boyajian@akov68.DEC (05/07/85)
> From: osiris!rob >> A question : In one of the animated ST episodes, I dimly remember >> Kirk & co coming across a "Slaver stasis box" on a frozen planet >> which contains various interesting and destructive devices >> which Kirk trys to keep from the Klingons. Does anyone know >> of any connection between this and Larry Niven's Slaver stasis >> boxes in his Known Space series? >> >> Andrew Folkins ihnp4!alberta!andrew At home in the Great White North. > > That episode was a direct steal from "The Soft Weapon," in Niven's > _Neutron Star_ collection. It wasn't the Klingons who wanted the > Stasis Box, it was the kzinti (in the Star Trek universe, yet!)... Ah, it wasn't "steal" at all. If you'll notice, next time to see that cartoon episode, you'll notice that Niven wrote the screenplay himself! Stealing from oneself is hardly a crime. There was at least one other cartoon episode ("The Infinite Vulcan", written by Walter Koenig) that made a reference to (though no appearances by) the kzinti. When Alan Dean Foster did his adaptations of the cartoons (the STAR TREK LOG book from Ballantine/Del Rey), he mentioned the kzinti here and there, and even went so far as to relate them --- as in common ancestors --- with the Caitians (the race of Lt. M'Hress, the felinoid communications officer in the cartoon show). They do make an appearance in a flashback story told by M'Hress in, I think STAR TREK LOG 5. Foster's adaptation of "The Slaver Weapon" was in STL 9, which unlike the previous books, only adapted the one story instead of the usual three per book. As adaptations go, it wasn't that bad, but it was interesting that the actual adaptation was only a prologue to a completely original novel. > I think screenplays that draw on real science fiction in this way are > sort of interesting. The only other example I can think of is "Arena", > originally a story by Frederick Brown. From what I understand, this was an accident. Gene Coon wrote the script without knowing (at least consciously) of Brown's story. Somewhere along the line, someone recognized the story and Paramount/Desilu franticly sought rights to "adapt" the short story before they had to start shooting (if I remember, they didn't have any other scripts ready to shoot in its place). I *think* this was mention in Whitfield's THE MAKING OF STAR TREK, though I don't believe he mentioned which episode it was, but since "Arena" was the only one adapted from another medium.... --- jayembee (Jerry Boyajian, DEC, Maynard, MA) UUCP: {decvax|ihnp4|allegra|ucbvax|...}!decwrl!dec-rhea!dec-akov68!boyajian ARPA: boyajian%akov68.DEC@DECWRL.ARPA