The Written Trek

Monday, December 2, 2024

The Corbomite Maneuver (Episode 03)

NBC was so nervous about Spock's satanic look that his eyes were rounded and his eyebrows curved in a promotional brochure. Image source: StarTrek.com.

Previously on The Written Trek …

In February 1966, NBC notified Desilu that the network would buy the show. Roddenberry had about six months to start producing weekly episodes. “Where No Man Has Gone Before” would air as the third episode, on September 22, 1966, with a few editing changes. It bought the production team some time. Waste not.

After the second pilot sold and Star Trek went to series, the NBC sales department prepared an “advance information” brochure for affiliates to help them understand the series. A copy is available on The Invisible Agent blog. Fearing that the network and its sponsors would be targeted by religious zealots because of Spock's vaguely satanic appearance, the sales department airbrushed Spock's ears and eyebrows to make him appear more human. Even though Gene Roddenberry had convinced the network to let him keep Spock, the implication was to downplay his presence, at least for now.

Producing a pilot is child's play compared to a series. A pilot is just one episode. Now NBC wanted a minimum of thirteen episodes, with production starting in June.

We wrote in earlier blog articles about the budgets for the two pilots. “The Cage” was budgeted at $451,503 but ended up costing $615,751. “Where No Man Has Gone Before” was budgeted at $215,644, but ended up costing $354,974. For the series, Star Trek was budgeted for $180,000 per episode, with a guaranteed thirteen-episode minimum from NBC, or about a half-season. Yes, the sets had been built, costumes had been sewn, and visual effects had been filmed. But those were for one-shot pilots. Now Roddenberry and his production team had to reproduce the quality of those pilots for a weekly series.

More of everything was needed. More producers. More actors. More writers. More effects. Why, we might even boldly go on location. There's a weird-looking geological formation in the Antelope Valley called Vasquez Rocks we might want to use some day. All within budget.

The sets were at Desilu's Culver City lot. The Enterprise bridge and other sets had to be disassembled and moved to the Desilu Hollywood lot, adjacent to the Paramount Pictures lot on Melrose Avenue near Gower Street. In upcoming months, Paramount would be sold to Gulf+Western, which in 1967 would buy out Desilu to combine the two lots into Paramount Television. Star Trek would ride the wave, one small starship caught in a typhoon of corporate acquisitions.

Perhaps the genius of this time was that Roddenberry chose to hire not simply television writers, but experienced literary science fiction writers. If they had TV experience, great. Most did not. They were great idea people, but many were inexperienced with TV story structure and budgets. Gene updated his “Star Trek Is …” outline into an interim document he could give to prospective directors and writers to help them understand his fledgling universe.

David Alexander's Star Trek Creator, the authorized Roddenberry biography, gives some insight into this ever-evolving “Writer-Director Information Guide.” This second version was first issued March 15, 1966, but would be appended many times in upcoming months.

Concerned about plagiarism lawsuits, Roddenberry on March 22 wrote to Desilu executive Bernie Weitzman that, “Obviously, we intend to purchase SF originals wherever they are usable and ride herd on our writers in this area as much as we can …” but warned that “sf is a very strange breed of cat” so the studio should be prepared for plagiarism charges.

An example of a purchased story is the first season episode “Arena” which was based on a 1944 short story by Fredric Brown that was published in the October 1944 issue of Astounding Science Fiction. We'll revisit the original story and its Star Trek adaptation later in our blog series.

Roddenberry used the Guide to flesh out his cast of characters for his writers. The Guide was supplemented by additional memos and revisions in the months ahead; as writers submitted early drafts of their scripts, Roddenberry realized he needed to clarify certain character traits.

Of particular interest is that the “Captain's Yeoman” was initially envisioned as a more prominent character than she eventually became. The character's name changed again. In the first pilot, she was J.M. Colt. In the second pilot, she was Yeoman Smith, played by a different actor. For the series, she became Janice Rand, portrayed by Grace Lee Whitney.

Kirk, Spock, and Janice Rand in an early publicity photo. Image source: Starfleet.ca website.

Alexander cites an April 14 memo in which Roddenberry suggests that the “Captain's Yeoman” carry some sort of recording device “via which she can take log entries from the Captain at any time …” This idea evolved into the tricorder, which Roddenberry described as “an electronic recorder-photographer, an instrument of the future whereby wherever the Captain is, can make log reports or records of any kind or type, which later are fed into the ship's computer system as a part of the Captain's regular log.“

The captain's log was about to become a Star Trek staple. In a May 2 memo, Roddenberry amended the Guide again, detailing the script format he wanted. The teaser (the scene before the opening credits) should open with the captain's log. “Captain Kirk's Voice Over opens the show, briefly setting where we are and what's going on.” While “not mandatory,” Roddenberry preferred that each of the four acts begin with a log update. “Not only does it give Star Trek a 'trade mark,' but also helps us get past exposition fast and into dramatic action.”

The yeoman character diminished over time, with Grace Lee Whitney eventually leaving the show. Perhaps Roddenberry realized that the captain was perfectly capable of recording his own logs, thank you very much. so the yeoman was no longer needed. Whitney's departure and the elimination of the yeoman character will be discussed in a future blog entry.

Spock also needed a lot of clarification, not only for the writers but also for Leonard Nimoy. In the teaser for “The Corbomite Maneuver,” the first episode to be filmed, Spock still barks orders like a British naval officer, just as he did in the second pilot. Nimoy wrote in his autobiography, I Am Spock, that he viewed “Corbomite” as “a crossover episode, where I was still learning to play the role. At some moments I grasped it; at others, I didn't.”

But he also cited this episode as the first time he had a “revelation of sorts” about how to play Spock. There's a scene where the bridge crew gawk with trepidation at the alien ship Fesarius on the view screen. The script gave Spock one line to say. But Nimoy didn't have a handle on how to say it. Director Joe Sargent advised, “When you deliver your line, be cool and curious, a scientist.”

And that's how Leonard Nimoy's Spock said on screen for the first time the word, “Fascinating.”

Perhaps more than any other character on the show, Spock would significantly evolve not only over the three years of the series, but through the animated series into the six original-cast Star Trek films, a guest appearance on The Next Generation, and even two supporting roles in the “Kelvin timeline” movies of the early 21st Century.

Fascinating.

Roddenberry sent out another memo on May 2 detailing Spock's character. His mother was human. His father was not. Depending on the source you look at, the father's race was “a native of another planet,” Vulcan, or Vulcanian. The NBC sales brochure said that Spock was Vulcanian, from the planet Vulcanis! Roddenberry wrote that Spock was “biologically emotionally, and even intellectually a 'half-breed.'” (The term was not considered offensive at the time.) Spock was “a devout vegetarian,” a trait that seemes to have been all but forgotten in future incarnations.

