tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-739267574084387275.post3281709085137688400..comments2023-09-12T09:49:42.006-07:00Comments on Star Trek Fact Check: Did D.C. Fontana Get Her First Professional Script Assignment on Star Trek?Michaelhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00552147805234543255noreply@blogger.comBlogger4125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-739267574084387275.post-2854450457168326712017-04-04T21:28:43.335-07:002017-04-04T21:28:43.335-07:00Dorothy Fontana was one of the best things to happ...Dorothy Fontana was one of the best things to happen to TOS, and I'm glad to see you setting the record straight about her here.<br />Coryleahttps://www.blogger.com/profile/16961220703672521166noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-739267574084387275.post-35417114315907635132017-03-23T21:43:12.102-07:002017-03-23T21:43:12.102-07:00Even Return to Tomorrow, an excellent book, is pla...Even Return to Tomorrow, an excellent book, is plagued by the editorial decision not to check or amend anything in the last several decades. There are clear untruths in some of the interviews that are allowed to stand unchallenged. (Raising an eyebrow at Mr. Nimoy here, who probably thought of his interviews as being with a fan magazine and not an archival record meant to serve as ultimate history.)Commander Loskenehttps://www.blogger.com/profile/08240076133301428723noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-739267574084387275.post-57896992423395197852017-03-22T18:40:22.159-07:002017-03-22T18:40:22.159-07:00In my estimation, INSIDE STAR TREK's greatest ...In my estimation, INSIDE STAR TREK's greatest achievement is that Herb Solow and Bob Justman made an effort to speak with dozens of key people involved with the development and production of STAR TREK who had never been asked about the subject. Whatever the book's shortcomings (and there are several), that material is invaluable.<br /><br />Regarding Solow's resentment of Roddenberry, it's undeniable, though in comparison to some of Solow's later public statements (watch his interview with the Television Academy, for example) INSIDE STAR TREK is rather measured. This may have been due to the moderating influence of Bob Justman, who acknowledged Gene's many flaws, but always considered him a friend. Age was probably a factor, too - Solow's interview with the Television Academy came more than 12 years after he finished the book. Details can fade away over time, but bitterness (warranted or not) often remains.<br /><br />Hindsight, of course, is 20/20, but it is certainly a shame that Solow and Justman did not hire anyone to review the text for accuracy (or, if they did, that this wasn't done more rigorously). Of course, I would have gladly volunteered for the job back then, but seeing as I was not yet 10 when the book was first published, I doubt I would have been of much help! Alas, if only someone had pointed out to the two men that STAR TREK wasn't the #1 show in color TV households at the time, that D.C. Fontana had multiple writing credits prior to STAR TREK, that Leonard Nimoy's salary demands weren't so extreme in 1967, etc., who knows what other memories these corrections might have brought to the surface? (To borrow a TREK cliche, if only...)<br /><br />We're lucky that the archival record has so much information to be found in it that can correct and clarify the oversights of these and so many other books and articles about STAR TREK, but what I'd give to visit the mid-90s, when so many more people involved with the show were still alive (and for those who are still alive, memories were sharper).<br /><br />That said, even though the book has plenty of errors in it (and if this blog is any indication, there are undoubtedly more which I have yet to find), I'm still not convinced that there's a better one on the market about the making of the series. RETURN TO TOMORROW, about STAR TREK-THE MOTION PICTURE, is a better book, but it's not about the series - and it's also not nearly as breezy a read. Factual errors and tall tales about STAR TREK continue to breed like rabbits in books about the show (the ones you've mentioned, THESE ARE THE VOYAGES and THE FIFTY YEAR MISSION, are both full of them, especially the Cushman/Osborn books, which I’ve written about a number of times). Hopefully, someone will eventually publish a more definitive history.Michaelhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/00552147805234543255noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-739267574084387275.post-22671189913455273482017-03-22T14:05:05.091-07:002017-03-22T14:05:05.091-07:00In 1996 when 'Inside Star Trek' came out -...In 1996 when 'Inside Star Trek' came out - I over heard Mike Okuda talking to some friends I was with, saying "This is the BEST book written about Star Trek ever" and after reading it I believed him. In the 20 odd years since it came out, I have revised my opinion of it somewhat. I now find it more of a Herb Solow hatchet job against Gene Roddenberry and that personal slant has lessened it in my mind.<br />It is certainly full of a lot of great behind the scenes information and tidbits, most never before revealed. The jumbled time line of the narrative and honest inaccuracies can be frustrating but the more I read it, the more I see though the jems of information and see the clear resentments and pettiness of Herb Solow towards Gene Roddenberry. Roddenberry was clearly no saint but the sole reason this book came out in 1996 and not before, say 1991, was so Solow's prose would be unchallenged by his prime target of resentment. While its clear Star Trek would not have happen had not Herb Solow sold the concept to NBC to begin with and then the affiliates with the second pilot, his inserting himself into key creative decisions and meetings is really a stretch. Mind you he is not near the level of self importance/prime player revisionist that Richard Arnold is - he is in a class by himself, but Solow is certainly in the same orbit of that gas giant!<br />It's too bad, Bob Justman's account was much more even handed than Herb Solow's. Instead of their book raising in stature as time has gone on, it's true colors have only become more vivid with each year and as new books come on the market - 'These are the Voyages' by Marc Cushman and 'The Fifty Year Mission' by Ed gross and Mark Atlman, its jems glow a little dimmer.<br /><br />Poor Herb, Gene never thanked him for selling his show and he carried that with him all these years.Anonymoushttps://www.blogger.com/profile/14352134901455499366noreply@blogger.com