The syndication of *Star Trek* in the early 1970s is the event that transformed the show from a canceled network series into a cultural phenomenon. The reruns reached audiences that the original broadcast had not: younger viewers, college students, people who had not been part of the network television demographic in 1966. The audience that emerged from syndication was organized, passionate, and persistent — the audience that demanded and eventually got the films, the sequels, and the franchise that *Star Trek* became.
By the time that audience was visible, Desilu did not exist. Gulf + Western had bought it; Paramount Television controlled the rights. The studio that had funded the second pilot, that had covered the production deficits, that had backed the board override — it was gone. Lucille Ball’s post-Desilu career continued with Lucille Ball Productions and *Here’s Lucy*, which ran from 1968 to 1974. She remained a major television figure. She did not share in the financial returns from the franchise she had helped make possible.
The counterfactual is unavoidable: had Ball held on for a few more years, the value of the *Star Trek* library in syndication would have been visible, and the sale to Gulf + Western or any other buyer would have commanded a substantially higher price. The estimate that she left behind hundreds of millions of dollars in eventual franchise value by selling when she did is probably not far off, though the precise calculation depends on assumptions about negotiation and timing that cannot be made exactly.
She sold. The franchise that she had helped make possible went on to generate revenues beyond anything the mid-1960s entertainment industry could have projected.