Star Trek Interview From 1976 May 24, 2007
by Anthony Pascale , Filed under: TOS, Trek Franchise , trackbackJust showed up on YouTube: In 1976 the Tomorrow Show with Tom Snyder dedicated an entire show to Star Trek - includes interviews with James Doohan, DeForest Kelley, Walter Koenig, Harlan Ellison and (con organizer) Al Shuster. (in 5 parts)
other parts below
Part 2 -
Part 3 - Discusses TMP
Part 4 - Ellison really goes off
Part 5 - Ellison continues rant (sorry forgot this part)
with thanks to youtuber videoholic2007
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Man, I haven’t seen ‘Tomorrow’ in years …
It was odd that they put ‘1776′ on the Enterprise. Some sort of Bicentennial commemoration? Pretty strange, if so.
I find it interesting when Deforrest Kelly suggests that the film could have them “find Christ and discover that he’s actually Lucifer”. Is it from that simple throwaway remark that Shatner got the idea for the abomination known as Star Trek V: The Final Frontier?
Holy Cow! I vividly remember begging to stay up and watch this when it was on in my prehistoric, pre-vcr youth, and here it is in all its You Tube glory. What a blast from the past — thanks for posting these links!
It’s fascinating how both Doohan and Koenig look a little scruffy, but Kelly, gawd love him, looks like a million bucks! What a class act!!
Lord, the cigarette smoke!
And they all look so young there, barely older than the run of TOS.
I also love the rough camera work on Snyder’s show. Ha. I’m in TV and I know how common that was before robo-cam.
As interesting as this was and is….its so one sided. Its like going to a pizza parlor and only being able to get or receive pepperoni. Too bad Tom Synder - NBC didn’t make the effort
to get at least part of the rest of the cast for their own unique viewpoint as it was. Oh well!
great interview…i love how their smoking. RIP DeForest Kelley
Hacking and coughing along with smoking. Great to see this again.
The 70’s. Tom’s hair, yikes! The clothes. And that gawdawful blocky NBC logo that replaced the peacock. DeForest Kelley looked great though, even his hair!
That was fun….
Part five is around too hopefully the following link will get you to it
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wOQTfniemEs
Bye…!
sorry I forgot the last part…added that
Part 5’s my favorite, when Doohan looks like he’s wants to bitch-slap Ellison. “Cop show?! It’s not a cop show!”
De Kelley - pure class!
Harlan Ellison was such a downer, but he’s right that his original story for “City on the Edge of Forever” didn’t have Scotty selling drugs, as Gene Roddenberry allegedly alleged.
Ellison completely ruined that interview. He basically was a wet blanket over the proceedings. However, Ellison did mention how up in the air ST:TMP was at that point with the script. A problem that plagued it even during filming and post production.
Doohan predicted “Many more movies would be made” and that TOS would endure for many many years. He was dead on.
1776? If you lived through 1976, you might remember anything that stayed still long enough had “1776″ on it, or at least ‘76, so putting 1776 instead of 1701 was a fairly normal state of mind then.
I saw this live.
How cool to see these interviews again. All three of the Trek originals a very
class act indeed. Harlan Ellison is a fine writer but he is a very arrogant SOB.
I attended the first Fim Con 1 over the Thanksgiving weekend in 1972. Here
I was at the Ambassador Hotel in LA and had round table discussions
with writers, actors, and film producers. It was like nothing I’d done before.
One of the highlights was to be a speech given by Mr. Ellison. It started out
OK then Harlen went into a rant about how “Star Trek” fans were destroying
sci-fi in general and they should all be banished to a netherworld of darkness. I stood during a question and answers session and informed him
with all the courage I could muster that the same people who watch “Star Trek” buy his books and he should not be too quick to judge these people, and that he was shooting himself in the foot. More rants followed I
and about 30 others walked out on him. Not a huge protest but a statement was made. In 35 years Ellison has never changed. He is
still a good writer and a very egotistical bastard.
i liked doohan. i liked how he graciously expressed the joy of being part of a “classic”, and he was so right: his great grandchildren *will* be watching the show, and it is just as good now as it was then. bang on, correct. he seemed pleased to predict several future films, and he was right about that too. but think of this: he couldn’t have predicted that in 10 yrs he’d get some laughs by talking into a computer mouse, because there weren’t any of those yet!
