The "side" of Spok's station....
- Thread starter Grant
- Start date
I assume there are always script needs for non speaking roles (or just one or two lines). For such roles, what cultural types should be cast in those roles?
35mm and 16mm film projectors do have freeze-frame capability, you know. Although it probably would seldom have been used when screening "rushes."
Oh I see---yeah it was awful.
Keep trying.
Would have been nice to see more strong roles in those last couple of seasons for minorities. United Earth and all that. Of course it was a mid 20th century USA TV show and so on. But even USA was 10% or so black folks in 1966 and out of 400 actors on TOS only 17 were black. I'm not saying they should have had a quota or anything, but when I look at 60s tv shows I see a lot of good black actors that were working in TV. Hari Rhoades, Kim Hamilton, Thalmus Rasalula, Ivan Dixon, Bernie Hamilton, Gail Fisher, Madge Sinclair, Brock Peters, etc.
Ironically we got a lot of those in the later spin-offs.
I was aware you can pause film! LOL.
But you are right if they were watching a few takes of that scene where the camera follows Spock to the captain's side---they weren't looking for split second background bloopers.
The best timed camera movement and the best line delivery's would have been the priority.
That or a break to allow another station...
We could argue that what we see is what we get, from another angle besides the obvious. The set as seen in HD is all rough edges and visible seams. Why fight that? The shiny bright future would allow for the building of seamless bridges, certainly - but Kirk's bridge might have seams exactly because it is "wild" for real.
If those consoles are modular, something you can replace for repair, upgrade or mission swap, then this no doubt is something you can do on the spot. It makes no sense to unplug the entire bridge for swapping just one console, or moving the locations of two turbolift stations; the individual bridge wedges are likely to be moveable in situ for swift swapping.
This would jibe with the oft-promoted idea of the bridge being sunken at least half a deck down (as otherwise it wouldn't fit in there under the visible dome, not at the now-official size - not in TOS unless we do the rotating trick, and not in the movies no matter what we do). A sunken bridge would easily allow for console swap, probably at the push of a button.
So all we need to postulate is somebody accidentally pushing those buttons when the ship shakes...
Timo Saloniemi
If those consoles are modular, something you can replace for repair, upgrade or mission swap, then this no doubt is something you can do on the spot. It makes no sense to unplug the entire bridge for swapping just one console, or moving the locations of two turbolift stations; the individual bridge wedges are likely to be moveable in situ for swift swapping.
This would jibe with the oft-promoted idea of the bridge being sunken at least half a deck down (as otherwise it wouldn't fit in there under the visible dome, not at the now-official size - not in TOS unless we do the rotating trick, and not in the movies no matter what we do). A sunken bridge would easily allow for console swap, probably at the push of a button.
So all we need to postulate is somebody accidentally pushing those buttons when the ship shakes...
Timo Saloniemi
Sometimes, it can be a bit of mystery what’s happening in some scenes. Fortunately, the shooting scripts often provide some clarity even if the actual episode footage is sometimes unclear.
In the case of Lieutenant Palmer in “The Doomsday Machine,” she seems to be reacting to something—clutching the sides of her head. Is she panicking? Frightened? Upset?
Folks may remember that the Enterprise was being pulled into the maw of the “planet eater” and the Enterprise was not strong enough to break free. Here’s some appropriate script content.
“SCENE 88: Abruptly, the CONCUSSIONS stop and LIGHTS DIM and STAY DIMMED. But DO NOT FLICKER, and we hear a STRAINING, WHINING WHICH CONTINUES STEADILY….”
“SCENE 89: The WHINING SOUND continues….”
“SCENE 90: As the WHINING SOUND continues….”
“SCENE 91: The WHINING SOUND continues, gets a bit LOUDER…. The WHINING SOUND continues to grow LOUDER…. The WHINING SOUNDS becomes DEEPER IN PITCH….”
“SCENE 95: The WHINING SOUND is now ALMOST DEAFENING…. The WHINING SOUND CONTINUES….”
By this time, Palmer is clutching her ears—trying to block out the sound. Oddly, there is no “loud whining sound” effect that was appended to the episode, so it’s not immediately obvious that actress Elizabeth Rogers was intending to react to the ship’s engines howling in protest. In looking at the other actors in the scene, it looks like she might have been the only one who read what was happening on “the bridge” at the time.
Find an unused clip of a planned close-up of Rogers reacting to the sound at "Star Trek History." (You'll have to scroll through to snippet number seven of 14.)
http://www.startrekhistory.com/DS8.html
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...Naturally, the comm officer would have the perfect excuse to do what she's shown doing, what with the earpiece and all. 
And there's always the TOS fact that many characters who look human... aren't. Some characters could have legit reasons for acting against script or direction, just like young Worf is excused for trying to turn every scene into an action one while the other TNG bridge characters aren't.
Timo Saloniemi
And there's always the TOS fact that many characters who look human... aren't. Some characters could have legit reasons for acting against script or direction, just like young Worf is excused for trying to turn every scene into an action one while the other TNG bridge characters aren't.
Timo Saloniemi
It's funny that you mention him. Back in the 60s, I saw Pearl Bailey leading an all-Black cast when they took "Hello Dolly" on the road (at the Muny Opera in St. Louis). Playing the role of Cornelius was a gifted and funny young actor named Jack Crowder. Pearl introduced him during the curtain call, and a big cheer went out for him from the thousands in the audience.
For years, I wondered what had happened to him. Then I found out he'd changed his name to Thalmus Rasulala, whom I'd already seen in films before he showed up on TNG. I never put it together, but of course when I saw him in person, he was hundreds of feet away. In fact, the first film I saw him in was only a few years later, Cool Breeze, and he was using the new name.
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Yep as "Jack Crowder" he had a great role in the Twilight Zone episode "The Brain-Trust At Whipples"-----an "Ultimate Computer" type episode about men being replaced by machines.
He was the other side of the equation in that one, playing a computer tech who bemoans the fact that the computer is turning the factory into a miserable sterile place to work.
He would have been great on TOS.
The episode is called "The Brain Center at Whipple's."
And I agree, Jack Crowder or Thalmus Rasalula or whatever he called himself would have been great in a Star Trek guest role.
Thanks for the correction.
I believe it's a 5th season episode and the quality drops off a lot and I skip a lot of those in syndication where they show them in, I assume, original airdate order.
So when I'm trying to avoid "Come wander With me' or "The Fear"--I end up missing the few season 5 decent episodes.
He would have been nice because he played an assured, confident person in his roles.
After Daystrom and M'benga in season 2---almost every black actor was 'the young security guard', the young nurse' or the young Engineer'.
But that was a general problem after season 1.
Season 1 showed a fair amount of seasoned Enterprise crewmembers---Finney, Lt Com Giotto, Lt Styles, Lt Masters, Lt Boma, Lt Jeager, Lt De Salle, Lt Kelowitz----all were as old as Kirk or older.
After season 1, 98% of the Enterprise crew members were really young (and really raw, inexperienced actors who were likely paid little.)
The only exceptions I can think of were Dr. M'Benga & Lt D'Amato.
Around that same time, over on The Man from U.N.C.L.E.. Paul Winfield played a security guard with a few lines and getting knocked out. So television as a rule was trying in those days, but it was a long process.
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