Just as we are gettin’ our wonder of reliable journalism ready for press, GRAPEVINE NEWS reports the following unverified rumor, which we consider worth printing as news even though we have no way of proving it true.
It seems that such a public clamor is still buzzing over STAR TREK, what with letters, STAR TREK-CONs, people contacting NBC and Paramount for stills, etc., that optimistic rumblings are being made among many People In Charge of Making Big Decisions, that putting STAR TREK back into production would be neither impossible nor unprofitable. If such a decision were to be made, and should the Enterprise be pulled out of moondust caked dry-dock and again be set adrift in the Galaxy, this would be the first time in the history of network television that it would have happened.
It would not be impossible to acquire the old crew again, as most of their careers have careened onto the reefs of typecasting, and they are all “at liberty.” William Shatner, who avoided the typecasting stigma and has done other acting since, but is not tied up in a series either. Ditto Leonard Nimoy.
However, we at THE MONSTER TIMES do have our reservations about such a move, as we wonder seriously if the show in its fourth incarnation would keep the same high standards of writing, continuity and special effects as the first season, for the first season’s shows (currently being rerun in syndication with the rest are the ones which attract the most fan-atical response. We at MT would support a resurrection of STAR TREK if the producers and the networks would try to regain the shows early high standards. Otherwise, forget it. In another year, all the old STAR TREK crew should have gotten over the typecasting problem, any. way be recognized as competent actors and actresses, and find work elsewhere.”
STAR TREK was a great and wonder-filled show. If it can’t be brought back that way, leave it, and it will remain in our memories, a warm glow of what TV (if it wants to) can accomplish with sincerity and elbow grease in Science Fiction.
Pictured on this page are several authentic STAR TREK props and costumes. One of the most spellbinding aspects of the series was its Well-thought-out gear and expertly handled special effects and optical.
Most of the props and special effects were designed by James Rugg and Matt Jeffries. Special effects are out of the ordinary on the-set effects, as differentiated from “opticals” or darkroom magic. Matt Jeffries designed most of the running tools of the Federation; the phasers, tricorders, communicators, and (as series art director) the entire Starship Enterprise.
Jeffries worked in collaboration with James Rugg to produce one working model of each prop, and simple molded-plastic non-moving hulls of the various props for photographing, out of closeup.
As a matter of fact, the phaser shown here is one of the nonworking kind … sadly. But, as you see, it greatly resembles and appears to the functioning model you see on the show.
We also have pictured here a. bogus prop – a Tricorder, handcrafted from cardboard and graced with a magic-tape strap. Richard Van Treuren, whose nifty hand-sculpted models of Federation starships and shuttlecraft that appear on page 22 of this issue, produced this very lifelike tricorder – which is worn, incidentally, by the more than lifelike winsome Joani Winston. Joani by the way, is one of the country’s most avid STAR TREK fans and modeled in these pictures with graciously rabid enthusiasm, thankfully.
As for the actual costume you see here; the Captain’s shirt – is actually not a shirt at all, but a one-piece wrap-around garment. It’s worn (curiously enough) pretty much like a straight jacket. There’s a strap which comes across the front and joins the two halves of the garments together.
This is officially called (in wardrobe-talk) the Captain’s Fatigue Shirt.
The shirt was created in the second season. Among the episodes the shirt was worn were “Trouble With Tribbles,” “The Apple,” and “Wolf in the Fold.”
The emblems on the shirt are slightly larger than those which were commercially sold … and had to be hand-sewn on the garments, and, being non-washable, had to be taken off the costumes every dry-cleaning.
In the episode “The Enemy Within” you see Kirk walking about with no emblem on his shirt in a couple of scenes (in case you noticed) because someone had forgotten to sew it back on. See the fantastic info you can get in THE MONSTER TIMES, gang?
Mr. Spock’s ears were made by one of the STAR TREK head makeup men, Fred Philips, over a mold of Leonard Nimoy’s ears done in plaster of paris. The ears themselves were made of latex, and looked most organic when fitted over Nimoy’s real ears … joined cleverly on the inside crease.
Also, right here on our page, we present an authentic Tribble – from the comedy episode, “The Trouble with Tribbles” – as a matter of pertinent note, this Tribble is the genuine actual history-making Tribble which Captain Kirk, commander of the Starship Enterprise, and Plenipotentiary Representative of the Galactic Federation charged to establish Diplomatic Relations with New Cultures – actually sat down upon.
This Kirk-Sat-Upon Tribble was the only Tribble which was sat upon in the entire episode. Remember – You Saw It In THE MONSTER TIMES!
The CON-CALENDAR is a special exclusive feature of THE MONSTER TIMES. Across this great land of ours are quaint and curious gatherings of quaintly curious zealots. The gatherings called “conventions,” and the zealots, called “fans,” deserve the attention of fans and non-fans alike, hence this trail-blazing reader-service.
To those readers who’ve never been to one of these hair-brained affairs, we recommend it.
Detractors of such events put them down by saying that they’re just a bunch of cartoonists and science fiction writers and comic book publishers talking, and signing autographs for fans who, like maniacs, spend sums on out-of-date comics, science fiction pulps, and monster movie stills. But that’s just the reason for going. If you want a couple of glossy pictures of Dracula or King Kong, or a 1943 copy of Airboy Comics (God alone knows why) or if you wish to see classic horror and science fiction films, or meet the stars of old time movie serials, or today’s top comic book artist and writers-or if you just want to meet other monster or comics science fiction freaks, like yourself, and learn you’re not alone in the world, OR if you want to meet the affable demented lunatics who bring out THE MONSTER TIMES, go ahead and visit one of those conventions. We dare ya!
