TOS myths and misconceptions...

[Captain Robert April]

I need to do a little digging into the shooting schedules, because the production order has "Catspaw" as the first episode of the second season, and Sulu is in there quite a bit.

Maybe he just couldn't make it back in time to begin rehearsals, hence the rewriting of all those Sulu lines into Chekov lines (and since Sulu only has one line in "Catspaw", no need for a rewrite).

Can anybody with some background info chime in on this?

 

[JoeD80]

I think we're talking later episodes of the second season, not the early ones.

 

[TOS Purist]

the tinnitus he suffered after being too close to an on-set explosion (Nimoy says it was during "The Apple" though other sources claim "Arena").

According to what I've heard, he contracted his tinnitus from the explosion in "The Man Trap," which goes off right next to him.

If I may point out a misconception:

Roddenberry was sexist so he had the women wear miniskirts. - Not true. To learn what Roddenberry REALLY wanted the female crewpeople to wear, one has to look no further than the pilot episodes, which he produced free from interference of network executives. In the pilots, the women wear trousers along with the male crewmen; along with the character of Number One, Roddenberry had to scratch the female trouser uniform and give them the skirts (although a regular-run TOS female uniform with trousers was seen a few times in Season One).

 

[Hober Mallow]

The most annoying misconception on this message board is that "remastered" means "new special FX."

 

[3D Master]

the tinnitus he suffered after being too close to an on-set explosion (Nimoy says it was during "The Apple" though other sources claim "Arena").

According to what I've heard, he contracted his tinnitus from the explosion in "The Man Trap," which goes off right next to him.

If I may point out a misconception:

Roddenberry was sexist so he had the women wear miniskirts. - Not true. To learn what Roddenberry REALLY wanted the female crewpeople to wear, one has to look no further than the pilot episodes, which he produced free from interference of network executives. In the pilots, the women wear trousers along with the male crewmen; along with the character of Number One, Roddenberry had to scratch the female trouser uniform and give them the skirts (although a regular-run TOS female uniform with trousers was seen a few times in Season One).

He didn't have to do anything. Miniskirts at the time were more than a fashion, they were symbol of feminism and the empowerment of women. (The miniskirt was invented/designed by a woman as well incidentally.) Grace Lee Whitney who played Janice Rand suggested they wear miniskirts pretty much for these reasons.

TOS Miniskirts aren't a sign of sexism, they're a sign of feminism. <-- That it's the other way around during the 60s altogether, THAT is the real misconception.

 

[Kelso]

The most annoying misconception on this message board is that "remastered" means "new special FX."

"Remastered" has just become the name by which people refer to that project, which includes both the re-mastering of the live-action footage as well as the new CGI special effects. Most people know what the word means.

 

[3D Master]

The most annoying misconception on this message board is that "remastered" means "new special FX."

"Remastered" has just become the name by which people refer to that project, which includes both the re-mastering of the live-action footage as well as the new CGI special effects. Most people know what the word means.

It's still a misconsception. TOS-SE (Special Editions) is what I call the versions with the new effects.

 

[plynch]

The most annoying misconception on this message board is that "remastered" means "new special FX."

Pretty understandable, don't ya think, since the new effects came out in the package called TOS-R?

(Didn't they? Maybe I'm wrong. It happens.)

 

[TOS Purist]

He didn't have to do anything. Miniskirts at the time were more than a fashion, they were symbol of feminism and the empowerment of women. (The miniskirt was invented/designed by a woman as well incidentally.) Grace Lee Whitney who played Janice Rand suggested they wear miniskirts pretty much for these reasons.

TOS Miniskirts aren't a sign of sexism, they're a sign of feminism. <-- That it's the other way around during the 60s altogether, THAT is the real misconception.

Thank you for posting that and making that point! My point was that Gene didn't do it for sexist reasons, and you make the further point that the skirts weren't sexist at all, which suppliments my point perfectly.

 

[Captain Robert April]

The "explosions" that Shatner and Nimoy were close to in "Arena" weren't real explosions; that was colored fuller's earth being ejected by a gas jet (real sound was more like a "whoomf").

