Star Trek: Where no man has gone before

[kingpengvin]

Week Three of the "new Series" Star Trek.
This week's episode Where no Man has gone before
A recap of the rules

1) No one can user later undiscussed episodes.
2) The movies are a no no.
3) Later Star Trek series are out of bounds as well. We'll treat this as Star Trek Year Zero.
4) New Episodes Air Tuesday Nights at 8pm on NBC
5) If you have that Alberta station you may post 1 day early but you must use spoiler boxes.
6) You may treat this as it were the sixties on the grounds that the discussion sticks to the show. Each new episode is a new episode


Ok here we go:

This is obviously the first episode (though one must wonder why show it third) There are some huge changes in the look of the show unless this is supposed to be earlier in the five year mission. Notice there is no voice over in the openeing. Spock looks really weird.

He mentions one of his ancestors was human so he's not a pure Vulcanian. I guess that might effect his character or at least explain why he's on an earth ship. Perhaps his ancestor crashed on Earth and he was raised there.

Kirk seems to be able to always beat him in 3D chess. this is the second mention of that (Charlie X last week showed Spock being beaten by Kirk's illogical moves)

The story was interesting. Kirk's friend becomes godlike and forgets how to be a good human. I like the phaser rifle a nifty and powerful weapon. What I really like is the fact that all the technology is not discussed in great length. It is like the way we used todays devices. I'll say I phoned a freind in Europe but wouldn't go into huge detail about how it worked.

Finally they are exploring. No picking up or dropping off they are traveling outside the galaxy to see what is what.

Why fly into the energy barrier? Fly over it it is just a thin band.

New fact: Kirk's middle initial is R. On the tombstone. I think I also saw the year he was born. Looked like 21 something, anyone else catch that?

Over all not too bad. Kirk's compasion was almost his udoing in this episode.

[The Asbestos Mango]

I thought I saw Spock smiling in this one. I thought Vulcanians weren't supposed to have emotions. What gives? Of course, since this is apparently the first episode being shown out of sequence, maybe the idea wasn't fully developed when they were shooting it.

[Voyager]

Well, the energy barrier is just dumb. The Galaxy certainly doesn't end like that. The band must be the limitations of their special effects - I assume it is a shell, but it's still dumb.

I'm glad they didn't show this one first - the earlier episodes were better. This is too much like an Outer Limits superbeing episode.

I did like the mention of the Academy - it gave Kirk a history, and gave some insight to his personality. I hope we see more of this.

[JThunder]

So, what happened to McCoy? Please don't tell me he's been replaced.

[AHunter3]

I didn't like the way the plot revolved around a character who we haven't seen before and who expires before the final credits. I'm not entirely sure why though. I guess I just didn't like the guy very much. Shoot him with something, quit wasting time! And the girl was a wimp for too long, although she got backbone later on.

I didn't like the uniforms, if that's what they were. I see from what other folks have posted that this one was made earlier? Well, if they ditched these uniforms in favor of the ones we've seen so far, good choice.

The whole "wall at the end of the galaxy" thing annoyed me to no end. Really really bad science fiction. I call foul.

[Teelo]

I'm sorry but, what the heck are you people talking about? :confused:

(Explain it to me like I don't speak english very well)

[Walloon]

How do we know that this week's episode was filmed earlier than the other two that have been shown? I mean, I know the uniforms and the medical officer are different, but maybe the producers just didn't like how they were before and changed them for the third episode.

Anyway, very good performances from the guest stars, Sally Kellerman and Gary Lockwood, catching the profound effect of their circumstances, and their mental isolation from other humans.

I'm so glad to see science fiction aimed at an adult intelligence on television, after all the cheap kiddy stuff in the 1950s. The Outer Limits was a step in the right direction, although it was an anthology without sustained characters. Let's hope they don't drop the ball on this one (no pun on Desilu intended).

[blowero]

Sally Kellerman's pretty hot. Think she might appear nude in a movie some day?

[Mister Rik]

I'm sorry but, what the heck are you people talking about?

I second that question...

[kingpengvin]

We are doing a discussion of Star Trek. The episode in question is "Where No Man has Gone before."

You are welcome to discuss as long as you try to follow the rules of the OP.

[Cliffy]

I thought this an interesting episode. I suppose we've seen people becoming godlike before (last week with Charlie, in fact), but you really felt the difficulty Kirk had in bringing himself to fight his friend. Spock was kind of creepier in this episode; I hope he returns to his usual more taciturn self. Kellerman's a good actress; I also liked the idea that this crew is so big that it isn't surprising to see a new face from time to time.

