It's Palm Sunday! Did You Know the Very First Captain of the USS Enterprise...

...was Jesus Christ?

Jeffrey Hunter as Jesus Christ in King of Kings (1961)

 Jeffrey Hunter as Captain Christopher Pike with Leonard Nimoy as Mr Spock in Star Trek "The Cage" (1964)

Here's"six degrees of separation" trivia in only five degrees:

• John Huston, who later did a prequel movie, The Bible: In the Beginning, directed Moby Dick, using a screenplay adapted by Ray Bradbury from the Herman Melville novel.
• Ray Bradbury wrote the voiceovers in King of Kings spoken by Orson Welles.
• Welles' The Shadow and Mercury Theatre radio series co-star Agnes Moorehead served as dialogue coach to  Jeffrey Hunter (Jesus Christ) in King of Kings.
• Jeffrey Hunter later played Christopher Pike, the first captain of the Starship Enterprise in the pilot episode of Star Trek, "The Cage".
• Star Trek did an episode, "Bread and Circuses", about a planet where parallel evolution produced a society that resembled a 20th Century version of the Roman Empire, complete with it's own "Christians" and Jesus Christ (who doesn't appear on-camera, but is mentioned in dialogue)!

Friday Fun THE VIDEO VERSIONS OF "ARENA"

"Arena" by Fredric Brown (See HERE and HERE) was adapted (sort of) twice for TV...

...first, in 1964, on The Outer Limits as "Fun and Games", starring Nick Adams.

There are a number of differences between the story and the episode, including a pair of new characters, a woman with a hidden past who works with the hero and a mate for the alien...whom the alien himself kills!
(Talk about "battle of the sexes)!

A year later the story was reused, on Classic Star Trek as "Arena"...

...except it wasn't...exactly.

Gene Roddenberry's right hand man, producer Gene Coon, had submitted a story about Capt. Kirk fighting an alien starship's commander in hand-to-claw combat to see whose ship would survive.

When the story was fact-checked, it was discovered that Coon had inadvertently-used numerous elements from Brown's story, which Gene had probably read years earlier!
Since the episode was already in the production cycle, "Arena" author Fredric Brown was contacted, and he agreed to allow "Arena" to be adapted again...not knowing the episode was already written.
Since the OL and ST episodes are sufficiently-different (and titled differently), many in the 1960s never realized...or noticed...the "Based on a story by Fredric Brown" credit!

Friday Fun Extra: Kirk (William Shatner) and the Gorn (not the stuntman from the 1960s!) meet again in hand-to-claw combat...

...to promote a video game based on the reboot Kelvin Universe Star Trek!

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Reading Room WORLDS UNKNOWN "Arena" Conclusion

When Last We Left Our Hero...

Carson, a space fighter pilot on station at the edge of the solar system intercepts an alien ship, but before he or the intruder can fire, they are both teleported from their ships to a planetoid, where unarmed, they face each other.
A voice explains to the two combatants that they must fight to the death to decide the conflict, thus avoiding the mass destruction to both sides that a full-scale war would cause.
A force field separates the combatants, but they are told they can utilize the materials at hand to create weapons.
The opponents discover they can't pentrate the force field, but inanimate objects can!
They throw rocks at each other, but rocks alone won't provide a victory for either side...or will they?

This extremely-faithful adaptation of Fredric Brown's short story was created by writer Gerry Conway, penciler John Buscema, and inker Dick Giordano.
Be here tomorrow when we take a look at some less-accurate, but far more famous adaptations!

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From These Ashes

Complete Short SF of Fredric Brown

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Reading Room WORLDS UNKNOWN "Arena" Part 1

It's the sci-fi novella so nice, TV adapted it twice...

...first on Outer Limits, then, two years later, on Classic Star Trek!

Will human ingenuity, cunning, and strength triumph?

Or will the alien win?

Be here THURSDAY for the answer!

This extremely-faithful adaptation was created by writer Gerry Conway, penciler John Buscema, and inker Dick Giordano.

The Fredric Brown-penned short story it's based on first appeared in Street & Smith's Astounding Science Fiction (June, 1944) pulp magazine.

The tale was voted one of the Top 20 Science Fiction Stories before 1965 by the Science Fiction Writers Association and included in the must-have (if you're a serious sci-fi fan) anthology... 

...which is still in print.
(Note: this is the dust jacket/cover of the hardcover 1st edition, one of the coolest and most effective cover designs ever, IMHO of course, and a proud part of my personal collection!)

You can read the taut tale of terror online HERE.
Feel free to compare to the comic.

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From These Ashes

Complete Short SF of Fredric Brown

(Including "Arena")

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Good Friday Fun: Did You Know the First Captain of the USS Enterprise...

...was Jesus Christ?

