So We're Producing "The Omega Glory" ...

[Shatmandu]

... and it's time to tighten up the script before filming.

We know Roddenberry wrote the early drafts, so you found several young ladies who want to break into show business and aimed them at his office.

We'll be able to work unfettered for several hours. What do you want to change?

Me, I'd lose the "Yang and Cohm" stuff. Keep one group white and the other Asian, if we need to help the audience differentiate. Or maybe make one group black and the other Latino.

Lose the "E Pleb Neesta" and the flag crap. Keep the part where they muddle their founding father's words, but make the phrases non-specific and about freedom and liberty and justice instead, to make those ideals seem Universal.

Keep Cloud Festus and his surprisingly deep voice.

And the rest is okay with me as written. I like the crystals in the uniforms, and I love our choice of villain. That pitted bastard is great.

How about you?

Joe, co-producer

 

[EEE]

The only thing I'd change is that I would only slightly alter the E Pleb Neesta, for a bit of universality. I'd possibly alter the flag, but again only slightly. I would keep everything else, as is.

 

[EEE]

...and I love our choice of villain. That pitted bastard is great.

Of course, He's great thanks to experiencing the first-ever mind meld. *grin*

 

[Kinggodzillak]

Include a scene that explains how Lt Galloway came back to life.

 

[GSchnitzer]

...and I love our choice of villain. That pitted bastard is great.

Of course, He's great thanks to experiencing the first-ever mind meld. *grin*

I'd would just add back in that line which explains that these Yangs and Coms were actually just guys from Earth who moved offworld to continue their fight. It makes the presence of the flag and the Constitution so much more sensical when you know that they were simply brought from Earth instead of developing independently.

 

[Starbreaker]

I would accidentally lose all copies of the script.

 

[BillJ]

...and I love our choice of villain. That pitted bastard is great.

Of course, He's great thanks to experiencing the first-ever mind meld. *grin*

I'd would just add back in that line which explains that these Yangs and Coms were actually just guys from Earth who moved offworld to continue their fight. It makes the presence of the flag and the Constitution so much more sensical when you know that they were simply brought from Earth instead of developing independently.

Which would have made no sense within the episode itself...

Wu (or Woo) had seen 42 years of the red bird which occurred every eleven years. Which made Wu over four-hundred and sixty years old. His father was well over a thousand (this is information provided by Captain Tracey). Plus the time it took for the biological elements to change their life spans. You're probably looking at events that occurred thousands of years in Earth's past.

I love how often people say, "just throw in a line about them being from Earth". You can tell the people who are actually paying attention when watching.

 

[GSchnitzer]

Of course, He's great thanks to experiencing the first-ever mind meld. *grin*

I'd would just add back in that line which explains that these Yangs and Coms were actually just guys from Earth who moved offworld to continue their fight. It makes the presence of the flag and the Constitution so much more sensical when you know that they were simply brought from Earth instead of developing independently.

Which would have made no sense within the episode itself...

Wu (or Woo) had seen 42 years of the red bird which occurred every eleven years. Which made Wu over four-hundred and sixty years old. His father was well over a thousand (this is information provided by Captain Tracey). Plus the time it took for the biological elements to change their life spans. You're probably looking at events that occurred thousands of years in Earth's past.

I love how often people say, "just throw in a line about them being from Earth". You can tell the people who are actually paying attention when watching.

What I meant is that I would put back in the line that was already filmed and then later edited out of the episode about them all being from Earth.

(And yes, I'd might then want to pull out the then-contradictory dialog about Wu and his father being older than 20th century Earth Cold War hostilities.)

If my mission were to salvage and rationalize these two ostensibly contradictory notions--that the people of Omega IV both "came from Earth" and "are thousands of years old"--I'd probably do so by explaining that the highly imitative and long-lived indigenous people of the planet were exposed to (and adopted) some paperwork and a book and a flag brought by the People Who Were So Advanced That They Actually Descended From The Sky In Great Space Machines And So Must Be Gods. A couple of hundered years is probably long enough to adopt and later forget the details about his new adopted political and religious system. But I can see why such an "imitative people" notion might have been dropped from the episode initially, coming so closely on the heels of "A Piece of the Action."

 

[BillJ]

I'd would just add back in that line which explains that these Yangs and Coms were actually just guys from Earth who moved offworld to continue their fight. It makes the presence of the flag and the Constitution so much more sensical when you know that they were simply brought from Earth instead of developing independently.

Which would have made no sense within the episode itself...

Wu (or Woo) had seen 42 years of the red bird which occurred every eleven years. Which made Wu over four-hundred and sixty years old. His father was well over a thousand (this is information provided by Captain Tracey). Plus the time it took for the biological elements to change their life spans. You're probably looking at events that occurred thousands of years in Earth's past.

I love how often people say, "just throw in a line about them being from Earth". You can tell the people who are actually paying attention when watching.

What I meant is that I would put back in the line that was already filmed and then later edited out of the episode about them all being from Earth.

(And yes, I'd might then want to pull out the then-contradictory dialog about Wu and his father being older than 20th century Earth Cold War hostilities.)

If my mission were to salvage and rationalize these two ostensibly contradictory notions--that the people of Omega IV both "came from Earth" and "are thousands of years old"--I'd probably do so by explaining that the highly imitative and long-lived indigenous people of the planet were exposed to (and adopted) some paperwork and a book and a flag brought by the People Who Were So Advanced That They Actually Descended From The Sky In Great Space Machines And So Must Be Gods. A couple of hundered years is probably long enough to adopt and later forget the details about his new adopted political and religious system. But I can see why such an "imitative people" notion might have been dropped from the episode initially, coming so closely on the heels of "A Piece of the Action."

Which isn't a bad idea if you discount "A Piece of the Action".

