History of Star Trek: 55 Years Ago and Today

Bill Petro
15 min readSep 8, 2021

Star Trek premiered on NBC TV on September 8, 1966… 55 years ago. It is my favorite show; I was glued to the TV for the first episode and every one after that. It had a significant influence on my life in my choice of a career in technology.

The show represented an optimistic vision of the future where challenges of poverty and hunger had been addressed. But many other issues — relevant to the ’60s — were depicted as still being wrestled with centuries into the future. The Original Series showed a utopian view of science fiction that is rather different from current dystopian Sci-Fi TV and movies today. And the franchise is still creating new shows presently, as I’ll describe below.

Paramount today is kicking off a month-long celebration of the legacy of Star Trek creator Gene Roddenberry. Details at StarTrek.com/Day. The campaign will launch at Paramount+’s red carpet event on September 8, featuring Star Trek actors LeVar Burton, George Takei, Patrick Stewart, and others.

Star Trek did not just envision the future; it imagined it and helped drive it. It inspired generations of scientists, engineers, and technologists around the world. Many scientists today will say that it was Star Trek that influenced the projects they are working on, especially in the areas of space exploration, physics, optics, electronics…

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Bill Petro
Bill Petro

Written by Bill Petro

Writer, historian, technologist. Former Silicon Valley tech exec. Author of fascinating articles on history, tech, pop culture, & travel. https://billpetro.com