberry couple was still legally married at the time of the incorporation of Lincoln Enterprises, Eileen found out later, and she did pursue the matter legally, suing all involved parties for damages, resulting in that Maizlish was actually found guilty of "conspiracy to commit fraud" for his part in the deception, though it assessed no punitive damages against him. Incidentally, Roddenberry's life-long accountant – not only for him as a private person, but for his business endeavors as well – Mort Kessler had not been involved with the original deception, as he only became much later employed as such by Roddenberry. However, he became implicated when he in good faith attached his name to the obligatory registration renewals, and he therefore decided to settle out-of-court with Eileen. It was for these reasons why Lincoln Enterprises was not established as a subsidiary of the Norway Corporation, Roddenberry's official production company through which he had always handled his business and legal affairs, but as a separate entity, in the process also explaining why the early, short-lived company name "Star Trek Enterprises" was changed to "Lincoln Enterprises", so named because Roddenberry, "(...) loved Abraham Lincoln. It's that simple," as per Trimble. [6] Still, despite being a staunch Roddenberry acolyte, even she could not refrain herself from calling Roddenberry a "conniver" at one point. [7]

After Star Trek was canceled, Paramount Television wanted to sell Roddenberry all rights and title (essentially the entire Star Trek franchise, which he himself had signed over to Desilu in April 1964 when he sold them his Star Trek is... pitch) to the series for US$100,000-$150,000 in 1970, but he, knee-deep in the fallout of his bitter and costly divorce from Eileen, was nowhere near able to raise this amount on his own. It was around that time that Paramount discovered that Roddenberry was selling Star Trek merchandise through Lincoln Enterprises, which, not owning the brand, was formally an illegal endeavor. Yet, both parties struck a deal resembling the below-mentioned previous Writers Guild of America deal, allowing Roddenberry to continue in return of a percentage of the sales, as Paramount also started to realize that their Star Trek property was not a too bad one to have after all. Not yet having a well oiled Star Trek marketing machine of their own, Lincoln Enterprises suited the studio well in raising the awareness of their increasingly profitable Star Trek brand. It has also explained why Paramount has never sued Lincoln and/or Roddenberry for what was essentially studio property theft in the 1968-1969 period. (Star Trek: The Next Generation - The Continuing Mission, p. 2; NBC: America's Network, p. 220)

However, by that time there was residual resentment on the studio's part, as former Desilu production staffer Craig Thompson attested to when he managed to borrow the original 11-foot Enterprise studio model from the studio for a 1972 exhibition at the college he was then working for. On that occasion he was told by studio executives, "In fact, Gene Roddenberry had apparently tried, unsuccessfully, to get his hands on the Enterprise and they wouldn't let him have it," and while the studio at that time had no real interest in the model, they, even willing to let Thompson keep the model (but who for personal reasons was not able to), were otherwise dead-set on not wanting "(...) GR to get a hold of it, for whatever reasons."

Catalog

Front and verso of Star Trek Catalog, No. 1; notice the sale offers for scripts and film clips

The very first Star Trek Enterprises "Official Star Trek Catalog" was disseminated via mail in the spring of 1969, shortly after NBC had decided to cancel the show in February that year, and after the below mentioned fanzine (in which Lincoln merchandise had already been offered on a limited scale) had started its publication run the year previously, as this publication was offered for subscription in the catalog. The catalog itself was executed as a large photocopied, double side printed broadsheet that was trice folded in width, resulting in 8 "pages" and subsequently twice folded in height, resulting in a for mailing purposes more suitable dimension of 3.5×8.5 inches. Notable was, that "page" 2 of the first catalog already consisted of a "call to arms" letter from Roddenberry, to save the Original Series for a fourth season, trying to achieve a repeat performance that had famously saved the series for a third season, though this time around, as history has shown, it did not come to fruition. At the time the address for the company was, Star Trek Enterprises, P.O. Box 38429, Hollywood, CA 90038

