Scott Atwell Star Trek Discussion thread (Series and Films) (5 Viewers)

[Nelson Au]

Yes, that's why I brought it up.

 

[Ockeghem]

Lee and Nelson,Do either of you own a complete run of the Blish works? I've enjoyed them over the years. I think I liked them early on because there wasn't much else around (excepting the non-fiction works that we've all come to know and love). I also loved the various fanzines that appeared. As the years went on, I also subscribed to The Communicator. I still have every issue of that publication that was ever published, I believe.

 

[FanCollector]

That Communicator collection is a great treasure trove! I'm sure you can dip into almost any issue and find some good stuff.I have all the Blish books. (In those post-initial release but pre-eBay days, it took shopping on two continents to obtain them all.) As a kid, I was sometimes frustrated by the differences with the finished episodes, but now I actually value them most for those differences. Didn't you always love his introductions?

 

[Nelson Au]

I have all the Blish books too. I read them so long ago I don't remember the differences! Except for two. When I was in school, a classmate said Who Mourns for Adonias ends with Carolyn pregnant with Apollo's child. And I did recently read The Doomsday Machine after out discussion after I read Cushman's chapter on this episode and the earlier drafts of the story had Decker live. So I had to read that! It wasn't till later that I finally found a clean used copy of the last book and Mudd's Angels. I have all the Communicator issues too. There are three issues that stick out for me. The 1999 issue after DeForest Kelley passed. The issue about the 11 foot model of the Enterprise and the issue that covers the remastered Star Trek The Motion Picture. I'm still annoyed as you can see in the blu ray thread that we stil don't have the Wise cut on blu ray! It's amazing Blish was working in the dark adapting those scripts and he probably never saw an episode till later. I uses to look forward to going to the local drug store to see if a new copy arrived yet. And I loved the cover art!

 

[Ockeghem]

Lee and Nelson,I have to admit, I asked about the complete run of Blish books because guess who hasn't read them all? It's hard to believe perhaps, but I have yet to read every one of them. I'll send you my address in a few minutes.

Lee,Yes, most definitely! Thank you for that reminder.

 

[Nelson Au]

I don't think I read every book either!

 

[FanCollector]

Just saw that Arlene Martel died. She really elevated everything in which she performed, including Amok Time. Coincidentally, I just watched her Twilight Zone episode over the weekend, and that pilot a couple of days before. Think about how much she added to Demon With a Glass Hand, too. One of her kids is a journalist and wrote a piece a few years ago about her going to conventions and autograph shows and made her sound like a warm, gracious lady which she probably was, in addition to all her talent.

 

[Ockeghem]

Honestly, Robin Williams, Lauren Bacall, and now Arlene Martel.

 

[FanCollector]

And Ed Nelson. Not a Star Trek guest, but someone who appeared on an awful lot of shows we all like here.

 

[Nelson Au]

Wow, I just saw your news about Arline Martel and that was a surprise. I didn't realize she was 78 or 80. I just read the StarTrek.com obituary. I didn't know about Lauren Bacall or Ed Nelson. And regarding James Garner a few weeks ago, I saw an episode of The Rockford Files with Bacall guesting a month ago or so.

 

[FanCollector]

Lions, Tigers, Monkeys, and Dogs? Terrific Rockford show from the very end of the run. She said she really loved doing it and they were very good together. (Dana Wynter also did a great job in that one, although the publicity was all about Ms. Bacall.) At this point, I am almost afraid to put in a DVD...

 

[Nelson Au]

Lions, Tigers, etc indeed. On a happier and totally unrelated note. Tonight Paul McCartney is playing at my home town at Candlestick Park. It will be historic in that is where the last Beatles concert was as you know Scott. Plus they are closing the stadium down forever. I was really tempted to try to go. But I wasn't that really enthused to be freezing out there and sound couldn't have been too good to quote McCartney. What I hope they might do is record the event with high quality sound and video and release it like the New York concert. Of course to just be there is the real reason to go. Back to Trek, I'm halfway through the chapter on the letter writing campaign. Fascinating read so far. I'll toss on a few thoughts after I finish.

