"Doctor Who" and "Star Trek" were both born during the space race in the 1960s. An interplanetary human race seemed only decades away, and TV was bound to explore the possibilities, though both British and American networks felt that science fiction didn’t appeal to audiences.
In 1962 the BBC commissioned a report into the genre, which concluded that it was not particularly popular or suitable for the medium of TV. A second report conceded that a time-travel series might work, as a sort of police procedural of science fiction. Head of drama Sydney Newman developed the "Doctor Who" concept in 1963 as a way to fill a gap in the Saturday early-evening schedules.
Gene Roddenberry pitched his "'Wagon Train' to the stars" in 1964. NBC was not convinced "it would make a commercial television series, that there was enough of an audience out there to support this mixture of science fiction and fantasy," writes Herbert F. Solow, "Star Trek’s" executive in charge of production. But Solow was persistent, and the deal was done.
Dual pilots
The most striking similarity between "Doctor Who" and "Star Trek" is that both had pilot episodes which were rejected by their networks, yet the networks took the unusual step of financing second attempts.
Pilots, as they’re known in the US, were not a part of how the BBC worked. All involved in "Doctor Who" intended the version of "An Unearthly Child" made in September 1963 to be broadcast as the beginning of the series. But the recording — done almost as if live — suffered problems, cameras bumping into set dressing and doors swinging open by themselves.
It was the characterization of the Doctor and his granddaughter Susan, though, that really motivated the remount in October. He was too grumpy and lacked sparkle, and she was too weird and unrelatable for young viewers.
The changes to "The Cage", "Star Trek’s" pilot, were far more sweeping. NBC famously branded it too cerebral. The whole story was thrown out and a new one, "Where No Man Has Gone Before", was filmed as the second pilot.
As with "Doctor Who", it was the characters that really needed work, and although the alien Spock was the character that NBC was most concerned about, he was the only one ultimately retained. The Vulcan became more emotionless, while William Shatner’s Kirk — who replaced Jeffrey Hunter’s Pike — became a little more instinctive. The female first officer was dropped entirely, and Scotty, Sulu and later McCoy were added.
With pilots remade and series up and running, both productions found that making ambitious science fiction on a weekly basis was tough. A dozen episodes into their first seasons, "Doctor Who" was over budget and "Star Trek" was slipping behind its delivery schedule. Both arrived at the same solution: make an easy two-part story to get back on track.
"Doctor Who’s" writers came up with "The Edge of Destruction" and "The Brink of Disaster", two episodes telling a tense and mysterious story set entirely inside the TARDIS. Only the four regular characters appeared, and aside from a small bedroom, the existing console room was the only set.
"Star Trek" chose to play the ace up its sleeve: the unbroadcast pilot. Gene Roddenberry wrote "The Menagerie", a story revolving around a court-martial in which Spock presents video evidence, which was footage from "The Cage". By using almost all of the pilot in this way, Roddenberry and his team got a two-parter for which they only had to shoot about one episode’s worth of new material.
Both ruthlessly practical decisions had creative consequences in the series’ futures. "The Edge of Destruction"/"The Brink of Disaster" establishes the TARDIS as having a life-like intelligence, a fact taken to its logical conclusion in the 2011 episode "The Doctor’s Wife", in which the time machine temporarily gets a walking, talking human body.
Meanwhile, "The Menagerie" establishes that Captain Pike and his crew, including the more emotional Spock, existed in universe, predating Kirk’s command of the Enterprise by several years. If that version of the Enterprise crew hadn’t been canonized like this, we would likely have no "Strange New Worlds" today.
Save our series
From the growing pains of the two sci-fi series’ early days, we flash forward to later periods when they were threatened with termination.
In the case of "Star Trek", we don’t have far to go. After both the first and second seasons, it was far from clear that NBC would renew the show. Both times, Roddenberry ensured others put pressure on the network on his behalf.
In late 1966, he prompted Harlan Ellison to encourage all members of the Science Fiction Writers of America to lobby TV stations, sponsors, and the press, demanding "Star Trek’s" renewal. A year later, he collaborated with influential fan Bjo Trimble to orchestrate another letter-writing campaign.
"Doctor Who" had its cancellation crisis in 1985. The British series had been running for an impressive 22 years, with several different producers taking turns to steer it, but the latest BBC management disliked it.
When the axe fell, there was a swift backlash from the press, at least partly driven by Ian Levine, a prominent fan and unofficial script consultant. By some accounts, producer John Nathan-Turner was behind Levine’s efforts, trying to ensure the continuation of his series via a fan as Roddenberry had done.
Both series earned only temporary reprieves. "Star Trek" managed a third season before succumbing to the NBC axe in 1969. "Doctor Who" limped on for four more years before quietly disappearing in 1989. Both had extended periods of rest before returning bigger and more popular than ever.
History repeats itself
Now, in 2026, both properties face uncertain futures once more. "Doctor Who" has been dropped by Disney+, which had been co-producing it for the last few years. Now the BBC is currently seeking a new co-production partner.
On the other side of the pond, "Strange New Worlds" and "Starfleet Academy", the two most recent "Star Trek" series, have also ceased production with no replacements in the works.
It's a worrying time for sci-fi fans, to be sure, but if the last sixty-plus years are anything to go by, we haven't seen the last of either of these venerable sci-fi franchises.
