As I'm reading volume 2 of Mark Cushman's huge behind-the-scenes Star Trek book, I've been coming across a lot of stuff that even I never knew, and I've read them all! The episodes we've grown up with would have looked very different if not for the alterations and additions by gene Roddenberry, D.C. Fontana, Bob Justman, and Gene Coon.
I thought I'd share some of the things I've learned, as I make my way through the three-book series.
"Amok Time":
Arlene Maretl (T'Pring) originally auditioned for Sylvia in 'Catspaw', and Elizabeth Dehner in 'Where No Man Has Gone Before'.
Celia Lovsky (T'Pau) was married to peter Lorre in the 1930's and 1940's.
"The Doomsday Machine":
Roddenberry added the malfunctioning transporter to the ending.
Coon renamed the original title of 'The Planet Eater' to 'The Doomsday Machine'.
Coon also added in Decker's sacrifice at the end of act 3.
The two Enterprise model kits shown in the episode cost $3 each in 1967.
"Who Mourns For Adonais?":
The original titles were 'Olympus Revisited' and then 'Last of the Gods'.
Palamas's pregnancy was retained in every version of the script, until the last revision, but it was the studio that had it cut.
Leslie Parrish and Jimmy Doohan went on a couple dates after this episode.
Those were real tears at the end from Michael Forrest and Leslie Parrish. She was so sad about what had happened to Apollo, and he was sad at what had been done to Apollo, that they both were overcome by the emotions of their characters that they cried for real.
"Friday's Child":
Roddenberry added the Enterprise being challenged by the Klingons, and the character of Kras on the planet, as well as McCoy being an expert on the Capellan people.
Coon instigated the long-running 'Russian invention' gag here for the first time.
Tige Andrews was a Canadian, and a very close friend of Shatner's.
May 1967 was a heat wave in southern California, so the temperature in the outdoor scenes was a sweltering 110 degrees Fahrenheit (41 Celsius) on the first day of filming, and even hotter the next day, at 117 degrees F (44 degrees C)!
"Catspaw":
The original landing party consisted on Sulu, Jackson, and an officer named Saunders.
Sulu was the one beamed up and died.
D.C.Fontana had Saunders changed to Scotty, instead, making the landing party Scotty, Sulu, and Jackson, and therefore Jackson the one that dies.
"The Changeling":
The image of Jackson Roykirk seen on the briefing room viewscreen is actually Star Trek director Marc Daniels in a Scotty dress uniform.
Writer/director/producer John Meredyth Lucas ('The Ultimate Computer', 'Elaan Of Troyius') got into the business thanks to his step-father, director Michael Crtiz. Who's Michael Curtiz? You may remember a little film he directed in 1942 called 'Casablanca'.
"Catspaw", "Metamorphosis", "Friday's Child", "Who Mourns For Adonais?", and "Amok Time" were the first five episodes produced for the second season, and every one of them went over the $180,000 budget...by a total of $121,117! $121,117 equals nearly $900,000 in 2013 (when the book was published). Interestingly, the effects-laden "The Doomsday Machine" actually came UNDER budget!
"Wolf In The Fold":
The story began with Sulu, not Scotty accused of murder.
Kirk originally outwitted the Entity, which inhabited the Enterprise's computer, to the point that it blew up and caused heavy damage to the ship. Gene Coon changed that to the computer just being distracted by figuring out the value of Pi to the last digit.
D.C.Fontana pushed for more of Spock in the episode, unaware that he was held back so more of Shatner was in the episode, as a means of appeasing him, when he was beginning to feel threatened by Spock's popularity.
Sulu was the one beamed up and died.
Really? Someone on staff actually wanted to kill off Sulu?
Coon also added in Decker's sacrifice at the end of act 3.
Which no doubt explains his survival in the James Blish adaptation, which was based off an earlier draft of the script.
Those were real tears at the end from Michael Forrest and Leslie Parrish. She was so sad about what had happened to Apollo, and he was sad at what had been done to Apollo, that they both were overcome by the emotions of their characters that they cried for real.
I guess both can now be happy that things turned out better for Apollo at the end of Pilgrim Of Eternity.
As I said, as far as I'm concerned, Star Trek Continues is canon!
Tige Andrews was a Canadian
That info is wrong. He was born in New York City.
Sulu was the one beamed up and died.
Like François, I'm amazed at this. Is this information accurate?
Well, either the book or imdb.com is wrong. Oh, well.
Regarding Sulu, I suppose it would have been revealed to be an illusion, and Sulu was still on the planet. They definitely weren't planning on writing out Takei-- they just wanted a dramatic cliffhanger for a regular cast member, rather than a no-name who's-that? like Jackson.
MCCOY: All of this, just an illusion.
KIRK: No illusion. Jackson is dead.
Those final lines would have lost all of their impact if Sulu had been the one to die as part of the illusion.
Is the book really called Viyages or should Tim fix the typo?
Well, either the book or imdb.com is wrong.
