Seven Things to Know about Yvonne Craig

1. Yvonne Craig studied ballet at age 16 as the youngest member of The Ballet Russe de Monte Carlo. After three years, she left the company and wound up cast opposite Patrick Wayne (John's son) in 1959's The Young Land. Craig occasionally got opportunities to display her dancing skills in film and TV, most notably as a Russian ballerina dancing with James Coburn in the spy spoof In Like Flint (1967).

2. In the 1959 pilot episode of The Many Loves of Dobie Gillis, Yvonne Craig appeared in the opening credits in which Dobie (Dwayne Hickman) peeks through a hole in a fence at her and Myrna Fahey. When the series was picked up, that opening was replaced with an animated sequence of Dobie and the girls. Still, Yvonne guested on Dobie Gillis five times, playing characters such as rich girl Linda Sue Faversham.

Batgirl with the Boy Wonder.

3. In 1968, ABC considered launching a Batgirl TV series with Yvonne Craig as the title character. A short "pilot" was produced, which also featured Batman (Adam West) and Robin (Burt Ward). Batgirl saves the Dynamic Duo from the Killer Moth, who traps them in a cocoon. When ABC rejected the idea of a separate series, Yvonne Craig's Batgirl was incorporated into the last season of Batman. For many years, the Batgirl pilot was available only on bootleg copies, but it was included as a bonus feature in a 2014 Batman boxed set.

4. Craig embraced her role as Batgirl. In a 2015 CNN interview, she stated: "I hear from women that I was their role model. When I was a little girl, I realized that girls could kick butt just like guys." She also found the experience to be a rewarding one. "I got to work with people that I would never have the chance to work with. We had Ethel Merman. I would never have met Milton Berle, I got to work with him, and he was a delight."

As Marta in Star Trek.

5. Yvonne Craig was a frequent guest star in 1960s and 1970s TV series, appearing in shows such as The Courtship of Eddie's Father, My Three Sons, 77 Sunset Strip, and Ben Casey (with one-time boyfriend Vince Edwards). She also starred in a third season episode of the original Star Trek series called "Whom Gods Destroy." She played a green-skinned female Orion--but she's not the green woman shown in Star Trek's closing credits. That's Susan Oliver in the guise of another Orion from the famous two-part episode "The Menagerie."

With Elvis in Kissin' Cousins.

6. Yvonne Craig and Deborah Walley shared several connections. Each of them appeared in a Gidget movie: Yvonne had a small role in the 1959 original and Deborah played the lead in Gidget Goes Hawaiian (1961). Deborah Walley appeared in the Beach Party movies Beach Blanket Bingo and The Ghost in the Invisible Bikini; Yvonne Craig appeared with Walley in the Frankie Avalon comedy Ski Party (1965). Yvonne starred with Elvis in two films: It Happened at the World's Fair (1963) and Kissin' Cousins (1964). Deborah Walley appeared with Elvis in Spinout (1966). Later in their careers, each actress voiced characters in animated TV series: Walley in Chip 'n' Dale Rescue Rangers and Yvonne Craig in Olivia. 

7. Yvonne Craig was married twice. The first marriage was to singer Jimmy Boyd ("I Saw Mommy Kissing Santa Claus") and lasted two years. She was later married to real estate investor Kenneth Aldrich from 1988 until her death in 2015 from breast cancer that had spread to her liver. In between her two marriages, Craig supposedly dated Robert Vaughn, Bill Bixby, Vince Edwards, Mort Sahl, and Elvis Presley. In 2000, she published her autobiography From Ballet to the Batcave and Beyond.

Seven Things to Know About Nancy Kovack

1. In the 1990s, Nancy Kovack--who had retired from acting--hired Susan McDougal as her personal assistant. If the name sounds familiar, it's because McDougal was involved in the Whitewater investigation involving Bill and Hillary Clinton. Kovack accused McDougal of embezzlement, though the latter was acquitted. McDougal then sued Kovack for malicious prosecution with the outcome being an out-of-court settlement.

Nancy Novack as Nona in Star Trek.

2. Nancy Kovack was a popular TV series guest star in the 1960s, with her most famous appearance being a second season episode of Star Trek. In "A Private Little War," she plays Nona, the plotting wife of a peaceful villager who resists the use of firearms against a rival tribe. At one point, she saves Captain Kirk's life and claims that he must comply with her wishes.

