Marc's Second Term - These are the Voyages Season Two

We loved the first season and they just keep getting better.

But before we dive into the review just a quick note - we have an audio interview still to publish - this will be coming shortly now we have resolved some technical issues. We had hoped to release both together but this has not been possible although we tried...hence the delayed review of Season Two.

Photo by Albert L Ortega

The main concern for those looking to make a purchase here is that there won't be an expanded second edition as there was with Season One. Surely this alone will make a lot of fans breathe a great sigh of relief knowing that their hard earned cash isn't going to get split across two books when one, complete edition will more than suffice. Marc Cushman told me himself there won't be and I, for one, believe him (minor note that no doubt in about ten years a whole chunk of stuff will appear and...yep...we know where that's going...!)

But let's just hold for second because there's some great news for the author as Marc Cushman will be receiving a Special Achievement honor at the 40th Annual 2014 Saturn Awards for this comprehensive series. Robert Holguin, president of the Academy of Science Fiction Fantasy and Horror Films who are hosting the awards, said that Marc's books constitutes "one of the greatest achievements in the world of literature [in] the past year. The level of research in writing these books are of the highest order."

So here we are, at book two with it now being recognised at the highest level and it's been a long wait for the sequel. My first season copy has been getting very lonely, more so since the release date of it's followup was delayed from the end of 2013 until the start of 2014 and with good reason. Admittedly dropping this review now has been a lucky hit because only this week we've seen the arrival of Star Trek Continues latest offering Fairest of Them All which acts as a sequel to the classic second season episode Mirror, Mirror. Secretly all this coincidence was planned. Promise...(!) Honest.

Compiled in their original production order, this is the essential companion to the most reverred season of The Original Series. While the first year packs in heavyweight episodes such as The City on the Edge of Forever, Arena, Space Seed and Errand of Mercy, the 1967-68 shows were a step up even though all was not well behind the scenes and don't we get to know about it here.

This could easily slip into a big nostalgia-fest and laud glory on all but Marc has never intended this to be just a simple reference guide to the episodes, their stories and a smattering of pre-production footnotes. This is every breath, heartbeat and drop of sweat that went into the production of everything between Catspaw and Assignment Earth. Each page is a slice of Star Trek history with much of it never printed or glimpsed before. Here we get to find out why Gene Coon left, how John Meredith Lucas came on board, how high emotions really were running when it was announced that the show was being cancelled, then reprieved short-term and finally just what it meant for fans, the cast, crew and the network mail-room when Star Trek was renewed for the swansong third year.

Allan Asherman and Stephen Whitfield's work which have been on my shelves for a fair few years are, among others, referenced throughout but Cushman doesn't just regurgitate their valuable literary editions but builds on it. He's carefully sourced information compiled from Roddenberry's own extensive archives, talking to cast and crew who have never (repeat, never) been interviewed about their part in the show and attempts to fill in the blanks that so many publications have left open.

It's clear from this that I'm a total fan of Marc's series, the first volume of which has come in for some factual criticism. All I can say here is that devoting a good six years of your life to something is never going to be an easy and relaxing task. Sure there might be a few typos and errors but on the whole this is a work that will stand the test of time and prove to be one of the three most valuable resources on The Original Series. The other two will be the volumes that sit on either side of the number "two".

All well and good, but what else is here? What am I getting for my cash and why would I want season two? 

Easy answer; because this reveals the dirt under the nails in our favourite stories (although I have to wait another season for The Tholian Web). I could find something new on every single page as you read through the story of each episode from inception through development, filming, post-production, viewing figures and even letters received by the studio once the shows had aired. It feels that there is no frame of film left untouched by this book - every (major) decision seems to be noted or discussed from model shots to cast entrances, story lines through to wardrobe decisions. With each episode there is always something different or a point that is being grumbled over for a quick resolution.

Take a couple of fan favourites  - The Trouble with Tribbles for instance; originally not a comedy nor Tribbles but the pages here chart an extraordinary evolution, the changes, the reasons why and how they came about. Sometimes it was more from a fluke thought than a huge idea-bashing session or a spark came from the mind of a more experienced story editor such as Gene Coon (Gerrold did a big edit that ensured he kept the main credit for the episode). How about the fact The Doomsday Machine - one of the ultimate classics of the show - came in under budget and in a record number of days for the second season? What about the hotch-potch stories that got stitched and moulded together into Patterns of Force that you might not have known about? Maybe you're just interested in finding out about the torrid events and dealings that went into the making of the aborted series pilot that was Assignment: Earth? It's all in here and there's so much more to discover as you go. Get reading. That's an order.

