America got its first glimpse of a show that would later become legendary on September 8, 1966 at 8:30 p.m. on NBC. America was never the same after Star Trek debuted that night. The series did not receive the recognition it deserved until it was canceled after only three years and later returned to syndication. However, Star Trek has never been an ordinary science fiction program. Comparison with other programs of this genre is difficult because Star Trek is certainly not an unconventional science fiction program: it is a science fiction program that presents America in the 1960s. In fact, Gene Roddenberry, the creator of Star Trek, said in an interview: "I don't think Star Trek depicts the real future, it depicts things for us now that we need to understand about it." Even David Gerrold, one of the authors of the series, writes in his book that “[t]he stories are about the attitudes of 20th century man in a future universe. The stories are about us.” Naturally, each episode does not make social commentary, but throughout the program, the characters, the themes, and it goes without saying, the individual episodes bring powerful reflections on sexism, feminism, as well as racism and the improvement of race relations, all crucial social affairs throughout history. the late 1960s and, to some extent, today's social affairs. Star Trek has made notable strides when it comes to minorities. The civil rights movement was already thriving in the late 1960s. When the pilot episode aired in 1966, Congress had already approved countless civil rights laws, the Voting Rights Act in 1965 and constitutional amendments prohibiting the poll tax and increasing the right to vote in presidential elections for citizens of the District of Columbia, where a better par...... middle of paper ......ket Books, 1986. Cited as Compendium. (All episode air dates are taken from this book.) Asherman, Allan. The Star Trek Interview Book. New York: Pocket Books, 1988. Quoted as Interview. Blair, Karen. “Sex and Star Trek.” Science Fiction Studies, 10 (1983), 292-297. Editor, “Talk of the Town.” The New Yorker, 64 (December 12, 1988), 37-38. Greenberg, Harvey R. “In Search of Spock: A Psychoanalytic Investigation.” Journal of Popular Cinema and Television, 12 (1984), 52-65.Gerrold, David. The world of Star Trek. New York: Bluejay Books, 1984. Stine, G. Harry. State of the art: Star Trek revisited. 108 (November 1988), 158-166. Tyrell, William Blake. “Star Trek as Myth and Television as Myth Maker.” Journal of Popular Culture, 10 (Spring 1977), 711-719. Wortland, Rick. “Captain Kirk: Cold Warrior.” Journal of Popular Film and Television, 16 (fall 1988), 109-117.