One of them must be. I checked with both the regular Wikipedia and Memory Alpha, and both say that Tige Andrews was born in New York City (Brooklyn).
His parents came over from what is now Syria.
Is the book really called Viyages or should Tim fix the typo?
I just did.
Of course, it make a take a while for the fix to become visible, due to the ongoing site issues.
Thanks. :-)
No problem
There was a really good and merciless parody of TOS floating around. It was about the Starship Doorprize.
Re-reading that part about Tige Andrews in my book, it seems I misinterpreted what I read. Director Joseph Pevney was talking about Andrews, saying, "He came from Canada, that's where Shatner knew him from."
I understood 'came from' as being 'born in', but I was wrong. Perhaps Andrews was in some stage plays in Canada or commercials or something, but Wikipedia and imdb.com don't list them.
Either way-- Tige Andrews; not a Canadian.
More facts;
The Apple":
Keith Andes (Akuta) was in a Marilyn Monroe movie called 'Clash By Night' in 1952.
Celeste Yarnell (Yeoman Martha Landon) was in the Elvis movie 'Live A Little, Love A Little' in 1968. She's wearing an old Grace lee Whitney/Yeoman Rand uniform, but cut slightly shorter thanks to the miniskirt being so popular when the episode was filmed.
"Mirror, Mirror":
The original lines for security office4rs Hudson and Larson were combined and given to Sulu.
Barbara Luna was so sick at one point of filming, that they had to send her home and wait 2 weeks for her to get well enough. The scenes that had to be delayed; all those romantic, kissing scenes in Kirk's quarters with Shatner, which definitely would have seen him catch what she had.
She had also lost a few pounds in those 2 weeks, and now her costume didn't fit properly. Instead, costumer William Ware Theiss simply draped a load of material on her (the negligee-type thing we see her wearing).
"The Deadly Years":
D.C.Fontana had the title changed from 'Hold Back Tomorrow', because 'Return To Tomorrow' was on the schedule, and the titles were a little similar.
She also added McCoy as one of the aging victims, which originally included Kirk, Spock, Scotty, and Uhura. Roddenberry had Uhura removed from the illness, because he didn't want to see Nichelle Nichols old and feeble.
It was Leonard Nimoy that suggested a script change that saw Spock prosecute Kirk in the hearing rather than Stocker, feeling quite rightly that it was better dramatically to have the two friends pitted against each other.
There's a series of scenes cut from the script near the end, which would have shown Kirk getting progressively younger as he made his way from sickbay to the bridge.
Strangely, this was only Majel Barrett's fifth time playing Christine Chapel in the series. Sure seems like she was in more episodes, but not at this point in filming.
The famous blooper reel scene of Shatner yelling at the camera, "Bob Justman! (To the cameraman) Don't cut! I'm going home now. I'm going to spend three hours at the makeup table putting this (bleeping) makeup back on...and it's YOUR fault!" was Shatner actually angry. Apparently, after having the prosthetica put on for the first time very early in the morning and constant touch-ups, Shatner's last time in the makeup chair went all afternoon, starting around 3, but when he got before the cameras, the crew was about to leave! Studio policy dictated no work after 6:12 pm, and it was close to 6 o'clock when he was told they wouldn't be shooting any more. So all that tedious work was for nothing, and it meant sticking around to remove the prosthetics, which was a painful process since it was glued onto the actor's faces with spirit gum.
"I, Mudd":
The story originally involved androids, but it was Bob Justman's idea to change it to numerous copies of the same ones, like the Alice series.
It was Roddenberry's idea to add the plotline that Mudd wanted to escape the androids.
There were scenes of Enterprise crewmen being catered to by numerous androids, but it was cut for time, otherwise we would have seen more than Uhura and Chekov being tempted to stay.
Writer Stephen Kandel had more Mudd stories, but nobody followed up on them in the third season.
"The Trouble With Tribbles":
The first title for the outline was 'The Fuzzies'. The second was 'A Fuzzy Thing Happened To Me'.
A 1962 SF novel called 'Little Fuzzy' was discovered by the research department, so the name 'Fuzzy' had to be changed. Some of writer David Gerrold's ideas were; Shaggies, Gollies, Goonies, Roonies, Willies, Poofies, Tippies, Tribbies, and Triblets.
It was Janice Rand, not Uhura, in the first outline that brought the creatures to the ship.
The third title, now as a draft script, was 'You Think You Got Tribbles?'. David Gerrold admits that he likes puns.
Gene Coon wanted John Colicos as Kor to come back, but he was unavailable, so they went with a new character, Captain Koloth.
Leonard Nimoy was friends with Charlie Brill (Arne Darvin), and got him the role after he invited him to the studio.
Charlie Brill was a stand-up comedian back then, with his partner Mitzi McCall. They were the second act to perform on 'The Ed Sullivan Show' in 1964, after the first Beatles' performance on the show. Talk about a tough act to follow!
Roddenberry had Uhura removed from the illness, because he didn't want to see Nichelle Nichols old and feeble.
