The Doomsday Machine ending was also based on an earlier draft of the script, though those probably weren't the only ones.
SPOILERS..My thoughts on Spock Must Die!
- Thread starter STIntergalactic
- Start date
^^Oh, you mean the ending where Commodore Brand Decker doesn't sacrifice his life?
Right. As I recall, Kirk just thought of using the Constitution as ordinance purely out of thin air. A much less tragic ending, but it does take away the emotional resonance.
I hadn't realised that. It did seem rather an un-Trek like ending when I read it though.
You'd probably love the first issue of the Gold Key comic series, where Kirk and the gang find a planet full of sentient (and violent) plant creatures, and resolve the situation by torching the whole planet.
Are you serious? Is that really a published Trek story? Interesting interpretation of the Prime Directive...
Wow.
Is this another case of the early writers of Trek media tie-ins not having full information about the series? Specifically, "Our Heroes do not commit genocide on a planetary scale"? Damn.
Fictitiously yours, Trent Roman
Is this another case of the early writers of Trek media tie-ins not having full information about the series? Specifically, "Our Heroes do not commit genocide on a planetary scale"? Damn.
Fictitiously yours, Trent Roman
Getting back on SMD!...if any current Trek writers are reading this, you should try to work in a reference to "canonize" it in a way. Make some mention of Spock getting duplicated, and more importantly, explain how the Klingons escaped their exile.
That would kick ass.
That would kick ass.
Wow.
Is this another case of the early writers of Trek media tie-ins not having full information about the series? Specifically, "Our Heroes do not commit genocide on a planetary scale"? Damn.
Fictitiously yours, Trent Roman
While the Gold Key comics had the words Star Trek on the cover, and the people inside them bore at least a passing resemblance to Shatner, Nimoy, Kelley, et al, they only had a casual relationship with the Star Trek that we're all familiar with....
That first issue bore such a resemblance to the actual show that it featured Yeoman Rand, complete with her beehive hairdo, which the colorist apparantly thought was some strange hat, and so colored red throughout the course of the issue.
Ummmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmm.....
No.
That first issue bore such a resemblance to the actual show that it featured Yeoman Rand, complete with her beehive hairdo, which the colorist apparantly thought was some strange hat, and so colored red throughout the course of the issue.
To be fair, it would've been less strange as a hat than it was as a hairdo...
That first issue bore such a resemblance to the actual show that it featured Yeoman Rand, complete with her beehive hairdo, which the colorist apparantly thought was some strange hat, and so colored red throughout the course of the issue.
To be fair, it would've been less strange as a hat than it was as a hairdo...
Sure, it could be a bit more believable to say that was a flat sort of a fez, but wouldn't have helped the aesthetic much. (I think the aesthetic was pretty much a lost cause in the first place.)
^^I think the colorist of Gold Key ST #1 was interpreting the shape atop Rand's head as a woolen cap, not unlike that worn by Mike Nesmith of The Monkees. Those are often red.
I have a colouring book where the tracing of Christine Chapel's uniform collar and Enterprise insignia are rendered as if it were a low-slung scarf with a knotted end, the tails lining up with where the two "legs" of the Delta shield shape would be.
A later Bantam short stories anthology written by Blish' wife (I don't remember the title just now), included a Harry Mudd story were the Enterprise ends going back in time six months, to terminate Harry's last scheme before it started. If we accept these two books as parts of the same "timeline" then Kirk could have also tipped the Organians about the Klingon plan before they executed it.
I love this book and it remains my favourite Star Trek novel. Primarily because it feels like a genuine TOS story. It also nails the fact that if you write well you can have a complete and full story that isn't padded out to a freaking 500 pages.
I agree that Scotty's accent was wrong. He'd have been better off just writing Scotty's dialogue straight with only the occasional spelling variation to suggest an accent.
If Blish had known Star Trek would have developed such a huge following (this was 1970) then he may not have exiled the Klingons.
That said several years ago friends and I wrote a collection of TOS flavoured stories that explain how the Klingons are reprieved. After all, hey, they have to be free to be around for TMP. (-: We kind of accepted SMD as the 80th TOS episode never aired.
I wrote a particular story called The Exiled which dealt with Kor, Kang and Koloth on a Klingon homeworld descended into barbarism and civil war. Kor reflects on the attack upon the Federation, the taking of starposts, the destruction of the starship Constitution and a humiliating Klingon defeat at Starbase 16. Kor is reflecting on his peoples' plight when he is visited by Ayelborne the Organian who suggests that the Klingons do have a slim chance at a parole.
One of the neat things about SMD is that not only is it a good Star Trek story, but it's a decent science fiction story as well. Not surprising because Blish was a solid and respected SF author. And I think it could have made for a wonderful Star Trek film.
I even did some photomanips to create scenes suggested in the book.
Last edited:
Was it said in the book that one Spock wore gold? I don't recall.
I do remember them saying that duplicate Spock's uniform was probably reversed when he appeared. I find it hard to believe that nobody would have picked up on that right away.
I do remember them saying that duplicate Spock's uniform was probably reversed when he appeared. I find it hard to believe that nobody would have picked up on that right away.
Wow.
Is this another case of the early writers of Trek media tie-ins not having full information about the series? Specifically, "Our Heroes do not commit genocide on a planetary scale"? Damn.
Fictitiously yours, Trent Roman
Isn't there a Starfleet General Order which contains instructions to destroy an entire planet's surface unless the order is countermanded within a specific period of time?
And of course there's the Omega Directive to consider as well.
That was addressed in the book. They were just so distracted by the existence of two Spocks that they didn't think to notice such minor details as insignia position. People tend to see what they expect to see.
Similar threads
