Forty-six years ago on September 8, 1966 the first episode of a science fiction show called Star Trek aired on NBC. Low ratings meant the series struggled to stay on the air, but after its cancellation it would go on to become one of the biggest pop culture sensations of all time.
The franchise has gone on to bigger and flashier things but the original 79 episodes which aired over the show’s three seasons on two different networks remain some of the best science fiction programming ever put on television. What better way to commemorate them, than with a poster?
Artist Juan Oritz is creating a series of retro-posters dedicated to each and every episode of the original Star Trek. He’s released eight of them for sale already, with seventy-one more slated for unveiling at some future point. Here’s a look at what’s been released so far:
Charlie X is the one where a child with the powers of a god ends up on the Enterprise, and decides to have treat the crew like his personal playthings. Of it Oritz says, “The twist key helps depict the Enterprise as a toy for Charlie to play with and eventually discard, in this case, in the sand”
Balance of Terror was our first introduction to the Romulans. In it, the Enterprise pursues a cloaked and mysterious ship across the neutral zone. That’s the Romulan bird of prey screaming out of the top left corner of the poster. Incidentally, the Romulan commander in this episode was played by Mark Lenard who would later go on to play Spock’s father Sarek both on the television show and in all of the Star Trek films up until he was replaced in the 2009 reboot.
In And the Children Shall Lead the crew of the Enterprise finds a group of children who are the only survivors of a doomed expedition. They’re being used by an evil alien power and it’s up to Kirk and Spock to convince them they don’t need their alien protector. Of the poster Oritz says, “The colors green and orange represent autumn, the time associated with maturity, death and rebirth.”
In Wink of an Eye the Enterprise is taken over by aliens who move so fast they can’t be seen. Oritz says that subconsciously his poster may have been inspired by The Man from U.N.C.L.E.. He explains, “I can’t think about the original Star Trek and ’60s TV without some of those other shows filtering in.”
Those are the four newest posters. Four more previously released episode posters can be found in the gallery below. You can order them all here.
