You have asked what you can do to help bring STAR TREK back on the air.
| Open Letter | |
|---|---|
| Title: | You have asked what you can do to help bring STAR TREK back on the air. (title used here on Fanlore) |
| From: | David Gerrold |
| Addressed To: | fans |
| Date(s): | May/June 1973 |
| Medium: | |
| Fandom: | Star Trek |
| Topic: | |
| External Links: | |
| Click here for related articles on Fanlore. | |
You have asked what you can do to help bring STAR TREK back on the air. is a 1973 open letter by David Gerrold.
It was printed in Star-Borne #8.
Some Topics Discussed
- Star Trek Animated and how it's a quality show that isn't for kids
- Gerrold (and by inference in his salutation, D.C. Fontana and Gene Roddenberry) want fans to badger Paramount to support the new animated show, as well as campaign for Star Trek to be brought to television as a live-action show again
- "Paramount doesn't care about STAR TREK, they care about money."
- fans have power
- instructions on how to write convincing letters
The Letter
Greetings and Salutations, from myself, from D.C. Fontana, and from the Great Bird of The Galaxy himself.
You have asked what you can do to help bring STAR TREK back on the air.
There are two things that you can do. As you know, TREK is being brought back as an animated series. But this is not a "kiddy show." Gene Roddenberry is in complete control, D.C. Fontana is Associate Producer, and writers like myself, Larry Niven, Sam Peeples, Margaret Armen, Larry Brody and others who worked on STAR TREK's first two seasons will be writing for the animated series. In addition. Matt Jefferies (set designer) and Bill Theiss (costume designer) will be consultants in their respective fields. The original cast will be doing their own voices. I have seen some of the first storyboards and animation and they look great. This is not a "kiddy show"; the animation lets us do shows that were impossible before. One of the first is about Spock as a little boy. Another is "More Tribbles, More Troubles."
You can help us convince NBC that this is not a kid show. Write to them and tell them that you would like to see the animated STAR TREK on a week night. Perhaps if they see how well the animated show is, they'll bring back the live action show too — but the primary concern is to get STAR TREK broadcast at a reasonable hour so that it can prove its viability. Write to: NBC-TV [address redacted].
Do NOT put Gene Roddenberry or STAR TREK on the envelope. Be polite, be courteous, and tell them in your own words why you think it is a good idea to put the animated show on at a reasonable hour on a week night.
Now, for the second one. The big one. Write a letter to Paramount. Let them know that you think a STAR TREK movie would be a great idea. A fantastic idea. They could make one or two a year for theatrical release like the "Planet Of The Apes" series and they'd make a lot of money off of them. Paramount doesn't care about STAR TREK, they care about money -- convince them that STAR TREK will make money for them as a movie, and a STAR TREK movie is inevitable.
Paramount knows that the fans exist — they don't realize how many of them there are. This is your last chance to show them. If you would be willing to see stories about other spaceships, or a different crew, say so — if Paramount thinks that it's only Mr. Spock and Captain Kirk that you are interested in, they might not be as willing to make a movie as they would if they thought it was the whole STAR TREK concept.
Write to them today. Remember STAR TREK is a special kind of show. It's the only show in history that has been kept alive by its fans -- now's the time to resurrect it. Write to: Frank Yablans, Paramount Pictures [address redacted]. Again, be polite, be courteous, and tell them in your own words. Do not put STAR TREK or Gene Roddenberry on the outside of the envelope.
Don't bother with petitions — a single letter counts more than two thousand signatures. Don't mimeograph up form letters either. Each letter should be from a different individual. See how many of your friends you can get to write letters. Xerox this information and pass it around to other STAR TREK fans and fan clubs. Try to get it reprinted as many places as possible. If we are to succeed we must reach as many people as possible and get them to write letters.
Remember, they can't ignore one million letters.
If there really are as many STAR TREK fans as we hope, we can bring back STAR TREK. Let's do it.
Live long and prosper.