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The Pioneers Of Television; Science Fiction, Westerns...
Topic Started: Jan 17 2011, 05:40 PM (246 Views)
24thcenstfan
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The Pioneers Of Television: Science Fiction

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In the first part of a four-part PBS series on the pioneers of television, science fiction shows including Star Trek will featured.

Several of the original series actors were profiled for the special, including William Shatner, Leonard Nimoy and Nichelle Nichols.

In the interviews, Nimoy speaks about an important Gunsmoke role he had just before he landed the role of Spock on Star Trek, and about his career before Star Trek. Shatner shares a story about being nearly choked to death and Nichols tells viewers what it was like to work with Nimoy.

Writer-producer Mike Trinklein explained what he wanted the audience to see in the science fiction segment, both the Star Trek fan audience and the general audience. “On one hand we have to touch on the standard things that much of the Star Trek audience would already know, but that the general audience might not, like the interracial kiss and Nichelle Nichols’ Martin Luther King, Jr. story,” he said. “What we were searching for was to set it all in history and see what was around Star Trek.

“We try to give you a sense of the times we were in, the shows that were influencing each other, and, of course, with this series it’s always about the pioneers. So it’s about Star Trek and The Twilight Zone and Lost in Space, and about the people behind these shows. We try to give you a little bit of a sketch, of a portrait of those people. Now, obviously, we can’t get into great detail in a one-hour show that’s got to cover several different people, but we at least give people a sense of who Gene Roddenberry and Rod Serling and Irwin Allen were and how they all fit into the picture.”

Fans will get to see a bit of the early careers of Shatner and Nimoy. “We have Shatner talking about (having been) on Howdy Doody and we see Nimoy in Zombies of the Stratosphere and see Shatner in Alexander,” said Trinklein. “It’s kind of cool to include those clips. I think a lot of people have heard about these things, but maybe haven’t seen those clips. So, Bill and Leonard talk about those credits a little bit and then we see the clips. That’s fun.”

In fact, Nimoy’s work on Gunsmoke had an influence on how he played Spock. “I found an old Gunsmoke episode that Nimoy had done, in which he played an Indian,” said Trinklein. “He did this just a few weeks before Star Trek started. You look at it and you go, ‘That’s Spock.’ He has the same attitude, the same emotional approach, the same kind of feel as the Spock character. And I asked Leonard, ‘Did this Indian character influence how you portrayed Spock?’ He said, ‘I never thought about it, but it kind of did.’ He played that Indian with the same kind of ‘still waters run deep’ feeling that he brought to Spock.”

Nimoy speaks about the role in a clip embedded below.

Other interviews include one with Martin Landau, where he talked about not playing Spock. “I was surprised that he was so open about it and his comments about being glad that Leonard Nimoy got the part because Leonard was better suited for it,” said Trinklein. “Viewers can draw whatever conclusion they want from that. But he was more than happy to talk about it.”

Pioneers of Television: Science Fiction will air tomorrow evening on PBS stations. Several other short video interviews featuring Nichols, Nimoy and Shatner can be seen here.


Four Part Series -- Tuesdays at 8:00pm EST.
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24thcenstfan
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This looks pretty interesting. I'm going to record and watch them.


Edit:

I've been reading a lot of good comments about this program and it is supposed to feature several Trek stars. Which is great.
Edited by 24thcenstfan, Jan 18 2011, 10:44 PM.
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Swidden
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I watched most of this tonight. Some of it was stuff readily familiar to Trek fans, but it was very interesting to see the comparison between Trek and "Lost in Space". Especially the different conceptual ideas between Irwin Allen and Roddenberry.
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24thcenstfan
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^Cool.

I really want to watch, but I haven't had the chance. Soon, very soon.
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24thcenstfan
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I really enjoyed the first episode. I particularly liked how they compared the styles of Gene Roddenberry and Irwin Allen too. The budgeting style of Allen was a bit funny (i.e. reusing props and monsters and such on his various shows).

At the time, and now, I think there is still room for both styles of Science Fiction (and many others). Action/Adventure/Campy vs. a more serious issue oriented “thinking man’s” Science Fiction. Still, there was a touch of the former in the latter.

I loved the stories and back story of some of the actors (e.g. Jonathan Harris). You know you’re poor when your mom rents your bed out and you have to sleep on the dining room table.

…and wow there’s Bill Mumy. Even though he was in “Lost in Space”, to me he’ll always be Lennier from Babylon 5. :lennier:

I always love it when we get to here the story of what happened when Nichelle Nichols tried to quit the series and Martin Luther King Jr. asked her not to.

You know, as fans we don't always realize what actually goes into the making of a particular story (what some of the actors/directors, etc. had to do to get the job done). We (or at least I) tend to see the end product only and get caught up in that and not how hard these people worked. However, its only been in the last decade or two that the inner workings of TV has become so public. Now we can appreciate more and more the entire film and TV making process.



There's a new episode on tonight.
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Swidden
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24thcenstfan
Jan 25 2011, 01:42 PM
At the time, and now, I think there is still room for both styles of Science Fiction (and many others). Action/Adventure/Campy vs. a more serious issue oriented “thinking man’s” Science Fiction. Still, there was a touch of the former in the latter.
There really is, but the creators have to remember that their audience isn't stupid. Especially when it comes to science fiction. All too often shows in this genre fail because the creators/producers sell the audience short. Look at a show like BBC's "Red Dwarf", smart, funny, and intentionally campy.

Allen's stuff could be imaginative, even if things got rehashed from one show to the next. However, most of the time he still managed to give you characters you cared about.
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24thcenstfan
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Swidden
Jan 25 2011, 03:22 PM
24thcenstfan
Jan 25 2011, 01:42 PM
At the time, and now, I think there is still room for both styles of Science Fiction (and many others). Action/Adventure/Campy vs. a more serious issue oriented “thinking man’s” Science Fiction. Still, there was a touch of the former in the latter.
There really is, but the creators have to remember that their audience isn't stupid. Especially when it comes to science fiction. All too often shows in this genre fail because the creators/producers sell the audience short. Look at a show like BBC's "Red Dwarf", smart, funny, and intentionally campy.
Stupid is what I suspect the creators and Syfy thought we were when they gave us Outer Space Astronauts and expected us to remain interested.
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24thcenstfan
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New episode on tonight covering Crime Dramas.
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