3. She was born in Flint, Michigan, in 1935. She attended the University of Michigan at the age of 15 (!) and graduated when she was 19. Her first show business jobs included a stint as one of the "Glea Girls" on The Jackie Gleason Show and as a hostess on Beat the Clock.

As Darrin's former girlfriend.

4. She appeared as Darrin's ex-girlfriend, Sheila Sommers, in three episodes of Bewitched--starting with the very first one. Naturally, she plots to get Darrin back. (Am I the only one who wonders why women were so attracted to Darrin?). Nancy Kovack also played another character in a two-part Bewitched episode called "Cousin Serena Strikes Again."

5. Her best year for film roles was probably 1963. She starred as the high priestess Medea in Ray Harryhausen's fabulous Jason and the Argonauts. Her provocative dance number has over 53,000 views on YouTube. She also played Vincent Price's love interest in Diary of a Madman. In an interview with author Tom Weaver, she recalled: "I remember that just before the scene where he kills me with the knife, Vincent was tickling me and I was laughing, and I couldn't stop laughing after that!"

6. Nancy Kovack married the famous conductor Zubin Mehta in 1969. He had the reputation of being a "ladykiller" and was known by friends as Zubie Baby. They met at a party and were talking about marriage two weeks later.

7. Except for a handful of TV guest star appearances, Nancy Kovack retired from acting after her marriage. Her last role was in a 1976 episode of Cannon. Now 83, she helped her husband Zubin recover from a cancerous tumor in 2018.

Star Trek: Is Gary Seven a Hero or Villain?

Robert Lansing as Gary Seven.

While on a Federation time travel mission to conduct research about Earth in 1968, the Enterprise crew inadvertently intercepts a transporter beam. Their newest passenger appears to be human and calls himself Gary Seven (Robert Lansing). He claims that he is a human from the current time period, but was sent by the race of another planet to save Earth from destruction. Seven cautions Captain Kirk about delaying his mission and potentially altering history. Mr. Spock states the obvious when he tells Kirk that it's "a most difficult decision."

Teri Garr as Roberta.

While Kirk ponders what to do, Seven and his telepathic cat Isis escape from security and teleport to Manhattan. Seven discovers that his fellow agents on Earth have died in a car accident. Prior to that, they employed a secretary named Roberta Lincoln (Teri Garr), who thought she was working for encyclopedia researchers. Seven gradually reveals that his mission is to sabotage a rocket carrying a nuclear warhead into space. But can he accomplish the mission without his fellow agents and will Kirk and company try to stop him?

"Assignment: Earth" was the last episode of season two of the original Star Trek television series. It was a "backdoor pilot," meaning that it was intended to launch a new TV show starring Lansing and Garr. Kirk and Spock are the only two Star Trek characters with any significant screen time and their involvement in the plot is pretty limited. 

That's understandable since they played no role in the original script for the proposed half-hour Assignment: Earth series. The script reveals a slightly different premise from the Star Trek episode. In it, Seven is a man from the 24th century sent back to Earth to battle a race of shape-shifting aliens called the Omegans. Seven's cover business is a private detective agency. Roberta joins him as his assistant. Isis is one of the aliens and Seven doesn't have a cat. He does have the multi-functional pen, dubbed a "servo," that he uses in Star Trek.

Mr. Spock and Isis.

As a Star Trek episode, "Assignment: Earth" is moderately entertaining. Its biggest strength is Robert Lansing, who makes Seven into a calm, unflappable hero who still wears a suit while climbing around a rocket launch pad. As Roberta, Teri Garr plays the kind of ditzy blonde that would stereotype her in many of her films. It's hard to believe that Roberta is supposed to have a high IQ. She has little to do in the plot and it's hard to imagine her providing anything other than comic relief in a weekly series.

The integration of the original pilot into Star Trek is also a little sloppy. When Seven is thrown into the brig, no one searches his body and finds the servo. That's pretty poor security! Also, rarely has Captain Kirk been so indecisive. The only conflict in the episode is whether Gary Seven is good or bad and it takes Kirk until the final seconds--when a warhead is about to cause World War III--to make his determination.

