Star Trek: Phase II - Everything We Know About Gene Roddenberry's Unmade Series

"Star Trek," as many may know, wasn't a huge hit during its initial 1966 to 1969 run. The series always struggled with low ratings, and only received a third season after a passionate letter-writing campaign kept it on the air. The third season, luckily, pushed "Star Trek" up to 76 episodes, which was just enough for syndication deals. "Star Trek" began airing in reruns in the early 1970s, and only then did the series find a wider — and widely obsessive — audience. Reruns allowed Trekkies to watch episodes multiple times, and develop their own theories about the Enterprise, about the show's technical devices, and about the characters' backstories. 

The first official "Star Trek" convention was held in September 1972, and show creator Gene Roddenberry began showing up at subsequent cons to discuss his show and hear from fans about what they liked. I am convinced that it was during the convention circuit years that Roddenberry began to think of "Star Trek" differently. His series was always optimistic, but in discussion, he discovered he had created something almost utopian. 

In 1973, Filmation revived "Star Trek" as an animated series , but it wasn't a huge hit (despite its excellent writing and the return of most of the original cast). But reruns continued to draw huge numbers. By 1977, "Star Trek" was running on 137 American stations. Roddenberry felt it was high time to reboot "Star Trek," but in a more perfect form. 

In 1977, it so happened that Paramount — who owned "Star Trek" — wanted to launch its own TV network. The new network was to be called the Paramount Television Service, or PTS, and it would be only the fourth major TV network in the country (apart from NBC, CBS, and ABC). Roddenberry saw an opportunity, and announced that, with the launch of the new network, "Star Trek" would return. The new show: "Star Trek: Phase II."