Question About the James Blish Adaptions (novelizations)

[Tribble Herder]

Now that I have the three Star Trek Reader collections, I think I need to go back and reread these puppies.

It's been over thirty years since I've read one, so it should be fun.

 

[ToddPence]

Years ago for another website I did I review of the first five volumes of the Blish adaptations, running down the differences between them and the TV episodes and also adding my own observations. I offer a reprint of that now for this thread.

James Blish achieved the monumental task of adapting every single episode of Star Trek for his series of tie-in books. Actually Blish had completed all but a small handful of the episodes at the time of his death, the remainder were completed by his widow J.A. Lawrence. Blish strived as much as possible to make his adaptations as accurate as possible, however in the early volumes he was often working from early drafts of scripts. Also, the publishing company in the early years put a limit on the length of each book, meaning that Blish had to cram seven or eight episodes into a book of little more than a hundred pages and had necessarily to truncate events in some of those adaptations. Fans who did not know any better sometimes criticized Blish for those shortcomings, which were obviously not his fault. Reading some of those earlier volumes actually gives the TOS fan an insight into how the plot and events of many classic Trek episodes looked before the script was changed to a final draft. And in the later volumes, when Blish was finally given a reasonable book length to work with and better scripts, the adaptations give the Trek fan a chance to occassionally see scenes which were in a final draft of a script but cut from the final print so that they never appeared on screen. So I thought it would be fun to go through the Blish books one by one and examine key differences between his adaptations and the episodes we saw on TV.

Here's some of my observations from volume one of Blish's adaptations:

CHARLIE'S LAW: Of course, this was an earlier working title for "Charlie X". Despite the early title, this adaptation is very faithful to the episode as it aired. There are some differences in dialogue, and several aired scenes omitted from Blish's take, but all in all this is one of the most accurate of the early Blish versions. A couple of minor noticable differences: after Charlie shows indifference to the destruction of the Antares, Kirk berates him, causing Charlie to cry. The chess game between Charlie and Spock in which Charlie melts a chess piece is not present here. The crewman named Sam whom Charlie makes disappear in the gym is given a last name (Ellis) and appears back on the bridge at the end of the story along with Yeoman Rand. The scene where Charlie makes Rand go away and where Kirk and Spock try to trap him with a force field, seperate events in the episode, are combined as one in Blish's version. Kirk asks Rand to lure Charlie into her cabin so they can turn the field on him there.

DAGGER OF THE MIND: Again, pretty faithful to the aired episode, but much more truncated. One notable omission is the whole affair with Spock learning the truth from Van Gelder via the mind meld. Also, at the end of the episode Kirk has to undergo therapy via the Neural Neutralizer to deprogram him of his love for Helen, I don't think this was mentioned in the episode. There is no mention in the adaptation of the Neutralizer being dismantled as Van Gelder was said to have done in the show.

THE UNREAL MCCOY: Known to viewers as "The Man Trap", I'm not sure if "Unreal McCoy" was an actual working title for this episode or an invention of Blish's. The Craters are named the Bierces here, the planet they are on is Regulus VIII instead of M-113. The deaths of crewman Green and Sturgeon do not occur in the adaptation, those characters do not appear, nor does the scene where the creature appears as Uhura's fantasy man. Kirk does not have to stun Crater/Bierce to get him aboard the ship.

BALANCE OF TERROR: Again, pretty faithful to the aired episode. There is much dialogue in this adaptation which does not appear in the episode and is either present in an earlier version of the script or invented wholly by Blish. One major change is that Stiles dies along with Tomlinson and another crewman in the final Romulan attack, so that he never gets the chance to repent his bigotry that he got in the show.

THE NAKED TIME: Unfortunately, this adaptation suffers the most from truncation and is the weakest of those in the first volume. The name of the disintegrating planet, called Psi 2000 in the show, is here ULAPG42821DB, or "La Pig" for short. Just about every memorable scene from the aired episode is missing from this extremely brief adaptation, and even the final time-travel ploy the crew employ to escape their predicament is absent.

MIRI: Although one of the lengthier adaptations from volume one, Blish's take on Miri leaves out a lot of the action from the aired episodes. Particularly, the scenes featuring the other children besides Miri are absent, and Jahn and the other kids do not appear until the end. Blish spends a lot of time, as he did in "The Naked Time", explaining how the disease works, he apparently enjoyed elaborating on the biological aspect of such stories. There is also no presence of the "just like Earth" element, the planet in the adaptation is said to be an early Earth colony, and its solar system given as 70 Ophiucus.

