Things from other sci-fi you wished to see in TOS....

[Ssosmcin]

Almost no SF show dealing with exploring planets did this, but Land of the Giants did it for one episode: I really wish Star Trek made more of an effort (or any effort) to establish each planet had more than one society. Every planet that wasn’t some kinda Federation colony seemed to be a monarchy. I didn’t mind it so much when they were just following up on a missing ship or ambassador and just got their answers and split (Return of the Archons, Omega Glory, Patterns of Force, A Piece of the Action, etc) but when they went to “establish diplomatic situations at all cost” planets like Eminiar 7 or Gideon had only one ruling council. Planets aren’t small. Imagine Kirk and Spock beaming down to “where those TV shows are coming from” and landing in Paramus, NJ. They’re not gonna establish too many inroads between our planet and the Federation.

In two episodes of Land of the Giants, they actually showed us two different societies. Since the main characters were tiny, it made sense they wouldn’t stray out of town, but until then there was no indication the planet had any other governments. TNG did it maybe once or twice, but it was ridiculous when it came to the planet Kesprytt in “Attached.” There were only two societies, the Kes and the Prytt and they named the planet after themselves. God, I hated that.

 

[Henoch]

The Bussard ramjet propulsion method, for instance. It would have been interesting to integrate that into Starfleet vessels.

By themselves, it would only be good for sublight speed travel, possibly the impulse engines. Coupled with gravity nullification technology to make the ship mass = zero, then does anybody know what happens? Is the maximum speed still c?

 

[Christopher]

Almost no SF show dealing with exploring planets did this, but Land of the Giants did it for one episode: I really wish Star Trek made more of an effort (or any effort) to establish each planet had more than one society. Every planet that wasn’t some kinda Federation colony seemed to be a monarchy.

There are a couple of TOS episodes revolving around conflicts between two different cultures on a single planet -- the Hill People and villagers in "A Private Little War," the Yangs and Kohms in "The Omega Glory." And in "A Piece of the Action," the whole problem was that the planet was being torn by constant warfare between numerous rival "gangs" (nations), whose leaders Kirk brought together to begin negotiations for forming a world government.

Still, APLW isn't much better. Presumably there would be hundreds of other small cultures/bands scattered all over the planet, not just these two adjacent ones, so that makes it hugely improbable that the village the Klingons made contact with just happened to be adjacent to the Hill People community that Kirk had surveyed over a decade earlier. Well, unless the Klingons' spies got hold of the Starfleet survey files on Neural and picked their target based on them.

 

[Henoch]

Well, unless the Klingons' spies got hold of the Starfleet survey files on Neural and picked their target based on them.

Damn Klingon spies! Good thing Starfleet started to use tribbles to root them out a few episode earlier.

 

[Talos IV]

I always thought the jet pack in Lost in Space was cool and the force field and the chariot.

The exterior filming / miniature work for the chariot is spectacular. "Look! They're using real water to douse those actors," exclaimed a friend of mine when watching the LOST IN SPACE pilot and The Hungry Sea.

Would've loved for STAR TREK to have done something similar.

 

[Ssosmcin]

Irwin Allan was big on movie production value spectacle, but he rarely was able to support it after the pilots or the first few episodes of the season or series. He'd blow his wad, so to speak, on the first handful of episodes. The remainder of the season was decidedly less epic.

 

[Christopher]

"Look! They're using real water to douse those actors," exclaimed a friend of mine when watching the LOST IN SPACE pilot and The Hungry Sea.

As opposed to what? It's not like water is all that expensive or hard to wrangle for a film production (well, maybe more so in these drought-laden times, but not in the '60s).

 

[ZapBrannigan]

As opposed to what? It's not like water is all that expensive or hard to wrangle for a film production (well, maybe more so in these drought-laden times, but not in the '60s).

I don't recall Star Trek dealing with large amounts of water on set, getting it on the actors and everything, until The Voyage Home. [Edit: Nona in "A Private Little War" dealt a little with a waterfall.] It's not "nothing" to deal with, when filming a TV show. I always wonder about damaging the sets, or getting mold growth in the sound stage because they couldn't get it all dried properly.

