These Are The Voyages - Season Three

[Warped9]

It's noted that Coon (writing as Lee Cronin) intended "Spock's Brain" to be totally serious given it was inspired by the issue of organ transplants then in the news at the time as well as Coon knowing that GR was dead set against anymore comedy on the show. Everyone seemed to think this story was a genuinely interesting idea with potential, and they're right. But they seemed to have run into problems because people like Roddenberry, Fontana, (as well as Coon) and others were no longer on hand to properly work these episodes to iron out the more greivous logic flaws and less-than-inspired ideas. Freiberger and Singer were simply out of their depth with the kinds of stories TOS dealt with which were definitely beyond conventional TV fare.

Apparently Justman was the one who noticed the possibilities for humour in this story and suggested such in which Coon was only happy to comply. But Justman had a change of heart and went back to siding with Roddenberry and the humour was dialed back though not completely excised.

 

[Maurice]

You know, it's easy to blame the director when an actor goes all ham, but let's not forget that there are usually multiple takes of everything and it's the editors and producers (on TV anyway) who have final say as to which take gets used. There's no way to know if there were takes where Shatner dialed it back a bit. We only have the finished episode to judge the director by, fairly or unfairly, not all the footage shot and all the variations therein.

 

[Warped9]

You know, it's easy to blame the director when an actor goes all ham, but let's not forget that there are usually multiple takes of everything and it's the editors and producers (on TV anyway) who have final say as to which take gets used. There's no way to know if there were takes where Shatner dialed it back a bit. We only have the finished episode to judge the director by, fairly or unfairly, not all the footage shot and all the variations therein.

True enough. In the case of ATCSL there are enough culprits to share a measure of blame for how things played out.

 

[Ssosmcin]

Honestly, I don't know why Roddenberry thought Freiberger would on the same page. They had two totally different mentalities. Perhaps Roddenberry just didn't know the man enough.

Roddenberry - writer /producer who has no respect for the network and the studio and feels the story is most important, so f**k 'em if they can't take a joke. Roddenberry's strengths were not in production.

Freiberger - producer who respects the networks and the studio and does the best he can to please the people paying his mortgage while trying to create the best product he can. He also wanted to continue his career as a producer after the lame-duck that was Star Trek ended, and having a team spirit and getting an expensive show in on time and under budget was/is a great way to build a solid rep in the business, I imagine. Freiberger's strengths were not well demonstrated as a writer.

Had Gene and Fred worked side by side, perhaps it might have worked out: Gene's pen and Fred's production.... But, for some reason, just like on the later Space:1999, Freiberger gets a sci-fi show to take over and the producer in residence says "it's all yours Freddie."

Still, I enjoyed the third year a great deal. Apparently, we're lucky it turned out as well as it did.

 

[Warped9]

With "Is There In Truth No Beauty?" and "The Empath" both Freiberger and Singer appear to finally grasp TOS' characters. It's also interesting to note that the disappointments that were "And The Children Shall Lead" and "Spock's Brain" were the last two stories bought and assigned by Roddenberry. "Is There In Truth No Beauty?" and "The Empath" were the first stories bought by Freiberger and both from novice writers. That said Roddenberry was also pleased with the stories and the fact the writers of both were women.

 

[CrazyMatt]

Honestly, I don't know why Roddenberry thought Freiberger would on the same page. They had two totally different mentalities. Perhaps Roddenberry just didn't know the man enough.

Roddenberry - writer /producer who has no respect for the network and the studio and feels the story is most important, so f**k 'em if they can't take a joke. Roddenberry's strengths were not in production.

Freiberger - producer who respects the networks and the studio and does the best he can to please the people paying his mortgage while trying to create the best product he can. He also wanted to continue his career as a producer after the lame-duck that was Star Trek ended, and having a team spirit and getting an expensive show in on time and under budget was/is a great way to build a solid rep in the business, I imagine. Freiberger's strengths were not well demonstrated as a writer.

Had Gene and Fred worked side by side, perhaps it might have worked out: Gene's pen and Fred's production.... But, for some reason, just like on the later Space:1999, Freiberger gets a sci-fi show to take over and the producer in residence says "it's all yours Freddie."

Still, I enjoyed the third year a great deal. Apparently, we're lucky it turned out as well as it did.

Interesting since GR offered the producer slot to Freiberger in the first season before bringing Gene Coon on board when Freiberger declined.

I can't help wondering... if Freiberger had accepted, what would have happened to the first season and the show as a whole?

