SPECIAL: STAR TREK and Me

My brief ventures into Outer Space
In 2011 when I began RALPH’S CINEMA TREK, I wrote in my first post:

STAR TREK was a phenomenon. I directed six and a half episodes of the original series, working a total of ninety days (spread out over a period of a year and a half). 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.

Why did I write that? In order to find out, I’m gong to travel back to January, 1967, when I reported to Desilu Studio to direct THIS SIDE OF PARADISE, an episode of a new series in its first season, STAR TREK. I wasn’t into science fiction. Thirty-five years earlier I read the Buck Rogers in the 25^th Century comic strip every Sunday morning. Four years earlier I directed PRINTER’S DEVIL, an episode of TWILGHT ZONE. (But was that science fiction? I thought I was doing another rip-off of FAUST.)

By January, 1967, I had directed 46 films in my first 5 years in the Directors Guild of America. Over a third of those productions were crime shows — cops or detectives and the future looked like it was going to be more of the same. I was ready, willing and very eager for employment doing something new and different, when mid-December, 1966, one of my agents called to tell me there was an offer to direct an episode of STAR TREK. I told him, “Accept the offer.” I hadn’t seen any episodes of the series, but I figured, “Why not. It was new and different.” The following day I received the script I was to direct – THE DEVIL IN THE DARK by Gene L. Coon. I was impressed. It was an exciting script, new and different and very challenging. I managed to assemble some science fiction books to take with me when a few days later I flew back to Iowa to spend the holidays with my family. I didn’t have to report to the studio until after the first of the year. That gave me some time for a crash course in science fiction. Soon after I arrived in Iowa I received a package from my agents. It contained a script for THIS SIDE OF PARADISE. A note accompanying the script said this was the script I would now be directing. My first reaction was disappointment. It was only sort of new and different and not nearly as challenging.

It’s important to fully understand that as I prepared to board the USS Enterprise. I was totally unaware of the long difficult journey STAR TREK had traveled with its 2 pilots to become a series and of the grueling effort it had been producing the 24 episodes that preceded THIS SIDE OF PARADISE as it evolved into a series. I also did not know of Leonard Nemoy’s feelings of anxiety about the change in Mr. Spock’s character he was being asked to make in this film – a love story.

I reported to Desilu Studio in early January. I saw producer Gene Coon again; he had produced the first THE WILD, WILD WEST I directed the year before. The 6 days of prep before photography were unusually busy. There were 2 principle guest star roles to be cast. To acquaint me with the series Gene arranged viewings of several completed STAR TREK episodes. I needed to acquaint myself with the extensive USS Enterprise set and there was one location to be scouted and found for the scheduled 3 days of location filming. That turned out to be at the Disney Ranch.

Filming began on the scheduled day and the only problem we had during the entire production was on the third day of filming when Jill Ireland, one of our guest stars (who had not yet started work) could not report to our location because it was feared she had the measles. Fortunately she didn’t. Since the Disney Ranch was not available for our now added location day to film Jill’s missed scenes because of the measles scare, a new location was found and final photography was completed. It had been a very happy experience, I was very satisfied with the final film and just as important, the producers were happy. But there was no invitation to return for another assignment.

THIS SIDE OF PARADISE was STAR TREK’s 25^th episode filmed. There were only 4 more to be filmed to complete the 1^st season and Desilu had not yet been notified that STAR TREK had been picked up by NBC for a 2^nd season. When the studio finally received the pick-up, I was booked to direct the 2^nd episode when production resumed in May. Three months later and a few days before I reported to the studio, a script for METAMORPHOSIS by Gene Coon was sent to me. I thought it was even better than THE DEVIL IN THE DARK. I was excited, enthusiastic, adrenalized, And this time no change was made. I got to direct it and had what I consider the most unique, creative experience of my film-directing career.

I had met and worked with director of photography Jerry Finnerma for the first time on THIS SIDE OF PARADISE. From the beginning our working relationship was a friendly cooperation that very quickly evolved into an exciting collaboration. Half of PARADISE had been filmed outdoors in daylight. Filming on a soundstage where the director of photography has to provide ALL of the lighting is a different matter. I was about to see at work an incredible artist — Jerry Finnerman. Jerry told me he wanted to light the cyclorama (the sky backing the sets) purple. I had no objections, not realizing how momentous his request was. He also suggested we use the 9mm camera lens. I did not know that lens. The widest angle lens I was acquainted with was the 18mm. I again had no objections.

