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Game TOS Episode Pitch Game

Laura Cynthia Chambers

Laura Cynthia Chambers

Vice Admiral
Admiral
The premise:

It's the 1960s, and you've been invited to pitch an episode for Star Trek. (How exciting!)

Rules
1) Your episode must be something that could have appeared on TOS when it originally aired (think late 60s TV).
2) After you write your synopsis, you get to choose the title of the next one.
3) Titles must be TOS style - Bible/Shakespeare/poetry quotes/allusions, mysterious science fiction, historical references, etc (if we may not get the reference, please tell us where it comes from)
4) Sequels to real TOS episodes are allowed.

I'll start:

"The Road Not Taken" (https://www.poetryfoundation.org/poems/44272/the-road-not-taken)
While visiting a Vulcan shrine on one of their early colony worlds, Spock experiences a vision of the life he would have led if he had not joined Starfleet.

Next title: "More Precious Than Rubies" (Proverbs 3:15 https://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=Proverbs 3:15&version=KJV)
 
Foxhot said:
I want to. 24 hours in, I'm still considering an appropriate combination for this. 'Tis true many of Kirk's tunics become untimely ripped as in MACBETH, but stories are not all about shirts.
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You must use the title I gave you ("More Precious Than Rubies" ) to formulate an episode, then give the person below you the title they have to use.
 
Nice, a Mudd episode!

"The Rest Is Silence": An elderly philosopher whose students have all abandoned him to seek enlightenment elsewhere abducts a landing party so he can impart his wisdom to them. Believing nobody is taking him seriously, he attempts to goad the crew into ending his life.

"Cut Him Out In Little Stars" (from Romeo and Juliet)
 
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"He says to Romeo, “thou art a villain”, which refers to the fact that he is intended as an insult and refers to a man of inferior birth, as a peasant. He tells Romeo, “turn and draw”." (https://www.englishworks.com.au/romeo-juliet-passages/#:~:text=He is stubborn, hot-tempered,, “turn and draw”.)

"Thou Art A Villain": An Enterprise landing party accidentally injures an innocent civilian and beams him to sickbay for medical treatment. When they return him to his home, they find that his stay aboard the Enterprise has increased his social status above that of his family (those who have been to space are a higher caste), leading to social chaos on the planet, an unwanted betrothal to a princess, and a bitter rivalry between him and the princess's jealous former betrothed.

"Silver Bells and Cockle-shells" (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mary,_Mary,_Quite_Contrary)

(I'm kind of hoping someone else will join us...)
 
"Silver Bells and Cockle-shells:" The Enterprise arrives at a world at the edge of Federation space which has vital mineral assets needed by a nearby Vulcan colony world. The crew are welcomed and invited to participate in the inauguration of the new queen, who takes a liking to Spock and insists that he marry her and become the royal consort. She will not release the minerals without having a marriage alliance with a Vulcan and Spock, though he has no desire to do it, sees the logic of this position in the light of current galactic politics. Then, it's revealed to Kirk that the royal court has practically been legally deposed already and the new queen can only ascend if she proves she can establish some great new improvement to their world's status (which a marriage alliance would do). If they can only stop the wedding in time, Spock can be rescued and democracy can reign!

Next episode: "We Happy Few"

--Alex
 
"Unto The Breach" - A colony settled by Starfleet veterans launches a ship against an enemy power the Federation has had a no-contact truce with for 40 years, believing that they can win the war that diplomats put a stop to at the time. The Enterprise is told to use whatever means necessary to stop them.

Next episode: "In Vino Veritas"
 
"In Vino Veritas": A bottle show where Chekov meets a beautiful young alien woman who accidently grants him a telepathic power where no matter what someone says, he knows the truth behind it. This becomes a problem when the Enterprise must embark on a secret mission and Kirk realizes that the ensign knows more about the details of their mission than he should.


Next episode, "Lilies of the Field"

--Alex

P.S. This is a different pitch than I did at first. I wrote the first one while tired at the end of the day and my fiancé kept distracting me with Instagram reels. Only in bed did I realize that I had accidently pitched "This Side of Paradise." I get how writers can easily come up with old ideas and not realize it. For a laugh, I'm preserving here my first pitch for "In Vino Veritas."

"The ship visits a beautiful strange new world where the pollen of the local plants causes people to speak only truth and is addictive, making crew refuse to return to the ship. The lack of social lubricant causes the crew to go at each other's throats until they realize (brusquely) what is happening and they need to fight each other to find a cure. But in working together, they manage to get past their differences and realize that they truly are friends in spite of their differences."