We got to see a vision of that in And The Children Shall Lead, the following season.
Leonard Nimoy was friends with Charlie Brill (Arne Darvin), and got him the role after he invited him to the studio.
Charlie Brill returned to the role of Darvin, nearly 30 years later, in DS9 (Trials and Tribble-Ations).
While quite a number of actors guest starred on both TOS and a later incarnation of Trek, Mr. Brill was one a few actors that came back to play the same character (Mark Lenard, John Colicos, William Campbell, and Michael Ansara being the others).
DeForest Kelley also had a cameo as Dr. McCoy in the first TNG episode, and Leonard Nimoy played Spock in the Unification two parter.
What I meant were actors that were not regulars on any of the shows.
Should have worded it better. Sorry about that.
More new stuff...
"Bread And Circuses";
I always wondered what the title meant, so now I know; it can be traced back to Ancient Rome, and 'refers to the Emperor distributing loafs of bread at the coliseum and providing gladiatorial entertainment to pacify the unemployed masses', according to the author.
The original title was 'Bread And Circuses', then changed to 'The Last Martyr', then back to 'Bread And Circuses'.
It was D.C.Fontana's idea for the Enterprise to pick up the Empire TV gladiatorial games segment and news at the beginning of the episode.
Kirk and Spock were going to fight each other in the arena (again), but this was dropped since they thought it was too much, too soon, after the fight in 'Amok Time', so it was Spock and McCoy vs. Flavius and the other guy.
The Jupiter 8 pictured in the magazine was a real car, called 'The Reactor' and built by Gene Winfield, who had previously built the Galileo shuttlecraft. The car would later show up in an episode of 'Bewitched', and as Catwoman's car in 'Batman' (the Eartha Kitt version of the character).
"Journey To Babel":
Bob Justman suggested Kirk getting stabbed in the back by Thelev. Up until then, he'd only received some non-life threatening cuts from the knife.
Billy Curtis played one of the short, copper-skinned aliens in the rec room. He had previously played the Munchkin Mayor in 'The Wizard Of Oz' in 1939, and would go on to play Mayor McCheese in future McDonald's commercials.
"A Private Little War":
Originally, it was just a security guard, and not Spock, who was shot by the villagers.
Gene Coon wanted Commander Kor for the Klingon antagonist, but Justman said 'no', thinking it was just too much of a coincidence that Kirk and Kor would meet up again. But, really, come on! That's what TV shows are all about-- coincidences that bring together two or more people against all odds, again and again. That's the second time we were denied Kor reappearing.
Booker Bradshaw, who played Doctor M'Benga, played FIVE different doctors in 1967-- in 'Star Trek', 'Tarzan', 'The Girl From UNCLE', and two other shows.
Ned Romero, who played the Klingon, Krell, would later appear in the Next Gen finale, 'Journey's End', in 1994, and 'The Fight', a Voyager episode from 1999.
"I, Mudd":
The story originally involved androids, but it was Bob Justman's idea to change it to numerous copies of the same ones, like the Alice series.
IIRC, David Gerrold took credit for that plot point in his 1973 book about the making of "The Trouble With Tribbles". According to the book, he was asked to do a rewrite; his concept of multiple copies of the same android was the only idea of his that was retained.
It was D.C.Fontana's idea for the Enterprise to pick up the Empire TV gladiatorial games segment and news at the beginning of the episode.
Ah yes, reality TV. At least the Roman world didn't have the KarTRASHian creatures.
Originally, it was just a security guard, and not Spock, who was shot by the villagers.
And no doubt said security guard would have, like all red shirts, kicked the bucket.
That's the second time we were denied Kor reappearing.
We'd have to wait nearly thirty years before we saw Kor again.
the Next Gen finale, 'Journey's End'
The TNG finale was All Good Things, not Journey's End.
Not so much reality TV. More light the Friday night fights.
Kirk and Spock were going to fight each other in the arena (again), but this was dropped since they thought it was too much, too soon, after the fight in 'Amok Time'
Good move on the part of the creators here.
That's a good catch, Adam, so I went back to my book and we're both right.
In a memo from Bob Justman to Gene Coon;
"I shall now bring up a suggestion which I consider absolutely brilliant! Instead of having Alice and Barbara in the Throne Room, I suggest that we have the part of Alice played by twins and name them Alice I and Alice II. We can introduce Barbara a little later on in the story..."
Then 2 pages later, the author writes;
'Gerrold's other contribution was the idea of expanding on Justman's suggestion to have real-life twins appear as the androids, multipled through various camera angles and editing room trickery."
Gene Coon asked why he did that, and Gerrold replied, "Because I thought it was funny.", so Coon agreed and we got hundreds of copies of the same androids.
And that lead to the final gag of 500 nasty Stella's at the end of the show.
The story began as an idea over a year earlier by Gene Roddenberry, then he and Gene Coon fleshed out the story more, Stephen Kandal was given the job of writing the script, and then D.C.Fontana and David Gerrold both had input into the script.