THE CONSCIENCE OF THE KING: Lt. Kevin Riley's role in this episode is replaced in the adaptation by a Lt. Robert Daiken, which was the name in the script before Bruce Hyde was slated to reprise his part in "The Naked Time." Otherwise, the adaptation is fairly complete and faithful. In the TV series, this was Yeoman Rand's last episode and she did not get a line of dialogue. Here, she gets to speak. She also informs Kirk of the death of Thomas Leighton, so he does not discover the doctor's body as he did in the episode. Also, the scene where the phaser goes on overload in Kirk's cabin is omitted.

Notes on volume two:

This is the one volume where space was at a premium. Adapting eight episodes into one slim volume meant Blish had to do massive editing and condensing work, and had to eliminate all but the most essential bare-bones scenes for most of the episodes. While again, several memorable moments are lost from some of the episodes, Blish's second volume is an overall improvement upon the adaptations of the first.

ARENA: This is the most abbreviated of all the Blish adaptations, but is still accurate. Blish condenses the entire first half of the episodes down to a few paragraphs and loses nothing essential in the process, while still providing an exciting description of the battle between Kirk and the Gorn.
Of course, "Arena" is one of two Star Trek episodes to be based on an original science-fiction short story (the other is "Catspaw", which Robert Bloch adapted from his own "Broomstick Ride.") As far as I can tell, Bantam did not have to get any extra special reprint rights to retell the Trek version of "Arena".

A TASTE OF ARMAGEDDON: Again, faithful to the episode in the main, while eliminating much of the action/chase/fight sequences that pad the aired version. The sequence where Ambassador Fox beams down from the ship and has his life endangered is the most notable casualty.

TOMORROW IS YESTERDAY: The year in which the Enterprise travels back to is given as 1970 instead of 1967 as in the episode. Christopher's son was supposed to have headed the Earth-Titan probe instead of the Earth-Saturn one.
Eliminated from this episode is the entire subplot about the crew having to beam down to Earth to recover the film taken of them. While doing this didn't make much sense in the actual episode, its absence removes a lot of the eventfulness of this time trip.
This story contains one of Blish's in-references to his own original works. It is mentioned that it is not safe for the Enterprise to travel anywhere in the 20th century because of most of space being dominated by the "Vegan Tyranny". The Vegan Tyranny is the galactic empire of Blish's Cities In Flight books.

ERRAND OF MERCY: Another faithful adaptation which also trims down a lot of unessential chase and action sequences. There is a confusing reference to the Klingons being "originally of Oriental stock(!)" This probably is culled from Gene Coon's original conception of the Klingons as intergalactic Mongols.
Most of the dialogue survives from the original, and it emerges as one of the better adaptations of the second volume.

COURT-MARTIAL: Another good adaptation with a little difference in the resolution from the actual episode. Jame Finney (note that her name is spelled differently in the adaptation) actually puts in an appearance in the engine room during the showdown between Kirk and Finney. The sight of her causes' Finney's resolve to break, and does not make it necessary for Kirk to fight him.

OPERATION-ANNIHILATE!: As has been discussed earlier on this board, this adaptation contains a number of differences from the aired episode, most notably the lack of Kirk's brother being involved. A woman called Aurelean does appear in the story, as a regular Denevan citizen. She is given considerably more to do in this version of the story and helps with the plan to destroy the creatures; she also does not die as Aurelean Kirk did in the TV episode. The plan to destroy the creatures in this version does not involve exposing them to ultra-violet light, but in destroying their homeworld which serves as the "brain" controlling the amobea-creatures on other worlds. The subplot of Spock's being temporarily blinded is also absent from this version.

THE CITY ON THE EDGE OF FOREVER: Of course, this has to be considered one of Blish's finest adaptations, especially considering the constrictions he was working under for this particular collection. Despite the number of different drafts Blish was working from, the adaptation does not differ markedly from the TV episode. Blish does add Harlan Ellison's original script tag on to this episode, perhaps the one part of Harlan's script worth preserving, and it turns out to work well and is a fine decision. Another in-joke by Blish - Spock compares Edith Keeler to Bonner the Stochastic, a character from his novels.