The first sequence we photographed in front of our purple sky was the landed shuttlecraft. For the establishing shot Jerry placed the camera as far from the craft as the set’s ground covering allowed. Looking through the camera with the 9mm lens it seemed a football field away, but the shot also included, not only the soundstage wall ABOVE the cyclorama, it showed the ceiling of the soundstage. Jerry was prepared for this. He arranged rocks as a frame that excluded the unwanted areas.

One other shot in this sequence provided the same distance problem. It was the first appearance of the marooned astronaut, Zefram Cochrane, as he appeared a far distance away to greet the new arrivals. Again Jerry framed the shot with rocks.

The 9mm lens was not needed when we photographed the scenes at the exterior of Cochrane’s house, again backed by the purple sky cyclorama..

But there we had a different problem. We had several sequences where Kirk with either Spock or McCoy or sometimes with both would watch Cochrane and the Special Effect Cloud/Companion. Our purple cyclorama sky was not a complete circle. It was less than half a circle. So when ALL of the shots in ALL of the sequences toward the house had been filmed, the house and surrounding set dressing were cleared and in the same space the opposite area for Cochrane and the Companion backed by the same purple sky cyclorama was created.

And of course we had to prepare for the Cloud/Compaion’s close-up.

Obviously the Cloud/Companion was not present when we filmed. It was added in postproduction.
We completed photography and I was more than satisfied; I felt exhilarated. On that half-pint microscopic soundstage, with Gene Coon’s choice words and the inspiring look furnished by Jerry Finnerman’s camera, we had created almost a fairy tale that was true and believable. This time I didn’t have to wait to be invited back. I was booked for 2 more episodes, the first one starting four months later in September. Another positive point, although I didn’t learn of it until 2014, half a century later, when I read in Marc Cushman’s Volume 2 of THESE ARE THE VOYAGES that I had ben added as the 3^rd member to the series prime director team of Marc Daniels and Joseph Pevney. I was departing with high expectations for the future. But there was a disturbing point. METAMORPHOSIS was the 2^nd show filmed in the 2^nd season, and NBC scheduled it as the 9^th show to broadcast.

When I returned to Desilu Studio in September, major changes had occurred and were occurring. The studio was no longer Desilu. Gulf + Western, owner of Paramount Studio right next door, had purchased Desilu and merged it with Paramount. The wall separating the two studios had been torn down, and as I was soon to learn, it was now just one big unhappy family.

STAR TREK had been a very expensive show to produce. When I arrived to film my first show, producer Gene Coon told me the shows were scheduled to be filmed in 6 days, but were averaging out at 6½ days. And post-production special optical effects were costly. Desilu had built its reputation with half-hour filmed comedies, beginning with I LOVE LUCY. The studio could not afford to produce the expensive qualitative STAR TREK and it had to be sold. But Gulf + Western had not bought Desilu to lose money.  Paramount, now in charge, had decreed all shows (that would include MISSION IMPOSSIBLE and MANNIX) WOULD BE COMPLETED in 6 days. Further, filming days that had been finishing at 7:00 pm would wrap at 6:12 pm. That 48 minutes each day added up to just under half a day. In reality STAR TREK was having half a day subtracted from its already insufficient filming time.

I had returned to direct BREAD AND CIRCUSES with expectations it would be a repeat of my 2 earlier experiences. That was not to be. The always professional cast and crew continued to perform in their usual flawless manner, but I was aware that the morale of the company had taken a deep nosedive. And there were still more disturbing changes. I learned Gene Coon (who co-wrote BREAD AND CIRCUSES with Gene Roddenberry) was still at the studio but would be leaving, being replaced by John Meredyth Lucas.

