Star Trek: EVERY Season Ranked Worst To Best

Going into the second season, a merger saw Paramount studios take ownership, resulting in both a logo change and a budget cut. However, the cut was not as drastic as the show would face in its third season.

The series opener Amok Time, famous for its fight music and mad Spock, featured Lawrence Montaigne in the role of Stonn. Both he and Mark Lenard had been considered as replacements for Nimoy, who was attempting to negotiate a pay rise. A deal was struck and Nimoy returned for the second season.

More emphasis was placed on secondary characters like Scotty and the new arrival - Pavel Chekov. Several scenes were reused from the first season for budgetary reasons and this can be noticed when shots of the navigation section are used. You will notice several of these shots are from behind, picturing only the back of Sulu's head - cinemagic!

While the show continued to score strong ratings, second only to that of The Monkees at the time, there were persistent rumours of cancellation. The show was doing well with 'desirable' audiences ('upper-income, educated males') and dealt with social issues, as opposed to its sci-fi rival Lost In Space, which had a campier tone.

Roddenberry supported the Bjo and John Trimble letter writing campaign, which saw thousands of letters flood the desks of the executives, resulting in an on-screen announcement, letting the fans know Star Trek would return for a third season. While it was not written, it was understood that this announcement was designed as a pleasant please stop sending letters message to the fans.