4th of July memories… I have a few but one of the many stupid things I remember is my sister (who is 8 years older) and I would chase each other around with Roman Candles on the 4th of July.
These fabulous weapons of destruction shot out fireballs and sometimes I landed a great shot. I was 8-10 years old and harder to hit. By some miracle, we were never hurt…bad anyway. Scorch marks yea…but we kept all of our limbs. Sorry…now to the song.
I first heard this song in Rocky IV. It was good to see Brown have a hit song. Living In America was released in December of 1985 and was his first Billboard charting song since 1976. The horns on this song sound incredible. They were called The Uptown Horns who also backed The J. Geils band on the Freeze Frame album and The B-52’s on Love Shack.
This was written by Dan Hartman (“I Can Dream About You”) and Charles Midnight. The song won the 1986 Grammy Award for Best Rhythm & Blues Vocal Performance. The song was a huge hit. It peaked at #4 on the Billboard 100, #5 in Canada, #5 in New Zealand, and #5 in the UK in 1986. The song blends elements of soul, funk, and R&B.
When I saw the lead guitar player on this song I was stunned because I’d never heard of him playing on this. The guitar player was Stevie Ray Vaughan and this was around the time when his career was really taking off. He finished up playing on David Bowie’s album Lets Dance just a couple of years before.
The song’s co-writer Dan Hartman later included his recording of the song on his 1994 album Keep the Fire Burnin’.
Living In America
Yeah, uh
Get up, ow
Ow
Knock it out this
Woo
Super highways, coast to coast
Easy to get anywhere
On the transcontinental overload
Just slide behind the wheel
How does it feel
When there’s no destination that’s too far?
And somewhere on the way you might find out who you are, woo
Living in America (ow)
Eye to eye, station to station
Living in America
Hand in hand, across the nation
Living in America
Got to have a celebration
Rock my soul, huh, ow, huh
Smokestack, fatback
Many miles of railroad track
All night radio, keep on runnin’
Through your rock ‘n’ roll soul
All night diners keep you awake
On black coffee and a hard roll, woo
You might have to walk a fine line (say it)
You might take the hard line
But everybody’s workin’ overtime
Living in America (huh)
Eye to eye, station to station
Living in America
Hand in hand, across the nation
Living in America
Yeah, got to have a celebration, woo
I (I) live in America
Say it loud
I live in America
Wait a minute
You may not be lookin’ for the promised land
But you might find it anyway
Under one of those old familiar names
Like New Orleans (New Orleans), Detroit City (Detroit City)
Dallas, uh (Dallas), Pittsburgh, PA, (Pittsburgh, PA)
New York City (New York City), Kansas City (Kansas City)
Atlanta, woo (Atlanta), Chicago and L.A.
Living in America
Hit me
Living in America, yeah
I walked in and out
Living in America
I live in America
Say it loud, It’ll make you proud, uh
Said, I live in America
Hey, I know what it means, ah
Living in America
Eddie Murphy, eat your heart out
To the bridge, ay
Living in America
Hit me
I said now, eye to eye
Station to station
Living in America
Oh, so nice with your bad self (uh)
Living in America
Whoa, I feel good
Happy Independence Day! Hendrix did a great version of The Star Spangled Banner in my opinion. He had served as a paratrooper in the 101st Airborne Division at Fort Campbell in Clarksville Tennessee in the early 60s.
Yes, this is my favorite version of the song. The poem that formed the basis of the lyrics was penned in 1814 during the War of 1812 by Francis Scott Key, a 35-year-old lawyer who was sent to negotiate with the British in an attempt to gain the release of an American prisoner they were holding.
Later, Key watched the bombardment of Fort McHenry from a ship he was on. The next morning he saw the Americans take down the battle-torn US flag at the fort and replace it with a larger one.
Key’s poem was published on September 17, 1814, the day after he returned to Baltimore. The poem was sung to the music of a popular British drinking song called “To Anacreon in Heaven, ” attributed to John Stafford Smith.
Any time someone does an unusual approach to this song…there is always a lot of complaining from people. Once when Jose Feliciano did the song in Game 5 of the MLB World Series in 1968 on guitar and singing…all hell broke loose. Some listeners thought he had “desecrated” and disrespected the national anthem but when asked about it, Feliciano explained that the reason he offered a non-traditional rendition of the anthem was to get people to pay attention to it. It was a great version of the song.
Hendrix took the stage at Woodstock at 8am…only around 30,000 were left out of the huge crowd there. He had been warned not to do the anthem when he toured but did it anyway. He even recorded a studio version and after his death, the takes were put together and released but the Woodstock performance is the one that is best known. What amazes me is when he is imitating bombs dropping…he suddenly goes right back in on time and doesn’t miss a lick.
He didn’t get as much flack as Feliciano did…I think because it wasn’t on prime time during a World Series.
I have heard this song all of my life and never knew much about it. I like the song because of the sad lyrics set against upbeat music.
Don Gibson wrote this song and it was produced by a legend of country music…Chet Atkins. Atkins, meanwhile, was inducted into the Country Music, Rock & Roll, and Musicians Halls of Fame. Atkins is also one of the primary figures credited with creating the “Nashville sound,” which transformed country music in the 1950s with a sound much cleaner and smoother than the style that preceded it.
Gibson released this in 1958 and it peaked at #7 on the Billboard 100. This was his only top-10 entry in the pop charts. Gibson, an inductee of the Country Music, Nashville Songwriters, and North Carolina Music Halls of Fame, wrote multiple songs now considered country standards.
It’s been covered by a lot of artists. Neil Young and The Kentucky Headhunters are just two that covered the song as well. It was the biggest hit The Headhunters had and it peaked at #8 on the Billboard Country Charts and #19 on the Canadian Country Charts in 1990.
Others who covered it are Johnny Cash who took it to #13 Country and #93 on the Hot 100 in 1961…Stonewall Jackson’s 1970 rendition went to #63 Country. Other acts to cover the song include Bing Crosby, Bob Luman, Southern Culture on the Skids, Ray Charles, Connie Francis, and Bobbi Martin.
Neil Young covered it on his album After The Gold Rush in 1970.
Oh Lonesome Me
Everybody’s going out and having fun
I’m a fool for staying home and having none.
I can’t get over how she set me free.
Oh, lonesome me.
There must be some way that I can lose these lonesome blues
Forget about my past and find someone new
I’ve thought of everything from A to Z
Oh, lonesome me.
I’ll bet she’s not like me.
She’s out and fancy free,
Flirting with the boys with all her charms
But I still love her so,
And brother don’t you know
I’d welcome her right back here in my arms
If you want to see where we are…and you missed a few…HERE is a list of the episodes in my index located at the top of my blog.
This show was written by Gene Roddenberry, Gene L. Coon and Arthur H. Singer
Season 3 is upon us! This may just be me…so all you Star Trek fans weigh in but I think this is the worst episode of the original series. I haven’t heard one of the cast speak good of this episode either. William Shatner has called it one of the worse and Leonard Nimoy was embarrassed during the entire shooting of this episode.
When you look at the complete picture though…I only see two really bad episodes so when you are talking about 3 seasons with 79 episodes…that is a good track record. With this episode…I guess they tried something different and it just did not work.
It’s unfortunate that this episode may have been the introduction for many late viewers to the Star Trek series because it kicked off the 3rd season. Basically what we have here…instead of “The Search for Spock” we have The Search for Spock’s brain.
A mysterious woman magically arrives on the ship. The pushes some buttons on a box on her arm and everyone falls unconscious. When they are under, she steals Spock’s brain. Then, when they awaken, McCoy informs the Captain that this occurred at which point, Kirk asks if Spock will be okay…uh ok. I couldn’t help but laugh the first time I heard this! What was Kirk thinking?
It gets even worse when they use a cool box on Spock’s body to reanimate him. It seems, according to McCoy, that although Spock has no brain, since he was a Vulcan that his body would live on for 24 hours without dying. What that meant…the clock is ticking while on the search for Spock’s brain.
It has a 5.2 rating at IMDB but most of the episodes get a 6.5 or above. Maybe I’m being too hard on it? Give it a watch when you can and tell me that is the case or was I completely right?
From IMDB:
Written by Lee Cronin, the pseudonym of Gene L. Coon. Some have assumed that it was used because he was unhappy with the results. Actually, it was because he had left Paramount and was under contract with Universal, so he was not supposed to be working for Paramount as well.
First appearance of Scotty’s new hair style, where it was brushed back instead of parted to the side.
The Controller is “Nomad” repurposed from Star Trek: The Original Series: The Changeling (1967) with a globe on top.
This is the only Original Series episode to use a regular character’s name in the title.
This is the first episode in broadcast order in which the credits are displayed in blue font as opposed to the yellow font of the first two seasons.
TOS Seasons 3 marks the first time Star Trek is credited as being produced by Paramount. During Seasons 1 & 2, Star Trek was a Desilu property. In the summer of 1968, it was sold to Paramount.
This is the only time moving stars are shown on the bridge view screen via rear-projection. This is evident because the camera pans across the screen and people move in front it with stars moving, which would not have been possible if the view screen scenery had been matted in later. (In Star Trek: The Original Series: The Doomsday Machine (1967) they walk in front of the screen, but it is a static picture of stars, although in the digitally mastered edition they did add some moving objects.)
In informal surveys taken at science fiction conventions, this episode is promptly and almost universally named as the worst of the original series.
Footage of the Eymorg computer’s displays in operation is recycled from Star Trek: The Original Series: Assignment: Earth (1968) and Star Trek: The Original Series: The Paradise Syndrome (1968).
Gene Roddenberry was fascinated by the idea of a matriarchal society, and revisited the idea in Genesis II (1973) and Star Trek: The Next Generation: Angel One (1988).
Although scantily clad young women were common in this series, the Eymorgs, with their mod mini-dresses, were purportedly a response to Rowan & Martin’s Laugh-In (1967) which featured them on a regular basis. Luma, in particular, was a response to Goldie Hawn’s air-headed persona.
The Vulcan philosophy of “the needs of the many outweigh the needs of the few,” is paraphrased. In reference to Spock’s brain Kara says, “The need of my people for their controller is greater than your need for your friend.”
According to her official website, Marj Dusay said she had not viewed this show until a fan sent her a VHS tape in the 1990’s. The multitude of autograph requests she received over the years led her to believe that this show was popular. She described having fun in the role, and that she was delighted with the costume and boots designed for her.
This takes place in 2268.
There are two Morg guards in the scene where Kirk and his men are held captive. The big one who guards the communicators and other items taken from the Enterprise crew is played by Pete Kellett. The bald one by the door who says “Yes, mistress,” is none other than an uncredited Sid Haig.
Pete Kellett, the uncredited actor who played a Morg guard, has the single, dramatic line, “Yes, mistress”. He was the only Morg that had dialogue.
Marj Dusay played the role of Kara, which was the name of the cabaret dancer character in the opening scene of this season’s show “Wolf in the Fold”.
James Daris, the creature that Kirk stuns with his phaser, had a role in the “Mission: Impossible” show “Encore” in which William Shatner played one of main adversaries of the IMF team. As one of the henchmen of the other adversary, he did not share scenes with Shatner’s character.
Sheila Leighton (Luma) and Marj Dusay (Kara) each appeared separately in shows of “Hogan’s Heroes”. Leighton was cast in one role, and Dusay played three different roles.
