How do you write a brilliant ep like ULTIMATE COMPUTER but then go and

[Sky]

Re: How do you write a brilliant ep like ULTIMATE COMPUTER but then go

To those of you who find the humor inappropriate, would you have the entire cast sink deeper into depression at the end of each episode?

I think there's some room between sinking into depression and guffawing on the bridge after scores have died. Of course life must go on and the crew must learn to deal, but the way some episodes ended almost on a forced upbeat note just did not seem all that realistic to me and thus left a feeling about the episodes in question.

(It's a completely different matter if the whole episode is light and funny, such as Trouble with Tribbles or Shore Leave.)

 

[plynch]

Re: How do you write a brilliant ep like ULTIMATE COMPUTER but then go

Many serious dramas don't end with a chuckle at the end, and people seem to be ok with that.

The common chuckle-ending was lame, a nod to middle-brow, 1960s, Lawrence Welkish sensibilities. Plus they're usually not actually, you know . . . funny, either. Cue the cute, chuckle music. . . .

 

[Robert D. Robot]

Re: How do you write a brilliant ep like ULTIMATE COMPUTER but then go

To those of you who find the humor inappropriate, would you have the entire cast sink deeper into depression at the end of each episode? That would make for a highly ineffective crew. Their mission is an extremely demanding one. They all knew what they were getting into and I think it is safe to assume that they were all told that many of them would not make it back. I think that someone embarking on such a mission must necessarily adopt an elevated sense of life and death and be prepared to engage in humor in the face of incredible tragedy.....

A present day parallel might be the soldiers fighting in Afghanistan. From what I understand of these guys, they don't write off the the losses of their cohorts with a joke.... at least not in the direct aftermath of a slaughter.

Maybe it is more the type of humor that seemed inappropriate to some. Some dark, bitter, black humor might have been understandable.... but not light, breezy, slap on the back type of humor.

Also, I don't believe that anyone here is criticizing the end of every episode of TOS. I think we are talking about certain episodes that involve a great loss of life.

 

[plynch]

Re: How do you write a brilliant ep like ULTIMATE COMPUTER but then go

Aptly put.

If I recall, Doomsday Machine ends on a jocular note. Spock says maybe there are more out there, and Kirk says the one was quite enough. Cue jokey music. . . .

 

[A.V.I.A.F.]

Re: How do you write a brilliant ep like ULTIMATE COMPUTER but then go

Of course life must go on and the crew must learn to deal, but the way some episodes ended almost on a forced upbeat note just did not seem all that realistic to me and thus left a feeling about the episodes in question.

Maybe it's just a 23rd century thing.

 

[Zaku]

Re: How do you write a brilliant ep like ULTIMATE COMPUTER but then go

In Operation: Annihilate!, the brother of Kirk DIES!!! And the episodes ends with jokes about vulcan ears!

 

[Greg Cox]

Re: How do you write a brilliant ep like ULTIMATE COMPUTER but then go

At least "City on the Edge of Forever" didn't end with a joke about mechanical rice-pickers. "I always wondered how you got those ears, Mr. Spock . . . ."

 

[plynch]

Re: How do you write a brilliant ep like ULTIMATE COMPUTER but then go

In Operation: Annihilate!, the brother of Kirk DIES!!! And the episodes ends with jokes about vulcan ears!

Perfect example. Brother dies, then humdy-dum, on to the next planet. Plus that ep has the deus-ex-eyelids we never heard of before or since. Oh, well.

 

[Zaku]

Re: How do you write a brilliant ep like ULTIMATE COMPUTER but then go

Perfect example. Brother dies, then humdy-dum, on to the next planet. Plus that ep has the deus-ex-eyelids we never heard of before or since. Oh, well.

And what about his freshly orphaned nephew?

Edit:
And in a deleted scene Kirk leaves Peter with a stranger couple, but it's ok, because they "always wanted a boy."

http://www.fastcopyinc.com/orionpress/articles/operationannihilate.htm

 

[RandyS]

Re: How do you write a brilliant ep like ULTIMATE COMPUTER but then go

Okay, here's a question for all the fans who can't seem to do anything but bitch about happy endings anymore: How would YOU have the episodes end?

Here's your chance: educate me.

 

[Harvey]

Re: How do you write a brilliant ep like ULTIMATE COMPUTER but then go

Who here has been complaining about happy endings? People are complaining about ending episodes with very serious events (i.e. hundreds of deaths, or significant individual deaths) with a lame joke and a forced chuckle.

Of course, the series didn't always do this (see the example of "The City on the Edge of Forever"). That's how you land an ending.

(Which is not to say that an episode can't end on a joke; the end of "The Trouble with Tribbles" was perfectly in key with the tone of the episode).

 

[T'Girl]

Re: How do you write a brilliant ep like ULTIMATE COMPUTER but then go

Plus that ep has the deus-ex-eyelids we never heard of before or since.

In which of the prior twenty-eight episode do you feel it would have been appropriate to bring it up?

McCoy: "Do you find Mudd's women attractive Mr. Spock?"

Spock: "Fortunately Doctor, Vulcans have a inner eyelid that ... "

 

[Harvey]

Re: How do you write a brilliant ep like ULTIMATE COMPUTER but then go

Plus that ep has the deus-ex-eyelids we never heard of before or since.

In which of the prior twenty-eight episode do you feel it would have been appropriate to bring it up?

McCoy: "Do you find Mudd's women attractive Mr. Spock?"

