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Behind the Scenes of The Alternative Factor - Ep 16
This week, we go behind the scenes of an episode many consider to be one of the worst in all of Star Trek: It’s The Alternative Factor. But could it be there were real reasons why this episode ended up…well…the way it did?
Author Marc Cushman wrote a series of books called “These Are The Voyages.” They are an in-depth look at the production of each of the 79 original episodes.
So when we thought we would do a show about one of the worst episodes of Star Trek ever, we broke out March Cushman’s books.
But what Cushman describes shocked us. The Alternative Factor IS a bad episode, but there are several contributing factors that happened behind the scenes that contributed to this particular show turning out the way it did.
The first is that the original script included a love interest for the guest character, Lazarus. The love story made Lazarus a much more believable and relatable character. The only problem here was that the love interest was to be played by a black actress.
When NBC caught wind of this, they put a stop to it. This lead to the love scenes being deleted from the script at the last minute. It left a hole in the character of Lazarus, and also a hole in the content of the script. It didn't fill the needed 51 minutes of time.
The result is a character that seems superficial and unrelatable and the episode ends up filling time with shots that don't really move the story forward.
In the end, the late changes effectively made this story into one that was no longer worth producing. As March Cushman suggests, they should have scrapped it all together.
***
In The Unofficial Trek Podcast, hosts Bob Turner and Kelly Casto give their "Unofficial" take on the Star Trek universe.
From 2019 through 2019, Bob and Kelly hosted the show 70s Trek. It was a look at the events that brought a cancelled, 1960s TV show back from the dead to become a blockbuster movie in 1979. It was a decade that created a multi-million dollar franchise.
Now Bob and Kelly will look at the minutia, the concepts, the people and the news pertaining to the Star Trek Universe. It's a fascinating time for Star Trek, with a flood of content about it on the internet.
Bob and Kelly will give their "Unofficial" take. Why unofficial? Because their views are just that, they are theirs and are, therefore, "unofficial."
It's a fresh look at Star Trek from two lifelong fans who have been talking Trek for over 35 years! We hope you'll join Bob and Kelly for their next venture, The Unofficial Trek Podcast.
Visit us at these sites:
Facebook:
https://www.facebook.com/UnofficialTrek
TuneIn:
https://tunein.com/podcasts/Fantasy--Science-Fiction-Podcasts/The-Unofficial-Trek-Podcast-p1546279/
Stitcher:
https://www.stitcher.com/show/the-unofficial-trek-podcast
Spotify:
https://open.spotify.com/show/6IrNzaWSzKyf1T7b4ngZX2
Website:
https://theunofficialstartrekpodcast.libsyn.com/
View all episodes
This week, we go behind the scenes of an episode many consider to be one of the worst in all of Star Trek: It’s The Alternative Factor. But could it be there were real reasons why this episode ended up…well…the way it did?
Author Marc Cushman wrote a series of books called “These Are The Voyages.” They are an in-depth look at the production of each of the 79 original episodes.
So when we thought we would do a show about one of the worst episodes of Star Trek ever, we broke out March Cushman’s books.
But what Cushman describes shocked us. The Alternative Factor IS a bad episode, but there are several contributing factors that happened behind the scenes that contributed to this particular show turning out the way it did.
The first is that the original script included a love interest for the guest character, Lazarus. The love story made Lazarus a much more believable and relatable character. The only problem here was that the love interest was to be played by a black actress.
When NBC caught wind of this, they put a stop to it. This lead to the love scenes being deleted from the script at the last minute. It left a hole in the character of Lazarus, and also a hole in the content of the script. It didn't fill the needed 51 minutes of time.
The result is a character that seems superficial and unrelatable and the episode ends up filling time with shots that don't really move the story forward.
In the end, the late changes effectively made this story into one that was no longer worth producing. As March Cushman suggests, they should have scrapped it all together.
***
In The Unofficial Trek Podcast, hosts Bob Turner and Kelly Casto give their "Unofficial" take on the Star Trek universe.
From 2019 through 2019, Bob and Kelly hosted the show 70s Trek. It was a look at the events that brought a cancelled, 1960s TV show back from the dead to become a blockbuster movie in 1979. It was a decade that created a multi-million dollar franchise.
Now Bob and Kelly will look at the minutia, the concepts, the people and the news pertaining to the Star Trek Universe. It's a fascinating time for Star Trek, with a flood of content about it on the internet.
Bob and Kelly will give their "Unofficial" take. Why unofficial? Because their views are just that, they are theirs and are, therefore, "unofficial."
It's a fresh look at Star Trek from two lifelong fans who have been talking Trek for over 35 years! We hope you'll join Bob and Kelly for their next venture, The Unofficial Trek Podcast.
Visit us at these sites:
Facebook:
https://www.facebook.com/UnofficialTrek
TuneIn:
https://tunein.com/podcasts/Fantasy--Science-Fiction-Podcasts/The-Unofficial-Trek-Podcast-p1546279/
Stitcher:
https://www.stitcher.com/show/the-unofficial-trek-podcast
Spotify:
https://open.spotify.com/show/6IrNzaWSzKyf1T7b4ngZX2
Website:
https://theunofficialstartrekpodcast.libsyn.com/