Fact-Checking Inside Star Trek: The Real Story

[ZapBrannigan]

That's an interesting take on the subject. Do you have any facts to support this theory — which goes against all documented evidence to the contrary?

Theiss bought white fabric for all the uniform tunics and dyed them. The light-green dye he selected had a yellow-gold component that came out under bright filming lights or in sunlight. It appeared green only when seen in less-bright light, such as ordinary indoor lighting.

The yellow look under bright lights was seen in person as well as on film. I think Kodak or Fuji would deny that there is some "film stock thing" that falsely makes green objects look gold on 35mm movie film. [I suspect Theiss thought it was a film effect because he saw the garments in his work space, which was not lit for filming. I doubt he spent much time on the set, if any.]

The real giveaway is here:

http://www.startrekpropauthority.com/2009/03/star-trek-exhibition-in-detroit.html

Flash bulb shows gold shirt, no-flash shows green shirt. [I don't think the captain's braids on the sleeves are the original article, and the zipper tab looks new, but the color dye in this garment does behave like the original shirts.]

So yeah, Theiss meant for the shirts to be green, and they were really green in dim light, but his chosen dye was also really yellow-gold under bright lights. There was nothing fake or false about the color, and therefore no reason for CBS Digital to bias the shirts back to green the way they did.

Obviously, the green wrap-around tunic and Kirk's dress uniform both got a darker green dye that never looked yellow.

 

[urbandefault]

Theiss bought white fabric for all the uniform tunics and dyed them. The light-green dye he selected had a yellow-gold component that came out under bright filming lights or in sunlight. It appeared green only when seen in less-bright light, such as ordinary indoor lighting.

The yellow look under bright lights was seen in person as well as on film. I think Kodak or Fuji would deny that there is some "film stock thing" that falsely makes green objects look gold on 35mm movie film. [I suspect Theiss thought it was a film effect because he saw the garments in his work space, which was not lit for filming. I doubt he spent much time on the set, if any.]

The real giveaway is here:

http://www.startrekpropauthority.com/2009/03/star-trek-exhibition-in-detroit.html

Flash bulb shows gold shirt, no-flash shows green shirt. [I don't think the captain's braids on the sleeves are the original article, and the zipper tab looks new, but the color dye in this garment does behave like the original shirts.]

So yeah, Theiss meant for the shirts to be green, and they were really green in dim light, but his chosen dye was also really yellow-gold under bright lights. There was nothing fake or false about the color, and therefore no reason for CBS Digital to bias the shirts back to green the way they did.

Obviously, the green wrap-around tunic and Kirk's dress uniform both got a darker green dye that never looked yellow.

Here's a screencap from the video clip posted upthread:

It really has nothing to do with the actual cause of the shirts' "color shift," I just thought it was funny. I'd never seen the wraparound's color washed out like that before.

 

[Green Shirt]

Theiss bought white fabric for all the uniform tunics and dyed them. The light-green dye he selected had a yellow-gold component that came out under bright filming lights or in sunlight. It appeared green only when seen in less-bright light, such as ordinary indoor lighting.

The green/yellow thing wasn't confined just to TOS. You see it in TNG and even the JJVerse. The green shirt in my avatar from the Omega Glory Viewmaster set was the first indication I had when I was a kid (along with the photo on the AMT Enterprise kit) that something was screwy here. I latched on to the green being the correct color and have been in love with it ever since.

 

[Ssosmcin]

Regarding the lack of narration in the opening credits of WNMHGB, it's weird no matter how you slice it. It would be a strange decision to exclude it for the third aired episode, unless it had something to do with the title of the episode actually being in the narration. That was always my assumption as a kid and it stuck with me all this time. If it was a mistake, then why was it uncorrected for decades with every rerun, every video release until the TOS-R prints? When the series was remastered in 1985 and the first season theme music was standardized to reflect the Fred Steiner orchestration, why was that episode the only one left with the original orchestration? It was also the only first season episode to retain the Courage end theme music, even after the DVDs put the Courage opening theme music back in (not always in the correct episodes, but that's a different matter). The blu-rays still have the Steiner music on the end titles on the "Original Mono Broadcast track" on all the other first season episodes. Even those episodes which aired before that music was even composed, which is really good evidence that it's wrong, by the way (unless the Steiner theme was added to all the episodes for the summer reruns).

