Keeping with Wincelberg’s playfulness in having hidden meaning behind the character’s names, Roddenberry chose Noel, since we are told Kirk first met her at a Christmas party in the science lab (“Noel” being French for “Christmas”). Breaking with the gimmick, the bad doctor’s name was changed when Bob Justman cautioned Roddenberry that some viewers might snicker at a name that brought to mind some form of backend protection. Asgard became Adams.
As for the removal of Yeoman Rand, the official reason was that the producers wanted to avoid showing Kirk becoming romantically and physically involved with her, thereby allowing the understated sexual tension between the characters to continue.
There were rumors on the set that suggested other reasons. Shatner’s version: “Grace had become noticeably distracted, visibly ill and as a result her performances suffered terribly. By the time we were filming our tenth episode [‘Dagger of the Mind’], Grace’s condition had worsened to the point where her scenes were consciously being given to other characters or completely written out of the episodes.” (156-8)
Whitney countered this, insisting, “Bob Justman, who was present when the decision was made to put Dr. Helen Noel in the place of Janice Rand, has told me that it was a creative decision, based on the needs of the storyline and the characters. It was not a reflection on me.” (183-2)
Justman, somewhat guarded on the subject when interviewed for this book, nonetheless seemed to confirm Whitney’s statement over that of Shatner. He said, “I believe the removal of the character from any of the stories had to do with either the needs of the story -- and that would have come from Gene or John D.F. Black -- or for monetary concerns, which came from me, constantly.” (94-1)
In this instance it was not a monetary issue, but Justman nonetheless had indirectly been the catalyst in getting Rand taken out and Noel instated. While reading one of the many drafts of this heavily rewritten script, he memo’d Roddenberry:
On here, I come to one of my more vehement objections to what I find in this screenplay. My reaction to Page 39 and thereafter is that Kirk is an essentially stupid man for attempting to fool around with a machine that he knows nothing about. (RJ10-2)
It did seem foolish for Kirk to sit in the neural neutralizer chair and instruct a mere Yeoman to work the controls. However, with a trained medical professional at the switches and dials such as Dr. Helen Noel, the Captain’s stupidity wasn’t quite so blatant. It certainly made better sense that Kirk would request a specialist in psychology to accompany him to the penal colony. A Captain’s Yeoman could hardly have provided him with the support, or given the story the conflict that this strong-willed female doctor could.
As for the suggestion Dr. Noel puts into Kirk’s mind -- something left over from the last draft to feature Janice Rand, who secretly loves Kirk -- Justman wrote:
We might have a slight censorship problem from NBC with regard to what fantasies Kirk imagines. (RJ10-2)
Roddenberry left the scene as written with Kirk carrying Noel to his quarters following the ship’s Christmas festivities. Surprisingly, the only note NBC sent: “Avoid the open-mouth kiss.” (BS10-2)
Grace Lee Whitney was not the only cast regular written into this script and then written out. Although it was nothing personal, Justman lost James Doohan a paycheck, too, telling Roddenberry:
On here, we establish Engineer Scott in the Transporter Room. We have a five-out-of-thirteen deal on Jimmy Doohan, and it costs us $850 every time we use him. For what he has to do in this story, we could get by with a bit actor in the Transporter Room, and the other place where he has a line could be given to someone else. (RJ10-2)
An important change to the script came about because of the memo from NBC’s B.S. Department, one which would showcase Spock’s telepathic abilities. In Wincelberg’s earlier drafts, as well as John Black’s script polish, there was little that was special about the interchange between McCoy, Spock, and Van Gelder in sickbay. Leonard Nimoy remembered his first look at the script, finding it to be a “dull, expository scene” in which Van Gelder gets interrogated at length. At one point, Van Gelder is hypnotized in order for McCoy and Spock to gain access to the secrets of his mind -- and it is Spock who does the hypnotizing. The Broadcast Standards Department was adamant that:
In accordance with the precautions to avoid hypnotizing a viewer, the act of hypnotizing must be either out of context or done off-camera. Further, since you are portraying hypnotism as a legitimate medical tool, Van Gelder should be hypnotized by Dr. McCoy rather than Mr. Spock unless Mr. Spock can be established as being qualified in the use of this technique. (BS10-1)
To give Spock the needed qualification, Roddenberry came up with the Vulcan mind-meld -- something that would give Broadcast Standards no reason to fret about unintended effects on home viewers. Once again, an occasion when the difficult alliance between Star Trek and NBC brought about positive changes.
