Star Trek at 50: The Naked Time

Season 1

Episode 6: The Naked Time

Filmed: June/July 1966

First Air Date: September 29, 1966 (4th episode aired)

Karen:"The Naked Time" is nearly universally considered to be one of the best original Star Trek episodes. It was even nominated for a Hugo Award in 1967. As the fourth episode broadcast, it provided viewers with insight into the personalities of Enterprise crew, particularly Captain Kirk and Mr. Spock. A strange infection causes deeply buried desires and traits to come to the surface, causing chaos on the ship. At the same time, the planet the Enterprise is orbiting is beginning to break up, creating a difficult navigational situation. This only gets worse when Lt. Kevin Riley, under the influence of the contagion, takes over engineering and shuts down the engines, resulting in the ship heading dangerously towards the planet's surface.

Karen: This episode was written by John D.F. Black, associate producer and script editor at the beginning of the first season. Black had both science fiction and TV and film screenwriting experience, and had even won a Writers Guild award for one of his screenplays. This had brought him to the attention of Gene Roddenberry. However, when Roddenberry decided to do some rewriting of Black's script, it caused irreconcilable issues between the two, as Black felt that Roddenberry had been tinkering too much with the scripts of other writers, particularly talented science fiction authors, and now his own script was getting the same treatment. Author Marc Cushman, in his excellent These are the Voyages Vol.1, looks evenhandedly at both sides of the argument. Black was quoted as saying, "I couldn't bear to see quality work changed to the point where the dialogue did not have the sharp edge that it had...I was watching too much good material getting screwed up and I couldn't take it."

Karen: For Roddenberry's part, it was a case of the creator feeling he knew best. "During those first shows, none of our writers knew what I wanted to do. Not fully. But I had this idea; I could see where to take it, who Kirk was, who Spock was." Roddenberry rewrote the script before Black was allowed to do a second draft,which went against Writers Guild rules. Black was furious. But he took Roddenberry's version and did his own draft. The script would go back and forth between the two several times. But only Black would be credited on screen. 

Karen: One of the notable things that Roddenberry added was the character of Nurse Christine Chapel, played by Majel Barrett. Barrett had played the role of Number One, the raven-haired first officer of the Enterprise in the original Star Trek pilot that NBC passed on. The executives had demanded Roddenberry dump the female officer, saying she was not likable. But since Barrett and Roddenberry were romantically involved, he was determined to get her back on the show. He might have thought putting a platinum blonde wig on her would fool them, but he was wrong. Bringing Barrett back was just one of the things that would make his already bad relationship with NBC worse.

Karen: Besides Roddenberry's rewrites, two actors also contributed their own ideas. Leonard Nimoy came up with the idea of having Spock seek privacy in the briefing room, where he breaks down. Originally, he was to walk down the corridor crying, and a crewman would paint a mustache on his face. That's it. Talk about a lost opportunity! The other change came from George Takei as Sulu. Writer Black had planned to give Sulu a samurai sword. Takei told Black, "Sulu is a 23rd century guy. I'm a 20th century  Asian-American, and I didn't grow up brandishing a samurai sword. I was swept away by Errol Flynn and The Adventures of Robin Hood. What about putting a fencing foil in Sulu's hand?" And so a brilliant, memorable scene was born.

Karen: And what of Lieutenant Kevin Riley, the descendant of Irish kings? Can anyone forget 'I'll Take You Home Again, Kathleen'? Even if you tried, you probably couldn't. It's as bad as 'It's a Small World'. 

Karen: William Shatner also has a good turn as Kirk here, as the ship is starting to spiral down toward Psi 2000, when the audience finds out the extent of his dedication/obsession to his ship -"Never lose you" -is a great line. 

Karen: If there are any negatives, I'm hesitant to name them, because it's such a great episode. But when Spock and Joe Tormolen (what a name -turmoil?) beam down to Psi 2000, their special environmental suits look like they are made out of shower curtains. They are just awful. Then, Tormolen, a highly trained officer (one assumes), having been warned to be careful in this situation, takes off his protective glove and scratches his nose, and then touches the desktop at the station with his bare hand. Wow. Later, when he is infected, he tries to kill himself with what looks like a butter knife. And succeeds. So...a few weak points. But hey -who cares. The drama in this episode is great. I also noticed that when Kirk gives the order to Scotty to do the controlled implosion to restart the engines, he says, "Engage," so he beat Picard to that by twenty years!

Karen: Cushman points out that "The Naked Time" was originally conceived as Part 1 of a two-part story.At the end of the episode, the Enterprise is propelled back in time. Part 2 would have seen the Enterprise in the past, but the plan was scrapped. The idea though, was re-used as the germ for the later episode "Tomorrow is Yesterday."

