A Brief Guide to Star Trek (6 page)

The Talosians (played in the episode by short actresses, but voiced by male actors for an ‘alien’ effect) want to breed a race of humanoids, and hope to mate Pike with Vina. Utilising a series of illusions, they try to force Pike to comply, but he resists. Number One and Yeoman Colt are kidnapped from the
Enterprise
, beamed by the Talosians directly to Pike’s cage. If Vina is not to Pike’s liking, think the Talosians, maybe they can tempt him with one of his own female crewmembers? Meanwhile, Spock and company have returned with a laser cannon and turn it on the hidden Talosians’ lair. Although the weapon is effective, the Talosians maintain a psychic illusion so the
Enterprise
crew do not perceive the damage they have done.

Pike escapes and discovers the truth about the Talosians. Having wrecked their planet’s ecology the race moved underground, developing their mental capacity but losing the ability to produce children (hence their interest in recreating their race via Pike and Vina). The truth is also revealed about Vina: she was disfigured in the crash of the
Columbia
, but the Talosians have psychically maintained her self-image as that of a beautiful young woman. Pike agrees to leave the Talosians alone, as long as they maintain Vina’s illusion – in fact, they create an unreal Captain Pike who stays with her. The
Enterprise
crew resume their ongoing voyages . . .

Executives at NBC responded to Roddenberry’s full pilot script with a series of ‘notes’ – comments on the settings, characters and structure of the drama. Roddenberry quickly took offence at this interference in ‘his’ project, thinking he knew best how to tell his story, but was persuaded by Solow that if he were to have any realistic hope at all of getting
Star Trek
on air, he’d have to work with NBC, not against them. Again, this was odd behaviour from a producer who’d already run his own TV show in
The Lieutenant
and had previously experienced the
trials and tribulations of dealing with network executives. Roddenberry’s strong personal investment in the
Star Trek
concept as a storyteller was beginning to get in the way of his duties as a practical producer.

Desilu had previously been known for comedy and variety shows, most of them simple vehicles for the star power of Lucille Ball. Now it was looking at a major, risky expansion into drama for network television with both
Star Trek
and spy thriller
Mission: Impossible
entering production simultaneously. Practical problems loomed, starting with assembling a production crew for the needs of an ambitious drama like
Star Trek
: the team who produced
The Lucy Show
would simply not be up to the task. Instead, Solow and Roddenberry were faced with the challenge of building a completely new production unit from scratch to film the revised
Star Trek
pilot script, in the hope that NBC would commit to a full series and so result in Desilu recovering its up-front investment. Although NBC would be paying for
Star Trek
, the fee Desilu would receive would regularly be less than the cost of making the show – the difference would have to be recouped through advertising and foreign sales.

The crew on
Star Trek
was made up of people selected by Roddenberry and Solow to realise the creator’s storytelling ambitions. It was clear to the production team that for every episode of
Star Trek
as an ongoing series, everything would have to be re -invented, with the exception of the starship
Enterprise
, the ‘police precinct’ of this new show. Every new world, alien encountered and spaceship discovered had to be created from scratch, meaning a huge design workload and a thoroughly complex production process, much more so than any regular doctor, cop or lawyer show (the staples of American television in the 1960s, as today).

That burden would largely fall on set designer Walter ‘Matt’ Jefferies, an artist and designer who’d also been a pilot, so was aware of industrial and technical issues concerning aircraft that could be applied to the
Enterprise
and other starships. Roddenberry’s only instruction to him was to avoid the Flash Gordon look that had previously defined movie spaceships. His
task was to come up with something unknown to present-day science, and definitely not rocket powered. The result, based on images from the pulp magazine covers supplied by Samuel A. Peeples, was the saucer propelled by tubular engines, all tethered to a main body like a sailing ship. Star Trek’s iconic
Enterprise
was born, and Peeples’ first contribution to the
Star Trek
legend had been made . . .

