:-)

I too am an “old timer” — i.e., old fan. I also went to the 70’s cons…
I was basing my comments to you off the so-called “First draft”. First to me means, uhhhh…FIRST! LOL

But, if there IS an earlier draft than that…and one with Gene’s notes on it…I would sure love to read that one! ;-)

I met Bob Justman back in the 90’s and had the opportunity to talk to him pretty in depth…but I failed to ask him about Spock’s Brain.

Guess I should have…but I did manage to talk to him about working with Byron Haskins on The Outer Limits….;-)

TTM

Poor Gene Coon!, he died so young and never got to live to see all the fun and the crazyness that was attached to his and the othe Gene’s vision.

Listen please, i was an official “helper” at the 74-76 Star Trek Conventions in nyc when we had the cons that helped bring Star Trek back, rek Friend,
I know what was saw with and those script drafts from several episode and on the top of one draft in Gene Coon’s handwriting was something to the effect of ,… “make this anther tribble show, or light comedy, here..”

So….to me that means that at one time before he wrote the draft you speak of he WAS at least “thinking about it”…making Spocks Brain as the comedy it coulda, and maybe shoulda?…been, Ya think!?

lol

Hey, …… no fighting here mate, im just an very true, and to be getting an OLDer fan who was there yes,…remembering the fun-madness of it all at an overpacked ballroom convention at the old Commadore Hotel in NYC!…tone time even helping get a frightened (at the happy crowd) William Shatner, through and Majel let e babysit youngr Rod jr..yes, I knew what was said and remember what I saw, …I have audeo tapes of those conventions, im going to post some of them with pictures and video on you tube.

Yes …”Spocks Brain” …was going to be a comdy at first, if you dont believe me, please just ask Majel Barret, or Bob Justman,…regreatably poor Fred Freiburger died 2 years ago, he can no longer defend himself….seems only a few of us see the genuis of some of his third season work, but it was not this episode….but thats a whole other topic…

Star Trek Lives!

Some problems:

- 23rd Century fart jokes?
- David Lee Roth as a Klingon?
- Row, Row, Row your boat?
- A toilet in the brig?
- They couldn’t get Sean Connery so they got… Lawrence Luckinbill ?
- “Go Climb a Rock” sweat shirt … in the 23rd Century?
- Scotty and Uhuru?
- Chekov and Sulu looking at a Klingon woman’s ass? (George Takei acting up a storm against type)

Shall I go on? Nothing, nothing would fix this crap…

Far worse are episodes that are little more than a test of endurance – episodes such as “The Lights of Zetar,” “That Which Survives” and “The Alternative Factor.”

The notion of a societal schism in which the technically advanced move underground and enslave the primitives on the surface is, of course, found earlier in H.G. Wells “Time Machine.” [You say, "Imorg," I say, "Morlock."]

Perhaps this episode is the wellspring of Gene Roddenberry’s fascination with female societies that enslave men, as can later be seen in “Planet Earth.”

But, if they choose to do this then they should definitely get Daren Dochterman back to supervise the rework. He did and his team did a *ahem* stellar job on ST:TMP!

TTM

The whole film was building up to Shatner’s originally planned ending…and instead it just fizzled out in a whimper of poor editing.

Ebert was right. Bad films should be given a makeover if there is footage to support the makeover or if redoing visuals will make an impact on how the film is received by audiences.

TTM

It’s not a comedy and never was written as such. Maybe he said “I’d like to make a comedy called “Spock’s Brain” but it sure never ended up on paper OR on film as such.

There is nothing in the drafts that resemble anything even approaching The Trouble With Tribbles — which was written as a comedy/light hearted piece.”

If Spock’s Brain was meant to be a comedy then it’s the single worst piece of comedy committed to film as it’s not funny — intentionally. The humor from the episode is 90% from the comedic value of bad storytelling, acting and film making!

Like you, I used to buy into the possibility it was written to be a comedy until I read the first draft…then I was convinced it was just poorly conceived and written.

The first place I read an assertion that it was originally planned as a comedy was in Allan Asherman’s Star Trek Compendium…and I consider Allan one of the foremost authorities on Trek out there. But, he was wrong on this one. The proof is in the writing.