The Making Of Star Trek....

[Christopher]

Apologies if this has been mentioned before (I didn't read all 10 pages of the thread), but I believe TMoST is largely responsible for many people of my generation (raised on the '70s UHF re-runs) mis-remembering the title of Episode 33 as "Who Mourns for Adonis," rather than "Adonais," because that's how it is mis-printed in the episode guide at the back of the book. I called it "Adonis" for decades.

Heck, I knew how it was spelled thanks to other sources, but I still assumed it was just an alternate spelling of Adonis, because I didn't know my Shelley. For me, too, it was decades before I learned the truth.

 

[Warped9]

Apologies if this has been mentioned before (I didn't read all 10 pages of the thread), but I believe TMoST is largely responsible for many people of my generation (raised on the '70s UHF re-runs) mis-remembering the title of Episode 33 as "Who Mourns for Adonis," rather than "Adonais," because that's how it is mis-printed in the episode guide at the back of the book. I called it "Adonis" for decades.

Me, too. Although decades might be stretching it some for me.

 

[CorporalCaptain]

That's not the only error in the episode guide titles, either!

 

[JE Smith]

Me, too. Although decades might be stretching it some for me.

Well, I first bought the book around '72 or so, and it was at least the mid-'90s before I realized the truth.

And yeah, I think part of it is that "Adonis" is a fairly familiar word, while "Adonais" is not.

 

[drt]

Apologies if this has been mentioned before (I didn't read all 10 pages of the thread), but I believe TMoST is largely responsible for many people of my generation (raised on the '70s UHF re-runs) mis-remembering the title of Episode 33 as "Who Mourns for Adonis," rather than "Adonais," because that's how it is mis-printed in the episode guide at the back of the book. I called it "Adonis" for decades.

Lol, I thought was "Adonis" until just now.

 

[lpetrich]

I remember that book for containing Gene Roddenberry's mixed-up recollection of the Drake Equation. Also for its pictures of early concepts of the Enterprise's shape, and also for lists of names that they went through, though I don't recall very many of them.

 

[Christopher]

I remember that book for containing Gene Roddenberry's mixed-up recollection of the Drake Equation.

That's giving it too much credit. The "formula" he used in the original series prospectus doesn't even slightly resemble the Drake Equation; I think it's just something he made up, knowing that the network execs he pitched it to couldn't tell the difference.

 

[Maurice]

"[K]nowing that the network execs he pitched it to couldn't tell the difference" implies that that was even a consideration or concern. Doubtless it was not.

 

[CrazyMatt]

Apologies if this has been mentioned before (I didn't read all 10 pages of the thread), but I believe TMoST is largely responsible for many people of my generation (raised on the '70s UHF re-runs) mis-remembering the title of Episode 33 as "Who Mourns for Adonis," rather than "Adonais," because that's how it is mis-printed in the episode guide at the back of the book. I called it "Adonis" for decades.

Me, too. Although decades might be stretching it some for me.

Ditto. I must confess I still have no idea who or what an Adonais is.

 

[Warped9]

^^ It's a rather roundabout title for the episode. Adonais is apparantly a play on the name Adonis (another name for Apollo). It's from an elegy written by the poet Shelley lamenting the death of the poet John Keats in the early 1820s. Shelley was lamenting the harsh treatment critics gave Shelley over his work. He was alluding the critics had literally hounded Shelley to death.

In TOS Kirk and the crew of the Enterprise are harshly critical of Apollo and reject him which ultimately leads to his demise.

I kind of get the analogy or general parallel, but I think "Who Mourns For Adonis?" makes more sense.

 

[Christopher]

Adonais is apparantly a play on the name Adonis (another name for Apollo). It's from an elegy written by the poet Shelley lamenting the death of the poet John Keats in the early 1820s.

It's also derived from Adonai, the Hebrew word for "Lord(s)," once used in Hebrew scriptures as a way of referring to God without using his name. Apparently the name Adonis is derived from the same root. I figure Shelley coined the variant form to fit the iambic meter of his poem. "I weep for Adonais -- he is dead" scans better than "I weep for Adonis -- he is dead."

 

[JE Smith]

Also, in TMoST, direct quotes from Gene Roddenberry were presented in all caps. So, long before the internet, whenever they would quote Gene directly, it always felt like HE WAS SHOUTING AT US.

 

[Warped9]

Also, in TMoST, direct quotes from Gene Roddenberry were presented in all caps. So, long before the internet, whenever they would quote Gene directly, it always felt like HE WAS SHOUTING AT US.

I never got that impression.

 

[Christopher]

So, long before the internet, whenever they would quote Gene directly, it always felt like HE WAS SHOUTING AT US.

I never got that impression.

Me neither. Because it was long before the Internet, and so the association of all caps with shouting hadn't become standardized yet. As I've remarked before, if anything, 1960s or 1970s readers would've been more likely to associate an all-caps format with telegrams or teletypes.

 

[Marsden]

Also, in TMoST, direct quotes from Gene Roddenberry were presented in all caps. So, long before the internet, whenever they would quote Gene directly, it always felt like HE WAS SHOUTING AT US.

He wasn't shouting. Gene was actually a supercomputer and his character set didn't include small letters.

 

[JonnyQuest037]

He wasn't shouting. Gene was actually a supercomputer and his character set didn't include small letters.

OMG... You mean that GR was actually AM from "I Have No Mouth And I Must Scream"? IT ALL MAKES SENSE NOW!!!

 

[JE Smith]

So, long before the internet, whenever they would quote Gene directly, it always felt like HE WAS SHOUTING AT US.

I never got that impression.

Me neither. Because it was long before the Internet, and so the association of all caps with shouting hadn't become standardized yet. As I've remarked before, if anything, 1960s or 1970s readers would've been more likely to associate an all-caps format with telegrams or teletypes.

Well, okay. But I definitely get that impression NOW when I read through the book.

 

[Warped9]

I never got that impression.

Me neither. Because it was long before the Internet, and so the association of all caps with shouting hadn't become standardized yet. As I've remarked before, if anything, 1960s or 1970s readers would've been more likely to associate an all-caps format with telegrams or teletypes.

Well, okay. But I definitely get that impression NOW when I read through the book.

Well, I am re-reading the book now and I still haven't had that impression.

 

[Ssosmcin]

Me neither. Because it was long before the Internet, and so the association of all caps with shouting hadn't become standardized yet. As I've remarked before, if anything, 1960s or 1970s readers would've been more likely to associate an all-caps format with telegrams or teletypes.

Well, okay. But I definitely get that impression NOW when I read through the book.

Well, I am re-reading the book now and I still haven't had that impression.

To be fair, you've read the book before, you've had it for decades, so you're used to it. For a first time reader of the book, when most books don't do it that way, but it is a common form of shouting on the internet, I can absolutely understand it.

I also had the book since the 70's and never made the connection, but I get it.

 

[ZapBrannigan]

I also had the book since the 70's and never made the connection, but I get it.

Pre-Internet, I always took it as a kind of "booming voice" signal, a voice-of-God thing that seemed a bit much even at the time.

But the idea of all caps specifically indicating anger probably did not exist before the era of on-screen text, and only then after computers came out with lower-case characters, circa 1980.