In our earlier blog articles, we discussed how both pilots took an interest in mental powers, and speculated whether or not Roddenberry believed such things exist. In any case, Gene wrote in this memo that, “Hypnotism is an everyday tool on Spock's home planet … It forms a part of their economic, social, and sex life.” In fact, Gene wrote that hypnosis was needed “as a part of the sex act …” Um, okay. But Roddenberry did write that Spock should use these abilities rarely, maybe recognizing that it could become an easy-out for a writer who's written himself into a corner.

Roddenberry also foresaw a unique relationship between Spock and Rand, who had “a motherly instinct for lonely men” which might explain her character in the episode “Charlie X.” More about that when we reach that episode. In any case, this “motherly” trait would be reflected in several early episodes where Rand nurtures Kirk in times of stress.

“The Corbomite Maneuver” was written by Jerry Sohl, an experienced television writer and science fiction novelist, the perfect résumé for Roddenberry. Sohl had already written for speculative fiction shows such as The Twilight Zone and The Outer Limits. Several of Sohl's works can be found on Internet Archive, such as The Altered Ego written in 1955.

A draft version of this episode's script is available on the UK-based TV Writing website. It's entitled, “Second Revised Final Draft May 20, 1966.” According to the Memory Alpha website, a few minor revisions were made after this draft, then filming began four days later on May 24, 1966.

The second page lists the cast. It's interesting that, after Kirk and Spock are listed, “Yeoman Janice Rand” is third, ahead of regulars McCoy, Sulu, Scott, and Uhura. The navigator, Lt. Bailey, has a full name — “Dave Bailey.”

In our look at “Where No Man Has Gone Before," we noted that the unaired version of that pilot contained clips that were unused when the episode was converted for broadcast. The ending credits don't give the names of the supporting characters, only their job titles, although Sulu and Scott are named in the episode. In the script for “The Corbomite Maneuver,” James Doohan's character is listed as “Scott (Engineering Officer).” Sulu is just “Sulu” with no job title. Nichelle Nichols' character is listed as “Uhura (Communications Officer).” Kirk, Rand, and Doctor McCoy received first names. The others would would come later, sometimes much later.

The original epilogue and closing credits for “Where No Man Has Gone Before.” Several supporting characters do not have names, only job titles. Video source: Tales from SYL Ranch DARKROOM YouTube channel.

As he did with Majel Barrett, Roddenberry also had an affair with Nichelle Nichols. The romance began after her appearance on The Lieutenant. In her autobiography, Beyond Uhura, Nichelle wrote that Gene told her about his plans for Star Trek; if it went to series, “I think there will be something important in it for you.” Nichols clarified that “our relationship was over long before Star Trek began,” and that no one at the show knew about the past romance other than Majel. The studio and network already were uncomfortable with Gene's relationship with Majel; an affair with another female cast member wouldn't help. The bond between Majel and Nichelle would have its own symbolism when Majel returned to the series in “What Are Little Girls Made Of?” More about that in a future blog entry.

Sohl's teaser page opens with a quote. This is the only time I've seen a TV script open with a quote that's not part of the script. It reads:

“Whereso'er I turn my view,
All is strange, yet nothing new.”
(Samuel Johnson)

When the episode aired, the teaser opened with a camera shot looking down from overhead at the bridge. This wasn't in the script, at least in Sohl's May 20 version. Whomever came up with this idea was genius, because it established for the first-time viewer the bridge layout. We've seen the two pilots, but the NBC audience has not. In the end, it would have been director Joe Sargent's call, so I'll give him credit for it.

The teaser shot establishing the bridge layout. This angle was rarely used in future episodes.

Kirk isn't here. We see the command chair is empty. Spock is in charge, ordering that photographs be taken of this section of the galaxy they're exploring.

Uhura is at Communications. Although we see a background character wearing a red shirt (for the first time), Uhura is wearing gold, not the red with which we'll later become accustomed. Although this was the first episode filmed, it was the tenth to air. One has to wonder if audiences wondered why Uhura had changed her uniform red to gold for the week.

Another noticeable costume difference is that Uhura, Rand, in fact all female crew members are wearing short skirts. The trousers worn by women in the first two pilots are gone. By the mid-1960s, miniskirts had become a fashion trend, first in the United Kingdom and then later in the United States. One can speculate that's why female cast members wore short skirts, but more likely it's because Roddenberry and the network wanted the show to appeal to the young male demographic who were the core of science fiction fandom. Scantily clad women were a staple of “sci-fi” magazines for decades. Women were still sex objects in the 23rd Century, at least so far as 1960s Star Trek was concerned.

Back to our story … The ship encounters a mysterious revolving luminescent cube, later determined to be a buoy. Kirk is summoned to the bridge, then we fade to the opening credits. For the first time, audiences hear what was to become perhaps the most famous opening narrative in television history:

Space . . . the final frontier. These are the voyages of the Starship Enterprise, its five-year mission:

. . . to explore strange new worlds . . .
. . . to seek out new life and new civilizations . . .
. . . to boldly go where no man has gone before.

The narrative helped to explain to novice audiences what the show was about. Considering both studio and network executives struggled with understanding the two pilots, it's understandable that the powers-that-be would fret that viewers might not “grok” it.

As discussed in our October 17, 2024 blog entry, the credit for this narrative belongs to several people.

According to Bob Justman and Herb Solow in Inside Star Trek: The Real Story, associate producer John D.F. Black came up with “Space, the final frontier.” “Where no man has gone before” was lifted from the second pilot's title, written by Samuel Peeples. The final version emerged from a series of memos exchanged in early August 1966 between Roddenberry, Justman, and Black. It was recorded by William Shatner on August 10, 1966, about a month before the first aired episode.

Act One begins with the first captain's log and stardate. Here's how it appeared in Sohl's second revised draft:

Captain's log, at Star Date 1512 point 2, on our third day of star mapping, an unexplained cubicle object blocked our vessel's path. On the bridge, Mister Spock immediately ordered general alert. My location, sick bay, quarterly physical check.

It's not quite what would later become familiar to us, in particular the use of past tense to describe events that have already happened.

Desilu executive Herb Solow wrote in Inside Star Trek that the stardate concept originated from a recommendation he made to Roddenberry:

The voyages of the Enterprise have already taken place; all Star Trek adventures are already history. The captain is setting up and recounting the particular adventure. He clues in the viewer very quickly as to what is going on and where, so we don't have page after page of boring exposition.

As for the number, the stardates would make little sense once episodes aired out of production order. Roddenberry later rationalized this by noting that travel at relativistic speeds, and in particular beyond the speed of light, meant our starship might be experiencing a different time than elsewhere. An adequate rhetorical fig leaf.