FEB. 13 MARCH 10 THE SECOND SUNDAY – PHIL SEULING – 2833 W. 12 – B’KLYN, N.Y. 11224 STATLER-HILTON – 33rd ST & 7th AVE. – NEW YORK CITY $1.00 (10 A.M. to 4 P.M.) COMIC BOOK DEALERS & COLLECTORS – No Special Guests
MARCH 3-5 – FRI., SAT., SUN. CANADA CON – TOM ROBE – V.W.O. – 594 MARKHAM ST. – TORONTO, ONTARIO, CANADA INFO. NOT AVAILABLE – WRITE CONVENTION Infor Not Available Write Con. Comic Books, S.F. – Pulps, Nostalgia-oriented.
MARCH 25-27 FRI., SAT., SUN L.A. CON – JERRY O’HARA – 14722 LEMOLI AVE. – CARDENIA, CALIF. 92249 L.A. HILTON, LOS ANGELES. Infor Not Available Write Con. Comic convention; comic books, strips, Guest speakers, Cartoonists.
MARCH 31, APRIL 1, 2 FRI., SAT., SUN LUNA-CON – DEVRA LANGSAM – 250 CROWN ST. – BKLYN, N.Y. 11225 STATLER-HILTON – 33rd ST & 7th AVE. – NEW YORK CITY Infor Not Available Write Con. New York’s Biggest Annual Sci-Fi Convention – Big-Time Writers Galore!
… is our way of getting the latest hot-off-the-wire info to you; reviews, previews, scoops on horror films in production, newsworthy monster curiosities, bulletins, and other grues-flashes. There are several contributors to our hodge-podge Teletype page… BILL FERET, our man in Show Biz (he’s a professional actor, singer, dancer with the impressive resume list of stage, film and TV credits to his name), makes use of his vast professional experiences and leads to Feret-out items of interest to monster fans, and duly report on them in his flashing Walter-Wind-chill manner.
Hot off, or out of, the pages of the Marvel Comics, will be coming a series of 5-minute radio spots based upon their characters. There might also develop a TV special out of it.
The Blood business is booming, everywhere but at the hospitals and they could stand the blood. Hammer Films just started production on it’s 10th film this year already, and the gore goes on. It was a super smash in London with it’s new release of “TWINS OF EVIL.” One sister is ordinary and the other somewhat vampiric. Rather than doing the old double-exposure split-screen bit, they have (are you ready chums?) the Collinson twins, Mary and Madeleine, hot off the centerfold of Playboy magazine, essaying the duo roles, with Peter Cushing as their wise, old, witch-hunting uncle.
On a double bill with “Twins” is “HANDS OF THE RIPPER,” Ol’ Jack is up to his old tricks again, but this time with an intriguing new twist … he’s reincarnated in the body of his daughter, and carries on stalwartly. Tally Horror! It’s a well-mounted production with truly gruesome murders. It packed ’em in the English movie houses for weeks, But then again, we’re told they serve liquor at the concession stands in English theatres.
Also on the docket are “DR. JEKYLL AND SISTER HYDE.” You guessed it, the benign but batty doctor, played by Ralph Bates, transforms into the beauteous but bad Martine Beswick, Miss Beswick you’ll remember from “One Million, B.C.” and “Thunderball.” | understand that Mr. Bates and Miss Beswick bear quite a remarkable resemblance. But enough of their problems.
Other Hammer releases are “BLOOD FROM THE MUMMY’S TOMB,” (Ya gotta She-Mummy this time), “BLOOD WILL HAVE BLOOD,” and another spectacula … “DRACULA-TODAY” pitting Peter Cushing against Christopher Lee again. “You can’t keep a good count down.” But it’ll be the audience who’ll be down for the count … or rolling in the aisles, not Hammer’s intent!
There’ll be two “suspense yarns” from the nitwit Hammer screenwriters, too; “FEAR IN THE NIGHT,” with Judy Geeson, Joan Collins, and of course, Peter Cushing, that familiar vest plus “STRAIGHT ON TILL MORNING” with Rita Tushingham … she’s an OK actress, but we think the yarn will cause her career to shrink.
At the recent Sitges Terror and Fantastic Film Festival held in Spain, “NECROPHAGUS” (a mutated Ghoul) was awarded first prize. In the running were the Polish “LOKIS’, Britain’s “SATAN’S CLAW,” and the Italian “ANTEFATTO” (a mutated meatball?” “or – Before the Fact – The Ecology of a crime.”
Please note the advertisement for a German liquor … Our German is a little rusty, so he couldn’t be moved much to translate. He got stuck in mid-sentence. Something about it keeping Vampires away. If Dr. Van Helsing had only known about it, he would have given up Schnapps.
Japan just aired a TV Special called “1985” dealing with a future ecological disaster (another one?). It’ll be shown here as well, but if their “1985” is as baneful as Orwell’s “1984 … a disaster just might help.
B.F
ADDENDA: Hey, gang, there’s a new fad in town – going to see spook shows at the witching hour. Several Manhattan theaters are showing horror flicks at midnight on weekends, and doing quite well at it. I went to see Night of the Living Dead at a Greenwich Village house last Saturday, and turned away when I saw a line nearly a block long.
SPACE: THE FINAL FRONTIER! OUR FIVE-YEAR MISSION: TO EXPLORE STRANGE NEW WORLDS, TO SEE OUT NEW LIFE AND NEW CIVILIZATIONS, TO BOLDLY GO WHERE NO MAN HAS GONE BEFORE!