In all, Roddenberry did three substantial rewrites on the script, beginning with his July 22 Yellow Cover Revised 1st Draft, followed by the Final Draft from July31 and the Revised Final Draft from August 5. He also contributed two sets of additional page revisions from August 8 and 9. With all the rewriting, it should come as no surprise that most of the words heard in the filmed episode were from Roddenberry’s typewriter. The sharpness of both the dialogue and the characters are much to his credit.
One misstep, however, came about as a result of Roddenberry’s hope for mankind. In the July 31 Final Draft, we get an explanation for Dr. Adams’ illicit experimentation. In the only line of this explanation that survived, Adams says how he’s been fortunate to have a pair such as Kirk and Van Gelder to experiment on. The lines that were to follow would have added greatly to the episode, if they had been allowed to stay. Kirk, being subjected to the neural neutralizer beam, blurts out, “For... what purpose, Doctor? I cannot understand a man of your... of your ...” He is unable to finish his sentence due to the pain from the neutralizer. Adams answers anyway, saying, “Of my reputation? Unfortunately, I have little else... except now, with this device, power. Power over minds and thus over everything that counts. The final great criterion.... And since I have it, I’ve decided to use it for myself... after all these years of doing things for others. Say I want a very comfortable old age... on my terms... and I am a most selective man.” Kirk, struggling to remain conscious, yells back, “Unnecessary. Just... trust.” Adams says, “Trust mankind to offer me my just reward? You’re an optimist, Captain. In this work I’ve learned too much about men’s minds.”
Roddenberry did not want this to be what lay in our future. He later admitted to this author that his hope for mankind was to overcome petty differences and emotions such as envy, jealousy, and greed. He would implement this idealism in Star Trek: The Next Generation during that series’ first two years, until his health failed him and his replacements looked for ways to add in more conflict.
Roddenberry, of course, knew all about character conflict, as his internal memos repeatedly demonstrate, and he made certain the original Star Trek was filled to the brim with it. But he could not tolerate dialogue such as, “Trust mankind? You’re an optimist, Captain. In this work I’ve learned too much about men’s minds.” Under the gun, with filming of the episode already underway, he chose to strike the lines from his August 9 polish. The motivation behind Dr. Adams’ actions, therefore, is never clearly presented.
Shimon Wincelberg had reason to think Roddenberry was enamored with his talent. After turning in his fourth draft script for “Dagger of the Mind,” he was given a second assignment, and delivered two drafts of a story outline, “The Squaw.” While awaiting verdict on “The Squaw,” Wincelberg was put to work rewriting “The Galileo Seven,” a problematic teleplay started by another writer. Then he saw Roddenberry’s rewrite of “Dagger.”
The bruised writer fired off a letter to Roddenberry, saying:
Even though you have in many places improved the script, you have also [been] carried away
by a healthy creative momentum [and] “improved” a lot of scenes which conceivably could have been left alone, if only to satisfy the poor writer’s vanity.... [The] overall effect, on me, at least, is something of a morale-depressant.... [I] shall resume my labors on “Galileo” with hopefully undiminished enthusiasm as soon as I get my friendly neighborhood quack to Neural Neutralize the image of “Dagger” from my bleeding mind. (SW10)
Roddenberry scribbled across Wincelberg’s letter two words: “F--k him!”
The sentiment was soon returned. A letter arrived from Ed Pearlstein, Desilu’s legal aid. Wincelberg did not want to take credit -- or blame -- for the writing of “Dagger of the Mind.” He had decided, instead, to use his pseudonym -- S. Bar-David.
“In those days, I was very stuffy about that sort of thing,” he later said. “I had plays on Broadway and didn’t want my name associated with lines of dialogue I wouldn’t have written.” (186)
As for the pseudonym, Wincelberg explained that Bar-David, in the Jewish culture, stood for “son of David,” which he was, and the “S” was for “Shimon.” (186)
The decision to use a pseudonym for his screen credit was a slap in the face to Roddenberry, especially since Wincelberg had allowed his real name to go on the screen more than once for Lost in Space.
