TOS camera usage

Senensky talks about working with Finnerman here:
http://startrekhistory.com/interviews.html#RALPH

 

IMO, Senensky's the only recurring TREK director who delivered winners every single time, even on -- or maybe that should read especially on -- the one he got fired off of.

 

I don't know, I think "Bread and Circuses" is pretty silly, although he makes the most of it.

 

Well, there's only so much a director can do with a silly script, and this one was written by the Great Bird himself with Gene Coon.

 

Wow so the idiotic costumer didn't put in zippers, they sewed them into the space suits, which weren't on time and made things super slow to deal with when people needed out of them, WTF!? And then of course sh*t rolls down hill and Senesky was fired and then ended up black listed? Sheesh!

These are behind the scenes details I didn't know before...

 

That's sewed, not sowed.

And that happens in Hollywood all the time. Costumes of the week are often literally sewn onto actors because there's not time to do the kind of proper construction you'd want in the very short time you have. As such, I'd stop short of calling the costumer "stupid", especially if he couldn't get the actors in for a fitting until the previous day.

 

Agreed, production manager or 2nd asst director was probably at fault for not arranging fittings earlier in schedule. Then again, it WAS 3rd season.

 

Yeah I guess I didn't mean the costumer directly, I guess it's whatever production people in charge should have known better and poor Senesky took the brunt of it.

 

He ain't the only one. George Meerhof the gaffer got canned for making some kind of stand for his people around the same time (is that in the Solow book?)

I remember thinking hard about that one, because Shatner mentioned in that SHAT WHERE NO MAN book that he had considered Meerhof a friend (he died during that decade.) Now Shatner certainly had a ton of problems during the run of TOS personally, but you'd figure one of your friends getting canned by the studio for trying to do the right thing would have been grounds for you as star to throw some weight around and right that wrong.

Now that I'm reminded of that again, I guess I'll go on another short-lived AntiShat stretch (like Koenig I can never seem to maintain a mad against the guy.)

 

Man this just solidifies the fact that I need to get a copy of the Solow book. I have had a copy of Whitfield's The Making of Star Trek ever since I found a beat up copy at a garage sale when I was a boy and loved it ever since. So it seems I should have long ago picked up the Solow book...

 

Some of the Ellison stuff in it is at least suspect, probably just plain wrong ... but I can't remember anything else that seemed seriously 'off' even though that one part is enough to cast some aspersions on the veracity.

 

I'll tell ya one thing, this thread is making me want to start going through some of the episodes called out here and watch them just for their cinematography. I'm enjoying the Senensky commentary over at STHistory (I had forgotten about that site, since it had to shut down for a while didn't it?). So I'm thinking about going on a Senensky bender

 

Just finished the Solow/Justman book for a third time, and I don't think that story is in it. Care to share some details?

 

George Merhoff's name appears in the credits of every episode as Gaffer all the way through and including "Turnabout Intruder." When did this firing take place?

 

Funny, I thought of that too.

I think there was some sort of an odd shot of Kor's face in Errand of Mercy towards the end of the episode, in his office. I'm not sure if it was just a close up or an odd lens choice, but I was sure it looked different somehow.

 

I'm stumped with that one; if it wasn't that book, I can't think of another one that might be the source. I'm pretty certain I'm not confusing him with George Rader, because I'm sure he was on for the full run. Now I'm feeling bad for dumping most of my reference books and clippings back in '04.

Okay, I officially apologize for and retract the previous statement until I can find a source for it. I'm really pissed and puzzled right now.

 

Solow quit Paramount before the third season, and Justman only made it to episode 14 of that season. They don't talk that much about season three in the book because of that.

 

The unfortunate anecdote is related in STAR TREK MEMORIES by William Shatner. If I recall (I'm at work now), Merhoff was in charge of the lighting crew when the studio blamed them for some schedule slippage. Merhoff started keeping a notebook of times and events, and proved that it was really directors who were to blame.

For his trouble, Merhoff was demoted from crew boss to one of the grunts. It was unfair and humiliating, but that's office politics in a nutshell.

Correct me if you have the book at hand.

 

It certainly looks like something happened to Merhoff. Granted, his IMDB profile may not be complete, but post-Star Trek his only credit is the movie Brother John (which, probably not coincidentally, was directed by two-time Trek director James Goldstone and shot by Jerry Finnerman).