First Aired: September 12, 2021
When I launched this website in 2011, the first series I wrote about was STAR TREK. For the opening statement of the first episode I posted (THIS SIDE OF PARADISE), I wrote:
STAR TREK was a phenomenon. I directed six and a half episodes of the original series, working a total of ninety days. I worked many more days than that on just the pilot of DYNASTY. I directed twice as many episodes of THE WALTONS and two and half times as many episodes of THE FBI; I directed more episodes of THE PARTRIDGE FAMILY and more episodes of THE COURTSHIP OF EDDIE’S FATHER than I did of STAR TREK. And yet today if you google-search my name on the internet, you will think I spent most of my career directing STAR TREK. So although STAR TREK was five years after I began my journey in film, let’s begin our trek into the past there.
Today 11 years later with 7 offshoot series and 13 motion pictures added to the franchise, STAR TREK still has refused to disappear. A year ago Scott Mantz and Steve Morris, a couple of southern California blokes who weren’t even born when STAR TREK TOS first aired, launched ENTERPRISE INCIDENTS, a weekly podcast where they meticulously dissect and discuss STAR TREK, episode by episode, scene by scene, in the order in which they were produced. Both have been STAR TREK fans from an early age; I know that Scott’s first encounter was at the age of 5. For me the fact that these two who had been nurtured into lifelong fans by the syndicated STAR TREK episodes that were streamed daily is nothing less than fascinating.
Six months into their project they invited me to join them when they would be doing their deep dive on THIS SIDE OF PARADISE, the first STAR TREK TOS that I directed. I enthusiastically accepted. In the following 6 months I joined them on 3 more outings. I have recently requested and they have graciously granted me permission to include on this website, RALPH’S CINEMA TREK, those aired episodes in which I participated. The program is audio only. So without any further conversation here is the ENTERPRISE INCIDENTS deep dive into THIS SIDE OF PARADISE.
Further DEEP DIVES, but on the DEEP DIVE
After participating in 4 ENTERPRISE INCIDENTS, I am realizing there were other things I could have related, but spur of the moment answers to questions don’t always recall all that can be remembered. Some times there were things I planned to talk about but eliminated because of time. This further deep dive will reveal some of those omissions.
I think my answer when Steve questioned me about my prep period was less than complete. The biggest problem facing us was finding a location with the buildings of the Omicron Cetti III colony. There was neither the time nor the money to build sets, so we were faced with the problem of finding a location with buildings that could serve our purpose. Our search of the area produced only one possibility, the Disney ranch, and to film there we had to do some creative rationalizing. The buildings on the ranch certainly did not look like they belonged in the STAR TREK century. But what if those settlers on this planet went to the past for their architectural inspiration — back to early Americana. Good idea? It had to be; there was no other choice.
Once the commitment to film there was finalized, I spent a great deal of time at the Ranch. There were 22 sequences to be filmed, requiring 12 different areas of the Ranch. For each sequence I had to select an area and plan my staging and camera coverage. (How I have regretted not having a cell phone with camera to photograph the areas I selected.) Incidentally those 22 sequences included the 6 with Jill Ireland that did not get filmed there. They were shot 2 days later at Bronson Canyon. When I arrived at the Canyon the morning of our 5th day of filming I had to scout and adapt to the new areas the sequences I had planned to film at the Ranch. As I reported, those scenes were filmily better because of the move – especially the scene with Spock hanging from a limb of the tree. I shudder to think of what I would have done if I had been staging that scene in a field at the Ranch, discovered it wasn’t working and there was no tree limb 50 yards away.
For the half of our story that would be filmed on soundstages at Desilu Studio I was given floor plans for the sequences I would shoot there – one for the room in the house of the colony, where 6 sequences would be filmed; the other for the extended floor plan of the interior of the Enterprise, where the balance of our story would take place. The colony one-room set, which was not yet erected on Stage 10, was not a problem, but I spent a lot of time roaming through, acquainting myself with the Enterprise, selecting the areas where I would film: The bridge! The transporter room! Kirk’s quarters! The corridor! By the end of my 6th day of prep I was ready for my first flight into space.
THIS SIDE OF PARADISE was the 24th STAR TREK TOS produced. All of the episodes that preceded it and the many that have so far followed can be listened to at any of the following links.
1) APPLE: https://podcasts.apple.com/…/enterprise…/id1559296756
2) SPOTIFY: https://open.spotify.com/show/5b9PlI11bRkTvoNmcQFvfA
3) GOOGLE: https://podcasts.google.com/…/aHR0cHM6Ly9hbmNob3IuZm0vc…
4) YOUTUBE: https://youtube.com/channel/UCaseP1xrEALdv3Vi369LdXQ
I hope to be back here deep diving with Scott and Steve on the other shows I directed. Til then…
The Journey Continues