While I can't imagine Assignment: Earth lasting long as a weekly series (especially in a half-hour format), it has become a popular Star Trek episode. It has spawned a comic book series, novels, action figures, trading cards, and even a short video on YouTube with Roberta doing office work (sort of). If you want to learn more about Assignment: Earth, then check out this website devoted to it.

Victoria Vetri as Isis.

By the way, in the closing scene of Star Trek, Isis transforms herself into a beautiful woman briefly. She is played by Playboy playmate Angela Dorian, who changed her name to Victoria Vetri and starred in Hammer's When Dinosaurs Ruled the Earth (1970). She also appeared in Invasion of the Bee Girls (1973), one of Roger Ebert's favorite "B" (no pun intended) movies.

An Interview with Pamelyn Ferdin on Star Trek, Clint Eastwood, and Playing Lucy in Peanuts

Pamelyn Ferdin may have been the busiest young performer in television in the 1960s and the 1970s. She made her TV debut in 1964 at age 4 and was soon cast in series like Bewitched and The Andy Griffith Show. She had a recurring role as Edna Unger, Felix's daughter, on The Odd Couple. She was later a regular in TV shows like Blondie, The Paul Lynde Show, and Space Academy. Ms. Ferdin also made several memorable guest star appearances in series such as the original Star Trek and appeared with Clint Eastwood in the 1971 theatrical film The Beguiled. Still, she may be best known for providing the voice of Lucy in two Peanuts specials and the movie A Boy Named Charlie Brown. She took a break from acting at age 20 and became a registered nurse (which is how she met her husband of 30 years, who is now a retired surgeon). She is an active promoter of animal rights. Ms. Ferdin kindly agreed to an interview recently at the Western Film Fair and Nostalgia Convention.

Café:  You grew up in show business, having made your first appearance in a TV series at age 4. How would you compare your experiences as a child star in the 1960s with the young performers of today?

Pamelyn Ferdin at the Western Film
Fair and Nostalgia Convention.

Pamelyn Ferdin:  I think I'm lucky because I was involved within the acting industry at the tail end of the great studio era. There were just a certain amount of studios out there and they still had commissaries that were filled with stars and starlets and you knew everybody at the studio. You would go out on interviews right in the studios. You knew the casting directors. You knew the directors. It was all very family oriented. Today, with all the studios, you don't even get to meet the casting directors any more. It's not a family at all. It's just too enormous to be a family. I think I grew up in a much more loving, sheltered environment than the kids who are acting today.

Café:  You guest-starred in a memorable episode of the original Star Trek series: "And the Children Shall Lead." How did you get the part of Mary?

Pamelyn with William Shatner.

PF:  Well, I just went out on it like hundreds of other little girls. I read the script and I was lucky enough to get the part. It was fabulous; I had so much fun. I had a big crush on William Shatner and I followed him everywhere. Finally, I think he got so tired of me pestering him that he sat down with me and started talking and we became good, good friends. In fact, he asked me to marry him and I was thrilled. He gave me a little cigar band for a ring. It was wonderful. He was the first crush I ever had when I was a young actress.

Café:  You appeared in some of the most popular TV shows of the 1960s, ranging from The High Chaparral to Green Acres. Did you have a favorite among your guest star roles?

PF:  That is a loaded question because so many of those shows were wonderful. I worked so much that sometimes they blend together. I didn't have that much time in between. But I would say The Odd Couple is definitely an outstanding memory because Jack Klugman and Tony Randall were so much fun to work with. Green Acres was also great because I got to know Eva Gabor. She had this chair that would turn you over on your head. She let me try it. She was a doll.

Pamelyn with Clint Eastwood in
The Beguiled.

Café:  My favorite of your performances was as Amy in The Beguiled, one of Clint Eastwood's early films. How would you describe working with director Don Siegel?

PF:  Don Siegel was great. He treated me like an adult. I had been in the business for so long that I really was a very professional adult even though I was a kid. I was a teen who knew my lines, was prepared, and didn't kid around. I was very serious about my work and I think Don Siegel really appreciated that. It was a hard film. We were on location in Louisiana for six months. It was hot and humid. I think he appreciated my ability to be just one of the other actors and not have to baby me or treat me in a special way to get me to say my lines. I was prepared every day and I think Clint Eastwood appreciated that, too.