Every episode will at some point have you uttering the word, "Really?!" or the phrase; "I did not know that." In fact your opinions on a few episodes might just change when you read what took to get them to the screen. While you might not like what ended up on TV, the journey there was more fraught than you might care to imagine; The Omega Glory can take a bow for that. I loved the narrative that accompanies this episode - one of the three original ideas for the second pilot.

Here Marc's own voice is quite strong in support showing that there is definitely a degree of passion and support to ensure we appreciate every frame of the series and what went on. With The Omega Glory though it's slated by those who worked on it but by the end of that section you genuinely feel that it's one of Star Trek's all-time misunderstood episodes. It's a mark of the depth to which Cushman has researched that there is such a level of evidence in each chapter that you are called upon to examine every aspect of the show from the ground up not only in each chapter but after each watching of the series and then, most likely again when you head back to cross-reference in These are the Voyages.

The additional sections within the book are essential to getting your feet under the Star Trek table and knowing what influenced the show's background evolution - whether it be ever-increasing levels of infighting, the Hollywood press rumour mill or true stories of how-it-happened-on-that-day, it's all here and explains why the legendary show turned left instead of right or hired one person rather than another. Rarely do I leaf through an appendix but here the story assignment list is a must see. While we get to know how and when a story was planned and assigned, there are a number which fall by the wayside for a variety of reasons. These are covered in their own chapter but here the true extent of how many were unused, unworthy or too expensive can be easily visualised. I suspect that if we clustered all the unmade episodes from '66 to '69 there would be enough for one more (over-budget) season without another idea being submitted.

Even more inviting are the viewing figures which are more than pleasing but were no help to Gene Roddenberry as his relationship with the network went from bad to worse to downright catastrophic over the course of the year. To tell you the truth I came out of reading this book with a mixed view on the show's creator as well as a totally different perspective on Gene Coon - neither of which I expected when I started the season. Marc's style makes this ever more accessible and easy to understand. 

This isn't a book to sit down and read from cover to cover either. I found it much more beneficial to dip in and out of the chapters, reading each episode as a section rather than overloading the old grey matter with line after line after line of new and surprising information. We covered some of these points in our audio interview recently but there are loads more to discover. In fact let me expand on that.

Each evening I chose at random an episode or a section to read and this in no way detracted from my enjoyment of the overall product. In some way the weaker or less well known episodes provide more layers to the overall picture and the epilogue as is provides a key link to the third year. I had expected the letter-writing campaign and subsequent resurrection of Star Trek to be featured as the opening to the final These are the Voyages but there's something that feels so right about using that event; that pivotal fan-led mission, as the final chapter here.  Actually the work Cushman does here does indeed open up the true story - the volume of letters, what actually happened, how narked the network were that they got a vast amount of "Thank You" letters once the show was picked up for the '68-'69 season.

Marc's six year research project is now two-thirds complete and, even with the criticisms that were levelled against book one this is an absolute essential for your Star Trek library. The other books which exist will always have their place - they are part of the history of the show and reflect the views of the last fifty years through the eyes of fans and those involved. Marc Cushman may well be the last person to document the stories of those who were there at the time; those people who were in front and behind the camera for those defining years in TV history and it would have been criminal if their stories had never been properly documented. Many of them have never been interviewed before in regards to their involvement with Star Trek but their observations and recollections are now secure for generations of fans now and in the future; new and existing.

Go out, get a copy and barricade yourself into a room with a DVD player, TV and this book. You won't regret a second because afterwards you'll know all that there is to know about the second season. Just make sure you resurface to purchase the third volume.

These are the Voyages is available right now from Jacobs Brown priced $29.95. You can purchase your copy by dropping over to the site HERE.

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@45 @30 @15

When I started out on this post there was but one thing on my mind; The Search for Spock; 1984 - 2014.

