Missing scenes...

[Warped9]

Got this idea from another thread.

In a way I've touched on this before in my own way (my Never seen TOS scenes thread) when envisioning things we never got to see for whatever reason, either wholly imagined scenes or things we could assume happened off camera.

And so are there any "missing" scenes you think could have added to an episode to enhance a story or flesh things out better? Or perhaps a scene you just would like to have seen?

For example, the transfer of command scene (from Pike to Kirk) that Kirk referred to at the beginning of "The Menagerie." Note that this is an example of something we could never really hope to see simply because there was nowhere in the series that this event could have actually fit, and this was long before CGI could even have made it possible otherwise. Another example, though, would be a scene inserted into an existing episode that better explains what's going on in the story.

Any others?

Note: this is intended primarily as a discussion thread.

 

[Nerys Myk]

Obviously, Chekov meeting Khan would be a must!

 

[Warped9]

Obviously, Chekov meeting Khan would be a must!

Hmm... If Chekov or Khan could have had a quick flashback then that could have been inserted into the film.

I know of occasional scenes from episodes that were cut before airing yet in fairness those ones I'm thinking of really wouldn't have added anything to their respective stories. In "Who Mourns For Adonais?" for example I know there was a scene initially written that revealed Carolyn Palmas was pregnant by Apollo, but I don't think the scene was actually filmed. And it really wouldn't have added anything of substance to the story I think.

 

[sbk1234]

I would have loved to have seen the Enterprise return to Earth at the end of the 5 year mission, and Kirk get promoted to Admiral.

 

[FormerLurker]

Add five seconds to Act One of "And the Children Shall Lead" with a line from Spock to Kirk explaining how he knows about the ancient aggressor race, and names them as the Gorgans. He could also throw something in about the science team not having access to a library computer like the one on Enterprise to explain how they didn't know about the Gorgans themselves.

It would save the entire episode.

 

[GSchnitzer]

Add five seconds to Act One of "And the Children Shall Lead" with a line from Spock to Kirk explaining how he knows about the ancient aggressor race, and names them as the Gorgans. He could also throw something in about the science team not having access to a library computer like the one on Enterprise to explain how they didn't know about the Gorgans themselves.

It would save the entire episode.

The Final Draft script dated June 21, 1968 sheds a little bit of light on this issue.

In Scene 215 after Mister Spock plays back the tape of the children's chant from earlier, Kirk moves from his position where he was standing near Spock's station and goes over in front of the turbo lift where Melvin Belli is slowly beginning to appear:

KIRK

The time has come to gather and
see the world as it is.

The shimmering figure of Gorgan begins to appear
before the boys who do not form a circle, only watch,
uncertain, confused.

KIRK
(continuing)

Come -- join us. You must
have a name.

TOMMY
(defiantly)

He is Gorgan. He is our friend --
and he is powerful.

Now Gorgan reaches full flower.

GORGAN
(confused)

Who has summoned me?

KIRK

I did, Gorgan. My beast is gone.
It lost its power in the light of
reality. I command again. And I
ordered you to appear.


It's hard to tell if the dialog was shot but not used or if it was simply never shot at all. My hunch, from looking at how the scene is edited, is that the little bit of dialog was indeed shot but not ultimately used.

It's a little plot hole, I guess, and it's hard to say why the two seconds of dialog wasn't used. I guess it slowed down the exquisite storytelling that was going on and I guess the writer and/or director and/or editor just figured that the audience would simply conclude that one of the kids told Kirk the name of this alien being offscreen at some point.

As has been said before: this line doesn't really salvage the episode. But it's interesting that it's not a plot hole that someone forgot to fill; rather, it's a plot hole someone intentionally chose to create for some unknown reason,

 

[ToddPence]

Another instance of Kirk knowing a name he hasn't been told is in "The Alternative Factor". The scene where Lazarus gives his name was probably also filmed and edited out.

 

[GSchnitzer]

Another instance of Kirk knowing a name he hasn't been told is in "The Alternative Factor". The scene where Lazarus gives his name was probably also filmed and edited out.

I think it's probably just one of those things the audience is expected to conclude happened at some point offscreen--like Kirk getting dressed in the morning.

There's a line on the bridge:

KIRK: Yes. Meanwhile, I'll talk to our unexpected guest. Maybe he can provide some answers.

Then a hard cut to Kirk's quarters:

LAZARUS: ...and that's how I came to be down there, Captain, pursuing the devil's own spawn, a thing I've chased across the universe. He's humanoid outside, but inside, he's a hideous, murdering monster. I'll get him, Captain. I swear it.

So it looks like we pick them up in mid-conversation. I wouldn't be surprised if the unseen and/or unfilmed first portion of their conversation began with "Hello, I'm Captain James Kirk of the Starship Enterprise. And what is *your* name--and how did you come to be down on that uncharted planet?"

 

[FormerLurker]

Add five seconds to Act One of "And the Children Shall Lead" with a line from Spock to Kirk explaining how he knows about the ancient aggressor race, and names them as the Gorgans. He could also throw something in about the science team not having access to a library computer like the one on Enterprise to explain how they didn't know about the Gorgans themselves.

It would save the entire episode.

The Final Draft script dated June 21, 1968 sheds a little bit of light on this issue.

In Scene 215 after Mister Spock plays back the tape of the children's chant from earlier, Kirk moves from his position where he was standing near Spock's station and goes over in front of the turbo lift where Melvin Belli is slowly beginning to appear:

KIRK

The time has come to gather and
see the world as it is.

