STAR TREK: PHASE II "The Child" Teaser Sneak Peek
- Thread starter Ryan Thomas Riddle
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That was shark infested waters and the tables were being turned on Roddenberry subtley plus he was a thoughtful, compassionate man - an anathama to the Berman regime of hired guns.
Sort of like Edward G. Robinson.
I just re-read "The Child" script as reprinted in the old Phase II book and I recall why I didn't like most of the Phase II scripts and treatments I read. As I've mentioned in discussions on writing, weak stories have characters who are reactive rather than active, and Phase II stories suffer from this in spades. In the 1978 script Kirk flounders throughout and it's Xon who acts to save the ship. Ugh.
This is obviously not a reflection on the upcoming fanfilm, which I've clearly not seen and can't critique as yet.
This is obviously not a reflection on the upcoming fanfilm, which I've clearly not seen and can't critique as yet.
The only issue I have with "The Child" script (and stories like it) is that it is a "magical pregnancy" story. We see these stories in sci-fi a fair bit, on shows like Buffy, Stargate, X-Files, Star Trek (TNG with Troi, and DS9 with Kira). Often these female characters have their ovaries harvested by evil aliens (BSG, X-Files), or serve as human incubators for alien spawn (TNG). Its almost always a violation, with the woman being at first afraid, and then accepting the baby. Also, the baby usually ends up aging at an accelerated rate (often dying at the end of the story). The stories are meant to be dramatic, but they have become such a cliche in sci-fi that they usually end up being too predictable for most viewers to feel any real tension.
As for the whole "Kirk flounders throughout and it's Xon who acts to save the ship", I would put money on that never happening in the actual episode, had it been filmed. Shatner would have shot that idea down in a heartbeat!
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In Kira's case, she was essentially a surrogate mother, so I don't think that's really the same as the other cases you mention. 
In Kira's case, she was essentially a surrogate mother, so I don't think that's really the same as the other cases you mention.
A baby "beaming" into another woman's womb... yeah, I would call that a "magical baby" episode, for sure. That one was done for comedic effect and to help explain away the fact that the actress was pregnant in real life, but still, it seems kind of magical to me.
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I don't agree. Yes it was a gag to explain the actress' pregnancy, but thematically it's really no different than a surrogacy. She was renting her womb out to another couple. There was no magical alien interference, the baby was born, lived, developed normally.
No drama.
And in the context of the technology available to the characters, it's not especially magical to me. YMMV.
No drama.
And in the context of the technology available to the characters, it's not especially magical to me. YMMV.
I think this is all pretty well true. The only bit of defense I'll offer is that all of your "it's been so many times" examples date from after "The Child" was written. So back in 1977, I think this hadn't yet become the cliche that it now has become. If you view this work from the 1977 vantage point of when it was written, it might actually be considered a seminal work (pun intended).
Well, as is generally the case, there were were earlier notable examples of similar ideas. Whether they were drawn upon as inspiration for The Child, I cannot say.
In 1974, Space: 1999 had an episode called Alpha Child, written by Christopher Penfold, with a similar idea, though there were some differences. The child was expected, but soon after birth, he ages rapidly, first to boyhood and then to adulthood, having been taken over by an alien, whose race can inhabit others' bodies at the moment of birth or death.
According to http://www.space1999.net/catacombs/main/epguide/t10ac.html, the episode was inspired by the 1957 book The Midwich Cuckoos by John Wyndham (which has been filmed as Village of the Damned). They also suggest it could have been influenced by The Omen, which although released in 1976, they claim was being filmed at Pinewood Studios contemporaneously.
According to http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Midwich_Cuckoos,
I don't agree. Yes it was a gag to explain the actress' pregnancy, but thematically it's really no different than a surrogacy. She was renting her womb out to another couple. There was no magical alien interference, the baby was born, lived, developed normally.
No drama.
And in the context of the technology available to the characters, it's not especially magical to me. YMMV.
Actually, there was some drama. Kira started developing feelings for O'Brien in one of the following episodes. Her boyfriend at the time (Vedek Bareil) also got jealous that she was carrying O'Brien's child. No, there wasn't any 'supernatural baby' drama to deal with, but the way they dealt with the pregnancy on the show was just unbelievable - even for Star Trek.
It still boggles my mind why DS9 - a show that dealt with adult themes like war, oppression, and genocide - would have a storyline that had Kira carrying Keiko's child, when they could have just had a storyline that had Kira pregnant with Vedek Bareil's child.
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Okay, now you're just nitpicking what I said regarding the drama. And I still disagree that this case is any any way comparable to the others you list. How exactly is it "unbelievable"? If you can suspend disbelief to accept warp drive and transporters, I really don't see how transporter surrogacy is such a huge leap.
As I said, your mileage may vary. And clearly does in this case.
Keiko was about 7 months pregnant when they did the switch. It is just too unbelievable. How could Bashir get Kira's body ready in time to handle that? (on a shuttle craft, no less!) It was just a silly sci-fi concept played for laughs and shock value. The reveal of Kira pregnant sure qualifies as a "magic baby" moment in my mind, even if it was done with Trek science. I also feel that storyline really undermined the potential of the female characters. There would have been great story potential with having Keiko and Kira both be mothers in their own right. I don't know what the writers where smoking when they came up with that idea, but it must have been some good stuff. The most logical way to have explained Kira's pregnancy would have been to say that Bariel had got her pregnant, but I guess the 24th century wasn't ready for an unmarried mother being First Officer on a space station.
Love DS9, but man, that storyline was dumb... lol...
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doubleohfive
Fleet Admiral
I think you're taking the DS9 thing too seriously. Not everything has to be letter-perfect hard-core drama.
The obvious gag behind it all was that Nana Visitor was carrying Siddig El Fadil's baby, and this story point gave the writers potential scenes to pair the two together more. There's even a scene in a later episode where Kira, irritated by the side effects of being pregnant, blatantly says to Bashir - "This is all your fault!"
So in short, is it terrible writing? Of course not. Is it the end of the world? No.
The obvious gag behind it all was that Nana Visitor was carrying Siddig El Fadil's baby, and this story point gave the writers potential scenes to pair the two together more. There's even a scene in a later episode where Kira, irritated by the side effects of being pregnant, blatantly says to Bashir - "This is all your fault!"
So in short, is it terrible writing? Of course not. Is it the end of the world? No.
Absolutely. And it's still nothing like the other examples.
But hey, warp drive, transporters, silly sci fi concepts too. And as someone who often works in an obstetric environment, this one really doesn't strike me as a stretch given the others.
Final edit of teaser published on Youtube:
[yt]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IBh7v-Pu-2M&context=C40085e1ADvjVQa1PpcFNQGSwK2MAGbdyfv6S--DIsWPaHjJt8Zfs=[/yt]
[yt]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IBh7v-Pu-2M&context=C40085e1ADvjVQa1PpcFNQGSwK2MAGbdyfv6S--DIsWPaHjJt8Zfs=[/yt]
Blood & Fire was great.
Now they are doing the Phase II tv series scripts. I can't wait.
TNG's versions sucked rotten eggs.
Great lens flares. :Shhhh: Don't tell anyone.
New Voyages/Phase II: What the movies should have been.
Now they are doing the Phase II tv series scripts. I can't wait.
TNG's versions sucked rotten eggs.
Great lens flares. :Shhhh: Don't tell anyone.
New Voyages/Phase II: What the movies should have been.
Ugh. No.
^^^^^ What he said.
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