SPACE SEED: Another fairly accurate adaptation. Khan's full name is given as Sibahl Khan Noonien instead of Khan Noonian Singh. The final battle to recapture Khan somewhat disappointingly occurs "offstage." Kirk, who gives the name of the planet Khan and McGivers are exiled to in the Tv show (Ceti Alpha V), keeps in anonymous in the story. Kirk is given a rather prophetic final line in this adaptation!

Notes on volume three . . .

THE TROUBLE WITH TRIBBLES: As mentioned before, this adaptation has Sulu play the part given to Chekov in the aired version. This of course eliminates the opening teaser, with Chekov identifying astronomer John Burke as the Russian Burkoff. Sadly, most of the other humor is lost from the adaptation as well, including the bar fight and its aftermath. Scotty's final tag line, "There'll be no tribble at all" appears here as the "I trust all their tribbles will be big ones."

THE LAST GUNFIGHT (Spectre Of The Gun): In the main faithful to the aired episode, and even with a couple of elements added. Blish has Kirk inacurrately give the name of the sheriff as "Billy Behan" instead of "Johnny." Spock refers back to the events of "City On The Edge Of Forever," which he does not do in the aired episode. When the landing party tries to leave the OK Corral before the gunfight; instead of being stopped by an electrical barrier like they are in the aired version, they simply wind back up in the corral no matter which route away from it they take. The adaptation does contain a nice scene concluding bit of dialogue between Kirk and Spock which does not appear in the TV show, in which the captain calls his first officer "a sentimental bag of mush" because of the what he said to each individual during the mind meld. Another bit of dialougue presented here which did not survive to TV is during McCoy's visit to Doc Holiday. McCoy tells Holiday he is also from Georgia, and Holiday responds that it's a shame he will have to kill another Georgia man with so many Yankees in Tombstone. McCoy also offers to treat Holiday's tubercolosis. The Melkotian in the adaptation is described as a humanoid, in contrast to the scrodlike alien who appears onscreen.

THE DOOMSDAY MACHINE: The commander of the Constellation's first name is given as "Brand" instead of "Matt." He survives the encounter with the planet-killer (because the sequence where he steals the shuttlecraft is eliminated) and at the end of the adaptation expresses contrition to Kirk for usurping command of the Enterprise. The climactic sequence in which Kirk is beamed away from the wreck of the Constellation as it enters the doomsday machine to self-destruct is much less suspenseful in the adaptation than it is in the aired episode.

ASSIGNMENT: EARTH: One of the most condensed of Blish's early episodes. The character of Roberta Lincoln barely appears in this adaptation and is not given the importance she was in the TV episode, she is not even named. The whole sequence in which Kirk and Spock are captured by the feds at the rocket base is also cut out in this bare-bones retelling.

MIRROR, MIRROR: The plot points of Marlenna Moreau and the Tantulus Field are trimmed from Blish's take on this story. Also all the hand-to-hand fights depicted in the Televised version, including the alternate Chekov's attempt on Kirk's life. The captain who preceded Kirk in the mirror universe is given as "Karl Franz" instead of Chistopher Pike. When Kirk is beamed by the alternate Spock back to his own universe at the end of the story, he is required to stun Spock with his phaser just after he activates the controls so that the others on the ISS Enterprise will think Spock was overpowered by the party.

FRIDAY'S CHILD: Another adaptation that has a lot of differences (probably due to an earlier draft script) to what eventually came out on screen. The biggest difference is that Eleen does not survive the episode, being executed by Maab for infidelity after she bears the child. Maab, however, does survive the adaptation instead of being killed as he was in the TV version. The Klingon Kras does not appear in Blish's story, nor does the security guard who was killed in the first few minutes of the TV show. The Klingons are mentioned as being involved in an offstage role, however. The planet is said to be in the Ceres star sytem rather than Capella.

AMOK TIME: Faithful to the TV version in the main, and suffers less from condensation than most of the stories of volume three. Probably the best and most accurate adaptation overall in the volume.

 

[ToddPence]

Notes on volume four of the adaptations:

Although adaptations would continue to be condensed somewhat for the next few volumes, the fourth collection is the first one in which Blish does not find it necessary to lop entire significant plot threads from the episodes. No important details from the episode are missing from these adaptations, and while scenes are still being chopped, less of them are getting axed than in previous collections. Of course, the one big exception in this volume is "The Menagerie", in which Blish found it necessary to eliminate the entire framing story of the pilot and simply do a straight adaptation of the pilot itself.