Harlan Ellison is one of the most overrated writers in the industry. Seems to me that he is praised while being a mediocre writer. ;-) Maybe he oughta write cop shows/novels! ;-) ;-) Time for someone to bash me, I know. City On The Edge Of Forever isn’t a bad episode, but I generally think it is a bit overrated…AND…in it’s original form written by Ellison, it would never have been as highly thought of as the version that is “out there.” Harlan is an arrogant person and still acts that way today. I know someone who is friends with him and even HE says that about ol’ Harl.
Harlan Ellison, what a joke! It’s almost understandable if someone is arrogant, but has the talent or genius to back it up. It’s irritating, in the extreme, if it comes from a HACK like Ellison. He is highly overrated as a writer! It’s too late to tell him to PISS OFF, as he’s already had a full career at other people’s expense! All we can hope is that he drops dead real soon and stops being a boil on humanity’s ass!
All three actors where class… acts all the way! Ellison was a total jackass. What a jerk. I’m glad Walter got the last word in at the end of the show about Trek. And he was right. Star Trek is the best sci-fi television show ever made.
I think Ellison was a writer very much of his time, and made the impact he did because his stories dealing with machine intelligence coincided with the advent of computers in everyday life. But I’ve read a couple of his short story collections and haven’t found much about them that was too memorable.
If he hadn’t written what many consider to be the best episode of Star Trek, how many people would know his name? He made quite a career out of bashing Trek while reaping the benefits of association with it. While he has undeniable skill as a writer, he has perhaps more as a self-promoter.
What a great thing to see. At one point Doohan seems to want to strangle Ellison. Damn NBC’s ignorant execs for so shortsightedly not putting Star Trek in a better time slot and then canceling TV’s best Sci-Fi.
I think everyone is taking Ellison far too seriously. He makes some very good points.
Star Trek (not just TOS, but all variations) didn’t really rise to their full potential.
The Motion Picture, despite having a rocky development, did challenge the viewer…it tried…and in some ways failed, but I have grown to consider it my favorite. Beginning with ST:2, the movies started sliding into mediocrity…when I watch The Undiscovered Country these days, I have trouble believing it’s the same Star Trek I watched on television as a child. Don’t even get me started on the Next Gen movies…gah.
Harlan may come across as an ass, but if you lower your shields and just listen to the man…you’ll see that what he’s saying is quite valid.
I loved watching that—thanks for posting it.
They were all great guys. However, Jimmy Doohan was *the man*.
Harlan Ellison is a piece of human cholestrol clogging up the arteries of life!
Koenig always comes across as jaded as well. For that I was/am very dissapointed. I met him once at a convention in about ‘89 or so. At that time he was showing the audience just how disinterested he was in being there. Here we were all enamored to have an actor in town from our favortie show in town, & he was just there for the check. That was a major life lesson that wiped away my rose colored glasses re: who chekov really was like.
Doohan on the other hand was fantastic. When I met him, he actually seemed interested to be there. He answered everyone’s questions in detail. Plus he made sure everyone that wanted one got an autograph, as well as personal time to speak with him. Man he was the best! He never let me down. R.I.P. Jimmy.
Gawd…I still remember watching the show (my senior year in high school), and Jimmy’s joke about the rationale for no bathrooms showing up either in the show or in the Franz Joseph Designs blueprints.
27# Michael Appleton:
You told them. Harlan Ellison is not your favorite person!
Calling Star Trek V an abomination is a bit overreaching. Flawed, yes, in many parts, but there are those of us who draw strength from the mystical, Godward parts of the film. We need the inspiration, believe me!
——————————-
Anthony:
Thanks so much for posting these videos. I watched late night programming on NBC for many years as a kid. Shows like Tommorrow made it cool to stay up, before the advent of syndicated informercials and other late night junk.
A message to everyone who thinks that Harlan Ellison “ruined” this 1976 interview (especially YOU Michael Appleton, T Negative and Cafe 5 )…you don’t know him, you don’t understand him, you’ve probably NEVER read or understood ANY of his works. You probably ONLY “know” him as a writer of a Star Trek episode or as some sort of “sci-fi writer.
I sat up and watched this interview back in 1976 and was enourmously entertained because I know exactly what he was talking about, the tenor of the times and mentality of what television executives then.
Egotistical he may be…but he has the moxy, talent and guts to back up anything he says. When he spoke, he was speaking the unvarnished truth about television and Star Trek. And he was goddamed funny as well.
