Scotty barely appears in "Plato's Stepchildren."
When did Fred Freiberger jump the shark?
- Thread starter Quantum21
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Scotty barely appears in "Plato's Stepchildren."
In "And the Children Shall Lead" he was under alien control. Scotty also threatens Kirk with "Go away now. Go away or we'll kill you." (and he probably would've done it.)
In "Plato's Stepchildren" the Enterprise is being hit with "Ten scale turbulence" and the "emergency gyros and stabilizers" were maxed out and the Enterprise was held in place and unable to move away from the danger. In "Court Martial" the Enterprise took damage from flying through a "force seven" ion storm so it would make sense that Scotty would be pretty concerned about the situation.
In both cases Scotty was clearly not inferior but definitely helpless due to alien control.
TV series that never touch on sci-fi or fantasy have this much going for them: no one is ever under the influence of the Gorgon.
He was under greater influence in second-season CATSPAW.....but with vastly less wussiness.
Third-year Scotty is comparatively helpless as opposed to Kirk and Spock, who break their spells as befits their star-status.
He can threaten Kirk all he likes, but his third-year fighting skills pale next to Kirky's. Knowing that, he'd find it difficult even to kill time. But I agree Scotty should not be inferior. Third year moments like these insult his character and former strengths.
Rosebud barely appears in CITIZEN KANE. Nor the shark in JAWS, or Shatner in THOLIAN WEB.. But at least they were never portrayed in such an insultingly wussy fashion.
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Freiberger was a solid TV producer who knew how to get shows shot on time and on budget. He is, unfortunately, tied the final seasons of cult classic shows and fans ignore his successes, choosing to focus on Star Trek and Space:1999. He also was a producer in the final year of The Six Million Dollar Man - a series that was already well past it's freshness date and saddled with a star who was sick of it all. While that season wasn't great, I give it credit for goosing the format with multi part stories and getting Steve Austin back into space with a stronger NASA connection. There were some great, high production value episodes in there. And the cheesy "stunt casting" of people like Sonny Bono and Rodney Allen Rippy were a thing of the past.
People also forget that Freiberger got The Wild Wild West back on track after producer Collier Young took the "James Bond in the West" series and made it a typical western for a few episodes. When he was replaced without notice, Robert Conrad was incensed, as he felt Freiberger really understood the show. He also produced the third season of Ben Casey. He didn't kill those two popular series.
Freiberger just didn't grasp sci-fi, or at least the kind of SF Star Trek and 1999 were aiming for, and seemed to think it was more about monsters and action than concepts. He would have been fine on Lost in Space and Voyage to the Bottom of the Sea. In fact, he probably would have improved them in their later seasons.
I know there have been revisionist attempts to polish Freiberger's reputation, and I accept them to a point. The budgetary edicts alone were an enormous burden, and would have been on Roddenberry, Coon, and Lucas. In fact they were, except the Genes got out before the nut-cutting really began.
Still, focussing on Freddie as a writer, I just don't think he was any good. Roddenberry was a great idea/story man and Coon was a great script man and Lucas was prolific and capable, if talky. Freddie? Not ONE story or teleplay credit out of 24 in the whole 3rd season?
To quote the line from "Galaxy Quest": "that's not right".
There were, back then, two kinds of producers: writers and show-runners. Freddie was a show runner who occasionally occupied a series's center seat...but never for long.
I'm sure he was a nice guy in a rough situation. But he was never a writer.
Still, focussing on Freddie as a writer, I just don't think he was any good. Roddenberry was a great idea/story man and Coon was a great script man and Lucas was prolific and capable, if talky. Freddie? Not ONE story or teleplay credit out of 24 in the whole 3rd season?
To quote the line from "Galaxy Quest": "that's not right".
There were, back then, two kinds of producers: writers and show-runners. Freddie was a show runner who occasionally occupied a series's center seat...but never for long.
I'm sure he was a nice guy in a rough situation. But he was never a writer.