--Cliffy

[zev_steinhardt]

Interesting concept for a show. However, I hope the show's creators don't overdo it with the "godlike" beings. I mean, imagine if there was one who just toyed with the Enterprise crew as if he was a child, or just a bothersome nuisance... :D

Zev Steinhardt

[bup]

Spock called Kirk "Jim" and that was jarring. I agree - if this wasn't an episode shown out of order, I don't like the direction - everything seemed off. If this *was* an earlier episode shown out of order, maybe they should have gone through one more rewrite and refilmed it, or just scrapped it.

Thumbs down.

[Jonathan Chance]

Interesting concept for a show. However, I hope the show's creators don't overdo it with the "godlike" beings. I mean, imagine if there was one who just toyed with the Enterprise crew as if he was a child, or just a bothersome nuisance... :D

Zev Steinhardt

Yeah, this is what makes me doubtful. We're looking at three episodes and two of them concern the captain trying to cope with humans who have been adapted to have enormous God-like powers.

What? They couldn't come up with more than two plots for the first three episodes? This better not come back again.

[athelas]

Over the winter break, I was able to get my hands on six episodes of Babylon 5 - from "Legacies" to "Chrysalis". This was my first exposure to the series, my previous plan of videotaping the reruns on Scifi having fallen through. I have a few questions about these episodes, but first off, I'd better say that I really enjoyed five out of the six ones that I saw (Legacies was, I thought, a bit weak) and that these are more inquiries than criticisms.

Tech'n'stuff

1) Babylon 5 rotates to create gravity, and it apparantly does so at a quite-rapid rate. Current projections for rotating space stations require them to be at least a kilometer wide to prevent dizziness from the inner ear "sensing" the rotation. Is there som mention of this difficulty in the series?

2) Starfuries are launched using the stations rotation to get them going (nice idea, btw). However, in the launching sequence, we see them going one after another, several seconds apart. Does that mean that they go out in an arc?

3) What do PPGs fire?

4) C&C does not appear to rotate, as evidenced by the viewscreen showing still stars. How do they stay on the ground, then? Magnetic boots?

Other stuff

1) Does the CGI improve as time goes on? The stuff in Chrysalis was amazing (for the time), but some, especially in "Legacies", is rather awkward.

2) More importantly, does the scoring change? The greatest annoyance with watching these episodes was that the music is practically always an electronic-sounding series of tones, without any complexity that one gets from instruments, rhythmical rather than melodic. Is there any orchestral-style scoring for later seasons?

3) Does anyone else think that Sinclair has a distinct resemblance to a certain presidential candidate?

A Voice in the Wilderness

1) How did Sinclair know that the missiles wouldn't hit him as he descended into the crevice, where covering fire was unavailable?

2) Wasn't there any sort of evacuation of the outer levels before the battle? One would think that that would greatly reduce casualties

Babylon Squared

1) It was stated that it takes several hours to get to B4 in realspace, and that a few rounds were needed to evacuate everyone. Garibaldi was overseeing the evacuation at the time, but what was Sinclair doing? Asking Zathras some more questions? Talking about socks?

Chrysalis

1) Wow.

2) It seems that the story of a malfunction aboard EF1 will be told to the public at home. How, then, will they explain the jamming of the gold channels? That should be noticable to a few outside the government.

3) If Garibaldi was wounded on the back, why did they flip him over so that the wound was against the bed?

4) What does G'kar know about the attackers?

[athelas]

Crap. Meant to start new thread. Ignore the previous post.

[Voyager]

I figured that this was the pilot because the picture that TV Guide used for the Fall Preview issue bit on Star Trek had Kirk and Spock with the phaser rifle. They usually take those pictures from the first episode, since the others aren't ready yet.

I didn't see the thread on Charlie X, but I liked that show. It is an old universe, and even the future in Star Trek is but a few hundred years from today, so it makes sense that there are old very advanced races around. They needed to have a human as a point of contact in the show. This one, with Gary Lockwood (who was the star of the old Roddenberry show The Lieutenant, by the way) becoming a superman is far less original.

[JThunder]

I like the idea of having an astrophysicist on staff. It just makes darned good sense, especially since that Vulcanian guy shouldn't be the resident expert on all things scientific. And making the astrophysicist an Asian guy was a great victory for multiculturalism!

Here's hoping that they keep him around.

[NoClueBoy]

I don't know...

