Editing Star Trek: The Original Series (section)

===Season 2 (1967–1968)===
{{Main|Star Trek: The Original Series season 2}}
[[File:Leonard Nimoy William Shatner Star Trek 1968.JPG|thumb|left|180px|[[Spock]], Kirk and the ''Enterprise'', 1968]]
''Star Trek''{{'}}s ratings continued to decline during the second season. Although Shatner expected the show to end after two seasons and began to prepare for other projects,{{r|lowry19680329}} NBC nonetheless may have never seriously considered canceling the show.{{r|lowry19680117}}<ref name="to20060901">{{cite web |url=http://www.tvobscurities.com/articles/star_trek_look/ |title=Television Obscurities – A Look at Star Trek |publisher=Television Obscurities |date=September 1, 2006 |access-date=May 14, 2011 |archive-date=August 16, 2011 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110816132833/http://www.tvobscurities.com/articles/star_trek_look/ |url-status=live }}</ref> As early as January 1968, the [[Associated Press]] reported that ''Star Trek''{{'}}s chances for renewal for a third season were "excellent". The show had better ratings for NBC than ABC's competing ''[[Hondo (TV series)|Hondo]]'', and the competing CBS programs (number-three ''[[Gomer Pyle, U.S.M.C.]]'' and the first half-hour of the number-12 ''CBS Friday Night Movie'') were in the top 15 in the Nielsen ratings.{{r|lowry19680117}}<ref name="nielsen19671968">{{cite web |url=http://ctva.biz/US/TV-Ratings/CTVA_NielsenRatings_1967-1968.htm |title=US TV Nielsen Ratings 1967–1968 |work=The Classic TV Archive |access-date=April 29, 2011 |archive-date=January 21, 2011 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110121140919/http://ctva.biz/US/TV-Ratings/CTVA_NielsenRatings_1967-1968.htm |url-status=live }}</ref> Again, demographics helped ''Star Trek'' survive.{{r|pearson2011}}{{rp|116}} Contrary to popular belief among its fans, the show did not have a larger audience of young viewers than its competition while on NBC.{{r|to20060901}} The network's research did indicate that ''Star Trek'' had a "quality audience" including "upper-income, better-educated males", however, and other NBC shows had lower overall ratings.{{r|pearson2011}}{{rp|116}}<ref name="lowry19680117">{{cite news |url=https://news.google.com/newspapers?id=hIdjAAAAIBAJ&pg=7271,1556535 |agency=Associated Press |title=One Network Goes 'Unconventional' |work=[[Nashua Telegraph]] |date=January 17, 1968 |access-date=April 29, 2011 |author=Lowry, Cynthia |page=13 |archive-date=May 11, 2016 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160511132808/https://news.google.com/newspapers?id=hIdjAAAAIBAJ&sjid=9nkNAAAAIBAJ&pg=7271,1556535 |url-status=live }}</ref>

