The Directors of Trek

[Neopeius]

I've just finished the sixth episode of the second season of Star Trek in the Galactic Journey's weekly watching. Over the past ~35 episodes, I've started to notice the particular touches of each director: Pevney is somewhat staid and stagey. Daniels is more dramatic and innovative.

Looking over the episode list, it looks like those two were the most often employed directors, with a handful of others. Second season was dominated by the P&D duo. Then, come third season, the director's chair becomes a revolving door.

Two questions:

Who was your favorite Trek director and why? (mine is Daniels, and not just because his last name was really Marcus).

How did P&D come to dominate the show, and why did they suddenly disappear from it (with the related question: why did the third season fail to have a consistent director?)

 

[mb22]

Here is some info from Solow and Justman's Inside Star Trek:

Third Season:

 

[Ssosmcin]

Marc Daniels, out of those two, helmed more episodes that really landed with me. His direction of "The Doomsday Machine" was exceptional. Crisply done and very fast paced, it remains my all time favorite Star Trek story. Franchise wide.

And yes, I celebrated the 55th yesterday watching that episode from laserdisc prints with period commercials and network spots.

These are the episodes he directed that I love the most and, yes, I am totally including "Spock's Brain." His work in the episode is great and not at all the reason why it fails dramatically in the last half.

• "The Man Trap"
• "The Naked Time"
• "The Menagerie, Part I"
• "Space Seed"
• "Who Mourns for Adonais?"
• "The Doomsday Machine"
• "The Changeling"
• "Mirror, Mirror"
• "A Private Little War"
• "Spock's Brain"

 

[Neopeius]

Marc Daniels, out of those two, helmed more episodes that really landed with me. His direction of "The Doomsday Machine" was exceptional. Crisply done and very fast paced, it remains my all time favorite Star Trek story. Franchise wide.

And yes, I celebrated the 55th yesterday watching that episode from laserdisc prints with period commercials and network spots.

Haha! If you're going to go through all that trouble, why not just join us?

On the other hand, it's kind of fun both of us watching in "different markets".

These are the episodes he directed that I love the most and, yes, I am totally including "Spock's Brain." His work in the episode is great and not at all the reason why it fails dramatically in the last half.

• "The Man Trap"
• "The Naked Time"
• "The Menagerie, Part I"
• "Space Seed"
• "Who Mourns for Adonais?"
• "The Doomsday Machine"
• "The Changeling"
• "Mirror, Mirror"
• "A Private Little War"
• "Spock's Brain"

No arguments.

 

[Ssosmcin]

Haha! If you're going to go through all that trouble, why not just join us?

On the other hand, it's kind of fun both of us watching in "different markets".

I couldn't do it at the exact time of the original airing. Also, I put together a whole thing with the NBC In color intro, the "brought to you by" sponsor billboards, the mid-episode billboard with Wilbur Hatch music and the Leonard Nimoy announcement to stay tuned for next weeks scenes.

 

[Eddie Roth]

How did P&D come to dominate the show, and why did they suddenly disappear from it (with the related question: why did the third season fail to have a consistent director?)

It's considered sacrilege in this forum to mention the books by Marc Cushman (I still don't know exactly why; I suppose he has some factual inaccuracies in his accounts, although I'm sure not all the - extensive - information he has compiled about the making of TOS is false), but I will still recommend them. They answer every last question one might have.

Anyway, if memory serves, Daniels either got disenchanted with the working conditions or was busy with another show (or both). Ralph Senensky, also a frequent - and extremely good - director in the first two seasons, got fired from "The Tholian Web" because of schedule delays and was never invited back. Many of the S1/S2 stalwarts had some story or other in that vein. Also, basically every director who only did one did not return because they went over schedule or budget. There's notably one who didn't come back because he hated working on the show and that was John Erman ("The Empath").

 

[ZapBrannigan]

Anyway, if memory serves, Daniels either got disenchanted with the working conditions or was busy with another show (or both). Ralph Senensky, also a frequent - and extremely good - director in the first two seasons, got fired from "The Tholian Web" because of schedule delays and was never invited back. Many of the S1/S2 stalwarts had some story or other in that vein. Also, basically every director who only did one did not return because they went over schedule or budget. There's notably one who didn't come back because he hated working on the show and that was John Erman ("The Empath").

It's been said that Robert Sparr ("Shore Leave") was not hired again because William Shatner didn't like his direction for some reason.

If I got this right: Gerd Oswald was not invited back after "The Conscience of the King" because he shot it in a way that didn't give the film editor much if anything in the way of choices. The episode turned out fine, but it was considered too risky to have him doing that.

 

[Maurice]

Marc Daniels, Assignment Trek, by Edward Gross, Starlog 114, p. 44.

The third season came, and accompanying it was new behind-the-scenes creative decision makers with a different approach.

"Fred Freiberger, the new producer, and I didn't agree on what the director's role was," Daniel reveals. "There are many writer/producers who don't consider the director a partner. They consider him, shall we say, an employee. This is particularly true in episodic TV. They just want you to do the work, get the shots and forget the rest of it. I didn't particularly care for that kind of thinking.