Café:  How did you get along with Clint Eastwood?

PF:  He was wonderful. He had children about my same age. He was a little bit homesick at the time we were in Louisiana. It's really just him and me at the beginning of the movie. In between scenes, he would talk about his kids. He called me his "little dove." At the end of the movie, he gave me two doves to keep.

Café:  You played Paul Lynde's daughter in The Paul Lynde Show in 1971-72. What was that experience like?

PF:  Paul Lynde was a crack-up. He could be very funny when working, but he was a very serious person. He could turn it on and turn it off really quickly. Most of the time I was on the show, he was extremely serious. The only time that he was really funny and was a cut-up was when he was actually playing his scenes and doing his lines. But if you would go up to him and have a conversation, he was not the Paul Lynde you saw on The Hollywood Squares. He was a very serious man of few words. He really didn't like to talk that much. That was surprising to me because I always thought he would just be having fun the whole time, but he was not. I don't think he was happiest person.

Café:  How did you come to be cast as the voice of Lucy in two Peanuts specials and the movie A Boy Named Charlie Brown?

PF:  I went to my agent at the time and she gave me a script to read. There were dozens of other little girls who got the same script. We went into a sound booth one at a time and we read the script. I didn't want to play Lucy as a mean girl. I played her as frustrated that she was so smart and Charlie Brown didn't get it. When we were done, all the voices were sent up to Charles Schultz. He was the one that picked me as the next Lucy. He once told me: "You captured Lucy better than any other Lucy we hired."

Café:  You've compiled an impressive resume with Star Trek, The Beguiled, Peanuts, and the cult sci fi series Space Academy. Which of your films or TV series seems to be the most popular with your fans?

PF:  I would say Peanuts. People absolutely love Lucy. I would say the next one is between playing Tony Randall's daughter in The Odd Couple and Star Trek.

Café:  Are there any upcoming projects you want to tell our readers about?

PF:  I'm thinking about getting back into the acting business. So many of my fans have begged me to get back into the industry. I'll have to let you know about that one.


You can learn more about Pamelyn Ferdin at her web site www.pamelynferdin.com and you can follow her on Twitter as @PamFerdin.

Two Classic Shows, Two Unusual Takes on Jack the Ripper

Numerous TV series and films have offered imaginative twists on the mysterious murderer that terrorized the Whitechapel district of London in the late 1880s. Two of my favorite big screen versions are the time travel fantasy Time After Time (1979), which pits H.G. Wells against the Ripper and A Study in Terror (1965), which has Sherlock Holmes facing off against Jack (a premise borrowed by the later Murder By Decree). Two of the most intriguing small-screen Ripper tales appeared as episodes of Thriller and the original Star Trek. Interestingly, Robert Bloch--best known for writing the novel that became Psycho--had a hand in both TV series.

John Williams in Thriller.

The Thriller episode "Yours Truly, Jack the Ripper" starred John Williams (a Hitchcock semi-regular) as an expert engaged by the Washington, D.C. police to help apprehend a modern day Ripper-like murderer. As the gruesome killings mount, a fantastic theory emerges: Is the murderer actually Jack the Ripper himself, who has used black magic rituals to defy ageing? It’s a clever premise and the big twist at the end works pretty well (even though you’ll guess it). Although Bloch wrote several episodes of Thriller, this teleplay was written was Barré Lyndon and based on a Bloch short story. Published in 1947, the story “Yours Truly, Jack the Ripper” originally appeared in Weird Tales. It was the first of several literary works in which Robert Bloch incorporated Jack the Ripper.

This episode also features several Hitchcockian connections. First, it was directed by Ray Milland, who played the killer in Alfred Hitchcock’s Dial M for Murder. The police inspector in that film? That would be John Williams. Decades earlier, Hitchcock also tackled Jack the Ripper with his 1927 silent film The Lodger, which was adapted from a short story and play by Marie Belloc Lowndes. And, for one final connection, the Alfred Hitchcock Presents episode “The Hands of Mr. Ottermole” boasts some Ripper overtones with its plot about a strangler running amok in a very foggy London.

John Fiedler in Star Trek.

