Outside of "What Are Little Girls Made Of?", I'm not sure I've ever seen a TOS story where Chapel was "needed." Her character is the very definition of extraneous to me.
Hey, I never noticed that before....
- Thread starter Warped9
- Start date
Actually, Scotty was needed in both AK and JTB as well, enough to be mentioned in dialogue in each, for the same reason, that he needed to supplant Kirk and/or Spock in command (which is much more important that who was assisting McCoy in Sickbay). Since the decision had been firmly made by the time of Taste of Armageddon and Return of the Archons that Scotty was third in command, it's really unfortunate that he doesn't appear in either of the "Vulcan episodes." I have no doubt that it was money-related; it's just too bad.
I wonder about that, since she was hired to provide GR and her with a second paycheck from Star Trek. When she went in to negotiate the amount of money she'd be willing to work for, she would have known, through her back channel to Gene, the absolute maximum that the production was willing to pay her. She wouldn't settle for less.
That was a huge negotiating advantage that Doohan never had. In addition, Gene would have used his influence to ensure that Star Trek's (supposedly secret) top offer to Majel was as high as possible. I would not be surprised if Nurse Chapel made as much as Scotty per show, if not more.
Barrett made $350 for her appearance in "The Enterprise Incident." It was just one day of work. "Journey to Babel" was also one day of work for her - and she was paid $300. She was never a regular, so she was only paid as the character was "needed" (see below).
By the third season, Doohan's deal was for $1,100/episode, and his deal was to be in at least nine out of every thirteen shows produced, which meant that they were obligated to use him more often than not.
There's a great line from a memo - from Gene Coon, to John Meredyth Lucas - which says it all:
"...it is going to be a rare script, indeed, from which we cut the character of Christine Chapel, even if she only has a line or two."
Yeah, but Doohan clearly knew that as well and probably negotiated it with that in mind. At least I hope he did. Hmm, maybe there's a reason why Scotty and Chapel only ever had two scenes of dialogue exchange in the entire series.
Well, that blows away my idle speculation on the subject. Jimmy was not getting a raw deal, for a TV actor of the period, and Majel wasn't making out like a bandit. Thanks for the facts.
Chapel was never needed per se, but I always liked the way that she rounded out the cast. For one thing, she was a second female presence, and that was sorely lacking in the "big seven." For another, she gave continuity and a familiar face to the rest of the medical staff. It was a big crew, and it couldn't be all McCoy in sickbay. Kyle was kinda the same way in the engineering department, at least when it came to the transporter room, in terms of rounding things out with a familiar face.
Well, that blows away my idle speculation on the subject. Jimmy was not getting a raw deal, for a TV actor of the period, and Majel wasn't making out like a bandit. Thanks for the facts.
I don't think it does. Majel was making out like a bandit because she was getting paid a kingly price for delivering at most a few lines each episode. Rare are the episodes - What Are Little Girls, AK and maybe RTT? - where her scenes were probably not all filmed in one day. Jimmy was doing well, though, and it was richly deserved. I cannot imagine TOS without him.
Not only that, but the role of Scott was more important - Doohan was in every episode, except All Our Yesterday that season (wonder if Doohan got a full episode's pay for just the v/o work?). Another Doohan curiosity is Patterns of Force, where Scott is literally used for 20 seconds and one line ("Whatever your condition"}, and then disappears. I can't imagine Justman paying him a full episode fee for THAT.. ("Hey Jimmy, we need you for one scene/one line Monday morning, mind doing it for $200?")
The cast sheet says he worked four days. Pay is "no quote," pretty standard for regulars, so it must have been for his standard rate ($850/episode in season two).
I would guess his scenes were either deleted or they had an episode commitment left on his contract that they had to honor - better to use Doohan than a day player, when you have to pay Doohan no matter what.
EDIT: Looks like that later scenario - Scotty was only scheduled for one scene on one day of shooting. They must have had an extra commitment they owed Doohan, and chose to pay it off here.
Amazing this knowledge of pay episode by episode even exists... I expect next to find that a fan has a schedule for all their bathroom breaks....
Having Chapel as McCoy's confidant in "For the world is hollow etc" makes a lot more sense if she's established to be his right hand woman in sickbay.
Well, she was there a lot, but I never got the impression that she was particularly competent. The woman learned how to make Plomeek soup before she learned that slapping Vulcans is part of their healing process.
You'd think someone in bio-research would be better at research.
[derail]It's long seemed to me that the Star Fleet Surgeon General's office was grossly negligent in failing to properly train its personnel in basic xenobiology, and that McCoy's knowledge of treating anything beyond a hangnail was shockingly limited. From knowing next to nothing about the ship's first officers internal arrangements to being unable to apply a pressure bandage to a Klingon suggests to me that General Chang was quite correct in his assessment of "Doctor" McCoy.[/derail]
I kid, of course. The mysterious Vulcanians—sometimes conquered, sometimes conquering—were very much a work in progress in TOS. Knowing how to treat Spock or Sarek would have led to pretty uninteresting stories. Still, McCoy's continual credulousness works against the notion that he is something more than a simple country doctor or a Royal Navy surgeon with a newly minted certificate and warrant from the Sick and Hurt Board.
I kid, of course. The mysterious Vulcanians—sometimes conquered, sometimes conquering—were very much a work in progress in TOS. Knowing how to treat Spock or Sarek would have led to pretty uninteresting stories. Still, McCoy's continual credulousness works against the notion that he is something more than a simple country doctor or a Royal Navy surgeon with a newly minted certificate and warrant from the Sick and Hurt Board.
This won't be a popular take, but one thing that keeps me from enjoying JTB completely is that McCoy is made to seem out of his depth (at least until his surgery under fire is a complete success and he gets the last word). I much prefer depictions where he's far more competent about aliens and humans or even the resident expert. The Tholian Web and Friday's Child come to mind.
Agreed. The scene in "The Way to Eden" where McCoy confronts Sevrin about his carrier status–"Would you like to run the test yourself, Doctor?"–is among my favorites. Not since "Operation: Annihilate!" was the ship's surgeon so convincing as a medical authority.
Sevrin's mis-conjugation "That's what your science have done to me" notwithstanding, I love everything in "The Way to Eden" about Sevrin's disease.
McCoy was fine in JTB, except when Spock and Sarek were Doc blocking him.
