From the Files of Redshirtgal

If you remember, Trumbull was the genius behind the VFX in Star Trek: The Motion Picture. He was responsible for that famous fly-by scene that still brings a chill of excitement and a lump in my throat every time I see it. Sad to see another figure from TOS history gone. 

Consider, if you will, these two screencaps. Notice the similarities in position and the condition of what is left of the body in each one. What led to these horrible deaths and were they caused by the same agent? Perhaps the answers lie... in The Twilight Zone.  Some of you might notice that the first screencap actually is from a Twilight Zone episode titled "Long Live Walter Jameson." And many of you know the second one is from "The Omega Glory" that appeared during the second season of Star Trek. The similarity between the two scenes catches the eye, even though the white residue in each picture comes from a different source. Screencap #1 depicts the end result of the 2,000 year old Jameson being shot and killed by a former wife. And the body in the second screencap belongs to a member of the USS Exeter who has been reduced to only minerals as a result of a virus which removes the water in its victims’ bodies.  But in any case, it’s an interesting juxtaposition, no? By the way, this is not a case of someone involved with this episode of The Twilight Zone also working on the storyline or script of “The Omega Glory.” However there is an interesting connection between the character of Walter Jameson and one in a different Star Trek episode..

The main character in the TZ episode, Walter Jameson, was given the given the gift of eternal youth over 2,000 years ago and had a part in or was an observer of many historical incidents throughout history. Shades of Mr. Flint from "Requiem for Methuselah." He also had lived for centuries (in his case, 6 of them) and had observed and was a noted participant in many historical eras. Flint claimed he was both Brahms and Leonardo da Vinci, among others. He had lived through the Black Plague of the Middle Ages.  Although he did not die during the episode as Jameson did, by leaving Earth he lost his immortality and began to age normally. So at some point, he also will die. Are the parallels between these two characters a coincidence?  Gene Roddenberry wrote the story and the script for that Star Trek episode. It has often been stated that Gene was a fan of The Twilight Zone and it was not unusual for him to “borrow” story elements from other places. Could the main character in “Long Live Walter Jameson” have been the inspiration for Flint? Stranger things have happened... in The Twilight Zone.   ♪ ♫ Doo-doo doo-doo, Doo-doo doo-doo… ♪ ♫

If you’ve been an Original Star Trek fan for very long, you most likely remember the male actor in the photo above. That’s John Hoyt who played Dr. Phil Boyce in the very first Star Trek pilot, “The Cage.” But this photo has a connection to another Star Trek episode. Care to guess what it is?

This information comes out in Ralph Senesky’s recent article in his blog, Ralph’s Cinema Trek. He directed this episode and discusses a common misconception about casting that occurred.  So please take a minute and give it a read. I promise it’s quite interesting and gives other background about the episode some of us may not have known before. https://senensky.com/special-who-voiced-the-companion/

For some reason, Elizabeth Rogers, who played Communications Officer Lt. Palmer in two episodes, has usually been given credit for the voice of the Companion in “Metamorphosis” on many Trek sites (which we now know is false, if you read the article). Even Memory Alpha contains this misinformation. Mr. Senesky provided a clip from an episode he directed on The FBI so you could hear the actual person’s voice but it seems to be unplayable.

So I provided you with a different clip with the same actress so you could hear her voice. This one comes from the  1965 film Bus Riley’s Back in Town. What do you think? And do you now  understand the connection between the first photo and the topic of this article?

Some months ago, I began featuring early publicity photos that had been taken after the studio had approved the second pilot and before the filming of the first episode. The last set involved Spock holding graham condensers and other pieces of laboratory glassware, suggestive of his role as Science Officer.  Here is a grouping of other photos from that time period, this time centering on Kirk and Spock standing in front of a radar vector screen, which was still being used in airplane navigation. A 23rd century version had not been created for the series yet, but this gave the public a familiar background for these two future “astronauts.” 

As with the previous photos of Mr. Spock, these were also used for various forms of advertising and media. Some showed up on local TV guides, for example. 

