The title "Star Trek"

[Christopher]

22 Stars wrote:

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Don't know if anyone mentioned it, but when Lucille Ball was presented with the title STAR TREK as head of Desilu, she thought it was going to be a show following around celebrities... and she liked THAT idea for a show. She was ahead of her time, as now a good percentage of TV is 'entertainment/celebrity' news.

That's not quite right. According to Inside Star Trek p. 22, what Ball thought was that Star Trek was going to be a work of historical fiction about the USO performers who'd entertained American troops in the South Pacific during WWII. In her realm of experience, the only thing a "star trek" could be was an overseas journey made by movie stars, and to her that suggested the USO.

[22 Stars]

Christopher wrote:

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That's not quite right. According to Inside Star Trek p. 22, what Ball thought was that Star Trek was going to be a work of historical fiction about the USO performers who'd entertained American troops in the South Pacific during WWII. In her realm of experience, the only thing a "star trek" could be was an overseas journey made by movie stars, and to her that suggested the USO.

I think the story is related slightly differently in the video Inside Star Trek, based on that book. I have posted the whole documentary on YouTube, as RM10475. I don't have access to YouTube here at work, but feel free to check it out.

[TOSalltheway]

In french it was shown as "Patrouille Du Cosmos" (excuse the spelling) translated as "Cosmos Patrol" avery different meaning from a Trek.

[Tiberius]

Christopher wrote:

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Personally I wish that the titles of Star Trek and Galaxy Quest had been reversed. Galaxy Quest would work better as the title of the serious, classy space adventure drama, and Star Trek would work better as the title of the comedy spoof thereof.

Of course, we can just assume that Galaxy Quest is the Trek universe's version of Star Trek...

But that leads to a question...

NX-01 was named Enterprise after the space shuttle, but in the Trek universe, how did the space shuttle get that name? After all, it was really named after Kirk's ship!

[Christopher]

^Probably in-universe it was named after one of the many former oceangoing vessels called Enterprise, much as the space shuttle Challenger was named for the HMS Challenger.

[Duncan MacLeod]

IIRC, one of the NASA administrator's relatives served on the WWII carrier Enterprise, the shuttle was named after her.

[inflatabledalek]

It's one of those titles that just feels right isn't it? Nice and simple and straight to the point.

Though I like Cosmos Patrol, it gives me mental images of a series all about the little fat green UFO Transformer flying about space.

[Maple Dog]

inflatabledalek wrote:

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It's one of those titles that just feels right isn't it? Nice and simple and straight to the point.

Though I like Cosmos Patrol, it gives me mental images of a series all about the little fat green UFO Transformer flying about space.

I was about to say that,on french canadian tv Star Trek was "Patrouille du cosmos"

[Valin]

BoredShipCapt'n wrote:

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If they ever do a reboot/remake of 24th Century Trek, this has my vote as the perfect theme musc.

[Warped9]

It's elegant and to-the-point title just works. Could have helped, too, because just imagine all the cheesy sounding titles it could have had.

- Space Patrol or Outer Space Patrol (redundant since all space beyond the Earth is outer or out there)
- Star Trails

I'm sure there are plenty others. Of course there could be positive alternatives. The Final Frontier or These Are The Voyages comes to mind.

[Defcon]

teacake wrote:

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So what was Enterprise, the series called?

Starting with Deep Space Nine German TV used the original titles, so first "Enterprise", and later "Star Trek: Enterprise".

Just in case you're curious: TNG was named "Raumschiff Enterprise - Das nächste Jahrhundert" ("Starship Enterprise - The next Century"

[Christopher]

Well, there had already been a well-known US television series called Space Patrol in the 1950s, so naturally Roddenberry wouldn't have used that name. There was also a British marionette-based show of that name in 1963-4 (not from Gerry Anderson, and more realistic than his marionette shows) -- not to mention the German miniseries Raumpatrouille, meaning Space Patrol, which debuted only nine days after Star Trek premiered in the US!

[iguana_tonante]

NTRPRZ wrote:

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Or in German, "Raumschiff (spaceship) Enterprise."

In Italy it was first broadcast under the name "Star Trek - Destinazione Cosmo" (Destination: Cosmos).

[Greg Cox]

dub wrote:

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I'm guessing since there was already a show called "Lost in Space," they didn't want to use the word "Space" in the title. Anyway, just something I was wondering about tonight and hoped someone had an answer from an obscure interview with him somewhere.

It's possible they were also trying to distinguish themselves from earlier kids shows like "Tom Corbet, Space Cadet" and "Space Patrol."

[MarsWeeps]

T'Girl wrote:

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When Star Trek is exported to different countries and translated for local languages, Star Trek sometimes becomes "Journey to the Stars."

I think in Japan, the title of the show translates into "Sulu: Master of Navigation!"