Improve the Third Season

[Therin of Andor]

ssosmcin wrote:

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Keep zombie Spock on the ship until necessary.

Zombie Spock was at Nimoy's request, IIRC, because in the original script (see also the Blish novelization), he's in sick bay the whole time.

[foxhot]

Just like in A PRIVATE LITTLE WAR. I still think it's moronic to tell somebody to slap him back to consciousness. You don't talk if you're unconscious. He just wanted to be slapped by Chapel and especially M'Benga. Spock's a closet masochist. Can't do anything logically. Mister drama king.
Thanks to Nimoy's sickbay aversion, now we got to see him instruct McCoy on brain operation techniques while his brain was half-attached. And they didn't even play it as comedy. I wanted to laugh, but I couldn't.
''Aaaaaaaaaaahhhhhhh..''
Oh, please.
Plus the remote control click-click-click, natch.

[Warped9]

I like the basic story in "Spock's Brain," but it's saddled with some of the "less than inspired" moments of TOS. Besides the airhead women Spock directing McCoy while being operated on is one of the dumbest things I've ever seen.

[ssosmcin]

Therin of Andor wrote:

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Zombie Spock was at Nimoy's request, IIRC, because in the original script (see also the Blish novelization), he's in sick bay the whole time.

At least we know who to blame for that, then. They could have stolen Spock totally and hooked him up to some kind of "brain machine" then. Zombie Spock was awful. I understand Nimoy's need to have screen time, but he didn't do much of anything. Was that time on screen really that fulfilling for him or was he just trying to Stick it To Shatner? This was, I presume, before Roddenberry settled the "who is the star" debate.

[Sky]

ssosmcin wrote:

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This was, I presume, before Roddenberry settled the "who is the star" debate.

Didn't that debate happen way before the third season?

[ssosmcin]

In Justman and Solow's book "Inside Star Trek - The Real Story", the goes that Fred Frieberger had Shatner, Nimoy and Roddenberry in his office to decide who is ultimately the star. Both Shatner and Nimoy claimed the honor. Gene, who desperately wanted to avoid the confrontation, stalled until, pressed for an answer, he said angrily, "It's Bill. Bill is the star of the series," and bolted from the room.

Years later, Shatner would repeatedly defend Frieberger's rep, but Nimoy was always down on him.

[plynch]

As popular as Spock was with the Trek audience, was screen minutes really an issue at that point? Is it so dicey in the tv acting world back then that you can't have one Spockless ep? Whatever, it gives us something to moan about now.

[Jonas Grumby]

^ Given the stellar acting opportunities provided by the "zombie Spock" scenes, I'd have to figure Nimoy's request was based on quantity of screen time rather than quality of screen time.

[7thsealord]

Jonas Grumby wrote:

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^ Given the stellar acting opportunities provided by the "zombie Spock" scenes, I'd have to figure Nimoy's request was based on quantity of screen time rather than quality of screen time.

That would be my take as well.

Given the requirements and pressures of TV acting at that time, LN might even have been worried that he wouldn't be properly credited (and paid!) in that episode.

[ssosmcin]

7thsealord wrote:

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That would be my take as well.

Given the requirements and pressures of TV acting at that time, LN might even have been worried that he wouldn't be properly credited (and paid!) in that episode.

He was a co-star, a regular in the series, he had no worry about his credit if he was only in a few minutes of an episode. His credit would remain even if missed the episode entirely. Their salaries were negotiated as "per episode," not "per page" or "per line." It didn't matter how long any of them were in the episode. Shatner didn't lose any credit, or money for being absent for most of The Tholian Web. The concern had to be purely screen time.

[foxhot]

He's so vain......(He is so VAIN----)
He probably thinks the show is ABOUT him!
Doesn't he,
Doesn't he,
Doesn't he......
(My apologies to Carly Simon)

[Therin of Andor]

foxhot wrote:

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When Alan Dean Foster wrote his final TREK LOG 10, it was also a novel-length version of the sole remaining animated episode with plot additions.

Logs 7, 8, 9 and 10.

[Therin of Andor]

7thsealord wrote:

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Given the requirements and pressures of TV acting at that time, LN might even have been worried that he wouldn't be properly credited (and paid!) in that episode.

Onscreen credits and salaries are established when contracts are signed. He had no fears there, but this turned out to be the premiere episode of the season, not a good one to be almost-totally absent for, although airing order wouldn't have been known at the time).

Playing a zombie may or may not be an acting challenge (it's probably way harder than one might imagine), but at least it puts him in the middle of the camaraderie and creativity of the rest of the shoot. Leaving Spock unconscious in sickbay for most of the week requires minimal participation, and four days away from Shatner's ummmm, screen-hogging.