Could the Pike era have worked?

[Christopher]

I never understood that complaint about Pike's situation in the pilot, nor did it ever bother me when watching the episode. What's more, it doesn't seem to have been a terribly unusual hook for introducing a lead character. In the first episode of Adam-12, Malloy is in a funk, ready to quit the force, and unwilling to take a rookie under his wing because he'd recently lost a partner. Did it sabotage his character? No, it made him interesting.

I imagine that these three shows (including DS9) aren't the only cases where this angle was used in a pilot. Can anyone throw in some more examples?

How about The Six Million Dollar Man? Steve Austin spends a great deal of the pilot movie struggling with his injuries, with the decision to accept the bionic prototypes, with the difficult rehabilitation, and with the devil's bargain he has to strike to work for the government as a spy. He's pretty deeply depressed and angry for much of it.

 

[The Old Mixer]

I used to watch that as a kid, but I don't think I ever saw the pilot.

 

[Christopher]

I used to watch that as a kid, but I don't think I ever saw the pilot.

It's very different from the series, to the extent that it isn't quite in continuity. Here's my blog review.

 

[The Old Mixer]

I might be misremembering, but didn't the pilot episode of Welcome Back, Kotter involve Gabe becoming almost ready to give up on the Sweathogs and/or his teaching career?

ETA: I was just reading that blog...sounds like the second $6MM pilot used another variant of the premise we've been discussing, though you weren't kind to it.

Show of hands...who else owned Oscar Goldman and his desk?

 

[TREK_GOD_1]

I never understood that complaint about Pike's situation in the pilot, nor did it ever bother me when watching the episode. What's more, it doesn't seem to have been a terribly unusual hook for introducing a lead character. In the first episode of Adam-12, Malloy is in a funk, ready to quit the force, and unwilling to take a rookie under his wing because he'd recently lost a partner. Did it sabotage his character? No, it made him interesting.

The difference with "The Impossible Mission," the Adam-12 pilot, is that the world knew it was a Dragnet spin-off about two patrol car officers, so no matter how Malloy was presented in that pilot, there was no risk of the formula being disrupted, and by episode's end, Malloy scolded, then took on the job of being his superior. All problems solved.

Star Trek did not have that kind of lead-in, so it was standing on its own with no expectations of character stability--the kind granted to Webb-stamped Adam-12's Malloy and Reed, or DeSoto and Gage from Emergency!

Pike's story was a stand alone, so how Hunter presented Pike was either hit (getting a desired look at what would come if it went to series with Hunter) or miss (ultimately, not what was going to carry that kind of drama and be appealing to audiences). So, unlike spin-offs that were already advertised as another Webb production featuring the contrasting, but bonded duo formula already proven with Dragnet, Star Trek's captain had to be more--even in a story where he struggled.

Shatner not only delivered with the many emotional changes demanded of WNMHGB, but was able to build on that with his personality in stories so removed from Pike as a character early on (think "The Enemy Within," "Miri," "Dagger of the Mind," "What Are Little Girls Made Of," etc.).

All actors cannot portray all characters, or are right to carry a series. For example, Lyle Waggoner screen tested for Dozier's 1966 Batman, but lost Adam West. In the Waggoner screen test, he's flat, and delivering it sans any attempt to bring so colorful a character to life. On the other hand, West--in and out of costume, keyed in on Batman having a greater heroic purpose without even doing anything visually heroic. He just worked, and its no surprise he won the role, and would go on to easily justify why he was the right choice for the series.

 

[The Old Mixer]

^You're going to hurt Christopher's reputation as a writer like that.

 

[ZapBrannigan]

It's very different from the series, to the extent that it isn't quite in continuity. Here's my blog review.

Not to digress too much, but if you take an interest in these things, and how the pre-series Six Million Dollar Man was Bond-like, you might want to take another look at Thunderball. I was very struck by how much The Solid Gold Kidnapping in particular borrowed from Thunderball. It was a huge influence.

 

[Nebusj]

Really, in '60s TV, it was seen as desirable for characters filling the same role to be interchangeable, to be able to plug into the same script with only the name needing to be changed. All the brothers Maverick got assigned scripts interchangeably. On Mission: Impossible, Jim Phelps was basically the same character as Dan Briggs and Paris was the same character as Rollin Hand. And so on. (Heck, it goes back even earlier -- Shemp and Curly Joe, anyone?)

Heck, there were even a couple episodes of Get Smart where Don Adams couldn't make it. They just stuffed Bill Dana (or Tom Poston or whoever, it's late and I forget) into the role as Agent Some Other Number. And Adams was even more central to his show than Shatner was to Star Trek.

Light-continuity television is weird stuff.

 

[RogueVasad]

I'm not convinced the network would ever have okayed Barrett. Even aside from the issue of whether she was a strong enough actress to carry a lead role (which she probably wasn't at the time, though she was really good by the TNG years), there's the scandal of the producer casting his own mistress as one of the stars.