ALL OUR YESTERDAYS: The adaptation contains all the important scenes and lines of dialogue from the aired version. In the adaptation, Zarabeth admits in the final scene with Spock that she did lie to about knowing that the two could indeed go back through the portal, a line that does not appear in the episode.

THE DEVIL IN THE DARK: Again a fairly faithful adaptation with no major differences. The Enterprise security guard killed by the Horta is given the name Kelly, an identification which appears in such references as The ST Concordance but is not supported by any dialogue or credits in the aired episode.

JOURNEY TO BABEL: Again, an accurate adaptation plotwise, although a few memorable scenes are lost, the biggest casualty being Spock's dramatic conversation with Amanda.

THE MENAGERIE: As noted before, this is sinply a straight adaptation of "The Cage" and a fairly accurate one at that, if one overlooks the axing of the framing story, this has to arguably be considered perhaps the finest adaptation of volume four. A few have criticized Blish for eliminating the framing story, but he did well state his reasons for doing so in a footnote. Considering that the framing story (nicely conceived as it was) did not work all that well on TV, he can be lightly faulted for his decision.
The dialogue between Pike and Boyce in Pike's cabin is the only noteworthy omission from the adaptation.

THE ENTERPRISE INCIDENT: However, Blish does make a poor decision in his adaptation of this episode. Most of the suspense of the TV version hinges on the fact that we don't know that Kirk and Spock are play-acting until halfway through the episode. But Blish denies the reader this suspense by explicitly stating in the first paragraph that Kirk is acting under sealed orders and is intentionally deceiving his crew.
Blish does clear up a nit that was in the aired version by having Spock confess that the maxim "Vulcans never lie" is indeed a myth, and explaining to the Romulan Commander why lying is a necessary subterfuge for all rational beings, even the Vulcans. I'm not sure if this was in the original script or not.
Blish ends this adaptation with the line "And McCoy had the last word again", tying it in with his most recent adaptation featuring the regular crew, "Journey To Babel."

A PIECE OF THE ACTION: This version by Blish utilizes a few scenes which did not survive to the aired version. The "Fizzbin" scene is also slightly different here. Kirk calls the last card dealt the Kle-et (the Vulcan word for attack) to signal to Spock what he is planning.
The most notable missing scene is the one with the small boy which provides the title for the epsiode.

Observations on volume five:

Blish was apparently now doing the adaptations in reverse order from the scripts he most recently received. Volumes ive and six would consist mostly of late third season episodes, and Blish would not return to earlier seasons until later volumes. The adaptations continue to be more thorough and assured, and more and more of the dialogue is surviving intact, although there are still several minor scenes which are either omitted or slightly different from what aired.

WHOM GODS DESTROY: Several very minor details make this adaptation slightly different from the aired version. Although Garth mentions the torture chair in this version, and threatens to use it on Kirk, the chair itself never makes an actual appearence. The biggest difference is the omission of the scene where Garth executes Marta with the explosive, meaning that Marta presumably survives in the adaptation. Cory also mentions the fact that Garth killed off the rest of the Elba II staff, this was not specified in the aired episode. In this adaptation the transporter chief's name is given as Ensign Wyatt, presumably the same man who was killed in "That Which Survives."

THE THOLIAN WEB: Blish ties in this episode with "Whom Gods Destroy" by having Spock mention the incident of Captain Garth when Chekov asks if a mutiny has ever occurred on a starship before.

LET THAT BE YOUR LAST BATTLEFIELD: The dramatic sequence with Bele's invisible ship is eliminated - Bele simply beams aboard as a passanger from a transport ship. Blish slightly alters a line of dialogue near the end to refer back to his own original novel Spock Must Die.

THIS SIDE OF PARADISE: Arguably the best episode selected for adaptation in volume five gets the shortest shrift from Blish. Although the story is accurate in the main, much is eliminated from what appears on screen, including a lot of the romance between Spock and Leila Kalomi. Also sacrificed is the dramatic scene where Kirk fights off the influence of the spores, this is substituted with a comparitively ho-hum scene in which he learns how to kill the spores through laboratory experiments.

TURNABOUT INTRUDER: Blish's attempts to overcome the narrative difficulty inherit in this tale of having Kirk be in another person's body by referring to Janice in Kirk's body as "Kirk/J" and Kirk in Janice's as "Janice/K". While well intentioned, this device actually seems to create more confusion than it resolves.

