The original story by Fontana was about McCoy's daughter Joanna visiting the ship with a group (led by Sevrin) called "the Artists," who aren't space hippies; the planet Eden turns out to be dead (not poisonous) and revivable. See an interesting synopsis of the original story treatment at www.fastcopyinc.com/orionpr….

I second the idea of pausing before TNG and looking back on the original Star Trek as a whole. David Gerrold's book The World of Star Trek (Ballantine, 1973) was an intelligent look back on the series; the last quarter of the book involves what he would have done differently if given the chance. For example, far too…

Nabokov's screenplay was actually published during his lifetime; I have it as a McGraw-Hill paperback with a December 1973 introduction by Nabokov that goes into some detail regarding his adventures with Kubrick et al. Here is what he writes about seeing the finished product:

My family saw City of Ember in fall '08 when it was in theaters, and although some elements were gratuitously changed from the book, the plot was much the same, whereas my daughters who saw the movie of The Lightning Thief yesterday said the story was greatly changed and not for the better. (Also, they couldn't see…

As I've noted at TrekBBS, "The Way to Eden" can be construed as a response to the huge success of the then-new Broadway musical HAIR. It would not have been filmed as it was, with all the songs and songlets (in the uncut version), were it not for HAIR. (I was much exposed to the RCA original cast album when it came…

"The Mark of Gideon's" inconsistencies and idiocies are well known, but the following might shed some light on the Gideons' biology:

Steve Ihnat was not in "The Omega Glory." You likely have him confused with Morgan Woodward, who played Dr. Van Gelder (recipient of the first Vulcan mind meld ever) in "Dagger of the Mind," the first-season mental-hospital episode; Woodward also played Captain Tracy in "The Omega Glory."

Oh, come on, don't take this seriously - the aftermath of the plot is only one of MANY things that were simply not thought through in the "Gideon" script. The Enterprise crew fooled by transposed transporter coordinates? A non-Federation member constructing a duplicate of Starfleet's most sophisticated ship good…

Never thought I'd type these words, but: Hooray for Jud Taylor! - the director of this episode, who deserves most of the credit for those great close-ups, some involving moving cameras, in the destruct sequence.

Was Andy Partridge of XTC thinking of Yvonne Craig while writing "Omnibus" (a great track from the early 1990s album Nonsuch): "There's nothing in the world like a green-skinned girl…"?

I was also done with the little guy after Emancipation, although I do like much of it - in three full hours of tracks, you really can't find an EP's worth of likable music?

Of course - "Amok Time"! It's been a while since I'd seen that, but now I recall the same motif in the various arrangements you mention. I salute you, JZC. The Internet is a grand thing.

I think Duning's "Empath" music speaks for itself - very much heart-on-sleeve, "I'm being poignant" music, but if ever there were a story that demanded it, this was it. The final act includes the longest dialogue-free passage in TOS (except possibly for the Brahms waltz in "Requiem for Methuselah" by Ivan Ditmars),…

I caught Cassandra's Dream on HBO a month ago. Well-made, but the ending (although I guess one could say it was plausible) gave the entire movie a sour taste in retrospect. See it only if you want to be gravely disappointed.

Please elaborate: What promised reissues? Will there be a version of Skylarking that includes both "Mermaid Smiled" and "Dear God" (with the latter properly segueing into "Don't Want to Die Like You," not just stuck at the end)? Will the Dukes of Stratosphear material be included?

I have unwittingly become a Coen Bros. collector - picking up my favorite DVDs whenever they can be found for $5 or so, as well as Ethan's book Gates of Eden and the audiobook of same (which omits the book's several radio plays but includes all the stories, read by well-chosen Coen actors such as John Goodman).

JimZipCode - I like Duning's music, a lot. It's not enough to say that it annoys you; what about it - as music - don't you like? I can tell you what I do like: the rhythmic suppleness, the melodies built from thirds (forming into sevenths and ninths), etc.

Not one word of acknowledgment for Michael Dunn's performance as Alexander? I had never seen him in his occasional role as Miguelito Loveless on Wild Wild West until some years later, and he was great in both roles.

I happen to enjoy "Requiem," especially with the uncut Brahms waltz (providing several dialogue-free minutes, always a refreshing change in any series) - even if the story isn't to your taste, there are good exchanges there as well. Such as:

Roebuck and Higgins were (and are) both excellent - why change? I do hope there's another Bill Carter book, whether or not it too becomes an HBO movie.