Leonard Nimoy was born, unsurprisingly enough, at a very early age and decided soon after that event that he wanted a career in acting. In his first role, at the age of 8, he played Hansel in Boston’s Elizabeth Peabody Playhouse production of Hansel & Gretel and continued working with the Playhouse off and on over the next twelve years. He later attended Boston College and studied drama before splitting, inevitably, to Hollywood in 1949, where he immediately enrolled in the Pasadena Playhouse.
In 1954, Nimoy married a young actress, Sandra Zober, just prior to being drafted and was sent to Fort McPherson, Georgia where he and his wife spent the next 8 months. While the service interrupted his professional career, he managed to use this lull to good advantage, writing, narrating, and emceeing G.I. shows for the Special Services Department, while working during his off hours with the Atlanta Theater Guild. After his release from the Army, Nimoy and his family hustled back to L.A.
no Hollywood slick, but a wee Dead End
Since Nimoy in no way resembled the kind of Hollywood slick who still dominated American films, his screen career was extremely uneven. In 1952 he landed a title role in Kid Monk Baroni, an obscure B film featuring a group of overaged adolescents called the Billy Goat Gang, an obvious and unsuccessful imitation of the old Dead End Kids. Jack Larson (of Jimmy Olsen fame) appeared as a member of the gang and the film itself emerged as an eccentric attempt to revive the old Dead End schtick at a time when this type of film could no longer go over and when the B film production was already in a severe state of decline. In it, Nimoy played an egocentric boxer who tries to battle his way out of an exaggerated inferiority complex arising from his physical ugliness. And while Nimoy wore extensive make-up for this part, he seemed to have been chosen because he very well might have looked ugly or at least ‘unusual’ to the eye of a hack studio producer. At any rate, Kid Monk Baroni was his only film break during that period and he was forced to earn a living in the traditional starving-actor style-doing counter work, delivering newspapers, selling vacuum cleaners, servicing vending machines, working in a pet shop, and driving a cab. But he continued to study and eventually teach acting before finding a more profitable outlet in television where he appeared on shows like Rawhide, The Virginian, Dr. Kildare, Outer Limits, and Profiles In Courage.
et tu, STAR TREK?
Even after STAR TREK came, conquered, and left, Nimoy’s film career remained spotty. Before Star Trek he appeared chiefly in offbeat films like The Balcony, the screen version of Jean Genet’s play, released in 1963. Created by Joseph Strick and Ben Maddow, The Balcony starred Shelley Winters and Peter Falk as a brothel madam and a police chief, respectively, with Nimoy cast in the small but crucial role of Roger, the revolutionary. Three years later, Nimoy and actor Vic Morrow produced another Genet-based film called Deathwatch, which Morrow also directed.
In it Nimoy and actors Michael Forest and Paul Mazursky (later half of the team of Mazursky-Tucker who created Bob & Carol & Ted & Alice and Alex In Wonderland) as three convicts awaiting execution. A small role in Seven Days In May preceded Deathwatch.
underneath the Vulcanizing
Nimoy admitted to genuinely enjoying his role as Mr. Spock. “Spock is fun to portray,” he told an interviewer, “because, underneath, he really does have emotions. If Spock didn’t have any emotions, he wouldn’t be interesting … When I first started as an actor, my work was overemotional. I considered acting an opportunity to express emotions and I took advantage of every opportunity I got. It took me a long time to discover that restraint could be admirable.”
Not that Leonard can’t cast off that restraint when he wants to. Recently, he toured with the roadshow production of Fiddler on the Roof where in which he played, of all people, Tevye, the all-singing, all-dancing, all-life-lusting. Jewish peddler. You can’t get much further away from Spock than that.
William Shatner is no stranger to serious drama. Having graduated from Canada’s McGill University in 1952 with a B.A., the already theatrically active Shatner joined the famous Stratford, Ontario Shakespeare Festival as an understudy, and eventually graduated to starring roles in “The Merchant of Venice,” “Henry V,” and others of similar prominence. Once in New York, Shatner became one of live television’s busiest actors. His film debut was in an adaptation of “The Brothers Karamazov” with Yul Brynner. He starred on Broadway in “The World of Suzie Wong,” “A Shot in the Dark” with Julie Harris and “L’Idiote.” His film credits include “Judgment at Nuremberg,” “The Explosive Generation,” and “The Intruder.” “STAR TREK” was not his first association with the unusual. Horror and Fantasy buffs remember him as the victim of seemingly endless tortures when he made repeated journeys to the sound stages of “THRILLER” (hosted by Boris Karloff), and “THE TWILIGHT ZONE.” He became so adept at screaming, in fact, that he still retains the dubious title, in some circles of the male Fay Wray!
IT WAS A WARM SUMMER NIGHT in late July when we talked with Bill Shatner. This was to be his fourth night’s performance in the role of Bob Danvers. Wealthy-romantic Chef about town, in the road company of Terence Frisby’s comedy “There’s a Girl in My Soup.” A double treat, Shatner both starred in and directed himself and fellow cast members in the play’s tale of a well-known television cook and his romantic misadventures with a young, rebellious bed hopper, played by Jill Hayworth
After several, helpful misdirections we found the actor some twenty minutes later than the interview was slated to begin. He was attired in blue coveralls, dark sunglasses and a pet Doberman-Pinscher named Morgen who was, via the use of a leash, attached to Shatner’s hand, as much a part of the actor as his socks. Before we adjourned to his dressing room he parked Morgen and once the outer door had been closed we sat down in the small, air-conditioned room facing one another and settled into a fairly sober question and answer period.
