TOS Revisited (for the umpteenth time)

[Willieck]

Nobody said it wasn't intended. It just hadn't been built yet when they shot that episode.

But had they actually been back to Earth to pick up a shuttle during their five year mission before the first shuttle made its appearance?

We just have to assume they've always been on board and weren't used for some reason.

Which brings us full circle. Why not?

(I know I know it's only a story)

 

[scotpens]

Naked Time - In the well known quote where Sulu says to Uhura “I'll protect you fair maiden” and she replies “Sorry, neither” on my DVD the word “lady” has been dubbed over “maiden” which completely spoils the joke. Obviously this must have upset somebody's sensibilities. Interestingly enough on the subtitles the original “maiden” is used.

Really? That sort of stupid censorship sucks! Is this only on DVDs sold in the UK or was the bowdlerizing done on US DVDs as well?

^^^I'm just wondering, if no shuttlecraft was ever intended until Galileo 7 episode, why did the model have what is obviously a shuttle bay as far back as The Cage?

When the FX for “The Cage” were shot, the Enterprise model had a smooth quarter-sphere at the back end of the secondary hull. The segmented shuttlebay doors were added for the second pilot. We don't know what was supposed to be back there originally.

I love Ruk though. (6ft 9in) I thought he reminded me of Lurch but I have just discovered it is the same guy.

The actor was Ted Cassidy, who also provided the booming fake voice of Balok in “The Corbomite Manuever.”

I thought that had to do with the expense of landing the ship each week.

No doubt that was an important production issue, but it was also mentioned as a logic problem. Why subject a ship to all the stress of atmospheric entry and a controlled landing, only to have to use so much power to blast the whole thing into orbit again?

Not sure they were thinking along those lines. its not a real ship. And I cant say I've read any behind the scenes stories or books to indicate this.

Having the ship stay in orbit was a story consideration as well as a budgetary one. G.R. wanted to get the characters into the stories quickly, without having to take up time to show a huge spaceship landing on a planet.

. . . One thing that always puzzled me about the plot was the reason given for Vina being so malformed. She says that the aliens (I can't remember their name) had never seen a human being and had nothing to go on when putting her back together again. However they themselves were fully humanoid albeit with strange heads so I think that they could have used their own bodies as a template and made a better job than they did.

Or, being fully telepathic, the Talosians could simply have read Vina's mind to find out what humans were supposed to look like.

The explanation for Vina's deformities may have made more sense in Gene Roddenberry's first story outline for the pilot, in which Captain Robert April (yep!) was captured by aliens resembling giant crabs.

 

[Hartzilla2007]

Just watched The Menagerie (both parts). I think that this was the one which really caught my imagination way back in the sixties. What struck me again was the standard of acting in the extracts from The Cage. The one exception was surprisingly Leonard Nimoy who was wooden and truly awful. Does anyone know why he was limping very noticeably when they first landed on the planet? Also a grinning Spock just didn't seem right. Thank goodness he quickly improved as he got into the part. The doctor was a good character.

One thing that always puzzled me about the plot was the reason given for Vina being so malformed. She says that the aliens (I can't remember their name) had never seen a human being and had nothing to go on when putting her back together again. However they themselves were fully humanoid albeit with strange heads so I think that they could have used their own bodies as a template and made a better job than they did.

Still, a good episode.

The limp was to imply an injury that happened on their previous mission.(when Pike's Yeoman was killed) I think other characters had on bandages as well.

Also as to the smiling Spock, he wasn't the logical Vulcan until Number One was dropped before that he was the emotional Martian. Also Spock smilied in Charlie X.

 

[Forbin]

^^^I'm just wondering, if no shuttlecraft was ever intended until Galileo 7 episode, why did the model have what is obviously a shuttle bay as far back as The Cage?

Nobody said it wasn't intended. It just hadn't been built yet when they shot that episode.

But had they actually been back to Earth to pick up a shuttle during their five year mission before the first shuttle made its appearance?

Awfully literal-minded, aren't we?
Is going back to Earth the only way a TV spaceship can have shuttlecraft?

Watched "What are Little Girls.......? again last night. What always strikes me is this. Before they beam down to the planet it is said that the temperature is minus 100 degrees (C or F ? - makes little difference - still damned cold) They beam down in their ordinary uniform (Christine with bare legs) and guess what? - not even a shiver even though they stand outside for a few minutes before going into the cave. Same with the security guards. At that temperature they would need some pretty warm clothing to survive a just few minutes I would have thought.

I love Ruk though. (6ft 9in) I thought he reminded me of Lurch but I have just discovered it is the same guy.

They were never outside. They materialized in the mouth of the cave, inside a clear plexi wall.

How do we know?

Watch the episode again. They beam in, then turn and look outside thru a big pane of glass. You can even see their reflections in it.

 

[Willieck]

Forbin Wrote

Watch the episode again. They beam in, then turn and look outside thru a big pane of glass. You can even see their reflections in it.

OK will do. Thanks

 

[Willieck]

Just watched Galileo Seven. They really do give Spock a hard time. I bet he found it very hard to control his emotions and not belt someone.

This was quite a good story which was slightly spoilt by being very stagy. The suspense was there but never for a second were we fooled into thinking that they were really in a Shuttle on a strange planet. Good fun though with some good lines for McCoy.

