In the 'Sixties, television production companies had a much simpler and more primitive relationship with the networks and their viewers than they do today. Remember that there was no "fourth network" like FOX, no cable TV at all, and no "first-run syndication" networks. There were no VCRs, either (let alone seasonal DVD boxed sets). Every single television viewer was using "rabbit ear" antennae to pick up broadcasts (and struggling to adjust the "vertical hold" and clear out the static by turning knobs and bending their antennae all over the place). It goes without saying that there was no internet; no downloadable episodes; no fan sites; no viral marketing; nothing except you, your TV, and maybe a big rooftop antenna if you were lucky. (Early Trek fans actually traded cassette tapes of the episodes' soundtracks...by mail.)
So, with the exception of soap operas, nobody was really trying to get a continuous story going. The networks tended to make up their own minds about what order to broadcast shows in, and viewers who missed individual episodes had absolutely no way to make up for it and see what they missed or even find out what happened on the show except to wait for reruns or hope that some newspaper or magazine would print a summary. (No primetime hourlong drama really used the "soap opera" continuous story technique until Dallas and Hill Sreet Blues.)
The effect of this on Star Trek was twofold: first, they weren't thinking in terms of big, sequential story events, except in the vaguest sense. There was no "Series Premiere," no "Season Finales," no "cliffhangers" (except for a single two-part episode) and no "previously on Star Trek." The Trek fictional universe is rigidly planned and consistent; the order of events is just a little vague. (And forget about the "stardates:" they're deliberately scrambled, and remain that way until The Next Generation.) When the show was cancelled halfway through its third season, no attempt was made to "wrap up the story" in a J. J. Abrams sense; the whole thing just...stops...with no closure at all. Of course, certain chronological developments are established: Ensign Pavel Chekov (Walter Koenig) joins the Enterprise crew in the second season, and Yeoman Janice Rand (Grace Lee Whitney) leaves because of "personal reasons" (DRUGS), and the characters occasionally refer to events from previous episodes.
But the whole thing is very piecemeal, and the episodes weren't even broadcast in the order that they were filmed. For example, once NBC had greenlighted the show, Roddenberry decided to begin series production with a script called "The Corbomite Maneuver" (since it was a simple, shipboard story that would let the cast and crew get into the groove of the show), and to carefully write the script so as to introduce certain elements explicitly. NBC ignored all that and broadcast "The Man Trap" first, which is a perfectly fine "action-adventure" story but not the greatest episode all around (and it got some bad reviews).
Which brings me to my point: Paramount Home Video, in their infinite wisdom, decided to release the Star Trek DVD sets based on the show's broadcast order rather than the production order. It doesn't make that much difference, since, as I've explained, the shows were designed to be viewable in any order as was the custom of the day. (I sound like Abe Simpson.) But Star Trek purists like myself prefer to watch the shows in production order, for all kinds of reasons. (I'm such a pathetic Trekkie that I'm even aware of when they made certain changes to the sets.) Paramount's arbitrary, bone-headed decision to arrange the DVDs the way they did is the kind of thing that makes me ridiculously, murderously angry; the fact that "it doesn't matter" and "it's so trivial" just makes me angrier about it, if you can dig it. If I actually owned the commercial DVD sets I would be cursing Paramount Home Video every time I played the discs. (I have similar murderous feelings about the people who are making the "remastered" Trek episodes, since they're getting so many things right and spending so much money, and it will never happen again, and it's a wonderful, unprecedented development except for the fact that they've completely, irrevocably, hopelessly fucked it up.) Anyway, here's a Wikipedia list that gets the episodes into the proper order.
Now I'm going to "go get a life, for crying out loud" as Mr. Shatner has famously suggested.
15 comments:
As opposed to yesterday, when all my patients blew me off, today everyone is showing up. I don't really understand why, given the weather outside is frightful. This is an excellent post. for w hile I've been saying, "Jordan should write a book on this stuff!" Now I realize that through all your posts you essentially have.
The whole Janice Rand on drugs thing is really funny. I met her at a nerd convention back in 1988. At that time she noted that she was let go from the show because Shatner's daughter was hired and they didn't have room for 2 blondes (or something like that). She said that her favorite episode was "Charlie X" (of course) and then, I shit you not, she performed an original song she wrote called, "Charlie X"! It was clear that she defined her life by those few Star Trek episodes she appeared in, it was quite pathetic. What's funny is that she's still sniffing around every Star Trek incarnation. I think in one of the films she was "Woman waving from window" or something like that. Want to bet she'll somehow get in the new film?
You're doing her a disservice. She was nothing less than "Transporter Chief Rand" in Star Trek The Motion Picture! With lines and everything. Then she's one of the people gazing pensively at the battle-scarred Enterprise as it glides into spacedock at the beginning of Star Trek III The Search For Spock.
I can't write a book on this stuff because there's no "hook." There has to be a "hook" (besides "read this guy; he's right about everything").
