Journey to Babel Deforest Kelley Smoking

[Methuselah Flint]

Just been watching Journey to Babel. Was it just myth that the good doc was smoking during the sickbay operation?

 

[Henoch]

Myth. (Kelley was a smoker which probably led to this mis-assumption.)

SPOCK: I suggest that a cryogenic open-heart procedure would be the logical approach.​

 

[Methuselah Flint]

Ta!!

 

[Spock's Barber]

Maybe he was operating so fast that the friction was creating the puff of smoke observed during this scene.

 

[GNDN18]

Somebody once posted a production memo about the vapor/smoke coming from the cardiostimulator: it was an intentional effect. I’d like to see that again, because it dashed a long-belief of mine that Kelley had a smoldering butt stashed off-camera.

 

[Phaser Two]

Is there such a memo, indeed? (Showing it to be an intentional effect.) I always figured it was a short in the machinery and they couldn't take the time to go back and reshoot. And I've always liked the "McCoy or Dee Kelley (depending on whether we're in or out of universe) was lighting up during the scene" as a fun backup.

 

[GNDN18]

Is there such a memo, indeed? (Showing it to be an intentional effect.) I always figured it was a short in the machinery and they couldn't take the time to go back and reshoot. And I've always liked the "McCoy or Dee Kelley (depending on whether we're in or out of universe) was lighting up during the scene" as a fun backup.

I was mistaken about the production memo. I saw it on StarTrek.com:

https://www.startrek.com/article/your-tos-questions-answered

 

[ZapBrannigan]

It does appear that "serogenic" was a misreading of cryogenic in the dialogue. But I always liked it, because Spock is to be given an experimental drug that enables him to donate a large amount of blood, and serogenic sounds like the root words for serum generating, or blood producing. But that's wrong and not the intention. The surgical procedure, not the drug, is described as serogenic. It was definitely supposed be cryogenic and the smoke was there on purpose.

But there's an accident in "Amok Time," when a glowing bric-a-brac thing in Spock's quarters catches fire and produces a lot of smoke. I always thought that was intentional, that it was Vulcan incense burning, but it wasn't. It just overheated and burst into flames, and they kept going to save the take.

 

[Spock's Barber]

But there's an accident in "Amok Time," when a glowing bric-a-brac thing in Spock's quarters catches fire and produces a lot of smoke. I always thought that was intentional, that it was Vulcan incense burning, but it wasn't. It just overheated and burst into flames, and they kept going to save the take.

*sniff, sniff*

Something is cooking, and it’s not Vulcan Plomeek soup!

 

[Nerys Myk]

For a semi-pacifist he sure has a lot of weapons in his room.

 

[ZapBrannigan]

I think this is where it was burning, like a gel in the lamp caught fire, but I'm not super sure it was unintentional now:
http://tos.trekcore.com/hd/albums/2x01hd/amoktimehd226.jpg

 

[Maurice]

I just skimmed a scan of Majel Barrett's copy of the shooting script and I don't see any mention of a stream/smoke effect, but that's not conclusive because a lot of those kinds of decisions were made in production meetings.

But, since I was in the script, I thought I'd see what it says about the Orion ship. A few key mentions...

24 INSERT - MAIN VIEWING SCREEN (MEASURE)

A faint glowing blip appears in one corner of the
screen, cutting diagonally across screen, growing
rapidly larger. As it whizzes out of shot:​

15A INSERT - MAIN VIEWING SCREEN

Moving stars… and in screen center a small pulsing
point of light indicates the other ship.​

77 INSERT - VIEW SCREEN (MEASURE)

A blip appears, flashes by, looming large, but only
a blur at this speed. (Same as Scene 24).​

84 INSERT - VIEWING SCREEN (MEASURE)

The blip appears once more, this time approaching on
a curving trajectory. Approach speed is very high…
blurring the shape and outline of the ship. As it
reaches screen center:​

115 INSERT - VIEWSCREEN

The blip flares brightly.​

Note that even the script call for it to be a "blip" and that we never get a good look at it. This is the kind of "original intent" that I wish the makers of TOS-R had heeded. I get why they wanted to make an actual model, which the original show probably did not have the budget to do. But they made the ship much too visible, and that's not what the script called for. I just wish people touching old shows/films would do more homework to get closer to the original intention instead of doing what they think is neat or cool.

