AND SHOUTING!!!!!
I'm doing my first ever watch through of TOS
- Thread starter Agony_Boothb
- Start date
You're probably right about Blakes7 but I'll forgive any episode with Avon and Villa in it. I'm just not as hyper-critical of it is as I am of TOS for some reason.
You could watch Firefly in one day followed up by Serenity of course.
"Balance of Terror" is another episode that had a lengthy post-production period, which delayed its initial broadcast.
Additionally, there were some episodes produced back-to-back that were never meant to be aired back-to-back (such as "The Menagerie" and "Court Martial," both courtroom dramas involving the same Starbase setting) because the network and the producers wanted to avoid that kind of repetition whenever possible.
Finally, the premiere episode of each season was carefully considered. "The Man Trap" was selected because it was the only completed show emphasizing the program's "strange new worlds" that were so important to NBC; "Amok Time" and "Spock's Brain" were selected because they could be heavily promoted around Leonard Nimoy, the show's breakout star. You can quibble with this logic, but there was a logic behind these decisions (and plenty of memos that still exist explaining that logic).
That's a good point, although I'm sure that doesn't explain, for instance, not showing "Where No Man Has Gone Before" (which, being the second pilot, would surely have been completed well before work on any other episodes was done, yes?) until three episodes in. And the network chose to show "The Man Trap" first over the production team's favored choice of the more character-centered "The Naked Time" because they wanted the bug-eyed-monster. It wasn't just random or just because there was no option. But when I said "careless" I really meant specifically with respect to internal continuity and character development, which simply weren't a great concern in light of the other issues mentioned. Perhaps I should have said "indifferent"? Airdate order had its reasoning at the time, true, but it really comes off a jumbled mess today, IMO.
-MMoM
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Whatever the logic behind it, Where No Man Has Gone Before should have been broadcast first back in 66!
JB
JB
According to Herb Solow, "Where No Man Has Gone Before" wasn't selected because "it was too expository in terms of the series concept and characters, a problem with most pilots telecast as series episodes" (Inside Star Trek, p.162-163). Although not said in any memos or Inside Star Trek, I suspect it was also disqualified because it didn't feature two of the program's semi-regulars (DeForest Kelley and Grace Lee Whitney).
And, although it was completed by the week of September 6, 1966, "Where No Man Has Gone Before" was actually in re-editing just the week before (August 29, 1966) to get it ready for broadcast. The pilot version (available as an extra on the Blu-rays) wasn't the version that was shown on NBC. "The Man Trap" was actually the first episode to be completed (the answer print was ready on August 26, 1966).
The episode completion reports indicate that "The Naked Time" wasn't completed until September 12, 1966 -- the previous week it was still in dubbing and the week before that it was still being edited. Indeed, some re-shoots were required (scripted on August 11, 1966; I'm not sure when they were filmed) to tweak the ending before it was ready for broadcast. Although Inside Star Trek suggests it was ready as a potential premiere episode, I'm not so sure. The musical score was recorded on August 31, 1966, making a delivery for the first week almost impossible at that point.
Based on all the memos I've read, however, my instinct is that the bug-eyed monster was less important to NBC than the fact that it was largely a planet-based show. NBC really wanted shows that took place on alien planets, and emphasized this week-in and week-out in their correspondence with Roddenberry, Justman, and others.
Per Inside Star Trek (p.163), Justman preferred "The Naked Time," but Herb Solow and Gene Roddenberry deferred to the network. The earliest airdate schedules suggest to me that "The Corbomite Maneuver" was actually the producer's preferred choice (they slated it to air second, after the network's choice of "The Man Trap"), and a syndicated interview with Shatner from early 1966 confirms that it was their preferred episode, but post-production problems quickly made airing it that early impossible.
Despite all the above bloviating (which is really just me working through the paperwork while I consider expanding this research into a longer piece), I largely agree. In production order, especially with the first 12-15 episodes, you really see the performances (especially Spock), the show's larger universe (Starfleet, the Federation, the Prime Directive), and other things (the costumes and props) grow and develop over time. In production order, the phaser rifle, for example, is an idea that's tried out at the beginning and then discarded, in favor of a smaller phaser prop. In airdate order, it's an idea that shows up a few episodes in, and then disappears.
In addition to all the other little details that flow together better in the early episodes in production order, "Corbomite" always felt very strongly like a first episode to me.
"The Naked Time" would have made a terrible first episide, because you need to have spent some time getting to know the characters in their normal state for the full force of their aberrant behavior to land. This was a problem for TNG's (admittedly bad) "The Naked Now" even as the 2nd episode.
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I wouldn't necessarily have picked it as an opener, either, but I don't think it's a bad introduction to the characters at all, actually. Their behavior in it isn't actually aberrant. It's merely exaggerated. Who they are underneath their facades of professionalism is revealed by the virus. The deep fears and desires they express aren't an artificial product of it, but merely exposed by it. This is what Kirk and Spock and Chapel and Sulu and all the others are really like. And because of the situation you can see it illustrated clearly. We find out more about them as characters in that episode than in almost any other. Rather than requiring the context of how they usually act to understand, this story provides context for understanding how they usually act.
(I totally agree that "The Naked Now" wasn't anywhere near as effective on that score, though, and wasn't a very good choice at all for second episode of TNG.)
-MMoM
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^Fair enough, although Spock and Kirk don't become affected until late in the episode, and are acting like their "normal" selves up to that point. Plus to me it was always clear right from "Where No Man Has Gone Before" that Spock's facade of restraint had fairly obvious "chinks" in it, and that he was never quite so in control of his emotions as he would claim. I do understand what you're getting at, though. As I said, it probably wouldn't be my own personal choice to start with. But I can see what Justman found appealing about it, and I think saying it "would have made a terrible first episode" is going too far. It's all quite a matter of opinion, however.
-MMoM
-MMoM
In production order, the phaser rifle, for example, is an idea that's tried out at the beginning and then discarded, in favor of a smaller phaser prop. In airdate order, it's an idea that shows up a few episodes in, and then disappears.
The phaser rifle only appears in "Where No Man Has Gone Before" (and some publicity stills).
"Corbomite" always felt very strongly like a first episode to me.
"The Corbomite Maneuver" does a good job introducing the characters and their relationships. It probably was intended to be the first episode, although what with the SFX and all, the producers should have anticipated that it would not be ready on time.
The phaser rifle only appears in "Where No Man Has Gone Before" (and some publicity stills).
"Corbomite" always felt very strongly like a first episode to me.
"The Corbomite Maneuver" does a good job introducing the characters and their relationships. It probably was intended to be the first episode, although what with the SFX and all, the producers should have anticipated that it would not be ready on time.
Yes. That was my point. In airdate order, the second pilot is the third episode, which means that everything in it that was abandoned when they went to series (props, costumes, some of the cast) shows up partway into the run, and disappears just as quickly.
Although production order is the best way to proceed with the show I also like changing the run every now and then. A bit boring just to watch the episodes in the same order every time. I mean it's not a serial, it's a series so unless you watch The Menagerie 2 before 1 then it doesn't affect your viewing much! Then again don't watch I, Mudd before Mudd's Women or Trouble With Tribbles before Errand of Mercy (which I did once) and a couple of others like Enterprise Incident and Balance of Terror, you get my drift!
JB
JB
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