Today In STAR TREK History: August 19th

The Gene Genie.

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 19th
Born on this day in 1921, Gene Roddenberry is of course the creator of Star Trek: The Original Series, and its sequel spin-off series Star Trek: The Animated Series and Star Trek: The Next Generation. Born in El Paso, Texas, Roddenberry grew up in Los Angeles, where his father was a police officer. Roddenberry flew 89 combat missions in the Army Air Forces during World War II, and worked as a commercial pilot after the war. Later, he followed in his father's footsteps and joined the Los Angeles Police Department, where he also began to write scripts for television.

As a freelance writer, Roddenberry wrote scripts for Highway Patrol, Have Gun – Will Travel, and other series, before creating and producing his own television series, The Lieutenant. In 1964, Roddenberry created Star Trek, which premiered in 1966 and ran for three seasons before being canceled. He then worked on other projects, including a string of failed television pilots. The syndication of Star Trek led to its growing popularity; this, in turn, resulted in the Star Trek feature films, on which Roddenberry continued to produce and consult. In 1987, the sequel series Star Trek: The Next Generation began airing on television in first-run syndication; Roddenberry was heavily involved in the initial development of the series, but took a less active role after the first season due to ill health. He continued to consult on the series until his death in 1991.

But that's not the only birthday we have today...

Born August 19th 1952, Jonathan Scott Frakes is best known for his portrayal of Commander William Riker in Star Trek: The Next Generation and subsequent films, reprising the role recently for an appearance in Star Trek: Picard. Behind the camera, Frakes has directed more than 70 television episodes, including episodes of several different iterations of Star Trek, as well as two of The Next Generation feature films; First Contact and Insurrection.

Happy birthday to you.

Finally, there's a new Star Trek: Lower Decks episode arriving on Paramount+ today, August 19th 2021, titled Kayshon, His Eyes Open, there's sure to be some Darmok references in there.

Will you be watching?

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.