I WANTED to watch Star Trek during its first run, but I never had authority to be the Decider of What’s On. Until I was old enough to be the one paying for the TV, and by then, I never had the time.
Still, I did manage to catch an episode now and then. ISTR that Captain Kirk would often address the ship’s computer directly, and the computer would respond verbally in a woman’s voice that I would characterize as pleasant, and with a familiar, and one might say, seductive tone. In fact, I’m pretty sure I heard the voice address him as “darling” more than once (IIRC, the Captain reacted with visible embarrassment, and told the computer not to do that).
Are my memories accurate? Was the Enterprise’s computer smitten with Jim Kirk? Was it something that happened regularly on the show? Was it a comic relief thing?
The episode in question is “Tomorrow Is Yesterday” (in which the main plot line is the fact that the Enterprise has hit a black hole, been bounced back in time and arrives at earth in the mid-60s, and has to beam an Air Force pilot aboard, etc.). The computer glitch was a funny side bit. Here’s a clip from the show highlighting the computer’s female seductive effort.
Sounds like Season One’s Tomorrow Is Yesterday. That was during Gene Goon’s stint as producer. He probably threw it in during one of his rewrites. Roddenberry would never have had his computer the center of a joke.
BTW, I also recall having seen at least some of an episode with the Enterprise in orbit above a Twentieth century Earth l, and in which a secretary played by Teri Garr plays a crucial (or at least significant) role. Same episode?
She’s talked about it. She’s made it pretty clear she wasn’t happy about it, but she’s talked about it.
Legend has it that Valera Noland, who played Daras in Patterns of Force, was so disillusioned by the whole experience that she left show business. IMDB shows she made one movie after ST, so who knows.
I thought she hadn’t. ISTR there was an issue where Roddenberry wanted her to wear a shorter dress, and she didn’t want to, but that doesn’t seem such a big issue that it would earn her everlasting animosity. Do you know what happened, and what she said about it?
Roddenberry had an exceptionally strong libido, so I doubt things ended with the “shorter costume” incident. (Bill Theiss eventually gave in and rehemmed the skirt, even though it was cut on the bias.) In addition, many people (including members of the TOS “family”) found William Shatner’s personality extremely off-putting. It was rumored that Kirstie Alley lost interest in portraying Lt Saavik after the second Star Trek movie precisely for this reason.
FWIW, I’ve read that Robert Lansing (“Gary Seven” in “Assignment: Earth”) lost the role of Gen Frank Savage on 12 O’Clock High because he was very difficult to work with.
In addition, sexual harassment at both Desilu and NBC apparently went far beyond Gene Roddenberry. (At least one executive hit on Nichelle Nichols.)
All of the above may have contributed to Teri’s bad experience.
According to The Making of Star Trek (Whitfield and Roddenberry, 1968), the *Enterprise *computer was given a female voice because it was found IRL that they cut through ambient noise better than male voices and ensure shorter response times from both men and women. It was only in “Tomorrow Is Yesterday” that the voice was flirty.
In “Mirror, Mirror,” the Evil Empire computer had a male voice. Hearing it for the first time, the contrast was startling.
We ALL have exceptionally strong libidos. The ability to control our sexual urges is what separates us from the animals.*
Too bad he didn’t have an exceptionally strong moral code. I guess the casting couch was business as usual for Roddenberry. It’s like he wanted to be like the big studio cheifs, but since Desliu was small, he only got to have sex with Star Trek cast women. Using “I have a strong libido” as an excuse is just that - an excuse for bad behavior.
Roddenberry slept with her, too.
I will never understand women like Barrett that put up with that kind of crap. But it’s their life. Whatever.
I haven’t heard anything about Kirstie not playing Saavik again because of Shatner. My impression was he had his hands full putting in his finest performance since the first season of TOS to be a huge pain in the ass. Meyer was riding him to do better, he didn’t worry about his weight. he had tons of acting challenges to satisfy his ego…etc…
