Honestly your posts read more like rationalization and a need to be told, “you’re right” instead of what you state is “editorial feedback.”
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Honestly your posts read more like rationalization and a need to be told, “you’re right” instead of what you state is “editorial feedback.”
I've been doing a little more digging around the subject of The Tribunes and have found reference to another police-themed project Roddenberry supposedly worked on that was called "Blue Line." It's mentioned in a March 16, 1973 story ("A Future Series?" by Carol Burton for Newsday, but widely re-published elsewhere):
Some versions of this account refer to it as a movie project, others refer to it as a series. As far as I know, there's nothing about it in any of his biographies. It may have been a vague idea that was never actually written; it doesn't appear in any newspaper database searches after 1973 connected to Roddenberry's name.
What I was getting at here was a suggestion that Roddenberry's politics regarding the police were more right-wing than is often understood. Here's another article mentioning The Tribunes—in this account, called The New Tribunes—from the August 29, 1980 issue of The Province ("Gene Roddenberry...write or don't eat" by Chuck Davis), which quotes Roddenberry:
Consider the logic regarding police vs. doctor pay Roddenberry is putting forth here. I tend to put more value in the professionals who are tasked with saving lives. But—gathering Roddenberry's many comments about the police has become somewhat of a pet project in light of current events. I'll do something with that eventually.
Lastly—and you may not remember this—several years ago when describing The Tribunes you said it involved "near-future police officers using advanced technology and methods." That was the same conclusion I drew about the setting when reading the description of the pilot from James Van Hise (which is, for better or worse, the most detailed account of the concept that currently exists). As previously articulated, based on the information we have, I don't buy into your current contention that the series was meant to be set in the present day. But I'm fully prepared to be completely wrong on that front if any story material from the pilot development process ever sees the light of day.
"There's a police series [The Tribunes] that he and Sam Peebles [sic] will produce for NBC next year...a year from now, "Blue Line," another police story...will be aired."
Some versions of this account refer to it as a movie project, others refer to it as a series. As far as I know, there's nothing about it in any of his biographies. It may have been a vague idea that was never actually written; it doesn't appear in any newspaper database searches after 1973 connected to Roddenberry's name.
What I was getting at here was a suggestion that Roddenberry's politics regarding the police were more right-wing than is often understood. Here's another article mentioning The Tribunes—in this account, called The New Tribunes—from the August 29, 1980 issue of The Province ("Gene Roddenberry...write or don't eat" by Chuck Davis), which quotes Roddenberry:
I thought: What if we did it right? What if we had a police department where you couldn't get on unless you had a doctorate? Y'know, under certain circumstances a policeman can take a life. A doctor can't. Yet the policeman's education and salary don't reflect that responsibility. If we were a logical society, the policeman would make more than the doctor. I came up with a series based on that concept, The New Tribunes, but the networks want car chases and want their cops to solve crimes with shooting.
Consider the logic regarding police vs. doctor pay Roddenberry is putting forth here. I tend to put more value in the professionals who are tasked with saving lives. But—gathering Roddenberry's many comments about the police has become somewhat of a pet project in light of current events. I'll do something with that eventually.
Lastly—and you may not remember this—several years ago when describing The Tribunes you said it involved "near-future police officers using advanced technology and methods." That was the same conclusion I drew about the setting when reading the description of the pilot from James Van Hise (which is, for better or worse, the most detailed account of the concept that currently exists). As previously articulated, based on the information we have, I don't buy into your current contention that the series was meant to be set in the present day. But I'm fully prepared to be completely wrong on that front if any story material from the pilot development process ever sees the light of day.
^^^Now, see, while I will stand by the use of the word that shall not be named again in our piece, if we erred anywhere it was perhaps in not qualifying the full sentence a bit more, "As far as we can tell, Roddenberry’s Police Story script was the last time he touched the subject in a contemporary setting" to be more specific by adding, "but there may be scripts and treatments out there we are of as yet unaware of," as per Blue Line...whatever that was going to be.
