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If Harlan Ellison had written ALL the TOS episodes...
- Thread starter Rowdy Roddy McDowall
- Start date
Ellison would still have been constrained to hit the reset button, though, for a tv show in the 60s, and his best stories generally don't end too well, for at least some people.
But I'll give it a go. In "A Taste of Armageddon," the Eminiarans and Vendicarans would have utterly annihilated themselves in short order, proving that their solution of unending war by computer and disintegration chamber really was the best solution for them, and that Kirk was a short-sighted meddler.
In "This Side of Paradise," there would have been mass suicides on Omicron Ceti 3 after the spores had been counteracted.
Devil in the Dark--The Horta and her children would tunnel, but momma Horta would have demanded pay, and probably OT. The Horta is smart; she'd have understood that she'd need wealth to begin to, perhaps, hire lobbyists to work on members of the Federation Council, possibly to get some Horta among colonists to other worlds.
And as soon as she demanded fair pay, the pergium miners would have all gotten Mark 2 phasers and killed them all.
But I'll give it a go. In "A Taste of Armageddon," the Eminiarans and Vendicarans would have utterly annihilated themselves in short order, proving that their solution of unending war by computer and disintegration chamber really was the best solution for them, and that Kirk was a short-sighted meddler.
In "This Side of Paradise," there would have been mass suicides on Omicron Ceti 3 after the spores had been counteracted.
Devil in the Dark--The Horta and her children would tunnel, but momma Horta would have demanded pay, and probably OT. The Horta is smart; she'd have understood that she'd need wealth to begin to, perhaps, hire lobbyists to work on members of the Federation Council, possibly to get some Horta among colonists to other worlds.
And as soon as she demanded fair pay, the pergium miners would have all gotten Mark 2 phasers and killed them all.
Spock, mind melded with the Horta: The altar of tomorrow! Murderers! Stop them. Kill! Strike back! Monsters! I have no mouth but.. I.. must.. scream!
Yeah, those eight episodes would have been in the form of a miniseries spread out over a number of years.
...TOS would have lasted half of a season...if that long.
Four of which would still be tied up in litigation.
trevanian
Rear Admiral
... they'd've all still gotten rewritten, after he was cutoff. Look at STARLOST if you dare ...
I don't imagine the whole 'these guys are in a big fleet' aspect would capture his fancy for too long, he'd probably be more interested in an unaffiliated aspect of the universe, maybe working class space guys, folks trying to get by without near-infinite magic box tech or big guns on a mighty ship. I know I wish TREK had gone that way after SFS, and that the DS9 followup had been about Maquis in AlphaQuad rather than the VOYAGER thing they did.
Essentially, I think he'd be more interested in BLAKE'S SEVEN than TREK in any of its incarnations.
I don't imagine the whole 'these guys are in a big fleet' aspect would capture his fancy for too long, he'd probably be more interested in an unaffiliated aspect of the universe, maybe working class space guys, folks trying to get by without near-infinite magic box tech or big guns on a mighty ship. I know I wish TREK had gone that way after SFS, and that the DS9 followup had been about Maquis in AlphaQuad rather than the VOYAGER thing they did.
Essentially, I think he'd be more interested in BLAKE'S SEVEN than TREK in any of its incarnations.
There would have been far fewer novels and other tie-in merchandise, 'cause he would have wanted $$$$$$ for anything remotely based on what he wrote.
Far better show, though it's one I am fond of.
I love this episode, too. The conversations between Anan 7 and Kirk in Anan's personal chambers and then in the Council chamber are among the best in TOS, or all Trek. David Opatoshu was awesome, and Shatner was in fine form.
ANAN: Don't you understand, Captain? We have done away with all that. Now you are threatening to bring it down on us again. Are those five hundred people of yours more important than the hundreds of millions of innocent people on Eminiar and Vendikar? What kind of monster are you?
KIRK: I'm a barbarian. You said it yourself.
ANAN: I had hoped I'd spoken only figuratively.
KIRK: Oh, no. You were quite accurate. I plan to prove it to you.
ANAN: Open a channel to the Enterprise. You give me no choice, Captain. We are not bandits, but you force us to act as bandits.
----------------------
Kirk's "I'm a barbarian. You said it yourself." is absolutely one of my favorite lines in the whole series.
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. . . they all would have come in overlong by half, and unfilmable as written, forcing the Star Trek writing staff to rewrite them. However, Harlan would subsequently receive 79 Writer's Guild awards, and would in later decades publish 79 different books ranting about how his treatment for each individual episode was gutted by the powers that be.
As well he should. Why should corporations be able to endlessly mine the work or others for free?
Have you READ his first draft? There's not a single cynical thing in the story. It's a tragedy of galactic proportions.
Did I say he shouldn't be paid? If you follow the reasoning, you arrive at the probability of their being fewer tie-ins because of the expense of having to pay him. Some companies would consider it money well-spent, while others would not.
Your second comment was not addressed to me, but I would like to reply anyway. I have read Ellison's version - and while it is indeed a good story, and the character of Trooper makes a more lasting impression than the "disappearing bum," it doesn't quite mesh with the rest of the series. And personally, I think it's okay that the "villain" of the story be a circumstance brought on by physics, not any individual being. For that reason, I found Ellison's version too preachy and "moralizing."
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