Did any TOS episodes run "short"--?
- Thread starter Green
- Start date
Just to clear up a point -- Outer Limits has been properly restored to full length. But the commentaries (23 of them for season 1) indicate that, when completed, many episodes ran very short. This required putting some episodes on ice and having to go back and film additional unneeded scenes to fit the time slot.
Another thing they did was expand the usual "tease" of the monster of the week (meant to be about 30 seconds) to well over 2 minutes in some cases! It would be like tuning in to TOS and they showed a 2 and half minute chunk from the middle of the episode for the teaser. Showing the entire reveal of the Horta and Kirk raising and lowering his phaser and talking with Spock over the communicator -- ALL AT THE BEGINNING! Then seeing it again 35 minutes later.
Ironically Robert Justman was a producer for the Outer Limits. Perhaps he learned lessons from that experience and made sure TOS never had short scripts.
The bonus being that 50+ years later we can see and read books and videos of the cut material.
That's a lot better than Balance of Terror running short and them delaying it to film a scene where the chef is baking Tomlinson's/Martine's wedding cake for time filler.
Another thing they did was expand the usual "tease" of the monster of the week (meant to be about 30 seconds) to well over 2 minutes in some cases! It would be like tuning in to TOS and they showed a 2 and half minute chunk from the middle of the episode for the teaser. Showing the entire reveal of the Horta and Kirk raising and lowering his phaser and talking with Spock over the communicator -- ALL AT THE BEGINNING! Then seeing it again 35 minutes later.
Ironically Robert Justman was a producer for the Outer Limits. Perhaps he learned lessons from that experience and made sure TOS never had short scripts.
The bonus being that 50+ years later we can see and read books and videos of the cut material.
That's a lot better than Balance of Terror running short and them delaying it to film a scene where the chef is baking Tomlinson's/Martine's wedding cake for time filler.
I've read that there was originally an inter racial relationship between the "good Lazarus" and Chief McMasters in the script and the "bad Lazarus" exploited that relationship to obtain the dilithium crystals. I've heard that several of these scenes were filmed because there were a number of publicity stills of "good Lazarus" and McMasters together. But given the tenor of the times all of that was cut out and in its place we get shots of one of the Lazarus's (I can't tell which) wandering about and falling a lot.
Ironically, the inter racial aspect of the episode if left in would've made one of the first seasons lamest episodes also one of the most history making.
Yeah, that part's messy. Act II was written and filmed to end with Kirk and Odona kissing on the bridge while the faces behind the main viewing screen (MVS) watched them. Act III then started with a follow-up scene on the bridge that involved Kirk reacting to his bruised and sore arm. At the end of this scene, he lead Odona to the turbolift so that they could go to sickbay and, as they walked to the door, the camera panned to the MVS again to look at the faces. For unknown reasons -- perhaps the producers thought that Kirk might have noticed the faces in the MVS -- this follow-up scene on the bridge was completely cut except for 1). Kirk and Odona exiting and 2). the poorly-executed camera pan to the MVS. Then, these two end bits were smashed against the original ending of Act II (more or less) and used for it's ending.
Thanks for the vote of confidence, Harvey. We tried our best to be as accurate as possible but we're not perfect... like Gary Mitchell.
A lot of material was actually cut from "The Cage." Off the top of my head, the "Vina as Orion slave" scene was 2X as long as broadcast and another, unrelated scene was cut in it's entirety. And plenty of scenes were trimmed.
Last edited:
I do.
...Anyone who likes historical books to be accurate?
If you want to make up interesting stories, write fiction. If you're writing a behind the scenes tome, it's your fucking job to be as accurate as possible. And if you screw up and get something wrong, you correct it in subsequent editions. There are enough myths about ST floating around out there already without adding to them due to sloppy research.
On topic, in David Gerrold's book about the making of "The Trouble With Tribbles," he talks about how in his initial drafts of the script, he used a 12-pitch typewriter (it typed 12 characters to the inch). So when the script was retyped in the correct 10-pitch format and timed, it came out way too long. Gerrold cut the script down to the bone (which was ultimately in the story's favor, he said). But he ended up cutting so much out that the script was now too short! So Story Editor Gene Coon added in the Spock/McCoy sickbay scene to bring it back up to the proper length. You'll notice that that scene has no bearing on the plot.
Last edited:
It's really something how that one episode just seemed to have so many problems converge on it. A confusing story with a vaguely-defined conflict, a romantic subplot that was too close to "Space Seed," an interracial romance that likely made the network nervous, a 50s-style spaceship that looks more suited to Lost in Space than TOS, John Barrymore not showing up, forcing a last-minute recasting, that cheesy fake beard, continuity glitches... It'd be tough for even a good story to overcome all those problems.
So it was to go to the main screen?? Then why were the panning to Spock’s station? It would’ve been easier and faster to go the opposite way!
Some of us are here because we're interested in the actual history of show and not the myth-making behind it. Cushman doesn't check his facts and flat out makes up shit. If I wanted fan fiction I'd read fucking fan fiction.
No he wasn't. He was credited as the A.D. (Assistant Director), who is the guy who runs the set and maintains the schedule, and as a Production Manager, which is a different job than a Producer. Both positions report to the Producer.
Last edited:
Those scenes were never filmed. The episode ran an entire day over as it was, due to a number of factors. I've written an in-depth account of the making of the episode/fact check of Cushman's version, available below. (This is in 3 parts, 2 have been published so far).
http://startrekfactcheck.blogspot.co.za/2016/12/the-alternative-factor-what-hell.html?m=1
http://startrekfactcheck.blogspot.co.za/2017/08/the-alternative-factor-what-hell.html?m=1
The romantic subplot wasn't that many pages, in the end. And the pointless running all comes from the last draft Don Ingalls wrote, which still had the romance in it.
The script wasn't padded in the sense that a crucial element was cut out at the last minute and they had nothing to replace it with. It was more like the script was always thin, and the staff rewrite didn't fix that.
Yes, I completely agree, but that was where they were going. Perhaps there were staging issues, or some equipment blocked the other direction, or ?
Okay, I need to watch this now. I'm always fascinated by bridge scenes anyway, including how they were staged and blocked. And I don't mind rewatching TMOG either - I like it.
Well, it does have the awesome Frank Gorshin in it.
Well, it does have the awesome Frank Gorshin in it.
He was very good. Yes, come to think of it, without his performance it's entirely possible that the episode woudl have been markedly inferior. Shatner, Nimoy, and Doohan - perhaps because of the direction - are all fairly sedate.
I agree about Nimoy and Doohan, but Shatner was quite animated and emotive, particularly in his pleading with Loci and Beale on the bridge towards the end.
Hm, maybe that's right. I just remember him being fairly calm as Bele took over the ship (twice), he threatened to blow everyone up, etc. But I have not seen this one in several years. Added together with Mark of Gideon for a rewatch soon.
It's odd, because, I recall rarely seeing the other forward part of the bridge on Spock's side, and yet when you look at the camera angles you know why, since that's where the camera usually was. Unless they were blocked by the red rail (in which case, spinning towards Spock's console, they were also blocked by the helm console), obviously someone didn't think out the move beforehand.
You think The Alternative Factor was bad as it was? Try and watch it with the usual cuts made by the BBC! HaHa, it's totally impossible to follow and even afterwards you cannot identify which Lazarus was which due to not seeing one of the winking out moments which was excised in their purging!
JB
Similar threads
