RobertScorpio
Pariah
I am one of the old farts who has been following Star Trek for a very long time. I was six years old when TOS premiered and, well..yeah..I'm old.
I have also, in a Jerry Springer kind of way, enjoyed the real life soap opera antics of the TOS actors and producers. All the drama that has come from the real people is what, I think, contributes to TOS's staying power. Here is how I sum up the sub-plots..do you agree?
SHATNER/NIMOY. Hated each other by the end of TOS. They go their own ways, and then eventually come back together for TMP. They both don't like the result of TMP and, from there on, seem to grow closer. Shatner/Nimou pseudo direct KHAN (according to Koenig) and their friendship grows. Nimoy directs TJ HOOKER episode in preperation for TREK III. They butt heads over aspects of TREK V (Shatner's original script would have been great..I KNOW..because I have read it)...but they live happily ever after..
Roddenberry/Shatner. Roddenberry is not happy that Shatner's Kirk is seen as a cowboy type over time, due to Roddenberry's ever growing liberal views in the 70s. He also did not like how Shatner rebuked his plan to hock the IDIC symbol during season three, to later try and sell them jewlry later on for money. Shatner wanted piece of action, Roddenberry said no. They also would collide during the rev up to PHASE II and all through TMP's production. I see their relationship as a father/son kind of thing. Son becomes more popular, which shatner did, and annoys father.
Roddenberry/Nimoy They actually did not like each other at all. Battles over residuals from Billboard signs in England, battles over TMP, battles over TREK 6's direction. Lots of battles between them. Spock killing JFK? Come on GENE!!!
De'Kelly...everyone loved him.
Shatner vs Koenig/Takei/Nichols/Doohan. First off, let me say at the start? I have always sided with Shatner in his battles with the lower deck folks. If they want to blame anyone they should blame Asimov for convincing Roddenberry to move away from the ensemble show he wanted to do to a two-star pyramid show. Shatner having script approval, blocking rights, and all that were a result of Roddenberry's switch. Did Shat treat them like crap? Probably. But so much of that is water under the bridge. And whether or not Takei and the others ever find peace with Shatner? I could care-a-less. I will anger MOST of you when I say this, but I don't care. Shatner is by far the most important person to have ever come out of any TREK. He is Star Trek. He is to Star Trek what Simon Cowell is to American Idol. And just like Randy and Paula? No one else really matters...not even Nimoy. And when lower decks complain about being stereo typed? Well, excuse me, no one, with exception of Nimoy, is more known for their character than Shat. And yet he managed to appear in shows all through the 70s. Six Million Dollar man, the McCahans. Then he is reborn with TJ Hooker, Rescue 911 goes on to do TEKWAR, and eventually lands a gold mine with Boston Legal..and wins TWO emmys!!! GO BILL!! You show them!!!
Whew!!! can't wait for the tomatoes to be thrown at me for that...
Nimoy and the lower decks. Nimoy had it in his contract, secretly I might add, to get anything Shatner did. So while he was siding with the underlings through all of shatner's battles for script approval and blocking control, Nimoy was getting them as well.
Roddenberry and the Lower Decks. Well, there are rumors out there. Heck, he married one of them. Rumored to have an affair with another. Pretty much let Shatner take over the show after bowing to Asimov/NBC preasure to make the show, as I said earlier, a two-star pyramid show rather than an ensemble show like TNG became more like in the future. But he also abandoned them all at the star of Season Three for what I think was a petty reason. Sure, they didn't schedule the show where he wanted it. But so what. The show was not getting the ratings as they were measured at that time. Why should a show that barely survived cancellation get a plum slot? So he quit because of that and allowed TREK to sink with out him. I am not a fan of Roddenberry's as you can see. Star Trek is a great accomplishment. But he did make questionable decisions, and this was one was terrible.>IMO!!!!
Koenig and Takei/Doohan/Nichols. I have met Koenig. I met him a comic-con six or seven years ago. He spoke about how the Nichols/Doohan, and Takei, gave him the cold shoulder when he arrived. They saw him as a replacement for Takei. For actors it is all about money/screen time. And Takei has him self to blame. He was off doing Green Beret and so he was not available for pivotable episodes in season two. Chekov was thrown more time, and the rest is history. They, of course, put it behind them all those years ago. But according to Koenig, and I take him at his word, the atmosphere on the show was not great for most of season two, and his situation was part of it, as well as the deteroating Nimoy/Shatner/Roddenberry relationships.
OKAY..there is my brief, yes Pro-shatner, view of the Trek Springer show. Love to hear some of your comments...
But let me say this. I do respect all of them. I think they are like a family. They had their issues with their father (Roddenberry) and some of those issues never will be resolved because death is starting to take them from us. But for someone along for the ride? The real life soap opera stuff has given all of them a dimension that none of the other shows have come close too. IMO.