One of Mr. Spock’s was the main image on one of Gold Key’s Star Trek comics - with a green filter, no less. 

A later use of the first Mr. Spock photo was a copy of a sketch done by Virgil Finlay that was used to illustrate a poem by Dorothy Jones in an early fanzine, Worlds of If, (pp 48-49, Vol. 18, No. 9, September 1968). 

This was the original pen and ink Finlay sketch. Again, compare it to the actual photo where Spock is standing in front of the radar vector screen. Virgil Finlay was a well known illustrator for a wide number of pulp magazines, mostly in the sci-fi, horror, or fantasy genre.  The drawing was also used in several other formats. It appeared in The Monster Times at least once as well as for the cover of a 1972 mini-convention magazine, a postcard, and posters by two companies. 

So, what’s this photo doing in this grouping? Well, it DOES have a navigational grid, doesn’t it? lol All kidding aside, some of you may have recognized Leonard Nimoy in his role as Commander Phil Kettenring in the TV movie Assault on the Wayne. I threw this one in just to see if you were paying attention, but there actually are some interesting bits of trivia in this movie. Nimoy is reunited with the actor who played Alden, his communications officer on the second pilot, Lloyd Haynes. He played Lt. Dave Burston in this film.  Other familiar TOS names are William Windom (Commodore Decker in “The Doomsday Machine” ) as Captain Frank Reardon and Malachi Throne (Commodore Mendez in “The Menagerie” and the voice of The Keeper in “The Cage” ) as Dr. Dykers. Less familiar TOS figures are stuntman Charlie Picerni who was a stuntman/actor in the part of a security guard in “Day of the Dove,” and supervising sound editor Douglas Grindstaff who served first as the sounds effect editor and later as the sound editor for nearly the entire run of TOS.  There are more of these publicity photos with modern day props and the in-between costumes but we’ll save them for future articles. 

In July of 1966, a Toronto Star photographer by the name of Reg Innell  happened to be in Los Angeles on one of his many vacations there. His usual favorite past time while there involved visiting bookstores that dealt in vintage books. However, this time, he received a phone call from his employer  asking him to take some photographs on the sets of various television programs whose stars were fellow Canadians.  They had plans for a story centered around a little enclave of Canadian actors who lived within several blocks of each other.  One of the sets he visited was that of “The Man Trap,” an episode for a new series named Star Trek. And of course, that meant he took photographs of fellow Canadians, William Shatner and James Doohan and several others of the episode as it was being filmed. Three of those are above. *side note: During the time Innell was in L.A. for this working vacation, he stayed with fellow Canadians Jim Beggs and his actress wife Anna Hagen. Star Trek fans may know him better as Hagen Beggs, who played Lt. Hansen in “Court Martial,” “The Menagerie, Part 1,” and “The Menagerie, Part 2.” 

Reg Innell was one of the most famous newspaper photographers of his time. He was born in England and after World War II worked as a freelance photographer with a brief stint in the British Army. During the 60s he left England for Canada and continued selling his photographs to whichever paper paid him the most. Eventually, Innell joined the Toronto Star as a photojournalist. Reg Innell’s career with the Star lasted for over thirty years. His usual subjects were kings and queens, world leaders, famous performers and writers and others of international note. Innell’s personal interests turned toward the world of opera and ballet along with classic cinema. A new science fiction television series, even one with Canadian actors in the cast, would not have interested him in the least. Ironically, all the photographs he took were never used by the Star. In fact, none of them saw the light of day until after his death in 2018. They were donated by his life partner, Margaret Serrao to the Toronto Star and were unearthed by an employee looking for material to post on the Star’s social media accounts. 

But following are more of the photos he took while on this assignment. At least the ones I found in an article by the Toronto Star and other online sources- I believe there are actually a lot more that still haven’t been published. Many are like the ones above, likely taken during filming at a different angle from what we saw on screen. 

