mnw@trwrba.UUCP (Michael N. Washington) (10/16/85)
Well, let's see, where to begin. Here in LA, we had a Creation/Star Trek
convention. The guess speakers were Majel Barrett-Roddenberry and Leonard
Nimoy. As usual, the convention ran two days, Saturday and Sunday. I
attended on Sunday. The twenty year anniversary of Star Trek is coming up
quite soon! There were the usual dealer booths of ST paraphernalia and
other science fiction stuff. Here is a summary of the happenings:
First, the schedule went like this:
1. Slide show showing the last twenty years of Star Trek (including the
three movies).
2. Majel Barrett-Roddenberry was a guest speaker around 11:40 AM.
3. There was a Star Trek trivia contest.
4. They ran the entire film, "Star Trek III: The Search for Spock"
5. People selected from the audience performed a ST skit.
6. A costume parade. About this time, the main event room was getting
filled and remaining that way. It was getting close to Nimoy's appearance.
7. A comedy slide show "A Mauch Time" by Kandy Fong, a ST fan.
8. Then the EVENT, "LEONARD NIMOY" came on. He was scheduled for one
hour and ten minutes. He was on for one hour and 17 minutes!
Now for the scoop on what he discussed. First Mr. Nimoy gave a historical
background on how he became involved with Star Trek. At the time he was
little known publically but was known throughout Hollywood and the theater.
He was working on something that Gene Roddenberry was producing and Gene
thought he would be good for Star Trek. Mr. Nimoy went on through some of
the specifics that went on at the time. He mentioned our countries history
of the middle 60's and was moved by the message that Star Trek was trying
to state and thought it was good timing for a relevant television series.
Mr. Nimoy also went through how some of the things were developed, such as
the neck pinch, Vulcan greeting, the character development, etc. He also
said that NBC picked the first episode, "Man Trap" because it had a monster
in it and they thought (and pretty much still think) that science fiction
needs monsters to capture an audience. However, we all know that the story
lines got better and better (sometimes worse).
Mr. Nimoy also explained the title of one of his books, "I Am Not Spock!".
He actually picked the title thinking that curious individuals would read
the book to see what he had to say. Well it just reinforced the rumor that
Nimoy did not want to play Spock any more which he states was not true.
He did say that he heard nothing about Star Trek until 1972 when the cult
of devoted fans started conventions and were writing the studio for more
Star Trek. But it wasn't until 1977 when G. Lucas produced Star Wars!
Nimoy said that he knew that he would get a call from Paramount about doing
something with Star Trek. So, the studio hired Gene Roddenberry, R. Wise,
the old cast and a host of others to film Star Trek, The Motion Picture.
Mr. Nimoy felt that the picture was done right, had a large budget, but
was frustrated because he felt that it wasn't "STAR TREK" from the TV days.
Many of the fans felt the same. So, then they hired Harve Bennett (from
Universal Studios) and Star Trek II: The Wrath of Khan. He had several
"favorite" episodes, but did not pick a specific one. He also said, "Some
were turkies". Mr. Nimoy liked where the show was going, but as most of
you know, Star Trek was cancelled after the second season, But from the
influx of letters from fans, NBC decided to run ST continue ST for another
season. However, they aired ST on Friday night at 10:00 PM. Bad time for
almost any series especially when the series appeals to the younger
audience. The ratings continued to fall and the series was cancelled after
the third season. Mr. Nimoy felt that in a way it was time to stop
producing the show since he felt that they were beginning to lose the
quality. Better to go out in some glory than to die a slow death. Mr. Nimoy
also stated that the cancellation came as no suprise. He expected it.
The rest is history. When they decided to do Star Trek III, Nimoy was asked
what he would like to do with the third film. He suggested directing the
film. At first, he was told no, but was able to convince the head of
Paramount that he was an excellent choice since he knew ST, and knew the
characters, which what the head of the studio was looking for!
STAR TREK IV
Mr. Nimoy was very vague about Star Trek IV. He said that the writers are
finishing up the script. He will direct again. Saavik will probably be
played by Robin Curtis again. He said that he had no knowledge that Kristy
Alley has been signed to play Saavik. The film will be lighter although it
will pick up where TSFS left off. So, the Captain and gang are in a bit
of trouble to say the least. Nothing definite about the Enterprises fate.
Nothing definite about Spock's fate. His mother may make an appearance!
If you read the novelization of TSFS, you know that his mother could not
participate in bringing Spock back to life. All in all, Mr. Nimoy was
rather vague. The picture is schedule for Christmas 1986!!! So we have a
bit of a wait for the picture to open. Hope that the deadline doesn't slip!
One last note, Mr. Nimoy is an excellent speaker. He responded to the
audience rather well. He was exciting and is quite excited about directing
Star Trek IV. He will be busy for at least through next year and will not
have time to do much else. He also said that we should get together every
weekend like last weekend! Everyone said "YEAH!!!!" loudly. It was a
pleasure to hear him speak. It was also lots of fun! Mr. Nimoy ended with
a quote from one of his books (a tradition he stated) and with my quote
below:
"LIVE LONG AND PROSPER!"
Michael N. Washington
TRW E&DS Redondo Beach, Ca. 90278
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