Favorite TAS episodes not named Yesteryear

[JonnyQuest037]

If you find this completely impossible, so be it, but as to the "documentation" Gerrold's memoir of the writing of his episode would hardly qualify as an objective account.

Well, Gerrold was there and neither of us were. I figure that he ought to know how things went.

Like you, I will drop it after this post. I will just say that if Coon did anything close to the rewriting you're describing, the writing credit for "Tribbles" would likely read something like, "Story by David Gerrold, Teleplay by David Gerrold & Gene Coon," but they don't. Instead, we have this:

 

[Christopher]

I will just say that if Coon did anything close to the rewriting you're describing, the writing credit for "Tribbles" would likely read something like, "Story by David Gerrold, Teleplay by David Gerrold & Gene Coon," but they don't.

That's not true. Staff members who do heavy rewrites on episodes often choose not to be credited. For instance, it's well-known that the final draft of "The City on the Edge of Forever" owes more to Roddenberry and Fontana than to Harlan Ellison, yet Ellison still gets sole credit. Roddenberry himself did the final draft on most first- and second-season episodes, but rarely got a screen credit. After all, credits are not about an accurate accounting of who wrote what; they're about who gets paid how much. Producers and script editors get paid for their work on the show anyway, so getting a screen credit in addition to that, and thereby taking money away from the freelancers who originated the ideas, is often seen as kind of a greedy move.

 

[CorporalCaptain]

I see @Maurice's point, and I think it's plausible.

 

[drt]

Oddly enough, "Yesteryear" wasn't really one of my favorites, I like "Beyond the Farthest Star", "One of Our Planets Is Missing", "The Time Trap" and "The Jihad" better.

 

[Warped9]

"Beyond The Farthest Star" might be my overall favourite. I also really like the title.

 

[Christopher]

"Beyond The Farthest Star" might be my overall favourite. I also really like the title.

I've always found it interesting that Samuel Peeples's two Trek episodes are titled "Where No Man Has Gone Before" and "Beyond the Farthest Star." And that they both come at the beginning of their respective series. A lot of symmetry there.

 

[Warped9]

I've always found it interesting that Samuel Peeples's two Trek episodes are titled "Where No Man Has Gone Before" and "Beyond the Farthest Star." And that they both come at the beginning of their respective series. A lot of symmetry there.

I noticed the same thing long time ago.

 

[Maurice]

...the writing credit for "Tribbles" would likely read something like, "Story by David Gerrold, Teleplay by David Gerrold & Gene Coon," but they don't. Instead, we have this:

That's an incorrect assumption.

I'm not going to argue the point re Gerrold any further, but since the subject of attribution came up, I feel it's prudent to explain the broad parameters of how credits are assigned under WGAw rules as most people are rightfully ignorant of the process.

For a rewriter to get their name on a script under teleplay/screenplay requires that said rewrite must constitute changes adding up to >30% of the script.

A mere dialog polish does not merit screen credit.

Also, even if she qualifies for credit a writer is not obligated to get it or ask for it. Staff writers routinely polish scripts and do not seek credit. It's one reason why you don't see Roddenberry, Coon and Fontana's names on "The City On the Edge of Forever" even though the script apparently passed through all of their typewriters.

 

[Christopher]

Also, even if she qualifies for credit a writer is not obligated to get it or ask for it. Staff writers routinely polish scripts and do not seek credit.

Ditto with movies. Often a script will pass through a dozen or more hands but only one or two people will be credited. And how credit is assigned can be pretty arcane. The example I like to cite is how Speed was credited exclusively to Graham Yost even though virtually every line of dialogue in the final film was written by Joss Whedon. Even though Whedon, working as a "script doctor," did a top-to-bottom dialogue overhaul, the plot and story beats were Yost's, so he got the credit.

 

[JonnyQuest037]

For the last time (and seriously, last time)...

I'm not going to argue the point re Gerrold any further, but...

You have an interesting way of dropping a subject. I said I was going to drop it, and I meant it.

 

[Kor]

If I was a Hollywood writer, I think I might feel torn between artistic indignation at having my work changed a lot so that the final product isn't exactly what I actually wrote, and just being grateful that I get paid for the whole thing instead of having to split it.

Kor

 

[RAMA]

1. Slaver Weapon
2. Jihad
3. How Sharper than a Serpent's Tooth
3. Beyond the Farthest Star

I finished TAS tonight. I think my top 5 not named yesteryear are these:

Albatross
Beyond the Furthest Star
The Terratin Incident
Once Upon a Planet
The Counter Clock Incident

 

[Vandervecken]

"The Slaver Weapon": A surprisingly faithful dramatization of Larry Niven's "The Soft Weapon," so much so that I don't even consider it a Star Trek episode, but a Known Space pilot acted out by three Trek characters.

My fave and imagine if that had been done!--a Known Space animated series. Or even if it was done now...in fact it could be so much better than it could have been then. Modern, and maybe adult-oriented animation wouldn't shy away from Protectors.

But--I do have a lingering feeling that the Slavers/Thrintun don't fit the Trekverse. I mean--the Big Amplifier! Did that happen in the Trekverse? The Slavers' extinction is the reason there are these relics (Down in Flames is just too silly and there's no reason to accept it). So would we accept that in the Milky Way of the Trekverse that 1.5 billion years ago the Slavers wiped out all sentients?

Still love this ep and it is my fave.

 

[Tallguy]

One of Our Planets is Missing. Far and away my favorite. After that is probably Jihad.

 

[Maurice]

You have an interesting way of dropping a subject. I said I was going to drop it, and I meant it.

And in "dropping" it you tossed out an incorrect assumption about how attribution works and to let it stand would be to imply to anyone reading it that the said assumption was correct. It wasn't, as both Christopher and I pointed out.

 

[Kor]

Anyway...

I also like the Slaver Weapon a great deal. The Known Space stuff may not fit well with all the backstory given in later Trek, but I think it works just fine with TOS. And it was interesting to have a whole episode without Kirk.

Kor

 

[Tallguy]

Anyway...

I also like the Slaver Weapon a great deal. The Known Space stuff may not fit well with all the backstory given in later Trek, but I think it works just fine with TOS. And it was interesting to have a whole episode without Kirk.

Kor

I find that a deficiency of later Star Trek, not of The Slaver Weapon.

I believe that this is the only episode of TOS/TAS/TOS Movies without Kirk. There are none without Spock.

 

[Kor]

I find that a deficiency of later Star Trek, not of The Slaver Weapon.

Exactly!

Kor

 

[Christopher]

I believe that this is the only episode of TOS/TAS/TOS Movies without Kirk. There are none without Spock.

Rather, this and "The Cage" are the only two without Kirk.

 

[Tallguy]

Rather, this and "The Cage" are the only two without Kirk.

I'll split that hair and say "aired episodes".