Irwin Allen's (LIS) Thoughts On Star Trek?

[Ssosmcin]

A small correction to an earlier post. It's been stated that the pilot was used in the first five episodes, but really it was only used in four of those five. The second episode, "The Derelict", didn't use much footage from the pilot except for short inserts of the Jupiter 2 flying through space, and a quick shot of John Robinson writing in his diary with new narration.

The other four episodes, 1, 3, 4, and 5 all used big chunks of the pilot as their story, while #2 was more of a "new" episode detailing some of the Robinson's adventures in the hostile environment of outer space.

The diary shot in The Derelict wasn't from the pilot, actually. John is in his spacesuit in The Derelict. Once they landed in the pilot, they only wore their fatigues. So the only pilot footage in the episode are the quick space shots and the Jupiter 2 approaching the planet (which itself was changed).

 

[Harvey]

I find this - very - hard to swallow. Lost in Space was not a half hour series. It wasn't also one of Irwin Allen's "stock footage" shows. They still had 60-75 pages of script to film every week. Camera set-ups had to be made, actors had to be placed, lighting had to be designed, practical effects, like explosions had to be done, and so on. The series also had a number of episodes where "doubles" of the characters were involved, so split screen had to be done. LiS wasn't really that cheap a series. It just didn't have a lot of SFX and, after a time, large numbers of guest stars. In the 3rd season, the series became more elaborate after a half season of being bargain basement, so really, three day shoots seem like a fantasy to me. Someone was telling tall tales or misremembering

This.

No filmed series as elaborate as Lost in Space could have been completed in 3 days, or even 4, for that matter.

Star Trek was able to complete only one episode in five days - "The Doomsday Machine" - every other episode took 6 days or more (frequently, more) to complete.

 

[Kor]

So... if IA and GR would have been way too busy to keep an eye on each others' shows, who exactly in the network staff would have been tasked with looking at the competition and seeing what the other networks were airing?

Kor

 

[ZapBrannigan]

So... if IA and GR would have been way too busy to keep an eye on each others' shows, who exactly in the network staff would have been tasked with looking at the competition and seeing what the other networks were airing?

If the networks had staff watching the competition's shows and taking notes, I would wonder if the idea was to prevent plagiarism or facilitate it. Any time one network had a hit show, at least one of the others would roll out a knockoff. Of course, the studios played a big role in this process, too.

According to Memory Alpha, Star Trek's Kellam de Forest (now 90) was a one-man research operation. So he can't have had people watching TV and taking notes for him unless it was family or something. And beyond the subject of competing TV shows, I wonder how de Forest was able to know so much about so many things, on such short notice. He must have had a lot of books to his name, and a personal network of experts he could phone.

 

[Harvey]

Kellam de Forest is a facinating guy, who I've had the pleasure of interviewing twice, but he certainly wasn't a one-man operation. His firm had a staff of people who read scripts and provided comments to various shows and movies (in addition to consulting with plenty of other experts when needed). They also had a large research library.

 

[Galileo7]

I don't find TOS' "The Way To Eden" nearly as intolerable as the worst LIS episodes.

I agree. I just stated that both series had laughable moments. Obviously, Lost In Space had majority of camp episodes that Star Trek never got infected by.
Here is another two...

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[Spock's Barber]

I agree. I just stated that both series had laughable moments.

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Yes, one of the low lights of the 3rd season is when Kirk and Spock do 'Tweedle-dee and Tweedle-dum'.

 

[HGN2001]

That is actually what I said. The initial comment was that it was used in the first six episodes, and I replied with a clarification. Although I'd forgotten that a tiny amount of pilot footage was used in "The Derelict."

My mistake. I thought I read your post to have included Ep 2.

 

[Harvey]

However, may I take friendly issue with your preface in italics in which you say, ". . . Star Trek. . . strikes TV Week as a Lost In Space for adults. . .". Mr Kreiling, of all the things STAR TREK is, it is not in any way a "Lost in Space."

Am certain you did not mean this comment to be caustic. However, we are naturally anxious that it not be thought we are a copy of any show. STAR TREK, in fact, was conceived long before "Lost in Space" and was in script form a year earlier than that show. We do not criticize that series, it does what it sets out to do, but STAR TREK is as different from "Lost in Space" as "Gunsmoke" is from "Lassie."

-Excerpt from a letter from Gene Roddenberry to Ernie Kreiling, June 30, 1966

This, of course, represents Roddenberry's public opinion of Lost in Space, which may not coincide with how he referred to the series in private.

 

[ZapBrannigan]

Kellam de Forest is a facinating guy, who I've had the pleasure of interviewing twice, but he certainly wasn't a one-man operation. His firm had a staff of people who read scripts and provided comments to various shows and movies (in addition to consulting with plenty of other experts when needed). They also had a large research library.

Thanks, I find that interesting (I love books, records, archives...). Someone who is wiki-savvy should challenge or re-write the Memory Alpha claim that KdF was a one-man op:
http://memory-alpha.wikia.com/wiki/Kellam_de_Forest

As a boy reading The Making of Star Trek, I wondered if "Kellam de Forest" was the name of an actual person, or a big corporation like Sperry Rand or something.

Another thing I wondered was how come Kellam de Forest and DeForest Kelley had such similar names. As I now know, both men were using their real names, and Star Trek employing them both was a total coincidence.

 

[publiusr]

They sort of favor...IIRC