You'll also note that, in this episode, for the first time all male officers have pointed sideburns. That came from a May 1966 Roddenberry memo in response to concerns that actors would have contemporary haircuts. The pointed sideburns were to suggest a future style. Roddenberry wrote, “This is mandatory for all actors appearing in our show.”

In the sickbay, Kirk has his shirt off for the first (and most certainly not the last) time. We meet Dr. Leonard McCoy, played by DeForest Kelley, the actor Roddenberry wanted all along for the ship's doctor.

For the first time, McCoy uses the rhetorical device of self-comparison, which was to become another Star Trek trope. McCoy says, “What am I, a doctor or a moon shuttle conductor?” In Sohl's May 20 draft, the line ended, “… or a trolley car conductor?”

Kirk summons “department heads” to the bridge, as he did in the second pilot. This is the first time McCoy is on the bridge, a pattern that conveniently allows him to kibbitz in this and future episodes, invited or not.

After destroying the cube, Kirk orders drills and retires to his quarters. For the first time, and most certainly not the last, McCoy tags along. We see a scene reminiscent of “The Cage,” when Dr. Boyce counseled Captain Pike. In this scene, as in the first pilot, the doctor pours the drink. (Unlike Phil Boyce, Bones doesn't clarify if it's alcoholic.) Rand arrives to serve a salad; Kirk complains about being assigned “a female yeoman,” as did Pike in the first pilot.

When the Fesarius arrives, Kirk identifies his vessel as “the United Earth Ship Enterprise.” Neither the Federation nor Starfleet as terms yet exist. Balok says he's with “the First Federation.” Ted Cassidy, who played the butler Lurch on the recently-cancelled The Addams Family, provided the voice of Balok. Spock comments that Balok is “reminiscent of my father.”

In the second pilot, an episode the audience has yet to see, Kirk defeated Spock at 3D chess. Spock talks of checkmate, but Kirk decides instead to play poker. He bluffs Balok by claiming that the Enterprise is comprised of a substance called corbomite that will reflect back energy on its attacker. This establishes for the viewer a core trait of Kirk — he'll bluff you, he'll take risks.

In the end, Balok's pilot vessel fails and issues a distress call. Kirk orders the Enterprise to respond. He tells a doubting McCoy:

What's the mission of this vessel, Doctor? To seek out and contact alien life, and an opportunity to demonstrate what our high-sounding words mean.

Kirk tells the viewers what the show is about — if they tune in next week.

It's been said that Star Trek is about “making friends of enemies.” In this episode, the first to be filmed, we're given a script that establishes that theme.

Making friends of enemies.

Sources:

David Alexander, Star Trek Creator: The Authorized Biography of Gene Roddenberry (New York: ROC Books, 1994)

Leonard Nimoy, I Am Spock (New York: Hyperion, 1995)

Nichelle Nichols, Beyond Uhura (New York: G.P. Putnam's Sons, 1994)

Herbert F. Solow and Robert H. Justman, Inside Star Trek: The Real Story (New York: Pocket Books, 1996)

Stephen E. Whitfield and Gene Roddenberry, The Making of Star Trek (New York: Ballantine Books, 1968, Sixth Printing, July 1970)

Wednesday, November 27, 2024

"The Cage" 60th Anniversary

On November 27, 1964, filming began on the Star Trek pilot episode, “The Cage.” Video source: OTOY YouTube channel.

Sixty years ago today, filming began at the Desilu Culver City lot on the Star Trek pilot episode, “The Cage.”

This OTOY video featurette includes an interview with Robert Butler, who directed the pilot.

Monday, November 18, 2024

Unification

“765874 Unification” is a new Star Trek short produced by OTOY and the Roddenberry Archive. William Shatner reprises James T. Kirk, thanks to modern technology. Video source: OTOY YouTube channel.

For the 30th anniversary of Star Trek Generations, OTOY and the Roddenberry Archive have released an eight-minute short film titled 765874 Unification.

Thanks to the miracle of modern technologies, William Shatner was able to reprise James T. Kirk as he appeared in Generations. Actor Sam Witwer portrayed Kirk was he appeared in the original series and the six original cast films.

Click here for the OTOY press release.

OTOY released cast interviews to accompany the film.

Interview with William Shatner, who reprised Kirk. Video source: OTOY YouTube channel.

Interview with Robin Curtis, who reprised Saavik. Video source: OTOY YouTube channel.

Saturday, November 16, 2024

Where No Man Has Gone Before (Episode 02)

Mister Spock and Captain Kirk in the second pilot, “Where No Man Has Gone Before.”

Previously on The Written Trek …

“The Cage” was shown to Desilu executives, to network suits, to test audiences. The mythology we're told today is that NBC rejected the pilot because it was “too cerebral,” but that's not true. Both David Alexander's authorized biography and the Solow & Justman book confirm that NBC liked the pilot. The problem was that NBC needed to sell ad time; the network executives thought “The Cage” was fine for a regular weekly episode, but not as a sample for potential sponsors. The pilot did serve to demonstrate that Desilu, primarily known for half-hour sitcoms, could produce a high-quality effects-driven one-hour drama; perhaps as good as ABC's Voyage to the Bottom of the Sea produced by Irwin Allen at 20th Century Fox.

The “too cerebral” excuse was a cover, according to Alexander, for NBC to save face while a second pilot was produced. According to Solow & Justman, “NBC was very concerned with the 'eroticism' of the pilot and what it foreshadowed for the ensuing series.” The network was also concerned that Spock's satanic appearance might offend Bible Belt advertisers.

But the studio and the network concurred that Star Trek had potential, so their executives agreed to fund a second pilot.

Commissioning a second pilot was quite unusual for its time. In retrospect, both Desilu and NBC really must have wanted Star Trek to succeed.

NBC seemed sold on the show. The second pilot's purpose was to sell the show to potential sponsors. With sponsors aboard, Gene Roddenberry would have more freedom to explore the story ideas he had in mind.

The second pilot also had to demonstrate to Desilu that Roddenberry could keep costs under control. No one had attempted a weekly one-hour TV show with the scale and vision he intended. The ABC TV series Voyage to the Bottom of the Sea was in its first season; Voyage was state-of-the-art for the network television of its day, but it had the advantage of sunken costs charged to its predecessor feature film. Many of its visual effects, such as the SSRN Seaview diving beneath an iceberg, had been created on a 1961 film budget and then recycled into the TV show. Everything for “The Cage” had to be built, sewn, glued, fabricated, imagined. According to Desilu executive Herb Solow, the first pilot was budgeted at $451,503 but ended up costing $615,751.

Just as Voyage had sunk its startup costs in its movie predecessor, Star Trek would recycle most of the first pilot's sets, props, and costumes. Voyage already had its Seaview. Star Trek already had its Enterprise.

