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Shore Leave - episode #17

 
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Bogmeister
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PostPosted: Mon Jun 10, 2019 10:14 am    Post subject: Shore Leave - episode #17 Reply with quote

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____________ Star Trek TOS Shore Leave Trailer


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This episode probably doesn't rate as high with other fans because it lacks the deep meaning or undertone of those really great ones. But even in this respect there is some subtext here — that we humans need to work off our tensions in a certain way or we don't function normally.

Also, as with the best stories, there are actual explanations provided in the end for why all the weird stuff is happening, as opposed to some cop out where things are kept mysterious and the audience has to play guessing games with itself.

The premise here was re-used in later films such as Westworld and the bland TV series Fantasy Island.

BoG's Score: 9.5 out of 10




Extra Trek Trivia: Finnegan, Kirk's nemesis from his cadet days, is played with gusto by Bruce Mars; he also played a small role as a cop in the episode Assignment:Earth.

The female officer here, Angela (Barbara Baldavin), looks like the same lady who was widowed in Balance of Terror.

McCoy has fond memories of a cabaret on Rigel II and . . . a couple of women there.

Theodore Sturgeon scripted this one, and he also wrote the episode Amok Time and the famous story Killdozer.




BoG
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Pow
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PostPosted: Mon Jun 10, 2019 2:04 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote

A thoroughly enjoyable episode with some refreshing location work instead of the confines of a sound stage.

"Finagle's Planet'' was going to be the name of this episode at one point.

Theodore Sturgeon really wanted to have a scene showing the subterranean industrial complex where the thoughts of the Enterprise crew were transformed into reality.
However, the budget would not allow for such a scene.

Scenic Africa USA, a wildlife preserve 40~miles north of L.A. was the key location for this episode.

Additional scenes were shot at the famous Vasquez Rocks that shows up often in film and television productions.

This is the only episode where we see the Enterprise orbiting a planet from right to left.

Although, in "Mirror, Mirror" we see the evil empire Enterprise do the same thing.

Gene Coon and others on the show felt that director Robert Sparr did a fantastic job on SL. Apparently there were some issues between RS and some of the actors on the episode and Sparr would never return to direct another episode of Star Trek.

Robert Sparr died in a small plane crash 3 years later while scouting locations for the TV show "Then Came Bronson.''
The pilot also died, but Star Trek cinematographer Jerry Finnerman who was also on board would survive with severe injuries.

The shore leave planet would be seen again on Star Trek: The Animated Series in the entertaining episode "Once Upon A Planet''

In January of 1969 L.A. was struck by a terrible storm. Ralph Helfer's Africa USA was severely flooded with many of the animals dying. Mudslides were so damaging as to make the location impossible to film in anymore.

Ralph and his wife moved away, and the location remained abandoned until 1987 when actress Tippi Hedron bought the land as an animal preserve named "Shambala."
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Eadie
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PostPosted: Mon Jun 10, 2019 3:07 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote

Wasn't the trainer and handler of the tiger in Forbidden Planet?
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Robert (Butch) Day
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PostPosted: Tue Jun 11, 2019 5:51 am    Post subject: Reply with quote

From IMDb:

Ralph Helfer was the animal supervisor: Nature's Haven Wild Animal Rental Co; and Mel Koontz was Khan's animal trainer; both were uncredited.

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Bud Brewster
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PostPosted: Thu Jul 08, 2021 3:41 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote

________________________________

IMDB has several interesting trivia items for this production. Very Happy
________________________________

~ The episode was being rewritten as it was being shot. Cast members recalled Gene Roddenberry sitting under a tree, frantically reworking the script to keep it both under budget and within the realms of believability. As a result the filming went over schedule and took seven days instead of the usual six.

Note from me: Funny mental image; Roddenberry (the Great Bird of the Galaxy) sat under a tree like the White Rabbit and muttered, "I'm late! I'm late! For a very important date — because the episode is behind schedule!" Shocked

~ A chained tiger is brought in to appear in the episode, and never directly interacts with any of the performers. William Shatner had originally hoped to wrestle it, but was convinced it would not be a wise decision.

Note from me: Shatner wanted to wrestle with a tiger? Is this guy nuts! Shocked

~ This is the only episode in which the U.S.S. Enterprise is seen orbiting a planet from right to left. The shot was deliberately reversed in post-production because the shape of the Eastern United States and the Caribbean sea could clearly be seen on the globe used as a model for the planet.

Note from me: I'm sure this is one of those things that was corrected in the often-maligned "enhanced" special effects. Very Happy

~ Theodore Sturgeon, commented about the installment, "That was a gas because anything could happen. Any wild idea you could possibly have could be stuck into that script. Everybody had a good time with that one." Sturgeon submitted a story outline for a sequel to this episode, "Shore Leave II", in April 1968 but it was not produced.

