Yeah.
Here is an interview by the incredible Tom Snyder, who would actually interview guests for a full hour and a half on his late-night show in the late '70s. His guests?
DeForrest Kelley. Walter Koenig. And the inimitable James Doohan. This interview was filmed in 1978-or-so, in the "dead years" of Star Trek, after the animated series and prior to the FIRST Star Trek feature film.
WARNING! You WILL see SMOKING of cigarettes on-set! This was WAY prior to the ban on cigs in movies/television. Yes, back when I was a teen-ager, cigarette usage was STILL shown on television.
But the absolute beauty of Doctor McCoy, Scotty, and Chekov talking candidly with Tom Snyder about their careers, the life of Star Trek in syndication, and how the show changed their lives, is absolutely priceless.
Some major points:
*At the time of the interview, NONE of the actors received ANY money from the repeat showings of the series. Not one single actor received a DIME from royalties after about the third year of re-runs from the television series. ALL the money went to that bitch, Lucille Ball, and her worthless children.
*This interview is PRIOR to the scripting of the first Star Trek motion picture, and I really am personally not a fan of the film. I remember seeing this with probably my favorite big brother back when it was released (and I also asked for the night off from McDonald's to see it on the first midnight showing when it was released and REALLY pissed my manager off, which was a HUGE deal at the time, LOLZ!!!). I remember being VERY disappointed, but so damned happy to see the original cast back on The Enterprise.
*Watch for a VERY beautiful moment right around the 13:00 mark.
*LISTEN for every mention of fanmail, and the Star Trek conventions of the 1970's, and compare those comments to the ComiCons and Internet postings of today. I was one of those guys who wrote to NBC BEGGING them to put this show back on the air, back when I had white hair (natural) and was FAR shorter than I am now. All of you who post on this website need to REALLY listen to how a fanbase had to voice their support back then. Yes, I know, your eyes roll back in your heads and think, "Omigod, the 'trudged seven miles to school each morning before dawn with no shoes in the snow crap again!'", but there WAS a modern world prior to the Internet. Back then, we actually had to WRITE A LETTER to people and put a stamp on it and MAIL it to make our voices heard!
Just gotta say: You look at this single interview, and you really realize how goddamned lucky you little punks are. I lived through this era, these were my formative years. I would run into the house from playing to watch Star Trek as it was being released every week. I remember being VERY upset when it was yanked from the air. And I also gave up playing outside and riding my bike ALL over town on Saturdays to watch the animated series when it hit the airwaves several years later. I even had to be chased out of the house with a Mama-wielded broom when it was over because I wanted to watch Kukla, Fran, and Ollie afterwards!
I guess the main thrust of this article (steady on, Gusto!) is that you young-uns need to APPRECIATE what you have now. These days, you have instant gratification to vent your approval/displeasure with every TV show and movie coming down the pike, MULTIPLE comic-book-based films coming out EVERY year, and ComiCons out the ass and being a "geek" almost elevated to the status of being a "MILF".
So APPRECIATE what you have.
Because I have seen BOTH worlds.
And BOTH are BEAUTIFUL.