Agency of Female Characters

[Harvey]

It's odd if they did have a request to include more women that they went ahead and included fewer. Don't we have Uhura twice ( plus getting kidnapped off the ship), Thompson, Palamis, Romaine, and Mulhall? That's not impressive for over Forty episodes.

I suspect this was at least partly due to the budget - more and more, you have landing parties of Kirk, Spock, and McCoy - and no one else. In the third season, even the Enterprise looks like a ghost town. With regular cast member salaries growing every season, and the budget per episode decreasing every season, it's hard to afford large rosters of guest actors.

 

[CorporalCaptain]

In the third season, even the Enterprise looks like a ghost town.

Yeah. That was painfully obvious, especially when one compares the general corridor activity with that in season one and the pilots. There were exceptions, of course, such as "Lt. W. T. Famidoin" in "The Lights of Zetar."

It was interesting how often story reasons for the deserted corridors were given. You have the need to clear the corridors for the Medusan in "Is There in Truth No beauty?". You have most of the crew being "trapped below decks" in "Day of the Dove." Even the fake Enterprise in "The Mark of Gideon" counts.

But there were also examples from season two of story reasons for deserted corridors. You have the crew getting reduced to cuboctahedra in "By Any Other Name," and you have them getting removed to the space station in "The Ultimate Computer." I'd guess that "The Doomsday Machine" did its part to keep the number of extras down, by having some scenes aboard the Constellation, which no longer even had a crew.

I'm sure there were other examples.

 

[NinjaRaiden2005]

This might not mean much of anything, but I'll say it anyway. Regarding Uhura's lack of a prominent role in episodes there was one moment that's always stuck out in my mind. I forget which episode it was exactly, but she's shown wearing a technicians smock and working on the guts of the communication station. She tells Spock that it's delicate work and he agrees saying there's no one more qualified to work on it. I pretty much took this moment to mean that she's THE most qualified person to handle this equipment, possibly even more than Spock or Scotty. And just like Scotty constantly fiddling with the engines she would probably be upgrading all of the software and hardware of her station all by herself, with the exception of overhauls and refits done in spacedock. She also seemed to handle herself pretty well in The Gamesters of Triskelion whenever we see her fight in the big group battle and took over Navigation once, meaning she's been decently trained in other areas. I don't know if her finally getting to assume command in TAS is something to celebrate given that it happened under extremely stupid circumstances.

I know speculation doesn't mean much of anything compared to what we actually see onscreen, but, to quote a lousy game dev, it's better than nothing.

Hey, while we're on the subject of yeomans, how about the one in The Final Frontier who had the all-too-important task of handing Kirk a jacket and then standing around while she held his old one the rest of the time? Truly it was what she always dreamed of doing when she joined Starfleet.

 

[CorporalCaptain]

This might not mean much of anything, but I'll say it anyway. Regarding Uhura's lack of a prominent role in episodes there was one moment that's always stuck out in my mind. I forget which episode it was exactly, but she's shown wearing a technicians smock and working on the guts of the communication station. She tells Spock that it's delicate work and he agrees saying there's no one more qualified to work on it. I pretty much took this moment to mean that she's THE most qualified person to handle this equipment, possibly even more than Spock or Scotty.

That was in "Who Mourns for Adonais?"

Hey, while we're on the subject of yeomans, how about the one in The Final Frontier who had the all-too-important task of handing Kirk a jacket and then standing around while she held his old one the rest of the time? Truly it was what she always dreamed of doing when she joined Starfleet.

She was actually played by William Shatner's daughter, Melanie Shatner.

http://memory-alpha.wikia.com/wiki/Melanie_Shatner

 

[NinjaRaiden2005]

She was actually played by William Shatner's daughter, Melanie Shatner.

I know. That was my sad attempt at a joke.

 

[Pauln6]

Rand's finest moments were making coffee with a phaser and judging Lenore's fashion sense.

I read Harlan Ellison's graphic novel for the original city on the edge of forever. Rand is displayed as quite a versatile crewmen, blasting a door, fighting her way free when captured, improvising with a tricorder, overpowering a lady pirate, repairing a transporter, and taking charge of a security team.

Some of that flavour is possibly him adding a modern gloss to his original ideas but he always made it clear that he had written a chunky role for her. It's interesting how little of that translated to Uhura, apart from leading the security team (which I love - a black woman in charge of white men) so I suspect that much of his female empowerment was deliberately excised from the story and we're left with Uhura admitting she's afraid. That's a pretty huge step backwards. I have no doubt there was a conscious effort to disempower the Starfleet women featured on the show. I just can't believe that after number one, they could have written so many female crewmen so consistently badly for the rest of the run.