 

[Botany Bay]

I was wondering the same thing myself. You get the feeling, in such a scenario, Freiberger wouldn't have lasted very long at all.

You have to admire Freiberger's desperate last-ditch attempts to lift Star Trek's ratings with his ad campaign in Variety. You have to question his choice of episode to promote though -- Plato's Stepchildren! At least he was trying.

Interestingly Roddenberry was not "off the lot" but moved offices to a smaller room, sulking about the Friday late night timeslot, asleep at the wheel as Star Trek unravelled creatively.

By September, he was off the lot at least part time, working at Natonal General Pictures on his ill-fated Tarzan movie treatment.

http://startrekfactcheck.blogspot.com/2014/10/read-gene-roddenberrys-letter-to-gene.html

Thankyou. Good stuff as usual.

You wonder if Mr. Cramer from Paramount instead of firining a procession of directors (via Freiberger), should have insisted Roddenberry do more to earn his pay, or take a pay cut to divert some funds to producing the show.

 

[plynch]

Do we know how much an exec producer was getting then? Was it a token, or real money? For basically a title, right?

 

[Warped9]

Freiberger may have been a decent sort in the larger scheme of things, but he was trying to serve two masters and that never works. Cramer was the Paramount heavy who would oversee that TOS in its death throes wasn't going to cost them more than was absolutely necessary. Paramount was definitely the one with the biggest "hate on" for the show.

But I also think that Roddenberry himself could have saved the third season a lot of grief if he hadn't walked away. I understand the point he thought he was trying to make, but in "sticking to his guns" he was abandoning everyone else who worked on the show and helped him bring his idea to life and make it fly.

And I can see that Arthur Singer was making some respectable contributions.

It's interesting to note that Judy Burns--who wrote "The Tholian Web"--is the one who conceived of the idea of life support belts, but it was deemed too impractical in terms of optical effects. But Roddenberry liked the idea enough that when TAS came about they were finally able to use the idea.

 

[Botany Bay]

Do we know how much an exec producer was getting then? Was it a token, or real money? For basically a title, right?

Good point. I have no idea. It would have been pretty insulting to his colleagues to collect big dollars for writing a few memos while the show was under so much financial pressure.

I hope I'm not being too harsh on Roddenberry. Sure, he would have been exhausted, and felt slighted at the late night slot, but his name was on this thing...I'm disappointed he didn't fight harder for his show, and for the people around him who fought alongside him, working equally as hard.

It's interesting to note that Judy Burns--who wrote "The Tholian Web"--is the one who conceived of the idea of life support belts, but it was deemed too impractical in terms of optical effects. But Roddenberry liked the idea enough that when TAS came about they were finally able to use the idea.

Unbelievable that they took those awful, impractical suits that had to be sewn on over a belt with a light on it. You have to feel for Senensky getting fired because the suits had to be sewn on each time, wasting production time. No wonder everyone wanted out -- it would have been a tough place to work by this point.

 

[Maurice]

Roddenberry has the CREATED BY credit on the show, which meant he got a cut of every episode whether he worked on it or not. That's the way it works. Without seeing his contract with the studio it's impossible to say what his obligations were to the show, and, minus his breaching that contract, the studio would have been in no position to dock his pay or force him to do anything. The worst they could do is never work with him again and tarnish his reputation. To suggest they had any leverage is to assume the studio had the kind of power it likely didn't.

Also, the show was effectively dead, and everyone must have realized it. No one knew it was going to be a syndication hit. Like any person in his position he'd have shifted his attention to trying to sell new shows or get other assignments to pay the bills when Trek ended, which was obviously going to happen. He had some income from the show while it lasted, and he'd have been a fool to not start chasing other work before the pay ran out.

 

[Harvey]

Do we know how much an exec producer was getting then? Was it a token, or real money? For basically a title, right?

Roddenberry was earning $4,000 an episode as executive producer during the third season. Whatever additional monies he was owed as series creator, I'm not sure, but that's what he earned as EP (and this was more than Justman, Singer, or Freiberger were taking home per week, by a significant margin).

 

[Botany Bay]

Or, in 2014, $27,220 per show.

Other than being able to hire more speaking parts, it wouldn't, I suppose, have made much difference to the show. But, to Roddenberry, newly divorced, and wanting to live a lavish Hollywood lifestyle, he would have needed every cent. And yes, lining up that next high paying job would have been a big priority.

Maurice, you are right, we don't know what his obligations were to earn his EP salary. On the face of it, it looks like his agent got him a pretty good deal though.

