Shark Bytes

Agonybooth.com in their review of Star Trek: The Animated Series made a strange statement concerning the cartoon's production. They claimed Leonard Nimoy got Majel Barret(Nurse Chapel) her job on TAS in the early 70's! Considering how romantically involved Barret was with Roddenberry in reallife at that time why would Nimoy have had to intervene to get her the animated part of Nurse Chapel? Like many agonybooth.com statements this is never given the source of. I wrote this here as this concerns the later happenings of three TOS "crew members" and there is no board for Star Trek: TAS! Can anyone here verify or disprove the idea that Nimoy got Barret the part? If you can do either please quote your sources! Thanks!

GET A LIFE, WILL YOU PEOPLE? I MEAN, FOR CRYING OUT LOUD, IT’S JUST A TV SHOW!!

Lucille Ball of Desilu put this show on the air. She was an intelligent and forward thinking woman. William Shatner said it best “The show is about hope.”

In junior high, I signed the petition to keep Star Trek on the air. It was a unique show - very little science fiction on the air at the time, and it was about the only one that tried to make a stab at being thoughtful from time to time. I do remember thinking in the very first episode that the transporter would end up being too powerful of a rescue device and that it would need to be conveniently "disabled" to a suspicious degree (little realizing I would have to deal with the same problem myself when writing for the unofficial fourth season contained in the Interplay computer games many years later). When another petition came around during the third season, the writing had deteriorated to the point that I didn't sign it.

The problem with TOS is that it is written like any other western at the time. Only it's all in space and dealing with other species rather than Native Americans or bandits. If there was a guest girl, Kirk (or another male lead) would be the object of her affection. If there was a male guest, there was a HIGH chance that Kirk would fight him. Seemed that nearly half of the content was very cliche. Spock's Brain wasn't a bad episode. Way to Eden was terrible!

“The Apple”: first a security guard (“Redshirt”) is killed by spores from a plant. Then Spock is attacked by the same type of spores and is only knocked out for a few minutes. Then another “Redshirt” is vaporized by a bolt of lightning. A few minutes later Spock is hit by a bolt of lightning and suffers only second-degree burns…

Was it that “Vulcan physique” that saved him? Or was it that red shirts didn’t provide adequate protection from spores and bolts of lightning?

I remember the Indian epsiode! Wasn't Kirk's name in that one "Big Chief Squirrel-Rug-on-Head?"

on late tonight- the show were kirk becomes an indian cheif. WERE IS GEN. CUSTER WHEN YOU NEED HIM.

For me it definitely jumped when the space hippies arrived. That had the most absurd writing, acting and singing - it was as bad as Lost in Space in the Vegetable Garden.

I could handle the loss of Spocks brain and many other things, but this was ridiculous.

The one redeeming quality about the abysmal "Spock's Brain" episode is the subterreanean elevator. I loved the sound effect of the door closing, followed immediately by the same noise heard on the turbo lift of the Enterprise. If I were trapped in that cavernous elevator, I would feel nothing but euphoria as I am sent airborne more than 100 miles an hour while I wear nothing more than a t-shirt, sandals, suntan hose and my firmly entrenched black Speedos. I would love riding in that thing FOREVER! If anyone knows of such a real-life elevator, please let me know.

Star Trek JTS with Season Three, which contained four of the worst five episodes, including "Spock's Brain", "The Way To Eden" (aka "Space Hippies"), "And The Children Shall Lead" and the series finale, "Turnabout Intruder". The best reason to watch the final season were the episodes "Spectre of the Gun", "Whom Gods Destroy", "Let That Be Your Last Battlefield" and "All Our Yesterdays"--the latter of which nary a scene was shot aboard the Enterprise!

Oops, my bad. I yield to Casey J with regard to Leonard's singing (or not) in the "Way to Eden." I'm sure he's correct.

The reference to "child support payments" is what we non-trekers call "a joke." Look it up.

Ferdie, Spock didn't sing in the Way to Eden. He only played an instrument while a hippie girl sang! He only sang in Plato's Stepchildren. And Nimoy never had child support payments. By the time he and his first wife divorced their kids together were long grown.

Now I'm going to give praise for a great TOS guest who sadly doesn't get much praise--beauty Kathryn Hays who brilliantly played Gem in the Empath. About the second best looking TOS guest only Leslie Parrish (Lt. Palamas in the Apollo ep) was truly better looking, this Hays lady looked like kinda a dark haired Julie Andrews. Without saying a word in the whole script Hays managed to convey so much meaning and make the viewers care so much about her character. Some viewers took this ep as a romance for Dr. McCoy but I see no real evidence of that despite Gem's intense way of physically curing McCoy through her sensual but caring touch. For some reason Gem wears no shoes in the ep but non-see through colored stockings. Hays preference perhaps to somehow feel more free and get into the character--I don't know. But she was really about the best guest they ever had and really so underrated!

"Trek" jumped the shark by airing "Spock's Brain" as the third season opener; it was a precursor to some truly lame stories. Surely, after the bulk letter-writing campaign to keep the show on for the 1968-69 season, the producers could've chosen a better opening episode..like "Spectre of the Gun" (the first year 3 episode produced).

"Star Trek" was basically the thinking man's sci-fi show (CBS allegedly passed on it in favor of "Lost In Space" in 1965, claiming it to be "too cerebral") and nearly all the episodes were thinly disguised morality plays. Sure, the acting was sometimes a bit "wooden" but that added to the intellectual air of the series. "Trek" is my second favorite show of all time (behind "The Prisoner") and, like "The Invaders" and "Kolchak" it was simply a decade ahead of its time. Had it debuted in 1976 instead of 1966 it would have undoubtedly had at least a seven-season run despite the lame stories that plagued the 3rd season.

I also would have enjoyed seeing some of the scripts for the 1973 cartoon series employed on the original "Trek", especially "How Sharper Than A Serpent's Tooth" and "The Counter Clock Incident" had that been possible. I feel that it would have added a sharper element to the series' enterprise (no pun intended).

The late 80s/early 90s revivals could not hold a candle to this classic.

that time Capt Kirk got into a fight with a space alien