Composer Alexander ("Sandy") Courage describes how he came to write the theme song for the TV series "Star Trek" and reveals how he created the "swoosh" sound effect for the Enterprise!
THEME FROM STAR TREK MUSIC: ALEXANDER COURAGE LYRICS: GENE RODDENBERRY BEYOND THE RIM OF THE STAR-LIGHT MY LOVE, IS WAND'RING IN STAR FLIGHT. I KNOW HE'LL FIND IN STAR-CLUSTERED REACHES LOVE, STRANGE LOVE A STAR WOMAN TEACHES. I KNOW HIS JOURNEY ENDS NEVER HIS STAR TREK WILL GO ON FOREVER. BUT TELL HIM WHILE HE WANDERS HIS STARRY SEA REMEMBER, REMEMBER ME!
"The score was written by Alexander Courage and when the show was picked up he would receive royalties every time the episode aired whether it was a first run or a re-run. This only lasted about a year for him, after that Roddenberry laid claim to half of the royalties for the opening theme song. How? A couple years prior Courage made a handshake agreement with Roddenberry that gave him the option of composing lyrics to the score. Roddenberry eventually exercised that option and wrote lyrics giving him half the rights to the performance royalties even thought they were never recorded. It didn't matter if they were recorded or not, he was entitled to an equal portion of the royalties as long as he wrote them....... ....Roddenberry said in a previous statement, "Hey, I have to get some money somewhere. I'm sure not going to get it out of the profits of Star Trek." After that, Courage never did any other music for the series. Do you blame him?"
"Wagon Train To The Stars" How Lucille Ball saved 'Star Trek' "Vigorously defended by Solow (who wisely had left Roddenberry out of the meeting as the latter had seriously bumbled his Star Trek pitch to network CBS two years earlier, but who firmly believed in the show), and despite the fact that Star Trek was ordered by NBC, the entire Desilu board virtually unanimously voted to cancel Star Trek in February 1966 nevertheless. "Yet, as Chairwoman of the Board, Lucille Ball had the power to override her board, and this she did with a mere nod of her head towards Solow." "That was all Star Trek needed," as author Marc Cushman had succinctly put it, "A nod of Lucille Ball." One of the nay-sayers on the board, studio accountant Edwin "Ed" Holly, later conceded: "If it were not for Lucy, there would be no 'Star Trek' today."