THE THOLIAN WEB - August 1968 (Star Trek)

With a nod to Margo Channing of ALL ABOUT EVE

Fasten your seat belts - it’s going to be a bumpy flight.

The day after I finished filming IS THERE IN TRUTH NO BEAUTY, I reported to the studio to start prep on THE THOLIAN WEB. I remember very little about this prep period. There were no guest stars, so there were no casting meetings. The entire show would be filmed on the Enterprise sets. The script called for scenes to be filmed on another starship, the Defiant, but since that starship was the same as the Enterprise, there was no need to build additional sets. The already standing Enterprise sets would do double duty. The biggest change facing me was the loss of Jerry Finnerman. He had departed the series, and his camera operator, Al Francis, had been promoted to director of photography. One thing I remember about the week of prep, one of my agents called and told me there was an offer from Gene Coon to direct an episode of a new series he was producing, IT TAKES A THIEF starring Robert Wagner. We had to turn it down. There was a direct conflict; it would require me to report before I had finished filming my current STAR TREK.

If I don’t remember much about the prep week, the same cannot be said about the filming week which began on Monday, August 5th. If we look at the teaser, it will be easier for me to explain the events that occurred that first day.

Our work was scheduled to begin on the Defiant bridge set (which was the Enterprise bridge set). When I reported at 7:30 Monday morning, the set was ready, the crew was assembled, I was prepared, as was the cast. But there were no silver space suits. I was told the four actors had come to the studio the day before (Sunday) for their FIRST fittings. They were, even as we somewhat impatiently waited, having their final fittings. Nothing had been done by the production department to adjust the schedule for this predicament. My friend, Max Hodge, who was on a writing assignment for MISSION IMPOSSIBLE, was at the studio and dropped by my set. The two of us went to the set next door to visit the current MISSION in production which was guest starring my friend (from ROUTE 66), Ruth Roman.

Finally one suit was completed, the one for Bill Shatner. So I found some isolated closeups of Captain Kirk, and we filmed those, There weren’t that many, and it meant filming the closeups before we had staged and rehearsed the scenes. Just before noon the four suits were finally completed and we could begin.

The normal method of filming is to schedule by the sets. When you went into a set, all of the scenes in that set would be completed before moving to another set. Those moves took time. Every effort was made to keep such moves to a minimum. But in the case of these scenes on the Defiant, the space suits became the determing factor. Which meant that we were filming in every one of the starship’s sets -- the bridge, engineering, medical lab and sick bay. But we had to film just those scenes in these various sets that involved our space suited men. Later we would have to return to each set to film the other sequences in the script that occurred in them.

The business with McCoy’s hand going through the body and the table was accompished by a locked off camera and filming twice. See setup 27X1 in the script and then on the camera direction page.

As you can see, I originally planned to do it in one setup, panning from the corpse to the desk. The set was different than what I had planned, so I did it in two setups -- first McCoy and the corpse; then McCoy at the table. (The closeup of McCoy’s hand and the back of the dead crewman was filmed later on the insert stage.)

There was an additional wrinkle in the plans. Well actually it was caused by not wanting any wrinkles. The costumes had no zippoers; they had no buttons or snaps. The guys were SEWN into the space suits. That meant when any of them needed to make a visit to the restroom, they had to be unsewn, and when they were ready to return to the set, they had to be resewn into the suit. Zippers are faster!

I don’t feel it is disparaging to point out that Jerry Finnerman was missed. His were very large shoes to fill, both as to his artistic ability and his speed. Al Francis, very new to the post of director of photography and faced with a very difficult show with unexpected complications -- well let me put it kindly and just say -- his feet were smaller.

Now back to the Transporter Room, where Scotty, because of diminished power, can only bring back three at a time.

With the loss of a half day caused by the wardrobe situation, I did not complete the first day’s schedule.

As was the usual practice, scenes in the Enterprise bridge were filmed at the end of the schedule, so my next commitments were to return to the sets I had filmed on the Defiant (sick bay, medical lab, engineering) only now they would be sets on the Enterprise. And there was also a long dialogue scene between Spock and McCoy in Kirk’s quarters.

And now for some of the action!

There was one other scene in the lab between McCoy ad Nurse Chapel. Now on to the engineering set.

And there were other short, what I called bread-and-butter-scenes, usually angles of Scotty talking to the bridge. And finally sick bay.

And one other scene between McCoy and Uhura in sick bay.

