Gene Roddenberry

“It was 'ST' format to let space and alien worlds, rather than human weakness, provide the conflict and danger necessary to our adventure show.”

“A man either lives life as it happens to him, meets it head-on and licks it, or he turns his back on it and starts to wither away.”

“I hope that I helped to build a fierce pride in what we are and what we can do if we set our minds to it.”

“I wanted to cast a woman as second in command. NBC said no way.”

“Earth is the nest, the cradle, and we'll move out of it.”

“When you get into an airplane by yourself and take off, you find yourself in this lovely, three-dimensional world where you can go in any direction. There is no feeling any more exciting than that.”

“What Kirk wanted every evening was to go to bed with a beautiful woman. Our captain now is a man of infinitely more skill. A better man.”

“'Star Trek' is a 'Wagon Train' concept - built around characters who travel to worlds 'similar' to our own, and meet the action-adventure-drama which become our stories. Their transportation is the cruiser 'S.S. Yorktown,' performing a well-defined and long-range Exploration-Science-Security mission which helps create our format.”

“I wanted to send a message to the television industry that excitement is not made of car chases.”

“Can all this just be an accident? Or could there be some alien intelligence behind it?”

“I remember myself as an asthmatic child, having great difficulties at 7, 8 and 9 years old, falling totally in love with 'Tarzan, Lord of the Jungle' and dreaming of having his strength to leap into trees and throw mighty lions to the ground.”

“To cast Mr. Spock, I made a phone call to Leonard, and he came in. That was it.”

“Normal television limits what you can do. With science fiction, you can exercise your imagination more. I fell in love with it.”

“When dreams become more important than reality, you give up travel, building, creating; you even forget how to repair the machines left behind by your ancestors. You just sit living and reliving other lives left behind in the thought records.-- Vina, "The Menagerie" ("The Cage"), Star Trek, 1966”

“'Star Trek' says that it has not all happened, it has not all been discovered, that tomorrow can be as challenging and adventurous as any time man has ever lived.”

“When they put out the sales brochure when we eventually went to series, they carefully rounded Spock's ears and made him look human so he wouldn't scare off potential advertisers.”

“We must question the story logic of having an all-knowing all-powerful God, who creates faulty Humans, and then blames them for his own mistakes.”

“My model for Kirk was Horatio Hornblower from the C.S. Forester sea stories. Shatner was open-minded about science fiction and a marvelous choice.”

“We stress humanity, and this is done at considerable cost. We can't have a lot of dramatics that other shows get away with - promiscuity, greed, jealousy. None of those have a place in 'Star Trek.'”

“I have felt many times trapped by 'Star Trek.' It cost me dearly. It won't anymore, because I've come to grips with what it is and where it fits in my life.”