These Are The Voyages, TOS, Season One

by Cushman, Marc

  A search of the ship reveals no baby. Instead, there is evidence to assume the ship is alive! The glowing speck of matter was an entity, a soul -- trying to be born -- to become -- to exist. It found a host -- the complex circuitry of the ship. There seems to be no way to separate the entity from the ship. To Mr. Spock it is a scientific marvel. To Kirk it is a responsibility -- something to take back to Earth for the experts to examine. To Dr. McCoy it is a nuisance -- something that stands between himself and his patients on Minerva. To Uhura, the ship is frightening. Her switchboard is the baby’s voice. The crying disturbs her. Kirk puts Spock and Scott to work to locate the offending circuits. Spock’s advice: Save the ship at any cost. The complication: There is evidence that the “baby” is growing at an accelerated rate. In the first five minutes the ship had apparently aged one year. It is beginning to explore its body and environment -working doors, the propulsion system. It is developing an awareness of itself.

  And that was only the first of five pages. The big events, and big effects needed to convey those events, were in the pages to come.

  Bob Justman was also intrigued, but had many concerns, and wrote to Gene Coon:

  Here it is, late on a Friday night, and I am about to take my life in my hands and give you some comments on some story material. The story idea of this outline is personally very intriguing to me, but it is also practically straight “Sci-Fi” rather than Star Trek. I think it would make a very interesting half-hour Twilight Zone.... Money-wise, we are in what I would characterize as a bit of a bind. Plenty Optical and Special Effects and other things which I am too tired to remember right now. In fact, that’s all I’m going to say right now.

  Coon was also worried the story was too farfetched for Star Trek and wanted to make substantial changes. George Clayton Johnson did not appreciate Coon’s ideas and later said, “Here I am expecting [Roddenberry] to say, ‘Go ahead,’ and, instead, he’s saying, ‘Here’s my new producer.’ And the new producer is saying, ‘I don’t like the humanness of the little boy at the end of the story; I would like it to be an alien thing -- like he is merely a robot. For me, what you have is a fantasy.’ And I’m saying, ‘Gene, the whole show is a fantasy! Tell me the science that the transporter is based upon.’ He looked baffled. I said, ‘The whole damn thing is made up, Gene. Why are you wanting to change this for no real good reason?’ So, we argued about it.... In the course of all this, I said to Roddenberry, ‘Look, you have a dog in this fight, too. You and I, collectively, made this story that this guy [Gene Coon] is about to change, so you ought to have an opinion here.’ And he said, ‘George, I make it a policy that when I’m hiring somebody else to produce the show that this other person is going to have full authority and I don’t feel it is my place to interfere.’ I thought, ‘What a chicken way to deal with it.’ I was hideously offended by that. I was watching Gene [Roddenberry] backing away from me in terms of any moral responsibility or even, indeed, his personhood as a man. I said, ‘No, Gene, I’m going to buy this back from you. There’s a clause in the contract. Read it. It says, if I send you back every dollar you sent me, that severs the bond between us. It’s in the contract, and I’ll send you your check.’” (93-1)

  Johnson bought his story back. It remains unproduced to this day. And the writer of the first Star Trek to air would trek no more.

  ST #31, “The Squaw,” which took Spock to “Vulcan 801,” a cluster of planets to which he traces his ancestry, was the story Shimon Wincelberg wanted to do after “Dagger of the Mind.” The ship’s scanners pick up ancient space debris from Starship Pioneer XIX, missing for 60 years. Spock, leading a patrol to search the nearest planet for any trace that there may have been survivors, encounters a population of “savage Vulcans.” The landing party is attacked and all but Spock are killed. Because he looks like the attackers, Spock is taken back to their camp. Only one of the Vulcans there speaks English. Her name is “Missie,” and she befriends Spock. Missie is the Squaw.

