phrase
"to baldly go"
was my 14-year-old daughter.
-She said it first.
-Did you say, "To baldly go"?
"To baldly go." Yeah, yeah.
But it's been used since then by others
and they think that they've invent... No.
Sophie was the first.
Fourteen years old. Smart kid.
-The history...
-I hit her so hard for that.
The fact is, I think, that it's true,
the history of science fiction
in entertainment changed
with Star Trek. It really did.
Prior to Star Trek, science fiction was
a much cruder form of entertainment.
It was Buck Rogers. It was...
-Twilight Zone.
-I worked
in 1951, in, I think, my very first job
in films
in a gigantic production called,
and I thought it was gonna
really rocket me into space,
if you'll pardon the pun,
it was called
Zombies of the Stratosphere.
-I think I was in that movie, too!
-Were you?
Well, there was a movie that I did
with Tobe Hooper
which originally was called
Zombies from Outer Space.
-Really?
-Could it be the same one?
You looked familiar.
How are you doing?
They shared a two-bagger.
Zombies of the Stratosphere was
three of us in a spaceship
that shuttled across the screen like that
and left a trail of smoke.
We landed and we appropriated
a couple of Colt 45 revolvers
and a pickup truck
and we were gonna take over Earth!
So you were the zombie?
-Yeah, I was the zombie.
-I see. Okay.
-I was one of those people.
-I see.
So I was doing aliens all the way back
that long ago.
-Is this on video, Leonard, this movie?
-Is what?
-Is this on video, this movie?
-Yes, it is.
-It will be now.
-Yes, it's available.
-I will sell you a copy.
-Sell me a copy?
But the deeper question
of how science fiction has evolved
from those crude sort of
child-driven stories
to something more sophisticated that...
Star Trek and then beyond Star Trek.
I mean, there's, again, a wonderful story
of Star Wars taking place first
and Paramount scrambling to overcome
the lead that was taken
by Star Wars and attempting to
quickly put something into production.
-Exactly, exactly. Yeah.
-Star Trek.
We all owe a big thanks to
George Lucas, all of us here,
because we were cancelled in 1968 or 9
and were off the air except for reruns,
which were very active.
But it wasn't until 1977,
when Star Wars opened
and did this incredible business
and had this incredible success
that the people at Paramount said,
"We have something like that.
"We have a thing called Star Trek.
Let's make a movie."
-I didn't know that.
-And that's what kicked it off.
I didn't know that either.
That links in with the Robert Wise story.
He had made this wonderful
science fiction film,
and so they asked him to direct it,
and he'd never seen it before.
-Yeah, yeah.
-So it kind of links together.
Now, when you heard that
they were going to revive Star Trek,
did you want to have some input?
Did you want to help them out?
Or did you want it to just do
what it was supposed to do?
Is this a question you've answered
a million times?
Well, for the purposes of this DVD,
why not answer it again?
All right.
Why are they looking at me?
I've been dying to hear
what they thought of us.
That's where we're going.
Isn't that where she's going?
No, this is a little edgy, this question,
this is a little provocative.
-Because...
-Well, it is. Because there were
-many mistakes made.
-By us?
Before... No, no. You guys, latter-day...
I've got a...
-No, no. That's a big fist, I think.
-I promise you.
And you're looking good.
No, but we have stories
of mistakes that were made
-in the making of.
-Why don't you start with yours?
How far would I go
for the purposes of this DVD?
Let me reframe it, then.
Because maybe
it came out the wrong way.
When I heard
they were making the play...
Do you have another way
of it coming out?
Yes, I do. You'll see.
When I heard they were doing the play
of Color Purple,
my first response was, I was agitated.
And then I