Others are like these two, taken behind the scenes. Notice you can plainly see the cameraman and several other production people preparing for the scene where Francine Pyle/Nancy III strolls seductively into Crewman Darnell’s life. 

But these next several photos taken by Reg Innell bear a closer look. At first glance, you would think he was taking photographs of the actual filming of Captain Kirk and the landing party’s first encounter with Dr. Crater. But if you watch the episode, you will see something different.  The screen shows Kirk’s first encounter with Dr. Crater and Dr. Crater’s examination by McCoy just as the first photo depicts but Crater’s arm is not in a sling. 

And of course, one other thing always interests me in photos like these. Check out those overhead lights used for filming. They help delineate where the top of the set walls end and the studio ceiling begins. I’m such a geek. lol 

This scene occurs after Captain Kirk, Dr. McCoy, Crewman Green and Crewman Sturgeon teleport down to confront Dr. Crater over the death of Darnell and the whereabouts of Crater’s wife. Notice again, Dr. Crater’s arm is in a sling. But in nearly the same scene of the episode we watched, it was not. 

One more thing. Innell took his photo from the opposite side of where the camera was aimed and we see a vial of yellow liquid on the table to the left. 

Kirk even picks it up to examine more closely.

 Yet, in the actual episode, there’s no sign of the gold liquid on the table. Instead of picking up said vial in this filmed version of the scene, Kirk holds what is in his hands above (possibly a fossil). We actually see that object also on the table in the last two photos. So what is going on? We have at least a partial answer.  According to the Okudas’ Star Trek Encyclopedia, Alfred Ryder had suffered a severe injury to his arm just before filming this episode. But professional that he was, he still played his part without a single complaint. So, that explains Innell’s photos showing Ryder’s arm in a sling. But when were these photos taken then? It could not have been during the actual filming because there is no mention anywhere of deleted scenes from this episode. Were they taken during a rehearsal or walk through? Maybe someone reading this knows and can fill us in. 

No matter, though. Reg Innell has provided us with a window into the production of “The Man Trap” that hasn’t been seen before. Just think - there are hundreds more photos taken during those days that have yet to be published. Wouldn’t it be wonderful if more from “The Man Trap” came to light? 

*note from Redshirtgal: Most of the photos and much of the information at the beginning  is a recap of an article published by the Toronto Star. However, I did do my own research on his biography and the observations on the photos are my own. Here is the original article - check out the video from the young lady who discovered the photographs.   https://www.thestar.com/entertainment/television/2019/01/11/the-man-trap-was-the-first-star-trek-episode-to-air-but-the-star-was-there-first.html

Ah, the serious work of filming an episode of Star Trek: The Original Series. Several behind the scene photos shown above show Shatner, Nimoy, and Kelly studying their lines and waiting as the cameras (and boom microphones) are adjusted (or possibly even rolling) for filming various scenes in the episode “Plato’s Stepchildren.” 

However, between takes the mood on the set seems to lighten considerably. To the point where Spock displays an uncharacteristic smile. 

And of course, Shatner’s propensity for joking around on the set was well-known. 

And a bit of trivia to point out. On the left, notice the lounge Shatner is propped up on in the background. You can barely make out the pillow under his back. Now, remember the photo on the right? Check out the little table on the left against the back wall. Look familiar? How about the platform - and pillow - upon which Ms. Nichols rests? Rearrange the set in the first photo a bit, throw in a fancy fur throw on the bottom of the lounge and you have yourself a photoshoot location exotic enough for the lovely Uhura. 

These publicity photos of Nichelle Nichol in the costume she wore as Uhura in “Plato’s Stepchildren” are presented as a precursor to another set of photos taken on the set of the same episode that will be posted Sunday. But honestly - who ever needs a good reason to post photos of the lovely Ms Nichols? 

What does a Thomas Dolby video have to do with Star Trek? Actually for this week’s installment of From the Files of Redshirtgal, it may be entertaining to have this playing in the background as you look at the following publicity photos taken just before the first season of TOS began. 

Because SCIENCE! 

