Ha. Sad but true.
News Introducing Fact Trek
- Thread starter Harvey
- Start date
I think it's fair to say that Meyer created the character of Saavik as we know her. The Star Trek II that Meyer wrote was a substantially different story than what Samuel Peeples turned in, no? And I assume that Saavik had a number of different things to say and do, right? Even if all Meyer changed was Saavik's gender (which I doubt), that's a pretty significant change that resulted in the character we know today.
Yes, but in Hollywood screenwriting terms if you take a character created by another writer and use their name, even if you change many other details, the WGA is mostly not going to agree you “created” that character. If Meyer wanted a wholly different chatacter why use the name another writer used for a similar character?
Last edited:
I think that's more about taking a character that originated in a previous work and adapting them. This is the creative process of a single work passing through various hands. As I understand it, generally whoever got final script credit for the work will be officially credited as the character's creator(s), no matter how many other hands were involved. Although in the case of TWOK that would be Jack B. Sowards, not Meyer.
In this case Peeples wrote an entirely different script, and a few elements were taken over from it. Bennett and Sowards worked on The Omega System and The Genesis Project scripts and Meyer tooks bits and pieces of those and a few things from Peeple's script when he did his uncredited script The Undiscovered Country. Screen credit is based on how much you contibute. If you do a rewrite that is <30% of the total of a script you typically don't get credited, but payment is a different matter.
I find that "creator" credit for adapted works can be inconsistent. For instance, all the Netflix and broadcast-network Marvel TV shows this century gave "created by" credits to their developers, instead of the usual "developed for television by" credit you'd expect for an adapted work. (The Disney Plus shows use "created for television by.") Conversely, DC TV series do use the "developed" credit.
Yes. That's what I was alluding to.
Yesterday @Harvey and I spent four hours Zoom chatting former Desilu casting director Joe D'Agosta, going over almost his entire career, and only tangentially touching on Star Trek. We'll be asking about Trek in a follow-up call. He told us great stories about both Irwin Allen and Lucille Ball. As we were chatting he made a quick call to his ex wife Barbara [Baldavin], whom Trekkies know from "Balance of Terror," "Shore Leave" and "Turnabout Intruder," so we heard her over the speakerphone.
Joe is working on a memoir and we're gonna help him by giving him the research Harvey put together, including images like these. Joe is in the lower left photo for Strange Lovers, with Walter Koenig in the pic above.
Joe is working on a memoir and we're gonna help him by giving him the research Harvey put together, including images like these. Joe is in the lower left photo for Strange Lovers, with Walter Koenig in the pic above.
He didn't call for us. He called to tell her we were keeping him from going to see her. haha
Oh, very cool! I'm glad he's still around.
That must have been a lot of fun.Edit: I didn't know Bill Dozier did The Loner. That was an interesting show: Rod Serling's downbeat Western starring Lloyd Bridges.
He's pretty sharp at 85. Harvey tired out before Joe did!Oh, very cool! I'm glad he's still around.
If Cushman transcribed D'Agosta's interviews even slightly accurately, he's a wealth of information on a variety of TV shows. And it's still awesome he's on good terms with his ex.
Is Barbara Baldavin's name pronounced Ball-DAVE-in or Balda-vin? Or neither... I still read things like when I was a kid. I used to say Mah-lotchi Throne.
Is Barbara Baldavin's name pronounced Ball-DAVE-in or Balda-vin? Or neither... I still read things like when I was a kid. I used to say Mah-lotchi Throne.
We were more interested in the nuts and bolts of Joe's career trajectory and how the casting process worked than about any particular show or casting choice. We wanted to ask questions he's not been asked a hundred times before.If Cushman transcribed D'Agosta's interviews even slightly accurately, he's a wealth of information on a variety of TV shows. And it's still awesome he's on good terms with his ex.
Is Barbara Baldavin's name pronounced Ball-DAVE-in or Balda-vin? Or neither... I still read things like when I was a kid. I used to say Mah-lotchi Throne.
Joe didn't say Barbara's last name...just said "Barbara". We didn't talk about her in this first round.
Most people say "yes" if you come across as serious and professional and not as a gushing fanboy. There's another TOS BTS person I have been hoping to interview for years who has always been hesitant but seems finally ready to talk.
That's not always been my experience, especially when you have to go through agents or managers to set something up. Glad you've had good luck with your interviews so far, though!
Well agents and managers are gatekeepers. Or is they balrogs?
Similar threads
