The Wells Brothers' Trek Page

We both think that several writers/producers of recent Trek need a good, brisk firing. (Brannon Braga, THIS MEANS YOU!)

Dave maintains the Ships Named Enterprise FAQ. There's more naval history than Trek in it, but fans seem to like it....

• Star Trek (TOS)

  The original Star Trek series ran for 79 episodes from 1966 to 1969. The series was created by Gene Roddenberry, who also produced the series' first half season and handled many of the writing tasks in the first couple of years.

  The series actually had two pilot films. The first one, Gene Roddenberry's The Menagerie, starring Jeffrey Hunter as Capt. Christopher Pike, is probably the better of the two. Legend has it that the TV execs didn't like it because it was too intellectual. Some have disputed this, saying it was just Roddenberry's propaganda. NBC didn't pick up the series, but they did commission a second pilot - an unprecedented step at the time. Jeffrey Hunter was no longer available, so Roddneberry hired William Shatner to play Captain James T. Kirk. The resulting second pilot, Where No Man Has Gone Before was also quite good, although oriented more towards action than its predecessor. NBC picked up the series after that.

  The Cast

  Actor	Character	Character's Position	Season
  William Shatner	Capt. James T. Kirk	Captain	1,2,3
  Leonard Nimoy	Cdr. Spock	First Officer	1,2,3
  DeForrest Kelley	Dr. Leonard McCoy	Medical Officer	1,2,3
  James Doohan	Lt. Cdr. Montgomery Scott	Chief Engineer	1,2,3
  George Takei	Lt. Sulu	Helmsman	1,2,3
  Nichelle Nichols	Lt. Uhura	Communications Officer	1,2,3
  Walter Koenig	Ens. Pavel Chekov	Navigator	2,3
  Grace Lee Whitney	Yeoman Janice Rand	Captain's Yeoman	1

  From a quality standpoint, TOS was very much a mixed bag.

  The series hit its stride quickly in the 1966-67 season, producing a number of really good episodes, and only a few duds. Many well known science fiction authors contributed episodes. Harlan Ellison's City on the Edge of Forever was probably the best single episode of the entire series. (the actual writing and production of the episode was a nasty mess, but that's another story....) Other highlights included Balance of Terror and Devil in the Dark. The first season also included what was perhaps the series most unusual episode: The Menagerie by Gene Roddenberry. This hastily produced two part episode incorporated much of the footage from the original pilot film (which was subsequently renamed The Cage to avoid confusion). Surprisingly this worked very well, and the episode went on to win the series' first Hugo award.

  The second season also went fairly well, but there were signs of trouble. David Gerrold's hilarious The Trouble with Tribbles was a particular highlight. Other strong second season episodes include Amok Time, Mirror, Mirror, and The Doomsday Machine. There were a few klunkers as well, including The Apple and The Gamesters of Triskelion. Quality tailed off a bit after line producer Gene Coon abruptly departed for personal reasons. Coon had replaced Gene Roddenberry halfway through the first season when Roddenberry became Executive Producer. He also wrote several of the series best episodes. Sadly Coon died of cancer a only few years later, and his contributions to the series are not as well known as they should be.

  The third season is regarded as a disaster by most fans. There were some high points, such as The Enterprise Incident by Dorothy ("D.C.") Fontana, but unfortunately numerous painfully bad episodes such as Spock's Brain and And the Children Shall Lead dominated the third season.

  Roddenberry apparently wasn't around that much during the third season. Different authors have different explanations as to why. Roddenberry said he had planned to return as line producer, but decided to remain executive producer after a time slot dispute with NBC. Roddenberry's critics claim he was drunk and chasing women instead of working. In any case he left new line producer Fred Freiberger with little guidance. Script consultant Dorothy Fontana also departed (though she did write a few episodes), and Jerome Bixby was the only big name science fiction author to write a third season episode. The series budget was also cut substantially, which certainly did not help matters.

• Star Trek (TAS)

  The 22 episodes of the animated series aired on Saturday mornings during the 1973-74 and 1974-75 seasons. Gene Roddenberry participated in the series' development, though he did not play a direct role in the actual production. Dorothy Fontana returned as associate producer and story editor. The original cast returned except for Walter Koenig, who wrote an episode instead. Many writers from TOS also returned, including Samuel A. Peebles, Stephen Kandel, Margaret Armen, Paul Schneider, David Gerrold, and Marc Daniels. Larry Niven also contributed an episode. The series was produced by Lou Scheimer and Norm Prescott of Filmation.

  The results were generally very satisfactory. The characters and plot lines were true to the original series. Although it was produced as a children's series, few episodes would insult an adult's intelligence. Quality was also comparable to the original, despite the schedule and budget pressures inherent in a weekly animated series. The animated Star Trek won a well deserved Emmy award for best children's series in 1975.

• TOS Movies

  >From 1979 to 1991, Paramount produced a series of six movies featuring the cast of the original series. As with the series, quality was variable. Curiously enough, there seemed to be a pattern: the odd numbered movies were bad, and the even numbered movies were good. This has become known as "The Odd-Even Curse"

  1. Star Trek: The Motion Picture (1979) This one was a failure, but it was a noble failure. Roddenberry, back in the producer's chair, aimed high, and missed. The movie was far too ambitious for its own good. Roddenberry was trying to make something on the scale of 2001: A Space Odessey, but the vision was lacking.