Remember way back, we showed the publicity photos of Kirk, Spock and Rand holding flashlights with colored lenses and remarked this was because none of the props we are used to seeing on the show were ready yet. There are several other sets of photos taken around the same time. One of them features Mr. Spock holding several weird looking tubes and flasks. They were meant to emphasize Spock’s role as the First Science Officer. 

Actually all these tubes are related to the chemical process of condensation and distillation. Some of you out there probably know the exact names of each one. The ones above are ones you commonly see autographed by Leonard Nimoy. 

A few of these items are seen in several formats, like the one above. First you see the black and white publicity photo. It also appeared on the cover of TV Week in March of 1968. In this pose, it almost appears as if Mr. Spock is holding a weapon, doesn’t it? 

And the same photo was also featured on the side of the first AMT model of the U.S.S. Enterprise. 

Now here is a photo I have not seen the black and white publicity photo version of. But it seems to have made its way to both the cover of a New Zealand TV/radio program guide and the first Gold Key Star Trek comic. 

Here is one featuring both Captain Kirk with what is probably a star chart of some sort and Mr. Spock with another flask/tube of some sort. I have yet to find the source of the clipping beside it, but included it because it is a variation of the first pose. And yes, there are more publicity photos of the Captain with other items suggestive of his role on the new show.  Look for those in the future. 

What is a publicity photo of Lurch and Cousin Itt from The Addams Family doing on a Star Trek blog? These two did appear in The Original Series but not in the same episode. 

Didn’t realize Cousin Itt had a face hidden under all that hair, did you? In the 23rd century this Talosian had the face but not the hair.

Those were Felix Silla’s expressive eyes appearing under all of Cousin Itt’s hair in that side by side shot. Unfortunately, we can’t see them behind all the make-up and prosthetics needed for the Talosian. We never saw Felix again in Star Trek but we did see him in Buck Rogers as the robot Twiki.

We just have to post one more photo - look at those eyes! 

By the way, Felix Silla said that when he auditioned for the role, they had him walk around in a floor length wig made from human hair. But because it was both hot and heavy and because all the guys on the set often left their smoldering cigarette butts on the floor of the sets, the producers made sure the wig Felix wore on the set was made from synthetic fibers. 

Lurch here has his dance moves going. There really was a dance called “The Lurch” created just for The Addams Family, but it didn’t seem to catch on. But here we are centuries later in a galaxy far, far away and it appears even Ruk knows the steps. 

Well, the cat’s out of the bag. Yes, both Lurch and Ruk were played by Ted Cassidy. A well known voice actor, we heard his voice as Balok in “The Corbomite Maneuver” and as well as that of the Gorn Captain in “Arena.”  

But most people don’t realize he  also played another role on the series. The disembodied hand (and sometimes attached arm) known as Thing was actually Ted Cassidy’s. Although, if both Thing and Lurch were in the same scene, then either associate producer Jack Voglin or an unidentified third person lent a hand. (Sorry, some lines you just can’t resist) 

And with that, who can resist snapping their fingers in time with the theme song?

Since we are coming up on Halloween, why not some photos from “Catspaw,” the one and only episode from Star Trek: The Original Series that was intentionally made for a holiday? 

One of these photos came up for discussion on a Facebook group I belong to. There was some speculation about when this was taken, because Uhura did not appear in “The Cage” even though she is standing in front of a scene from that episode (you can see Mr. Spock wearing the field jacket). So why was she shown in front of this image? 

We may never get the answer to that (although some reader out there may have a bit of knowledge I don’t). But in To Boldly Go: Rare Photos from the Soundstage Season One, Gerald Gurian  notes that we first see Uhura in her signature red uniform in “The Man Trap.”  They do not appear to be test photos because these intentionally placed her in front of that backdrop, not in front of the usual plain wall. However, she is wearing a hairstyle (a wig, I am sure), which I do not remember Nichelle ever wearing in the first season. Notice they feature not only Nichelle Nichol but two of the series’ most widely used props - the communicator and the tricorder.  Remember this was the first episode to be aired. Were these possibly promo photos to be distributed in the weeks before the first Star Trek episode aired?

