D.C. Fontana’s Story Outlines for “The Enterprise Incident”

Still from "The Enterprise Incident" (September 27, 1968)

In These Are The Voyages — TOS: Season Three, authors Marc Cushman and Susan Osborn make a number of claims about the story outlines D.C. Fontana wrote for “The Enterprise Incident” in early 1968. For the purposes of this piece, I am focusing on the following passage:

“Ears” was one of four assignments Roddenberry had given Fontana on March 29. The others – “Joanna,” “Survival,” and “Van Vogt’s Robots” -- were not tied to a breaking news event, therefore less time urgent.

NBC had no problem with Star Trek exploiting a real life news story for a higher Nielsen share as long as the approach was pro-American, and so the network representatives agreed the script should be developed quickly. All haste was recommended -- the Pueblo crisis was already into its third month.

Fontana made the necessary changes and sent in her revision, dated April 19. Sarek was out and Spock was now the one negotiating with the Romulan commander (still a male), looking to buy time and distract the enemy long enough to allow Kirk to complete the covert mission.

It was now clear from the get-go that Kirk was up to something in letting the Enterprise enter the Neutral Zone. Many aspects of the story structure were in fact now very much like the episode to be produced. And, with network permission to parallel “The Pueblo Incident,” as the news services were now calling it, the title of Fontana’s story was changed to the more obvious “The Enterprise Incident.” 

Three days later, on April 22, at Freiberger’s request, Fontana created a 2nd Revised Outline, establishing that the Romulans now use Klingon-made ships.

--Marc Cushman with Susan Osborn, These Are The Voyages — TOS: Season Three (eBook Edition, April 2015)

Almost immediately, Cushman and Osborn misrepresent the details here. To start with, Fontana’s third season story assignments were handed out on February 21, 1968 — not March 29. For the latter date to be correct, it would mean that Fontana pitched and sold four stories to Star Trek, then turned around and wrote and submitted a sixteen page outline for "The Enterprise Incident," all in a single work day. Not only does the paperwork not support such a rushed timeline (a third season writers report¹ indicates the February 21 date), but Cushman and Osborn contradict themselves when discussing “That Which Survives” in a subsequent chapter:

During a February 21, 1968 pitch session, four of D.C. Fontana’s ideas interested Gene Roddenberry for Star Trek ’s third season. “Van Vogt’s Robots” was jettisoned early on, with nothing being written. “Survival,” “Ears,” and “Joanna,” however, made it to story outline, with “Survival” chosen to be developed first.

--Marc Cushman with Susan Osborn, These Are The Voyages — TOS: Season Three (eBook Edition, April 2015)

If the other three stories were viewed as less urgent than “Ears,” Fontana had a strange way of showing it. As Cushman and Osborn point out in their later chapter, the show files at UCLA indicate Fontana turned in the story outline for “Survival” first, on March 9, 1968, more than three weeks before the initial outline for “The Enterprise Incident” was delivered to the studio.

Regarding NBC’s attitude towards the story and its contemporary political parallels, there’s no record of their position in the show files at UCLA. What the authors present in that regard is pure speculation. As to whether or not the network wanted the episode developed quickly, there is an April 3, 1967 memo from Roddenberry to Freiberger, which asks:

We should check out with Stan Robertson of NBC whether or not this has promotion possibilities, too, and if so, should we lay it in early in our schedule to get Dorothy to work on it before other scripts?²

NBC's reply to Roddenberry's inquiry is not recorded in the show files, but the episode did become the first one Fontana took to teleplay for the third season, and it was slated to film fourth, early in the season.

It is true that Sarek had been featured in Fontana's first draft story outline for the episode, dated March 29, 1968:

Sarek appears in D.C. Fontana's first draft story for "The Enterprise Incident" (March 28, 1968)

It is also true that Sarek was dropped from the story after this draft. However, it is not true that Fontana's first draft story outline was titled "Ears." That had been her title when the story outline was assigned on February 21, 1968, but by the time Fontana delivered her first draft on March 29, 1968, the title had been changed to "The Enterprise Incident." This can be seen on the outline's cover page (which also indicates "Ears" as an earlier title, in pen):

Cover page of D.C. Fontana's first draft story for "The Enterprise Incident" (March 28, 1968)

