Part two of Ed Gross's Trek Classic book, about the final days of the original Star Trek series:
There's no denying that STAR TREK had its share of creative problems as the third season approached. John Meredyth Lucas moved on to THE FUGITIVE when word came down that TREK had been cancelled and before the letter writing campaign proved fruitful; director Joseph Pevney had departed the fold and Dorothy Fontana, who had been there before there actually was a STAR TREK, was ready to move on.
"The third season we were reduced to what I call a radio show," reflected Robert Justman. "We couldn't go on location any longer because we couldn't afford it. We had to do shows that we could afford to do. It was quite difficult and that did affect what the concept was. Certain concepts just couldn't be handled. We didn't have the money. Forget about what the actual numbers are, but in those days, in the first season, each show cost $193,500. That was good money for those days. The second season was $187,500. The third season was $178,500. So that was an enormous drop. The studio had deficit financing situations and every time you shot a show you lost more money. In those days, they didn't think they had a chance of syndication, especially since everybody knew that third season was it. They just cut it down to the bone to cut their losses."