BEGINNING THIS AUTUMN, STAR TREK debuts on British television. How do you feel the new English audience will respond to the ‘5-year mission of the U.S.S. Enterprise’?
I suspect that the elements that made STAR TREK interesting to the American public will be equally interesting to the British public. Maybe even more so, because the fascination of STAR TREK is that its premise is science fiction, and science fiction is gripping the imagination and the curiosity of the people of the world. I think the Moon shot was great public relations for STAR TREK.
We were just about to ask if you thought NASA has planned it that way!
Well, it could be useful as introductory publicity in England for STAR TREK. If it wasn’t planned that way, it certainly accidentally helped, as it is provoking for the people of the world. These Moon shots and these quests raise all kinds of questions that we in fiction have attempted to answer, or at least dramatize, so I think they’ll find it interesting.
When you first saw the storyline of STAR TREK what did you think? Did the subject matter of the series interest you immediately, or did you have to think about accepting the role?
I was offered the part in a rather peculiar fashion. They had made a pilot of STAR TREK with an actor who is now deceased, Jeffrey Hunter, and NBC did not like the pilot but they liked the idea. They said change the cast, change the story but give us another pilot for STAR TREK and we’ll pay a certain amount of money. So they showed me the first pilot and said would you like to play the part and here are some of the storylines that we plan to go with; you can see the kind of production we have in mind. Would you care to play it? And I thought it was an interesting gamble for myself as an actor to take, because I’ve always been fascinated by science fiction. I liked the production; I liked the people involved with the production, and so I decided to do it. But it was under these peculiar circumstances of having a first pilot made that I did it.
Do you have any favorite episodes among those of the series? Any you particularly like or dislike?
Well, my favorites were the ones most challenging to me as an actor. Whether they were the favorites of the public or whether they came off the best is immaterial to me. Those that were most challenging to me as an actor were my favorites.
‘STAR TREK’ altered its characterizations from time to time.
Especially the character of Spock. Any reactions on these alterations?
No. It served the purpose of telling a story to do anything with the characters. We tried to keep them as constant as possible, but the first thing was an hour’s entertainment in six days.
Did you notice any differences between the way Gene Roddenberry and Fred Freiberger each produced ‘STAR TREK. episodes?
Yes, of course there’s a difference. Each man is an individual. Gene Roddenberry’s ability as a producer is excellent, but his true ability is that of a writer. He is primarily a writer and so his concepts in the first year, his ideas for stories and his rewrites gave the show the kick-off that it needed. I feel that we did not keep the same level as the years went by, but then no series really ever does.
In the course of a 3-year production run there must have been certain amusing and unforgettable mishaps … especially since it’s been said that most of the cast and crew indulged in practical jokes at times. Do any instances stand out in your mind?
There were always these inside jokes that to tell you now would not be funny,
…”2001 – is a milestone of a film – it ranks with BIRTH OF A NATION”
but for example the cinematographer had been asked by the management to go every day to the rushes, the film shot the day before. Well, we sent him a telegram the following day, supposedly from the union, saying you will not attend the dailies unless specified in the contract, therefore, do not attend-signed the Union. Well, he was torn up. He didn’t know which way to go, and he was rather an interesting, that is the most neutral word I can think of, individual anyway, so he didn’t know whether to follow management or to follow his union. He practically had a nervous breakdown.
We hid Leonard Minoy’s bike over a period of some weeks and finally one day he found it way up in the rafters. He had a chain wrapped around it one time. We cut the chain.
Are you telling us that he didn’t trust his fellow actors?
Well, after five or six times of finding his bike in his dressing room rather than out front of the stage, it gave him pause to think. Finally, we created it and sent it to him back East someplace.
There has been talk of a feature-length ‘STAR TREK’.
No, nothing … forget it-.
Do you think science fiction has progressed from ‘BUCK ROGERS’ & ‘FLASH GORDON’ up to the days of ‘STAR TREK’?
Oh, certainly it has, and perhaps the biggest step forward is that science fiction has come to terms with the human beings involved, and not just the science paraphernalia.
Did you enter a science fiction series as a challenge, or did you have some fears about it perhaps being personally degrading to an actor, as the primary audience may have turned out to be children?
I had talked at great length with Gene Roddenberry about the objectives we hoped to achieve, and one of those objectives was serious drama as well as science fiction. His reputation and ability, which I knew first-hand, was such that I did not think he would do, what was the name of that other series, “LOST IN SPACE.” And I was too expensive an actor, with what special or particular abilities I have, to warrant being put in something that somebody else could walkthrough. So I felt confident that STAR TREK would keep those serious objectives for the most part, and it did.
You’ve expressed an interest in the space program. Now that man has reached the Moon, what do you anticipate for future explorations?
I’m no oracle, believe me.
Everyone is commenting on the streets. You might as well take a stab at it.
…”I believe that we (STAR TREK) did not keep the same level as the years went by – but then no series really ever does.”
And we’re in my dressing room. The obvious things; Mars, of course, which they’re doing right now and further probes. They’ll continue with the Moon because it’s already been budgeted. They seem to be finding a lot of material which will make it economic to ship material to Earth. I think they’ll even probe the Sun when it’s possible.
William Shatner Interview
Have you experienced any embarrassing moments in your private life as a direct result of your role as Captain Kirk?
I find it somewhat embarrassing to be constantly recognized so that there is a continual sense of wanting to duck. On the other hand there have been occasions when I capitalized on being popular, like getting into movie houses without having to wait in line. And there have been occasions when they haven’t recognized me.
Most people have favorites within their own fields. Have you any favorites in yours who you look up to, or wish to work with?
