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In this episode of “POTENTIALS . . . Envisioning the New Millennium,” host Barbara Marx Hubbard explores a vast field of ideas with the legendary creator of Star Trek. Roddenberry was a brilliant visionary and opens his mind up to envision the positive potential of technology, the media and artists for the planet. They explore space travel, and why there will probably never really be a Captain Kirk. The alien perspective so treasured by Roddenberry is invoked in this episode, as he reads excerpts from his rare and never published An Alien’s Diary. This is probably the finest video interview that exists with Gene Roddenberry.
 Gene Roddenberry American television scriptwriter and producer, creator of the television series “STAR TREK” broadcast originally from 1966 to 1969. Before Star Trek Gene was one of the top freelance television writers in Hollywood with a long list of credits, a small portion of which would make a career for any other writer.
Born Eugene Wesley Roddenberry in El Paso, Texas, he was raised in Los Angeles and graduated from Los Angeles City College in 1941. He served in the Army Air Corps from 1941 to 1945. A decorated WWII bomber pilot and former commercial pilot before becoming a sergeant with the LAPD, Roddenberry graduated from composing speeches for the LA police chief to writing and selling several story synopsis from info supplied by other cops for “Dragnet”; he also wrote episodes of “Naked City” in the 1950s. He served as a writer for “Have Gun, Will Travel”, having written more scripts than any of the other writers for this series, (25 out of 150).
In the early 1960s Roddenberry began developing the television series “Star Trek,” a science-fiction drama set in the 23rd century. The program chronicles the adventures of a starship crew as they travel through space. As the executive producer of the series, Roddenberry guided its plots with humanism, often exploring the strengths and weaknesses of human character. The series, noted for its diverse cast, gained an extremely loyal base of fans and was widely syndicated after its cancellation in 1969. In 1979 Roddenberry served as producer of the motion picture STAR TREK, which features the characters from the television series.
While making “STAR TREK,” Roddenberry’s reputation as a futurist began to grow. His papers and lectures earned him high professional regard in that field. He spoke on the subject at NASA meetings, the Smithsonian Institution, Library of Congress gatherings and top universities.
Roddenberry served as a member of the Writers Guild Executive Council and as a Governor of the Academy of Television Arts and Sciences. He held three honorary doctorate degrees: Doctor of Humane Letters from Emerson College in Boston, Mass.; Doctor of Literature from Union College in Los Angeles (1977), and Doctor of Science from Clarkson College in Potsdam, New York (1981).
For further information on Space Exploration, please contact:
National Space Society
202-543-1900
600 Pennslyvania Ave. SE Suite 201
Washington, D.C. 20003-4316
Web Sites: www.roddenberry.com, www.nss.org
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