Shatner says it was an effects shot on the soundstage, and De Kelley was also present, so that nixes out "The Man Trap" (plus, that exploding pillar wasn't that big an explosion). Neither he or Nimoy remembered which episode it was, but my suspicion is that the boom in question was in the teaser for "Requiem For Methuselah", with the nice big fireball right behind them.

The problem wasn't the explosion itself, but the fact that some nimrod forgot to crack open the soundstage doors, which would've enabled the resulting shockwave to harmlessly go outside. Instead, it whacked everyone in the eardrums, with Shatner and Nmoy (and possibly Kelley) winding up with varying cases of tinnitis.

 

[scotpens]

. . . Miniskirts at the time were more than a fashion, they were symbol of feminism and the empowerment of women. (The miniskirt was invented/designed by a woman as well incidentally.) Grace Lee Whitney who played Janice Rand suggested they wear miniskirts pretty much for these reasons.

Yes, we often forget that in the 1960s, the miniskirt represented social and sexual liberation for women. At least for the ones with great legs.

So let those of us who appreciate women's legs drink a toast to Mary Quant!

 

[TOS Purist]

I'll drink to that!!

 

[Chrisisall]

Yes, we often forget that in the 1960s, the miniskirt represented social and sexual liberation for women.

No, it was the beginning of making guys crazy... well, crazier!!!

 

[TEH BABA]

Kirk getting all the female characters pregnant.

 

[RandyS]

Kirk getting all the female characters pregnant.

How do you know he didn't? We only saw one of them.

 

[Broccoli]

Phasers are strictly for sublight combat. I think this one got cemented by TNG. Because in TOS we saw instances of phasers being used at warp speeds, notably in "The Ultimate Computer" and "Journey To Babel."

Wasn't that first established in TMP? Decker explains that phaser power is cut off when the ship goes into warp due to the redesign (phaser power is channeled though the warp engines).

So, if anything, this is a TMP created this one.

 

[Chrisisall]

Decker explains that phaser power is cut off when the ship goes into warp due to the redesign (phaser power is channeled though the warp engines).

No, he said the ship's redesign increases phaser power by channeling it through the main engines, the fact that they went into antimatter-imbalance was what cut the phasers off, not because they were in warp (or a partial one, anyway).

 

[T'Girl]

In Roddenberry's novelization, Kirk found out that Enterprise's redesign channeled phaser power through the engines, argued against it and insisted on a by-pass, assuming that his position as the Enterprise's former captain and his current position as chief of operations would see his idea though, he moved on to other matters.

When his idea was never acted on it was just another indication he was nothing but a figure head.

As it turns out Decker and Scott had, on thei own, installed a by-pass, but it was incomplete.

Non-canon of course.

 

[Noname Given]

Phasers are strictly for sublight combat. I think this one got cemented by TNG. Because in TOS we saw instances of phasers being used at warp speeds, notably in "The Ultimate Computer" and "Journey To Babel."

Wasn't that first established in TMP? Decker explains that phaser power is cut off when the ship goes into warp due to the redesign (phaser power is channeled though the warp engines).

So, if anything, this is a TMP created this one.

No - the Phasers were ONLY cut off because the Warp Engines were in 'anti-matter' imbalance; because the new phaser design channeled phaser power through the warp engines. The fact they were at FTL speed or sublight speed made no difference. The 'no phasers at warp' was something stated in one of the TNG era TV series.

 

[Maurice]

He didn't have to do anything. Miniskirts at the time were more than a fashion, they were symbol of feminism and the empowerment of women. (The miniskirt was invented/designed by a woman as well incidentally.) Grace Lee Whitney who played Janice Rand suggested they wear miniskirts pretty much for these reasons.

TOS Miniskirts aren't a sign of sexism, they're a sign of feminism. <-- That it's the other way around during the 60s altogether, THAT is the real misconception.

Thank you for posting that and making that point! My point was that Gene didn't do it for sexist reasons, and you make the further point that the skirts weren't sexist at all, which suppliments my point perfectly.

Given how various sources reported how Gene was hands-on with the female costumes and always trying to have them show more, I think it's a fair guess that some of it wasn't just "liberation" but just Gene wanting to show some leg.