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TOS - The Man Trap
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Bud Brewster
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PostPosted: Wed Sep 07, 2016 4:58 pm    Post subject: TOS - The Man Trap Reply with quote

________________________________

Where were you when the Salt Monster attacked? Shocked

I remember that horrifying experience like it was yesterday (bearing in mind that at 68 years old, yesterday is already a bit fuzzy . . . but let's not dwell on that, shall we?)

I was sitting in my living room, a fresh-faced lad of 18, and the date was exactly 50 years ago tomorrow — September 8th, 1966. A new science fiction series premiered on that legendary Thursday evening, and I knew less about it than I knew about sex or paying taxes.

It was a Golden Age of blissful ignorance, and I didn't know how well off I was.

But I loved that NBC logo that preceded the series back then, because of my fondness for Saturday Night at the Movies, so I'm sure I started out grinnin' and didn't stop until the pilot episode of this famous series passed into history and the TV transmission headed out into space, boldly going where all TV transmissions had gone before..

It's really weird to think that all the Star Trek episodes are now 50 light years away from Earth, while the rest of us are sitting around arguing over whether the FX should be updated with CGI.

I figure the alien races who have been watching Star Trek when they received our transmissions will soon be getting the new enhanced versions. And when they do they'll say, "Well, hell — they finally fixed those crappy 1960s special effects! Thank you, Earthlings! It's about damn time!"






The network execs made Roddenberry show Man Trap first (instead of the actual pilot episode) for reasons known only to them, but in retrospect they may have stumbled upon a good idea, because this episode did a fine job of showcasing the series' strongest element — the Holy Trinity of Kirk, Spock, and McCoy.

We get to see McCoy act alike a fool in love.






We saw Spock survive an alien attack because he had green blood.





And Kirk placed his life in jeopardy to save everybody else when he took on this nasty bitch!









I loved the way the heroes strutted around ancient ruins on alien landscapes, wearing James Dean T-shirts and armed with ray runs and hi-tech devices while they tried to figure out why their buddies were dying with hickeys all over their faces!

If there's one thing I knew about in 1966 at the horny age of 18, it's how tough it was to explain hickeys to parents who wondered why the back seat of the family car reeked of perfume. Rolling Eyes






The toughest thing about being 18 is the way your hormones hijack your brain and hide the fact that the girl you're going out with isn't the great beauty you imagined her to be.

In other words, my sympathies were with McCoy — despite the painful reality he was facing.






In later years, after two bad marriages, I now fully understand just how dumb a man can be when his wife is playing him for a fool . . . and killing people just to get something that enhances the flavor of french fries and pop corn.





As a proven slave to love, I can state from bitter experience that a lovely gal who looks gorgeous when you marry her seems to be more like this creature years later when you finally flee in terror from the Man Trap she's become!





The great thing about Star Trek is that our heroes could beam up to their beautiful starship and warp out of orbit at the end of their adventure. That's what we all loved about it.





And that's what the aliens out there in space who are watching it for the first time now love about it, too. Very Happy
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Is there no man on Earth who has the wisdom and innocence of a child?
~ The Space Children (1958)


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Gord Green
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PostPosted: Thu Sep 08, 2016 12:47 am    Post subject: Reply with quote

I was just seventeen (Ya know what I mean?) and just started my freshman year at the University. I was at my good friend Allan's house and we stopped and watched the inaugural episode of this brand new show "STAR TREK" . I enjoyed it a lot, but right away saw the homage it made to FORBIDDEN PLANET.

As much as I enjoyed this first episode I didn't get to see much of it after that. My nights were fully scheduled between working a couple nights and fencing team training and study and readings. The whole first three seasons were always on against ALL the other things I had to do.

It was only when STAR TREK came to syndication that I truly became a big fan! By the early 70's I was deeply into the Sci-Fi, Comics world big time, partnering with another fan to open an early comic book store and convention circuit sales of Star Trek photos. We attended what we expected to be a little get-together in NYC and were amazed by the HUGE attendance for a TV program that had been cancelled years before!
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Bud Brewster
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PostPosted: Thu Sep 08, 2016 9:13 am    Post subject: Reply with quote

________________________________

Sort of the same thing happened to me, second-and-third-season wise. I entered the Air Force in 1967, so it was four years before I finally say seasons two and three in syndication, on a 12" B&W TV I'd bought years earlier when I was about 14.

I watched a lot of science fiction on that rugged little Magnavox, and I didn't get a big 25" color set until 1976.






My, how times have changed. Very Happy



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Is there no man on Earth who has the wisdom and innocence of a child?
~ The Space Children (1958)


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Pow
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PostPosted: Fri Sep 09, 2016 10:26 am    Post subject: Reply with quote

I was 13-years old when this new sf tv show called Star Trek first premiered.

Up to then my idea of entertaining sf on television were the Irwin Allen series. Forgive me, after all I was 13.

When ST debuted I was now drawn into sf where character development mattered, where plots had substance, where they attempted to get the science right as much as possible given this was a dramatic show & artistic license was taken at times.

None of those values appeared on any of the Irwin Allen sf shows. Some of the production values on his series were spectacular. However, all his shows were nothing more than "running & jumping shows" according to Allen. Whenever writers attempted to introduce anything of substance into a script they were told by Irwin to "stop quibbling."

ST opened up a whole new level of storytelling to me showing me that sf can be both visually arresting & have depth to it.