     The project started as a pilot film for a second Star Trek TV series. The script, which some suggested was just a rewrite of the old episode The Changeling, might have worked on television, but after Star Wars came out in 1977, Paramount decided they wanted it to be a major motion picture. They hired veteran director Robert Wise to direct. Wise was best known for The Sound of Music (1965), however his credits also include the great sci-fi classic The Day the Earth Stood Still (1951). Paramount also greatly increased the special effects budget, but they kept most of the original TV pilot script. It didn't work. There was about an hour and a half worth of plot in a 3 hour movie. The long special effects sequences were technically excellent, but ultimately boring. We have long suspected that a shorter, cut-down version would play much better. Cynical fans dubbed it Star Trek: The Motion Sickness.

     One good point about this movie was the score, by Jerry Goldsmith. The main theme was so successful that it was reused as the theme for Star Trek: The Next Generation.

     In 2001, Robert Wise issued a "director's cut" of ST:TMP. According to recent interviews, the final editing of this movie in 1979 was rushed, and he'd always wanted the opportunity to do it right. We finally say it, but we were a little disappointed. The changes were good, as far as they went, but perhaps they didn't quite go far enough. Most of the changes were improvements to the special effects. Perhaps the biggest improvement was the short scene on Vulcan near the beginning of the film, where the original inadequate effects were vastly improved. The film is alas, still too long.

  2. Star Trek II: The Wrath of Khan (1982) Now this is more like it. In many ways, this is a much less ambitious film than ST:TMP, but that's part of the reason it worked.

     Producer Harve Bennett, when assigned to this project, first watched every episode of the original series. He obviously got a good feel for the characters. He picked a good episode, Space Seed, guest starring Ricardo Montalban, and wrote a movie sequel to it. The theme of the film is obsession. The film contains numerous references to Moby Dick. The excellent script was tightly written, and nicely portrayed the classic characters: a little older and worse for wear, but still the same characters the fans knew and loved.

     Ricardo Montalban reprised his role as Khan, the genetically engineered dictator. Nicholas Meyer directed.

     Another high point is the musical score by James Horner. He nicely captured the nautical feel of the film, even if he did occasionally rip off other composers. (one short passage is directly lifted from Mahler's first symphony!)

     And it all worked!

     Many Trek fans, ourselves included, feel this movie is the best of the bunch.

  3. Star Trek III: The Search for Spock (1984) As good a film as STII:TWOK is, the ending painted the series into a corner. STIII:TSFS got them out of the corner with the smallest number of footprints. First-time director Leonard Nimoy admitted that he was directing with "training wheels" but the film came out reasonably well, considering the difficulty of the situation.

  4. Star Trek IV: The Voyage Home (1986) Star Trek does boulevard comedy, and it works! That should hardly be surprising, since the original series had several humorous episodes, such as The Trouble with Tribbles and I, Mudd. Leonard Nimoy directed again, with a light touch.

     The setup isn't that great, (Alien probe, looking for whales, decides to destroy earth. Huh?) but once the crew starts to save the day, the fun begins. They save the whales, save the earth, and have a good time while doing it. A fun flick overall.

  5. Star Trek V: The Final Frontier (1989) What a disaster!! Before this movie was released, we thought that no Trek movie could possibly be worse than ST:TMP. We were wrong. William Shatner deserves most of the blame for this horrible misadventure, since he wrote and directed it. He should never be allowed anywhere near a script or a director's chair ever again. Producer Harve Bennett gets a certain amount of the blame as well, mostly for not stopping Shatner. The film was awarded three richly deserved Golden Raspberries: Worst Picture, Worst Director and Worst Actor.

     It had so much potential. A movie that starts off with a Vulcan heretic, and involves the search for God and the ultimate truth should be interesting. It wasn't. In fact, it was painful to watch.

     The problems were legion, but here are a few:

     • The Script. Of all this films many problems, the poorly written script is the biggest. Shatner can't write. The potentially interesting elements in the plot were totally wasted. The dialogue was generally poor, and valuable time was wasted on worthless scenes, such as the infamous camping trips at the beginning and end. We were left with the impression that these scenes were supposed to be comic relief, but they were more painful then funny.
     • The Acting. Shatner can act, we've seen him do it, but when he's directing himself, there's nobody to tell him to stop overacting. Can you say ham boys and girls?
     • Continuity Problems. To an extent, this is small stuff, but a sci-fi series must be consistent with itself, otherwise people won't "suspend disbelief". There were numerous continuity errors, and the fans spotted them instantly. The producers should have known better.

     Others complained about poor special effects, but we were too busy retching at the other blunders to notice.

     This movie stands alone as the single worst Star Trek movie. The world would be a better place if every copy were burned.

  6. Star Trek VI: The Undiscovered Country (1991) Cynics call this one Star Trek VI: The Apology. Fortunately, it's a good one. The series ends on a high note. Nicholas Meyer returned to the director's chair. Guest star Christopher Plummer, as General Chang, made a wonderful villain.

     The story is an allegory for the fall of the Soviet Union and the end of the Cold War (1946-1991). The Klingon Empire had always been an allegory for the Soviet Union, and this film shows the Empire in a state of decline, forced to make peace with the Federation. Problems ensue when the cast finds that some people have a vested interest in the long conflict.

     Of course, as usual, our heroes save the day, but it's an interesting adventure getting to the conclusion. There are interesting plot twists, and some clever dialogue.

     The dialogue at the end kind of sums up the whole series:

     KIRK: Once again we have saved civilization as we know it.
     McCOY: And the good news is that this time, they're not going to prosecute.
     UHURA: Captain, I have orders from Starfleet Command to report to space dock immediately.... for decommissioning
     SPOCK: If I were human, I believe my response would be, "go to hell"..... If I were human.
     CHEKOV: Course heading, Captain?
     KIRK: Second star to the right and straight on 'til morning.