I would love to know for certain if the main titles for Where No Man did truly exclude the narration. While some folks may think it's unlikely they would do that, it's no more crazy than dropping it for syndication and keeping it that way for over 40 years on every home video iteration of the original effects versions.

 

[Warped9]

^^ I would like to see those episodes from 1895.

 

[Ssosmcin]

^^ I would like to see those episodes from 1895.

HA! Whoops! Corrected the time stream.

 

[Warped9]

HA! Whoops! Corrected the time stream.

Bet the sets, ships and uniforms would have a real Jules Verne vibe to them.

 

[Ssosmcin]

A steampunk Star Trek would be interesting to see.

 

[Christopher]

A steampunk Star Trek would be interesting to see.

Here ya go:

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[markb]

Theiss bought white fabric for all the uniform tunics and dyed them. The light-green dye he selected had a yellow-gold component that came out under bright filming lights or in sunlight. It appeared green only when seen in less-bright light, such as ordinary indoor lighting.

The yellow look under bright lights was seen in person as well as on film. I think Kodak or Fuji would deny that there is some "film stock thing" that falsely makes green objects look gold on 35mm movie film. [I suspect Theiss thought it was a film effect because he saw the garments in his work space, which was not lit for filming. I doubt he spent much time on the set, if any.]

The real giveaway is here:

http://www.startrekpropauthority.com/2009/03/star-trek-exhibition-in-detroit.html

Flash bulb shows gold shirt, no-flash shows green shirt. [I don't think the captain's braids on the sleeves are the original article, and the zipper tab looks new, but the color dye in this garment does behave like the original shirts.]

So yeah, Theiss meant for the shirts to be green, and they were really green in dim light, but his chosen dye was also really yellow-gold under bright lights. There was nothing fake or false about the color, and therefore no reason for CBS Digital to bias the shirts back to green the way they did.

Obviously, the green wrap-around tunic and Kirk's dress uniform both got a darker green dye that never looked yellow.

I think when they were brand new and didn't have years of use and washing and fabric changes over the decades the gold tunics looked just like the one in my avatar.
It just dosen't make sense that the wrap around and the dress tunic were green but the regular duty tunic was gold.

 

[ZapBrannigan]

It just dosen't make sense that the wrap around and the dress tunic were green but the regular duty tunic was gold.

They were all green. But the standard duty shirt was also yellow under bright light, because it was done with an odd chartreuse dye that's had us talking all these years. The wraparound and dress uniforms were given a darker green dye.

 

[Redfern]

Bet the sets, ships and uniforms would have a real Jules Verne vibe to them.

Then you might want to look at the work of this guy, JeremySher.
http://jeremyschwer.deviantart.com/art/SPE-Skeleton-Crew-565942188
http://jeremyschwer.deviantart.com/art/Steampunk-Enterprise-Engineering-571701078
He has some more in his collection, but I think these two are his best offerings.
Sincerely,
Bill

 

[mb22]

Bet the sets, ships and uniforms would have a real Jules Verne vibe to them.
The Star Trek II-VI uniforms have a nineteenth century vibe to them.

 

[mb22]

Memory Alpha suggests there was a US VHS release of "Balance of Terror" in 1980. It also indicates a UK VHS tape was released for "Where No Man Has Gone Before" in 1981. Does anyone here have either tape? I'd be curious to know what version of the titles is on them (electric violin vs. cello; narration vs. no narration).

"Balance of Terror" was released on both VHS and Beta in 1980, and the RCA Selectavision CED format in 1983.
http://memory-alpha.wikia.com/wiki/Star_Trek:_The_Original_Series_(VHS)
http://memory-alpha.wikia.com/wiki/Star_Trek:_The_Original_Series_(CED)

Here is the cover of the British WNMHGB tape:
http://vignette1.wikia.nocookie.net...ision/latest?cb=20130709152838&path-prefix=en

.

 

[Indysolo]

The CED of Balance of Terror had the cello main titles.

Neil

 

[Ssosmcin]

Every video release of Balance of Terror before the DVDs had the Steiner arrangement. This was how I believe it was originally aired. It ran later, after The Menagerie, and the cello titles were recorded at the same time as the BoT score (and Corbomite and What Are Little Girls Made Of). The DvDs, as far as I can determine with this minimal evidence, incorrectly gave it the electric violin title music.