So I guess I'll give credit to Gerrold for the multiples of androids (and you for that great memory of yours, Adam!), but also for Justman who created the basis of Gerrold's brainstorm.
And that lead to the final gag of 500 nasty Stella's at the end of the show.
It also helped Spock figure out that Norman was the key to their escape since he was the only unique android on the planet.
I'm gonna create a David Gerrold thread in the Cast and Creators forum.
More second season facts;
"Obsession:"
It was Roddenberry's idea that it was Kirk's former Captain that was killed years ago, as motivation for his obsession.
Rizzo had a much bigger part originally, and Garrovuck much less. Once Captain Garrovick's death was introduced, Ensign Garrovick's part was enlarged.
Robert Justman replaced McCoy with Spock in Rizzo's (Garovick's) quarters, and that lead to the idea that the cloud couldn't kill Spock because of his green blood.
"The Gamesters Of Triskelion"
The original title was 'The Gamesters Of Pentathlon'.
It began with Kirk, Uhura, and Sulu captured in a shuttlecraft. However, because a shuttle had already been forced off course twice before ('The Galileo Seven' and 'Metamorpgosis'), a simple instantaneous transporter beam was substituted, instead.
By the time it was ready to be filmed, George Takei was still delayed on the movie set of 'The Green Berets' and couldn't leave, so the producers replaced Sulu with Chekov.
Kirk was always going to be teamed up with a lovely Amazon-type, but Uhura was going to get a blue-eyed 'Nubian' (black) man, and Sulu with a squat, green-skinned, unattractive female.
The Providers were originally called 'Cogitants'. In the first outline thwey weren't just glowing rubber brains, but rather 'pulsating amoeba-like creatures about the s9ize of a large jellyfish, in a transparent box, floating in colored fluid.'
We know pretty well that Provider 1's voice, Bart LaRue, played the Guardian from 'City On The Edge Of Forever', and the Empire TV announcer in 'Bread Circuses'.
As for the other two;
Provider 2 is Walker Edmiston, who played little Balok's real voice in 'The Corbomite Maneuver', and before that with his voice changed a little, the Keeper in 'The Menagerie'.
And Provider 3 is Robert Johnson (not the guy from 'The Deadly Years'!), who had previously played a Talosian in 'The Menagerie', and was more famously the voice on Jim Phelps's tape recorder that self-destructed in every episode of 'Mission: Impossible'.
"The Immunity Syndrome";
The original draft had a character named 'Doctor Loretta Meyers', who competed with Spock, instead of McCoy, to fly a shuttle into the amoeba. And she was apparently the one chosen for the mission, since it states in the draft that she's concerned when the shuttlecraft hull begins to corrode, because the amoeba is beginning to digest it!
They should have kept that part in the finished script, if you ask me, because that would have added more jeopardy for Spock.
Gene Coon asked for a 'bottle show' with no guest stars, just the cast, and that's why Chekov and Sulu aren't in it-- to save money. George Takei was still on the set of 'The Green Berets', and John Winston, as Mr.Kyle, would be paid less than Walter Koenig.
This was the first episode of Star Trek funded and controlled by Paramount, after their took over Desilu.
Unless my memory is failing me again, Chekov was in The Immunity Syndrome.
Again, my memory fumbled. Yes, Tim, he was in it. All I could remember was Mr. Kyle/Kowal in a yellow shirt instead of a red one. Yes, Chekov's there.
But, Dr.Meyers isn't.
Provider 2 is Walker Edmiston, who played little Balok's real voice in 'The Corbomite Maneuver'
He was also Enik the Altrusian in the old Land Of The Lost show (the one from the 70's, not the 90's one).
"A Piece Of The Action":
The original titles were 'The Expatriates', and then 'Mission Into Chaos', before they settled on 'A Piece Of The Action".
Originally, the Enterprise finds an Earth ship, where the crew's descendants had taken on a Chicago mob's society. When this was deemed too weird (can you imagine descendants from an Apollo mission or spacer shuttle mission deciding to make their society like the gangsters of the 1930's?), they changed it to an alien planet that had used an Earth book for the basis of their civilization.
The producers took full advantage of the Paramount lot, props, and costumes. All of those were used in this episode, which means the street scenes would have looked very different, being filmed elsewhere, perhaps even a real street, and not the fake Paramount street that we see in the episode.
"By Any Other Name":
The Kelvans were originally called 'Dvenyans', and Rojan was 'Rusjan'.
It was Robert Justman's idea to get the Kelvans to react emotionally to outside stimuli, but D.C.Fontana was the one that wrote the funny scenes (Scotty drinking, Spock and Rojan playing chess, etc.).
Barbara Bouchet (Kelinda) was once the girlfriend of James Darren (Tony from 'The Time Tunnel' and Vic from 'DS9'.), and even dated William Shatner a few times. In the 1970's, fed up with the sex-pot roles she was being offered, Bouchet moved to Italy and became a major star there.