It is true that the Romulan Commander was still male at this stage in the story's development; the character wouldn't become female until the episode went to teleplay, as this page from Fontana's final draft of the story outline shows:

Detail from page 3 of D.C. Fontana's second draft story for "The Enterprise Incident" (April 22, 1968)

However, it is absolutely untrue that Fontana wrote a revised draft of the script on April 22 at Fred Freiberger's request. The April 22nd "draft" did not establish "that the Romulans now use Klingon-made ships," either:

Comparison showing April 19 and April 22, 1968 "drafts" in fact have identical text

I use the word "draft" in quotes because it's clear, after comparing the two documents, that their text is in fact identical — they are the exact same draft. What appears to have happened is that Fontana completed her story outline on April 19 (a Friday) and sent it to the studio, where it was delivered on April 22 (the following Monday). In fact, you can see that delivery date stamped on the cover page of the April 19 version below:

Cover page of D.C. Fontana's 2nd draft outline of "The Enterprise Incident" (April 19, 1968)

As was often the case, upon receipt, Fontana's draft was re-typed in a standardized format. Apparently, when Cushman and/or Osborn read these story outlines, they did so without paying any attention to detail. The result is a chapter that provides incorrect dates, a wrong title, and invents details that are not supported by the archival record. These types of lapses are, frankly, inexcusable, especially from a pair of authors who want to be taken seriously as archival television historians.

Top image courtesy of Trek Core.

Update: The original version of this post included a photograph of Fontana's April 22, 1968 story outline that did not identify the Romulan Commander's gender, despite my text to the contrary. This has been corrected. Thanks to author Christopher L. Bennett for pointing out this error.

Endnotes:

1 Writers Report, March 29, 1968, Gene Roddenberry Star Trek Television Series Collection, Box 35, Folder 15

2 Memo from Gene Roddenberry to Fred Freiberger, April 3, 1967, Gene Roddenberry Star Trek Television Series Collection, Box 21, Folder 7

Sources:

The Gene Roddenberry Star Trek Television Series Collection (1964-1969)

These Are The Voyages — TOS: Season Three (Marc Cushman with Susan Osborn, eBook edition, April 2015)

The Slim Jim Problem

William Shatner as Captain James T. Kirk

Like any television production, the creative team behind Star Trek found themselves facing a variety of unanticipated challenges during the course of the series. The topic of this week's post is one of those problems: William Shatner's fluctuating weight.

This might seem like a trivial matter, but for an action-adventure series like Star Trek, an overweight leading man had the potential to quickly become a major problem. After all, Shatner had to be fit enough for Captain Kirk's frequent fisticuffs to be credible -- or at least credible for television of the period. The series couldn't afford to abandon these elements (since NBC demanded them), and a lack of believability had the potential to undermine the entire program.

The book Inside Star Trek: The Real Story brings up this issue in respect to the show's third season, when executive producer Gene Roddenberry handed over most of the creative reins to new producer Fred Freiberger. It quotes from a May 8, 1968 memo from Bob Justman to Gene Roddenberry titled 'Relationships,' which was sent a few weeks prior to the commencement of principal photography for the third season:

I think it is extremely important that you find a way to get Bill Shatner together with Fred Freiberger, you and me at least a week prior to production. I think that Bill should understand how you intend for us to work this coming season. He should understand that you are still 'The Great Bird Of The Galaxy' and that Freddie and I intend to follow through in all areas for you. 

Bill is as rapacious an animal as any other leading man in a series and I think it would help Freddie enormously in his relationships with Bill if you let Bill understand how much confidence you have in Fred and how much respect that you, Gene Roddenberry, have for Freddie’s creative talents and executive abilities. 

It also might be a good way to get a fairly close look at Bill and see what sort of physical shape he is in at the present time. Come to think of it, perhaps it would be a good idea to have this get together before the end of this week, so that if Bill is on the pudgy side, it can be suggested that he start slimming down right away.

The book doesn't indicate if the proposed meeting ever took place, but it does quote from a memo which indicates that Shatner had put on weight during the hiatus, and Roddenberry decided to pursue the issue, in a memo sent to Ed Milkis a few weeks later, on May 21, 1968. Titled 'Bill Shatner's Weight' and inscribed as 'CONFIDENTIAL,' Roddenberry wrote:

Please coordinate this with Fred and Bob, but I think we must bring Shatner’s weight problem and the result of it on film to Shatner’s attention. You will remember we once talked about finding some unflattering film clips where belly, face, etc., made the angle unusable or almost unusable. We discussed having an inexpensive print made of three or four such angles, sending it to him from the producer or myself with a friendly note, even at the risk of shaking him up a bit.

