And Woodward's book had its own research failures, or just plain presented certain stories completely devoid of context (See here or here for more details). That's why Belushi's widow Judith Pisano did her own book on her late husband years later.
News Introducing Fact Trek
- Thread starter Harvey
- Start date
Alas, we do not currently have a complete shooting schedule or any daily production reports for the movie, which is why we can't speak with 100% certainty regarding other re-shoots. That documentation is available, but given COVID-19, your guess is as good as mine when we might be able to travel and visit the appropriate archives to review it.
It hasn't gone live yet, but I made sure to acknowledge the criticism of the book by linking directly to the Slate piece you've indicated as part of the blog version of this topic. Woodward's Wired is problematic source in many respects, but in terms of laying out where and when Belushi spent his last several days, it was a useful secondary source (backed up by a couple other secondary sources covering the same ground, albeit Woodward's book is the most thorough).
Well, thanks. It's hard work to do it properly, and it's easier to repeat stories that tie everything to Star Trek.
It's surprisingly easy to put things together and arrive at conclusions which seem logical but are not fact based. I really sweat over how many qualifiers to add to something, because if we're not careful someone can lift a single sentence or partial sentence quote out of context and make it seem to support something we are dismantling.
Gossip is fun. Research and critical analysis is hard.
I've made it a personal crusade to restore balance to the Force in Wikipedia articles about actors and writers who even glanced off Star Trek, because fans go into those articles and then Star Trek always ends up as prominent mention even when it was a footnote in that person's career. Such overemphasis is the worst kind of history because it diminishes all the other accomplishments of those people in favor of the things Trekkies know them for. You'd think Harry Mudd was the pinnacle of Roger C. Carmel's career before I added his Broadway credits, etc.
Well, we know Shatner came in for at least a partial day to do pickups to change the fight between Kirk him and David and change a few lines so that Kirk knows David is his son instead of Carol blurting it out, but, again, those script pages are dated March 23 so well after Belushi's passing.
Last edited:
Excellent work, guys.
We assembled our tweets on the Belushi Thing into a blog post, which contains additional details. It can be read here (link).
Last edited:
The Belushi reportage is great. I’m loving the site! Great work!
Hey thanks. These pieces are a lot of work.
Here's an image I didn't use on the blog or in the tweets
We already had to update the Belushi piece once because we got additional information from the TWOK Unit Publicist Eddie Egan, and we found another couple of factoids, all of which reinforce our initial conclusion that this story—like so much mythos—is B U N K.If Star Trek were a character, the way some fandom portrays it would make it an old-school Mary Sue: everyone loves and wants to be around her and she can do no wrong.
We think it's lovable for what it actually is and was, minus the baloney.
So... Star Trek fans, then.
So... Star Trek fans, then.
well yeah but a lot of these guys are the basement dwelling kind with zero social skills.
wait... that’s what you meant.
There was a recent claim by Kirk Thatcher (punk on the bus, STIV: TVH) that he invented the name of T'Plana-Hath, Matriarch of Vulcan Philosophy, and that the name was derived from "Planet Hoth" in The Empire Strikes Back.
He was a production associate of some kind on TVH, but I have doubts that he was in any position to be naming people!
If you have any early-draft screenplays, can you check and see when that name was introduced to the story?
He was a production associate of some kind on TVH, but I have doubts that he was in any position to be naming people!
If you have any early-draft screenplays, can you check and see when that name was introduced to the story?
For now, I don't have any plans for new posts on Star Trek Fact Check, but "never say never" has always been good advice.
I do have one outstanding piece about Gene Roddenberry's knowledge about science fiction that hasn't been published yet. I had pitched that to Tor, but it's been weeks and no reply, so my assumption is they've passed. We'll see where it finds a home.
At the moment, I don't have any script material for Star Trek IV: The Voyage Home. Thatcher worked closely with Leonard Nimoy on that movie and it's just a name mentioned very briefly. For that reason, I don't find his explanation totally implausible.
T'plana-Hath is in the November 11, 1985 first draft script by Harve Bennett & Nick Meyer:
Kirk Thatcher is also the purpoted namesake of Kiri-kin-tha, which I find plausable, and Kiri-kin-tha (as far as I know) appears in the same scripts, implying Thatcher's input in naming at an early stage.
Thanks!T'plana-Hath is in the November 11, 1985 first draft script by Harve Bennett & Nick Meyer:
On Monday we started Tweeting "What the Flying A?" (LINK), which will be several weeks of [week]daily tweets about the origins and evolution of several key Starfleet emblems.
Twitter account not required to read. But if you use Twitter, follow us!
Twitter account not required to read. But if you use Twitter, follow us!
We paused our huge set of tweets about the various TOS insignia for the moment. We'll get back to it shortly. But if you haven't yet seen our insignia tweets, check 'em the thread HERE (link).
In the meantime we've been tweeting images of African-Americans associated with the show:
In the meantime we've been tweeting images of African-Americans associated with the show:
Just saw that in color the other day haha.From Cushman:
