…Writing Star Trek for Fun and Profit; or YOU try thinking like a know-it-all alien with green blood and pointed ears and see what it does to YOUR head.
by Len Wein
LEN WEIN is one of the most prolific young writers in comic books, and there are comix fans who say the skim comic books looking for stories with his byline, as they are certain to be worth the time spent reading.
Buying, that’s another thing, but reading there at the stand with the newsie glowering at them, they’ll risk it.
Among the many comics Len writes is STAR TREK, which makes him a natural to write about them. Len Wein swears the book “The Making of STAR TREK” by Stephen Whitfield and Gene Roddenberry was and is an invaluable source for anyone who wants to write STAR TREK comics (tho there aren’t too many folk doing that besides Len, these days). But just in case one of you lucky readers out there should someday get the chance to do so, Len has submitted the following “How-to” article in the form of a very personalized book review, which he entitles …
What do you say about a television series that ran for three seasons and died?
If you’re one of the great American Middle Class, you don’t say much of anything. You simply flip to MY THREE SONS and open another beer.
But if you’re part of a select group of fanatics that sat glued to the screen for sixty minutes every week just to watch a certain emotionless alien discuss the “logic” of star flight, you write letter, make threatening phone calls, organize boycotts and, finally, give up. The vision has fled. Only the memories remain.
But if you’re me, Brother – if you happen to be ME – the dream is just a’borning.
Hey Gang! Meet ME! –
I’m a writer, a weaver of words, and the telephone is no stranger to me. It’s more like my lifeline, my link to the outside world. When it rang that cold March morning, I expected no more than usual; another used clothing drive or another irate editor wondering whether I’d died. What I got when I picked up the receiver was a Hell of a lot more.
The voice on the other end of the line was Wallace I. Green, a friend and editor of the GOLD KEY comics line. We exchanged pleasantries and then he got to the point of his call. “How’d you like to write STAR TREK,” he said.
pardon me while I come to …
For a minute, I paused and put my head together.
I’d been one of those fanatics who camped in front of the boob tube every week and I’d been as dejected as the rest when the show went off the air. I also knew that Wally’s company published a comic book version of the series. It was a book I perused now and then, marveling at the flaws in both visuals and writing.
Now I’d been offered a chance to get things straight, a chance to be the only person around relating the adventures of the Enterprise crew to an expectant world. I brought my eyes into focus and mumbled my acceptance into the receiver.
“Great,” said Wally, “I’ll see you tomorrow. Have a few plot ideas ready.”
I hung up the receiver and fell back into the nearest chair. “Hot damn,” I thought smugly to myself, “I’m writing STAR TREK.”
how to write STAR TREK
My mind was a tangle of plot threads and character bits as I sauntered into Wally’s office the next afternoon. My self-satisfied smile was almost unbearable. I was going to show them how STAR TREK should really be written. Yeah. Sure I was.
There were obstacles to be overcome almost before I could start. First off, I would be working with a talented artist named Alberto Giolitti, whose greatest problem in illustrating the book was the fact he lived in Rome, Italy and had never even seen the series. His only reference came from a collection of publicity stills that had been sent to him at the book’s inception and it was a meager collection indeed.
how NOT to draw STAR TREK
There wasn’t a single photo of Mr. Scott in the pile and Alberto, going purely on instinct, persisted in drawing a completely different Scotty in each succeeding issue of the book, without a single version looking the least like James Doohan.
On top of this, Alberto had been drawing the Enterprisers with knapsacks on their backs and canteen belts around their waists, a natural enough assumption for someone who knew nothing of the miraculous transporter beam.
Finally, Alberto had drawn innumerable scenes of the great starship streakship streaking over the surface of various worlds, just barely skimming the rooftops. A truly remarkable feat for a vessel incapable of entering any planet’s atmosphere.
A long detailed letter to Alberto explained most of these discrepancies to him and he took immediate steps to correct them, thanking me for taking the time to set him straight. Thus, one problem solved, I set about the hardest task of all – actually writing the script.
how to watch STAR TREK
It isn’t very easy working with a cast of characters whose every impulse and character trait were duly noted and recorded by countless devotees of the series. One improper action, one incorrect turn of phrase, and a multitude of angry letters would come pouring down on my head.
I spent the next week watching the syndicated STAR TREK reruns diligently, noting everything I could about the way the characters acted and reacted to various situations. Then, and only then, did I feel courageous enough to put paper into my typewriter and start the actual script.
nervy Vulcans VERBOTEN!
The comic book media being what it is, there were certain judgments that had to be made before I got into the story. Little touches, like Spock’s Vulcan nerve pinch, which came across so well on the screen just wouldn’t be visual enough for comics. Changes had to occur.
I replaced the Vulcan nerve pinch with advance Karate techniques, a more action-orientated method of combat. I broadened Scotty’s brogue so it would come across on the printed page. And I accented each of the other character’s personal characteristics.
My desk was piled high with reference material for the series. The world of STAR TREK was a complex place. Certain precepts had been set down and to be true to the series, I had to follow them.
an invaluable book – reviewed
The Making of STAR TREK by Stephen E. Whitfield has been more of a help than I can say. Mr. Whitfield’s conscientious accounting of the origins and development of the series helped me structure my own attitudes towards the series. The pages upon pages of photos and set/equipment/costume design have answered most of my questions almost as soon as they were asked. In fact, it was a copy of this very book that I sent Alberto Giolitti to work from to be as accurate as possible in his visual depictation of my scripts.
