New Book about TOS: These Are The Voyages

[Harvey]

At the risk of blowing my own horn I think I could easily have come up with something more attention getting and aesthetically appealing.

I might have to take you up on that horn-blowing sometime.

The header on my blog could certainly use a little more pizzaz...

 

[plynch]

Harvey, thanks for the compliment.

I too use blogger, and I found you can create a banner-sized graphic in another program; or use a long photo and write text on it in an editing program . . . Then import said graphic and use as your banner title.

Yours does the job, actually, and you're not going to drive or lose "sales" based on your header. Here is the photo-imported version of a Blogger header at my blog of encouragement for educators, http://upteach.blogspot.com

Be well!

 

[davejames]

Thought it was cool seeing just how much of a difference Roddenberry made to the Space Seed script. After so many chapters devoted to Gene Coon and the magic he was working on the show, it was nice to see Roddenberry prove he still had some good ideas in him as well.

I just love his offhand suggestion that, instead of being common criminals who got shipped off to a penal colony, these people could maybe be dangerous, superhuman tyrants who had ruled much of the Earth. And it wasn't until his final script polish that the name Khan was used, or (according to Justman) that it became the great, streamlined classic it is today.

And I never really thought of it before, but it's clear that with episodes like this, Charlie X, and Balance of Terror that TOS did bottle episodes better than probably any other Trek series. In fact most of the time they don't even feel like bottle episodes (which you definitely can't say about many TNG eps).

 

[Forbin]

What, better then A Night in Sickbay? Surely not!

 

[Indysolo]

Walter Koenig just tweeted, "@GineokwKoenig
Volume One - "These are the Voyages" (Marc Cushman) now has a special discount price. It's a terrific read for all ST fans. Volume Two with an intro by me will be available (with new cover art for Volume One) in time for Christmas. I guarantee you'll love these works!"

https://twitter.com/GineokwKoenig/status/383369640040095745
https://twitter.com/GineokwKoenig/status/383370425431900161

Neil

 

[TREK_GOD_1]

Thought it was cool seeing just how much of a difference Roddenberry made to the Space Seed script. After so many chapters devoted to Gene Coon and the magic he was working on the show, it was nice to see Roddenberry prove he still had some good ideas in him as well.

I just love his offhand suggestion that, instead of being common criminals who got shipped off to a penal colony, these people could maybe be dangerous, superhuman tyrants who had ruled much of the Earth. And it wasn't until his final script polish that the name Khan was used, or (according to Justman) that it became the great, streamlined classic it is today.

And I never really thought of it before, but it's clear that with episodes like this, Charlie X, and Balance of Terror that TOS did bottle episodes better than probably any other Trek series. In fact most of the time they don't even feel like bottle episodes (which you definitely can't say about many TNG eps).

Nice observation.

 

[feek61]

Thought it was cool seeing just how much of a difference Roddenberry made to the Space Seed script. After so many chapters devoted to Gene Coon and the magic he was working on the show, it was nice to see Roddenberry prove he still had some good ideas in him as well.

I just love his offhand suggestion that, instead of being common criminals who got shipped off to a penal colony, these people could maybe be dangerous, superhuman tyrants who had ruled much of the Earth. And it wasn't until his final script polish that the name Khan was used, or (according to Justman) that it became the great, streamlined classic it is today.

And I never really thought of it before, but it's clear that with episodes like this, Charlie X, and Balance of Terror that TOS did bottle episodes better than probably any other Trek series. In fact most of the time they don't even feel like bottle episodes (which you definitely can't say about many TNG eps).

He did the same thing in "By Any Other Name" when D.C. Fontana was trying to come-up with a way the 4 Kelvins could take over and keep the entire crew under control. Roddenberry came up with the crew being reduced into those little styrofoam cube things which made the story work. I guess that will be in the next volume.

 

[davejames]

Yeah it's clear that while Roddenberry's original stories weren't always the best (Return of the Archons, Omega Glory, etc), he was damn good at fixing and tweaking other people's stories to make them work as best as possible on screen. And also with getting the most out of the limited resources they had.

Probably the biggest concern he seemed to have was with keeping the focus of the stories on Kirk and the main cast. It's amazing how many writers had problems doing something even as simple as that!

 

[Indysolo]

A friend of mine on facebook discussed this book with D.C. Fontana, who had this to say...

"Wait for the second edition,"

My friend also went on to say, "It seems Writer Marc Cushman gave Dorothy a review copy too late to incorporate her notes, and she spotted numerous factual errors that she expects to be corrected in the next edition."

I'm waiting until all 3 are released and e-versions are available.

 

[Harvey]

Just finished the last touches to my review, which I'll be posting on my blog tomorrow.

In short, though, I have to agree with D.C. Fontana. Wait for the second edition, and hope that it addresses the book's many problems.

 

[Warped9]

Just finished the last touches to my review, which I'll be posting on my blog.

I look forward to reading it.

In short, though, I have to agree with D.C. Fontana. Wait for the second edition, and hope that it addresses the book's many problems.

I'm looking forward to Volume 2, but I'd pick up a revised edition of Vol. 1 only if it's at a really good price.

 

[EnsignHarper]

Any idea when Season 2 comes out?

 

[feek61]

Volume 2 is scheduled for a November release

 

[davejames]

Unless they inject a bunch of new commentary from D.C. Fontana, I'll probably skip the revised edition. I'm not enough of a perfectionist that I need every detail in the book to be absolutely perfect.

 

[trevanian]

Just finished the last touches to my review, which I'll be posting on my blog.

I look forward to reading it.

In short, though, I have to agree with D.C. Fontana. Wait for the second edition, and hope that it addresses the book's many problems.

I'm looking forward to Volume 2, but I'd pick up a revised edition of Vol. 1 only if it's at a really good price.

Are they going to call it THESE ARE THE real VOYAGES, honest?

 

[Warped9]

Just finished the last touches to my review, which I'll be posting on my blog.

I look forward to reading it.

In short, though, I have to agree with D.C. Fontana. Wait for the second edition, and hope that it addresses the book's many problems.

I'm looking forward to Volume 2, but I'd pick up a revised edition of Vol. 1 only if it's at a really good price.

Are they going to call it THESE ARE THE real VOYAGES, honest?

 

[Forbin]

"These are the Voyages, Remastered."

 

[Indysolo]

These Are the Voyages

 

[Maurice]

If the proofreading remains as egregious as in the 1st run they could title it "These Air the Voygaes".


EDIT:

Speaking of that book, Harvey's review of it is up on the Star Trek Fact Check blog.

 

[davejames]

Speaking of that book, Harvey's review of it is up on the Star Trek Fact Check blog.

It's a pretty fair critique, but for me the good in the book still far outweighs the bad. With such an immense project and with so much information to cover, I fully expect there will be the occasional factual error or instances where the author draws a conclusion or makes an assumption that isn't totally accurate.

Ultimately, as much as I may love it, we're talking about the making of a TV show here. It's not a history of the Civil War or the Lincoln presidency or anything.