REQUEIM FOR METHUSELAH: Not much different from what aired, and a really good, moving adaptation by Blish. Flint lists Jesus among the famous historical people he knew, whom he did not include onscreen.

THE WAY TO EDEN: Another pretty fastidious adaptation. Blish takes the time to print out the lyrics to all of Adam's songs, and also adds a footnote in which he expresses regret at being unable to supply the sheet music with the words.

 

[Tiberius]

Wow, a very nice summary!

 

[Christopher]

DAGGER OF THE MIND: Again, pretty faithful to the aired episode, but much more truncated. One notable omission is the whole affair with Spock learning the truth from Van Gelder via the mind meld.

IIRC, the original intention was for McCoy to hypnotize Van Gelder, but the network was uneasy about the prospect of viewers actually getting hypnotized or some such thing, so they rewrote it and the Vulcan mind meld was born.

THE NAKED TIME: Unfortunately, this adaptation suffers the most from truncation and is the weakest of those in the first volume.

Hmm, I remember kinda liking it, at least because the explanation of the disease made more sense than in the episode.

...and even the final time-travel ploy the crew employ to escape their predicament is absent.

Not surprising, since that was only included as part of the initial plan of having the episode lead directly into "Tomorrow is Yesterday" (and was kept for no good reason after that plan was dropped, leaving the episode with a time-travel ending that serves no purpose whatsoever). Perhaps the time travel wasn't part of the earlier drafts, or perhaps Blish recognized it as irrelevant to the story and jettisoned it.

MIRI: ... There is also no presence of the "just like Earth" element, the planet in the adaptation is said to be an early Earth colony, and its solar system given as 70 Ophiucus.

Probably because it made more sense that way. (Note that the Pocket novel The Cry of the Onlies, a sequel to "Miri," also ignores the duplicate-Earth element of the story.) But Blish's version puts the events of Star Trek around the early 27th century.

ARENA: This is the most abbreviated of all the Blish adaptations, but is still accurate. Blish condenses the entire first half of the episodes down to a few paragraphs and loses nothing essential in the process, while still providing an exciting description of the battle between Kirk and the Gorn.

I'd say that the moral debate between Kirk and Spock about the use of force was esssential; it helped set up the thematic payoff of the story and encapsulated the essence of their relationship as Gene L. Coon wrote it. (Even though "The Devil in the Dark" pretty much repeated the exact same beats.)

Of course, "Arena" is one of two Star Trek episodes to be based on an original science-fiction short story (the other is "Catspaw", which Robert Bloch adapted from his own "Broomstick Ride.")

Well, "Catspaw" only draws on a few elements of "Broomstick Ride" rather than being an adaptation per se: http://www.fastcopyinc.com/orionpress/articles/broomstick_ride_vs_catspaw.htm

And the funny thing about "Arena" is that Coon didn't intentionally base it on Fredric Brown's story, but the legal department pointed out the similarities, he recalled he'd read it and might've been influenced, so he did the decent thing and called up Brown and offered to pay him for the rights to the story.

TOMORROW IS YESTERDAY: The year in which the Enterprise travels back to is given as 1970 instead of 1967 as in the episode.

The episode never gave a date beyond "the late 1960s." In retrospect, of course, we can place it in 1969, because of the reference to "the first manned moon shot."

Christopher's son was supposed to have headed the Earth-Titan probe instead of the Earth-Saturn one.

Same thing, since Titan is Saturn's largest moon.

This story contains one of Blish's in-references to his own original works. It is mentioned that it is not safe for the Enterprise to travel anywhere in the 20th century because of most of space being dominated by the "Vegan Tyranny". The Vegan Tyranny is the galactic empire of Blish's Cities In Flight books.

Isn't this also the one where Blish proposes 40 Eridani as Vulcan's primary star, the first time that suggestion was made?

COURT-MARTIAL: Another good adaptation with a little difference in the resolution from the actual episode. Jame Finney (note that her name is spelled differently in the adaptation) actually puts in an appearance in the engine room during the showdown between Kirk and Finney. The sight of her causes' Finney's resolve to break, and does not make it necessary for Kirk to fight him.

That would've been a stronger ending than what we got. Or maybe they have the obligatory fight at first, and then Jamie comes in.

FRIDAY'S CHILD: ... The planet is said to be in the Ceres star sytem rather than Capella.