By the end of the third day I had completed all of the sequences in the transporter room, sick bay, the medical lab, engineering and all but one of the silver lame suit sequences in the Defiant bridge. What was scheduled and had not been completed were four scenes in the Enterprise bridge -- a total of 7 1/8 pages. I was asked to come to Fred Freiberger’s office at the completion of the day’s shooting. There he informed me I was being removed from the project. I was being replaced by what he called a “fireman”, someone who could come in and just get it in the can. The matter of the loss of time on the first day, which I figure would have given me an additional five pages completed, was not discussed. I had spent the past six weeks on STAR TREK, prepping and shooting IS THERE IN TRUTH NO BEAUTY and THE THOLIAN WEB. I know I must have had some meeting with Freiberger before this, but this is the only interaction with him I remember.

The following day, Thursday, the Hollywood trade prapers, Daily Variety and Hollywood Reporter, each carried a news story issued by Douglas Kramer’s office (Kramer was the head of television production for Paramount Studios) detailing my being removed as director of THE THOLIAN WEB on STAR TREK. The article pointed out the studio’s intent to curtail the problem of films not being completed as scheduled. Gene Roddenberry telephoned me. He was outraged, apologetic and sympathetic.

Why, forty-two years later am I writing about this? Am I looking for some kind of vindication? I have no need to. Right after all this occurred I was summoned to Joe Youngerman’s office. Youngerman was the head of the Directors Guild of America. The Guild was very protective of its members, and Joe wanted to hear my side of the story. It was at that time that I stated I did not want screen credit. For me it was simply going to become a nonoccurrence. And that’s the way it was for many years. But studio records, investigative journalists and finally the internet have managed to reconnect me to THE WEB. In fact in their book THE AMERICAN VEIN (to which I have referred in a previous posting) Christopher Wicking and Tise Vahimagi spend more time in their section on me, talking about my direction of THE THOLIAN WEB than on any other film I directed.

Forty-two years later I can also see that this incident was a part of a larger movement. When I first started directing television film in 1961, the scripts I was given were very challenging. On DR. KILDARE, ROUTE 66, NAKED CITY, BREAKING POINT, TWILIGHT ZONE, THE FUGITIVE and TWELVE O’CLOCK HIGH, the scripts I was given were a challenge, daring me to deliver a final product as good as the producers demanded. But gradually in the mid-sixties, things changed. I found the scripts were getting weaker, and I had to work harder to make up for the deficiencies in order to continue to satisfy the producers’ expectations. Until finally television had become such a lucrative business, the demands on the director were more about speed than quality, and I found myself in a position of wanting to do better than what was requested. Oh, there were still “pockets” where the old times prevailed -- STAR TREK in its first season and a third; THE WALTONS in the seventies. And there were others. But strictly in the minority. You know, as a kid I never wanted to be a fireman. But at the age of eighteen, I knew I wanted to be a director.

It seemed in the aftermath of what had just occurred that a meeting must have been called of all the producers in Hollywood. Don’t hire Senensky! I was suddenly, totally unemployable. This went on for a very long time. But the Phoenix does usually manage to rise again..

The fluttering of those wings -- on the next posting.

IS THERE IN TRUTH NO BEAUTY? - July 1968 (Star Trek)

My return to STAR TREK early in their third season found more changes. Producer John Meredyth Lucas was gone, replaced by Fred Freiberger. Director of photography Jerry Finnerman was still there but on his final assignments; he was leaving the series to photograph a feature film. Paramount was still next door, even closer now because the old wall that had separated the two studios, Paramount and Desilu (originally RKO Radio Pictures), had been torn down. I sensed a tense atmosphere in the company almost at once.

There were no locations required to film this episode. In fact the entire show would be filmed in the Enterprise set on Stage 9 except for one four page scene in a herbarium set on swing stage 8. Casting also was relatively easy. For the role of Larry Marvick, the tortured soul in love with Miranda, I wanted David Frankham. David and I had worked together twice before -- first on the main stage of the Pasadena Playhouse on a production of Somerset Maugham’s THE CIRCLE and later on TWELVE O’CLOCK HIGH in the episode, THE TRAP. My request was greeted with approval. The role of Miranda was not quite that easy. I remember we checked out Jessica Walter, but she was not available. Other availabilities were checked with no success. Now STAR TREK had a standing rule that guest stars would not repeat unless they were coming back to play the same role. At this point I daringly suggested we bring back Diana Muldaur (who had guest starred the previous season in RETURN TO TOMORROW), and that we put her in a black wig. That suggestion was finally accepted.

