Your "last episode" and syndication cuts.

Discussion in 'Star Trek - The Original & Animated Series' started by Grant, Feb 22, 2021.

  1. Methuselah Flint

    Methuselah Flint Fleet Captain Fleet Captain

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    I have the b/w version.
     
  2. tomswift2002

    tomswift2002 Commodore Commodore

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    When I went through I was figuring there might’ve been another 5 minutes. Plus who knows how much footage was lost between the 1966 “Menagerie” edit and Roddenberry’s “acquisition” of the Star Trek trims.
     
  3. Maurice

    Maurice Snagglepussed Admiral

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    Fully b&w?
     
  4. alchemist

    alchemist Captain Captain

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    I don't think Roddenberry ever had a 16 mm version that could be considered a "full cut," if you define this phrase as all of the shot footage assembled into one print. It's clear from both the documents in the UCLA archives and film in my collection that the 35 mm workprint underwent considerable editing as the pilot was refined, and several sequences were shortened. An example of this is the Orion illusion sequence. They originally shot all the scripted scenes but they trimmed them in the first version of the workprint (which they dubbed the "long" version). Then, at some point, these scenes were trimmed even further to create a shorter version of the workprint. It's this latter version that made it into the 16 mm copy (and the final pilot).

    I think there was enough extra film to add ca.10 min but I don't know if all of those minutes would have been quality ones.
     
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  5. Methuselah Flint

    Methuselah Flint Fleet Captain Fleet Captain

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    Yep. From a Portuguese VHS.
     
  6. Methuselah Flint

    Methuselah Flint Fleet Captain Fleet Captain

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    A pity we can't see your extra footage...
     
  7. Methuselah Flint

    Methuselah Flint Fleet Captain Fleet Captain

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    What complicates things further, is that there are two soundtracks for The Menagerie as well. The originally broadcast version, as per the mono audio on the Blu Ray's, and then a newer version which added some of the newer orchestral music, added an additional 'sting' when Pike phases into his first illusion, and smoothed out some of the previously edited music cues. (This I think was part of the first 'remastering', with ship rumble added to all external shots etc, but I think The Menagerie was one they played around with more so.)

    A lot of differences between each version, lies in the audio more than the visual. Although the complete b/w print does have a few moments of footage not seen since.
     
  8. mb22

    mb22 Fleet Captain Fleet Captain

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  9. RAMA

    RAMA Admiral Admiral

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    I watched Trek casually when I was younger in the 70s, but when I became a Trekkie, I kept a list of the episodes. One of the last ones, if not THE last was "The Changeling". I believe I finally saw that one in the early 80s.

    Since you're being a bit more technical about "uncut" episodes :) I probably watched about 75% of them on Bluray in 2012-2013.

    RAMA

     
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  10. Sir Rhosis

    Sir Rhosis Commodore Commodore

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    Began watching in 1973. Last one that eluded me until about 1981 or 82 was "Wink of an Eye." Saw uncut on VHS in the mid-late 80s.

    Sir Rhosis
     
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  11. Methuselah Flint

    Methuselah Flint Fleet Captain Fleet Captain

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    As a young boy in the 90s, I caught some of the latter half of the third season repeats on the BBC here in the UK. We recorded a few onto VHS. So looking at broadcast order, I would say Wink of an Eye would have to be my first episode, although since we taped them it could also have been E of T, Let That..., That Which Survives, Mark of Gideon or the very first UK airing of Whom God's Destroy.

    I then have extremely blurred nightmarish images of Zetar, bits of The Cloud Minders (which I think we did tape but it got lost), a vague image of the hippies from WTE on the Enterprise, and then a very very vague image of possibly Rayna. I think I recall her and an 'altar' (my Christian upbringing and Flint's house looking like our old vicarage probably blurred it all!!) The 'altar' image, was probably Natira kneeling to talk to the Oracle from For The World. I do remember a miniature Scott being frozen in time on the bridge.

    My final episode is a tricky one. After those last season three episodes, Trek went to a re-run from Season One a few years later, and concurrently the three episodes per tape were released. We bought a fair few of those tapes. Strictly speaking, Requiem for Methuselah would probably be my last episode, as the final three episodes we got copies of in the mean time. However, since I skipped Zetar for many years, due to the nightmarish scene of the technician changing colors scaring me as a kid, I guess strictly speaking, a proper adult watch of that would make Zetar my final episode.

    The only time I saw any syndication cuts, was when I 'acquired' US broadcasts of TOS-R. But I believe these replicated the previous cuts, as per the TOS Nitpickers' Guide.
     
    Last edited: Feb 28, 2021
  12. Hofner

    Hofner Commodore Commodore

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    I was only six at the time but I still remember seeing "The Man Trap" when it was first broadcast in '66. I even distinctly remember it was in black and white, we didn't get our first color tv until '68.

    Apart from that, my memory is spotty, but I saw very little of the 1st and the 2nd season. Not because I didn't want to watch the show but because the rest of my family didn't like it so I kept getting outvoted. Being only six or seven years old, I probably ranted about rigged or stolen elections or something. But anyway, when the third season came along I was able to watch about two thirds of it on our new color tv. "All Our Yesterdays" was the last first run episode I saw, "Turnabout Intruder" was delayed and I simply missed it.

    It wasn't long before the syndication run started, at least by 1970 and here in Charlotte NC the rerun episodes were shown Monday to Friday at 6 p.m.

    Although the station ran through every episode in the catalog before repeating, they showed them in random order. As far as I knew then at the start of the syndication of Star Trek, there was no nitpicking about production, airdate or stardate order. Yes, I can see a lot of you folks putting your hands to your mouths in horror.

