Gene's original pitch to the network.

[wildstar]

A friend on my facebook thingy posted this link to a pdf or the original pitch for Star Trek.

http://leethomson.myzen.co.uk/Star_Trek/1_Original_Series/Star_Trek_Pitch.pdf

 

[Sir Rhosis]

I have a copy. Great reading. Also have a pdf of the second season version of the Writers Bible.

Sir Rhosis

 

[Kelso]

I've only scanned the first few pages, but is this the same thing that is reprinted in the Whitfield book?

 

[Christopher]

TMoST reprints a revised version of it. And it's been available in hardcopy from Lincoln Enterprises since long before there was such a thing as a PDF file.

 

[Skellington]

A friend on my facebook thingy posted this link to a pdf or the original pitch for Star Trek.

http://leethomson.myzen.co.uk/Star_Trek/1_Original_Series/Star_Trek_Pitch.pdf

Thanks for posting. I'm liking this a lot, especially the line that ends "(happlily eliminating the need to encumber our stories with tiresome scientific explanation).".

 

[Admiral Buzzkill]

Lincoln Enterprises used to sell this; I have a copy somewhere (I have everything somewhere. )

Some portions of it were adapted a bit and quoted in the Whitfield book, IIRC.

 

[Christopher]

My copy's on my bookshelf about a meter away from me right now, along with my other Trek series bibles and related documents.

 

[Potemkin_Prod]

I have both this original pitch, the writer's bible for TOS and the writer's bible for Phase 2 on hand, all bought from Lincoln Enterprises back in the 70's.

They can be very intriguing: Uhura "can do an impersonation at the drop of a communicator." (p14, Star Trek Guide, 1967)

They can be very contradictory: it criticizes a scene where "Kirk puts his arms about his lovely Yeoman, comforting and embracing her as they wait for seems certain death." (remarkably similar to a scene in "Balance of Terror") But this scene is criticized on the first 3 pages of the Star Trek guide, 1967.

And something Modern Trek failed to realize: "This time is 'somewhere in the future'...happily eliminating the need to encumber our stories with tiresome scientific explanation." (p. 3, Star Trek Proposal, First Draft. March 1964)

Interesting reading; get a copy of each if you can.

 

[Christopher]

I have both this original pitch, the writer's bible for TOS and the writer's bible for Phase 2 on hand, all bought from Lincoln Enterprises back in the 70's.

Ditto, though I bought them in the '80s, I think.

They can be very contradictory: it criticizes a scene where "Kirk puts his arms about his lovely Yeoman, comforting and embracing her as they wait for seems certain death." (remarkably similar to a scene in "Balance of Terror") But this scene is criticized on the first 3 pages of the Star Trek guide, 1967.

"Balance of Terror" was filmed in August 1966 and aired in December '66. The guide sold by Lincoln Enterprises is the third revision, dated April '67. There's no doubt in my mind that the scene being described is that scene from BoT, that Roddenberry (and/or whoever else worked on that revision) was admitting they screwed up in allowing that scene to get on the air and was advising future writers for the show not to do it again.

 

[Warped9]

I've seen this a few times over the years. Some of the basic story ideas are a little cringe inducing as is, but you can also see the basic elements for what would become full fledged episodes later on.

It's also quite apparent that his pitch was playing to the idea that studios and networks are loathe to spend money.

I wonder if shows are even pitched in any way similar to this anymore.

 

[Christopher]

It's also quite apparent that his pitch was playing to the idea that studios and networks are loathe to spend money.

More to the idea that a science fiction series about a starship visiting a different alien world each week would be far, far more expensive than any other kind of television show, unless great care was taken to design it as economically as possible. Roddenberry's "parallel Earths" concept, as flaky and scientifically ludicrous as it may have been, was probably the only thing that made the show viable, because reusing sets and costumes from the studio warehouse is a lot more affordable than inventing entirely new alien civilizations every week.

 

[Gary7]

^ Excellent point, about the "Earth parallels" concept. It's something often not considered and thus people will slam TOS for having too many of those parallels. Context is everything. The show was pushing budget records and had to conserve... unfortunately. But when you see all of the prop research that folks like Greg Schnitzer have done (for Star Trek Phase Two fan productions), it shows just how inventive and resourceful the TOS production staff was. Very impressive. It also brings sadness to think of what Wah Chang went through, how much he was exploited. I hope his later involvements paid him his due. Although he didn't get paid much for TOS, it certainly built up an impressive resume for work to come later.

 

[Christopher]

I had the impression that Chang volunteered to provide the props at a reduced cost.

 

[WilliamShitner]

It's... all a lie. It was all... my idea.

 

[Anticitizen]

"Balance of Terror" was filmed in August 1966 and aired in December '66. The guide sold by Lincoln Enterprises is the third revision, dated April '67. There's no doubt in my mind that the scene being described is that scene from BoT, that Roddenberry (and/or whoever else worked on that revision) was admitting they screwed up in allowing that scene to get on the air and was advising future writers for the show not to do it again.

A shame. I liked it. More than once an affection for Rand was displayed by Kirk (Miri, The Naked Time, the aforementioned BOT, and probably others) and in a real-life near-death scenario we can allow for the humanity of these characters to eke through their projected sense of professionalism. It's a humanity that was too-often lacking in TNG, VOY, and ENT. I'm reminded of (spoilers) the closing chapter of the graphic novel Watchmen, in which two casual 'friends' (a newspaper/comic book vendor and his frequent client who never pays for anything, who are always ribbing and jovially deprecating one another) fall into an embrace (NOT a sexual one) when the death-stroke of the apocalypse, that is, their deaths, falls upon them, out of a basic human kinship. That part of the story pulls as many heartstrings for me as Spock's death scene in TWOK. I guess some people could argue that the scene made Rand seem weak and feminine, but maybe Rand was the one comforting Kirk

 

[Captain Robert April]

Frankly, I saw that moment as more of a "brace for impact" move than a "hold me, my darling" moment.

 

[Potemkin_Prod]

I saw it as a yeoman who was frightened and needed a manly man to be brave at her side as they faced death together. Sexist? Yep.

Ditto for the scene in WNMHGB when Gary Mitchell holds hands with Yeoman Smith as they enter the galactic barrier.

 

[Christopher]

^Regardless of sexism, it's simply not the way professional military personnel on the bridge of a ship would behave. That's the point of the criticism in the writer's guide. Roddenberry's goal was to make a science fiction show that treated its characters as naturalistically and realistically as any "real-world" drama, rather than making them cartoony caricatures. So it was important to him that they behave the same way that real people in an analogous situation would behave.

 

[Shaw]

Ditto for the scene in WNMHGB when Gary Mitchell holds hands with Yeoman Smith as they enter the galactic barrier.

Scotty takes Dehner's hand in that scene too... maybe he needed reassurance?

It is something of a change from The Cage where you had both Number One and Colt ready to charge into the Talosian underground. I think WNMHGB's women were a change based on the focus groups reactions to how the women acted in the first pilot.

Despite Pike's comment about a woman on the bridge (which I think was intended to get a rise out of Number One), there were other women on the bridge during The Cage.

 

[Hartzilla2007]

Despite Pike's comment about a woman on the bridge (which I think was intended to get a rise out of Number One), there were other women on the bridge during The Cage.

One of which he took a print out from BEFORE making that comment.