Thing is that sometimes a post doesn't end up where you expected and I'm kind of glad it didn't on this occasion. You see, this week is something special in Star Trek history - an alignment of the heavens if you will, with three important anniversaries all falling in the space of just THREE days.

First up and probably getting the most coverage is the 30th anniversary of everybody's favourite mid-trilogy Star Trek movie on June 1st. 

Coming off the back of The Wrath of Khan was never going to be easy and the third motion picture still does take some hack for being overly dark in light of the events which closed the previous movie. Indeed, the main plot is pretty obvious - hint - it's in the title.

I really like Star Trek III as there's a lot going for it and a lot does happen here. Christoper Lloyd isn't ground-breaking as Kruge and the Vulcan stuff at the end might drag just a little but overall it's a solid entry into the movie library. Stealing the Enterprise is a brilliant scene especially with their pursuit being captained by the pompous and over-confident Styles on the Excelsior. Returning home in battered glory, breaking McCoy out of prison, saving Spock are all excellent snippets from this sometimes shunned sequel. It's only real fault being that it lies in the middle of two Star Trek movie heavyweights in II and IV.

The Search for Spock is heaped with firsts believe it or not; both the Excelsior and Oberth Classes debuted here and would become a staple of the Star Trek universe most notably in The Next Generation and Deep Space Nine.  For those who want more of USS Grissom, have a look at this audio series which focuses on their mission in the two weeks before the events of Star Trek III.

The Bird of Prey decloaked for the first time over the Merchantman and has also been a staple of the franchise to this day. That freighter too was reused many times in The Next Generation and Deep Space Nine  but made its debut here. Leonard Nimoy became the first Star Trek actor to helm a production; Saavik was the first character to be recast mid-series as Robin Curtis replaced Kirstie Alley; we got to see the officer's suede bomber jacket (ok, little stretched here but indulge me) and the Head of Starfleet too. It's jam-packed with stuff to keep going back to and finding. 

And at 45...

But while we've gone all hysterical over facts from The Search for Spock let's look back at what we said right at the start; three anniversaries over three days. June 2nd marks 15 years since the premiere of the final episode of Deep Space Nine while the 3rd is 45 years since the first airing of the last episode of The Original Series. While each of them merits a nod at least, it's more interesting to look at their positions within the franchise history. Standing at 1969, 1984 and 1999, these are anniversaries that also mark distinct snapshots of the different place Star Trek has had throughout it's near-50 year lifespan.

Turnabout Intruder marked the end of the original, curtailed, five year mission and 45 years later look where we are. Think about it - at that point it was all over, two fan campaigns had brought the show back but this time the network had cut the budget and buried the show in the Friday night Slot of Death to ensure that there would be no season four. For all intents and purposes Star Trek should have died that night - another short-lived show that would end up as a great pub quiz answer. You can imagine it; "Ok...question five; What space-based series starring William Shatner (what happened to him?) aired between 1966 and 1969 and had two pilot episodes?"

Lots of head scratching, murmours and some guy in the corner is the only one to get it right. Everyone else puts either Blakes 7, Lost in Space or The Outer Limits.

At this time all we had were those 79 episodes and the unaired pilot. That was it; your lot. This was Star Trek at its most pure and undiluted, untouched by anyone else but Roddenberry (and latterly Fred Freiberger). Turnabout Intruder also belays that splendid male-centric attitude of the 1960's - only men can command starships, something that would only be seen to have changed onscreen in the opening minutes of The Voyage Home and the USS Saratoga. Notably that would also be a female, black captain - and a black captain would also be helming a space station in later years.

Now, flash forward (again) to 1984 with the help of your Bajoran Orb. Off the back of $139,000,000 from The Motion Picture and $96,800,000 from The Wrath of Khan, the franchise is heading high. (Just a quick side-point too that this week (June 4th) is also the anniversary of the premiere of the second motion picture.) It's been revitalised thanks to Star Wars and also thanks to syndication which meant that many thousands were able to enjoy the 79 original episodes, leading to huge convention numbers, the naming of the space shuttle after the USS Enterprise and the possibility of a new series entitled Phase II.