 

[FanCollector]

The end of Candlestick is a major event in itself. My dad saw McCartney in NYC and said it was an amazing show. I suspect there will, as you suggest, be an alternate means of seeing the show later.

 

[Nelson Au]

I hope you're right Lee! The concert got started an hour late due to the massive traffic jam just to get into the stick and there are people who are still stuck now according to the news. The concert is still an hour away from ending. That's cool your dad saw him in New York.

 

[Ockeghem]

Nelson,I have no doubt that you'll be able to pick up this concert of Paul's at some later date. Incidentally, I own a recording of the Beatles concert at Candlestick Park (August 1966). Of course it wasn't easy to obtain.

 

[Nelson Au]

I finished the last chapter of the Cushman Season Two book. I'm sad I finished it because now I have to wait for the third book.Its been a long time since I read the Gerrold books and other books regarding the campaign to save the series. Cushman did a great job of detailing out what the Trimble's did with the letter writing efforts. I hadn't read before the details of their moving to Los Angleles near the studio and setting up a make shift effort to get the word out to all the science fiction groups. I might have to reread the chapter because it didn't seem as detailed with regards to the student protests at Cal Tech. The bumper sticker sticker story I had heard of too, but not to this detail. Cushman writes that the fans did it again to save the series in the second year, but also the first. My mind must be leaking information faster then it goes in. I forget if the first book covers a fan effort to save the series after the first year ended. I'll review that.In the past, what I read was the the unprecedented effort of the Trimble's who organized the fan writing efforts and it was pretty basic without a lot of detail, and it occurred at the end of the second season. Plus that unprecedented on air announcement the series will return next season. Would love to see that on YouTube! So this chapter was quite interesting! Cushman also does a good job to continue to argue how popular the series is. Intellectuals, NASA people, professional people and more loved the series! Even I can remember around 1969 in school how I saw kids drawing the Enterprise. Yet Cushman is not exactly explaining why NBC was holding out to say if it was renewed or not. He does explain that the guy who sees demographics as the better way to gauge how good a show is. And that Star Trek delivers a much higher quality audience with the kinds of dollars advertiser like. But I guess part of the argument coming in the next book will be that issue the network has with that maverick producer of Star Trek. So they might have rathered sacrifice Star Trek then have to deal with him again. This next book must have a lot of answers coming! It's amazing that the series became that popular during its original airings and I don't recall it because I was too young at the time. The arguments were really interesting that included all the media coverage the series got, the Spockmania, the record albums, the books being published and the record sales figures of the AMT model kit! The show was a hit! I have an audio recording of The Star Trek Dream that was a locally produced TV special from late 1970's. It was hosted by Bob Wilkins of Creature Features. He had a clip where he interviews Gene Roddenberry and he's saying exactly that the demographics of the series was so perfect, that the series could have had a 10 year run. And he was speaking about that same guy Cushman was referring to I'm sure.

 

[FanCollector]

Popularity is always a tricky thing in terms of "buzz" versus actual numbers. One of the great more recent examples was Buffy the Vampire Slayer. It had a very high recognizability factor with certain age demographics and was on more magazine covers than many top shows on at the time. And yet, in all the years it was on, I don't think it cracked the top 100 shows even once. So was it "popular"? In some ways, but not necessarily in the way that less buzzworthy shows with much higher ratings were. I think a lot of the first-run popularity of Star Trek was in a similar vein. (Of course, because of the era and the network, there were millions more actual viewers of Star Trek.) My suspicion about the midseason pickup delay is that the network wanted to see its prospects for new shows that would be ready in January. When they realized that Star Trek, though not a blockbuster, was a safe enough choice that at least held its own on Fridays, (and that there were no midseason miracle pilots) they picked up the back 10.

 

[FanCollector]

Watched a memorial Rockford Files tonight that guest starred both Arlene Martel and Ed Nelson. Ms. Martel was actually very versatile. I have been watching a few of her appearances this week and she didn't seem to be stuck as a "type."

 

[Ockeghem]

Guys,Any idea whose turn it is, or if we're still working on a question?

 

[FanCollector]

I believe it's your turn.