S2 PURPLE

STAR TREK … STILL BOLDLY GOING AFTER ALL THESE YEARS

1. We associate the “Star Wars” series with director George Lucas, James Bond with writer Ian Fleming and Sherlock Holmes with writer Sir Arthur Conan Doyle. One man, Gene Roddenberry, is credited with devising the original series of “Star Trek”. Though he wrote only eight of the seventy-nine original episodes he is certainly the individual responsible for making “Star Trek” part of popular culture.

2. Roddenberry had been a bomber pilot in the Second World War, and then a Los Angeles police officer before writing scripts for popular fifties and sixties TV series such as “Highway Patrol”, “Naked City”, “Dragnet”, “Have Gun Will Travel” and “Dr Kildare”. In 1964 he was working on a series, “The Lieutenant”, set in a military camp. “The Lieutenant” centred on a second lieutenant called William T. Rice – the ‘T’ stood for Tiberius, a middle name the hero shared with a later Roddenberry creation, Captain James T. Kirk of the Starship Enterprise.

3. Roddenberry had been considering a series that contained the essence of “Star Trek” for a while. His initial idea was more of a science-fiction romance than futuristic adventure. The adventure came later. He told screenwriter Christopher Knopf in 1963, “There’s a ship . . . and on this ship are all of these people of mixed races, and they go from place to place each week, places no one has discovered yet.”

4. Roddenberry’s original idea, for what was to become “Star Trek”, was “Wagon Train to the Stars”. “Wagon Train” was a popular TV western series that featured pioneers taking a wagon train west. Every week they would be joined by guest stars whose story would involve some interaction with the regular cast. Roddenberry’s “pitch” (the way he would try to sell his idea) concerned pioneers of the 23 rd century and swapped covered wagons for spaceships to take the cast to “the final frontier” beyond the stars.

5. Desilu Studios liked Roddenberry’s idea and after a few hiccups (mostly cast changes and rewrites) “star Trek” became, in 1966, a reality, albeit a low budget one.

6. Because they could not afford to film the Enterprise landing, the effects team created a “transportation system”, for depositing the crew on alien planets. This was simply some flecks of metallic dust illuminated by light beams. However, “Beam me up, Scotty” has become one of the most famous “Star Trek” catch phrases and now no Federation starship would be complete without its transportation system. Partly because of the low budget, “Star Trek” had to be a character-led science fiction series. With “Star Trek: The Motion picture” more money was spent on special effects, although many “Trekkers” felt this led to an imbalance in the overall feel for the story.

7. Though “Star Trek” was science fiction and Roddenberry used well-known science fiction writers like Theodore Sturgeon, Richard Matheson and Harlan Ellison as scriptwriters, he was keen to gain a wider audience and preferred stories to be character-based with the emphasis on adventure and romance rather than spaceships and ray guns.

8. Much of the TV show’s interest lay in the relationship between the heroic and impetuous Captain Kirk and his first officer, the coldly rational half-Vulcan/half-human Mr. Spock. Their relationship was emphasised by McCoy, the grouchy, but amiable medical officer, who would attack Spock’s icy logic – and his pointed ears!

9. The unstoppable rise of “Star Trek” popularity throughout the world, the tremendous box office success of “Star Trek IV: The Voyage Home” coupled with the continued demand by local TV stations for more episodes led Paramount Studios to consider making a new “Star Trek” series

From Film Education Star Trek Project Pack by Mick Cooper (Film Education)

QUESTIONS

Section A

This section tests your knowledge of supporting ideas.Draw a line to match each of the following people named in the passage with their job.

1. George Lucas A. Starship Captain2. Ian Fleming B. Screenwriter3. Christopher Knopf C. Director4. Richard Matheson D. Writer of James Bond Stories5. James T. Kirk E. Science Fiction Writer

Section B

This section asks you to identify relevant information.

Read paragraphs 2 – 5

1. Which three jobs did Gene Roddenberry have?2. In which series was William T. Rice the main character?3. What might “Star Trek” have been called?4. In which year was “Star Trek” first produced?

Read paragraphs 6 – 95. Why did the special effects team create the ‘transportation system’?6. Give one reason why Paramount considered making a new “Star Trek” series?

Section C

In this section you are asked to show your understanding of vocabulary.

Find words in the passage to match the following meanings.

1. Enjoyed by many people (paragraph 2)2. Basic elements (paragraph 3)3. First (paragraph 3)4. Lit-up (paragraph 6)5. Money available to spend (paragraph 6)

Section D

In this section you are asked to show your understanding of characters.Read paragraph 8Three characters are mentioned in this paragraph1a. Who is the most bad-tempered?

b. Write down the word used in this paragraph which explains this.2a. Who is the least patient? b. Write down the word used in this paragraph which explains this.3a. Who is the least emotional?

b. Write down the word used in this paragraph which explains this.

LIVE LONG AND PROSPER