I remember reading that scene and wondering how they could have portrayed that on-screen. So many interesting details in that novel a lot of them would have really made TMP a more interesting look at GR's 23rd Century
Which is an interesting point in and of itself about TMP, actually. Here you have an absolutely horrific, gruesome accident involving two people being killed by the transporter. And then, just a couple scenes later, we're back to making jokes about cranky old McCoy and his attitude toward the transporter. Seems like an inappropriate time to be laughing about his attitude, and certainly his fears would seem more justified at that point.
^They're very efficient at working through the stages of grief in the future. Kirk can be mourning the death of the redshirt whose father sponsored him in the Academy in one scene, and then by the end of the episode be laughing and joking with Spock and McCoy. They can't muck about with extended grieving periods, they've got places to go!
I'd argue that they're in a perpetual state of denial, as no one seems to take the time to grieve. Kirk was momentarily stunned by the transporter accident, but otherwise seemed unaffected by the death of a science officer whom he recommended serve aboard the Enterprise. By the end of The Motion Picture, everyone seems content to move forward with their lives, as the only mention of Decker or Ilia occurs when Kirk orders they be listed as "missing in action." No one seems surprised or saddened when Decker doesn't appear on the bridge with the rest of the away team, although Kirk does appear to pause as though reflecting on their loss. It may be that they were watching events unfold on the main viewer, but everyone seems to gloss over Decker's disappearance, despite his having been their captain only a few days earlier.
Mmmmm. I thought that scene was in my Lincoln Enterprises version of the script. Kirk and Alexandra are swimming when Kirk gets the message about the approach of the cloud entity and the destruction of the Klingon ships. My copy is packed away. I also recall the former poster, The God-Thing, mentioning/remembering it - which makes me wonder, now, if that the scene was also in Roddenberry's lost/unpublished novel? But I certainly haven't read "The God-Thing".
That is quite the understatement. It was rewritten so often that the rewrites would have to be labeled not only with the date but the time of day, as pages would sometimes be rewritten multiple times in the same day.
Look at Logan's Run, which was filmed a few years earlier. Logan and Jessica go for a PG-rated naked swim . . . .
I have a nostalgic soft spot for the movie, but, yeah, it hasn't aged well and cries out for a remake. That said, I'm old enough to remember when Logan's Run costumes were still fashionable at conventions. "Freeze, Runner!"
Agreed. Which makes it a prime candidate for a remake. It has enough good stuff to be fondly remembered, but there's still plenty of room for improvement! (Although I sometimes miss those diaphanous chiffon miniskirts--for all the wrong reasons!)
And Jessica changing into furs in the "ice cave" or whatever it was. Of course the Franco Zeffirelli Romeo and Juliet, which many boys my age sat through solely because they'd heard about Olivia Hussey's brief toplessness, was originally G-rated. Justin
Heck, Charlton Heston and his fellow astronauts went for a "naked swim" in Planet of the Apes way back in 1968.
"Logan's Run" got massive pre-publicity here in Australia. One of our big daily variety shows ran a series of interviews and preview clips for a week over one school holidays. I'd only just started to attend movies regularly and I saw "Logan's Run" with my younger brother - and both of us came out wondering if we'd gotten value for money, having recently passed into the adult ticket age-group. Later that night, my French teacher took a group of us to see a French film, "Cousin, Cousine" (later remade with Ted Danson, IIRC), in the same cinema complex and that also turned out to be less than memorable. I started getting very cautious about movies. But yes, many elements of "Logan's Run" have stayed with me over the years, even though I've only really seen it once in the cinema and some segments on TV. As for Zefferelli's "Romeo & Juiet". A "G" rated school excursion because we were studying the play... and yeah, one scene was very memorable for the boys in my class.