Videoholic 2007, you should be ashamed for putting up that caption (sorry about this part). I mean really, it’s insulting; you’re putting a value judgement on Harlan’s remarks… We’re not three year olds here and I think people can see and hear the show and make up their own minds without the caption. Do us all a favor and remove it.
But on the other hand I enjoyed seeing this Tomorrow show again. Thank you very much.
Cordially,
Chris M. Barkley
What was Ellison even doing there? Technically he didn’t even write ONE episode and he admitted he was fired from the movie. I like how insults Rock and Roll as if its pop culture dreck. That’s the most insulting part.
I don’t think Harlan Ellison “ruined” this 1976 interview at all. I found him to be quite entertaining. I also found him to be a loud mouth egotistical jerk, but entertaining non the less. I’m sure he was invited on the show to stir things up, and he didn’t disappoint in that regard. I’m glad Doohan was there to ‘grumble’ his opinion. Jimmy really is the Man. I half expected hin to get up and grab Ellison by the shirt… hahaha… I would have paid to have seen that! :)
It’s interesting to note that Gene Rodenberry was scheduled to be on the show, but cancelled due to feeling sick at the last minute. I wonder if that had anything to do with Harlan being on the show?
I could watch hours of this stuff!!! What a wonderful treat, but unfortunately many people here are so quick to judge and not abide by the principles that Gene R was attempting to enstile upon us all…everyone has their own opinion. These “people” as much as we want them to be as enthusiastic about Star Trek as I am or we are, were at the time doing their job. They acted on a TV show. It was the chemistry between these amazing talents that was the magic that made Star Trek…then and now. Harlen has his own opinion, and could have been arguing for MORE ethics and MORE meaning behind the characters and story plots. Not a fan of his work, but consider his points for a moment…
I must add that Jimmy and De Forest were a delight to watch and listen to and may the both venture into the Undiscovered Country with God’s Spead!
Thanx for the memories…I remember staying up late as a kid and wishing Ellison would just shut up and go away so I could hear the cast of Star Trek speak. I kept looking at the clock and hearing him eat into their precious time. Now, after seeing it as an “adult”…I to, found the word play between the “egotistical jerk” and the cast members quite entertaining! Although it would have been great if someone had pick up a chair and gone Geraldo on his ass…
Great to see that episode, wanted to see it for years.
Agree about Harlan being a wet blanket, reminds me Gary Coles character in Talladega Nights at the Applebees!
This footage has been kicking around the convention circuit for decades and I asked Jimmy Doohan about it in the late 80’s. He said that Ellison was invited because Roddenberry called off due to illness. Snyder and Ellison had done many shows together and they liked each other, or at least Snyder liked how Ellison would name names and make slow shows interesting.
This was a monumental show for Trek fandom, and unless you were around back then it’s hard to relate how little information was available about Trek to the general public. There was no internet and apart from the conventions, which were held once a year in large cities, there was nothing going on except for fanzines. Seeing these guys in an interview setting was unheard of and to this day people still talk about this show.
Al Shuster was a big name in the con world at the time and he was the chair of the 1st convention in NYC in 72. He was part of the “Committee” cons which also included Joan Winston, and which she wrote a book about. I’ve often wondered what happened to him, he seems to have fallen off the face of the earth.
2 more things, 1. I really miss Jimmy Doohan and De Kelley, and 2. F*ck Harlan Ellison! elitist prig
Great stuff. Although Koenig comes over as a bit of a buzz kill every time he opens his mouth.
#27-I think maybe you are going a tad overboard…BUT…here’s my “dream interview segment” from 1976. Harlan keeps shooting off his mouth and when he gets to the “cop show” part…Jimmy says, “laddie, don’t ya think ya should, rephrase that?”
The rest, as they say, would be history. Heck, even Walter is there to try to gut punch Harlan! LOL
#35 I remember having the exact same reaction during the broadcast! “Please somebody, tell him to stop talking, cut to McCoy, Scotty anybody!!” In retrospect he certainly did enliven things though…
And 28, I’ve had the same reaction to Koenig. He seems to be a very smart guy, but came across as if the whole “con” experience and those in attendance were beneath him. Of course this is quite a few years ago now, and considering he’s now appearing in fan films, maybes he’s mellowed.