{{quote box|align=right|width=25em|quote=Look! Look! It doesn't stop! They're lined up all the way down the street!|source=—Norman Lunenfeld, NBC executive, on the mail trucks delivering ''Star Trek'' fans' letters{{r|poe1998}}}}
The enthusiasm of ''Star Trek''{{'}}s viewers surprised NBC.{{r|to20060901}} The show was unusual in its serious discussion of contemporary societal issues in a futuristic context, unlike ''[[Lost in Space]]'', which was more [[Camp (style)|campy]] in nature.<ref name="conley19720416">{{cite news |url=https://news.google.com/newspapers?id=hrwqAAAAIBAJ&pg=6159,556852 |title=Day-To-Day Fare Can Help People Cope With Life |work=[[Sarasota Herald-Tribune]] |date=April 16, 1972 |access-date=May 4, 2011 |author=Conley, Rita |page=13 |archive-date=May 6, 2016 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160506200734/https://news.google.com/newspapers?id=hrwqAAAAIBAJ&sjid=iWYEAAAAIBAJ&pg=6159,556852 |url-status=live }}</ref> The network had already received 29,000 fan letters for the show during its first season, more than for any other except ''[[The Monkees (TV series)|The Monkees]]''.{{r|davies2007}} When rumors spread in late 1967 that ''Star Trek'' was at risk of cancellation, Roddenberry secretly began and funded an effort by [[Bjo Trimble]], her husband John, and other fans to persuade tens of thousands of viewers to write letters of support to save the program.<ref name="poe1998">{{cite book |title=A Vision of the Future |publisher=Simon & Schuster |author=Poe, Stephen Edward |year=1998 |pages=138–139 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=MiJTlrdSkpAC&pg=PA138 |isbn=0-671-53481-5 |access-date=July 14, 2017 |archive-date=June 23, 2020 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200623092654/https://books.google.com/books?id=MiJTlrdSkpAC&lpg=PP1&pg=PA138 |url-status=live }}</ref><ref name="solow1997">{{cite book |last=Solow |first=Herbert F. |author2=Justman, Robert H. |title=Inside Star Trek: The Real Story |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=X2cBAAAACAAJ |date= 1997 |publisher=Simon & Schuster |isbn=0-671-00974-5}}</ref>{{rp|377–394}}<ref name="page19680815">{{cite news |url=https://news.google.com/newspapers?id=QPFOAAAAIBAJ&pg=7135,2042483 |title='Star Trek' Lives Despite Taboos |work=Toledo Blade |date=August 15, 1968 |access-date=April 29, 2011 |author=Page, Don |archive-date=May 12, 2016 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160512185742/https://news.google.com/newspapers?id=QPFOAAAAIBAJ&sjid=nQEEAAAAIBAJ&pg=7135,2042483 |url-status=live }}</ref> Using the 4,000 names on a mailing list for a science-fiction convention, the Trimbles asked fans to write to NBC and ask 10 others to also do so.<ref name="michaud1986">{{cite book |title=Reaching for the high frontier: the American pro-space movement, 1972–84 |publisher=Praeger |author=Michaud, Michael A.G. |year=1986 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=8oZTAAAAMAAJ |isbn=0-275-92150-6}}</ref>{{rp|128}} NBC received almost 116,000 letters for the show between December 1967 and March 1968, including more than 52,000 in February alone;<ref name="modbee19680414">{{cite news |url=https://www.newspapers.com/newspage/26178233/ |title=Letters For 'Star Trek' Hit 114,667 |work=The Modesto Bee |date=April 14, 1968 |access-date=December 9, 2014 |pages=26}}</ref><ref>"[https://pqasb.pqarchiver.com/courant/access/936607972.html?dids=936607972:936607972&FMT=CITE&FMTS=CITE:AI&type=historic&date=Mar+17%2C+1968&author=&pub=Hartford+Courant&desc=Star+Trekkers+Are+Restored&pqatl=google Star Trekkers Are Restored] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120512050953/http://pqasb.pqarchiver.com/courant/access/936607972.html?dids=936607972:936607972&FMT=CITE&FMTS=CITE:AI&type=historic&date=Mar+17%2C+1968&author=&pub=Hartford+Courant&desc=Star+Trekkers+Are+Restored&pqatl=google |date=May 12, 2012 }}". ''[[Hartford Courant]]'' March 17, 1968. 12H.</ref>{{r|davies2007}} according to an NBC executive, the network received more than one million pieces of mail but only disclosed the 116,000 figure.{{r|poe1998}} Newspaper columnists encouraged readers to write letters to help save what one called "the best science-fiction show on the air".<ref name="scott19680207">{{cite news |url=https://news.google.com/newspapers?id=FgBSAAAAIBAJ&pg=4987,1126992 |title=Letters Can Save 'Star Trek' |work=The Press-Courier |agency=United Press International |date=February 7, 1968 |access-date=April 29, 2011 |author=Scott, Vernon |location=Oxnard, California |page=17 |archive-date=April 24, 2016 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160424234619/https://news.google.com/newspapers?id=FgBSAAAAIBAJ&sjid=kjQNAAAAIBAJ&pg=4987,1126992 |url-status=live }}</ref> More than 200 [[Caltech]] students marched to NBC's [[Burbank, California]] studio to support ''Star Trek'' in January 1968, carrying signs such as "[[Conscription in the United States|Draft]] Spock" and "[[Black Power|Vulcan Power]]".<ref name="harrison20110425">{{cite web |url=http://framework.latimes.com/2011/04/25/star-trek-protest/ |title='Star Trek' protest |work=[[Los Angeles Times]] |date=April 25, 2011 |access-date=April 26, 2011 |author=Harrison, Scott |archive-date=May 25, 2011 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110525130935/http://framework.latimes.com/2011/04/25/star-trek-protest/ |url-status=live }}</ref> [[University of California, Berkeley|Berkeley]] and [[MIT]] students organized similar protests in San Francisco and New York City.{{r|scott19680207}}

