Your Idea For A Different Episode Ending?

[KirksStuntMan]

I read somewhere that the original script finale of "Who Mourns for Adonais" had Carolyn revealing that she was pregnant by Apollo. That would have been a Twilight Zone type shock ending. However, the network censors or studio management must have objected to this, so the filmed version was quite different. I thought the episode climax was kind of weak compared to the possible one they could have used.

My thread question consists of 2 parts:

(1) Are there any other TOS episodes where you were disappointed in the ending?

(2) How would you have changed the ending to make it more interesting?

This is where your ST imagination can go wild!

 

[Timewalker]

Balance of Terror - I wish Angela and Robert could have finished their wedding.

In the Blish adaptation of this episode, they actually did finish the wedding in the midst of the action. One of the characters observes at the end that Angela was single, married, and widowed, all in the same day.

 

[KirksStuntMan]

Balance of Terror - I wish Angela and Robert could have finished their wedding.

^^That's interesting because I was thinking of Balance of Terror, too. What a downer of an ending to have a young woman widowed on her marriage day! I think that the writer, Paul Schneider, was trying to emphasize the cruelty of war.

I wasn't thrilled with the ending of "The Ultimate Computer". I was okay with the M-5 computer being deactivated, but I thought the mental Breakdown of Dr. Daystrom was too much. They could have pre-dated the HAL computer in 2001:A Space Odyessy, and had the M-5 decide it was more intelligent than its' creator. Oh, well.

 

[mostly_nameless]

I watched The Alternative Factor again last night and thought that either Kirk or Spock should've had the guts to pull out a phaser and disintegrate Lazarus AND his time machine to ensure the universe was safe.

Just pushing him into the void to suffer for all eternity (hopefully, if both Lazaruses don't fall out the other side and destroy the other universe) was just cruel and gutless.

 

[KirksStuntMan]

I wish that "The Enterprise Incident" had an alternate ending:

I wanted to see the expression on Kirk's face when McCoy tells him that his new ears are permanent.

 

[xortex]

I feel like this is sacrilidge to try to outthink GR but I mentioned this before. In A Private Little War' I would have liked to see the Kanutu woman live and make a deal with the Klingons in space for more power. This kind of dynamic should have been used in TNG's 'Birthright' where the inhabitants were also in contact with their respective ships giving their decisions more weight to the Enterprise and the Federation's safety and it's relationship to the Klingons. McCoy should have found a cure for the mako root and he should have swayed her back to the side of good using his sex appeal charm to bring her back to our side.

 

[KirksStuntMan]

^^So far, none of the scripts mentioned were written by GR, so we're really just toying with other writers' stories. It's all in a spirit of fun and entertainment to see if we can improve on the already filmed episode endings. Who knows, some of these people posting here with new ideas might be the future writers on a new ST series.

 

[SchwEnt]

"The Galileo Seven", without the hilarity and guffaws and doubling over in laughter.

I can appreciate the ribbing of Spock over his emotional decision, but leave it as a sly endnote. The ROTFLMAO ending was jarring, especially as Latimer and Gaetano didn't make it back from Taurus II.

 

[SchwEnt]

I watched The Alternative Factor again last night and thought that either Kirk or Spock should've had the guts to pull out a phaser and disintegrate Lazarus AND his time machine to ensure the universe was safe.

Just pushing him into the void to suffer for all eternity (hopefully, if both Lazaruses don't fall out the other side and destroy the other universe) was just cruel and gutless.

Yeah, but you GOTTA keep
"What of Lazarus...? What of Lazarus...?"

 

[Doug Otte]

I wasn't thrilled with the ending of "The Ultimate Computer". I was okay with the M-5 computer being deactivated, but I thought the mental Breakdown of Dr. Daystrom was too much. They could have pre-dated the HAL computer in 2001:A Space Odyessy, and had the M-5 decide it was more intelligent than its' creator. Oh, well.

I don't get it. So, the computer would decide it's more intelligent than Daystrom...then what? They continue for the rest of the series w/ the M5 taking them around murdering other Starfleet vessels and crews while Daystrom screams at it?

Doug

 

[Doug Otte]

I watched The Alternative Factor again last night and thought that either Kirk or Spock should've had the guts to pull out a phaser and disintegrate Lazarus AND his time machine to ensure the universe was safe.

Just pushing him into the void to suffer for all eternity (hopefully, if both Lazaruses don't fall out the other side and destroy the other universe) was just cruel and gutless.

Yeah, but you GOTTA keep
"What of Lazarus...? What of Lazarus...?"

