Fact-Checking Inside Star Trek: The Real Story

[CorporalCaptain]

That's a great read, @Harvey. Do you have any plans to treat any other episodes that were only partially developed, such as "The Protracted Man"?

One note: I do not believe that the use of "hallucinogenics" as a synonym of "hallucinogens" is an error (you've used sic after it on the page about "Joanna").

https://www.merriam-webster.com/medical/hallucinogenic (noun, entry 2)

I'm looking forward to learning what your project with @Maurice is.

 

[Mytran]

It's hard to believe that it's been over a year since I posted in this thread. 2019 was a busy year for me! I got married! I went to Europe! I was promoted at work! And @Maurice and I have been putting in hundreds of hours of work into a project I hope we can announce soon!

I don't have a new blog post just yet (although I do have one in the works that is nearly finished, so look for that soon), but (with plenty of help from @Maurice) I did just finish a somewhat breezy look at ten episodes of the original Star Trek that were never produced that will probably be of interest here.

https://whatculture.com/tv/10-star-trek-the-original-series-episodes-that-were-almost-made

As I said on Twitter, this isn't one of my heavily footnoted articles, but I tried to include as many quotes as possible from the outlines and memos I consulted when putting this together. Most sources claim "Shore Leave II" was a direct sequel to Ted Sturgeon's "Shore Leave," and I wanted to correct that. And as far as I know, no one has ever shared the story springboard for "Japan Triumphant" before — Cushman even says this material doesn't exist!

There's definitely more to be said about some of these abandoned (or, if you're splitting hairs, heavily rewritten) stories and sometimes scripts — you could probably spend a whole article going through all the paperwork and revisions of Norman Spinrad's "He Walked Among Us" (hmm...), which had a much more contentious development process than any interview with Spinrad might suggest. And don't get me started about "Portrait in Black and White" and the, ugh, "Egron."

Thanks for sharing. It's always fascinating to learn something new about TOS, even it is regarding how terrible some of those early script ideas were!

 

[1001001]

It's hard to believe that it's been over a year since I posted in this thread.

Let's not make it a habit though, shall we?

 

[mb22]

Is the first part of the John D.F. Black's "From the First Day to the Last" available? I've only been able to get the second part.

 

[Harvey]

Is the first part of the John D.F. Black's "From the First Day to the Last" available? I've only been able to get the second part.

As far as I know, it is not available. It wasn't in the papers and scripts Black donated to the WGA and only part two can be found in the UCLA papers.

 

[mb22]

As far as I know, it is not available. It wasn't in the papers and scripts Black donated to the WGA and only part two can be found in the UCLA papers.

I assume then that you based your review of the script on Part II alone?

 

[Harvey]

I assume then that you based your review of the script on Part II alone?

That is correct.

 

[Harvey]

@Harvey, you might wan to make this its own post, since I bet this will be of interest to some people who might never look into this thread.

@1001001 This might be worth its own post, but I don't want to be accused of spamming the board. What's the verdict?

(Just don't say death by snu-snu...)

 

[Mytran]

I don't see how creating a thread to discuss a specific article could be considered spamming. Other threads are started with much, much less.
If worried just add a disclaimer linking back to here, explaining why you're re-posting the link

 

[Harvey]

That's a great read, @Harvey. Do you have any plans to treat any other episodes that were only partially developed, such as "The Protracted Man"?

No plans at the moment -- for some of this stuff, I just don't have enough material -- but I never say never.

One note: I do not believe that the use of "hallucinogenics" as a synonym of "hallucinogens" is an error (you've used sic after it on the page about "Joanna").

https://www.merriam-webster.com/medical/hallucinogenic (noun, entry 2)

Drat! The worst thing about What Culture is that once an article is published, I'm forced to live with every damned error in perpetuity...

I'm looking forward to learning what your project with @Maurice is.

For now...I am sworn to secrecy.

 

[ZapBrannigan]

Regarding these unfilmed Star Trek episodes, I'm thinking of how shows like Space: 1999 Year 2 ended up with so many terrible, rotten scripts-- while TOS aired so few that were even a little whiffy.

The answer emerges that Star Trek had Roddenberry, Justman, and Fontana policing the scripts, and they were very skilled at this. A series with a lot of bad episodes has nobody like that, and their good episodes came about through luck.