Summary
When the Enterprise encounters an ion-powered vessel – far more advanced than their own warp-powered technology – they soon find themselves knocked unconscious by a beautiful alien who suddenly appears on the bridge. When they come to, they find that Spock’s brain has been surgically removed using technology way beyond their own current level of development. Following the ion trail left by the spacecraft, they arrive at a barren, ice-covered planet where the men live on the surface and the women in a highly advanced underground complex. Spock’s brain is now the central intelligence that runs the entire complex. The problem before them: how to reunite his brain to his body.
CAST
William Shatner … Captain James Tiberius ‘Jim’ Kirk Leonard Nimoy … Mister Spock DeForest Kelley … Dr. McCoy Marj Dusay … Kara James Doohan … Scott Walter Koenig … Chekov George Takei … Sulu Nichelle Nichols … Uhura Majel Barrett … Nurse Chapel Daris … Creature Sheila Leighton … Luma Bill Blackburn … Lieutenant Hadley (uncredited) Frank da Vinci … Lt. Brent (uncredited) Roger Holloway … Lt. Lemli (uncredited) Pete Kellett … Morg Guard (uncredited)Jeannie Malone … Yeoman (uncredited) Eddie Paskey … Lieutenant Leslie (uncredited)
Hello everyone…I changed the name of this series…I never liked the original name and I heard from a couple of commenters and I totally agreed… Last week I got great responses from many of you and I appreciate it.
1956
Rock and Roll was reviving up now. The song that represents it the most this year to me was Be-Bop-a-Lula. The song is a perfect piece of rock and roll. His voice with reverb is just magical and artists have been chasing that sound ever since. I can’t imagine hearing this on the radio back then. Gene Vincent must have sounded so alien to some people but it’s what rock and roll needed. The song was written by Gene Vincent, Donald Graves, and Bill “Sheriff Tex” Davis.
“That beginning – ‘we-e-e-e-e-l-l-l-l-l!’ – always made my hair stand on end.” John Lennon
***We have a bonus today at the bottom out of Lubbock Texas***
Yes, I could have gone with the Elvis version but I wanted the rockabilly man who wrote the song. Carl Perkins with Blue Suede Shoes. This was released in January of 1956 on Sun Records. Carl was amazing with his songwriting, guitar playing, and singing. The man could rock with the best.
I will make a confession here…out of all the 50s artists…Buddy Holly was probably my all-time favorite. The man had it all and he was ahead of his time. I’ve said this before but if he would have lived…out of all the 50s artists…he is the one that could have made a huge mark in the 60s alongside the British Invasion bands. They were playing modified versions of the songs he already wrote. This was not a massive hit… in fact it was a B side but one I’ve always liked. Blue Days, Black Nights. You WILL be seeing/hearing more Buddy in this series.
Now we are getting to the meat on the bone. Little Richard sings what was my dad’s favorite rock song…Long Tall Sally. The only time I remember getting a standing ovation is when I was 16 in a bar (shhhh don’t tell) playing this song with our band. Little Richard’s voice was fierce…I compare it to Jimi Hendrix’s guitar…just relentless. The song was written by Enotris Johnson, Robert Blackwell, and Richard Penniman (Little Richard).
Saw Uncle John with Long Tall Sally They saw Aunt Mary comin’ So they ducked back in the alley
It’s hard to go through these songs and pick only 5. Let’s close things out with The Man in Black! Johnny Cash released this in 1956 on Sun Records.
***BONUS: Buddy Holly, Elvis Presley, Johnny Cash, Scotty Moore, and Carl Perkins all in one place….backstage at a High School in Lubbock Texas in this really short clip. I wish we could hear the music.***
If you want to see where we are…and you missed a few…HERE is a list of the episodes in my index located at the top of my blog.
This show was written by Gene Roddenberry and Art Wallace
We are now at the last episode of the 2nd season…I can’t believe we are this far already. One more season to go. This is a different kind of episode for Star Trek. It reminded me right away of Doctor Who or a Scifi James Bond. It was planned as a spin-off episode but didn’t end up that way. Robert Lansing played Mister Seven and he was great. I would have watched the show if they would have spun it off. He had magnetism and was perfect for that role.
This was in reality a pilot episode about Gary Seven and his assistant played by future star Teri Garr when she was 20 years old. It is a show I wish would have been picked up. I could have been writing about that one today.
The Enterprise travels back in time to observe Earth during a particularly tumultuous period in its history. However, upon arriving they intercept a mysterious alien transmission and end up beaming aboard a man wearing a 20th-century business suit and carrying a cat. Kirk doesn’t know if he is human, alien, good, or bad. Seven is not a fool though and knows enough to escape the Enterprise with the transporter.
Seven is a human trained by an unnamed alien race to protect humanity against threats to world peace. In this story, his mission is to transport to Earth and prevent the US from shooting a military satellite into space that could set off a nuclear exchange between the US and the Soviet Union.
When the Enterprise captures Seven en route to Cape Canaveral, Kirk is reluctant to let him go, fearing Seven’s mission may not be as altruistic as he claims. Mr. Seven then escapes the ship, beaming down to the city of Manhattan with Kirk and Spock in hot pursuit.
Seven does get to finish his mission when Kirk finally realizes that Seven is telling the truth.
From IMDB:
While at the launch base and showing his ID to the security person, Mr. Seven shows a National Security Agency credential card. The NSA was one of the worst kept government secrets, but was not publicly acknowledged until nearly 25 years after this episode originally aired.
This is the only episode of Star Trek in which time travel is treated as “routine.” The Temporal Prime Directive does not yet appear to have been proposed, least of all taken effect.
This is the only episode of Star Trek in which a guest star is listed after the opening credits rather than in the end credits: “Guest Star Robert Lansing as Mister Seven” is displayed when the character is first shown in the transporter chamber.
Gary Seven’s computer display is the same one used as Dr. Daystrom’s M-5 computer in Star Trek: The Original Series: The Ultimate Computer (1968), as well as being used by Mr. Atoz, the librarian, in Star Trek: The Original Series: All Our Yesterdays (1969).
This episode features one of the first uses of stock footage of the first test launch of the Saturn V moon rocket in November 1967.
Spock mentions all the events which are to occur on that date the Enterprise travelled back in time to the 20th century and met Gary Seven. Among the events mentioned was an important political assassination. As it turned out, there were ultimately two important political assassinations in 1968: just six days after this episode aired on March 29, 1968, Reverend Martin Luther King Jr. was shot and killed in Memphis, Tennessee on April 4, 1968, and two months later, on June 6, 1968, Senator Robert F. Kennedy was killed in Los Angeles, California on the night that he won the California Democratic presidential primary.
The script called for Isis the cat to make various cat sounds on cue (meows, purrs, growls, etc.) Since finding appropriate real cat sounds for the soundtrack proved problematic, the director discovered that Barbara Babcock, who was hired to do the voice of the Beta 5 computer, could vocalize convincing cat sounds.
Teri Garr had such an unpleasant time filming this episode she refused to ever talk about Star Trek again, although she did do an interview with STARLOG magazine many years later in which she was very disparaging of both the show and its fans. One reason was Gene Roddenberry’s frequent clashes with the costume designers over the length of Roberta’s skirt; Roddenbury wanted it shortened to the extent that Ms Garr’s underwear is glimpsed on occasions. However, she clearly had no such inhibitions in her roles other productions, such as the sultry and provocatively dressed Inga in ‘Young Frankenstein’ (1974) or wearing even an even skimpier outfit (see-through baby-doll nightie) as a Pajama Girl in ‘Pajama Party’ (1964).
The main plotline of countries launching nuclear weapons into space had a real-world parallel at the time. The major world powers pledged to use outer space for peaceful purposes in the “Outer Space Treaty” that became official on October 10, 1967.
Three black cats were used for the role of Isis.
No scenes for this episode were actually shot at Cape Kennedy itself. The illusion of being in Florida was achieved by using a combination of stock footage and Paramount studio locations.
This is the only episode where a Federation transporter system is used to intercept and re-direct another transporter beam.
Star Trek: Voyager: Prime Factors (1995) was originally going to be based on “Assignment: Earth”. David R. George III and Eric A. Stillwell’s original story involved the crew of Voyager encountering the race that had dispatched Gary Seven. However, this was declined as the Aegis’ technology could transport individuals over thousands of light-years, thereby providing an easy “out” for the USS Voyager and precluding the series.
Gene Roddenberry would later rework key elements of this story – an agent to Earth by aliens to shepherd humanity out of its “childhood”, with help from a human – into another unsuccessful pilot titled The Questor Tapes (1974), with the agent being an android..
Gary Seven’s “servo” is used in ways not unlike Doctor Who (1963)’s “sonic screwdriver”, which had been ‘invented’ for the now-famous BBC series just a couple of years earlier. Seven also has a young, naive, attractive human companion, much as the Doctor often has. Whether this is coincidence or the writers had some awareness of Doctor Who’s now-iconic tool is unknown.
This episode takes place in 1968. Along with Star Trek: Enterprise: Storm Front (2004) (which takes place in 1944), this is one of only two “Star Trek” episodes to take place entirely in the 20th Century. Furthermore, both episodes take place mostly in and around New York City.
The sound when Scotty was zooming in on Gary Seven’s position is the same as the one used for the poison dart flower in Star Trek: The Original Series: The Apple (1967).
The art on the wall in the office is from Reginald Pollack.
Gary Seven’s cohort Isis, is established as being a shape-changer, but it is unclear whether Isis is a cat who can appear as a woman, a woman that can appear as a cat, or some creature that can assume both and other appearances at will.
The name “Roberta Lincoln” is a feminine version of Robert Lincoln. Robert Todd Lincoln was a lawyer, politician, and businessman who had a long career and was present at or near the violent deaths of three USA Presidents: Abraham Lincoln (his father), James A. Garfield, and William McKinley. In the “Assignment: Earth” spin-off series, Gary Seven and Roberta Lincoln would have been in the business of rescuing people from assassination.
James Doohan was one of the Mission Control voices.
The aliens which Gary Seven represents call themselves “The Aegis” – another word for “shield”. Gary’s tool/weapon is known as a “servo”. The Marvel Comics fictional agency S.H.I.E.L.D. (Strategic Hazard Intervention, Espionage & Logistics Directorate) was depicted as S.E.R.V.O., which sounds like “brain” (cerveau) in French.
Gary Seven and/or Roberta Lincoln appear in Star Trek novels such as “Assignment: Eternity” (1997) by Greg Cox, “Star Trek: The Eugenics Wars: The Rise and Fall of Khan Noonien Singh” (2001), also by Cox, and “From History’s Shadow” (2013) by Dayton Ward. In the short story “Seven & Seven” by Kevin Hosey in “Star Trek: Strange New Worlds”, Volume VI, (2003), Gary Seven teams up with Seven of Nine from Star Trek: Voyager (1995).
The final use of Sol Kaplan’s “Planet Killer” theme (in the climactic scene).
Roberta Lincoln was born in 1948.
During the street scene, a woman passes by wearing a two-piece fur suit, the top of which had been worn as a dress by Barbara Anderson as Lenore Karidian in the Star Trek episode, “The Conscience of the King”.
