Notes re. The City On The Edge Of Forever....

Discussion in 'Star Trek - The Original & Animated Series' started by Warped9, Feb 16, 2013.

  1. Maurice

    Maurice Snagglepussed Admiral

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    ^^^That settles it. I need to go read those scripts!
     
  2. MikeH92467

    MikeH92467 Admiral Admiral

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    Fascinating! It's hard to believe that such material would survive, but it would seem so and I certainly have no reason to doubt you. However, I will stick to my position that no one at this point and time can be trusted to be telling the whole "truth". As I mentioned there has to be a Rashoman type of effect at work after all these years. TV script writing is an inherently messy process and sorting out which is the hero or the victim in the eternal pissing match between Ellison and GR strikes me as an amusing, but ultimately futile exercise. :)
     
  3. Harvey

    Harvey Admiral Admiral

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  4. Forbin

    Forbin Admiral Admiral

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    I said out, dammit!
    As to snarky memos - remember these are two guys who'd been working together a while and probably liked to kid around. It's not like Justman was a low-level minion sending a wise-ass memo to a big-wig CEO; it was two work-friends having the written equivalent of a meeting, goofing around a little.
     
  5. Maurice

    Maurice Snagglepussed Admiral

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    It actually doesn't take long for this sort of goofing around to start. If you sense other people get your sense of humor, it can happen almost right away.
     
  6. Forbin

    Forbin Admiral Admiral

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    I said out, dammit!
    Heck we do it at work, even in emails between lowly me and the VP of human resources - we've been friends for 20 years.
     
  7. ZapBrannigan

    ZapBrannigan Rear Admiral Rear Admiral

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    The worst thing is when you try to kid with someone at work, and he flat-ass doesn't get that you're joking. You can use a funny voice, say something completely absurd, and some guys will stop dead and think there's a problem. :borg: These guys are drones.
     
  8. MikeH92467

    MikeH92467 Admiral Admiral

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    I worked for a guy who reminded of Dilbert's pointy haired boss. :vulcan:
     
  9. Forbin

    Forbin Admiral Admiral

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    ^Dilbert is a documentary of my office. It's depressing. I have actually read thru a Dilbert collection book and ended up anxious and depressed. :lol:
     
  10. EnsignHarper

    EnsignHarper Captain Captain

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    Well Retail is a documentary of my days working retail...
    www.retailcomic.com
     
  11. EnsignHarper

    EnsignHarper Captain Captain

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    Back to the topic!

    It was established way back in The Making of Star Trek that GR tried to keep things light as possible within the constraints of the pressure making the show. The small practical jokes like putting a fully made up Ted Cassidy -as - Ruk in Gene's office to meet an unsuspecting salesman, the small after work parties (which was a Desilu tradition anyways), the memos with the sarcastic edge to them. It's all part of relieving the pressure a little.

    Favorite Justman memo of all:

    TO: All Concerned
    FROM: R Justman
    SUBJECT: TUESDAY

    I plan on being extremely mean today.


    :guffaw:

    There's a reason the Trek bloopers are some of the best of all time....
     
  12. mos6507

    mos6507 Commodore Commodore

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    I don't think that's true. We now know from the TOS soundtarck boxed set that it was the only episode in which the score was recorded in full stereo. This suggests that it was identified right from the get-go as a classic, and deserved special care. I don't know why they would do this unless they thought maybe there'd be a soundtrack album, since TV was mono until the 80s.

    It's also true that when people are passionate about something, they fight over it, not so much because they have to hate each other (although it can bleed over into that) but because they know their finger is on something awesome. The strength of this episode, despite every beef Justman highlights in his memo, was classic Greek drama in which the lead actor has to stand by and allow the love of his life to die. Heavy sh*t for 1960s TV. Edith Keeler getting hit by the car is that classic TV moment that will live forever, seconded with Kirk's tagline "let's get the hell out of here" which was the antithesis of the happy-ending bottle episode. They knew it would be one of the best episodes, regardless of the script revisions.
     
  13. JoeD80

    JoeD80 Fleet Captain Fleet Captain

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    City was something like his ninth or tenth script for TV, and he had done lots of script re-writes as well. He wasn't inexperienced in the field.
    Well he did want to put his Cordwainer name on it, which is mentioned in the Inside Star Trek book.