An Alternate Trek

[Lindseyman]

Of Mhysse and men Broadcast February 3rd 1968

Mission date 3601, it is nearly a year since the Endeavour returned from Tellus. It spent most of that time in Earth orbit whilst the crew was extensively debriefed and has only just been returned to active duty. The Commonwealth has been on high alert expecting a Tellurian invasion but so far there has not been a sign of any Tellurian vessel although long range scouts occasionally report finding wrecked Rhihannaun vessels and the Klingons have reported that there has been no activity on the Rhihannaun side of their border for several months and that they are thinking of sending an expedition into Rhihannaun space to find out what is happening.

The Endeavour which is undertaking a shakedown cruise is called to CSS QEII, a Deep Space Station, by a distress call. It is near Stuart's Planet, a world whose ownership had been one of the very few disputes between the Commonwealth and the Klingon Empire. On arrival, Decker becomes annoyed when he finds out the reason for the distress call, which was made by William De Vere Carlton-Browne (guest star Terry-Thomas ), the under-secretary of agriculture for the sector: Carlton-Browne wants someone to guard the shipments of grain bound for Stuart's Planet, since the harvest has failed on two successive years and the station had picked up intermittant sensor signals which do not correspond to any known Commonwealth or Klingon ship. Slightly mollified on hearing this, Decker assigns two crewmen to guard the grain, but afterwards he finds out the Commonwealth share Carlton-Brownes' concerns.

Meanwhile, an independent trader, Tom Bergerac (special guest star Sid James), arrives on the station with some mhysse, small furry continually purring animals. He gives one to Lt. McKenzie (Carmen Monroe), who brings it on board the Endeavour, where it and its quickly produced offspring are treated as adorable pets. The animals purr a relaxing trill that the crew find soothing.

Doctor Fynely (Richard Gaunt) is concerned that the increasing numbers of mhysse threaten to consume all the onboard supplies. It is discovered that they are entering ship systems, interfering with their functions and consuming any edible contents present. Decker realizes that if the mhysse are getting into the ship's stores, then they are a threat to the grain aboard the station. He examines the holds but learns that it is already too late. The mhysse have indeed eaten the grain, and Decker is literally buried in grain-gorged mhysse when he opens a grain hold with an overhead hatch. Holmes (Ian Richardson) and Fynely discover that about half the mhysse in the hold are dead and many of the rest are dying, alerting them that the grain has been poisoned.

Carlton-Browne stubbornly holds Decker responsible for this apparent fiasco. However, the mhysse incidentally give away the identity of an alien agent surgically altered to resemble a human: Featherstonehaugh-Smythe (guest star Leslie Phillips), Carlton-Browne’s aide. Although purring contentedly near humans, they shrill as if in pain near Featherstonrhaugh-Smythe. The antipathy is mutual he can’t stand being near the mhycce. He confesses to infecting the grain with a virus that becomes an inert material in an organism's bloodstream which eventually prevents the organism from taking in enough nourishment to survive.

It turns out that he is actually a Kardassan, a race that inhabit a couple of star systems near Stuart’s planet who had had the idea of letting the Commonwealth and /or Klingons successfully make the planet habitable and then kill off or drive away the settlers so that they could take it over.

After Featherstonehaugh-Smythe’s exposure and arrest, Tom Bergerac is ordered to remove the mhysse from the station (a task that Holmes estimates will take 17.9 years) or he will be imprisoned for 20 years for transporting a dangerous life form off its native planet. He resignedly starts collecting up the mhysse on the station. Meanwhile Scotty had managed to get a sensor lock on the intermittent signal picked up by the QEII. it was a Kardassan ship so Scotty beams over all the mhysse from the Endeavour to that ship.

Edit Both Robert Heinlein and Ellis Parker Butler (the author of "Pigs is Pigs") were credited with the original idea.

 

[Lindseyman]

Decline and Fall Broadcast February 10th 1968

Mission Date 3656 the Endeavour is on routine patrol on the outskirts of Commonwealth space on the alert for Tellurian incursions when it encounters a jettisoned jump engine core from the CSS Enterprise. The Enterprise was under the command of Captain J.T.Kirk (guest star William Shatner), whom Reynolds knew during his naval academy days. Spock traces a path of debris back to a planet in a previously unexplored system.

The Endeavour picks up a television broadcast, with black and white video footage of what appears to be a Roman gladiatorial fight in an arena. The "barbarian" gladiator they see killed is named Fred Freiburger, identified by ship's records as one of the Enterprise’s flight crew. The broadcast also mentions the first citizen Kirquios.

