Missed Oppertunities in TOS

[I am not Spock]

^Wasn't his Spocks Brain script a final FU, though? Like 'how bad an episode can I possibly make?'

 

[Chrisisall]

^Wasn't his Spocks Brain script a final FU, though? Like 'how bad an episode can I possibly make?'

I heard it was supposed to be a 'funny' ep, like Piece Of The Action, but the director tried to do it as a deadly serious piece instead- don't know if it was HIS decision or not, though.

For MY part, I'd liked to have seen better FX, you know, like more time & money spent, just to expand the look & realistic feel a bit more-
oh wait; they already fixed that...

 

[T'Girl]

"This Way to Eden"

This episode was a missed opportunity, the problem wasn't so much the story itself as it was the execution, the production. I understand how, given the time period, TPTB wanted to do a hippie episode, but hippie terrorists? Think how much better this story would have aged if the music had been jazz or blues.

Better still if the hippie singer casted had been Joan Baez.

 

[Chrisisall]

Better still if the hippie singer casted had been Joan Baez.

That would have unthinkable brilliance.
But at the time, she probably perceived the show as somewhat Herbert.

 

[Hober Mallow]

I always thought it would have been cool to have the Romulans -- who copied the Klingon ship design in "The Enterprise Incident -- decloak off the Enterprise's bow with a perfect copy of a Constitution Class Starfleet ship.

 

[Cornholio]

What didn't they do during TOS that they should have? What do you regret never seeing in the orginal series?

Me first:

We never learnt much about the crew
TOS was always about the mission, but it would have been nice to learn a little about the people on it along the way. Why did Kirk, Scotty, Uhura and Sulu join Starfleet? What about McCoy's divorce? Why is a guy who dislikes technology on a spaceship anyway?
Some of these were answered in Star Trek XI, and the rest in older novels and comics, but it would have been neat to see what the original showrunners would have come up with.
It would have been cool (in "Obsession" and others) to see a flashback or two to the TOS crew's younger days too.

Other Federation ships
During TOS we only saw Consitution-class ships. Franz Joseph later came up with some neat kitbash designs that would have been easy to make using old Enterprise model parts. If an AMT model could pass for the USS Constellation, one could have been rearranged for a cameo.

yeah, umm, I woulda liked to see a little more backstory on the main characters, and I woulda liked to see other classes of ships. I always thought the battle scenes in 'the Ultimate Computer' woulda been a lot better if the M5 woulda faced off with a squadron of non-constellation class ships. at the very least they coulda showed the connies break formation. I guess seein' the 4 cloned images was better than nothin', but this was really a missed opportunity. probably just a matter of the budget though.

Both Genes in charge of season 3. I mean, do "And the Children Shall Lead", "This Way to Eden", and "Spock;s Brain" turn out so bad if they are there? Do they even get made?

where's the love for the space hippies?

"This Way to Eden"

This episode was a missed opportunity, the problem wasn't so much the story itself as it was the execution, the production. I understand how, given the time period, TPTB wanted to do a hippie episode, but hippie terrorists? Think how much better this story would have aged if the music had been jazz or blues.

umm, if the music was jazz, they woulda been like space beatniks or something. I'd humbly suggest that the music was very loosely blues based. I know, it's a stretch. but that's just my demented hippie perspective.

I guess I'm the only person that likes this episode. I always thought is was a good episode for Spock. he appeared to have a good understanding of the hippies philosophy. we learned that he could hear stuff that humans can't (I wonder if that's due in part to the points on his ears). and we learned that Spock can rock!

I'll bet that Spock's secret ambition was to lead a Vulcan death metal band. bein' the conflicted and rebellious half-Vulcan, it's possible he joined Starfleet after his death metal band broke up just to rebel against his father. we know Sarek wasn't happy 'bout it.

this episode also gave us the Fred Flintstone wardrobe for the amassadors son, and the mystery of the hard-boiled eggs.