 

[plynch]

WAIT - is that true about a line being in the script originally saying the Yangs and Comms were earth-descended?!

b) That still wouldn't easily explain the parallel logically, since they're thousands of years old. You still end up with the parallel being crazily similar.

c) Which is really the whole point, isn't it? To have a USA episode with the flag and snippets of the Star Spangled Banner playing, and the E Plebnista? You had an allegory to the Cold War in "Private Little War." This is a USA parallel episode becuase it sounded or felt good to do one (or filled out a production schedule). If you drop all the obvious parallels, you kind of eliminate the whole ep., and wind up with "Private Little War" again. I say leave it and enjoy the schlock. My 10 year olds loved it. When Shatner gets it and takes over the Preamble in Shatnerese -- great stuff of which Star Trek legends are made. Thanks for the thought-provoking post. E Plebnista!

 

[Kelso]

I'd leave it alone.

 

[Lieut. Arex]

Of course, He's great thanks to experiencing the first-ever mind meld. *grin*

I'd would just add back in that line which explains that these Yangs and Coms were actually just guys from Earth who moved offworld to continue their fight. It makes the presence of the flag and the Constitution so much more sensical when you know that they were simply brought from Earth instead of developing independently.

Which would have made no sense within the episode itself...

Wu (or Woo) had seen 42 years of the red bird which occurred every eleven years. Which made Wu over four-hundred and sixty years old. His father was well over a thousand (this is information provided by Captain Tracey). Plus the time it took for the biological elements to change their life spans. You're probably looking at events that occurred thousands of years in Earth's past.

I love how often people say, "just throw in a line about them being from Earth". You can tell the people who are actually paying attention when watching.

Two points: What is the orbital period (year) of Omega IV and what Earth year does this take place in? Most evidence in ST points to it being @ 200 years in the future, but it could have been much more, such as the implied 900 in "The Squire of Gothos".

Of course, the black hole just outside our solar system that shot Voyager 6 to the far side of the galaxy might have sent the Yankee and Commie colony ships back in time, so maybe they are thousands of years old.

 

[BillJ]

I'd would just add back in that line which explains that these Yangs and Coms were actually just guys from Earth who moved offworld to continue their fight. It makes the presence of the flag and the Constitution so much more sensical when you know that they were simply brought from Earth instead of developing independently.

Which would have made no sense within the episode itself...

Wu (or Woo) had seen 42 years of the red bird which occurred every eleven years. Which made Wu over four-hundred and sixty years old. His father was well over a thousand (this is information provided by Captain Tracey). Plus the time it took for the biological elements to change their life spans. You're probably looking at events that occurred thousands of years in Earth's past.

I love how often people say, "just throw in a line about them being from Earth". You can tell the people who are actually paying attention when watching.

Two points: What is the orbital period (year) of Omega IV and what Earth year does this take place in? Most evidence in ST points to it being @ 200 years in the future, but it could have been much more, such as the implied 900 in "The Squire of Gothos".

Of course, the black hole just outside our solar system that shot Voyager 6 to the far side of the galaxy might have sent the Yankee and Commie colony ships back in time, so maybe they are thousands of years old.

I think I'll barf if they use time travel one more time. Just chalk it up to "Hodgkins' Law of Parallel Development".

 

[Admiral Buzzkill]

This show is what it is, and lovable in its peculiar way. I don't think I'd change a thing about it.

"Leave medicine to medical men, Captain. You found no fountain of youth here. People live longer here now because it's natural for them to."

You can't beat that, and certainly not Kelley's delivery. There's nothing you could do to this show to turn it from a guilty pleasure into a first-rate story, IMAO, so just enjoy.

 

[Mallory]

It really is a good episode up until the last 10 minutes or so. Too bad no one could find a better way to end it, since that's when it goes downhill in a hurry.

 

[Shatmandu]

As far as the "They've moved here from Earth! Holy shit!" deal, I'd be against that.

Arriving on a planet that has already gone through conflicts similar to 1965/66 Earth would be enough.

Think of it as "This is what happened when a similar planet went down the path we're on" rather than "Hey, they had a Jack Benny, too."

Same thing with "Miri". I'd rather that one was just on a randomly-continented M-class planet.

Joe, inventing a word

 

[BillJ]

This show is what it is, and lovable in its peculiar way. I don't think I'd change a thing about it.

"Leave medicine to medical men, Captain. You found no fountain of youth here. People live longer here now because it's natural for them to."

You can't beat that, and certainly not Kelley's delivery. There's nothing you could do to this show to turn it from a guilty pleasure into a first-rate story, IMAO, so just enjoy.

Still love Morgan Woodward's delivery of "We killed thousands and they still came!" Can't beat it.

 

[Admiral Buzzkill]

TOS was a gosh-wow, out-there kind of show for a youngster watching it in the 1960s. There was a frisson of wonder in that opening exchange - "Earth! / Not the Earth, another Earth. / Another Earth?" - and the image of the planet on the viewer that would be completely lost by substituting a prosaic explanation that might seem a little more plausible now. Sort of the same thing with "The Omega Glory," but "Miri" is a much better show.

 

[Admiral Buzzkill]

Still love Morgan Woodward's delivery of "We killed thousands and they still came!" Can't beat it.

That man was one scary bastard when his eyes popped.

That line is up there with Windom's "Don't you think I know that?"

And that theatricality was so essential to the kind of series TOS was - we were forever being told amazing, extravagant things that these people were seeing while we were looking at their faces instead of at the we-can't-afford-to-show-you-this cataclysm. Guys like Woodward and Shatner had to sell the situation pretty hard.

"These ruins stretch to the horizon" is one of my other favorite examples.

 

[Kelso]

He wasn't half bad in sunglasses, either.