Scorpio
I have also, in a Jerry Springer kind of way, enjoyed the real life soap opera antics of the TOS actors and producers. All the drama that has come from the real people is what, I think, contributes to TOS's staying power. Here is how I sum up the sub-plots..do you agree?
SHATNER/NIMOY. Hated each other by the end of TOS. They go their own ways, and then eventually come back together for TMP. They both don't like the result of TMP and, from there on, seem to grow closer. Shatner/Nimou pseudo direct KHAN (according to Koenig) and their friendship grows. Nimoy directs TJ HOOKER episode in preperation for TREK III. They butt heads over aspects of TREK V (Shatner's original script would have been great..I KNOW..because I have read it)...but they live happily ever after..
Roddenberry/Shatner. Roddenberry is not happy that Shatner's Kirk is seen as a cowboy type over time, due to Roddenberry's ever growing liberal views in the 70s. He also did not like how Shatner rebuked his plan to hock the IDIC symbol during season three, to later try and sell them jewlry later on for money. Shatner wanted piece of action, Roddenberry said no. They also would collide during the rev up to PHASE II and all through TMP's production. I see their relationship as a father/son kind of thing. Son becomes more popular, which shatner did, and annoys father.
Roddenberry/Nimoy They actually did not like each other at all. Battles over residuals from Billboard signs in England, battles over TMP, battles over TREK 6's direction. Lots of battles between them. Spock killing JFK? Come on GENE!!!
De'Kelly...everyone loved him.
Shatner vs Koenig/Takei/Nichols/Doohan. First off, let me say at the start? I have always sided with Shatner in his battles with the lower deck folks. If they want to blame anyone they should blame Asimov for convincing Roddenberry to move away from the ensemble show he wanted to do to a two-star pyramid show. Shatner having script approval, blocking rights, and all that were a result of Roddenberry's switch. Did Shat treat them like crap? Probably. But so much of that is water under the bridge. And whether or not Takei and the others ever find peace with Shatner? I could care-a-less. I will anger MOST of you when I say this, but I don't care. Shatner is by far the most important person to have ever come out of any TREK. He is Star Trek. He is to Star Trek what Simon Cowell is to American Idol. And just like Randy and Paula? No one else really matters...not even Nimoy. And when lower decks complain about being stereo typed? Well, excuse me, no one, with exception of Nimoy, is more known for their character than Shat. And yet he managed to appear in shows all through the 70s. Six Million Dollar man, the McCahans. Then he is reborn with TJ Hooker, Rescue 911 goes on to do TEKWAR, and eventually lands a gold mine with Boston Legal..and wins TWO emmys!!! GO BILL!! You show them!!!
Whew!!! can't wait for the tomatoes to be thrown at me for that...
Nimoy and the lower decks. Nimoy had it in his contract, secretly I might add, to get anything Shatner did. So while he was siding with the underlings through all of shatner's battles for script approval and blocking control, Nimoy was getting them as well.
Roddenberry and the Lower Decks. Well, there are rumors out there. Heck, he married one of them. Rumored to have an affair with another. Pretty much let Shatner take over the show after bowing to Asimov/NBC preasure to make the show, as I said earlier, a two-star pyramid show rather than an ensemble show like TNG became more like in the future. But he also abandoned them all at the star of Season Three for what I think was a petty reason. Sure, they didn't schedule the show where he wanted it. But so what. The show was not getting the ratings as they were measured at that time. Why should a show that barely survived cancellation get a plum slot? So he quit because of that and allowed TREK to sink with out him. I am not a fan of Roddenberry's as you can see. Star Trek is a great accomplishment. But he did make questionable decisions, and this was one was terrible.>IMO!!!!
Koenig and Takei/Doohan/Nichols. I have met Koenig. I met him a comic-con six or seven years ago. He spoke about how the Nichols/Doohan, and Takei, gave him the cold shoulder when he arrived. They saw him as a replacement for Takei. For actors it is all about money/screen time. And Takei has him self to blame. He was off doing Green Beret and so he was not available for pivotable episodes in season two. Chekov was thrown more time, and the rest is history. They, of course, put it behind them all those years ago. But according to Koenig, and I take him at his word, the atmosphere on the show was not great for most of season two, and his situation was part of it, as well as the deteroating Nimoy/Shatner/Roddenberry relationships.
OKAY..there is my brief, yes Pro-shatner, view of the Trek Springer show. Love to hear some of your comments...
But let me say this. I do respect all of them. I think they are like a family. They had their issues with their father (Roddenberry) and some of those issues never will be resolved because death is starting to take them from us. But for someone along for the ride? The real life soap opera stuff has given all of them a dimension that none of the other shows have come close too. IMO.
Scorpio
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