Director Ralph Senesky's Blog

[ToddPence]

Here is a fascinating blog written by TOS director Ralph Senesky, chronicling his experiences in detail on working in episodic television of the 1960's. Currently two Trek episodes are covered, "This Side of Paradise" and "Metamorphosis".

http://ralph-senensky.blogspot.com/

 

[trevanian]

What a terrific find! My favorite TREK director, and he is saying nice things about my favorite TREK bts guy, Coon.

I'll be hanging out at that a lot, thanks!

 

[alchemist]

If you'd like to hear Ralph talk about these episodes, then check out http://www.startrekhistory.com/interviews.html

Here is a fascinating blog written by TOS director Ralph Senesky, chronicling his experiences in detail on working in episodic television of the 1960's. Currently two Trek episodes are covered, "This Side of Paradise" and "Metamorphosis".

http://ralph-senensky.blogspot.com/

 

[Kirk1980]

Verbose guy, I enjoyed the read!

 

[Sir Rhosis]

Thanks for posting. Great stuff.

Sir Rhosis

 

[softfocus]

What an interesting read--thanks for sharing it! I'll definitely be checking his site regularly.

 

[Jeri]

That was fascinating; loved it. Thanks.

 

[Admiral Buzzkill]

The entries about the Casablanca miniseries were fascinating.

The best and most surprising part of the Metamorphosis piece is that the scarf gag near the end - the "Companion" viewing Cochrane through the scarf to simulate the way she was used to seeing him - was a complete design coincidence in post-production.

 

[T'Bonz]

Wow, I just spent an hour over there reading. I'm a big Waltons fan, so between that and the Star Trek stuff, there was plenty of good stuff to read.

 

[Jeri]

The best and most surprising part of the Metamorphosis piece is that the scarf gag near the end - the "Companion" viewing Cochrane through the scarf to simulate the way she was used to seeing him - was a complete design coincidence in post-production.

For me, too; it's my favorite scene of the episode, and I like the episode a lot. Even he doesn't know whether the effects guys took his accidental cue for the design of the Companion: which came first? The scarf or the sparkly blob? Well, it doesn't really matter. It was a fortunate happenstance.

 

[ToddPence]

Update: Ralph recently put up his reminiscences of "Bread and Circuses".

 

[ToddPence]

Recently posted by Ralph, the experience of his work on "The Tholian Web", the last Trek episode he worked on, and the details of how and why he was fired from it. I had always had ambivalent feelings about Fred Freiberger, after reading this, I am now convinced that Freiberger was a total dick. The piece also gives a bit of insight on why the quality of television has never been as good as it was in the early sixties.

Here it is:

http://ralph-senensky.blogspot.com/2010/06/tholian-web-august-1968-star-trek.html

 

[Kelso]

I love these.

Interesting stuff, thanks.

 

[Jeri]

Todd Pence, thank you for the link; his blog is really good.

 

[SPOCKED]

Yeah, this blog has been quite a joy to read. I haven't see "Metamorphosis" in a very long time so I'm gonna go back and revisit her once again

 

[Botany Bay]

This blog is a helluva find

Can one of you Trek history buffs please archive Mr Senensky's posts in case he decides to stop blogging? There is some incredible stuff in there.

I'm surprised he was so disappointed with Bread and Circuses, it's a seriously underrated ep.

His comments add a bit more weight to the rumour that GR and GC had a huge tug of war over this script, and Coon decided to walk away because of this episode.

Pity.