I saw the TV Guide write up about this new show idea and thought it might be a lot of fun, but seeing that much gratuitous violence on prime time NBC... Well, I may just have to fire of a letter of complaint.

With those misgivings out of the way, let me say how happy I am to see a serious look at life in the future. I would love to see whatever writer's guide they may have. Because there seems to be a heck of a lot of untold back story to the major characters. I remember seeing some of Rodenberry's earlier stuff (mostly cop shows), and he seems to like having well developed characters.

Yeah, that Glactic Barrier was kind of silly, but how else would anyone show what fictional space oddities might look like? Special effects are very time consuming and thus very expensive.

My youngest boy, Stevie, seems to have developed a fixation on that devil eared Vulcanian. Not sure how I feel about that.

Oh yeah, did anyone else see that super funny Alka Seltzer commercial? Hoo boy, those guys is funny!

[thwartme]

On it's own, the episode was fun. But it did seem a little odd to have two episodes in a row about humans who can't deal with their new god-like powers. Hopefully we'll see a little more variation than this in future episodes...

Whatever order these episodes were shot in, it would have been nice if they'd at least acknowledged the similarities. You know..."Be careful how you deal with Charlie, Captain. Remember what happened with Gary Mitchell." Maybe it's good they didn't do that, if they're showing them out of sequence.

What's cool is that both episodes didn't show the afflicted folks simply going on a rampage. They took some time to explore the human elements of what happened to them. And both figures, ultimately, couldn't be saved. That's a change from most TV.

So... what year is the show set in? I think this was the first referrence to any kind of time frame. They mentioned that the previous vessel to try and cross the barrier went missing over two centuries earlier. Given that the Russians and the Americans are still unable to even make it to the moon, I'd guess we're looking at no less then 100 years before we get to even that first ship... so some time in the late 23rd century? Anybody spot any other referrences?

thwartme

[Walloon]

Given that the Russians and the Americans are still unable to even make it to the moon, I'd guess we're looking at no less then 100 years before we get to even that first ship.Where you been, bro? The Russian spacecraft Luna 9 (http://nssdc.gsfc.nasa.gov/database/MasterCatalog?sc=1966-006A) became the first spacecraft to soft-land on the moon, on February 3, 1966 — eight months ago.

[thwartme]

Sorry Walloon , I guess I should have specified that I meant people, not just 'spacecraft'.

Russian's are people too right? I've been watching American TV lately, and I'm not sure...


thwartme

[Walloon]

Russian's what?

[Bryan Ekers]

And making the astrophysicist an Asian guy was a great victory for multiculturalism!

Here's hoping that they keep him around.

Actually, I liked his little speech about starting with a penny, doubling it every day, and in a month you'd be a millionaire. It's realistic that people in the future still use money. I've read sci-fi stories about future societies that didn't use money because humanity had developed some vaguely-defined sense of nobility or something, and that's just stooopid.

So, what do you suppose Kirk's middle name is? We now know it starts with "R".

[The Hamster King]

Russian's are people too right?


You know, I just realized while it's supposed to be an international crew there aren't any Russians on board. I mean they've got that Chinese guy, and the Scottish guy, and they even have that Colored gal, you'd think they'd have a Russian. Particularly with Sputnik and all.

Maybe the Cold War is still going on! It would be cool if they met up with a spaceship full of Russians and things got all tense, like there was going to be a showdown or something ... .

[Sir Rhosis]

R is for Rudolph...

Yes, this is the first one because Gene Robbinderry showed it in Cleveland at the big Scientifiction gathering over Labor Day weekend (or maybe it was Memorial Day--I forget). He also showed a black and white one that was made even earlier, and it had Spock and Jeffery Hunter as Captain Peck, not Wm Shatner as Capt. Kirk.

R is for Robbinderry!

Sir Rhosis

[Ephemera]

Rudolph is too pedestrian. Someone like the captain of a spaceship needs a really powerful name. Something regal. Like a Roman Emperor! Maybe Romulus?

[Bryan Ekers]

Jeffery Hunter as Captain Peck

Heh-heh, hunt and peck...

[Sir Rhosis]

Rudolph is too pedestrian. Someone like the captain of a spaceship needs a really powerful name. Something regal. Like a Roman Emperor! Maybe Romulus?

No, Assiron, you must be forgetting. Rudolph can fly, he is not a pedestrian.

Sir Rhosis






oh, okay... :D

[JThunder]

I mean they've got that Chinese guy...
I don't think he's Chinese. He was referred to as "Astrophysicist Sulu," which isn't a Chinese name. I'd say that he's Japanese, except that they don't have the "l" sound in their syllabary.

