ALL SCI-FI

Pow · Posted: Wed Apr 03, 2024 9:10 pm Post subject:

Early concept for ST: TAS. The original crew would train new teenagers who were Starfleet Academy cadets on board the starship Excalibur.

Mr. Spock would mentor a young Vulcan named Steve. Steve? Dr. McCoy would instruct a young Africa-American named Bob.

Sulu would guide a Chinese male named Stick. Stick? Captain Kirk, Chekov, and Uhuru would also be training cadets.

Gene Roddenberry rejected this premise. "It has to be real Star Trek with the real cast."

Pow · Posted: Thu Apr 04, 2024 6:37 pm Post subject:

Gene Roddenberry had writer D.C. Fontana as story editor on the animated series. She had written for the original show, and had been close to the production, starting off as GR's secretary prior to scripting episodes. GR knew that she would be an excellent choice for the series. She would be the primary guardian of the series, adhering to GR's vision for Star Trek.

Fontana leveraged her professional relationships in order to enlist notable science fiction writers to write scripts for the show. Not an easy task given that the pay was only $1,300 for writing an episode. She got David Gerrold ("The Trouble with Tribbles") to script a sequel "More Tribbles, More Tribbles, as well as "Jihad," and "BEM." She convinced sf author Larry Niven to adapt his short story "The Soft Weapon" to the episode "The Slaver Weapon."

James Doohan would provide over 40 other voices for the series, in addition to his voiceover work for Scotty on the series.

Pow · Posted: Mon Sep 09, 2024 12:19 am Post subject:

In celebration of ST's anniversary, Paramount is posting for free the September 8, 1973 ST: TAS debut episode "Beyond The Farthest Star." I believe they are posting the debut episodes from all the Trek series too.

Pow · Posted: Sun Sep 15, 2024 11:13 am Post subject:

This episode was originally pitched by David Gerrold for the third season of ST: TOS. It was scrapped by producer Fred Freiberger because he wasn't a fan of the "The Trouble With Tribbles."

D.C. Fontana & David Gerrold were both appearing together at a 1973 Star Trek convention when DG offered to write an episode for the animated series. DCF, who was executive producer for the animated show, said that she was interested in a sequel to the live action series tribble episode.

Bud Brewster · Posted: Mon Sep 16, 2024 5:07 pm Post subject:

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Ah, yes, as the old Klingon proverb says, "Revenge is a dish best severed cold . . . and right up your nose, Fred!"

Pow · Posted: Thu Sep 19, 2024 9:22 pm Post subject:

More "The Slaver Weapon" trivia, Wikipedia.

D.C. Fontana approached well-known SF author Larry Niven about writing an episode for the animated show.

LN won the Hugo Award, Nebula Award, and Locus Award for his classic novel Ringworld.

His first teleplay for ST: TAS was titled "Outsiders." A group uses a quantum black hole to disable passing starships engine systems in order to pirate them. DCF found the story too bloody.

It was Gene Roddenberry who suggested to LN during LN's visit to GR's home that The Soft Weapon would make a great adaptation for an animated Trek episode.