Maybe ST:V was hatched from DeForest Kelly’s germ of an idea. Either way, TFF was in no way great cinema, but it was Star Trek in all of its Good, Bad and Ugly glory. People who clammer for Shatner as the “Savior of all Trek” past and future, need only remember this was his baby, despite not having Rock creatures and dwarf minions running around.
STXI: The Search for Proust. Lord, I hope not! Harlan Ellison is a cool writer and Science Fiction’s Angry (formerly) Young Man. But, I think Koenig is right, TV and good novels are Apples and Oranges. If you want to compare “thinking” sci-fi, watch 2001: A Space Odyssey one more time, then read the novelization Arthur C. Clarke did of the movie he “got stuck” on for four years. It’s like they’re not even connected.
Great post. Much better than arguing over whether Shatner will appear in the new movie or not.
#31
Chris, I too am old enough that I stayed up late and saw the original broadcast of this show. I remember the “climate” of the times and have taken that into account. I still think Ellison was a pompous windbag and wish he hadn’t been on the show, so that we could have had more time listening to the cast. Ellison not only didn’t give credit to Star Trek being the groundbreaking show that it was for it’s time, but actually declared it to be “mediocre”. Outrageous!!
# 37 You are so right. At that time we were so starved for any information, and not much was out there. Any chance to see the actors on anything about anything was a pleasant experience. I remember as a youth calling out “there’s such and such” when I would see a rare appearance of any of the cast members on a TV show or in a film. Remember such awful films as “The Devil’s Rain” or “Night of The Lepus”?…Poor Shatner and DeForest, but I guess they had to put food on the table.
This has perhaps my favorite Ellison quote, I’m paraphrasing: “Star Trek fans are inherently non discriminating.”… which I thought was very prescient. Of course so are Ellison fans… so I guess it’s all even. Ellison is responsible for writing the screenplay for perhaps the best “worst” film ever made… a little stinking gem called “The Oscar”. I went to a screening of this where Harlan was doing a Q and A and laughed hysterically at the non-intended comedy. Harlan was notably miffed at the reception of this stinker, and did a lot of soapbox backpedaling. Nice to see the mighty get taken down a peg or two.
Back to the topic… I’ve had a tape of this show for years… always like to see it as it reminds me of the “before time” when I was a little boy and loved Star Trek more than anything… hmmm… come to think of it, not all that much has changed. lol
Happy 30th Birthday, Star Wars… from your big brother, Trek.
46 — One Lepus would be food for a month! HA. Yes, I remember both those movies.
I vaguely remember this interview when it came out. Snyder was on at 130am after all. I also remember another interview show (I think it was also Snyder, but I’m not sure) in which Shatner and Nimoy plus TWOK. Nimoy makes fun of Shatner’s pronunciation… saying he’s gonna be in a movie called “The Roth of Can.”
Anybody got that clip?
There was another show w/ Snyder, Jimmy, and Harlon I saw. They got into the story behind “The City on the Edge of Forever”. A lot a screaming and hollowing. I have not seen it in years, waiting for this person to post THAT SHOW!
I also remember how Dan Ackrod would impersonate Snyder on SNL.
Great to see that interview, thanks for the posting of it. I too was old enough to have seen this at the time, but I didn’t know about it! I remember the bicentenial year of course! Not much to add to what has been said of this interview. But it reminds me too of the times, no internet or means to get news other then this and the fanzines, Starlog just coming out then too.
re: post#48- the interview you refer to is from the Mike Douglas show. I remember that clearly. Shatner, Nimoy, Deforest, Bibi Besch, I think Montalban too and Bob Salin in the audience. It was great, clips from TWOK too. I did tape it, but I am not sure where it is!
Heh! Two of the rudest celebrities I have have ever had the displeasure of meeting on the stage at once — Ellison and Koenig.
Two peas in the same pod.
Ellison screamed at me and told me to “fuck off” when I asked him toz
sign a City on the Edge of Forever trading card at a public signing. He did this because he felt Trek was beneath him and I somehow “insulted” him by asking him to sign a Star Trek item. The experience was embarassing and humiliating and I will never forget it. What’s ironic is he released his original draft of City as a book just a couple of years later.
Koenig…at every convention I ever saw him at acted like he was bored out of his mind and wanted to be anywhere BUT meeting the fans.
Your experiences may be different, but to me…both are jerks in my opinion.
TTM
Ellison also worked on the terrible New Twilight Zone which aired on CBS during the 80’s. OMG…that show sucked ass.
I am sure Serling was spinning in his grave….
Ellison should have gone into self-exile after that travesty.
TTM
That dude with the bowl cut was an uber-geek.
I’d hate to be him…and especially him looking back at himself in the interview from today.
Gawd, what an embarrassment. lol
TTM
I stumbled across this interview on Tom Snyder’s “Tomorrow” show, right about the time it was winding up. I’ve thought about this interview, for years, because I keep thinking…. “When are they going to make this movie…???” When it finally came out, I remembered the interview. I’ve never seen this in it’s entirety and would like to sincerely thank those that made this possible. I remember looking at this big E and thinking. WTF is that, what did they do to the Enterprise??? Snyder was a very low key guy and reminded me a lot of Dick Cavet. I really liked his style. I remember attending my first Con in 76 and hearing all of the rumors… TV show… Movie…. TV show. It was insane. Yes, 1976 was insane. The country was in Bicentennial fever. Thanks again for making this available, this is a total flashback. :thumbs:
Doohan was quite prophetic - saying there will be a series of films…at that time in 1976 it was just gonna be a low budget film wasnt it?
they like smoking dont they….
they all wrong tho - what made trek great and last and endure down the ages was down to one man…SHATNER!
Doh! I got this interview confused with a later one, where Roddenberry, Shatner, Nimoy and DeForest were there…. I think, they also ahd the first version of the Refit painted up. Anyone have access to that?
#54. That artwork was ATTROCIOUS. FYI: It was part of a poster you could buy at conventions around that time of an equally hideously drawn Klingon ship firing at the hideously drawn Enterprise.
For the tomorrow show, they just used the top part of the poster.
God-awful.
TTM
re: 54. snake
“what made trek great and last and endure down the ages was down to one man…SHATNER! ”
In my younger days I was more of a Spock fanatic, but as the years go by I think more in line with what you just stated…without Shatner the show would have been infinitely less great. Hard to separate the two (and Kelley), but I think Shatner is the most essential.
I really wish they had been able to make the second series. I think they could have pulled it off even without Nimoy. I wonder how the secondary characters would have fared in that series. I’m sure their heads were significantly swelled by then and they would have been demanding more screen time, which in the case of all but Koenig might not have been a bad thing.
…Dear God/Yahweh/Roddenberry, has it been *30* years since I stayed up late and watched that particular episode of Tomorrow? In any case, some points about that particular show:
1) According to Gene, he didn’t have the flu, he had pnumonia. Snyder simply toned down the severity so fans wouldn’t panic. Majel was also asked to appear with Gene, but was busy raising Rod Jr. at the time as well as taking care of Gene.
2) Nimoy wasn’t on because that was during his “I Am NOT Spock, Dammit!” era. Snyder went to Nimoy and Shatner first, and both turned him down. Shatner’s reasons were never made clear, although Nimoy’s were.
3) Nichelle couldn’t be there due to a scheduling conflict. IIRC, this was when she was just starting her work with the NASA PAO, which made her the first member of that particularly banal divison of NASA since Shorty Powers to actually be interested in keeping NASA entertaining for the likes of Joe Punchclock and Ethyl Soapsjunkie.
4) Harlan was brought on the show almost as a “surprise guest” - Doohan reportedly had no clue the Midget with a Mouth was going to show up - for the sole reason of adding shit to the mix. Snyder had read about Harlan’s issues with City and his incessant denoument of Gene and the entire Hollywood “script raping process”, and figured that bringing Li’l Harlie on would let some feathers fly.
5) On that same note, Snyder also reportedly tried to locate Grace Lee Whitney, but even with Al Shuster’s help was unable to do so at that time.
…Still, that particular Tomorrow show turned out to be one of the show’s highest-rated episodes, and helped keep Star Trek in the non-Trekkie public consciousness by the sheer fact that this was a full hour dedicated to the series, its fans and their combined impact and influence on society. It’s good to see someone’s got a copy up on YouTube, which means we’d better streamcap the damn thing before some dogmolesting ambulance chaser at NBC/Urinalversal Legal sends a takedown order to YT!
