Blue Skies in Camelot: An Alternate 60's and Beyond
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Chapter 64
Chapter 64: Here Comes the Sun - A Brief Break from Politics and Scandal
As the year 1971 rolled on, the critically acclaimed series Star Trek, was entering its fifth and final season on NBC. The show, starring William Shatner, Leonard Nimoy, DeForest Kelley, and James Doohan, had over five seasons become a massive hit for the network. Though ratings of the fifth season weren’t as big as the ratings high that had been the show’s fourth season, which itself had ridden the waves of the 1969 Moon Landing, Star Trek was nonetheless one of the most watched shows in America by the time it’s fifth season had begun filming. A favorite of former President Kennedy, Star Trek dealt with various issues in its showcase of a utopian future, many of which were applauded by audiences.
Above: Introduced following the show’s bigger budget in the fourth season was the new revamped bridge of the Enterprise, shown above with the series’ two main stars, William Shatner and Leonard Nimoy. Alongside the updated ship model and sets introduced in the fourth season were the two new actors of the main cast introduced in the season: Loni Anderson who played M’Ress and Randolph Mantooth who played Arex.
Famous among these episodes was Portrait In Black And White, which dealt with the issue of race by having the Enterprise encounter a planet where the racial roles of black and white are reversed. Another episode, Parallel Lives, tackled the issue of feminism by having the Enterprise join forces with another Enterprise from a genderbent parallel universe, captained by guest star Sharon Tate, who had accepted the role of Captain Jane Kirk at the request of her husband Roman Polanski, who owed a favor to NBC President Julian Goodman, who in turn wanted a big name for the role. The episode in question however is somewhat more famous for its possible subtle tackling of the issue of homosexually, as shown in the kiss/romance between Tate’s Jane Kirk (a genderbent version of Shatner’s character) and Leonard Nimoy’s Spock.
Yet while both episodes were among the most significant in the series’ run, they were far from the only memorable episodes in the series’ five season run. From Space Seed, Mirror Mirror, Joanna, and City on the Edge of Forever, to Balance of Terror, Yesteryear, Tomorrow Was Yesterday, and the series finale These Were the Voyages, all were among the greatest episodes that the show would ultimately provide during the course of its run, a run which though massively successful on the outside, hid many of the issues occurring behind the scenes in the making of the show.
Conflict had always been a major issue plaguing many of the shows greatest stars, much of it centered around the show’s leading man, William Shatner. Shatner, who was viewed as widely arrogant and difficult to work with by many of his co-stars, would during the show’s production develop feuds with Nimoy, Doohan, and George Takei, who played Lieutenant Hikaru Sulu in the show. Another heated rivalry which had developed during the course of the show was between Nichelle Nichols, who played Lieutenant Nyota Uhura, and Loni Anderson, who joined the show during its fourth season, playing the ships new alien councilor, Lieutenant M'Ress. The later rivalry it is said had become so heated during the fifth season of the show that various episodes had to be rewritten in such a way as to ensure the two actresses would not share much if any screen time.
Above: Showcased above during an interview, actress Loni Anderson, a newcomer to the show introduced in the show’s fourth season. Anderson had made her acting debut only three years before she joined the show during the making of the Steve McQueen film, Nevada Smith. Struggling afterwards to gain another role in the three years afterwards, Anderson finally got her big break when she was cast as the cat-looking alien M'Ress during the show’s fourth season, a role which required Loni to undergo heavy makeup throughout her various scenes.
These various conflicts during the production however arguably reached they’re greatest height during the making of Star Trek’s fifth season, causing one studio exec to famously remark, “Star Trek may be a ratings utopia for us, but those damn actors are making it hell to produce.” That remark would in turn lead to the coining of the term ‘Production Hell’, referring to a film or TV production which endures behind the scenes trouble.
These production issues however did not deter Gene Roddenberry from beginning talks with NBC to see as to how the series might be continued in some way after the end of the show’s fifth season, either in a series of films, or in a second television series to follow. Roddenberry would even plant the seeds of such a continuation in the series’ finale episode, These Were the Voyages, which featured the end of the five-year mission and the destruction of the Enterprise, by mentioning that Kirk was being promoted to Admiral, McCoy was retiring with Nurse Christine Chapel, Spock would be accepting the role of Ambassador for Vulcan, and Sulu was being promoted to Captain of the USS Excelsior. Said finale episode, which aired on April 17th, 1971, was one of the highest rated of the series’ entire run, capping off it’s five year run with a bang.
Ultimately however, it was the Production Hell which had plagued the series, especially in its final series, combined with waning public interest in space following the 1969 Moon Landing, that ultimately made NBC wary of committing to another phase of the show anytime soon. Yet the show’s success nonetheless at the very least guaranteed that another the series would eventually be revisited in the near future. Star Trek was not truly over. Not by a long shot.
