Star Trek anniversary

On this day in 1966, the original "Star Trek" premiered on American television.

The brainchild of Gene Roddenberry, the series captured the imagination with its introductory premise:

"Space... the Final Frontier. These are the voyages of the starship Enterprise. Its five-year mission: to explore strange new worlds, to seek out new life and new civilizations, to boldly go where no man has gone before."

The cast, starring William Shatner, Leonard Nimoy, DeForest Kelley and James Doohan, to name just a few, would all become famous, but mainly when the series was already out of production and into repeats.

The original series only had a three-year, 80-episode run.

Still, it was enough to usher in a new era in television science fiction. Altogether, "Star Trek" spawned another four related series and more than six full theatrical releases.

The successful follow-up series were:

"Next Generation," 178 episodes

"Deep Space Nine," 176 episodes

"Voyageur," 172 episopdes

and "Enterprise," 98 episodes.

...It all began on this day in 1966.