Starship, the proposed 1970s Series

I thought the whole idea of the I.Q. score was a range from 0 to 200 with the mean average being 100. But then my recollection could be faulty.

 

I've tried looking up information about Starship in the past, ever since I found out Andromeda was a cross between Genesis II and Starship but to no avail. All I know is that Rommie came from Starship. In turn, I figured Zora in "Calypso" (from the Discovery Short Trek) is a new version of that character.

Then there's a lot of other stuff here that has nothing to do with Starship whatsoever.

 

The only connection between STARSHIP and ANDROMEDA is a ship controlled by a sentient computer and the idea that the ship is, therefore, alive.

Have a look at BLAKE'S 7 and then back at ANDROMEDA.

 

I should have said that, based on what any of us have read about STARSHIP, and knowing what we do about GENESIS II and PLANET EARTH, the only connection between STARSHIP and ANDROMEDA appears to have been the sentient computer/starship. There might have been more developed for STARSHIP in the 70s that made its way into ANDROMEDA, but have a look at BLAKE'S 7 and then decide.

 

More likely an independent creation, since of course there have been quite a few sentient ship computers in science fiction. HAL in 2001: A Space Odyssey was clearly an influence on the depiction of Zora as an internally illuminated, disc-shaped camera eye.

 

Stephen Jay Gould wrote a book regarding tests of intelligence and other qualities. It was called The Mismeasure of Man.

He held a dim view of IQ tests and scores.

 

I agree with him. You can't reduce someone to a number and let that define them.

 

Yeah, that was pretty much it. As discussed earlier in the thread, Majel Roddenberry was developing a separate Starship project for animation contemporaneously with Andromeda, so they were mostly separate concepts.

 

Well, I wouldn't say just deliberate fraud, as I recall, it was also cultural and sexist bias, intentional or not.
But, it's been awhile since I read it.

Ultimately, the book isn't in favor of using a single number to describe something as complex as intelligence.

 

Starship seemed like a super thin concept. Perhaps there was more to it than what we’ve seen, but what we have seen is little more than a basic premise with a ship design attached to it.

 

I'd think after four or five decades, more would've come out about this concept by now if more had been developed.

 

We know a good deal of development was done on the animated version(s) with Mainframe and Stan Lee Media in the late '90s and early '00s before it fell through. According to the articles quoted in post #106 of this thread (which I linked to in my previous post), John Semper (showrunner of the classic '90s animated Spider-Man TV series) wrote a full treatment that he developed with Majel Roddenberry. The first iteration of the animated project got at least as far as having animation tests, character models, and production designs, although apparently they were abandoned when Stan Lee and Leiji Matsumoto got involved, with the show being retooled to feature more nonhumanoid characters. That version got at least as far as having storyboards, according to Roddenberry.

So there was definitely a lot of material that hasn't been made public, at least in the '90s/'00s iteration of the concept. Perhaps the Roddenberry family/production company has held onto it in hopes of taking another stab at making a series out of it someday. Or maybe a lot of the material just fell into limbo when Stan Lee Media went bankrupt.

 

Possibly. As GR was keen to make a buck if there was more to it I suspect it would've been for sale on Star Trek Lincoln Enterprises.

 

IQ = intellectual age (as determined by population mean)/chronological age x 100

Ergo the average score will always be 100 by definition.

Scores over 200 are possible although exceedingly rare (as in recorded as being in single figures)

Oh, small detail, the whole thing's bullshit but generates money for psychometric test publishers and MENSA.

 

As I recall, when Majel Roddenberry was making her big push to sell GR's concepts in the '90s and early '00s, she was drawing on everything from fully realized pilots and series outlines to cursory notes and half-formed ideas. So Starship may have been closer to the latter.

Still, if it was far enough along that he'd hired Jefferies to design the ship and tech, it's hard to believe there wasn't a more substantial proposal written down. Unless maybe the design came first and GR tried to build a show around it.

 

Christopher. I remember your first point, too. Back around the turn of the century Majel Roddenberry said something to the effect of "drawing on everything from fully realized pilots and series outlines to cursory notes and half-formed ideas." And, that the ideas of her new shows were all taken from ideas Gene had been forming in detail in the 70s (although I'm not sure that this was completely true). She adding that if she was stealing, she was "stealing" from Gene, and, therefore, had permission. I do recall her using the word stealing, but using it lightheartedly.

Your second point might be valid, too. In the 70s there was some discussion that the ring ship was an early design for the Enterprise, and we say that not only in ST TMP, but there are plenty of renderings on the net showing a larger scale ring ship with ENTERPRISE printed on the side of the ship, several levels of windows, and a hanger for a couple of shuttles.

My own thought is that after Trek Roddenberry liked the idea of a smaller scale show with a small crew on a star ship. Dusting off the ring ship design and adding the Metaflier sphere and the maintenance trolley, meant that the ship design part of the show development was (relatively) inexpensively on its way. If the show was to be about environmental trouble shooters as the one pager stated (and the designation of Enviro-Pod, or E-Pod, on the blueprint indicates), and if the show was intended to follow a path that King Daniel defined so eloquently a few days ago, then the ring ship design would have fit that premise.

As Christopher said insightfully, "maybe the design came first and GR tried to build a show around it." When the premise was not make into a pilot in the early 70s, GR might have marketed the blueprints and renderings either to make a buck in the mid 70s, or to stoke interest in creating a new series in the late 70s, or both. However, the ecological trouble shooters idea was more in tune with the early 70s than the later 70s and beyond, which was likely a factor in Majel making extensive changes 20 years ago. With climate change and other ecological issues being a big part of current concerns, the ecological trouble shooters portion of the original premise might be timely again.

 

We built this city

 

On sausage rolls

 

Part and parcel with producing for TV is brainstorming a bunch of show pitches, and most of those are throwaways. You toss them out there and see what sticks. I bet this was just one of many Roddenberry concocted trying to get a network to bite.

Irwin Allen successfully sold a lot of shows but had quite a few that were little more than pretty pitch decks of concept drawings.