Movies - TV
Leslie Nielsen Might Have Been The World's Very First Star Trek Fan
By WITNEY SEIBOLD
Celebrity Trekkies appear to go back to the dawn of the show. In a 2016 interview with the Associated Press, longtime “Star Trek” writer D.C. Fontana remembered the first days of broadcast and how she — then a production secretary — happened to be standing by the phone at 9:00 a.m. on September 9, 1966, when Leslie Nielsen called.
Fontana was starstruck since Nielsen was well-known for his appearance in the 1956 sci-fi film "Forbidden Planet." "He said, 'I saw the show last night and I thought it was wonderful and had a great future,' [...] I was thrilled to death, because I loved 'Forbidden Planet.' For him to call and say he really liked the show — what a huge compliment."
Sci-fi scholars may point to Leslie’s character J.J. Adams in the film as an inspiration for the character Captain Kirk, and the general military-like command structure seen on the U.S.S. Enterprise is an extension of the power dynamics seen in "Forbidden Planet." Fontana wasn't talking to a celebrity, she was talking to one of the grandfathers of "Star Trek."