My encyclopedia says that "Sulu" is an island in the Philippines, but I don't think it's a Filipino name.

Anyway, unless they make this guy a recurring character, we may never know for sure.

[ouryL]

Gosh Darn!! Those pants on Gary Conway were obscenely tight!! I had to hold my hand across the Mrs. eyes!!

[Sam Stone]

Boy I hope their collars get even bigger. Bigger collars are cool.

[Peter Morris]

The thing that got me was how come they called it "Where No Man has gone before"

They were following where another ship had already been, weren't they?

[Walloon]

Yes, this is the first one because Gene Robbinderry showed it in Cleveland at the big Scientifiction gathering over Labor Day weekend (or maybe it was Memorial Day--I forget).This did not happen in 1966. You can't make up events.

[Ephemera]

Um, yes it did. He stole a copy of Where No Man Has Gone Before from Desilu and flew to Cleveland where he strongarmed Bjo Trimble into showing it for him and then told Isaac Asimov to sit down and shut up while the episode was playing.

I don't feel like googling a cite but it's common fan lore and is repeated in William Shatner's Get a Life!.

[Ephemera]

Okay, strike that. A star+trek+cleveland+ohio+bjo+trimble+gene+roddenberry+isaac +asimov google search brought up this page (http://fanac.org/worldcon/Tricon/w66-rpt.html), which says:

Quoting from a 5/18/66 letter from Bill Thailing, Con Secretary:

"Since four months ago we have been heavily over-programmed and we had to make some cuts."

In no particular order, here are some recollections:

The most memorable thing, in retrospect, is that the STAR TREK TV pilot was previewed at this Con with Gene Roddenberry speaking and taking questions. For the life of me I can't recall whether it was the version before or after Bill Shatner was added to it -- of course the Captain of the Enterprise wasn't an American icon yet, so this may be forgiven..
Even as huge a fan as I am, I wouldn't argue TOS trivia with Sir Rhosis.

[Walloon]

What I am referring to is the showing of both pilots at the convention in 1966. Only one pilot was shown, so ya gotta pick one. Given that Roddenberry would be trying to promote his upcoming show, which would be debuting in a matter of days, it was most likely a Shatner episode.

I do know that Roddenberry later showed his black and white 16mm work print of The Cage at conventions — I was at one of them in the '70s.

[Ephemera]

Quoting from my copy of Get a Life!* :



As legend has it, Gene made good use of his police background that day by jimmying a lock or two and then "borrowing" a seixteen-millimeter print of the pilot "Where No Man Has Gone Before" (at that point the only Star Trek episode completely edited and scored) as well as a print of "The Menagerie" (Star Trek's first pilot, rejected by the network). Making a fast, clean getaway, Gene hopped into his car, sped toward the airport, purchased a first-class ticket to Cleveland, and crashed Tricon's party.

page 33



and



Wrong on both counts. Far from hating "Where No Man Has Gone Before," the audience was enthralled. In fact, the crowd was so thoroughly wrapped up in the film that even now, they sat riveted, silently reading the credit roll. Moments later, as Gene stood alone, pale, beaten, and depressed, the projector clicked off, the houselights rose, and so did the audience. Standing, clapping, stomping their feet, whistling, pounding on the metal chairs, the audience made their true feelings crystal clear. They also demanded more. Though the convention was already running behind schedule, overwhelming audience demand prompted the promoters into screening "The Menagerie" as an extra added attraction.

An hour later, "The Menagerie" proved just as big a hit...

page 39



*Yes, I realize the irony in my quoting this book.

[Walloon]

I was wrong (based on some accounts that mentioned only one pilot). Thanks for the correction, Aesiron.

[Ephemera]

It's no problem.. glad to help.

By the way, rereading my posts, I sound snarky but that wasn't my intent and I apologize if that is how they came across to you.

[rjung]

I just wanted to say the "barrier at the edge of the galaxy" thing really bugged the snot out of me -- both because it meant somebody set up an obstacle around the entire freakin' galaxy, and because it meant the crew can travel to the edge of the galaxy as if it was just toolin' down to the neighborhood soda fountain.

A trip to the edge of the galaxy should be epic stuff, barrier or no barrier. It's the kind of trip you take where you try to find God or something...

[kingpengvin]

I tyhink the title refers to Gary Mitchels change. He is going where No man has gone before. Ok, Charlie had freaky powers too, but couldn't read minds or.... well he wasn't a man just a boy so the title holds.

