Tuesday, June 03, 2008

They're asking if we want to beam up.


Warning somewhat nerdy, Star Trek themed post to follow--

As a fan of the old show I would be remiss if I didn't point out we lost a bunch of people dedicated to that great series just in the last week.

Joseph Pevney directed many of the best episodes of the original series including what is considered the best episode by most fans: "The City on the Edge of Forever." He also directed my personal favorite episode: "The Trouble with Tribbles."

In an odd coincidence I used to know his son, and regularly peppered him for any memories he had of his dad's work on the series. He had a funny story about William Shatner coming over to his house in a convertible corvette with his two dobermans. Shatners dobermans would just sit perfectly still in the backseat of that car while he met with Pevney.

Robert Justman was a producer on both Star Trek and Star Trek the Next Generation. His son said of all the Trek related deaths last week "There seems to be a big 'Star Trek' convention and everyone is going," he said. "Everyone is getting beamed up."

Finally I would say the biggest/ saddest loss is the death of composer Alexander Courage. Courage wrote the iconic theme song to the original series. He is also the victim of one of the cheapest acts of Gene Rodenberry's tenure on the show as Rodenberry effectively stole half the royalties for the song by writing lyrics.



Goodbye to all. It sounds like they lived long, and prospered.

15 comments:

Anonymous said...

Those lyrics were just plain awful, too.

Arkonbey said...

I lost a lot of respect for Roddenberry when I first heard about the lyric deal.

so, luckily, when Earth: Final Conflict came out, I didn't have any respect to lose.

ladybug said...

Yes! The trouble with Tribbles...I also liked the w/Mud...they guy who could sell anything...

And for pure awful costuming nothing beats the pseudo-viking planet one w/Julie Newmar in it...

I love old Star Trek just like I love old Perry Mason...I can watch the same old episodes and they're still fun!

Dr. Zaius said...

I had no idea that Star Trek personnel were dieing off like that. Spooky. I met David Gerrold, the author of "The Trouble with Tribbles" at a Star Trek convention a long time ago. I also have read several of his books, including his book about the making of the "The Trouble with Tribbles". (He was kind of annoying in person, by the way.)

Bradda said...

NERDS!!!......I kid, I kid.

Swinebread said...

Wow, all in such a short time-span. Very sad.

Dean where did you go for your info?

Randal Graves said...

This is all certainly news to me. Time to watch some old Trek when I get off work.

Anonymous said...

I actually didn't know that story about Rodenberry's lyrics. Science Fiction has inspired a lot of great music; "The Day the Earth Stood Still", "Forbidden Planet", "Star Wars".

RIP, Mr. COurage.

Dean Wormer said...

joe-

That they are.

arkonbey-

Hahahaha.

EFC really is a stinky product. Hard to believe he had so much trouble getting it produced...

I still like Rodenberry but the guy did a lot of bad stuff to the cast and crew.

ladybug-

I'm partial to the funnier episodes (Mudd, Tribbles) myself.

zaius-

Didn't Gerrold get a little nutty during the writer's strike? I may be thinking of a different Trek writer.

Hold on, Star Trek convention?

If I hadn't been to a few myself I'd be slamming you right now.

bradda-

That's MR. nerd to you.

swine-

I'm embarassed to admit but I check pretty regularly for Star Trek news because I want to see stuff from the new movie. They have that thing wrapped up tight.

randal-

if you can watch trek AT work you have it made.

aaron-

It sure has. The Courage biography though had a quote from him to the effect he didn't like science fiction.

He didn't have to like it to write a great theme song.

So many great songs from 60s t.v.

Dr. Zaius said...

"Hold on, Star Trek convention? If I hadn't been to a few myself I'd be slamming you right now."

This was back before STNG, when yeomans wore mini skirts, Klingons didn't wear turles on their heads, and both Shatner and Picard still had hair. ;o)

Dean Wormer said...

Shatner never had hair.

That's an urban legend.

Overdroid said...

I think it's the Tachyon bombardment.

mwb said...

According to one of the early series bibles Urura was supposed to be command officer - but notice how EVERYONE was put in command ahead of her.

They even brought in characters from outside the bridge who did even have lines of dialog and put them in charge.

Not that I ever watched the show...

Alright I've seen every episode many, many times.

Dean Wormer said...

OD-

Tachyons. The Star Trek writer go-to.

mwb-

Yeah, they really screwed her over and at one point Nichelle Nichols was ready to quit but then an encounter with Martin Luther King got her to change her mind.

But I assume you know all that stuff...

Distributorcap said...

i liked all the romulan episodes ---- that romulan captain was kinda hot