Similarly, costume designer William Ware Theiss faced a series of unusual challenges. The crew of the
Enterprise
needed uniforms, and while there might be plenty of historical and contemporary earthbound military and civilian uniforms to draw on, Roddenberry wanted his crew clad in something viewers had never seen before. Like Jefferies, Theiss was also toiling under severe budget restrictions. Also like Jefferies, Theiss was given a clutch of Peeples’ pulp magazine covers as reference, although instead of spaceships these largely featured scantily clad women being menaced by alien monsters, not really reflective of
Star Trek
at all. They were to function as inspiration for Theiss’s costume choices.

Effects were a whole other problem. It was fine to build sets and create costumes, but it would be necessary to show the spaceships flying and the alien worlds hanging in space. Luckily the Desilu lot in Hollywood was home to the Howard Anderson Company, an experienced optical effects house. Roddenberry didn’t have to go far to find the team who could put the ‘special’ into his effects requirements. Darrell Anderson, who ran the company, would be on set to ensure that any sequences needing added optical work were shot in such a way as to be suitable (and economic) for his team to apply their visual magic. Similarly, Anderson ran an off-stage model studio where the miniature spaceships designed by Jefferies could be shot separately. The model shooting stage was often entirely filled by the dominant, almost 14-foot-long model of the ‘miniature’
Enterprise
.

The decision-making process involved in creating
Star Trek
’s first pilot meant that the many questions that came up during production came back to Roddenberry to be answered. It was
undoubtedly a stressful time, but
Star Trek
was his vision and as the key storyteller behind the show, he was the only one who could clearly instruct the many practitioners hired to make it a reality. It was Roddenberry who dictated that everything aboard the
Enterprise
, from the uniforms through to how the crew conducted themselves, should have a US Navy feel. It was in the casting of the characters, however, that Roddenberry truly made his mark. Matching his draft descriptions in his series outline to suitable actors drew on all his television experience and resulted in characters that would go on to become international icons.

Key to Roddenberry’s vision of the forward-looking, optimistic characters he wanted exploring deep space in his ‘
Wagon Train
to the stars’ was the captain of the
Enterprise
. This character was a leader, a man’s man, but one who had human weaknesses and frailties that he carried with him out to the final frontier of unknown space. Although the captain certainly had an eye for the ladies, his only true love would be his ship, the
Enterprise
.

The original 1964 pitch document defined Captain Robert K. April as ‘the “skipper”, about thirty-four, Academy graduate, rank of captain. Clearly the leading man and central character. This role is designed for an actor of top repute and ability. A shorthand sketch of Robert April might be “A space-age Captain Horatio Hornblower”, lean and capable both mentally and physically. A colourfully complex personality, he is capable of action and decision which can verge on the heroic – and at the same time lives a continual battle with self-doubt and the loneliness of command.’

In ‘The Cage’, movie actor Jeffrey Hunter played Captain Christopher Pike (also named James Winter in early drafts). He was then best known for playing Jesus Christ in
King of Kings
(1961). Roddenberry was pleased to have secured the services of a well-known film actor for his potential TV series on the basis of his pilot script alone. Hunter had guest starred in various TV shows, but
Star Trek
was to be his first commitment to taking on a leading role in a series, following the failure of his 1963–4 Western/legal series
Temple Houston
. Other actors who’d been considered for the leading role included Peter Graves
(soon to become the star of
Mission: Impossible
),
The Time Machine
’s Rod Taylor, Jack Lord (later famous for his long run on
Hawaii 5-0
),
Forbidden Planet
’s Leslie Nielsen (casting that would have done much to highlight the similarities between that movie and
Star Trek
), Ed Kemmer (Commander Corry in
Space Patrol
) and Canadian actor William Shatner.

With Hunter in place, attention turned to the other roles. Roddenberry and his casting team were looking at ‘The Cage’ not as a one-off TV movie but as the template for their ongoing series, so it was important to fill the key roles with the right actors: after all, they could be playing these parts for a good number of years if the show was a success.

