Today In STAR TREK History: August 10th

Space: the final frontier.

Welcome to our round-up of the Star Trek episodes which received their premiere broadcast on this day throughout the show's long history, along with anything else of note that may have taken place. All viewing figures quoted are for U.S. premiere broadcast (unless noted).

August 10th
Although no episodes of Star Trek received their debut broadcast on August 10th, back in 1966 something very special happened on this day. William Shatner recorded the opening monologue for Star Trek...

Space: the final frontier. These are the voyages of the starship Enterprise. Its five-year mission: to explore strange new worlds. To seek out new life and new civilizations. To boldly go where no man has gone before!

In-universe, the inspiration for the opening monologue was attributed in the Star Trek: Enterprise pilot episode Broken Bow to warp drive inventor Dr. Zefram Cochrane in a recorded speech during the dedication of the facility devoted to designing the first engine capable of reaching Warp 5 (thus making interstellar exploration practical for humans) in the year 2119, some thirty-two years before the 2151 launch of the first vessel powered by such an engine, the Enterprise (NX-01).

But, of course, that all happened retroactively. The introductory monologue actually came together after several episodes of Star Trek had already been filmed, and shortly before the series was due to debut on September 8th 1966. It is the result of the combined input of several people, including Star Trek creator Gene Roddenberry who originally offered a different narrative...

This is the adventure of the United Space Ship Enterprise. Assigned a five-year galaxy patrol, the bold crew of the giant starship explores the excitement of strange new worlds, uncharted civilizations, and exotic people. These are its voyages and its adventures.

Along with producers John D. F. Black and Bob Justman, Roddenberry's suggested narrative quote went through several revisions. The phrase "where no man has gone before" was first introduced into Star Trek by Samuel Peeples, who is attributed with suggesting it be used as an episode name. That ended-up being the title of the second pilot of Star Trek, with the phrase itself subsequently worked into the show's opening narration, before being finalised and recorded by William Shatner on August 10th 1966 for use in the opening titles of the TV series.

Join us again next time for another round-up of the episodes broadcast, the movie's released, the special events, the birthday's celebrated and anything else of note that went down on this day in Star Trek history.