I'm more interested in the scenario where Roddenberry bent on the Number One issue and recast the role. Who might have been Number One instead? Lee Meriwether and Julie Newmar both strike me as strong prospects. Maybe Diana Muldaur or Lee Grant.

For me, I'd have liked to have seen Eartha Kitt in the role. It would be nice to have both a predominate female lead and a woman of color. I know my casting choice is a bit pie in the sky since Kitt wasn't really looking to commit to a television series at the time, content with the freedom of doing guest roles.

Another question is would NBC have allowed them to cast a black woman as First Officer at that point?

I read somewhere that there was an episode where originally Uhara was going to be left in command of the ship while most of the main cast was on a planet but someone forced a rewrite so that Scotty's assistant ended up in command instead of her.

 

[Warped9]

^^ I dimly recall hearing something like that, but I don't put any stock in it given after all these years no one has ever gone on record to confirm it. Over the years the secondary cast members have aired enough of their gripes that something like that should most likely have come to light.

 

[Christopher]

Another question is would NBC have allowed them to cast a black woman as First Officer at that point?

I read somewhere that there was an episode where originally Uhara was going to be left in command of the ship while most of the main cast was on a planet but someone forced a rewrite so that Scotty's assistant ended up in command instead of her.

As already established, NBC wanted more diverse casting. Other shows at the time, like I Spy and Mission: Impossible, had black characters in more central roles than Star Trek ever managed. So if there was resistance to having a black woman in command, I'm not sure it would've come from the network.

 

[T'Girl]

Another question is would NBC have allowed them to cast a black woman as First Officer at that point?

In the mid-1960's NBC sent out a memo to it's producers reminding them that it was NBC's policy to include more African-Americans (Negros?) in their shows.

It's reprinted in Inside Star Trek.

NBC never had a problem with a female first officer, they simply didn't want Majel Barrett in the role. The possibility of a Black woman as first officer receiving second billing on the show doesn't sound like something the leadership at NBC would have resisted.

Providing Roddenberry could obtain the right actress, and the writers of the day could correctly write for her.

.

 

[Terok Nor]

Of all the supporting cast Uhura was the one I wanted to see more of (and not just because she was hot). It's a shame she wasn't allowed to command the ship or have a few centric episodes like Scotty did.

 

[Warped9]

Of all the supporting cast Uhura was the one I wanted to see more of (and not just because she was hot). It's a shame she wasn't allowed to command the ship or have a few centric episodes like Scotty did.

Agreed. There are a couple of TOS episodes I could do without in favour of something more interesting and allowing for the secondary characters to do more.

Back to the idea of a black female second-in-command. It would have been quite progressive for the time, but it's an unanswerable question as to whether it could have proved to be a breakout role the way Spock was. So much would depend on the actress cast, the writing, the stories and the cast chemistry.

 

[Spock's Barber]

Of all the supporting cast Uhura was the one I wanted to see more of (and not just because she was hot). It's a shame she wasn't allowed to command the ship or have a few centric episodes like Scotty did.

Yes, it also seems that every major ST character had at least one episode with a love interest, except Uhura and Sulu.

 

[Harvey]

"This Side of Paradise" was originally written for Sulu, not Spock. It was rewritten into a more interesting story centered on Spock, though, IMO.

 

[T'Girl]

Yes, it also seems that every major ST character had at least one episode with a love interest, except Uhura and Sulu.

In Man Trap, Uhura had her "fantasy guy" who was actually the episodes shape shifter. That was the closest to a love interest she got.

 

[TREK_GOD_1]

Of all the supporting cast Uhura was the one I wanted to see more of (and not just because she was hot). It's a shame she wasn't allowed to command the ship or have a few centric episodes like Scotty did.

For all of TOS' credits / strength, Uhura was one of its great, missed opportunities. One brief shot of her piloting in "Court Martial," repair work in "Who Mourns For Adonais?" and her actions aboard the mirror Enterprise was the best use of her character, proving she was trained in more than one field. It would not be until the animated series' "The Lorelei Signal" (1973) that Uhura would take command of the ship, and lead an all-female rescue / landing party.

 

[Spock's Barber]

Yes, it also seems that every major ST character had at least one episode with a love interest, except Uhura and Sulu.

In Man Trap, Uhura had her "fantasy guy" who was actually the episodes shape shifter. That was the closest to a love interest she got.

Yes, I thought of that, but then I remembered that he was going to suck the salt out of her until she was dead, dead, dead. Good thing the Salt Vampire was interrupted before he could do his trick.

 

[T'Girl]

According to The Children Shall Lead, Uhura can configure one of her displays to be a mirror so she can look at herself.

Could this indicate Uhura's true "love interest?"