title: Vinícius Júnior

text: Vinícius debuted for Flamengo on 13 May 2017 as an 82nd-minute substitute in a Brazilian Série A 1–1 draw against Atlético Mineiro. Two days later he extended his contract with the club from 2019 until 2022, with a significant salary increase and a buyout clause increase from €30 million to €45 million. This contract renewal was reported as being part of the transfer process of Vinícius to Real Madrid, an agreement reached between the two clubs in Gávea that week with an obligation to sell the young player in July 2018.


title: Vinícius Júnior

text: On 10 August 2017, Vinícius scored the first professional goal of his career in a Copa Sudamericana second round leg 2 match against Palestino in a 5–0 win for Flamengo. He scored one goal, 30 seconds after being substituted on in the 72nd minute. On 19 August, he scored his first Brazilian Série A goals for Flamengo, in a 2–0 win against Atlético Goianiense.


title: Vinícius Júnior

text: On 23 May 2017, Spanish club Real Madrid signed a contract to acquire Vinícius, effective after his 18th birthday on 12 July 2018 (as age 18 is the minimum age for international transfer). He transferred for a reported fee of €46 million, which was at the time, the second most expensive sale of a player in the history of Brazilian football (behind only Neymar), the largest amount received by a Brazilian club for a transfer, and the highest amount ever paid by a club for a footballer under the age of 19. He was originally scheduled to return to Brazil on loan in July 2018.


title: Vinícius Júnior

text: On 20 July 2018, he was officially presented as a Real Madrid player. He was issued squad number 28. He made his debut on 29 September, coming in as an 87th minute substitute in a goalless draw against Atlético Madrid. Vinícius made his first start on 31 October in a 4–0 Copa del Rey away victory against Melilla, contributing with assists for both Marco Asensio and Álvaro Odriozola in what "Marca" recognised as a Man of the Match performance. He scored his first goal on 3 November 10 minutes after coming on as a substitute in a 2–0 victory against Real Valladolid. He scored four goals between his debut on 29 September and 7 February 2019. On 6 March, he tore a ligament during a loss to Ajax, which ended his season.


title: Vinícius Júnior

text: On 11 December 2019, he scored his first UEFA Champions League goal in a 3–1 away win over Club Brugge in the 2019–20 season. On 1 March 2020, he scored the first goal in a 2–0 win for Real in El Clásico against Barcelona. He made 29 appearances during the league season, while scoring three goals, as Real Madrid won the 2019–20 La Liga.


title: Vinícius Júnior

text: On 6 April 2021, Vinícius scored two goals in a 3–1 win against Liverpool in the first leg of the 2020–21 UEFA Champions League quarter-finals. Real Madrid would advance to the semi-finals where they lost to eventual champions Chelsea.


title: Vinícius Júnior

text: Vinícius started the 2021–22 season by scoring Real Madrid's fourth goal in a 4–1 away victory over Alavés on the opening day of the La Liga campaign. On 22 August, he scored a brace in a 3–3 draw against Levante coming off the bench, which earned him a first-team place, ahead of Eden Hazard. On 30 October, he scored twice as Real Madrid won 2–1 at Elche to go top of the La Liga table. The goals were his sixth and seventh of the league season and his eighth and ninth overall, surpassing his total output of six goals in all competitions during the 2020–21 season in just 14 matches. On 12 May 2022, he scored his first hat-trick for Real Madrid in a 6–0 victory over Levante. On 28 May, he scored the only goal in a 1–0 win over Liverpool in the Champions League final to clinch Madrid their record 14th UEFA Champions League title. Vinícius ended the 2021–22 season as Real Madrid’s second-best goalscorer with 22 goals in all competitions, only behind his attacking partner Karim Benzema. He was also named the inaugural Champions League young player of the season by UEFA.


title: Vinícius Júnior

text: On 30 October 2015, Vinícius Júnior was called up for Brazil by coach Guilherme Dalla Déa for the South American U-15 Championship. Vinícius and Brazil won the U-15 title and he was the 2nd top-scorer of the tournament with seven goals. He was named player of the tournament and continued to perform which helped him convince Flamengo to sign him by the age of 16. On 24 June 2016, Vinícius was called up for a friendly against Chile U-17 and scored two goals and provided two assists in the 4–2 victory.


title: Vinícius Júnior

text: In March 2017, Vinícius debuted in the South American U-17 Championship for Brazil with a goal in a 3–0 victory over Peru. In the final stage, he scored two goals in a 3–0 win over Ecuador and two goals in a 3–0 victory over Colombia, securing Brazil's place in the 2017 FIFA U-17 World Cup in India, where Brazil (without Vinícius Júnior) eventually would finish third. After leading Brazil to win the South American U-17 Championship, Vinícius Júnior was named the tournament's best player and was top goal-scorer with seven goals.


title: Vinícius Júnior

text: On 28 February 2019, Vinícius was called up to the Brazil national team for the first time for friendlies against Panama and the Czech Republic. However, he suffered an injury while playing for Real Madrid, and David Neres was called up in his place in March. In May, he was excluded from Brazil's final 23-man squad for the 2019 Copa América by manager Tite. He made his senior international debut on 10 September, as a 72nd-minute substitute in Brazil's 1–0 defeat to Peru.


title: Vinícius Júnior

text: Vinícius was named in Brazil's 2021 Copa América squad by Tite on 9 June 2021, which would be held on home soil. He made a substitute appearance in his nation's 1–0 defeat to rivals Argentina in the final on 10 July.


title: Vinícius Júnior

text: On 24 March 2022, Vinícius scored his debut goal for the national team, in a 4–0 home win over Chile in a 2022 FIFA World Cup qualification match at the Maracanã Stadium.


title: Vinícius Júnior

text: On 7 November 2022, Vinícius was named in the Brazil squad for the 2022 FIFA World Cup by Tite. In the opening group match against Serbia on 24 November, he set-up Richarlison's second goal to help Brazil to a 2–0 victory. He scored his first FIFA World Cup goal in a 4–1 win against South Korea in the round of 16 on 5 December, also setting up Lucas Paquetá's goal, helping Brazil qualify for the quarter-finals, where they were eliminated by Croatia four days later following a 4–2 penalty shoot-out loss after a 1–1 draw.


title: Vinícius Júnior

text: Shortly after his arrival at Real Madrid in July 2018, ESPN journalist Dermot Corrigan described Vinícius as a "zippy left winger or second striker". A versatile player, although he is usually deployed on the left flank, he is capable of playing anywhere along the front line, and has also been used on the right or in the centre. Possessing explosive acceleration, and excellent pace, agility, balance, technique, flair, dribbling skills, and close control at speed, as well as significant power, physical strength, and trickery on the ball, despite his slender build, he is known for his movement, energy, ability to run at defences, change direction quickly, and beat opponents in one on one situations while in possession of the ball.


title: Vinícius Júnior

text: Regarded as a promising young player, he is considered to be a diminutive, dynamic, intelligent, hard-working, and nimble winger, with a low centre of gravity, as well as impressive passing and awareness. Moreover, he is known in for his eye for the final ball, and ability to provide assists to teammates; although he is also capable of scoring goals himself, his shooting and goalscoring have been cited by pundits as areas in need of improvement, as his lack of end product was often a source of criticism in the media in his first few seasons at Real Madrid. In June 2017, Vinícius appeared at 39th place on "The Telegraph's" list of the best under-21 players in the world. He was the only player playing in South America at the time to appear on the list. In November 2018, former Argentina international frontman José Luis Calderón credited Vinícius' "general enthusiasm, his ability to make things happen, the joy and good vibrations he transmits, his speed, the fact he's different and the fact he's daring. To sum up, he has a spark that could be used by a team that has been plain in recent matches". In his youth with Flamengo, he was critcised, however, by several football figures, fans, and the press for "doing too many tricks," and for "[t]oo much individualism, not enough teamwork."


title: Vinícius Júnior

text: During the 2021–22 season, Vinícius had a breakthrough season with Real Madrid, and his goalscoring and assist output increased dramatically, enabling him to form an effective offensive partnership from the left wing with striker Karim Benzema. Regarding his change in form, Vinícus commented in December 2021: "I think I've improved in many things, but above all in my calmness in my play, I'm doing things with more tranquillity and more quality too." The club's manager Carlo Ancelotti also praised him for his defensive work-rate and positioning, in addition to his creative abilities and talent, noting that he was able to improve upon his tactical knowledge and physical condition throughout the course of the season, as well as his finishing. His performances led the Spanish press to compare him to compatriot Neymar. Following his goal in Real Madrid's victory in the 2022 Champions League final, Neymar himself described Vinícius as "the best player in the world." Later that month, Ed McCambridge of "FourFourTwo" ranked Vinícius as the second–best left winger in the world.


title: Star Trek: The Original Series

text: Star Trek is an American science fiction television series created by Gene Roddenberry that follows the adventures of the starship and its crew. It later acquired the retronym of Star Trek: The Original Series (TOS) to distinguish the show within the media franchise that it began.


title: Star Trek: The Original Series

text: The show is set in the Milky Way galaxy, circa 2266–2269. The ship and crew are led by Captain James T. Kirk (William Shatner), First Officer and Science Officer Spock (Leonard Nimoy), and Chief Medical Officer Leonard H. "Bones" McCoy (DeForest Kelley). Shatner's voice-over introduction during each episode's opening credits stated the starship's purpose:


title: Star Trek: The Original Series

text: Space: the final frontier. These are the voyages of the starship "Enterprise". Its five-year mission: to explore strange new worlds, to seek out new life and new civilizations, to boldly go where no man has gone before.


title: Star Trek: The Original Series

text: Norway Productions and Desilu Productions produced the series from September 1966 to December 1967. Paramount Television produced the show from January 1968 to June 1969. "Star Trek" aired on NBC from September 8, 1966, to June 3, 1969. It was first broadcast on September 6, 1966, on Canada's CTV network. "Star Trek"s Nielsen ratings while on NBC were low, and the network cancelled it after three seasons and 79 episodes. Several years later, the series became a hit in broadcast syndication, remaining so throughout the 1970s, achieving cult classic status and a developing influence on popular culture. "Star Trek" eventually spawned a media franchise consisting of 11 television series, 13 feature films, and numerous books, games, and toys, and is now widely considered one of the most popular and influential television series of all time.


