Scott Atwell Star Trek Discussion thread (Series and Films) (6 Viewers)

[FanCollector]

Shore Leave, a very good show, is even more impressive when one considers the extent to which it was rewritten as it was shot and more or less pasted together in editing along the lines you both suggest. I never considered how rarely another actor's voice begins episodes. I wonder if it was just a self-imposed formula or if the network pressured the producers to open with Shatner as often as possible. Networks tend to like seeing the stars ASAP because they tend to believe that we in the audience are impatient and will flip channels if we don't see the faces (or hear the voices) we came to hear. I wonder how they felt about Tomorrow is Yesterday and The Devil in the Dark. I do know that a few years later, NBC sent endless memos about Columbo, essentially saying, "It's bad enough you only have one regular character in the show. You can't keep waiting 20 minutes before the audience sees him!"Scott, if Yarnek is a good friend of yours, you may need to join a club or something...

 

[Ockeghem]

Lee,Oh I don't know. I think Yarnek is rather hot.

You're up next, incidentally. Nice work.

 

[Nelson Au]

Agreed Shore Leave came together rather nicely despite so many obstacles!Scott, I happen to remember Scott made the log entry at the start of Wink of An Eye from my recent marathon of the third season.Lee, great story about Columbo!

 

[Nelson Au]

Scott, I guess that would be an accurate description of Yarnek. I would guess the club for Yarnek could include the Metrons, Balok and maybe even Trelane and Korob and Sylvia. They all tested humanity.

 

[FanCollector]

OK, let's talk about transporters. Captain Kirk is a well-known man about town. He frequently travels by transporter and in many cases he will make a second transporter trip to the same place. But how many times does he beam to the same place more than twice in one episode? I found only two instances. Can you cite them?(For the purposes of this question, we will not count non-transporter travel. We will also not count visits to different destinations, nor visits to the same destination across different episodes. We do not necessarily need to witness each instance of beaming, but we must know it has happened.)

 

[Nelson Au]

Interesting question Lee! I can think of several instances where he made two trips to the same place via the transporter; Deneva and Stratos for example. Technically he beams directly to the Stratos city in the clouds twice, but to the surface once from the Enterprise and once from The City down to the surface of the planet. He beams over the Romulan ship twice. He beams down to visit his old friend Dr. Leighton on Planet Q twice. But more then two? I'm going first with Space Station K-7. He beams there first to meet Lurry, then to question Cyrano Jones, then later to check on the storage compartments and then maybe a fourth time if I have it straight at the end.

 

[FanCollector]

Tribbles is a winner! The repeated trips to the station add to the farcical tone.Ardana is a bizarre case, as he makes several transporter trips, but if we include the one at the very end, we get three, so that's another point! I hadn't counted that one correctly, so still one more.

 

[Nelson Au]

So Ardana and Stratos counts as the same place? Okay, I'll take the point!

 

[Nelson Au]

How about last resort answer; The Alternative Factor. I think Kirk and company beamed down three times, first to investigate the source of the "winking out". Then to go down again with Lazarus to investigate further. Finally to beam down to get the crystals back from Lazarus's ship.

 

[FanCollector]

I am laughing very hard at "last resort answer."Yes, even though it feels like he beams down 14 times in The Alternative Factor, it's just three.Sweep for Nelson!

 

[Nelson Au]

Lee, so just the three instances. I'm wondering if there are other times Kirk makes multi visits to the same place now. Okay, I'll work another question. I'm glad you found my description of Alternative Factor humorous.I just happen to tune into COZI TV. They were showing an episode of McCloud, I haven't seen that series in ages! I forgot that Diana Muldaur was McCloud's girlfriend. Plus Ken Lynch is a coworker in the precinct. The episode is called T'was the Fight Before Christmas. And there was also Michael Pataki as a TV reporter, but he's not listed in the IMDB. Maybe it wasn't him? I thought there was a forth TOS guest star in there. And Robert Ellenstein was in there too, but he doesn't count since he was in a TOS film, but not series.

 

[FanCollector]

I believe those are the only ones. (The Cloudminders escaped me because of the mental disconnect between the surface and Stratos.) Let me know if I missed any. The Squire of Gothos has three visits, but two of them are not via the transporter. Obsession has him beam down three times, but one of the instances is to Tycho IV.I like the McCloud episodes with the overlapping multiple precinct stories. They did three or four, including the one you mentioned. Teri Garr did several, but I think she was gone by the time that last one rolled around. Diana Muldaur had a telling story about Hollywood relating to her experience on McCloud. She was a regular at one point early on, and although she loved working with Dennis Weaver, she was dissatisfied with the amount of work; she felt she was just shoehorned in for five minutes a show. So she quit, but made it clear she would be happy to return for guest appearances if they wanted her. From then on, she said she would be on once or twice a year and had a major part to play every time. I honestly don't recall Michael Pataki one way or the other, but I'll try to check tomorrow.

 

[FanCollector]

It's Pataki for sure. I don't know why he isn't credited; his agent must have had a lot of explaining to do.

 

[Nelson Au]

Lee, Interesting, so if an actor or actress is unhappy with a semi regular role, you quit and then they give you more substantial work when they do use you. That sort of worked for Denice Crosby too when she quit TNG.

Thanks for checking on Pataki. Do you have the series on DVD to check? His role there was pretty small.

 

[Nelson Au]

Klingon Bird of Prey!!

Okay, here's a picture question: Which film does this shot come from?

1. The Search for Spock
2. The Undiscovered Country
3. Generations

 

[Ockeghem]

Nelson,

Is it from Star Trek III: The Search For Spock?

 

[Nelson Au]

Scott, I'm afraid not.

 

[FanCollector]

The Undiscovered Country is my answer.Yes, Nelson, I watched the episode on DVD to check. It was a small part, but they could have credited him at the end.That trick worked for Ms. Muldaur, but it may have been partly because she was at a guest star level already. If, say, Nichelle Nichols or George Takei had tried the same strategy, I don't know that they would have gotten the same results.

 

[Nelson Au]

Lee, thanks regarding McCloud. I haven't had a chance to watch the Columbo DVDs yet, so I'm curious how the discs look. And I imagine the quality will be similar to how your McCloud discs look. I think given how we've read how tight the budget on Star Trek was, you could be right. But it seems Justman felt the supporting cast had value to the show.Regarding the question, I had hoped one of you had said TUC and Generations. Because you are right, that shot of the exploding Bird of Prey is from The Undiscovered Country. But it was sort of a trick question, and adding Star Trek 3 sort of made it harder. That shot of the exploding Bird of Prey was recycled and reused in Generations! So had you said Generations, you would have been right too. I remembered that pointed out somewhere, a convention or in an audio commentary. Okay, it's Lee's turn now. And I hope everyone will have a very happy Christmas or whichever you prefer to celebrate!

 

[FanCollector]

Tricky! You have an admirably devious mind!I was really thinking of Nichelle Nichols in particular saying she had planned to quit after the first year. I'm very glad she stayed, but it's hard to imagine her getting one of the good guest star roles if she had returned for one or two episodes later.The Columbo DVDs are better quality. The McCloud discs are imported from Australia and Denmark and they don't seem to have been remastered from the 35mm originals the way the Columbo episodes were.Merry Christmas to everyone. I will work on a new question, but it will probably be tomorrow night before it's ready.