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An unproduced story from the classic TV show has become the subject of a long-running legal battle.
For "Star Trek" fans, it was like finding a lost Shakespeare play -- only to have it snatched away by the playwright's heirs.
Last fall, an unused script for the cult 1960s TV show turned up after being forgotten for years. Its author, science-fiction writer Norman Spinrad, announced that it would become an episode of a popular Web series, "Star Trek New Voyages: Phase II," which features amateur actors in the classic roles of Capt. James T. Kirk, Mr. Spock and other crew members of the starship Enterprise.
But then another player stepped in: CBS, which said it owned the script and blocked a planned Web production of it. Trekkies were appalled.
"These executives should be phasered on heavy stun," said Harmon Fields of New York, who called himself "a 'Star Trek' fan of galactic proportions."
At issue is the extent to which fans can participate in a franchise that has yielded more than $4 billion in merchandising as well as 11 feature-length movies that have grossed about $1.5 billion.
The story begins in 1967, after Spinrad wrote an acclaimed episode of the original series, "The Doomsday Machine."
"I did 'The Doomsday Machine' fast," Spinrad, 71, said, "and then they said: 'We're in a hole. Can you write something in four days?'"
The result was "He Walked Among Us," which the producers envisioned as a dramatic vehicle for comedian Milton Berle. His character is a well-meaning but messianic sociologist whose conduct threatens to destroy the planet Jugal. The crew of the Enterprise must remove him without disrupting the normal development of the culture.
Spinrad was paid about $5,000. Then, he said, producer Gene Coon "rewrote it into an unfunny comedy," and at his insistence, executive producer and creator Gene Roddenberry killed the project.
Dorothy Fontana, a former "Star Trek" story editor, said, "I do remember both Genes saying, 'It's not working.'"
Spinrad soon donated his sole copy of "He Walked Among Us" with other papers to California State University, Fullerton. With several other drafts of the script, it lay in the archives for decades. Sharon Perry, the university's archivist and special collections librarian, said she had received only one inquiry about "He Walked Among Us" in her 27 years there.
But in October, at the annual New York City Collectible Paperback and Pulp Fiction Expo, a man seeking Spinrad's autograph showed up with a copy of the script, which he said he found at another convention. A few months later, Spinrad began selling the script on Amazon.com and Barnes and Noble's website, and the producers of "Star Trek New Voyages: Phase II" learned of it.
Based in Ticonderoga, N.Y., "Phase II" is one of numerous fan-generated "Star Trek" Internet series. It's distinguished by its fidelity to the original's sets, costumes, props, music and other elements, as well as appearances by original cast members and new stories by writers such as Fontana.
Over the years, CBS gained the TV, online and merchandising rights to "Star Trek." But because the "Phase II" cast and crew make no money from their work, the network usually allows them to indulge their hobby.
Around the time Spinrad offered "He Walked Among Us" online, he arranged with "Phase II" senior executive producer James Cawley to film it. The writer said he planned to direct the episode next fall.
But this month, Cawley said, CBS asked him to cease and desist. CBS also contacted Spinrad, who withdrew "He Walked Among Us" from the Internet.
"We fully appreciate and respect the passion and creativity of the 'Star Trek' fan and creative communities," CBS said. "This is simply a case of protecting our copyrighted material, and the situation has been amicably resolved."
Fans pointed out that "Phase II" has already produced an unused script, by David Gerrold, the author of the humorous 1967 "Star Trek" episode "The Trouble With Tribbles." In 1987, his "Blood and Fire" was shelved by "Star Trek: The Next Generation"; he reworked and directed it for "Phase II" in 2007 and never heard any objections.
"I don't understand CBS' thinking on this at all," Gerrold said. "They didn't care then. Why do they care now?"
Gerrold predicted a Trekkie backlash.
"'Star Trek' fans," he said, "are not a sleeping dragon that you want to poke."
Source: startribune.com
For "Star Trek" fans, it was like finding a lost Shakespeare play -- only to have it snatched away by the playwright's heirs.
Last fall, an unused script for the cult 1960s TV show turned up after being forgotten for years. Its author, science-fiction writer Norman Spinrad, announced that it would become an episode of a popular Web series, "Star Trek New Voyages: Phase II," which features amateur actors in the classic roles of Capt. James T. Kirk, Mr. Spock and other crew members of the starship Enterprise.
But then another player stepped in: CBS, which said it owned the script and blocked a planned Web production of it. Trekkies were appalled.
"These executives should be phasered on heavy stun," said Harmon Fields of New York, who called himself "a 'Star Trek' fan of galactic proportions."
At issue is the extent to which fans can participate in a franchise that has yielded more than $4 billion in merchandising as well as 11 feature-length movies that have grossed about $1.5 billion.
The story begins in 1967, after Spinrad wrote an acclaimed episode of the original series, "The Doomsday Machine."
"I did 'The Doomsday Machine' fast," Spinrad, 71, said, "and then they said: 'We're in a hole. Can you write something in four days?'"
The result was "He Walked Among Us," which the producers envisioned as a dramatic vehicle for comedian Milton Berle. His character is a well-meaning but messianic sociologist whose conduct threatens to destroy the planet Jugal. The crew of the Enterprise must remove him without disrupting the normal development of the culture.
Spinrad was paid about $5,000. Then, he said, producer Gene Coon "rewrote it into an unfunny comedy," and at his insistence, executive producer and creator Gene Roddenberry killed the project.
Dorothy Fontana, a former "Star Trek" story editor, said, "I do remember both Genes saying, 'It's not working.'"
Spinrad soon donated his sole copy of "He Walked Among Us" with other papers to California State University, Fullerton. With several other drafts of the script, it lay in the archives for decades. Sharon Perry, the university's archivist and special collections librarian, said she had received only one inquiry about "He Walked Among Us" in her 27 years there.
But in October, at the annual New York City Collectible Paperback and Pulp Fiction Expo, a man seeking Spinrad's autograph showed up with a copy of the script, which he said he found at another convention. A few months later, Spinrad began selling the script on Amazon.com and Barnes and Noble's website, and the producers of "Star Trek New Voyages: Phase II" learned of it.
Based in Ticonderoga, N.Y., "Phase II" is one of numerous fan-generated "Star Trek" Internet series. It's distinguished by its fidelity to the original's sets, costumes, props, music and other elements, as well as appearances by original cast members and new stories by writers such as Fontana.
Over the years, CBS gained the TV, online and merchandising rights to "Star Trek." But because the "Phase II" cast and crew make no money from their work, the network usually allows them to indulge their hobby.
Around the time Spinrad offered "He Walked Among Us" online, he arranged with "Phase II" senior executive producer James Cawley to film it. The writer said he planned to direct the episode next fall.
But this month, Cawley said, CBS asked him to cease and desist. CBS also contacted Spinrad, who withdrew "He Walked Among Us" from the Internet.
"We fully appreciate and respect the passion and creativity of the 'Star Trek' fan and creative communities," CBS said. "This is simply a case of protecting our copyrighted material, and the situation has been amicably resolved."
Fans pointed out that "Phase II" has already produced an unused script, by David Gerrold, the author of the humorous 1967 "Star Trek" episode "The Trouble With Tribbles." In 1987, his "Blood and Fire" was shelved by "Star Trek: The Next Generation"; he reworked and directed it for "Phase II" in 2007 and never heard any objections.
"I don't understand CBS' thinking on this at all," Gerrold said. "They didn't care then. Why do they care now?"
Gerrold predicted a Trekkie backlash.
"'Star Trek' fans," he said, "are not a sleeping dragon that you want to poke."
Source: startribune.com