Would there be a Star Trek without Lucille Ball? Likely not.
Lucy owned and operated Desilu Studios, the top, independent U.S. movie-production company in the 1960s. Desilu birthed and produced many popular TV shows in the 1950s and ‘60s such as I Love Lucy, The Untouchables, and Mission Impossible.
Star Trek struggled to get out of the gate. The show was misunderstood by the suits. They didn’t recognize its allegorical depth and underestimated its eventual appeal. Science fiction at the time was easily reduced to camp status.
Historical accounts place varied levels of weight on Lucy’s actual role, but the basic facts are the same. Lucy bought the Star Trek rights even though she reportedly didn’t fully understand the concept. Some members of her board of directors wanted nothing to do with the project and encouraged Lucy to jettison it. She did not.
Lucy was fond of what she called a “space western” and saw in it hope for the future. Lucy had a hunch and she played it. The studio pushed forward with the pilot episode, "The Cage," which bombed. In a highly unusual and expensive move, Desilu commissioned a second pilot replacing Jeffery Hunter’s Captain Pike with William Shatner’s Captain Kirk. “Where No Man Has Gone Before” was popular enough to launch the series. The rest, as they say, is history. StarTrek.com reported in 2019 that Desilu accountant Ed Holly said, “If it were not for Lucy, there would be no Star Trek today."
A leader's instincts are valuable instruments, especially for someone with Lucille Ball's formidable, decades-long industry experience. There are moments like this one in which a leader should listen carefully to the naysayers and then just say no.