Our first day of filming, Tuesday, July 16th, arrived and I faced a mutiny on the Enterprise that I had not faced before. Bill Shatner and Leonard Nimoy had very strong objections to a portion of the scene we were scheduled to do that day and were refusing to film. Since the objection was to dialogue involving a piece of jewelry that Gene Roddenberry had designed, he was summoned to the set. The morning was spent in a round table with the six characters involved in the scene plus Gene and me. But the battle was strictly between Bill and Leonard vs Gene. Bill and Leonard felt Gene was using the scene as a promotional commercial for a pin he had designed. Gene denied these accusations, but the boys were adamant in their refusal to be a part of something they considered so commercially oriented. The final result of the long morning’s combat was that Gene agreed to rewrite the scene. But that took it off the schedule for that first day’s filming. The balance of the day’s schedule was four short sequences in the Enterprise corridor that totaled a page and a half. I did not want my first day’s work to be limited to a page and a half, so I suggested we do a strong three page scene between Diana Muldaur and David Frankham. Which is what we did.

I will discuss these scenes later as we reach them in the progress of our story. For now let’s go to the Transporter Room and let that story begin. Please pay attention to the instructions being given to the members of the Enterprise on who should be allowed in the presence of the arriving Ambassador.

I would like to have filmed the following scene when Spock and Dr. Miranda Jones “escort” the Ambassador to his quarters in one dolly back two shot. But the corridor set was not long enough. I had to film it in two dolly individual medium shots of Spock and Miranda, which would be intercut. That way when we ran out of set, we moved back to the starting position and continued the scene in another setup. I know it took two runs (possibly three) to complete filming each of the two characters. And again note how the passageway was cleared of all ship personnel!

Here is the script for the following sequence when Spock “meets” the Ambassador. Pay attention to Scene 22.

And now the scene.

The script just called for a blue light emanating from the receptacle. Jerry Finnerman very wisely turned the blue to green. My very strong objection to what was done after I turned in my director’s cut was to the comic strip animation used to represent the ugliness of the Ambassador. I don’t know who was responsible; that kind of vulgarizing technique had never intruded into STAR TREK before, so I have my suspicions. Since the Ambassador is described as being so ugly that any human seeing him would be driven insane, it was more powerful to see the Ambassador only through the reactions of the people in contact with him. It is a perfect example of a scene that would benefit by leaving something to the imagination of the viewer, rather than treating the whole thing as if it were just another sequence in an episode of BATMAN! Plus which the true intent of the scene was negated. After Spock leaves and Miranda looks at the Ambassador without wearing her visor, the emphasis should not be on how ugly he is. The real question should be: Why can she look at the Ambassador without her visor?

The portion of the dining scene that caused so much consternation that first day was rewritten by Gene Roddenberry. As you will see, the business with the IDIC pin that Spock wears was drastically trimmed so that all could dine (and act) at ease.

Another page from the script.

And now the scene.

I don't think I have to state again my dismay at another superimposition of the receptacle. And this time it is so WRONG! Miranda is reading by her telepathic ability the thought of murder. She doesn’t know who is doing the thinking. There is no victim involved. As you will see in the next clip, she will ask if she was the intended victim.

As I stated earlier, METAMORPHOSIS was my favorite STAR TREK episode. I felt there was a poetic dimension beyond science fiction. I saw some of that same element in this script. And Jerry Finnerman certainly rose to the challenge in his photographing it, as you will see in the next clip, the scene we filmed that first day with Diana and David. And that scene was a good example of why I liked to have more than just the intended day’s schedule prepared. And why I liked to work with actors whom I could rely on to give performances like the ones you are about to see in scenes that they were not scheduled to do. Filming I found usually followed the lines of Murphy’s Law: If something can go wrong, it will.

Again another intrusion. And the superimposition of the Ambassador’s receptacle is WRONG!  Miranda’s next line was, “Who do you want to kill, Larry? Is it me?” The Ambassador at this point does not figure in the equation.

The next day at dailies, following this scene, Bobby Justman was heard to remark, “I wonder how she’ll look in a red wig.”

Remember the fish-eye 9mm lens Jerry Finnerman introduced me to on METAMORPHOSIS. There we used it to give a greater expanse to a very small area. I wanted to use it again, but this time, as you will see -- differently. And if you're thinking as you see the various shots of the corridor -- that looks like a very long corridor -- that is the miracle of the wide angle lens. Those shots were filmed with either an 18mm or a 20mm lens. (Although the static shots where there is distortion, where the walls lean, those were filmed with the 9mm.)

This was my second experience dealing with a mind link. My previous episode, RETURN TO TOMORROW filmed during the second season, had three characters mind linking to inanimate persons.

Miranda objects to Spock’s mind linking with the Ambassador. And a scene reveals a major challenge Diana Muldaur faced in playing Miranda.