--AM
 
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"Lilies of the Field": Near Sherman's Planet, the Enterprise picks up a Klingon distress signal and follow it to an abandoned Klingon warship in orbit around a planet with no power or life support. Meanwhile, scans of the planet show several Kilngon shuttles in the center of a massive expanding ring of lifeforms that number in the billions. How will Kirk and his crew prevent the ecological devastation of a planet before it too late?

Next episode: "Wise Saws and Modern Instances"
 
"Wise Saws and Modern Instances": A young civilian doctor brings new ideas from his previous posting, rebuffing McCoy's attempts to mentor him. When one of his new ideas about medicine appears to lead to the death of an ambassador's daughter, McCoy must prove the doctor's innocence, even as he has his own doubts about the man's methods.

Next episode: "The Nephisean Log"
 
Albertese said:
"In Vino Veritas": A bottle show where Chekov meets a beautiful young alien woman who accidently grants him a telepathic power where no matter what someone says, he knows the truth behind it. This becomes a problem when the Enterprise must embark on a secret mission and Kirk realizes that the ensign knows more about the details of their mission than he should.
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Complete with a Starfleet Intelligence officer onboard and a pre-STIV interrogation scene for Pavel?
 
"The Nephisean Log": A century earlier, the Andorian ship Nephisea went missing and now a merchant ship has found its log buoy. The Enterprise has been tasked with retracing the Andorian ship's final voyage to determine its fate. On board for this high-profile investigation is Ambassador Shras, there to help make cultural sense of the buoy's logs.

But it's not long before the crew of the Enterprise wonder if that is all he is there to do—and if there something about the missing ship's mission that the Andorians don't want the galaxy to know.

Next episode: "Down for the Count"
 
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"Down for the Count":

Boy, this grew in the telling. Now it's more of a treatment than a pitch. Here goes:

Enterprise is swept away by a disembodied Voice to an uncharted star system where there are three other alien ships. The Voice tells them that the contest has begun and there can be but one victor! Soon, two of the aliens are firing at each other and the third one is moving in on the Enterprise. Kirk sends a signal that he doesn't intend to fight for anyone's amusement, but his hails go unanswered and he has to order return fire. In the exchange of fire, the navigation console explores, sending Chekov across the bridge and facedown on the steps! One of the first two ships is destroyed, but Spock announces that sensors and scanners detect no debris from it. Sulu reports that the Enterprise's location has changed--the ship being back at its initial position when it arrived in this system, as have the two other survivors. Kirk calls McCoy for a casualty report and he says he was just about to call the bridge, all the injured crewman are nowhere to be found. We see where Chekov laid, and he's disappeared.

Another Voice sounds in the bridge telling Kirk that his hesitation almost cost him his shot at victory. Kirk argues that he wants nothing to do with a contest and demands to know what happened to his crewmen, but the Voice just tells him that the next round will not be as easy. Kirk orders that the Enterprise evade all attacks and make every effort to escape the area. One of the other ships seems to have the same idea, but as the fleeing ship reaches a certain perimeter, it is reflected back towards the opponents. The third ship gives chase to the fleeing alien and opens fire, destroying it, but once again, leaving no debris.

The ships are again placed back to the starting positions and the Voice again chides Kirk for not fighting. It tells us that they expected more from such a skilled commander and powerful starship and he will lose the grand prize if he doesn't fight. The next round begins and Spock's scans of the enemy reveal that they are heavily damaged and it would be well within the abilities of the Enterprise to finish it off. But Kirk refuses. He announces loudly to the Voice that he won't destroy for their entertainment -- that humanity only fights as a last resort for a desperate cause. He hails the enemy and asks them to stand down, claiming that he won't fight them over nothing. He orders Sulu to lower the shields and power off the phasers. For a tense moment, the crew wonders If the enemy will agree with Kirk's plea, but then Sulu yells, "They're firing!" and the bridge is rocked in explosions throwing everyone around and fading to white. The light fades and everyone is back at their stations, even Chekov, who seems confused. The Voice informs them that in spite of their disappointing performance, they did achieve second place status and are now free to go, restored to their original conditions. The ship is even back on it's original course and speed. Chekov asks what happened and Kirk says, "A boxing match, Mister Chekov. But I'm not sure if we won or lost."

Next episode: "Momento Mori"

--Alex
 
"Memento Mori" (I assume it was a typo): Mysteriously, an epidemic of near death experiences spreads across the Enterprise, with multiple crew members narrowly avoiding one potentially fatal accident after another (even in situations that shouldn't be in the least dangerous). Kirk faces the dilemma of whether to complete a highly risky mission, fearing that the odds against their sudden ill fortune ending in tragedy is too high.

Next episode: "Nightmare"
 
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