Many who saw the Emmy Awards commented that he appeared very heavy. Even though he has taken off a little poundage since the end of last season, if he follows his usual pattern of putting it on again we are likely to have him heavier than ever before long.

If Bob and Fred like the idea of proceeding in this direction, we’d better get it done fast 

--Herb Solow and Bob Justman, Inside Star Trek: The Real Story (1996), p.395

According to the book, Roddenberry's scheme was ultimately unnecessary. The following day, on May 22, 1968, Shatner was invited to the rushes from the first day of photography on 'Spectre of the Gun.' 'He saw himself on screen and that was all he needed,' wrote Justman. 'Bill immediately went on a crash diet.' 

Justman and Roddenberry were certainly familiar with Shatner's weight struggle.  A year earlier, during the hiatus between seasons one and two, the issue had also concerned the production staff, leading Roddenberry to contact both Shatner and Shatner's agent, Joel Briskin. Roddenberry's letter to Shatner, after praising his acting in the latter half of the first season, wrote, in part:

In fact, you were so good that the audience may miss in this Episode the fact that you have been in these last Episodes of the year showing your weight a little too much. The face seems to have tightened up and looks extremely good in Medium Close and Close Shots, but we find ourselves having to stay away from Longer Shots wherever possible, as the simple plain lines of our basic costume render most unflattering any extra poundage around the waste [sic].

In contrast, Roddenberry's letter to Briskin, sent on March 23, 1967, didn't waste any time buttering up its recipient. It said, in full:

Attached a copy of a letter recently sent to Bill. The important part of it concerns his weight. I didn't hit him hard about it, as I have learned from long experience with Bill that when he is working it is not fair to make him self-conscious about this fact. We are going to have to lean on him, however, from several directions and get him to do something about it because he has in many films in the last half of the season looked actually fat and at least ten years older than he looks when he is trim and slim.

I know you agree with me that this is most important, particularly when a fine actor like Bill is playing an action-adventure-hero role. He is very, very good and getting better every week as Captain Kirk. But we're all going to lose something if he doesn't slim down. 

Author's note: while putting the finishing touches on this post, I discovered a similar article drawing on the same archival resources at Splice Today. The author of that article, C.T May, discovered one document at UCLA that I didn't, a May 25, 1966 memo from Herb Solow to Roddenberry which says:

As you know, Morris [Chapnick, Herb Solow's assistant at the time] has been concentrating on setting up some sort of gymnasium for Bill Shatner to use. The thought he had was to set up the equipment in one part of the double dressing room that we were using as a men’s lounge.

This memo was sent during the second day of principal photography on 'The Corbomite Maneuver,' the first episode to be shot following the second pilot. This makes it clear that the production felt that keeping Shatner fit was an important concern from the very beginning.

Image courtesy of Trek Core.

Sources:

The Gene Roddenberry Star Trek Television Series Collection (1964-1969)

Inside Star Trek : The Real Story (Herbert F. Solow and Robert H. Justman, 1996)

Battle over the Bulge (C.T. May, June 28, 2011)

That Darned Brain!

Leonard Nimoy strikes a pose during the filming of 'Spock's Brain' (1968)

For years, a rumor has been circulated among Star Trek fans that the infamous third season premiere 'Spock's Brain' was originally crafted as a comedy in the vein of 'The Trouble with Tribbles,' 'I, Mudd,' and 'A Piece of the Action,' only to be gutted when Fred Freiberger arrived as the show's new producer, believing that the series should be played straight. Over the years, this rumor has been brought up in public discussion groups, online reviews of the episode, and been the topic of conversation at various Star Trek conventions (I first learned of the story during a Scott Mantz slide show at a convention in Portland, Oregon in the late 1990s).

'Spock's Brain' parodied on The Wonder Years (1989)

Given the beleaguered reputation of the episode -- in 1989 it was the source of parody on an episode of The Wonder Years and in 2004 a word-for-word adaptation of the script became a successful live comedy show -- it's unsurprising that Star Trek fans have been clinging to a behind-the-scenes rumor as a way of explaining the dramatic failings of the episode. Unfortunately, the Star Trek television series collection at UCLA make one thing abundantly clear: the long-standing rumor just isn't true. However the episode has been perceived since it first aired, it was never written with the intention of it being a comedy.