Which is weird, since Ceres is an asteroid in our system (well, a dwarf planet, but that terminology didn't exist at the time).

THE DEVIL IN THE DARK: Again a fairly faithful adaptation with no major differences. The Enterprise security guard killed by the Horta is given the name Kelly, an identification which appears in such references as The ST Concordance but is not supported by any dialogue or credits in the aired episode.

It's probably from the script.

WHOM GODS DESTROY: ...The biggest difference is the omission of the scene where Garth executes Marta with the explosive, meaning that Marta presumably survives in the adaptation.

Good, since the whole "most powerful explosive ever invented" bit from the episode is nonsense in a universe where they already have antimatter weapons.

LET THAT BE YOUR LAST BATTLEFIELD: The dramatic sequence with Bele's invisible ship is eliminated - Bele simply beams aboard as a passanger from a transport ship.

Unsurprising, since the whole stupid "invisible ship" thing was just added to save money on special effects (though I've never understood why they couldn't just use stock footage of the "light blip" ships from "Friday's Child" or "Journey to Babel").

 

[plynch]

I've always had a hard time getting into these and the ADF logs. Which do people prefer? I feel like giving them a fourth or fifth shot.

 

[Joe_Atari]

Great observations. Some additional stuff:

COURT-MARTIAL: Another good adaptation with a little difference in the resolution from the actual episode. Jame Finney (note that her name is spelled differently in the adaptation) actually puts in an appearance in the engine room during the showdown between Kirk and Finney. The sight of her causes' Finney's resolve to break, and does not make it necessary for Kirk to fight him.

That would've been a stronger ending than what we got. Or maybe they have the obligatory fight at first, and then Jamie comes in.

This was scripted and filmed (scroll down about 2/3 down):

http://www.startrekhistory.com/DS7.html

This scene was replaced with a captain's log voice over. It was probably cut for time.

KIRK: All right... you leave me no other place to go...
He takes a quick sudden lunge forward, straight at Finney... knocking the phaser from
his hand. They fight. Presently, Kirk wins.

JAME'S VOICE: Father -- !

ANOTHER ANGLE
as Jamie, with Cogley, rushes down the corridor.

FINNEY (totally confused) Jamie...

JAMIE: (going into his arms) Oh, father. (moving her hand toward his tortured brow)
It's all right, father. It's all right.

FINNEY: Don't, Jamie, you've got to understand... I had to do it... after what they did
to me...

KIRK: Ben... quickly... where'd you tap the energy circuits?

FINNEY (dull, blankly) The circuits... (indicating) In there... the tube...

Kirk hands the phaser to Cogley, indicating he should guard Finney, and quickly exits.

INT. BRIDGE
Extreme tension.

INT. TUBE
Kirk works on instruments... desperate... in a cold sweat.
​

The script then returns to what was televised.

​

LET THAT BE YOUR LAST BATTLEFIELD: The dramatic sequence with Bele's invisible ship is eliminated - Bele simply beams aboard as a passanger from a transport ship.

Unsurprising, since the whole stupid "invisible ship" thing was just added to save money on special effects (though I've never understood why they couldn't just use stock footage of the "light blip" ships from "Friday's Child" or "Journey to Babel").

Maybe just Coon at the script stage trying to get ahead of the budget issues he knew were going to worsen later in the third season.

 

[F. King Daniel]

The ending of "Who Mourns For Adonais?" was different; in the Blish version, Carolyn Palamas turns out to be pregnant by Apollo.

.

IIRC, that part of the script lasted all the way till the final draft of the shooting script.

Something which I believe is followed up on in the New Frontier novels.

 

[Christopher]

LET THAT BE YOUR LAST BATTLEFIELD: The dramatic sequence with Bele's invisible ship is eliminated - Bele simply beams aboard as a passanger from a transport ship.

Unsurprising, since the whole stupid "invisible ship" thing was just added to save money on special effects (though I've never understood why they couldn't just use stock footage of the "light blip" ships from "Friday's Child" or "Journey to Babel").

Maybe just Coon at the script stage trying to get ahead of the budget issues he knew were going to worsen later in the third season.

Coon only wrote the story, and it was actually written and rejected during the first season. When it was resurrected in season 3, Oliver Crawford wrote the script. And Coon wouldn't have been that inept anyway. The whole extended sequence about the invisible ship practically screams "Hey audience, look how cheap we are!" It's calling attention to the budget-saving move in a very awkward way.

