Fanlore:Featured Article Archives/2020: Week 38
"Save Star Trek" is one of the Star Trek fan campaigns that can be found in the History of Star Trek Fan Campaigns article.
It was the fan response to threatened cancellation after the second season. Their efforts successfully renewed the show. A similar campaign for a fourth season was unsuccessful. Later, fans went on to campaign for the show to be shown in reruns, for the creation of the movies, and for the inclusion of the original actors in these movies. Spearheaded by the Star Trek Welcommittee, the campaign was taken up by fans everywhere and took on many different formats.
Outside of the fan campaign to save CBS' Mama in 1956, the original major fan campaign was "Save Star Trek", in 1968 and 1969.
Gene Roddenberry believed that Star Trek was already threatened with cancellation in the middle of its first season in 1966. On December 1, 1966, after speaking with Roddenberry, author Harlan Ellison wrote an open letter to the Science Fiction Writers of America asking for their support along with the fans, with guidelines on where to write and what to say.
Fueled by the success of the first campaign, fans went on to rally for other things they wanted.