Timeline (No Star Trek)

May 24th, 1949- Rookie Los Angeles Police officer Eugene Wesley Roddenberry, LAPD badge number 6089, tries to break up a fight between two men outside a bar in West Los Angeles. One of the men has pulled a knife and Roddenberry attempting to wrest it away from him, is stabbed in the heart. He dies nearly instantly. (The man is later identified and arrested; he serves 19 years in San Quentin on a manslaughter charge). Roddenberry's widow, Eileen Rexroat Roddenberry and 2 year old daughter Darlene are given a traditional LAPD officer's funeral.

1962- Shimon Wincelberg, head writer for the Western TV series "Have Gun Will Travel", creates a new series for Desilu Studios for NBC called "Largo and Levin" about a cowboy and a rabbi in the old West. It proves a success and lets Wincelberg gets to develop more series.

1965- "Lost In Space" begins on ABC. NBC gets pitched a "space opera" from Wincelberg about astronauts in the year 2100 AD, who patrol the space lanes between Earth, the Moon, Mars, and the distant planet Nioz ("Zion" spelled backwards). The captain, "Bartholomew 'Bart' Stone", has a Niozian First Mate named "Yimon" (named for a Jewish actor Wincelberg had met a few times...again backwards). NBC produced a pilot, with Gary Lockwood as "Stone". Then asked for a re-shoot after the pilot, which dealt with an alien race's attempt to 'purify the Niozians' was considered 'too cerebral' and too much influenced by the Holocaust.

A second pilot was commissioned, but by that time Lockwood had dropped out. Several other actors were considered for the role of "Capt. Bart Stone", including a Canadian actor named William Shatner, who had done many TV series as well as movie roles in films like "Judgement at Nuremberg". The part instead went to Anthony Eisley, a relatively known 40 year old TV actor. The second pilot was shot, keeping only the character of "Yimon", and previewed to NBC execs. They passed. Wincelberg took it in stride and pitched another western, featuring an eccentric inventor who helped out a mercenary cowboy (much like "Have Gun Will Travel"). They approved a pilot and the show was picked up for the 1966 season. "Lightning Bulbs" proved a fair success, lasting 3 1/2 seasons, ending with much of the Western TV series in the 1969-1970 season. It is still shown on some cable outlets.

1967- As "Lost In Space" becomes more campy, early enthusiasm for science fiction TV fades, despite the still-ongoing Space Race and approaching landing on the Moon. CBS attempts one in 1967, called "Stars and Beyond" (featuring a patrol vessel of the "Earth Allies" which went week-to-week to far-off distant planets). It was primarily aimed at kids and before its 3rd episode had degenerated into the same campiness of "Lost In Space" and "Batman". It was dropped after its 13 episode run. Actors DeForest Kelley and James Doohan had guest roles on the same episode of "Stars and Beyond" as "Centaurian pirates".

1971- Writer Harlan Ellison pitches an idea for a science fiction TV series called "The Starlost" about refugees onboard a massive generational starship. It gains some interest and ABC commissions a pilot. But personality conflicts with Ellison ruin the deal. CTV in Canada shows interest, but ABC holds the rights to the pilot and it can't be made.

1973- With the success of the "Planet of the Apes" movie franchise, a TV series based on the films is put into production by CBS. Diverting from the original premise slightly, it proves a huge success in its first season. Public interest in science fiction seems to return slightly, despite the recent end of the Apollo Program. NBC comes up with a similar "chase series" called "Rifts", about a group of travellers who cross "inter-dimensional breaks" to appear on strange worlds (all looking a great deal like southern California, naturally). The star is Leonard Nimoy, finishing his role on "Mission Impossible", as "physicist and dimensional expert David Daniels". The show is not successful and is cancelled after many time-slot shifts and 10 episodes.

1976- George Lucas, fresh off his success with "American Graffiti", finishs his third draft screenplay for "The Star Wars", a story of a young farmer "Luke Starkiller", who becomes a "Jedi-Bendu Knight" and destroys the Death Star of the evil Galactic Empire. A year later, the film is released and becomes one of the most popular franchises in film history. That same year, the Rockwell Corporation rolls out the first non-space worthy Space Shuttle, named the "Constitution". It will be used for in-atmospheric and mock-up testing, as it is built with no engines or heat shield.