  Meanwhile, Kirk beams down to search for Spock and finds the dead landing party members, their bodies pierced by arrows. He and his team are then attacked by “non Vulcan cowboys.” They are captured and taken to a western-type town called Fort Antrim. These cowboys are the descendants of the survivors of the Starship Pioneer, and have modeled their culture after a book one of the original survivors brought with him, called “Astounding Western Romances.” It is “a pulp book of the lowest type” and has been used by “the settlers” as a combination encyclopedia, Bible, and history book. We soon discover that the Vulcans who lived on this planet were once gentle un-warlike people, but “The Good Book” told the descendents that the pointed-eared aliens were savages. Decades of hostilities have since contributed to the Vulcans now behaving as such.

  Spock, meanwhile, has been deemed a “half-breed” by his Vulcan captors. They consider killing him, but Missie convinces them that they should cast him out and let the settlers deal with him. This leads to Spock finding Kirk and the Enterprise men, and all making their getaway from this distorted page from America’s old west.

  The story outline made it through two drafts, on July 15 and 28, before Wincelberg was sidetracked into rewriting “The Galileo Seven.” The falling out between him and Roddenberry (over the latter’s rewriting of “Dagger of the Mind”) resulted in the early death of “The Squaw.” Robert Justman, estimating the cost factor of doing such a story, was greatly relieved.

  ST-32, “An Accident of Love,” was assigned to Allan Balter and William Woodfield, a writing team responsible for many episodes of Voyage to the Bottom of the Sea and Lost in Space. The only hearts broken by this Star Trek love story, though, were those of the two writers... when their assignment was abruptly cut off, and, like Jack Guss’s story (ST-19), done so without a trace.

  ST-37, “Dreadnaught,” by Alf Harris, a new writer on the scene, is a phantom among Star Trek stories. It came and went without a trace left in the show’s files.

  There were also unsolicited submissions (treatments Star Trek did not request and, with one exception, did not pay for).

  Philip Jose Farmer, one of those three famed sci-fi authors who weren’t quick to take “no” for an answer, sent in numerous story ideas during Star Trek’s first season. “Mere Shadows” came in on March 22, 1966, nearly six months before the series even premiered. The story has a woman rescued from a wrecked prospecting ship, and then falling in love with Kirk. Heartsick over his lack of interest, she arms herself with a phaser, takes over engineering, and sets the Enterprise hurling through space at speeds never before attempted. This causes the ship to break through “the skin of the universe” and become trapped in a space void.

  Something like this would be tried in 1968 with “Is There in Truth no Beauty?” but, in 1966, the optical effects available could not even begin to satisfy a story of this type.

  “Image of the Beast,” submitted five days later by Farmer, had Kirk and a landing party beaming down into the middle of a vast desert on a barren planet, at the site of the wreck of an immense alien space ship. The Enterprise men search the ghost vessel, and then begin experiencing memory losses and strange hallucinations. We learn that, during one blackout, they had devices implanted into their skulls, allowing communication from the telepathic aliens.

  Once again, costs were prohibitive. And NBC would never go for something this cerebral.

  “The Uncoiler,” from April Fools’ Day 1966, was a third try from Farmer. This time, responding to a distress call from an uninhabited world, the men of the Enterprise encounter a long-bearded old man, clothed in rags, living deep in the jungle. They also find the wreck of his small spaceship, the ruins of an ancient city, and a statue of an idol allegedly worshipped by the long dead alien race. The old man refuses to be rescued unless Kirk agrees to beam the statue of the alien idol back to the Enterprise. Kirk relents.

  Back on the ship, Kirk becomes confused and experiences memory lapses. Then Spock starts forgetting things. The ship’s two top offi
cers are having on-again-off-again amnesia. The cause: aliens called the Zaltots, who have transformed their minds into the statue. This statue had communicated to the old man to call for help and to have it taken aboard the rescue ship so that the Zaltots could then be transported to heavily populated planets in order to live vicariously through others. The Zaltots are referred to as “electronic vampires” and, during the 48-hour period needed for the complete “encoding and transferring” to take over a human’s mind, Kirk and Spock write notes to one another whenever they get an idea and before they forget it. And these notes help them to find a means to exorcise the aliens from their minds.

  The Star Trek people requested, and paid for, a second draft outline, dated April 5. John D.F. Black’s final word on it to Roddenberry, from April 22, 1966, “I agree with you, it just doesn’t make it.”

