The “Wagon Train to the stars” framing was both a genuine description of the show’s structure and a sales strategy. Roddenberry knew that NBC’s programming executives would be more receptive to a show they could place within an existing successful genre than to a genuinely novel concept. The framing worked, at least initially: NBC ordered a pilot.
Desilu’s role in bringing the show to NBC was not simply that of a passive facilitator. Oscar Katz and Herbert Solow, who became Desilu’s Vice-President of Production in late 1964, were active participants in developing the concept and in the sales process. Solow’s account of the development period, documented in the book *Inside Star Trek: The Real Story* that he co-authored with producer Robert Justman, describes his own involvement in shaping the show’s presentation to NBC and in managing the relationship between Roddenberry and the network.
Solow’s specific contribution at the pitch stage included, by his account, persuading Roddenberry to remove the tail from the design for the character who would become Mr. Spock. The original concept for Spock — the alien crew member — included what Solow described as a devil-like appearance. Solow felt this would create unnecessary problems with network standards and practices. The pointed ears remained; the tail did not.
This kind of practical intervention — the work of turning a creative vision into something that could survive the scrutiny of network executives, advertising sales departments, and affiliate station operators — was what production executives like Solow did. Roddenberry was the visionary; Solow and Katz were the people who figured out how to get the vision through the institutional barriers that stood between concept and broadcast.