stuart@rochester.UUCP (09/26/84)
From: Stuart Friedberg <stuart>
The recent note (sorry, I don't have the news article reference) about
Star Trek episodes re/using discoveries made in other episodes struck a
chord. (F7maj :-> )
However, there is the small matter of real world timing that leads to
the "disappointing" example where Spock's brain was wired into an
environmental control system and Christopher Pike (former captain of
the Enterprise) was stuck, paralyzed, in a wheelchair.
I believe the "episode" in which Pike appears is actually a two-parter
made from the initial series pilot, "Menagerie", and a relatively small
amount of additional footage shot (a year? two years?) later. I also
wouldn't be surprised (but don't know one way or the other) if the
Menagerie two-parter was produced before the "Spock's Brain" episode.
This is not a claim that Star Trek episode have a lot of continuity
from one to the other, just an observation that the Chris Pike stuff
was cobbled together out of existing footage and they did a *lot* of
strange stuff for that particular show. In particular, some character
at the courtmartial asked essentially "How come the Enterprise logs
look like a movie, instead of a regulation log?" They explain this
away by saying that this was all really being reconstructed in people's
heads **looong distance** by the zookeepers, whatever they were
called. This explains away all the exterior shots of the Enterprise, etc.
Stu Friedberg
{seismo, alegra}!rochester!stuart
stuart@rochesterguy@rlgvax.UUCP (Guy Harris) (09/27/84)
> However, there is the small matter of real world timing that leads to > the "disappointing" example where Spock's brain was wired into an > environmental control system and Christopher Pike (former captain of > the Enterprise) was stuck, paralyzed, in a wheelchair. > > I believe the "episode" in which Pike appears is actually a two-parter > made from the initial series pilot, "Menagerie", and a relatively small > amount of additional footage shot (a year? two years?) later. I also > wouldn't be surprised (but don't know one way or the other) if the > Menagerie two-parter was produced before the "Spock's Brain" episode. Correct on both counts ("The Menagerie" was shown in the first season, while "Spock's Brain" was shown in the third season. However, the relevant point is that the technology used in "Spock's Brain" to use the brain to control the planet's environment wasn't part of UFP technology; it was only known to the race that built the planet. Nobody in the UFP knew how to do that sort of thing, so they couldn't help Pike. Guy Harris {seismo,ihnp4,allegra}!rlgvax!guy