Fact-Checking Inside Star Trek: The Real Story
- Thread starter Harvey
- Start date
Fascinating insight, thanks Harvey!
I think "Sleeping Beauty" was a proper and good title for a script addressing cryogenic freeze / suspended animation but the impression I got was that essentially it was a murder mystery which somewhat "betrayed" the original premise.
Where there at least some remarks from the protagonists what a twisted irony it was to have come that far (i.e. survive until the 22nd or 23rd Century) and then die hours later because of an assasination?
That kind of irony could then have been emphasized if the Federation still had the death penalty (according to "The Ultimate Computer"
) and the murderer therefore would not have survived the arrival in the future, either.
Bob
I think "Sleeping Beauty" was a proper and good title for a script addressing cryogenic freeze / suspended animation but the impression I got was that essentially it was a murder mystery which somewhat "betrayed" the original premise.
Where there at least some remarks from the protagonists what a twisted irony it was to have come that far (i.e. survive until the 22nd or 23rd Century) and then die hours later because of an assasination?
That kind of irony could then have been emphasized if the Federation still had the death penalty (according to "The Ultimate Computer"
) and the murderer therefore would not have survived the arrival in the future, either.Bob
Doctor Henning was not from the past.
Sir Rhosis
Sir Rhosis
Interesting. Clearly Bloch recycled a couple of things for "Wolf in the Fold," like the name Argelius II and a mystery involving stabbings. And "Henning" is similar to "Hengist."
But I can see why they passed it up. The idea of doing a murder mystery was interesting, but it was a bit awkward as a mystery, and maybe it wasn't the best use of the idea of people revived from the 20th century. Plus of course they already had "Space Seed" in the works.
So evidently Bloch took some elements from this, dropped the cryonics angle, brought in the Jack the Ripper theme he'd used elsewhere in his fiction, and came up with an outline that was less talky and more suspenseful and action-driven, and thus we got "Wolf in the Fold." Well, maybe.
trevanian
Rear Admiral
That 'the lights go on' part makes me think of TUC when Valeris is unmasked in sickbay as the traitor.
Can imagine TOS Kirk saying the same words TUC Kirk does, "I'd rather you didn't," just vis a vis the scalpel and McCoy.
If they really had decided to rip this off for TNG, I think the ship would be going through a MUF field while the scalpel thing happened, so you could have a lamely staged fight scene to 'up' the action quotient a bit. Either that or one of the sleepers would start playing country on his guitar, then disarm the scalper-holder with a rap on the head from the neck of the 'tar.
Can imagine TOS Kirk saying the same words TUC Kirk does, "I'd rather you didn't," just vis a vis the scalpel and McCoy.
If they really had decided to rip this off for TNG, I think the ship would be going through a MUF field while the scalpel thing happened, so you could have a lamely staged fight scene to 'up' the action quotient a bit. Either that or one of the sleepers would start playing country on his guitar, then disarm the scalper-holder with a rap on the head from the neck of the 'tar.
This should be fun. The UCLA Film & Television Archive is showing the first pilot (along with a 1974 episode of Columbo, featuring a number of Trek alumni), to be followed by a Q&A with director Robert Butler.
I know only a few people here are in the Los Angeles area, but if you are, this sound like fun (plus, it's free!). For those who can't make it, I'll do my best to report on the event.
I know only a few people here are in the Los Angeles area, but if you are, this sound like fun (plus, it's free!). For those who can't make it, I'll do my best to report on the event.
I've posted some thoughts about the book Drive-In Dream Girls before, but thanks to some new research, I'm able to offer a little more detail in my post this week, which discusses Andrea Dromm and Laurel Goodwin (who played the Captain's Yeoman before Grace Lee Whitney assumed the role in 'The Corbomite Maneuver').
http://startrekfactcheck.blogspot.com/2014/01/drive-in-dream-girls-star-treks-first.html
http://startrekfactcheck.blogspot.com/2014/01/drive-in-dream-girls-star-treks-first.html
I also enjoyed your 10 Episodes that should have changed Trek article.
Yeah, that was interesting. (Here's the link.) Although I think it should be mentioned that using the transporter to reverse aging was done by TAS: "The Lorelei Signal" over a decade before TNG did it. As for wide-beam stun, didn't that debut in "The Return of the Archons"?
Some of these I've wondered about myself, like the lie detector and the kironide (I figure maybe continuous use would cause heavy-metal poisoning for non-Platonians, or something). Somehow I never wondered much about the Kelvan drive improvements; maybe I figured they dismantled them and deleted the records.
On #6, I figure Quark had holoemitters installed in the bar. There was discussion in early VGR episodes about installing holoemitters on the bridge and other key locations so the Doctor could have more mobility, but it was soon forgotten. (And then the Hirogen converted half the ship into a holodeck in "The Killing Game.")
There's also the DS9 first-season trifecta: quick-cloning in "A Man Alone," mind-transfer technology to escape death in "The Passenger," and death-curing nanotechnology in "Battle Lines."
(I've posted these comments on the article too.)
You've got me there. Of all the series, TAS is the one I'm least familiar with.
I believe so, but Voyager had the better screen capture. There's also the incredibly useful yet rarely utilized wide beam stun setting of the ship's phasers used in "A Piece of the Action."
The Hirogen thing is a good point. There really was no reason for the Doctor not to have more mobility earlier on if they could add so many holoemitters so quickly.
I had considered the cloning thing (there's also the transporter duplication thing from "Second Chances" that should have made any supply problems during the Dominion War evaporate), but thought it best to leave that one alone. Totally forgot about the other two items, though!
I so linked to 10 Episodes That Should Have Changed Star Trek Forever – But Didn’t
thread over on the The Khan Blood Conundrum topic.
thread over on the The Khan Blood Conundrum topic.
For those who weren't able to make it to the Bob Butler event at UCLA, I've transcribed his comments about Star Trek (and if enough people make noise; I might be convinced to transcribe his thoughts on Columbo, Hill Street Blues, Batman, and other projects).
http://startrekfactcheck.blogspot.com/2014/01/an-evening-with-robert-butler-director.html
http://startrekfactcheck.blogspot.com/2014/01/an-evening-with-robert-butler-director.html
Great thanks for that!
I know I'd be interested in hearing more, I'm a Batman fan for example, so it would be neat to hear any insights he has on that.
Heck if you don't feel like transcribing it maybe offer up the lecture for download or embedded for streaming on your blog?
Imagine having to write it.
--
I've considered offering up the audio of the Q&A. The video is probably too mediocre for me to let out into the world, though.
Here's the full transcript for those interested.
Thanks for that, must have taken you forever. Much appreciated 
I'd like to thank you for that, too. It was a terrific read. I would have loved to have been there.
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