title: Star Trek: The Original Series

text: On March 11, 1964, Gene Roddenberry, a long-time fan of science fiction, drafted a short treatment for a science-fiction television series that he called "Star Trek". This was to be set on board a large starship named "S.S. Yorktown" in the 23rd century bearing a crew dedicated to exploring the Milky Way galaxy.


title: Star Trek: The Original Series

text: Roddenberry noted a number of influences on his idea, some of which includes A. E. van Vogt's tales of the spaceship "Space Beagle", Eric Frank Russell's "Marathon" series of stories, and the film "Forbidden Planet" (1956). Some have also drawn parallels with the television series "Rocky Jones, Space Ranger" (1954), a space opera that included many of the elements integral to "Star Trek"—the organization, crew relationships, missions, part of the bridge layout, and some technology. Roddenberry also drew heavily from C. S. Forester's Horatio Hornblower novels that depict a daring sea captain who exercises broad discretionary authority on distant sea missions of noble purpose. He often humorously referred to Captain Kirk as "Horatio Hornblower in Space".


title: Star Trek: The Original Series

text: Roddenberry had extensive experience in writing for series about the Old West that had been popular television fare in the 1950s and 1960s. Armed with this background, he characterized the new show in his first draft as ""Wagon Train" to the stars". Like the familiar "Wagon Train", each episode was to be a self-contained adventure story, set within the structure of a continuing voyage through space. Most future television and movie realizations of the franchise adhered to the "Wagon Train" paradigm of the continuing journey, with the notable exceptions of the serialized "", "", "", and the of "".


title: Star Trek: The Original Series

text: In Roddenberry's original concept, the protagonist was Captain Robert April of the starship S.S. "Yorktown". This character was developed into Captain Christopher Pike, first portrayed by Jeffrey Hunter. April is listed in the "Star Trek Chronology", "The Star Trek Encyclopedia", and at startrek.com as the "Enterprise"s first commanding officer, preceding Captain Pike. The character's only television/movie appearance is in the "" episode "The Counter-Clock Incident".


title: Star Trek: The Original Series

text: In April 1964, Roddenberry presented the "Star Trek" draft to Desilu Productions, a leading independent television production company. He met with Herbert F. Solow, Desilu's director of production. Solow saw promise in the idea and signed a three-year program-development contract with Roddenberry. Lucille Ball, head of Desilu, was not familiar with the nature of the project, but she was instrumental in getting the pilot produced.


title: Star Trek: The Original Series

text: The idea was extensively revised and fleshed out during this time—"" pilot filmed in late 1964 differs in many respects from the March 1964 treatment. Solow, for example, added the "stardate" concept.


title: Star Trek: The Original Series

text: Desilu Productions had a first-look deal with CBS. Oscar Katz, Desilu's Vice President of Production, went with Roddenberry to pitch the series to the network. They refused to purchase the show, as they already had a similar show in development, the 1965 Irwin Allen series "Lost in Space".


title: Star Trek: The Original Series

text: In May 1964, Solow, who had previously worked at NBC, met with Grant Tinker, then head of the network's West Coast programming department. Tinker commissioned the first pilot—which became "The Cage". NBC turned down the resulting pilot, stating that it was "too cerebral". However, the NBC executives were still impressed with the concept, and they understood that its perceived faults had been partly due to the script that they had selected themselves.


title: Star Trek: The Original Series

text: NBC made the unusual decision to pay for a second pilot, using the script called "Where No Man Has Gone Before". Only the character of Spock, played by Leonard Nimoy, was retained from the first pilot, and only two cast members, Majel Barrett and Nimoy, were carried forward into the series. This second pilot proved to be satisfactory to NBC, and the network selected "Star Trek" to be in its upcoming television schedule for the fall of 1966.


title: Star Trek: The Original Series

text: The second pilot introduced most of the other main characters: Captain Kirk (William Shatner), Chief Engineer Lt. Commander Scott (James Doohan) and Lt. Sulu (George Takei), who served as a physicist on the ship in the second pilot, but subsequently became a helmsman throughout the rest of the series. Paul Fix played Dr. Mark Piper in the second pilot; ship's doctor Leonard McCoy (DeForest Kelley) joined the cast when filming began for the first season, and he remained for the rest of the series, achieving billing as the third star of the series. Also joining the ship's permanent crew during the first season were the communications officer, Lt. Nyota Uhura (Nichelle Nichols), the first African-American woman to hold such an important role in an American television series; the captain's yeoman, Janice Rand (Grace Lee Whitney), who departed midway through the first season; and Christine Chapel (Majel Barrett), the ship's nurse and assistant to McCoy. Walter Koenig joined the cast as Ensign Pavel Chekov in the series' second season.


title: Star Trek: The Original Series

text: In February 1966, before the first episode was aired, "Star Trek" was nearly cancelled by Desilu Productions. Desilu had gone from making just one half-hour show ("The Lucy Show") to deficit-financing a portion of two expensive hour-long shows, "" and "Star Trek". Solow was able to convince Lucille Ball that both shows should continue.


title: Star Trek: The Original Series

text: Once the series had been picked up by NBC, the production moved to what was then Desilu Productions' Gower Street location. It had previously been the main studio complex used by RKO Pictures, and is now part of the Paramount Pictures lot. The series used what are now stages 31 and 32. The show's production staff included art director Matt Jefferies, who designed the starship "Enterprise" and most of its interiors. His contributions to the series were honored in the name of the "Jefferies tube", an equipment shaft depicted in various "Star Trek" series. In addition to working with his brother, John Jefferies, to create the hand-held phaser weapons of "Star Trek", Jefferies also developed the set design for the bridge of the "Enterprise" (which was based on an earlier design by Pato Guzman). Jefferies used his practical experience as an airman during World War II and his knowledge of aircraft design to devise a sleek, functional, and ergonomic bridge layout.


title: Star Trek: The Original Series

text: The costume designer for "Star Trek", Bill Theiss, created the striking look of the Starfleet uniforms for the "Enterprise", the costumes for female guest stars, and for various aliens, including the Klingons, Vulcans, Romulans, Tellarites, Andorians, and Gideonites, among others.


title: Star Trek: The Original Series

text: Artist and sculptor Wah Chang, who had worked for Walt Disney Productions, was hired to design and manufacture props: he created the flip-open communicator, often credited as having influenced the configuration of the portable version of the cellular telephone. Chang also designed the portable sensing-recording-computing "tricorder" device, and various fictitious devices for the starship's engineering crew and its sick bay. As the series progressed, he helped to create various memorable aliens, such as the Gorn and the Horta.


title: Star Trek: The Original Series

text: NBC ordered 16 episodes of "Star Trek", besides "Where No Man Has Gone Before". The first regular episode of "Star Trek", "The Man Trap", aired on Thursday, September 8, 1966, from 8:30 to 9:30 as part of an NBC "sneak preview" block. Reviews were mixed; while "The Philadelphia Inquirer" and "San Francisco Chronicle" liked the new show, "The New York Times" and "The Boston Globe" were less favorable, and "Variety" predicted that it "won't work", calling it "an incredible and dreary mess of confusion and complexities". Debuting against mostly reruns, "Star Trek" easily won its time slot with a 40.6 share. The following week against new programming, however, the show fell to second (29.4 share) behind CBS. It ranked 33rd (out of 94 programs) over the next two weeks, then the following two episodes ranked 51st in the ratings.


title: Star Trek: The Original Series

text: Frederik Pohl, editor of "Galaxy Science Fiction", wrote in February 1967 of his amazement that "Star Trek"s "regular shows were just as good" as the early episodes that won an award at Tricon in September. Believing that the show would soon be cancelled because of low ratings, he lamented that it "made the mistake of appealing to a comparatively literate group", and urged readers to write letters to help save the show. "Star Trek"s first-season ratings would in earlier years likely have caused NBC to cancel the show. The network had pioneered research into viewers' demographic profiles in the early 1960s, however, and by 1967, it and other networks increasingly considered such data when making decisions; for example, CBS temporarily cancelled "Gunsmoke" that year because it had too many older and too few younger viewers. Although Roddenberry later claimed that NBC was unaware of "Star Trek"s favorable demographics, awareness of "Star Trek"s "quality" audience is what likely caused the network to retain the show after the first and second seasons. NBC instead decided to order 10 more new episodes for the first season, and order a second season in March 1967. The network originally announced that the show would air at 7:30–8:30 pm Tuesday, but it was instead given an 8:30–9:30 pm Friday slot when the 1967–68 NBC schedule was released, making watching it difficult for the young viewers that the show most attracted.


title: Star Trek: The Original Series

text: "Star Trek"s ratings continued to decline during the second season. Although Shatner expected the show to end after two seasons and began to prepare for other projects, NBC nonetheless may have never seriously considered cancelling the show. As early as January 1968, the Associated Press reported that "Star Trek"s chances for renewal for a third season were "excellent". The show had better ratings for NBC than ABC's competing "Hondo", and the competing CBS programs (number-three "Gomer Pyle, U.S.M.C." and the first half-hour of the number-12 "CBS Friday Night Movie") were in the top 15 in the Nielsen ratings. Again, demographics helped "Star Trek" survive. Contrary to popular belief among its fans, the show did not have a larger audience of young viewers than its competition while on NBC. The network's research did indicate that "Star Trek" had a "quality audience" including "upper-income, better-educated males", however, and other NBC shows had lower overall ratings.


title: Star Trek: The Original Series

text: The enthusiasm of "Star Trek"s viewers surprised NBC. The show was unusual in its serious discussion of contemporary societal issues in a futuristic context, unlike "Lost in Space", which was more campy in nature. The network had already received 29,000 fan letters for the show during its first season, more than for any other except "The Monkees". When rumors spread in late 1967 that "Star Trek" was at risk of cancellation, Roddenberry secretly began and funded an effort by Bjo Trimble, her husband John, and other fans to persuade tens of thousands of viewers to write letters of support to save the program. Using the 4,000 names on a mailing list for a science-fiction convention, the Trimbles asked fans to write to NBC and ask 10 others to also do so. NBC received almost 116,000 letters for the show between December 1967 and March 1968, including more than 52,000 in February alone; according to an NBC executive, the network received more than one million pieces of mail but only disclosed the 116,000 figure. Newspaper columnists encouraged readers to write letters to help save what one called "the best science-fiction show on the air". More than 200 Caltech students marched to NBC's Burbank, California studio to support "Star Trek" in January 1968, carrying signs such as "Draft Spock" and "Vulcan Power". Berkeley and MIT students organized similar protests in San Francisco and New York City.