Gene Roddenberry, in his conception of the character of Spock, and Leonard Nimoy, in his total realization of that character, had boxed in an enormously versatile actor. Earlier in THIS SIDE OF PARADISE Spock was freed emotionally by the spores, and Leonard was able to use his talent way beyond the constraints of Spock’s character. The mind link was another route to this same freedom.

Here I had another opportunity to use the 9mm lens; and Leonard had an opportunity to really stretch.

Television didn’t often provide scenes that exploded emotionally. For the most part it always seemed controlled and careful. The excitement was generated by car chases and fights. But occasionally a script would provide that excitement by the conflict between the characters. I think you saw it earlier in the death of Larry Marvick. Now Kirk and Miranda go at it.

And the final scene where I used the 9mm lens for the mad man’s point of view!

Remember at the beginning of this posting when I urged you to pay attention to the cautions about who could be in the presence of the Ambassador?

Did you catch the gross error? The script and my director’s cut had Kirk say, “Peace”, and he exited. What idiot decided to have him hang around, without a visor, which wouldn’t have protected him anyway because he was human? I have run out of scorn!

I think friendships in show business are different than in any other profession.  Because they are founded so much on emotions of the work, very close ones can evolve in very short periods of time.  But the profession also separates people very quickly and for long periods of time.  I have found that when reunions occur, the friendships pick up right where they left off. I had not seen David Frankham for 22 years when he recently came to visit.  We had first met and worked together 50 years ago. And as I said, the bonds of friendship did not recognize the long period of separation.  While he visited, we watched my posting of IS THERE IN TRUTH NO BEAUTY? on a big screen.  The following pictures were taken of David viewing his performance. 

The second picture to me is very surreal.  Today’s David is looking at his performance on the screen.  But Larry Marvik  seems to be thinking, “Why is that old codger staring at me?”  Much like the Jeff Daniels character in Woody Allen’s THE PURPLE ROSE OF CAIRO, this character on the screen is aware of those watching him. 

I have a joke I have told for years.

As I sat alone in my room, sad and lonely and without a friend, a voice came to me from out of the gloom and said, “Cheer up. Things could be worse.” So I cheered up -- and sure enough -- things got worse.

That little joke can serve as a preview for my next posting!

OBSESSION - October 1967 (Star Trek)

Some time near the end of filming BREAD AND CIRCUSES, Herb Solow, executive in charge of production for Desilu Studios, and John Meredyth Lucas, the new producer of STAR TREK (replacing Gene Coon), came to me to check my availability to stay on and direct another STAR TREK. My preparation period would begin the day following completion of the current show. I regrettably had to decline. I never worked on the Jewish High Holy Days (Rosh Hashannah and Yom Kippur), and they were going to fall right in the middle of the next show’s schedule. Not to be deterred, Herb got out a calendar to see whether the conflict could be resolved. Rosh Hashannah would fall on the last two days of preparation. No problem, he said. I could have my preparation completed by then, so that it would not be necessary for me to come to the studio on those two days. The fifth day of filming would be on Friday, October 13. Yom Kippur began at sundown on that day. Again no problem he said. I could leave the studio late afternoon, and John, a director in his own right, would finish directing the day’s work. And that’s the way it worked out. And John from then on always referred to himself as my Yom Kippur director.

So let’s beam up to another of Jerry Finnerman’s colorful planets.

I was asked by one of the followers of this blog, how could the character Jerry Ayres played in an episode of the first year (ARENA) who was killeld, show up in this episode. I have since read an interview Jerry gave in which he said there was a scene filmed that explained that, but that scene ended up on the cutting room floor. I don’t think so; at least I didn’t direct that deleted scene, and I know it wasn’t one of the Yom Kippur scenes directed by John Meredyth Lucas. Another thing, the characters played by Jerry in the two productions have different names. I find all of this an unusual happening, since I know how careful the production was NOT TO BRING BACK ACTORS unless they were playing recurring characters. I’ll have an interesting story to tell on this same topic in a later posting.

This was the fourteenth time I directed Stephen Brooks. Our first two encounters were when he had a recurring role on the New York based THE NURSES. Two years later he was Jim Rhodes, Efrem Zimbalist’s sidekick on QM’s THE FBI. Stephen left that series after only two seasons. I never questioned why. Was it his choice to walk away because of the limited opportunities his role gave him, or did Quinn or the network want someone older? (Stephen when he started THE FBI was only twenty-three years old. The original story plan had been that Jim Rhodes was the fiance of Efrem's daughter, a character who soon disappeared from the series.) Or could it have been a request from Mr. Hoover’s FBI office in Washington? They were very careful to protect the image of their agents. Did Stephen’s youth make him too immature to fit that image? His replacement on that series was William Reynolds, an older version of Stephen, eleven years older.