Oddly enough, one more person’s photo was taken in front of that backdrop. DeForest Kelley is also seen holding a tricorder, possibly the one designated as the medical tricorder. 

Since Uhura and Dr. Leonard “Bones” McCoy were the last two recurring characters to be added to the show, perhaps these were doing double duty as promoting each of  their characters and spotlighting both the alien worlds they would visit and the future technology we would see them use. After all, we had already seen many photos of Captain Kirk, Mr. Spock and Yeoman Janice Rand. 

It appears from the following test shots that the production and hairstyling department took their time studying which hairstyle was the best one for Captain Kirk's new yeoman, Janice Rand. There were quite a few pre-season publicity photos with Grace Lee Whitney wearing this style. But around the time the show had the new uniforms ready, it was decided Yeoman Rand needed to lose the old uniform and this hairstyle in favor of the red minidress and the basket-weave we associate with the character. The one thing I will say in favor of this style, however, is that it sets off Whitney's eyes beautifully. As attractive as Grace Lee Whitney looks in the photos with her hair down, she was never seen in any promotional photos with this style. Probably not deemed futuristic enough, just like squared off sideburns on Captain Kirk were discarded in favor of slanted ones.  The last two appear to be a final test shots of Grace Lee Whitney modeling the hairstyle that was eventually chosen.They may also be test shots of how the new uniform worn by female crew members would look on screen. However, it appears the uniform was not quite finished. The ends do not quite meet on her right shoulder - maybe they are just pinned or tacked in place until Matt Theiss (and Gene R, of course) was satisfied with the way it draped.

In the last article, we talked a bit about how the publicity photos that came out after the second pilot were a bit different. And a commenter noted the change in uniforms, especially the collars. That's an obvious difference and one we will discuss another time. But today we will talk about another change that we may not have noticed, but affected the appearance of the Enterprise crew as we knew them in The Original Series - sideburns.

Yes, you read it right - sideburns. In the photo at the top from "Where No Man Has Gone Before," you can see Kirk’s slight sideburns are squared off at the bottom. So are those of most of the male crew members' except for Spock’s. Spock’s alien appearance has included slanted sideburns since the very first pilot. Shatner's regular sideburns carried over into the publicity photos, like the one on the bottom, taken between the second pilot and "The Corbomite Manuever."

But by the time “The Corbomite Maneuver” had started production, suddenly all male members of the crew were wearing slanted sideburns with a point. Notice Shatner’s had just barely started taking shape, but the point was definitely there. 

By the end of Season One the sideburns on Shatner and all the male actors on the crew were identical to Nimoy’s in length and in pointiness.  So whose idea was it to slant Spock’s sideburns and why did all male members of Starfleet suddenly begin to sport the style once the series began? The answer is more complicated than you may think. 

 In The Making of Star Trek it is mentioned that the producers wanted futuristic hairstyles for the crew. That was definitely done for the female members as seen in the hairstyle of Yeoman Janice Rand. However, what about the male crew members? The answer begins with creating an addition to Spock’s own hairstyle - the slanted sideburns. 

Who came up with this feature that has been part of Spock’s signature hairstyle ever since “The Cage”? In his autobiography I Am Spock, Leonard Nimoy claims that it was his idea to have pointed sideburns as part of what a Vulcan would look like. 