 

[bbailey861]

Do we know how much an exec producer was getting then? Was it a token, or real money? For basically a title, right?

Roddenberry was earning $4,000 an episode as executive producer during the third season. Whatever additional monies he was owed as series creator, I'm not sure, but that's what he earned as EP (and this was more than Justman, Singer, or Freiberger were taking home per week, by a significant margin).

If I am to believe what I read elsewhere, the average annual salary in 1969 was almost $5900. $4,000 per episode as EP. Not bad.

 

[ToddPence]

What a guy Lucas must have been -- passed over for the producership, he just went about his business attempting to write and direct to the best of his ability till Freiberger canned him.

Lucas doesn't appear to be a guy who held grudges for being canned or demoted. Before coming to STAR TREK he had been named the producer for the fourth and final season of THE FUGITIVE. However, Quinn Martin, dissatisfied with the quality of the early episodes produced under Lucas, fired him after just seven shows. However, Lucas stayed with the show and continued to write and direct FUGITIVE episodes until the end.

 

[plynch]

This is interesting. Of course he was exec producer earlier in the run and had been active. I suppose he already had the gig before the Friday spat and, can we say, sulking?

Could Paramount have dumped him and kept making the show? Had he sold the concept to Desilu/Paramount and they could do with it what they willed? I don't knwo how this stuff works. Worked, rather.

24 eps = $96,000 in 1969 dollars. $619,254.93 in today's dollars according to online CPI calculator. Hm. And my former Tiger Max Scherzer just landed 200 millions of monies to throw a ball. Exceedingly well, I must add. I'm in the wrong line of work.

 

[doubleohfive]

Of course Paramount could have dumped him. It's almost the best gig you can have in Hollywood -- create a show and then get fired from it. As the creator of the show, he'd have to be paid a fee for each episode whether he worked on it or not.

But, I think Maurice is right on the money. They knew the show was dead in the water and it's highly likely Roddenberry was just lining up his next paying job, an action that is par for the course in such situations. Even when it's just for a summer hiatus, people in the industry do this.

 

[Warped9]

Justman is quoted as saying he thought Freiberger was an able producer and a decent fellow trying to do his best under the circumstances. Yet without sufficient guidance from Roddenberry it left Freirberger to try to make the show work as best as he understood it, but he simply didn't understand Star Trek the way Roddenberry did. Roddenberry still gave sporadic feedback, but he wasn't there to make sure certain things got done.

And while Justman was initially upset with GR he eventually understood when he himself couldn't fight anymore. They were all tired of fighting an uphill battle of trying to make a quality show with an insufficent budget and a network and censors endlessly hammering at them to change (water down) one thing after another.

There appears to have been a lingering sentiment amongst cast and production staff that GR copped out. He sulked because of a broken promise while everyone else hung in. A broken promise wasn't seen as an excuse for lack of commetment and a poor work ethic. The general feeling seems to have been if GR had been properly involved the end product would have been better even if the show was done at the end of season three. Then he could have ended the seires with his head held high.

The cast is also given praise for still managing to give it their all even in the face of all obstacles. Shatner is particularly noted for doing his best for the show and trying to set an example for others, and this from people who later would criticize him (Doohan, Takei, Nichols and Koenig). As the series star Shatner had enough clout to have certain changes made (as did Nimoy), but there was a limit to how much they could salvage.

It must have been particularly infuriating for Stan Robertson to insist on things from the series they simply weren't able to do anymore because the slashed budget didn't allow them to and Paramount held them to a minimal shooting schedule. They were being squeezed on all sides.

 

[Maurice]

I don't think it's at all unusual for actors to give it their all even knowing a show is coming to an end. It happens in movies and plays after all. You're there to practice your craft in front of millions of eyeballs. You don't do a half-assed job on stage just because the run ends next week.

I totally get Roddenberry walking. The show was dead. He needed to sell something new. Almost any showrunner would do the same thing in that position.

 

[Botany Bay]

So finally NBC sees the light and gives Star Trek a run in a timeslot more acceptable to GR : Tuesday night 7:30pm.

Surely all those kids who missed out on watching it late on Friday nights would make a difference?

An all new episode is ready to go. The audience has been starved of Trek for a few months... and what happens? Star Trek records its worst audience share figure ever with a dismal 19% up against Mod Squad and Lancer which both rate in the low 30's.

What do we make of this?

Had the fans, despairing at the lower quality, just given up?

Or, was NBC correct putting Star Trek on Fridays all along? Imagine if Star Trek had pulled 19's regularly. Season 3 would have been very short indeed