This second season episode of “Voyage to the Bottom of the Sea” which aired on ABC in January 1966, recycled both the plot and the effects from its predecessor feature film. Waste not. Video source: Harriman Nelson YouTube channel.

Some props and costumes from Voyage found their way to Lost in Space, another Irwin Allen production on the 20th Century Fox lot. CBS passed on Star Trek in favor of Lost in Space. The Lost in Space pilot, which never aired, was in production around the same time as the second Star Trek pilot.

Desilu had proven to NBC that the studio could produce a high-quality one-hour program. In retrospect, that was the problem. NBC wanted Desilu to prove they could do it, and had chosen “The Cage” as a stress test of the studio's talents. NBC now realized that, instead, they should have chosen a pilot script that could sell the show to sponsors.

NBC and Desilu agreed to commission three more scripts. Desilu would select the scripts, and NBC would pay for them. The network and the studio would jointly agree on which script to produce. The second pilot would be budgeted at $215,644, far less than the first, because it was expected that Roddenberry would recycle the sets, costumes, and visual effects from “The Cage.”* Roddenberry wouldn't have the time to write all three scripts, so he would write one while the remaining two would be assigned to other writers. He also had to set aside production of the pilot for another series, called Police Story, that he hoped to produce for NBC.

The three scripts were:

“The Omega Glory” — A demonstration of the “parallel worlds” concept Roddenberry had described in his original March 1964 sixteen-page outline. Roddenberry himself would write this script. It would later be produced as a second-season episode. The essential premise was that the Enterprise discovered an Earth-like world whose two warring sides had devolved from the Cold War of the 1960s. This was considered the weakest of the three, and was set aside.
“Mudd's Women” — Roddenberry's March 1964 outline had a one-paragraph pitch for an episode titled, “The Women” — “hanky-panky aboard with a cargo of women destined for a far-off colony.” The premise was farmed out to Stephen Kandel, a prolific television writer who at the time had to his credits fourteen episodes of Sea Hunt and four episodes of a syndicated Ziv-United Artists crime adventure series called Everglades! Roddenberry and Kandel modified the original idea to add a swashbuckling guest character who was peddling the women. Kandel became ill while writing the script; that plus the ribald premise were considered a bit too much for a pilot intended to persuade sponsors.
“Where No Man Has Gone Before” — The premise emerged from conversations between Roddenberry and his writer friend Sam Peeples, who had helped Gene with his early research for “The Cage.” The episode would be much more action-adventure than its predecessor, with a minimal science fiction overtone. NBC audience research had concluded that female viewers were not serious fans of fantasy or science fiction. This story's muted SF appealed to NBC more than the other two. The initial script was written by Peeples, but Roddenberry rewrote it to his preferences; a June 10, 1965 Herb Solow memo stated, “I have made NBC aware of the fact that you will be polishing the script yourself and alter the story so as to get us down on the planet surface earlier.”

NBC picked the Sam Peeples script.

Two months earlier, Peeples had written a ten-page memo with his thoughts about “The Cage” and what fixes might be needed for the second pilot. His first paragraph stated, “The mission or purpose of the ship is not defined in the pilot film. Planetary exploration team? Also galactic defense and colony protection?” This eventually would lead to the Star Trek opening narrative, which would incorporate the title of this episode.

Not all of Peeples' suggestions were adopted. Sam had sensed that Majel Barrett's Number One character would be unpopular with the network. That wasn't Majel's fault; the character was ahead of her time. Gene's affair with Majel was well known by his superiors at Desilu, a fact they shared with NBC. Number One's personality traits would be absorbed by Mister Spock. But Peeples did offer a suggestion that may have led to Majel's gig as the voice of the ship computer. He proposed that Number One be the ship computer! Number One would be an artificial intelligence in love with Captain Pike! This might explain why the computer in the series had a female voice, although it didn't have the stereotypical traits proposed by Peeples.

The AI romance with Captain Pike, or any other captain, was not to be. NBC was okay with Jeffrey Hunter returning, and Roddenberry wanted him back, but Hunter's wife disapproved of the first pilot so Hunter bowed out. (Hunter's contract required him to to do a pilot and the series. It didn't require him to do two pilots.) As we all know, William Shatner accepted the role, renamed James Tiberius Kirk.

The network remained nervous about the “satanic” Spock character. Roddenberry was adamant that Spock was necessary as a contrast with the rest of the crew. He told Stephen Whitfield in 1968, “I felt we couldn't do a space show without at least one person on board who constantly reminded you that you are out in space and in a world of the future.”

In his autobiography I Am Spock, Leonard Nimoy noted that Spock was the only character to survive from the first pilot. In “The Cage,” Nimoy had little direction for the character, other than he was a bridge officer who had learned English as a second language. In this second pilot, the Spock we came to know wasn't quite there just yet. Spock smirks, still bellows orders like a British first officer, and shows some emotion. But Spock also has some aspects of his trademark personality traits, as we'll discuss later. Nimoy received co-star credit, second billing behind the lead.

NBC sent Roddenberry a memo dated August 17, 1965 stating, “we are not only anxious but determined that members of minority groups be treated in a manner consistent with their role in society. While this applies to all racial minorities, obviously the principal reference is to the casting and depiction of Negroes.” In the first pilot, the cast had been nearly all white, except for an Asian assistant transporter operator who had no lines. Roddenberry now had license from the network to depict a crew more diverse than just a non-descript pointy-eared alien.

Lloyd Haynes played communications officer Alden. As would his successor Uhura, Alden could staff the command console (and repair it).

Lloyd Haynes was cast to play communications officer Alden. He became the first African-American cast in a Star Trek speaking role. Other African-Americans were cast as background extras. George Takei was cast as Sulu, who at this point was a physicist and head of the ship's astrosciences department. He would later helm the Enterprise while also having an interest in botany. James Doohan, a Canadian by birth (like Shatner), was cast as Engineering Officer Scott who, coincidentally, had a Scottish accent. Some sterotypes remained; Andrea Dromm, cast as Yeoman Smith was (like Yeoman Colt in “The Cage”) a glorified secretary. Star Trek was on its way to a more diverse and equitable future, but that was easier said than done.

Three characters met their demise. Gary Lockwood, Roddenberry's star in The Lieutenant, played Lieutenant Commander Gary Mitchell, who was the helmsman. Sally Kellerman played Dr. Elizabeth Dehner, a psychiatrist with a high ESP rating. In her time, ESP is a proven fact. (That certainly dates this episode!) Paul Carr played Lieutenant Lee Kelso, apparently the navigator.

Roddenberry wanted DeForest Kelley for the role of ship's doctor, but for one reason or another was unavailable for both pilots. Veteran character actor Paul Fix was hired to play Dr. Mark Piper.

As was “The Cage,” “Where No Man Has Gone Before” would be adapted as a first season episode. The version that aired was not quite the version that was filmed in 1965.

