When was TOS first shown in syndication?
- Thread starter Mr. B
- Start date
There were reruns in the very early 70's (I remember catching snippets while channel surfing on Saturday afternoons well before my tenth birthday), but it wasn't until around 1974 that the big syndication package from Kaiser Broadcasting came about and we had the birth of the Star Trek Phenomenon.
Sometime around 1971 or 1972 if the timing of the earliest conventions is any indication.
Not to throw a monkey wrench into this, but what about the fan movements that saved the show? Exactly what "form" did the fan base have at that time and how did they communicate with each other nation-wide? Were there any conventions or gatherings DURING the run of the show?
I'm not saying there were, but I'm just wondering at the fact there was enough communication between fans during the run that the first campaign actually worked.
I'm not saying there were, but I'm just wondering at the fact there was enough communication between fans during the run that the first campaign actually worked.
Gene Roddenberry frequently made the comment that Star Trek fans were born with a typewriter in one hand and a roll of stamps in the other. Fans kept in contact by way of the the good ol' fashioned US Postal System, and the few science fiction fan clubs that were around that were big enough to have mailing lists.
As for conventions, the early Trekkies very quickly made nuisances of themselves at science fiction conventions, like World Con, which then prompted some fans to go out and start their own cons, but that wasn't until 1972 or so.
what is syndication?
why is it important?
How did it create Star Trek phenomenon?
Bjo Trimble used the membership list of early LA-based and NY-based science fiction conventions to contact people to spread the word of the letter campaign. Harlan Ellison, for all his famed antagonism re ST, also had many contact addresses.
Bjo also used a concept known as a "telephone tree". She'd ring ten fans, who'd all pass the word to ten fans, who'd all pass the word to ten fans, and so on.
You should definitely check out the books "The Making of the Trek Conventions" and "Star Trek Lives!" for background on the ST phenomenon.
It was a Ponfarrzi scheme.
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