Star Trek within Star Trek

There is [sometimes controvertial] evidence suggesting that Star Trek as we know it is also known to the denizens of the twenty-second century onward.

Star Trek's History may date back to 1930's Earth, where there was a popular science fiction magazine called Captain Proton Magazine, featuring characters later used often on USS Voyager's holodecks.

Captain Proton Magazine was written by a man called Ben Russell and featured, besides Captain Proton himself, Buster Kincaid, Ben Sisko, Constance Goodheart, The Shapechanging Founder, Dr. Chaotica and soldiers known as Jem'Hadar (SNW story Captain Proton and the Orb of Bajor.

It is also possible, though not proven, that Emma Geller was a fan of Russell and, in 1924, named her son, Benjamin Benny Russell, after him. Geller's husband, Fox Russell, was barely ever around, so he was okay with the naming. Russell grew up in Harlem in New York and became, in turn, interested in science-fiction (DS9 novelisation Far Beyond the Stars).

By 1938, Captain Proton was a regular fixture on radios across the United States of America (SNW story Captain Proton and the Orb of Bajor).

In 1940, a book called Amazing Stories was published, featuring the story The Adventures of Captain Proton, Chapter I: The Space Vortex of Doom (VGR story The Adventures of Captain Proton, Chapter I: The Space Vortex of Doom).

In April of that year, the book Captain Proton! Defender of the Earth was published. Benny Russell had a letter printed in this book, in which he expressed his liking of the title character (VGR book Captain Proton! Defender of the Earth).

In Summer 1950, Russell created inhabitants for a story he referred to as Star Trek. These included Vulcans, Klingons, Borg, tribbles as well as James T. Kirk, Nyota Uhura, Jean-Luc Picard, William Riker, Geordi LaForge and Guinan (DS9 novelisation Far Beyond the Stars).

The magazine Russell worked for - Incredible Tales of Scientific Wonder - sold well in March 1953, with the story by EW Roddenberry called The Cage, Jerry Sohl's novella The Corbomite Maneuver, D.C. Fontana's Journey to Babel, Gene L. Coon's Metamorphosis and Sam Peeples' Where No Man has gone Before (DS9 episode Far Beyond the Stars).

Unfortunately, Russell's interest in stories reached a peak in September that year, when he created a story called Deep Space Nine, a direct branch of his earlier Star Trek stories. These featured space station commander Benjamin Sisko, a black man. Although that issue included other stories by other writers as well, Russell's editor Douglas Pabst chose not to publish that month's edition and had - apparently - every edition pulped (DS9 episode and novelisation Far Beyond the Stars).

Not all copies got pulped, though. At least one was found on December 27 of 1953, by psychiatrist James Wykoff's son, and acted out (SNW story Isolation Ward 4).

Incarcerated in a mental institute, Russell refused to stop writing Star Trek: Deep Space Nine stories, and he wrote The Emissary sometime in very late April 1954. He then wrote Image in the Sand on January 18, Take me out to the Holosuite in early February and, on February 17, he wrote so frenetically that he ended up producing Shadows and Symbols, Afterimage, Chrysalis, Treachery, Faith, and the Great River, Once More unto the Breach, The Siege of AR-558, Covenant, It's only a Paper Moon, Prodigal Daughter, The Emperor's new Cloak, Field of Fire, Chimera, Inter arma enim Silent Leges, Badda-bing, badda-bang, Penumbra, Til Death do us Part, Strange Bedfellows, The Changing Face of Evil, When it Rains..., Tacking into the Wind, Extreme Measures, Dogs of War and What You leave Behind, covering his cell walls entirely (SNW story Isolation Ward 4).

Around 1963, Gene Roddenberry was looking for a new idea to pitch for a television series (Historical accounts).

It is possible he found the original Deep Space Nine copy found by the son of James Wykoff, but decided that 1960s technology could not depict twenty-fourth century characters, so he chose not to use them at that time.

'Star Trek' aired it's first episode, The Man Trap, on September 8, 1966 (Historical accounts).

In 1968, during filming of The Omega Glory, actors William Shatner, Leonard Nimoy and DeForest Kelly were somehow transposed through space and time to 2268, onto the real USS Enterprise. Kirk, Spock and Leonard H. McCoy were likewise transposed onto the 'Star Trek' soundstage in Burbank. After the incident, the three actors told Roddenberry of their adventure (TOS story Visit to a Weird Planet Revisited).

In 1979, Roddenberry wrote the novelisation of the first 'Star Trek' film, Star Trek: The Motion Picture (Historical accounts).

At some point, Benny Russell's original story - Far Beyond the Stars - was published, although it's popularity has not been assessed (TOS novel The Eugenics Wars: The Rise and Fall of Khan Noonien Singh, Volume 1).

In 1984, author John M. Ford wrote the novel The Final Reflection (Historical accounts).

In 1991, three denizens of the future transported a dying man to the future (SNW story The Man who Sold the Sky)..

Some fans believe this is Gene, being taken to the twenty-third century.

Around January 1992, production began on the television series Star Trek: Deep Space Nine. The production personnel included New York Gazette' journalist JR Rasmussen (Historical accounts and SNW story Research).

In 1993, an incident kept quiet by the DS9 production crew resulted in the so-called fictional character Berlinghoff Rasmussen's time-travel pod coming into the possession of the DS9 crew. They assigned J.R. Rasmussen to travel into both the past and the future, so that they could gain better insight into the events depicted in the various 'Star Trek' episodes. J.R.'s journeying to the past even included convincing Roddenberry, in 1964, to make 'Star Trek' in the first place (SNW story Research).

It is possible that Roddenberry was still troubled by the limits of 1960s technology on the twenty-fourth century characters.

J.R.'s travels to the future ensured that, upon each return to the present, she could tell the writers and others intricate details about the events she'd seen. Inserted into the episodes, these extra details brought about great ratings (SNW story Research).

By 1999, J.R. had seen too much, experienced too many dangers and felt her own writing career was suffering. As a result, she quit her association with the franchise and returned to concentrating on her journalism (SNW story Research).

In the early 2270s, a man called Gene Roddenberry was asked by Kirk to write up the V'Ger Incident in narrative form. That book became known as Star Trek: The Motion Picture (TOS novelisation Star Trek: The Motion Picture).

In the 2280s, McCoy convinced his friends aboard USS Enterprise that the recent novel The Final Reflection, by John M. Ford, was brilliant (TOS novel The Final Reflection).