Some time near the end of filming BREAD AND CIRCUSES, Herb Solow, executive in charge of production for Desilu Studios, and John Meredyth Lucas, came to the set to check my availability to direct an additional STAR TREK. I would have about a week off after completing the current show before reporting to prep the new one. I regrettably had to decline. I never worked on the Jewish High Holy Days (Rosh Hashanah and Yom Kippur), and they were going to fall right in the middle of that show’s schedule. Not to be deterred, Herb got out a calendar. He saw that the 2 days of Rosh Hashanah would fall during my preparation period. Solution: I would have my preparation completed by then and not report to the studio. Yom Kippur began at sundown Friday; my 5^th day of filming. Solution: John Meredith Lucas was also a member of the Directors Guild. Whenever I needed to leave on that Friday, John would come in and finish directing the day’s work. I agreed and that’s what we did.

Filming BREAD AND CIRCUSES did not go as easily as my first 2 ventures in outer space. It was a sprawling epic, with very little of it occurring on the Enterprise, which meant after the one day of location filming, most of our time before the camera would be on our small swing soundstage. The gladiator scenes were especially troublesome. The sword play involving Mr. Spock and  Dr. McCoy with two opposing stunt men required more time than the newly decreed Paramount curtailments allowed and I was concerned for the safety of the 2 actors and not satisfied with the resultant footage. And there would be still another disappointment. BREAD AND CIRCUSES was the 14^th production filmed in the 2^nd season. NBC, unhappy with the show’s satiric spoofing of network television, delayed broadcasting the show until the next to the final week before the summer reruns. And in spite of the fact that the night BREAD AND CIRCUSES aired it won its rating time slot (a very rare occurrence), it was not rerun in the summer

The filming on OBSESSION, my suddenly acquired new outing, went smoothly, but there was a continuing carryover from BREAD AND CIRCUSES of the company’s low morale and that continued through RETURN TO TOMORROW, my next and final assignment in the series’ 2^nd season.

Chaotic doesn’t begin to describe my 3^rd season on STAR TREK. John Meredyth Lucas had vacated the producer chair, and was replaced by Fred Freiberger. Creator and Executive Producer Gene Roddenberry’s involvement was more remote than in the past and director of photography Jerry Finnerman would be leaving to photograph a feature film starring Sidney Poitier after we wrapped IS THERE IN TRUTH NO BEAUTY, the 1^st of my 2 third season commitments. The chaos commenced the moment I arrived on the set the first morning.

As the 6 actors involved in the scheduled dining table scene arrived, I was informed Shatner and Nimoy objected to the Idic, a pin designed by Roddenberry to be worn by Mr. Spock. Leonard had called new producer Freiberger with the objection, but Freiberger refused to do anything. Leonard then called Roddenberry, who came to the set. The morning was spent with Shatner, Nimoy and Roddenberry at one table and the balance of the cast and me at another, a distance from the trio so we could not hear their heated conversation. Finally the group broke up, Shatner came over to our table and announced that he was going home and I learned Roddenberry had agreed to rewrite the scene. I now faced the problem of how to continue. The balance of the day’s schedule was 4 short sequences in the Enterprise corridor that totaled a page and a half. I did not want my first day’s work to be limited to a page and a half of what I called “bread and butter” scenes, so I suggested we do a dramatic three-page scene between Diana Muldaur and David Frankham. I asked them If they had it memorized. Both said they had, but were not really prepared to film it. However being the professionals they were, they agreed to do it and we did.

The dining scene was rewritten, we continued filming, but because of the Idic setback it took an added day to complete the film. I have viewed Diana Muldaur’s interview on the Archive of AMERICAN TELEVISION and her remembrance of what happened is that on the first morning, the entire script was thrown out and there was total confusion throughout the filming. But later when she saw the film broadcast, she thought it was wonderful. She couldn’t figure out how they had done it. The facts are that Roddenberry only rewrote the dining scene, keeping the Idic in but drastically trimming the discussion about it. We filmed the rest of the script as I had scrupulously planned. I am not criticizing Diana. I think what she said reflects the feelings she had making the film, sensing the underlying tension of cast and crew that I know was there. One day during filming, after Jerry had lit a scene, I said to him, “Has anybody been talking to you?” He reluctantly told me the production manager had requested that he speed it up. Jerry was leaving. He would not have been affected if filming ran an extra day.. I knew what he had done was to protect me. I told Jerry I thought he should continue lighting as he had always done.