Production print assets

No matter what the original intent of the company was, in the late 1960s, early 1970s, it was very notable for the sale of actual production assets from Star Trek: The Original Series, most notably internal production documentation such as (every draft) episode scripts and the 1967 "Writer's Bible". By the time Desilu was taken over by Paramount Pictures in the summer of 1967, Desilu Executive Solow already noticed that the normal print run for Star Trek scripts was increased substantially, far beyond the requirements, needed for production staffers actually working on the production at the time, but initially he thought nothing of it at the time. (Inside Star Trek: The Real Story, 1997, p. 400) The sale of the former was very much in direct violation of the rules and regulations of the Writers Guild of America as none of the writers received compensation for their sales initially, though that appeared to have been ironed out in a lump-sum deal with the Guild later on. (Star Trek FAQ, p. 41) Customers were given the chance to acquire the entirety of first or final script drafts on a per season basis for US$115-$150 per set, a rather hefty sum for the times, including those for the yet-to-be-aired third season when the first catalog was mailed out, a blatant policies violation of any studio, and which, as "trade secrets theft", de facto constituted a misdemeanor – though Roddenberry was crafty enough not to provide episode synopses for this season in the catalog, contrary to the first two ones – punishable under Federal law. Almost exactly ten years later, in February 1979, a person who had stolen set blueprints for Star Trek: The Motion Picture and had offered them up for sale to a local fan club, was arrested by the FBI, sentenced, fined and given probation for what was essentially the exact same misdemeanor. (New West magazine, 26 March 1979, p. 60)

In 1974, Lincoln Enterprises (the name it carried from then on) Catalog No. 5 came out, offering scripts, storyboards, and other items related to Star Trek: The Animated Series. Available in that catalog were biographies of the two new crew members, Lieutenants Arex and M'Ress. These two biographies are no longer available from Lincoln Enterprises. However, they can be found as "supplemental biographical info" for each of the two characters at StarTrek.com. By this time the address for what had become Lincoln Enterprises was Lincoln Enterprises, 14710 Arminta St, Van Nuys, CA 91402.

Film clippings

But even far more notable was the sale of unused, spliced up clips from the series' original 35mm film trims, such as deleted scenes, outtakes and behind-the-scenes footage, either sold as short clippings, or as framed stills, cut from these clippings, then selling for US$1 dollar per set of eight. [9] At the time the future Roddenberry couple spin-doctored their origins to customers as being saved from the dumpster by Gene Roddenberry himself, as it was supposedly common practice to discard unused footage.

However, this was not quite truthful, as was divulged decades later. While the print increase of scripts and other production print materials had not alarmed him initially, Solow's eyes were eventually opened a short time thereafter, when Post-Production Editor Don Rode dutifully reported back to him, during the pre-production of the third season of The Original Series. Rode needed previously filmed, but unused, alternate USS Enterprise visual effects footage for one of the third season episodes. He went down to the vaults where the studio habitually kept this footage, only to find it cleaned out and to be informed by a security guard that Roddenberry and Barret had only a few days earlier backed up a van and cleared out the vault of all its contents. The security guard was told by Roddenberry that the studio intended to discard the footage as garbage, though it later turned out that the guard had actually the Trimble couple confused for the Roddenberrys, due to the former profusely dropping Roddenberry's name. [10] By employing the Trimbles to do the "grunt" work, Roddenberry could actually claim plausible deniability if push ever came to shove, which however, it never did. Knowing and liking Roddenberry for what he was on a personal level and usually turning a blind eye to his notorious antics, a now-irate Solow reported the theft to his Desilu/Paramount superiors, for this action actually interfered with the series' production proper. However, much to Solow's surprise, and even while it was "a sensitive matter for the Paramount executives", no actions were taken to prevent Roddenberry from taking and selling additional film stock during the final season of production as "everyone pretended not to know what had happened. So it continued to happen". (Inside Star Trek: The Real Story, 1997, pp. 400-401)

