Lost Star Trek script from the 1960's to be filmed.

A

Aspiring Mogul

Norman Spinrad is the author of the classic Star Trek episode, "The Doomsday Machine", and he is also an accomplished SF writer outside of the beloved old series. He wrote a script in the 1960's for another ST episode, but it was never made into an episode. That script has now resurfaced, and the fans at Phase II will (hopefully) be turning it into an episode.

Star Trek, Phase II, by the way, can refer to the attempt to revive the series in the 1970's, but, these days, it also refers to the fan project started by James Cawley. That's an impressive project, but he should now try and start his own series - either that or leverage his fame with the Star Trek community to get Paramount to let him produce his own series.
 
As most hardcore Trekkies know, the script wasn't actually lost. There were/are quite a few copies floating around the convention/collector circuit. However, the author(s) of the script had lost their copies long ago. It was only recently that someone brought a copy to one of the author's attention and now he's selling copies online.

On another note, Phase II does some really impressive stuff. Very high production value for fan films, in fact, very high prod. value for indie films period. A lot of talented folks are working there.

Personally I'm not a fan of the original series but we'll see how it turns out now that Spinrad is adapting the script for Phase II. I've also heard that Phase II has other 'lost' scripts in the production works. :shrug:
 
Aspiring Mogul said:
CBS has put a stop to that. I wonder why.
Click to expand...
When a script is sold the copyright is assigned to the buyer. The
new owner has specific rights for a specific period of time. Spinrad
no longer owns the script - he sold it - so he cannot copy it and
sell it and he cannot give the rights to make it to anyone. Only
the copyright owner can do that.

It seems that there is a line the lawyers don't want makers of
fan films to cross. If Cawley is thinking someday Paramount will
see how talented and dedicated he is to Trek and hire him to
make an authorized series then he is doing the right thing by
backing off when they ask him to.
 
directorik said:
If Cawley is thinking someday Paramount will
see how talented and dedicated he is to Trek and hire him to
make an authorized series then he is doing the right thing by
backing off when they ask him to.
Click to expand...

He has no choice, but I'm wondering what his true motive is. He has the rights to make Buck Rogers for money, but he hasn't. Meanwhile, he's doing another fan series of Wild, Wild West, with him in the lead role. So I don't know what he wants to do.
 
An update. James Cawley will no longer be Captain Kirk - he's got someone else to do it, because there have been quite a bit of infighting, apparently.

I wonder if he will do his Wild, Wild West remake.
 
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