The Daily Scrapbook 10/30/12 June 1977- The real Enterprise flies, and Trek will return!

Well, Hurricane Sandy kind of fizzled in my area, still on a high wind watch but no notable damages.  Hope everyone reading this  is okay, and that your managing well.

Here’s a little distraction, today’s flashback is from June of 1977.  Trekkies were having a great time nationally on two fronts.  The experimental space shuttle Enterprise had made its first successful flight and to make the joy complete, Paramount announced that, yes, Star Trek would be coming back as a TV series!! I admit, I was excited at the prospect of Trek being back on TV, but I was wary of it too.  After all, it had been 9 years since the original was canceled, and if if was coming back, I was in the camp that wanted it to look and feel exactly like the original, same uniforms, same ship, same crew.   I remember having doubts about this venture, and was concerned that since many of the actors, especially Nimoy, had moved on, that this just wasn’t going to work, at least not in a TV series. My doubts proved right as the proposed Star Trek 2 pretty much died on the drawing board. But at the time, it was still a possibility.  Yet I knew that if Trek came back in this form, it would lose its distinctly 60’s feel, and I really wasn’t looking forward to a polyester-disco Trek.  Now if the series hadn’t been canceled in the first place I think it would have concluded its mission in a satisfactory condition, and probably would have been canceled a year or two later.  But then, it would have never  evolved into the eventual movie  and TV ‘franchise’ it is today, and we never would have had its ultimate rebirth in J.J. Abrams 2009’s Star Trek, which in the end was the movie I had been waiting 30 years for!  In hindsight, it worked out pretty good, but I still wonder how Trek might have been if it lasted an extra two seasons in its original form.    I’ll write a speculation on this soon, for now, enjoy the euphoria, excitement, and speculation as Trekkies the  world over anticipated the return of their  favorite show .

The Daily Scrapbook 10/29/12 — NYT 1977 ‘Leonard Nimoy Possessed by the roles he plays’

Here’s today’s flashback (something to get you east-coasters minds briefly off of Hurricane  Sandy–Stay Safe Everyone!)

From The New York Times in 1977, here’s a nice, long interview with Nimoy in his rented Manhattan apartment, talking about Equus, Star Trek, and being prescient about what roles he will play (He knew he’ play Dysart, he knew he’d play Sherlock Holmes).   At this point, he was heavily lobbying to play the vampire Lestat in ‘Interview with the Vampire‘ that Paramout had just bought.
I don’t think he foresaw that it wouldn’t be made until 1993 and that Tom Cruise would get the part — I wonder if it  would have been better if it had been made in the late 70s or early 80’s with Nimoy in the role.  We can only imagine.

My Weekly Spock 10/29/12 “Nimoy at the Costume Shop”

Halloween is almost upon us, so since everyone’s in costume, this week I look at Nimoy who,  like his idol, Lon Chaney, was as a man of many faces, especially in his early years when he had a lot of ‘heavy’ roles, and in the Seventies when he did a wide range of characters in theater roles.    Theater was his first love, and I bet he loved getting back on a real stage!  A classmate of mine got to see him as King Arthur in Camelot one summer (1973)  I was so jealous! Let’s just call this ‘Nimoy at the costume shop’.  What should he be for Halloween?

A Doctor?  (The scheming Dr. Barry Mayfield in Columbo)

A Confederate Soldier? (as Kreton from Visit To a Small Planet)

A Navy Captain?  (Assault on the Wayne 1971)

There’s always a cowboy


Or an Indian  (Nah, he’s been too many of those!)  (From Daniel Boone)

Maybe a Magician (from M:I, ‘The Amazing Paris!”)

Maybe a Zombie! (from the Stratosphere!)

Nah — I think King suits him best! (As King Arthur, Camelot, 1973)  Heck, I wish my legs looked that good!

Weather Alert -Please read

Hi All,

As you may have heard, Hurricane Sandy is moving up the east coast this weekend and  We’re expecting a lot of rain for the next 4 days or so with the bulk of it on Monday and Tuesday. (Especially if the the storm curls left into New York State, where I live).

I encourage all of my readers, especially if they live on the east cost to please prepare for the effects of this storm.   I probably won’t be posting live for a few days next week depending on the severity of the storm and how it may affect my area, but that’s trivial compared to the real life complications this storm may cause. (I will have a couple of scheduled posts)  Please be prepared and safe wherever you are, it might be a good idea to get some extra provisions today.  If you’re in a highly threatened area, be sure you have a disaster supply kit

There’s more info on weather.com  

Stay safe!  See you next week (probably live on Thursday) -Therese

FArFri 10/26/12 A Trekkie Halloween, Various Artists

Since Halloween will be over by next Friday- Here’s some Halloween Trek!  From various artists —

Schematization on DeviantArt creates these very funny Star Trek ‘stamps’ (mini gifs) and slogans-with a great sense of humor, and even entire episodes squeezed into several seconds!  Here’s a few, including Catspaw  Hilarious! Then a nice crossover of Kirk with the Gremlin by artist Tom Whalen (strongstuff)  from Twilight Zone! And then a brilliant ‘Regency Trek by artist  lamamama I love how she portrays Amanda & Sarek! The characters there are as follows:

Top row: Sarek woos Amanda with little success

2nd Row:  Chekov defends Mother Russia, Scotty hates the French, and Sarek tries again  ( I LOVE Amanda’s expression and reply here!)

3rd Row T’Pring as snobby Caroline Bingley, Kirk gets randy, Spock does not want to dance and McCoy looks for alcohol.  Meanwhile, Uhura looks ravishing in her gown and turban!

And on the other end of history, a wild, 70’s funkadellic Spock and Uhura from griffinfly   (How cool is that?)Happy Early Halloween Everyone!

The Daily Scrapbook 10/26/12 Nimoy in ‘Equus’

Here’s today’s flashback;  From 1977, Leonard Nimoy got to Broadway as the 5th actor to portray Dr. Martin Dysart in Peter Shaffer’s Equus.  The drama  was about disturbed young man fanatically obsessed with horses.  I bet he was delighted to be on Broadway  (his second time, the first in 1973 in Full Circle with Bibi Anderson). and this was the first time I bought an issue of The New York Times just to get some articles! You can see Nimoy’s passion for the theater, and his regrets that he didn’t come to Broadway sooner.

My Mom and two of her friends went to NYC  later that year and saw the show!  Why oh why didn’t she take me with her?   (It’s okay Mom, I’d meet him in 1978!)

Tomorrow: More Equus