In Roddenberry's defense, Star Trek's new owner, Paramount, had no interest whatsoever in their new property at the time (see Paramount Pictures: History with Star Trek), nor was the added (after-market) value of legally claiming material of this nature recognized at that period in time by Hollywood in general, but by television in particular, especially since a home media format market simply did not yet exist at that time. And in this regard Bjo Trimble did have a point (as did the Roddenberrys for that matter, albeit somewhat cynically, considering theirs was a monetary gain intent, not a culturally one) when she stated on a much later occasion, "Most of these films were cut up to edit the shows, then the pieces were gathered in bags and dumped. The longer strips were rolled up, sometimes many of them together, and stored in flat film boxes. Over time [remark: "over time" being the operative expression in this case], decisions were made to either throw those boxes out, or store them in vaults. Those that were stored in vaults are sometimes removed to make room for more film storage. Those old film strips are then tossed out." [11] It is therefore conceivable that Roddenberry was able to do what he did with the implicit (but still illegal nevertheless, as it was not theirs to give away, but rather the shareholders') consent of one or more of its managers, somewhat explaining their non-committal reactions to Solow's findings. Trimble herself, who with her husband did the actual cutting and framing of the clippings for the initial sales, was merely told by Roddenberry (noted for his predilection throughout his entire life to "embellish" any state of affairs to his own, personal advantage) that he had obtained permission, but has concurrently, albeit implicitly, conceded she had neither witnessed the agreement, nor ever received managerial confirmation to the affirmative from any one. [12] As the company also sold production material stemming from the third season, the Roddenberrys had either themselves or the Trimble couple undertake one return trip to the vaults at least, but Solow had by then already left the production.

Trimble also disputed Solow's claim in his book Inside Star Trek: The Real Story that the footage was taken from the studio vaults and the implications it therefore entailed, "Not in the sense the book implied; that we helped ourselves to valuable archival film. All the film clips and strips were part of the stacks and stacks and stacks of film and boxes of film in the editing rooms." [13] While Trimble's assertion does have merit in regard to the onstage live footage – once the edited finished episode is "in the can", unused footage of this kind did lose its production value at the time – this does not hold true for the visual effects footage, especially the raw, unfinished, effects footage, those of the studio models in particular. First, this footage was not shot at the studio, but rather at the respective effects houses (such as Howard Anderson Company and Film Effects of Hollywood), where the footage was not only shot but also composited into the final footage by using a specialized piece of equipment called an optical printer, a highly sophisticated and very expensive piece of equipment the studio simply did not have at those times. Supervised by the studio's post-production supervisor, in this case Edward K. Milkis, the finished effects footage was then delivered to the studio for editing into the final episode, along with the raw unused and uncomposited effects footage for archiving. Second, this footage, both finished and raw and being very expensive to produce (the finished footage therefore produced at exactly the specified script requirements and not a foot of film beyond), was even in "those bygone days" too valuable to discard while a television series – science fiction shows for their technical sophistication in particular – was still in production, even if not used for a particular episode, for their recycle or reuse potential in later episodes and the very reason why Don Rode went looking for them in the first place. As Lincoln also sold clippings of the raw effects footage, which had no business being in the studio's editing rooms anyway, at least some of the footage was indeed taken, if not by the Trimbles then by the Roddenberrys themselves, from the studio vaults. Not finding any of the effects footage he was looking for, Rode had to make do with stock-footage of the Enterprise for the third season. It also served to explain why no new footage of the Enterprise was featured in the entirety of the third season, as part of the mandatory production budget cuts entailed that no new effects footage of the ship was allowed to be produced at the visual effects houses. (Inside Star Trek: The Real Story, 1997, pp. 400-401)

Bjo Trimble, incidentally, had claimed that to her knowledge no clippings were sold while Star Trek was still in production, but this was contradicted by the first, early 1969 sales catalog in which these clippings were already offered for sale. First unit production only ceased in June, whereas post-production lasted well into September. It should however be noted that by her implicit own admission that, once Lincoln was firmly in place, the Trimble couple was increasingly left out of the loop as Majel Barret "was totally convinced that her way was the only way". By the time Star Trek was canceled, the Trimbles had already left the employ of Lincoln Enterprises. [14]

The Original Series "blooper reels"

