Produced by Desilu Productions (later Paramount Television), Star Trek: The Original Series was a constant battle between creative ambition and budgetary reality. The constraints of producing science fiction on a television budget in the 1960s forced innovations that became iconic.
The per-episode budget was approximately $190,000 in Season 1 (~$1.75 million in 2024 dollars), $185,000 in Season 2, and slashed to ~$178,000 in Season 3. The pilot alone cost approximately $600,000 in 1965 [1].
The transporter exists because filming the Enterprise landing on a planet every week was financially impossible. Roddenberry wrote in The Making of Star Trek:
"Land a ship 14 stories tall on a planet surface every week? Not only would it have blown our entire budget, but just suggesting it would have ruined my reputation in the industry forever."
The transporter was also a pacing advantage: "If someone had said, 'We will give you the budget to land the ship,' our stories would have started slow, much too slow. The fact we didn't have the budget forced us into conceiving the transporter device — 'beam' them down to the planet — which allowed us to be well into the story by script page two" [2][3].
The 40 Acres backlot in Culver City (the Mayberry set from The Andy Griffith Show) was used for "Miri," "The Return of the Archons," and "The City on the Edge of Forever" with different sections each time. Bronson Canyon in Griffith Park appeared as numerous alien planets. Matte paintings by Albert Whitlock were reused across multiple episodes [1].
The Klingons were designed to be quick and cheap to apply: dark skin coloring, facial hair, and various hairstyles — "fairly easily applied and relatively inexpensive — at least compared to ears" (pointed Vulcan ears required time-consuming application). Alien creatures like the Horta ("The Devil in the Dark") were created by freelance stuntman Janos Prohaska in a rubber suit he literally crawled inside. "Bottle shows" (episodes set entirely on the Enterprise) were regularly produced to solve budget overruns [1][4].
The third season saw an exodus of the original writing staff, including D.C. Fontana and Gene Coon. The reduced budget, combined with NBC's Friday night timeslot, led to some of the weakest episodes — including the infamous "Spock's Brain" [5].
Lucille Ball and Desi Arnaz formed Desilu Productions in 1950, which became one of the largest independent production companies in Hollywood. After their divorce in 1960, Ball bought out Arnaz's share and became sole president [6].
When Desilu needed original programming after The Untouchables ended, executive Herbert Solow brought Ball two proposals: Mission: Impossible and Roddenberry's "Wagon Train to the stars" concept. Ball approved both projects, though she reportedly thought Star Trek was about traveling USO performers visiting troops in the Pacific [6][7].
When NBC rejected the first pilot ("The Cage") as "too cerebral," it was Ball who agreed to fund the second pilot — over the objections of her entire board of directors. In February 1966, when the board (including her husband Gary Morton and her brother Fred) unanimously voted to cancel Star Trek because of its expense, Ball overruled them with a mere nod of her head toward Herb Solow [7].
Studio accountant Ed Holly later conceded: "If it were not for Lucy, there would be no Star Trek today" [7].
Star Trek was one of the factors that led Ball to sell Desilu to Gulf & Western (which became Paramount) in 1967 for $17 million. Herb Solow later noted that Roddenberry exaggerated his personal relationship with Ball — she was "shielded from the operational minutiae" and probably never read the pilot scripts — but the financial and administrative support was real and critical [6].
During the over-budget second pilot shoot, exhausted director James Goldstone noticed someone sweeping the stage. It was Lucille Ball herself, who declared: "What do I have to do to get you to finish?" [7].
Written by Gene Roddenberry, directed by Robert Butler. Featured Captain Christopher Pike (Jeffrey Hunter), Number One (Majel Barrett), and Spock (Leonard Nimoy) — notably different here: more youthful, eager, emotional, actually smiling and laughing, wearing a yellow uniform rather than his iconic blue [8].
NBC rejected it in February 1965, calling it "too cerebral," "too intellectual," "too slow," with "not enough action." They also objected to Number One being a woman and Spock being "demonic" with his pointed ears. Despite rejecting it, NBC made the rare move of ordering a second pilot — indicating they saw potential in the concept [8].
Written by Samuel A. Peeples. Filmed in July 1965 in just nine days. Complete recasting except for Nimoy as Spock [9].
Jeffrey Hunter declined to return as Pike — reportedly on the advice of his wife, who felt science fiction would ruin his film career. William Shatner was cast as Captain James T. Kirk (initially "James R. Kirk"). Roddenberry wanted Lloyd Bridges and Jack Lord first, but both declined [9].
Majel Barrett was out as Number One. Roddenberry joked: "I couldn't have legally done it the other way around" — referring to keeping the alien and marrying the woman (he later married Barrett) [9].
James Doohan (Scotty) and George Takei (Sulu) joined the cast. DeForest Kelley and Nichelle Nichols were not yet cast — they would join for the regular series. The second pilot impressed NBC enough to order the series for fall 1966 [9].
Despite being the second pilot, it actually aired as the third episode (after "The Man Trap" and "Charlie X") because NBC felt those episodes better established the show's concept [9].
During the film-era shoots at Paramount in the 1980s, Nimoy bought a bicycle to race to the commissary first during lunch breaks. Shatner escalated the prank war: he locked the bike to a fire hydrant, then had the crew hoist it into the studio rafters above the stage, then locked it in his dressing room guarded by his Dobermans. Nimoy retaliated: when Shatner had to come in early for body makeup on a shirtless scene, Nimoy put the jar of body makeup in the fridge overnight. The first handful of ice-cold cream hit Shatner between the shoulder blades and "shot him out of the chair and 10 feet across the room" [4].
A persistent suit salesman kept trying to sell the cast pants. Roddenberry had actor Ted Cassidy (playing a giant green android for "What Are Little Girls Made Of?") sit in the director's chair, fully made up as the monster, answering the phone. The salesman walked in and, rather than freaking out, tried to sell a suit to the green monster. Everyone burst out laughing, and both Roddenberry and Shatner felt so guilty they each bought pants [4].
In his first week as story editor, John D.F. Black was "interviewing" an actress (actually Majel Barrett) in his office when she began to undress. Roddenberry burst in yelling "What's going on here?" — then a bunch of people burst in with champagne and cake. It was all a welcome prank arranged by Roddenberry [4].
George Takei invented an internal system for which buttons corresponded to which bridge functions. When a director wanted him to push a button for a close-up that was actually the self-destruct, Takei told him: "That was the button we used last week to implode the engines" [5].
When the greensman brought in a plant for approval, Roddenberry pulled it out of its pot and stuck it in upside down so the roots dangled grotesquely, announcing: "Now that looks alien" [4].
[1] Star Trek: The Original Series - Wikipedia
[2] SlashFilm - How Budget Limitations Created the Transporter
[3] CBR - Transporters and Budget Constraints
[4] Smart Pop Classics - I Remember Star Trek
[5] Den of Geek - Star Trek Season 3: What Went Wrong
[6] Memory Alpha - Lucille Ball
[7] EW - Lucille Ball and Star Trek