Phase II Writers/Producers

[CoveTom]

Not sure which forum best suites Phase II discussion. Mods, feel free to move if this is not the right place.

Something I was thinking about that hadn't occurred to me before...

In the original Star Trek, you had a team of writers and producers like Bob Justman, D.C. Fontana, David Gerrold, etc. who were very associated with the series. When Star Trek was revived in the 70's as an animated show, many of those same people came back to write for the animated series. And then when TNG came about in the late 80's, Roddenberry brought many of them -- including Fontana, Gerrold, and Justman -- back into the fold once again.

Yet when Star Trek: Phase II was proposed and being developed, it seems none of them were anywhere to be found. Instead, you had Harold Livingston and Bob Goodwin as the two lieutenants to Roddenberry.

Any idea why?

 

[Lord Garth]

I think Gene Roddenberry might have just wanted fresh blood for Phase II. But then by TNG, he realized how isolated he was, and turned to writers and producers from TOS. Only for them to end up alienated and driven off by Leonard Maizlish.

 

[mb22]

Phase II didn't totally abandon the past -- scripts for the series included those by TOS writers like Theodore Sturgeon, John Meredyth Lucas, Margaret Armen. Shimon Wincelberg and Norman Spinrad.

 

[Shawnster]

How far along in the process did Phase II get before becoming TMP? Was it before such a writing staff need be assembled?

 

[Nerys Myk]

They had these stories in the pipeline
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Star_Trek:_Phase_II#Scripts

 

[Christopher]

One thing to keep in mind is that shows back then didn't have large permanent writing staffs like they do today. TOS's writing staff was basically Roddenberry, a producer like Gene Coon or John Meredyth Lucas, and a story editor like D.C. Fontana. All the other writers, like Gerrold, Schneider, Sturgeon, Armen, etc. were freelancers.

I'd say it's probable that the reason Fontana and Justman didn't come back for Phase II is that they simply weren't available. In 1977, Justman was a producer or supervising producer on the original four TV movies of Herb Solow's Man from Atlantis, while Fontana was story editor on the TV version of Logan's Run.

 

[Noname Given]

How far along in the process did Phase II get before becoming TMP? Was it before such a writing staff need be assembled?

It was two weeks from beginning principal photography when it was canceled and they decided to go the feature film route.

 

[ZapBrannigan]

It was two weeks from beginning principal photography when it was canceled and they decided to go the feature film route.

I believe that. I know the standing sets for the new Enterprise interior were built, but not to big-screen standards, so a lot of the money was wasted.

 

[Phaser Two]

I remain sort of glad that Phase II didn't get made. Everything worked out pretty well without it.

 

[Ronald Held]

Wasnt there a thread, speculating that Phase II would not have lasted long, and hence no TOS movies?

 

[Shawnster]

Wasnt there a thread, speculating that Phase II would not have lasted long, and hence no TOS movies?

Yes.

There was also a comment in the For All Mankind discussion that speculated (maybe Ron Moore said it?) that a successful Phase II led to the first TOS movie being TWOK.

 

[mb22]

I believe that. I know the standing sets for the new Enterprise interior were built, but not to big-screen standards, so a lot of the money was wasted.

And all that expense was tacked on to the official cost of TMP, which did that film no favors.

A paraphrase:

Paramount: "TMP cost $40 million, can you make a film for less than that?"

Harve Bennett: "Where I come from, I can make four movies for that money."

 

[Qonundrum]

They had these stories in the pipeline
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Star_Trek:_Phase_II#Scripts

Thanks for that!

Reading the synopses, some of them are real stinkers, though TNG's reusing them or repurposing certain characters definitely went to great effect.

"In Thy Image" being retooled for TMP was decent enough, but not great. It's a curate's egg and one that almost gets it right. But its differences can be refreshing in the right mood.

Of course, "The Child", and "Devil's Due" became outright TNG episodes, with minor retooling, and are solid enough.

"Tomorrow and the Stars" comes across as a retread.

"Cassandra" might have been good, depending on dialogue.

"Kitumba" may have been looked at by TNG but unused, or may have helped springboard better ideas for the Klingon civil war.

"Practice in Waking" probably would have had fans thinking "Space Seed" initially, but the left turn into witch trials (a la "All Our Yesterdays") may have ended up better than on paper.

"Deadlock" may have been an influence for "Peak Performance" and would have been just as good on its own.

"Savage Syndrome" - a couple TNG episodes were probably coincidental ("Conundrum", less so for "Genesis") but likely would have held its own.

"Are Unheard Melodies Sweet?" Too reminiscent of "The Lorelai Syndrome", though the synopsis doesn't really say why they're in need of men.

"Lord Bobby's Obsession" sounds surreal, in a good way.

"To Attain the All" sounds really good!

"The War to End All Wars" - slightly reminiscent of TMP, indirectly.

All sounds hit or miss, but it all worked out for the best. Had Phase II not have any mojo on screen, there wouldn't have been more than this lot, or a movie, sequel to introduce Picard and his crew, etc.

 

[Shawnster]

Reading the synopses, some of them are real stinkers, though TNG's reusing them or repurposing certain characters definitely went to great effect.

To be fair, there are some good episodes from all the series that sounded like stinkers in their initial write-up.

"Kitumba" may have been looked at by TNG but unused, or may have helped springboard better ideas for the Klingon civil war

The fan series New Voyages/Phase II filmed this as an episode of their TOS continuation.

 

[DarrenTR1970]

I checked the list on Wikipedia vs the list in my unofficial book on Phase II called 'Trek: The Lost Years' by Edward Gross and Wiki lists 12 episodes/scripts in development (not including 'In Thy Image') at the time 'Phase II' was canceled and repurposed into 'The Motion Picture'; whereas my book has an additional eight scripts in development, which brings the total to twenty scripts - almost a full season of episodes.

The eight scripts not listed in the Wiki entry are
1) The Darker Side - by Jerome Bixby
2) Lords Of Limbo - by Jerome Bixby
3) Marla - by Jerome Bixby
4) Only A Mother - by Jerome Bixby
5) Pandora's Planet - by Jerome Bixby
6) The Prisoner - by James Menzies
7) Skal - by Jerome Bixby
8) Small War - by Jerome Bixby
​

 

[Laura Cynthia Chambers]

Memory Alpha doesn't list all of these.

 

[DarrenTR1970]

In my book Edward Gross spoke to Jerome Bixby. Bixby must have shown Gross some material that, for some reason or another, never found its way into any other publication. And the story titles aren't just one or two sentences, they're two or three paragraphs long. 'Skal' and 'Small War' feature Klingons. The book was also published before 'TNG' aired, so it doesn't reflect the fact that the Phase II scripts, 'The Child' and 'Devil's Due' were repurposed into TNG episodes.