If TOS had been a radio drama first

[PCz911]

Well, if it's any consolation I hadn't seen it before and it's a lovely little thread.

 

[ZapBrannigan]

On radio, some things would have been pretty much the same. Spock and McCoy have a lot of talky scenes that would play well, like their arguments in "Bread and Circuses." Also "The Immunity Syndrome" and "The Tholian Web" would still be great without video.

"All Our Yesterdays" would be good on radio. Maybe simplify the story by eliminating Kirk's accidental trip and just having Spock and McCoy lost in the ice age while Kirk and Atoz argue about getting them back. Now that I think about it, that would be an epic radio show. Mariette Hartley's voice is full of beauty and high drama.

 

[Laura Cynthia Chambers]

It would be easier to cast, as animated TV shows are now; not dependent on the physical appearance of the voice actor when compared to how you visualize the character.

 

[dahj]

I wonder what would Orson Welles and the Mercury theater do with something like The Motion Picture:

"We interrupt this broadcast, we've just received reports of a giant space death cloud and... it's on heading for.... Earth!"

All the weird sound effects to try to reproduce, would be interesting...

 

[Laura Cynthia Chambers]

That's pretty ominous...

 

[Balok's Decoy]

I wonder what would Orson Welles and the Mercury theater do with something like The Motion Picture:

"We interrupt this broadcast, we've just received reports of a giant space death cloud and... it's on heading for.... Earth!"

All the weird sound effects to try to reproduce, would be interesting...

Are you referencing Orson Welles' voiceover for the TMP trailers? Because he totally did that and it is ominous (as @Laura Cynthia Chambers predicted). Either way I applaud you.

To view this content we will need your consent to set third party cookies.
For more detailed information, see our cookies page.

Accept third party cookies

 

[Laura Cynthia Chambers]

@Balok's Decoy sorry - it sounded like a role call. All that was missing was the "aye,aye"s

We would have gotten way more stories because special fx would have also given way to sound fx and imagination.

 

[Redfern]

The last part of that teaser trailer sounds a bit like the THX sound check (or whatever one should call it) that has opened a number of LucasFilm productions.

"The audience is now deaf!"

 

[Balok's Decoy]

"The audience is now deaf!"

Classic joke from my childhood right there. Well done.

 

[Laura Cynthia Chambers]

"The audience is now deaf!"

Depending on the film, that may not be a bad thing...

 

[dahj]

Are you referencing Orson Welles' voiceover for the TMP trailers?

I had no idea that he did that, 'twas a cool trailer though
I was thinking of the freakout he caused with his War of the Worlds radio adaptation.

 

[Redfern]

I can't take credit for that "bit". I saw (and heard) it on "The Simpsons".

 

[Balok's Decoy]

I can't take credit for that "bit". I saw (and heard) it on "The Simpsons".

Simpsons? I remember it from the Tiny Toons movie (sorry, off subject, we can move on.)

To view this content we will need your consent to set third party cookies.
For more detailed information, see our cookies page.

Accept third party cookies

 

[Laura Cynthia Chambers]

We could have had some of these undeveloped episodes, for instance: http://memory-alpha.wikia.com/wiki/Undeveloped_Star_Trek:_The_Original_Series_episodes

 

[Redfern]

Oy! Once again my memory deceives me. It has to be the "Tiny Toons" segment you posted.

BTW, thanks for finding it. It's a hilarious "dig"!

 

[Laura Cynthia Chambers]

And gets blown out of their seats.

The aliens they met would have been described as less Human-like.

 

[Christopher]

The aliens they met would have been described as less Human-like.

Not necessarily. Aliens in '40s radio sci-fi, at least what I've heard of it, were often quite humanlike, especially the friendly ones. For instance, the Adventures of Superman radio series had a recurring comic relief character called Poco, an alien court jester from the destroyed planet Utopia who ended up becoming Perry White's personal cook. He was short and fat and spoke entirely in rhyme, but otherwise he and his fellow Utopians looked human enough that their story of being from another planet was disbelieved at first. (Although Poco's story took a serious turn in the KKK-allegory "Clan of the Fiery Cross" storyline, where the racist group beat him badly as a warning to Perry to halt his crusade against them.)

Of course, that was a kids' show, but even adult SF often had humanoid aliens to a greater or lesser extent -- especially if the story needed to give the brave manly space hero a spacebabe he could make out with. Not that that would ever have been a consideration for Star Trek, of course...

 

[Laura Cynthia Chambers]

even adult SF often had humanoid aliens to a greater or lesser extent

Especially if they blended with the Human population, their extraterrestrial nature a surprise reveal...