Spock: "Fortunately Doctor, Vulcans have a inner eyelid that ... "

That ending has always been a cheat. It allows Dr. McCoy to make a grave mistake (heightening the drama) that doesn't have any consequences. Spock might as well have come onto the bridge at the end of the episode and said, "Captain, the end credits begin in three minutes, so forget everything that happened, I am fine."

I've often wondered if the ending made it through because of a time crunch at the end of the season that didn't provide time for a proper re-write.

 

[alchemist]

Re: How do you write a brilliant ep like ULTIMATE COMPUTER but then go

That ending has always been a cheat. It allows Dr. McCoy to make a grave mistake (heightening the drama) that doesn't have any consequences. Spock might as well have come onto the bridge at the end of the episode and said, "Captain, the end credits begin in three minutes, so forget everything that happened, I am fine."

I've often wondered if the ending made it through because of a time crunch at the end of the season that didn't provide time for a proper re-write.

Interestingly, each successive draft of the O--A script, starting with the final, focuses the ending resolution more and more on Spock and less and less on McCoy. All of the drafts mention the damage to Spock's optic (or optical) nerve, but then...


1. The 1/24/67 final draft has an "epilogue" that has Spock being impressed with McCoy because of his use of "impulse surgery" to repair the damage to his optic nerve. (McCoy then assembles medical crews to work on the planets population).


2. The next revision of the script (1/27/67-2/10/67) has McCoy being relatively passive during the epilogue, and telling Kirk, after Spock's miraculous recovery, that he did nothing to help Spock -- it's just that "his [Spock's] optic nerve isn't the same as those of the humans." (Spock adds that "the brightness of the Vulcan sun has given [the Vulcans] a built-in shield to high intensity light.")


3. Finally, in the next revision (2/13/67, and as broadcast), McCoy tells us that Spock's optical nerves aren't the same as the humans. But it's Spock that tells us that he isn't blind because of "the brightness of the Vulcan sun has caused the development of an inner eyelid."


FWIW.

 

[Zaku]

Re: How do you write a brilliant ep like ULTIMATE COMPUTER but then go

Spock: Captain, I find it illogically disturbing that nobody at present is thinking of your freshly orphaned nephew.

Kirk: (smirking) Well, a LIVE nephew is better than a DEAD one, Mr. Spock.

Spock: (raising an eyebrow) Indeed. (Leaning over his viewer. Shoulders tremble ever so slightly.)

Kirk chuckles twice as Sulu and Farrell grin at each other. Cue MENAGERIE-style end music, roll credits.

I believe they tried to explain the original silly ending in the novel Provenace of Shadows...

 

[Darrell Pitt]

Re: How do you write a brilliant ep like ULTIMATE COMPUTER but then go

I hate to say it, but the nightly news employs a similar technique. I think the original episodes (and the news) use it to end the program on an upbeat as opposed to a downbeat.

Every night we see horrible things on the news. They they misdirect us with sports news. Then they finish off with the talking dog story or the world record for yoyo-ing.

How I long to kill that talking dog...and that yoyo person...how I long to cut their string....damn them...

 

[Darrell Pitt]

Re: How do you write a brilliant ep like ULTIMATE COMPUTER but then go

Not all news has to downbeat......but of course it should be NEWS. National news loves to finish up with happy non-news. Holly Hunter criticized this trend in 1987's BROADCAST NEWS.

Local news stations are probably even worse, for pathetic nightly scare tactics. Every evening it goes like this: ''News of a new virus/yogurt/poisoning/red ant swarm/bacteria/rotting wood/fill in the blank which could endanger your children!''
Gee, thanks, newscasters, but what about YOUR children???
Shouldn't they be ashamed to hear their moronic parents read this stuff?

You're so right about the scare tactics. The so called 'current affairs' programs are busy getting you scared about something that has been around for years and you probably never need worry about.

And 'world news' is, of course, limited to where the media happens to have a tv camera. Thank god that everyone is a journalist now with their mobile phone.

To quote another sci-fi program...we control the horizontal...we control the vertical...

 

[Redfern]

Re: How do you write a brilliant ep like ULTIMATE COMPUTER but then go

I've mentioned this in this forum before, but I'll say it again. This is a case where a "Checkov's gun" was needed. Remember the sequence when the one man ship plummets into the Denevan sun and everyone on the bridge was squinting against the light? (Logically, one would reason the video feed would have been processed by software to dim the light, but we'll skip that oversight.) They could have depicted Spock staring at the screen with nary a flinch, not a single blink. Have a brief shot of Kirk turning away from the glare and noticing Spock's pose. Just a quick, quizzled "take", suggesting a "huh?" Then, when we come to the conclusion of the episode and Spock comments upon his "inner eyelid", we could had Kirk project an expression of dawning realization. Or, if the point might be lost, have Kirk start to say, "So that explains why ...when that ship dove into the sun, you didn't..." or something to that effect. Then at least it's not a dramatic cheat to draw false sympathies. One or two extra shots during the "suicide run" and one extra line of dialogue (which I'm sure Shatner would not have minded). "Cheat" averted.

Sincerely,

Bill

 

[Sindatur]

Re: How do you write a brilliant ep like ULTIMATE COMPUTER but then go

Didn't we see something about the inner eyelid in the Diana Muldaur episode (In Beauty There is No Truth?). I thought it was in both that episode and the one where Kirk's brother is killed?

 

[Redfern]

Re: How do you write a brilliant ep like ULTIMATE COMPUTER but then go

If there was, it wouldn't have helped the "dramatic cheat" in "Operation..." as that was a first season epi' and "...In Truth..." was third season.

Sincerely,

Bill