ENTERPRISE INCIDENTS: The Tholian Web

First Aired: August 14, 2022

Scott Mantz and Steve Morris were very understanding when I declined their invitation to guest with them on their deep dive of THE THOLIAN WEB. I was pleased later when I learned Judy Burns, co-writer of the teleplay, would be appearing on that deep dive. I remembered her as the very young girl, a novice screenplay writer in her early 20’s, who had been on the set when I filmed, so when I listened to the deep dive, I will admit it was strange when the older by half a century voice of Ms. Burns responded to her welcome, “So nice to be here. Hope I can make the voyage interesting.”  That she indeed did!

As I have reported In this long personal journey, my contact with writers of the scripts I  had directed had been just a narrow notch above zero. I found this podcast more than interesting. It was illuminating. I learned Judy at the time was still in college, had been an avid STAR TREK fan and THE THOLIAN WEB (with a different title) was her 2^nd attempt to sell a script to the series – a futile effort that had taken over a year. Her instruction upon receiving the THOLIAN assignment was merely being handed 2 STAR TREK scripts and told to go home and write. After she turned in the first draft, she was given 8 pages of detailed correctional notes by co-producer Robert Justman, which she claimed were followed meticulously for the rewrite.

I have made no secret that THE THOLIAN WEB was the negative closure for me of what had started out a year and a half before as an invitingly compelling experience. For Judy it proved to be a positive new beginning. Within the month she was working on a script for STAR TREK’s neighboring soundstage production, MISSION IMPOSSIBLE. Instead of going to Africa to be an anthropologist, she remained in Hollywood and became a television writer, executive story consultant and producer. 49 years later in 2017 Judy wrote STILL TREADS THE SHADOW, an episode for the series STAR TREK CONTINUES. That script in which the starship USS Defiant is discovered in space with an old James Kirk aboard was and is a stunning sequel to THE THOLIAN WEB.. As she claimed, THE THOLIAN WEB changed her life.

So now, if you have not listened to the podcast; or if you have but want to listen again, here’s ENTERPRISE INCIDENTS: The Tholian Web …

… and afterward you can continue reading …

MY EVEN DEEPER DIVE

… where I will prove I haven’t run out of things to say about THE THOLIAN WEB.

Judy was very positive when she voiced her suspicion that Douglas Cramer, Executive Vice President in Charge of Production for Paramount Studio, not producer Fred Freiberger, was the person responsible for my removal from the project. I don’t disagree. I knew that the day after my firing when press releases from Cramer appeared in both the Hollywood trade papers (Daily Variety and Hollywood Reporter) announcing my firing, naming me and pointing out the studio’s intent to curtail the problem of films not being completed as scheduled.

What had not been reported was the first day’s problem with the spacesuits. Steve Morris on this podcast said, “You should never schedule costumes like that, that you haven’t had time to test, on day one.” People, this was episodic television! In my 26 years and almost 200 productions, I never saw any pre-filming wardrobe testing. But the incompetency here was even more severe. It was my understanding the four men (Shatner, Nimoy, DeKelley and Koenig) had come into the studio on Sunday, the day before, for their first fittings. By noon on the Friday before, the production manager should have been aware of this situation and revised the first day’s schedule. That is what production managers do. They make sure in advance that everything is in place for filming to proceed. As an example let me tell you of a situation I had 2 years before on an episode of Quinn Martin Productions’ THE FBI. The film was THE RAID. Howard Alston, who had been the production manager for the series from its 1^st season debut, as well as having the same duty for the QM production of 12 O’CLOCK HIGH (filming at a different studio) had been promoted to Executive Production Manager over both productions plus their new series, THE FBI. Dick Gallegley was the new production manager for THE FBI. I knew Dick. He had been an assistant director 2 years earlier when I directed DR. KILDARE. The schedule for THE RAID had its first 3 days on location filming followed by 4 days on a soundstage. Our schedule for the 3^rd location day was the heaviest. There were 18 sequences totaling 6¾ pages. Most of the filming took place on a cul-de-sac where there was an apartment building with an inner courtyard and a rooftop. Across the street was a small office building with big paned windows, which would be the FBI’s center during the raid. In addition we also had to film at the nearby Victory Drive-in movie theatre.

Dick was out at the location early that 3^rd morning, assessing the situation. He suggested we bring in a second camera and he further suggested I pick out those setups that did not require sound and treat them as second unit. There were several scenes in the inner courtyard. That was where we decided to use the second camera. I would stage a shot there; Bill Cline, the cameraman, would light it. Then he and I would leave while Dick oversaw filming it. Bill and I would return to the front of the building where I would stage and rehearse a scene with sound, Cline would light it and I would oversee the filming. Then back to the inner courtyard. With the cameraman doing the lighting, I was directing two units simultaneously. We bounced back and forth that way most of the morning, until all of the sequences in those 2 areas were completed. Filming then moved across the street to the small office, followed by scenes on the rooftop of the apartment building.

I remember by the time we moved to the Victory Drive-in, it was late afternoon. It was October and days were shorter. We filmed the scenes on the ground of 2 agents running through the drive-in, after which we prepared to film the two of them behind the large Victory sign. We were losing the light but managed to complete the shots of them moving into position behind the O. That confined shot could be lit and as I remember, Cline also gave instructions to the lab to force the film when developing it. At the end of the third day we had completed all of our location work and were right on schedule. That was when Dick Gallegley thanked me and told me that Howard Alston had told him that if he couldn’t bring this show in on schedule, he would no longer be a production manager. Now Dick could have come to me earlier that morning and said, “You’ve got to get the rest of the scenes scheduled at this location today or I will lose my job.” But he didn’t. He had not put the pressure he was under onto me. He had given me an assist so I could get the job done. As I wrote above: That is what production managers do.

Scott and Steve: Although I didn’t participate in the deep dive for THE THOLIAN WEB, when I heard you, Scott, say that even though Captain Kirk was missing from three-fourths of the show, you felt his presence because of the way he was missed by Spock and McCoy . That’s the way I felt when I listened to the deep dive. Because of the two of you and Judy, I seemed to be there. For that I thank all three of you! And I thank the two of you for the 7 deep dives of my productions that we did. I’m happy to say they have made a difference.

I now understand why in my first post on this website I referred to STAR TREK as a phenomenon. But that understanding is accompanied by a sadness. Gene Roddenberry’s original intention when he created STAR TREK was for a series like WAGON TRAIN about real people with meaningful tales, but they were traveling in spaceships heading out into the galaxies. There would be exciting stories with substance, some times even with a message, a bit of a lesson. I think some of that has been jettisoned in the later STAR TREKs. There are still stalwart characters on their missions, usually with good intentions. For what’s missing, gratefully and thankfully there is still Roddenberry’s (and Coon’s) Original Series!

The Journey Continues