Roberta tells Gary Seven that she understood the work of her previous employers (his predecessors in that office) to be “research for a new encyclopedia”. This is most likely a hat tip to Isaac Asimov’s seminal Foundation novel, where the Foundation is working under the guise of producing an encyclopedia.
47 Reference: While scanning Kirk’s and Spock’s location on earth from the Enterprise, Scotty tells them to proceed 5 meters, 247 degrees true.
The sticker on the windshield of the car that Gary Seven uses says Mission Director Cromwell. An actor named James Cromwell later played several roles in the Trek Universe, most famously as Zefram Cochrane in Star Trek: First Contact (1996).
The first episode to use the new phaser stun effect.
The second time to star a black cat: The first was Star Trek: The Original Series: Catspaw (1967)(#2.7).
Gary Seven’s computer said Roberta Lincoln (Teri Garr) was 20 years old. Teri Garr was born December 11, 1947 which would have made her 20 when this episode was filmed.
Cameo Bruce Mars: Finnegan from Star Trek: The Original Series: Shore Leave (1966) can be briefly seen as a New York Police Department officer.
Summary
Having traveled back in time to visit Earth on a historical information-gathering exercise, the Enterprise intercepts a space traveler being beamed to Earth. Gary Seven is human but clearly comes from an advanced civilization that claims to have been specially trained for a mission to save mankind from itself. Captain Kirk isn’t at all sure that Seven isn’t there for malicious purposes and puts him in the brig. Seven does manage to escape however and with Kirk and Spock in pursuit, tries to complete the mission that two missing agents were unable to finalize. For Kirk, the decision he has to make is very real: does he stop Seven or let him finish – a wrong decision may mean altering Earth’s history altogether.
A later Star Trek referencing Gary Seven
CAST
William Shatner … Captain James Tiberius ‘Jim’ Kirk Leonard Nimoy … Mister Spock DeForest Kelley … Dr. McCoy Robert Lansing … Mister Seven Teri Garr … Roberta Lincoln (as Terri Garr) James Doohan … Scott George Takei … Sulu Nichelle Nichols … Uhura Walter Koenig … Chekov Don Keefer … Cromwell Lincoln Demyan … Sergeant Morgan Jones … Col. Nesvig Bruce Mars … First Policeman Ted Gehring … Second Policeman Paul Baxley … Security Chief Barbara Babcock … Beta 5 Computer / Isis (voice) (uncredited) Bill Blackburn … Lieutenant Hadley / Rocket Base Technician (uncredited) Frank da Vinci … Lt. Clifford Brent (uncredited) Rudy Doucette … Staff Member (uncredited) Bob Johnson … Ground Control (voice) (uncredited) Eddie Paskey … Lieutenant Leslie (uncredited) Edwin Rochelle … Man With Newspaper (uncredited) April Tatro … Cat Girl (uncredited)
If you want to see where we are…and you missed a few…HERE is a list of the episodes in my index located at the top of my blog.
This show was written by Gene Roddenberry, Gene L. Coon, and John Kneubuhl
This is one that I like more than some Star Trek fans.
The Enterprise is on its routine patrol when it runs across some wreckage of the SS Beagle. The Beagle has been lost for 6 years and its captain was R. M. Merik, a man Kirk once knew. They find no signs of humans so they guessed that the crew was able to leave the ship before it was destroyed. They follow the debris trail to an unknown planet – never charted before. They discover the planet is very much like planet Earth and even pick up radio and video signals from it.
The ship’s computer picks up survivors from the Beagle on the planet. Kirk, Spock & McCoy beam down to the planet’s surface and are soon met with a group of men with shotguns – they are runaway slaves. Kirk, Spock, and McCoy befriend the runaway slaves. It is revealed that their slavery is over a belief or dispute of gods: sun god vs other gods. Kirk is looking for Captain Merik the slaves have mentioned a man named Merikus – is it one in the same man?
The planet is similar to Earth’s ancient Rome but mixed with 20th-century Earth and soon they find themselves in a 20th-century jail cell while searching for Merik… they soon find Merik. Merik takes them to the pro-council where Merik explains what happened to him, his crew, and the Beagle. Later Kirk is made to order some of his crew members down to fight in the old Roman-style arena. The mix of old Rome with the 20th Century with the gladiators and TV cameras takes a minute to get used to.
He tells Mr. Scott code green, all is well. Scotty knows that means trouble, don’t interfere but stand by. Kirk refused to bring down his men so Kirk, Spock, and McCoy are taken to the arena in a real fight to the death which is broadcasted on television. The Enterprise can pick up television signals but must stand by under the captain’s orders…Scotty cannot send down a landing party but he can do other things from the ship.
It’s a very interesting episode and one that I appreciate much more now that I have rewatched.
From IMDB:
The caves where the Children of the Sun hide out are one of the most-used locations in television and movies. In addition to being the entrance to Batman (1966)’s Batcave, they are also seen in Invasion of the Body Snatchers, Kung Fu (1972) and various police and western shows. They are located right below the famous Hollywood sign.
One of several “parallel Earth” plots in the series, contrived to save money by avoiding the necessity for “alien” sets, costumes, and makeup.
The coat of arms on the clothes of the Proconsul Claudius Marcus is William Shakespeare’s.
The title “Bread and circuses” is a translation of “Panem et circenses”, an ancient Roman metaphor for people choosing food and fun over freedom. It first appears around AD 100 in the Satires of Juvenal, which also provided the title of another Star Trek production about 20 years later: Star Trek: The Next Generation: Who Watches The Watchers (1989).
The episode parodies the television industry in several ways. Fake applause and catcalls are used to simulate a studio audience, and the race for high television ratings is lampooned several times. The TV station manager threatens the now-pacifist runaway slave that he had better fight convincingly: “You bring this network’s ratings down, Flavius, and we’ll do a special on you!” Later, the Proconsul sneers at Kirk about the captain’s impending death, to be televised from the arena, by telling Kirk that “You’re centuries beyond anything as crude as, television.” Kirk replies, “I’ve heard it was… similar,” an oblique reference to the series’ own ratings difficulties. Comic relief is in the scene where McCoy and Spock heckle each other on the TV Stage during the gladiatorial duels.
When Kirk and Spock are breaking out of their cell, two phalanxes of about 5 machine-gun-armed guards each run to block off each end of the corridor which would lead the flag officers to freedom. In the blooper reel, the lead guard of the group closest to the camera reaches his ‘mark’, but is unable to stop; his feet slide out from under him and he falls and goes sliding toward screen-right, after which everyone breaks out in laughter. When you watch the aired version of the scene closely, it has been edited in such a way that you never see that Roman trooper come to a complete stop. It seems they USED the ‘take’ and cut the embarrassing part (for the extra) out.
During the location shooting for this episode, the new producer John Meredyth Lucas visited the set, accompanied by Gene Roddenberry. Lucas was struck by the tension and bad atmosphere among the cast. “Shatner came around the corner, and when he saw Gene, he turned around and went the other way. And the cast was fighting too. All the actors complained to me about all the other actors.”
The Jupiter 8 car was actually the Reactor, a custom aluminum show car designed by Gene Winfield and completed in 1965. The Reactor was based on a 1956 Citroën DS chassis and powered by a Chevrolet Corvair engine. It also made appearances in Mission: Impossible (1966) and Bewitched (1964).
Claudius Marcus recommends the sparrow broiled in garum. Garum was a sauce made by salting the intestines of fish and collecting the fermented juices that dripped out. It was very popular in classical Greek and Roman cuisine.
The DVD and earlier VHS editions of this episode contain what is probably the best McCoy/Spock dialogue of the series, which was always edited out in syndication.
This episode marks the final appearance of Kirk’s second season green wrap-around tunic. Beginning in Star Trek: The Original Series: Assignment: Earth (1968), which followed, and when the series returned for its third and final season Kirk goes back to wearing his standard gold and black v-neck shirt full-time.
One of the shots of the planetary capital (in the opening of Act II) is of the Great Dome at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, whose words can be read (somewhat) above the pillars. The next shot shows the Legion of Honor on the Left Bank in Paris. Its motto ‘Honneur et Patrie’ is not Latin but French.
This was one of the first second-season episodes filmed, but the penultimate one aired.
This is one of only two TOS episodes featuring dialog between the credits and the episode title card. The other episode is Star Trek: The Original Series: A Private Little War (1968).
Gene Roddenberry and Gene L. Coon wrote this episode’s teleplay from a story by playwright and television writer John Kneubuhl. However, Roddenberry and Coon received sole writing credit for the episode.
Gene Roddenberry revised the shooting script as the episode was being filmed. Director Ralph Senensky remembers picking up the day’s script pages when arriving to the set in the morning.
Ian Wolfe later made a second Star Trek appearance in Star Trek: The Original Series: All Our Yesterdays (1969), as Mr. Atoz.
The name of Merrick’s merchant vessel, the S.S. Beagle, is a reference to the vessel famous for carrying Charles Darwin on the mission to chart South America, the H.M.S. Beagle, which would, coincidentally, turn into a five year mission, and the early basis for Darwin’s “On the Origin of Species.”
The automatic weapons that the Roman guards wield are Danish Madsen M-50 sub-machine guns.
George Takei does not appear in this episode. He was shooting The Green Berets (1968) at the time.
Consistent with the Roman themes throughout this episode, the escaped slaves which Kirk, Spock, and McCoy first encounter are references to and representative of the Spartacus group of gladiators and slaves in rebellion against ancient Rome.
47-reference: The S.S. Beagle had a crew complement of 47.
This takes place in 2268.
Much like the “red shirt syndrome” in normal episodes, each Roman who dies seems to be wearing a red cape or cloak.
Ian Wolfe (Septimus) also starred in THX 1138 (1971) which indirectly connects him to the Star Wars & Star Trek franchises. Since THX-1138 is not an actual part of the STAR WARS franchise, this is not exactly true.
An outtake from a deleted scene is in the famous blooper reels: Spock and McCoy are reluctant to come out to fight in the games and the Game Master shouts, “If they refuse to move out on cue, skewer them!” Instead, he shouts, “If they refuse to move out on cue, screw them!” At that point, the onlooking cast bursts out laughing.
William Smithers (Merik) and Logan Ramsey (Claudius Marcus) both appeared in two different shows of the original “Mission: Impossible”, another Desilu production.
During the arena combat scene of Spock and McCoy, Merik mentions that a star ship is a very special vessel and crew, and that he tried for such a command. During the opening scene upon learning that Merik captained the SS Beagle, Kirk states that Merik was dismissed from the academy and went into the merchant service. When prodded by Spock in the cave of the Son Worshippers, he revealed that Merik failed the psycho-simulator test because of a split-second of indecision.
Summary
While searching for the crew of a destroyed spaceship, the Enterprise discovers a planet whose oppressive government is a 20th-century version of Earth’s Roman Empire. Kirk, Spock and McCoy meet the rebels, seemingly sun worshipers, but are soon thereafter apprehended by the regime. The missing Captain Merik is revealed as the “First Citizen” and a pawn of the regime, but he and the rebels ultimately help Kirk and company to escape. Back on the Enterprise, Uhura observes that the crew’s understanding of the rebels as sun worshipers was not completely accurate.
