Scott Atwell Star Trek Discussion thread (Series and Films) (4 Viewers)

[Jack P]

"Assignment Earth" I felt was a weak-tea premise for a show. I've always found it amusing to see all the concerns of "don't violate the Prime Directive" applied to Kirk, but when you get right down to it, whoever Gary Seven works for is the ultimate violator of a "Prime Directive" there is when it comes to letting Earth manage its own destiny without interference from an outside alien race (this is also why I thought the Metrones in "Arena" were first-class hypocrites)

A show like "Assignment: Earth" was likely going to be a show more in the vein of a show like "Naked City" or some other 60s urban drama where the kicker is Gary Seven using a sci-fi toy at various points in the plot, but by and large those expecting big time sci-fi adventure I don't think would have seen much of it.

 

[ScottRE]

I like the premise of the A:E series and taken as a pilot, I find it fun. It wouldn't have been any more varied than The Invaders, but Robert Lansing and Teri Garr would have been a pleasure to watch every week. Backdoor pilots are rarely, if ever, good episodes of the series they're shoved into. None of the new characters are why you're there to begin with. Having said that, the talent involved made this one as good as it could be - the countdown sequence is very well put together with the exclusive footage, editing and always great Sol Kaplan score. The rocket footage is still impressive and adds greatly to my interest in it, since I always loved NASA and the original US space program. That's one of the reasons I like I Dream of Jeannie more than Bewitched, and why I enjoy the final season of The Six Million Dollar Man more than most people - the NASA element.

 

[Jason_V]

"Assignment Earth" I felt was a weak-tea premise for a show. I've always found it amusing to see all the concerns of "don't violate the Prime Directive" applied to Kirk, but when you get right down to it, whoever Gary Seven works for is the ultimate violator of a "Prime Directive" there is when it comes to letting Earth manage its own destiny without interference from an outside alien race (this is also why I thought the Metrones in "Arena" were first-class hypocrites)

A show like "Assignment: Earth" was likely going to be a show more in the vein of a show like "Naked City" or some other 60s urban drama where the kicker is Gary Seven using a sci-fi toy at various points in the plot, but by and large those expecting big time sci-fi adventure I don't think would have seen much of it.

Yeah, it was an episode where "our" characters are guest stars in their own show...that's not something I like, especially for a season finale. If Gary Seven had been established previously and he was a recurring guest, I might have been on board more with "Assignment: Earth." It's not a bad episode...it feels like an Elseworlds episode, which isn't really what I signed up for in context of the season.

Then ST: Picard had to pick up the thread...

 

[Nelson Au]

An aspect of this episode that I found interesting was for how long it took to correctly identify the actress who plays the human version of Isis the cat.

WHO is human Isis?: 50-year mystery is over, thanks to “The Trek Files”

All it took was finding that one piece of paper. 50 years later. Finally, mystery solved: Who WAS Isis the cat in human form, from “Assignment: Earth”? Look, maybe you’re not a “podcast person.” But…

larrynemecek.com

I was also surprised to find a website dedicated to all things Assignment Earth.

Assignment: Earth - Gary Seven, Isis the Cat and Roberta Lincoln

The most complete reference to the classic Trek episode Assignment : Earth. Behind the scenes, video, photos, ebooks and PDFs.

www.assignmentearth.ca

 

[ScottRE]

Yeah, it was an episode where "our" characters are guest stars in their own show...that's not something I like, especially for a season finale.

Well, keep in mind that season finale's were much different then. Often, they were black holes where networks dumped weaker episodes. Unlike today, where a season finale is a bigger deal, the culmination of an arc or, before serialization became the norm, cliffhangers to hook people to come back next year.

NBC shoved Bread and Circuses in between The Omega Glory and Assignment: Earth. B&C was finished much earlier but NBC was unhappy with it, so they buried in the end of season graveyard. ABC did the same with The Fugitive, sticking Coralee at the very end were this weaker episode would do little damage. Roddenberry was afraid his treasured The Omega Glory would be unnoticed so late and suggested saving it for the season premiere, which was a much more important spot. Well, that didn't fly. Nobody but Roddenberry really liked that episode.

Now, you wanna talk about a disappointing Star Trek season finale, Shades of Gray, the second season finale of TNG, was a really bad clip show. Compounding the crime was season 2 was a shorter season because of strike delays. So they wasted an episode as it is.

 

[Jason_V]

Well, keep in mind that season finale's were much different then. Often, they were black holes where networks dumped weaker episodes. Unlike today, where a season finale is a bigger deal, the culmination of an arc or, before serialization became the norm, cliffhangers to hook people to come back next year.

