Scott Atwell Star Trek Discussion thread (Series and Films) (1 Viewer)

[Nelson Au]

Lee, am I in error? I thought I read that Gene Coon originally wrote this episode as a comedy, but that Fred decided Star Trek was not to have any comedic episodes under his tenure. So it was rewritten as straight drama. I'll look forward to Cushman's findings on this episode!Agreed that the dialogue reading of Nimoy was terrific when Kara called him perfect. And Kelley had quite a few terrific lines. The bit where Kirk calls Scotty, Spock is kind of a way to draw attention to Kirk's habit of asking Spock those kinds of questions. It is a nice touch. Also, Nimoy was quite uncompromising as the brainless body as it brushed past some small branches, just like it would as he couldn't really see where he's going. The other thing that always draws my attention is the back projection on the bridge main view screen. It's quite well done. It's too had that Marj Dusay played the normal Kara in such a shrill way. I suppose to better contrast the smart version.

 

[FanCollector]

I haven't read the early outlines myself, but here is a summary:http://www.orionpressfanzines.com/articles/spock.htmI believe that soon after I joined here, I asked about underrated episodes and Scott named Spock's Brain on the basis of those unusual shots of the bridge.I too am curious to see the third season Cushman book, as I feel like there has been even less revealed about who wrote what for those episodes. Arthur Singer must have done an enormous amount of work that year, but I don't think I have ever read an interview with him. I will be very interested to read about the script development of many of the third season shows.

 

[Nelson Au]

Lee, I've seen that site, but I had not read that outline. Thanks for the link.I guess as the comments say, Gene Coon had an off script idea. And it doesn't read like a comedy. My incorrect impression that it was intended to be a comedy sure made it a more interesting viewing!

 

[Ockeghem]

"I believe that soon after I joined here, I asked about underrated episodes and Scott named Spock's Brain on the basis of those unusual shots of the bridge."Lee,

Good memory. And you are of course, correct. This episode also includes a wonderful blooper regarding the view screen. I don't know if it occurs elsewhere in the series, but I thought that it happened in at least one other episode of TOS.

 

[Nelson Au]

Scott, is the blooper with the view screen your trivia question? I'm having trouble recalling it. It's a blooper that made it to the final product? Must be because I watch the remastered versions.

 

[Ockeghem]

Nelson,

I was actually leaving that open (whether or not it was my trivia question) depending on the response(s) I received and on whether or not I could come up with another episode in which it occurs. I don't think it's a very good trivia question, so my answer is no.

I wish I could recall if this occurs in another episode of TOS, because if I could, then knowing two episodes in which it may be seen would have made for an excellent trivia question. Anyway, the blooper is that the screen is blank in one scene (as in you can see the wall). I'll watch Spock's Brain again soon and let you know (via a time index) where it occurs.

 

[FanCollector]

The one thing I can suggest in Coon's defense is that by the time Spock's Brain went to script stage, he was in the middle of his regular day job and that would have been a nighttime/off-hours extra thing. (As opposed to Spectre of the Gun, that had to have been written earlier.) Cushman's third volume will have a lot more detail, but until then, I'll just think of it as overwork.

 

[Nelson Au]

Interesting Lee, but first, the trivia. I'm pretty certain that there's a shot in The Enemy Within when the evil Kirk and the good Kirk confront each other on the bridge and the view screen is off and blank.I have never been fully clear how long Gene Coon was on the series and when he left and why. In looking it up, I was surprised and it explains John Meredith Lucas' name in the credits. I thought Mr. Coon stayed the entire second season for some reason. But I think you mentioned before that he left halfway through. Though I wasn't clear why, must have been his deal at Universal. I also didn't know he used the name Robert Wesley before Lee Cronin.If he was writing It Takes a Thief by day and trying to fulfill his Star Trek obligations at night, that's a pretty tough schedule! I've done it myself. Wow, I'm watching The Bob Newhart show on MeTV and Rhodes Reason has a cameo at the end of the episode as a plains clothes cop.

 

[FanCollector]

I'm still not entirely clear on why he left. It's unusual for a producer to leave halfway through a season. It may just have been a more lucrative offer from Universal, but I have always wondered if there was some other motive at work. I will definitely be looking for some additional explanation in Cushman's next volume. (In any case, Roddenberry and Coon were the only names on the Emmy nomination, so it seems that all the episodes they submitted for Best Drama Series that year were Coon's.) I think Robert Wesley was Roddenberry's pseudonym, not Coon's. Wesley was Roddenberry's middle name.Coincidentally, I actually watched an It Takes a Thief yesterday: Malachi Throne, Arlene Martel, Michael Ansara, and Teri Garr. But no Rhodes Reason. Which Bob Newhart was that? I'm not remembering him.

 

[Ockeghem]

Interesting Lee, but first, the trivia. I'm pretty certain that there's a shot in The Enemy Within when the evil Kirk and the good Kirk confront each other on the bridge and the view screen is off and blank.

Nelson,

Thank you so much for this reference! I watched Spock's Brain last night, and did not see the view screen blooper I referred to above. So I'm wrong about that. And I was trying to recall which episode had the blooper in it, and you've found it. Much appreciated. It's probably a good thing that I did not make this one of my trivia questions.

"Coincidentally, I actually watched an It Takes a Thief yesterday: Malachi Throne, Arlene Martel, Michael Ansara, and Teri Garr."Ah, a 'fourster.' "Not bad Gabrewski. Not bad at all."

