September 2006

It’s been a brutal election season for George Allen. A former governor of Virginia who currently represents his state in the U.S. Senate, Allen has been plotting a run for the Presidency. He needed—scratch that; he needs—a decisive reelection victory this fall to burnish his résumé and shore up his base in anticipation of the 2008 GOP primaries.

“Captain's log, stardate 1513.1. Our position, orbiting planet M-113. Onboard the Enterprise, Mr. Spock, temporarily in command. On the planet, the ruins of an ancient and long dead civilization. Ship’s surgeon McCoy and myself are now beaming down to the planet’s surface.” With these words, a new television series made its debut 40 earth years ago this week. It was a flop.

The show featured the crew of the Starship Enterprise, whose mission was “to explore strange new worlds.” It was canceled after three seasons. Yet despite that failure, Star Trek was destined to go where no television series had gone before. It would become one of the most far-reaching of all entertainment franchises and evolve into an ever-present cultural landmark.