Aftermath
The amusement planet would be visited again for an episode of Star Trek: the Animated Series. In “Once Upon a Planet,” cartoon drawings allowed for some of Theodore Sturgeon’s original concepts to be realized, such as the mechanical arms that rise up from trap doors.
Entertainment Weekly, in its 1995 special issue devoted to Star Trek, ranked this episode as being the 17th best from the original series, with the comment: “Someone was toking Romulan reefer when this one got made -- but it holds up surprisingly well.”
This author agrees with Robert Justman -- “Shore Leave” rates higher than No. 17. This is among Star Trek’s very best.
One final footnote: In January, 1969, Los Angeles was hit by a torrential storm, flooding Ralph Helfer’s Africa USA. Most of the animals perished and mudslides rendered the location unusable for future filming. The Helfers moved away and the destroyed ranch remained unoccupied until 1987 when actress and animal advocate Tippi Hedren purchased the land to be used as an animal preserve, which she christened “Shambala.”
From the Mailbag
Received the week after the initial airing of “Shore Leave”:
Dear Mr. Roddenberry: Any list of compliments about your show and its stars would run volumes, so, in the interest of brevity, I will simply say Star Trek is the grooviest! And my family never misses it. My girl friends and I are mostly in love with the three stars. [But] what happened to Grace Lee Whitney as Yeoman Rand? We all enjoyed Janice very much and hope that nobody has assigned the Captain a new yeoman…. My girlfriends and myself, firm believers in intelligent life on other planets, have spent so much time thinking about and discussing the various things mentioned in the course of Star Trek that I think we’ve come up with a new school of philosophy -- Futurism, perhaps, but I think “Galacticism” has a nicer ring. Miss Robin Y. (La Habra, California).
To Whom It May Concern, What happened to Yeoman Rand?! (Several)
While far from the truth, the official response went like this:
Grace Lee Whitney left Star Trek in order to be able to accept a greater variety of roles. She has since appeared in episodes of many television shows... Perhaps Yeoman Rand is still on board the Enterprise and happens not to be on duty when adventures happen, or perhaps she decided there was no point to competing with the Enterprise for Kirk’s affections and transferred out. Ruth Berman, for Star Trek.
Memories
Bruce Mars said, “I loved those guys. God, it was so much fun. It was great on the set. DeForest Kelley was extremely nice, asking me how I was and if I had worked in New York, and so on. Nimoy was a little removed, very contained, not outgoing. He was “the guy” – he was Spock. But he was nice when you would talk to him. And he nailed that character; he really had that down.” (113a)
Emily Banks said, “They said something about bringing me back, but then they never did anything about it. So that was that. And I didn’t see it right away, because I normally didn’t look at anything that I did. But then, about 25 years ago [late 1980s], one of my husband’s best friend’s sons called and said, “Emily, you’re on Star Trek! You’re on one of the classics!’ I said, ‘Yeah.’ And he said, ‘No, no, this is one of the classics of the classics!’ And I said, ‘I don’t know what you’re talking about.’ He said, ‘Well, there are considered, like, six classic classics, and you’re on one!’ He was flabbergasted. And I thought, ‘You know, maybe I’d better take a look.’ And then, shortly after that, my godmother and her son came out for Christmas and he brought me the episode [just released on VHS]. And so I had a chance to sit down and look at it. And I thought, ‘This is good! I really like it.’” (9a)
26
Episode 18: THE SQUIRE OF GOTHOS
Written by Paul Schneider
(with Gene L. Coon, uncredited)
Directed by Don McDougall
NBC publicity photo (Courtesy of Gerald Gurian)
From TV Guide, January 7, 1967:
The Enterprise crew become playthings in the hands of Trelane, a powerful being who is using his human visitors as toys.
Kirk, who Trelane sees as a leader among predators, must barter for the release of ship and crew. The price: his own life.
“The Squire of Gothos” presents a study of human behavior, through the eyes of a self-gratifying, narcissistic alien child. The writer later acknowledged that this was a subtle anti-war story, mocking prejudice, aggressiveness, territorialism, and violence by seeing these negative human characteristics mimicked by an immature boy wanting to play soldier.