They're not so much "revisionist attempts" as much as giving the guy a break and pulling off some of the crap he may not deserve, Freiberger had plenty of writing credits before and after Star Trek. Some good, some not, but no, he wasn't a great writer His approach to sci-fi was simplistic and his writing for TV was typical. Why didn't he write a Star Trek episode? He wasn't hired to. He came on as a showrunner, he didn't write episodes any more than Quinn Martin or Sheldon Leonard did for their shows. It wasn't his job. It wasn't Bob Justman's job either. He didn't write a single script, but he never once did he get shade for it.
Freiberger also didn't have time. Roddenberry had Gene Coon, John D.F. Black, Dorothy Fontana and John M. Lucas at various points, often at the same time, ride herd on the scripts while Gene wrote his own and rewrote others. Freiberger had Arthur Singer to help him story edit. That's it. Justman did his part, but he wasn't a story editor. Word is Singer was overworked and Freiberger would do edits while running the series. In the back third of the final season, it was literally just two guys taking the scripts and getting them "good enough to film."
Buck Houghton was a hell of a line producer for The Twilight Zone, but in all three seasons he was running it (widely considered the best), not a single story or teleplay credit. Honestly, it's got nothing to do with whether or not a producer is good or has good story sense. Not every TV producer is a writer/producer.
I'm rewatching the third season now and there are a good number of excellent episodes. You gotta give the guy credit for the gems as well as the turds.
Freiberger also didn't have time. Roddenberry had Gene Coon, John D.F. Black, Dorothy Fontana and John M. Lucas at various points, often at the same time, ride herd on the scripts while Gene wrote his own and rewrote others. Freiberger had Arthur Singer to help him story edit. That's it. Justman did his part, but he wasn't a story editor. Word is Singer was overworked and Freiberger would do edits while running the series. In the back third of the final season, it was literally just two guys taking the scripts and getting them "good enough to film."
Buck Houghton was a hell of a line producer for The Twilight Zone, but in all three seasons he was running it (widely considered the best), not a single story or teleplay credit. Honestly, it's got nothing to do with whether or not a producer is good or has good story sense. Not every TV producer is a writer/producer.
I'm rewatching the third season now and there are a good number of excellent episodes. You gotta give the guy credit for the gems as well as the turds.
I'm not entirely disagreeing, as I said I accept that Fred was not the monster he was made out to be in the 70s. And 80s. And 90s...
I do take note, however, of Fontana's and Gerrold's and Marc Daniels' and Ralph Senensky's widely published and repeated DIRECT criticisms of Freddie as a creative producer, or even a GOOD producer. Or writer.
I also note that FF has often himself said he was trying to get women more interested in the show because they were "afraid of space". I always thought that was a load of peanut butter he dished out to cover the fact he wanted more pedestrian shows, more lovey-dovey, more easily hacked, more "World is Hollow" and "Zetar" than "Enterprise Incident" and "Tholian Web"-- shows that weren't the Star Trek I'd gotten used to and still can't warm up to today.
Sure, Quinn Martin and Sheldon Leonard were businessmen with empires to run. They weren't writers. Bob Justman was creative but I don't think he was a very gifted writer (except for his memos, of course!) And Buck Houghton always had strong creative backup from Serling and Matheson, et.al. so yes, he was there to run the show.
Freddie had no support, either from the top or from the bottom, so he would have had to have been a David Milch or JM Strazinski or a Larry David to succeed.
He wasn't and he didn't.
I do take note, however, of Fontana's and Gerrold's and Marc Daniels' and Ralph Senensky's widely published and repeated DIRECT criticisms of Freddie as a creative producer, or even a GOOD producer. Or writer.
I also note that FF has often himself said he was trying to get women more interested in the show because they were "afraid of space". I always thought that was a load of peanut butter he dished out to cover the fact he wanted more pedestrian shows, more lovey-dovey, more easily hacked, more "World is Hollow" and "Zetar" than "Enterprise Incident" and "Tholian Web"-- shows that weren't the Star Trek I'd gotten used to and still can't warm up to today.