The original opening and title credits for the second Star Trek pilot, “Where No Man Has Gone Before.” Video source: Tales From SYL Ranch DARKROOM YouTube channel.

The original version was finally seen by the public in 2009, when it was included in a remastered Blu-Ray release of the original series. This version had a different opening, which you can watch above. This is what the network saw, not what we saw — until 2009.

In this version, the episode opens with a still shot of a spiral galaxy and a voiceover captain's log:

Enterprise log, Captain James Kirk commanding. We are leaving that vast cloud of stars and planets which we call our galaxy. Behind us — Earth, Mars, Venus, even our Sun are specks of dust. The question — what is out there in the black void beyond?

Until now, our mission has been that of space law regulation, contact with Earth colonies, and investigation of alien life. But now, a new task. A probe, out to where no man has gone before …”

This opening fulfills Sam Peeples' recommendation that the ship's mission be defined in the pilot. “The Cage” didn't have a captain's log. An early concept was to add the logs as a retrospective. In his book Inside Star Trek co-authored with Bob Justman, Herb Solow cited Gulliver's Travels by Jonathan Swift as the inspiration for the captain's log. Lemuel Gulliver told of his travels as a retrospective.

I accepted what Swift wrote because he treated it as something that had already happened. Swift was merely telling me what had gone on, setting up and highlighting the adventure for me.

Solow recommended the same approach to Roddenberry. “The captain is setting up and recounting the particular adventure … using a flashback to move the action from the past to the present.” From this idea would emerge, “Captain's Log, Stardate …” “Where No Man Has Gone Before” is the first episode to use this writing device. In some early first season episodes, Kirk's log would be spoken as a retrospective, reporting what has already happened.

The opening scene introduces us to Kirk and Spock, as they play 3D chess. Kirk is pretty much the character we would come to know. Spock is still a work-in-progress, with much more upswept eyebrows, and a slightly different tint to his skin color. But this scene, the first scene, establishes right away the relationship between the two. Initiative versus logic. Spock thinks he'll have Kirk checkmated after the next move. Kirk surprises him with an “illogical” move. When Kirk suggests that he is irritated, Spock replies, “The fact one of my ancestors married a human female …” This is the first hint we have that Spock is of mixed ancestry. We already know more about him than we did in the first pilot.

Also note that only Spock has pointed sideburns. The other male characters didn't adapt the pointed sideburns until the series.

The crew uniforms remain the same three colors as in the first pilot — gold, blue, and tan. No redshirts. (Crew members die anyway …) Engineer Scott wears a tan shirt.

Female crew members also wear slacks (as they did in “The Cage”), but the script still reeks of sexism. Remembering NBC's rejection of a female first officer, the women in this pilot typically are in subordinate and somewhat nurturing roles. Gary Mitchell incessantly harasses and almost gropes several female crew members. During one tense moment on the bridge, he takes the hand of Yeoman Smith. A later version of the writers guide (April 1967) would call this out as “unbelievable.”

The bridge in “The Cage” and “Where No Man Has Gone Before.” In the latter, the bridge trim has been painted red and the set lighting appears brighter.

We join our characters in the turbolift, which opens to the bridge. (“The Cage” script referred to this as the “turbo-elevator.”) In this second pilot, the bridge is far more colorful than in the first. In general, the turbolift door, the rails, and the trim are now red. (We have to help NBC sell color TVs, remember?) The floor now has carpet.

In our blog article about “The Cage,” we mused about why both pilots used mental powers as a MacGuffin to advance the plot. In “The Cage,” the Talosians have the ability to create illusions. In “Where No Man Has Gone Before,” crew members with advanced "Esper Ratings" develop the powers to read minds, perform telekinesis, quickly absorb knowledge, even shoot lightning out of their hands. Although demonstrating such powers may require special effects, they're cheaper than, say, a starship locked in battle with a fleet of hostile battle cruisers.

The second pilot continues a favorite Roddenberry plot device, carried over from The Lieutenant. Scripts typically have a scene where the lead character captain has a moment of introspection and doubt. In “The Cage,” Captain Pike confided in the ship's doctor. In this episode, Kirk debates his dilemma with Spock, who calls him “Jim” in a private moment; their familiarity is established. After Mitchell kills Kelso and escapes, Kirk tells Dr. Piper, “My fault Mitchell got as far as he did.” Kirk sets off to confront Mitchell himself, not the most logical thing to do, but the first of many times we'll see Kirk take personal responsibility for the consequences of his actions — as often did Second Lieutenant William Tiberius Rice, Gary Lockwood's character in The Lieutenant.

Some random notes about lingo … In the first transporter scene, Scotty says, “Materializer ready, sir.” The script for “The Cage” specifically referred to the Transporter Room and an unnamed Transporter Chief. Why does Scotty call it the “materializer”? Who knows. (Kirk later refers to the Transporter Room.) The term “neutralize” is also used several times, such as “neutralize warp” and “neutralize controls.” The transporter is activated with the command, “Energize!” Maybe “-ize” sounded technical or spacey to a 1960s screenwriter. Sickbay is called the Dispensary, a term that lasts for the first few episodes of Season One. (Kirk also uses the term Sickbay.) “Dilithium” has yet to enter the Star Trek lexicon; in this episode, it's called just lithium. Perhaps lithium was chosen as a fuel because it can be used as a fuel in nuclear reactions. A tombstone is marked, “James R. Kirk” instead of “T.” for Tiberius. My guess is that the inconsistency in terminology was due to Roddenberry doing a rewrite of Peeples under time pressure, while also trying to get Police Story off the ground. This was, after all, only a pilot. Who knew if it would ever air.

But it would.

* “Where No Man Has Gone Before” was budgeted at $215,644. It came in at $354,974.

Sources:

David Alexander, Star Trek Creator: The Authorized Biography of Gene Roddenberry (New York: ROC Books, 1994)

Franz Joseph, Star Fleet Technical Manual (New York: Ballantine Books, 1975)

Leonard Nimoy, I Am Spock (New York: Hyperion, 1995)

Herbert F. Solow and Robert H. Justman, Inside Star Trek: The Real Story (New York: Pocket Books, 1996)

Stephen E. Whitfield and Gene Roddenberry, The Making of Star Trek (New York: Ballantine Books, 1968, Sixth Printing, July 1970)

Friday, November 1, 2024

The Cage (Episode 01)

Paramount Video in 1986 released “The Cage” on VHS. The episode began and ended with these bumpers narrated by Gene Roddenberry. Video source: News from the Past YouTube channel.

THE NEXT CAGE. The desperation of our series lead, caged and on exhibition like an animal, then offered a mate.

