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Fire torpedoes at your friends: two starships from Dinky Toys
I love the Enterprise. Its design is both beautiful and functional, and importantly it looks great on camera from any angle. I own a number of exquisitely detailed and highly accurate Enterprise models. This is not one of those, but I like it a lot anyway.
In 1976, Dinky Toys launched the Enterprise and Klingon Battle Cruiser die-cast metal models. These were toys, rather than models, since they shot little plastic discs across the room. Ostensibly, these were photon torpedoes, but really they were just an excuse to try to ping your best friend in the head.
One clever design bit on the Enterprise is the bay doors that open at the bottom of the secondary hull. The doors serve as a stand for the ship. This is a great idea except, of course, on the real Enterprise there is no such bay. A roughly rendered shuttlecraft clips into the bay.
The torpedoes are loaded through a large hole on top of the saucer and fired by rotating the metal flange topping the bridge. (It is helpfully labeled “Turn to fire.”) I own a number of discs and the launch mechanism works but I almost never fire the discs; I am scared of breaking it.
The toy is attractive, although the nacelles are stubby and tend to droop on their plastic struts, the orange bits are a little too orange, and the saucers get a little yellow with age, but any collector who loves the Enterprise really needs one of these.
I also own the Klingon ship. It fires the same type of discs, although the launch mechanism is different, and it has no stand. The ship rests on its nacelles; this explains why these or the plastic bottom of the ship are often cracked when you find one today.
The excellent Dinky Toys blog offers detailed articles on the Dinky Enterprise and Dinky Klingon Battle Cruiser.
A sales catalogue, from the Dinky Toys blogIn 1980, Dinky planned to release a refit Enterprise as seen in The Motion Picture and even produced prototypes and ads for it, but the company folded in 1979 before the toy hit the shelves. It did release a small, non-torpedo version of the refit, however.
I’ve seen the original Dinky Enterprise sell for anywhere between $50 and $300, depending on condition. Anyone shopping for one needs to ask if the firing mechanism still works and if it comes with the torpedos and the shuttle.
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The Roddenberry memo that helped launch The Making of Star Trek
Gene Roddenberry always had an eye out for projects that could either bring in some income or promote Star Trek. One such effort was Lincoln Enterprises, a mail-order merchandise firm. It was originally operated by superfans Bjo and John Trimble, but after nine months they were dropped in favor of Stephen Poe. Poe was the National Advertising and Promotion Director at Aluminum Model Toys, better known as AMT, the company which produced all the early Star Trek consumer model kits. AMT agreed to build the exterior and interiors of the shuttlecraft Galileo for the episode The Galileo Seven in return for the rights to produce Star Trek models. (Some sources say the deal was to produce the Klingon D7 model, others say the Enterprise; Matt Jefferies’ brother Richard claimed in his book Beyond the Clouds that the deal covered both the Enterprise and the Galileo models.) The AMT story is interesting and the Memory Alpha entry is worth reading.
[Update: I have since cleared up the licensing mystery.]
Fourth printing, March 1969 Poe and Roddenberry became friends, bonding over their shared experiences as pilots. Poe took over Lincoln Enterprises and began working with Roddenberry on a behind-the-scenes Star Trek book, the first written about the show. Poe used his stepfather’s name, Whitfield, for the book. Roddenberry required that he be listed as a co-author, so he got half of the book’s profits. Roddenberry had already made a similar move on theme composer Alexander Courage, writing lyrics that were never meant to be used on air but secured the series creator half of Courage’s royalties. This led to bad feelings between Courage and Roddenberry, but this was not the case with Poe; he appreciated the opportunity to break into publishing. (I’ve included Roddenberry’s lyrics at the end of this post.)
Early in the planning process for The Making of Star Trek, Roddenberry wrote to his agent, Alden Schwimmer, to brief him on the project. By June of 1967, Poe had apparently generated some publisher interest. The book was written during the production break between seasons 2 and 3 and would be published by Ballantine Books in 1968. Less than a year later, it was in its fourth printing and Memory Alpha says it is the most reprinted Star Trek book. And rightly so; Poe was given free access to the Star Trek sets and production offices, and the book he wrote is an invaluable resource.