Right. My scripts. It’s about time I got around to discussing them.
how “Making of S.T.” affected my work; made me rich
At the beginning, Wally and I decided that we would change the basic thrust of the stories from issue to issue, doing straight science-fiction in one issue and switching to pure fantasy in the next. To date, I’ve written eight issues of the STAR TREK comic with my ninth coming up in just a few weeks. For you completists out there, I’ll give a brief run-down of what has transpired since I first took over the strip.
the complete Len Wein STAR TREK comix checklist
“THE LEGACY OF LAZARUS” deals with a planet seemingly populated by every famous personage out of Earth’s ancient past, all of them actually androids controlled by Alexander Lazarus, a mad earth historian, who finally meets his end with accidental destruction of the planet, the culmination of a battle for Spock’s brain-patterns.
In “THE SCEPTRE OF THE SUN” Captain Kirk and his companions are captured by the dark wizard, Chang, a refugee from earth’s dread Eugenics Wars who holds the Enterprise captive while he sends the STAR TREK crew on a bizarre quest for a weapon that will make him master of the universe.
The bottled emotion of Vulcan elders that are freed by an alien attack aboard the Enterprise are “THE BRAIN-SHOCKERS”. It is these escaped emotions that turn Spock into a coward and become the unknown factor in the Enterprisers’ battle against the immortal Malox, a being who thrives on excitement.
23rd Century pirates who steal the Federation of Planets’ lithium crystal supply are the catalytic characters of “THE FLIGHT OF THE BUCCANEER” which sees Kirk and his companions going undercover to regain the desperately important treasure.
A bizarre, black-robed figure who calls himself the “DARK TRAVELER” is the next mystery to confront the STAR TREK crew.
This strange being commandeers the Enterprise to take him to his far-distant homeworld, a planet that has fallen under the ruthless domination of the traveler’s own brother.
A savage blow to the head is responsible for changing Captain James T. Kirk into a raging tyrant, thus setting off “THE ENTERPRISE MUTINY”, which puts a reluctant Mr. Spock into the role of rebellion leader. It’s all part of the Vulcan Science Officer’s plan to expose a Klingon scheme that threatens to erupt into Intergalactic war.
There is confrontation between the Enterprise and the Klingons once again when they all find themselves prisoners in “THE MUSEUM AT THE END OF TIME”, a sanctuary of lost ships and starmen that hurtles headlong through the infinite depths of Limbo towards ultimate destruction. It is a doom that can only be averted by concentrated teamwork from the two opposing factions.
In “THE DAY OF THE INQUISITORS”, a shuttlecraft crashlanding strands Kirk and his cronies on a planet whose social structure is based on Europe during the time of the Great Inquisition. When Mr. Spock and several others are captured in an attempt to regain lost radio equipment, the Vulcan must endure terrible torture rather than destroy his companions’ only hope of rescue.
the Faking of STAR TREK characters
That’s pretty much the way things have gone so far. There have been other stories I’ve wanted to do but I’ve discovered that, as broad as my spectrum of stories may be, there are still certain items that are verboten to me. I cannot, for example, utilize any character who was not a regular member of the STAR TREK cast. This in itself has necessitated some changes.
unforgettable characters I’ve never met:
“THE SCEPTRE OF THE SUN”, when originally conceived, had been intended to continue the story of Khan (who some of you out there might remember from the television episode, “Space Seed”) but, under this edict, I was forced to make some basic plot changes, turning Khan into the evil Chang and altering the character’s primary motivation.
Another non-regular I was forced to abandon was Harry Mudd (“Mudd’s Women”, “I, Mudd”), the calculating conman I really enjoyed in his two appearances on the TV series. The story I had planned involving him had to be scrapped in favor of “THE FLIGHT OF THE BUCCANEER”, a yarn I liked but felt was slightly inferior to the product I might have produced around treacherous old Harry.
the RE-making of STAR TREK
I also had to correct a few misconceptions of the comic that were fostered by my predecessor on the book, the Late Dick Wood.
Dick, obviously not a devotee of the television series, continued to make technical mistakes by the score. Constant references were made to the starship’s rocket engines, to the teleportation chambers that transported them to the surface of planets and to the laser pistols they used for self-defense.
I, of course, reinstated the impulse and matter/anti-matter units, the transporter room and the phaser weapons even and I rid our heroes of those damnable knapsacks and canteens. It may only seem like a minor victory to some but if you knew the trouble I had to go through to instigate those changes, you’d agree that I’d practically won a war.
SHA-BOOM!!
Now my war is over. Everything about the book is as close as possible, thanks to the excellent source material in the book “The Making of Star Trek,” to my personal idea of what a STAR TREK comic should be. Only one question worries me now…
Where do I go from here?
Surely somewhere out in the infinite cosmos, there is a NEW world to be studied, a new menace to be fought. But what that world might be right now, I haven’t the faintest idea.
I’m not really worried, though. At least, that’s what I keep telling myself. Something always comes up. Somewhere in the back of my head, there are new realms to be conquered and tamed and when I sit down at that typewriter, one of them will come raging to the fore as they have so many times in the past.
Credible Credo:
Space: the final frontier. Our five-year mission: to explore strange new worlds, to seek out new life and new civilizations, to boldly go where no man has gone before.
That’s what the man said. And believe me, brother, wherever the Enterprise may go in this star-dappled universe of ours, I’ll be there first, to report.
After all, I wouldn’t want you (or me) to miss any of the details.