In making Trek Nation, Rod Roddenberry interviewed those who worked with his father over the years, including industry professionals who knew Gene Roddenberry, family friends, and Star Trek fans.

Rod Roddenberry realized that his father was something out of the ordinary back in 1991 when he attended the 25th anniversary of Star Trek at the Shrine Auditorium in Los Angeles. When he helped his father to stand onstage, “the entire Shrine Auditorium got up to applaud him; chills went up and down my spine,” said Roddenberry. “That was almost the first smack in the face that there’s more to this guy who’s your father.”

In discovering who his father really was, Roddenberry heard some stories that were difficult for the son of a man who had been “put up on this pedestal throughout my life;” stories that revealed the complete man, not just the myth. “I found out a tremendous number of them that were extremely moving and powerful and painful,” Roddenberry said. “That allowed me, as a son, not just to connect with him, but actually love him.”

Trek Nation will reveal Gene Roddenberry’s legacy using interviews, archival footage and home movies. For those eager to hear more before tomorrow’s television airing, Trek Nation‘s YouTube page features seven “Director’s Logs,” including the one below which features Star Trek: The Next Generation Writer Michael Piller. Other “Director’s Log” entries include exclusive Star Trek clips, deleted scenes, interviews with Patrick Stewart, Nichelle Nichols, composer Brian Langsbard, and an interview with Trek fan Lydia Chilton.

The Director’s Logs can be seen here.

http://youtu.be/Bc4ZtX4SWWU

The pitch, part of which has been published before, includes a description of the characters and some ideas which became episodes during the run of Star Trek.

As many fans know, the Captain of the ship (in this case, the U.S.S. Yorktown, not the more-familiar Enterprise) would have been Robert M. April, a “space-age Captain Horatio Hornblower.”

Other characters included: the Executive Officer, Number One, a “mysterious” female;  the navigator – Jose Ortegas;  the doctor – Phillip “Bones” Boyce;  the First Lieutenant, Mr. Spock, who was described as being “probably half-Martin”  and “with a heavy-lidded” and “satanic” face; and the Captain’s Yeoman, a blonde female with the surname of “Colt.”

Several programs that became episodes were mentioned in the pitch, including: The Cage (The Menagerie), Charlie X, A Piece of the Action, and Mudd’s Women.

Roddenberry had plenty of other story ideas which were included in the pitch. 100 A.B. would have been the story of life after “The Bomb.” “A terrifying parallel as we examine what might be our own world a few decades after an atomic holocaust,” is the description of this sobering story.

Another story, Kentucky, Kentucky, would have featured an earth colony out in space that had been reduced to a frontier, log-fort life.

Other topics covered in the pitch include casting, language (a telecommunicator device is mentioned), weaponry (laser beams), costuming and specifics regarding the U.S.S. Yorktown.

The pitch can be seen here.

Several of the original series actors were profiled for the special, including William Shatner, Leonard Nimoy and Nichelle Nichols.

In the interviews, Nimoy speaks about an important Gunsmoke role he had just before he landed the role of Spock on Star Trek, and about his career before Star Trek. Shatner shares a story about being nearly choked to death and Nichols tells viewers what it was like to work with Nimoy.

Writer-producer Mike Trinklein explained what he wanted the audience to see in the science fiction segment, both the Star Trek fan audience and the general audience. “On one hand we have to touch on the standard things that much of the Star Trek audience would already know, but that the general audience might not, like the interracial kiss and Nichelle Nichols’ Martin Luther King, Jr. story,” he said. “What we were searching for was to set it all in history and see what was around Star Trek.

“We try to give you a sense of the times we were in, the shows that were influencing each other, and, of course, with this series it’s always about the pioneers. So it’s about Star Trek and The Twilight Zone and Lost in Space, and about the people behind these shows. We try to give you a little bit of a sketch, of a portrait of those people. Now, obviously, we can’t get into great detail in a one-hour show that’s got to cover several different people, but we at least give people a sense of who Gene Roddenberry and Rod Serling and Irwin Allen were and how they all fit into the picture.”

Fans will get to see a bit of the early careers of Shatner and Nimoy. “We have Shatner talking about (having been) on Howdy Doody and we see Nimoy in Zombies of the Stratosphere and see Shatner in Alexander,” said Trinklein. “It’s kind of cool to include those clips. I think a lot of people have heard about these things, but maybe haven’t seen those clips. So, Bill and Leonard talk about those credits a little bit and then we see the clips. That’s fun.”

In fact, Nimoy’s work on Gunsmoke had an influence on how he played Spock. “I found an old Gunsmoke episode that Nimoy had done, in which he played an Indian,” said Trinklein. “He did this just a few weeks before Star Trek started. You look at it and you go, ‘That’s Spock.’ He has the same attitude, the same emotional approach, the same kind of feel as the Spock character. And I asked Leonard, ‘Did this Indian character influence how you portrayed Spock?’ He said, ‘I never thought about it, but it kind of did.’ He played that Indian with the same kind of ‘still waters run deep’ feeling that he brought to Spock.”