A February 1, 1968 letter from Gene Roddenberry to NBC Vice President Herbert Schlosser is the earliest document I've found to mention 'Spock's Brain,' which is listed as a story idea for a potential third season.  Roddenberry writes:

SPOCK'S BRAIN. -- Another promotable, topical item spinning off Sr. Christian Bernard's [sic] heart surgery and the intense public interest generated. This is a tale of Spock's brain being stolen to run a vast, complex planet computer. The bulk of our tale, and action search for Spock’s brain with the usual jeopardies, suspense, and mystery. The climax -- the effort by Dr. McCoy to replace the brain in Spock’s body.

Roddenberry's description of "the usual jeopardies, suspense, and mystery" sound far from comedic. However, this short description predates the delivery of Gene Coon's earliest story outline for the episode, which arrived a month later. Perhaps that's when the story became the basis for a comedy?

Although not an impossibility -- the writers report for the week of March 29, 1968 indicates Coon turned in a first draft story outline on March 12, 1968, a draft which is not present in the UCLA files -- I find this scenario unlikely. As described by Roddenberry's letter, the episode was meant to be played straight, and by the time Coon revised the outline (delivered on April 22, 1968) the tone of 'Spock's Brain' was deadly serious. Consider the brief, dramatic teaser of that revised outline:

Except for a comedic scene between Kirk, Spock, and McCoy at the very end, the rest of this outline for 'Spock's Brain' remains as serious as the above teaser.

When Stanley Robertson, NBC's program manager for Star Trek, was sent this outline, he made several suggestions. In an April 25, 1968 letter sent to Fred Freiberger, Robertson asked the producer to "give further consideration to the addition of more personal jeopardy to our regular cast of heroes than is intimated here." Notably absent from this two page letter is any hint that the episode was intended as a comedy.

Given the consistently serious tone of each of these behind-the-scenes documents, and the completed episode itself, there's little doubt in my mind that 'Spock's Brain' was conceived from start to finish as a dramatic episode, not a comedy.

There's one other issue worth addressing here. I've seen it suggested in at least one review that Gene Coon used the pseudonym of Lee Cronin on this episode because he was unhappy with changes made to his script. That's simply not true. According to Bob Justman in Inside Star Trek: The Real Story, Gene Coon left Star Trek late in the second season for a more lucrative (and exclusive) contract with Universal Television. As a condition of being let out of his Star Trek contract, however, Coon agreed "to complete work on a number of his story premises if Star Trek was renewed for a third season." Since Coon had an exclusive contract with Universal Television, however, he couldn't use his real name. Therefore, all of Coon's third season efforts for Star Trek are credited to Lee Cronin, and he is even referred to as such in all behind-the-scenes documents for the third season.

'Spock's Brain' gag image courtesy of birdofthegalaxy.

Thanks to TrekBBS user Sir Rhosis for suggesting this topic and providing the 'Spock's Brain' outline excerpts. His script reviews for the original series at Orion Press continue to be an invaluable resource and come highly recommended. 

If you have have a research question about Star Trek you'd like me to tackle, feel free to ask it in the comments field below. Time and resources permitting, it is my goal to answer as many reader questions as I can.

Sources:

The Gene Roddenberry Star Trek Television Series Collection (1964-1969)

Inside Star Trek : The Real Story (Herbert F. Solow and Robert H. Justman, 1996)

Don't Know Much About (Vulcan) Philosophy

The Vulcan IDIC seen in close-up in 'Is There in Truth No Beauty? (1968)

For many Star Trek fans the Vulcan philosophy of IDIC (short for Infinite Diversity in Infinite Combinations) symbolizes what scholar Jennifer Porter calls the program's "ideal for tolerance of diversity." Regardless of fandom's appropriation of the concept, however, it is no secret that Gene Roddenberry's introduction of the IDIC was motivated less by philosophical aims than it was commercial ones.