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Eadie
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PostPosted: Sat Sep 10, 2016 10:21 am    Post subject: Reply with quote

My English Lit teacher (who is a sci-fi fan) says that it helps to look upon the Irwin Allen shows as middle-ages morality plays for little kids who don't get it, written by another little kid who hasn't a clue.
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Bud Brewster
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PostPosted: Thu Nov 24, 2016 9:37 am    Post subject: Reply with quote

________________________________

While watching this episode during BBC America's Thanksgiving TOS marathon I noticed that Professor Crater's initial scene included dialog that sounded a lot like Dr. Morbius when he first talked to Commander Adams on the radio. Morbius said he didn't need any help and he resented their intrusion.

Unlike Forbidden Planet, of course, Professor Crater's lone female companion wasn't a lovely young daughter, she was a hideous alien creature who was a real sucker for salt! Very Happy

(Sorry, couldn't resist . . . Embarassed)

IMDB has this interesting trivia item related to salt, salt shakers, and McCoy's little hand-held sensing devices.
__________________________________________

Dr. McCoy's handheld "medical scanners" were actually modified salt and pepper shakers, purchased originally for use in "The Man Trap", in which a character was seen using a salt shaker. They were of Scandinavian design, and on screen were not recognizable as salt shakers; so a few generic salt shakers were borrowed from the studio commissary, and the "futuristic" looking shakers became McCoy's medical instruments.
__________________________________________

Ever wonder who the uncredited actor was who wore the "salt creature" suit? Was he a veteran monster-suit wearer or some has-been character actor who needed the work?

Well, no . . .

The person in the suit was — amazingly enough — an attractive actress and stunt woman named Sandra Lee Gimpel! Good lord, she's much more attractive than either of the women the salt creature masqueraded as.



__________



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Is there no man on Earth who has the wisdom and innocence of a child?
~ The Space Children (1958)


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Pow
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PostPosted: Mon Nov 28, 2016 11:32 am    Post subject: Reply with quote

Professor Crater uses the ray gun that was developed for the crew of the Enterprise in the first tv pilot "The Cage."
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orzel-w
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PostPosted: Mon Nov 28, 2016 3:34 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote

Pow wrote:
Professor Crater uses the ray gun that was developed for the crew of the Enterprise in the first tv pilot "The Cage."


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Pow
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PostPosted: Mon Nov 28, 2016 4:50 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote

Thanks for the pix.
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Bud Brewster
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PostPosted: Mon Nov 28, 2016 9:14 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote

________________________________

In some ways I actually like the design better than the ones they used in the series.

They have a more "gun-like" look to them.






And they could be carried in a proper holster, instead of dangling on the guy's hips, looking like they could easily be snatched right off by somebody.
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Is there no man on Earth who has the wisdom and innocence of a child?
~ The Space Children (1958)


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Krel
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PostPosted: Mon Nov 28, 2016 11:10 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote

If you look at the left side of LASER/phaser, you will see a disc between two bars. Those are magnets that held the weapon on the harness or pistol belt.

G.R. didn't want to see certain things in show. He didn't want pockets, zippers, or buttons on clothing, conventional holsters (hence the magnets, then Velcro), humanoid form robots (no Robby or Tobor), rocket engines or an identifiable year that the show takes place in.

This episode is the only TOS episode I remember that had a running phaser battle between characters. Come to think of it, this is the only TOS episode I can remember that had a gunfight with directed energy weapons.

David.
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orzel-w
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PostPosted: Tue Nov 29, 2016 12:09 am    Post subject: Reply with quote

Bud Brewster wrote:
In some ways I actually like the design better than the ones they used in the series.

I liked this design, too. Except for the grip. I thought it went too far overboard for the sake of unconventionality, and the trigger would be too easy to pull accidentally or deflect the weapon's aim.
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PostPosted: Tue Nov 29, 2016 8:52 am    Post subject: Reply with quote

orzel-w wrote:
I liked this design, too. Except for the grip. I thought it went too far overboard for the sake of unconventionality, and the trigger would be too easy to pull accidentally or deflect the weapon's aim.

G.R. rejected the design, because he thought it was too conventional, and plain looking. It did have on feature G.R. specified, he wanted the pistol to be balanced so that it would standup when placed on the grip base. I can not fathom why you would want the prop to do that.

Matt Jefferies designed and built the phasers with his brother, but I wonder who designed the LASERs. The Making of Star Trek said that the LASERs were made by the studio, but didn't say who designed them..

David.
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Pow
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PostPosted: Tue Nov 29, 2016 11:14 am    Post subject: Reply with quote

I prefer the Phaser Pistol design used throughout the series.

It is a terrific looking weapon to this day.

I do wish though that the original pistol from the first pilot & the Man Trap episode had shown up now & then over the course of the series 3-year run.

They could establish it as a weapon that was used by non-Star Fleet Federation members, such as they did with Professor Crater.
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Bud Brewster
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PostPosted: Tue Nov 29, 2016 12:15 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote

________________________________

I guess what I would like the best is something like this drawing I did years ago, inspired by the King Zor Dinosaur gun. Of course, this one is too bulky for the Star Trek style of design. Very Happy








With that in mind, I made some changes, trimming it down. It actually looks a lot better this way! Very Happy





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Is there no man on Earth who has the wisdom and innocence of a child?
~ The Space Children (1958)


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