title: Star Trek: The Original Series

text: The letters supporting "Star Trek", whose authors included New York State Governor Nelson Rockefeller, were different in both quantity and quality from most mail that television networks receive:


title: Star Trek: The Original Series

text: NBC—which used such anecdotes in much of its publicity for the show—made the unusual decision to announce on television, after the episode "The Omega Glory" on March 1, 1968, that the series had been renewed. The announcement implied a request to stop writing—NBC's policy of replying to each viewer mail meant that the campaign cost the network millions of dollars—but instead caused fans to send letters of thanks in similar numbers.


title: Star Trek: The Original Series

text: NBC at first planned to move "Star Trek" to Mondays for the show's third season, likely in hopes of increasing its audience after the enormous letter campaign that surprised the network. In March 1968, though, NBC instead moved the show to 10:00 pm Friday night, an hour undesirable for its younger audience, so as not to conflict with the highly successful "Rowan & Martin's Laugh-In" on Monday evenings, from whose time slot "Laugh-In" producer George Schlatter had angrily demanded it not be rescheduled. In addition to the undesirable time slot, "Star Trek" was now being seen on only 181 of NBC's 210 affiliates.


title: Star Trek: The Original Series

text: Roddenberry was frustrated, and complained, "If the network wants to kill us, it couldn't make a better move." He attempted to persuade NBC to give "Star Trek" a better day and hour, but was not successful. As a result of this and his own growing exhaustion, he chose to withdraw from the stress of the daily production of "Star Trek", though he remained nominally in charge as its "executive producer". Roddenberry reduced his direct involvement in "Star Trek" before the start of the 1968–69 television season, and was replaced by Fred Freiberger as the producer of the television series. NBC next reduced "Star Trek's" budget from $185,000 per episode in season 2 (it was $190,000 per episode in season 1) to $175,000 per episode in season 3 (as the per-minute commercial price had dropped from $39,000 to $36,000 compared to the season-two time slot). This caused what some perceive as a decline in quality for the 1968–69 season, although there was a trade off in some lower production costs since the special effects technology had improved over time. By season 3 William Shatner felt that the main characters had become more compromised or exaggerated and the story lines more improbable. Leonard Nimoy felt that financial concerns dominated. Associate Producer Bob Justman, who left during the third season, said budget cuts caused the crew to become necessarily limited in the type of filming that could be done, such as outdoor work, with only one episode, "The Paradise Syndrome", shot largely outdoors. Nichelle Nichols described the budget-cutting during the final year as an intentional effort to kill off "Star Trek":


title: Star Trek: The Original Series

text: The last day of filming for "Star Trek" was January 9, 1969, and after 79 episodes NBC cancelled the show in February despite fans' attempt at another letter-writing campaign. One newspaper columnist advised a protesting viewer:


title: Star Trek: The Original Series

text: In 2011, the decision to cancel "Star Trek" by NBC was ranked number four on the TV Guide Network special, "25 Biggest TV Blunders 2".


title: Star Trek: The Original Series

text: Although some of the third season's episodes were considered of poorer quality, it gave "Star Trek" enough episodes for television syndication. Most shows require at least four seasons for syndication, because otherwise not enough episodes are available for daily stripping. Kaiser Broadcasting, however, purchased syndication rights for "Star Trek" during the first season for its stations in several large cities. The company arranged the unusual deal because it saw the show as effective counterprogramming against the Big Three networks' 6 pm evening news programs. Paramount began advertising the reruns in trade press in March 1969; as Kaiser's ratings were good, other stations, such as WPIX in New York City and WKBS in Philadelphia, also purchased the episodes for similar counterprogramming.


title: Star Trek: The Original Series

text: Through syndication, "Star Trek" found a larger audience than it had on NBC, becoming a cult classic. Airing the show in the late afternoon or early evening attracted many new viewers, often young. By 1970, Paramount's trade advertisements claimed that the show had significantly improved its stations' ratings, and the "Los Angeles Times" commented on "Star Trek"s ability to "acquire the most enviable ratings in the syndication field". By 1972, what the Associated Press described as "the show that won't die" aired in more than 100 American cities and 60 other countries; and more than 3,000 fans attended the first "Star Trek" convention in New York City in January 1972.


title: Star Trek: The Original Series

text: Fans of the show became increasingly organized, gathering at conventions to trade merchandise, meet actors from the show, and watch screenings of old episodes. Such fans came to be known as "trekkies", who were noted (and often ridiculed) for their extreme devotion to the show and their encyclopedic knowledge of every episode. Because fans enjoyed re-watching each episode many times, prices for "Star Trek" rose over time, instead of falling like other syndicated reruns. "People" magazine commented in 1977 that the show "threatens to rerun until the universe crawls back into its little black hole". By 1986, 17 years after entering syndication, "Star Trek" was the most popular syndicated series; by 1987, Paramount made $1 million from each episode; and by 1994, the reruns still aired in 94% of the United States.


title: Star Trek: The Original Series

text: From September 1 to December 24, 1998, the Sci-Fi Channel broadcast a "Special Edition" of all the original series episodes in an expanded 90-minute format hosted by William Shatner. Now titled "Star Trek: The Original Series", these broadcasts restored scenes that had been edited out of the syndicated episodes. In addition to introductory and post-episode commentary by Shatner, the episodes included interviews with members of the regular production team and cast, writers, guest stars, and critics (titled as ""Star Trek" Insights"). The episodes were broadcast in the original broadcast sequence, followed by "The Cage", to which a full 105-minute segment was devoted. (For details on each episode's original airdate, see .) Leonard Nimoy hosted a second run from December 28, 1998 to March 24, 1999, but not all the episodes were broadcast because the show was abruptly cancelled before completion.


title: Star Trek: The Original Series

text: In September 2006, CBS Domestic Television (now known as CBS Media Ventures, the current rights holders for the "Star Trek" television franchises) began syndication of an enhanced version of "Star Trek: The Original Series" in high definition with new CGI visual effects.


title: Star Trek: The Original Series

text: Under the direction of "Star Trek" producer David Rossi, who consulted with Mike and Denise Okuda, the visual and special effects were recreated to give "Star Trek: The Original Series" a more modern look. Special attention was given to such elements as the "Enterprise", alien planets and their images depicted from space, planets seen from orbit, alien spacecraft, and technology such as computer readouts, viewscreen images, and phaser beams.


title: Star Trek: The Original Series

text: The restoration and enhancement was performed by CBS Digital. All live-action footage was scanned in high definition from its first-generation 35 mm film elements. While it was possible to retouch and remaster some visual effects, all new exterior ship, space, and planet shots were recreated under the supervision of Niel Wray, a recent visual-effects Emmy nominee.


title: Star Trek: The Original Series

text: As noted in the "making of" DVD feature, first-generation "original camera negatives" were used for all live-action footage, but not for external shots of the ship and planets. Notable changes include new space shots with a CGI "Enterprise", and other new models (for example, a Gorn ship is shown in ""), redone matte background shots, and other minor touches such as tidying up viewscreens.


title: Star Trek: The Original Series

text: A small number of scenes were also recomposed, and sometimes new actors were placed into the background of shots. The opening theme music was also re-recorded in digital stereo.


title: Star Trek: The Original Series

text: The first episode to be released to syndication was "Balance of Terror" on the weekend of September 16, 2006. Episodes were released at the rate of about one a week and broadcast in a 4:3 aspect ratio. Despite the HD remastering, CBS chose to deliver the broadcast syndication package in Standard Definition (SD TV). The HD format was made commercially available through Blu-ray, or by streaming and download such as iTunes, Netflix, and Xbox Live.


title: Star Trek: The Original Series

text: While the CGI shots were mastered in a 16:9 aspect ratio for future applications, they were initially broadcast in the U.S. and Canada—along with the live-action footage—in a 4:3 aspect ratio to respect the show's original composition. If the producers were to choose to reformat the entire show for the 16:9 ratio, live-action footage would be cropped, significantly reducing the height of the original image.


title: Star Trek: The Original Series

text: On July 26, 2007, CBS Home Entertainment (with distribution by Paramount Home Entertainment) announced that the remastered episodes of "TOS" would be released on an HD DVD/DVD hybrid format. Season one was released on November 20, 2007. Season two had been scheduled for release in the summer of 2008, but it was cancelled when Toshiba (which had been helping finance the remastering of the show) pulled out of the HD DVD business. On August 5, 2008, the remastered season two was released on DVD only. For this release, CBS and Paramount used discs without any disc art, making them look like the "Season 1 Remastered" HD DVD/DVD combo discs, despite having content only on one side. Season 3 was released on DVD only on November 18, 2008. On February 17, 2009, Paramount announced the season one of "TOS" on Blu-ray Disc for a May release to coincide with the new feature film coming from Paramount. The second season was released in a seven disc set on Blu-ray in the U.S. on September 22, 2009. The third season was released on Blu-ray in the U.S. on December 15. With the release of the "Alternate Realities" box set, remastered "Original Series" episodes were included in a multi-series compilation for the first time. If future compilation releases would exclusively use the remastered episodes or not was unknown.


title: Star Trek: The Original Series

text: In regions two and four, all three seasons of the remastered "Original Series" became available on DVD in the slimline edition (in the UK and Germany in steelbook editions) on April 27, 2009, as well as the first season in Blu-ray.


title: Star Trek: The Original Series

text: While still casting the roles, Gene Roddenberry had mandated that Bones McCoy and Spock be male. According to Nichelle Nichols, "They gave me a three-page script to read from that had three characters named Bones, Kirk and somebody called Spock, and they asked me if I would read for the role of Spock. When I looked at this great text, I said to myself, 'I'll take any one of these roles,' but I found the Spock character to be very interesting, and I asked them to tell me what she [Spock] was like". They then told Nichols that the role had already been offered to Leonard Nimoy.


title: Star Trek: The Original Series

text: It was intended that Sulu's role be expanded in the second season, but owing to Takei's part in John Wayne's "The Green Berets", he appeared in only half the season, his role being filled by Walter Koenig as the relatively young, mop-topped Russian navigator Ensign Pavel Chekov. When Takei returned, the two had to share a dressing room. The two appeared together at the "Enterprise" helm for the remainder of the series. There may be some truth to the unofficial story that the Soviet Union's newspaper "Pravda" complained that among the culturally diverse characters there were no Russians, seen as a personal slight to that country since the Soviet Russian Yuri Gagarin had been the first man to make a spaceflight. Gene Roddenberry said in response that "The Chekov thing was a major error on our part, and I'm still embarrassed by the fact we didn't include a Russian right from the beginning." However, documentation from Desilu suggests that the intention was to introduce a character into "Star Trek" with more sex appeal to teenaged girls. Walter Koenig noted in the 2006 40th anniversary special of "Star Trek: The Original Series" that he doubted the rumor about "Pravda", since "Star Trek" had never been shown on Soviet television. It has also been claimed that the former member of The Monkees, Davy Jones, was the model for Mr. Chekov.