Note from me: I love several of Sturgeon's literary works, and I'm sure he had fun writing the script for this episode.

This next item indicates a difference of opinion between Sturgeon and Roddenberry.

~ Gene Roddenberry deemed that Theodore Sturgeon's original script contained too much fantasy and lacked credibility. Gene L. Coon was assigned to re-write it. However Coon misinterpreted the task and his draft turned out to be even more of a pure fantasy. Roddenberry then began to heavily re-write the script, but since the production team had run out of time, Roddenberry had to do so while the episode was being filmed

Note from me: I'm not sure why Roddenberry thought a planet that could grant the wishes of its alien guests could contain "too much fantasy, and lacked credibility". Confused

~ The preview of this episode shows Yeoman Barrows being accosted by Don Juan while wearing her princess costume. This scene was not used in the final cut.

_________ [size=24]Star Trek TOS Shore Leave Trailer



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Note from me: I think this item is wrong. I seem to remember the scene of Don Juan grabbing the fair damsel's hand.

~ According to Herbert F. Solow and Robert H. Justman's book Inside Star Trek: The Real Story, director Robert Sparr did an excellent job on this episode, and successfully managed to direct it simultaneously with the shooting script being written.

However, the cast disliked working with him, which resulted in this episode being his only Trek assignment. According to Justman, the challenging task of directing the complicated episode literally hours after the script arrived, made Sparr not concentrate enough on the actors, hurting their egos.

Justman tried to bring Sparr back to the series in the second season, but it didn't come to fruition.


Note from me: Apparently, actors are often touchy little crybabies.

How often have we heard about fine directors who — after working their asses off to produce good episodes — were snubbed by the snotty actors and the petty egotists who ran the studio. Apparently being a mature adult is not a requirement for the folks who work in Hollywood. Rolling Eyes

~ The first hallucination seen in the episode is Dr. McCoy's vision of the giant white rabbit. Six years later, DeForest Kelley would make his final non-"Star Trek" film, Night of the Lepus (1972), a movie about giant killer rabbits.

Note from me: Please don't ask me why, but a few years ago I bought the DVD of Night of the Lepus. It was a clear case of "on-line impulse buying". Sad

~ At the end of the previous episode Star Trek: The Original Series: Balance of Terror (1966), Yeoman Angela was grieving in the chapel because her fiancée had just been killed in the fight with the Romulans.

Here, she is seen in the arms of Lt. Rodriguez, apparently having overcome her grief. (Note, if stardates are to be trusted —which is rare in TOS — then the events of Shore Leave happen more than 3.5 years later.)


Note from me: Hey, when loved ones pass away, the survivors need to move on . . . right? Confused[/size]
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scotpens
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PostPosted: Thu Jul 08, 2021 5:05 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote

This was the first of several episodes in which a main character is killed and then double-talked back to life. Dr. McCoy is dead – oh, wait, he’s not really dead! The same cheap device was used with Scotty (“The Changeling”) and Chekov (“Spectre of the Gun”). Hell, it happened to Kirk three times: in “Amok Time,” “The Enterprise Incident” and “The Tholian Web.”

Personal note: Shirley Bonne, who played Kirk’s old flame Ruth (well, actually an android replica of her), was my den mother way back in my Cub Scout days. I was vaguely aware that she was an actress, but we kids called her by her married name of Mrs. Freemond.




I always wondered if she could pick up subspace radio messages with those earrings.
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Pow
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PostPosted: Thu Jul 08, 2021 6:33 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote

Nitpicker's Guide Strikes Again!

While on the planet, Sulu says to Captain Kirk that someone is beaming down from the bridge.

Crew members beam down from the ship from the transporter pad but not the bridge.

Sidebar: The producers on ST: TNG originally conceived of having a transporter pad as part of the bridge on that series. Gene Roddenberry nixed the idea because he liked being able to have crewmen perform dialogue going to & coming from the transporter room.

No one mentions sending a shuttlecraft to the stranded crew on the planet.

Item: And wouldn't you know it; the very next episode to follow SL is "The Galileo Seven"?

What happened to Ensign Angela Martine? At the end of this episode when the planet's Caretaker arrives we see everyone gathered in the glade but Martine.

All the dialogue speaks of a single airplane. However, for several brief seconds the sky suddenly shows two.

My 2 cents. Wouldn't it have been wiser and professional for Kirk to have Mr. Spock accompany him when he goes after Finnegan? Spock is stronger than humans, so he'd be able to easily subdue Finnegan.

Kirk going after Finnegan alone was foolish and reckless. Hardly a role model for his crew that he's quick to chastise for some of their actions on the planet

Spock could also use his Vulcan Mind Meld on Finnegan. True, Finnegan is not real, he's some kind of android. A mind meld could at least allow Spock to find that much out.