As a kid I would have KILLED for the phaser they showed in this interview. The models they sold at the time were undersized! What’s the point of trying to make your friends glow and disappear with a shrimpy phaser?? Also flashing back on a Roddenberry appearance at the Providence Civic Center to promote the new Star Trek. I don’t think we knew at the time it was going to be a movie. I know he didn’t mention the Klingon’s bumps, because those were a complete shock. He showed off pics of the set construction of the engineering section, so I’m thinking it was still Phase 2 at the time. Also ran the just-rediscovered uncut “The Cage” in black and white! I took home a neat collage poster from TOS. That was cool at the time.
Awesome to see this again! Man, people are thin-skinned about Harlan Ellison! I remember watching this and initially feeling the same way, horrified that someone was there bashing Trek, but I credit Ellison for being one of the first people to get me to start thinking critically about the medium. And honestly, if you got Norman Spinrad or any of the other major SF writers who contributed to Trek and talked to them on the right day they would express very much the same things Ellison always did–Trek could be great television but television is not, or at least was not at the time, novelistic literature, and that’s what those writers were aspiring to and wanted that medium to be. Ironically with shows like Sopranos and even Lost it’s much closer to that ideal now than it was then.
Agreed, Jeff. TOS was a stepping stone. It wasn’t perfect. But, it was BETTER than 99.9% of the regular fare on the tube at the time. And it was another decade before tv spit out any sci-fi that lasted more than a season.
I think the God/Lucifer idea was first thought up by Roddenberry as his intial idea for a STAR TREK movie around ‘75.
http://www.well.com/~sjroby/godthing.html
See also THE MAKING OF ST-TMP.
That phaser DeKelley had was made by Brad Nelson. He made a dozen or so phaser one and twos for the aborted phase II series. I have one of these in perfect condition which incorporated strobe electronics from a flash unit. It has three settings and quite a bright flash. They were sold only at conventions.
This was pretty advanced thing for the time and even Gene Roddenberry wanted this verson in his aborted phase II series. About a dozen or so phaser one’s and two’s were made without electronics. But as Mr. Nelson wasn’t part of the union, they couldn’t be used. Of course, all the props were redesigned for the motion picture. I have one of these which was owned by Mr. Roddenberry and it sits quietly as part of my original series era prop collection.
Excellent interview. I really enjoyed watching these guys, in such a laid back atmosphere. It’s never the smae at a Con, because they are “on” and they know it. Would love to see the other interview Snyder did with Rodenberry, Shat and DeForest, et al.
I love it when Kelley operates the phaser and says “I don’t know…that sounds more like a tribble.”
i loved that, koenig was high though imho ;)
Most interesting that Kelley notes that the engine room is in the pod, not at the rear of the saucer. Pre Franz Joseph drawings?
By the way…thanks for posting the Tom Snyder interview…too cool and for Trek, pretty historic & a stellar time for Trek fandom.
OMG!!! I saw this when it first aired!! Ihave NOT seen it since! Thanks!
The fkg HAIR!!!
TWELVE DOLLARS a day for a con?? Haaa!!
And that’s a Brad Nelson phaser, BTW. Would’ve been used in Phase II.
(Oops…already pointed out above…)
Harlan killed my buzz
“Someone hit Shatner with a pie…”
We got *that* on YouTube yet? Who dared to besquelch his regal Shatness’ face?
Many thanks for posting this… This show aired before I was even born! If only this had been an extra on those DVD sets! Had no idea it even existed.
Oh, and I agree with everyone: De Kelly, James Doohan and Walter Koenig were consummate professionals on this show. Shame the interviewer was a bit of a silly jerk and no-one was there to stuff a ball of odd socks into Harlan Ellison’s mouth.
Harlan was correct that Star Trek was to be credited for being in some respects ground-breaking, but his comments on that it was mediocre, because of the powers that be that control the show budgets and other aspects of TV making. You have to remember the media “moguls” at any broadcasting company like NBC who usually stuck their noses, and still do, into everybody’s business when a show is in production. It’s fascinating (sic) how they like to appear to be just as creative as the writers, directors, and actors who actually do the work. TV is not the only medium that it happens to, films suffer just as well because of it. The fact that good writing on a show like Star Trek despite that kind of obstacle can at best try to rise above the mediocrity level that TV does so well. As far as Harlan is concerned, Harlan is Harlan. He is one of the great writers of the science-fiction genre, and yes he is a bit of a bragadoccio, but he also is one who has endured, and suffered the endless “politics” of the media world, and he does have the credits to speak from where he is coming from. He does, thankfully in this country, have the right to speak his mind , even if it does rankle the fur on some. I almost forgot how smarmy Tom Snyder could be to some of his guests, and how sometimes how ill-prepared he could be on some of the shows topics.