I agree. That line, followed by the haunting outro music used several times in Season 1, were chilling. Despite the majority opinion, I've always enjoyed TAF despite its production issues.

Doug

 

[KirksStuntMan]

I don't get it. So, the computer would decide it's more intelligent than Daystrom...then what? They continue for the rest of the series w/ the M5 taking them around murdering other Starfleet vessels and crews while Daystrom screams at it?

Doug

No, not quite so contrite. It's only my alternate ending and it is sci-fi so anything can happen. Remember what happened in 2001: A Space Odyssey...only 1 astronaut was murdered by HAL and then the other astronaut eventually disabled the computer. So why not have Dr. Daystrom continue to match his superior intelligence with that of the M5 artificial intelligence until he can find a way to overcome its control of the Enterprise. A chess match between human and machine, so to speak. In "Wolf In The Fold", Spock displayed his superior computer skills when he forced the inhabited computer to calculate to the last digit a value for Pi, which he said is infinite.

 

[Galileo7]

"The Galileo Seven", without the hilarity and guffaws and doubling over in laughter.

I can appreciate the ribbing of Spock over his emotional decision, but leave it as a sly endnote. The ROTFLMAO ending was jarring, especially as Latimer and Gaetano didn't make it back from Taurus II.

Agreed.

 

[Redfern]

Actually, HAL killed 4 crew. The afore mentioned Frank Poole, and three additional specialists placed in suspended animation. HAL shut down the life support to those pods and then we saw the medical readouts "flatline" with audible alarms blaring in an otherwise empty ship.

Sincerely,

Bill

 

[Maurice]

As to The Galileo Seven, Kirk's all smiles when he gets the report they've beamed up five people...mind you, for all he knows, Spock and Bones could be amongst the missing ones. Hell, he oughta be upset that anyone died, but in a number of episodes he's cracking wise after he's lost members of his crew, as in the "My son., the Doctor" tag after Nomad fried a planet and a bunch of redshirts (and isn't it convenient that Nomad vaporizes all the redshirts except Scotty). Ugh.

 

[KirksStuntMan]

Actually, HAL killed 4 crew.

You are correct, sir. In my haste to eat a Subway sandwich while typing, I completely forgot about the other crew members. I take my hat off to you for your wisdom.

I still wish that Dr. Daystrom could have outwitted his own computer creation, but since Shatner was the star of the show I'm guessing that he may have talked the director into allowing Kirk to be the hero of the show's finale.

 

[Maximara]

(1) Are there any other TOS episodes where you were disappointed in the ending?

(2) How would you have changed the ending to make it more interesting?

This is where your ST imagination can go wild!

I never like the way "Man Trap" ended but that episode had more problems then just the ending. Like explaining why after living peacefully for a year or perhaps two the Salt Vampire suddenly goes on a killing spree--according to Crater the creature was intelligent so why attract attention by killing a crewman?

That episode would have to rewritten from the start to save the Salt Vampire.

 

[Redfern]

...I completely forgot about the other crew members.

Glad to have assisted.

Sincerely,

Bill

 

[KirksStuntMan]

I never like the way "Man Trap" ended but that episode had more problems then just the ending.

Yes, IMO the "Man Trap" was a marginal ST episode at best. Even Shatner was embarrassed about it since he said, "It was a dreadful show, one of our worst ever." Too bad, since George Clayton Johnson was a pretty good sci-fi writer, but his script was just deathly slow...even less action than in ST:TMP.

Well, he may be a good writer, but he needs to work on his fashion sense a little more.

 

[Doug Otte]

I don't get it. So, the computer would decide it's more intelligent than Daystrom...then what? They continue for the rest of the series w/ the M5 taking them around murdering other Starfleet vessels and crews while Daystrom screams at it?

Doug

No, not quite so contrite. It's only my alternate ending and it is sci-fi so anything can happen. Remember what happened in 2001: A Space Odyssey...only 1 astronaut was murdered by HAL and then the other astronaut eventually disabled the computer. So why not have Dr. Daystrom continue to match his superior intelligence with that of the M5 artificial intelligence until he can find a way to overcome its control of the Enterprise. A chess match between human and machine, so to speak. In "Wolf In The Fold", Spock displayed his superior computer skills when he forced the inhabited computer to calculate to the last digit a value for Pi, which he said is infinite.

Ah, thanks for clarifying. Yes; that might have worked. Good idea.

I still prefer the original, though. The hard part about this thread (for me) is that I've seen these episodes many times over the past 40 years, so it's hard for me to imagine a different ending to them.

Doug