I didn’t know Stephen away from the movie set. And on the set I knew Jim Rhodes (THE FBI), Ensign Garrovick (STAR TREK) or the twenty-one year old interne on THE NURSES. Why did his career end so early? There was a barber shop in Toluca Lake that many of the men on THE FBI went to. It was a barber shop, not a ladies hair salon. Its owner was Eleanor, and the barbers were all women. Beverly at the second chair cut Pat Sajak’s hair. Eleanor told me some time in the mid-seventies that Stephen was an unhappy, disturbed young man. He left Hollywood in his early forties and died of a heart attack in Seattle, Washington at the age of fifty-seven. Why do I bring this up? Because we are inundated ad nauseum with news about those in Hollywood who ‘make it’, many with a minuscule talent. There are so many more, talented like Stephen, whose star doesn’t shine, it only flickers. He was a sensitive and attractive young actor. WHY? To do a variation of the closing line of NAKED CITY, “There are eight million stories in Hollywood; the Stephen Brooks story is one of them.”

This was my first STAR TREK without Gene Coon as producer (and of course as writer). He stated he was leaving because he was burned out. I’ve wondered if Paramount’s purchase of Desilu Studio, with the subsequent shortening of the shooting schedule (and whatever other restrictions the new regime brought) could have contributed to Gene’s burnout. I for one certainly missed him.

The following scene I think is an example of how the shorter shooting schedule affected the creation of the screenplay. Remember my telling you that the usual length for a scene in a television script was about three minutes. The following scene runs almost seven minutes. The scene starts with a strong confrontation between Dr. McCoy and Kirk, but after Spock enters, we get two and a half minutes of pure exposition. And those two and a half minutes covered the same material that had just been presented in a two minute scene between Spock and McCoy that I have not included. There is a big difference between having your characters EXPLAIN a situation or DRAMATIZING IT. With exposition just set up a closeup and let the actor talk. The advantage of talk to the money men is that it required less movement and fewer camera setups and thus could be filmed faster.

I cannot speak for the other directors and the other productions, but I can definitely say that there was a drop in quality from THIS SIDE OF PARADISE, METAMORPHOSIS and BREAD AND CIRCUSES to the other two episodes I directed the second season. And I ascribe the reason for this drop to be partly caused by the lack of Gene Coon’s stewardship of the scripts and the rest to the impossible expectation that the episodes in this series could be filmed in five and a half days.

Now, have you finally realized you are watching Captain Ahab and Moby Dick battling it out in space?

As I bemoan the loss of Gene Coon, I don’t mean to dismiss John Meredyth Lucas. His was a formidable task. In one of my early postings I described what it felt like as a director coming to direct a long running series for the first time. It was like a Captain taking new command of a ship in battle. For John, taking over as producer of STAR TREK, I felt, it was like an Admiral being reassigned to command of an entire fleet. And to do it midseason -- a monstrous assignment. Filling Gene Coon’s shoes ... use your imagination.

John came from Hollywood royalty. His mother was Bess Meredyth, noted screenplay writer dating back to the silents. She wrote the screenplays for many of Garbo’s films and was twice nominated for an Academy Award. When John was ten, his mother married Michael Curtiz, who I think is one of the great underrated directors in filmdom. A total studio director who has never achieved an auteur status, but what a resume! What a range! CASABLANCA, CAPTAIN BLOOD, THE ADVENTURES OF ROBIN HOOD, YANKEE DOODLE DANDY, MILDRED PIERCE, ANGELS WITH DIRTY FACES, THE SEA WOLF, WHITE CHRISTMAS and on and on. He directed his first film (in Europe) in 1912, his last in 1961.

Now back to our story; and finally we’re past most of the exposition and into some drama.

And into the final battle between Captain Kirk and his white whale. Will he become lashed to the whale as Ahab was? That could promote Spock to Captain of the Enterprise and Leonard Nimoy to top star of the series. Wanna bet?

BREAD AND CIRCUSES - September 1967 (Star Trek)

This posting can also be viewed

(extended and revised) on the other RALPH'S TREK at www.senensky.com

When I was interviewed by Dave Rohlf for the Star Trek History website, he and I surprised each other. I surprised him when I told him that I did not remember BREAD AND CIRCUSES with any great affection; that it was not on my list of shows of which I was proud. He surprised me when he told me that BREAD AND CIRCUSES ranked as a very popular episode of STAR TREK.