The IDIC philosophy and related jewelry first appeared in the seventh episode produced during the third season of Star Trek, 'Is There In Truth No Beauty?' Although the writing credit went solely to newcomer Jean Lisette Aroeste, the IDIC was actually the invention of series creator Gene Roddenberry, who specifically re-wrote the teleplay to feature the IDIC medallion. Roddenberry already had plans to sell IDIC jewelry to Star Trek fans through his mail order business, Lincoln Enterprises, but before he could do that he had to get the concept on the air.

Roddenberry first tried to include the IDIC at the end of 'Spock's Brain,' the sixth episode produced during the third year, and ultimately the first episode of the season to be broadcast. In a July 10, 1968 memo to Fred Freiberger, Roddenberry outlined his idea for a scene with the IDIC. Perhaps emphasizing the importance the jewelry had to Roddenberry, the memo was titled 'Spock's Medallion.'

This proposed epilogue began with Uhura presenting Spock with 'a boxed item from the junior officers of the vessel, which they have had made up to show their delight that Spock has been brought back to life.' Inside the box, of course, is the IDIC medallion, which Roddenberry says 'has great meaning to all Vulcans' and is 'like the 'cross' to Christians and similar symbols to other religions and creeds.' Roddenberry's memo goes on to elaborate on the scene:

Chekov is proud that his research on it was correct and Spock admits it is perfectly executed. We may or may not have Spock mention that his original Vulcan IDIC medallion given to him by his father at his Vulcan 'Bar Mitzvah; was lost in some early spaceship disaster or adventure. 

The reason for junior officers presenting it is so that Kirk, McCoy, and Scotty can be curious about it and its meaning. We may assume that they have seen this symbol or heard about it, but since Vulcans are not prone to chatter about their philosophy, not too many people know the real meaning and symbology [sic].  

Prompted by the fact that Chekov’s clever research has already revealed much about it, Spock begins to explain some of the symbology [sic]. Spock, genuinely moved by the gift and by certain relationships of it to the story we have just seen, becomes more and more articulate and is finally chattering away like a human.  

We can have some humor here as Kirk, McCoy and Scotty try to break in with ship’s business, and for the first time in our series, Spock won’t let anyone get a word in edgewise. This leads to your suggested final line of McCoy’s wishing he had not connected Spock’s mouth.

Freiberger elected to ignore Roddenberry's story suggestion, likely because it was too late to implement in the episode. Paramount's mandate that the series now complete each episode on a strict six day shooting schedule made it difficult to execute changes on the fly, and by the time Roddenberry's memo was delivered, it was already the third day of photography on 'Spock's Brain.' It didn't help that the scene was only in the form of a rough outline, not script pages that could be put in front of the camera.

Undeterred, Roddenberry decided to revise the script for the next episode to be shot ('Is There In Truth No Beauty?') to include the IDIC. Roddenberry's script revisions (which were unusual during the third season, in which he still dictated story memos and co-wrote two episodes, but was no longer doing rewrites) were delivered at the last minute, and when the show's two stars got ahold of them, a serious conflict erupted on set. Director Ralph Senensky later described the situation:

Our first day of filming, Tuesday, July 16th, arrived, and I was greeted with a mutiny on the Enterprise. 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. (I have since learned that Leonard Nimoy first phoned producer Fred Freiberger to tell him of the problem. When Freiberger refused to take any action, Leonard called Roddenberry.) The morning was spent in a round table war with the six characters involved in the scene plus Gene and me. But the battle was strictly Bill and Leonard vs Gene. Bill and Leonard felt Gene was using the scene as a promotional commercial for a pin he had designed; the pin was part of Leonard’s costume. Gene vehemently denied these accusations, but the guys were adamant in their refusal to be a part of something they considered to be commercially oriented.

--Ralph Senensky, Is There In Truth No Beauty? (2011)

William Shatner offered his own perspective on the situation in his book, Star Trek Memories:

I got my script change, read the new scene and with my jaw still hanging open, I called Fred down to the set, asking him, 'What's this IDIC thing about?' I knew that Lincoln Enterprises would soon be selling these things, and there was no way that I was going to muck up a perfectly good story line just so we could include Gene's rather thinly veiled commercial. With that in mind, I flatly refused to do the scene. Freiberger hemmed and hawed about the difficulties involved in re-revising the script, but as I spoke to him recently for this book, he finally admitted that he was actually relieved that I wouldn't do the scene. It was probably the first time in history that a producer was glad to be dealing with a 'difficult' actor...

