Latest acquisition!

Issue 2 of the Eaglemoss STD collection with cane with Discovery. It’s a nice model but it doesn’t actually spin which is a pity. The next issue is one of those god awful Klingon designs so I’ll probably put that in the toilet or something.

 

I wouldn't worry, and to be honest, unless @trampledamage says otherwise, regardless of how excitable they get, no-one can tell you (including myself) what to post regarding your latest purchases, whether it's Star Trek or not.

 

I didn't intend that as trying to tell him what to do, it was an honest question.

 

Does that mean you also ask dishonest questions?

 

Sometimes I do ask sarcastic questions.

 

*coughs politely*

This is meant as a thread for Star Trek acquisitions, although I'm not going to complain if one of you gets super-excited about buying something else.

If that Green Lantern comic does involve a crossover with Star Trek, then it does count. and anyway thribs is now clear on the rules so everyone can get back to posting photos of all their merchandise and memorabilia that I, personally, will never be able to afford

 

I'm sure you ask what you think might sound sarcastic.

 

I have ordered three Trek novels:

VOY: Architects of Infinity
TOS: Das Gewicht der Welten (The Weight of Worlds)
DS9: Vorherrschaft (Ascendance)

Waiting for the books to arrive next week.....

 

The books arrived today, I'm very happy.

 

Okay, it must've been a much better episode in that timeline, then.

And has that ever happened? A show being cancelled and replaced by its own backdoor-piloted spinoff, rather than the spinoff airing alongside it?

 

But both shows aired side by side for a dozen seasons. Knots Landing just lasted another couple of years after Dallas finally ended. That's not unusual. Lots of spinoffs outlive their originals, but it's after coexisting with them for a while (like how Deep Space Nine coexisted with TNG for two years and then ran for another five). The situation you describe in the book is a one-to-one exchange with no coexistence, the parent show being cancelled to make room for its own brand-new spinoff. That is unusual, because the normal goal for a spinoff is to exist alongside the original, to expand the franchise, rather than just replacing the original. I mean, that's inherent in the word "spinoff," which is by analogy with centrifugal force throwing something off and away from a spinning body.

Also not the same. That's a revamp and rebranding of a single show. Like The Andy Griffith Show becoming Mayberry R.F.D. when Griffith left. The lead departs but the remaining cast and format continue under a different title. A backdoor pilot is usually either for a totally new character introduced as a guest, or for an existing character being set up in a new and different format.

 

When looking through Eaglemoss's collection of starships I was surprised to see that they did the Phase II concept Enterprise. Almost the perfect mid-point between the series and movie incarnations of the ship, a version that never existed (or that we never got a chance to see) and there it is. I would love for them to do the Koerner's concept Enterprise, that would be amazing. For the time being, though, I just had to get my hands on the Phase II Enterprise. And now I have!

 

According to Inside Star Trek, the idea that the second-season letter campaign "saved Trek from cancellation" is a myth. There's no proof that NBC actually planned to cancel the show; at most, it was "on the bubble," its fate not yet decided either way. And the letter campaign was much smaller than Roddenberry claimed afer the fact. What got ST renewed for a third season was the same thing that gets most on-the-bubble shows renewed: an agreement between the producers and the network to cut the show's budget. (Which is why Season 3 used fewer guest stars and extras, did barely any location filming, commissioned fewer original music scores, rewrote episodes like "The Mark of Gideon" into bottle shows, etc. Much like Batman '66 earned a third season through budget cuts, leading to more minimalist sets, fewer elaborate deathtrap props, fewer henchmen, shorter fight scenes, etc. And how Agents of SHIELD's current fifth season is almost entirely a bottle show on standing sets.)

And yes, I suppose it's theoretically possible that a backdoor pilot could impress the network enough to get a series commitment even while the original show was cancelled at the same time. Still, my question remains about whether it's ever actually happened. If neither of us can think of a real-life example, that argues that it's fairly improbable.

If budget is the primary factor that determines shows' renewal or cancellation (and it usually is), then I suppose it stands to reason that an Assignment: Earth series would be less costly than Star Trek because it would be set on present-day Earth and wouldn't need as much VFX work or alien sets and costumes or futuristic props. It would've basically been a pseudo-spy show in which the primary SF elements were the futuristic gadgets and techniques Gary and Roberta used to solve present-day problems. So in that respect, one could argue that made it more likely to get picked up than ST, all else being equal. But I think (again going by Inside Star Trek) that NBC executives liked having a show as imaginative and smart and different as ST on their network, while A:E would've been more formulaic and conventional, basically another Mission: Impossible or Man from UNCLE sort of show. (The Man from AEGIS?) I'm not sure what would've had to be different to lead to an outcome where A:E was picked up and ST was dropped. Certainly a better pilot episode, as I said. Possibly leads that the network liked more than Lansing and Garr, or who were bigger names at the time.

There's also the fact that the reason A:E was done as a Trek episode was because GR had already failed to get anyone interested in it as a standalone half-hour series back in '66. I've read the original pilot script, and it wasn't very good -- it read like an unfunny alien-fish-out-of-water sitcom with shades of My Favorite Martian, and with "Catspaw"-style villains whose advanced alien technology was indistinguishable from Hollywood witchcraft and dark magic. The later series proposal spinning out of the Trek episode was less campy and more thoughtful, but it still didn't garner any interest from the networks. It wasn't until GR reworked the premise into The Questor Tapes that he got a series commitment (which fell through when GR refused to drop the best parts and turn it into a Fugitive clone like the network wanted). So it's possible that the core characters just didn't interest the networks enough.

 

I got the new issue of the Star trek magazine there's alot of good articles celebrating the 25th anniversary of Deep space nine.

 

I just took advantage of this month's Star Trek e-book sale got the three Prey books for only $1.99 each.