  “The Rebels Unthawed,” Farmer’s last effort of the year, from May, was considered too much like “Space Seed,” a story in development at that time.

  “Sleeping Beauty” was an outline sent in “on spec” from Robert Bloch after he finished his share of the work on “What Are Little Girls Made Of?” His new story involved a 21st Century “gangster” who puts himself into suspended animation to avoid being prosecuted for crimes. Bloch had it that the gangster is found and revived by the crew of the Enterprise. Gene Coon immediately nixed that idea. The premise, again, was in conflict with “Space Seed,” that other sleeping beauty story in the works.

  Other writers tried to make a sale to Star Trek but came up short with their “pitch sessions.” (Since these pitches never advanced to outline, there is no documentation as to the storylines.)

  Dean Reisner, who wrote an Outer Limits and would go on to write the screenplays for numerous Clint Eastwood movies including Coogan’s Bluff, Play Misty for Me, and Dirty Harry, took his shot on March 15, 1966.

  Theodore Aspen, a New York playwright who worked often for Ben Casey, tried on March 22.

  Preston Wood, who had written for The Wild, Wild West and Bonanza, gave his pitch on April 8.

  Arnold Perl, who wrote for The Naked City and was the Executive Producer for George C. Scott’s 1963 series East Side/West Side, tried April 22.

  Also from April, 1966 (exact dates unknown):

  Albert Reubin, who knew Roddenberry from Have Gun -- Will Travel, for which the former wrote and produced, and would go on to write the screenplay for The Seven-Ups and write and produce for Kojak;

  Chester Krumholz, another Ben Casey writer;

  George Bellak, who wrote for The Trials of O’Brien;

  Earl Hamner Jr., who had written eight scripts for The Twilight Zone, and would go on to create and produce The Waltons and Falcon Crest;

  And Frederik Pohl, a prolific science fiction writer with 15 novels and nearly 100 short stories to his credit, as well as serving for 10 years as the editor of Galaxy magazine.

  William Shatner wanted a writing assignment, too. Roddenberry, speaking with Michael Fessier for an October 1966 article in TV Guide, said of Shatner, “He came in and said, ‘I have a few comments about this script,’ and I thought, ‘Oh no.’” But Shatner surprised Roddenberry, who told the TV Guide writer, “I have never had more intelligent suggestions and we used all of them.” And then Shatner handed Roddenberry a story he had written. Roddenberry said, “He wouldn’t let me take it home to read. He insisted on reading it right there. So I fortified myself with a scotch and prepared to suffer. But the story flowed and was so damn poetic I caught myself wishing I could write that well.” Roddenberry passed the story -- and perhaps the buck -- to Coon who, either not liking the idea or not liking the idea of letting one of his actors also write for the show, said “no.”

  “I’ve submitted three scripts for the series,” Shatner said for an article syndicated to numerous newspapers in October, 1966. None had been assigned an ST number. Shatner, like Kirk, never one to give up easily, added, “I also want very much to direct and I’ve been promised, if the series continues, I can do so.”

  There is no evidence of these three scripts in the Star Trek show files, but one treatment, “The Web of Death,” dated April 29, 1966, and credited to William Shatner, has survived. In the story, the Enterprise comes upon its sister ship, the U.S.S. Momentous, at a dead stop near a planet. There is no life on board, but Kirk and an away team do discover the crew’s uniforms, lying about the ship, even draped over chairs, all empty. All food is gone from the ship, as well, and holes have been pierced in the outer hull. As the Enterprise crew investigates, they find the reason for the holes, the missing food stocks, and the empty uniforms – a giant, ravenous spider in space.

  Of the shift in power from Roddenberry to Coon, the former said, “I had no choice.... The only way I could get people like Gene Coon to come in and produce -- and I needed a producer, more helping hands -- was to become executive producer. I had to get some extra people in any way I could.” (145-3)

  The new system was now in place.

  William Shatner said, “Gene Coon had more to do with the infusion of life into Star Trek than any other single person.... Gene Coon set the tenor of the show. [Roddenberry] was more in the background.” (156-1)

  Not completely so, as the interoffice memos shared here will continue to indicate. But Roddenberry, feeling exhausted, was certainly ready to let Coon lead the charge.

