To Boldly Go...

William Shatner as Captain Kirk and Leonard Nimoy as Spock on the original "Star Trek" (All images courtesy CBS Paramount Network Television).

While "Star Trek" eventually turned into a massive collection of television series and films and video games and many other things, it began with the classic 1966-1969 TV series. Here we have Star Trek coloring pages free and downloadable.

"Star Trek" was created by Gene Roddenberry. Just to give the original series an identity now that many other series use the same name, it is now known as "Star Trek: The Original Series." The shorthand way to refer to it is "TOS."

The stars of TOS were William Shatner as James T. Kirk, commanding officer of the USS Enterprise, Leonard Nimoy as Spock, the first officer/science officer, DeForest Kelley as Leonard McCoy, chief medical officer, James Doohan as Montgomery Scott, chief engineer, Nichelle Nichols as Uhura, communications officer,
Walter Koenig as Pavel Chekov, navigator and security/tactical officer, and George Takei as Sulu, helmsman.

The event of TOS take place for the most part in the mid-23rd Century.

The TOS characters work aboard the starship Enterprise. The ship is also known by its registration number, NCC-1701.

There have been several versions of the starship Enterprise both within TOS and the subsequent films which starred the original cast.

In each TOS episode, the crew of the Enterprise, led by Kirk and Spock, would solve whatever problems or assignments they were given using their wits and the resources of the Enterprise.

The Enterprise's adventures usually involved alien life forms who were usually hostile.

In the episode "Space Seed," Ricardo Montalban portrayed a biologically enhanced human being from the past who attempts to take over the Enterprise for his own purposes.

His character reappears in the franchise's second feature film "Star Trek: The Wrath of Khan" (1982).

There were a lot of exotic weapons shown in TOS.

One of these was the laser rifle, which appeared in an early episode but was never seen again.

The best-known weapon from TOS was the phaser, which could be set to stun or to kill.

Phasers were very handy and looked very similar to pistols.

The TOS characters borrowed a lot from the real space program.

This included the use of spacesuits, though the ones in TOS were much different than actual NASA spacesuits.

After Kirk and Spock, the third star of the series was the ship's doctor, Dr. McCoy.

Dr. McCoy became famous for his sardonic catchphrases, such as "He's dead, Jim," and "I'm a doctor, not a bricklayer."

Another important cast member was George Takei as helmsman Sulu.

Sulu came up with the phrase, "The Great Bird of the Galaxy."

The ship's engineer, Scotty, was an important part of many plots.

Played by James Doohan, Scotty had his own catchphrase, "I cannot hold her, Captain!" when the ship was in trouble.

There were many exotic villains in TOS. One of these was the Gorn.

The Gorn was a strong-but-dumb reptilian creature who battled Captain Kirk one-on-one in the episode "Arena."

The Enterprise was not the only spacecraft in "Star Trek."

Another spacecraft was the Enterprise's shuttle, Galileo, which could be used to go down to a planet's surface.

Marc Leonard as a Romulan.

There were two main adversaries for the crew of the Enterprise, who represented the United Federation of Planets.

These included the Romulans, a secretive race who appeared infrequently.

John Colicos as a Klingon.

The Klingons, however, were a lurking presence that appeared in many episodes.

Klingons could not enter the Federation's territory without permission.

Romulans, and later Klingons, used spacecraft called "Birds of Prey."

There were a lot of space battles in TOS. They usually involved the Klingons and the Romulans. Sometimes, other aliens appeared.

The most famous episode of TOS was "The City on the Edge of Forever."

In this episode, Kirk and Spock must enter a time portal in order to follow a temporarily insane Doctor McCoy back into the early 20th Century on Earth.

Joan Collins appeared in "The City on the Edge of Forever" as a kindly Earth woman.

"The City on the Edge of Forever" ends tragically, which was very unusual for TOS.

TOS was known for its broad acting, in which characters went through dramatic emotions. Dr. McCoy, for instance, displayed great pain and anxiety in "The City on the Edge of Forever."