Space Seed Lost Scenes

[TrekToday]

Going through the papers of Star Trek Writer/Director Nicholas Meyer, college professors John and Maria Jose Tenuto uncovered plenty of behind-the-scenes information from Star Trek: The Wrath of Khan that has not been released to the public. A further search through UCLA archival materials uncovered information about lost scenes, both filmed and unfilmed, for the [...]

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[A beaker full of death]

I always wondered how the silly rumor got started that Montalban wore a plastic chest for TWOK. Was it so hard to believe a man of his age stayed in shape?

 

[James T. Vader]

Didn't see anything about an attack on London, trips to Kronos, or Enterprise under the ocean...

 

[Michael]

Is this stuff legit? How and where exactly would the "McCoy teaches Kirk how to use glasses" scene fit into "Space Seed"? And is it really confirmed that Carey Wilber wrote the original story only two weeks after the premiere of the show?

 

[Harvey]

Is this stuff legit? How and where exactly would the "McCoy teaches Kirk how to use glasses" scene fit into "Space Seed"? And is it really confirmed that Carey Wilber wrote the original story only two weeks after the premiere of the show?

There are two drafts of the story outline in the Roddenberry files at UCLA. One is dated 8/29/66; the other is dated 9/1/66. Those were both finished before the show premeired in the United States.

The story linked to in the original post, however, references the first draft of the script. The one in the Roddenberry files is dated 12/7/66, a couple of months -- not weeks -- after the show premiered. There's also a final draft (credited to Coon and Roddenberry) in the Bob Justman files, dated 12/13/66, at least according to the finding aid.

I have no doubt that their findings are legitimate. They're not trying to prove an argument as far as I can tell, so there really isn't any reason for the two academics to falsify their research.

 

[Michael]

^ Oh, okay, many thanks for the info! I was unsure about the timetable there. I'm still baffled about the fact that glasses scene was written for "Space Seed", though.

 

[Christopher]

How and where exactly would the "McCoy teaches Kirk how to use glasses" scene fit into "Space Seed"?

My guess would be that the glasses are a 20th-century artifact found aboard the sleeper ship, and McCoy explains what they were used for.

 

[Nightowl1701]

The "McCoy teaches Kirk to use glasses" scene," if it would fit anywhere, would be early in the episode when Khan's recuperating in Sickbay. What would a bunch of genetically enhanced "supermen" need with glasses, anyway? Kind of defeats the whole purpose...

But I'm having a hard time believing it - Kirk certainly wasn't middle-aged in that episode, nor would Roddenberry portray him as such even in a story outline. James Blish was clearly working from an earlier version of the screenplay (probably the 12/7/66 draft), and he didn't include it in his novelization. And if this page is any clue, it's certainly not in the 12/13/66 draft.

 

[SchwEnt]

The eyeglasses scene doesn't make sense.

I can buy Kirk questioning their presence in his 23rd century (where vision problems don't require mechanical eyewear).
I can buy the fact that eyeglasses are a rare sight in everyday life in Kirk's time.

But I don't buy Kirk needing McCoy to explain how they function. Certainly Kirk is vaguely familiar with photos of people from history, and there are millions of such photos of people wearing eyeglasses. Kirk should know what those things are, how they were worn. It shouldn't be a mindboggler for Kirk.

 

[Harvey]

No doubt why the scene was cut.

 

[Christopher]

I can buy Kirk questioning their presence in his 23rd century (where vision problems don't require mechanical eyewear).
I can buy the fact that eyeglasses are a rare sight in everyday life in Kirk's time.

But I don't buy Kirk needing McCoy to explain how they function. Certainly Kirk is vaguely familiar with photos of people from history, and there are millions of such photos of people wearing eyeglasses. Kirk should know what those things are, how they were worn. It shouldn't be a mindboggler for Kirk.

Remember, this was from an early draft of the script written before the characters as we know them were well established. Sure, the Kirk we know today is a history buff and knows what glasses were, but the Kirk Carey Wilber knew when he wrote the draft was still much more vaguely defined.

And as Harvey suggests, there are a lot of things in first-draft scripts that don't work or don't make sense, which is why they're called "first-draft" instead of "only-draft."

 

[GSchnitzer]

No doubt why the scene was cut.

