Star Trek Pin-up #30 FRAMED Creator Gene Roddenbury

Description

Eugene Wesley Roddenberry (August 19, 1921 – October 24, 1991), more widely known as “Gene” Roddenberry, was an American television screenwriter, producer, and futurist. He is best remembered for having created the original Star Trek television series and thus the Star Trek science fiction franchise. Born in El Paso, Texas, Roddenberry grew up in Los Angeles, California where his father worked as a police officer. Roddenberry flew 89 combat missions in the United States Army Air Forces during World War II, and worked as a commercial pilot after the war. Later he followed in his father’s footsteps and joined the Los Angeles Police Department to provide for his family, but began to focus on writing scripts for television.

As a freelance writer, Roddenberry wrote scripts for Highway Patrol, Have Gun–Will Travel, and other series, before creating and producing his own television series The Lieutenant. In 1964, Roddenberry created Star Trek, which premiered in 1966 and ran for three seasons before being canceled. Syndication of Star Trek led to increasing popularity, and Roddenberry continued to create, produce, and consult on the Star Trek films and the television series Star Trek: The Next Generation until his death. In 1985 he became the first TV writer with a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame:110 and he was later inducted by both the Science Fiction Hall of Fame and the Academy of Television Arts and Sciences Hall of Fame. Years after his death, Roddenberry was one of the first humans to have his ashes carried into space.

The Star Trek franchise created by Roddenberry has produced story material for almost five decades; resulting in six television series consisting of 726 episodes, and twelve feature films. A thirteenth film is in production, and is expected to be released in 2016.

It wasn’t until 1966 when Roddenberry created and produced Star Trek, that he found his voice in Hollywood. The first of the two pilots were pronounced “too cerebral” by the network and rejected. Once on the air, however, Star Trek developed a loyal following as viewers grew to love the Starship Enterprise and its crew, which included the heroic Captain Kirk and the logical Vulcan, Mr. Spock.

“Space…the final frontier. These are the voyages of the Starship Enterprise, its five-year mission…to explore strange new worlds…to seek out new life and new civilizations …to boldly go where no man has gone before.” — Gene Roddenberry (August 10, 1966). This set the tone and mood for an entire generation of Star Trek fans.

Roddenberry unwittingly unleashed a phenomenon in which Star Trek enthusiasts became a veritable cult, numbering physicists, aerospace engineers, housewives, senators, children, teachers and intellectuals among its devotees (affectionately known as “Trekkies,” and later, “Trekkers”). The show went outside television to win science fiction’s coveted Hugo Award and then spawned an animated spin-off, as well as a series of feature films.

While making Star Trek, Roddenberry’s reputation as a futurist began to grow. His papers and lectures earned him high professional regard as a visionary. He spoke on the subject at NASA meetings, the Smithsonian Institution, Library of Congress gatherings, and top universities.

Star Trek was so wildly popular that it has since become the first television series to have an episode preserved in the Smithsonian, where an 11-foot model of the U.S.S. Enterprise is also exhibited on the same floor as the Wright brother’s original airplane and Lindbergh’s “Spirit of St. Louis.” In addition to the Smithsonian honors, NASA’s first space shuttle was named Enterprise, in response to hundreds of thousands of letters from fans demanding that the shuttle be named after the beloved starship.

On September 4, 1986, Gene Roddenberry’s fans presented him with a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame, the first writer/producer to be so honored. Star Trek: The Next Generation, in its first year in syndication, was awarded with the 1987 Peabody Award for the “Best of the Best.” The series also garnered many of the prestigious Emmy awards throughout its seven-year run. In February 1990, the March of Dimes honored Roddenberry with the Jack Benny Memorial Award of lifetime achievement.

On Thursday, October 24, 1991 Gene Roddenberry passed away and a world not so far away mourned the loss of one of television’s foremost pioneers. Sadly, Gene died within 48 hours of screening Star Trek VI: The Undiscovered Country (1991), the last Trek that revolved around his original characters. At the time of his passing, Gene was survived by his wife Majel Barrett (“Nurse Chapel” from Star Trek and “Lwaxana Troi” in Star Trek: The Next Generation) and their 17-year-old son, Gene Roddenberry, Jr., his two grown daughters from a previous marriage, as well as two grandchildren. Years after his death, Roddenberry was one of the first humans to have his ashes carried into space.

In addition to having served as executive consultant on Star Trek feature productions, Roddenberry added “novelist” to his writing repertoire. His novelization of “Star Trek: The Motion Picture” (Pocket Books, 1979) sold close to a million copies and was ranked number one on the national bestseller lists for many weeks.

Additionally, the popularity of the Star Trek universe and films inspired the parody/homage/cult film Galaxy Quest in 1999.

Frame is shrinkwrapped until time of purchase. Ships boxed with packing peanuts.

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