 

[Nelson Au]

Scott, i remember the blank screen in The Enemy Within very clearly from the days of syndication! You never saw that very often if at all. I'll be watching this episode next as I just read the entry in the Cushman book on it. I guess I've seen it so many times, the attempted rape scene isn't as harsh as it would have been the first time. I'm surprised NBC blames that scene for the drop in ratings in the second hour and it was never repeated.Lee, the Bob Newhart was the one where The Peeper and his wife Jean comes to visit Bob and Emily on the night Bob and Emily where going to a college basketball game, so Emily lets Bob and the Peeper go and while she stayed home with Jean. They go to a bar to get some beers and hamburgers to relive their college days before the game and heard from the bartender that a women would show up that scalps tickets as they wanted to get tickets for the girls. Turns out the women are undercover cops and incorrectly think they are being solicited and are arrested. Later as Bob and the Peeper go home, Emily and Jean are waiting for them to come home and are armed and ready with water balloons to drop on them. But they drop them on undercover cops as Bob and The Peer walk into the apartment. At the end, the cops come to Bob's apartment and arrest them! The lead one being Rhodes Reason. The episode is called The Slammer.I still have It Takes A Thief on my list of shows to get.

 

[Ockeghem]

Okay, here's another number puzzle. Name the episode of TOS that includes all of the following numbers in some fashion. I'm only going to include five numbers this time. As always, if the question proves to be challenging, I will give a bonus number or two.

24

18

9

14

3

 

[FanCollector]

Scott, I have set my brain to it, but that could be a while...Nelson, I remember that Bob Newhart. I haven't watched many of the late ones since I recorded them a few years ago, but I don't think I ever registered it was Reason. I can imagine him as the cop, though. As for The Enemy Within, it's not such a rough scene compared to some TV sequences today, but it may have been jarring in 1966. Also, it was the hero of the show, and that was surely very unusual! (And before many viewers had gotten used to the show and the characters.)Sam, I just received the Juan Ortiz book. I really like the way he uses so many different pop styles in the posters: comics, fan magazines, paperbacks, b-movies, foreign movies, toys, etc. I also like that he hasn't tried to make each poster "definitive" or all-encompassing; they are his interpretations and he prioritizes what strikes him. I agree with you that The Cage is a standout. Others I liked a lot, for various reasons, were The Gamesters of Triskelion, The Empath, The Trouble With Tribbles, Metamorphosis, By Any Other Name, What Are Little Girls Made Of, and Return of the Archons.

 

[Nelson Au]

The numbers question is another tough one Scott! Lee, you make it more tempting to grab the Ortiz book ASAP!I only knew it was Rhodes Reason because of my powers of deduction.....plus I saw his name in the end credits.

 

[Nelson Au]

I haven't been keeping up with current events, looks like Ortiz has been doing posters for TAS for a while now.http://www.startrek.com/article/first-look-juan-ortiz-animated-series-art-prints-17-20

 

[FanCollector]

As I finished the book, I was thinking that they would be crazy not to keep going, both for artistic and commercial reasons. I like some of the animated ones, but strangely, the images from the live ones seem to offer more arresting, for lack of a better term, choices.

 

[Nelson Au]

I just had a chance to look at all the animated posters. Some are kinda cool.

 

[Ockeghem]

Scott, i remember the blank screen in The Enemy Within very clearly from the days of syndication! You never saw that very often if at all.

Nelson,"I want to liiiiiivvvvvve!" Yes, I watched The Enemy Within last night. That's the one. But I do wonder if there are others. Of course, it's not all that often that we see the view screen (with Kirk in front of it) from those particular angles. I believe The Enemy Within and Spock's Brain may be the only times in the series, but I'm not sure.

 

[Nelson Au]

I also watched The Enemy Within last night! This time I realized that the attempted rape scene was filmed with a handheld camera, and that certainly added to the terror of the scene. I also paid attention to the editing as the Cushman book referred to the overly shocking edits by the editor's desire to be more esoteric, but were cut back by Justman. So I wondered if beyond the remaining edit of the evil Kirk's bloody hand if other edits like that are still there. There's the shoot of the evil Kirk as he turns around in the transporter pad and he's lit from below to make him appear more evil. I wonder if that was more Leo Penn's doing. As well as the close-up of the evil Kirk on the bridge as he's confronting the good Kirk, the shots that lead up to "I want to live! " It's unfortunate Leo Penn wasn't asked back for another episode. I also read the entry for Damsel and the Dulcimer. (The Man Trap) that's an interesting title, but as Justman said, I didn't know what a dulcimer is! I had to look that up. The main part that surprised me was the themes of loneliness in the story. And the more tragic ending it could have had. I can see why Roddenberry wanting to make it more of what NBC wanted, but the original Johnson content could have elevated it. I'll be watching that episode next and I still need to finish reading the post production portion of the episode. And I want to re-read the the story changes again. And I will want to rewatch The Four of Us are Dying. That episode never clicked for me. But Johnson's other Twilight Zone entries were pretty strong ones.

 

[Nelson Au]

By the way, there's been a couple of mentions that the Cushman book contains errors and typos. I can forgive the typos. And I can also understand some minor errors.In a quick search for any other info on The Man Trap, I found this blog, Star Trek Fact Check. It's got two interesting entries. First is the Spock's Brain entry and the myth it was comedy. The next addresses the entry in Cushman's book that Riley appears in The Man Trap because it was a quick shot they added later in editing to establish the bridge shot. http://startrekfactcheck.blogspot.com/