Jeffrey Hunter as Jesus Christ in King of Kings (1961)

 Jeffrey Hunter as Captain Christopher Pike with Leonard Nimoy as Mr Spock in Star Trek "The Cage" (1964)

Here's"six degrees of separation" trivia...
...in only five degrees:

• John Huston, who later did a prequel movie, The Bible: In the Beginning, directed Moby Dick, using a screenplay adapted by Ray (Martian Chronicles) Bradbury from the Herman Melville novel.
• Ray Bradbury wrote the voiceovers in King of Kings spoken by Orson Welles.
• Orson Welles' The Shadow and Mercury Theatre co-star Agnes Moorehead served as dialogue coach to  Jeffrey Hunter (Jesus Christ) in King of Kings.
• Jeffrey Hunter later played Christopher Pike, the first captain of the Starship Enterprise in the pilot episode of Star Trek, "The Cage".
• Star Trek did an episode, "Bread and Circuses", about a planet where parallel evolution produced a society that resembled a 20th Century version of the Roman Empire, complete with it's own "Christians" and Jesus Christ (who doesn't appear on-camera, but is mentioned in dialogue)!

Did You Know the First Captain of the USS Enterprise...

...was Jesus Christ?

Jeffrey Hunter as Jesus Christ in King of Kings (1961)

 Jeffrey Hunter as Captain Christopher Pike with Leonard Nimoy as Mr Spock in Star Trek "The Cage" (1964)
Here's"six degrees of separation" trivia in only five degrees:

• John Huston, who later did a prequel movie, The Bible: In the Beginning, directed Moby Dick, using a screenplay adapted by Ray Bradbury from the Herman Melville novel.
• Ray Bradbury wrote the voiceovers in King of Kings spoken by Orson Welles.
• Welles' The Shadow and Mercury Theatre co-star Agnes Moorehead served as dialogue coach to  Jeffrey Hunter (Jesus Christ) in King of Kings.
• Jeffrey Hunter later played Christopher Pike, the first captain of the Starship Enterprise in the pilot episode of Star Trek, "The Cage".
• Star Trek did an episode, "Bread and Circuses", about a planet where parallel evolution produced a society that resembled a 20th Century version of the Roman Empire, complete with it's own "Christians" and Jesus Christ (who doesn't appear on-camera, but is mentioned in dialogue)!

CoronaVirus Comics THE GREAT TRICORDER CONTEST!

We showed you this amazing tale of past and present  Star Trek doctors fighting a disease...

...HERE and HERE, but we didn't answer the question...WHY?

Why do a stand-alone story about the medical personnel of the various (pre-CBS All-Access) series solving a medical mystery?

It turns out, a company called "Qualcomm" (in conjunction with Paramount) was behind it!

Why?

This will explain it...

Even those who didn't have a degree in medicine or electronics could participate...

If you keyboard "tricorderfederation.org" site, you find this!

And, it appears that, in 2017, someone did win the competition!

However, three years later, despite much publicity, there's still no tricorder, even in beta!

Pity.

We sure could use it during this pandemic, eh?

TREK AGAINST TRUMP

Star Trek has always offered a positive vision of the future, a vision of hope and optimism, and most importantly, a vision of inclusion, where people of all races are accorded equal respect and dignity, where individual beliefs and lifestyles are respected so long as they pose no threat to others.

We cannot turn our backs on what is happening in the upcoming election.

Never has there been a presidential candidate who stands in such complete opposition to the ideals of the Star Trek universe as Donald Trump...more HERE.

Fifty Years Ago...the Final Frontier!

The Fall 1966 TV season was a landmark for TV sci-fi/fantasy!

There were at least two series every night in Prime Time (sometimes opposite each other, which in those pre-DVR days drove us NUTS)!

(NO Internet! NO YouTube! NO Streaming Video! NO DVD/Blu Rays! Not even VHS Tapes!)

But, every night, after dinner (and presuming you finished your homework)...

Spies!

Super-Heroes!

Comedies with monsters/witches/genies/time-traveling astronauts, etc!

Straight sci-fi with The Invaders, and three Irwin Allen series (Voyage to the Bottom of the Sea, Lost in Space, and Time Tunnel!

And, of course, the greatest of all...

Original 1966 NBC promo poster. Art by James (Doc Savage) Bama!

It was an amazing time to be eight years old!
Even though my family had two huge 13" TVs, both of them were b/w, so I didn't see all this stuff in color until the '70 when my dad finally got a color set!
(Some, like Captain Nice, I didn't see in color until VHS and DVD copies were available!)
But even in monochrome, those shows enthralled me.
So, tonite, I'm settling down in front of the tube (a 50-inch flat-screen) with my own mini-marathon of 50-year old sci-fi!
Batman "Shoot a Crooked Arrow" (which, technically, aired on Sept. 7) & "Walk the Straight and Narrow"
Star Trek "The Man Trap"
(Bewitched and Jericho [A spy series set in World War II Europe] also ran on Thursdays, but didn't begin their season until Sept 15th!)