Sure, but that's not the standard I'm using. Any episode should be focused on the main characters with the guest stars being used to add seasoning to the story. "Assignment: Earth" is a Gary Seven show with Kirk and Spock thrown in to keep it Trek.

Going back to Season 1..."Operation: Annihilate!" utilizes the crew (maybe not everyone to their fullest, but they're not window dressing). "Turnabout Intruder" isn't a good episode, but our crew isn't relegated to second string status.

NBC shoved Bread and Circuses in between The Omega Glory and Assignment: Earth. B&C was finished much earlier but NBC was unhappy with it, so they buried in the end of season graveyard. ABC did the same with The Fugitive, sticking Coralee at the very end were this weaker episode would do little damage. Roddenberry was afraid his treasured The Omega Glory would be unnoticed so late and suggested saving it for the season premiere, which was a much more important spot. Well, that didn't fly. Nobody but Roddenberry really liked that episode.

Every show does the same thing to a certain extent. DS9 is a show that comes to mind pretty fast: they used the slot between the last May sweeps episode and the finale to try something "new" or offbeat. Not always, but "In the Cards" slid into that episode slot on DS9. I exclude Voyager and Enterprise since they were both on a network and didn't have that penultimate episode slot to use.

Now, you wanna talk about a disappointing Star Trek season finale, Shades of Gray, the second season finale of TNG, was a really bad clip show. Compounding the crime was season 2 was a shorter season because of strike delays. So they wasted an episode as it is.

Unpopular opinion, but I'll take "Shades of Gray" over "Assignment: Earth." Clip shows aren't great in the first place, but the season had so much stacked against it...the strike, blowing a lot of money of a lot of upstream episodes, turning over the writing staff, Pulaski on her way out...I have a hard time separating the production issues with the episode issues. Like I said, unpopular opinion.

 

[BobO'Link]

Sure, but that's not the standard I'm using. Any episode should be focused on the main characters with the guest stars being used to add seasoning to the story. "Assignment: Earth" is a Gary Seven show with Kirk and Spock thrown in to keep it Trek.

That's because it was a backdoor pilot.

The script was co-written by Roddenberry and not a single network commissioned a pilot when that half-hour script was shopped. Roddenberry being Roddenberry just reworked it as a Star Trek episode - after all, he'd get more money that way.

Backdoor pilots are *always* episodes in which the stars of the series in which they appear are little more than guest stars on their own show. I can't think of a single backdoor pilot I've though was worth a repeat viewing - outside this one simply because it's Star Trek and *does* incorporate the main cast more than most such episodes. But it's just not well written, has lots of logic holes, and when Gary Seven and his cast show up it stops being Star Trek.

 

[Jason_V]

That's because it was a backdoor pilot.

The script was co-written by Roddenberry and not a single network commissioned a pilot when that half-hour script was shopped. Roddenberry being Roddenberry just reworked it as a Star Trek episode - after all, he'd get more money that way.

Backdoor pilots are *always* episodes in which the stars of the series in which they appear are little more than guest stars on their own show. I can't think of a single backdoor pilot I've though was worth a repeat viewing - outside this one simply because it's Star Trek and *does* incorporate the main cast more than most such episodes. But it's just not well written, has lots of logic holes, and when Gary Seven and his cast show up it stops being Star Trek.

That. Is. Exactly. My. Problem. With. It.

It's a boring episode with a lack of focus on the main characters. It's not a Trek episode even though it is the final episode of season two. I have zero love for this episode, really dislike they used it in Picard and is the "least" of all Trek season finales for me.

 

[BobO'Link]

I’m glad we have the full color and mixed color and black and white versions of The Cage from the Blu ray and earlier DVD and VHS. It could have been lost forever or nearly as the 3 foot Enterprise model is. ( And perhaps has been discovered late last year. )

it seems there’s a lot of fans who’d love to have the black and white version of The Cage in its intact form. Perhaps someone at Paramount at the time felt the releases have to be in Living Color or else it won’t sell. Or perhaps the full color version could be reassembled from the existing elements. It is very cool to here Malachi Throne’s voice when the Keepr speaks. Maybe we can urge Mr. Roddenberry himself to give this some consideration.

No perhaps... it *was* discovered and returned to Roddenberry's son:

Long-lost first USS Enterprise model is returned to 'Star Trek' creator Gene Roddenberry's son

The first USS Enterprise has boldly gone back home, solving a decades-long mystery. The model used in the opening credits of the original “Star Trek” television series has been returned to the son of creator Gene Roddenberry.

apnews.com

 

[ScottRE]

That. Is. Exactly. My. Problem. With. It.