— “Star Trek Is,” First Draft, March 11, 1964

As discussed in our last article, Gene Roddenberry wrote (with the help of D.C. Fontana) a sixteen-page outline to describe for potential studios and networks his proposed television series. The document was titled, “Star Trek Is …”. The outline had 24 one-paragraph ideas for potential stories.

The first story, on page one, was “The Next Cage.”

Many books have been written about this seminal time. Different accounts suggest the pilot was to be one hour, 90 minutes, even two hours. According to one account, Roddenberry suggested that, if an extended version flopped, it could air as a TV movie. The final version was one hour.

Studio executive Herb Solow, Roddenberry's patron saint at Desilu, wrote in Inside Star Trek: The Real Story that meetings were held in the spring of 1964 between Gene, Desilu, and NBC to hear a number of story ideas “before one of them was chosen as the basis for the pilot script.” The final choice, alternately titled “The Cage” or “The Menagerie,” went through “many hours straightening out the twists, turns, and bends in the plot” before Roddenberry began to write the script.

It appears that Roddenberry may have melded “The Next Cage” with another story idea from his sixteen-page outline:

A MATTER OF CHOICE. Another entrapment story, i.e., a planet in which the intelligent life has achieved no great material success but instead, has learned the power to live and relieve over and over again in different ways, any portion of their past life they choose. This is a starring vehicle for Captain Robert M. April as he is presented with the chance to do those certain things all over again.

Both “The Cage” and the second pilot, “Where No Man Has Gone Before,” relied on mental powers as a plot device. In “The Cage,” a race called the Talosians use their telepathic powers to create illusions that manipulate life forms imprisoned in their menagerie. Mental or psychic powers would become a staple of Star Trek plots and character traits. Spock and the Vulcan race in future episodes are telepaths. In The Next Generation, Betazoids are telepathic, although Deanna Troi is only empathic because her father was human (just as Spock's mother was human).

Several early first season episodes featured plots involving mental powers. “The Day Charlie Became God” was the second story idea listed in Roddenberry's 1964 outline, right after “The Next Cage.” It became “Charlie X” about an immature young man who uses his telepathic powers to manipulate crew members. Another early episode, “Dagger of the Mind,” explored the altering of memories using futuristic technologies. In “Shore Leave,” the crew encounters a pleasure planet where fantasies become reality. This bears some resemblance to another 1964 outline pitch, named “The Man Trap,” which has nothing in common with the episode that did air with that name; in the original pitch, crew members encounter apparitions that are “wish-fulfillment traps.”

Did Roddenberry genuinely believe in psychic phenomena? Reviewing the available literature, the answer appears to be no, although we know that Gene certainly believed in the human mind's potential. Mental powers have long been one tool in the speculative fiction writer's toolbox. By the early 1960s, telepathy was a staple of SF writing.

Roddenberry did have a mid-1970s dalliance with the paranormal. It's not discussed in his authorized biography, Star Trek Creator, but the unauthorized biography, Gene Roddenberry: The Myth and the Man Behind Star Trek by Joel Engel, dedicates part of a chapter to Gene's involvement with a group calling itself “Lab 9” based in Ossining, New York. Their leader claimed to be in telepathic communication with extraterrestrials known as “The Nine.” Several self-proclaimed psychics and parapsychologists lived on the property. The group offered Roddenberry $25,000 to write a screenplay about The Nine's arrival.

Engel writes that he believes Roddenberry was a skeptic, but was open to the project because he needed the money. In the end, Gene produced a screenplay, which was rejected by the group.

In any case, it remains an unexplained historical curiosity as to why, for his first foray into science fiction, Roddenberry chose psychic phenomena as a common theme. Perhaps he (or the network) thought that was what would sell. Roddenberry was unfamiliar with the science fiction current for his time, so he turned to his friend Sam Peeples, best known for writing Westerns, but who was also a science fiction enthusiast. Peeples would go on to write the script for the second pilot, “Where No Man Has Gone Before,” in which certain crewmembers with heightened ESP ratings suddenly become godlike. Perhaps Sam was the Jiminy Cricket on Gene's shoulder; he introduced Roddenberry to several science fiction writers, such as Harlan Ellison.

Peeples loaned Roddenberry a book by Olaf Stapledon, a science fiction writer who had passed in 1950. According to Star Trek Creator, Peeples told author David Alexander that Stapledon's 1930 novel Last and First Men was “instrumental in the development of the Star Trek format.” In a passage that could describe the Talosians, Stapledon wrote that his “Second Men … conceived that the ideal community should be knit into one mind by each unique individual's direct telepathic apprehension of the experience of all his fellows.” Stapledon described the Second Men as having a “more roomy cranium.”

The Talosians share some traits with the Second Men described in Olaf Stapledon's “Last and First Men.”

But the comparison is superficial at best. The Second Men are much larger and athletic in stature, and capable of maintaining an idyllic paradise, whereas the Talosians went underground and withered. They have lost the ability to maintain their infrastructure. The Second Men went into decline as their brains became “overgrown” eventually devolving into imbecility.

Roddenberry borrowed from other resources to design the USS Enterprise. The original 16-page outline offered no clue. Neither does the first draft of the script. The first page describes the Enterprise as, “Obviously not a primitive 'rocket ship' but rather a true space vessel, suggesting unique arrangements and exciting capabilities.” The script has very few exterior shots of the starship, so what it looks like remains a mystery. Few exterior shots also meant few expensive visual effects. Along with Sam Peeples, Gene went through hundreds of old “pulp” science fiction and fantasy magazine covers, some dating back to the 1930s, looking for inspiration. At the time, many space shows depicted a spaceship as a rocket or a flying saucer. Roddenberry wanted his starship to be unique.

The October 1953 issue of “Science Fiction Plus” magazine. Solow and Justman published this cover in “Inside Star Trek” as one example of the magazines that Roddenberry reviewed for starship design ideas.

Another unknown was the look of the alien science officer, Mister Spock.

In his March 1964 outline, Roddenberry described Spock as the ship's “First Lieutenant.” Roddenberry wrote, “… the first view of him can be almost frightening — a face so heavy-lidded and satanic you might almost expect him to have a forked tail. Probably half Martian, he has a slightly reddish complexion and semi-pointed ears.”

The October 1964 first draft of “The Cage” didn't change Spock much:

The only exception to the familiar types represented by the crew, Mister Spock is of partly alien extraction, his reddish skin, heavy-lidded eyes and slightly-pointed ears give him an almost satanic look. But in complete contrast is his unusual gentle manner and tone. He speaks with the almost British accent of one who has learned the language in textbooks.

This explains Spock's odd speech pattern in the first two pilots and early episodes. The accent eventually was ditched.

The reddish complexion posed a more difficult problem. In 1964, most US households still had black-and-white television sets. NBC blazed the trail for color programs; Star Trek, if it made the schedule, would be telecast in color. But as of January 1, 1965, only 2.8 million US households had color TVs. Although the show would be filmed in color, most households would see it in black-and-white. How would it appear?