I was surprised later by a follow-up question. They wanted to know where I had filmed the sequences of the arrests being made. The locations were right on the studio lot, utilizing entrances to offices and sound stages.

And I was beaming back to STAR TREK after a busy four months during the summer directing a western, a court room drama, an episode of I SPY and my first INSIGHT which was live on tape. I discovered it had been a busy summer at Desilu Studios as well. Gulf Western, owner of Paramount right next door, had purchased Desilu. The wall separating the two studios had been torn down and it was now just one big unhappy family.

When I first came to STAR TREK, Gene Coon told me that although the shows were supposed to be scheduled for a six day shoot, actually it was averaging out to six and a half days per episode. The edict from the new owners was that ALL SHOWS MUST BE COMPLETED IN SIX DAYS. But there was more. A normal shooting day had a crew call of 7:30am for an 8:00am shoot. Actors’ calls were based on the amount of time needed for makeup and hair to have them ready for the 8:00am shoot. The day ended at 7:00pm. Another order from the new management was that filming must end at 6:12pm. That was 48 minutes less per day; 48 minutes times 6 is 288 minutes; 288 minutes divided by 60 is 4.8 hours, just 12 minutes less than 5 hours which is a half a day’s shooting time. In other words it was now being demanded that STAR TREK be filmed in five and a half days. As you saw in the clip, I was now challenged with putting a SPARTACUS-like saga on film on a schedule that would have satisfied the executives at Ziv Studios in the fifties.

To start this impossible venture we returned to Bronson Canyon where I had filmed the idyllic THIS SIDE OF PARADISE. But it was a part of Bronson Canyon new to me. I had previously filmed in the forest section of the canyon. I did not know about the cave.

Septimus was portrayed by the highly respected character actor, Ian Wolfe. Ian at this time was seventy-one years old. He had come to Hollywood in 1934 after a successful career on Broadway. I collect old movies (my library at the present time includes around 2400 titles), and there are times when I wonder if any movie back in the thirties and forties was made without Ian in the cast. His final screen appearance (and there were over three hundred of them) was in Warren Beatty’s DICK TRACY in 1990.

I had one major concern with the script. The early version I felt telegraphed the ending of the story. But I had TWO Genes working this time. Both Roddenberry and Coon divided up the scenes to be revised so as to establish the slaves’ religious belief in the Planet Sun..

And again Jerry Finnerman has to be commended. The interior of the cave was shot at the location in Bronson Canyon. When filming an interior away from the studio, everything had to be lit from the floor. There wasn't the advantage of lighting from above. Filming within the confines of the cave just added to the difficulty. But Jerry still managed to do more than just get it photographed. In the cave as in his work back at the studio, there was an artist at work.

And once again Bill ‘Honey, you wanna ride on my bulldozer’ Bramley (from THE BULL ROARER) ended up in front of my camera. He’s the leader of the police group making the arrest.

STAR TREK was Jerry Finnerman’s first assignment as a director of photography. He had been Harry Stradling’s operator for several years and Stradling was one of the giants of the profession. He was the one who urged Jerry to take the STAR TREK assignment. Jerry, like so many gifted artists, was not the most confident human being on the planet. In fact at the beginning of the first season of STAR TREK he wanted to be let out of his contract. Fortunately wiser heads at the studio prevailed and he was persuaded it was better for his career if he stayed on. He did and I believe he is due a great deal of credit for the look of the show. Again as in the cave he didn’t settle for the drab gray of the jail cell walls and bars. Jerry, although he had a fine crew of gaffers, set all of the lights. He painted with light. And the amazing thing was how fast he was.

Television scenes at this time rarely ran longer than three minutes. The following scene was more than twice that. The actual page count for the sequence was eight and an eighth pages. And it was not a scene that allowed for any movement once the five people entered and were seated. Plus which any movement would have required additional camera setups and time to light them. The scene was a lot of talk. It was on days like this that I was grateful and appreciative of the five talented actors who comprised the cast. I must put in a word here about leading actors in episodic television. Bill Shatner, Leonard Nimoy and DeForest Kelley after a long twelve hour day such as the one to complete this sequence (and I think there would have been an additional scene; I do not have my call sheets for this episode, but with a sixty-five page script, each day averaged out at at least ten pages), they would then go home with the requirement to work on the scenes for the following day’s work. To do it at all was an accomplishment. To do it with such skill --I bow my head in admiration.

