Trek creator honored by TV Hall of Fame

Star Trek creator Gene Roddenberry is to be honored by the TV Academy Hall of Fame 18 years after his death and 40 years since the original series of Star Trek came to an end in America. Roddenberry’s creation launched in 1966 in America but struggled with ratings and was cancelled in 1969 but has since become a cult hit. The original series is routinely repeated across the world and has also been released on DVD. Following in the footsteps of the original Star Trek were several television spin-offs; Animated series, Next Generation, Deep Space Nine, Voyager and prequel series Enterprise.

Star Trek has also flourished on film as well with 1979’s The Motion Picture re-launching the series as a viable and successful franchise. Since then there’s been a string of sequels working their way through to, in the 1990’s, the cast of The Next Generation. Last year Star Trek’s film franchise was rebooted with the hugely successful movie which reworked Trek history with a brand new cast playing the iconic characters of the original series. Despite Star Trek’s popularity and longevity Gene Roddenberry was not honored by the TV Hall of Fame during his life. Star Trek was not the only television series he created with Andromeda and Earth: Final Conflict amongst his other shows. Roddenberry passed away 18 years ago and nearly two decades later he’s finally being honored.

His widow, Majel Roddenberry-Garrett, passed away last year. Majel was known as the ‘first lady’ of Star Trek by the show’s fans and was involved in every incarnation of the franchise. In the original series she played Nurse Chappel, a role she reprised for several of the films. In Next Generation and Deep Space Nine she played the recurring character of Lwaxana Troi and was also the voice of the ship’s computers in the films and television shows. Before she passed away she once again provided the voice of the ship’s computer for the Star Trek movie.