Script blunders!

[johnnybear]

McCoy's crack at Spock's physiological readings in The Naked Time might be considered a verbal, racist attack, but we know as fans of the series that it was to explain certain differences between humans and Vulcans!
JB

 

[Commishsleer]

The Enemy Within, but yeah there was a scene juggle apparently

Sorry I'm glad you knew what I meant.
What it deliberate to illustrate Spock's utter faith in Kirk or a mistake?

 

[Harvey]

How come the Blish adaption was so different from the filmed episode?
Actually thats not the only case. I think I read in some of his prefaces that he hadn't actually seen the episodes and perhaps I'm thinking he made changes to make the episodes make sense to him.

I am working on a deep dive regarding the Blish adaptations for Fact Trek with @Maurice and I’ve noticed a mix of things based on a close review of his first book (I will get to subsequent books eventually):

(1) Many of the changes result from Blish’s decision to tell the stories entirely from Kirk’s point-of-view. Events that he does not witness are either briefly summarized after-the-fact, entirely omitted, or changed so that Kirk is a participant.
(2) Blish was more invested in scientific plausibility than the writers of the show, and he changes things to bring some concepts more in line with his sensibilities.
(3) At least some of the scripts Blish was sent appear to have been missing the "change pages" (i.e. changes made while an episode was being filmed). He does not appear to have been sent significantly early drafts for any of the stories in Star Trek 1 (although I have 1 last story to review).
(4) Sometimes he just changed things. Maybe he thought that the name "Crater" was too silly, because in his version and only his version) the name is "Bierce." That doesn't come from anyone other than James Blish.

 

[ZapBrannigan]

I am working on a deep dive regarding the Blish adaptations for Fact Trek with @Maurice

That's a tremendous, amazingly good idea. I generally enjoy your Star Trek scholarship, but for this I'm excited.

 

[Henoch]

(2) Blish was more invested in scientific plausibility than the writers of the show, and he changes things to bring some concepts more in line with his sensibilities.

I wonder how he described the matter/antimatter universe hopping with our Lazaruses?

 

[Maurice]

To be fair to @Harvey he's doing the heavy lifting on the Blish thing. Sucker.

 

[johnnybear]

I wonder how he described the matter/antimatter universe hopping with our Lazaruses?

Were they ours?
JB

 

[drt]

I still find the similarity of his name and DeForest Kelley amusing since they were attached to the same series. It's not like either of these guys had "Pete Williams" style average names.

I thought the same for Leonard Nimoy and Leonard McCoy when I was a kid.

The Enemy Within, but yeah there was a scene juggle apparently

Yeah, if you watch that episode in the proper order the story flows better. My understanding was the order was changed to have a more dramatic scene right before going to commercial.

 

[Indysolo]

In "Operation: Annihilate!" they repeatedly say something like, "...one million candles per square inch." Don't they mean "foot-candles?"

Neil

 

[Henoch]

I bet there was several luminosity meters on the set that day...I guess the script guys don't associate with the lighting guys.

 

[ZapBrannigan]

In "Operation: Annihilate!" they repeatedly say something like, "...one million candles per square inch." Don't they mean "foot-candles?"

Since a foot-candle is one lumen per square foot, Spock seems to be using candles as a synonym for lumens.

 

[Henoch]

The chase description from LTBYLB might be a script blunder:

SPOCK: Captain, I have located them on ship's sensors. Bele is chasing Lokai on deck three. Bele is passing recreation room three, approaching the crewmen's lounge. Lokai is running past the crewmen's lounge. Lokai has just arrived on deck five. Passing recreation room three.

Bele and Lokai are established on Deck 3 passing Rec. Room 3 and approaching the Crewman's Lounge. Then Lokai is on Deck 5 passing Rec. Room 3, again. Charlie X established Rec. Room 6 on Deck 3:

RAND: Look, I'm off duty at fourteen hundred. Why don't you join me in recreation room six, deck three.

Unless the Enterprise has a screwy deck plan between Decks 3 to 5 or Lokai was running in circles, changing Spock's chase description to Rec. Room 6 on Deck 3 would have solved any issues.

 

[BK613]

Or...
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Candle_(unit)

 

[Daddy Todd]

I am working on a deep dive regarding the Blish adaptations for Fact Trek with @Maurice and I’ve noticed a mix of things based on a close review of his first book (I will get to subsequent books eventually)

Splendid idea!

David Ketterer's Imprisoned in a Tesseract: The Life and Works of James Blish has a good deal of background information on Blish and the writing of the Star Trek books published under his name.

I've been reading a copy on the Internet Archives, but I finally broke down and popped for a copy off eBay. I do love my books!

 

[Harvey]

Splendid idea!

David Ketterer's Imprisoned in a Tesseract: The Life and Works of James Blish has a good deal of background information on Blish and the writing of the Star Trek books published under his name.

I've been reading a copy on the Internet Archives, but I finally broke down and popped for a copy off eBay. I do love my books!

I have been doing the same and also just bought a copy. Lots of important detail, even if the Trek books are not central.

 

[Daddy Todd]

I have been doing the same and also just bought a copy. Lots of important detail, even if the Trek books are not central.

Ketterer does have some interesting things to say about Spock Must Die! and how it fits into Blish’s body of work. I just read that bit this afternoon.

But he doesn’t have a lot to say about the adaptations, and he gets a few details wrong, which leads me to question other statements he makes. I mean, it’s not Cushman levels of bullshit, but stuff like saying Judy was the credited co-author of ST11, when she didn’t actually get credit until ST12. Minor stuff, but stuff that should’ve been caught by the author or the editor.

 

[TIN_MAN]

The chase description from LTBYLB might be a script blunder:

Bele and Lokai are established on Deck 3 passing Rec. Room 3 and approaching the Crewman's Lounge. Then Lokai is on Deck 5 passing Rec. Room 3, again. Charlie X established Rec. Room 6 on Deck 3:

Unless the Enterprise has a screwy deck plan between Decks 3 to 5 or Lokai was running in circles, changing Spock's chase description to Rec. Room 6 on Deck 3 would have solved any issues.

That's an interesting observation, but it just goes to show that Freiberger and/or Singer, weren't too keen on continuity.

Also, I suspect that the second use of "passing rec room 3" on deck 5 was just a "cut and paste" job done in the editing room and was just the same exact scene and dialogue reused from earlier?

Anyway, I've read that the whole chase scene was an afterthought meant to fill out the time since they realized they were a few minutes short for this episode, so it was done on the fly, as it were.

Regarding the above, if you read Blish's version, it just says that Bele and Lokai leave the bridge and then Uhura says the the transporter has been activated, so there's no chase scene involved at all.

 

[Hofner]

I thought the same for Leonard Nimoy and Leonard McCoy when I was a kid.

Yeah, if you watch that episode in the proper order the story flows better. My understanding was the order was changed to have a more dramatic scene right before going to commercial.

Not to mention Mark Lenard.

Robert

 

[ZapBrannigan]

I thought the same for Leonard Nimoy and Leonard McCoy when I was a kid.

I don't think that was a coincidence. McCoy was probably named after Nimoy. But Kellam De Forest and DeForest Kelley was a total coincidence. Both men were using their birth names.

 

[Nerys Myk]

We also have James Kirk and James Doohan.
I really wish they had gone with "Walter Sulu" to continue the trend.