Who knows, perhaps the Finnegan construct would also have his memory banks tied into the master computer on the planet that creates all these simulations? Such information could give Spock even more to go on.

I always found the silver cadet tunic that Finnegan wears pretty gaudy. It must be accurate since it is Kirk's memory from his years at Starfleet Academy.

Dr. McCoy's decision to stand still ("These things cannot be real.") as the armed black knight goes after him holding a lance seemed dumb on the doctor's part.

Wonder why the Caretaker did not explain how the planet works when crew members first beam down?

I know, if he did we wouldn't have a story.

Still & all, isn't he responsible for monitoring the planet's operations? Why would he assume that human or alien visitors would automatically realize that what they are experiencing are illusions?

Or that these illusions can (sorta) kill them?

Perhaps he figures if any civilization who can construct star ships & all the sophisticated technology that goes with them should be smart enough to realize that these are illusions they are seeing.

The Caretaker should really be viewing what is happening on his planet, or his astounding machinery should be able to alert him immediately.

Star Trek: TAS did a wonderful sequel to this episode titled "Once Upon a Planet."
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johnnybear
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PostPosted: Sat Jul 10, 2021 7:25 am    Post subject: Reply with quote

The answers to the many questions are simple enough!

The shuttlecraft hadn't been invented yet in the series and the Galileo would make it's entrance and destruction in the very next episode!

Spock's mind meld powers had first been seen in Dagger of The Mind, but maybe the scripts for the early episodes hadn't been finalized or its elements put into the series bible that — or they just forgot about Spock's mental powers.

I'm thinking that maybe William Shatner himself wanted there to be a fight showing us all at home how heroic and strong he was with the training he'd received from Starfleet!
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Bud Brewster
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PostPosted: Sat Jul 10, 2021 10:01 am    Post subject: Reply with quote

________________________________

Johnny, I think you might be absolutely right on all counts! Cool

As for Shatner wanting to show us that Big Jim Kirk was tough as nail, I'm also sure that Roddenberry and the script writer were equally eager to give Star Trek's predominately male audience a fantasy version of how they could beat the shit out of that bully who was intimidating them at school. Very Happy

I can easily identify with that. Very Happy

In fact, in the first chapter of my novel The Hero Experience the main character (Brad Jones) wins a schoolyard fight with a bully named Clayton Denault.

The scene in the novel is based on a fight I had in high school with a boy named Kelton DeJarnett. He and I entertained a large crowd of blood-thirsty teenagers who watched us slug it out on the schoolyard grounds near a decorative artillery piece which the county officials actually thought beautified the campus in 1967! Shocked






I actually won that fight . . . but only because both Kelton and I "hit like girls". Rolling Eyes

And that, folks, is how writers work out their childhood issues — they glorify themselves in fantasy versions who star in imaginative novels. Cool

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Last edited by Bud Brewster on Fri Jul 16, 2021 10:55 am; edited 2 times in total
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Krel
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PostPosted: Sat Jul 10, 2021 11:52 am    Post subject: Reply with quote

It was an action show. No matter what genre, Western, Cop, Spy, P.I., SF, Reporter and even some lawyer shows, the ALL had fist fights.

David.
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Bud Brewster
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PostPosted: Fri Jul 16, 2021 11:08 am    Post subject: Reply with quote

________________________________

This is a very true statement, sir. Cool


KREL wrote:
It was an action show. No matter what genre, Western, Cop, Spy, P.I., SF, Reporter and even some lawyer shows, the ALL had fist fights.

It's ironic, however, that modern televisions now provide remarkably clear images, so we can see that the hero and the villain who are slugging it out are NOT the actors who played them before the fight started a moment ago.

They're actually two stunt men — usually filmed from a reasonable distance and a slight elevation, in hopes of hiding the sudden change in the faces of the two men! Laughing

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Krel
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PostPosted: Fri Jul 16, 2021 2:41 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote

Bud Brewster wrote:

It's ironic, however, that modern televisions now provide remarkably clear images, so we can see that the hero and the villain who are slugging it out are NOT the actors who played them before the fight started a moment ago.

They're actually two stunt men — usually filmed from a reasonable distance and a slight elevation, in hopes of hiding the sudden change in the faces of the two men! Laughing


Even back then you could tell when they switched to a stuntman, because he was a different body type, and they didn't even bother to give the stuntman the same hair style as the actor, which made it even more noticeable! Laughing

When I went see "Beverly Hills Cop", there is a scene where Eddie Murphy's character gets thrown through a large window. They framed the shot so you didn't see the stuntman's face, but the top of his head faced the camera showing straight combed hair. Shocked That made the scene even more funny to me.

David.
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