Over at io9.com they’ve got a really cool article on a new book by Marc Cushman entitled These Are the Voyages TOS: Season One. It looks to be a fascinating (see what I did there?) look behind the making of the original Star Trek’s first season. It will be a must have item for any true fan of Trek. Some of the behind the scenes tidbits in the article:
- Pigeons and a horde of wasps plagued the filming of the first two pilots.
- Gene Roddenberry got 50% royalties for the show’s theme song because he authored weird lyrics for it that were never used.
- The great Lucille Ball herself saved Star Trek from Desliu Studios’ board of directors’ axe. (Desilu, of course, stood for Desi and Lucy.) Not only that, but the great comedienne personally swept pesky dust from the camera tracks during filming!
- Gene Roddenberry believed men in the future would not have body hair and made Shatner shave his torso for topless scenes.
- DeForest Kelley was almost cast as Spock. (I’m trying to picture that one.)
Lots more in the article and the book sounds great. Going on my Amazon wishlist.
Shatner and Nimoy laughing during filming of “Patterns of Force.”
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