Star Trek seems like an unlikely destination for Jack the Ripper, which is precisely what makes “Wolf in the Fold” a compelling season two episode. While on shore leave on the planet Argelius II, a bewildered Scotty is  found—bloody knife in hand—standing over the corpse of a nightclub dancer. He has no recollection of what happened, but the evidence is damning and chief administrator Hengist (John Fiedler) seems convinced that Scotty is guilty.

For many years, I listed this as one of my favorite Star Trek episodes. I viewed it recently, though, and while still good, it hasn’t aged as well as others. Still, Fiedler is very good (he’s perhaps best remembered as Piglet in Disney Winnie the Pooh movies and TV shows). This time around, Bloch wrote an original teleplay and borrowed the central premise of “Yours Truly, Jack the Ripper.” There are some nice touches, too, such as the foggy streets on Argelius substituting for London and Kirk’s use of the ship’s computer in revealing the murderer’s identity.

Television continues to sporadically visit the Jack the Ripper murders, with season one of the 2009-2013 British TV series Whitechapel focusing on a copycat  killer.

Classic TV Comic Book Tie-ins

Merchandise tie-ins and other licensing deals have been an essential marketing tool for decades. For movies, it dates back at least to Walt Disney, who made a licensing deal with a Switzerland company for Mickey and Minnie Mouse handkerchiefs in the late 1920s. Another example is William Boyd’s Hopalong Cassidy films, which began in the 1930s and led to dozens of tie-in products such as kids’ lunch boxes.

Television made a huge splash in the merchandising game in the 1950s with Superman, The Lone Ranger, and Fess Parker as Davy Crockett on the Disneyland TV series. Not surprisingly, savvy television producers were quick to partner with comic book publishers. Dell Comics and later Gold Key Comics led the way with tie-ins of popular shows. Many of them were based on youth-oriented TV series (e.g., Voyage to the Bottom of the Sea), but there were also comic book tie-ins with adult fare like Dr. Kildare, Mission: Impossible, and Burke’s Law.

In fact, a recent Café post on Burke’s Law inspired my sister to look for some of the classic TV comic books she bought as a youth. I had a blast looking at these covers and wanted to share them with Café readers.

You can enlarge any of the covers by clicking on them. Note the German officer pictured next to Chris George in The Rat Patrol cover is Hans Gudegast. He later changed his name to Eric Braeden and gained fame as Victor Newman on The Young and the Restless.

A Review of "Star Trek: The Art of Juan Ortiz"

As the holidays approach, the Cafe's staff is always on the lookout for unique gift ideas for classic film and TV fans. A great recent find, Star Trek: The Art of Juan Ortiz, is sure to delight fans of the original Star Trek TV series. In his oversized 112-page book, Ortiz has designed a poster for each of the 80 episodes of Gene Roddenberry's 1966-69 series. While the majority of the posters are done in a movie style, some of them replicate the look of pulp novel covers, comic books, and advertisements.

One of my favorites (shown below) is the poster for the season one episode "Arena," which pits Captain Kirk against a reptilian alien in a potential battle to the death. Note the discoloration around the edges to give the impression that the poster was originally created in the 1960s.

In the book's introductory interview, Ortiz describes his approach to the posters: "Star Trek was many things. It wasn't just a show about science fiction. Episodes ranged from war, love, horror, court dramas, death, mental illness, politics, social issues, and of course the Western theme, to name just a few. Therefore, I was able to approach each poster with its own take, without feeling as though I were repeating myself."

At the back of the book, Ortiz includes a brief commentary about each poster, in which he describes his influences or intent. For the season one episode "What Are Little Girls Made Of?", his inspiration was the episode's two androids: the imposing Ruk (played by Ted Cassidy) and the beautiful Andrea (Sherry Jackson). "I thought a bit about Frankenstein while working on this one," writes Ortiz. "I like how Ruk and Andrea form a singular silhouette."

At a suggested retail price of $39.95, Star Trek: The Art of Juan Ortiz is not an inexpensive book. Still, it's a must-have for fans of the original series. The posters are stylish, colorful, clever, and suitable for framing (though you'd have to cut up your book!). Any trekker would beam it aboard his or her starship without hesitation.

Titan Books provided a review copy of this book.

Classic TV Science Fiction A to Z

Astro Boy originated in a 1952 manga.