Mary Black said, “We knew that GR was really upset about the pseudonym being used for the screen credit. I think he actually contacted the Guild and tried to fight it, although I don’t know how he thought he could.” (17a)
Roddenberry later said, “Star Trek gave a writer an opportunity to do something more [than other series at the time did]. Some were up to the challenge; others weren’t. Some were threatened by it and would go back to Lost in Space.” (145)
John D.F. Black said, “I thought his [Wincelberg’s] title was one of the more artful and the concept was absolutely clean. If you think about it, it’s really an intelligent concept and I wasn’t sure it would work as Trek. But it got a little more ‘commercial’ as it went from first to second draft and, finally, [to] filmed episode.” (17-4)
Pre-Production
July 2, August 1-5 and August 8, 1966, and August 9 for ½ day (7 ½ days prep).
James Gregory in NBC publicity photo (Courtesy of Gerald Gurian)
Vincent McEveety, having pleased everyone with his handling of “Balance of Terror,” returned to direct, and make suggestions for the casting.
James Gregory, hired to play Dr. Tristan Adams, was 54. A familiar face from television and film of this era, Gregory had been acting before the camera since 1948. He was a regular on a 1959 series The Lawless Years and appeared often on Bonanza, Gunsmoke and scores of others. He met Roddenberry on The Lieutenant, appearing in two episodes. Still in Gregory’s future: his best known role, as the irascible Inspector Lugar in 49 episodes of Barney Miller.
Morgan Woodward, playing Dr. Simon Van Gelder, was 40. They loved him on TV westerns where he played a variety of dastardly characters, including eight on Bonanza, 12 on Wagon Train and 20 on Gunsmoke, usually working for his friend, director Vincent McEveety. Woodward was a regular on one of the many westerns he appeared in, with a supporting role as Deputy “Shotgun” Gibbs in The Life and Legend of Wyatt Earp from 1958 to 1961.
Marianna Hill in NBC publicity photo (Courtesy of Gerald Gurian)
McEveety said, “Morgan Woodward could play anything. The more demanding the role, the quicker I was to suggest him. He could play out of his head and you still wanted to like him. He got you to care. That’s an actor.” (117-4)
Regarding the role, Woodward said, “When I heard a favorite director friend of mine wanted me, and when I read the script, I really wanted to do the part. I recognized it as a difficult part and, fortunately, my friend the director felt I could do it and I certainly wanted to show him I could do it.” (192-2)
Marianna Hill, cast as Helen Noel, was 25. Hill had been on television since 1960, working prolifically, including a recurring role in Samuel Peeples’ series The Tall Man and, with Leonard Nimoy, in “I, Robot,” an episode of The Outer Limits. Justman knew her from an appearance on Dr. Kildare, one of the series he had worked on as an associate producer.
Production Diary
Filmed on August 9 (1/2 day), 10, 11, 12, 15, 16 & 17, 1966
(Planned as 6 day production; finished 1/2 day behind; total cost: $182,140).
Tuesday, August 9, 1966. CBS was the TV ratings winner the night before with Monday’s three big series -- The Lucy Show, The Andy Griffith Show, and I’ve Got a Secret. The Lovin’ Spoonful had the top radio song -- “Summer in the City,” followed by “Lil’ Red Riding Hood” by Sam the Sham & the Pharaohs. At No. 3, Napoleon XIV with the politically incorrect (before people used expressions like “politically incorrect”) “They’re Coming to Take Me Away, Ha-Haa!” The Beatles’ Yesterday … and Today album was in the middle of a six-week reign at No. 1. Lunar Orbiter 1 was launched by the United States. And Captain Kirk was leading the crew of his Enterprise on its tenth mission.
As with many episodes, filming began on the bridge set, allowing cast and crew to ease into the production. Work started at 1:30 p.m. after the completion of “What Are Little Girls Made Of,” a lunch break and move from Stage 10 to 9. Director McEveety was allowed by the Desilu “timekeeper” to film until 7 p.m.. After wrapping the stage, the union crew had earned an hour of time-and-a-half pay.