SOUND BITES
- Trelane: “I cannot tell you how it delights me -- having visitors from the very planet that I’ve made my hobby!... Yes, I’ve been looking in on the doings of your lively little Earth.... There is so much I’d like to learn about you: your feelings about war; killing; conquest -- that sort of thing. You know, you’re one of the few predator species that preys even on itself!” Kirk: “Our missions are peaceful -- not for conquest. And we battle only when we have no choice.” Trelane: “That’s the ‘official’ story, eh?”
- Spock, to Trelane: “I object to you. I object to intellect without reason. I object to power without constructive purpose.” Trelane: “Why, Mr. Spock, you do have a saving grace, after all -- you’re ill-mannered! The human half of you, no doubt?”
ASSESSMENT
“The Squire of Gothos” is fast-paced entertainment, both clever and surprising.
Star Trek often examined the human experience. Usually, this allowed us to see ourselves through the alien eyes of Mr. Spock. Here, we are confronted with the dark and violent past humans have to live down. Trelane sees us as killers, and this intrigues him. In the end, Kirk demonstrates that mankind is capable of greater things than our detractors would believe.
This is the magic of Star Trek. In the turbulent 1960s, Americans, and especially America’s youth, were desperate for a sign that we could survive and, more so, that there was reason for us to do so. Kirk was the spokesman as Star Trek repeatedly made the positive argument in favor of man.
The kids could have fun watching this, too. And they did.
THE STORY BEHIND THE STORY
Script Timeline
Paul Schneider’s story outline, ST #30: August 11, 1966.
Schneider’s 1st Draft teleplay: October 11, 1966.
Schneider’s 2nd Draft teleplay: October 18, 1966.
Staff script polish (Mimeo Department reformatted “Yellow Cover 1st Draft”): October 26, 1966.
Gene Coon’s script polish (Final Draft teleplay): October, 26, 1966.
Additional page revisions by Coon: October 28 & 31 and November 1, 1966.
Writer Paul Schneider, on his follow-up writing assignment to “Balance of Terror,” was nervous about this tale, which he described as “science-fantasy.” Other series he had written for, such as Ben Casey, Mr. Novak, and The Big Valley, used conventional means of storytelling. Not this. And he was also late in delivering.
Schneider had been tardy before, when getting his first assignment to the Star Trek offices -- his epic 32-page story outline for “Balance of Terror.” Mary Black recalled, “He was a little late in delivering. Not very late like Harlan [Ellison], but a little late. I had known what it was like to cover for John [D.F. Black] when he was a little late, so I was very familiar with the quality of the voice a writer uses when he’s making an excuse. And Paul Schneider came with the most outrageous story. He told me to tell John about how he wasn’t going to be able to bring the script in for another day or so. He said he was on his way in with it and then the tire of his car blew, and he was changing the tire, and the tire rolled down the hill, and he had to chase it, and … well, it was really a wonderful story, except, as I said, I was so familiar how John sounded when he was making one up that I knew Paul was making this up. He was a very nice, nice man, but he wasn’t a great liar. When I mentioned it to John, he said, ‘So his dog ate his homework.’ It’s in the nature of writers that they’re not
good liars when it comes to their reasons for being late delivering.” (17a)
John D.F. Black added, “I liked his work. He was a sweet man, and his work was good. But he was always late.” (17)
Things hadn’t changed since “Balance of Terror.” Along with the outline for “Squire of Gothos,” Schneider sent an apologetic letter to Gene Coon, saying:
I think I understand now why I took so long with this story: because I had to work up the nerve to do it the way I felt it had to be done -- which is the wild way. And that it is, all right -- the wildest one I’ve ever attempted.... I feel the story has a “dash” to it which should make for good visuals and some toothsome character stuff. Also room for more than a pinch of comedy -- and a guaranteed-flabbergasting mystery, with a resolution just this side of conceivable.... I think I have something pretty damn good here. (PS18)
Schneider borrowed from a classic for the ending. He later admitted, “The biggest problem was coming up with a climax. How do you end something like that? So [I] used the climax of The Most Dangerous Game.” (154)
The famous short story by Richard Connell involves a big-game hunter who, bored with tracking conventional prey, decides to go after a human. The story was adapted into a successful movie, remade twice, and imitated often.