Leonard and I had both seen through Gene's marketing ploy, and one after another we'd refused to play the scene. Still, when Gene came to the set, he did his very best to push it through. To his credit, Roddenberry was completely honest about the situation and didn't try to mask his free publicity scam behind any half-baked creative half-truths. He simply stated that Lincoln Enterprises would soon be marketing these medallions, and that he'd really appreciate our cooperation in getting the product into this storyline.

So I went through a great deal of soul-searching and teeth-grinding over the situation, and finally I just had to say, 'Gene, I'm sorry, but I can't do this.'  Roddenberry accepted my refusal, but kept working on Leonard.

--William Shatner with Chris Kreski, Star Trek Memories (1993), p.287-289

With Shatner refusing to play the scene, it ultimately fell to Leonard Nimoy to be the pitchman for Roddenberry's jewelry. However, Nimoy had his own objections to the idea, which he recalled in his book, I Am Spock:

Certainly, I was all in favor of the philosophy behind the IDIC-- but not the fact that Gene wanted me to wear the medallion because he wanted to sell them through his mail-order business, Lincoln Enterprises. Where the scene had been problematic creatively for me, it was now problematic ethically. While I wouldn't argue with the IDIC concept, I was troubled that I had opened the door and let in a new kind of animal while trying to get rid of another.

--Leonard Nimoy, I Am Spock (1995), p.123

With both of his leading men refusing to go before the cameras, and half a day of filming lost to the argument, Roddenberry agreed to postpone the scene until later in the schedule so that he could rewrite it. Ultimately, Leonard Nimoy agreed to do this new version of the scene, although he wasn't thrilled by it:

Although I didn't appreciate Spock being turned into a billboard, I at least felt that the IDIC idea had more value than the content of the original scene. We filmed the scene as Gene had rewritten it. But the whole incident was rather unpleasant; Roddenberry was peeved at me for not wanting to help his piece of mail-order merchandise get off to a resounding start, and Fred Freiberger was peeved at me for going over his head.

--Leonard Nimoy, I Am Spock (1995), p.123-124

William Ware Theiss concept sketch for the IDIC (1968)

Although Ralph Senensky indicates that the IDIC medallion was designed by Roddenberry, the book The Art of Star Trek (1995) suggests that the design was actually a collaboration between Roddenberry and costume designer William Ware Theiss, including the above sketch by Theiss on p.xii. To be fair, the triangle-circle concept had been one Roddenberry had been mulling over since the first season of the series, as indicated in this memo to Matt Jefferies:

To: Matt Jefferies
Date: December 12, 1966
From: Gene Roddenberry
Re: SPACE SYMBOLS

Dear Matt:

Would like to see a greater use of symbols, some design of significant form and color, used to identify and tie together the particular planet cultures, alien vessels, other Earth vessels, organizations, etc. As always, would appreciate you coordinating with costume, property, etc. A handy example: In "Return of the Archons," the law-givers and the Society of Landru could have been characterized by a symbol, say an unusual triangle-circle, which could have then given us unity by allowing it to appear on their rugs, possibly on their staffs, certainly on the walls of Landru's palace. As we discovered in the past, this trick has a way of unifying things, gives it a sense of greater reality, gives the director things to play to, and furnishes guide posts for the audience. For example, an upcoming one is the other vessel in "Space Seed." Can we do anything here?

Gene Roddenberry

--Stephen Whitfield and Gene Roddenberry, The Making of Star Trek (1968), p.127-128

Lincoln Enterprises IDIC advertisement (1969)

Roddenberry soon began selling the IDIC pendants, as indicated by this advertisement for the 'Vulcan Pendant' (which it solely credits to Roddenberry) in the 'Official Star Trek Catalog #2' offered by Lincoln Enterprises. The description of the item was similar, although not exact, to the one Roddenberry had included in his July 10, 1968 memo to Fred Freiberger, which described the IDIC:

SYMBOLOGY [sic] OF THE IDIC. There are two basic shapes and two basic colors and textures, i.e., the circle and the triangle. Generally, they represent that all things meaningful or beautiful are created by the joining together of different things. The pyramid can represent man and logic while the circle represents all of creation, i.e., man and creation joined together to create beauty. Also, the triangle-pyramid represents man and the circle represents woman and the jewel represents the beauty that their joining together is capable of creating. Or it can mean the truth which comes out of the blending of different ideas and creeds or the strength and beauty that comes out of the joining of different races, or the rich life which comes out of surrounding oneself with friends who have ideas different from your own and the rich cross-fertilization which occurs in such associations. 