Leslie Dalton (Drea) would later become one of Dean Martin's Golddigger's performers on his show, and joined the cast of 'The Guiding :Light' in the 1980's. She would have a daughter with James Cromwell (Cochrane from 'Star Trek - First Contact' and 'Enterprise'). Their daughter's first TV job would be on 'Star Trek - Voyager'.
Julie Cobb (Yeoman Thompson) is the daughter of actor Lee J. Cobb. After several commercials, this was her first episodic TV part.
"Return To Tomorrow":
It says the story was by John Kingsbridge, but this is the pseudonym of John T. Dugan, who wasn't pleased with the outcome. Gene Roddenberry would have to re-write the majority of it, and had the Writer's Guild allow him to be credited with the teleplay, and Dugan the story.
Dugan, a former Catholic school teacher, turned out to be an argumentative writer who disliked criticism, thinking his first draft screenplay would be the one used, untouched by the producers. In fact, it took him 3 months to submit his second draft teleplay, after he was given notes on his first draft, an amount of time no other writer took during production.
The premise, character names, and half of the plotting came from Dugan. But, every line of dialogue that is spoken by the characters is from Roddenberry, because Dugan couldn't get the characterization of the main characters right, even after numerous notes.
The last straw for Dugan was the script saying that Sargon and Thalassa would kiss and then depart into oblivion. As a Catholic, he believed in the afterlife and the existence of an eternal soul, so he told them to use his pseudonym.
Bill Blackburn (the ever-silent Lt. Hadley at the helm and navigation stations) was coated with thick, plastic-looking paint to play the android that Thalassa and Scotty are working on. Previously, he'd been the Rabbit in 'Shore Leave', and was one of three performers inside the Gorn costume in 'Arena', amongst many, many other background parts.
"Patterns Of Force":
Paul Schenider, who gave us 'Balance Of Terror' and 'The Squire Of Gothos' was writing a 'Nazis in space'-type of Trek script at the same time as 'Patterns's writer, John Meredyth Lucas, was writing his. They were also quite similar with the same similar teaser (Enterprise attacked by missiles), a member of the Federation interfering with alien culture). Schneider's was called 'Tomorrow The Universe'.
Scheneider's was shelved, while Lucas's continued on to Second Draft.
The author noted something I found interesting; the transponder implanted into Kirk and Spock's arms seems like the prediction for GPS monitoring! Another prediction from Trek that comes true.
Patrick Horgan (Eneg), was born in Nottingham, England, and was a Sherlock Homes enthusiast. He appeared in Sherlock Holmes plays and numerous audio books, and even wrote a Holmes book, 'The Detection of Sherlock Holmes'.l
Producer/Director John Meredyth Lucas had two visitors on set one day. He spent too much time with the first, and wasn't able to spend more than a few moments with the second. A young man saw his name on the Star Trek credits, and wondered if they were related. That young man was George Lucas. And no, they aren't related as far as JML knows.
This episode was withheld from broadcast in Germany until 1999, and even then it was played in a translated form, on late night Pay-Tv.
Julie Cobb (Yeoman Thompson) is the daughter of actor Lee J. Cobb. After several commercials, this was her first episodic TV part.
She didn't last for many episodes. =8/
The author noted something I found interesting; the transponder implanted into Kirk and Spock's arms seems like the prediction for GPS monitoring! Another prediction from Trek that comes true.
Hardly. They were simply crystals of a substance that was easy for the Enterprise's sensors to locate, so Kirk and Spock could be beamed back even if they lost contact with the ship. They contained no technology beyond that.
It was Robert Justman's idea to get the Kelvans to react emotionally to outside stimuli, but D.C.Fontana was the one that wrote the funny scenes (Scotty drinking, Spock and Rojan playing chess, etc.).
And those were funny scenes.
Barbara Bouchet (Kelinda) was once the girlfriend of James Darren (Tony from 'The Time Tunnel' and Vic from 'DS9'.), and even dated William Shatner a few times. In the 1970's, fed up with the sex-pot roles she was being offered, Bouchet moved to Italy and became a major star there.
She and Lezlie Dalton(Drea) are the last surviving actors who played the Kelvins.
Leslie Dalton (Drea) would later become one of Dean Martin's Golddigger's performers on his show, and joined the cast of 'The Guiding :Light' in the 1980's. She would have a daughter with James Cromwell (Cochrane from 'Star Trek - First Contact' and 'Enterprise'). Their daughter's first TV job would be on 'Star Trek - Voyager'.
Uh, Steve, I think the book has confused Lezlie Dalton with Julie Cobb here. It was Ms. Cobb who had the child with Mr. Cromwell, that appeared on Voyager.
The last straw for Dugan was the script saying that Sargon and Thalassa would kiss and then depart into oblivion. As a Catholic, he believed in the afterlife and the existence of an eternal soul, so he told them to use his pseudonym.
