Wow, that thread was certainly a lot to wade through.
I had no idea....all I had seen of these books up to this point were a few front and back cover shots.
So....all that great archived material published without the backing of CBS. 'Unauthorized' stuff is just not very smart. Without his own photos, he should have limited the scope of the project to the other material. To do both, in the way it was done, was very ill-advised to say the least.
At some point, I will likely seek out the latest editions, but in second-hand dog-eared condition and simply because I don't have the opportunity to visit UCLA, etc.
I will fill everyone in, here, on the project that I had in mind back in 2003-2004.
I wanted to do one or more books of behind-the-scenes photos that would be in a format very much like family photo albums. Each page in the book would have had (6) 3 1/2" x 5" photos or (2) 5" x 7" photos or (1) 8 1/2" x 11" photo. The higher percentage of the pages would have been those with 6 photos per page. 'The Cage' and the other 79 episodes would have had 3 pages each devoted to them, for a total of 240 pages. Then there would have been 60 additional pages devoted to images not specific to any one episode, for an overall total of 300 pages. I had an additional 'special feature' in mind. The pages would have been large enough to accommodate an additional 600 small images. On the right hand side of each page, top and bottom, there would have been one frame of a 'film'. As you quickly flipped through the pages of the book, the 'film' would 'play'. It would have been 150 frames per 'film', with 4 'films' in the book. One 'film' at the top right, one at the bottom right, both 'playing' as you flipped through the book from front to back. Flip the book over and you would have had two more as you flipped through the book back to front. The first book would have had 150 frames from 'City' and you would have seen history passing by in the Guardian and Kirk and Spock jumping through. There would have been 150 frames from 'Doomsday Machine' and you would have seen the Enterprise firing her phasers on the planet killer. There would have been 150 frames from 'Tholian Web' and you would have seen the Defiant phasing in and out. There would have been 150 frames from 'Mirror, Mirror' and you would have seen the transporter malfunction. More books in the series would have meant more 'films'. People enjoy 'flip books' and this would have been a neat way to showcase the special effects sequences from the original series, in their original pre-CGI form.
I intended a companion volume to each book in the series. The companion book would have had all of the text and background info on the photos. In that way, the photo book would have been pure, uninterrupted images. Together, I thought of it as being like a main book and a work book. Each two-book package would have been in the neighborhood of $75, but the quality would have been very high and there would have been a lot of value for the money. Each book in the series released every 1 to 2 years, for as long as there was material on hand.
That was my plan. I had a background in editing, proofreading, and layout. If there had been cooperation, I believe the plan could have been realized and I feel that it could have been a success all the way around.
I had a nice long phone conversation with Robert Justman. He really appreciated the idea. But, it was his opinion that the studio would never approve the project, because of the need to compensate the actors every time that an image of them was published, plus additional logistical issues.
His opinion was echoed by everyone whom I talked with. So, that was that.
At this point, I simply congratulate those involved with 'Lost Scenes', in finally getting approval, and I hope there will be more books.
I kid!