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Fantastic Television

Nichelle Nichols by Francesco Francavilla

Do I need an excuse to run a magnificent illo like this?

Check out more work by the amazing Francesco Francavilla HERE!

RAUMPATROUILLE "Angriff aus dem All" (Attack from Outer Space)

Let's kick the tires and light the fires...

...as we present the first episode of Space Patrol!
(BTW, it's the third tv series to use the name, after the 1950s American broadcast-live show and the early 1960s British puppet series.)

Meet Commander McLane and his rowdy "gang" (as their commanding officer refers to them), learn why they're being disciplined (again), and see why, despite various infractions against both civilian and military authorities, they're not doing life sentences in an interplanetary brig.

Also witness the introduction of the series' main villains, "Frogs", sentient energy beings who want to conquer the universe.

There's a lot to cover, so click on the screen and dive in...

(Note: It's German with English subtitles.

I've tried to set them up before creating the link, but you may have to click on the "gear" icon to implement them manually.)

Arena by Fredric Brown

"Arena" by Fredric Brown was adapted (sort of) twice for TV...

...first, in 1964, on the Outer Limits as "Fun and Games", starring Nick Adams.

You'll note a number of differences between the story and the episode, including a pair of new characters, a mate for the alien, and a woman with a hidden past who works with the hero!

A year later the story was reused, on Classic Star Trek as "Arena"...

...except it wasn't...exactly.

Gene Roddenberry's right hand man, producer Gene Coon, had submitted a story about Capt. Kirk fighting an alien starship commander to see whose ship would survive.

When the story was fact-checked, it was discovered that Coon had inadvertantly used numerous elements from Brown's story, which Gene had probably read years earlier!

Nichelle Nichols is Still Going Strong!

Heard that our favorite communications officer/space chantuse is under the weather...

...but, according to Entertainment Weekly, it was a mild stroke and she's recovering with just a little imparement to movement on her right side.

Hey, she's 82 and in better shape than a lot of women decades younger than her!

Arlene Martel (Sax) 1936-2014

It took an article in the NY Times for me to learn Arlene Martel had passed away.

She wasn't a household name, like Robin Williams or Lauren Bacall, but to several generations of sci-fi fans she was...

...the smiling woman who ominously-intoned "Room for one more, honey." in the nightmares of a hysterical woman in the classic Twilight Zone ep "Twenty-Two".

...an innocent woman caught in a battle inside a deserted building between a time-traveler from the future and aliens determined to kill him and destroy the secret that would save humanity in the equally-classic Outer Limits episode "Demon with a Glass Hand"...

...and, most memorably, T'Pring, the Bride of Spock in the (I hate to use the word, but it does apply) classic Star Trek ep "Amok Time"!

Besides appearances on other genre shows like Man from U.N.C.L.E., Wild Wild West, and Battlestar Galactica, she also appeared in comedies, Westerns, and crime shows, and was still working on-and-off in movies and tv until her passing.

Happy Birthday to the REAL Captain Kirk!

Chris Pine is a decent replacement, but...

...as Sean Connery IS the one, true James Bond, William Shatner IS Captain James T Kirk!

If any proof be needed...

BTW, Trivia Point: The photo above features Captain Kirk vs...Captain Midnight!
Richard Webb (Finney in "Court Martial" was tv's Captain Midnight in the 1950s)

Obama...Uhura, Uhura...Obama!

You may agree (or disagree) with his politics...

...but you gotta admit, Barack Obama's got good taste when it comes to women and tv shows!

Read all about it HERE!

Is it just me or is this the happiest President Obama's looked in a long time?

Ralph McQuarrie (June 13, 1929 - March 3, 2012)

From Star Wars to BattleStar Galactica to Star Trek, among many others...

Star Wars

 Ralph McQuarrie envisioned worlds beyond belief for two generations of movie and tv sf/fantasy fans.

BattleStar Galactica

Star Trek: Planet of the Titans (1976, unproduced)

"Where No Man has Gone Before" 2.0

The adventures of the Starship Enterprise continue with the new cast from the film...

Click on the art to enlarge

...as they embark on missions that re-imagine select stories from the original television series, along with new threats and characters never seen before.

Now, compare that to the original version of (most) of the same sequence...

Note the differences due to the altered timeline.
Spock doesn't play chess with Kirk.
Gary Mitchell bitching about being back-up to "Sulu and the Russian kid". (Sulu was ship's physicist and Chekov wasn't even aboard in the original ep.)
Makes me wonder how they're going to handle the inevitable encounter on Talos IV (which never happened in the movie-Trek universe)