OOC: This section was contributed by the brilliant Nerdman3000. I just want to take this opportunity to thank him profusely for everything he has done and continues to do for this timeline. Great work, sir!
…
1970 had been a revolutionary year in the career of singer-songwriter Townes Van Zandt. After meeting Johnny Cash and June Carter in the Old Quarter of Houston and appearing on The Johnny Cash Show the year before, Van Zandt took the folk and country worlds by storm. Signing a much needed record deal with Columbia Records in the winter of ‘69 - ‘70, he got to work penning new songs and re-recording old ones. Though his TV appearance had catapulted him into the national consciousness, the singer knew that he needed to follow it up with something more substantial and so prepared. Produced by veteran country star Chet Atkins, Van Zandt’s eponymous debut album would eventually come to top the country western charts over the summer of 1970 and score him two number one hits: “Lungs” and “I’ll Be Here in the Morning”. The latter of these was a heartfelt, tender ballad which the singer admitted he wrote for his first wife before she left him in 1968. Featuring only Van Zandt singing, and accompanying himself on acoustic guitar and harmonica, the song captured the hearts of an uneasy nation and provided comfort in a world that seemed to be going to hell in a handbasket.
“There's no stronger wind than the one that blows
Down a lonesome railroad line
No prettier sight than looking back
On a town you left behind
There’s nothin' that's as real
As a love that's in my mind
Close your eyes
I'll be here in the morning
Close your eyes
I'll be here for a while
There's lots of things along the road
I'd surely like to see
I'd like to lean into the wind
And tell myself I'm free
But your softest whispers louder
Than the highways call to me
Close your eyes
I'll be here in the morning
Close your eyes
I'll be here for a while
All the mountains and the rivers
And the valleys can't compare
To your blue lit dancin' eyes
And yellow shining hair
I could never hit the open road
And leave you layin' there
Close your eyes
I'll be here in the morning
Close your eyes
I'll be here for a while
Lay your head back easy, love,
Close your cryin’ eyes
I’ll be layin’ here beside you
When the sun comes on the rise
I’ll stay as long as the cuckoo wails,
And the lonesome blue jay cries
Close your eyes
I'll be here in the morning
Close your eyes
I'll be here for a while
Close your eyes
I'll be here in the morning
Close your eyes
I'll be here for a while”
The nation wasn’t the only one whose heart Van Zandt managed to capture, either. Following the release of Townes Van Zandt, and a series of well received interviews with Playboy Magazine and others, the singer humbly shrugged off acclimations that he was “the next Bob Dylan” and began a massive nationwide tour, opening up for and playing alongside a variety of established country superstars from California to New York and everywhere in between. Not wanting to forget his roots in his newfound success, the Texan made a point to play not just in theaters and stadiums, but in dingy bars, humble longues, and even small town parks, buying rounds of drinks for his attendees and staying long after his sets to shoot the shit and pick up a story or two. “You never know what might make its way into a song.” He later confessed to a journalist from Rolling Stone who picked up on his somewhat unusual habits.
While performing alongside folk superstar Joan Baez in Washington, D.C. in September of 1970, Van Zandt met fellow singer-songwriter Emmylou Harris, only 23 years old, but like Van Zandt already once divorced and possessing of both tremendous talent and a wide breadth of experience in life. She was the mother of a daughter, Hailie, and focused all of her efforts to get famous through her music to provide a better life for her. Van Zandt had a son by his first wife, John Townes Van Zandt Jr., nicknamed “J.T.”, whom he also hoped to provide for with his talents. The two got along fabulously from the very first interaction they shared, and with a promise that Hailie would be allowed to come along, Van Zandt convinced Harris to pack up her things and join him on his tour of the country. At first, their relationship was primarily professional. Van Zandt adored her voice and sincere connection to the songs she played. Harris was in awe of the emotional weight of her counterpart’s creations on the stage. But as the tour continued and the multicolored leaves of Autumn gave way to the first snows of a cold winter, the two could not help but admit that they were developing deeper feelings for one another. One night, just before Christmas, the two decided to record an album together, but not before telling each other how they felt and sharing a passionate kiss beneath the fading lights of their tour bus. Earlier in the evening, their last show before the holidays, Townes had sung “I’ll Be Here in the Morning” to close his set, and not for one second as he sang had his eyes left Emmylou, who watched breathlessly from the front row. She believed he had meant the song to reassure her, her heart hadn’t dared hope that the handsome Texan could have meant it as more than an empty flirtation.