The day after I wrapped IS THERE IN NO TRUTH NO BEAUTY, I reported to prep THE THOLIAN WEB. There were no guest star roles to be cast. There were no locations to be scouted. There were no new planets to be created on our next-door soundstage. There were no alarming new restrictions imposed. It only took getting through the 6-day prep and reaching the first minute of my first day filming to know the chaos was continuing. When I reported at 7:30 that Monday morning, the set (the bridge of the Enterprise, doubling for a troubled starship, the Defiant) was ready, the crew was assembled, I was prepared. But there were no actors. The four of them were in wardrobe, having their final fittings for their silver lame spacesuits. I was told they had been at the studio the day before (Sunday) for their FIRST fittings. Finally Bill Shatner’s suit was completed, so I filmed some isolated close-ups of Captain Kirk. There weren’t many, and it meant filming the close-ups before we had staged and rehearsed the scenes in which they occurred. Just before noon the other three silver spacesuits were ready, and we could begin. But there was an additional wrinkle in the day’s work. Well actually it was caused by not wanting any wrinkles. The costumes were skin-tight with no zippers; zippers would have shown. They had no buttons or snaps, same reason. The guys were SEWN into the spacesuits. That meant when any of them needed to make a visit to the restroom, they had to be unsewn; when they were ready to return to the set, they had to be sewn back into the suits. (And unfortunately all 4 didn’t need to make their restroom visit at the same time.)  With the loss of the half-day caused by the wardrobe situation, I did not complete the first day’s schedule. I continued filming the next 2 days and at the end of day 3 I was summoned to producer Freibergeer’s office. Because I was a half a day behind, he informed me I was being removed from the project. I was being replaced by what he called a “fireman”, someone who could come in and just get it in the can. The matter of the loss of time on the first day was never mentioned. My first reaction — I was stunned, but then I remember feeling a strange sense of relief that the chaos I had been living through was ending. That feeling did not last long.

The following day, Thursday, the Hollywood trade papers, Daily Variety and Hollywood Reporter, each carried a news story issued by Douglas Kramer’s office (Kramer was the head of television production for Paramount Studios) detailing Ralph Senensky had been removed as director of THE THOLIAN WEB on STAR TREK, pointing out the studio’s intent to curtail the problem of films not being completed as scheduled. Later that day Gene Roddenberry telephoned me. He was outraged, apologetic and sympathetic.

I wish I could say the miserable ending of my STAR TREK experience ended there. I can’t. It seemed in the aftermath of what had just occurred that a meeting must have been called of all the producers in Hollywood. Don’t hire Senensky! I was suddenly, totally unemployable. That went on for many months. But time, if it doesn’t erase, it does help to heal — but you also need to help. For me, STAR TREK and my outer space ventures were going to be a nonoccurrence, — they hadn’t happened. And that’s the way it remained for many years.

I was aware that at the end of the season in 1969, STAR TREK was not picked up for a 4^th season. I was not aware that Kaiser Broadcasting began airing in syndication the failed television series on a daily basis directly after the last episode aired on NBC. That proved to be the beginning of a resurgence for the series, both national and international. So far there have been 7 spin-off series and 13 films. But for me STAR TREK was still a nonoccurrence. Before I moved away from Los Angeles in 1992, I was contacted by a representative of television station KTLA. They were going to do a series about the now successful STAR TREK and wanted to interview me on-camera about my connection to the series. The lady making the request was disbelieving and annoyed when I declined.

I bought my first computer (the 2^nd model of the Apple Macintosh) in 1985. Through the years as the Mac became more sophisticated, so did my computer skill, but strictly on a local level; I was not into the internet and all that stuff. In 2009 I saw the Meryl Streep/Amy Adams movie, JULIE AND JULIA. I don’t remember much about the movie except that Amy Adams character (Julie), an aspiring author, had a blog. I didn’t know what a blog was; I didn’t know how a blog worked, but I was interested. I had a computer friend and very soon he helped me launch my own blog, RALPH’S TREK. Here was my greeting to prospective viewers:

Welcome to my blog. Through the many years I have amused (I think) many people, telling of my adventures in film and television. So I thought I would amuse even more people by blogging those tales.