The sequence in the arena is that part of our story most harmed by the time restrictions imposed by the new management. It was literally put together on the run. The second gladiator in the arena with Flavius was a very fine stunt man, Max Klevin, whom I had worked with in New York on NAKED CITY. I knew what he was capable of. The satiric look at live television was there; the spectacle of the Roman arena was less than it should have been. There was so much more that could have been done that would have been exciting and entertaining, but it needed time to stage and rehearse, with care taken to avoid injury to the actors involved. It should have been the breathtaking set piece of the production. But those wolfhounds in the black suits were nipping at our heels.

The role of Spock was both a starmaker and a cage for Leonard Nimoy. The unemotional character was an unusual creation and added substance and even comedy to the series. But for an actor of Leonard’s capabilities, most of the time it was limiting. Whenever there were ways to release him from these strictures (as in THIS SIDE OF PARADISE) it was edifying and entertaining. I’m not sure which Gene was responsible for the following scene between Spock and Doc (although I have my suspcions) but I think the scene is a winner.

Gene Roddenberry was doing a rewrite on the final climactic scene before the trio beam back up to the Enterprise. It was so last minute that I left the studio the evening before without the script in hand. Gene promised it would be waiting for me at the studio early the next morning. I arrived at the studio at 6:00am and, as he had promised, the script was there. While I was in the jail cell set planning my day’s work Ted Cassidy (Lurch on THE ADDAMS FAMILY television series) came into the set. He was guest starring on MISSION: IMPOSSIBLE on an adjoining sound stage. I didn’t know him but either Leonard or DeForest was on the set and did. We planned a little prank to get the day off to a happy start. We filmed it; everyone knew what was going to happen except Bill Shatner. You may have seen it on one of the blooper reels that has been around for a long time. But here it is!

And here’s the sequence including the scene Bill thought we were doing before he was abducted.

As I wrote before, my early concern about the script was my fear the ending was being telegraphed. Both Genes worked on various scenes to establish the Roman slaves’ religious belief centered on the planet Sun. Now here’s our farewell to that week’s planet.

You can hear my telephone interview on this episode by going to the Star Trek History website at:

http://www.startrekhistory.com/interviews.html

METAMORPHOSIS - May 1967 (Star Trek)

This posting can also be viewed

(

revised 

and extended) on the

website RALPH'S TREK at

www.senensky.com

Thus began my second voyage on the Enterprise, my favorite voyage of the seven STAR TREKs I directed. It was written by the incomparable Gene Coon and was spooky and eerie and had a potent message. I was really anxious to make this voyage.

When you look at the lineup of my voyages, it seems as if I just went from one trek to another. Actually there was a three month lapse between THIS SIDE OF PARADISE and METAMORPHOSIS. Part of that time was television’s annual spring hiatus. I also managed to squeeze in the impossible mission of THE TRAIN. After that jarring trip I was ready for the sanity of outer space.

METAMORPHOSIS had no location work. The planet we would be visiting would be created on the studio soundstage. This actually was the usual standard operating procedure for the show. Of my seven ventures, only two left the studio for location filming, THIS SIDE OF PARADISE (my first) and upcoming BREAD AND CIRCUSES. But the planet created for this production, I think, was one of the finest of the whole series. And it was the director of photography, Jerry Finnerman, who was most responsible for its unique look. A cyclorama for the sky was the backing for the set pieces that would be placed in front of it. It was Jerry who decided that the sky would be purple. It was also Jerry who introduced me to the fish eye lens, the wide angle 9mm. The soundstage we would be shooting on was not very large; it was one of the smaller soundstages I had ever worked on. In fact neither of the two stages for STAR TREK (one for the Enterprise and one for the swing sets) was large.

For our opening sequence on this foreign planet, the use of the 9mm lens made the shuttlecraft on the ground seem a great distance away. But use of this lens posed a problem; we were shooting off the set. In fact we were seeing the ceiling of the soundstage. So Jerry brought in large rocks in the foreground to mask the overshoot. When Cochrane enters the foreground and then runs toward the group at the craft, we had to cut away to other angles of his approach. If we had stayed on the fish eye lens, it would appear that he had on seven league boots and was covering the football field distance in about five paces.

There was another problem connected with this set. The sky cyclorama was not a complete circle; it was 180 degrees max. So any reverse angle shots had to be done against the same cyclorama. That meant we shot everything toward the shuttlecraft before we created other backgrounds with rocks and trees against the same cyclorama for those reverse angles.

In the clips that you will be viewing, the sky is not always the deep purple I have described. These clips are from an old off the air transcription that time has not been kind to. There are a few shots where the purple has survived, so use your imagination. I do think even faded, Jerry Finnerman’s photography is exemplary.