CAST
William Shatner … Captain James Tiberius ‘Jim’ Kirk Leonard Nimoy … Mister Spock DeForest Kelley … Dr. McCoy William Smithers … Merik Logan Ramsey … Claudius Ian Wolfe … Septimus William Bramley … Policeman Rhodes Reason … Flavius James Doohan … Scott Nichelle Nichols … Uhura Walter Koenig … Chekov Bart La Rue … Announcer (as Bart Larue) Jack Perkins … Master of Games Max Kleven … Maximus Lois Jewell … Drusilla Paul Baxley … Policeman #1 (uncredited) Bill Blackburn … Lieutenant Hadley (uncredited) Frank da Vinci … Lt. Brent (uncredited) Tony Dante … Legionnaire (uncredited) Chester Hayes … Sound Effects Man (uncredited) Roger Holloway … Lt. Lemli (uncredited) Shep Houghton … Cameraman (uncredited) Jeannie Malone … Yeoman / Slave Girl (uncredited) Bob Orrison … Policeman #2 (uncredited) Eddie Paskey … Lieutenant Leslie (uncredited) Gil Perkins … Slave #3 (uncredited) Paul Stader … Slave #1 (uncredited) Tom Steele … Slave #2 (uncredited) Joe Walls … Slave (uncredited)
If you want to see where we are…and you missed a few…HERE is a list of the episodes in my index located at the top of my blog.
This show was written by Gene Roddenberry, D.C. Fontana, and Laurence N. Wolfe
This one is easy to identify with today with computers taking jobs that once belonged to humans. This computer’s function is to take Kirk’s job in running the ship. This one is a favorite of mine from the 2nd season. I get flashbacks to a movie that was still in the future at that time…anyone of you remembers HAL 9000? Excellent episode!
Hal 9000 and M-5
The computer here, M-5, was intended as the next step up from the 23rd-century starship machines which were also designed by the genius Daystrom. Under the test guidelines in this episode, the Enterprise is emptied of all but 20 personnel, and the new M-5 is plugged in, running standard ship’s operations, such as navigation and entering into orbit around a planet.
Later, the plan is to indulge in war games with a quartet of other starships, testing M-5’s calculations during a battle. It’s man vs. machine; it’s human workers vs. the automated line… it’s all about…becoming obsolete. The war games don’t go the way Daystrom imagined…M-5 decided to attack the starships.
The story revolves around the goals and aspirations of two men – Kirk and Daystrom. Kirk’s career appears to be in danger of winding down very quickly in the first act – replaced by machinery, while Daystrom’s might be gaining a second wind after 25 years of stagnation. It all revolves around the personal needs of these two men – what they need in life to feel functional, to be useful.
Kirk’s role is deemed non-essential due to the delegation of command decisions to M-5. Seeing him in this situation is compelling and William Shatner does an excellent job of portraying the angst the character is suffering.
Spock and McCoy help Kirk through a difficult time and they also share their own opinions about the merit of the M-5. I want to say also that William Marshall did a great job as Daystrom.
From IMDB:
The Daystrom Institute, mentioned prominently in Star Trek: The Next Generation (1987), Star Trek: Deep Space Nine (1993), Star Trek: Voyager (1995), and ‘Star Trek: Picard’ (2020) is named for Dr. Richard Daystrom, the guest character in this episode.
In his 1999 essay “Welcome Aboard the Enterprise”, science fiction author Robert J. Sawyer writes, “…the ship’s computers, as seen in ‘The Ultimate Computer’, were designed by a Nobel-prize-winning black cyberneticist, played with equal dignity by William Marshall. During the era of Martin Luther King and the Watts Riots, it was a powerful, important statement to have the white captain of the Enterprise deferring to black people; as Marshall observed thirty years later, the single most significant thing about his guest-starring role was that he, an African-American, was referred to as ‘Sir’ throughout the episode.”
Robert Wesley was named for a pseudonym that Gene Roddenberry had used early in his career, and “Wesley” is Roddenberry’s given middle name.
Barry Russo, appearing here as Commodore Wesley, also appears in Star Trek: The Devil in the Dark (1967) as Lieutenant Commander Giotto.
When Commodore Wesley observes the Enterprise from the Lexington, this is the only time in the series that the audience sees the Enterprise from another ship.
The script came from an unsolicited screenplay submitted by Laurence M. Wolfe, who was a mathematician. John Meredyth Lucas chose to adapt the story, feeling that it would be relatively inexpensive and quick to produce. D.C. Fontana rewrote much of the story, as much of the original screenplay was focused on Dr Daystrom and the M-5 Computer, with little emphasis on the show’s regular characters.
This episode was a social commentary on the American job losses caused by increased mechanization during the 1960s. This still remains a problem in the 2020s, with AI and software replacing many jobs formerly done by people.
Kirk recites a line from John Masefield’s poem, “Sea Fever” (“All I ask is a tall ship…”). He does it again in Star Trek V: The Final Frontier (1989). Quark paraphrases it in Star Trek: Deep Space Nine: Little Green Men (1995) and it appears on the USS Defiant’s dedication plaque.
The character name Daystrom appears to be a reference to a company named Daystrom Systems, which was around since the 50s. One of the company’s products, the Daystrom 046, was installed in the Little Gypsy Power Plant in 1961 in LaPlace, La., and was the first computer to control a power plant from startup to shutdown.
The M-5 reacted as it did because it did not want to be shut down. A similar theme was explored a few months later with the computer HAL in 2001: A Space Odyssey (1968)
Spock mentions that there is nothing in 23rd century computer technology to replace a starship’s medical officer. By the 24th century, Federation starships are equipped with Emergency Medical Hologram (EMH) technology.
The remastered version replaced the stock footage used. The space station, now named Starbase 6, used images of Deep Space Station K-7 from Star Trek: The Trouble with Tribbles (1967) in the original broadcast. In the remastered version, it was remodeled to look like Starbase 47, as seen in the ‘Star Trek: Vanguard’ series of novels. The Woden, which used footage of the SS Botany Bay from Star Trek: Space Seed (1967), was redesigned as an Antares-type vessel. The crippled USS Excalibur, which reused footage of the USS Constellation from Star Trek: The Doomsday Machine (1967), and the space battle were redesigned with new computer generated images.
Commodore Wesley’s high-backed command chair appears to be the same one used on the ISS Enterprise’s bridge in Star Trek: Mirror, Mirror (1967).
This is the second time Kirk tells McCoy he would like to be on a long sea voyage. The first time happened in Star Trek: Balance of Terror (1966).
The Japanese-made Sord M-5 home computer, released in 1982, was named in homage to Dr Daystrom’s creation in this story. Ironically it too was deemed a failure and discontinued after about a year.
Alpha Carinae, whose second planet was scheduled for exploration by the scientific survey team, is better known as Canopus.
Spock describes M-5’s diversionary tactics as “pursuing a wild goose”. In Star Trek: The Gamesters of Triskelion (1968), after McCoy calls Spock’s search for Kirk, Uhura, & Chekov a wild goose chase, Spock retorts that he was not chasing “some wild aquatic fowl”.
The evocative music by George Duning, composed for Star Trek: Metamorphosis (1967), was re-used when Kirk romanticizes about sailing on a tall ship.
Sean Morgan (Harper), also played Brenner in Star Trek: Balance of Terror (1966), O’Neil in Star Trek: The Return of the Archons (1967) and Star Trek: The Tholian Web (1968), and unidentified characters in Star Trek: The Corbomite Maneuver (1966), Star Trek: This Side of Paradise (1967), and Star Trek: Patterns of Force (1968).
A close-up of the three scanning heads on the trident scanner seem to be a re-use of the disruptor weapons from Star Trek: A Taste of Armageddon (1967).
This takes place in 2268.
Daystrom’s scanning device, which he used to analyze the M-5, resembles McCoy’s medical scanner. It also resembles the one used in Star Trek: The Naked Time (1966), when Scotty used it to point out the critical engineering wall circuits and when Joe Tormolen used it on the surface of Psi 2000.
The Excalibur was commanded by “Captain Harris”. Harris was Associate Producer Robert Justman’s middle name.
A similar question (computer control versus human control) arises for Captain Picard in Star Trek: The Next Generation: Booby Trap (1989), in which the Enterprise is caught in an ancient booby trap. ‘Booby Trap’ presents a situation where, as a ship caught in the trap tries to fly out, the trap absorbs and powers itself from the ship, while reacting to, and counterbalancing, the ship’s engines. This counterbalancing prevents the ship caught in the trap from moving. One method of escape from the booby trap, proposed by the Chief Engineer, is to turn complete navigation and engine control over to the computer, and allow it to make the calculations and adjustments faster than the booby trap can react to the Enterprise, thereby allowing it to power out of the trap. In that situation, Picard makes the decision to take the helm himself, instead of allowing the computer to take total control.
The character of Bob Wesley appears later in the animated series episode “One of Our Planets is Missing”, written by Star Trek director Marc Daniels. Wesley has retired from Starfleet and is governor of the remote Federation planet, Mantilles.
Star Trek: Lower Decks: The Stars at Night (2022) pays homage to this episode with the plot theme of crewless starships controlled by artificial intelligence, going haywire and firing on friendly forces. Also, images of Admiral Buenamigo’s control console for his Texas-class starships bear a strong resemblance to the M-5’s control console.
This is the only time in the series where the Enterprise is seen from another ship.
Summary
Captain Kirk replies to an urgent (yet brief) message from Commodore Enright, which only tells him to report to the nearest space station. Once there, most of the crew is removed – held in a security area, leaving only a minimal skeleton crew on board. Commodore Bob Wesley arrives and informs the captain he’s the unwitting ‘fox in the hunt;’ of simulated war games to be played. The purpose? To put the so far only-rumored-to-exist M-5 Multitronic unit – through its paces. The M-5 computer is the latest invention of the brilliant Dr. Richard Daystrom, creator of the Duotronic computer systems, which power Enterprise, and many other high-end systems. Daystrom is confident his unit can not only take control of the starship but do a better job than humans can. At first, the Enterprise under M-5’s control easily defeats two other starships, but, quickly begins to act independently of its human masters, Daystrom has little interest in disconnecting the M-5 and treats it more like an errant child than a machine. For Kirk and the few crew members still aboard, it becomes a matter of life and death when Starfleet Command orders the Enterprise destroyed.
CAST
William Shatner … Captain James Tiberius ‘Jim’ Kirk Leonard Nimoy … Mister Spock DeForest Kelley … Dr. McCoy William Marshall … Daystrom James Doohan … Scott George Takei … Sulu Nichelle Nichols … Uhura Walter Koenig … Chekov Sean Morgan … Harper Barry Russo … Wesley Bill Blackburn … Lieutenant Hadley (uncredited) Frank da Vinci … Lt. Brent (uncredited) Roger Holloway … Lt. Lemli (uncredited) Eddie Paskey … Lieutenant Leslie (uncredited)
There she is again Standin’ over by the record machine Looking like a model On the cover of a magazine
Every single time I post a Chuck Berry song I go on and on about how great a lyricist he was…and this one will be no different. The words in his songs have a flow to them that seems so natural.
This song has the Chuck Berry style all over it. It appeared on the 1959 album Chuck Berry Is on Top and was released as a double A-side with “Almost Grown.” He has a line in the song that people seem to frown on these days. “She’s too cute to be a minute over seventeen” because of her age. What some forget is back then the target audience was teenagers. The singer whether it be Chuck Berry, Little Richard, Fats Domino, or Buddy Holly…they were the voice of the teens. They were the teenagers talking…the rock stars were the teen’s voices.