The easiest part to fill – at least for Roddenberry – was the role of Number One, the emotionless female second-in-command on the
Enterprise
. The pitch document had billed this character as the Executive Officer, ‘never referred to as anything but “Number One”, this officer is female. Almost mysteriously female, in fact – slim and dark in a Nile Valley way, age uncertain, one of those women who will always look the same between years twenty to fifty. An extraordinarily efficient officer, “Number One” enjoys playing it expressionless, cool – [she] is probably April’s superior in detailed knowledge of the multiple equipment systems, departments and crewmembers aboard the vessel.’ The role was gifted to Majel Barrett without any serious consideration being given to any other actresses. Roddenberry’s blatant favouritism (his weakness for women would be transferred to the character of the captain of the
Enterprise
) would be used against him by the network when it was time to cast important roles in
Star Trek
’s second pilot episode.

Perhaps the most important single decision made in the casting choices during pre-production in early November 1964 was the choice of Leonard Nimoy to portray the
Enterprise
’s alien science officer, Mr Spock. The pitch document focused on the First Lieutenant’s alien appearance, but his later ‘emotionless’ character had already been given to Number One. Mr Spock is ‘the captain’s right hand man, the working level commander of
all the ship’s functions . . . the first view of him can be almost frightening – a face so heavy-lidded and satanic, you might almost expect him to have a forked tail. Probably half-Martian, he has a slightly reddish complexion and semi-pointed ears. But strangely, Mr. Spock’s quiet temperament is in dramatic contrast to his satanic look. His primary weakness is an almost cat-like curiosity over anything slightly “alien”.’ Other actors had been considered for the role, including Western actor DeForest Kelley, Rex Holman and dwarf actor Michael Dunn, best known for playing Miguelito Loveless, the recurring villain in
The Wild, Wild West
(1965–9). Their casting would have brought a very different interpretation to the character of Spock. It was, however, Majel Barrett who was instrumental in the selection of Nimoy, recalling him from a guest appearance in Roddenberry’s
The Lieutenant
and bringing him to the producer’s attention once again. His thin frame and angular features were ideal for the alien character Roddenberry had in mind.

While all the actors associated with
Star Trek
saw their professional lives changed by the series, this applied to no one more than Nimoy. Following his time in the US Army, Nimoy played a variety of guest roles in TV series, including episodes of
The Untouchables
,
The Outer Limits
and
Perry Mason
, but it was the character of Spock that would bring him public acclaim, private anguish and define him in the eyes of audiences right up to and beyond J. J. Abrams’ 2009 movie reinvention of
Star Trek
. It is safe to say that
Star Trek
would not have been the same without Nimoy as Spock: within days of his casting Roddenberry had requested his props department cost up something simply described in a memo as ‘ear appliances’ . . .

Rejected for the role of Spock, DeForest Kelley was up for the part of ‘Doc’, the ship’s medical officer. The character was one of the more straightforward in Roddenberry’s initial 1964 pitch document: ‘Ship’s Doctor – Philip Boyce, an unlikely space traveller. At the age of fifty-one, he’s worldly, humorously cynical, makes it a point to thoroughly enjoy his own weaknesses. Captain April’s only real confidant, “Bones” Boyce
considers himself the only realist aboard, and measures each new landing in terms of relative annoyance, rather than excitement.’ Kelley had played plenty of irascible country doctors in several Western movies and TV series, but he lost out on the role in ‘The Cage’ to B-movie actor John Hoyt. Neither the character of Dr Philip John Boyce nor the actor’s participation in
Star Trek
would last beyond the filming of this pilot. After a fairly fruitless search for an actress to play Vina, Roddenberry eventually secured Susan Oliver for the guest starring role.

With the creative and casting work complete, shooting began on ‘The Cage’ on the day after Thanksgiving, 27 November 1964 on Desilu’s Stage 16 in Culver City. Fittingly, the first scenes shot involved one of
Star Trek
’s iconic sets: the transporter room of the
Enterprise
. Roddenberry had dreamt up the ‘transporter’ as a method of getting characters to and from planets (and other locations) without a lot of messing about in space shuttles (or, indeed, having the
Enterprise
repeatedly land and take off from planets). It was an elegant solution to a practical problem (saving a fortune in regular effects work, although the transporter ‘beaming’ effect itself became a regular feature).