ABSTRACT
Nineteen-ninety-one was a landmark year in the history of what popular journalists call ‘the Star Trek phenomenon’. Twenty-five years after its initial airing on 8 September 1966, Star Trek still commanded the covers of major magazines and was the focus of a two-hour television documentary.1 The first five feature films had earned a total of $398 million in box office revenues. Thirty-five different Star Trek novels have commanded a spot on the New York Times paperback bestseller list and Pocket Book’s long-standing series had grown to more than a hundred titles. Widely syndicated, the original Star Trek episodes were still being shown 200 times a day in the United States and were all available for rent or purchase on videotape. Star Trek: The Next Generation was America’s highest rated syndicated drama, seen by more than 17 million viewers every week.