    So I know for sure I caught every episode when they were reran in the early '70s. When I got The World of Star Trek in 1973, I had long seen every ep in the list.
    And since they were in random order, I can't remember which unseen episode was the last one I saw.

    Somewhere in the first few weeks of watching ST reruns, there's one time I settled down to watch that I vividly remember. As the show started, I was disgusted because instead of being a ST ep, what the station was showing was some contemporary show with a contemporary jet fighter plane taking off; for some reason, Star Trek had been pre-empted. Disappointed and irritated that I wouldn't be getting my Star Trek fix, I was coming close to getting up to either change the channel or turn the tv off and go find something else to do when suddenly, there was the Enterprise in the blue skies of Earth.

    I'm sure all of you know what episode it was, they had almost fooled me into changing the channel. It was a good thing we didn't have remotes in those days for there's a chance I might have changed channels before the Enterprise appeared.

    There's a little oddity about my memories of rerun watching in the early '70s. For me, there's two types of 3rd season episode, those that were s3 eps and those that were not.

    What am I talking about?

    As I mentioned, during the first run of the third season, I saw only about two thirds of it, 16 to 18 episodes. So when I saw the rest of the show in random order reruns, I remembered the s3 eps I had seen while the s3 eps I had not seen were mixed in with the s1 and s2 eps I also hadn't seen.
    I won't list them all but I thought "Turnabout Intruder", "The Lights of Zetar", and "Wink of an Eye" for example, were either s1 or s2 episode. It wasn't until I got TWoST that I realized they were s3 episodes.

    It was in late 1985 when my dad got our first VCR, In fact, he got it to tape the Superbowl of '86 with the Chicago Bears, we had moved to the Chicago area in '73.

    I was lucky because the guy who owned the video rental store down the street was a Star Trek fan and he got every ST release that came out back then. At first there was just a few two episode tapes that were not all that great in picture quality, I think they were made from 16 mm film but they were uncut. The very first one I rented had "Balance of Terror" and "Space Seed".

    I don't know if they were cutting the show for commercial time right from the bedinning of syndication but if they were, this most likely was the very first time I saw certain scenes ever.

    Not long after that in about '86 or '87, the paramount single ep tapes started coming out with much better picture quality and the guy at the rental place got each and every one of them as they came out. So that's when I finally saw every episode uncut.

    Since they were released in production order, "Turnabout Intruder" was the last episode that I saw uncut.

    Well yeah, actually the uncut "The Cage" was the last but it's kind of a special case.

    Robert
     
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  13. Grant

    Grant Commodore Commodore

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    I was also 6 when the show premiered in 1966 but I can't honestly say that I ever saw any of the episodes first run. the first episode I clearly remember seeing must have been in 1970 and was the Savage Curtain which is kind of a exciting episode for 10 year-old because of fact it featured Abraham Lincoln and was also something of an action episode.
     
  14. johnnybear

    johnnybear Rear Admiral Rear Admiral

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    Technically my last 'new' episodes would be Plato's Stepchildren :thumbdown: and Whom Gods Destroy :crazy: on a rental video tape released in 1982 to cash in on Wrath of Khan with both Space Seed and The Empath together! Now as everyone knows I am no fan of Plato or Gods but I do sort of like The Empath even if it is a retelling of The Cage in a sort of a way! :techman:
    JB
     
  15. Noname Given

    Noname Given Fleet Admiral Admiral

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    ^^^
    I had the same reaction the first time I saw the episode "Tomorrow Is Yesterday" - (it was in syndication) - and the station in LA at that time (KCOP 13 ) had a habit of moving or just stopping to shop episodes os Star Trek for a time.

    I was upset and disappointed but even at that age (I think I was 8 or 9) I liked War films and Jets so I said, "Okay, might as well see what THIS show is..." and a minute later..."Oh! Okay...":rommie:
     
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  16. MGagen

    MGagen Fleet Captain Fleet Captain

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    Saw the first broadcast episode in '66 at the tender age of 5.

    Watched off and on through the original run.

    Watched reruns in syndication throughout the 70s, seeing most episodes many times, but somehow never managing to catch Wolf in the Fold.

    Finally, in the mid-80s, when the episodes were being released on VHS, my local movie rental place had them for rent.

    Ordered myself a pizza, rented WITF, and after 20 years of being a Trekker, finally saw that last remaining episode!
     
  17. CorporalCaptain

    CorporalCaptain Fleet Admiral Admiral

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    I first saw every episode in syndication in the 1970s. I, too, had The World of Star Trek as my first (complete) episode guide.* Back in those days where I lived, it was catch-as-catch-can, irregular viewing, sometimes in the afternoon, sometimes late at night. Sometimes there was a synopsis in the TV Guide, whereas other times not.** The final episode I saw this way, to complete the list, was "The Squire of Gothos."

    * - The Making of Star Trek lacks season three.
    ** - That was generally irrelevant though, because only something unavoidable kept me from watching whenever it was on. :whistle:
     
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  18. J.T.B.

    J.T.B. Rear Admiral Rear Admiral

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    Funny, that was one of the episodes that I saw so often I would think "Not again!" if it came on. But I'd watch it anyway. Also I distinctly remember a kid at elementary school saying he'd seen a Star Trek where they met up with "a guy like Liberace" and I knew what he was talking about.
     
  19. CorporalCaptain

    CorporalCaptain Fleet Admiral Admiral

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    :lol:
     
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  20. Noname Given

    Noname Given Fleet Admiral Admiral

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    ^^^
    That's how I saw the character as a kid too when watching that episode.
     
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