A - Astro Boy. This Japanese 1960s import about a boy robot was a favorite of mine as a youth. I thought it was cool how his feet turned into jets when he flew! A new version of the series appeared in 2003 and a theatrical film in 2009.

B - Blake's 7. This 1978-81 British cult series about space rebels still has a strong following. I mentioned it on Twitter recently and the comments came flying in.

A lethal blow from a Cybernaut!

C - The Cybernauts from The Avengers. These karate-chopping, killer androids appeared in two episodes with Mrs. Peel & Steed and then popped up a third time in an episode of The New Avengers.

D - The Daleks from Doctor Who. Super-villain Davros created this race of cyborgs, which were introduced in 1963 and have made periodic appearances ever since (to include the theatrical films Dr. Who and the Daleks and Daleks: Invasion Earth 2150 A.D.).

E - The USS Enterprise (of course!). Note that there have been multiple spaceships with that name in the Star Trek universe.

The Great Gazoo.

G - The Great Gazoo, the troublesome alien from Zetox, who appeared in the last season of The Flintstones; he was voiced by Harvey Korman.  (In case you're not a Gazoo fan, there's also Gemini Man, a revamped version of 1975's The Invisible Man with Ben Murphy taking over for David McCallum.)

H - Hymie, the literally-minded robot played by Dick Gautier on Get Smart. If Maxwell Smart told Hymie to "get hold of himself," Hymie would literally take hold of himself. Hymie was originally created by KAOS, but was reprogrammed into a CONTROL agent.

I - The Invaders. No one believed former architect David Vincent (Roy Thinnes) when he told them about these crafty human-looking aliens bent on taking over the Earth. It didn't help that dead aliens glowed orange and disappeared (in one memorable episode, two aliens swallow cyanide pills to avoid capture). Also worthy of a mention for "I" is the sitcom It's About Time--if only for the catchy song.

J - The Jetsons. After Hanna-Barbera scored a big hit with an animated, prehistoric variation of The Honeymooners, they launched this futuristic take. I always enjoyed it, but its original run only lasted one season.

K - Khan from the original Star Trek. Hey, how many television villains--who appeared in just one episode--were successful enough to be the subject of their own theatrical motion picture? Yep, Khan (as played by Ricardo Montalban) was in a class by himself!

Marta Kristen as Judy Robinson.

L - Lost in Space. The first of three Irwin Allen sci fi series on this list, Lost in Space is probably the mostly fondly remembered. It did feature a spiffy robot with a classic phrase ("Danger, Will Robinson!")--plus Marta Kristen!

M - My Favorite Martian (a slight favorite over My Living Doll). Ray Walston was a delight as Uncle Martin, an anthropologist from Mars who crash lands on Earth and who moves in with the newspaper reporter (Bill Bixby) who discovered him. It lasted for three seasons. As for My Living Doll, it starred curvy Julie Newmar as an android named Rhoda.

N - "Nanu nanu," Mork's famous greeting from Mork & Mindy. Need we say more?

Robert Culp listens to his hand.

O - The Outer Limits. This acclaimed anthology series featured some classic sci fi episodes (check out our post of the The Five Best Outer Limits Episodes). Our favorite was "Demon With a Glass Hand" starring Robert Culp and a prosthetic electronic hand that provides timely guidance as he battles aliens.

P - Captain Christopher Pike, the commander of the Enterprise prior to Captain Kirk. He was played by Jeffrey Hunter in the episode "The Menagerie" (which was actually revamped footage from an earlier Star Trek pilot).

Q - Quark. Richard Benjamin starred in this quirky 1978 series about an outer space garbage collector worked for the United Galaxy Sanitation Patrol). (Another nice choice for "Q" is The Questor Tapes, an intriguing made-for-TV film from Gene Roddenberry.)

R - Red Dwarf. A radiation leak aboard a small mining spaceship killed everyone aboard except Dave, a low-ranking technician, and a cat. Dave emerges from suspended animation three million years later...as the last human in the universe. Oh, and this cult British series is a comedy!

Bain and Landau look concerned.

S - Space: 1999. Originally intended as the second season of UFO (see below), this expensive series never found an audience despite "stealing" stars Martin Landau and Barbara Bain from the hit show Mission: Impossible. Sci fi fans remain mixed towards it, though it has slowly been gaining in popularity.