 

[Harvey]

I posted Dave Eversole's analysis of the 5-26-66 draft of "Mudd's Women" today. This has been on Orion Press before, but (with Dave's permission) I've added a script excerpt that was just summarized before.

http://startrekfactcheck.blogspot.com/2016/06/unseen-trek-mudds-women-final-draft.html

Every video release of Balance of Terror before the DVDs had the Steiner arrangement. This was how I believe it was originally aired. It ran later, after The Menagerie, and the cello titles were recorded at the same time as the BoT score (and Corbomite and What Are Little Girls Made Of). The DvDs, as far as I can determine with this minimal evidence, incorrectly gave it the electric violin title music.

If the goal was to switch over to the cello arrangement (recorded 9-20-66) as soon as possible, then the electric violin would have only appeared in the following episodes:

"The Man Trap" (aired 9-8-66)
"Charlie X" (aired 9-15-66)
"Where No Man Has Gone Before" (aired 9-22-66)*
"The Naked Time" (aired 9-29-66)**
"Mudd's Women" (aired 10-13-66)***

*The broadcast edit of this episode was completed by 9-6-66, weeks before the revised main title was recorded on 9-20-66, and was likely delivered to NBC before the new title was recorded.

**This episode was dubbing as of 9-6-66, and completed as of 9-12-66. It is unlikely they went back to the dubbing stages to change the main title, epecially since production records indicate an answer print was ready by 9-22-66, only two days after the Steiner main and end titles were recorded.

***This episode was dubbing as of 9-12-66, and completed as of 9-21-66. Early on, dubbing took 1 ½ to 2 days, according to a Bob Justman interview with Fred Steiner (This information comes from a fantastic dissertation by Jessica Leah Getman, p.61; during the run of the series, at Justman's suggestion, a new dubbing system was installed at Glen Glenn Sound which redued dubbing time on the series to "about a day," from the same dissertation, p.61-62), so dubbing is unlikely to have stretched into 9-20-66, and I also doubt that the recording of the new main title would be rushed to the dubbing stage unless it was really disliked (something no records indicate).

You'll notice that "The Enemy Within" (aired 10-6-66) isn't on this list. The episode status reports show it dubbing for a rather long time, as of 9-21-66 (just after the new main title was recorded) and 9-26-66 (a week after the new main title was recorded). It isn't marked as completed until the report dated 10-3-66. The episode definitely could have gone out with the revised main title.

[The completion dates in this post come from the episode status reports held by UCLA]

Reviewing my notes again, "Balance of Terror" didn't go into dubbing until on or shortly before 11-21-66, and on DVD it had the cello main title. It appears I was mixed up between the filming and airing dates; even the 1980 version of this one wouldn't help much in terms of the main titles (though it might offer additional information on other elements of the sound design that have been changed over the years for home video).

 

[Green Shirt]

If the goal was to switch over to the cello arrangement (recorded 9-20-66) as soon as possible, then the electric violin would have only appeared in the following episodes:

"The Man Trap" (aired 9-8-66)
"Charlie X" (aired 9-15-66)
"Where No Man Has Gone Before" (aired 9-22-66)*
"The Naked Time" (aired 9-29-66)**
"Mudd's Women" (aired 10-13-66)***

Which is exactly the episodes I remember having the electric violin arrangement during the early 70s syndication (the earliest time I remember such level of detail).

 

[Ssosmcin]

Harvey, thanks for all that. Getting just a little closer to nailing down exactly which episodes had the electric violin theme.

One thing; the DVD of Balance of Terror has the electric violin theme, not the cello. The original production order DVDs had the Galileo Seven as the first episode to have the cello theme. That's a full 12 episodes with the electric violin theme, which I think we all agree is far too many.

 

[Harvey]

One thing; the DVD of Balance of Terror has the electric violin theme, not the cello. The original production order DVDs had the Galileo Seven as the first episode to have the cello theme. That's a full 12 episodes with the electric violin theme, which I think we all agree is far too many.

Is that right? Are those the 2 episodes per DVD ones? I may need to revise my spreadsheet -- I only have the first ten episodes with the EV theme.