These Are The Voyages: TOS, Season Two

THESE ARE THE VOYAGES: TOS, SEASON TWO
by Marc Cushman with Susan Osborn
Foreword by Walter Koenig
688 pages
Published by Jacobs/Brown Press
Read August 27, 2014

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Publisher’s Description:

In the 1980s Gene Roddenberry and Robert H. Justman gave Marc Cushman permission to write the definitive history of the first Star Trek. They backed their stamp of approval by providing documentation never before shared with the public. These Are The Voyages, published in three volumes - one designated for each season of TOS (The Original Series) - will take you back in time and put you into the producers’ offices, the writers’ room, onto the soundstages, and in front of your TV sets for the first historic broadcasts. Included are hundreds of memos between Roddenberry and his staff, production schedules, budgets, fan letters, behind-the-scenes images, and the TV ratings. Buckle your seat belts; the trek of a lifetime continues with Season Two.

My Thoughts:

As with the first These Are the Voyages, Marc Cushman has provided fans with a gargantuan, meticulously-researched volume of facts, trivia, and first-hand accounts of the creation of Star Trek, this time chronicling the classic television show’s second season.

The opening chapters focus on the transition from season one to season two, including the suspense with regards to whether or not the expensive-to-produce show would be renewed. The story of Star Trek behind the scenes is just as exciting as the Star Trek we got on our television sets each week. The very real sense of franticness and difficulty in producing Star Trek is palapble as one reads the pages of this section.

Individual episodes are featured in production order as the discussion between the producers, writers, and the network is chronicled, with each episode getting a separate chapter. The cast of characters featured by Cushman are at times both larger-than-life and surprisingly human. Through their memos regarding each episode’s script and production, we hear the voices of each of the producers and writers: Gene Roddenberry often insisting on a larger “message” to include in each script, Gene Coon focused on creating and maintaining a consistent “Star Trek feel,” Dorothy Fontana and her brilliant eye for characters and drama, and Robert Justman’s protestations about budget and believability couched in a sometimes dark sense of humor.

Also included in each episode’s summary are reminiscences of guest actors and writers, the Neilsen ratings, and the historical context in which each episode was produced. Reportedly, Cushman’s editor did a lot of work to get him to trim back the amount of information included in this book. I can see how it would have been easy to get carried away. Even with the trims, there is a lot here, more than in the first book. And I’m informed that the third volume has even more with which to fill its pages!

Interstitial chapters feature various writers and other background personnel as they join the production, such as David Gerrold and John Meredyth Lucas. Other sections are included, such as depictions of Star Trek in the popular media of the time and, of particular interest, an overview of story ideas that were purchased and in some cases even developed, but never aired.

As with the first volume, the real joy in These Are the Voyages: TOS, Season Two comes in sitting down with the hefty tome and re-watching the episodes. Even someone such as myself, who has seen each episode an uncountable number of times, can pick new things out of the show while following along with Cushman as he revisits the world of 1960s television production.


Final Thoughts:

Above all else, this book is a lot of fun to read. Even the most ardent Star Trek fan will find something new and exciting about their favorite entertainment in the pages of These Are the Voyages. And, as mentioned above, season 3 has even more to talk about. I am very fascinated to learn more about that troubled season, and I am very much looking forward to the third and final volume of These Are the Voyages: TOS.

My next read:

Next up, as promised months ago, is my review of James Swallow's Terok Nor: Day of the Vipers, a tale of The Lost Era!

These Are the Voyages - TOS, Season One

These Are The Voyages:
TOS, Season One by Marc Cushman with Susan Osborn
Release date: August 1^st, 2013
Published by Jacobs Brown Press

Purchase from Amazon.com

From the back cover:

Author, Marc Cushman, had the great honor of befriending both Gene Roddenberry and Robert H. Justman. As a result of that friendship, Marc was given access to all the Star Trek® production documents from the three years the series ran, which are currently housed in the UCLA Archives under a bequest by Roddenberry and Justman. These documents are private and viewing is restricted and supervised. This work is derived from eight months spent researching the details of the production. These books reveal, for the first time, the truth behind all the politics and behind-the-scene machinations of the productions. Rod Roddenberry, said: "This is going to be the bible to STAR TREK® and how it was made. This is a book that I'm going to keep near and dear and utilize throughout my life." These are the Voyages, TOS, Season One contains hundreds of previously unpublished insights and recollections from actors, directors, producers, and production crew, capturing what went on from every perspective, including memos dictated by Roddenberry while reading drafts to the series scripts. The book offers a unique look behind-the-scenes in the form of original staff memos, contracts, schedules, budgets, network correspondence, and the censor reports from NBC. These are the Voyages creates the opportunity for readers to transport themselves back in space and time to witness the true history of Season One of Star Trek®: TOS. Go behind the closed doors of NBC, Desilu/Paramount, the producers' offices, the writers' room, the sound stages and shooting locations, and learn the actual facts behind all the blood, sweat, tears, politics, and spellbinding creativity that brought Star Trek® into being...and changed the Sci Fi world. This book looks behind the scenes in the form of original staff memos -- including Gene Roddenberry's own memos, contracts, schedules, budgets, network correspondence, censor reports and other newly-uncovered documentation.

My thoughts:

Ordinarily, this site concerns itself mainly with books from Pocket Books' Star Trek fiction line. However, I recently had the opportunity to review a unique book: These Are The Voyages: TOS, Season One, the first entry in a three-volume series of in-depth, comprehensive books detailing the production of Star Trek: The Original Series.

As a fairly knowledgeable Star Trek fan, I have read a great deal about the history and production of Star Trek. Like many other fans, over the years I've gleaned a lot of information and "inside stories" about the events that brought my favorite science-fiction franchise into being. Having said that, the sheer amount of information in These Are The Voyages: TOS, Season One absolutely blew me away. The book itself, already not small, is packed from cover to cover with every bit of information you could possibly want about the production of The Original Series.

Gene Roddenberry and the Enterprise

The first chapter talks all about the creator of Star Trek, Gene Roddenberry. Most Trek fans know a lot of the broad strokes about his life, but These Are The Voyages goes even deeper. In what would become a familiar theme during my reading of this book, I was endlessly fascinated and amazed by the amount of detailed information about Roddenberry's life. Page after page revealed a new tidbit of information that I had not previously known. From there, the book goes on to talk about the conception and realization of what would come to be known as Star Trek.

However, the author takes a broader view than merely chronicling the birth of the series. Rather, he goes into great depth describing the situation on television at the time, providing useful information such as the histories of the major television networks and studios, setting the stage for the emergence of Star Trek. The breadth of the information provided makes for a fascinating read and provides insights about Star Trek's beginnings that would otherwise remain unknown to a younger fan such as me, who was not yet alive during this period.

Production of the fan-favorite and critically-acclaimed "City on the Edge of Forever."

The majority of the book features the episodes that make up Star Trek's first season. It is in these chapters that the book really shines! The in-depth coverage for each episode begins with the original NBC press release followed by a brief critique of the episode. The real treasure comes with the recounting of the inception of the idea for the episode, followed by the back-and-forth process of writing, pre-production, and production. The insights into the industry as a whole and the early days of Star Trek in particular are very eye-opening.

For most people, the information in these chapters will lead to a whole new appreciation of each episode. The analysis of each episode is appropriately critical and in-depth. The tendency in a lot of publications is to fawn over the wonder that was Star Trek and to gloss over the rough patches. Not so here. These Are The Voyages is an uncompromising look at the steps (and sometimes missteps) that went into creating The Original Series. A great example is the chapter on the creation of the episode "Court Martial." At each step, the production ran into difficulties, and while the finished episode isn't terrible, there are a number of flaws that survived from writing through to post-production. Although I had to read quickly in order to do this review, I have plans to go back and slowly read through each episode chapter while simultaneously doing a TOS season one re-watch. I have a feeling that the experience would be pretty rewarding!

The cast pretends to shave with their phasers between takes during the filming of "Operation: Annihilate!"

Final thoughts:

Meticulously researched and lovingly presented, the amount of work put into this book is apparent on nearly every page. To a serious fan of Star Trek, These Are The Voyages: TOS, Season One will serve not only as an interesting reference, but as a time capsule of sorts. This is the sort of supplementary material that will not simply sit on one's shelf for years; rather, many people will find themselves consulting it often to learn more about their favorite (or not-so-favorite) episodes. This appears to be the definitive account of the first season of Star Trek, and I for one cannot wait to get my hands on volumes two and three.

My next read:

Unfortunately, I've gotten behind, and my reviews of the stories in the second S.C.E. omnibus will have to wait for a little while. I've recently been reading the first book in The Fall series, David R. George III's Revelation and Dust. Review coming soon!