A part of Roddenberry's "booty" were the three so-called "blooper reels", humorous seven-minute reels cobbled together from outtakes – most notably from the ones in which actors botched up their performances, they too therefore having no business being in the studio's editing rooms – by Don Rode and Producer Robert Justman for showing at the annual studio Christmas party. (Inside Star Trek: The Real Story, 1997, p. 178) Never meant to be seen outside the inner circle, Roddenberry nevertheless had copies struck on Super 8 through Canterbury Films (with whom he struck a deal for commercial dissemination on the format, [15]) and brought them along for public showing when Lincoln Enterprises made the Star Trek convention and lecture rounds in the 1970s. For decades these reels were the only live behind-the-scenes footage afforded to an audience, though limited to Lincoln attendees and Canterbury clientele only, therefore attaining a near mythical status in Trekdom. However, and their fan status notwithstanding, their showings caused the already troubled relationship between Spock performer Leonard Nimoy and Roddenberry to strain even further to the breaking point. Nimoy, who took his profession very seriously, was concerned that the public showings compromised his integrity as an actor, or as he had put it, "You are destroying the creative atmosphere and the privacy of the set. That's why spectators aren't allowed to watch shooting. Actors need to be able to make a mistake." In response to an injunction filed against him by Nimoy at the Screen Actors Guild, Roddenberry only added insult to injury by sending Nimoy copies of the reels, convinced Nimoy's concern was – like his own – monetary, not one of integrity. Unsurprisingly, the relationship between the two men then became near irreparable. (Star Trek Movie Memories, 1995, pp. 40-41)

It has been the sole and primary reason why no contemporary behind-the-scenes footage, most notably the by then in Star Trek lore famed "blooper reels", has ever been included in any of the later-released home media formats, for the very simple reason that the franchise did not have any, courtesy of Roddenberry. It was only in 2006 that any contemporary behind-the-scenes footage, through William Blackburn's privately shot behind-the-scenes footage (and therefore outside the purview of Roddenberry's scavenging hunt), became available to the general public on the remastered home media format releases.

"The Roddenberry Vaults" Blu-ray release

How substantial the hoard Roddenberry acquired in 1968 and 1969 had been became apparent in 2007 when son Rod, by now the sole legal custodian of his father's legacy, invited Mike and Denise Okuda to inspect the warehouse where this material was stored. Amazed that the archive was still in existence and, by their own admission, gob-smacked by its sheer volume, the plan ripened to have it somehow released to the general public. At the time too busy themselves with the production of the Original Series remastered project and its Next Generation follow-up, aside from the huge amount of work it entailed of sifting through the massive amount of available footage, which included raw visual effects footage, it was decided to have the eventual home media format release slated to coincide with the 50th anniversary of The Original Series in 2016. Brought into the project was special feature specialist Roger Lay, Jr. for the purpose of determining the format into which he footage was to be presented to the public. [16]

Ultimately, a three-disc Star Trek: The Original Series - The Roddenberry Vault Blu-ray Disc set was released in December 2016 and co-produced by Roddenberry Productions and CBS Home Entertainment, featuring twelve selected episodes from the first and second seasons of the series, with four accompanying specially-produced special features (the longest of which spread as a three-parter over the discs), in which the selected extra footage, pertaining to the episodes, was put into perspective. This release finally afforded the fans the behind-the-scenes footage which was hitherto only reserved for a privileged precious few.

In a pre-release interview Lay has stated that fans would not want for anything, elaborating, "That's the commitment CBS, the Roddenberry team, and everyone involved has to this project – so that the fans buying the Blu-ray set will feel that they got everything there is to see. Because that's something that comes up a lot at these convention panels: are we using everything? The answer is "Yes."" [17] Considering that Lay himself has concurrently implied in the same interview that not everything was used, that statement appeared to have been a commercial "exaggeration", especially since the third season has not been covered in any detail on the set. Furthermore, Rod Roddenberry had stated in an announcement video, posted on YouTube on 10 November 2016, that the archive consisted of over one thousand cans of outtake reels, or, put in other words, thirteen reels per episode on average. Apart from the Trimble couple not being sought out to participate on the project, Roddenberry Jr. himself has refrained from commenting on the origins of the archive, unsurprisingly perhaps as from his point of view the archive had always been family property – he had not been born yet when his father acquired the archive.

