Gene Roddenberry is that rare TV producer-writer whose "vision" has had an undeniable and lasting effect on American culture. "Star Trek" (NBC, 1966-69) became the first TV series to have an episode preserved in the Smithsonian Institution in Washington, DC. The original 11-foot model for the starship is also on display in that exalted warehouse of Americana. Even more telling, NASA named one of its space shuttles after the show's USS Enterprise. The series had become closely bound to how the US likes to view itself as a bastion of optimism, tolerance and fair play. Despite periodic crises and
