Before ‘Star Trek,’ Gene Roddenberry Made His Mark on This Classic Western Series (2024)

Before he created Star Trek, Gene Roddenberry worked as a freelance writer for a plethora of different programs beginning in the mid-1950s. But back then, the American Western was the most popular genre on television, which meant that Roddenberry wrote a few gunslinging tales in his day. Between hour-long and half-hour-long programs, there was almost always a Western on one of the Big Three television networks, and one of the most popular of the age was Have Gun - Will Travel. The six-season television series starred Richard Boone (from The Tall T) and ran from 1957 until 1963, telling just about every traditional Western tale you could imagine. Roddenberry wrote his fair share of those stories himself, which made their own mark on his more popular science-fiction series.

Have Gun - Will Travel

Approved

Release Date

September 14, 1957

Cast

Richard Boone , Kam Tong , Hal Needham , Stewart East , Lisa Lu , Tony Regan , Cosmo Sardo , Edward Faulkner

Main Genre

Western

Seasons

6

Creator(s)

Herb Meadow , Sam Rolfe

See Also

Best Western Rewards

What Is 'Have Gun - Will Travel' About?

With a title like Have Gun - Will Travel, one might wonder what this "adult" Western is about. Richard Boone stars here as Paladin, a learned and intelligent gun-for-hire who travels around the country taking odd jobs and solving all sorts of problems. There are few recurring characters beyond Paladin himself, but that's actually to this show's benefit. Paladin was always friendly with others, but he ultimately worked the best on his own. The character's name derives from the legendary Middle Ages knights of the same name, and, indeed, he has a white chess knight embroidered on his holster. More than capable as a soldier on his own, Paladin wanders across the post-Civil War-era United States (he once served in the Union Army) as a "knight without armor," hoping to avoid violence at every turn.

Have Gun - Will Travel deals with everything from Native American conflicts, cattle rustling, bank robbery, interracial marriages, outlaw gangs, and more. If it happened in a Western, it likely happened at some point on Have Gun - Will Travel. According to Tim Brooks and Earle Marsh in The Complete Directory to Prime Time Network and Cable TV Shows, 1946–Present, the series was an instant hit. It ranked as one of television's Top 5 programs in the ratings as early as its first season and was the third most popular Western of its time, just behind Gunsmoke and Wagon Train. It's also worth noting that the show's portrayal of its leading gunslinger was likely part of the reason it was so popular. Unlike other Western TV protagonists, Paladin was college-educated, well-read, and did everything he could to avoid unnecessary violence after his time in the Civil War. He was also willing to engage with different cultures and had an expensive palate that cost a considerable amount to maintain. No wonder his rates were so high.

Additionally, Paladin was one of the fastest guns in the Old West. Though he never hoped to fire his sidearm in battle, he often found himself in situations where violence was necessary. While many other Western heroes wore lighter colors to signify their stance in the fight between good and evil, Paladin wore all black and prided himself on his ethics despite his almost villainous appearance. Have Gun - Will Travel ran for 225 episodes, each chronicling a new half-hour adventure that would see our hero put to the test again. Simultaneously, a Have Gun - Will Travel radio show was also produced, with John Dehner of Gunsmoke fame voicing Paladin instead.

Gene Roddenberry Wrote 24 Episodes of 'Have Gun - Will Travel'

From the very beginning, Star Trek creator Gene Roddenberry was involved in Have Gun - Will Travel. The third episode of the series, "The Great Mojave Chase," was the first episode penned by the future science-fiction author, and it immediately helped set the tone of the series. He would write several episodes throughout the first season, including "The Yuma Treasure" and the excellent Christmas tale "The Hanging Cross," which begins with Paladin removing his gun in the infamous intro sequence. However, Roddenberry wouldn't be acknowledged for his contributions to the series until the sixteenth episode, "Helen of Abajinian," aired in late 1957. The following year, the Writer's Guild of America granted him a "Best Original Script" award for the episode. And it's no wonder, as "Helen of Abajinian" is loads of wedding-themed fun.

