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:"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."