Karen says: Welcome to the Sanctum, part 4

Welcome back to part 4 of my own little magical mystery tour of my comics room, or The Sanctum, as I like to call it. Today we'll be looking at the southwest corner, which is home to both the Justice League of America and all things Star Trek.

Besides Marvel Comics, Star Trek is probably the other major influence on my childhood. When I say Star Trek, I'm talking old school here: the original show, with the legendary team of Kirk and Spock (and McCoy too). Although I did enjoy Next Generation, and I really liked Deep Space Nine, classic Trek is and always shall be, my favorite.

On my bookshelf here you will see a signed photo of Kirk and Spock. For some reason I really dug the black and white picture, and managed to get it signed by William Shatner and then a year later, signed by Leonard Nimoy. It's one of my favorite items in my collection.

On the table in front of the photo are a variety of Trek knick-knacks, including a Spock button I purchased way back in 1975 at the San Diego Comic Con -my first convention -and some poker chips from the Las Vegas Hilton, former home of the Star Trek Experience. There's also a nice communicator replica that a friend got for me. As a kid I had a ton of Trek toys, models, Mego figures, etc, but that stuff is all gone now. Mostly I just have my books and autographed photos.

On the wall to the left of that photo are autographed pics of Shatner and Ricardo Montalban. I was very lucky to see Montalban at a Star Trek Creation Convention in Pasadena; I believe it was his only convention appearance. He was a wonderful speaker; I enjoyed his honesty, as he said there was no work for "crippled old mexicans" in Hollywood! Still, despite his obvious frustrations, he was a perfect gentleman, and despite being in considerable pain from back problems, he signed hundreds of autographs, and was gracious and friendly when I spoke to him.

I have gotten Shatner's autograph three times now. Although I have an insane admiration and love for The Man, he can be somewhat indifferent when signing. I did manage to get his attention one time when I mentioned that I loved his film Incubus, a film where all of the dialogue was in Esperanto. That got a very strange look from him. I don't know if he thought I was joking, or if he was afraid I was serious and possibly dangerous.

Nimoy on the other hand has been very friendly the couple of times I have met him. Unlike his Spock role, he seems to be a very warm guy. I also met George Takei (Sulu) outside of a convention panel one time and had a brief conversation with him, which resulted in taking a photo together. A year later, I returned to the convention and brought the photo for him to autograph. He looked at it and said, "I remember this!" and we chatted briefly, much to the annoyance of the folks in line behind me! Another good egg was the late James Doohan (Scotty). Back in the days before the Trek cons became so commercialized - ie, back when autographs were free! - I was able to meet Doohan a couple of times. He was a gregarious guy and loved talking to people. After one show in San Francisco, I spotted him in a gourmet market at Fisherman's Wharf, strolling around shopping. People came up to him and he was just as nice as could be.

Then on the other hand...I hate to say this, because the character of Uhura is so dear to me, but Nichelle Nichols was not the nicest person I ever got to sign. I think the reason for this was, the photo I asked her to sign was a group shot from Star Trek II, and her face was partially in shadow. All I know is, when I slid the photo before her, she looked at it, then looked up at me with a frown. She then turned to a friend sitting next to her and pointed to the picture. Her friend then also frowned at me. She signed it but said nothing to me. A few years later at another convention, the program explicitly stated that "Ms. Nichols will not sign photos where her face is obscured". Well OK!

The other residents of this area are the Justice League. I absolutely love the Bruce Timm Justice League cartoon and these large and small figures are here because of that. The glasses are ancient history. I got them from Taco Bell back in the mid70s. At one time I had all of them - the set included not just the ones here but also Superman and Wonder Woman - but only Aquaman, Batman, and Robin have survived. Unfortunately we didn't know back in those days not to put these glasses in the dishwasher! Because of that they are quite faded, but I still enjoy having them around to look at.

Up above this area of the room, I have some small sci fi posters, and a couple of copies of Famous Monsters of Filmland magazine, signed by the late, wonderful Forrest Ackerman. I had been hoping to get Ray Harryhausen's autograph on the same magazines at the same time but unfortunately I was in the wrong place at the wrong time. Maybe some day though...

Last but not least, although it's not technically part of the sanctum, my tiki mug shelf would be in the sanctum if I still had any wall space! These tiki mugs, shot glasses, coasters, and swizzles sticks come from a variety of tiki bars (and stores) chiefly in California and Arizona. What's ironic about all this is I'm not actually a drinker -I just like the way they look! I'm particularly fond of the top shelf, which includes a nifty rocket decanter, as well as robot and space-alien mugs. A good source for cool tiki mugs is Tiki Farm (http://www.tikifarm.com/index.asp). There's just something about the tiki aesthetic; it fits in perfectly with comics, sci fi flicks, and monsters! One of these days, I'll have to provide a tour of the Orbit Room, my outdoor tiki patio/lounge. But we'll save that for another time! I hope you all enjoyed this little glimpse at one woman's idea of heaven.