I purchased this memo on eBay and then authenticated it with Susan Sackett, Roddenberry’s assistant during the TNG years. (Sackett wrote her own book, Inside Trek: My Secret Life with Star Trek Creator Gene Roddenberry. Not much is left secret however; the book is a great read but be prepared to learn a lot about Gene Roddenberry.) She was kind enough to reply to my email and confirm the signature is indeed Roddenberry’s. This is one of three Roddenberry signatures in my collection; the other two will be featured on this site.
And now, just for fun, the theme lyrics Roddenberry wrote, as published in Herb Solow and Bob Justman’s excellent book Inside Star Trek. Remember that the lyrics didn’t have to be good, they just had to exist. Contractually, this gave Roddenberry half of the royalties.
Beyond
The rim of the star-light
My love
Is wand’ring in star-flight
I know
He’ll find in star-clustered reaches
Love,
Strange love a star woman teaches.
I know
His journey ends never
His star trek
Will go on forever.
But tell him
While he wanders his starry sea
Remember, remember me.Postscript
Many Web sites claim that Nichelle Nichols sings Roddenberry’s lyrics on her 1986 album Uhura Sings. However, the words in her Theme from Star Trek were actually written by partner Jim Meechan. Play the video below to hear that song.
Want to experience Roddenberry’s lyrics? Check out this take by comedy duo Tenacious D.
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No Chapel, no T’Pau. The original Amok Time story outline
I own the Amok Time story outline Ted Sturgeon submitted to Gene Roddenberry. It’s a fascinating look at the process of creating an episode and at the Trek that could have been.
The outline in my collection came from Ted Sturgeon’s typewriter. This is not a photocopy, but the actual pages he typed and that Roddenberry read.
I found the outline in an eBay auction a number of years ago. Apparently, Desilu gave a bunch of production papers — scripts and pitches mostly — to a local college for use by film and television students. This document was one of those donated items.
The pages looked like the real thing and obviously came from a typewriter, but I wanted to authenticate them. Theodore Sturgeon died in 1985, but his daughter Noel Sturgeon is the Trustee of the Theodore Sturgeon Literary Trust. I contacted her, sent her photographs of the document and she confirmed it is real. She wrote to me: “you have a Sturgeon-authored document on your hands.”
Also, written on the first page is the name “Gene Roddenberry.” It is not Roddenberry’s writing, so I asked Noel about it. She replied: “I can say that this is my father’s typewriter and the label “Gene Roddenberry” is his [Ted Sturgeon’s] writing, so it is likely this is Gene’s copy of the treatment (which would make sense given the provenance as you have given me).”
So not only do I own the outline of one of the best episodes, I have Roddenberry’s own copy of it.
There are many interesting differences between Sturgeon’s outline and the filmed episode.
– Nurse Chapel does not appear. On screen, Chapel brought Spock plomeek soup; in the outline, it is a nameless “terrified yeoman” who flees Spock’s quarters. In the two scripts Sturgeon would write based on this outline, that character became Maggie, a young woman infatuated with Spock. But none of the production people liked the character; DC Fontana, in an April 4, 1967, memo to Gene Roddenberry, suggested cutting the character: “Emphasis on Maggie is wrong. We don’t need her in this show.” She suggested using Christine Chapel instead, picking up on Chapel’s interest in Spock from The Naked Time.
– It is Dr. McCoy who figures out Spock’s mating problem and explains the process to Kirk, not Spock who confesses it to Kirk.
– Kirk gets another ship to fill in for the Enterprise, and therefore does not have to disobey Starfleet orders.
– T’Pring awaits Spock on Vulcan, but T’Pau and Stonn do not appear in the outline.
– T’Pring refuses Spock, demands the challenge of combat against Kirk, and sets out the rules for the three rounds of fighting: the first will be fought with maces, the second with knives and the third with fists. A round only ends when an opponent is killed or disarmed. Therefore, if both are still alive by the third round, it must end in a death.