 

[Winterwind]

No plans at the moment -- for some of this stuff, I just don't have enough material -- but I never say never.



Drat! The worst thing about What Culture is that once an article is published, I'm forced to live with every damned error in perpetuity...



For now...I am sworn to secrecy.

WhatCulture and Grunge are two channels that I just can't watch. Seriously, since you're clearly on teh interwebz do a little research first, before making and publishing your videos.

 

[plynch]

They had a talent for reading a whole script and not just seeing the trees (unspeakable dialog) but the forest (no action, Kirk doing very little in the second half, etc. etc.). I mean this is why they were working at this task at the highest levels (network TV), but it's something I kind of lack when reviewing/grading writing. Though I do get it in music better. I love reading their memos to each other, like in TMOST.

In the Berman era, anybody know how the showrunners communicated? I assume the dictated memo was "out" by then; and they had a stable of writers in a "room" by then, so maybe they hashed out story bugs in person a lot.

I SURE wish a Trek would go back to soliciting stories from the best sci fi writers, then having a story editor refine them into shape like before.

 

[Ssosmcin]

Let's not make it a habit though, shall we?

This thread is one of the most useful, I feel like you folks should pin it and let it be one of the few, if not the only, threads that can be added to even after the deadline. But, that's just me. Thanks for letting it stay open.

Regarding these unfilmed Star Trek episodes, I'm thinking of how shows like Space: 1999 Year 2 ended up with so many terrible, rotten scripts-- while TOS aired so few that were even a little whiffy.

The answer emerges that Star Trek had Roddenberry, Justman, and Fontana policing the scripts, and they were very skilled at this. A series with a lot of bad episodes has nobody like that, and their good episodes came about through luck.

I just did a binge of the entire run of Space:1999 and it's clear that they really tried sometimes. There were a lot of cooks in the kitchen, maybe even more than Star Trek. ITC America had demands, Lew Grade wanted things, Freiberger had his idea of what he wanted to do, Martin Landau was in a constant state of rebellion, plus the stories were all from UK writers submitting for a series that needed to be heavily slanted towards Americans and they really needed a clearer idea of what the show needed. "Make them real people, write honest adventure, no abstract concepts, add humor...and GO!"

Like Star Trek, the series creator stepped right back and let his new showrunner do what he wanted. The best episodes of that year were those with ideas behind the adventure. The worst were the mindless action romps penned by Freiberger himself, fresh off a stint at Hanna Barbera, who felt he could do "wild things" in Saturday Morning TV and brought that mentality to 1999.

 

[1001001]

@1001001 This might be worth its own post, but I don't want to be accused of spamming the board. What's the verdict?

Actually, according to the rules, that's what you should do.

(Just don't say death by snu-snu...)

 

[BillJ]

WhatCulture and Grunge are two channels that I just can't watch. Seriously, since you're clearly on teh interwebz do a little research first, before making and publishing your videos.

The above isn't a video, it is an article.

Might want to do a little research first before criticizing someone.

 

[Winterwind]

The above isn't a video, it is an article.

Might want to do a little research first before criticizing someone.

What Culture has a YouTube channel, and regardless of the medium used to publish content, the point is valid.

But that thanks for calling, have a great day and don't forget to pick up your consolation prize.

 

[BillJ]

What Culture has a YouTube channel, and regardless of the medium used to publish content, the point is valid.

I honestly have no issues with What Culture, not sure what yours even is. Sometimes they even put out an entertaining video or two.

 

[Spock's Barber]

Regarding these unfilmed Star Trek episodes, I'm thinking of how shows like Space: 1999 Year 2 ended up with so many terrible, rotten scripts-- while TOS aired so few that were even a littleThe answer emerges that Star Trek had Roddenberry, Justman, and Fontana policing the scripts, and they were very skilled at this. A series with a lot of bad episodes has nobody like that, and their good episodes came about through luck.

The answer emerges that Star Trek had Roddenberry, Justman, and Fontana policing the scripts, and they were very skilled at this. A series with a lot of bad episodes has nobody like that, and their good episodes came about through luck.

...and TOS had John D.F Black for at least part of season 1.

 

[JonnyQuest037]

What Culture has a YouTube channel, and regardless of the medium used to publish content, the point is valid.

If your point is that @Harvey does shitty research, you don't know what you're talking about.