By Any Other Name: A New Perspective

[Methuselah Flint]

Two things I spotted from watching this tonight that I didn't spot until tonight, after many many viewings!!

1) Kirk is below in main engineering, distracting Tomar, whilst Scott and Spock sneak into the upper gallery where the paralysis projector is located. Up until now, I thought it was an extra playing a lower rank officer, such as Billy Blackburn.

2) It is the result of McCoy's injections that causes Hanar to become aggressive toward Rojan on the bridge. (I thought until tonight it was simply a result of becoming human!)

Interesting - or indeed fascinating - how we can still pick up things so late after first watching.

Thoughts? And do others have similar experiences about this or other episodes?

 

[ZapBrannigan]

Two things I spotted from watching this tonight that I didn't spot until tonight, after many many viewings!!

1) Kirk is below in main engineering, distracting Tomar, whilst Scott and Spock sneak into the upper gallery where the paralysis projector is located. Up until now, I thought it was an extra playing a lower rank officer, such as Billy Blackburn.

2) It is the result of McCoy's injections that causes Hanar to become aggressive toward Rojan on the bridge. (I thought until tonight it was simply a result of becoming human!)

Interesting - or indeed fascinating - how we can still pick up things so late after first watching.

Thoughts? And do others have similar experiences about this or other episodes?

I NEVER noticed the first item, but always thought the second one was super-obvious.

The thing with Kirk being in the scene behind Spock and Scotty is great to discover, though. We tend to focus on the foreground, so I'd be surprised if much of anyone watching in the Standard Definition era ever saw him back there. And I'd say, the only reason they had Kirk back there instead of a nameless crewman is that the whole crew had been reduced to cubes, so only the stars of the show were eligible to play the scene.

I'm struggling to think of another whole scene in TOS where Shatner himself played "background" only. This might be it.

 

[Phaser Two]

I NEVER noticed the first item, but always thought the second one was super-obvious.

The thing with Kirk being in the scene behind Spock and Scotty is great to discover, though. We tend to focus on the foreground, so I'd be surprised if much of anyone watching in the Standard Definition era ever saw him back there. And I'd say, the only reason they had Kirk back there instead of a nameless crewman is that the whole crew had been reduced to cubes, so only the stars of the show were eligible to play the scene.

Not quite - the scene happens before the barrier transit and almost everyone being cubed.

 

[ZapBrannigan]

Not quite - the scene happens before the barrier transit and almost everyone being cubed.

Oh, yeah. Then it's all the more interesting that Shatner himself was tapped for a background part that most viewers wouldn't even notice.

 

[Phaser Two]

Agreed! I thought it was a nice directorial touch to have him down there.

 

[alchemist]

Oh, yeah. Then it's all the more interesting that Shatner himself was tapped for a background part that most viewers wouldn't even notice.

Well, Shatner being in the background in the finished episode was really an editorial choice. As scripted, and looking at both the engineering room scene and the sickbay scene that preceded it, Shatner had a larger part that ended up being left on the cutting room floor. This is also supported by the film clip archive where numerous clips highlighting Shatner can be found.

 

[Methuselah Flint]

Well, Shatner being in the background in the finished episode was really an editorial choice. As scripted, and looking at both the engineering room scene and the sickbay scene that preceded it, Shatner had a larger part that ended up being left on the cutting room floor. This is also supported by the film clip archive where numerous clips highlighting Shatner can be found.

Are some of these clips available online to view?

 

[alchemist]

Are some of these clips available online to view?

Not that I'm aware of.

 

[Methuselah Flint]

Interesting... That's twice now, you've perhaps unintentionally 'teased' about unseen footage.

 

[Ssosmcin]

Oh, yeah. Then it's all the more interesting that Shatner himself was tapped for a background part that most viewers wouldn't even notice.

This scene totally went by me all these years and it's great! I wonder if it was Shatner's idea? It seems odd to ask the star, who could use a break when he's not needed, to spend time on set. But there he is, "Shatnering" in the background for, what? A few seconds? And even though we aren't meant to notice him, once you see him, you realize he's not being subtle!

 

[Spock's Barber]

Kirk tries to distract Tomar by telling him a really funny joke....

“How many Kelvins does it take to screw in a dilithium crystal?”

 

[Maurice]

Well, Shatner being in the background in the finished episode was really an editorial choice. As scripted, and looking at both the engineering room scene and the sickbay scene that preceded it, Shatner had a larger part that ended up being left on the cutting room floor. This is also supported by the film clip archive where numerous clips highlighting Shatner can be found.

I'm curious which version of the script you are looking at as regards the scenes after sickbay. The one Revised Final Draft (Nov. 7, 1967) I'm looking at now merely says that:

78 Kirk enters and begins to talk to Hanar (no dialog in script for this, so I wonder if Shatner just ad libbed)

79 Kirk and Spock in EMM, beyond which distracts Hanar and gets him to turn his back on the EMM

80 Back to Kirk who breaks off from Hanar to answer Rojan's call on the intercom

The scenes in question are on pages dated 11/8/1967 and 11/101967. Do you have something different?

 

[Methuselah Flint]

The version I have does have a little dialogue before Kirk leaves engineering. I will look when I am home.

 

[t_smitts]

I've never been able to enjoy this episode. It should've been a lighthearted premise with Kirk and the crew confusing the Kelvans with human emotions (like in "I, Mudd") before coming to an accord.

But we start with the Kelvans murdering poor Yeoman Leslie Thompson, I don't want to see the Kelvans in silly situations, nor do I want our people to be friends with them at the end, as Kirk suggests.

I suspect her death was a holdover from an earlier draft with a much darker story. Unfortunately, that means the tone of the two halves of the episode don't fit.

 

[Methuselah Flint]

I've never been able to enjoy this episode. It should've been a lighthearted premise with Kirk and the crew confusing the Kelvans with human emotions (like in "I, Mudd") before coming to an accord.

But we start with the Kelvans murdering poor Yeoman Leslie Thompson, I don't want to see the Kelvans in silly situations, nor do I want our people to be friends with them at the end, as Kirk suggests.

I suspect her death was a holdover from an earlier draft with a much darker story. Unfortunately, that means the tone of the two halves of the episode don't fit.

Actually, yes you are quite right. The show is essentially two halves of different tonality.

 

[Spock's Barber]

Just a side note, but that Emergency Manual Monitor set that Matt Jeffries designed is a cool addition to the Engineering set.

 

[ZapBrannigan]

Just a side note, but that Emergency Manual Monitor set that Matt Jeffries designed is a cool addition to the Engineering set.

Yes. It used to bug me that Franz Joseph didn't include it in his otherwise excellent floor plans for Engineering.

 

[Lance]

Actually, yes you are quite right. The show is essentially two halves of different tonality.

"A rose, by any other name"?

Two tones, opposed but entwined, despite their being apparently at odds?

Not saying it's on purpose, but it feels appropriate

 

[Warped9]

Awesome catch! Watching this numerous times over 40+ years and I never noticed that.

 

[Lance]

Just a side note, but that Emergency Manual Monitor set that Matt Jeffries designed is a cool addition to the Engineering set.

Many sets got little tweaks over the three seasons, but Engineering feels like it was almost a personal project for Matt Jefferies, growing from that bare room with a few odd looking things in the middle of it in "The Enemy Within", to being that elaborate multi-story set with lots of visual interest by the third year. It's almost like, every time a new season started and there was just a little more give in the budget, he would refine it.