I don't see the issue here. Eternal soul applies to humans, and Sargon and Thalassa were not human.
Patrick Horgan (Eneg), was born in Nottingham, England, and was a Sherlock Homes enthusiast. He appeared in Sherlock Holmes plays and numerous audio books, and even wrote a Holmes book, 'The Detection of Sherlock Holmes'
Yeah, I did note his British accent. Didn't know about the Sherlock Holmes book though. Didn't the Doyle estate still own the rights at the time?
This episode was withheld from broadcast in Germany until 1999, and even then it was played in a translated form, on late night Pay-Tv.
Yeah, I can see why Germany would be uncomfortable with Patterns Of Force.
However, surely that no longer applies now. Anyone alive in the Nazi era is either now dead or too old to care.
However, surely that no longer applies now. Anyone alive in the Nazi era is either now dead or too old to care.
It does apply. Germany has strict laws against publicly depicting anything related to the Nazi regime.
Memory Alpha more or less backs up what I said. The reason that Patterns Of Force is no longer banned in Germany is because of the passage of time.
Here's the rest of season 2:
"The Ultimate Computer":
M-5 was originally called 'Tensor Five, and Daystrom was 'Daner'.
It was Bob Justman's idea to re-use the space station model, instead of the Enterprise visiting Headquarters (Earth, I presume). He also added the war games angle, since the script and the danger 'ended abruptly'.
Sean Morgan (Ensign Harper) had previously been Lt. O'Neil in 'Return Of The Archons'.
"The Omega Glory":
William Shatner actually had submitted a story outline called 'Web Of Death', which included a similar teaser to what we saw; empty clothing, in an empty ship (the USS Momentous, in the outline). They took those elements and put them in this story.
Morgan Farley (the Yang Scholar) is completely unrecognizable in that wig and beard as Hacom, the Landru zealot from 'Return Of The Archons'.
Roddenberry thought so highly of his story that he persisted in trying to get it given awards. In fact, he thought it was such a 'smasheroo', he actually wanted it held back, and be used for the third season premiere, even though at that point, a third season wasn't even approved yet.
"Assignment: Earth":
The story is even older than most people think. Roddenberry wrote it back in 1965, even before Star Trek's premiere, and it had the temporary title of 'Seven'.
In November 1966, Roddenberry wanted his friend, Lloyd Bridges, attached to the project, before he went to the network to pitch the idea. Bridges said 'no', thinking it sounded too juvenile for him.
Art Wallace (the writer of 'Obsession, as well as the co-creator and head writer of 'Dark Shadows') had just taken a pitch meeting at NBC for a similar show idea called 'Space Cop'. Herb Solow, the Executive in Charge of Production at Trek suggested Wallace and Roddenberry collaborate on a pilot. Both agreed. The episode would be a 'back-door pilot episode'. The outline was completed on October 21, 1967.
Roddenberry wanted the Enterprise to arrive at Earth and pick up the television transmission of an episode of 'Bonanza', but it was deemed too expensive. The Star Trek budget would have to pay everyone connected with the episode shown, and get releases from the writer, producer, and director.
Wallace was paid $14,5000 plus residuals, because this was a pilot. Otherwise he would have been paid the going rate of $4500.
For the part of Gary Seven, Roddenberry considered Lloyd Bridges, Patrick McGoohan, Tony Franciosa, Burt Reynolds, and Robert Lansing.
Lansing was paid $3000 for the episode. If it had sold as a series, he would have gotten a bonus of $7000, with a guarantee of $7500 per episode.
For Roberta Lincoln, Roddenberry narrowed it down to two actresses. Teri Garr was up against Dawn Wells, Mary Ann of 'Gilligan's Island', which had just been cancelled.'
Don Keefer played Cromwell, the moustachioed Mission Control Supervisor. He'd previously been in one of the creepiest episodes of 'The Twilight Zone' (to me at least). He was in 'It's a Good Life', where a very young Billy Mumy has a power to create or destroy things just by wishing for it. He turns Keefer into a jack-in-the-box-- you see his lifeless, emotionless head with a pointy hat on it, but the shadow on the wall shows he no has no body, just his head is connected to a spring from a jack-in-the-box, as his wife screams. Yikes!
Victoria Vitri played the human form of Isis the cat. Before that, she'd used the stage name of 'Angela Dorian', and had graced the pages of Playboy magazine as Miss September 1967, and later was Playmate of the Year.
It was Bob Justman's idea to re-use the space station model, instead of the Enterprise visiting Headquarters (Earth, I presume).
I wonder why they never visited Earth of the 23rd Century, the only glimpse we got of it (until the movies rolled around) was the illusion of Mojave in The Cage (and Menagerie).
Sean Morgan (Ensign Harper) had previously been Lt. O'Neil in 'Return Of The Archons'.
A twin brother perhaps?
William Shatner actually had submitted a story outline called 'Web Of Death', which included a similar teaser to what we saw; empty clothing, in an empty ship (the USS Momentous, in the outline). They took those elements and put them in this story.