And it wouldn't have been any more expensive to cut in a stock shot of a blip on the viewscreen than it would've been to cut in the stock shots of the shuttlecraft from The Galileo Seven earlier in the episode. So there was certainly no budgetary reason not to go that route. It was just sloppy thinking. Maybe because so few staffers from the previous seasons remained involved with the show, there was nobody around who remembered they had suitable footage from "Friday's Child" or "Journey to Babel." But then, apparently this was the last episode Bob Justman worked on, so he could've remembered. Maybe he was distracted by his impending departure?

 

[Knight Templar]

One thing I liked about the "Arena" adaptation is that at the end when the Metron appears to Kirk after the Gorn vanishes, he points out that they (the Metrons) actually had planned on destroying the winner of the conflict and not the loser (figuring the winner would be the more dangerous in the long run). But of course with Kirk showing mercy they chose not to destroy him.

 

[Warped9]

I've always had a hard time getting into these and the ADF logs. Which do people prefer? I feel like giving them a fourth or fifth shot.

The Blish adaptations feel like truncated versions of the live-action episodes although in some Blish includes some tidbits that I like to accept as part of the whole story as long as they don't conflict with what had actually been established onscreen.

The ADF adaptations of the TAS episodes are the reverse. I think the adaptations for the most part are superior to the onscreen versions and feel more complete and authentic. The TAS episodes too often feel truncated. Also with the print adaptations its easy to see them in your mind as live-action rather than static animation.

 

[Christopher]

Also with the print adaptations its easy to see them in your mind as live-action rather than static animation.

Heck, when I read the Logs I try to imagine even the new material in animated form, though a bit more fluidly animated, along the lines of what Filmation did in Flash Gordon.

 

[Knight Templar]

One of the funniest written lines in all of Star Trek appears in the Alan Dean Foster expanded verision of "Eye of the Beholder".

 

[Christopher]

^Which is?

 

[Knight Templar]

^Which is?

About two thirds of the way through the expanded story, Kirk and the Enterprise crew have brought the Lactrans down to the planet to meet the alien race that will help them capture one of the monstrous space dwelling creatures.

They bring them in one of the shuttles instead of beaming down for a reason I don't recall but then it says

"Besides, Kirk wanted to see if the Lactrans could fit through the doors".

Go back and read the paragraph. When read in context its far, far funnier than I can do it justice.

 

[newtontomato539]

Years ago I read the Blish and Foster adaptations.

I was wowed.

After I watched the Bad Robot movie I started reading them again. They added more to the stories. I wish there was a way to combine them like what was done with the Star Wars Trilogy radio series. TOS-R doesn't go far enough for my taste and TAS needs more.

I also add stuff from the Bad Robot movie: lensflares, shaky cam, the new actors and Kelvin tech. Wheee!

P.S. You gotta try the Power Records stories, Blish's Spock Must Die and Foster's TMP adaptation.

 

[Therin of Andor]

WHOM GODS DESTROY

When Garth talks to the Tellarite and Andorian prisoners, he refers to one by the name Tlollu. I suggested on my Andorian Rogues' Gallery web pages that it sounds more of an Andorian name, and after swapping a few emails with me, the writers of "The Andorians: Amongst the Clans" RPG manual ended up name-dropping him as Tlollu, too.

 

[Tiberius]

P.S. You gotta try the Power Records stories, Blish's Spock Must Die and Foster's TMP adaptation.

ADF didn't write the TMP novel. Roddenberry did. I've read quite a bit of ADF's stuff, as well as his adaptation for Star Wars, and it just isn't his style.

 

[Christopher]

Yes, I covered this elsewhere on the board recently. The myth that Foster ghostwrote the TMP adaptation comes from two sources: one, confusion with the 1977 Star Wars novelization that Foster ghostwrote under George Lucas's name; and two, a French translation of the TMP novelization that listed Foster's credit as the writer of the movie's story, but left out the credits for Harold Livingston as the scriptwriter and Roddenberry as the novel's author.

But to anyone who's familiar with Foster's style, it's obvious that he didn't write the TMP novelization. That novel has an awkward prose style which definitely reads like the work of a screenwriter who's never written in prose before (for instance, its excessive use of italics mirrors the way scriptwriters use underlining or bold face to emphasize important stage directions). Not to mention that some of Roddenberry's preoccupations -- such as futurism and sexuality -- come through very clearly in the novelization's narrative voice.