The song peaked at #80 on the Billboard 100 in 1959.
Later on in the late 60s and to the 2000’s he would tour by himself and in his contract…the promoter had to provide a backing band. He did this to save money but it affected the quality of the shows at times. He did have a super backing band at one of his gigs in 1973.
Berry’s contract stipulated that it was the promoter’s responsibility to supply him with a backing band for this concert. Apparently, Bruce Springsteen learned about a week before the show that the promoter was seeking a group to support Berry and immediately volunteered his band’s services for free, which the promoter gladly accepted.
There was no rehearsal or soundcheck with Berry, so Bruce and the band improvised as best they could. The show was Bruce’s first known appearance in Maryland. Bruce and the E-Street Band opened their part of the show with a 50-minute set, followed by a 60-minute set by Jerry Lee Lewis and his band. Chuck Berry (with Springsteen’s entire band backing him, including Bruce and Southside Johnny) closed the evening’s festivities with a 70-minute performance.
Springsteen asked Chuck what songs they were going to do. Berry said: “We’re going to do some Chuck Berry songs.” That is one of the funniest rock stories I’ve ever heard. Imagine being on stage and not knowing what song is coming. What makes it worse is that Chuck would change the keys of songs. So instead of playing in the universally known A chord to Johnny B Goode…he would start in an F# chord sometimes. Luckily the bass player Gary Tallent was a music historian so he led the band that night. He played in those keys because his former piano player Johnnie Johnson helped him write and arrange those songs so Chuck would play them in keys as a piano player would.
More than 20 years later, Springsteen again played backup for Berry, at a concert at Cleveland Municipal Stadium, celebrating the opening of the Rock and Roll Music Hall of Fame.
Bruce Springsteen when Chuck Berry died: “Chuck Berry was rock’s greatest practitioner, guitarist, and the greatest pure rock ‘n’ roll writer who ever lived. This is a tremendous loss of a giant for the ages.”
Little Queenie
I got lumps in my throat When I saw her comin’ down the aisle I got the wiggles in my knees When she looked at me and sweetly smiled There she is again Standin’ over by the record machine Looking like a model On the cover of a magazine She’s too cute to be a minute over seventeen
Meanwhile I was thinkin’
If she’s in the mood no need to break it I got the chance and I oughta take it If she can dance we can make it C’mon queenie let’s shake it
Go, go, go, little queenie Go, go, go, little queenie Go, go, go, little queenie
Tell me who’s the queen Standin’ over by the record machine Looking like a model On the cover of a magazine She’s too cute to be a minute over seventeen
Meanwhile, I was still thinkin’ If it’s a slow song, we’ll omit it If it’s a rocker, then we’ll get it And if it’s good, she’ll admit it C’mon queenie, let’s get with it
Go, go, go, little queenie Go, go, go, little queenie Go, go, go, little queenie
I want to start something called “Max Picks” and go through every year from 1955 to around 1990 or so. Right now I’ll try to get these in on Wednesday after Star Trek. When Star Trek ends on August 26th I might move it to the weekends. I will try to make each of these short and sweet. This post will hopefully be the longest one I write only because of telling you about it. I will pick 5 songs out of each year…now of course I’m breaking my rule in the first one! You will see why.
I won’t just pick hits as we go along. In the 80s there will be some “alternative” music and I will try to mix it up. The reason I am starting in 1955? The first song below is the reason. It helped jumpstart Rock and Roll.
1955
Ok, let’s get this rolling. The huge hit this year? The one you will know later on in Happy Days. Bill Haley and His Comets Rock Around The Clock. It was one of the most important rock songs of all time. This one was huge in America and it popped into the UK charts in 1955. Whether you are a rock fan, pop fan, heavy metal fan, or anything in between…1955 helped kick it all off.
Here…a middle age looking man takes the world by storm. The following year it would be in the movie of the same name featuring Bill and his Comets. Take it away big fellow.
Mr. Chuck Berry also debuted with his first single…the classic Maybelline. The song was written by Chuck Berry and the song just flat out rocks. This song and its beat influenced young kids like Keith Richards, Jimmy Page, Eric Clapton, and many more.
Now one of my favorites from the year and decade. The one and only Fats Domino Ain’t That A Shame. I love Cheap Tricks version but Fats is Fats…he was one of the most understated rockers of this decade. This song was written by Fats Domino and Dave Bartholomew.
I could not have this without the Big E! Elvis Presley…I’m stuck between two songs to pick. Heartbreak Hotel and Mystery Train. So…on my first post in this…I’m going to pick both! This is the Elvis that I love… before the Army and Tom Parker took his soul away. Junior Parker wrote this song and the great Sam Phillips produced it. Heartbreak Hotel was written by Mae Boren Axton (Hoyts Mom!) and Tommy Durden. Tom Parker got Elvis’s name writing credits but he didn’t have anything to do with it but singing.
Since we have thrown in rockers…I thought I would try a ballad that’s been in a lot of movies and was huge at the time. The Penguins doing Earth Angel (Will You Be Mine) written by Curtis Williams, Gaynel Hodge, and Jesse Belvin.
If you want to see where we are…and you missed a few…HERE is a list of the episodes in my index located at the top of my blog.
This show was written by Gene Roddenberry
***I’ll be starting a new series called “Through The Years” starting after this post.***
This episode has been called really good and the worst of the series. I don’t think it’s the worse by any stretch of the imagination. For me it was a little convoluted but a good episode to watch.
Gene Roddenberry originally wanted to produce this script early in the first season, along with Star Trek: Mudd’s Women, but NBC thought the script was weak and ordered the staff to ‘shelve’ it for an indefinite time to be possibly reworked and produced later on. Despite NBC still objecting against it, Roddenberry finally had his way to make “The Omega Glory” late in the second season.
The Enterprise comes across the U.S.S. Exeter, and finds its entire crew dead — victims of absolute dehydration resulting from a plague contracted from the surface of the planet the Exeter was orbiting. Kirk, Spock, and McCoy beam down to the planet’s surface and learn that the inhabitants are immune and that the newest inhabitant is Ron Tracey, captain of the Exeter. Unfortunately, the inhabitants of the planet are divided into the urban-dwelling “Khoms” and the more rustic “Yangs,” each in deadly combat with the others.
They find themselves in a town where relatively backward villagers are preparing to execute two captives who are apparently savages. The execution is stopped by the sole survivor of the Exeter, Capt. Ron Tracey. He explains that they are in a Kohm village and the savage Yangs are waging a war against them. It turns out Tracey has broken the prime directive by arming the Kohms because he has learned that not only are people living on the surface immune to the condition that killed his crew… they also live to a great age… he intends to find out how then make a fortune with the knowledge.
Tracey has Kirk, Spock and McCoy locked up, Galloway is dead by now, and while confined Kirk is put in a cell with a Yang. After a fight the Yang escapes and warns his people about a Kohm ambush. They are then victorious and take the village; it is then that Kirk learns that the Yangs have some shocking similarities with the United States… only this society lost a war and forget the meanings of its familiar ‘holy words’.
This episode is not a veiled observation on communism…it’s in the open completely.
From IMDB:
This is the second of three times the Enterprise encounters another Constitution-class star ship with the entire crew dead. The other two were in Star Trek: The Doomsday Machine (1967) and Star Trek: The Tholian Web (1968).
NBC announced that Star Trek would be renewed for a third season during the closing credits of “The Omega Glory,” broadcast on 1 March 1968. In the announcement, they also wrote “Please do not send any more letters”, responding to the vast amount of mail received during the protests organized by Gene Roddenberry and Bjo Trimble.
This was one of three scripts submitted to NBC (along with Star Trek: Where No Man Has Gone Before (1966) and Star Trek: Mudd’s Women (1966)) when they were seeking to do a second pilot for the series. They ultimately chose to kickstart the series with “Where No Man Has Gone Before”.
Only episode where a victim of the Vulcan neck-pinch actually makes a sound at the time of the pinch. Normally, the neck-pinch incapacitates the victim before he/she can make a sound.
This episode marks the first and only time in the original series that a reference is made to phaser “power packs.”
The original 1965 script draft named the missing starship as the USS Argentina. The Enterprise landing party consisted of Kirk, Spock, a young navigator named Lieutenant Commander Piper, a helmsman called Lieutenant Phil Raintree, and the ship’s doctor named Milton Perry.
A letter reprinted in Inside Star Trek: The Real Story reveals that Gene Roddenberry personally submitted his teleplay for consideration for an Emmy Award.
Here the USS Enterprise visits another world possessing a parallel-Earth culture. Other such examples include Star Trek: Miri (1966) and Star Trek: Bread and Circuses (1968). There are also Earth cultures in Star Trek: A Piece of the Action (1968), Star Trek: Patterns of Force (1968), Star Trek: The Paradise Syndrome (1968), and Star Trek: Plato’s Stepchildren (1968), but they were introduced deliberately or accidentally by people from Earth and/or the Federation, and did not originate organically.
Scenes from The Omega Glory were featured in a set of View Master (3-D) slides. In this adaptation, the Yangs were renamed the Meraks.
Morgan Woodward (USS Exeter Captain Ronald Tracey) had previously played another wild-eyed madman, Simon Van Gelder in Star Trek: Dagger of the Mind (1966).
This is the first time the chief medical officer of another Federation star ship, Dr. Carter, is seen. Although he is sitting in the command chair on the bridge, it is unclear if he is in command of the Exeter or is merely recording his warning. Not until Star Trek: The Next Generation: Descent, Part II (1993) would a doctor clearly be in command of a star ship. (Star Trek: The Next Generation: Remember Me (1990) had teased viewers with the possibility.)
The Kohm guarding Dr. McCoy can be seen in green coveralls in Star Trek: The Man Trap (1966), both in the corridor and in the turbolift, and as one of the miners in Star Trek: The Devil in the Dark (1967). He can also be seen extensively as a background character in Kung Fu (1972) and Hawaii Five-O (1968).
Spock attempting to telepathically “suggest” Sirah to pick up the communicator was reminiscent of the early concepts that Spock has special powers over women.
The remastered version of “The Omega Glory” aired in many North American markets during the weekend of 30 June 2007. The episode included dramatic new effects shots of the Enterprise and the Exeter in orbit of a more Earth-like, computer-generated Omega IV. Among the fine details inserted into the show, a small glimpse of the Exeter appears on the Enterprise viewscreen as it approaches the planet at the start of the episode.
Roy Jenson’s voice was electronically altered. The preview trailer contains unaltered dialogue for Cloud William which doesn’t have the “slowed down” effect.
It is learned that the Exeter had a standard complement of four shuttlecraft. During the search for survivors, Galloway informed Kirk that “all four of the craft” were still on the hangar deck. Whether all Constitution-class vessels were equipped with that number of shuttles is not made clear.
The shot of Sulu manning the helm station with an empty captain’s chair in the background in mid-Act One is recycled from Star Trek: Arena (1967).
This takes place in 2268.
Empty phasers make a click noise just like an empty gun. (When Tracey tries to shoot Kirk a second time.)
When Sirah holds the communicator while hypnotized by Spock, the lid/antenna appears to open by itself, without being flipped open in any way. In actuality, Sirah is seen using her right index finger to pull the right top hinge; thereby opening the cover.