It's a boring episode with a lack of focus on the main characters. It's not a Trek episode even though it is the final episode of season two. I have zero love for this episode, really dislike they used it in Picard and is the "least" of all Trek season finales for me.

That was the least of my problems with Picard.

I really don't rate any of the original series "last episodes" as season finales simply because they weren't what we call finales. Just episodes that aired last. None of them were great: "Operation: Annihilate!" is the best by default, not because it's good. NBC cut the order back from 30 to 29 so that dictated that. I can't imagine "Turnabout Intruder" being considered anything close to a good "finale" - even worse that it's the last episode of the series. Surprisingly for the era, all three were the final episodes produced each year and not just aired last. A lot of shows just tossed around their order and the last episode aired wasn't the final episode filmed.

TNG's season enders all felt like finales - except "Shades of Grey" which just felt like a "crap we're out of money" sacrifice play.

I will say this, "Turnabout Intruder" is ridiculously over the top and fun.

 

[Jack P]

"All Our Yesterdays" which was the next to last episode was something of a budget-saver in that it's the only episode in the entire run of the show not to have any scenes aboard the Enterprise and Scotty is only heard in a voiceover. The earlier draft of the script had them beaming up and the final exchange taking place in the Transporter Room. But in the end it turned out to be one of the best episodes of the series.

 

[Josh Steinberg]

For anyone in the Long Island area, the Cinema Arts Center in Huntington is doing two separate Trek-related screenings tomorrow (Friday 4/19):

-At 7pm, they are showing an episode of Deep Space Nine with a live Q&A to follow featuring guest star Melanie Smith:

https://prod3.agileticketing.net/websales/pages/info.aspx?evtinfo=853644~31a96320-4160-4f8e-a5f9-05c4f03c9c01&

-At 9pm, they are screening Star Trek II: The Wrath of Khan:

https://prod3.agileticketing.net/websales/pages/info.aspx?evtinfo=854964~31a96320-4160-4f8e-a5f9-05c4f03c9c01&

I hope to make the 9pm event so if you happen to come out and spot me, please say hello!

 

[TravisR]

As always, I'm a novice compared to basically everyone else in a Star Trek thread but I love reading about a show where you can see such diverse and knowledgable opinions about specific episodes. I'm not a fan of Assignment Earth but it's fun seeing the thoughts of people that do enjoy it.

 

[Josh Steinberg]

I don’t really care that Assignment: Earth is basically a back door pilot. I don’t really care that it uses a lot of stock footage. What I do care about is that I find it pretty dull.

Roddenberry’s script for The Cage was great, but in general, when he had a message he was trying to convey, he wasn’t very subtle about it, and to me that led to some very clunky episodes. I don’t think The Omega Glory is very good either, but Roddenberry thought it was one of the most important things he had ever written, which goes to demonstrate the old idiom that most people are not the best judges of their own work.

But I’m also of the mind that even a lousy Star Trek episode (or Twilight Zone episode or James Bond movie) is more enjoyable to me than the best of most other things. So I’ll grumble about Assignment Earth or Omega Glory each time I see them but never seriously consider just giving them up.

 

[TravisR]

I don’t really care that Assignment: Earth is basically a back door pilot. I don’t really care that it uses a lot of stock footage. What I do care about is that I find it pretty dull.

I don't think too many people sit there wondering why it didn't get picked up.

 

[Nelson Au]

Because of all the commotion about Assignment Earth. I watched it this evening. Very Groovy.

It’s not one of my favorites either, but as a youth, I always enjoyed seeing it. Maybe partly because it incorporated Apollo spacecraft too.

I still have no issues with the episode. I like seeing 1968 Earth. Everyone loves Star Trek 4. This episode has a lot in common. The crew has to work together to solve a problem. They are still on a mission to observe Earth, and Scotty, Uhura, Chekov and Sulu are sure doing a lot of observing. Yes, Kirk and Spock spend a lot of time as prisoners or held captive or at odds with those around them on Earth. So they do very little to advance the plot, except to chase Gary Seven. But thats OK. They are involved in the story.

I love the mid century modern office space that Seven has. Has anyone realized that the vault door actually appears in an episode of Mission Impossible from I believe the first season. So it was used there first. I never knew one of the policemen is Bruce Mars until I read about it years later.