  Robert Justman said, “Gene Coon was a brilliant find. You couldn’t get anyone better.” (94-7)

  David Gerrold, a future Star Trek writer who signed on during Coon’s watch, said, “When Gene L. Coon first came on board, you start getting things like the Prime Directive and a lot of the stuff that was later identified as the noble parts of Star Trek. Gene L. Coon created that noble image that everyone gives Roddenberry the most credit for.” (73-4)

  Shatner said, “Gene Coon created many of the basic conceptional points. The Klingons, the Organian Peace Treaty and the Prime Directive were all conceived by Coon.” (156-8)

  Coon also added more humor to the characters, perhaps an even more important contribution. David Gerrold noted, “[W]hen Gene L. Coon took over, the characters locked into place very tightly and crisply.” (73-4)

  Dorothy Fontana added, “The humor between the characters began to become more and more developed, particularly the Spock and McCoy relationship became a lot more fun. It evolved into what it ultimately became, a basic friendship. Gene Coon led the way on that.” (64-11)

  Shatner said, “Coon’s brand of humor always grew organically from within the characters. Captain Kirk never slipped on a banana peel for a laugh, we never put Spock in drag, instead, Coon felt that Star Trek’s humorous moments could be used to deepen our characters and the relationships between them.” (156-8)

  “The show was pretty straightforward in the beginning,” Dorothy Fontana echoed. “But then we realized that any time we’d give the characters something humorous to play with, the show really sparkled.” (64-2)

  Coon had needed a few weeks to get up to speed. But now, with the next group of episodes, that sparkle -- the magic of Gene Coon -- was about to make itself known.

  25

  Episode 17: SHORE LEAVE

  Written by Theodore Sturgeon

  (with Gene L. Coon and Gene Roddenberry, uncredited)

  Directed by Robert Sparr

  NBC press release issued December 6, 1966:

  While searching for a suitable rest area in which members of the USS Enterprise crew may take much needed furloughs, a landing party discovers an eerie fantasyland, in “Shore Leave” on NBC Television Network’s colorcast of Star Trek on Thursday, Dec. 29.... At first more bemused than frightened by the amusement-park atmosphere of the supposedly uninhabited planet, Captain Kirk (William Shatner) sees no immediate menace to his ship and crew. However, the strange land soon poses a serious threat when Kirk’s scouting party disappears and his ship’s power source is lost.

  In this wonderland, McCoy sees a girl named Alice being followed by a giant, talkin
g rabbit. Sulu, who likes collecting antique weapons, finds a revolver, fully loaded, and is chased by a Samurai warrior wielding a sword. Lt. Rodriguez and Specialist 2/C Angela Martine-Teller are chased by a World War II-era fighter plane on a strafing run. Yeoman Tonia Barrows, who believes in fairy tales and storybook romance, sees and is attacked by Don Juan, prompting McCoy, who believes in chivalry, to come to her defense, then see and be attacked by a knight in armor on a stallion. And Kirk, who fondly remembers the days at Starfleet Academy before he carried so much weight on his shoulders, meets and receives a sock on the jaw from an old upper-classmate and practical jokester named Finnegan, and a different type of smack, this time to the heart, from Ruth, the girl he left behind.

  The hook: Dreams and nightmares sleep side by side, so be careful what you think about while on a world where wishes do come true.

  SOUND BITES

  - Spock, to Kirk, about Kirk: “He’s becoming irritable and quarrelsome, but he refuses to take rest and rehabilitation. Now, he has that right, but...” Kirk, interrupting: “That crewman’s right ends where the safety of the ship begins. That man will go ashore on my orders. What’s his name?” Spock: “James Kirk. Enjoy yourself, Captain.”

  - Yeoman Barrows, to McCoy, as she changes her clothes: “Don’t peek.” McCoy: “My dear girl, I am a doctor. When I peek, it’s in the line of duty.”

  - Spock: “All we know for certain is that they act exactly like the real thing. Just as pleasant... or as deadly.”

  - Spock: “On my planet, to rest is to rest; to cease using energy. To me, it is quite illogical to run up and down on green grass using energy instead of saving it.”