Colors of Star Trek

TOS Trivia #1

2007-01-22T11:05:00.000Z

According to the inside VHS cover 1.8

"The Star Trek theme music was composed by Alexander Courage in response to Gene Roddenberry's request that he write 'adventure' music rather than eerie 'space' music. After only five shows, however, Courage chose to leave the show to become associate music director on the prestigious film Dr. Dolittle. He has since described this decision the silliest thing he ever did in his life because Star Trek would have provided him with steady work for years."

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Too bad Courage was cheated out of fifty-percent of the royalties for his work when Roddenberry decided he would become a lyricist and write these wacky words for the music.

Beyond the rim of the star light
My love is wandering in star flight
I know he'll find in star clustered reaches
Love strange love a star woman teaches
I know his journey ends never
His star trek will go on forever
But tell him while he wanders his starry sea
Remember, remember me

To quote Alexander Courage regarding this weirdness.

"Roddenberry's lyrics totally lacked musical practicality. He made two very serious errors in writing the lyrics. One, he changed the shape of the melody by adding extra beats, and two, he used closed vowel with a z-z-z-z sound on the highest notes, something that gives great problems to singers."

And here's a quote from Bob Justman -associate producer of ST:TOS- of the fiasco.

"Owing to his involvement at Fox arranging the music for the film Doctor Dolittle, Sandy could do only two of the first season's episodes. Nevertheless, owing to the "royalty" issue, it's no wonder Sandy Courage lost all enthusiasm for the series and liking for Gene Roddenberry. Despite my efforts to convince him to score second-season episodes, Sandy never returned to Star Trek."

Inside Star Trek: The Real Story
Herbert F. Solow
Robert H. Justman

OK, so next time you find yourself humming the TOS theme, try singing the above words to the music.

Space Hippies

2007-01-18T17:39:00.000Z

Vasquez

2007-01-17T14:43:00.000Z

Bet you've never seen Vasquez Rocks look like this! Just a little something I whipped up in PSP. Took me about ten minutes.

How Many Costume Changes?

2007-01-14T19:02:00.000Z

I read somewhere that the most costume changes in TOS was four. Supposedly France Nuyen, Elaan of Troyius, had the most costume changes than any other female guest star. Well, I'm here to dispute that claim. You can double check me on this (and I'm sure you will) but the character who had the most costume changes was Lenore Karidian (Barbara Anderson) in The Conscience of the King. She wore a whopping six different costumes in this one episode. Here's proof.

The Gorn

2007-01-12T12:04:00.000Z

It was bound to happen sooner or later that my attention would turn to monster costumes. First up is the Gorn costume in Arena.

Since Star Trek designer, Bill Theiss, didn't "do monsters", then who did? Wah Chang designed and built the Gorn costume out of a rubber-like compound that was heavy and not very flexible. In fact, I'm not quite sure the Gorn get-up should be called a costume at all but probably should be called full-body makeup. Anyway, Wah Ming Chang is our man.

Something I could never figure out when watching Arena is why the Gorn didn't simply bite Kirk's head?

I think the Gorn was meant to look like this.

Fugly Files

2007-01-11T22:00:00.000Z

And now, we go from the sublime to the fugly. What was the costume designer thinking when he made Jadzia's wedding dress? She looks like she's been dipped in blood, not klingon blood though. The holes at the shoulders and cleavage doesn't work very well either.

Let's see, who can be blamed for this monstrosity? Ah yes, Robert Blackman. Despite his winning two emmy awards - this is not one of his best creations.

Shiny

2007-01-11T21:31:00.000Z

Three examples of the same (well maybe not THE same) shiny stockings worn by different characters in different episodes.

T'Pring, (Spock's would-be squeeze) in Amok Time.

Lenore Karidian in a furry mini-dress and shiny stockings - The Conscience of the King.

Alice from I, Mudd.

And finally, Isis -the cat- in Assignment Earth.

Galactic Trader Pimp

2007-01-08T15:13:00.000Z

Or Mudd's Women, the space hooker episode. According to Solow and Justman this episode was in contention to be the pilot for the series.

Costume wise: Finnerman used so many different coloured lights that we can't tell what colour Maggie Thrett's outfit was supposed to be. Was it green, gold or taupe? Only Spock knows for sure because he certainly oogled them enough. And what about Vulcan's not being able to show emotion? Take a look at this face. And speaking of that dress, read an excerpt from Solow and Justman's book.

"Actress Maggie Thrett was on of the three space hookers who boarded the Enterprise in the first-season epsiode, Mudd's Women. Gene had spent a goodly amount of time "making their costumes better." But as we filmed Maggie writhing about and attempting to entice our heroes, one of her breasts popped out from behind what little bodice was left of her costume. She quickly stuffed it back in, smiling ruefully. It didn't stay put, however, much to the crew's amusement and her embarrassment."

Perhaps this is the costume in question? And is Bones a dirty old man? Ah, well. You'll just have to watch the episode to find out.

Barely There

2006-03-22T10:57:00.000Z

In my opinion, this is just about one of the best costumes Bill Theiss created for ST:TOS. It was featured in "Who Mourns for Adonais?" According to Bill Shatner, the gown had to be attached to Leslie Parrish's body with double-sided tape. I've often wondered what this fabric is because it certainly does not look inexpensive.

Same for Apollo's outfit, all shiney and stuff. The fabric looks the same just in gold.

The Creators - TOS

2006-03-21T16:51:00.000Z

The man responsible for giving the show the creatively unique dramatic lighting and camera angles was Gerald Perry Finnerman. He was directed by Bob Justman to light the sets with wild colors like magenta, red, green and any other color he could find. Bob Justman told Jerry to "go overboard". Backlight the women and make them more beautiful. Take some chances. Throw those wild colors behind the actors, especially when they're in a close shot.

William Ware Theiss was the shows costume designer. Bill designed clothes only as he didn't "do monsters" but he was challenged enough in that he couldn't simply buy clothes for the actors off the rack. Instead he lived in a small apartment one block from the studio where all his creations were put together by an army of seamstresses. Said seamstresses worked throughout the night and the costumes were carried to the set just in time for the actors to shoot their morning's work. Since the Desilu studio gave Bill very little money, he was hard-pressed in finding interesting fabrics within his price range for his other-worldly creations.