Original `Star Trek` series was almost cancelled, documentary reveals

London: Original `Star Trek` series` pilot episode bombed with the test audience and was on the verge of getting scrapped, a new documentary has revealed.

The Channel 5 documentary shows that the NBC decided that the pilot was "too cerebral," and almost pulled the plug on the first series. Neither series creator Gene Roddenberry nor Herb Solow wanted to give up on their idea and eventually pestered NBC into agreeing to an almost unheard of second pilot, the Daily Express reported. But there was a problem, during a meeting with the cast, the wife of the lead actor Jeffrey Hunter came in and loftily announced that Hunter is a movie star and will no longer do television. Hunter`s desertion prompted a crisis and NBC admitted that it didn`t like the rest of the cast and scrapped everyone except Leonard Nimoy, who played the role of Mr Spock. Captain Pike was renamed Captain James T Kirk and William Shatner (then a smallscreen star) was brought in to portray him in the series. This time, the pilot went down well and the first ` Star Trek` series was given the go ahead. ANI