Nov 17 | Originally hired as co-executive producer to help with the second half of the show's first season, Kevin Murphy has now taken the reins of Caprica, the Battlestar Galactica prequel on Syfy, according to The Hollywood Reporter. He now serves as an executive producer along with Ronald D. Moore, David Eick and Jane Espenson and oversees the day-to-day functions of the show.
Nov 12 | Star Trek star Zachary Quinto is loosely attached to star in the romantic dramedy Whirligig, reports Risky Business.Quinto would play the lead role in the independent Canadian film, which is aiming to shoot early next year. The movie centers on a man who, in a misguided attempt to woo an older woman, befriends the woman's adopted son.Chaz Thorne is directing the pic, based on a screenplay by Michael Amo, creator of the Canadian supernatural series "The Listener."
Nov 11 | The CNS Foundation, is hosting an on-line charity auction at www.charitybuzz.com. One of the items they are auctioning is a signed movie poster of the new Star Trek movie which has all the cast members and writers. The president of our organization is Carol Abrams, JJ's mother, and she arranged for the donation from Bad Robot Production Company. J.J. Abrams is also a major donor to their organization. The funds raised will go to help find a cure to neurological disorders in children. The auction link is here.
Nov 10 | Candice Bergen, Charles Lisanby, Don Pardo, Gene Roddenberry, Tom and Dick Smothers and Bob Stewart have been selected as the next inductees into the Television Academy's Hall of Fame. They will be honored at a Jan. 20 ceremony at the Beverly Hills Hotel. "This year's inductees have challenged and shaped popular culture, changed television for the better and entertained us royally while doing so," TV Academy Chairman-CEO John Shaffner said. More info at the Hollywood Reporter
Nov 08 | Unreality-SF.net has interviewed Star Trerk author James Swallow about some of his upcoming projects. He talks about Titan: Synthesis and Seven Deadly Sins: The Slow Knife, as well as some forthcoming Doctor Who and Stargate stories.
If the first season episode "The City on the Edge of Forever" is arguably considered STAR TREK's most dramatic episode, then the second season episode "The Trouble With Tribbles" is arguably ranked by many fans as the series' most popular episode ever... and with good reason aplenty. This episode proved once and for all that STAR TREK, when handled properly, could present the future even in a humorous light. The Enterprise's mission is seemingly simple: protect a shipment of highbred grain from falling into the hands of the Klingons, who have equal rights to crop development on Sherman's Planet in the Neutral Zone. Enter the maguffin of the episode: the tribble, a small fuzzy ball of fur about the size of your hand, with an appetite of an army and a predilection for asexual reproduction every 12 hours. Once that happens, everything is threatened: the grain, the Enterprise, the space station, you name it. "The Trouble With Tribbles" also presents relations between the Federation and the Klingons, while strained, as a comical collection of putdowns and insults that escalates into one of the most hilarious barroom brawls ever staged for television. Nearly 40 years later fans can still recite, to the letter, the banter between Scotty and the Klingon first officer Korax that precipitates the fight. And who can forget Kirk's non-plussed demeanor after, once he dresses Scotty down, suffering the ultimate humiliating blow to his ego? In the hands of scriptwriter David Gerrold, "The Trouble With Tribbles" remains one of STAR TREK's all-time classics to this day -- so much so, that in 1996, the episode was revisited, a la the magic of FORREST GUMP-style digital technology, in the DEEP SPACE NINE episode "Trials and Tribble-ations", itself a classic in modern TREK.
Other episodes during the second season used humor as the basis for its segments. In "I, Mudd", Kirk found himself at odds a second time against the rascally Harcourt Fenton Mudd (played to the comic hilt by Roger C. Carmel), this time on a planet in which multiple androids are created to serve Mudd. Where "Mudd's Women" portrayed Harry Mudd as more intergalactic con man, "I, Mudd" served him up as a comic instigator. And in "A Piece of the Action", Kirk and Spock find themselves on a planet that has been corrupted into thinking it's all about gangland warfare, mobs, and "heaters". Realizing the impetus of the problem -- a book accidentally left behind by another Federation starship -- Kirk and Spock must take on the gangland bosses' mentality to convince them of the error of their ways and correct a messy first contact situation. The scenes of Kirk attempting to drive a 1920's Earth car and conniving a group of criminals with the card game "fizzbin", as well as Spock's attempt to mimic Earth-like mafia talk, are priceless.