In total, Roddenberry penned 24 episodes of Have Gun - Will Travel across all six seasons of the series. Though he only wrote a single episode in the show's fourth and fifth seasons, he wrote between five and six episodes per season for the rest of the series. Roddenberry writes Paladin as cool and collected, emphasizing his peculiar brand of morality. He has an air about him that makes him feel like something of a man outside of time, and while that's Paladin's aesthetic throughout the series, Roddenberry's episodes capture it best. "The Hanging Cross" is a particularly compelling episode where Paladin plays mediator between a grief-stricken rancher, Nathaniel Beecher (Edward Binns), and the local Pawnee chief Cah-la-te (Abraham Sofaer) at Christmastime. As Paladin seeks to discover the truth behind Beecher's missing son, he preaches a message of peace and hangs up his gun so that he can stop Beecher from killing the Pawnee without any bloodshed. It's a powerful moment when Paladin is challenged on his belief, and Roddenberry nails it in the climax.

In Have Gun - Will Travel, Roddenberry's distinct voice is seen throughout his episodes. Though the show would also help launch the careers of others—including Superman director Richard Donner, Mission: Impossible creator Bruce Geller, The Wild Bunch director Sam Peckinpah, and Dirty Harry co-writer Harry Julian Fink—Roddenberry was the show's most prolific writer besides the series creators, Herb Meadow and Sam Rolfe. It's no wonder then that he would go on to create his own series for CBS three years after Paladin's final adventure.

Roddenberry's Blueprints for 'Star Trek' Can Be Seen in This Western

It's long been said that when Gene Roddenberry first pitched Star Trek to CBS, he did so by calling it "Wagon Train to the Stars." The Star Trek creator hoped to adapt the traditional Western theme of "Manifest Destiny" into outer space with the concept of the U.S.S. Enterprise exploring the greater reaches of the universe, the "final frontier." Though the original Star Trek series only lasted three seasons, it became a cult classic that spawned a massive franchise that is as strong as ever today. But while Star Trek might seem like the exact opposite of a series like Have Gun - Will Travel (set in the future rather than the past, an ensemble cast instead of a single hero, alien species instead of mythical Native Americans, etc.), there were a few more common threads than you might initially think. According to Edward Gross' The Fifty-Year Mission: The Complete, Uncensored, Unauthorized Oral History of Star Trek: The First 25 Years, Roddenberry wanted to break free of the formula Westerns he'd been forced to write before.

But that's not all. Roddenberry felt limited by what issues he could and couldn't talk about on network television, so Star Trek's futuristic setting was crafted to shift the entire conversation. Of course, we can see Roddenberry's yearnings for more in his Have Gun - Will Travel episodes, too. The acclaimed "Helen of Abajinian" doesn't feature a shootout at all and instead ends with a wedding that blends two cultures (Star Trek would later feature one of the first interracial kisses on television). "The Hanging Cross" doesn't conclude with a gunfight either, although it almost escalates there. Instead, a Christmas miracle (and Paladin's willingness to set down his gun) changes the entire outcome. And let's not forget about how, in most of Roddenberry's episodes, Native Americans have more depth and complexity, rarely (if ever) portrayed in a negative light.

It's easy to see how a character like Paladin, who seemed relatively progressive in his day and age, would appeal to Gene Roddenberry, whose political and cultural leanings would serve as the foundation for the Star Trek franchise. Have Gun - Will Travel was what someone like Rod Serling (who once tried his own hand at the Western) might call "a thinking man's Western." It made audiences pause and consider the implications of each and every conflict and, like Paladin himself, seek another, more peaceful solution. In the wake of the Vietnam War, this would've been a Western that most audiences could get behind. It was conservative enough in its material but progressive in its solutions. No doubt Gene Roddenberry contributed to the impressive legacy of Have Gun - Will Travel, which in turn contributed to the creation of Star Trek itself.

Have Gun - Will Travel is available to stream on Pluto TV in the U.S.

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