Better still if the hippie singer casted had been Joan Baez.

umm, I woulda rather seen Jimi Hendrix or maybe Dick Dale cast, but they woulda really overshadowed Charles Napier's brilliance as Adam. just imagine how farkin' cool the music woulda been with Hendrix and/or Dick Dale though.

 

[milo bloom]

Too many to list, and many are already listed here.

Some notables though: other ship designs, more women in bridge positions, Uhura taking the center seat every now and then (even if we were to cut to a bridge scene and see Uhura stepping down from the seat for Kirk, don't even say anything, just make it clear her behind was in that seat at least once).

More of the engineering section, more original Romulan ship designs (something to take on the D-7 class).

 

[T'Girl]

Better still if the hippie singer casted had been Joan Baez.

umm, I woulda rather seen Jimi Hendrix or maybe Dick Dale cast, but they woulda really overshadowed Charles Napier's brilliance as Adam. just imagine how farkin' cool the music woulda been with Hendrix and/or Dick Dale though.

Or how about this Cornholio, cast Jimi Hendrix AS Adam! Having Jimi on Star Trek would have brought a whole different viewing demographic to the show, at least for one episode (and maybe more), the final scene with Adam showing Jimi on lying on the ground dead would have carried a profound impact.

I initially mentioned Joan Baez because I've just recently began to listen to her music (born in '87) and I'm amazed by her stuff.

Uhura taking the center seat every now and then (even if we were to cut to a bridge scene and see Uhura stepping down from the seat for Kirk, don't even say anything, just make it clear her behind was in that seat at least once).

The scene would have taken just a few seconds and still have carried so much meaning.

 

[scotpens]

^Wasn't his Spocks Brain script a final FU, though? Like 'how bad an episode can I possibly make?'

I heard it was supposed to be a 'funny' ep, like Piece Of The Action, but the director tried to do it as a deadly serious piece instead- don't know if it was HIS decision or not, though.

That's what I heard. “Spock's Brain” was meant to be a comedy or a self-spoof. But someone forgot to tell the director.

 

[Warped9]

^Wasn't his Spocks Brain script a final FU, though? Like 'how bad an episode can I possibly make?'

I heard it was supposed to be a 'funny' ep, like Piece Of The Action, but the director tried to do it as a deadly serious piece instead- don't know if it was HIS decision or not, though.

That's what I heard. “Spock's Brain” was meant to be a comedy or a self-spoof. But someone forgot to tell the director.

I think this is a myth that somehow got started and everyone has just accepted. I don't see how this could have been initially meant to be a comedy because there's a damned good SF story at the heart of the episode.

 

[Cornholio]

Better still if the hippie singer casted had been Joan Baez.

umm, I woulda rather seen Jimi Hendrix or maybe Dick Dale cast, but they woulda really overshadowed Charles Napier's brilliance as Adam. just imagine how farkin' cool the music woulda been with Hendrix and/or Dick Dale though.

Or how about this Cornholio, cast Jimi Hendrix AS Adam! Having Jimi on Star Trek would have brought a whole different viewing demographic to the show, at least for one episode (and maybe more), the final scene with Adam showing Jimi on lying on the ground dead would have carried a profound impact.

yeah, that woulda been really cool too. I can see Hendrix in Spock's quarters tryin' out the Vulcan lyre. that woulda rocked! I can also see Hendrix callin' Kirk "Herbert".

I initially mentioned Joan Baez because I've just recently began to listen to her music (born in '87) and I'm amazed by her stuff.

yep, she does have some really cool stuff, and she does really nice arrangements of other people's stuff too.

 

[plynch]

I think this is a myth that somehow got started and everyone has just accepted. I don't see how this could have been initially meant to be a comedy because there's a damned good SF story at the heart of the episode.

"Find the dude's brain and put it back in?"