Another seminal classic that came forth during the second season was the on-your-edge episode "Mirror, Mirror". Written by Jerome Bixby, everything is turned upside down and inside out when Kirk, McCoy, Scotty, and Uhura find themselves transported to an alternate universe of evil, where the Federation, once a peaceful organization dedicated to exploration, is a gang of ruthless thugs and assassins. Violence rules aboard the Enterprise, personal ambition rules over all, and officer promotion is gained upon the assassination of one's superior officer. In order to escape, Kirk finds an unlikely ally in Marlena Moreau (the beautiful Barbara Luna), the "captain's woman" who would prostitute herself in order to satisfy her own personal gains in Starfleet, who recognizes the differences between "our" Kirk and "her" Kirk. Even the alternate universe's version of Spock has a cold ruthlessness about him; who would have pictured him with a goatee to begin with? The unlimited possibilities of the Mirror Universe, as it would later come to be known, gave STAR TREK the exploration of multiple universes, spawning many "parallel universe" stories in later series, among them several sequels in the comics and novels as well as several popular episodes of DEEP SPACE NINE set in the Mirror Universe.
On more than one occasion Kirk found himself at odds against the ever-growing threat of technology run rampant, and the second season was no exception. In "The Changeling" it was a self-thinking space probe named Nomad, thinking that Kirk was its long-lost creator Jackson Roykirk. In "The Ultimate Computer" it was the M-5, a creation of Federation scientist Richard Daystrom, originally designed to supplant a starship's maximum crew and explore space with only a skeleton crew. With the episode "The Apple", it was a computerized being called Vaal that misled a group of peaceful beings into thinking that it was their god. In the episode "The Doomsday Machine", it was a giant killing machine that could wipe out planets and starships in the blink of an eye. And in "I, Mudd" it was a group of self-serving androids. No matter the odds, Kirk and company always found a way to prove that human ingenuity was far superior to any technology. But it wouldn't be the last time.
Thirty years before the success of Ridley Scott's film GLADIATOR, STAR TREK put the crew into some serious gladiator-style combat games. In "The Gamesters of Triskelion", a group of disembodied beings kidnap Kirk, Uhura, and Chekov, forcing them to participate in a series of violent combat games, all for personal profit and gambling. This episode brings out the shadier side of modern-day bookies betting on boxing matches and other sporting events. In "Bread and Circuses", Spock and McCoy are forced to fight in a series of Roman-like gladiator games, but here the emphasis is on the spoofing of staged television programs and sporting events, mirroring our society's preoccupation with professional wrestling as "sports entertainment" (think WWE).
STAR TREK also had its share of supernatural elements that brought out the mystery in the second season. "Catspaw", which was the first episode produced for the second season, was filmed as a Halloween-themed episode, which brought forth elements of the supernatural: a seemingly seductive female who could transform herself into a black cat, a wizard who shrank the Enterprise and dangled it on the end of his necklace atop a lit candle, brainwashing Scotty and Sulu to kill Kirk, Spock, and McCoy. In the hands of acclaimed writer Robert Bloch, who gave us one of Hollywood's definitive classic horror films in PSYCHO, "Catspaw" had its moments of interest throughout and a unique twist at the end.
Bloch also contributed another highly acclaimed mystery/horror episode to STAR TREK, in the segment "Wolf in the Fold". This time, a number of women are brutally murdered on a peaceful planet, among them a planetary leader's wife and an Enterprise yeoman. Each time, Scotty is left holding the bloody knife and unaware of what's happened, leading him to be the prime suspect in the women's murders. But it's a greater force at work behind the murders: a mysterious energy vampire calling itself Redjac, also known as Jack the Ripper, who caused a string of brutal murders in London's Whitechapel district in the late 19th century. While the actual real-life murders remain unsolved to this day, STAR TREK posited an interesting speculation into what happened.
Of course, STAR TREK managed to return to familiar roots: exploring modern-day issues in its futuristic setting. "Obsession" transported Herman Melville's MOBY DICK into the 23rd century, portraying Kirk as a man obsessed with hunting down and killing the creature that killed the crew of the U.S.S. Farragut during his younger days. "A Private Little War", scripted by Gene Roddenberry, explored the then-controversial issue of the Vietnam War by placing it on an alien planet and setting it among the growing conflict between Starfleet and the Klingons. "The Omega Glory", also written by Roddenberry, concerned itself with the issue of betraying one's country and one's principles for a lesser goal -- in this instance, the growing conflict between the Yangs and the Kohms, itself a mirror for the 1960's Cold War conflict between freedom of the people and Communism. (It was this episode that was written and considered as one of the three "second chance" pilots for NBC in 1965.) And in "Patterns of Force", Kirk and Spock attempted to rescue a Federation historian who had irreparably damaged the planet Ekos into a World War II-era Nazi culture.