"The problem with the third year is that Gene didn't give the series his full attention. He was doing other things, and we needed his guidance badly."​

 

[Ssosmcin]

If I got this right: Gerd Oswald was not invited back after "The Conscience of the King" because he shot it in a way that didn't give the film editor much if anything in the way of choices. The episode turned out fine, but it was considered too risky to have him doing that.

You're thinking of Harvey Hart and "Mudd's Women." Oswald came back for "The Alternative Factor."

 

[mb22]

Marc Daniels, out of those two, helmed more episodes that really landed with me.
These are the episodes he directed that I love the most and, yes, I am totally including "Spock's Brain." His work in the episode is great and not at all the reason why it fails dramatically in the last half.

• "The Man Trap"
• "The Naked Time"
• "The Menagerie, Part I"
• "Space Seed"
• "Who Mourns for Adonais?"
• "The Doomsday Machine"
• "The Changeling"
• "Mirror, Mirror"
• "A Private Little War"
• "Spock's Brain"

Just a small correction - Daniels directed the entire "Menagerie" wraparound. He wasn't credited for Part II, as a way to give credit to Robert Butler, who directed "The Cage" pilot, which made up the bulk of Part II.

 

[Ssosmcin]

Just a small correction - Daniels directed the entire "Menagerie" wraparound. He wasn't credited for Part II, as a way to give credit to Robert Butler, who directed "The Cage" pilot, which made up the bulk of Part II.

I wasn't listing everything he directed, only the stuff that I put down as favorites. Most of Daniels' part two was just the characters watching television. Anybody could've done it. Part one had an air of mystery, a darker tone that was very well done.

 

[Talos IV]

Some of the best TOS directors only did one or two episodes.

James Goldstone worked wonders with "What Are Little Girls Made Of?" -- it's one of the most cinematic-looking episodes. Ditto Harvey Hart and "Mudd's Women." (Regardless of how you feel about the episode itself, the direction is damn good.)

I adore Gerd Oswald's direction of "The Conscience of the King." And Robert Sparr's helming of "Shore Leave." And Marvin Chomsky's work on "All Our Yesterdays." (Chomsky directed three episodes, but I pretend that one of those doesn't exist.)

As far as Marc Daniels and Joseph Pevney -- two of their standout episodes aren't even that popular, but I happen to love them: "Court-Martial" (Daniels) and "The Return of the Archons" (Pevney). Daniels' direction of the courtroom scenes is quite engaging and dramatic. And Pevney's work on "The Return of the Archons" is very inventive, too.

 

[mb22]

Many of the episodes discussed in this thread also benefited from their musical scores, whether original or tracked from other episodes.

 

[ZapBrannigan]

Many of the episodes discussed in this thread also benefited from their musical scores, whether original or racked from other episodes.

That's for sure. As the episodes became familiar I still loved them, but Star Trek's music was the part that actually got better with age.

 

[Kirk Von Shtupp]

Who was your favorite Trek director and why? (mine is Daniels, and not just because his last name was really Marcus).

I can't say I like one director best. I can say I thought the first part of season 1 was more daring and interesting visually with their use of lighting, hand held shots, etc. so I would say Director of Photography Jerry Zimmerman. In terms of episode directors: I would say Marc Daniels, Joseph Pevney, Joseph Sargent and Vincent McEveety stand out in my mind more than the others mainly because they helmed my favorite episodes.

Another thing I've been noticing more as I've been watching primarily shows from the 50s. 60s and 70s lately is how many other series they worked on.

 

[ZapBrannigan]

I never know what parts were the director's idea, or maybe the cinematographer suggested an angle, or if William Shatner had ideas for staging a scene with his legendary flair for the dramatic, or what. And some things are just expressly scripted, such that any director would do it the same way.

Plus, it's not like comparing Ron Howard and Quentin Tarantino. Star Trek directors had to film their episodes to be fairly consistent with the overall series. There were set expectations about how the show looks and feels, and how the regulars behave. So I would have a lot of trouble figuring out a favorite director.

 

[Ssosmcin]

Sutton Roley was a very stylistic director who was all over the TV adventure landscape back then. He did wonderfully imaginative work on Voyage, Lost In Space, The Rat Patrol, The Man from UNCLE, The Fugitive and over on the same lot Mission:Impossible and Mannix. Why he never landed on Star Trek is beyond me.

Perhaps he was too flashy or his set ups took up too much time but he would have been interesting on a series which had great color and lighting like Trek.

 

[Talos IV]

Sutton Roley was a very stylistic director who was all over the TV adventure landscape back then. He did wonderfully imaginative work on Voyage, Lost In Space, The Rat Patrol, The Man from UNCLE, The Fugitive and over on the same lot Mission:Impossible and Mannix. Why he never landed on Star Trek is beyond me. Perhaps he was too flashy or his set ups took up too much time but he would have been interesting on a series which had great color and lighting like Trek.

I've often wondered that too. Roley did superb work on every show he touched. So did Leonard Horn (The Outer Limits, Mannix, Voyage to the Bottom of the Sea).

Both Roley and Horn would have been naturals for Star Trek.