You should start a religion!
yeah, jordan, don't you dare get a life; we rely on you to brighten ours with your horrorthon posts.
Very interesting indeed. But I'm not sure I'd buy a book on it unless I knew that Jordan was the author.
It's easy to forget how great we have it now. Can you imagine those old conversations? "Aw man, you missed it, it was the most mind blowing episode and it changed my life forever! Well hopefully someday somebody will invent something that might enable you to catch it."
Production order vs. Broadcast order? I see your point but I don't think it justifies such rage. I mean, the purist fans aready "know" the proper order and they have control over what episodes they're going to watch. I suppose if you were to have a marathon it could get a little dicey but it's nothing insurmountable.
Yeah, I'm overreacting. It's just one of those things that tends to piss me off.
Here's another example: In 1992 or thereabouts Universal Home Video announced that they were going to release a deluxe boxed set of the Back to the Future trilogy on VHS. I was excited! Then I went to the store and saw what they'd done.
It was a beautiful vinyl-covered box with the BTTF logo in gold foil. But I did a double take, because it obviously held four VHS cassettes. When I looked at the spike, I saw why: the box contained the three movies in matching new sleeves...and a bright silver box that said in orange, "SECRETS OF THE BACK TO THE FUTURE TRILOGY!" They'd included a "bonus" tape of a "documentary" (what we'd call a "featurette" today).
And it made my blood boil! "I don't want THAT! I want the three movies in a nice box! We don't need no stinking documentaries!"
I've since seen the documentary (since it's a bonus on the far-more-desirable DVD edition of the trilogy, where it doesn't take up any space). It's crap, hosted by Kirk Cameron or some jerk like that. You can tell they're kind of embarrassed by it.
So, yeah...I'm totally overreacting, but then, I always do in this particular context. How hard is it to release your own material properly? It's like those soundtrack albums that put dialogue from the movie over the music. (Pulp Fiction, Blade Runner, Angel Heart.) Makes me want to punch someone. "Just release the art! You don't need to add some clever 'bonus' touch!"
By the way JSP, did you watch the rest of "Naked Time"? What's up next?
I did finish Naked Time and enjoyed every second of it. I can't believe Jim slapped Spock like that! Also, I wanted to wring Reilly's neck when he started singing Irish ditties. I bet the rest of the crew never looked at him the same after his behavior even though it wasn't his fault.
On my IPOD I have Carbomite Maneuver, Space Seed, Devil in the Dark and City on the Edge of Forever. In my mailbox sits Mud's Women and The Enemy Within. So it depends on whether we feel like watching a LOST, Big Love or Trek. Such decisions need to be weighed heavily...
The Natural Born Killers soundtrack was notorious for the added dialog. But The Wicker Man soundtrack just wouldn't be complete without Sgt. Howie's "Oh God! Oh Jesus Christ!" bit.
Riley's in another episode!
"The Conscience of the King."
(I love that I get to tell somebody this.)
I can't tell you how many times I've watched the last ten minutes of "The Naked Time." Shatner and Nimoy's incredible scene (note that BOTH of them overcome the disease through pure strength of will); "SINNER REPENT"-- the track in on Kirk grimly wiping the blood from his mouth, and then the cut to the spinning planet, as Uhura, Sulu and the navigator stare helplessly...and finally, that symphonic moment as the stars reappear, the trumpet plays the theme...and finally, "Ahead, warp factor one." The crane shot upward from the bridge. All the episode's themes come together.
My college friend Paul (the one I mentioned, who I turned on to Trek in the 'Eighties) observed that "The Naked Time" is all about cutting into things and revealing their inner nature. He cites Spock and Tormolen in their black undershirts (beneath the uniforms); Scotty literally cutting into the walls of the Enterprise itself (the same walls that get graffiti tags); the line about "We may be seeing Earth's distant future."
Paul also got me to see how significant the two graffiti are: Spock must "LOVE MANKIND" while Kirk must "REPENT."
In "Conscience of the King" it's clear that Riley's more well-loved than ever.
Because it wasn't his fault. It's pure TREK: Tolerance. Forbearance. Enlightenment.
I also love it when Kirk makes Yeoman Rand take the helm...and she just does.
(Like when Uhura takes over navigation, about which Riley makes a joke about "universal suffrage.")
Because both women are brilliant, highly-skilled Starfleet Officers. Of course Janice Rand can take the helm of the Enterprise! Pretty good for mid-'Sixties TV.
Ok Jordan, I've gotta know: what specifically are the remastered ones messing up?
I'm pretty sure I missed one of your earlier rants about it.
Jordan's old-time memories reminded me of a comic strip I saw in Mad or Cracked Magazine. It's about how your parents suck, and it features a kid saying he wants to go to a movie and his dad responding that some day it'll be on TV.
And there was just so much despair in that exchange. On TV? In like, five years? That might as well be never.
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