Yet, Laurel Goodwin also claims to have originated the idea for Spock’s sideburns. In an interview, she stated that even though she was very disappointed she was not part of the show when it finally did air, there was one consolation: 

However, there is a third contender for the claim to creating Spock’s sideburns. In this video, Gustav Mendoza claims that his father Richard Mendoza was a hairdresser who worked for Lucille Ball and that he helped with the Spock haircut. But he also believes his dad was responsible for the slanted sideburns.  https://youtu.be/3_SFxj4Kwng On the other hand, in an interview on the Modern Salon website, he states his father created those sideburns to call attention away from Shatner’s toupee. https://www.modernsalon.com/364997/star-trek-sideburns-by-gustav-mendoza

So who was the originator of the pointed sideburns? Do we go by Laurel’s claim? Nimoy’s? Mendoza’s? No matter whose idea it was, it would have to have been early in the process of creating Spock’s appearance.  Maybe it is a combination of all three. It’s possible Laurel did make the original suggestion to Leonard Nimoy before they began testing various looks for him. Then he may have given Fred Phillips a more refined description who possibly  passed it to the Desilu hairdresser to work on while he was busy with Spock’s make-up along with supervising the work on other actors. Perhaps Richard Mendoza gave Nimoy his first Spock haircut, following the suggestions that were given to him but also adding his own touches. Keep in mind, this is merely a theory.  Evidently Fred Phillips approved because this was the haircut Leonard Nimoy wore as Mr. Spock when the first pilot was made. He continued to be the only character on the show wearing the slanted sideburns in the second pilot as well. And as we learned earlier, that was also true in the publicity photos between the pilot and the first filmed episode. 

But somewhere before the first episode began filming, the decision regarding the male version of the futuristic hairstyle had been made. And it makes sense that they chose to put those pointy sideburns on all the Enterprise crewmen (and all members of Starfleet - Malachi Throne hated them, evidently) because it met the actors’ request that it not be too drastic plus that cut had already been done in the hairstyling department. And as far as Gustav Mendoza’s claim he created them to take the viewer’s eye off Shatner’s toupee, perhaps he meant he suggested them for Shatner after the second pilot and either the producers or Fred Phillips realized slanted sideburns would work for all the crewmen. Again, this is theory.

So starting with “The Corbomite Maneuver” the decree was made that men of the future, especially men in Starfleet, had their sideburns all cut to a point at the end. Once the series began, some male fans began to cut their own sideburns to resemble what they saw on the show. And of course, the Spock haircut was a very popular request heard by barbers, including Leonard Nimoy’s own father. 

However... there was one person who was not a fan of slanted sideburns appearing on anyone else other than Mr. Spock. Laurel Godwin, the one who claims to have first conceived of the cut, said during the interview mentioned earlier: 

Now I don't know who created this photoshop image. But it made me laugh and I thought others might enjoy it. Can you imagine if those three were beamed down a belligerent planet? The inhabitants may be begging the Enterprise for peace just so the Enterprise would beam them back up before long.

After all, how many choruses of "I'll Take You Home Again, Kathleen" could any being take?

We are still looking back at the publicity photos issued between the second pilot and the filming of the first episode. Previously, you saw the ones with the laser rifles. They would have been taken between April 22nd and May 24th of that year. The first date was when Gene and Reuben Klamer last discussed the decision not to use the laser rifle. May 24th was when “The Corbomite Manuever” started filming. As mentioned before, certain props were not ready yet and there is nothing more boring than actors for a new show staring at the screen. So the publicity department went to work and scrounged some exotic looking pieces of specialized instruments or dressed up items found around the studio to add a little futuristic excitement.  What we see in these photos is a case of a dressed up every day item that many viewers may have had in their homes. 

So what are Kirk, Rand, and Spock actually holding? According to Grace Lee Whitney in her autobiography The Longest Trek: My Tour of the Galaxy

Our real costumes and phaser weapons hadn't even been designed yet, so they put Flash Gordon costumes on us and shoved flashlights with colored lenses in our hands. 'Pretend they're gizmotronic space blasters,' they told us. Then they snapped dozens of pre-production publicity stills of us. (pp. 76-77)

Of course, Grace did not realize they were wearing basically the same costumes used in the second pilot (with a few minor differences to be discussed next time). But she is correct about those items in their hands being flashlights with color filters or gels being inserted behind the lens. Those “space blasters” were later replaced with the first phasers produced by Wah Cheng, who went on to make many of the other well-known props in the show.