Day 2. The majority of Wednesday was spent finishing scenes written for the bridge. Then the company moved to the transporter room. Only a few shots were taken before McEveety was asked to stop -- again at 7 p.m. sharp. Fortunately, he was on schedule.
Day 3, Thursday. Work in the transporter room continued as Simon Van Gelder sneaks aboard the Enterprise in a crate and knocks out the transporter chief with a judo chop. Next, to Spock’s guarded amusement, Helen Noel makes the normally unflappable Kirk flappable with her flirtatious demeanor. Scenes in the corridors were then filmed, followed by a trip to Kirk’s quarters for the soft focus fantasy sequence where the Captain carries Helen to his bed. A move to sickbay came next, with the camera rolling until 6:30 p.m.
Day 4. Unaired shot from scene featuring Morgan Woodward (Courtesy of Gerald Gurian)
Day 4, Friday. The morning hours in sickbay were spent filming Morgan Woodward’s gut-wrenching performance. It took a day and a half to complete. He later said, “Vincent was terrific. He and his brother Bernie -- the McEveety brothers -- they were two of my favorite directors. I felt very comfortable with Vincent. I was hoping that if he thought I was going overboard that he would say, ‘Whoa, whoa, whoa, calm down.’ But he never did. Afterwards, I came home and went to bed for a week. It took me a long time to get over all of that screaming and straining against the restraints. It was the most difficult part I ever did.” (192-3)
After a beaten Morgan Woodward left, the Tantalus main power chamber on Stage 9 was filmed, including a flash of an electrocution courtesy of special effects wizard Jim Rugg. The company moved to Stage 10 at 1:30 p.m. to begin the penal colony sequences including a scene Robert Justman was very much against. In one of his many memos concerning the script and the escalating cost of producing it, he wrote Roddenberry:
I strongly resent the fact that our people have to transport down on the exterior of the planet outside the prison for one-eighth of a page and we’re never outside again and who can afford it? This would also call for a very expensive matte painting. Why can’t they just transport down to the interior of Asgard’s quarters and forget all the other chozzerai that occurs between the exterior and the first meeting with him? (RJ10-2)
Roddenberry liked the idea of showing the uninviting surface of the alien world, which explains why the penal colony is far underground. He knew Stan Robertson would like getting a glimpse of one of Star Trek’s “strange, new worlds” too, so the one-eighth page of “chozzerai” (studio Yiddish slang for “junk, stuff, expensive options”) stayed. As for the expensive matte painting, a compromise was made. Albert Whi
tlock’s stunning painting of the lithium-cracking station on Delta Vega from “Where No Man Has Gone Before” was recycled. A minor change was made, the upper level grid and towering tanks were airbrushed out, making the complex less industrial.
From here, Shatner and Hill stepped into the elevator, beginning Helen Noel’s freefall into Kirk’s arms. It was more chozzerai to Justman – an extra set to be built, another lighting and camera set-up. It was more excitement and sexual tension to Roddenberry. Roddenberry was right.
McEveety had covered a great deal of ground and was still on schedule when he took his last shot at 6:55 p.m.. The director and crew had found a comfortable rhythm, not exceeding 11 hours of filming on any of the days. Of course, even with an 11 hour shooting schedule, once prep time, including early morning makeup calls, wrapping set and stripping off makeup were factored in, many in the cast and crew had been at Desilu for 13 plus hours. And this was an easy day.
Day 5, Monday. On Stage 10, many of the sets used for “What Are Little Girls Made Of?” were modified for the underground Tantalus colony before being struck. The company filmed Dr. Adams’ office and Kirk’s guestroom, as well as Helen Noel’s guestroom and, after Shatner departed for the day, Marianna Hill spent an hour crawling through the air ducts. By the time of her release, production had fallen a half day behind.
Day 7, Tuesday, August 17, began with filming the corridors of Tantalus, ending with sequences in the dreaded treatment room. Most of the day was spent in the latter set, this time with Shatner having to expose his inner torment from the effects of the neural neutralizer, and filming James Gregory’s death scene. McEveety wrapped at 5:25 p.m., a half day behind, at which time the company made a fast move back to Stage 9 for retakes needed to finalize “The Naked Time.”
These Are The Voyages, TOS, Season One Page 46