Did anyone else think the recorder bouy looked like a garbage can?

[BrotherCadfael]

The title -- they use it in the opening voice-over too -- "Where No Man Has Gone Before" is pretty sexist, given this show is supposed to be about an advanced society. Shouldn't they say "Where Nobody Has Gone Before" or something like that?

[Walloon]

What is this word "sexist"?

[NoClueBoy]

What is this word "sexist"?

It's a word a lot of those college women are using. Doesn't mean anything. Just be glad they didn't show any hippies on the spaceship.


As for that Galactic Barrier, I've been thinking... You know how so many of the stories we've al read about the future usually have some sort of galactic empire? Seems like any older galaxy that already has advanced to the point of empire might want to expand to other, less well developed galaxies. Maybe, some amazingly wise and powerful civilisation in our galaxy (or another, benevolent galaxy) put that barrier there for our protection. It could work, right? Really, God forbid if some super powerful aliens from, say, Andromeda were to try and take over our galaxy.

I wonder. Was there anything I may have missed in this show to say how much of the galaxy Man controls? I mean, if we can go all the way to one edge, how far across have we gone? How much do we control?

I'm thinking of starting a fan club.

[Voyager]

I do know that Roddenberry later showed his black and white 16mm work print of The Cage at conventions — I was at one of them in the '70s.
<time warp forward>
Not just at Cons. The Great Bird did a lecture tour at which he showed both the black and white pilot and the blooper reel. I saw him at Illinois somewhere around 1975. He was busy talking up the movie, and I remember him mentioning that one of the suits wanted to replace Shatner with Charlton Heston :eek: for it.

[Walloon]

[sexism: first known use in print, 1970]

[ElvisL1ves]

What is this word "sexist"?
I think it has something to do with that "women's liberation" crap some dykes in Berkeley are yapping about. Looks like this guy Roddenberry isn't having any of that, or he'd show the women crew members with skirts lower than their crotches, and maybe even as senior officers. But all the women this show has are a Negress telephone operator and a hot blonde with a pleated wig serving the Captain his coffee.

Imagine that, women thinking they can do the job just as well as men. Thank God society won't have regressed to that point in just a few centuries.


Gotta do something about those props, though. This ship looks like crayon on cardboard. Maybe they should get the props crew from "Lost in Space" or "Time Tunnel" instead. The scriptwriters too, for that matter.

[Sean Factotum]

It seems that the rifles aren't anymore powerful than the hand phasers we've seen. I wonder what they can do that the hand phasers can't. They do look cool, though, and give the actors a more military look than just quick-drawing the hand phasers would.

And I think that blonde actress was in an episode of "I Spy" earlier this year (March, February?) I remember thinking she and Scotty looked pretty good together.

[kingpengvin]

The title -- they use it in the opening voice-over too -- "Where No Man Has Gone Before" is pretty sexist,

What's wrong with being sexy?

[blowero]

But all the women this show has are a Negress telephone operator...

[We're supposed to be in the 1960's, not the 1860's.]

[Yllaria]

But all the women this show has . . .

This is a whoosh, right? I mean, of course it's a whoosh, but it's a total whoosh, right? The original pilot had a female first officer and that idea was scuttled because it twisted the knickers of the women at the previews. The recurring comment was "who does she think she is?"

Different world.

[ElvisL1ves]

Well, most of us haven't seen the pilot yet, remember? It's only 1966.

blowero, I don't get you - there were no telephones in the 1860's. :)

[Sir Rhosis]

This is a whoosh, right? I mean, of course it's a whoosh, but it's a total whoosh, right? The original pilot had a female first officer and that idea was scuttled because it twisted the knickers of the women at the previews. The recurring comment was "who does she think she is?"

Different world.

2005 speaking: That is GR's version of events.

Desilu Executive Herb Solow (and Robert Justman) revealed in their book that, in truth, the executives felt Majel Barrett (as Number One) was wooden and untalented. Solow tried to sell her as a fresh-faced new talent. They laughed at him and said, "Oh, please save it Herb, it's Roddenberry's girlfriend, you dumb dope."

No test audiences, no hidden agenda against a female character.

Solow says the running bet was to see how soon GR tried to sneak her back onto the show once it went into weekly production. Sure enough she was back, in a blonde wig, as Chapel, early on.

Sir Rhosis

[ElvisL1ves]

Yep, the Enterprise has an operator, a waitress, and a nurse, all respectable occupations for a woman. All the ship needs now is a schoolteacher and a nun.

