They may have started out as “Russians,” but (from what I understand) Roddenberry came to associate them more with the Japanese as time went by. I heard him in an interview back in the '80s (I think it was with Tom Snyder), and he said about as much; he had guilt feelings about having served as a bomber pilot in the Pacific during WWII and regretted that we had had to fight Japan at all.
He was a great admirer of things Japanese (he and Majel were married in Japan in a Shinto ceremony), which explains the Klingons morphing into pseudo-Samurais.
The Romulans, I think, didn’t fare much better; they started going downhill as villains as far back as “The Enterprise Incident.” They were established in the first season as having a culture similar to Ancient Rome’s, and that should have been played up a lot more. (In the original concept, they were the noble warriors, and Klingons were basically Mongol hordes.) Introducing the “alternate timeline” Tasha Yar and her Romulan offspring was just-plain-stupid. And the way the Remans were depicted on film … sheeeeesh! :smack:
There’s also a place for a corollary of the Law that applies to frumpy members of a television show cast. Rhoda comes to mind as the ur-example; the fat, frumpy yenta that popped in on cute Mary was positively glammed out by the time she spun off to her own show. Abby in L.A. Law went the same route: from frumpy paralegal mouse to beauty queen by series end. I guess it has to to with continual pressure from agents, mounting contract rates for continuing characters, etc.
In Justman’s account, Roddenberry was initially opposed to having the Klingons in TNG at all, as he wanted to avoid retreads. Bob was the one who persuaded him otherwise by proposing they have a “Klingon marine” on the bridge as a security officer. Roddenberry liked the idea (a) because it was new and different, and (b) it showed that the Federation and the Empire would eventually reconcile their differences. (Remember, TNG went into production just as the Cold War was winding down.)
Really? I always assumed Vulcans and Romulans were Chinese and Japanese - in TOS, they are related, and the mastery of emotion fits east Asian stereotypes well.
Also, The Vulcan language structure is a clear ripoff of Japanese.
Klingons (who were, BTW, created by Gene Coon, not Roddenberry) were originally Communist-type baddies, with heavy Mongol overtones.
Vulcans and Romulans do indeed come from the same stock, but it was established in “Balance of Terror” (first season) that the latter have a Roman-type culture.
As for the Vulcans, it was pretty clear that their culture was indeed similar to Earth’s East Asian culture(s). About the language, I can’t comment, as I’ve never tried to learn it (or Klingon, for that matter).
I must have missed it, but when did the shark in Jaws turn into a good guy/hero? Was it in Jaws 3D? Cause that’s the only one I never saw.
I’m pretty sure they only cut that dialog for the broadcasts, the Blu-rays have all those scenes intact (as does Netflix). The CBS Digital people discussed making the planet killer look more fearsome, as the writer of the original episode had wanted it to be bristling with weapons. But like all the other scenes they felt they couldn’t go that far. I agree. I still find the rough simplicity of it somewhat scary, like it’s almost alive or something. I always remember when I first saw this episode my mom pointed out how Decker fidgeting with the two data carts during that scene was a reference to Humphrey Bogart in the final courtroom scene of The Caine Mutiny…
In the 1980s and '90s, I managed the IMAX theater at the National Air and Space Museum, and for our annual sci-fi film series we showed some episodes of ST:TOS. We were able to get original 35mm prints from Paramount.
We all marvelled at seeing the ST world in greater detail than we had previously, but apart from the cheesy optical FX, the thing I remember most breaking the spell were the fight scenes, where it was painfully obvious that stunt doubles had replaced Shatner and the other stars. The transitions sparked gales of laughter from the audience.
Obviously, CBS hasn’t “fixed” that, but is it clear in HD that Bill and the others didn’t do their own stunts?
I thought in 3 the shark was defending her young, or attacking property developers, or something. And in 4 it was only seeking out justified revenge on Mrs. Brody after her family had killed so many sharks in the first three movies, who were probably that shark’s cousins.
In an early treatment for Jaws 5, the shark was running a day-care center.
A short, usually comic dramatic performance or work; a theatrical sketch.
A short humorous or satirical piece of writing. SKIT Definition & Meaning - Merriam-Webster
1
: a jeering or satirical remark : taunt
2
a : a satirical or humorous story or sketch
b (1) : a brief burlesque or comic sketch included in a dramatic performance (as a revue) (2) : a short serious dramatic piece; especially : one done by amateurs