Makeup tests were conducted to see how a reddish Spock would appear in black-and-white. Leonard Nimoy wrote in his 1995 autobiography, I Am Spock, that the red makeup “simply turned Spock's face jet-black” on a black-and-white TV. As is well known, the final skin tone was a yellowish-green, which looked better on the typical TV set of the day.

Leonard Nimoy and Majel Barrett in early makeup tests. Barrett modeled the Orion makeup later worn by Susan Oliver. Image source: Larry Nemecek's Trekland Facebook page.

Majel Barrett, cast as Number One, was used by Roddenberry to test the green Orion makeup that would later be worn by Susan Oliver. Roddenberry originally envisioned the Orion version of Vina having “strawberry roan” hair, which explains why Majel's hair is that color seen in the above image. The film lab didn't understand that Vina was supposed to be green, so they kept color-correcting the image. That was soon fixed.

In the above image, Nimoy's ears are barely pointed. He and makeup artist Fred Phillips eventually came up with the version we all know, but still the network was nervous about Spock's satanic look. More about that in a future blog article.

Many blanks remained on the Spock résumé. The script no longer referred to Spock as being from Mars, apparently because it was thought the Enterprise might one day visit Mars and the production team didn't want to be locked into what a Martian might look like. (Besides, by 1964 we had a pretty good idea that no sentient life existed on Mars.) But there was no mention of Vulcan, or any other planet of origin. Nor was Spock the cool emotion suppressor that we came to know; in fact, he smiles when he discovers the singing plants. That smile is in the script — Spock “grins in relief as he points out the source.” (In the final cut, Captain Pike finds the plants.)

Fun fact … In his autobiography, Nimoy wrote that he was the one who came up with the idea of pointed sideburns. In “The Cage,” only Spock has them, to indicate his alien nature. The look eventually was adapted for all male crew members.

Logical or not, Spock is delighted that Talosian plants can sing.

In any case, the basic format had been established. The captain, as central character, must resolve a problem with the able assistance of his crew. After the problem is resolved, the captain extends a gesture of reconciliation, trying to make friends of enemies. After his release, Pike offers to assist the Talosians in repopulating their surface by establishing trade relations; the Talosians decline, but nonetheless reconciliation becomes a recurring theme for Star Trek story-telling.

Much is already familiar. It's the starship we know, and the bridge we know, although not as colorful as we'll see later. The crew uniforms come in three colors — gold, blue, and tan. The delta insignias already have the different symbols for the three divisions — command, sciences, and engineering and support services. Number One, the first officer, sits at the helm, per the script. “First Lieutenant”Spock, described in the script as the science officer, seems to have no fixed position, roaming the bridge to observe readings and report to the captain. We see the bridge, we see the transporter room, we see a conference room, and we see the captain's quarters, but we don't see engineering or meet a chief engineer.

The script and casting very much reflect the sexism and prejudice of American culture at the time. Number One is the only female officer on the bridge. No African-American or Hispanic actors are in the cast; an Asian who may be Japanese assists the transporter chief. (The Asian briefly wears glasses, then takes them off; perhaps the director told him there are no spectacles in the future!) Roddenberry may have intended to test the boundaries of cultural intolerance, but he also needed to sell the show first, which meant not offending potential sponsors.

Nor is there any mention of Starfleet or a Federation. "USS" stands for United Space Ship. Pike tells the Talosians he's from “a stellar group at the other end of this galaxy.” The illusory stranded scientists ask how Earth is, but no other planet or political entity is mentioned.

But the studio and the network concurred that Star Trek had potential, so their executives agreed to fund a second pilot.

To be continued …

Sources:

David Alexander, Star Trek Creator: The Authorized Biography of Gene Roddenberry (New York: ROC Books, 1994)

Joel Engel, Gene Roddenberry: The Myth and Man Behind Star Trek (New York: Hyperion, 1994)

Franz Joseph, Star Fleet Technical Manual (New York: Ballantine Books, 1975)

Leonard Nimoy, I Am Spock (New York: Hyperion, 1995)

Herbert F. Solow and Robert H. Justman, Inside Star Trek: The Real Story (New York: Pocket Books, 1996)

Thursday, October 31, 2024

What is a Star Trek Story?

About 25 years ago, I wrote a free-lance article for the UK publication, Star Trek Monthly, titled “What is a Star Trek Story?”

The publisher, Titan Books Limited, changed the title to, “Amazing Stories,” but otherwise it remained intact.

I interviewed four Star Trek screenwriters. From the original series, David Gerrold and Judy Burns. From the later incarnations, Ron D. Moore and Brannon Braga.

The article was published in the June 1999 issue. My copy was long lost, but I finally found a used copy online. It arrived today; I've scanned the pages and converted the article to a PDF.

If you wish to read, click here to download the PDF.

Monday, October 21, 2024

Before Star Trek

Nichelle Nichols made her television acting debut in the 21st episode of Gene Roddenberry's TV series, “The Lieutenant.” Video source: getTV YouTube channel.

American commercial television came of age in the 1950s. Much of the programming was filled by cop shows, Westerns, sitcoms, and variety shows.

It has been said that the purpose of network television is to “sell soap.” The term “soap opera” derives from the sponsorship of daytime dramas by consumer goods companies such as Proctor & Gamble, which sold beauty and grooming products. Nighttime shows were often sponsored by cigarette companies; it was not uncommon for episodes to promote their sponsor by depicting characters smoking the sponsor's brand.

Gene Roddenberry and many others who wrote for Star Trek learned their craft churning out scripts for these shows. Science fiction shows were rare, and typically dismissed as children's fare. While employed as an officer by the Los Angeles Police Department, Roddenberry moonlighted as a free-lance screenwriter, pitching scripts to various production companies. He found a home with Ziv Television, which produced low-budget syndicated fare such as Space Patrol, but he didn't write for that early sci-fi TV epic. Writing under the pseudonym “Robert Wesley,” Roddenberry sold scripts to Ziv for Mr. District Attorney, where he'd begun in late 1953 as an LAPD technical advisor. Roddenberry pitched a script to another Ziv program called Science Fiction Theatre, a Twilight Zone predecessor, called “The Transporter,” although the device was more like the holodeck of The Next Generation and its sequelae.

Roddenberry resigned from the LAPD in June 1956 to pursue his screenwriting career full-time. He and many of Star Trek's seminal influences either served in or lived through World War II. One of the first commandments a writer is taught is to “write what you know.” Gene flew a B-17 in the South Pacific during the war, so Ziv assigned him to The West Point Story, a CBS series set at the US Army academy. Roddenberry eventually became the series' head writer. Gene wrote other Ziv shows, such as Highway Patrol, Threshold (a pilot for a series about the US Air Force Academy), and the Western Bat Masterson.