Wu was born in 1806.
Scotty and Chekov do not appear in this episode.
Wu’s father was born well before 1268.
A canned female scream is also heard in Star Trek: A Private Little War (1968) and Star Trek: The Gamesters of Triskelion (1968).
For the scenes involving the American flag Fred Steiner, the original “Perry Mason” theme composer, provided the only original music written for this show.
McCoy gives the prognosis that an Omega lV serum can’t prolong alien life. And that the Kohms’ & the Yangs’ vast prolonged lifespan is evolutionary. However, Spoke is a product of genetic engineering. So at least offspring might enjoy “immortality.” And with 23rd century science & medicine, “adulthood” gene splicing is feasible.
Roy Jenson (Cloud William) and Irene Kelly (Sirah) both appeared in different shows of “Mission: Impossible”, another initial Desilu production. Jenson appeared in the “The Killing” of season two, and Kelly in “The Elixir” of season three.
Summary
As the Enterprise approaches planet Omega IV, they find another starship, the U.S.S. Exeter, in orbit. Kirk, Spock, and McCoy beam aboard to find the ship abandoned but strewn with uniforms and crystals. The last log entry from the ship’s surgeon tells them they have been infected with a deadly virus brought aboard from a returning landing party. Kirk’s party beams down to the planet’s surface and finds there is one Exeter survivor: Captain Ron Tracey. He has apparently ignored the Prime Directive and has taken sides in a local dispute supporting the Kohms against their arch-rivals, the Yangs. As McCoy tries to find a cure for the virus, Spock and Kirk try to make sense of the situation. They eventually realize there is an odd parallel with Earth’s own history.
CAST
William Shatner … Captain James Tiberius ‘Jim’ Kirk Leonard Nimoy … Mister Spock DeForest Kelley … Dr. McCoy Morgan Woodward … Captain Tracey Roy Jenson … Cloud William George Takei … Sulu Nichelle Nichols … Uhura Irene Kelly … Sirah Morgan Farley … Yang Scholar David L. Ross … Lt. Galloway Lloyd Kino … Wu Ed McCready … Dr. Carter Frank Atienza … Kohn Villager Bill Blackburn … Lieutenant Hadley (uncredited) Frank da Vinci … Security Guard (uncredited) Ed Fury Ed Fury … Guard (uncredited) Eddie Paskey … Lieutenant Leslie (uncredited) Adele Yoshioka … Kohm Servant (uncredited)
If you want to see where we are…and you missed a few…HERE is a list of the episodes in my index located at the top of my blog.
This show was written by Gene Roddenberry, D.C. Fontana, and Jerome Bixby
The Enterprise Crew finds themselves being conquered by a superior alien race (Kelvans). A small group of superior alien beings takes the form of humans in order for them to hijack the Enterprise.
They need the ship so they can return to their old world which is beyond the Great Barrier. They turn almost the whole crew into these clay balls, except for Kirk, Spock, Scotty, and Bones, whom they need to help them run the ship. The only weakness the hijackers seem to have is that since they’re in human form for the time being, they’re vulnerable to human emotions.
Once the senior crew realizes the Kelvans are susceptible to human weaknesses things get quite amusing as Scotty gets one of them drunk, McCoy gives injections saying they are vitamin supplements but actually, they just make him very irritable and, perhaps inevitably Kirk sets about seducing the beautiful Kelinda causing Rojan to get jealous.
In human form, they cannot resist the emotions that they are getting. Will it be the Achilles heel that Kirk has been looking for? This is a good solid episode…not a classic one but not all of them can be.
***Spoiler***
The only thing I didn’t like about the episode is… there was no action or punishment for the death of Yeoman Leslie Thompson.
From IMDB:
While drinking with Tomar, Scotty finds a bottle of unidentifiable alcohol, and when Tomar asks, “What is it?” Scotty hesitates for a moment and finally says “It’s green.” This has become an iconic Scotty moment, and is even spoofed in Star Trek: The Next Generation: Relics (1992).
Direct references to two previous episodes were made. After Rojan mentions the galactic barrier, Kirk says, “We’ve been there.” (Star Trek: Where No Man Has Gone Before (1966)); Even Spock repeats his analysis of the barrier word for word: “Density negative. Radiation negative. Energy negative.” When the landing party is detained in a cave, Kirk recalls their imprisonment on Eminiar VII and Spock’s use of a mind-meld to fool the guards. (Star Trek: A Taste of Armageddon (1967)).
Jerome Bixby’s original script was much darker than the filmed episode. The Kelvans (then called the Dvenyens) executed ten Enterprise crew members by opening the shuttle bay doors and letting them be blown out into space. (Technically, they would be blown out by escaping air. This could have been a goof because, even in the Orignal Series, the shuttle bay had force fields to prevent this happening, unless the Kelvans deliberately lowered them.) Kirk was put through “hellish torture”. Also, crew members were chosen to mate with each other (Kirk was paired with Yeoman Leslie Thompson) to breed slaves for the Kelvans. NBC objected to all these, which led producer Gene L. Coon to order a heavy rewrite. The production staff also deemed the mating aspect too similar to Star Trek: The Cage (1966).
Kirk mentions that an intergalactic voyage by a 23rd century starship would take “thousands of years” to reach the Andromeda Galaxy. For the Kelvans, intergalactic travel is a three-century journey. In the 24th century, as seen in Star Trek: The Next Generation: Where No One Has Gone Before (1987), Federation technology has apparently matched the Kelvans, perhaps due to this encounter, when it is discussed that a return trip to the Milky Way from the Triangulum Galaxy would take three hundred years at maximum warp.
A three-dimensional chess set is often seen in the series, but a three-dimensional checkers set can be seen in the rec room in this episode. It is later destroyed in a fight.
The Kelvan word for flower is “sasheer.” Actress Sasheer Zamata of Saturday Night Live (1975) fame was named after it by her Trek-loving parents.
Scotty’s quarters are only seen in this episode. Decorations include a tartan kilt, a sporran, bagpipes, a Scottish targe (shield), medieval armor, and a wall plaque. Although the plaque apparently depicts stylized drafting tools, they also resemble part of a three-dimensional chess set and the primary hull of a Klingon battle cruiser.
A shot in the end credits is an outtake from Star Trek: Return to Tomorrow (1968), which was produced one week earlier and aired two weeks later. It shows actor Bill Blackburn removing his latex make-up as one of Sargon’s androids. It was from a clip later used in the second season blooper reels: Blackburn gratefully peeled off the makeup as assistant director Tiger Shapiro said, “Well, son, you wanted show business. Goddammit, you got it!”
The basis of this episode can be found in Gene Roddenberry’s first ever produced science fiction script, Chevron Hall of Stars: The Secret Weapon of 117 (1956). The episode featured a pair of aliens (the male played by Ricardo Montalban, Star Trek’s “Khan”) who disguise themselves as humans to study Earth people, get overwhelmed by the sensations and experiences of their new host bodies, and decide to remain human.
When Mr. Scott offers to fill the glass of the Kelvan Tomar from his bottle of prized Scotch whisky, on pause you can clearly see that the middle finger on his right hand, which he always tries so hard to cover up, is missing. Doohan lost the finger in battle on D-Day.
Second appearance of the Galactic Barrier at the edge of the galaxy. The first was Star Trek: Where No Man Has Gone Before (1966).
The title is from William Shakespeare’s Romeo and Juliet: “What’s in a name? That which we call a rose, by any other name would smell as sweet.”
Stewart Moss (Hanar) played Joe Tormolean in Star Trek: The Naked Time (1966).
Robert Fortier (Tomar, one of the Kelvans) had played a small role in the earlier William Shatner vehicle Incubus (1966), a novelty horror film famous for being “the Esperanto movie.”
The remastered version of this episode premiered in syndication on the weekend of 8 March 2008. It featured new effects shots of the Kelvan outpost from space, an expanded matte painting of the planet’s terrain as the landing party beams down, a swirling Andromeda Galaxy, and the galactic barrier’s new look.
Julie Cobb (Yeoman Leslie Thompson) was married from 1986 until 2006 to James Cromwell (Zefram Cochrane in Star Trek: First Contact (1996), and numerous other Trek roles).
This was the only episode lensed by cinematographer Keith C. Smith, replacing Gerald Perry Finnerman, who was apparently unavailable for an unknown reason. Smith was the director of photography on Mission: Impossible (1966), filmed next door to Star Trek at Desilu Studios at the time.
The Saurian Brandy container makes an appearance in this episode. The distinctive-shape bottle was actually a modified George Dickel 1964 commemorative edition “powder horn” whisky bottle.
Jerome Bixby based his teleplay for “By Any Other Name” on a short story he wrote and published in 1950, “Cargo to Callisto.” In the story, four Martian criminals, with the ability to take over human beings and assume their shape and mannerisms, use that ability to escape from a Martian prison and flee the planet. The story’s protagonist realizes that his wife and two friends have been taken over, finds the Martians’ bodies, kills them and thus restores to normal the humans that they’d taken. Before Bixby wrote this story, the idea of a hostile alien being able to shape-shift into any human form was used by John W. Campbell Jr. in his novella “Who Goes There?”, the basis of The Thing from Another World (1951), The Thing (1982), and The Thing (2011), although the 1951 version left out the shape shifting element.
As Scotty, Spock, and Kirk left engineering to head to the bridge in the turbolift, it is seen going sideways prior to going upwards to the bridge.
A similar, if not identical, green drink to the one shared between Scotty and Tomar was also seen in Star Trek: Enterprise: In a Mirror, Darkly, Part II (2005), aboard the Defiant.
The swiveling biobed normally situated in sickbay was removed to allow McCoy and Tomar to roll the gurney carrying Spock to the biofunction monitor.
Tomar’s name is the Spanish word for ‘to drink’.
This is the tenth consecutive episode from which Sulu is absent, but he returns to the series in the next episode to be produced, Star Trek: Return to Tomorrow (1968).
According to guest star Stewart Moss after filming was complete, he asked fellow guest star Barbara Bouchet out for a date. She replied, “But for what purpose? You’re an attractive man, but what can you do for me? Six months later Moss married actress Marianne McAndrew, and Bouchet eventually married Italian film producer Luigi Borghese.
This takes place in 2268.
Michael Jan Friedman’s novel ‘The Valiant: The Untold Story of Picard’s First Command’ (2000) is a sequel to both Star Trek: Where No Man Has Gone Before (1966) and ‘By Any Other Name’. After a prologue set in 2069, the main story takes place in the 24th century, in the decades leading up to the start of Star Trek: The Next Generation (1987).
Warren Stevens (Rojan) played Dr. Oslow in Forbidden Planet (1956), one of Gene Roddenberry’s stated inspirations for Star Trek.
Summary
The Enterprise is taken over by Kelvans, an advanced race from the Andromeda galaxy that is intent on making the 300-year journey home. Their leader, Rojan, immobilizes all of the crew but for Kirk, Spock, McCoy, and Scott. As the trip progresses, however, Spock realizes that having taken human form, the Kelvans are now developing emotions. Kirk introduces romance into the equation by purposely wooing Kelinda thereby rendering Rojan insanely jealous.