One time Moonbase Alpha was attacked by soapsuds, and I heard somewhere it was very difficult and time consuming to clean up the sets after the menace was defeated. What would Justman and Roddenberry have said about that proposal for the Enterprise interior sets? No. I think they'd say no.

 

[Ssosmcin]

I don't recall Star Trek dealing with large amounts of water on set, getting it on the actors and everything, until The Voyage Home. [Edit: Nona in "A Private Little War" dealt a little with a waterfall.] It's not "nothing" to deal with, when filming a TV show. I always wonder about damaging the sets, or getting mold growth in the sound stage because they couldn't get it all dried properly.

I think of that every time I watch an early Voyage to the Bottom of the Sea, when they used actual water instead of just steam out of the pipes.

One time Moonbase Alpha was attacked by soapsuds, and I heard somewhere it was very difficult and time consuming to clean up the sets after the menace was defeated. What would Justman and Roddenberry have said about that proposal for the Enterprise interior sets? No. I think they'd say no.

"STOP THE FOOOOOAM""

 

[Henoch]

In TOS, I think the only water physically on tap was in WNMHGB with the tap in Sick Bay. Maybe this is why there are no bathrooms.

 

[ZapBrannigan]

In TOS, I think the only water physically on tap was in WNMHGB with the tap in Sick Bay. Maybe this is why there are no bathrooms.

That's right. There was a trickle of running water in the rocks on Talos IV, if I'm not mistaken. And the Hollywood Reservoir is used as a lake in "The Paradise Syndrome." But examples are scarce overall. Even in TMP, when they had time and money, Ilia took a "sonic shower" (dry) rather than deal with water.

 

[Christopher]

I think of that every time I watch an early Voyage to the Bottom of the Sea, when they used actual water instead of just steam out of the pipes.

Technically, steam is water.

 

[Ssosmcin]

Technically, steam is water.

Touche... but i meant the wet kinda water.

 

[Christopher]

Touche... but i meant the wet kinda water.

But I'm still wondering why that person mentioned above was surprised that they used real water in Lost in Space, as if it were some precious commodity. I mean, presumably steam would cost more than liquid water, because you have to start with liquid water and then use up fuel or electricity to boil it.

 

[1001001]

Technically, steam is water.

Many is the time I've gone to the kitchen for a refreshing glass of steam....

 

[Ssosmcin]

But I'm still wondering why that person mentioned above was surprised that they used real water in Lost in Space, as if it were some precious commodity. I mean, presumably steam would cost more than liquid water, because you have to start with liquid water and then use up fuel or electricity to boil it.

Perhaps this person was just accustomed to how everything is created digitally these days. Fire is easy to make, yet many films and shows I’ve watched recently use digital flames. If someone is in used to television series of this vintage, seeing the actors and not stunt people actually being doused by water may come as a shock.

 

[Christopher]

Many is the time I've gone to the kitchen for a refreshing glass of steam....

You remind me of my favorite line from Woody Allen's Take the Money and Run, when the narrator reports on Allen's character's time on a prison chain gang: "The men get one hot meal a day: a bowl of steam."

 

[johnnybear]

Packer also wrote Return from Outer Space and a bunch of other solid episodes. Gene Coon wrote Spock’s Brain, they can’t all be gems. Packer also did write one episode of Land of the Giants and did credited work on one episode of Voyage. But LIS was the show he spent the most time on.

That's what I just said!
JB

 

[johnnybear]

Land of The Giants was a society very similar to the Soviet communist bloc in the real world in the series while beneath the ground lurked another culture, one whom had been at war with the surface centuries before and didn't want another or for their civilization to be uncovered! The other was a culture on the other side of the planet ruled by a dictator called Titus played by Nehemia Persoff!
JB

 

[Ssosmcin]

That's what I just said!
JB

Well, the last sentence, yeah. I wanted to point out tho that way Packer did a number of solid and fan favorite episodes, and did also contribute, if only a little, to more than just LIS.