..”We hid Leonard Nimoy’s bike-he found it way up in some rafters …”
Do you think reaching the Moon will have any effect on science fiction?
No, because the flight to the Moon has already been dramatized by Jules Verne, for example. No, the flight to the moon will not have any effect.
Science FACT is catching up with science fiction, or it’s coming to the trailing edge of the science fiction comet, but the comet is far outstripping science fact.
Do you have any comments on ‘2001: A SPACE ODYSSEY’?
I think it’s milestone in filmmaking. I think it’s one of the greatest movies that’s ever been made. It ranks with “BIRTH OF A NATION.”
Would you have liked ‘STAR TREK’ to go on longer?
Yes, I enjoyed doing it. I liked the people. I liked my work.
Would you do another science-fiction production or series?
I’d think three times before I would do it, but if it were good enough, I might.
You are idolized by millions of children throughout the world. How do your own children react to the fact that their father is Captain Kirk of ‘STAR TREK’?
Well, it’s not a big deal for them. The only way they see any difference between me and any other father is going out in public. Sometimes we’re bothered, but on the whole it’s average Joe.
Most of the name actors who are known by their reputations as good actors are more or less the people who deserve that reputation and I’d like to work with them. Some of them I have, and some of them I hope to in the future.
The favorites that I would name would be mostly those that are popular favorites like Burton, and Olivier-of that ilk. These would be the kind of people I’d like to work with.
Many theologians have stated their view that Man is not meant to leave his home planet. An article once written about you mentioned your interesting religious views. Therefore, we’d be very interested in hearing what you think about the subject of traveling in outer space.
Well, I think if Man were meant to fly, he’d have wings.
BUT… (laughter) we’re flying, so maybe whatever powers gave us two legs and two arms also gave us the ability to think, to create.
Then you are in favor of the space program continuing.
I’m in favor of the space program but I’m also in favor of a more logical approach. You know, the American people are great hundred-yard dash artists. We’re great in field and track. We’re not long-distance runners. We’ve never really bred, until this last while, any great long-distance runners. We excel in the short dashes and so America has always excelled in the short dashes. We don’t prepare for war until war is upon us and then within the space of a very short time we leap ahead of everybody, and so it has been with the challenge of the space program because of Russia. But just as we’re developing long-distance runners who can go five thousand meters or win the marathon, so we should develop the ability to plan long range, and budget it that way, and not cut back every four years or every two years sometimes on a budgetary expense. We should plan a long-distance space program which will be of benefit to the people, because the Fall Out programs that result from a space program far and away provide taxation dollars that would pay for the original investment in the space program. So I’m in favor of the space program but a better Fall Out one.
Did your concept of Captain Kirk ever differ from that of Gene Roddenberry or Fred Freiberger?
No, because again as producers change, and directors change, and the writers change the only thing that remained constant with the complete knowledge of what had gone before was myself. So I was the greatest living authority on Captain Kirk.
You’ll write a book about him.
(Laughter) I don’t think there would be many chapters involved.
Did you have free reign over the Captain’s Id?
…”The first thing was an hour’s entertainment in six days …”
The Captain’s Id was formed very much by the writers involved. Every time they could come up with a story, the story might change the character a little bit in some of the background or some of the ways he had of reacting. I had certain basic thoughts that a Captain of a vessel should be the Captain, and he should be ultimately the leader and the guy who decides what course of action to take. That was really important to me that the character’s leadership ability not be jeopardized when he was in command of his senses, Which Was Not Too Often (laughter). Something was always idling his brain, you know, but that was important and so I stressed that, and there were many times when I felt I made a contribution in terms of script. While the script was in progress I’d get a written version that was going to be re-written, and what did I think? And right from the beginning I made it my business to follow the scripts and follow the storylines, and suggest interesting turns of events, or how to approach things. And I was listened to.
Which of James T. Kirk’s characteristics were inserted or elaborated upon by you?
…”Science Fact is coming to the trailing edge of the science fiction comet – but the comet far outstrips science fact…”
It was a communal effort by the writers, producers, directors and actors. If you have delved into any characteristics that you like then we were doing something instinctively that you perceived as a viewer. But, again, the first and foremost purpose of a series is to provide an hour’s entertainment in six days. Very difficult to do, almost verging on the impossible.
Rarely do series achieve it. We’re happy to say that yours is one of the few that did.
To what extent did you identify personally with the character of James T. Kirk?
I never lost sight of the fact that I was acting in fiction, if that’s what you mean. Just because you gentlemen had to stand to attention when you came into the dressing room is no reason to feel that 1… (laughter).
O.K., well put. Relating to the characters of Mckoy & Spock, do you think Kirk was actually a friend of theirs, or merely developed ties with them for reasons of practicality?
The questions sounds like it has a great deal of import (laughter) but … it really doesn’t.
I feel that perhaps a closer examination of the direct relationship between Captain Kirk and Mr. Spock and Dr. McCoy is a rhetorical one because, first of all, the relationship was serving the purpose of creating a fiction. If, in that hour of entertainment that we dramatized, it served the purposes of the fiction to create an animosity then animosity would be created as long is at resulted in friendship at the end of the show. So if you’re looking for a novelistic or literary approach, a constant, it’s not so in series television.
If one of your daughters got to know Captain Kirk, speaking of the Captain as a man physically separate from yourself, but with the characteristics depicted by you on ‘STAR TREK’, how would you react?
I’d say stay away from that lecherous old man. (laughter)
Mr. Shatner, thank you very much.