CAST
William Shatner … Captain James Tiberius ‘Jim’ Kirk Leonard Nimoy … Mister Spock DeForest Kelley … Dr. McCoy Warren Stevens … Rojan Barbara Bouchet … Kelinda James Doohan … Scott Nichelle Nichols … Uhura Majel Barrett … Christine Stewart Moss … Hanar Walter Koenig … Chekov Robert Fortier … Tomar Lezlie Dalton … Drea Carl Byrd … Lt. Shea Julie Cobb … Yeoman Thompson Bill Blackburn … Lieutenant Hadley (uncredited) Frank da Vinci … Lt. Brent (uncredited) Roger Holloway … Lt. Lemli (uncredited) Eddie Paskey … Lieutenant Leslie (uncredited)
If you want to see where we are…and you missed a few…HERE is a list of the episodes in my index located at the top of my blog.
This show was written by Gene Roddenberry and John Meredyth Lucas
This is a very interesting episode. Kirk and crew take on another planet’s Nazis. A plague of thought/speech spread on a planet called Ekos. The Ekosians, a warlike primitive people, are subverted to channel their aggression against their peaceful neighboring planet, Zeon. The Zeons were more advanced up until a few years ago; but now, Ekos have the same technology, and plans are made to exterminate the Zeons. It all started innocently enough. It’s a bit strange.
The Federation has had this non-interference directive, the Prime Directive, in place for at least a century or more. I understand a sometimes aggressive hotshot like Kirk rationalizing around this directive at times of intense situational imperative, but now an elderly Federation historian, a supposed expert on what tampering with history means, decides to re-arrange a culture’s status quo on what appears to be a whim…a chance to play God, as McCoy puts it.
The Ekosians are the Nazis here, whereas the Zeons are stand-ins for the persecuted Jews. The episode does succeed in capturing some of that brutality associated with the Nazi regime and there’s plenty of suspense as Kirk & Spock attempt to infiltrate the Nazi HQ to see their Federation rep, now Fuhrer.
If anything, this is the serious version of “A Piece of the Action” – the scary contemplation of how an entire society can be deluded into following a certain doctrine. The most intriguing aspect is Melakon, the deputy Fuhrer who is, in fact, the actual incarnation of Hitler or Himmler…take your pick.
From IMDB:
Due to the post-war German ban on Nazi-related imagery and paraphernalia, this was the only Star Trek episode that was not shown on German TV until mid-1990s, when these restrictions were gradually relaxed to allow for artistic expression.
All the Nazi uniforms used in this episode are taken from Paramount’s costume storage, and were previously featured in many of the studio’s World War II-era films. Many of them featured mismatched epaulets, collar tabs, and other rank-identifying insignia. However, McCoy’s collar tabs, bearing a single silver oak leaf, correctly identify him as a colonel, as Kirk had ordered.
Leonard Nimoy refused to have any publicity pictures taken of him in Nazi uniform. He was due to attend Hanukkah services later that month (filming took place in December), and did not want any controversies to arise.
This episode with its Nazi storyline proved rather difficult to make for a lot of the cast and crew who were Jewish. This included William Shatner and Leonard Nimoy.
The name of the planet Zeon is a variation of the word “Zion”, a Hebrew term, as in Mount Zion, near the city of Jerusalem. The names of the Zeons: Isak, Davod and Abrom are obvious references to Isaac, David and Abraham, traditional Hebrew biblical names.
According to Valora Noland (Daras), her costume originally did not have a swastika on it and it was added right before filming. Noland, whose parents fled Nazi Germany, was offended by this and stated that she would not have taken the role if she knew she would be wearing a swastika. Noland quit acting entirely after this episode.
This is the second mention of Nazi Germany in Star Trek, the first being in Star Trek: The City on the Edge of Forever (1967). However, in Star Trek: Mirror, Mirror (1967), Scotty did compare Evil Sulu’s security system to “the ancient Gestapo”.
In one of the sequences of news footage, all of which consisted of stock shots and stock footage, a car with Adolf Hitler accompanied by soldiers is used to represent John Gill as the Führer on the planet Ekos. The sequence is a use of stock footage from The Triumph of the Will (1935), the infamous Nazi propaganda film for whose production Leni Riefenstahl was responsible.
The “leader principle” Kirk mentions at the end of the episode was a foundation of the leadership in Nazi Germany. Known in German as “Führerprinzip”, it essentially can be described as a state of law in which there are no laws above those of the Führer, and that the government must obey and enforce such laws.
The character Eneg (Patrick Horgan) is Gene Roddenberry’s first name, spelled backwards.
Skip Homeier, who plays Melakon, would later play the insane demagogue Dr. Sevrin in Star Trek: The Way to Eden (1969).
The front of the Ekosian Chancellery has all of its windows and shutters closed, for the real world reason that the actual building was an active office of Paramount Pictures with daily business going on inside while the film crew and actors were shooting the exterior. Even so, two individuals who appear to be curious Paramount Pictures employees can be seen looking down on the courtyard from an upper window.
This is the only episode of Star Trek besides Star Trek: The City on the Edge of Forever (1967) in which Leonard Nimoy is seen without a shirt.
The underground area is the same set as was used for Star Trek: The Devil in the Dark (1967).
The remastered version of “Patterns of Force” aired in many North American markets during the weekend of 19 May 2007. While the episode required very few new effects, an entirely new shot of the Enterprise phasering the Ekosian warhead was substituted. In addition, Ekos was given a CGI-makeover as a more Earth-like planet, with new orbital shots of the Enterprise, and the rubindium crystal beam was refined.
The Schulberg Building (formerly, the Directors Building) and the Lubitsch Building (formerly, the Producers Building), both located on the Paramount Studios lot, were used for the exterior shots of the Ekosian Nazi headquarters complex.
The attacking V-2 rocket on the viewscreen of Enterprise was reused footage of the Orion scout ship from Star Trek: Journey to Babel (1967) earlier in the season.
This episode was finally shown on German pay TV in 1996 and included on all DVD/Blu-ray season sets. This episode was also finally shown on the public network channel ZDFneo on November 4, 2011.
The missile fired at the Enterprise was shown to be a V2. In 1942, one of these ethanol/liquid oxygen-fueled rockets reached an altitude of 118 miles, making it the first man-made object in space.
Skip Homeier, who plays Melakon, had his feature film debut playing a Nazi youth in Tomorrow, the World! (1944).
Several uniforms, such as Kirk and McCoy’s, show cuffbands reading “Adolf Hitler”. They represent members of the Leibstandarte Adolf Hitler, special bodyguards of the Führer.
V-2 rocket footage from World War II Germany is used in the newscast showing Ekosian missiles.
Due to a re-rating in late 2016, this episode is now suitable for ages 12 and up in Germany.
An early draft had the source of cultural contamination arriving aboard a small Ambassador-class vessel called the Magellan. The name was later applied in Star Trek: The Next Generation (1987) to the Ambassador-class of ships in the mid-24th century.
Gilbert Green, who played the S.S. Major, also played Nazi General Hans Stofle in Hogan’s Heroes: Hello, Zolle (1966).
The second occasion, after Star Trek: The City on the Edge of Forever (1967), where Vulcans are shown to have body hair, with Spock fully removing his shirt to show a full front torso covered in hair.
This takes place in 2268.
Two of the main guest stars, Richard Evans (Isak) and Patrick Horgan (Eneg), died four days apart on October 2 and 6, 2021, respectively. Eddie Paskey (as a Nazi storm trooper rather than his regular role of Lt. Leslie) had died a few weeks earlier on August 17, 2021. Two other iconic Trek guest stars would die just a matter of days after Evans and Horgan. They were Jan Shutan (Lt. Mira Romaine in Star Trek: The Lights of Zetar (1969)) just a day after Horgan on October 7, 2021, and then, three days later, the repeat Trek actor and stunt performer Bob Herron (Jeffrey Hunter’s stunt double in the pilot Star Trek: The Cage (1966)), Kirk’s gym buddy Sam in Star Trek: Charlie X (1966) and the recreation of the villainous Klingon warrior Kahless the Unforgettable in Star Trek: The Savage Curtain (1969)). Evans’s passing had not been widely known until a time after the later death of Horgan was reported. Learning afterward that Evans had died first lent an oddly spiritual twist to his most famous line, referring to their respective characters, when Isak says “Eneg is one of us.”
Summary
The Enterprise travels to the planet Ekos to search for the missing Federation cultural observer Professor John Gill. When they arrive, they find that Ekosian society has been completely patterned after Nazi Germany – down to its uniforms and the hatred of everyone from their neighboring planet Zeon – and the Fuhrer of this neo-Nazi regime is John Gill! Kirk and Spock are soon taken prisoner, but they also learn that there is an underground movement that opposes the totalitarian and vicious regime. As they realize that Gill has been incapacitated, they focus their efforts on dethroning the real power – Melakon, the Deputy Fuhrer.
HERE IS THE PREVIEW…I TRIED 5 DIFFERENT VIDEOS AND ALL CAME UP AS “AGE RESTRICTED” AND WOULD NOT LET YOU GET TO THE VIDEO…SO CLICK ON THE LINK.
CAST
William Shatner … Captain James Tiberius ‘Jim’ Kirk Leonard Nimoy … Mister Spock DeForest Kelley … Dr. McCoy Richard Evans … Isak Valora Noland … Daras Skip Homeier … Melakon David Brian … John Gill James Doohan … Scott Nichelle Nichols … Uhura Patrick Horgan … Eneg William Wintersole … Abrom Gilbert Green … S.S. Major Walter Koenig … Chekov Lev Mailer … S.S. Lieutenant (as Ralph Maurer) Ed McCready … S.S. Trooper Peter Canon … Gestapo Lieutenant Paul Baxley … First Trooper Chuck Courtney … Davod Bart La Rue … Newscaster Benjie Bancroft … Soldier at Party (uncredited) Bill Blackburn … Lieutenant Hadley / S.S. Trooper (uncredited) John Blower … Ekosian Gestapo Lt. Col. (uncredited) Frank da Vinci … Soldier at Party (uncredited) Len Felber … Soldier at Party (uncredited) Adolf Hitler … Self (archive footage) (uncredited) Roger Holloway … Soldier at Party (uncredited) Jeannie Malone … Blonde in Audience (uncredited) Sean Morgan … Second Trooper (uncredited) Basil Poledouris … Trooper (uncredited) Robert Strong Robert Strong … Soldier at Party (uncredited) Bob Whitney … Soldier at Party (uncredited)
If you want to see where we are…and you missed a few…HERE is a list of the episodes in my index located at the top of my blog.
This show was written by Gene Roddenberry and John T. Dugan
A very good episode of three survivors of a race that were killed millions of years ago. They are just energy without form. The crew has to transport under 112.37 miles of rock. As Spock would say…the episode is fascinating.
In a region of space where no other Federation sip has yet been, the Enterprise comes across a planet with three impressive survivors. All that remains of these beings is pure energy, their bodies lost in some cataclysmic war fought 500,000 years ago.
Their minds are capable of feats that 23rd-century humanity can scarcely dream of. So they’ve been waiting around in these containment globules for half a million years, waiting for their probable descendants to start exploring space. The reason the survivors contacted the Enterprise was to borrow three humanoid bodies (Kirk, Spock, and Ann Mulhall) in order to construct android shells for themselves. They borrow Kirk’s (now call him Sargon), Spock’s (now Henoch, from the ‘other’ side), and Dr. Mulhall’s (now Thalassa). It was just to be temporary. The longer they stay in the body the more the body deteriorates.
