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News John Erman, Director of "The Empath", Dies

Indysolo said:
He also directed the film, Ace Eli and Rodger of the Skies, written by Steven Spielberg and scored by Jerry Goldsmith.

I've always enjoyed The Empath and think it's one of season three's better episodes. Don't @ me.

https://deadline.com/2021/06/john-erman-dead-star-trek-director-roots-mash-emmy-winner-1234783615/
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Talented man, and "The Empath" is one of TOS' best. Definitive Star Trek in so many ways, including showing just how much the Big Three cared about each other.
 
I wasn't crazy about "The Empath" as a kid, but it's grown on me in later adulthood. When Star Trek spans practically your entire life, the thing stays the same but you see it with new eyes as you pass through different stages.

Fred Steiner rightly singled out "The Empath" music for high praise in his liner notes to Star Trek Volume Two (Varese Sarabande).
 
For some strange reason, The Empath is one of the episodes that our local station rarely played during syndication. Instead they made us suffer through endless replays of The Alternative Factor, Catspaw and The Savage Curtain.
 
ZapBrannigan said:
I wasn't crazy about "The Empath" as a kid, but it's grown on me in later adulthood.
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Hmmm. I'm still waiting I guess.

As for Erman, he was a mild talent but his relation to Star Trek was also mild, to say the least. Regardless, may he RIP.
 
Spock's Barber said:
For some strange reason, The Empath is one of the episodes that our local station rarely played during syndication. Instead they made us suffer through endless replays of The Alternative Factor, Catspaw and The Savage Curtain.
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"The Empath" was the one played most on the local San Diego station when I was a kid. Well, from what I remember. So that may have also played in my fondness for this episode.
 
Indysolo said:
My path to "The Empath" was a strange one. When Shatner hosted SNL they used the Steiner re-recording and I didn't know that was Star Trek music, as I hadn't seen the episode and I didn't have that album. When I got that album, before seeing the episode, I loved the music. When I finally saw the episode it all came together.
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Yes. Music can set the mood/tone for a scene or episode. Many times the combination of music and sound effects heavily emphasizes what the writer and director sought to bring to life on the screen.
 
The Empath is a stage play, and that is well meant.
One of the episodes banned by the BBC in the 70s and 80s.
 
Basically, there was a parliamentary report on violence on tv in 1971 (satirised in the Doomwatch episode Sex and Violence), which led the BBC to ban numerous Trek episodes, including three season three episodes that hadn't been shown. Most were quietly slotted back into repeats in the late 70s, but Miri, Empath, Whom Gods and Plato remained banned during the 80s, more out of habit than choice, until the BBC2 controller heard about them during a DWB interview and did a check.
 
Indysolo said:
The music from The Empath starts around 2:37 or so.
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That's a fantastic sketch. I'd seen it in first run and somehow not remembered the music. I think I heard "The Enemy Within" before Khan's entrance, and "By Any Other Name" before he exits, so they must have been drawing on the full spread of Royal Phil CDs including Label X.

SNL should have used "The Empath Finale" for the ending. That would have been stupendous.

Even with the Soundtrack Collection box in hand, I still play those re-recordings sometimes.
 
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