title: Star Trek: The Original Series

text: In addition, the series frequently included characters (usually security personnel wearing red uniforms) who are killed or injured soon after their introduction. So prevalent was this plot device that it inspired the term "redshirt" to denote a stock character whose sole purpose is to die violently in order to show the danger facing the main characters.


title: Star Trek: The Original Series

text: "Star Trek" made celebrities of its cast of largely unknown actors. Kelley had appeared in many films and television shows, but mostly in smaller roles that showcased him as a villain. Nimoy also had previous television and film experience but was not well known either. Nimoy had partnered previously with Shatner in a 1964 episode of "The Man from U.N.C.L.E.", "The Project Strigas Affair," and with Kelley (as a doctor) in a 1963 episode of "The Virginian", "Man of Violence," both more than two years before "Star Trek" first aired. Before "Star Trek", Shatner was well known in the trade, having appeared in several notable films, played Cyrano de Bergerac on Broadway, and even turned down the part of Dr. Kildare. However, when roles became sparse he took the regular job after Jeffrey Hunter's contract was not renewed.


title: Star Trek: The Original Series

text: After the original series ended, cast members found themselves typecast because of their defining roles in the show. ("Star Trek: The Next Generation" actor Michael Dorn stated in 1991, however: "If what happened to the first cast is called being typecast, then I want to be typecast. Of course, they didn't get the jobs after "Trek". But they are making their sixth movie. Name me someone else in television who has made "six" movies!")


title: Star Trek: The Original Series

text: The three main characters were Kirk, Spock, and McCoy, with writers often playing the different personalities off each other: Kirk was passionate and often aggressive, but with a sly sense of humor; Spock was coolly logical; and McCoy was sardonic, emotional, and illogical, but always compassionate. In many stories the three clashed, with Kirk forced to make a tough decision while Spock advocated the logical but sometimes callous path and McCoy (or "Bones", as Kirk nicknamed him) insisted on doing whatever would cause the least harm. McCoy and Spock had a sparring relationship that masked their true affection and respect for each other, and their constant arguments became popular with viewers. The show so emphasized dialogue that writer and director Nicholas Meyer (involved with the "Star Trek" films) called it a radio drama, playing an episode for a film class without video to prove that the plot was still comprehensible.


title: Star Trek: The Original Series

text: The Spock character was at first rejected by network executives, who were apprehensive that his vaguely "Satanic" appearance (with pointed ears and eyebrows) might prove upsetting to some viewers, and (according to Leonard Nimoy) they repeatedly urged Roddenberry to "drop the Martian." Roddenberry was also dismayed to discover that NBC's publicity department deliberately airbrushed out Spock's pointed ears and eyebrows from early publicity stills sent to network affiliates, because they feared that his "demonic" appearance might offend potential buyers in the religiously conservative southern states. Spock, however, went on to become one of the most popular characters on the show, as did McCoy's impassioned country-doctor personality. Spock, in fact, became a sex symbol of sorts—something no one connected with the show had expected. Leonard Nimoy noted that the question of Spock's extraordinary sex appeal emerged "almost any time I talked to someone in the press ... I never give it a thought ... to try to deal with the question of Mr. Spock as a sex symbol is silly."


title: Star Trek: The Original Series

text: The sequel to the original series, "", which premiered in 1987, was set about 100 years after the events of "TOS". As that show and its spin-offs progressed, several "TOS" actors made appearances reprising their original characters:


title: Star Trek: The Original Series

text: Besides the above examples, numerous non-canon novels and comic books have been published over the years in which "The Original Series" era crew are depicted in "The Next Generation" era, either through time-travel or other means. In addition, many actors who appeared on "The Original Series" later made guest appearances as different characters in later series, most notably Majel Barrett, who not only provided the voice for most Starfleet computers in episodes of every spin-off series (including a single appearance on "", where the computers normally did not speak at all), but also had the recurring role of Lwaxana Troi in "The Next Generation" and "Deep Space Nine". Diana Muldaur, a guest star in the episodes "Return to Tomorrow" and "Is There in Truth No Beauty?" of the original "Star Trek" series, played series regular Dr. Katherine Pulaski in the second season of "Star Trek: The Next Generation".


title: Star Trek: The Original Series

text: In its writing, "Star Trek" is notable as one of the earliest science-fiction TV series to use the services of leading contemporary science fiction writers, such as Robert Bloch, Norman Spinrad, Harlan Ellison, and Theodore Sturgeon, as well as established television writers.


title: Star Trek: The Original Series

text: Roddenberry often used the setting of a space vessel set many years in the future to comment on social issues of 1960s America, including sexism, racism, nationalism, and global war. In November 1968, just a few months after the first televised interracial touch, the episode "Plato's Stepchildren" went incorrectly down in history as the first American television show to feature a scripted interracial kiss between characters (Capt. Kirk and Lt. Uhura), although the kiss was only mimed (obscured by the back of a character's head) and depicted as involuntary. There is however some dispute to this being the first interracial kiss of the series because the 1967 episode, "Space Seed" – introducing reoccurring villain Khan (Ricardo Montalbán) – has him seducing and kissing Lt. Marla McGivers (Madlyn Rhue) as part of his malicious machinations. "Let That Be Your Last Battlefield" presented a direct allegory about the irrationality and futility of racism. Anti-war themes appear in episodes such as "", depicting a planet-destroying weapon as an analogy to nuclear weapons deployed under the principle of mutually assured destruction, and "A Taste of Armageddon" about a society which has "civilized" war to the point that they no longer see it as something to avoid.


title: Star Trek: The Original Series

text: Episodes such as "", "Who Mourns for Adonais?", "The Mark of Gideon" and "The Return of the Archons" display subtle anti-religious (owing mainly to Roddenberry's own secular humanism) and anti-establishment themes. "" and "The Omega Glory" have themes that are more pro-Christian or patriotic.


title: Star Trek: The Original Series

text: The show experienced network and/or sponsor interference, up to and including wholesale censorship of scripts and film footage. This was a regular occurrence in the 1960s and "Star Trek" suffered from its fair share of tampering. Scripts were routinely vetted and censored by the staff of NBC's Broadcast Standards Department, which copiously annotated every script with demands for cuts or changes (e.g. "Page 4: Please delete McCoy's expletive, 'Good Lord or "Page 43: Caution on the embrace; avoid open-mouthed kiss").


title: Star Trek: The Original Series

text: The series was noted for its sense of humor, such as Spock and McCoy's pointed, yet friendly, bickering. Certain episodes, such as "The Trouble with Tribbles", "I, Mudd" and , were written and staged as comedies with dramatic elements. Most episodes were presented as action/adventure dramas, frequently including space battles or fist fights between the ship's crew and guest antagonists.


title: Star Trek: The Original Series

text: Several episodes used the concept of planets developing parallel to Earth, allowing reuse of stock props, costumes and sets. "Bread and Circuses", "" and "The Omega Glory" depict such worlds; "A Piece of the Action", and "Plato's Stepchildren" are based on alien planets that have adopted period Earth cultures (Prohibition-era Chicago, Nazi Germany and ancient Greece, respectively). Two episodes depicting time travel ("Tomorrow Is Yesterday" and "") conveniently place "Enterprise" in orbit above 1960s Earth; a third ("The City on the Edge of Forever") places members of the crew on 1930s Earth.


title: Star Trek: The Original Series

text: Of the twenty-one different episodes listed above, thirteen – "Where No Man Has Gone Before", "The Enemy Within", "The Naked Time", "Balance of Terror", "The Galileo Seven", "Arena", "Space Seed", "This Side of Paradise", "The Devil in the Dark", "A Taste of Armageddon", "The Corbomite Maneuver", "The Man Trap", and "The City on the Edge of Forever" – are from the first season and six – "Amok Time", "The Doomsday Machine", "Mirror, Mirror", "The Trouble with Tribbles", "A Piece of the Action", and "Journey to Babel" – are from the second season. Only two – "The Enterprise Incident" and "Let That Be Your Last Battlefield" – derive from the third season.


title: Star Trek: The Original Series

text: In 1983, Leonard Nimoy hosted a one-hour special as a promotional tie-in with the film "", in which he recounted his memories of working on the original series and explained the origins of things such as the Vulcan nerve pinch and the Vulcan salute, as well as a re-airing of the TOS episode "Space Seed".


title: Star Trek: The Original Series

text: The show's theme tune was written by Alexander Courage and has been featured in several "Star Trek" spin-off episodes and motion pictures. Gene Roddenberry subsequently wrote a set of accompanying lyrics, even though the lyrics were never used in the series, nor did Roddenberry ever intend them to be; this allowed him to claim co-composer credit and hence 50% of the theme's performance royalties. Courage considered Roddenberry's actions, while entirely legal, to be unethical. Series producer Robert Justman noted in the book "Inside Star Trek: The Real Story", that work on the film "Doctor Dolittle" kept Courage from working on more than two episodes of the first season. However, Justman also believed that Courage lost enthusiasm for the series because of the "royalty" issue. Courage did not score any episodes of the second season; however, he did conduct a recording session for about 30 minutes of "library cues" for the second season, on June 16, 1967. Courage returned to score two episodes of the third season.


title: Star Trek: The Original Series

text: Later episodes used stock recordings from Courage's earlier work. Jazz trumpeter Maynard Ferguson recorded a jazz fusion version of the tune with his band during the late 1970s, and Nichelle Nichols performed the song live complete with lyrics.


title: Star Trek: The Original Series

text: For budgetary reasons, this series made significant use of "tracked" music, or music written for other episodes that was reused in later episodes. Of the 79 episodes that were broadcast, only 31 had complete or partial original dramatic underscores created specifically for them. The remainder of the music in any episode was tracked from other episodes and from cues recorded for the music library. Which episodes would have new music was mostly the decision of Robert H. Justman, the Associate Producer during the first two seasons.


title: Star Trek: The Original Series

text: Screen credits for the composers were given based on the amount of music composed for, or composed and reused in, the episode. Some of these final music credits were occasionally incorrect.


