Unsold episode ideas that became books

[Ryan Thomas Riddle]

"The Ashes of Eden" and "The Return" were both based on Shatner movie pitches, IIRC.

The Return definitely was, though I'm not sure about The Ashes of Eden.

"The Ashes of Eden" was apparently Shatner's proposed storyline for "Star Trek VI". After V bombed, I saw George Takei at a convention where he spoke about Shatner's proposal for the next movie, which would have Kirk leave Starfleet to defend a mysterious alien planet and the Enterprise crew would have to go after him.

When I read the book, I thought, "Hey, this sounds like Shatner's pitch that Takei spoke about."

Or this ...

"The Ashes of Eden" and "The Return" were both based on Shatner movie pitches, IIRC.

The Return definitely was, though I'm not sure about The Ashes of Eden.

The planet with a Fountain of Youth. Shatner wanted that for his pitch for ST VI (contractually, he was at last allowed to pitch a sequel to ST V - and direct it - because of his "Favored Nations" contract, IIRC), but was overruled on th story, and so he shunted into his first Trek novel, as to why his romantic interest, Teilani of Chal, had unusual restorative powers.

Ah, yes:

Wiki says: "Chal apparently has fountain of youth properties, which seem proven when Teilani's wound miraculously heals, and the anarchists want to sell it. Kirk accepts Teilani's offer to help protect Chal, seeing it as a second chance.."

"The Return" was from his pitch for "Generations II".

 

[stardream]

I listened to a podcast recently (The Delta Quadrant review/recap of the Voyager episode Prophecy). One of the writers of that episode was a guest and he went through the whole 'pitching process'. I was surprised to learn how much the episode differed from his original idea. His original premise of Voyager meeting up with TOS era Klingons in the Delta Quadrant remained but beyond that it was a completely different story.

In the original pitch, set during the first or second season, Voyager would met up with the Klingons. B'Elanna would fall in love with a Klingon Engineer but circumstances would force her to make a snap decision on whether to fire a phaser at either her Klingon boyfriend or Chakotay (Or Tom Paris. The hadn't made a firm decision on that). I don't remember if he shared the resolution.

Time went on. Different Alpha Quadrant aliens would show up on Voyager each season and the Producers didn't want to double up. Klingons were featured on DS9 and they thought that might be overkill. Then the whole Tom/B'Elanna thing was settled and it wouldn't do for her to fall in love with a Klingon Engineer.

Then in the seventh season they decided to bring out the original story and dust it off and then change it around until it became the episode Prophecy.

I found the whole thing fascinating. I knew plot points from episodes could and would be changed around but I didn't realize how different the end product could be from the original idea.

 

[Greg Cox]

Me in a verbal pitch session:

"So, I have this idea for an episode focusing on Ensign Vorik . . .

"Nah. We're not looking for Vorik episodes right now. What else have you got?"

(I toss aside two pages of detailed notes on the Vorik story.)

"Um, well, how about a story where the Caretaker returns and . . . "

"We're done with the Caretaker. Next?"

Cue flop sweat . . ..

 

[Tim Thomason]

Moore's? That was by Andy Mangels and Mike Martin, IIRC. I don't recall Moore getting a credit.

As far as I understand, Moore developed the Sigma Iotia sequel originally for TNG Season 7 and later in preproduction for the 30th Anniversary DS9 special (later reconfigured into Trials and Tribble-ations instead).

The comic by Mangels and Martin was written a couple years later (and almost certainly [ur=http://memory-alpha.wikia.com/wiki/Memory_Alpha:AOL_chats/Ronald_D._Moore/ron058.txt]after it was known[/url] that Moore had worked for years on an Iotia sequel), but yeah, the story has no real connection to Moore, who I believe has never written a comic book. It's one of those independent ideas developed by two (or three) talented writers.

I think it still matches the thread purview of episode *ideas* that became books, even if it was done without the involvement of the episode pitcher. I didn't mean to imply that Moore was involved in the comic in any way. The original episode set itself up for a sequel many years down-the-line, and Martin and Mangels are the ones who managed to get there first (outside of RPGs).

 

[Christopher]

^But lots of people have come up with separate "Piece of the Action" sequels. I think there were three of them in Strange New Worlds. So you can't really draw a connection between them just because they both try to follow up on the same episode.

 

[JonnyQuest037]

One I don't think has been mentioned before: Peter David's TNG novel A Rock and a Hard Place started out as a TNG pitch. Many of Commander Stone's traits were later incorporated into New Frontier's Mackenzie Calhoun.

 

[Idran]

Yeah; "A that became B" implies a chain of continuity from A to B. Moore's idea might've overlapped with M&M's idea in general concept, but Moore's idea didn't become M&M's comic, M&M's idea did.

Edit: In response to Tim Thomason and Christopher, this.

 

[David cgc]

I listened to a podcast recently (The Delta Quadrant review/recap of the Voyager episode Prophecy). One of the writers of that episode was a guest and he went through the whole 'pitching process'. I was surprised to learn how much the episode differed from his original idea. His original premise of Voyager meeting up with TOS era Klingons in the Delta Quadrant remained but beyond that it was a completely different story.

