At the heart of one of the most successful transmedia franchises of all time,
Star Trek, lies an initially unsuccessful 1960s television production, Star
Trek: The Original Series. In Star Trek and American Television, Pearson and
Messenger Davies, take their cue from the words of the program's first captain,
William Shatner, in an interview with the authors: ?It's a television show." In
focusing on Star Trek as a television show, the authors argue that the program
has to be seen in the context of the changing economic conditions of American
television throughout the more than four decades of Star Trek's existence as a
transmedia phenomenon