BEST OF TAS

[sturmde]

There's no denying EWR did the right thing.

It is true, that Gene was right that his Star Trek Phase II would have been a strong anchor show for the new Paramount Network.

After all, they did use that same "idea" many years later with Star Trek: Voyager to launch UPN ("the toilet", say that after UPN )

With Universal scratching 4400, Dead Zone and BSG already, history's sort of repeating itself, yet again.

Perhaps this time around, CBS might realize that a new Star Trek show carefully crafted on the real network could have CSI-like staying power. But again, well crafted.

 

[Therin of Andor]

sturmde said:
It is true, that Gene was right that his Star Trek Phase II would have been a strong anchor show for the new Paramount Network.

I've seen some strong, well-researched predictions that "Phase II" would have struggled to stay afloat on the new network and may not have survived a whole year. It was going to have no Spock, remember, and William Shatner had warned he might not be available longterm, hence the creation of Willard Decker as a regular.

However, I do think it may have jumped to semi-regular telemovies (ST II was produced by Paramount's TV arm but released theatrically) if the series was struggling, and these may have done extremely well. The concept of the "special event" telemovie was going strong at the time, and that type of production schedule may have suited all of the cast better, and made set-building of new locales more relaxed. And maybe cameos by live-action Arex and M'Ress, perhaps?

 

[ClayinCA]

All this talk about TAS (we are still talking about TAS, right? ) has made me want to go back and watch all of them again - other than "Yesteryear" and "Beyond the Farthest Star", I haven't seen any of these in years.

Therin of Andor said:
And maybe cameos by live-action Arex and M'Ress, perhaps?

I shudder to think what Arex would have looked like as the product of late 70s-era technology, though...

 

[Redfern]

And dare we imagine how the main theme may have sounded, be it Courage's original score or a new one, given this was the mid to late 70s?

Think about it...

...Disco!

Sincerely,

Bill

 

[137th Gebirg]

KeepOnTrekking said:
1) Yesteryear - a good look at Spock's past and a rare instance where Spock admits to young Spock that Vulcans do have emotions rather than trying to deny their existence like he did in the past (e.g. Dagger of the Mind )

2) Albatross - a good look at an incident in McCoy's past 19 years ago. A rather paint-by-numbers plot but it does give a clever insight of McCoy, an outstanding Starfleet physician, expressing some self-doubt about his competence during his earlier years. Loved the weird looking and sounding Dramians.

3) The Pirates of Orion - another straightforward plot but I like it because of the interaction of the Big Three again. Kirk and McCoy overprotecting Spock, who thinks he's invincible. McCoy expressing his distrust of technology and its limitation over the past 25 years of being a doctor. Was this a coincidental foreshadowing of The Final Frontier where McCoy's distrust of technology stemmed from its inability to save his father before he died??

4) The Slaver Weapon - a change of pace story featuring Spock, Uhura and Sulu as the only regular charcaters appearing. Interesting to see Larry Niven's work as adapted for Trek. Curious, that the Kzinti having fought mankind on numerous occasions is still a footnote in history of the series.

5) The Jihad - A space opera for sure but the bickering of the aliens joining Kirk and Spock on the expedition make it interesting from the usual technobabble on the ship. The mad planet once appeared really hokey but not so much after seeing the failed Genesis Planet of the movies.

100% agree with this, but I would personally put "Slaver Weapon" as number 1, though.

 

[Captain Robert April]

Therin of Andor said:

Noel Given said:
This is proven by the fact that he SOLD the his entire interest and rights to the 'Star Trek' series to Paramount.

His only other choice was to buy out Paramount's share, and then attempt to find new financial backers (for a dead property that was about to go into syndication), then make "Phase II" independently at different studio and try to sell it to a new network: a huge personal financial gamble.

Instead, GR opted to take the money that Paramount offered him, which set him up comfortably for the rest of his life. And who can blame him for that?

At one point, Roddenberry could've purchased Star Trek from Paramount, lock, stock, and phaser emitter, for $100,000. This would've been just before the runaway success in syndication.

This also touches on a key aspect of the rights issue: Once Roddenberry made the deal wtih Desilu to produce Star Trek, that is when he lost majority ownership of the show; that went to the studio, and was inherited by Paramount when the Gulf+Western takeover happened and Desilu and Paramount were shmushed together. He was entitled to royalties as the show's creator, but it was never really his (and until the late 80's, those royalty payments were rather meager, thanks to Paramount's claim that Star Trek was still in the red; it wasn't until he was joined in his lawsuit by Bill Shatner, who, as star of the show, also has partial ownership of the show, that magically the books opened up and Shazam! suddenly Star Trek is turning a major profit after all, and Roddenberry, Shatner, and anybody else still owed money got paid).

Until that happened, I don't think it's accurate to say that GR was set up for life. Little Rod never went to bed without supper, but there were times when things got a little tense, and some of the deals he made reflect that.