When men are exploring the stars, women will still know their place, the little darlin's. Gotta be a prime situation for them, all those men on board to pick from, even for the ones who like pointy ears.

[Yllaria]

Thank You, Sir Rhosis. Now I have to ask about the claim that the network was pushing to have characters smoke. Was that overblown as well?

[Ephemera]

I don't remember ever reading about NBC wanting the characters to smoke but I do remember an article where De Kelley was said to have wanted McCoy to smoke "health cigarettes" or something equally schmaltzy but Roddenberry shot him down.

Not sure about the validity of it though.

[Sir Rhosis]

I don't know for sure, but I've heard GR say that he resisted the cig company sponsors' desire for smoking on the show. But, alas, as I grew older, I began to take most of what he said with a grain of salt.

Try www.TrekBBS.com

There are some hardcore fans there that make Aesiron, NoClueBoy and myself look like fresh recruits on day one at the academy.

IRL, Shatner quit smoking during the production of TOS, Doohan quit after his open-heart surgery in 1980 or so, Nimoy quit during the production of "The Voyage Home" in 1986 when he collapsed, out of breath, climbing a flight of stairs. De Kelley smoked until near his death in 1999.

Sir Rhosis

[Voyager]

I don't know for sure, but I've heard GR say that he resisted the cig company sponsors' desire for smoking on the show. But, alas, as I grew older, I began to take most of what he said with a grain of salt.

Sir Rhosis
I don't remember any of these episodes being sponsored in the same way that shows a few years back were sponsored by a single company (with a name in the credits.) I believe that the networks had mostly moved to selling ad time and away from direct sponsorship of shows, so I'd wonder how much power the cigarette companies would have to demand things. The power of fear to remove things or lose the ad time, sure.

[Walloon]

[We're supposed to be in the 1960's, not the 1860's.]I'm old enough to remeber Star Trek the first time around. And in 1966, "Negro" was the preferred term. "Negress" wasn't as common, but was still used by those who thought of themselves as genteel, e.g., headline in the Fond du Lac (Wis.) Reporter from 1966: "Negress Is Approved for District Judge".

"Black" didn't predominate until about 1968.

[kingpengvin]

true. In fact, 1966 is a good time for colour. Coloured TVs Coloured people. You get the idea. Mind you I'm sure in the South there are some who may still use teh term Negress. I can't see why when the term Coloured woman seems so much more progressive.

That aside. It is good to see no one is smoking on the show. Just a dreadful habit. No one really drinking either. kudos! Though the pill popping seems much. Is it wise to give an unconcious man (Even if he is Vulcanian) a pill to revive him?

[blowero]

I'm old enough to remeber Star Trek the first time around. And in 1966, "Negro" was the preferred term. "Negress" wasn't as common, but was still used by those who thought of themselves as genteel, e.g., headline in the Fond du Lac (Wis.) Reporter from 1966: "Negress Is Approved for District Judge".

"Black" didn't predominate until about 1968.
No kidding? Well how about that? I betcha nobody was saying "negress" on the coasts, though. Apparently, some people still say "Oriental" in the midwest, 30 years after they switched to "Asian" on the West Coast.

[blowero]

[ Sorry, I totally broke character there. ]

[Walloon]

No kidding? Well how about that? I betcha nobody was saying "negress" on the coasts, though.Ethel Waters, interviewed by Murrah Schumach in The New York Times, 1964:"I don't believe I'll ever think old," she said. "I'll always be able to laugh. Negroes know how to laugh. We should be proud of ourselves as Negroes. We know how to enjoy life. I'm not sorry I'm a Negress. I look all around me and I see suffering, and suffering is color blind, like love."James M. Naughton, on a New York City parade for Presidential candidate Nelson Rockefeller, in The New York Times, 1968:A young man across the way throws ticker tape from his window, then holds a "Eugene" sign. A fat negress on the street says, passionately, "Rocky! Rocky!" Kids begin to clog access to the auto by walking alongside it.

[Berkut]

"Negress" wasn't as common, but was still used by those who thought of themselves as genteel, e.g., headline in the Fond du Lac (Wis.) Reporter from 1966: "Negress Is Approved for District Judge".Wow. I guess it will be really something if Uhura gets called a "Negress" in a later episode. I'm sure it will never ever happen, though. ;)

[Little Nemo]

So, what happened to McCoy? Please don't tell me he's been replaced.
He was probably just a one-shot character from last week's episode because that show had a medical crisis.