The season finale, "Assignment: Earth", based on a story co-written by Gene Roddenberry, took the Enterprise crew back in time to 1968 to monitor Earth's preoccupation with outer space exploration and the growing threat of a nuclear crisis in the United States. At the heart of this episode is the mysterious agent known as Gary Seven (Robert Lansing), a being from the future sent back to avert any and all possible nuclear threats to Earth, his cat Isis, and an unwilling partner in Roberta Lincoln (played by a young Teri Garr, who would go on to bigger mysteries of the unknown in CLOSE ENCOUNTERS OF THE THIRD KIND). "Assignment: Earth" served as a double for a potential pilot featuring the adventures of Gary Seven and Roberta Lincoln, which never materialized.
With the second season at a close, the future of STAR TREK looked extremely bleak. Even after a number of incredibly good and imaginative episodes that rival the efforts produced in the first season, the numbers just didn't indicate otherwise, and NBC was prepared to cancel the series. But the unthinkable happened... and that is a story for another time. Continued...
"Even while the first season was still in production, talk was brewing of replacing Roddenberry with another writer/producer, one who could degenerate the series into standard science-fiction cannon fodder of ray guns and aliens by removing Roddenberry's forward-thinking themes, thereby reducing it to a substandard "kiddie" program to compete with CBS's more "sophisticated" fare, LOST IN SPACE."
I'd like to know where you obtained said information. I've read many books about TOS, from Ashwerman's compendium to several of the Roddenberry biographies, both slanderous and obsequious, as well as the very informative and balanced Solow-Justman "Inside Star Trek", and nowhere do I recall any mention of the possibility of Roddenberry being replaced.
To be honest, my first reaction is... "Gimme a break! Who believes this horseshit?"
As far as Solow and Justman are concerned, Roddenberry was treated quite fairly by NBC and Desilu, with the exception being the fellow responsible for language, dress codes and other "moral standards" (Apparently, he was new at the job and overstepped his boundaries, even going so far as recommending story changes!).In fact, Solow and Justman note on more than one occasion that Roddenberry, to excuse his own failings, would publicly antagonize NBC and management.
Somehow, this whole "Roddenberry coud have been replaced" story smacks of the kind of comment he was known to make in order to pass the buck and make himself look good.
I may be wrong, however. So I would just like to know where you got this bit of information.
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"Dieu fort, Père paterne
Qui mua l'eau en vin,
Fais de mon cul lanterne
Pour luyre à mon voisin."
- Panurge, dans le Cinquième Livre de Françoys Rabelais
The Russian story is not true.
Gene Roddenberry made up that story of Russia complainihg about no Russian on the Enterprise as a publicity stunt.The Russians had never heard of Star Trek.
Chekov was introduced to get some of the teenage audience and was based on The Monkees pop idol Davy Jones. Star Trek needed ratings like every other show.
This was explained in the book Inside Star Trek by Herb Solow and Robert A Justman.
To show how effective this publicity stunt was,I read it in an Australian newspaper at the time.
As for the information on the "other" Russian story, Roddenberry had mentioned it in a 1988 interview on the TV special "The Star Trek Saga: From One Generation to the Next" (which was later repeated in 1991's "Star Trek 25th Anniversary" documentary).
I'm more personally inclined to believe the Beatles/Monkees story because I met Walter Koenig in 1990, and he related that story to me directly. I never said that the Russian newspaper story wasn't true; I mention it strictly for documentation's sake.
The review has been entertaining but I don't know where the author gets some of his information.
Star Trek debuted in peak time in Australia and certainly was not censored.
How would you possibly cut a show running from 7.30pm to 8.30pm down to 20 minutes? The story is not plausible. I saw these shows and they were not censored.Indeed,Australia's censorship was far more liberal than America's at the time. Star Trek in the 1960's was very popular in Australia and was in the top 10 in the ratings at one stage. They would not cut up such a popular show.
Twenty minutes?They would have to show a lot of adds to make up the time.That is simply not true.
FYI, the information on the Australian story is mentioned on the DVD itself. I never stated that it wasn't true, I only mentioned it because it was mentioned on the DVD.
I'm aware of that.My comments were about the possibility of replacing G.R. at the tail end of season one, so that someone else would be running the show in season two.
--------
"Dieu fort, Père paterne
Qui mua l'eau en vin,
Fais de mon cul lanterne
Pour luyre à mon voisin."
