Editing Star Trek: The Original Series (section)

===Season 3 (1968–1969)===
{{Main|Star Trek: The Original Series season 3}}
[[Image:Leonard Nimoy William Shatner Spock's Brain Star Trek 1968.JPG|thumb|right|"[[Spock's Brain]]" was the first episode of the third season.]]
NBC at first planned to move ''Star Trek'' to Mondays for the show's third season, likely in hopes of increasing its audience after the enormous letter campaign that surprised the network.{{r|to20060901}} In March 1968; however, NBC instead moved the show to 10:00&nbsp;pm [[Friday night death slot|Friday night]], an hour undesirable for its younger audience,{{r|page19680815}}<ref name="lowry19690521">{{cite news | url=https://news.google.com/newspapers?id=SfJNAAAAIBAJ&pg=5818,2216392 | title=Why Some Shows Expired | work=The Free Lance-Star | date=May 21, 1969 | access-date=May 6, 2011 | author=Lowry, Cynthia | agency=Associated Press | location=Fredericksburg, Virginia | page=2 | archive-date=April 29, 2016 | archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160429074410/https://news.google.com/newspapers?id=SfJNAAAAIBAJ&sjid=pYoDAAAAIBAJ&pg=5818,2216392 | url-status=live }}</ref> so as not to conflict with the highly successful ''[[Rowan & Martin's Laugh-In]]'' on Monday evenings,<ref>''"Laugh-In'' staying put." Broadcasting. March 18, 1968: 9.</ref> from whose time slot ''Laugh-In'' producer [[George Schlatter]] had angrily demanded it not be rescheduled. In addition to the undesirable time slot, ''Star Trek'' was now being seen on only 181 of NBC's 210 affiliates.<ref>"Missing links in the TV chains." Broadcasting. January 13, 1969: 48–52.</ref>

Roddenberry was frustrated, and complained, "If the network wants to kill us, it couldn't make a better move."{{r|page19680815}} He attempted to persuade NBC to give ''Star Trek'' a better day and hour, but was not successful. As a result of this and his own growing exhaustion, he chose to withdraw from the stress of the daily production of ''Star Trek'', though he remained nominally in charge as its "executive producer".<ref>David Gerrold, ''The World of Star Trek'', Ballantine Books, 1973.</ref> Roddenberry reduced his direct involvement in ''Star Trek'' before the start of the 1968–69 television season, and was replaced by [[Fred Freiberger]] as the producer of the television series. [[Arthur H. Singer]] served as story editor. NBC next reduced ''Star Trek's'' budget from $185,000 per episode in season 2 (it was $190,000 per episode in season 1) to $175,000 per episode in season 3 (as the per-minute commercial price had dropped from $39,000 to $36,000 compared to the season-two time slot).<ref>"Fall line-ups go on the street." Broadcasting. March 4, 1968: 23–28.</ref> This caused what some perceive as a decline in quality for the 1968–69 season, although there was a trade off in some lower production costs since the special effects technology had improved over time. By season 3 William Shatner felt that the main characters had become more compromised or exaggerated and the story lines more improbable.<ref>{{cite book |last=Shatner |first=William |title=Star Trek Memories |date=1993 |page=[https://archive.org/details/startrekmemories00shat/page/266 266]|title-link=Star Trek Memories }}</ref> Leonard Nimoy felt that financial concerns dominated.<ref>{{cite book |last=Nimoy |first=Leonard |title=I Am Spock |date=1995 |page=[https://archive.org/details/iamspock00nimo/page/120 120]|title-link=I Am Spock }}</ref> Associate Producer Bob Justman, who left during the third season, said budget cuts caused the crew to become necessarily limited in the type of filming that could be done, such as outdoor work,<ref>{{cite book |last=Shatner |first=William |title=Star Trek Memories |date=1993 |pages=[https://archive.org/details/startrekmemories00shat/page/290 290–293]|title-link=Star Trek Memories }}</ref> with only one episode, "The Paradise Syndrome", shot largely outdoors. Nichelle Nichols described the budget-cutting during the final year as an intentional effort to kill off ''Star Trek'':

{{blockquote|While NBC paid lip service to expanding ''Star Trek''{{'s}} audience, it [now] slashed our production budget until it was actually 10% lower than it had been in our first season{{nbsp}}... This is why in the third season you saw fewer outdoor location shots, for example. Top writers, top guest stars, top anything you needed was harder to come by. Thus, ''Star Trek's'' demise became a self-fulfilling prophecy. And I can assure you, that is exactly as it was meant to be.<ref name="nichols1994">{{cite book |title=Beyond Uhura: Star Trek and Other Memories |publisher=G. P. Putnam's |author=Nichols, Nichelle |year=1994 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=1HJZAAAAMAAJ |page=189 |isbn=0-399-13993-1 |access-date=November 12, 2015 |archive-date=May 8, 2016 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160508235359/https://books.google.com/books?id=1HJZAAAAMAAJ |url-status=live }}</ref>}}

The last day of filming for ''Star Trek'' was January 9, 1969,{{r|davies2007}} and after 79 episodes<ref name="ST7879">{{cite web |url=http://www.startrek.com/startrek/view/features/intro/article/7693.html |title=Star Trek |work=[[CBS Corporation|CBS Studios]] |publisher=Startrek.com |access-date=June 26, 2010 |archive-date=June 28, 2010 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20100628212803/http://www.startrek.com/startrek/view/features/intro/article/7693.html |url-status=live }} "''78 episodes (counting the two-part "The Menagerie" only once, and not counting the first commissioned pilot, "The Cage," which did not air during this time).''"</ref> NBC canceled the show in February despite fans' attempt at another letter-writing campaign.{{r|to20060901}} One newspaper columnist advised a protesting viewer:

{{blockquote|You ''Star Trek'' fans have fought the "good fight", but the show has been cancelled and there's nothing to be done now.<ref name="tvscout19690718">{{cite news |url=https://news.google.com/newspapers?id=daM1AAAAIBAJ&pg=3957,5008799 |title=Ask TV Scout |work=The Palm Beach Post |date=July 18, 1969 |access-date=April 29, 2011 }}{{Dead link|date=September 2023 |bot=InternetArchiveBot |fix-attempted=yes }}</ref>}}

In 2011, the decision to cancel ''Star Trek'' by NBC was ranked number four on the [[TV Guide Network]] special, ''25 Biggest TV Blunders 2''.<ref>{{cite episode |title=25 Biggest TV Blunders 2 |series=25 Biggest TV Blunders |network=TV Guide Network |airdate=July 31, 2011 |quote=#4 – NBC Cancels 'Star Trek' |language=en}}</ref>