Merrick here...


An(excuse the term) fascinating audio interview with Gene Roddenberry is posted at tcm-productions.com.

The interview was conducted in 1976, as STAR TREK was in the midst of its fabeled resurgence. A STAR TREK "movie" was in the works, although many details had not been finalized (a guest starring role for Bob Newhart?)

The interview is broken into three parts, chronicling the development of chracters (specifically Kirk - why he evolved from "April" to "Pike" to "Kirk" and whatnot), the rise of STAR TREK merchandising, and finally bringing the franchise back to screens.

One interesting tidbit here is that, while developing the project that would become STAR TREK: THE MOTION picture, Roddenberry considered a film that (in essence) sounds like what J.J. Abrams and his gang are doing with the new movie. I.e. the early days of Kirk and Spock, how the Enterprise crew came together, and what not.

This specific part of the interview can be accessed HERE. ALL sections of the interview can be found THROUGH THIS LINK (click "productions")!

Lots of cool insight and perspective here. TREK fans and pop culture junkies in general might find this fun.