Something similar happened on a recent episode of "Random Trek," with Dan Koeppel, who wrote "Inheritance." He described the pitching process, and how "Inheritance" actually broke two the standing rules, "No new relatives of main characters" and "No new androids," so he framed it as a "one more thing," where when he was wrapping up, he'd say he had another idea when prompted, and it broke the rules, but if you really want to hear it...

 

[JonnyQuest037]

Yeah; "A that became B" implies a chain of continuity from A to B. Moore's idea might've overlapped with M&M's idea in general concept, but Moore's idea didn't become M&M's comic, M&M's idea did.

Edit: In response to Tim Thomason and Christopher, this.

I've run into that line of thinking a lot among comic book fans in particular. I think that because so many long-running comic book series involve hidden connections, revelations of relationships, and continuity implants, that comic book fans just get trained to think that way. So anything that seems mildly similar simply has to be connected, rather than just a coincidence.

Earlier today, I read a comment on a comic book site where a fan was assuming that Emma Frost, the White Queen, was partially modelled after Linda Evans on Dynasty, as that was a popular show around the time of her first appearance. I pointed out that Emma Frost's first appearance was X-Men #129, cover-dated Jan. 1980 (meaning it was on the stands in 1979), and Dynasty didn't premiere until January 12, 1981.

 

[Greg Cox]

Exactly. It's like the fans who assume that Gary Seven's servo ripped of Doctor Who's sonic screwdriver (or vise versa), when it's more likely that two different sci-fi shows, filmed around the same time on opposite sides of the Atlantic, came up with similar gimmicks . . . .

As I like to joke, it's perfectly possible for two different writers to decide to write samurai mermaid vampire story completely independently.

Ideas are not snowflakes. They aren't all unique.

 

[Christopher]

Exactly. It's like the fans who assume that Gary Seven's servo ripped of Doctor Who's sonic screwdriver (or vise versa), when it's more likely that two different sci-fi shows, filmed around the same time on opposite sides of the Atlantic, came up with similar gimmicks . . . .

Not even that similar to start with. A lot of the elements of Doctor Who and the sonic screwdriver that fans accuse "Assignment: Earth" of "ripping off" weren't developed until years later. At the time, the sonic screwdriver was simply that, a device for turning screws without touching them. It only later became a multifunction device analogous to Gary's servo.

 

[Greg Cox]

Heck, it's not like THE AVENGERS (Steed and Emma) deliberately stole the title from THE AVENGERS (Marvel Comics) back in the sixties, or vise versa. Chances are, both projects just thought THE AVENGERS sounded like a cool name.

Nor were any of them likely thinking of the old pulp hero, THE AVENGER.


True story: one season Tor Books published a sci-fi novel titled PURGATORY at the same time that our sister company, St. Martin's Press, published a crime novel titled (you guessed it) PURGATORY. 'Caused some confusion, shipping-wise, but was entirely unintentional. Just a case of the right hand not knowing what the left hand was doing--at the very same time.

And I'm sure there are plenty of other books and movies titled PURGATORY as well.

 

[Christopher]

Heck, it's not like THE AVENGERS (Steed and Emma) deliberately stole the title from THE AVENGERS (Marvel Comics) back in the sixties, or vise versa. Chances are, both projects just thought THE AVENGERS sounded like a cool name.

I never really understood why the Marvel team is called The Avengers. What are they avenging? At least in the first season of the UK series, the man Steed was partnered with was a doctor whose wife had been killed by criminals (IIRC) and was working with Steed to avenge that act. The name didn't work so well for the later pairings of Steed and various female leads, but at least it had a comprehensible beginning.

 

[JonnyQuest037]

I never really understood why the Marvel team is called The Avengers. What are they avenging? At least in the first season of the UK series, the man Steed was partnered with was a doctor whose wife had been killed by criminals (IIRC) and was working with Steed to avenge that act. The name didn't work so well for the later pairings of Steed and various female leads, but at least it had a comprehensible beginning.

In the comics, it's simply because they thought it was a cool-sounding name. The Wasp says, "We should be called something like the Avengers, or--" and Ant-Man immediately cuts her off, saying, "OR nothing! That's it! The AVENGERS!"

I liked that when Joss Whedon made the first Avengers movie, he made a point of having them actually avenging somebody. That was a nice touch.

 

[Christopher]

I liked that when Joss Whedon made the first Avengers movie, he made a point of having them actually avenging somebody. That was a nice touch.

Yeah -- Whedon's as fascinated with words and meanings as I am, so there was no way he would've let that go unaddressed. Although, of course, the "Avenger Initiative" was first mentioned by Fury in the tag scene of Iron Man, so it was a retroactive justification. Fury probably picked it because it sounded tough and military or something.

 

[flandry84]

What??
Samuel L Fury trying to sound tough?
Never!

 

[Stevil2001]

Heck, it's not like THE AVENGERS (Steed and Emma) deliberately stole the title from THE AVENGERS (Marvel Comics) back in the sixties, or vise versa. Chances are, both projects just thought THE AVENGERS sounded like a cool name.