The shimmering figure of Gorgan begins to appear
before the boys who do not form a circle, only watch,
uncertain, confused.

KIRK
(continuing)

Come -- join us. You must
have a name.

TOMMY
(defiantly)

He is Gorgan. He is our friend --
and he is powerful.

Now Gorgan reaches full flower.

GORGAN
(confused)

Who has summoned me?

KIRK

I did, Gorgan. My beast is gone.
It lost its power in the light of
reality. I command again. And I
ordered you to appear.


It's hard to tell if the dialog was shot but not used or if it was simply never shot at all. My hunch, from looking at how the scene is edited, is that the little bit of dialog was indeed shot but not ultimately used.

It's a little plot hole, I guess, and it's hard to say why the two seconds of dialog wasn't used. I guess it slowed down the exquisite storytelling that was going on and I guess the writer and/or director and/or editor just figured that the audience would simply conclude that one of the kids told Kirk the name of this alien being offscreen at some point.

As has been said before: this line doesn't really salvage the episode. But it's interesting that it's not a plot hole that someone forgot to fill; rather, it's a plot hole someone intentionally chose to create for some unknown reason,

That still doesn't explain how Spock pulled the other information out of his ass at just the right moment, creating an even bigger hole about the science team not being able to find out the info themselves.

 

[Gorn Captain]

I'd like a scene after the crew beams back to the Enterprise at the end of City on the Edge of Forever where someone, I guess Spock, explains to McCoy what went on with Edith Keeler and the truck.

 

[Warped9]

I'd like a scene after the crew beams back to the Enterprise at the end of City on the Edge of Forever where someone, I guess Spock, explains to McCoy what went on with Edith Keeler and the truck.

Well we know that most certainly happened and I can't see how that would have added to the story. Indeed the story wouldn't happened with such an exclamation point as it did.

 

[Nerys Myk]

I'm sure after a lecture by Spock on time travel and temporal mechanics McCoy would voluntarily inject himself with cordrazine.

 

[Gorn Captain]

I'd like a scene after the crew beams back to the Enterprise at the end of City on the Edge of Forever where someone, I guess Spock, explains to McCoy what went on with Edith Keeler and the truck.

Well we know that most certainly happened and I can't see how that would have added to the story. Indeed the story wouldn't happened with such an exclamation point as it did.

Well, I didn't say it would have added to the story. You yourself said in the original post that it could be something that you just would have liked to see.

The way I would envision it, if television in 60's hadn't been so rigidly episodic, would be in a subsequent episode, something like the "Family" episode of TNG, immediately post Borg crisis, where Picard is sort of psychologically recovering on Earth.

This was done in a book, I think it was Final Frontier, where Kirk is up in the loft of his barn, reading his father's letters and contemplating quitting Starfleet after Edith's death, but it would have been neat to see onscreen.

 

[ToddPence]

So it looks like we pick them up in mid-conversation. I wouldn't be surprised if the unseen and/or unfilmed first portion of their conversation began with "Hello, I'm Captain James Kirk of the Starship Enterprise. And what is *your* name--and how did you come to be down on that uncharted planet?"

The James Blish adaptation contains the dialogue of the full uncut scene, when Lazarus revealed his name.

I can see why they had to cut that out though. There just wasn't any other room to give in that episode, what with all those vital indispensable scenes of Lazarus struggling in limbo with himself and falling off cliffs.

 

[A beaker full of death]

To quote Robin Hobb, “A writer puts a great deal of thought into what goes into the story and what doesn’t. If a particular scene doesn’t happen ‘on stage’ before the reader’s eyes, there is probably a reason for it. If something is left nebulous, it is because the author intends for it to be nebulous.” - Robin Hobb

 

[scotpens]

Add five seconds to Act One of “And the Children Shall Lead” with a line from Spock to Kirk explaining how he knows about the ancient aggressor race, and names them as the Gorgans. He could also throw something in about the science team not having access to a library computer like the one on Enterprise to explain how they didn't know about the Gorgans themselves.

It would save the entire episode.

NOTHING could save that episode.

I'd like a scene after the crew beams back to the Enterprise at the end of City on the Edge of Forever where someone, I guess Spock, explains to McCoy what went on with Edith Keeler and the truck.

We assume McCoy was filled in sometime later on why it was necessary to let Edith Keeler die. Any additional dialogue scenes would have ruined the dramatic impact of the stark ending.

KIRK: Let's get the hell out of here.

Best ending in the entire series.

 

[FormerLurker]

Add five seconds to Act One of “And the Children Shall Lead” with a line from Spock to Kirk explaining how he knows about the ancient aggressor race, and names them as the Gorgans. He could also throw something in about the science team not having access to a library computer like the one on Enterprise to explain how they didn't know about the Gorgans themselves.

It would save the entire episode.

NOTHING could save that episode.

Don't believe in the principle of dramatic relativity?

Granted, it was a third season episode directed by someone who may well have been trying to make it look bad, but putting that information in at the beginning instead of pulling it out of their ass at the end the way they did would have gone a long way toward making the episode at least passable.

 

[Willieck]

I would have loved to have seen the Enterprise return to Earth.

Ditto Voyager.

 

[Pauln6]

A scene in every other episode where Janice minces onto the bridge to serve coffee. She was a goddess with a beehive - she should have been in the show until the bitter end!

 

[sbk1234]

I would have loved to have seen the Enterprise return to Earth.

Ditto Voyager.

Ditto your "ditto."