In a memo to Coon, Robert Justman wrote:
Paul Schneider was right. This story is science-fantasy. I leave it up to you whether you think this is the kind of story we want to do on Star Trek. Personally speaking, I rather like the idea. (RJ18-1)
For Justman, liking a concept and being able to afford to realize it were two very different and highly contrasting matters. He worried:
If we intend to go ahead with this story, we will have to do something with regard to the costs of making it. I have a 12-page outline in my possession and I have dollar signs marked all over most of the pages…. Miniature and special effect opticals; location shooting with formal gardens, fountain, flowery vines, abbeys, towers, ruins, arbors and bowers, topiary hedges, mazes, archways, stately mansions; rich, darkly-furnished rooms, a great sumptuous library-dining room; weirdo costumes and wardrobing; plenty of extras and speaking parts; Enterprise attempting to avoid huge asteroid; materializations of gallows in a room; vanishing rooms and instead finding ourselves in a garden maze; a chase in an Arcadian Forest with stones and branches, gardening covering, all appearing and then disappearing... and then Bob Justman disappearing. (RJ18-1)
Someone else seemed to have disappeared. There was very little Spock in this treatment. Justman wrote:
Our viewing audience seems to like Mister Spock. I feel as though we should give our audience what they like. If they want more of Mister Spock, we should give them more of Mister Spock. (RJ18-1)
Roddenberry shared his thoughts the next day. His note to Coon:
Seems to me we have an interesting story here, one which could convert into an exciting script -- assuming Paul is willing to trim it into production size. He must find excitement and entertainment more in the characterizations and situations, less in opticals, costumes, and expensive sets.... Suggest we get back to the point of the original story premise, i.e., The Most Dangerous Game. “Gothos” is an avid sportsman, has trophies of the hunts in his drawing room -the stuffed examples being a sort of “lizard man,” a hairy Neanderthal type but with huge brain sac, etc. Perhaps some of these can be heads slightly altered from creatures we have done in past shows.... Only slowly do we begin to realize that Gothos has waited, perhaps for centuries, for an Earth ship to pass within his reach. He’s heard of Man, has been fascinated by the schizophrenic bi-sexual homo-sapien creature; wonders if Man is as dangerous as other creatures he has hunted.... Plenty of action and adventure, and if we can avoid the fantasy elements, we also will have good action adventure in the “sf” vein. By all means, let’s sit down with R. Justman and have a “round table” on this one. (GR18-1)
The meeting went well and Schneider was sent straight to script, the First Draft arriving on October 1. Unaware of the two-week-old Grace Lee Whitney termination, Schneider included the character of Janice Rand in his script. She would have been the pretty blonde yeoman who is the subject of attention and mock jealousy between Kirk and Trelane.
Coon was very pleased with Schneider’s script, Justman less so. In his memo to Coon, Justman wrote:
You were right, “The Squire of Gothos” is a damn good first draft. However, I think it needs more work than you do. (RJ18-2)
Justman had a plethora of notes, ranging from things he didn’t like, things that made no sense to him, and things he merely needed clarified in order to carry out his job of realizing the production. He told Coon:
On here, we have the “marbleized forms of Sulu and Kirk” available for this sequence. Naturally, we will have to make a mold of these two people some time beforehand and I don’t feel that they necessarily have to match their positions when they disappeared on board the Enterprise. Also, what does the word “marbleized” signify? Does it mean that Kirk and Sulu look as if they are made out of marble? If so, how do we make the transition from this to real life Kirk and Sulu unfreeze?
The solution: forget the molds, forget using those molds to create statues of Kirk and Sulu that appeared to be made from marble, and forget transitioning from those forms to real life Kirk and Sulu. Instead, just place the actors under a key light with a green gel giving them a deathlike appearance, have them freeze, tell them not even to breathe, then, on cue, flip the colored light off and have the frozen actors come to life. For good measure, add in a sound effect. Money saved; time saved.
Notes came in from other staff members, including Steven Carabatsos and, having been invited to give notes in an unofficial capacity, Dorothy Fontana.