Once all of the scenes involving the shuttlecraft were filmed, that set was struck. Cochrane’s home, exterior and interior, was erected and the grounds surrounding the house were relandscaped. Again all of the shots toward the house were done first; then the reverse angles were filmed as had been the case with the scenes involving the shuttlecraft.

I was and still am very impressed with Gene Coon’s script. Two years prior to this he was producing and writing THE WILD WILD WEST. I had directed two shows for Gene on that series, and at that time he told me that he didn’t have time to write all of the shows, but that show was so special as was STAR TREK that he needed to write them. So what he did was have writers come in with their ideas which he would buy, and he would have them write their script. That gave him a first draft which he would then rewrite. I don’t think that he took writing credit for this work. METAMORPHOSIS was not a rewrite, it was an original Gene Coon scriipt as was THE DEVIL IN THE DARK. Compare the wild comic lunacy of THE WILD WILD WEST with the subdued dramatic intensity of the following scenes -- I guess what I’m trying to say is the man was talented!

Jerry Finnerman also contributed another effect for the set. He thought our sky should have clouds, so when we were ready to film, the doors to the soundstage were closed, the fans were turned off, every person was instructed to stand perfectly still, there could be NO movement. The special effects people then came in with their bee smokers and wafted smoke up above the trees. Presto -- we had clouds. It’s a beautiful effect that added to the reality.

The Companion was going to be a matte added in post production to what I shot. The producers asked me to plan my shots to avoid the necessity of a traveling matte, which would be an added expense. For you civilians let me explain. If I shot a very wide shot that would have Cochrane standing at one end of the frame, the Companion would be added to the other end of the frame; and if then the Companion moved across the screen to envelop Cochrane, that would be a traveling matte. Instead I shot a full figure wide shot of Cochrane, panned the camera left across the set and stopped, held frame long enough for the matte to be superimposed in the center of the frame, then panned back to the original shot of Cochrane. The Companion, centered in the frame, now enveloped Cochrane.

But then came a sequence where there was no way to avoid the traveling matte.

I was not present in post production when an actress recorded the speeches of the Companion. But I was there to view the film after her speeches had been integrated into the assembled footage. And nobody disagreed with me when I declared the performance, which had been uttered in a robotic monotone, was unacceptable. Another actress was hired, and this time I was present to direct the performance. And the approach this time was to play the MEANING of the scene.

At the viewing of the dailies the day after we filmed the previous scene, Gene Coon spoke, “And that’s why we pay him the big money.”

When in the arts you copy someone, that’s plagiarism. Unless you copy a large amount, then it’s a tribute. What is it if you steal from yourself? Because that’s what I did for the final sequence in this episode. The genesis for the opening shot was an episode of THE FBI (THE ESCAPE) that I had filmed the previous year. In that lakeside scene, the girl, having made love to her fugitive lover, looks at him through a pink chiffon scarf. Maybe life from now would be rosier for her. I needed something to get into this scene between Cochrane and Nancy. I decided I would have this cloud, recently turned into a human, look and marvel at the scarf that Nancy had in her possession. I admit, not knowing at that time what the Companion was going to look like, that I had no further motivation in my choice of this action. That the vision of him through the scarf was as she was used to seeing him when she was a cloud at that point had no significance for me. As it turned out it was an added unforeseen bonus. You can read about THE FBI episode in my archives to the right of this column.

One day walking back to the office after a screening of the completed film, Gene Coon said to me he was just amazed; how did I know to have the scarf and the Companion look alike. And I had to admit it was just one of those freak wonderful accidents that can happen. Now from the vantage point of forty-three years later, I can wonder when did the lab start working on the effect for the Companion. We didn’t shoot the Cochrane-Nancy scene until the final day; in fact I think it was the last scene to be filmed. Did the lab start work on the Companion before or after that sequence was in the can? Did they see that scene before or after? We’ll probably never know. But who cares! It worked!

There was another question I will never know the answer to. Gene Coon told me one of the advantages of being on STAR TREK was that he was able to deal with issues that he couldn’t do on any other series. For instance he had written an episode that emananted from his own anti-Vietnam War feelings. The race issue was a major issue of the sixties. I never asked Gene, but I have since wondered if the cloud-man love story in METAMORPHOSIS was his way of dealing with that issue. I’ll never know.

There was something else I didn't know then but was to learn about when I returned for my next flight. Desilu Studios had been sold to Paramount Pictures, a new regime was about to take over and life in outer space was going to take a sharp turn for the worse.

You can hear my telephone interview on METAMORPHOSIS on the StarTrekHistory website at: http://www.startrekhistory.com/interviews.html