There’s a kink in the plans though. Apparently, Henoch hasn’t spent the past half million years contemplating peaceful pursuits… we learn this in short order when Spock’s face assumes an uncharacteristically evil grin as Henoch confidently makes plans to remove Sargon from the equation and take over everything. He plans to be free and live as a human. Will Spock, Kirk, and Doctor Mulhall’s bodies and souls die?
We get to see Spock act out as a sadistic villain…there’s a creepy chilling tone to some of this as Thalassa starts turning bad also. Majel Barrett as Christine Chapel does a great job in this episode as well. She gets to share something that she has always wanted.
From IMDB:
As a lieutenant commander, Ann Mulhall has the distinction of being the highest-ranking female Starfleet character shown in The Original Series.
The voice of Sargon was played by James Doohan. Sargon of Akkad was a Mesopotamian king, who by most accounts, began ruling around 2269 B.C. In the show the year is around 2268 A.D.
First Star Trek appearance of Diana Muldaur. She would also appear as Miranda Jones in the episode Star Trek: Is There in Truth No Beauty? (1968), and as Dr. Kathryn Pulaski in 20 episodes of Star Trek: The Next Generation (1987).
This episode marks George Takei’s return to the series after an absence of some months while filming The Green Berets (1968). His last appearance was Star Trek: I, Mudd (1967), which was ten episodes earlier in production order.
One of the fiberglass globes was re-used later as part of the Romulan cloaking device in Star Trek: The Enterprise Incident (1968), and for M-4 in Star Trek: Requiem for Methuselah (1969).
Thalassa is a Greek name for the sea. Henoch is a variation of the Hebrew name Enoch, who in the Book of Genesis was a man taken bodily to Heaven without dying.
Writer John T. Dugan wrote the original script of this episode after he had read an article about highly sophisticated robots. In his original draft, Sargon and Thalassa continue their existence as spirits without bodies, floating around the universe. However, Gene Roddenberry, who did an uncredited re-write on the script, changed the ending to the aliens fading out into oblivion. This led to Dugan using his pen-name John Kingsbridge in the episode’s credits.
Joseph Pevney was originally slated to direct this episode; however, he quit the series after Star Trek: The Immunity Syndrome (1968), citing the lack of discipline from the actors after producer Gene L. Coon left the show.
A still image taken from blooper reel of Bill Blackburn (Hadley/Android) removing the latex android make-up from his head appears in the end credits of Star Trek: By Any Other Name (1968). That episode was produced the week before this one and aired two weeks later, on 23 February 1968.
The stand for one of the globes was later turned upside-down and used as a piece of technology on Atoz’s desk in Star Trek: All Our Yesterdays (1969).
This episode features colorful back lights on the Enterprise sets, mostly green and purple, which were not used since the early episodes of the first season.
The name of the planet itself, Arret, is never mentioned onscreen. Arrete means “stop” in French, from which the English word “arrest” is derived.
The remastered version of this episode aired in many North American markets during the weekend of 7 July 2007. It featured new effects shots of the Enterprise and a new, more realistic version of planet Arret. It also included shots of the planet matted into interior viewscreen shots.
Still photos of a smiling Spock leaning against a doorway and a non-canonical image of Bill Blackburn, dressed as the android, were used in the end credits of Star Trek: The Immunity Syndrome (1968). That episode was produced before this one, but did not go to air until 19 January 1968.
This episode and its writer, John T. Dugan, earned a Writers Guild of America Award nomination in the category Best Written Dramatic Episode in 1968.
This is the second time a reference is made in Star Trek about the Apollo moon program, after Star Trek: Tomorrow Is Yesterday (1967). Filmed more than a year-and-a-half before the first lunar landing, Kirk rhetorically asks McCoy in this episode, “Do you wish that the first Apollo mission hadn’t reached the Moon?” The first manned Apollo mission, Apollo 1 (intended to be a test-flight of the Command and Service Module in Earth orbit only), never flew, since a tragic fire claimed the lives of three astronauts. This happened on 27 January 1967, months before the script was submitted to the production team and a full year before this episode aired. The first Apollo mission in which astronauts orbited, and technically “reached”, the moon was Apollo 8 in December 1968, ten months after this episode aired. However, the Apollo 11 astronauts were the first to “reach” the moon by landing on it in 20 July 1969, after Star Trek was canceled. Kirk’s next comments about going “on to Mars and then to the nearest star” seem to suggest that he is referring to the Apollo 11 lunar mission.
This takes place in 2268.
This episode is the latest in any season to feature a new score, albeit a partial one, by George Duning. Parts of the new score would be heard for the rest of the season, including the menacing Henoch cues in Star Trek: Patterns of Force (1968) and Star Trek: The Omega Glory (1968). However, most of this score, notably the love themes, would never be reused in another episode. This sets it apart from other scores, such as those from Star Trek: Who Mourns for Adonais? (1967) and Star Trek: Elaan of Troyius (1968), whose themes would be reused extensively.
Summary
Brought deep into an uncharted part of the galaxy, the Enterprise comes across three disembodied beings, their essence each contained in a globe-like receptacle. Their leader, Sargon, asks only one thing of Kirk and his crew – lend them the bodies of Kirk, Spock and crew member Ann Mulhall long enough for them to build robot bodies to inhabit for perpetuity. The beings have been without physical form since their civilization was destroyed over 500,000 years ago but have powers far greater than ordinary humans. Kirk and the rest agree to the exchange, but the alien occupying Spock’s body, Henoch, clearly has designs on keeping the body he has just obtained. When he manages to convince Thalassa to do the same, Sargon – and the body of Capt. Kirk – is in trouble.
CAST
William Shatner … Captain James Tiberius ‘Jim’ Kirk / Sargon Leonard Nimoy … Mister Spock / Henoch DeForest Kelley … Dr. McCoy Diana Muldaur … Ann Mulhall / Thalassa James Doohan … Scott / Voice of Sargon Nichelle Nichols … Uhura George Takei … Sulu Cindy Lou … Nurse Majel Barrett … Christine Chapel Bill Blackburn … Lieutenant Hadley / Android (uncredited) Frank da Vinci … Lt. Brent (uncredited) Roger Holloway … Lt. Lemli (uncredited) Jeannie Malone … Nurse (uncredited) John Hugh McKnight … Command Lieutenant (uncredited) Eddie Paskey … Guard (uncredited)
I first heard this song by Springsteen before I ever heard it by Patti Smith. I’m not sure how I kept missing her version.
Patti Smith has more of a cult following and this is by far the biggest hit she ever had.
Bruce Springsteen started to write this song in 1976. That was a troubled year for the singer. He sued his manager Mike Appel and Bruce wanted to work with Jon Landau. This went on for around 10 months. This was coming after 1975 which was huge in Springsteen’s life. He would be on the cover of Newsweek and Time at the same time. His Born To Run album blanketed rock at the time and he was hailed as the future of Rock and Roll. But instead of capitalizing on his success and hitting the studio to record another album he put on a suit and went to court.
Springsteen did what a lot of artists at that time did…he signed a management contract on the hood of a car in a New Jersey parking lot, Springsteen’s contract allotted him 18¢ per album sold. Appel made a minimum royalty of 40¢ per record. On top of that, the contract called for Springsteen to record 10 albums for CBS but it only called for Springsteen to record five for Appel’s Laurel Canyon management and production company. It was a terrible contract and although Springsteen didn’t care about the money then…he was always broke because he was keeping less than 10 percent of his income.
Appel wanted to stop Landau from working with Bruce also…who had just helped Springsteen with Born To Run. When Appel started to tell Bruce what he could and could not do…that was it. Bruce sued Appel and they went to court. Two days after Springsteen filed suit against Appel for fraud, undue influence, and breach of trust, Appel responded by seeking a permanent injunction in New York State Supreme Court barring Springsteen and Landau from entering the recording studio together. He stated that only he and Springsteen would make a “winning combination.”
So long story short…he was barred from recording until this was settled. All he could do was tour…and tour he did. They ended up settling the suit. Appel gave up publishing rights on most of Springsteen’s music in exchange for $800,000, and he took a cut in production points from six to two. Bruce was free to record.
So this song was born in this chaos. It wasn’t completely finished but he could not record the song. The song lay dormant until Springsteen’s producer, Jimmy Iovine, convinced him to give a copy to Patti Smith, who eventually got around to filing in the verses and recording the song. Iovine was also producing Smith’s Easter album and convinced her to record it for the set.
Smith’s boyfriend at the time was Fred “Sonic” Smith and while waiting for him to call…she finished the verses in 1977. It makes sense because she used the longing for Smith for some of the verses like… Have I doubt when I’m alone Love is a ring, the telephone.
The song appeared on Smith’s album called Easter. At first,. she didn’t want to use the song because she didn’t write all of it. Jimmy Iovine, her producer, along with bandmates convince Smith to record the song.
Fred Smith died of a heart attack in 1994. A year before 10,000 Maniacs recorded the song and it was a hit. The royalties from that song helped keep Smith above water and care for her two young children.
The Patti Smith version peaked at #13 on the Billboard 100, #13 in Canada, and #5 in the UK in 1978. The album Easter peaked at #20 on the Billboard Album Charts.
Bruce Springsteen: “It was a love song and I really wasn’t writing them at the time. I wrote these very hidden love songs like For You, or Sandy, maybe even Thunder Road, but they were always coming from a different angle. My love songs were never straight out, they weren’t direct. That song needed directness and at the time I was uncomfortable with it. I was hunkered down in my samurai position. Darkness… was about stripping away everything – relationships, everything – and getting down to the core of who you were. So that song is the great missing song from Darkness On The Edge. I could not have finished it as good as she did. She was in the midst of her love affair with Fred ‘Sonic’ Smith and she had it all right there on her sleeve. She put it down in a way that was just quite wonderful.”
Patti Smith: “I could have never written a song like that. I’d never write a chorus like that.”
Because The Night
Take me now, baby, here as I am
Pull me close, try and understand
Desire is hunger, is the fire I breathe
Love is a banquet on which we feed
Come on now, try and understand
The way I feel when I’m in your hands
Take my hand, come undercover
They can’t hurt you now
Can’t hurt you now, can’t hurt you now
Because the night belongs to lovers
Because the night belongs to love
Because the night belongs to lovers
Because the night belongs to us
Have I doubt when I’m alone
Love is a ring, the telephone
Love is an angel disguised as lust
Here in our bed until the morning comes
Come on now, try and understand
The way I feel under your command
Take my hand as the sun descends
They can’t touch you now
Can’t touch you now, can’t touch you now
Because the night belongs to lovers
Because the night belongs to love
Because the night belongs to lovers
Because the night belongs to us
With love we sleep
With doubt the vicious circle
Turns and burns
Without you, oh, I cannot live
Forgive, the yearning burning
I believe it’s time, too real to feel
So touch me now, touch me now, touch me now
Because the night belongs to lovers
Because the night belongs to love
Because the night belongs to lovers
Because the night belongs to us
Because tonight there are two lovers
If we believe, in the night we trust
Because the night belongs to lovers
Because the night belongs to love
Because the night belongs to lovers
Because the night belongs to love
‘Cause we believe tonight we’re lovers
‘Cause we believe, in the night we trust
Because the night belongs to lovers
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