It should be noted that the sheer size of the surviving archive implied that Lincoln Enterprises had to some extent sold clippings from copies of this footage back in the day, instead of having the actual original footage cut up. Aside from being fortuitous for later generations, this actually also made good business sense. It should also be noted that, despite their standing in Star Trek lore, the "blooper reels" remain conspicuously absent, though a couple of snippets from the constituent outtakes were featured.

The Blu-ray Disc release has become one of the most visible public manifestations of the deal Lincoln Enterprises had struck with the franchise back in the early 1970s.

Production art work

It was not only through surreptitious means that Roddenberry acquired original production merchandise for his own personal gain; He has proven to be equally adept in begging and/or cajoling his co-workers to give up their work to him. Most notably, much of Art Director Matt Jefferies' early 1964 USS Enterprise color design concept art (most famously the final original Enterprise color art, which the producers and executives approved as the design for the build of the studio model) ended up this way in Roddenberry's possession, to be used/reproduced/sold by him as he saw fit, with Jefferies left out in the cold. (Star Trek Memories, 1995, p. 48) Astonishingly, and even while the concept for the famed starship was without a shadow of a doubt his, Roddenberry (of whom not a single verified piece of artwork is known to exist) had even been brazen enough to forge a "Eugene W. Roddenberry" signature in Jefferies' writing style on several pieces of them, in order for him to claim credit as the Enterprise designer as well in the Star Trek convention circuit of the late 1970s. ([18]; Star Trek: The True Story) Unfortunately for Roddenberry, this did not fly, as Jefferies was already too well known as the ship's designer even by then (as was his art style), but fortunately for him, Jefferies either never seemed to mind or had not been aware of the fraud. A contemporary ad that ran in the Lincoln Enterprises catalog read,

"The Enterprise was not created overnight. In fact, there were eleven other designs – all sporting the name "Enterprise". We've dug into the archives and come up with – you've guessed it – twelve Enterprises – all very different – all very exciting. We call our fleet "The Evolution." This package of twelve 11×17 full color posters can now be yours. A truly exciting offering." [19]

At that time, the very early 1980s, the poster set was offered for sale at US$4.95 once, but has not been offered since. A later sales announcement, this time trying to pass off the posters as after-the-fact "inspired by" art, had it stated that "(...) 11 different treatments of the Enterprise were signed by Eugene Roddenberry, Jr., and will be reproduced in a limited run for your Star Trek collection". This was as equally ridiculous as the original claim had been, as Roddenberry Jr. would have only been 9 or 10 years of age when he purportedly produced the art, even though one single print actually seemed to be from his (or somebody else's) hand, as its style was markedly different from the ones by Jefferies. [20] Unsurprisingly perhaps, the actual sale offer did not materialize.

Incidentally, the above-mentioned Roddenberry Vault Blu-ray release also marked the occasion that Roddenberry Productions conceded the original deception. In the "Strange New Worlds: Visualizing the Fantastic" special feature on the release, implicit amends were made as three pieces of the color art work were featured that were originally endowed with the forged signature. This time around however, they were, without the signature, unequivocally and correctly attributed to their real creator, Matt Jefferies.

Fanclub and fanzine

Covers of the first issue of Inside Star Trek and the first relaunch issue on the right

Under its original, short-lived, name, the company has been responsible in 1968 for the publication of the very first "official" fanzine, Inside Star Trek, distributed through the first recognized Star Trek fan club, the Star Trek Interstellar: The Official Star Trek Fan Club – likewise established in the same year by Roddenberry through Star Trek Enterprises – while the Original Series was still in production. Strictly speaking, both club and magazine were yet other illegitimate endeavors, as they were officially neither licensed, endorsed, nor authorized under the auspices of the Paramount Publicity Department, the legal owner of the Star Trek brand. The fact that Roddenberry attached the moniker "official" to all his company's endeavors was therefore a pure flight of fancy on his part, as he simply did not own the Star Trek brand. However, the studio at the time was not in the slightest bit interested in their recent Star Trek purchase, and was actually looking for ways to cancel the series. As a result, no commercial or publicity activities on behalf of the series were undertaken by the department, and those that had been, such as the free mail-order distribution of publicity photographs to fans, were immediately scrapped upon the acquisition of Desilu by Paramount in 1967, a gap that was gratefully filled by Star Trek Enterprises, or rather the fan club, for a fee this time, of course. Both club and fanzine were discontinued at the same time after the series was canceled in 1969, the fanzine having run for twelve issues. Still, considering the closeness to the actual production of several of its contributors, and featuring the earliest known interviews of several Original Series production staffers – the one with Costume Designer William Ware Theiss especially warranting attention, being the only published one on record – the magazine is, for all intents and purposes, considered "official" by the Star Trek community, as is the fan club for that matter.