- Panurge, dans le Cinquième Livre de Françoys Rabelais
Quote: I'm aware of that.My comments were about the possibility of replacing G.R. at the tail end of season one, so that someone else would be running the show in season two.
From my Sci Fi Channel SE tapes, I have an interview snippet from D.C. Fontana who mentions how she took over as Story Editor for season 2. I'm not sure how much of this really relates to what you are explictly talking about, but it did actually indicate some behind the scenes changes going on after season 1.
I'm not home right now to give you the exact quotes, but I could dig them up if needed.
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"I think the show talked to people through the characters. They're stories that speak to the heart. They talk about love, they talk about friendship, they talk about loyalty, they talk about patriotism, exploration, curiosity, reaching out... And I think all those things still touch people. Even when you look at a 30-year old show, it still has something to say." - D.C. Fontana, Sci Fi Channel Special Edition TOS 1998
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"If the season finale involves the re-built USS Reliant coming back in time to the 21st Century crewed by Moogie, Dr. Selar, Morn, Transporter Chief Kyle, and the Salt Vampire, then we'll know that Coto has gone too far." - tomba1701
Thanks. It's not so much that I'm looking for exact quotes, just someone to point me in the direction of the info I'm looking for. I haven't had time to look it up in Asherman, but I will take a peek eventually.
I was merely a little suprised with this tidbit of info, that's all.I recently reread the Engel and the Alexander biographies of G.R., as well as the Solow and Justman book, and no one mentionned this.At least, not that I recall, and I'm usually pretty good with facts, especially having read this material so recently. Pretty fresh in my mind. If it's in Asherman, I certainly won't disbelieve it as he was solid in his research.
--------
"Dieu fort, Père paterne
Qui mua l'eau en vin,
Fais de mon cul lanterne
Pour luyre à mon voisin."
- Panurge, dans le Cinquième Livre de Françoys Rabelais
Well... in a few of the Sci Fi Channel SE interview segments, it was emphasized just how many people have their own "books". I have Susan Sackettt's book and even that has a different take on stuff. Pretty much everyone involved in the show back then has penned a tome. So you will see many many points of view from cast, behind the scenes folks, even writers (eg., like Gerrold). I usually look for some consistencies between them but overall, take them ALL with a grain of salt as I know every one of them has an agenda. ;-)
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"I think the show talked to people through the characters. They're stories that speak to the heart. They talk about love, they talk about friendship, they talk about loyalty, they talk about patriotism, exploration, curiosity, reaching out... And I think all those things still touch people. Even when you look at a 30-year old show, it still has something to say." - D.C. Fontana, Sci Fi Channel Special Edition TOS 1998
----
"If the season finale involves the re-built USS Reliant coming back in time to the 21st Century crewed by Moogie, Dr. Selar, Morn, Transporter Chief Kyle, and the Salt Vampire, then we'll know that Coto has gone too far." - tomba1701
Which leads me to my original post. As you can tell, I never bought into the G.R. myth. You know the one: that he was some kind of "great" philosopher and writer (Hegel was a great philosopher, Camus was a great writer, but G.R.? Unlikely). At best, he was a great TV series conceptualist, having created a wonderfully elastic format and fun universe to play in.
Unfortunately, many sources indicated that he had a bit of a dark side: major rewriting of others' work, credit stealing, defending his interests but rarely sticking up for those close to him, womanizing (from what I've read, G.R. would be the first to approve of T'Pol's behaviour and catsuits), running away from confrontations, especially if he had to be the bearer of bad news. And if you believe some writers, serious substance abuse issues. He certainly had his insecurities.
Does this in any way deter from his accomplishments? No. but he certainly wasn't alone in creating Trek's finest moments.
At any rate, I find G.R. a fascinating person, and I still await a really meaty, definitive biography of him. By that I mean one that isn't treacly or written by obsequious toads, or one that isn't a nasty "dirt" digger either. There would be a great biopic in there too, come to think of it.
--------
"Dieu fort, Père paterne
Qui mua l'eau en vin,
Fais de mon cul lanterne
Pour luyre à mon voisin."
- Panurge, dans le Cinquième Livre de Françoys Rabelais
I'll look it up in the Compendium, to refresh my memory. You know, after 38 years of Trek, there's a LOT of info out there!
--------
"Dieu fort, Père paterne
Qui mua l'eau en vin,
Fais de mon cul lanterne
Pour luyre à mon voisin."
- Panurge, dans le Cinquième Livre de Françoys Rabelais
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