After thirty minutes had elapsed we gathered our equipment together and prepared our exit. As we walked outside again, Shatner’s delicious co-star Jill Hayworth appeared on the scene.
She explained to her director that she hadn’t eaten all day and was now en route to the cafeteria to remedy that situation. “You look great to me,” said Bill Shatner, with a mischievous grin!
Many of us were too young to have seen the televised star-saunterers of this nostalgic page, luckily enough. As a general rule of thumb, TV science fiction before STAR TREK (in continuing series, at least), was half-past-rancid and a little south of East Forgettable. Hampered by rotten scripts, stale plots, decaying acting talents, and special effects and sets and props which (if there were any at all) made productions like a kindergarten children’s pageant look top-notch boffo in comparison. Still, these early TV spacemen courageously hobbled with bravado across TV screens in the early and mid-1950’s.
These unwitting clowns of the cosmos mostly drifted from public sight as the seasons wore on, replaced by more thrilling science fiction elements on the tube-like Jackie Gleason, The Army-McCarthy Hearings, Jack Paar and Sputnik. Their passing added scant more vacuum to the vacuum tube, and very few sci-fi fans lamented. They were missed, though, by battalions of youngsters who watched and enjoyed these shows, for they were too young to know any better.
For them, and the rest of us, and for Old Times’ Sake, we set our time-scanners on the view-screens of the average American home of the early 1950’s…
JUD HOLDREN as Commando Cody wore a costume that was, well, you might say picturesque. We might say laughable, but that wouldn’t be nice. Old Commando flew about with rocket packs on his back, which he adjusted with the dials on his chest. Close scrutiny of them there dials shows 1 to 10 power gauging on “UP-DOWN” and same scale for “ON-OFF” One can be 70% on? Or 45% off? How an egg timer possibly could measure SLOW-FAST is a technological development we primitives have yet to fathom… Holdren had to open the visor to air out every five minutes. His heroine was Mae Clark, from the Universa!’s 1931 FRANKENSTEIN. She was the girl who also had a grapefruit pushed in her face by Jimmy Cagney. This is interesting, isn’t it?
Tom Corbett-Space Cadet
FRANKIE THOMAS as TOM CORBETT, SPACE CADET is pictured here (he’s the one who’s grinning), resembling unto an astral version of Howdy Doody. If you think Captain Video was low-budget, Hoo Boy! Mr. Thomas stands beside the actual mock-up of The Space Ship in which Corbett allegedly cadeted around space. There was only one – set in the show: “Commissioner’s Office” – all other scenes were shot against a black background and attemptedly superimposed over painted miniature backgrounds. This wasn’t always successful. The show would have often been better called “Tom Corbett, Space-Ghost!”
Superman
George Reeves as Superman found himself horribly typecast, to the detriment of his career. His only job offers were Superman re-options. He ably played Superman in both TV and feature film from 1951 to 1959, bending rubber jail bars, lounging on glass tables in pretense of flying, and fainting periodically in the presence of rocks and cheeses painted green. He was impervious to bullets, cannon shots, and even most of the rotten scripts. Crooks, communist spies, and casting directors shied away from him as the years went by. He committed suicide in 1959.
DON HAYES as VIDEO RANGER made waves with the Bosco set as the (deliberately) comical sidekick to ol’ Cap Video. Rumor has it that to this day Hayes still signs autographs, “Video Ranger” – though he went on to bigger and better roles, like the (deliberately) comical sidekick to Ernest Borgnine in McHALE’S NAVY. Just shows when you’re in space, anywhere you go is up.
AL HODGE as CAPTAIN VIDEO in 1951, 52 & 53 reached a star status which has e never been equaled by any – especially himself. He’s been doing announcing and commercial work ever since. Millions of youngsters watched his exploits amidst cardboard computers, paper mache’ space gear, and flashlight rayguns. A MAD mag spoof on the show is about all that keeps memory of the show alive.
…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.
MT’s associate editor Steve Vertlieb is one of the country’s more prolific and dedicated critics, supporters and authorities on STAR TREK. He has had articles of his opinion about the show printed in various journals. Some of them have stirred heated reaction, as well as retort in print.
Just to get a little controversy going (and to entertain our readers) we’ve decided to let Steve have another go of it in our own pages.
Here Steve tells about the greatness of the show (and manages to give a few good ‘n’ nasty kicks to the rear of some temporarily prominent science fiction “authority”). Steve doesn’t have far to search for people who agree with him that STAR TREK was Great. Issac (Ike) Asimov, veteran SF-bard concurs. Ike likes STAR TREK’ And MT likes Ike! So with no further ado, we all let Steve begin…
In a recent filmed lecture on science fiction’s role in films, Dr. Isaac Asimov expressed the view that STAR TREK was, in his mind at least, the purest representation of true Sci-Fi in the history of television. Quite an endorsement, that, coming from the lips of one of the giants of science fiction literature, and a scientist of no small renown.
Asimov’s sincere enthusiasm is widely shared, to say the least. When there seemed grave doubt that the series would re-emerge from its summer hiatus in the fall of 1967, normally apathetic network executives were literally forced to sit up and take notice of the giant public mail protest; an exercise somewhat alien to their corporate muscle structure. The series did go on for a second and even a third season while countless competitors fell by the wayside.
STAR TREK: Love it or Grieve it!