The Vulcan in it, is that the glory of creation is in its infinite diversities and infinite combinations possible. As such, the IDIC represents and idea of universal brotherhood far beyond that represented by any other symbol we know of.

birdofthegalaxy's IDIC pendant with quarter for scale (2012)

Thanks again to the helpful community at the TrekBBS. Among them, Star Trek History contributor alchemist found the source of the IDIC concept art, Star Trek: Phase II co-executive producer Gregory L. Schnitzer pointed out and transcribed the memo from The Making of Star Trek, and author Christopher L. Bennett helped determine the design lineage of the IDIC. Without their help, this post would have undoubtedly been delayed yet another week.

Update (8/24/2013): Thanks to Gregory L. Schnitzer, I can reproduce a portion of the IDIC scene not included in the final version of 'Is There In Truth No Beauty?' below:

Busy with the search for expressing her thoughts, Miranda's hand touches the medallion pinned to Spock's breast. She touches it carefully, as though identifying it. McCoy sees the fleeting gesture her hand makes on contact with the medallion. He is very intent on her action. 

Spock pulls back, afraid he may have scratched her. 

SPOCK 
Forgive me. I forget that dress uniforms can injure. 

MIRANDA 
No, I was merely looking at your Vulcan IDIC, Mister Spock. 
(looks up, curiously) 
Is it a reminder that as a Vulcan you could mind-meld with the Medeusan much more effectively than I could? 
(to the others, but smiling) 
It would be most difficult for a Vulcan to see a mere human take on this exciting a challenge. 

McCOY 
(to Spock) 
Interesting question. It is a fact that you rarely do wear the IDIC. 

KIRK 
I doubt that Mister Spock would don the most revered of all Vulcan symbols merely to annoy a guest, Dr. Jones. 

SPOCK 
(to Miranda) 
In fact, I wear it this evening to honor you, Doctor.

MIRANDA 
Indeed? 

SPOCK 
(nods) 
Indeed. Perhaps even with those years on Vulcan, you missed the true symbology. 
(indicates medallion) 
The triangle and the circle... 
...different shapes, materials, textures...represent any two diverse things which come together to create here...truth or beauty. 
(indicating the parts, looks up) 
For example, Doctor Miranda Jones who combined herself and the disciplines of my race, to become greater than the sum of both. 

Kirk can see Miranda isn't fully sold on Spock's intentions 
...he changes the subject. 

KIRK 
Very interesting, I might even say...fascinating. 

(At this point the scene picks up as aired.)

These pages originate from a draft sold by Lincoln Enterprises which bears the date of July 16, 1968. They may reflect Roddenberry's original version of the IDIC scene, which he was forced to change to appease Leonard Nimoy. If this is the case, then the pages were certainly delivered at the last minute, since July 16, 1968 was the day of the on set controversy.

On the other hand, these pages may represent Roddenberry's rewrite of the IDIC scene, written later in the day, after the executive producer agreed to table the scene and move on. Since these pages represent a longer version of the scene, rather than a complete rewrite, I suspect this is the case. They also do not reflect William Shatner's memory that the original version of the scene featured Kirk bestowing the IDIC 'upon an absolutely thrilled recipient,' although readers of Star Trek Memories will know that Shatner's recollections in it are often mistaken.

Without returning to the UCLA archives, however, it's impossible to know the answer. Hopefully, I will be able to return to California soon and have the time do so.

Images courtesy of birdofthegalaxy.

Sources:

The Gene Roddenberry Star Trek Television Series Collection (1964-1969)

The Making of Star Trek (Stephen Whitfield and Gene Roddenberry, 1968)

Star Trek Memories (William Shatner with Chris Kreski, 1993)

I Am Spock (Leonard Nimoy, 1995)

The Art of Star Trek (Judith and Garfield Reeves-Stevens, 1995)

Star Trek and Sacred Ground: Explorations of Star Trek, Religion and American Culture (Jennifer E. Porter and Darcee L. McLaren, 1999)

Is There In Truth No Beauty? (Ralph Senensky, 2011)