10 Times Star Trek Gave Fans EXACTLY What They Wanted
7. Sweet, Sweet Merchandise
As early as 1967, fans wanted to hold the Enterprise in their own hands. There were already some items of merchandising available, such as Comic Books and a board game - but up until then, the idea that fans would want to pay more was ludicrous. The Trimbles soon helped to change this.
Together with Roddenberry, Bjo and John Trimble helped in the creation of a mail order company called Lincoln Enterprises. Paramount Studios hadn't shown much interest in sending any Trek merchandise out into the world - to the point where they created items that were simply other toys with Star Trek slapped on the box - and Lincoln took over.
Lincoln offered fans the chance to own shirt insignia, scripts and bits of discarded film from the show. Roddenberry had the sense, once he saw fan demand was high for this sort of thing, to write teasers into scripts for items to later be turned into collectibles. This cycle of interaction with the fans helped to keep the show alive as time went on.
While the Trimbles were also responsible for the letter writing campaign to save Trek (more on that later), they along with Roddenberry kept the merchandising so prevalent that the show enjoyed an unprecedented second life in reruns. Urban legend says that the show has never stopped airing from one station to another since the initial run, and be that truth or fiction, it is clear that the fan interaction with the filmmakers and merchandisers have kept interest alive for over half a century.