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I wondered about that, it's interesting. It almost has to be a reference to Joseph Wambaugh's The New Centurions. That book and the movie based on it were about the psychologically destructive impact of police work on street cops. Tribunes (plebeian tribunes), of course, were of higher rank than centurions (who were low-ranking officers but started out as common soldiers) and were supposed to be the common people's representative in Republican Rome (military tribunes were another thing entirely, but less well-known, so who knows what the intent was there, either). Did GR think of his story as a solution to the problems Wambaugh had raised, I wonder, or was it just a catchy title?
Wambaugh and Roddenberry were also both former LAPD cops of course, though Wambaugh had a great deal more experience as a patrol officer and detective.
As an aside, GR seemed to get involved in several careers, seemingly solely for the purpose of getting material for his later writing and producing career. Being a cop appears to be one of them. I could be completely wrong, of course, but that's how it looks to me.
Airman in the Army, airline pilot, then cop. That's really it. Lots of former military guys go into policing. Not really any surprises there.
And massive numbers of military pilots went to the airlines after the war.
^^^
Depends. How much Cash do you got?
Over in Trek Movies I-X I just started a topic about this piece written by @Harvey with some assist by yours truly. So pop over to this page (link) to see the article and discuss it.
Yes, they misspelled "Khan".
Yes, they misspelled "Khan".
October 10th marked the 101st BIRTHDAY of JANOS PROHASKA, popular creature creator and actor who graced multiple Star Trek episodes playing Hortas and Mugatos and Excalabians... Oh my! Here's a 1969 TV Guide article about him, reproduced with permission of Retro TV Guide Ads & Scans and shared and linked here with their blessing (link to it on Facebook).
Click to embiggen!
Prohaska was a Hungarian actor/stuntman (Hungarian: János Prohászka) born in Budapest, and mostly known for playing creatures on shows ranging from The Outer Limits to I Dream of Jeannie. His five roles on Star Trek were as the Anthropoid Bird and Anthropoid ape ("The Cage"/"The Menagerie"), the Horta ("Devil In the Dark"), the Mugato ("A Private Little War") and Yarnek the Excalabian ("The Savage Curtain").
Prohaska's most beloved part was playing the mooching Cookie Bear on The Andy Williams Show . Prohaska inhabited the suit and did the physical acting while Allan Blye provided the voice (in a sort of David Prowse/James Earl Jones manner).
Tragically, Prohaska's life was cut short in a plane crash in 1974, where he perished along with his son Robert and 33 others (link).
Click to embiggen!
Prohaska was a Hungarian actor/stuntman (Hungarian: János Prohászka) born in Budapest, and mostly known for playing creatures on shows ranging from The Outer Limits to I Dream of Jeannie. His five roles on Star Trek were as the Anthropoid Bird and Anthropoid ape ("The Cage"/"The Menagerie"), the Horta ("Devil In the Dark"), the Mugato ("A Private Little War") and Yarnek the Excalabian ("The Savage Curtain").
Prohaska's most beloved part was playing the mooching Cookie Bear on The Andy Williams Show . Prohaska inhabited the suit and did the physical acting while Allan Blye provided the voice (in a sort of David Prowse/James Earl Jones manner).
Tragically, Prohaska's life was cut short in a plane crash in 1974, where he perished along with his son Robert and 33 others (link).
I typically think of Prohaska as a genius at making creature costumes, but to look at that Andy Williams clip, he was very talented at getting into character for body language. And not just the jerky, over-alert movement of charged-up apes, but creating whole personalities that I'm sure were nothing like his real, Hungarian immigrant self. He was good.
I believe it's customary in Hungarian to put the family name first: Prohászka János.
Yes, that's true. It's very common in Europe and certainly in Hungary (I worked there 3 times).
Annnnnd. James Earl Jones!
Prohaska enters about 3:15 and at the end of his segment appears they wheel out some of his other creations. At the end credits two of his costumes reappear.
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