Lots of nuggets from this sci-fi discussion here’s another:
Roddenberry admits that a number of the technical aspects of the show were invented as plot devices, to save production costs, or to sell merchandising tie-ins* (Roddenberry and his wife, Majel Barrett, started Lincoln Enterprises while the original series was still in production). The transporter was originally created because the special effects for it were cheaper to produce than a shuttlecraft landing; the flip-top communicator because he didn’t think audiences could relate to something more compact (IIRC, he mentioned something not unlike the TNG communicator badge, as well as a cybernetic implant); and the tricorder because–this is the sixties, remember–it was a potential merch tie-in for girls because it was originally envisioned as a sort of space-age steno pad.
Leave a Reply