New member here. I am trying to locate a film I saw around 1970.
First, some background. I began working at the NASA Lewis Research Center in December 1964, coincidentally the same time the pilot was filmed. I started as a technician right out of high school and later got my engineering degree. In the 1990s I was the Facility Manager for the Zero Gravity Facility. Our branch, the Microgravity Branch, also managed the “vomit comet” when it was based in Cleveland.
Back in my technician days, we would have a safety meeting every month or two. During many of these meetings a “safety film” would be shown, covering a wide range of topics. Some were job specific like fuel handling, but they could be about nearly anything. They were short, 10 to 15 minutes. I am trying to locate one such film I saw in the late 1960s or early 70s.
This film was based on the original Star Trek series. It featured William Shatner and Leonard Nimoy as Captain Kirk and Spock. They were in uniform as the two Star Fleet officers. The subject of the film was safety hazards in the home. In the film the Enterprise travels back in time and Kirk and Spock beam down to 1969 Earth and visit an American town, strangely deserted. As they walk down the street and through an empty home, they encounter objects (ordinary to us) they do not recognize. These seem to be hazards and they wonder about the purpose of the objects and try to avoid any “traps”.
I can vividly remember seeing the film. I can describe scenes and quote dialogue. In my favorite scene they came across the freshly washed dishes in the kitchen including a bunch of knives and forks sticking up in the drainer. Kirk warily approaches and asks, “Spock, what do you …make of this?” Spock answers, “I don’t know Captain, perhaps some sort of a trap for small animals.”
I have searched high and low for a mention of this film to no avail. I have read several of Shatner’s autobiographies to see if there was some mention. “Star Trek Memories” from 1993 gives a detailed look inside the production of the original series, sometimes minute by minute. From reading that memoir I doubt the film was made by Desilu or Paramount, who owned the rights to the TV show. But it must have been produced with Gene Rodenberry’s permission if not his outright involvement.
I feel it must have been filmed right after the show went off the air in 1969. I remember the building it was shown in and it was a building I would have gone to for a safety meeting during the late 1960s – early 1970s.
Oddly enough, Shatner made another safety film in 1995 about hazards in the home and this one shows up on Internet searches. But it is just Shatner in a suit narrating from a desk.
I recently contacted the archivist at Lewis (now Glenn Research Center) and he has searched all of his archives and talked to the curator at NASA headquarters and nothing has shown up. This suggests it was most likely a private film, not commissioned by NASA. I have checked the National Archives, which does has some safety films. The market for such films must have been small, although perhaps one on home safety might have been shown in schools.
So I am turning to this group. Is this film known to Trek enthusiasts or is it indeed lost? I’m looking for any help you can come up with. If it is indeed a lost film, perhaps contacting William Shatner might jog his memory and provide a clue, is it possible to contact him?
Dennis
First, some background. I began working at the NASA Lewis Research Center in December 1964, coincidentally the same time the pilot was filmed. I started as a technician right out of high school and later got my engineering degree. In the 1990s I was the Facility Manager for the Zero Gravity Facility. Our branch, the Microgravity Branch, also managed the “vomit comet” when it was based in Cleveland.
Back in my technician days, we would have a safety meeting every month or two. During many of these meetings a “safety film” would be shown, covering a wide range of topics. Some were job specific like fuel handling, but they could be about nearly anything. They were short, 10 to 15 minutes. I am trying to locate one such film I saw in the late 1960s or early 70s.
This film was based on the original Star Trek series. It featured William Shatner and Leonard Nimoy as Captain Kirk and Spock. They were in uniform as the two Star Fleet officers. The subject of the film was safety hazards in the home. In the film the Enterprise travels back in time and Kirk and Spock beam down to 1969 Earth and visit an American town, strangely deserted. As they walk down the street and through an empty home, they encounter objects (ordinary to us) they do not recognize. These seem to be hazards and they wonder about the purpose of the objects and try to avoid any “traps”.
I can vividly remember seeing the film. I can describe scenes and quote dialogue. In my favorite scene they came across the freshly washed dishes in the kitchen including a bunch of knives and forks sticking up in the drainer. Kirk warily approaches and asks, “Spock, what do you …make of this?” Spock answers, “I don’t know Captain, perhaps some sort of a trap for small animals.”
I have searched high and low for a mention of this film to no avail. I have read several of Shatner’s autobiographies to see if there was some mention. “Star Trek Memories” from 1993 gives a detailed look inside the production of the original series, sometimes minute by minute. From reading that memoir I doubt the film was made by Desilu or Paramount, who owned the rights to the TV show. But it must have been produced with Gene Rodenberry’s permission if not his outright involvement.
I feel it must have been filmed right after the show went off the air in 1969. I remember the building it was shown in and it was a building I would have gone to for a safety meeting during the late 1960s – early 1970s.
Oddly enough, Shatner made another safety film in 1995 about hazards in the home and this one shows up on Internet searches. But it is just Shatner in a suit narrating from a desk.
I recently contacted the archivist at Lewis (now Glenn Research Center) and he has searched all of his archives and talked to the curator at NASA headquarters and nothing has shown up. This suggests it was most likely a private film, not commissioned by NASA. I have checked the National Archives, which does has some safety films. The market for such films must have been small, although perhaps one on home safety might have been shown in schools.
So I am turning to this group. Is this film known to Trek enthusiasts or is it indeed lost? I’m looking for any help you can come up with. If it is indeed a lost film, perhaps contacting William Shatner might jog his memory and provide a clue, is it possible to contact him?
Dennis
I mean, that's one souvenir you don't part with.
