50 years ago the first Star Trek episode aired

On September 8, 1966, the first regular episode of Star Trek aired on television station NBC. The first episode was called The Man Trap and aired between 8:30 and 9:30 on a sneak preview block of NBC.

The show received mixed criticism, with the New York Times calling it a “psychodrama in orbit.” The Washington Post was a little more lenient, criticizing it as a “space opera,” but that the show was clearly well-funded and beautiful.

The first series ran for three years and had 79 episodes. Five more series followed and a sixth ‘Discovery’ is coming in 2017. In 1973 and 74 Star Trek: The Animated Series appeared, then from 1987 to 94 The Next Generation and from 1993 to 99 we were able to enjoy Deep Space Nine . Voyager ran from 1995 to 2001 and Enterprise from 2001 to 2005.

Walter Koenig, William Shatner, Leonard Nimoy and Nichelle Nichols