Summary
- Gene Roddenberry considered potential TOS spinoffs, including a Harry Mudd show, and a hospital drama featuring Dr. M'Benga.
- "Assignment: Earth" was designed as a pilot for a new Star Trek-adjacent show, starring Robert Lansing as Gary Seven.
- NBC proposed a Spock series post-TOS cancelation, but Roddenberry declined to produce the spinoff show.
In 2024, the Star Trek franchise is built on spinoff shows, but during the heyday of Star Trek: The Original Series, such things remained a pipe dream for creator Gene Roddenberry. The concept of a Star Trek spinoff show wouldn't become a viable concept until the premiere of Star Trek: The Next Generation in 1987, though that was more of a franchise revival than a spinoff. When Star Trek: Deep Space Nine premiered in 1993, the spinoff TV show was born, and the franchise hasn't looked back since.
Over 20 years earlier, Gene Roddenberry, and the network, were considering which Star Trek:TOS characters could lead their own spinoff shows. Four potential TOS spinoffs are known about, via existing documentation and the concepts being adapted elsewhere. Some ideas had the Great Bird of the Galaxy's full backing, while another potential Star Trek spinoff was rejected by Roddenberry, despite being the one with the biggest audience potential.
Gene Roddenberry Did Want A Harry Mudd Spinoff
NBC was interested in a Harry Mudd show.
A version of Harry Mudd (Roger C. Carmel) existed in Gene Roddenberry's earliest outlines for Star Trek: The Original Series, it just took writer Stephen Kandel to name and fully develop the intergalactic swindler. Appearing in two episodes of TOS, Mudd became an iconic Star Trek character, played with sublime sleaziness by Roger C. Carmel. It's understandable, therefore, that NBC were interested in developing a Harry Mudd TV show. The details on the Mudd spinoff are vague, as the project only came to light after The Original Series was canceled.
Harry Mudd is the only character, aside from Khan Noonien Singh (Ricardo Montalban) to face Captain Kirk (William Shatner) more than once on-screen.
A Harry Mudd show definitely fires the imagination; it's easy to see Roger C. Carmel leading a Star Trek spinoff in the vein of The Phil Silvers' Show with Harry Mudd as Sgt Bilko. Sadly, the project never made it beyond Gene Roddenberry's desk due to timing constraints in the production of TOS. In a 1988 interview with Starlog, Roger C. Carmel explained how he came to find out about the Harry Mudd spinoff:
" Gene said, 'It's a shame that series thing for you never worked out.' I said, 'What series thing?' He said, 'Oh, didn't you know!? Well, after the successful Harry Mudd episodes [in TOS], NBC wanted to know if I would develop a spin-off series for you starring the Harry Mudd character. A space pirate, intergalactic con-man kind of thing.' 'My God, Gene, I didn't know anything about that! What happened?' He said, 'Well, the artists didn't have enough time to develop it.' And of course, you couldn't blame Gene, he didn't want to let somebody take it off in a direction he didn't approve of. Since he didn't have time to handle it all, the Mudd series project died."
Gene Roddenberry Did Want A Gary Seven Spinoff
Roddenberry saw Assignment: Earth as a Star Trek replacement.
Star Trek: The Original Series season 2, episode 26, "Assignment: Earth" started life as a pilot for a completely different science fiction series. A story outline, entitled "Seven", was conceived by Gene Roddenberry in 1965, while work continued on TOS season 1. Roddenberry eventually pitched the Assignment: Earth series in late 1966 (via Orion Press Fanzines) to no avail. Undeterred, Roddenberry dusted off the idea and co-wrote "Assignment: Earth" with Art Wallace, hoping that it may spin off from Star Trek into a series of its own.
...it's easy to see how the show would work as a combination of Mission: Impossible and Doctor Who .
Toward the end of Star Trek: The Original Series' second season, the show's future was in doubt, so "Assignment: Earth" feels like a Hail Mary from Gene Roddenberry. Gary Seven (Robert Lansing) is a compelling character, and it's easy to see how the show would work as a combination of Mission: Impossible and Doctor Who; Gary Seven even had his own sonic screwdriver. This particular Star Trek and Doctor Who crossover never came to pass, but Gary Seven continues to influence modern Star Trek with references to the Supervisor appearing in both Picard and Prodigy.
Robert Lansing is the only Star Trek: TOS guest star to have his name appear as an on-screen credit, presumably to sell Gary Seven as a unique character.
Gene Roddenberry Did Want A Dr. M'Benga Spinoff
Hopeship would have been a Star Trek medical drama.
Interestingly, Darlene Hartman is credited for creating Dr. Joseph M'Benga (Booker Bradshaw), in Marc Cushman's book, These Are The Voyages: TOS Season Two. Writer Darlene Hartman had originally written a spec script, entitled "Shol", for consideration in Star Trek: The Original Series season 2. Hartman's script involved the classic Star Trek trope of a computer-controlled planet. The episode was ultimately rejected because of the similarities to "The Apple", which had since entered production. Cushman's book also states that Gene Roddenberry and Darlene Hartman went on to conceive a Star Trek hospital drama, featuring M'Benga and set on a medical ship.
Darlene Hartman's script for "Shol" is where Dr. M'Benga's first name of Joseph originates, as it is never mentioned on-screen in Star Trek: The Original Series .
It's likely that this Star Trek: The Original Series spinoff, dubbed Hopeship, never made it beyond the informal ideas stage. As the Star Trek medical drama never entered production, the concept remained dormant until 1994, when Darlene Hartman adapted Hopeship into a novel, written under her pen name of Simon Lang. However, the concept of a show that's focused solely on those brave officers from Starfleet Medical is still an enticing concept for a spinoff, which could now be realized by Star Trek: Strange New Worlds' Dr. M'Benga (Babs Olusanmokun).
Gene Roddenberry Didn't Want A Spock Spinoff
NBC suggested a Spock series could continue the Vulcan's story.
Susan Sackett and Gene Roddenberry's book The Making of Star Trek: The Motion Picture revealed the fascinating information that NBC wanted Spock (Leonard Nimoy) to lead his own show. This was proposed to Gene Roddenberry shortly after Star Trek: The Original Series was canceled. The central idea proposed to Roddenberry by the network was a series set on Vulcan, that would focus on Spock's interactions with his own people. In 2024, the prospect of an introspective, character-led series called Star Trek: Spock would fit neatly into the media landscape, but it's hard to see what the 1970s version of this would be.
Perhaps Roddenberry was concerned that Spock would eclipse the wider Star Trek universe, but there's no denying there would have been an appetite for the spinoff.
Whether NBC wanted a Spock origin story, or tell the story of why the Vulcan left Starfleet is unclear, largely because it was just an idle thought. The idea of Leonard Nimoy leading a Star Trek: The Original Series spinoff was ultimately nixed by Gene Roddenberry rejecting the opportunity to produce it. Perhaps Roddenberry was concerned that Spock would eclipse the wider Star Trek universe, but there's no denying there would have been an appetite for the spinoff. After all, audiences are still hungry for new Spock stories 55 years after Star Trek: The Original Series ended.
