In the first two volumes of These Are the Voyages TOS, Marc Cushman spent a lot of time describing what went into producing each episode of Star Trek (the Original Series), as well as how it first got onto the air. The third volume also describes each episode and how it was produced, but much of the book is devoted to what went wrong.
Everyone agrees that the third season of Star Trek was the worst, containing the largest number of bad episodes, including “And the Children Shall Lead,” “Spock’s Brain,” and “Let That Be Your Last Battlefield.” So, what went wrong? Most people know of Gene Roddenberry’s fights with NBC, and Paramount was no friend of his either. Lucille Ball, head of Desilu, supported the show, but once her studio was bought out by Paramount, that support disappeared.
There were two main issues that affected the third season. First was the time slot. NBC had promised Roddenberry a prime slot on Tuesday nights but later took it away and gave it to Laugh-In, pushing Star Trek to 10:00 on Fridays, a very bad time. For that slight, Roddenberry basically left the show. He contributed to a few early scripts and story ideas, but as the season drew on and on, he became less and less involved, devoting his time to other projects. He did, however, make it clear to the production staff that he wanted them to eliminate the humor which had been in many of the first and second season episodes, and to make the show more serious. This could have been one of the worse things he did, as most Star Trek fans agree that the humor really added to the show. Interestingly, both “The Trouble With Tribbles” and “Shore Leave” were slated for sequels, but they never made it to script.
But Roddenberry wasn’t the only one to leave. Gene Coon, who had produced much of Seasons 1 and 2 (and had introduced much of the humor) had already left, and he was joined by story consultant and writer D.C. Fontana and producer John Meredith Lucas from Season Two. The new producer was Fred Freiberger, who had many credits to his name, but no experience in science fiction.
The second issue was the budget. Even though Star Trek had had trouble keeping within its previous budget, Paramount reduced it even more. The corridors of the Enterprise were empty because they couldn’t afford extras, corners were cut on special effects, and scenes that should have been reshot, weren’t. Overtime and falling behind schedule was frowned upon so much that one director was fired in the middle of filming an episode. Others with experience on Star Trek were black-listed for similar reasons, and directors were brought in simply to keep the production on time with little regard for quality. Many of these not only had no experience with Star Trek, but with science fiction at all. And add to this the fact that NBC wanted more people in the corridors, more shows on the planet’s surface, and more action-adventure, all of which cost money.
So, in summary there was a producer with no experience in science fiction, many directors with no experience with science fiction, and believe it or not, many of the writers had no experience in science fiction. Plus, there was a war between Paramount and NBC on issues involving money, with the production staff caught in the middle. Season 3 was doomed for disaster.
Having said all this, all the episodes were not bad, some being quite entertaining. Some of my favorites were “The Paradise Syndrome,” “Wink of an Eye,” and “Day of the Dove,” although the author points out many problems with these as well. Other people may agree, but I’m sure there were some episodes that they would find enjoyable. It was also an interesting season which included the first televised interracial kiss and the only real romance for Dr. McCoy.
Something else I noticed was that the storylines of some of the clunkers really weren’t that bad to start out with. But with the desertion of Roddenberry and the financial constraints, it was next to impossible to have a season anywhere near as good as the first two. As to the cancellation, I had originally heard it was the expense, and NBC tried to say it was the ratings, though ratings stayed pretty much the same as the first two seasons, usually in at least second place for the time slot. Based on what I read in this book (and the previous two volumes), I don’t think NBC had any intention of renewing Star Trek for a fourth season. It was their extreme dislike for Gene Roddenberry.
We’re just very lucky that Star Trek fandom was so strong to allow its rebirth into a slew of movies and series, the newest series to premiere this September on CBS All Access. I hope you’re all as excited as I am.