There is a good discussion on the Trek BBS regarding this prop. Some believed the ones held in the photo were spec props, early versions of the phaser. But one participant stated he was nearly positive they were the 1960 Captain’s model Eveready six inch flashlights, possibly painted. With them held directly toward the photographer,  you would only see the front with the color filters behind the lens. Above is the model he was talking about. We may never know if he is right, but it is possibly a sound theory. 

https://www.trekbbs.com/threads/spec-phasers.144993/page-4

Actually, you may want to read through the whole discussion because it is quite interesting to see what theories others had.  And you may want to check out these blog discussing the same topic. http://startrekfactcheck.blogspot.com/2013/07/   

Publicity photos for the new Star Trek series went out before any other episodes besides the second pilot had been filmed. Notice the collars have changed from the earlier ribbed ones from the two pilots to a wide black neckline. However, the rank bands were kept (later these would change to braids).  Before shooting for the actual series began, Grace Whitney had already been hired as Yeoman Rand but her hairstyle had not been finalized by this photo session.  And neither had her uniform. She is still wearing the slacks and a beige female tunic with the cowl neck that were used in both the first pilot and the second. Notice also that Captain Kirk is carrying a laser rifle. Technically, he shouldn’t have been. Gene Roddenberry had asked toy designer Reuben Klammer to design and make one laser rifle to use during the pilot episode “Where No Man Has Gone Before” with the promise that if the series sold, he would hire Klamer to design and make other props. The laser rifle was to have been returned after the production of the second pilot. However, it appears Gene kept it until he heard the series had been approved. Even though he did not come to an agreement with Klamer after all, Gene still decided to use it in a set of publicity photos. It wasn’t until after those photos were taken that Klamer finally had his prototype returned. There are plenty more photos of these three in various poses holding other props. But not the hand-held phaser, scanner, or a communicator we are accustomed to. None of the three had been finished in time for these photos.

In 2004, the first DVD of The Original Series was released and the whole Trek world rejoiced.  This was a promotional video for that release in 2004 according to this YouTuber who says he may have first seen it on the hard red box Voyage DVD  for season 1. We’ve had a friend check and he said it’s not there.  So is it a genuine promotional video or not? The odds are, not likely. But even if it is merely a 2004 fan tribute a 60s show with 70s music, it still has its charms. What do you think? Thumbs up or thumbs down?  

♪ ♫ ♪ Play that funky music, Spock-boy ♪ ♫ ♪

What did Star Trek fans do before there were Star Trek conventions? Actually, there were (and still are) a number of science fiction conventions out there. In the years before Star Trek conventions were organized, Trek fans could usually find an appearance by one or more Trek celebrity at one of these cons. One of the biggest and oldest ones is World Science Fiction Convention, more commonly known as WorldCon. It started in 1939 and has been hosted yearly since then (except during WWII).

In early September 1966, the convention was hosted by three cities - Cincinnati, Cleveland and Detroit. For that reason it became known as Tricon, even though it was actually held at the Sheraton in Cleveland.

Many new science fiction TV shows and movies jostled for attention, such as Fantastic Voyage and Lost World. But Gene was a consummate showman. Not only did he show selections from both pilots, but he also hired several models to wear costumes that were featured on the show. Above is model Sheree North dressed in Sherry Jackson’s daring costume from “What Are Little Girls Made From?”  And yes, that is Gene on the stage with her in one of the uniforms from “Balance of Power.” But that isn’t the most fun part of this story.

Originally these young ladies were not part of the Futuristic Fashion Show organized by one of Bjo Trimble’s friends. However, this person came down with appendicitis and Bjo was asked to handle this show in addition to working with her husband John Trimble on the Art Show. The fashion show had been worked on for months. Fans had been asked to send in their designs and the ones selected were constructed also by fans. Even the models were carefully selected fans. Unknown to Bjo, someone had suggested to Gene that he enter some of the costumes from his new show into the contest. So he takes two costumes from “Mudd’s Women” and one from “What Are Little Girls Made Of?” and hires several young Cleveland models to wear them. In the meantime, Bjo was approached by some of the committee who asked that she allow these three costumes (sight unseen, no less) to be entered in the fashion show. Immediately, she bristled and refused. The show was already tightly timed and she had no idea who this big Hollywood producer person was, much less why she should have to find room for three last minute additions. Luckily, one of the committee members contacted Gene to see if he wanted to see if he use some of his charm on Bjo. And she admitted it worked. Not only were the three models allowed to be part of the Futuristic Fashion Show that year but Bjo was also talked into mentioning Gene’s new show as the models walked across the floor.