Even back then, Mr. Shatner was looking beyond acting. Apparently, he was slated to direct the next episode after Turnabout Intruder, but there was no next episode after that.
In November 1966, Roddenberry wanted his friend, Lloyd Bridges, attached to the project, before he went to the network to pitch the idea. Bridges said 'no', thinking it sounded too juvenile for him.
In the following decade, Mr. Bridges clearly changes his stance on appearing on a Sci-Fi show, as he appeared as Commander Cain in the original Battlestar Galactica in 1978.
Lansing was paid $3000 for the episode. If it had sold as a series, he would have gotten a bonus of $7000, with a guarantee of $7500 per episode.
Too bad this never went to series. They could have had the occasional crossovers!
For Roberta Lincoln, Roddenberry narrowed it down to two actresses. Teri Garr was up against Dawn Wells, Mary Ann of 'Gilligan's Island', which had just been cancelled.'
Imagine if Dawn Wells had gotten the part. Kirk and Spock meet Mary Ann
Roddenberry wanted his friend, Lloyd Bridges, attached to the project, before he went to the network to pitch the idea. Bridges said 'no', thinking it sounded too juvenile for him.
He picked the wrong week to give up pilots. ;-)
Of course, I'm young enough to only really know Lloyd Bridges from Charlie Sheen's "Hot Shots" films.
Another reason I wish Dawn Wells had gotten the part is because many she wouldn't have been such a b***h about it later on.
I remember an interview that Starlog did with Teri Garr, and when they brought up this episode, she turned alright nasty. She insulted the show and the fans (can't remember exactly what she said, it was a long time ago, and that magazine is long since gone). What the hell was her problem!?
Needless to say, I'm not a fan of Ms. Garr (although I did enjoy her as Phoebe's birth mother on Friends).
'These Are The Voyages' season 2 was a great book, and I'm already reading book one. Marc Cushman, who submitted the storyline for the TNG episode 'Sarek', actually knew and interviewed Gene Roddenberry, as well as many others, as he spent years writing this three book series, which was published back in 2013.
He also got his hands on the original production notes, Nielsen ratings, and countless magazine and TV interviews, plus new interviews with the cast and guest stars and production staff. I'd highly recommend the series.
Here's the rest of what I learned from this book;
If you've ever wondered how much some episodes cost, here are some totals:
"The Apple"..............$205,980
"Mirror, Mirror".........$188,530
"The Deadly Years".......$186,230
"Bread And Circuses".....$192,330
"Journey To Babel".......$171,439
"The Doomsday Machine"...$176,336
"Amok Time"..............$200,900
"Who Mourns For Adonais"...$203,623
I used to mock the multiple-writers named on TNG, DS9, etc. episodes of modern Trek, thinking that original Star Trek had just one writer for the majority of it's episodes, with a little bit of re-writing by the staff, but I was so wrong! Thanks to this book, I know it's completely common to have multiple writers either up front or behind the scenes writing an episode. The original series just didn't give credit, most of the time.
For example, the credits list the TNG TV episode 'First Contact' as:
Teleplay by Dennis Russell Baily & David Bischoff & Joe Menosky & Ronald D. Moore & Michael Piller, story by Marc Scott Zicree.
What I believed to be a result of lots of writers throwing in their own ideas to make a full episode (when Trek seemed to just need Theodore Sturgeon, D.C. Fontana, or Margaret Armen), was what was actually happening on the first series, but sometimes just wasn't given credit. Such as the real writing credits for 'I, Mudd':
It began as a story idea by Roddenberry in 1964, then a story by Roddenberry and Gene Coon in 1966, then it was given to Stephen Kandel, who wrote a story outline and first and second draft scripts. Then Roddenberry did a 'polish' (re-writing some lines, changing dialogue to better match the characters), then David Gerrold handled a re-write on the final draft, before D.C. Fontana took a crack at the final draft, and Gene Coon finished it with some page revisions. The credits only show Kandel's name, but FOUR other people had a hand in creating what we've seen on screen!
Star Trek almost got the 7:30 pm on Monday slot, in January 1968, after NBC cancelled 'The Man From UNCLE', but NBC changed their mind and gave it to 'Rowan And Martin's Laugh-In' instead. They kept Star Trek on Friday at 8:30 pm, realizing that without Trek their mediocre Friday night schedule would see them lose it completely.
The Friday night schedule consisted of 'Tarzan' at 7:30, Trek at 8:30, 'Accidental Family' (a low-rated Jerry Van Dyke sitcom) at 9:30, then 'The Bell Telephone Hour' at 10, a program that was basically a lame '60 Minutes'/documentary series.
Had Star Trek gotten the 7:30 pm slot on Monday, it's competition would have been the 14th season of 'Gunsmoke', on CBS and the 4th season of Britain's 'The Avengers' on ABC.