T - Time Tunnel. As the narrator reminded us weekly: "Two American scientists are lost in the swirling maze of past and future ages, during the first experiments on America's greatest and most secret project, the Time Tunnel. Tony Newman and Doug Phillips now tumble helplessly toward a new fantastic adventure, somewhere along the infinite corridors of time."

U - UFO (it's pronounced "u-foe"). Unbeknownst to most of Earth's population, a full-blown alien assault is underway. Thank goodness, we're protected by the Supreme Headquarters, Alien Defence Organisation in Gerry Anderson's imaginative, funky British series.

The Seaview.

V - Voyage to the Bottom of the Sea. My favorite TV show as a kid, these exploits of the submarine Seaview were based on a 1961 theatrical film produced by Irwin Allen. While the plots became repetitious during the show's four-year run, the first two years were Allen's best TV work.

W - Doctor Who (could it be anything else?).

X - XL-5, the model of the spaceship in Gerry and Sylvia Anderson's "supermarionation" series Fireball XL-5. Its pilot was Colonel Steve Zodiac of the World Space Patrol. By the way, all the character were marionettes!

Y - Yogi's Space Race. Someone come up with another "Y"--please! I like Yogi, but there must be a better choice.

A Zanti convict.

Z - "The Zanti Misfits" episode of The Outer Limits. Were there any aliens on television in the 1960s that were creepier than the insect-like Zantians?

Additions and corrections to our "A to Z" lists are always welcomed!

15 Greatest TV Characters of the 1960s: Mr. Spock

Name: Spock (his full Vulcan name is unpronounceable)

Portrayed by: Leonard Nimoy

TV series: Star Trek (1966-69); later appeared in various TV series and films.

Occupation: Science Officer and First Officer, U.S.S. Enterprise. In later films and series, he became a Captain and, after retirement, an Ambassador for the Federation.

Family and Friends: Born in 2230 on Shi'Kahr to Sarek, a Vulcan ambassador, and Amanda Grayson, a human. He and his father did not speak for 18 years after Spock joined Starfleet. His older half-brother Sybok was ostracized from Vulcan for rejecting logic and later died battling an evil alien entity. Spock was betrothed to T'Pring from childhood, but they did not marry. He fell in love in the episodes "All Our Yesterdays" and "This Side of Paradise" as a result of, respectively, time travel and alien spores.Spock's best friends are James T. Kirk and Dr. Leonard "Bones" McCoy.

Talents: Can join telepathically with other lifeforms using the Vulcan mind-meld. Skilled hand-to-hand fighter who can employ the Vulcan nerve-pinch.

Trademarks: Being logical. Pointy ears. Raising one brow in puzzlement.

Classic quotes: "Fascinating."  "Live long and prosper."  "It is curious how often you humans manage to obtain that which you do not want."  "Your illogical approach to chess does have its advantages on occasion, Captain."

Classic episodes: "Amok Time" (Spock returns to Vulcan to wed); "A Piece of the Action" (Spock as a gangster); "The Galileo Seven."

The 5 Best Episodes of the Original "Star Trek"

What a great example of ensemble casting:
William Shatner as Captain Kirk, Leonard Nimoy as Mr. Spock, George Takei
as Sulu, Nichelle Nichols as Uhura, Walter Koenig as Chekhov, Majel Barrett
as Nurse Chapel, James Doohan as Scotty and DeForest Kelley as Dr. McCoy. 

In his excellent article posted yesterday, "The Five Best Episodes of "the Fugitive", Rick expressed what I feel about my post today ... it is so hard to pick just 5 favorites of a series you love.  I am a rabid fan of Star Trek.  I've never been to a convention or paid $60 for the script of Episode 23 (more about that later in this article) ... I just know most episodes by heart, that's all.  There are so many that are memorable, famous, even just awful.  So I decided to pick the five episodes that really caught my mind, my heart or my funnybone.

