You will find quite a few literary agents the world over not representing the sci-fi genre which is interesting, considering that science fiction is economically big business. In fact some of the highest grossing films of the last thirty to forty years were Star Wars, Blade Runner, and E.T. to name but a few. Which brings me nicely to Star Trek the original series.
Earlier this year I had the unique pleasure of witnessing this phenomenon unravel again, especially the third series and I'm convinced that we will not find another James T. Kirk (William Shatner), or another Spock (Leonard Nimoy). Yes at times, the original series was way over the top, containing a spectrum of awkwardly bright props, suspect acting along with Horrible Histories style costume design, and clichéd moments that made most of us embarrassed.
We didn't mind.
Whenever Kirk landed on an alien planet with a new member of the team, we knew the new member would be the first to get their contract terminated.
We didn't mind that either.
Their death would be the cue for a quizzical stare from Bones and it readied us for what was to come. That was what we loved about the show because it represented a period in time that simply cannot be repeated, lived or breathed again. Our society's moved on. The show broke taboos with a multi-cultural crew, the first interracial TV kiss, and was a very good advert for hair gel and stick-on ears. I also noticed something else, Captain Kirk's astonishing success with women, especially in the third series where he seemed to be a very busy man indeed, either rescuing a damsel in distress or contemplating rescuing a damsel in distress. I can only imagine what happened after the cameras stopped rolling and wondered where he got the energy from. By Shatner's own admission, the situation even affected one of his relationships.
On the 46th Anniversary of the show, it's safe to say that the world of Star Trek has influenced the whole science fiction genre ever since - not to mention harvesting its own array of spin offs. There's a follow up the J.J. Abrams' 2009 Star Trek reboot which is scheduled to hit U.S. cinemas on May 17th 2013, and we'll continue to get repeats of the original series on and off, from obscure satellite channels. Even Google have celebrated it with an interactive graphic on their main page. So in a recession hit period of austerity where we are crying out for escapism, what more could anyone ask for?