Nimoy speaks about the role in a clip embedded below.

Other interviews include one with Martin Landau, where he talked about not playing Spock. “I was surprised that he was so open about it and his comments about being glad that Leonard Nimoy got the part because Leonard was better suited for it,” said Trinklein. “Viewers can draw whatever conclusion they want from that. But he was more than happy to talk about it.”

Pioneers of Television: Science Fiction will air tomorrow evening on PBS stations. Several other short video interviews featuring Nichols, Nimoy and Shatner can be seen here.

Watch the full episode. See more Pioneers of Television.

The cub, born in October, was named in honor of Roddenberry, said Rod Roddenberry, son of Majel. “For those who do not know, my mother was a staunch animal supporter,” he said. “Her favorites were cats, large or small … her passion for them knew no bounds.”

“It is our understanding that ‘Majel’ will be on display at the San Diego Zoo for the next few months,” explained Roddenberry in a newsletter on his website. “Her future home is uncertain as these cats are endangered and are sent to other animal sanctuaries throughout the world in an effort to promote and revive the species. In a recent report, ‘Majel’ was described as being ‘Ms. Independent”‘ and ‘Vocal.’ “She frequently is the first to go off and explore her area and loves to play tug-o-war with the keepers.”

Tiger cubs Majel and Joanne were born to parents who were genetically matched. This matching is a necessity due to the diminished gene pool of the endangered animals. “The best pair isn’t always a compatible pair, so you have to look at their behavior and look at what the genetics are and match those two,” said Randy Rieches, curator of mammals at the San Diego Zoo Safari Park.

Several photos of the tigers can be seen by heading to the link located here.

In 1975, Strange New World, a post-apocalypse story made without Roddenberry’s participation but based on his idea and characters (including John Saxon of Planet Earth), was made, but like Genesis II and Planet Earth, Strange New World was not picked up as a regular series.

Genesis II and Planet Earth were released on DVD last year, pleasing fans of both Roddenberry and Andromeda (a show based on the 1970s pilots and which used Roddenberry’s heroic Dylan Hunt), but Strange New World was not released at that time.

This week, the Warner Archive began selling Strange New World, which will cost $19.95 with a ninety-seven minute run time.

The description of Strange New World is as follows: “Cult icon John Saxon (Enter the Dragon) battles clones, barbarians, beasts and more in this startling sci-fi adventure based on concepts developed by Gene Roddenberry, the visionary creator of Star Trek. After 180 years in a cryogenic freeze, a trio of astronauts returns to Earth, only to find giant asteroids have devastated the planet. Roaming across America’s vast wastelands, they encounter weird new cities, strange civilizations and bizarre descendants of Earth’s distant past. Co-written by Academy Award winner Walon Green (The Wild Bunch), Strange New World features foxy film femmes Martine Beswick (Thunderball), Catherine Bach (The Dukes of Hazzard) and 1974 Playmate of the Year Cynthia Wood (Apocalypse Now) in an otherworldly thriller where Earth itself is the final frontier.”

Strange New World can be purchased here.

It’s not easy being a Star Trek fan, with the average public’s perception of the typical Star Trek fan being shaped by films such as 1997′s Trekkies as well as William Shatner‘s Get A Life skit on Saturday Night Live in the 1980s.

Colthorp and Roddenberry are seeking to make a different film, one that explores both the roots and the endurance of the Star Trek phenomenon. “Ten years ago, Rod Roddenberry and I set out to create a film that was, in many ways, an antithesis to Trekkies,” said Colthorp. “We agreed that our documentary would not focus on the overzealous, costumed fans. We wanted to go beneath the surface of fandom and explore the roots of the show’s popularity and endurance from the perspective of a son, Rod, who lost his father when he was seventeen. What we discovered was an ex-cop with a philosophical bent, and the courage to share his ideals in the form of a television show.

“The zealotry and nerdiness of Star Trek fans were forever immortalized by William Shatner’s Get a life! in that late-’80s Saturday Night Live episode. So I wasn’t surprised to find high cognitive intelligence when I first began interviewing fans in the late ’90s. But I was a little surprised to find such a diverse crowd of emotionally developed people as well. Of course, any popular cultural phenomenon, from sports to politics, has no shortage of fanatics. But Star Trek fans are very kind and thoughtful people who have, in my opinion, been misrepresented by the media.”

Colthorp himself is a fan. “It was at a gathering of my college roommates every evening to watch reruns of the original series that I found my first satori,” he said. “My roommates and I ran the gamut of diversity: An Army brat, a fraternity brother, an art student and myself, a struggling philosophy student.

