Serving as the perfect companion piece to J.J. Abrams’ Star Trek as well as Paramount’s Blu-ray release of season one of the original series is the book Trek Classic: The Unofficial Making of the Original Series, a revised edition written by Edward Gross that goes behind the scenes of the ‘60s series. Excerpted and revised from the out-of-print Captains’ Logs, Trek Classic presents interviews with a wide variety of producers, directors and writers, among them Robert Justman, Joseph Pevney, David Gerrold, Dorothy Fontana, Norman Spinrad, Fred Freiberger, Stephen Kandel, friends and associates of Gene L. Coon, John D.F. Black and many more.
The book not only provides a look at the making of the show in general, but it goes behind the scenes on each episode of its three-season run. For example:
WHERE NO MAN HAS GONE BEFORE
Associate Producer Robert Justman: “Gene Roddenberry was very happy to get Bill Shatner, who was highly thought of in the industry… The network seemed to feel that Jeff Hunter [Christopher Pike in ‘The Cage’] was rather wooden. He was a nice person, everyone liked him, but he didn’t run he gamut of emotions that Bill Shatner could do….”
Director James Goldstone: “This one just seemed to have the potential to establish those characters on a human level. The only gimmick is the mutation forward, the silvering of Gary Mitchell’s eyes, and it works because it’s simple, as opposed to the growing of horns or something. Ours was a human science fiction concept, perhaps cerebral and certainly emotional.”
Writer Samuel Peeples: "Gene and I were trying to avoid the space cadet cliché. We were both very concerned about it being an adult show. One thing, as later episodes proved, was the problem which never should have existed: the bug eyed monsters. We both discouraged the idea, believing that we should keep things as realistic as possible. If a person was different physically, then explain the reason for that difference. In a particular atmosphere, he might have a larger lung. If it was a planet with an extraordinarily bright sun, he would have different eyes. We were actually trying to project reality against an unfamiliar background. In other words, we would deal with reality according to the environmental background we encountered."
BALANCE OF TERROR
Writer Paul Schneider: “Creating the Romulans was a matter of developing a good Romanesque set of admirable antagonists that were worthy of Kirk. I came up with the concept of the Romulans, which was an extension of the Roman civilization to the point of space travel, and it turned out quite well. It holds up remarkably well. I had the concept of this battle in space and this battle over a neutral zone, and I sat there with Gene and developed it with him. Gene said, 'Take it this way, that way,' I added my bit and a story came out of it. I've forgotten how many times I revised the story, but I think a couple of times before it went into teleplay."
Director Vincent McEveety: "They were very heroic characters pitted one against the other, and it dealt with the length to which people would go for their honor. It was a morality fantasy play, but terribly gripping. I thought that Mark Lenard's performance was brilliant, as was Bill Shatner's. It was a two-people show that I felt was real strong. I had, incidentally, seen THE ENEMY BELOW, but I didn't notice the similarity until later, when somebody told me about it. Obviously it's the same story."
Story Editor John D.F. Black: “I remember that one was tough... We were dealing with the Romulans and the Spock relationship to them, and that was something that needed very special handling, as was the case any time Spock met with aliens. It was important not to blow the Spock character and not to equate him to somebody who sucks salt out of somebody else's body. We had to keep him Spock. Then it became a habit and subsequently when I saw the episodes I wasn't involved with, Leonard, by the time I was gone, already had a lock on what he wanted to play as Spock and he was right. He made Spock his own character and so he survived that way. I don't think he ever said an out of character line on the show. At the very beginning it was because of care on our side, and then it became Leonard protecting the character. If you notice the takeoffs, the comics are never able to pull off a spoof of him. They can use what became the clichés of the character, but they can't catch Spock. Leonard had him, and the character just somehow survived from script to script."
For more information on Trek Classic: The Unofficial Making of the Original Series or to order a copy, please click HERE.