Star Trek cast on Tom Snyder's Tomorrow, 1976, Part 4

[BlakeMason2]

Tom Snyder was hilarious! At least Walter made it onto B5 which was one of my very favorite Scifi shows ever. TNT really effed that one up at the end too. Another ratings flop.

[cromwellian13]

Ellison needs to bring back the purple suit

[tvTrequer]

this video is pure gold

[Crazydog7]

Someone hit Captain Kirk with a pie? God bless you whoever you were.

[Stormin1775]

Ellison was, is, and will always be a dickhead.

[divisioneight]

Isn't in interesting how intelligent this conversation is. Can anything that Oprah, Letterman and any other can compare with the honest and thoughtful conversations here? Actors certainly were better spoken of back then. Now it's giggles, and silly words.

[SophiesMinion]

Harlan Ellison!!!

[NOweWONT]

D. Kelley is just chain-smoking around these poor bastards throughout the whole show.

[happosai27]

lol the hair

[Robfoxman]

in 30 years they would say the same about our fashion

[marysueeasteregg]

I wonder if Ellison, who complains (with some

justification) that Trek producers failed to deal

with "the human heart in conflict with itself" &

always made the characters heroes, admires

Battlestar Galactica, with its deeply flawed characters & dark plot? I LOVE TOS, I grew up with it & have a profound affection for its characters. But BSG is an artistic masterpiece in comparison. As Koenig points out in part V here, TOS is/was a departure point. BSG couldn't be done back then.

[Rbatty2]

Harlan is a huge fan of the new Battlestar Galactica. He proudly gave an award to Ronald D. Moore for the show at I believe a science fiction awards show.

[pyromaniacchica]

I love how open and honest they are. That would never be allowed on the air now days if they were sitting there bashing studio execs in that way. There would have to be apologies galore.

[whiteraven101]

I agree. They wouldn't really be aloud and in a way thats kinda stupid because I think actors and producers should be that honest. But I really love what Deforest says in all these segments. He really was a smart and wonderful man. R.I.P De!!!!

[italobambino43]

Check out Snyder! Holding the cigarette like a joint, you don't see anyone smoking now on TV, oh excuse me, Digivision!.

[ancalites]

love their outfits

the 70's was great

[JMKRATOCHVIL]

Harlan Ellison is a fantastic writer.. no question.. but he's a rude, egotistical, arrogant asshole.. Roddenberry changed his screenplay, and with good reason. Ellison originally had a member of the Enterprise using and pushing drugs, to which Roddenberry objected... the crewmember then beamed down to the planet and changed history in the same way that McCoy did with the ACCIDENTAL overdose of cordrazine. Ellison considers his work beyond reproach.. he's a jerk.. a loudmouth jerk..

[liquidgee13]

I agree with you completely regarding Ellison's aptitudes and attitudes. While I don't agree with Hollywood whack jobs I wish Ellison would invest some of his own hard earned and well deserved money and produce a piece that he wants just the way he wants ... I'd like to see how it goes but at lease it'd be to his satisfaction.

[garyeberly916]

Agreed, and to not talk to Roddenberry for years afterwards, jeez..

[JMKRATOCHVIL]

Harlan Ellison's remark about Roddenberry "mucking up" his script from "City on the Edge..", was based upon Roddenberry's objection to having a crew member on the Enterprise pushing drugs to other crew members. The episode would have progressed with the crewmember beaming down to the planet and doing what Dr. McCoy did (change history).. Ellison is a great writer.. but he's a schmuck.. an ignorant, rude asshole.. Roddenberry was correct in changing the script.. it worked well.

[invincibleironman3]

Ellison also made the unfortunate error of grabbing a woman's breast at a SF show, too (u can include sexual harrassment in his hit list). He sued Cameron over the Soldier episode that was used in Terminator...but it seems as if he was genuinely jealous of the "Star Trek phenomenom" which was undermined by Star Wars..i dont think he thought true SF was appreciated or done well

[DavidYakima]

Tom interviewed Harlan on CNBC back in the early '90's... They talked a little bit about "City on the Edge of Forever", but he was there to tout a story he wrote for Popular Science...I forgot the issue, but I have a copy of it somewhere in my stuff...

[wdc2998]

Al Schuster looks like Mirror Spock

[katmatally]

Except he has a wayyyy stupider haircut

[Captmiloman]

All that cigarette smoke made me want to light up as I'm typing this.

[hcvang]

Didn't even notice the smoking, until I read your comment.

[equandodominatio]

harlan, you know full well that there were no humans at the dawn of time too. so throw some damn mayans in it.

[garyeberly916]

ROTFL

[joeydb1]

Ellison was hilarious. "A nut chasing a big fish", for Moby Dick I assume -- very funny.

[fgldnglbs]

Between his experiences on "Star Trek,"The Starlost," and maybe some others I forgot, I thought of Harlan Ellison as "the man who came back for more." That's holding up a mirror!

Over the years, SF shows have been becoming what Ellison wanted, especially with shows like the current Battlestar Galactica and Lost. This could only happen after genres like police(Hill Street, NYPD Blue) and medical(St. Elsewhere, ER) were built around more fleshed out characters than those in Star Trek's time.

[marysueeasteregg]

Exactly (re your point about Lost and Battlestar

Galactica). Ellison's wish was unrealistic for

the times. Even today BSG, which fulfills his

dream of a vehicle which explores "the human heart in conflict with itself" as well as *any*

show (not just SF) I've ever seen, was kept on

CABLE. The creators knew playing it on net-

work would lead to artistic compromises (or

cancellation). Had Star Trek been like that back in the '60s, it would have been lucky to last 3 episodes instead of 3 yrs.

[memoryiotia]

Interesting Note: Variety announced yesterday that Harlan Ellison is suing Paramount merchandising and publishing royalties for his lone Trek episode, "The City on the Edge of Forever" which of, of course, he discusses a bit in this interview.

[Voolu]

Thank you so much for posting this interview! This is the first time I think I've ever heard the audience talk honestly about their experiences with the show. They were young enough that it wasn't an irritant, but old enough that they had some experience. The interviews by the time *I* was a kid were more canned. NOTHING like this.

THANKS!!!

[JP5466]

I attended the 1976 Philly convention he mentioned. Now these things are huge!

[tclancy909]

Anyone have info about how to obtain a DVD copy of this 1976 show? Would be great to have . . .

[newt0830]

point to tom - phasers on kill

[thoomolong]

They're just smoking their little hearts out. You wouldn't see that today on a talk show.

[moeskido]

I saw most of this show the first time it ran, during Trek's first wave of popularity.

I miss Snyder.

[verbusen]

Very frank stuff being said here, this is an amazing series of clips. Thanks so much for posting them all!

[TheChronicOne]

Great.