title: Star Trek: The Original Series

text: Beyond the short works of "source" music (music whose source is seen or acknowledged onscreen) created for specific episodes, eight composers were contracted to create original dramatic underscore during the series run: Alexander Courage, George Duning, Jerry Fielding, Gerald Fried, Sol Kaplan, Samuel Matlovsky, Joseph Mullendore, and Fred Steiner. The composers conducted their own music. Of these composers, Steiner composed the original music for thirteen episodes and it is his instrumental arrangement of Alexander Courage's main theme that is heard over many of the end title credits of the series.


title: Star Trek: The Original Series

text: The tracked musical underscores were chosen and edited to the episode by the music editors, principal of whom were Robert Raff (most of Season One), Jim Henrikson (Season One and Two), and Richard Lapham (Season Three).


title: Star Trek: The Original Series

text: Some of the original recordings of the music were released in the United States commercially on the GNP Crescendo Record Co. label. Music for a number of the episodes was re-recorded by Fred Steiner and the Royal Philharmonic Orchestra for the "Varèse Sarabande" label; and by Tony Bremner with the Royal Philharmonic for the "Label X" label. Finally in December 2012, the complete original recordings were released by La-La Land Records as a 15-CD box set, with liner notes by Jeff Bond.


title: Star Trek: The Original Series

text: "Note": Although "The Way to Eden" had no original score, the episode had special musical material by Arthur Heinemann (the episode's writer), guest star Charles Napier and Craig Robertson. "Requiem for Methuselah" contains a Johannes Brahms interpretation by Ivan Ditmars.


title: Star Trek: The Original Series

text: Eight of its episodes were nominated for one of science-fiction's top awards, the Hugo Award, in the category "Best Dramatic Presentation". In 1967, the nominated episodes were "The Naked Time", "The Corbomite Maneuver", and "". In 1968, all nominees were "Star Trek" episodes: "Amok Time", "", "", "The Trouble with Tribbles", and "The City on the Edge of Forever". "Star Trek" won both years for the episodes "The Menagerie" and "The City on the Edge of Forever", respectively. In 1968, "Star Trek" won a special Hugo Award for Dramatic Presentation. No episode was named. This was the show's 3rd Hugo Award, and 9th Hugo nomination.


title: Star Trek: The Original Series

text: In 1968, "Star Trek"s most critically acclaimed episode, "The City on the Edge of Forever," written by Harlan Ellison, won the prestigious Writers Guild of America Award for Best Original Teleplay, although this was for Ellison's original draft script, and not for the screenplay of the episode as it aired.


title: Star Trek: The Original Series

text: In 1997, "The City on the Edge of Forever" was ranked #92 on "TV Guide"s 100 Greatest Episodes of All Time.


title: Star Trek: The Original Series

text: In 2013, "TV Guide" ranked "Star Trek" as the greatest sci-fi show (along with "Star Trek: The Next Generation") and the #12 greatest show of all time.


title: Star Trek: The Original Series

text: Episodes of the "Original Series" were among the first television series to be released on the VHS and laserdisc formats in North America. The first episode on VHS for sale to the public was "Space Seed" released in June 1982 (to celebrate the release of the second Star Trek film, The Wrath of Khan) at a price of $29.95, as prior to this titles were rental only. In 1985, the first 10 episodes went on sale on video at a price of $14.95 with further batches of 10 during 1985 and 1986, making it the first long-running TV series to be released on home video in its entirety, with all episodes eventually being released on both formats. By 1986, sales had reached 1 million units. With the advent of DVD in the mid-1990s, single DVDs featuring two episodes each in production order were released. In the early 2000s, Paramount Home Video reissued the series to DVD in a series of three deluxe season boxes with added featurettes and documentaries. In February 2009 CBS and Paramount announced that they would release the Original Series on Blu-ray. Season one, two, and three were released on April 28, September 22, and December 15, respectively. The Blu-ray releases let the user choose between "Enhanced Effects" or "Original Effects" via a technique called multi-angle.


title: Star Trek: The Original Series

text: All 79 episodes of the series have been digitally remastered by CBS Home Entertainment (distributed by Paramount) and have since been released on DVD.


title: Star Trek: The Original Series

text: CBS Home Entertainment released season one of "The Original Series" on Blu-ray on April 28, 2009. The Blu-ray release contains both Original and Remastered episodes by seamless branching.


title: Star Trek: The Original Series

text: CBS Interactive is presenting all 3 seasons of the series via the tv.com iPhone app. The full-length episodes, without the new CGI but digitally processed to remove the original celluloid artifacts, are available to users in the US at no charge but with embedded ads. Short clips from the shows are also viewable at their web site.


title: Star Trek: The Original Series

text: The company has recently presented all 3 seasons of the series via its Paramount+ premium streaming service. It has all full-length episodes, without the new CGI, like the tv.com app, and is available to users in the US with subscription without ad interruptions.


title: Star Trek: The Original Series

text: In January 2007, the first season of "Star Trek: The Original Series" became available for download from Apple's iTunes Store. Although consumer reviews indicate that some of the episodes on iTunes are the newly "remastered" editions, iTunes editors had not indicated such, and if so, which are which. All first-season episodes that had been remastered and aired were available from iTunes, except "Where No Man Has Gone Before", which remains in its original form. On March 20, 2007, the first season was again added to the iTunes Store, with separate downloads for the original and remastered versions of the show, though according to the customer reviews, the original version contains minor revisions such as special effect enhancements.


title: Star Trek: The Original Series

text: Netflix began online streaming of five of the six "Star Trek" television series on July 1, 2011; "" followed on October 1, 2011.


title: Star Trek: The Original Series

text: "Star Trek" creator Gene Roddenberry first suggested the idea of a "Star Trek" feature in 1969. When the original television series was canceled, he lobbied to continue the franchise through a film. The success of the series in syndication convinced the studio to begin work on a feature film in 1975. A series of writers attempted to craft a suitably epic screenplay, but the attempts did not satisfy Paramount, so the studio scrapped the project in 1977. Paramount instead planned on returning the franchise to its roots with a new television series ("Phase II"). The massive worldwide box office success of "Star Wars" in mid-1977 sent Hollywood studios to their vaults in search of similar sci-fi properties that could be adapted or re-launched to the big screen. Following the huge opening of Columbia's "Close Encounters of the Third Kind" in late December 1977, production of "Phase II" was cancelled in favor of making a "Star Trek" film. Beginning with "" in 1979, it was followed by five sequels, "" (1982), "" (1984), "" (1986), "" (1989) and "" (1991). Leonard Nimoy directed "Star Trek"s III and IV, while William Shatner directed "Star Trek" V.


title: Star Trek: The Original Series

text: After the poor reception of the final "Next Generation" film "Nemesis" and the cancellation of the television series "Enterprise", the franchise's executive producer Rick Berman and screenwriter Erik Jendresen began developing a new film, titled "Star Trek: The Beginning", which would take place after "Enterprise" but before "The Original Series". In February 2007, J. J. Abrams accepted Paramount's offer to direct the new film, having been previously attached as producer. Roberto Orci and Alex Kurtzman wrote a screenplay that impressed Abrams, featuring new actors portraying younger versions of the original series' cast. The "Enterprise", its interior, and the original uniforms were redesigned.


title: Star Trek: The Original Series

text: This revival of the franchise is often considered to be a reboot, but is also a continuation of the franchise, with Nimoy reprising his role of the elderly Spock. This route was taken to free the new films from the restrictions of established continuity without completely discarding it, which the writers felt would have been "disrespectful". This new reality was informally referred to by several names, including the "Abramsverse", "JJ Trek" and "NuTrek", before it was named the "Kelvin Timeline" (versus the "Prime Timeline" of the original series and films) by Michael and Denise Okuda for use in official "Star Trek" reference guides and encyclopedias. The name Kelvin comes from the USS "Kelvin", a starship involved in the event that creates the new reality in "Star Trek" (2009). Abrams named the starship after his grandfather Henry Kelvin, whom he also pays tribute to in "Into Darkness" with the Kelvin Memorial Archive.


title: Star Trek: The Original Series

text: The three films in the Kelvin Timeline include "Star Trek" (2009), "Star Trek Into Darkness" (2013) and "Star Trek Beyond" (2016). The last was dedicated to Nimoy, who died in 2015 and Anton Yelchin, who died in a car crash in the summer it was released.


title: Star Trek: The Original Series

text: "Star Trek: The Original Series" has inspired many commercial products, including toys, comic books, and many other materials. The comics are generally considered non-canon.


title: Star Trek: The Original Series

text: In the early 1970s the Mego Corporation acquired the license to produce "Star Trek" action figures, which the company successfully marketed from 1974 to 1976. During this period, the company produced a line of 8" figures featuring Captain Kirk, Mr. Spock, Leonard McCoy, Mr. Scott, Lt. Uhura, "Aliens" (a Klingon, a Neptunian, , a Gorn, a Cheron, a Romulan, a , an Andorian, and a Mugato), and numerous playsets. (Mego also produced a "life-size" toy tricorder.)


title: Star Trek: The Original Series

text: In the mid-2000s, Paul "Dr. Mego" Clarke and Joe Sena founded EMCE Toys (pronounced "MC") to bring Mego toys back to the marketplace. (Mego went out of business in 1983.) Working with Diamond Select Toys, current holders of the "Star Trek" license, these figures have been selling in comics shops. New characters are currently being produced that Mego did not originally make, such as Lt. Sulu, Ensign Chekov, and "Space Seed" villain Khan Noonien Singh. The Gorn that Mego produced had a brown Lizard head (identical to the Marvel Comics villain) on a brown body wearing a Klingon outfit. "Star Trek" fans had frequently wished that Mego had made a "TV-accurate" Gorn; EMCE Toys and DST produced a new green Gorn based on the TV episode "". EMCE Toys hired original Mego packaging artist Harold Schull to illustrate new artwork for Sulu, Chekov, Khan, and the Gorn. EMCE Toys is continuing the Mego revival with the production of more "Star Trek" figures, including Captain Pike and the Salt Vampire.