I always love the props on Star Trek. The Beta 5 computer is a cool computer. It shows up with Mr Atoz later of course. But I really like the design and the use of simple light tricks to bring it to life. The servo is now in a private collection. Photos were posted in a prop forum I frequent.

On the whole, it’s too bad it was never picked up. My bet is Roddenberry had a bad reputation at that point so maybe NBC did not want to work with him. And it’s too bad Teri Garr did not have a pleasant experience making the episode, and my impression is she is unwilling to discuss it.

On a side note, not having seen the episode in a few years, I had forgotten how bad some shots look. There a shot of thr Enterprise in orbit and the optical looks so washed out. Amd there are several live action shots that look very poor, as if it was an opticals shot for a dissolve.

All in all. I enjoyed my revisit of the episode.

 

[Jack P]

She disdainfully spoke about the experience on a Later With Bob Costas appearance once. She couldn't even remember Robert Lansing's name, referring to him as "another guy" she would have had to do the show with.

Frankly, I always thought "The Omega Glory" got too much of a bum rap by comparison. I can buy the parallel Earth premise of this a lot more than I bought the idea that the planet of "Miri" was an exact duplicate of Earth right down to the continents (which admittedly was probably a budget saving gimmick to justify using a globe in F/X shots).

 

[Nelson Au]

No perhaps... it *was* discovered and returned to Roddenberry's son:

Long-lost first USS Enterprise model is returned to 'Star Trek' creator Gene Roddenberry's son

The first USS Enterprise has boldly gone back home, solving a decades-long mystery. The model used in the opening credits of the original “Star Trek” television series has been returned to the son of creator Gene Roddenberry.

apnews.com

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Howie, you beat me to it! I had a super busy day at work and hadn’t had time to check out the story. The news as to whether it would be returned to Roddenberry and authenticated had not been made public yet, until today as far as I knew.

I knew this model was the real deal. All the “tells” were present based on my studies of the actual photos taken of the model back in 1966-1968. And I’m glad Rod Roddenberry knows the value of it and for it to be seen. What worries me is who and how the model is restored, or more simply preserved. To restore means to repair and repaint. So nothing of the original finish remains. Perhaps they will get lucky and are able to preserve it by a good cleaning and minor paint repairs. Amd of course do the structural repairs. The saucer is hanging down due to the dorsal neck coming out of the secondary hull. And the engine nacelles need to be straightened and re-attached. If I had my way, I’d ask the team who worked on the 11 foot model to review the 3 foot model and come up with a plan on how to save the model. I’m very glad the model was found and is authentic. It belongs in a museum. I know what you’re thinking.

 

[BobO'Link]

Howie, you beat me to it! I had a super busy day at work and hadn’t had time to check out the story. The news as to whether it would be returned to Roddenberry and authenticated had not been made public yet, until today as far as I knew.

I knew this model was the real deal. All the “tells” were present based on my studies of the actual photos taken of the model back in 1966-1968. And I’m glad Rod Roddenberry knows the value of it and for it to be seen. What worries me is who and how the model is restored, or more simply preserved. To restore means to repair and repaint. So nothing of the original finish remains. Perhaps they will get lucky and are able to preserve it by a good cleaning and minor paint repairs. Amd of course do the structural repairs. The saucer is hanging down due to the dorsal neck coming out of the secondary hull. And the engine nacelles need to be straightened and re-attached. If I had my way, I’d ask the team who worked on the 11 foot model to review the 3 foot model and come up with a plan on how to save the model. I’m very glad the model was found and is authentic. It belongs in a museum. I know what you’re thinking.

I, too, was very concerned when I read of plans to "restore" the model as, like you, I know that "restoration" pretty much means the original will no longer *be* 100% original. It needs repairing but *not* repainting in the restoration sense. Underneath it's still the same, but... I'm one fan who'd prefer to see that original simply repaired and cleaned as best as possible without destroying what's left of the original paint job and then produce an identical model showing how it would have looked when new. Display them side-by-side.

 

[BobO'Link]

I've never researched the Assignment Earth episode and didn't know Garr had an unpleasant experience. I'm really not too surprised as her character/role is little more than that of a comic relief bimbo. She was pretty much talked down to every time she was on screen and appears to be pretty much ignored due to the nature of the script. I've always felt her character could have easily been written out with little lost. It would have been a much more interesting story had the shape shifting cat character been the "secretary" as well as a traveling companion/co-worker. As it was, the cat/woman appeared to be there to imply she was nothing more than a sex toy for Gary Seven as the "reveal" was basically a throw away type shot seemingly to satisfy Roddenberry's "need" for a sexily clad woman to be in an episode.