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"The Unused Scripts"

P

perigee

Lieutenant Commander
Red Shirt
I was just nosing through that hive of scum and villany, Ebay, where I suddenly found out I could purchase any number of "unused" scripts and story treatments from TOS. Wheeee!

Ok - I might dream in the 25th Century, but I wasn't born yesterday.

By a long shot.

No sale. But still...

Three seasons, and writers in 66 had to eat... so Somewhere, there had to be a bunch of unused material out there. I've been playing Monster Kid for a while, so I haven't been up on any Great Revelations on TOS since the early eighties; has anything ever surfaced of these storylines fer real, folks?
 
"Rock-a-bye-Baby, or Die!"

Can't imagine why it didn't get produced under that title :lol:
 
perigee said:
I was just nosing through that hive of scum and villany, Ebay, where I suddenly found out I could purchase any number of "unused" scripts and story treatments from TOS. Wheeee!

Ok - I might dream in the 25th Century, but I wasn't born yesterday.

By a long shot.

No sale. But still...

Three seasons, and writers in 66 had to eat... so Somewhere, there had to be a bunch of unused material out there. I've been playing Monster Kid for a while, so I haven't been up on any Great Revelations on TOS since the early eighties; has anything ever surfaced of these storylines fer real, folks?
Click to expand...

Wow, you're right! I knew they existed and knew of the awesome site that summarizes them, but I never put 2+2 together and realized how easy they are to find!
 
perigee said:
I was just nosing through that hive of scum and villany, Ebay, where I suddenly found out I could purchase any number of "unused" scripts and story treatments from TOS. Wheeee!

Ok - I might dream in the 25th Century, but I wasn't born yesterday.

By a long shot.

No sale. But still...
Click to expand...

They are for real, and the seller is a terrific human being.

As far as authentication goes, on top os the Unseen Elements link above, check out http://content.cdlib.org/view?docId=tf5z09n9vr&chunk.id=c02-1.8.7.2.58&brand=oac .

That is the UCLA site listing all the Star Trek papers Roddenberry left the school at his death. Scroll down on the left to see the entries matching the episode/treatment titles of the unproduced episodes.

Joe, has fine goodies
 
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Did TOs have any written but unfilmed scripts? Would any of the Original cast have directed them like the stars of the later shows ?
 
The later Trek shows had a fairly exceptional "director training" program open to their cast and crew members; few other shows have anywhere near as much movement of actors to the director's chair. Of course, Nimoy and Shatner both ended up directing movies, so it's possible they could have done some directing if the show had continued, but one shouldn't expect the same frequency of actor-to-director transitions that TNG, DS9, and VGR had, not in any other show as a rule.
 
TransporterBeam said:
Did TOs have any written but unfilmed scripts?
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There were two unfilmed, full scripts that are readily available: "He Walked Among Us" and "Tomorrow the Universe."

Another, called "The Stars of Sargasso," is not in the same format as the regular TOS scripts but is said to have been written by DC Fontana.

http://www.memory-alpha.org/en/wiki/Undeveloped_Star_Trek_episodes#He_Walked_Among_Us

Seven story treatments, varying in length, of unused stories are also floating around. These ideas were approved by Roddenberry for moving up the process line but, for whatever reason, never were filmed. I believe some of them went to full script, even, but the full scripts have never leaked out.

Joe, bought
 
"Rock-a-Bye, Baby, Or Die!" Wow. That would just have been the greatest title for a Trek episode ever.
 
I have a script by author Jacqueline Lichtenberg called "Remote Control," but if memory serves she said she never got the chance to submit it due to the program's cancellation.

SF legend James Tiptree, Jr. (Alice Sheldon) wrote one as well, but never got the nerve to submit it. That one I would LOVE to get my fannish little paws on!

And I too will back up Joe's statment that certain eBay sellers are swell, square-dealing human beings. True men of good character with fine moral and goods. :D

Sir Rhosis
 
Shatmandu said:
There were two unfilmed, full scripts that are readily available
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Alan Dean Foster wrote a two-parter, which he was told to resubmit for Season Four which, of course, never ended up happening. He used the story to pad out "Star Trek Log Seven" to novel length, which was already adapting the TAS episode, "The Counter-clock Incident". (The previous six volumes had three ep. adaptations each; Ballantine could squeeze extra volumes of the best-selling "Logs" by stringing out those last four eps.) The new story that he grafted to TCCI featured a Klingon captain, Kumara, who once roomed with Kirk when he underwent an Academy exchange program. (Kumara then returns in "Star Trek Log Ten".)

ADF discusses the script briefly in his serialized essay/preface of the recent reprints of the "Logs". (A friend recently asked ADF at a convention what the title of the original TOS script two-parter was, but he said he couldn't remember, and no longer had the script.)
 
I have bought several of these unused story treatments on Ebay: they are great to read and, IMHO, are worth the money (and were not very expensive, if I recall).
 
Myko said:
Can I dream of the day when all these documents are scanned and posted for everyone to read? :drool:
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As long as it stays a dream. Unused or not, they're still somebody's intellectual property, and those somebodies would deserve to be paid for any publication or distribution of their work.
 
In an old article from back in September, TrekMovie has this to say about the production of upcoming Star Trek New Voyages/Phase II episodes:

"One possibility for episode 6 (or 7) is an adapted script originally planned for the (not-to-come-to-be) 5th season Star Trek Enterprise titled 'Kilkenny Cats' written by sci-fi giant Larry Niven and veteran Trek writer Jimmy Diggs (who will also direct). As you might guess from the title that it involves bringing Niven’s cat-like Kzinti (to be created entirely in CGI) into the Original Series (something Niven previously did in his TAS episode 'The Slaver Weapon.'). The second possibility is a script from sci-fi luminary George Clayton Johnson (who wrote 'The Man Trap' and co-wrote the novel Logan’s Run). Clayton had sold the script (called 'Rock-A-Bye Baby–Or Die') to Roddenberry for the first season of TOS, but it was never produced. Johnson later bought it back and now wants the STNV to do it. This would be a ship-based 'bottle show' about an alien entity entering and growing up inside the Enterprise’s computer and will be directed by Robert Meyer Burnett (Free Enterprise). The third possibility in the queue is an untitled script written by two (unnamed) veteran Trek writers which will be directed by Kevin Rubio (director of the most famous Star Wars fan film 'Troops.'). Cawley was sketchy on the details, but did say it would be a primarily planet-based episode to be shot mostly on location (Cawley actually scouted the Trek favorite location Vasquez Rocks last weekend).

So "Rock-A-Baby--or Die!" is on the Star Trek New Voyages/Phase II production schedule.

Greg Schnitzer
Gaithersburg, Maryland
 
Christopher said:
Myko said:
Can I dream of the day when all these documents are scanned and posted for everyone to read? :drool:
Click to expand...

As long as it stays a dream. Unused or not, they're still somebody's intellectual property, and those somebodies would deserve to be paid for any publication or distribution of their work.
Click to expand...

I was actually referring to all the memos and cast sheets etc, not the scripts. The stuff that couldn't sell books.
 
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