title: Star Trek: The Original Series

text: The first "Star Trek" comics were published by Gold Key Comics between 1967 and 1978. These comics were highly stylized and diverged wildly from the TV series continuity. Most storylines used in the Gold Key series featured original characters and concepts, although later issues did include sequels to the original series episodes "The City on the Edge of Forever", "" and "I, Mudd". Writers included George Kashdan, Arnold Drake and Len Wein. Originally they were illustrated by Alberto Giolitti, an Italian artist who had never seen the series and only had publicity photos to use as references. Since Giolitti didn't have a publicity photo of James Doohan, early issues of the series had Mr. Scott drawn differently. The original issues, most of which featured photographic covers showing images from the series, are highly collectable. They are fondly remembered by fans, and a series of reprints ("The Key Collection") of these original titles began to appear in 2004, published by Checker. The Gold Key series had a run of 61 issues. Gold Key lost the "Star Trek" license to Marvel Comics in 1979 (although Marvel's license from Paramount prohibited them from utilizing concepts introduced in the original series).


title: Star Trek: The Original Series

text: From 1969 to 1973, a series of weekly "Star Trek" comic strips ran in the British comics magazine eventually known as "TV Century 21". A total of 258 issues were produced, as well as various annuals and specials. All were original stories. Two more annuals, under the "Mighty TV Comic" banner, also produced original "Star Trek" materials. In addition, the weekly "TV Comic" reprinted serialized versions of the U.S. Gold Key comics.


title: Star Trek: The Original Series

text: In 1977–1978, before home video was widely available, Mandala Productions and Bantam Books published FotoNovels of "TOS" that included direct adaptations of actual color television episode frames (with word balloons) in comics format.


title: Star Trek: The Original Series

text: From February 1984 through February 1996, DC Comics held the license to publish comic books based upon the "Star Trek" franchise, including "Star Trek: The Original Series". The main DC Comics "Star Trek" title was published in two series, comprising 136 issues, 9 annuals, and a number of special issues, plus several mini-series that linked "TOS" and the subsequent series "" ("TNG").


title: Star Trek: The Original Series

text: Marvel Comics again obtained the "Star Trek" license in 1996. Marvel (under the "Marvel/Paramount comics" imprint) published various one-shots and the quarterly "Star Trek Unlimited" series, which covered "TOS" as well as "TNG". They also introduced the new series "", which dealt with Christopher Pike's adventures as captain of the "Enterprise" (as depicted in the rejected "TOS" pilot ""). Fan acceptance of these comics got off to a shaky start when Marvel's inaugural publication of its new "Star Trek" line turned out to be a crossover between "TOS" and Marvel's popular superhero team, the X-Men. However, the series turned out to be relatively popular, registering strong sales.


title: Star Trek: The Original Series

text: Beginning in 2006, Tokyopop published two projects based upon the original series. The new comic anthologies, produced by Joshua Ortega, were released annually in September 2006 ("Shinsei Shinsei") and 2007 ("Kakan ni Shinkou"). Five artists and writer teams presented five new stories, per volume, based on the original series.


title: Star Trek: The Original Series

text: "The Original Series" has been parodied many times in other television series. "Saturday Night Live" produced two famous sketches parodying "The Original Series", "The Last Voyage of the Starship "Enterprise"" in 1976 and William Shatner's own "Get a life" sketch in 1986 (which parodied the show's "trekkie" followers). "The Last Voyage of the Starship "Enterprise"" is a twelve-minute sketch, written by Michael O'Donoghue. It was described by TrekMovie.com as "one of the best "Star Trek" parody sketches of all time". TVSquad ranked Shatner's "Get a life" sketch alongside "The Last Voyage..." as one of the most famous parodies of the show.


title: Star Trek: The Original Series

text: The Canadian comedy duo Wayne and Shuster parodied "Star Trek" as "Star Schtick" in the late 1970s. An entire Finnish parody series "Star Wreck" was produced starting in 1992, culminating with "" in 2005, all available as legal downloads on the web.


title: Star Trek: The Original Series

text: The series has also been parodied on "The Simpsons", "Family Guy" and notably in the "Futurama" episode "Where No Fan Has Gone Before", which was described by "Wired" magazine as a "touchstone" for fans. The 1999 film "Galaxy Quest" portrays the lives of a once-popular television space-drama crew who are kidnapped by real aliens who have mistaken the fictional series for reality. The main characters are parodies of "Star Trek" characters, and many of the plot elements refer to or parody popular 1960s TV-series customs. On Adult Swims "FishCenter Live", a parody of the USS "Enterprise" was featured called the "USS "FishCenterprise" NCC-1065."


title: Star Trek: The Original Series

text: The series was also parodied in print as "Star Blecch" in the December, 1967 issue of Mad Magazine (Issue #115)


title: Star Trek: The Original Series

text: John Scalzi's novel "Redshirts", winner of the 2013 Hugo Award for Best Novel, uses the theme of red-shirted Star Fleet officers as cannon fodder.


title: Star Trek: The Original Series

text: "(T)raumschiff Surprise – Periode 1" (2004) is a movie directed by Michael Herbig which parodies "Star Trek" and "Star Wars".


title: Star Trek: The Original Series

text: "Star Trek" has inspired many fans to produce stories for free Internet distribution. Many of these are set in the time of "The Original Series", including "" which was nominated for a Hugo Award and received support from actors and writers who were involved with "The Original Series".


title: Star Trek: The Original Series

text: "Star Trek: Continues" chronicles the last year of the 5-year voyage of The Enterprise. Gene Roddenberry's son, "Rod", announced after a showing in 2014 that this series would have been considered canon by his father. Comprising 11 full episodes and numerous additional materials, "Star Trek: Continues" was produced from 2013 to 2017 and funded by a kickstarter.


title: Star Trek: The Original Series

text: The original "Star Trek" was followed in 1973 and beyond with more shows filling in its legacy, including the equally successful, yet ever-popular "", starring Patrick Stewart as Captain Jean-Luc Picard. The following series include:


title: Star Trek: The Original Series

text: Rod Serling said of the series that ""Star Trek" was again a very inconsistent show which at times sparkled with true ingenuity and pure science fiction approaches. At other times it was more carnival-like, and very much more the creature of television than the creature of a legitimate literary form."


title: Star Trek: The Original Series

text: Isaac Asimov and "Star Trek" creator Gene Roddenberry developed a unique relationship during "Star Trek"s initial run in the late 1960s. Asimov wrote a critical essay on "Star Trek"s scientific accuracy for "TV Guide" magazine. Roddenberry retorted respectfully with a personal letter explaining the limitations of accuracy when writing a weekly series. Asimov corrected himself with a follow-up essay to "TV Guide" claiming despite its inaccuracies, that "Star Trek" was a fresh and intellectually challenging science fiction television show. The two remained friends to the point where Asimov even served as an adviser on a number of "Star Trek" projects.


title: Star Trek: The Original Series

text: On review aggregator Rotten Tomatoes, Season 1 received an approval rating of 92% based on 24 reviews, with an average rating of 9/10. The critical consensus reads, "An optimistic ode to humanity, "Star Trek" may look dated, but its gadgetry and solid storytelling solidify its place as one of pop culture's most enduring franchises." Season 2 received an approval rating of 100% based on 6 reviews, with an average rating of 7.33/10. Season 3 received an approval rating of 50% based on 10 reviews, with an average rating of 5.5/10. The critical consensus reads, "Budget cuts leave the stars of "Star Trek" stranded among shoddy set pieces and clunky writing – though even at its worst fans may still enjoy its campy delights."


title: Star Trek: The Original Series

text: In 2016, in a listing that included each "Star Trek" film and TV series together, this series was ranked first by the "L.A. Times", ahead of the 1982 film "" and "", in third place.


title: Star Trek: The Original Series

text: In 2017, Vulture ranked the original "Star Trek" the third best live-action "Star Trek" television show, while at the same time praising it for "laying down the foundation".


title: Star Trek: The Original Series

text: In 2018, "IndieWire" ranked "Star Trek" the original series as the 8th best space science fiction show set in outer space, including 18 overall shows from this genre.


title: Star Trek: The Original Series

text: In 2018, Io9/Gizmodo ranked the fictional spacecraft design shown in this television series, the Enterprise, as the number one best version of starship "Enterprise" of the "Star Trek" franchise. They felt that the original design was still superior to almost a dozen different later versions.


title: Star Trek: The Original Series

text: In 2019, "Nerdist" ranked the original series number one best out of seven "Star Trek" franchise television series, including up to the second season of "".


title: Alexei Navalny

text: Alexei Anatolievich Navalny (; born 4 June 1976) is a Russian opposition leader, lawyer, and anti-corruption activist. He has organised anti-government demonstrations and run for office to advocate reforms against corruption in Russia, and against president Vladimir Putin and his government, who avoids referring directly to Navalny by name. Navalny was a Russian Opposition Coordination Council member. He is the leader of the Russia of the Future party and founder of the Anti-Corruption Foundation (FBK). He is recognised by Amnesty International as a prisoner of conscience, and was awarded the Sakharov Prize for his work on human rights.


title: Alexei Navalny

text: In July 2013, Navalny had received a suspended sentence for embezzlement, nevertheless, he was allowed to run in the 2013 Moscow mayoral election and came in second, with 27% of the vote, outperforming expectations but losing to incumbent mayor Sergey Sobyanin, a Putin appointee. In December 2014, Navalny received another suspended sentence for embezzlement. Both of his criminal cases were widely considered to be politically motivated and intended to bar him from running in future elections. The European Court of Human Rights (ECHR) later ruled that the cases violated Navalny's right to a fair trial, but the sentences were never overturned. In December 2016, Navalny launched his presidential campaign for the 2018 presidential election but was barred by Russia's Central Election Commission (CEC) after registering due to his prior criminal conviction; the Russian Supreme Court subsequently rejected his appeal. In 2017, the documentary "He Is Not Dimon to You" was released, accusing Dmitry Medvedev, the then prime minister and previous president, of corruption, leading to mass protests. In 2018, Navalny initiated Smart Voting, a tactical voting strategy intended to consolidate the votes of those who oppose United Russia, to the party of seats in elections.


title: Alexei Navalny

text: In August 2020, Navalny was hospitalised in serious condition after being poisoned with a Novichok nerve agent. He was medically evacuated to Berlin and discharged a month later. Navalny accused Putin of being responsible for his poisoning, and an investigation implicated agents from the Federal Security Service. In January 2021, Navalny returned to Russia and was immediately detained on accusations of violating parole conditions while he was hospitalised in Germany which were imposed as a result of his 2014 conviction. Following his arrest and the release of the documentary "Putin's Palace", which accused Putin of corruption, mass protests were held across Russia. In February 2021, his suspended sentence was replaced with a prison sentence of over two and half years' detention. In March 2022, Navalny was sentenced to an additional nine years in prison after being found guilty of embezzlement and contempt of court in a new trial described as a sham by Amnesty International; his appeal was rejected and in June, he was transferred to a high-security prison.