 

[Commishsleer]

Charlene Masters from "The Alternative Factor" was actually in charge of her department. She gave men instructions. OK she was dragged out of a burning room by a man but still...

 

[Timewalker]

Rand's finest moments were making coffee with a phaser and judging Lenore's fashion sense.

I read Harlan Ellison's graphic novel for the original city on the edge of forever. Rand is displayed as quite a versatile crewmen, blasting a door, fighting her way free when captured, improvising with a tricorder, overpowering a lady pirate, repairing a transporter, and taking charge of a security team.

Some of that flavour is possibly him adding a modern gloss to his original ideas but he always made it clear that he had written a chunky role for her. It's interesting how little of that translated to Uhura, apart from leading the security team (which I love - a black woman in charge of white men) so I suspect that much of his female empowerment was deliberately excised from the story and we're left with Uhura admitting she's afraid. That's a pretty huge step backwards. I have no doubt there was a conscious effort to disempower the Starfleet women featured on the show. I just can't believe that after number one, they could have written so many female crewmen so consistently badly for the rest of the run.

If you read Grace Lee Whitney's autobiography, you'll see that she and Ellison dated briefly. They broke up because he disapproved of her drug use.

 

[mos6507]

If you read Grace Lee Whitney's autobiography, you'll see that she and Ellison dated briefly. They broke up because he disapproved of her drug use.

Not to mention Nichelle Nichols having past involvement with Gene.

 

[Pauln6]

If you read Grace Lee Whitney's autobiography, you'll see that she and Ellison dated briefly. They broke up because he disapproved of her drug use.

Yes, although I'm not sure where their dating fell within the series. I thought it was after she left. Even so, if he fancied her, it might have encouraged him to big up her role in his writing. That said, she was the female lead, so a decent sized role is what she should have been given.

Watched the episode today and Edith is pretty decent. She has a lot of agency within her story role.

 

[Timewalker]

Yes, although I'm not sure where their dating fell within the series. I thought it was after she left. Even so, if he fancied her, it might have encouraged him to big up her role in his writing. That said, she was the female lead, so a decent sized role is what she should have been given.

When was the graphic novel produced? It certainly wasn't during the show's original run.

Ellison's original script was published in an anthology called Six Science Fiction Plays. I remember thinking that it was a compelling story and I did like it in general - but it felt off. The end had too much of a "divine retribution" vibe to it, for my liking. There was more mysticism in the Ellison version, so I'm glad that's not the one that was made for TV.

 

[Pauln6]

When was the graphic novel produced? It certainly wasn't during the show's original run.

Ellison's original script was published in an anthology called Six Science Fiction Plays. I remember thinking that it was a compelling story and I did like it in general - but it felt off. The end had too much of a "divine retribution" vibe to it, for my liking. There was more mysticism in the Ellison version, so I'm glad that's not the one that was made for TV.

When was the graphic novel produced? It certainly wasn't during the show's original run.

Ellison's original script was published in an anthology called Six Science Fiction Plays. I remember thinking that it was a compelling story and I did like it in general - but it felt off. The end had too much of a "divine retribution" vibe to it, for my liking. There was more mysticism in the Ellison version, so I'm glad that's not the one that was made for TV.

It was a couple of years ago. A good read but you're right, some of the original story was a bit off. A deserted city would have been cool but the Guardian was a better concept. Leaving Scotty out would leave Rand/Uhura in charge after Kirk and Spock go through, which would have been cool. The space pirate subplot would have worked in a two parter but not in a single episode IMO.

Now that I've read the graphic novel, I'd love to see how he changed it from the original script.

 

[FormerLurker]

He's probably referring to Ellison's book about writing the script, that included the script and a couple of treatments, along with the first act of someone else's rewrite that he passed off as his own.

The script itself is, for a teleplay, an extremely well written short story. It is compelling, it has a plethora of well developed characters, and has consequence. But it isn't Star Trek. Ellison used the toys of Star Trek to tell his own story, and, in my opinion, attempted to rewrite Star Trek into something far different than the hopeful look at the future that GR had intended, which falls directly into Ellison's particular take on humanity.

Included in the book is an essay that Ellison had been putting together for a long time, and was obviously intended to not see the light of day until GR was long dead. This essay, a screed against GR and everything he represented, even against Star Trek itself, puts a particular spin on the events surrounding the writing, and ultimately rewriting, of the script for COTEoF. I'll leave it at that, as I know too many people that believe every word, even when they know better from personal experience.