One should not forget The Twilight Zone, a show that also offered a dash of morality within the sci-fi, fantasy genre
…You know, every single one of Li’l Harlie’s staunch defenders all use the same argument each and every time: “you don’t know the man personally, so you cannot judge him!”
Horse-hockey.
…We don’t need to know him personally to render judgment based on his actions. He comes across each and every time he opens his midget mouth as nothing but an obnoxious jerk who thinks that by yelling louder than everyone else, he’ll “win” his “case” by simply drowning out those who disagree with him and his interpretation of reality. If Mr. Jellybean’s rabid fangeek contingent wants us to quit “picking on their idol”, then they’d better explain to their little demighod just how deranged he comes across each and every time he rants and/or files yet another frivolous lawsuit.
Either that, or simply hit him with a 2-by-4 until he gets the point.
Thanks for posting this gem! I watched Snyder alot back in the day, and I truly loved his wacky sense of humor, and yes, even the fact that they smoked right there on the set! Tom always made his guests relax and feel at home.
Harlan Ellison comes across as the only man on the planet who suffers from “penis envy”!
I have read about Harlan acting like a jerk because they edited his script but now I can see from this interview that he was not acting. I have met many of the stars and I have had a great experience interacting with them.
Live long and prosper \\//,
LTCDR Gary Barclay Chief Security Officer
USS Endeavour @ ussendeavour.net
http://www.myspace.com/garyfitness
I never understood why Harlan only didn’t get a ’story by’ credit for ‘City’? Anyone know the reason?
Tom Snyder was insufferable. I can barely watch this stuff with his stuffy, halting speaking style.
“There. I’ve said it. What the heck do you think about it ?”
Yes, I agree with #80, Tom Snyder’s speaking style is quite annoying to listen to sometimes, but it was his horrible 70’s haircut that was really distracting! A middle aged man with a Beatles haircut just doesn’t cut it! hahahaha
As many here have already mentioned, Harlan Ellison came across as arrogant, opinionated and so full of himself! Yes he was also entertaining, but in a very annoying way. As self important as he came across, he will only be remembered as a footnote in the history of TOS…
It’s kind of funny, up until a few months ago I never knew Koenig was bald! You can tell in these interviews that he opted for the dreaded “comb over” technique in the mid seventies. I guess later he went the way of “the Shat” and started using hair pieces.
I found all three TOS actors well spoken, but I thought Koenig was rather eloquent and insightful about his life- post trek. Here’s a man that is treated like a Rock star at Star Trek conventions, but back home in LA he can’t find work as an actor!
It’s kind of sad that when the popularity of Star Trek really soared because of reruns and syndication, the TOS actors they didn’t reap any monetary rewards. Nowadays, TV actors have contracts that give them residuals for the rest of their lives, but in the fifties and sixties that wasn’t common. It wasn’t until the Star Trek movies that the TOS cast began reaping the financial rewards they deserved.
Mike :o)
PS: I know Shatner, Nimoy and Kelly were paid astronomical amounts for each TOS movie, but does anyone here have any idea how much the remainder of the cast was paid? The reason I ask is because I’ve read that Nichols, Koenig, Takie, and Doohan were rather poorly compensated in comparison….
Koenig was such a utter bore and complete ass partially due to the overall emptiness and lack of depth of his character in the original series. I mean…
IF the guy was a paper bag….then how can you expound upon that fact?
However….I never met him at a convention or elsewhere so the fact that he was rude is uncalled for. Gee….I’m sure the guy picked up a semi-decent paycheck for any and all appearances that he made….all added up and all.
I’d much rather meet a Star Trek stunt person who had some true blue personality and caring for the fans and his character then this dude.
Well, that’s just it.
They DO get paid to make those convention appearances…and nobody holds a gun to Koenig’s head to appear. Yet…I dunno…maybe I just caught him on bad days…coincidentally enough…lol…but every time I’ve seen him at a con he was a jerk.
So, I dunno…
Say what you will, but Walter must have love in his heart for the character of Chekov. He did do the New Voyages fan episode, and he also did “Star Trek: Of Gods and Men” I understand he was paid for those, but he was only paid at scale, whic ain’t much at all for an actor. He would have had have done it out of love of his character, and the opportunity to give more to the role. The man has my respect.