Well, my hunch is that Mr. Bruce Ingram from the Lake County New-Sun just got some facts mixed up. I see that in The Wrath of Khan script, there was the following conversation betwen Kirk and McCoy:

They drink. The package is opened: a pair of gold
"Ben Franklin" half-glasses. (N.B.: Romulan Ale is
an INSTANT DRUNK: both men react.)

KIRK
Cheers. Bones, these are... charming.

BONES

Four hundred years old. You don't
find many with the loens still
intact.

KIRK
Uh -- what are they?

BONES
For your eyes. For most patients
of your age, I generally administer
Retlax Five to restore flexibility
of the lens.

KIRK
But I'm allergic to Retlax.

BONES
Exactly. Happy birthday.

He toasts. Kirk is unsure how they work.

BONES
(continung)
Slide them down your nose. Now look
at me over the top. And you read
printed matter through the bottom.

KIRK
(reacts)
Amazing! I don't know what to say.

BONES
Say thank you.

KIRK
Thank you.

An awkward silence.

(etc. etc etc.)


So when the article says "But the real finds involved lost scenes that were filmed but never released," I'm thinking that this "filmed but not released" scene was from The Wrath of Khan, not from "Space Seed." I think someone simply misunderstood--either Mr. Ingram or T'Bonz. (Maybe the unused scene was unused in both productions--but I think it's probably referring to just TWOK.)

 

[Nightowl1701]

But it was filmed, and it is in the movie.

 

[GSchnitzer]

But it was filmed, and it is in the movie.

Well. not really. It cuts from Bones' "Exactly. Happy Birthday," to Kirk's "I don't know what to say." The "teaching Kirk how to use the glasses" line wasn't used. It's this line that's missing in TWOK. But someone please correct me if I'm wrong.

 

[GSchnitzer]

Oops. Double post. Sorry.

 

[Christopher]

So when the article says "But the real finds involved lost scenes that were filmed but never released," I'm thinking that this "filmed but not released" scene was from The Wrath of Khan, not from "Space Seed." I think someone simply misunderstood--either Mr. Ingram or T'Bonz. (Maybe the unused scene was unused in both productions--but I think it's probably referring to just TWOK.)

That makes sense. You're probably right.

 

[mos6507]

But it was filmed, and it is in the movie.

Well. not really. It cuts from Bones' "Exactly. Happy Birthday," to Kirk's "I don't know what to say." The "teaching Kirk how to use the glasses" line wasn't used. It's this line that's missing in TWOK. But someone please correct me if I'm wrong.

Was that part of the scene shot? There are some strange transitions in tone in Khan that I've attributed to directing quirks that might just be snippets of dialogue cut out, and one of those weird timing things happens around that point in the scene in Kirk's apartment.

 

[T'Bonz]

So when the article says "But the real finds involved lost scenes that were filmed but never released," I'm thinking that this "filmed but not released" scene was from The Wrath of Khan, not from "Space Seed." I think someone simply misunderstood--either Mr. Ingram or T'Bonz. (Maybe the unused scene was unused in both productions--but I think it's probably referring to just TWOK.)

It's not my error. And I've not seen the proof, so I can't tell how accurate the reporter was. However, one of three things seems to have happened:

- The WOK glasses scene is based on an old unused scene from Space Seed (perhaps the stuff was consulted when WOK was being produced)

- The reporter got it wrong and it's from WOK.

- The Tenutos mistook a scene from WOK for one from Space Seed.

Wish I knew the answer!

 

[Timo]

...Of course, thematically "Space Seed" could use a scene or two where the inferiority of Kirk's genes is highlighted. So what if he's nearsighted - he can still defeat a physically superior specimen with his hands tied behind his back, because, well, he's the good guy and fights with a pure heart! (Unless that's genetically inferior, too, and has been replaced by a machine... But apparently that scene was among the ones cut, and had to wait for two decades to see use. )

But even then, it would be odd that Kirk would have to receive tutoring on the use of glasses. Perhaps in an ideal world, "Space Seed" would have launched a story arc of sorts where Kirk's age gradually begins to show, Shatner ceases to wear the wig, etc...

Timo Saloniemi

 

[A beaker full of death]

... Shatner ceases to wear the wig, etc...

Wouldn't happen - Shatner did doff the wig for The Deadly Years, but he's very self-conscious about his hair.

When filming the criminally ignored Never Say Never Again, Connery wanted the play the ageing Bond with his own balding pate, but was ordered back into his wig one more time.