TAS book?

[BillJ]

D.C. Fontana is still around. Wouldn't she be a good start? And some of the writers of the episodes (like David Gerrold) should also still be around.

It would depend, I think, on how much documentation from the time has survived. You can only get so far with faded memories of a show made forty years ago. Those files may very well exist, with Fontana, Gerrold, the Roddenberry estate, or CBS, but they don't exist publicly.

That's a shame.

 

[TREK_GOD_1]

D.C. Fontana is still around. Wouldn't she be a good start? And some of the writers of the episodes (like David Gerrold) should also still be around.

That's why I suggested Michael Swanigan, the former Filmation employee and author of Animation by Filmation. He worked there, and is arguably the best Filmation historian alive. He might know more about other behind the scenes decision making that Fontana was not exposed to.

 

[Christopher]

It would depend, I think, on how much documentation from the time has survived. You can only get so far with faded memories of a show made forty years ago. Those files may very well exist, with Fontana, Gerrold, the Roddenberry estate, or CBS, but they don't exist publicly.

Keep in mind, though, that when TAS was made, Norway Productions still held the copyright. Paramount was just the distributor of the show that Filmation produced in partnership with Norway. So most of the documentation would've been in the care of a production company that ceased to exist in the 1980s.

Like the above post said, the best bets would be Filmation historians like Swanigan or Mangels. They're the ones with the most knowledge of Filmation's history, the most experience with their surviving records and materials, etc.

 

[FormerLurker]

I'd be happy to see the Enterprise as she looked in TAS fleshed out, what with the larger nacelles, the longer secondary hull--a pre-refit you might call it.

The BTS on the TAS box set has an interview with Lou Scheimer wherein he states that all the Enterprise shots, or at least all the familiar-looking ones, were rotoscoped from the TOS FX footage, so at least in those shots, it doesn't look any different. Anything newly animated would have been done using a model to at least try to make it look the same. Thus, the larger nacelles and longer secondary hull were never intended to be taken as such.

 

[Kail]

I'd be interested. I'd like to help.

 

[Warped9]

Things were definetly stylized or simplified in TAS. The bridge overhead scenes show curved control panels around the perimeter instead of angled panels. Engineering was more elaborate than what we saw on TOS. The hangar deck was far more cavernous than the TOS version. Along with that the shuttlecraft were not elaborate yet also much larger such that they would never fit into the TOS hangar deck.

 

[Indysolo]

I'd be interested but it would have to be by someone other than Mark Cushman.

Sorry.

G & T Show Supplemental Log – Marc Cushman Returns

"Marc admits it will feature the animated series, but much more than that. The book will be about the 1970s."

Neil

 

[CorporalCaptain]

Marc can write whatever he wants. It's a free country.

Won't be buying it, though....

 

[BillJ]

I'd be interested but it would have to be by someone other than Mark Cushman.

Sorry.

G & T Show Supplemental Log – Marc Cushman Returns

"Marc admits it will feature the animated series, but much more than that. The book will be about the 1970s."

Neil

 

[Maurice]

Perhaps he is the author whom former Paramount head David Picker told me contacted him about Planet of the Titans.

 

[FormerLurker]

Every time I read the title of this thread in my head I keep thinking it's a film starring Jurgen Prochnow about an East German secret policeman investigating a subversive author's writings.

 

[Therin of Andor]

Where would you even go looking for the production memos?

I've posted here before, but a US research library has a donated copy of the TAS Writers' Guide, which is essentially the TOS Writers' Guide, but includes brief biographies of Arex and M'Ress, mention of the new tech (I think), such as the holodeck and environmental belts, and a hand drawn map of M'Ress's home planet, Cait, and its relation to the Lynx constellation.

There was at least one script that didn't get to production, IIRC. There is a missing production number in the 22 storyboards (as sold by Lincoln Enterprises), and those numbers appeared on the old VHS videos.

Both of David Gerrold's scripts, "More Tribbles, More Troubles" and "Bem", were originally written as one-hour scripts for TOS. Marc Daniel's script is probably based on "The Beast", a shelved TOS script synopsis. The "Shore Leave" sequel was also mooted for TOS, and probably the concept of Mudd returning.

Probably the only person qualified to write a definitive history of TAS is Andy Mangels, who co-wrote Creating the Filmation Generation and is a Star Trek novelist as well as a Filmation expert.

Andy also worked on the liner notes and bonus materials for the DVD set of TAS.

I sent him the location of the "Bible" when he was working on the DVD, but I don't think he ended up seeking it out.