However, when efforts were undertaken to revive Star Trek as a new live-action production in the 1970s, the company, under its new name, relaunched the fanzine (with a continued numbering, but first under the name "Star Trektennial News" before returning to its original one) in 1976 with the stated intent to keep fandom appraised of the revitalization attempts. Still, the relaunch was not entirely a benevolent effort on Roddenberry's part, as the magazine also served as a public platform for self-promotion through numerous interviews, serving to counterbalance the increasingly negative studio attitude towards him in that period of time, and to which end he had assigned his longtime personal assistant, Susan Sackett, to serve as one of the two editors. Having served that purpose, the fanzine ceased publication definitively in 1979, shortly before the release of Star Trek: The Motion Picture, having run for an additional eighteen issues. [21]

After Star Trek

From the mid-1970s onward, Lincoln Enterprises expanded their product range by offering merchandise related to other series such as Kung Fu, Search, and other television projects created by Gene Roddenberry, such as Genesis II, Questor, Earth II, and Spectre.

By the mid-1980s however, activities within Lincoln Enterprises had slackened off considerably, partly because the Roddenberry couple had become affluent because of Star Trek and no longer needed the revenues (in 1984 the studio finally started profit sharing disbursements to Roddenberry, ) and partly because the studio had, by then, their own merchandise franchise juggernaut firmly in place. However, after his father had passed away, Rod Roddenberry, having taken over the reins of his father's holdings, decided to reinvigorate the company, not for financial gains, but for the purpose of keeping the Star Trek legacy alive in the consciousness of the public by maintaining a vigorous presence at conventions. "Our family is doing fine on money," Roddenberry Jr. stated in 2002, "so what I'm trying to do is getting high quality merchandise out there for the lowest possible price. It's really not a profit thing for me, it's a success thing for me. I want the company to succeed and be around for the next 100 years. It's also one of the last pieces we have of Star Trek. Creative control of the show belongs to Paramount 100%. Merchandising rights are the only things we have, and I want to keep those alive forever," in the process confirming the deal his father had struck with the studio back in the 1970s.

Further expanding on his vision for the reinvigorated company, Roddenberry Jr. added on the same occasion, "We do mostly soft wares, I think they're called – basically mugs, hats, shirts, books. We really don't do anything... We don't have action figures, we don't have anything like that. We're getting into that. Right now one of the hottest thing we have is the communicator. We're doing Star trek: The Original Series communicator replica sets to be put together extremely cheap. The cost is $95. They're not toys, they're replicas. But people love them, and we're going to move on. We've got the tricorder as well, and the phaser coming next. We're going the whole gamut there, we got a great company doing it. Whatever people want, we'll do. They're the most accurate things on the market. And my intention is to not sell crap. Pardon my language, but I do want this to be an integrity-based business, as the family name should always have that with it." (TOS Season 3 DVD special feature, "Collectable Trek") By that time however, Roddenberry Jr. had decided not to utilize the "Lincoln Enterprises" name anymore, but rather go through life as "Roddenberry.com".

In 1996, Laura Richarz and the Star Trek: Deep Space Nine production staff working on "Trials and Tribble-ations" purchased three sizes of toy tribbles from Lincoln Enterprises to use in the filming of the episode. (The Magic of Tribbles: The Making of Trials and Tribble-ations)

Despite Roddenberry Jr.'s 2002 assertions to the contrary, the former Lincoln Enterprises was relegated to history indefinitely when he closed the web shop in September 2019. Roddenberry.com had by then become a production company for Kurtzman-era Star Trek, and as full time executive producer Roddenberry Jr. was more than likely too occupied in that function to further manage the merchandise activities of his company.