– McCoy urges Kirk to accept a stimulant or to stun Spock with a phaser, allowing them all to beam back to the Enterprise.
– McCoy gives Kirk a shot without the captain realizing it.
– Vulcans are able to “tell at a glance, and positively, that a dead man is really dead.”
– After Kirk is thought to be dead, McCoy says the Enterprise will stay in orbit for 20 minutes. Spock can return to the Enterprise or stay with T’Pring. McCoy promises not to tell anyone what Spock has done.
– McCoy and Kirk agree that they will never tell Spock the truth about the injection, claiming instead that a “miracle” had occurred.
Sturgeon’s outline is close to the filmed episode, but one element really stands out: I am not sure why McCoy thinks he can simply not tell anyone what Spock did. People will ask questions when McCoy beams up with a strangled and supposedly dead captain and no first officer.
Screen cap from TrekCore.Missing from the outline are also a strong justification for Kirk to fight Spock, and one of the best scenes in Star Trek: Spock’s amazed smile and exclamation of “Jim!” at the end, and McCoy’s “In a pig’s eye.” Also missing is the Vulcan greeting gesture, as it was created by Nimoy during filming. In the shooting script, Spock bows to T’Pau and she lays her hands on his shoulders.
Fun fact: in Sturgeon’s outline, McCoy was to “shoulder” Kirk after the captain is knocked out. I am sure DeForest Kelley would have objected to hauling a limp Shatner up onto his shoulder.
DC Fontana, Gene L. Coon and Roddenberry all worked on the script after Sturgeon submitted his second draft of the teleplay, but Sturgeon wrote a wonderful story and much of the final episode is in this draft, directly from Sturgeon’s typewriter.
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Bobby Clark signed a Gorn mask
Two guys pulled on the Gorn wetsuit costumes on the Vasquez Rocks set of Arena in November of 1966. I was fortunate to spend 20 minutes chatting with Bobby Clark, the better known of the two, in Toronto in 2010. Clark asked why Star Trek mattered to me, and about the Gorn in particular. Then he pulled a life-sized Gorn mask out of a duffel bag and offered to sign it for me.
(The other actor in a full suit was Gary Combs, and a few close-ups were shot with William Blackburn wearing just the head.)
Arena is a quintessential TOS episode. It tells us that the person you were sure is an enemy may not be. It is a message shared with The Devil in the Dark and The Corbomite Maneuver, both of which also demand that we put aside fear and even genuine grievances to look at the other person’s point of view, and that we prove that we live up to our noble ideals.
Arena also tells us that we can, and must, rise above base instincts. Kirk put that into words in A Taste of Armageddon. Anan 7 has overseen the death of millions of people, and Kirk tells him: “We’re human beings with the blood of a million savage years on our hands, but we can stop it. We can admit that we’re killers, but we’re not going to kill today. That’s all it takes. Knowing that we won’t kill today.”
Bobby Clark had for a long time been entirely disconnected from our fandom and genuinely wanted to know why Star Trek and the Gorn mattered. I tried to explain that Arena is part of that fundamental Star Trek message. He listened and then said “I have something you may like” and he offered me the Gorn mask. He signed and dated it and charged me C$70, and it now resides in a glass case in my Star Trek room.
Bobby was right — I like the mask a lot. For him, the days on set were like a lot of others. He talks about those days here. After the gig, new journeyman jobs came along and he forgot the Gorn, but he helped create an episode that truly represents the message of Star Trek.
Signing the Gorn mask, Toronto Comicon, March 2010 A good look at Bobby
Clark was in four TOS episodes, all in season two. In addition to the mask, I also bought an 8×10 from Mirror Mirror. Extras and stunt people avoided having their faces clearly seen on screen, as being recognizable in one episode limited the ability to appear in future episodes; Mirror Mirror is the only episode to give us a really good look at Bobby.
Collecting Trek
A TOS collection 40 years in the making
Collecting Trek 