title: Alexei Navalny

text: Navalny is of Russian and Ukrainian descent. His father is from Zalissia, a former village near the Belarus border that was relocated due to the Chernobyl disaster in Ivankiv Raion, Kyiv Oblast, Ukraine. Navalny grew up in Obninsk, about southwest of Moscow, but spent his childhood summers with his grandmother in Ukraine, acquiring proficiency in the Ukrainian language. His parents, Anatoly Navalny and Lyudmila Navalnaya, own a basket-weaving factory, which they have run since 1994, in the village of Kobyakovo, Vologda Oblast.


title: Alexei Navalny

text: Navalny graduated from Kalininets secondary school (level 3 according to the ISCED) in 1993. Navalny graduated from the Peoples' Friendship University of Russia in 1998 with a law degree. He then studied securities and exchanges at the Financial University under the Government of the Russian Federation, graduating in 2001. Navalny received a scholarship to the Yale World Fellows program at Yale University in 2010.


title: Alexei Navalny

text: Since 1998, Navalny worked as a lawyer for various Russian companies. In 2009, Navalny became an advocate and a member of advocate's chamber (bar association) of Kirov Oblast (registration number 43/547). In 2010, due to his move to Moscow, he ceased to be a member of advocate's chamber of Kirov Oblast and became a member of advocate's chamber of Moscow (registration number 77/9991). In November 2013, after the judgement in the Kirovles case had entered into force, Navalny was deprived of advocate status.


title: Alexei Navalny

text: In 2000, following the announcement of a new law that would raise the electoral threshold for State Duma elections, Navalny joined the Russian United Democratic Party Yabloko. According to Navalny, the law was stacked against Yabloko and Union of Right Forces, and he decided to join, even though he was not "a big fan" of either organisation. In 2001, he was listed as a member of the party. In 2002, he was elected to the regional council of the Moscow branch of Yabloko. In 2003, he headed the Moscow subdivision of the election campaign of the party for the parliamentary election held in December. In April 2004, Navalny became Chief of staff of the Moscow branch of Yabloko, which he remained until February 2007. Also in 2004, he became Deputy Chief of the Moscow branch of the party. From 2006 to 2007, he was a member of the Federal Council of the party.


title: Alexei Navalny

text: In August 2005, Navalny was incorporated into the Social Council of Central Administrative Okrug of Moscow, created prior to the Moscow City Duma election held later that year, in which he took part as a candidate. In November, he was one of the initiators of the Youth Public Chamber, intended to help younger politicians take part in legislative initiatives. At the same time, in 2005, Navalny started another youth social movement, named "DA! – Democratic Alternative". The project was not connected to Yabloko, nor any other political party. Within the movement, Navalny participated in a number of projects. In particular, he was one of the organisers of the movement-run political debates, which soon resonated in the media. Navalny also organised television debates via state-run Moscow channel TV Center; two initial episodes showed high ratings, but the show was suddenly cancelled. According to Navalny, authorities prohibited some people from receiving TV coverage.


title: Alexei Navalny

text: In late 2006, Navalny appealed to the Moscow City Hall, asking it to grant permission to conduct the nationalist 2006 Russian march. However, he added that Yabloko condemned "any ethnic or racial hatred and any xenophobia" and called on the police to oppose "any fascist, Nazi, xenophobic manifestations".


title: Alexei Navalny

text: In July 2007, Navalny resigned from the post of Deputy Chief of the Moscow branch of the party. He was consequently expelled from Yabloko for demanding a resignation of the chairman of the party, Grigory Yavlinsky. Also in 2007, Navalny co-founded the National Russian Liberation Movement, known as "NAROD" (The People), that sets immigration policy as a priority. The movement allied itself with two nationalist groups, the Movement Against Illegal Immigration and Great Russia.


title: Alexei Navalny

text: In December 2011, after parliamentary elections and accusations of electoral fraud, approximately 6,000 people gathered in Moscow to protest the contested result, and an estimated 300 people were arrested, including Navalny. Navalny was arrested on 5 December. After a period of uncertainty for his supporters, Navalny appeared in court and was sentenced to the maximum 15 days "for defying a government official". Alexei Venediktov, editor-in-chief of Echo of Moscow radio station, called the arrest "a political mistake: jailing Navalny transforms him from an online leader into an offline one". After his arrest, his blog became available in English. Navalny was kept in the same prison as several other activists, including Ilya Yashin and Sergei Udaltsov, the unofficial leader of the Vanguard of Red Youth, a radical Russian communist youth group. Udaltsov went on a hunger strike to protest against the conditions.


title: Alexei Navalny

text: Upon his release on 20 December 2011, Navalny called on Russians to unite against Putin, who Navalny said would try to claim victory in the presidential election, which was held on 4 March 2012. In a profile published the day after his release, BBC News described Navalny as "arguably the only major opposition figure to emerge in Russia in the past five years".


title: Alexei Navalny

text: After his release, Navalny informed reporters that it would be senseless for him to run in the presidential elections because the Kremlin would not allow the elections to be fair, but if free elections were held, he would "be ready" to run. On 24 December, he helped lead a demonstration, estimated at 50,000 people, which was much larger than the previous post-election demonstration. Speaking to the crowd, he said, "I see enough people to take the Kremlin right now".


title: Alexei Navalny

text: In March 2012, after Putin was elected president, Navalny helped lead an anti-Putin rally in Moscow's Pushkinskaya Square, attended by between 14,000 and 20,000 people. After the rally, Navalny was detained by authorities for several hours, then released. On 8 May 2012, the day after Putin was inaugurated, Navalny and Udaltsov were arrested after an anti-Putin rally at Clean Ponds, and were each given 15-day jail sentences. Amnesty International designated the two men prisoners of conscience. On 11 June, Moscow prosecutors conducted a 12-hour search of Navalny's home, office, and the apartment of one of his relatives. Soon afterwards, some of Navalny's personal emails were posted online by a pro-government blogger.


title: Alexei Navalny

text: On 26 June 2012, it was announced that Navalny's comrades would establish a new political party based on e-democracy; Navalny declared he did not plan to participate in this project at the moment. On 31 July, they filed a document to register an organising committee of a future party named "The People's Alliance". The party identified itself as centrist; one of the then-current leaders of the party, and Navalny's ally Vladimir Ashurkov, explained this was intended to help the party get a large share of voters. Navalny said the concept of political parties was "outdated", and added his participation would make maintaining the party more difficult. However, he "blessed" the party and discussed its maintenance with its leaders. They, in turn, stated they wanted to eventually see Navalny as a member of the party. On 15 December 2012 Navalny expressed his support of the party, saying, "The People's Alliance is my party", but again refused to join it, citing the criminal cases against him.


title: Alexei Navalny

text: On 10 April 2013, the party filed documents for the official registration of the party. On 30 April, the registration of the party was suspended. On 5 July 2013 the party was declined registration; according to "Izvestia", not all founders of the party were present during the congress, even though the papers contained their signatures. Navalny reacted to that with a tweet saying, "[…] A salvo of all guns". Following the mayoral election, on 15 September 2013, Navalny declared he would join and, possibly, head the party. On 17 November 2013 Navalny was elected as the leader of the party.


title: Alexei Navalny

text: On 8 January 2014, Navalny's party filed documents for registration for the second time. On 20 January, registration of the party was suspended; according to Russian laws, no two parties can share a name. On 8 February 2014, Navalny's party changed its name to "Progress Party". On 25 February 2014, the party was registered, and at this point, had six months to register regional branches in at least half of the federal subjects of Russia. On 26 September 2014, the party declared it had registered 43 regional branches. An unnamed source of "Izvestia" in the ministry said registrations completed after the six-month term would not be taken into consideration, adding, "Yes, trials are taking place in some regions […] they cannot register new branches in other regions during the trials, because the main term is over". Navalny's blog countered, "Our answer is simple. A six-month term for registration has been legally prolonged "ad interim" prosecution of appeals of denials and registration suspensions".


title: Alexei Navalny

text: On 1 February 2015, the party held a convention, where Navalny stated the party was preparing for the 2016 elections, declaring the party would maintain its activity across Russia, saying, "We are unabashed to work in remote lands where the opposition does not work. We can even [work] in Crimea". The candidates the party would appoint were to be chosen via primary elections; however, he added, the party's candidates may be removed from elections. On 17 April 2015, the party initiated a coalition of democratic parties. On 28 April 2015, the party was deprived of registration by the Ministry of Justice, which stated the party had not registered the required number of regional branches within six months after the official registration. Krainev claimed that the party could be eliminated only by the Supreme Court, and he added that not all trials of registration of regional branches were over, calling the verdict "illegal twice". He added that the party would appeal to the European Court of Human Rights, and expressed confidence that the party would be restored and admitted to elections. The next day, the party officially challenged the verdict.


title: Alexei Navalny

text: On 30 May 2013, Sergey Sobyanin, the mayor of Moscow, argued an elected mayor is an advantage for the city compared to an appointed one, and on 4 June, he announced he would meet President Vladimir Putin and ask him for a snap election, mentioning the Muscovites would agree the governor elections should take place in the city of Moscow and the surrounding Moscow Oblast simultaneously. On 6 June, the request was granted, and the next day, the Moscow City Duma appointed the election on 8 September, the national voting day.


title: Alexei Navalny

text: On 3 June, Navalny announced he would run for the post. To become an official candidate, he would need either seventy thousand signatures of Muscovites or to be pegged for the office by a registered party, and then to collect 110 signatures of municipal deputies from 110 different subdivisions (three-quarters of Moscow's 146). Navalny chose to be pegged by a party, RPR–PARNAS.


title: Alexei Navalny

text: Among the six candidates who were officially registered as such, only two (Sobyanin and Communist Ivan Melnikov) were able to collect the required number of the signatures themselves, and the other four were given a number of signatures by the Council of Municipal Formations, following a recommendation by Sobyanin, to overcome the requirement (Navalny accepted 49 signatures, and other candidates accepted 70, 70, and 82).


