Such as said one-shot character being badly needed elsewhere that he or she cannot go to if detained in jail.
Mental illness in TOS
- Thread starter Laura Cynthia Chambers
- Start date
Such as said one-shot character being badly needed elsewhere that he or she cannot go to if detained in jail.
That's not a bad idea for an episode, actually. It reminds me a bit of the situation with Commissioner Hedford, needing to get someplace offscreen that is only marginally related to the plot of the episode. But of course, if "Wolf in the Fold" had been made that way, we'd now all be debating how important the mission of said accused never-before-seen crewman really was.
Kirk has the role of looking after his crewman. In a foreign land/country/planet Kirk's a pseudo parent so he's got to make sure his crewperson is treated fairly. Saying that - he left a crewperson alone with a potential murderer which resulted in her death so not so good on looking after all of his crew. So Kirk's acting all these weird foreign places have the death penalty by torture - how barbaric? In reality if an American sailor came to Australia and murdered a woman the crewman would beg to be tried under Australian law not American law. I'm not sure any country has harsher laws than America except for some countries which have the death penalty for drugs. In GRs utopian future a woman could murder 6 people and be sent to rehabilitation.
And as much as he can't be in multiple places at once, he would still feel the weight of that failure, regardless of how little he could have done to stop it.
Keep in mind that TOS had many different writers across all of those episodes. There was not uniform and perfect grasp of the characters and their personalities. Time constraints in the process from first draft to shooting script were in the mix. Some scripts were written early and re-worked later.
I always thought that the 'issues' with Scotty in Wolf in the Fold were more due to Robert Bloch's unfamiliarity with that particular character, than any other reason. Of course, I don't have access to the whole chain of script drafts from start to finish, so it's just a guess.
It's even possible that Bloch might have begun with a generic character and someone along the way thought it would be more 'dramatic' with Scotty. Anyone have any early drafts of the script?
It does not work well with Scotty, in my opinion. James Doohan did a very good job with what he had to work with, though.
I would have loved to have seen an episode of TOS in which someone with a dangerous mental illness was nevertheless desperately needed by Starfleet to accomplish a very specific task, so the person gets pulled out of asylum and ferried to destination by the Enterprise, but along the way breaks loose and has a great game of cat-and-mouse with Kirk....while the clock is ticking down on the purpose at hand. Strong guest star opportunity....James Coburn, Robert Conrad, Ross Martin, Sean Connery, etc.
Something like the character of John Mason that Connery played in The Rock. I know he wasn't mentally ill, just unfairly imprisoned. But, you get the idea.
Imagine it:
"Captain Sir, personally, I think you're a f*cking idiot."
Darn tv censors....
I always thought that the 'issues' with Scotty in Wolf in the Fold were more due to Robert Bloch's unfamiliarity with that particular character, than any other reason. Of course, I don't have access to the whole chain of script drafts from start to finish, so it's just a guess.
It's even possible that Bloch might have begun with a generic character and someone along the way thought it would be more 'dramatic' with Scotty. Anyone have any early drafts of the script?
It does not work well with Scotty, in my opinion. James Doohan did a very good job with what he had to work with, though.
I would have loved to have seen an episode of TOS in which someone with a dangerous mental illness was nevertheless desperately needed by Starfleet to accomplish a very specific task, so the person gets pulled out of asylum and ferried to destination by the Enterprise, but along the way breaks loose and has a great game of cat-and-mouse with Kirk....while the clock is ticking down on the purpose at hand. Strong guest star opportunity....James Coburn, Robert Conrad, Ross Martin, Sean Connery, etc.
Something like the character of John Mason that Connery played in The Rock. I know he wasn't mentally ill, just unfairly imprisoned. But, you get the idea.
Imagine it:
"Captain Sir, personally, I think you're a f*cking idiot."
Darn tv censors....
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Yeah, like Sean Connery was waiting by the phone in 1966, hoping for a TV guest shot.
Bond-mania was at its global peak around that year, consuming half the culture.
That was not to be taken seriously, guys. I should have said that. That was a fantasy wish list. 
Actually, I think even a complete unknown could have done just fine.
Actually, I think even a complete unknown could have done just fine.
I've seen episodes of TV shows where the cops need to work with a killer to catch another killer. In fact, Trek does this in DS9's "Field of Fire", wherein Ezri Dax communes with her symbiont's prior host, Joran, to find a killer on the station.
As long as we're dreaming of movie stars in guest roles on TOS, my choice would have been Yul Brynner. I'm not sure what kind of role, though. Maybe some kind of powerful warlord. Or, considering the specific topic here, someone who believes himself to be a powerful warlord but actually isn't.That was not to be taken seriously, guys. I should have said that. That was a fantasy wish list.
Actually, I think even a complete unknown could have done just fine.
Kor
He'd be a natural! He was already famous for The King and I (1956). They could get Deborah Kerr as Marla McGivers, and call it "The Khan and I." Star Trek's first musical!
Just keep him in WESTWORLD, and have Shatner take Richard Benjamin's part. Kirk's sloppy with his drink and needs his mama. We all knew that anyhow.....
You will surrender your ship or your Captain will die! So let it be written! So let it be done!
Wrong there are no criminally insane. Dagger of the Mind says so!
This is of course, impossible.
Well then, what would you call them?
I'm no expert by any means, but I understand that "insanity" is a legal term used in determining a person's culpability or lack thereof, and not a clinical/medical diagnosis at all. There's a disconnect between the actual field of mental health, and the judicial system which lags way, way behind and is pretty clueless about things like this and therefore hangs onto broad simplistic antiquated notions that fit its legalistic framework.
Kor
Kor