The "side" of Spok's station....
- Thread starter Grant
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There's a lot of theater in TOS. The "side" of Spock's station is just one example.
The way some shots have all the actors talking to each other while facing the same direction (as if facing the audience) is another.
Color-filtered interior lighting is a third.
McCoy's ability to read an incredible amount of information in mere moments from the end of his medical scanner is another, and similar remarks apply to Spock's tricorder.
With respect to the "side" of Spock's station, I found it rather amusing when Spock gripped the edge.
The way some shots have all the actors talking to each other while facing the same direction (as if facing the audience) is another.
Color-filtered interior lighting is a third.
McCoy's ability to read an incredible amount of information in mere moments from the end of his medical scanner is another, and similar remarks apply to Spock's tricorder.
With respect to the "side" of Spock's station, I found it rather amusing when Spock gripped the edge.
There is no doubt that the bridge is very much a theater set.
It's Archie's living room. it's Mary Richards newsroom, it's Bob Newhart's psychology office.
When I think of TOS----- I think of looking right at Kirk from the view-screen POV.
Does anybody think it's odd to like the shipboard stories more than the planet ones?
The first 13 regular season 1 episodes were very heavy on ship stories and fairly thin of planet ones.
Budget reasons most likely, but I love the atmosphere and camaraderie of the first half of season 1.
Yeah.
I'm not convinced that it's "more likely" the actor dozed off rather than the actor simply acting like the character dozed off. The very next episode had such a "character (Sulu) dozing off" scene. I can't think of a single example of a Trek actor dozing off on screen. Statistically, I think Occam's Razor would predict that this is acting like dozing rather than actual dozing--based on the frequency of other such occurrences.
I think there's a story told about one of the episodes where after a fight scene, one of the stuntmen dozed off on the floor between takes and after "Action", began snoring. That sort of stuff usually never shows up in the final edit, and it didn't in that case either.
Once again you are ignoring the fact that in Corbomite (filmed months later) ---it was a plot point mentioned in a log entry that the crew had been waiting 18 hours for some message/reaction from the cube and the camera STARTS the scene by focusing on Sulu catching a few winks in the briefing room.
To then jump to the nutty notion that a background extra who (as someone already pointed out) was on screen for a split second was told to act as if he is asleep at post on the bridge is nearly as ridiculous as the "grieving for Gary Mitchell" theory.
I love WNMHGB but it has quite a few production errors.....
in one of the best scenes in the episode------ Dehner/Mitchell in the sickbay--- there is the clear shadow of a boom mic seen about 8 times bobbing around on the green wall of the background. It's very distracting once you've noticed it and it got missed by the director and whoever else was there.
If a long continuous scene could have the same problem occur with many shots and takes and cuts---then I can certainly believe a background extra who probably was bored doing nothing during various rehearsals and takes could have nodded off on the split second he was onscreen during a camera pan where as someone said it's just a glimpse and then an important exchange between Spock/Kirk.
If that was the best take of Shatner/Nimoy---then I figure the editor/director/producer would have figured no-one saw it (if they had even seen it themselves)
I'm sure they didn't have a pause button when they played it at dallies.
But I think there is no way you are moving from your position, so..............
Not unless he was directed to be that way. Just because you may not make that choice doesn't mean James Goldstone or Bob Justman didn't.
Neither of us knows; we weren't there, so nobody's "pretending" anything. We're just going with what each thinks is more likely. You really think he was so zonked out that he wouldn't hear a guy yelling "background!" on the set? This isn't a day laborer coming home after a long day of jack-hammering the freeway and passing out on the train ride home. He's an actor; Lloyd Hanes, presumably, since that was his position earlier in the episode and not a background extra. He's in a master shot with the two leads in a pilot for a series that he hopes will be sold and give him a steady paycheck.
Sorry, but if anyone here can say that'd pass out so solidly in that circumstance needs to see a doctor ASAP. You may be hypoglycemic.
But hey, whatever floats your boat.
If "he was told that his character was grieving for Gary Mitchell." is what floats yours---well so be it.
We'll just disagree.
But yeah, extras and background players have been known to fall asleep on set.
This is just a reminder that Lloyd Haynes manned both Helm and Communications. Also, he wore blue. I'm skeptical that the guy wearing gold/green at Communications at the Tag of the episode was Haynes. They probably would have given him his same blue tunic if it has been him.
Yeah Lloyd Haynes was certainly not the guy at comm in that last shot. For one thing the guy is white!
Too bad, they didn't bring back Lloyd Haynes for a second or third season appearance. TOS really slacked off on black actors after season 1.
You get M'Benga and Daystrom---two nice characters to be sure, but everyone else was just non-descript minor crew members.
Another of my endless lists………
Black actors in TOS episodes 2-20
1. Nichols
2. Haynes as Alden
3. V Howard as “Uhura’s crewman”---spoke Swahili
4. G Thompson as Fisher---2 appearances
5. D Marshall as Boma--pretty daring character for 1966
6. Percy Rodriguez as Stone---great
7. J MacLachlan as engineering Lt Masters
Black actors episodes 21-79
8. W Marshall as Daystrom---awesome
9. B Bradshaw as M’Benga--cool (appears twice)
10. T Burns as Russ----1 line
11. Cindy Lou as nurse----1 line
12. The kid from “And the Children----1 line
13. Fred willaimason---2 lines
14. Davis Roberts as Ozaba---nice actor, but 2 lines
15. C Byrd as Lt Shea---2-3 lines
16. K Washington as engineer Watson
17. L Duncan as security guard Evans
If that not a drop off in quality and quantity as the show moved forward I’ll eat my hat.
Masters, Stone, and Boma were all major players in their episodes and and Uhura’s crewman was a brief part but was cool to point out his African heritage (and Uhura’s)
Haynes part was small but it was up front at the helm.
Except for Daystrom and M’benga all others were just filler with no personality.
Didn't he get to say "You are clever, Vanna...very clever."?
(Note: While it's seemingly not very well liked, I am nevertheless a huge fan of thread drift. It is so interesting to see, and this thread is a great example, going from discussing the visible edge of Spock's bridge station, to a conversation of black actors on the show. It's just like a real conversation!
)
Yes, but my mind was foggy on details because I haven't watched it in two or three weeks. As you point out though, there were no significant guest star roles in the third season for black actors. It would have been interesting to see Boma come back, but Don Marshall might have already been working Land of the Giants by then.
Didn't he get to say "You are clever, Vanna...very clever."?
(Note: While it's seemingly not very well liked, I am nevertheless a huge fan of thread drift. It is so interesting to see, and this thread is a great example, going from discussing the visible edge of Spock's bridge station, to a conversation of black actors on the show. It's just like a real conversation!
Every long conversation I have with anybody goes from subject to subject like that.
Sad that they brought in Fred Williamson to portray a troglyte who has to say dumb lines like that (even though it's because he is breathing the gas)
We go from Commodore Stone and Boma and Daystrom to "You are clever vanna..."-----------as the last line spoken by a black actor besides Nichols on TOS
I know, but it would have been nice if the role wasn't so demeaning.
Want to make some waves in 1968--have the Cloud city leader played by a black man and the dumb troglyte played by a older white guy.
What does that reference mean? It went over my head.
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