Sure, Quinn Martin and Sheldon Leonard were businessmen with empires to run. They weren't writers. Bob Justman was creative but I don't think he was a very gifted writer (except for his memos, of course!) And Buck Houghton always had strong creative backup from Serling and Matheson, et.al. so yes, he was there to run the show.
Freddie had no support, either from the top or from the bottom, so he would have had to have been a David Milch or JM Strazinski or a Larry David to succeed.
He wasn't and he didn't.
TOS/s3 was different, but not bad "just because the Genes weren't there". Freiberger unfairly gets the wrap for a conflux of issues, many of which he had to deal with the best he could. Some had to deal with no budget, so obvious plot issues had to be worked around (e.g. "That Which Survives", not a bad episode but basic questions of why the Kolandant computer didn't conjure up other images -- because they didn't have the budget available, if not time to write around the plot problem before getting it all filmed. Overlook the basic issue and it's still a story that largely works until the big reveal.
Heck, I've rewatched "The Savage Curtain" and "And The Children Shall Lead" more than "A Private Little War", "Patterns of Force" and "A Piece of the Action". Which is amazing as I've only seen ATCSL only when the DVD came out, when the blu-ray came out, and the third time because I was too lazy to change the disc and wanted to revisit the scenes where the kids psychotorture the crew (another classic TOS trope, as far back as early season one as well.) Can't say that about those season 2 clunkers. As a fan of the high-concept psychological horror story "Plato's Stepchildren", that's also nowhere near the worst of season 3. IMHO of course, but I do know a lot hate the story - in a nutshell, that's fandom for ya.
IMHO, it's still a shame that one episode did not get made and the final episodes rushed. S3 had some bad ones, but most of those I'd put over S2's clunkers. S3 is largely enjoyable, and the fanbase of the time was expecting more of the same feel. But even then, seasons 1 and 2 have different feels. Amazing how much of it is still watchable despite all the behind-the-scenes problems. So it could easily have been far worse.
Space 1999/s2 wouldn't have been made at all as it was Fred's convincing the network that more action and Maya would revitalize the show. The season is not perfect, and the bad episodes are truly atrocious, but some were still good - or at least had potential:
"The AB Chrysalis" feels right out of season one. It's a great reprieve.
"The Beta Cloud", from what I remember, was fairly compelling with how to stop the invading big bad... something didn't quite stand right when watching it last, or I didn't pick up on or had forgotten something. Need to check it out again, later tonight... but it was a tension-filled escapade on stopping the big bad...
"Brian the Brain" would definitely be seen as "atrocious" at the time, but since original airing has maintained an off-the-wall ridiculousness that somehow works when, by any other means, it shouldn't. Would I want every episode to be as dumb as it is campy? No. Nor are there enough actors like Bernard Cribbons to rise above the material to make it watchable.
Even "All That Glisters", despite a few major problems from what I remember, plus a really dumb new supporting character, I can't deny that the basic storyline at least gave inspiration to other sci-fi shows made later using intelligent and/or monstrous silicon-based life forms (e.g. the Ogri, Sopron, Virn's unnamed but vampiric sand-like lifeform) where similar ideas about silicon-based life forms are handled better.
Season One had more soft-focus. Season two, much more dynamic lighting. Season three, DAY OF THE DOVE.
RCA called: "Need more color!"
Which is odd for Freiberger to approach either series, since his sci-fi job in-between TOS and Space: 1999 was the Hanna-Barbera cartoon Sealab 2020 (NBC, 1972), where he contributed scripts for "Green River" and "The Arctic Story". The series (arguably the company's best after Jonny Quest), with its heavy environmental themes, was set in the then-far future, and Freiberger's stories were anything other than monster and action-oriented, even for a Saturday morning sci-fi cartoon. Then again, the format of Sealab 2020 would "force" any writer's hand into writing for the message, rather than trying to excite viewers of a struggling show.
With Irwin Allen or his usual suspect writers around, would Freiberger have any impact (with a "monsters and action" approach), when the Allen mandate of monsters and explosions only intensified as both series wore on?
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