During the course of the seven years I played scenes with an oil slick, I played a scene with a grain of rice. Sometimes with indescribable creatures. I remember having a conversation with something which was simply a smell, that's all. It was part of our job.

It still frightens me a little bit to think that so much of my life was totally devoted to Star Trek and almost nothing else.

It is what you do from now on that will either move our civilization forward a few tiny steps, or else... begin to march us steadily backward.

As time went on, I did campaign to lighten the character a little bit, to introduce some romance into the episodes, outside activities, horse riding and fencing and mountaineering.

So far as education is concerned, it has had a significant impact on a lot of young people who turn to science as a much more exciting and interesting study than they otherwise might have found, entirely as a result of becoming involved with Star Trek.

The studio have always claimed that the ship is the star of the show, especially when they're renegotiating contracts.

I began directing episodes, which was a great light every couple of months. We never short-changed our audience, but it became something that you had to work at rather than something that was a pleasure.