Trek's Longevity Celebrated In Trade Paper

Monday's issue of Hollywood trade paper Variety features a story on Star Trek's enduring appeal as part of special supplement devoted to Paramount Pictures' 90th anniversary.

The supplement includes interviews with prominent Trek figures such as William Shatner (James T. Kirk), Leonard Nimoy (Spock) and franchise head Rick Berman, according to StarTrek.com.

In the special issue, Shatner ascribed the success of the Original Series to intelligent storytelling. "The shows were constructed in the Greek traditional way of the well-made play," he said. "The network had cut out budget to such an extent that there was little we could do other than stand around a sound stage and get some clever ideas going." The actor added that cancellation wasn't the end of the world. "At the time, I thought three years was a pretty good run."

The series also had the added benefit of Nimoy's effortlessly logical Spock, which kept viewers tuning in. "By being half-human and half-Vulcan," the actor recalled, "audiences were interested in his constant effort to maintain balance since there was always the danger his human side would overtake the logic and make him less rational."

Enterprise has been promoted as returning to the themes of the Original Series, which executive producer Berman said was motivated by a desire to keep the franchise fresh. "We had to do something different because we'd had 21 [seasons] of 24th-century people flying around and because we and the fans were just inundated with too much of the same."

The full Variety special, on newsstands Monday, also features comments from 'Wrath of Khan' director Nicholas Meyer as well as cable syndication statistics. A sneak preview is available here at StarTrek.com.

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