As in politics, however, opinion was fiercely divided between fans on the subject of STAR TREK and no one was minus an opinion. One either loved the series or hated it. There was no middle ground. Typical of current anti STAR TREK propaganda is a new paperback release by Sam Lundwall from Ace titled “Science Fiction-What It’s All About.” Lundwall, a Swedish television producer, writes of having had the “dubious pleasure” of seeing a fair number of episodes from the series. Then he proceeds to quote this writer from a piece I did on William Shatner last year. The quote follows: STAR TREK was a gourmet’s dream to a land full of starving science fiction fans. Originally a virgin thought in the mind of its creator, Gene Roddenberry, this personification of class took root in the unlikeliest of fields – network television. Indeed, if Shakespeare had been alive today he might very well have written for Star Trek – the thinking man’s Buck Rogers.
Lundwall remarks that “This description is perhaps more significant of the enthusiasm shown by Star Trek’s superfans than for the actual qualities of the series.”
space is no place for cows!
True, sacred cows have no place in a realistic society but it is nonetheless disturbing to find a fine effort like “Star Trek” maligned by responsible fans merely because it achieved more popularity than its detractors thought was merited. It would be far more advisable to look at “Star Trek’s innumerable qualities than to play upon and enlarge its failings. Serious screen translations of science fiction concepts are all too infrequent to permit careless ridiculing of a series that genuinely tried and often succeeded in bringing mature science fiction to millions of faithful televiewers week after week for three years.
“the man trap’ caught imaginations
“Star Trek” began its original run over NBC Thursday night, September 8th, 1966 with “The Man Trap” by George C. Johnson and starring Jeane Bal and Alfred Ryder. The American Public were casually shown the efforts of an alien being to remain alive among humans, concealed by its ability to continually alter its natural appearance. Its survival depended wholly upon the intake of salt or salt products. When it’s supply of salt tablets dwindles it is forced to act as a parasite, feeding upon the biological salts of the human body.
The offering presented us with an animal, desperately trying to preserve its own existence. This, the most basic of instincts in living beings, could also be found, it seemed, in the psyche of a creature bent on our destruction. The traditional unthinking brute of old was sympathetically transformed into a being that wanted nothing more than to survive. Of course, it was killed, but only in self-defense Thus the seed was planted and a new promise was hinted at; that televised science fiction could be something more than a simple stereotype.
“The Enemy Within” is man’s best friend – himself!
Poe Scenarist, Richard Matheson lent his talents to the new series with “The Enemy Within,” a variation of Stevenson’s “Dr. Jekyll & Mr. Hyde,” that brought out the unimagined evil side of the captain’s personality in a startlingly vivid performance by William Shatner.
A fallible captain? A vulnerable hero? Whoever heard of such relevances in series television? Heros were supposed to be never wrong, and occasionally wise. How this?
A transporter malfunction separates Jim Kirk into two separate entities as he beams aboard the Enterprise, one benign and the other malignant. The benign Kirk is a compassionate captain, but lacking in the strength of leadership. The violence and willful determination of his supposedly evil half houses the root of the captain’s sum power. Obviously, without the use of his double’s strength, the captain cannot hope to continue as a leader. He is filled with indecision, and his ability to make crucial command decisions is quickly crumbling.
who needs YOU? – YOU do!
Bewildered and frightened, Dr. Jekyll confesses to Mr Hyde that he needs him. They are merely useless nuts and bolts, impotent apart, but together they contribute to the complex machinery that makes a complete human being.
McCoy comments, in a moment of reflection, that there is a dark, hidden side of all of us. It may not be something to be proud of but without it we would not be what we are.
The two personalities reunite for the betterment of both.
STAR TREK’S philosophies often differed from pre-conceived values and popular American concepts of justice. Nothing was purely black and white, the writers told us. For every effect, there had to be a cause as in “The Conscience Of The King.” Why does an ordinary man become a hated murderer of millions? Is he a mindless primitive or was his crime merely an accident of fate, a terrible coincidence that could just as easily have created a hero as it did a villain? Just as no one is born brave, no one is born a killer. Circumstances breed their own outcome.
a king with a conscience?
Arnold Moss, author of “Conscience of the King,” gives life and depth to a brilliant torment, a haunting guilt that has agonized and hounded all men accused of the most heinous crimes. The name of Kodos has been loathed and whispered about for an eternity. A latter-day Hitler, he decided who would physically survive a sweeping famine that spread throughout his colony. No supplies could be spared for his people. A whole population was starving but the remaining food supply could feed only a fraction. Kodos believed that the survival of the fittest, the elite, was infinitely preferable to allowing all of the people to suffer. He therefore announced the forced extermination of those who remained, to save them their misery.
He believed he could avoid certain chaos and bloodshed by employing this strong safeguard. However, a supply ship suddenly arrives with the needed provisions and proves an otherwise humanitarian gesture the deed of a monster. The thin line between hero and villain is brought strikingly home, and one need look only to My Lai for an effective modern analogy.
a nifty new fad – WAR!
“A Taste Of Armageddon” examined the ultimate obscenity; a “clean,” sterile war fought with computers for the sake of expediency. Like a child’s game, whenever the opposing computer registers a mock hit on the map the citizens of the designated area are led away to absorption centers as “casualties.” Thanks to the wonders of modern science, Man can be killed in a pleasant, painless, uncomplicated manner as never before. After hundreds of years of fighting, by way of mutual agreement between the two planets, the senseless destruction of property has now been made totally unnecessary.
War, no longer a costly waste, has been made more tolerable. Actual bombing has ceased, and “all it took was a little bit of cooperation on the part of the citizenry.” Merely a willingness to commit idealistic suicide! Sickened by the spectacle, Kirk initiates a real attack on the other planet, forcing the inhabitants to regain a frightening appreciation for the value of their own lives by signaling the resumption of a real war.
the right that failed
As stated earlier, Star Trek was not above stressing the human failings of the Enterprise crew. They were refreshingly human and never meant to appear omnipotent. Although their five-year mission was in all respects a peaceful one, there came the inevitable confrontations between hero and villain, and we always knew that the Enterprise stood on the side of right. But did it?