 

[Spock's Barber]

From The Tholian Web....that same statue has stopped smoking, for now. Now it has multicolored lights. Maybe Jim Rugg doused the flames.

 

[Christopher]

Note that even the script call for it to be a "blip" and that we never get a good look at it. This is the kind of "original intent" that I wish the makers of TOS-R had heeded. I get why they wanted to make an actual model, which the original show probably did not have the budget to do. But they made the ship much too visible, and that's not what the script called for. I just wish people touching old shows/films would do more homework to get closer to the original intention instead of doing what they think is neat or cool.

They probably scripted it as a blip because they knew they wouldn't have the budget for a model, not for any actual story reason. If they could've afforded a model, then they would've written the script accordingly. Final-draft scripts are not pure "authorial intent" -- they're the end result of a ton of compromises that have to be made for reasons of budget, practicality, censorship, and so forth. I'm sure the makers of TOS would've loved to be able to upgrade their effects instead of having to settle for stock footage and cheap "blips."

I wouldn't be surprised if an earlier draft of the script did specify a visible ship. Generally in TV, you do your first draft by putting in everything you want to do, and then you trim it back in later drafts to fit the budget.

 

[FormerLurker]

Generally in TV, you do your first draft by putting in everything you want to do, and then you trim it back in later drafts to fit the budget.

I've seen that logic used for films as well. Pretty much if you're going to record visuals, you start out with the ideal, and dial it back to what you can get away with.

 

[Christopher]

^Right. What we see onscreen isn't some great holy writ that represents the perfect desire of the creators; usually it's just what they had to settle for and they wish they could've done it better.

 

[Methuselah Flint]

^Right. What we see onscreen isn't some great holy writ that represents the perfect desire of the creators; usually it's just what they had to settle for and they wish they could've done it better.

Absolutely! But don't retcon to beyond what was before either (not saying they did in the above example)

 

[Christopher]

All creation is a process of change and refinement. Any story being told in an ongoing or recurring form will be changed in how it's told, or in the details of the telling. That's just part of the nature of the art form. Today's audiences are too literal-minded about fiction, insisting that it has to be as rigidly consistent as reality, instead of accepting it as a work of artistry and invention. Consistency is a nice feature to have, but it's not the exclusive and overriding priority of fiction. The primary goal of fiction is to be creative, and that means that if an idea is revisited by a new creator -- or even by the same creator at a later time -- they'll bring something new to how it's portrayed.

 

[TREK_GOD_1]

Note that even the script call for it to be a "blip" and that we never get a good look at it. This is the kind of "original intent" that I wish the makers of TOS-R had heeded. I get why they wanted to make an actual model, which the original show probably did not have the budget to do. But they made the ship much too visible, and that's not what the script called for. I just wish people touching old shows/films would do more homework to get closer to the original intention instead of doing what they think is neat or cool.

Well said, but TOS-R appeared to be a project with the Star Wars Special Editions on the brain, going overboard from whatever was the scripted intent, all because they had the wrongheaded belief that modern audiences will either reject or not understand that some things are meant to be subtle, and not some "in your face" / would-be "wow" effect.

 

[Maurice]

I wouldn't be surprised if an earlier draft of the script did specify a visible ship. Generally in TV, you do your first draft by putting in everything you want to do, and then you trim it back in later drafts to fit the budget.

You would be incorrect. It's a blip in the first draft, too. The closest thing to a description is this, after it has been hit:

INSERT - VIEW SCREEN (MEASURE) [116]

Far back, floating against he backdrop of space and
unmoving stars, is a small, twisted object. It is
not definable as a ship any longer.
​

If someone wanted to show what the original intent was, there it is.

​