“It was the Gene Roddenberry-penned script, The Menagerie, which was reformatted from the original pilot, The Cage, that grabbed my attention. I suppose my initiation to many philosophical concepts was birthed from multiple viewings of that episode. Of course, it was only during the making of this documentary I have been able to articulate what I discovered intuitively from watching this show as a pimple-faced college student many eons ago.”

Even though he is a long-time fan, Colthorp has enjoyed Star Trek as done by J.J. Abrams. “I think J.J. Abrams’ re-envisioning of Star Trek was long overdue,” he said. “The franchise needed some fresh talent and J.J. brought an action-packed film of the highest order, although it lacked many of Gene’s humanistic themes. But I think it takes an ambitious, action-oriented, and philosophically minded artist to speak deeply about the human condition without boring today’s youthful audience. That’s a tall order.”

Trek Nation will go beyond the usual “crazy conventions and over-passionate fans,” according to the description at the official website for the movie. Trek Nation will “attempt to capture how this manifestation of a single force (Gene Roddenberry) can affect so many walks of life.” Star Trek fans include the famous, including “professional athletes, models, celebrities, politicians, historians, bikers, religious leaders, lawyers and those on the fringe of society.”

Trek Nation is still seeking distribution and no release date has yet been set.

The sale, to be held at the Planet Hollywood Resort and Casino in Las Vegas on June 27, will benefit charity, with the proceeds going to the Roddenberry Foundation.

“My father would be proud that his memorabilia will not only be enjoyed and cherished by Star Trek fans, but that the proceeds will benefit society on a larger scale,” said Rod Roddenberry, Gene’s son.

Some of the items up for auction include costumes won by Majel Barrett Roddenberry during her appearances on Star Trek: The Next Generation and Deep Space Nine, scripts, a Peabody Award won for The Big Goodbye, and a model of the USS Enterprise-D.

William Shatner has also contributed items for the auction, with the proceeds from the sales from his items to go to the Hollywood Charity Horse Show, his favored charity. Some of the items donated by Shatner include a custom Harley motorcycle, a Golden Globe nomination certificate and a plaque to commemorate his star on Hollywood’s Walk of Fame.

“I handed the motorcycle over and it was part of my heart, but that’s only figuratively speaking,” said Shatner.

“I’m not immersed in the industry right now,” said Roddenberry, “and I don’t have a whole list of names I could pull out a hat. I come from the point of view of a fan, a fan of Star Trek and a fan of Gene Roddenberry.”

“Brent Spiner did a fantastic job as Data [Star Trek: The Next Generation],” said Roddenberry. “The character was an android, yet there was something very human about it. Perhaps it’s my inability to be creative. Brent Spiner is who I fall back to when I think of Questor.”

Although Roddenberry has Spiner in mind, Tim Minear (Lois & Clark, The X-Files, Angel) and Imagine might go in a different direction, or Spiner might not be interested if asked. “I’m not suggesting that’s the way we would go,” said Roddenberry. “If you’re asking the question who right now would I pick, it would be him because I really don’t have anyone else that I am thinking of that has ever done a role like that convincingly.”

Spiner’s Data was modeled after the Questor character by Gene Roddenberry for Star Trek: The Next Generation.

The Questor Tapes is currently in development, with a script to possibly be written later this year.

Roddenberry joins actress Candice Bergen, art director Charles Lisanby, announcer Don Pardo, comedy and music talents Tom and Dick Smothers and game show creator Bob Stewart as the newest members of the Hall of Fame.

“Each year, the Television Academy has the privilege of honoring television greats that have contributed to the development and success of this ever-evolving medium,” said Television Academy Chairman-CEO John Shaffner. “We are very pleased to be able to induct them into the Hall of Fame for their many achievements.”

“To have the opportunity to once again be a part of the Hall of Fame Selection Committee is a true honor,” said Mark Itkin, chairman of the Hall of Fame selection committee. “These individuals have each made extraordinary and lasting contributions that have meant so much to multiple generations of television viewers. Their work will endure for decades to come.”

Roddenberry, a two-time Primetime Emmy Award-nominee, created the Star Trek franchise, with eleven theatrical movies, six television series (including the animated series.)

The ceremony will be held the Beverly Hills Hotel.

The annual ceremony will be joined by Saturday Night Live and game show announcer Don Pardo, The Price is Right game show creator Bob Stewart and Emmy-award winning art director Charles Lisanby.

“This year’s inductees have challenged and shaped popular culture and entertained us royally while doing so,” said Television Academy chairman John Shaffner.

Roddenberry was the creator of Star Trek. Bergen is best known for her work in Murphy Brown, a 1990s CBS comedy. The Smothers Brothers began their television career in the 1960s and still perform today.