But I like Way to Eden, so I can't really talk. There's much to like in it. If we can ignore the rubber rocks and rubber Gorn, why can't we ignore cheesy space hippie music and lingo? There's much to like in the story. Plus, nobody's walking around without a brain.

 

[Timewalker]

I don't see how this could have been initially meant to be a comedy because there's a damned good SF story at the heart of the episode.

Where?! I've seen this episode quite a few times over the decades, and I have yet to see any hint of a good story in it, SF or otherwise!

 

[BK613]

About This Way to Eden.

I don't really have a problem with the idea of countercultures/protest groups/fringe movements in the Federation. I would expect them actually since the history of free societies is replete with examples of such groups. And I think that the use of pastel colors and loose clothing works as an antithesis of the saturated colors and highly-tailored clothing we normally see as Federation garb. And most subcultures also seem to invent their own dialects, to separate the clued from the clueless (leetspeak, anyone?) so trying to reflect that tendency in the episode also makes sense.

My problem is the story. It is such a vacuous, unfocused mess that never gets around to doing the things you would expect the episode to be doing. It never successfully explores the idea of countercultures or the idea of a charismatic leader co-opting the movement for his/her own ends. And you would think that by the third season, Kirk, having been burned by Khan and Lazarus and about every other guest he's brought on board, would have learned his lesson and at least posted guards in the ship's vital locations. And the ending with its acid plants and instakill fruit is quite possibly the silliest bit on the whole of TOS (with the possible exception of RemoteSpock.)

In all, truly a missed opportunity.

 

[Warped9]

I don't see how this could have been initially meant to be a comedy because there's a damned good SF story at the heart of the episode.

Where?! I've seen this episode quite a few times over the decades, and I have yet to see any hint of a good story in it, SF or otherwise!

A civilization must depend on a living mind to survive.

 

[WisTrekFan]

Television shows of this era really didn't focus a whole lot on the back stories of characters or even do a lot of character development, but I would have liked to have seen more of the backgrounds of the crew of the Enterprise, particularly Scotty and McCoy. It would have been nice to have had more Scotty centric and McCoy centric episodes and even episodes centered around Sulu, Uhura and Chekov, but then TOS isn't quite the ensemble show that later Trek series were.

 

[Dusty Ayres]

"This Way to Eden"

This episode was a missed opportunity, the problem wasn't so much the story itself as it was the execution, the production. I understand how, given the time period, TPTB wanted to do a hippie episode, but hippie terrorists? Think how much better this story would have aged if the music had been jazz or blues.

Better still if the hippie singer casted had been Joan Baez.

Joan Baez doesn't do TV or movies, and would never have done Star Trek, especially an episode so insulting as 'The Way To Eden'.

 

[Navigator_NCC2120]

"This Way to Eden"

This episode was a missed opportunity, the problem wasn't so much the story itself as it was the execution, the production. I understand how, given the time period, TPTB wanted to do a hippie episode, but hippie terrorists? Think how much better this story would have aged if the music had been jazz or blues.

Better still if the hippie singer casted had been Joan Baez.

Joan Baez doesn't do TV or movies, and would never have done Star Trek, especially an episode so insulting as 'The Way To Eden'.

However, we do hear Joan Baez sing "Rejoice in the Sun" in the science ficition film "Silent Running", circa 1972. Therefore, it is possible she would give TOS producers permission to use one of her songs in a different version of episode "The Way to Eden", the "Joanna McCoy" version perhaps.


Navigator NCC-2120 USS Entente
/\

 

[Chrisisall]

And you would think that by the third season, Kirk, having been burned by Khan and Lazarus and about every other guest he's brought on board, would have learned his lesson and at least posted guards in the ship's vital locations.

Flawlessly logical.

 

[Chrisisall]

However, we do hear Joan Baez sing "Rejoice in the Sun" in the science ficition film "Silent Running", circa 1972. Therefore, it is possible she would give TOS producers permission to use one of her songs in the episode "The Way to Eden".

I wuz gonna post that, but you beat me to it!