The competition that Star Trek had to endure for its second season on Friday at 8:30 pm was 'Gomer Pyle' on CBS from 8:30 to 9, then 'The CBS Friday Night Movie' from 9 onwards-- usually a blockbuster with Steve McQueen or some such big star of the 60's. Meanwhile, ABC had 'Hondo' from 8:30 to 9:30, a western that didn't last a full season. And somehow, 'Gomer Pyle' was a ratings powerhouse, usually getting 40 to 47 % in the Nielsen ratings, and every single week it was on, number one, except when it was pre-empted once or twice, and then Trek made it to number one Star Trek usually got 22 to 30 %. However, Star Trek, out of the remaining 24 episodes constantly came in second most of the time, hitting third place about five out of those 24 weeks. What dropped it down to third sometimes was a new show on ABC to replace the failed 'Hondo', which usually managed only 22 to 25 %, anyways. A show called 'Operation: Entertainment' was a variety program, featuring music and comedy acts that performed live for overseas troops.
NBC dragged their heels throughout the entire season, when it came to deciding if Star Trek should even get a full second season, let alone a third season. Up until they filmed 'A Private Little War' as the 16th second season episode, NBC held back permission for more episodes.
Instead, they first asked for just two more episodes, which would be 'Obsession', and then 'The Gamesters Of Triskelion'. It was even at this point that the cast and crew didn't believe they'd be renewed, or complete a full season, and why those are real tears from Angelique Pettyjohn at the end of 'Gamesters'. She liked the show, liked the people, and felt bad that it looked like it would be cancelled.
NBC eventually saw the light, and ordered the remainder of a full season., which consisted of everything from 'The Immunity Syndrome' to 'Assignment: Earth'.
Sort of.
A real full season in 1968 would have been 28 episodes, not 26, as was filmed for Trek's second season. And it could have been done, since they had enough extra scripts to make episode 27 and 28, but no go.
16 Magazine somehow reported Leonard Nimoy's home address in their April 1967 issue, resulting in mountains of mail in his living room, delivered by mail trucks.
16 Magazine somehow reported Leonard Nimoy's home address in their April 1967 issue
If Nimoy had been female, revealing his home address could have been really dangerous. Remember actress Rebecca Schaeffer and stalker Robert John Bardo twenty years later?
I used to mock the multiple-writers named on TNG, DS9, etc. episodes of modern Trek, thinking that original Star Trek had just one writer for the majority of it's episodes, with a little bit of re-writing by the staff, but I was so wrong! Thanks to this book, I know it's completely common to have multiple writers either up front or behind the scenes writing an episode. The original series just didn't give credit, most of the time.
The rules no doubt were changed in the two decades between TOS and TNG.
Star Trek almost got the 7:30 pm on Monday slot, in January 1968, after NBC cancelled 'The Man From UNCLE', but NBC changed their mind and gave it to 'Rowan And Martin's Laugh-In' instead.
This would not be the first time that NBC gave Laugh-In the advantage. Laugh-In caused Trek to get the 10:00 PM Friday night slot in the third season, which killed Trek.
Of course, which show is better remembered today, well, they don't hold Laugh-In conventions.
Bill Blackburn (the ever-silent Lt. Hadley at the helm and navigation stations) was coated with thick, plastic-looking paint to play the android that Thalassa and Scotty are working on.
quote:
There's a shot in the second season blooper reel of Blackburn peeling off the "plastic looking paint", while an off screen voice bellows "You wanted show business? Well, G-d dammit, you got it!" I don't know whose voice it is, but my guess would be Fred Phillips'. A still from that blooper made it to the end credits of one episode (I forgot which one.)
I'll have to look for that blooper.
If Nimoy had been female, revealing his home address could have been really dangerous.
quote:
It could have been dangerous regardless. Remember David Letterman's stalker Margaret Ray? She went so far as to steal Letterman's Porsche, and say her son was Letterman's child as well. Ray committed suicide in 1998.
A fact glommed off the internet: One script that was not produced for the second season was "He Walked Among Us". As originally written, it was supposed to be a serious dramatic turn for Milton Berle. Gene Coon re-wrote the script as a comedy. Which p.o.'ed writer Norman Spinrad enough to ask Gene Roddenberry to table the script.
Fascinating.
For the part of Gary Seven, Roddenberry considered...Patrick McGoohan...and Robert Lansing.
If McGoohan was cast, Roddenberry should have changed the character's name to Gary Six. 
The episodes are listed in production order, am I right? I ask because John Meredyth Lucas is the credited producer on "Journey to Babel". Gene Coon was back for "A Private Little War". Which was apparently his last episode. Lucas took over from "Obsession" on through "The Omega Glory". After which Roddenberry came back as producer for "Assignment Earth".
Unfortunately, when I started this thread I was all over the place. I thought I'd list some random facts from random episodes, but I got so into it that I eventually started listing things in production order.
Also, I bought Season 2's book first (which I wanted the most, anyway, for some reason), then Season 1, then Season 3, all on eBay, which explains why I started these things with the second book.
That's okay, Steve. It's all good.