The letters supporting ''Star Trek'', whose authors included [[Governor of New York|New York State Governor]] [[Nelson Rockefeller]],{{r|svetkey19910927}} were different in both quantity and quality from most mail that television networks receive:

{{blockquote|The show, according to the 6,000 letters it draws a week (more than any other in television), is watched by scientists, museum curators, psychiatrists, doctors, university professors, and other highbrows. The [[Smithsonian Institution]] asked for a print of the show for its archives, the only show so honored.{{r|scott19680207}}}}

In addition:

{{blockquote|Much of the mail came from doctors, scientists, teachers, and other professional people, and was for the most part literate–and written on good stationery. And if there is anything a network wants almost as much as a high Nielsen ratings, it is the prestige of a show that appeals to the upper middle class and high-brow audiences.<ref name="lowry19680329">{{cite news |last=Lowry |first=Cynthia |date=March 29, 1968 |title=TV Fans Save Space Ship Enterprise From Mothballs |url=https://news.google.com/newspapers?id=kSgsAAAAIBAJ&pg=821,4386600 |newspaper=[[TimesDaily|Florence Times – Tri-Cities Daily]] |location=Florence, AL |publisher=Tri-Cities Newspapers, Inc. |agency=Associated Press |page=15 |access-date=2013-11-03 |archive-date=March 11, 2016 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160311235823/https://news.google.com/newspapers?id=kSgsAAAAIBAJ&sjid=jMYEAAAAIBAJ&pg=821,4386600 |url-status=live }}</ref>}}

{{quote box|align=right|width=25em|quote=And now an announcement of interest to all viewers of ''Star Trek''. We are pleased to tell you that ''Star Trek'' will continue to be seen on NBC Television. We know you will be looking forward to seeing the weekly adventure in space on ''Star Trek''.|source=—NBC announcer, March 1, 1968{{r|modbee19680414}}{{r|svetkey19910927}}{{r|to20060901}}}}
NBC—which used such anecdotes in much of its publicity for the show—made the unusual decision to announce on television, after the episode "[[The Omega Glory]]" on March 1, 1968, that the series had been renewed.{{r|pearson2011}}{{rp|116–117}}<ref name="svetkey19910927">{{cite magazine | url=https://ew.com/article/1991/09/27/enterprise-turns-25/ | title=The 'Enterprise' turns 25 | magazine=Entertainment Weekly | date=September 27, 1991 | access-date=May 14, 2011 | author=Svetkey, Benjamin | archive-date=November 19, 2011 | archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20111119155909/http://www.ew.com/ew/article/0,,315603,00.html | url-status=live }}</ref> The announcement implied a request to stop writing—NBC's policy of replying to each viewer mail meant that the campaign cost the network millions of dollars{{r|poe1998}}—but instead caused fans to send letters of thanks in similar numbers.<ref>David Gerrold, quoting Bjo Trimble, in ''The World of Star Trek'', Ballantine Books, 1973, p. 166.</ref>
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