The last bit didn't happen and we got The Motion Picture instead but with The Search for Spock it's a calm before a storm. While resolving a small matter of resurrecting Spock and tying up a few loose ends from it's illustrious predecessor, this was the time that Star Trek was on the way to some of its greatest successes. We were still two years away from  The Voyage Home and three away from the premiere of The Next Generation and yet there was genuine excitement about the show. This wasn't a cheap sequel, clocking in at $18,000,000 (six more than Star Trek II) and blowing up the Enterprise was a statement that things would be getting shaken up - and even the ending declared The Adventure Continues. There was no doubt there would be more to come.

If you look at this, the Harve Bennett era, you'll see the opulence of the sets, the grandiose entrance of the Enterprise to Spacedock, the "WTF" attitude to blowing up a screen icon and the ability to woo Christopher Lloyd to the film. It showed that Star Trek was accepted in the big time. People wanted to be linked to it and it was an important part of American culture and had been embraced by countries across the world too. By this point, 15 years after Turnabout Intruder, there had only been The Animated Series and two multi-million dollar motion pictures added to the library. This was Star Trek in the midst of its big screen era without a TV series to support it but that situation would be rectified very, very soon after.

Closer to...

Slingshot yourself around the sun again and take a trip to 1999. How different a moment in Star Trek history is this? 

Here we are at the final episode of the third series. What You Leave Behind isn't as good as All Good Things... (and I'm a HUGE Deep Space Nine fan) but it's probably the most final finale of the lot. Sisko is gone, Odo is gone, the war is over. Voyager still had two years to go and at the end of that series all the crew were still alive if not together (as Neelix was still in the Delta Quadrant).  Like The Next Generation it could have easily continued in some form and rumour has it that there had been considerations to bring her home earlier and have some episodes set in the Alpha Quadrant.

This story rounded out the story excellently although I'm still not sure how long Dukat and Winn are in the Fire Caves considering they're pottering around in them while Sisko goes all the way to Cardassia, fights a war and comes back.  I was sorry to see this show go because I felt that the quality and differences it brought to the franchise were not as strong in Voyager which was much more in the vain of The Next Generation.

I digress...back to Deep Space Nine. By this point in time we'd had 176 episodes of Picard and crew, 174 episodes of Sisko and his team, 79 episodes and an unaired pilot of The Original Series, 22 animated tales 120 episodes of Voyager and nine movies. That's a lot of material and most of it from after The Search for Spock. But What You Leave Behind also comes at a rather crucial point in the story - the start of the slope in popularity and ultimately the axing of Enterprise in 2005. For me this was the "golden age" coming to a close - we'd had a great run from 1987 on both small and big screen but the engine was starting to wind down and two years later with the finale of Voyager and the start of Enterprise it was even more evident.

The three anniversaries stake out three different takes and management eras too; Roddenberry, Bennett and Berman. Three very different styles and temperaments in control. Roddenberry's vision guided the two that followed but Bennett moulded his Star Trek into the classic "space opera", much more militaristic than his predecessor might have liked. Berman on the other hand, with input from Roddenberry in the earlier years of The Next Generation returned to the origins laid down by the Great Bird but once he passed, the doors opened to countless new possibilities and the finale of Deep Space Nine in 1999 for me is the culmination of all that. It was a closure, the most ceetain ending of any Star Trek series intended or not. The final frontier was safe once again and Berman's work was done - at least it maybe should have been.

What You Leave Behind mirrors the times just as the big bangs and OTT of The Search for Spock mark out the cash-rich '80's, Deep Space Nine's closer was dark, ominous and less than happy. Darker times were ahead and the future was uncertain but even then there was time for celebration. Not many were convinced this was going to work but it had and even managed to go out in true style with its head held proud.

It has been a few years since I last watched both Turnabout Intruder and What You Leave Behind but that doesn't mean I don't remember them as good quality segments of both series. I'll get to the latter in due course as I'm re-running Deep Space Nine currently (up to The Way of the Warrior at the moment). As reflections of their times we've seen here just how much a window into each era of the franchise they can be, spread evenly over 30 years from '69 to '99 - and what changes we saw in management, style and execution. 

If you're counting, don't worry, we've not forgotten and we'll be marking 25 years of The Final Frontier in due course!

Do you think that these three anniversaries mark out the differences in Star Trek over the years? Do you have a particular memory of Star Trek III? Turnabout Intruder? What You Leave Behind? Talk about them below!

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