By the end of the 1950s, Roddenberry had outgrown Ziv, pitching and selling scripts to other studios. Entering the 1960s, he tried his hand at producing his own TV shows. He sold a series titled The Lieutenant to a production copmany affiliated with MGM. The series aired on NBC for one season, starting in September 1963. The Lieutenant told tales about a US Marine Corps lieutenant named William Tiberius Rice, whose platoon was based at Camp Pendleton in San Diego County, California. (Gomer Pyle also filmed at Camp Pendleton, but that series was set at the fictional Camp Henderson.)

If Star Trek has a progenitor, it's The Lieutenant. Here was where Roddenberry learned to run his own show. Several directors, writers, and actors from the series found their way to Star Trek.

A memorable episode is “To Set It Right,” the 21st episode to air. The episode was directed by Vincent McEveety, who would go on to direct six Star Trek episodes, including the first season episodes “Miri,” “Dagger of the Mind,” and “Balance of Terror.” The script was written by Lee Erwin, who later wrote the Trek episode “Whom Gods Destroy.”

Three cast members wound up on Trek. Gary Lockwood, who played the eponymous lieutenant, was later cast as Gary Mitchell in the second Star Trek pilot, “Where No Man Has Gone Before.” Don Marshall appeared in the Trek episode “The Galileo Seven” as Lt. JG Boma. (Spoiler — he didn't wear a red shirt, so he survived.)

But the most memorable casting was the debut performance of a supporting actor named Nichelle Nichols. The episode was her first television acting role.

If Star Trek became “a crucible for examining the human condition,” The Lieutenant was the test formula. Many episodes focused on the lead character attempting to resolve an ethical dilemma.

“To Set It Right” examined bigotry. A black private is assigned to the platoon, only to find a white NCO who racially bullied him in high school. Both of them have hardened racist attitudes. The lieutenant tries to resolve the conflict, emblematic of racial conflict in the US at the time, but fails. (Nichols played the private's fiancée.) A Star Trek fan will be reminded of “Let That Be Your Last Battlefield,” in which two survivors of the planet Cheron war with each other simply because their faces are black on one side, white on the other — the difference being which side is which color.

The next episode, “In the Highest Tradition,” featured Leonard Nimoy and Majel Barrett as supporting guest actors. They played Hollywood executives hot to make a film about a now-retired Marine lieutenant who commanded the platoon during a World War II South Pacific battle. The only problem is, the lieutenant wasn't there. Marc Daniels directed; he went on direct fifteen Star Trek episodes, including early episodes such as “The Man Trap,” “The Naked Time,” and “Space Seed.” Nimoy, Barrett, and guest star Andrew Duggan all smoked in the episode, perhaps to help attract a cigarette company as a sponsor.

Leonard Nimoy and Majel Barrett were guest stars in the 22nd episode of “The Lieutenant.” Both would go on to appear in the first Star Trek pilot, “The Cage.” Gary Lockwood went on to guest star in the second pilot, “Where No Man Has Gone Before.” Video source: Warner Bros. Classics YouTube channel.

By early 1964, it was clear that The Lieutenant would not be renewed by NBC. Roddenberry began working on new ideas to pitch, including a series set in the future about a space ship exploring the galaxy. The name? Star Trek.

Science fiction, or at least speculative fiction, was becoming more acceptable as adult fare on network television. Ziv had produced a 30-minute program for CBS called Men in Space about the future US Air Force exploring the solar system and building a base on the moon. The series lasted one season, from September 1959 to September 1960. The Twilight Zone, an anthology series with no regular cast, had been airing on CBS since October 1959. The Outer Limits, with a similar format, had premiered on ABC two days after The Lieutenant debuted on NBC. Irwin Allen was working with Fox on a TV series concept for CBS based on a Gold Key comic series called Space Family Robinson, but later would be renamed . . . Lost in Space.

Space, the final frontier, was all over television, only it was reality, not fantasy. Both the United States and the Soviet Union had begun human spaceflight programs. NASA's Project Apollo hoped to land a man on the moon by the end of the 1960s. The Soviets' program was geared more towards propaganda firsts, but by the mid-1960s Russia had decided they could not let the Americans go to the moon unchallenged, so the Soviets started their own crewed lunar program.

To help explain his concept, Roddenberry developed a sixteen-page outline titled, “Star Trek Is . . .” A PDF copy is on the Collecting Trek website. The document is dated March 11, 1964, about a month before The Lieutenant ended production on April 13.

The document was prepared by Dorothy Fontana, a writer working under the alias D.C. Fontana because she believed producers wouldn't want to hear a pitch from a woman. She wound up working as a secretary for Roddenberry on The Lieutenant. Fontana would go on to write many Star Trek episodes, and would succeed John D.F. Black as story editor during the first season.

Implicit in the outline was a contrast with Twilight Zone and Outer Limits. Roddenberry promised, “ The first such concept with strong central lead characters plus other continuing regulars . . . while maintaining a familiar central location and regular cast, explores an anthology-like range of exciting human experiences.” Roddenberry described Star Trek as “a 'Wagon Train' concept — built around characters who travel to worlds 'similar' to our own, and meet the action-adventure-drama which becomes our stories.”

Much is familiar, but some of the names and concepts are different or remain unevolved. The ship is named S.S. Yorktown, not U.S.S. Enterprise. The captain is named Robert M. April. The “first lieutenant,” Mr. Spock, is described as “the captain's right-hand man” but his alien origin is somewhat vague. In this outline, Spock is “probably half Martian” with “a slightly reddish complexion and semi-pointed ears.” His face is described as “heavy-lidded and satanic.”

Familiarity is assured. Roddenberry wrote of a “parallel worlds” concept that would make “production practical by permitting action-adventure science fiction at a practical budget figure via the use of available 'earth' casting, sets, locations, costuming, and so on.”

There's no mention of an idyllic Earth, a principled Federation or a noble Starfleet. The described story concepts suggest that conflict, and therefore drama, will come from weekly external antagonists, typically on those visited “parallel worlds.” The primary characters are imperfect and flawed, but neither is mention made of internal conflict among the crew.

In April 1964, Roddenberry pitched Star Trek to Herb Solow, an executive at Desilu. He left a copy of the outline with Solow, who wasn't thrilled with the Wagon Train analogy, but agreed to help Roddenberry shop the premise to the networks. A pitch to CBS failed, but NBC agreed to pay for a pilot script order.

That episode would become “The Cage.”

Sources:

David Alexander, Star Trek Creator: The Authorized Biography of Gene Roddenberry (New York: ROC Books, 1994)

Herbert F. Solow and Robert H. Justman, Inside Star Trek: The Real Story (New York: Pocket Books, 1996)