The great starship embarks on an “Errand Of Mercy” when it learns that the Klingon empire is planning an attack on Organia, a peaceful planet of farmers that has done nothing more to merit an invasion than stand in the middle of a natural invasion route to Earth.
Upon beaming down to the planet, Kirk and Spock receive a transmission to the effect that the Enterprise is under an attack from the Klingons, and that they are stranded on the planet. The Organians do their best to hide the visitors when the enemy occupation forces arrive, but Organian attire cannot camouflage the explosive difference between human and Organian temperament. The abnormally meek people seem reluctant to voice even the mildest disapproval of their captors.
the cowards! They won’t let us defend them!
Kirk is furious since it is clear that the meek may inherit the earth but not, it seems, Organia. Rising to the glory of the occasion, he takes the role of a single, but mighty champion and does his best to win the impending battle with the Klingons.
As tempers grow heated and the respective Captains prepare for mortal combat they find their phasers too hot to handle. Even the touch of each other in hand to hand combat is too painful to endure. Stunned in disbelief, the combatants face their hosts.
“What’s going on?” they demand.
The Organians explain that they have simply raised the temperature on all of their weapons to three hundred and fifty degrees, and rendered them inoperative.
“You will have to leave,” they say. “The mere presence of beings like yourselves is acutely painful to us.”
“But you’ve got no right to interfere,” protests Kirk. “They’ve invaded our territory.”
“This is our home, not yours,” they answer. “Neither of you belongs here, so what is it you’re defending? The right to make war and kill millions of innocent people?”
“But you are like us,” cries Kirk.
The Organians answer is to tap their unguessed at power and disappear in a blinding glow of energy. Spock remarks that they have as much in common with us as we would have with an amoeba.
More than slightly humiliated, Kirk recognizes the animal instinct still inherent in his species and learns a valuable lesson; that arrogance has no place in the universe.
Trek’s entry into its second season was a disappointing one. A cheapening effect seemed to have been added, and a general lack of direction appeared suddenly prevalent. The marveled at sensitivity of the first season had been regrettably replaced by physical images rather than mental ones. The accent of the series slanted more and more towards action, brutality and little else. However, as saddening as the decline was, there were yet enough intelligent scripts on the drawing board to make the young series the most imaginative on the air.
On September 22nd, 1967 Star Trek presented its second program of the second season, and what was to be its most fascinating offering that year. The show was “Who Mourns For Adonais” by Gilbert Ralston and Gene L. Coon.
how do ya like THEM Apollos?
The very roots of mythology stretch outward in time to hold the Enterprise tight in their grasp as the Greek god, Apollo, magically appears on a distant planet deep in the galaxy, and demands adoration from the earthlings.
If the stories of the ancient gods were born in thy imagination of superstitious peasants, then such beings never really existed. But what if they did exist, not as gods, but as a race of super-beings who visited the earth long, long ago? To a simple culture, visitors in spaceships were so far beyond their understanding that they would have had to have appeared godlike. They couldn’t have been taken for anything else, in fact. If this race had evolved to a point where their existence was virtually unlimited, then this could well be the Apollo of ancient lore.
bein’ a god is a rough job!
Intriguing, yes, but of more direct importance was the fact that in Apollo’s mind, his lost children had gained the stars only to fall at his feet once again in worship. For all his strength, Apollo was a child with a starving ego, desperately craving affection. And if he didn’t get it, like a rejected child, he could strike out savagely at those who had offended him. In the case of a “god,” such childish “revenge” was a frightening thought. And makes one wonder…
Kirk’s only chance is to shake Apollo’s confidence in himself, wound his vanity. In short, destroy him. When it becomes clear that Apollo finds a young lieutenant, Carolyn Bassett, unnervingly attractive and wants to make her his bride throughout eternity, Kirk realizes that Apollo has chosen the tool of his own destruction. What he hadn’t counted on was the fact that the girl was obligingly falling in love with Apollo. It was doubly painful, then, to order the girl to spurn him.
Forced to obey the will of her superior officer, Carolyn tells her god that her interest in him is purely clinical, as a scientist peering through a microscope at a new specimen. Apollo is at first enraged and then, hurt beyond dreams, his world above the heavens shattered, the heartbroken giant of a simpler age gives up life, and cries out longingly for relief to his departed comrades.
“Zeus, Mercury, Hera, Venus …. You were right. The time is past. There is no room for gods. My old friends, forgive me, take me. Let the book be closed. The final word is written.”
The image fades from view, yet never from memory. The young lieutenant is sobbing. The rest of the landing party stands in awed silence.
“I wish we hadn’t had to do that,” McCoy comments quietly.
“So do I, Bones,” Kirk adds. “I feel like I’ve lost something. Would it hurt us, I wonder … just to gather a few laurel leaves?”
starships run on steam?
The final season was even more disappointing than the second had been and although the valiant series was rapidly running out of steam, most of us still prayed for a last-minute network reprieve and a fourth year of missions on the U.S.S. Enterprise. In January of 1969, NBC announced cancellation of STAR TREK. In summer of that year the network belatedly aired its final offering, “Turnabout Intruder,” one of the finest offerings of the last segments. With the coming of the 1969/1970 season, STAR TREK left the air for the last time, and the Star Ship Enterprise flew off on its course to new and distant galaxies … leaving us far behind and forever gone from sight.