My plan for the blog was simple. Each post would be my recollection of the happenings and mishaps of one of the films I had directed and that’s what I did for the next year and a half. By early 2011, I had published 70 posts and was informed my blog format could not be continued. I needed a more powerful format – a website. A graduate with a major in computers at a local university designed one for me and RALPH’S CINEMA TREK began. But during that year and a half blogging I had really learned something beyond acquiring internet skills. Viewers of my posts left Comments and I realized there was a vast audience tuning into local television stations still broadcasting episodes of the original series STAR TREK and tuning into the broadcasting outlet MeTv – America’s #1 Classic Television Network as well as into other similar networks. Episodes of those television series from over half a century ago had not died. They were airing to grateful avid fans and I believed the most avid of those fans were the Trekies or Trekers –or probably both. And desiring a good audience for my newly launched website, I decided the first posts I would put up would be STAR TREK. That’s what I did, but the focus of my STAR TREK nonoccurrence was still present, but a little less sharp.

Fast forward to 2016. I received a phone call from Mike Okuda. He told me he was working with Rod Roddenberry, Gene’s son, in publishing a new 3-disc DVD album, THE RODDENBERRY VAULTS. It would include 12 episodes of the original STAR TREK series (now retitled STAR TREK The Original Series), each disc to contain 4 episodes from the series plus parts of a documentary with unseen original series footage and to-be-filmed interviews. 3 of my directed episodes were scheduled to be in the album and Mike invited me to be one of those to be interviewed. My response was, “Thank you, but No” as I turned down the invitation. Mike then asked if his wife, Denise, could speak to me. I said okay, expecting her to try to get me to change my mind and say yes to being interviewed. Instead Denise came on the phone and started talking about my STAR TREK production of METAMORPOHOSIS. I don’t remember her words. I just remember the sincerity in her voice as she described her continued emotional reaction and connection to that 48-year old episode of a failed series. I had never had a response like that to any of my work. The conversation, with Denise doing more talking along the same line, continued for several more minutes. Mike then came back on the phone and I told him I had changed my mind, I was willing to be interviewed.

Fast forward again to 2021, the present year. Another 50 posts have been added to my website and a new feature has been added to the internet – the podcast. I have had some invitations and appeared on a scanty few, mostly on ones talking about STAR TREK. Recently in my browsing on YouTube I stumbled upon ENTERPRISE INCIDENTS, a podcast cohosted by Scott Mantz and Steve Morris. I recognized the name Scott Mantz. He had been one of the film critics interviewed for THE RODDENBERRY VAULTS documentary and he had been enthusiastically kind when he talked about my work on THIS SIDE OF PARADISE. I have continued to watch the podcast as each week and in the order in which they were produced, episodes of STAR TREK are discussed in minute affectionate detail. Along the way I have learned. Scott has been a devoted fan of STAR TREK since at the age of 7, he watched it daily as it streamed in syndication. I now recognize the ardor of those middle-aged viewers on my website who were so passionate in defending RETURN TO TOMORROW, an episode I had refused to include on RALPH’S CINEMA TREK. They too had been introduced to STAR TREK when they were very young.

I met STAR TREK when I was 43 years old. I was hardly as impressionable as a 7-year old and unfortunately the very positive experience of my first two voyages deteriorated too soon. Also I had seen few of the series’ 79 episodes and knew little about the 2 pilots and the struggle producing the 24 episodes that preceded THIS SIDE OF PARADISE. My interest was aroused by ENTERPRISE INCIDENTS. I’m now watching the podcast regularly. In addition I started watching the 1^st season episodes that had been featured before I discovered the podcast and I’m coming to understand why STAR TREK has endured. It had adventure, excitement, a peek into the future, and underlying issues of morality. It was unlike any other programming being televised. It had stories that appealed to thinking adults and to youngsters like Scott Mantz. More important it continued to appeal to those youngsters when they matured into thinking adults. Is it possible I’m maturing into one like them?

As I complete writing this, I can imagine Mr. Spock, standing behind my chair, looking over my shoulder at what I have written and I think I know what his response might be. There would be a pause, his eyebrow would raise and with that dubious Spock look on his face he would quietly say, “Fascinating”.

The journey continues