Gene Roddenberry (1921-1991) was the creator of the Star Trek universe, including specifically The Original Series and The Next Generation television series. He also oversaw the transition of the planned Star Trek Phase II into Star Trek: The Motion Picture. He is credited in each Star Trek-based television series, film, novel, comic book, or game for his founding contributions.
Eugene Wesley "Gene" Roddenberry was an American airforce pilot, speech writer, screenwriter, science fiction writer, television and film producer, and humanist, best known for creating the Star Trek universe and franchise. He was born on 19 August 1921 in El Paso, Texas and died on 24 October 1991 in Hollywood Hills, California. He was one of the first humans to have his ashes carried into space.
Principally, Roddenberry created The Original Series (1966-1969) and The Next Generation (1987-1994) television series — two pillars of the Star Trek canon. Roddenberry's fondness for the spaghetti western genre contributed to the tone and atmosphere in Star Trek, especially those of The Original Series.
In the late 1970s, he oversaw the transition of the planned Star Trek: Phase II series into Star Trek: The Motion Picture, which was released in 1979 partly as a response by Paramount Pictures to 20th Century Fox's Star Wars. The critical failure of The Motion Picture reduced him to a consulting role on subsequent original series films. Roddenberry also reluctantly gave the green light to Star Trek: Deep Space Nine, a spin-off series of The Next Generation that began airing posthumously in 1993. His reluctance stemmed partly from his humanist ideals, which permeated Star Trek and expressed itself primarily through the largely idyllic United Federation of Planets — a concept that Deep Space Nine revisited with scepticism.
Roddenberry is credited in each Star Trek-based television series, film, novel, comic book, or game for his founding contributions.