Edited to add: I just read Paul's post above, and I realize he's referring to the IDW miniseries that serialized the teaser and each act in five issues, and was then combined into a trade. This was just a couple of years ago. I only read the teaser, but it followed the original pretty much exactly, if padded visually to take up the page count. I didn't like their character design for Beckwith, as it didn't look like Ellison's description of him.

 

[Sir Rhosis]

^^^Apropos of nothing, other than my own worthless opinion... but I always pictured a young Dennis Hopper as Beckwith.

Sir Rhosis

 

[Harvey]

He's probably referring to Ellison's book about writing the script, that included the script and a couple of treatments, along with the first act of someone else's rewrite that he passed off as his own.

That first act in his book is Ellison's last rewrite. It's not the work of any other writer. It's also the only draft NOT in publicly available archival collections, which is a shame.

 

[Poltargyst]

then I rest my case in saying that Enterprise was more a prequel to the TNG/DS9/Voyager series than it ever was to the TOS series (and don't anyone start hollering about stardates and chronology; I'm talking about some aspects of Enterprise being presented as though TOS never existed, not that it's post-TOS/pre-TNG).

I kinda liked ENT, but I all too often had the feeling you're describing here about it.

 

[Pauln6]

He's probably referring to Ellison's book about writing the script, that included the script and a couple of treatments, along with the first act of someone else's rewrite that he passed off as his own.

The script itself is, for a teleplay, an extremely well written short story. It is compelling, it has a plethora of well developed characters, and has consequence. But it isn't Star Trek. Ellison used the toys of Star Trek to tell his own story, and, in my opinion, attempted to rewrite Star Trek into something far different than the hopeful look at the future that GR had intended, which falls directly into Ellison's particular take on humanity.

Included in the book is an essay that Ellison had been putting together for a long time, and was obviously intended to not see the light of day until GR was long dead. This essay, a screed against GR and everything he represented, even against Star Trek itself, puts a particular spin on the events surrounding the writing, and ultimately rewriting, of the script for COTEoF. I'll leave it at that, as I know too many people that believe every word, even when they know better from personal experience.

Edited to add: I just read Paul's post above, and I realize he's referring to the IDW miniseries that serialized the teaser and each act in five issues, and was then combined into a trade. This was just a couple of years ago. I only read the teaser, but it followed the original pretty much exactly, if padded visually to take up the page count. I didn't like their character design for Beckwith, as it didn't look like Ellison's description of him.

Replace Beckwith with Harry Mudd and have Edith push him in front of a truck as she is inspired by Spock's rendition of McCarthyism instead.

 

[FormerLurker]

That first act in his book is Ellison's last rewrite. It's not the work of any other writer. It's also the only draft NOT in publicly available archival collections, which is a shame.

If it is in fact Ellison's rewrite, he hated it. Dorothy Fontana said he decried the idea for it as the work of some other writer, and he himself has condemned it as everything that's wrong with television writing. As though outside writers who don't know the characters in an ongoing cast can make wholesale changes to those characters and situations at will, even if the producers have a previously established plan.

 

[Harvey]

If it is in fact Ellison's rewrite, he hated it. Dorothy Fontana said he decried the idea for it as the work of some other writer, and he himself has condemned it as everything that's wrong with television writing. As though outside writers who don't know the characters in an ongoing cast can make wholesale changes to those characters and situations at will, even if the producers have a previously established plan.

He rewrote it per instructions from Roddenberry, according to his book. He complains about that quite a bit in it (and elsewhere). It's his work, though not really his choices.

 

[Pauln6]

Just watched Operation Annihilate. Once again, the Yeoman's purpose was simply to record what was happening. Makes sense that a member of the landing party should do that, although clearly, it need not be a secretary. What's curious is that she seems to be the only member of the landing team who is unarmed (admittedly, I didn't clock whether McCoy fired a phaser). That in itself is fine. But even after they know there is a threat, Kirk beams back to the ship with his phaser, and she's STILL unarmed!

It's little tidbits like this omission that get me so annoyed with TOS...

Then at the science briefing, we have three men and three women (the yeoman, recording everything, an ops crewman and a services crewman). It's not 100% clear why everyone apart from the yeoman isn't in blue, since the women don't really get any lines. I assume one brought the coffee and the other brought the food cubes ;-p

At least Chapel gets a few salty lines in this one. You can almost believe she's a bio-medical researcher as well as a nurse. I wish she'd been the one giving more detailed reports on the test results to underscore her qualifications though.