I never really understood why the Marvel team is called The Avengers. What are they avenging? At least in the first season of the UK series, the man Steed was partnered with was a doctor whose wife had been killed by criminals (IIRC) and was working with Steed to avenge that act. The name didn't work so well for the later pairings of Steed and various female leads, but at least it had a comprehensible beginning.

Fiancee, but basically, yeah. The end of the pilot has Steed giving Keel a speech about how "crime is a disease" and asking him to help him root it out in memory of his dead lover. And Keel was kind of the star back then, as Ian Hendry had just come in off a successful run as the lead of Police Surgeon.

I highly recommend Big Finish's audio adaptations of the (almost entirely) lost episodes of the first series: http://www.bigfinish.com/hubs/v/the-avengers

 

[Daddy Todd]

• "Images of the Beast", written by Philip Jose Farmer for TOS. Later reworked into a non-Star Trek novel of the same name. Somehow.

I think this is a case of Farmer recycling a title, but very little storyline. From These Are the Voyages, Season One: "'Image of the Beast,' submitted five days later by Farmer, had Kirk and a landing party beaming down into the middle of a vast desert on a barren planet, at the site of the wreck of an immense alien space ship. The Enterprise men search the ghost vessel, and then begin experiencing memory losses and strange hallucinations. We learn that, during one blackout, they had devices implanted into their skulls, allowing communication from the telepathic aliens."

From Amazon's description of the similarly-named novel: "Private dick Herald Childe is sent a snuff movie of his partner being hideously murdered. His pursuit of the killers leads him into a waking nightmare of sexual brutality and supernatural bestiality, as he becomes entangled with sex-starved she-ghosts, libidinous snake-women, a filthy human sow, and a she-creature who gives birth to an ectoplasmic simulacrum of Satanic child-killer Gilles de Rais."

That doesn't sound like the same story at all...

However, there is a Phil Farmer short story, "The Shadow of Space" that reads like it was based on Farmer's first Star Trek pitch, "Mere Shadows". It's kind of interesting to read it and try to cast it back into a Star Trek story.

 

[Greg Cox]

• "Images of the Beast", written by Philip Jose Farmer for TOS. Later reworked into a non-Star Trek novel of the same name. Somehow.

I think this is a case of Farmer recycling a title, but very little storyline. From These Are the Voyages, Season One: "'Image of the Beast,' submitted five days later by Farmer, had Kirk and a landing party beaming down into the middle of a vast desert on a barren planet, at the site of the wreck of an immense alien space ship. The Enterprise men search the ghost vessel, and then begin experiencing memory losses and strange hallucinations. We learn that, during one blackout, they had devices implanted into their skulls, allowing communication from the telepathic aliens."

From Amazon's description of the similarly-named novel: "Private dick Herald Childe is sent a snuff movie of his partner being hideously murdered. His pursuit of the killers leads him into a waking nightmare of sexual brutality and supernatural bestiality, as he becomes entangled with sex-starved she-ghosts, libidinous snake-women, a filthy human sow, and a she-creature who gives birth to an ectoplasmic simulacrum of Satanic child-killer Gilles de Rais."

That doesn't sound like the same story at all...

I read "Images of the Beast" ages ago. There's nothing remotely Star Trekkish about it. It's not even science fiction, it's an X-rated horror novel.

Farmer just recycled the title, and he wasn't even really reusing it since the Trek story never happened. He probably figured why let a catchy title go to waste?

 

[Tim Thomason]

• "Images of the Beast", written by Philip Jose Farmer for TOS. Later reworked into a non-Star Trek novel of the same name. Somehow.

I think this is a case of Farmer recycling a title, but very little storyline. From These Are the Voyages, Season One: "'Image of the Beast,' submitted five days later by Farmer, had Kirk and a landing party beaming down into the middle of a vast desert on a barren planet, at the site of the wreck of an immense alien space ship. The Enterprise men search the ghost vessel, and then begin experiencing memory losses and strange hallucinations. We learn that, during one blackout, they had devices implanted into their skulls, allowing communication from the telepathic aliens."

From Amazon's description of the similarly-named novel: "Private dick Herald Childe is sent a snuff movie of his partner being hideously murdered. His pursuit of the killers leads him into a waking nightmare of sexual brutality and supernatural bestiality, as he becomes entangled with sex-starved she-ghosts, libidinous snake-women, a filthy human sow, and a she-creature who gives birth to an ectoplasmic simulacrum of Satanic child-killer Gilles de Rais."

That doesn't sound like the same story at all...

I read "Images of the Beast" ages ago. There's nothing remotely Star Trekkish about it. It's not even science fiction, it's an X-rated horror novel.

Farmer just recycled the title, and he wasn't even really reusing it since the Trek story never happened. He probably figured why let a catchy title go to waste?

There goes my belief that Mr. Farmer submitted his Satanic horror-sex story outline to Desilu and was promptly told to never come back to Hollywood again.

I was actually trying to make a joke (punctuated with the "Somehow."), by implying they were the same story, while believing it was 99.4% unlikely to be truly related. But thanks for the These Are the Voyages information on the original Image of the Beast outline.