From the snows of hilly Montana that night, a blossom of tentative love bloomed. Both were deeply insecure. The baggage each carried from their past shakeups with love had to be weighing on their minds as they struggled with the emotions coursing through them. Yet they could resist the urge to draw near no longer. It was as though gravity itself pulled them together, as two stars come together and collide in an explosion of ultra powerful light. Keeping quiet so as not to wake Hailie or J.T., who slept in a set of bunks not far from their own, the singers made love to each other carefully, as though it was each of their first times once again. As he held Emmylou in his arms that night, Townes Van Zandt could not think of a time in his life when he had ever been so happy. “I Love you, Townes.” She said, catching her breath.
A silent tear rolled down his cheek. “I Love you too.” Both fell asleep shortly thereafter and prayed that this feeling, this glorious triumph of elation, would last forever.
Next Time on Blue Skies in Camelot: The Vice President’s Son in Captivity
wait,dont you think this is abit early for a Homosexual kiss, even with the entire sex revolution and gay rights explosion after Stonewall, it took until the 90s that Hollywood actually got up the guts to have a gay kiss on television.Now without all of that turmoil, without which the Moralist lobby on Hollywood would still be incrediblly strong and the media people would be rather afraid to piss them off in this big a way.
Sharon Tate and Leonard Nimoy were the ones to share the kiss on screen.
I believe Nerdman's point was that because Tate's character, Jane Kirk, was essentially a female version of Shatner's Character, James Kirk; then the episode was implying that Spock could share feelings for at least the personality of his captain, thus a potential for homoerotic overtones.
Ah, but technically it's not a gay kiss - it's having Jane Kirk kiss Leonard Nimoy. So still het...but it's subtly hinting that Kirk's into Spock
EDIT: Ninjas...
Thanks, historybuff! Glad you enjoyed it.
I'm definitely indebted to @Nerdman3000 for that awesome section on Star Trek. Ah, but technically it's not a gay kiss - it's having Jane Kirk kiss Leonard Nimoy. So still het...but it's subtly hinting that Kirk's into Spock
EDIT: Ninjas...
Exactly
oh, thats Incrediblly subtle to the point of only if your looking for such things youll find it.Sharon Tate and Leonard Nimoy were the ones to share the kiss on screen.
And @President_Lincoln and @Nerdman3000 ...awesome Just awesome.
Would have enjoyed seeing this Trek, for sure.
Just awesome.Would have enjoyed seeing this Trek, for sure.
And @President_Lincoln and @Nerdman3000 ...awesome
Would have enjoyed seeing this Trek, for sure.
Thank you so much, @theg*ddam*hoi2fan!
Same here. Nerdman and I have discussed further ideas for taking Trek into the future ITTL, and I have to say that I'm honestly pumped with where I think things are headed. 
AeroTheZealousOne
Monthly Donor
If it's Monday, it's Meet The Press an update to Blue Skies in Camelot!
First, both you and @Nerdman3000 deserve such praise for this pop cultural interlude. Five seasons of Star Trek ITTL is incredible, and the whole sectiom on Townes Van Zandt... I believe we now have a new pairing for this world! Probably not as famous as Hillary Rodham and George W. Bush, but definitely something exciting in the works. As always, can't say enough good things about it.
First, both you and @Nerdman3000 deserve such praise for this pop cultural interlude. Five seasons of Star Trek ITTL is incredible, and the whole sectiom on Townes Van Zandt... I believe we now have a new pairing for this world! Probably not as famous as Hillary Rodham and George W. Bush, but definitely something exciting in the works. As always, can't say enough good things about it.
Well, what can I say? It was great, just great.
Star Trek definitely benefited ITTL, and it’s nice to see another pairing here between musicians.
Star Trek definitely benefited ITTL, and it’s nice to see another pairing here between musicians.
BP Booker
Banned
And thats how it was (and still is in a lot of media) for Homosexual representation and themes, just look at Cole Porters songs. Maybe in the future, if the world of Blue Skies is a more tolerant place, in the next generation of Star Trek, there could be a episode about it.
And the 1970s did saw a few series with actual gay themes, like Maude and All in the Family
Heres hoping that Van Zandt and Harris have a long and happy life!
Well, there had been some thought of trying to do episodes that used metaphor to suggest LGBT issues - like that TNG episode that was to be a metaphor for AIDS, and that one about the monogendered race where Riker falls in love with one that wants to be an actual gender. Maybe ITTL, Jonathan Frakes' request to have the LI be a male actor will be filled.
And then, with gradual changes, we could actually get a same-sex romance on-screen by the time of DS9...
Plus in the 80s we had the first appearance of YA LGBT fiction with Annie On My Mind (which was also notable for the main characters Not F***ing Dying and getting a Happy Ending).
Oh yes... The 'zines will light up, and Gene Roddenberry will be even more coy than ever when asked that question directly
Yes, that was exactly my intention.Sharon Tate and Leonard Nimoy were the ones to share the kiss on screen.
Anyways, thank you to everyone who liked it.