 

[Warped9]

Today TOS (or something like it) likely wouldn't have to rely so much on planetary sets on sound stages, but would more likely shoot onsite. Stargate is a good example of this. Shoot outside then just touch up the image with some colour and some weird looking moon in the sky and there you go: alien planet.

 

[Captain Robert April]

When the FX for “The Cage” were shot, the Enterprise model had a smooth quarter-sphere at the back end of the secondary hull. The segmented shuttlebay doors were added for the second pilot. We don't know what was supposed to be back there originally.

YES, WE DO! That section was always intended to be the shuttlecraft hangar deck; it even shows up in the preliminary drawing that sold the design in the first frelling place.

There are all kinds of rationalizations we can cook up for why they didn't use a shuttlecraft in "The Enemy Within", but lack of a hangar deck and/or shuttlecraft ain't one of 'em.

 

[scotpens]

^^ Since the above drawings are straight from the horse's mouth, as it were, I stand humbly corrected.

 

[Captain Robert April]

Roddenberry's crack about that episode ("Because we hadn't built it yet") was more of a comment on the realities of production than any in-story reason. It was also behind the reasoning of having Picard do a walk-through of Engineering in "Encounter At Farpoint", to make sure they had that set from the very beginning, instead of having to wait until they had a script to justify the expense of building it later.

 

[Gary7]

It's so important to keep in mind the context...

It was the mid to late 1960's. Television production budgets were quite limited compared to the shows of today. And even then, Star Trek broke records. It's amazing how much they achieved given what they had, though.

Also, remember that they had an aggressive shooting schedule. There wasn't that much time for reconsideration and many takes. TOS (The Original Series) has its share of inconsistencies and problems, but... in the end, they're not that many. The show holds up rather well, especially with the enhanced graphics in the remakes.

 

[Willieck]

Last night watched "Tomorrow is Yesterday" I know that they are not everybody's cup of tea but I love the time travel episodes in all the ST series. The "science" of time warp in this episode to return to the "present" seemed particularly hard to follow but what the heck. They had only got to warp 8 was it when the ship's clock started to go backwards (?)

I love the look on the guard's face when he lands on the ship.

 

[THX1138]

Heard somewhere that "Tomorrow is Yesterday" was originally planned as "Part II" to "The Naked Time". Not sure how true that is.

You'll notice that "The Naked Time" ENDS with an accidental time warp and "Tomorrow is Yesterday" BEGINS with one... very interesting.

 

[Willieck]

Just watched Court Martial and Return of the Archons back to back. The first is not without flaws but on the whole is a very good "serious" episode with some very good acting. Kirk's lawyer is brilliant. It did just strike me that it was very convenient that the doc just happened to have a gadget which could mask individual heart beats but we'll put that on one side. Even Kirk's ex girlfriend (the prosecutor) had more than a couple of brain cells to rub together for once.

The other episode, Return of the Archons. Total contrast! A load of Dingo's Kidneys.

 

[Captrek]

I know that they are not everybody's cup of tea but I love the time travel episodes in all the ST series.

Time travel may be overused, but it has unquestionably provided some of Trek’s best stories.

The City on the Edge of Forever
Yesteryear
The Voyage Home
Yesterday’s Enterprise
Tapestry
All Good Things...
Trials and Tribble-ations
Far Beyond the Stars
The Visitor
ST09

I consider Cause and Effect, Time’s Arrow, and First Contact to be overrated, but they certainly don’t suck.

And though I know little of ENT, I understand that In a Mirror, Darkly is generally considered the high point of that series.

 

[Forbin]

Forbin Wrote

Watch the episode again. They beam in, then turn and look outside thru a big pane of glass. You can even see their reflections in it.

OK will do. Thanks

Here we go:
http://tos.trekcore.com/hd/albums/1x07hd/whatarelittlegirlsmadeofhd065.jpg
http://tos.trekcore.com/hd/albums/1x07hd/whatarelittlegirlsmadeofhd067.jpg

 

[Gary7]

Heard somewhere that "Tomorrow is Yesterday" was originally planned as "Part II" to "The Naked Time". Not sure how true that is.

You'll notice that "The Naked Time" ENDS with an accidental time warp and "Tomorrow is Yesterday" BEGINS with one... very interesting.

Very good point. It does make sense... although "Naked Time" does look a bit dated in comparison, "Tomorrow is Yesterday" definitely fits in well behind it (even better if they just kept going from the Naked, right into the future of Tomorrow).

 

[Captrek]

Seems kinda arbitrary. I don’t see why they would connect those two stories except for the gimmick of a cliff-hanger.

 

[Captain Robert April]

It happens to be true. "Tomorrow Is Yesterday" was intended to be the next episode after "The Naked Time" but the wonderful chaos we know as television production caused the two episodes to be separated in the production schedule, forcing them to tack on an ending to "The Naked Time" and come up with some other reason for the Enterprise be thrown back to 1969.

 

[Captrek]

It happens to be true. "Tomorrow Is Yesterday" was intended to be the next episode after "The Naked Time" but the wonderful chaos we know as television production caused the two episodes to be separated in the production schedule, forcing them to tack on an ending to "The Naked Time" and come up with some other reason for the Enterprise be thrown back to 1969.

I don’t doubt it’s true, but thank goodness for the wonderful chaos. Not that it would be bad to connect TNT and TIY that way, all other things being equal, but it could so quickly have evolved into a traditional biepisodial cliffhanger like the West/Ward Batman series.