title: Alexei Navalny

text: On 17 July, Navalny was registered as one of the six candidates for the Moscow mayoral election. However, on 18 July, he was sentenced to a five-year prison term for the embezzlement and fraud charges that were declared in 2012. Several hours after his sentencing, he pulled out of the race and called for a boycott of the election. However, later that day, the prosecution office requested the accused should be freed on bail and released from travel restrictions, since the verdict had not yet taken legal effect, saying that the accused had previously followed the restrictions. Navalny was a mayoral candidate, and an imprisonment would thus not comply with his rule for equal access to the electorate. On his return to Moscow after being freed, pending an appeal, he vowed to stay in the race. "The Washington Post" has speculated that his release was ordered by the Kremlin in order to make the election and Sobyanin appear more legitimate.


title: Alexei Navalny

text: Navalny's campaign was successful in fundraising: out of 103.4 million rubles (approximately $3.09 million as of the election day), the total size of his electoral fund, 97.3 million ($2.91 million) were transferred by individuals throughout Russia; such an amount is unprecedented in Russia. It achieved a high profile through an unprecedentedly large campaign organisation that involved around 20,000 volunteers who passed out leaflets and hung banners, in addition to conducting several campaign rallies a day around the city; they were the main driving force for the campaign. "The New Yorker" described the resulted campaign as "a miracle", along with Navalny's release on 19 July, the fundraising campaign, and the personality of Navalny himself. The campaign received very little television coverage and did not utilise billboards. Thanks to Navalny's strong campaign (and Sobyanin's weak one), his result grew over time, weakening Sobyanin's, and in the end of the campaign, he declared the runoff election (to be conducted if none of the candidates receives at least 50% of votes) was "a hair's breadth away".


title: Alexei Navalny

text: The largest sociological research organisations predicted that Sobyanin would win the election, scoring 58% to 64% of the vote; they expected Navalny to receive 15–20% of the vote, and the turnout was to be 45–52%. (Levada Center was the only one not to have made any predictions; the data it had on 28 August, however, falls in line with other organisations.) The final results of the voting showed Navalny received 27% of the vote, more than candidates appointed by the parties that received second, third, fourth, and fifth highest results during the 2011 parliamentary elections, altogether. Navalny fared better in the center and southwest of Moscow, which have higher income and education levels. However, Sobyanin received 51% of the vote, which meant he won the election. The turnout was 32%. The organisations explained the differences were because Sobyanin's electorate did not vote, as they felt that their candidate was guaranteed to win. Navalny's campaign office predicted Sobyanin would score 49–51%, and Navalny would get 24–26% of votes.


title: Alexei Navalny

text: Many experts said the election had been fair, that the number of irregularities had been much lower than those of other elections held within the country, and that the irregularities had had little effect on the result. Dmitri Abyzalov, leading expert of Center of Political Conjuncture, added low turnout figures provide a further sign of fairness of the election, because that shows they were not overestimated. However, according to Andrei Buzin, co-chairman of the GOLOS Association, State Departments of Social Security added people who did not originally want to vote to lists of those who would vote at home, with the number of such voters being 5% of those who voted, and added this did cause questions if Sobyanin would score 50% if this did not take place. Dmitry Oreshkin, leader of the "People's election commission" project (who did a separate counting based on the data from election observers; their result for Sobyanin was 50%), said now that the runoff election was only 2% away, all details would be looked at very closely, and added it was impossible to prove "anything" juridically.


title: Alexei Navalny

text: On 9 September, the day following the election, Navalny publicly denounced the tally, saying, "We do not recognise the results. They are fake". Sobyanin's office rejected an offer of a vote recount. On 12 September, Navalny addressed the Moscow City Court to overturn the result of the poll; the court rejected the assertion. Navalny then challenged the decision in the Supreme Court of Russia, but the court ruled that the election results were legitimate.


title: Alexei Navalny

text: Following the mayoral election, Navalny was offered a position as the fourth co-chairman of RPR-PARNAS. However, Navalny made no public reaction.


title: Alexei Navalny

text: On 14 November 2014, the two remaining RPR-PARNAS co-chairmen, Boris Nemtsov and former Prime Minister of Russia Mikhail Kasyanov, declared it was the right moment to create a wide coalition of political forces, who favour the "European choice"; Navalny's Progress Party was seen as one of the potential participants. However, on 27 February 2015, Nemtsov was shot dead. Prior to his assassination, Nemtsov worked on a project of a coalition, in which Navalny and Khodorkovsky would become co-chairmen of RPR-PARNAS. Navalny declared merging parties would invoke bureaucratic difficulties and question the legitimacy of party's right to participate in federal elections without signatures collecting. However, Nemtsov's murder accelerated the work, and on 17 April, Navalny declared a wide discussion had taken place among Progress Party, RPR-PARNAS, and other closely aligned parties, which resulted in an agreement of formation of a new electoral bloc between the two leaders. Soon thereafter, it was signed by four other parties and supported by Khodorkovsky's Open Russia foundation. Electoral blocs are not present within the current law system of Russia, so it would be realised via means of a single party, RPR-PARNAS, which is not only eligible for participation in statewide elections, but is also currently not required to collect citizens' signatures for the right to participate in the State Duma elections scheduled for September 2016, due to the regional parliament mandate previously taken by Nemtsov. The candidates RPR-PARNAS would appoint were to be chosen via primary elections.


title: Alexei Navalny

text: On 5 July 2015, Kasyanov was elected as the only leader of RPR-PARNAS, and the party was renamed to just PARNAS. He added he would like to eventually re-establish the institution of co-chairmanship, adding, "Neither Alexei Navalny nor Mikhail Khodorkovsky will enter our party today and be elected as co-chairmen. But in the future, I think, such time will come". On 7 July, in an interview released by TV Rain, he specified Navalny could not leave a party of his, and this would need to be completed by PARNAS adsorbing members of the Progress Party and other parties of the coalition, and Navalny would be to come at some point when he "grows into this and feels this could be done" and join the party as well.


title: Alexei Navalny

text: The coalition claimed to have collected enough citizens' signatures for registration in the four regions it originally aimed for. However, in one region, the coalition would declare some signatures and personal data have been altered by malevolent collectors; signatures in the other regions have been rejected by regional election commissions. In Novosibirsk Oblast, some election office stuff went for a hunger strike, which was abandoned after in almost two weeks since its inception, when Khodorkovsky, Navalny, and Kasyanov publicly advised to do so. Сomplaints have been issued to the Central Election Commission of Russia, after which the coalition has been registered as a participant in a regional election in one of the three contested regions, Kostroma Oblast. According to a source of "Gazeta.ru" "close to the Kremlin", the presidential administration saw coalition's chances as very low, yet was wary, but the restoration in one region occurred so PARNAS could "score a consolation goal". According to the official election results, the coalition scored 2% of votes, not enough to overcome the 5% threshold; the party admitted the election was lost.


title: Alexei Navalny

text: Navalny announced his entry into the presidential race on 13 December 2016, however on 8 February 2017, the Leninsky district court of Kirov repeated its sentence of 2013 (which was previously annulled after the decision of ECHR, which ruled that Russia had violated Navalny's right to a fair trial, in the Kirovles case) and charged him with a five-year suspended sentence. This sentence, if it came into force and remained valid, might prohibit the future official registration of Navalny as a candidate. Navalny announced that he would pursue the annulment of the sentence that clearly contradicts the decision of ECHR. Moreover, Navalny announced that his presidential campaign would proceed independently of court decisions. He referred to the Russian Constitution (Article 32), which deprives only two groups of citizens of the right to be elected: those recognised by the court as legally unfit and those kept in places of confinement by a court sentence. According to Freedom House and "The Economist", Navalny was the most viable contender to Vladimir Putin in the 2018 election. Navalny organised a series of anti-corruption rallies in different cities across Russia in March. This appeal was responded to by the representatives of 95 Russian cities, and four cities abroad: London, Prague, Basel and Bonn.


title: Alexei Navalny

text: Navalny was attacked by unknown assailants outside his office in the Anti-Corruption Foundation on 27 April 2017. They sprayed brilliant green dye, possibly mixed with other components, into his face in a Zelyonka attack that can damage eyes of the victim. He had been attacked before, earlier in the spring. In the second attack, the green-colored disinfectant had evidently been mixed with a caustic chemical, resulting in a chemical burn to his right eye. He reportedly lost 80 percent of the sight in his right eye. Navalny accused the Kremlin of orchestrating the attack.


title: Alexei Navalny

text: Navalny was released from jail on 27 July 2017 after spending 25 days of imprisonment. Before that, he was arrested in Moscow for participating in protests and was sentenced to 30 days in jail for organising illegal protests.


title: Alexei Navalny

text: In September, Human Rights Watch accused Russian police of systematic interference with Navalny's presidential campaign. "The pattern of harassment and intimidation against Navalny's campaign is undeniable," said Hugh Williamson, Europe, and Central Asia director at Human Rights Watch. "Russian authorities should let Navalny's campaigners work without undue interference and properly investigate attacks against them by ultra-nationalists and pro-government groups." On 21 September, the Committee of Ministers of the Council of Europe invited Russian authorities, in connection with the Kirovles case, "to use urgently further avenues to erase the prohibition on Mr. Navalny's standing for election".


title: Alexei Navalny

text: Navalny was sentenced to 20 days in jail on 2 October 2017 for calls to participate in protests without approval from state authorities.


title: Alexei Navalny

text: In December 2017, Russia's Central Electoral Commission barred Navalny from running for president in 2018, citing Navalny's corruption conviction. The European Union said Navalny's removal cast "serious doubt" on the election. Navalny called for a boycott of the 2018 presidential election, stating his removal meant that millions of Russians were being denied their vote. Navalny filed an appeal against the Russian Supreme Court's ruling on 3 January, however a few days later on 6 January, the Supreme Court of Russia rejected his appeal. Navalny led protests on 28 January 2018 to urge a boycott of Russia's 2018 presidential election. Navalny was arrested on the day of the protest and then released the same day, pending trial. OVD-Info reported that 257 people were arrested throughout the country. According to Russian news reports, police stated Navalny was likely to be charged with calling for unauthorised demonstrations. Two of Navalny's associates were given brief jail terms for urging people to attend unsanctioned opposition rallies. Navalny stated on 5 February 2018 the government was accusing Navalny of assaulting an officer during the protests. Navalny was among 1600 people detained during 5 May protests prior to Putin's inauguration; Navalny was charged with disobeying police. On 15 May, he was sentenced to 30 days in jail. Immediately after his release on 25 September 2018, he was arrested and convicted for organising illegal demonstrations and sentenced to another 20 days in jail.