New Book about TOS: These Are The Voyages

From the 'Infinitely Indexed Memory Bank'?

Forgive me, I couldn't resist!

 

I can't disagree with that... however, it also appears to be true that at times he was overzealous--and regarding Nimoy, jealous--and that affected his relationship with (at least some of) his fellow cast members.

 

He did indeed. Shatner's James T. Kirk was my first and still greatest hero in all fiction.

 

I'm halfway through the book. Seems everyone put blood, sweat and tears into that first half season. In that pressure cooker with such long days week after week for months on end it's no wonder people were getting on each other's nerves. Really good work came out of it to make the show definitely distinct from what else was then being done. You wonder how they could keep doing it.

They really hit one helluva pothole with the Howard Anderson company who just couldn't seem to get it together for the f/x. It was so bad they had to cobble together the visuals for the opening credits from essentially leftovers. HA comes across as totally lost and out of their element. If they hadn't been so back logged they should have have dumped HA's ass right there. Instead they ended up having four different f/x houses working for them at the same time.

 

The opening credits hodge podge has been mentioned elsewhere, perhaps in Whitfield's TMoST, though I don't remember if Anderson & Company was specifically named.

 

I have two copies, and you can't have either one of them.

 

Which, btw, someone on Evilbay is doing - they lifted my USS Masao wallpaper to sell a resin kit of the ship, which BTW Warped 9 designed and he isn't credited either.

 

Yes, I do recall that being mentioned in TMoST all those years ago.

There is a lot of stuff in this book that has been said before but not with the same detail. Or it was said with a different perspective and spin or in a more veiled way. Here they credit Samuel Peeples with giving GR the "wagon train to the stars" idea as a series hook. GR could be either a real douche at times or he could have been really absentminded with terrible lapses of memory. I think Peeples also gave GR the Captain's Log and stardate ideas as well.

 

Technically it was originally Masao's idea which I teaked and added the hangar above the saucer. I made my credit obvious by calling it the Masao-class. I actually want to tackle a 3D version of this design.

 

They were pretty much stuck with the Howard Anderson Company because it was located on the Desilu lot and the company had some sort of deal with the studio for the TOS effects (like they got a break on the rent if they did the effects for Trek plus the deal kept a paying company at the studio albeit at a reduced rate). That is the only reason that the TOS production folks were seemingly so patient to get the effects; their hands were tied. It was only after they forced themselves in on HA to see the filmed footage that had been done that it became obvious to all including the studio heads that HA couldn't handle the load and thus; the production enlisted other effects houses. Something that no doubt would have been done much earlier if they had not been tied to the HA company by the studio.

 

Also, I thought a couple more interesting passages in the book in "The Galileo Seven" section were what both Nimoy and Marshall (Boma) said. Nimoy said that it was extremely hard for him in that episode as far as acting goes because he was acting alone; without Shatner to play off of. He really realized in that episode how important his interaction with Shatner was to the success of the character.

Don Marshall recalls how the director wanted him to play the role of Boma as a "James Dean Type" character; brooding around. This portrayal can be seen in the scene when Latimer is killed (which is one of the first scenes filmed with Marshall). Boma is in the back brooding with his back to the action (and camera). Don Marshall said in the book that he was frustrated with the director because Marshall didn't feel that his character would act that way. Nimoy could tell that something was wrong with Marshall and when Marshall told Nimoy that he didn't feel the character was acting like a professional would; Nimoy told him to play the character as he thought it should be and that Nimoy would handle the director; which apparently he did. After reading the book I will always notice how different Boma was acting in that scene when Latimer was killed.

 

It's definitely mentioned in the Solow/Justman book.

 

Well considering Shatner (and pretty much everyone else involved in the making of the show) is mentioned on nearly every page, I can see why they probably felt an index would be a waste of time.

 

Another thing I just learned. I had always thought that AMT built only the full size exterior shuttlecraft mock-up. Apparently they also supplied the small miniature and the full size interior set, and it was all free from AMT for the rights to produce the Enterprise model kit. Desilu did get charged for the 10ft. long hangar deck miniature set built by Richard Datin.

 

RE: davejames

As I open to a random page (306) it's obvious that just isn't true.

Real names mentioned:
1. Bob Justman
2. Grace Lee Whitney
3. Gene Roddenberry
4. Stan Robertson
5. Gene Coon
6. Jean Messerschmidt

Characters mentioned:
1. Kirk
2. Spock
3. McCoy
4. Rand
5. Mears
6. Latimer

 

That only applies to the series regulars. How often are the Irving Feinbergs of the show mentioned? Not on every page, I bet.

 

Maybe, but my point still stands. Most of these people pop up so often that listing every instance in the back seems like it would just be counter-productive. And not particularly useful for a researcher later on.

 

As Maurice points out, most of these people actually don't show up that often.

And, as a researcher, I can tell you that an index is a very helpful tool. Beyond the quality of the work, there's a reason I consult Inside Star Trek: The Real Story a heck of a lot more than I do Star Trek Memories. The former has an index; the latter doesn't (at least, not the hardback edition I have).

 

Yeah this probably explains the massive amount of stock footage used throughout the series, and the reuse of ship shots.

I have to think Roddenberry and the others would have loved to have varied things up quite a bit more, but they probably just didn't have the time or money to make it happen.

 

It's too bad the Klingon miniature wasn't available for "Errand of Mercy". Klingon shows might have been a lot different.