And for the ladies, William Shatner evidently put in an appearance. This was part of a collection of photos taken at Tricon.

But all the eye-candy aside, what the attendees saw on the screen was quite different from anything they had seen before, from the transporter affect to the sight of The Enterprise crossing the screen. Wouldn’t it have been amazing to have been in that room and to have seen both Star Trek pilots and one of the first episodes?  *I have done my best to credit the source of all photos. All the black and white photos were from the Jay Kay Klein Collection housed by the University of California at https://t.co/hOR91Li6nA?amp=1 Jay Klein was a well known photographer who covered the sci fi and fantasy conventions around the 60s. The color ones were from the collection of Len & June Moffatt displayed at the Fan History Project website https://bit.ly/2CF7aGZ However, I could not determine the original source of the first photo with Gene and Sheree North. I suspect it is also part the Moffat collection but it does not appear on the website. If anyone knows, I'd love to hear from you.

Mad Magazine’s first Star Trek spoof titled “Star Blecch” in the December 1967 (#115) issue. Here are a few two of the publicity photos taken of William Shatner and Leonard Nimoy holding up the issue on the filming location of “Friday’s Child.” (According to Justman and Solow’s Inside Star Trek: The Real Story) Another interesting feature of all four photos is the prominence of the big arc lamp behind them.

But wait! There’s something different here but also familiar. That’s because some clever person superimposed a Playboy magazine cover over the original in the last photo above. Clever not only because of his/her photo editing skills, but also because of the choice of Playboy issue.

It’s definitely no coincidence that  the July 1967 issue of Playboy was chosen. On its cover was model Venita Wolf. Between October 28th and November 3rd of 1966, her scenes as Yeoman Teresa Ross were being filmed for the TOS episode “The Squire of Gothos.” What a difference a year makes.

Evolution certainly can throw us for a loop sometimes. Most of us know that biologically, we share 98.8 percent of our DNA with bonobos and chimpanzees. But some other fairly close matches may surprise us. For example, humans share 90 percent of their DNA with mice and 88 percent with dogs. And possibly even more startling is that we share 65 percent of our DNA with chickens. 

But in The Original Series, an even stranger evolutionary hiccup occurs. Take two of the native inhabitants of planets that the Enterprise visited in “Shore Leave” and “A Private Little War.” Are they brothers from a different mother? Not exactly. But they do share one interesting physical trait.

Well, what do you know? They leave the same footprints. The exact same size footprint, too. And you thought you had weird relations.  On the left, we have the pawprints of the White Rabbit as seen by Tonia Barrows while Dr. McCoy is trying to explain his encounter with this being along with Alice from Alice in Wonderland. I took this screenshot at approximately 11 minutes, 29 seconds into “Shore Leave.”

The footprints of the Mugato are on the right - the screenshot comes from Memory Alpha, which is the reason for the difference in shading. About 29 seconds into “A Private Little War,” Dr. McCoy is looking for samples of plant life and chemicals when Spock just happens to look down to see these prints.

So, does this mean the White Rabbit from "Shore Leave” is an evolutionary cousin to the ape-like Mugato?

Of course not. As most of you probably realize, the Gumato footprint is a classic example of reused footage from “Shore Leave.”

Although when you look these two photos, don’t they both have a rather well padded derriere and a bit of a hip thrust going on? A little more subtle in the White Rabbit and a bit more pronounced in the Mugato, but still. And look at those feet. Hmmmm...