Inside Star Trek - The Real Story

Real world article
(written from a Production point of view)

Inside Star Trek - The Real Story was a documentary based on the reference book Inside Star Trek: The Real Story, by Herbert F. Solow and Robert H. Justman. Produced by Beck-Ola Production and directed by its CEO and owner Donald R. Beck, the by Solow hosted documentary looked at the development and evolution of Star Trek: The Original Series from the perspective of the production staff, more specifically the producer's and director's point of view.

The documentary was released as a single-volume stand-alone VHS in the US on 3 November 1998, and included as a special feature on the Star Trek - Greatest Battles VHS collection in the UK on 16 November 1998 and the Netherlands the following year. An English language LaserDisc edition was released in Japan on 25 November 1999. No television airdates are known to date.

The screenplay was by Solow himself as well as his wife Yvonne Fern Solow, whereas Patricia Rose Duignan, a franchise-appointed and frequent Star Trek documentary collaborator of Beck in that period of time, served as supervising producer. In hindsight, the documentary which featured production staffers that were rarely featured in any other publication media about their role in the franchise, was a poignantly timely one, as half of the interviewees passed away within five years of the release.

Summary[]

From the VHS back cover,: Who directed the pilot for the original Star Trek® series? Where was it filmed? Who really built the Enterprise? You may own The Star Trek Encyclopedia, and you may have seen every episode, but you still don't have all the answers! For the first time, the men and women who worked behind the scenes on the most popular science fiction television series ever created invite you to go boldly where no fan has gone before. In-depth interviews will introduce you to the writers, directors, producers, technicians and artists who breathed life into the original Star Trek series. You'll discover their greatest joys, their deepest sorrows and everything else you ever wanted to know about the greatest show in the galaxy. There are no actors and no special effects. Just the truth.