One wrote: “Respectfully submit Spock would go along with the landing party.” (STAFF8-1)
Coon tried it this way with the next draft, and then changed it back. He preferred having Trelane come aboard the Enterprise, angry at Spock for having beamed the landing party up just when he was having so much fun with them. “You will see to his punishment,” Trelane says to Kirk. “On the contrary,” Kirk answers, “I commend his action.” The next line was written as perfectly as William Campbell delivered it, staring coldly at Spock, saying: “But -- I -- don’t -- like -- him.”
One staffer wrote: “I think the German bit with Jaeger is too much.” (STAFF18-1)
The reference was to Trelane clicking his heals and “stomping in cadence,” bellowing, “Und Offizier Jaeger, der deutsche soldat nein? Eins, zwei, drei, vier!!”
Translation: “And Officer Jaeger, you're a German soldier, no? One, two, three, four!”
Coon liked “the German bit” and left it in.
Another staff note: “I think we can do without the reference to Uhura’s color.” (STAFF18-1)
Trelane’s line: “A Nubian prize? Taken no doubt in one of your raids of conquest, eh, Captain?” Shatner, with a subtle sigh, ad-libbed, “No doubt.” Coon liked it. The audience would too.
And another note:
I don’t even like the little bit of Most Dangerous Game Paul got around to putting in. Kirk ought to have some way to really fight back. Also, he oughta clobber the hell out of Trelane -- somehow. And then have Trelane not want to play anymore -- yell for help from Mom and Dad. Let’s have more of Kirk doing things -- being our hero. He talks a great fight, but let’s have him save himself. Please. (STAFF18-1)
Coon allowed Kirk to make a better fight of it, and even break Trelane’s sword in the end, sending the alien child into a tirade.
Schneider delivered his 2nd Draft script one week later. Two days after that, Coon did a quick polish and created the October 21 Yellow Cover First Draft for NBC’s eyes -- the network’s first look at the material.
It had been a very fast process -- the episode was scheduled to begin production in seven days. But as had happened with “Court Martial,” no one thought of keeping NBC in the loop. Coon, upon taking over as producer, ass
umed Roddenberry would still deal with the network directly. Roddenberry, tired of butting heads with the NBC suits, expected Coon to handle it. As a result of the lack of communication, and the wrong assumptions, Roddenberry and Coon collectively dropped the ball with a heavy thump.
NBC Production Manager Stan Robertson was rightfully irked. He wrote Coon:
We understand the “errors” which led to our receiving this script a week before its planned shooting date without ever having received an outline, however, in the future, I would remind you, as we discussed, of the inherent danger apparent in this occurring again. (SR18)
Robertson didn’t like how Trelane was portrayed in a “farcical” manner instead of one that was “serious.” He didn’t think much of The Most Dangerous Game homage, either, saying:
In its present form, I think that the hunt and chase scene between Trelane and Kirk is somewhat overdone and duplicates sequences which, from here, appeared in other Star Trek episodes. (SR18)
Robertson was thinking of Kirk tracking and fighting Gary Mitchell in “Where No Man Has Gone Before” and chasing and fighting Finnegan in “Shore Leave.” Trelane hunting Kirk was certainly a different kettle of fish but, to Robertson’s thinking, still fish.
Knowing this episode would likely be televised within weeks of “The Menagerie” and “Court Martial,” Robertson bemoaned:
Remembering our scheduling problems, I would remind you again that this script contains the third “trial sequence” which has been contained in recently received material. (SR18)
And Robertson was not amused by the story’s end. Of this, he said:
The climax of this story seems to be a little weak and unbelievable.... I doubt very seriously if the audience will either buy or completely understand what we are trying to say here. (SR18)
That punch line that Robertson disliked was the icing on the cake. Kirk discovers Trelane, the all-powerful alien man, is but a mere boy. Starting with Paul Schneider’s idea, and ending with Gene Coon’s final script polish, it was a pure Coonism, with an astonished Kirk watching as Trelane’s mother -- the pulsating light in the sky -- scolds her spoiled child, saying, “If you cannot take proper care of your pets, you cannot have them at all.” And the spoiled child whining, “But I was winning! I was winning!... I never have any fun!” And then the stern voice of his father, scolding, “Stop this nonsense! At once! Or you won’t be able to make any more planets!”
These Are The Voyages, TOS, Season One Page 72