Who doesn’t miss the James Doohan here, before he became rotund?
I just rewatched this interview, & realized that Snyder asked if anybody got tired of conventions? Koenig, & KELLEY both said, “I do.” Then Kelley backpedalled, & talked about how much of a challenge, & opportunity the show was to do. Koenig just grumbled about how he was challenged with finding new ways to say “Warp 4 Keptin.” I found it ironically funny that Snyder misinterpreted his grumble as “What for Captain?” LOL
Only Doohan was true blue about his affection, & interest for the franchise; & it’s fans. Snyder should’ve just had him,on. At the very least Snyder should’ve had his people reschedule this episode until G.R. coulld’ve been on to counter Ellison. It would’ve been much more balanced, & entertaining I.M.H.O.
Yeah James Doohan kicked ass!
Geting past board technical difficulties….
16: Pat -
“1776? If you lived through 1976, you might remember anything that stayed still long enough had “1776? on it, or at least ‘76, so putting 1776 instead of 1701 was a fairly normal state of mind then.”
True enough. I remember all of the 1776/flag-splattered merchanising in school, coins, stamps and even food that year…but it was a big year for Trek (being the 10th anniversary), and for a kid, there was plenty of Trek novels, reruns, trading cards, coins and model kits to send a Trekker kid to the hospital due to overdosing. Great times!!!
19: Jim J -
Harlan Ellison is one of the most overrated writers in the industry. Seems to me that he is praised while being a mediocre writer. Maybe he oughta write cop shows/novels! Time for someone to bash me, I know. City On The Edge Of Forever isn’t a bad episode, but I generally think it is a bit overrated…AND…in it’s original form written by Ellison, it would never have been as highly thought of as the version that is “out there.” Harlan is an arrogant person and still acts that way today.”
Arrogant he may be, but you have to really remember 1976 and Ellison’s ever-grwoing place in pop culture at the time.
Thanks to a then-decade of praise thanks to City on the Edge of Forever, the FANS were largely responsible for swelling Ellison’s head beyond his own role in that.
Trek was a bonafide phenomenon, and as the “writer” of its (arguably) greatest episode (not to mention inspiring the best episode of the Animated Series), it is understandable why his ego was out of bounds…not that this gives him a free pass for being an butthole, but many of the fans were just as responsible with the endless praise he recieved during that time.
re: 84. Demode - May 26, 2007
“Say what you will, but Walter must have love in his heart for the character of Chekov. He did do the New Voyages fan episode, and he also did “Star Trek: Of Gods and Men” I understand he was paid for those, but he was only paid at scale, whic ain’t much at all for an actor. He would have had have done it out of love of his character, and the opportunity to give more to the role. The man has my respect.”
I think he does it to keep his overrated, self-promoting face out there and to stay aboard the gravy train. :)
Wow…I was reading your description of Koenig’s con appearances and thought you were talking about Shatner. I’ve been to several cons where Shatner was beyond rude to fans and the other actors. I’ve even been in audiences where he yelled at the attendees. Walter has always been very nice when I met him, but he admittedly looks bored on stage: especially when Takei is talking and talking and talking….
If you’d ever seen his non-Trek work you wouldn’t be calling Koenig underrated, but underused. He should have won an Emmy for his work in Alfred Hitchcock presents. But then that episode was also Ellison’s first sold teleplay…
And the new movie Koenig wrote looks incredible.
As for New Voyages, Koenig has said he did it to finally give Chekov the attention he didn’t get on TOS. That pretty much says he cares about the character to me.
(BTW: no one gets paid to work on New Voyages and they have to pay their own plane fare and lodging, etc. It’s part of the contract New Voyages has with Paramount. And that includes Koenig and Takei.)
“PS: I know Shatner, Nimoy and Kelly were paid astronomical amounts for each TOS movie, but does anyone here have any idea how much the remainder of the cast was paid? The reason I ask is because I’ve read that Nichols, Koenig, Takie, and Doohan were rather poorly compensated in comparison….”
I remember reading that starting with Star Trek III, the breakdown was as follows:
Shatner / Nimoy — $5 million
Kelly — $1 million
Doohan et. al. — $500,000
I like Ellison I just hate that he picked on Star Trek just because his script was nonshootable
news report today that tom snyder passed away