The Conscience of the King (Season 1):  A troupe of Shakespearean players offers to perform Hamlet for the Enterprise, featuring Anton Karidian (Arnold Moss) and his beautiful daughter (Barbara Anderson).  Captain Kirk falls in love with Karidian's daughter, but he believes that Karidian may actually be Kodos the Executioner, a brutal dictator from Kirk's childhood who ordered the mass killing of some of his subjects and then disappeared.  Murders begin to take place on the Enterprise, and Kirk must find out who Anton Karidian really is.  Excellent episode with a fine climactic ending.



City on the Edge of Forever (Season 1):  Written by Harlan Ellison, and a Hugo award winner, this episode is considered by many to be the best of the series.  The Enterprise is taken back in time to 1930's America. Kirk falls in love with Edith Keeler (Joan Collins), an advocate for world peace.  However, Edith's impending death is known to Kirk, and he wants to save her, thus risking complete change of the future.  Spock and Dr. McCoy must help him through his heartbreaking dilemma. Fine acting and a great story prove this episode's award-winning status.

Wolf in the Fold (Season 2):  Women are stabbed and killed on a peaceful, welcoming planet.  Scotty appears to be the prime suspect, found each time with the dead women. He cannot remember anything.  A psychic senses the presence of a great evil, calling it Redjack. The lights go out-Scotty is found over her body. He is put on trial, with wonderful character actor John Fielder as an official convinced of his guilt. Kirk asks the computer to research the name Redjack-several meanings come up, one of which ... well, you'll have to find out.  Written by Robert Bloch, this is a favorite of mine.


The Trouble with Tribbles (Season 2):
Shatner shines in this funny episode with the adorable little Tribbles sold by slippery salesman Cyrano Jones (Stanley Adams). Kirk is supervising delivery of a special grain for an annoying official (Herbert Anderson, Dennis the Menace's father), a man who Kirk cannot help goading. The Trouble is that Tribbles reproduce in incredible numbers and love to eat the grain.  One of Star Trek's funniest memorable lines is from this episode:  "Who put the Tribbles in the quadrotritcale?"

Assignment: Earth (Season 2):  This episode was fun and starred Robert Lansing-I had a teen crush on him, which may be why I like this one. The Enterprise goes back in time to 1960's Cape Canaveral where they find a man from the future who has come to stop the successful launching of a rocket.  Lansing is Gary 7, the mysterious man with an interesting pet black cat.  A young Teri Garr plays his young and clueless secretary.  Who is Gary 7 and why is he trying to stop the rocket, which will change the future?  Designed as a pilot for a spin-off series, the story was not picked up by the network.  But it is a lot of fun.

Runner-up Episodes, pictures first:

Charlie and his first love, Yoeman Rand

Khan and Kirk



The Horta

Mirror, Mirror







   

Journey to Babel

Runner-up episode favorites:  Space Seed (featuring Ricardo Montalban as Khan); Charlie X (featuring Robert Walker Jr. as a teenager with lethal powers);  Journey to Babel (featuring Mark Lenard and Jane Wyatt as Spock's parents); The Devil in the Dark (featuring the ugliest alien ever, the Horta); and Mirror, Mirror (featuring an alternate universe in which Kirk, Bones, Scotty and Uhura switch places with their counterparts on a completely opposite Enterprise, a dictatorship where everyone plots to move up the hierarchy execution-style.  We get to see Spock as a logically ruthless science officer with a Mephistopheles-style goatee!)

 

Star Trek /Galaxy Quest - Even a rabid fan has to laugh! 

No discussion of Star Trek would be complete without a mention of a great spoof made in 1999, Galaxy Quest, with Tim Allen as the Captain, Alan Rickman as alien science officer and Sigourney Weaver as a bimbo communications officer.  Jokes aimed at Star Trek abound, with Allen as the egotistical Captain who still believes he was the reason the show succeeded, always being sure he got to take his shirt off in each episode, Rickman hilarious as the classically trained actor who hates the typecasting he has endured, and Weaver as the actress who resented her part as the sex object who did nothing but repeat what the computer said.

And now for the piece de resistance.  William Shatner spoofs himself in one of Saturday Night Live's funniest episodes.  It caused some stir among the fanatic convention group, but most viewers got one of the biggest laughs SNL ever presented, even for Star Trek lovers like me.  Just click on the link to experience a very entertaining comedy sketch featuring Shatner as a really good sport.  You'll love it!
http://dai.ly/bSllXC