Reynolds, Holmes and Fynely beam down to the planet to investigate. They are captured and brought before Octavius (guest star Douglas Wilmer), who asks them if they are "children of the stars like the Sun". Optimus explains he was a Senator until he heard the "words of the Sun" and was made a slave. Although another slave, Flavius (David Prowse), suggests killing the landing party, Octavius decides the landing party poses no threat.

That night Octavius tells the children of the group of runaways, and so incidentally the landing party, the forbidden tales of the coming. “Over two thousand years ago our ancestors did not live here but in a place far, far away which was part of a mighty empire and in that empire the words of the sun were beginning to spread. One night there were lots of bright lights in the sky and when the ancestors woke up the stars were strange and a stranger sun rose the next morning. In the days and years that followed the ancestors rebuilt their empire on this new world Terra Nova and gradually forgot about the words of the sun and Terra Prima but not completely, although the tales are now banned and repeating them is punishable by death.”
Reynolds tells the slaves that he wants to meet Kirquios, the First Citizen of the Empire, suspecting he is Captain Kirk of the Enterprise. Flavius offers to help and leads Reynolds to the capital city. The landing team puts on slaves' uniforms and tries to sneak into the city.

They are captured and placed into slave pens. After a failed escape attempt, they are brought before Kirquios and the Proconsul Constantius Vespasianus (guest star Anthony Bate), who invites the landing team to sit and talk in private. Kirquios acknowledges that he is Captain Kirk. When he beamed down he met Constantius Vespasianus, who demanded the planet's culture not be divulged to the Commonwealth, for fear of cultural "contamination." Kirk decided to stay, putting his crewmen into the gladiatorial pits, where they would certainly be killed. Kirk informs Reynolds that the Endeavour crew must also abandon their ship and integrate into Terra Nova's culture.

Reynolds refuses Kirk's demands and instead informs Decker that although the landing party is in trouble no rescue attempt is needed.

Holmes and Fynely are taken back to the slave pens while Reynolds is taken to face a televised execution.

Meanwhile, Scott works on a way to disrupt power and communications on the planet while obeying the General Order on not interfering with a planet's society. Blacking out the city just before Reynold's execution, Reynolds frees Holmes and Fynely but is soon captured again. Kirk signals the Endeavour to have Reynolds and party beamed to the Endeavour. Before he can complete the message, Constantius fatally stabs him for his treachery. Scott understands enough of the message and the landing party dematerializes just as they face a hail of machine gun fire.

Back on the ship, Holmes expresses to Decker and Reynolds his joy at seeing Christianity for such must be the words of the SON (not sun) survive. However they all, including Spock, are very worried by the “Tales of the Ancestors” as no records remain of the bright lights in the sky which must have occurred in about 300AD as Terra Nova’s year is not much different from Earth’s.

 

[Lindseyman]

When the James Blish novelisation of this episode was published there was an extra coda. Holmes has a flash of inspiration and pulls up the appropriate period of TELLURIAN history from the files downloaded from the Tellurian Navy headquarters and there it is.
During the early 300s of Tellus' version of the Roman Empire there were lots of bright lights in the sky above Rome and over half its population disappeared! It was this that triggered the civil war which resulted in Constantinius becoming Emperor.

 

[Lindseyman]

The Quest Broadcast February 17th 1968

The Endeavour has sent a landing team to a planet to search for tritanium deposits, needed for the fleet building required to counter the potential Tellurian attack. One group picks up an unusual signal but loses it, at which point they are attacked. Reynolds and Spock rush over to the scene. They see a pink cloud hovering over the crewmen which withdraws on their approach. They find the three crewmen down; all unconscious and very weak. All of the men have had most of their red blood cells drained of haemoglobin.

The landing team returns to the Endeavour. On the bridge, Decker has Spock look for anything out of the ordinary which might lead to the discovery of the cloud which is considered the aggressor. M’Beke reports that all 3 injured crew are very weak but will recover in time but they all say that the pink cloud saved them from the entity that attacked them. At the same time an unusual ship appears at the jump point and heads towards the planet. It appears to have a single crewman who ignores all hails until his ship has made orbit.

Once the ship has reached orbit its crewman replies to the Endeavour’s hails. To everyone’s surprise the crewman is an old man (special guest star Laurence Naismith) and is wearing what appears to be an old British uniform. He announces that his name is Pelham Knorr and that he has been hunting a beast that wiped out his crew for years. He accepts Decker’s invitation to come aboard the Endeavour to discuss matters. Once aboard Pelham entrances the crew with his tall tales of his adventures whilst hunting the beast and is very appreciative of the chance to talk to others. He seems very surprised to meet members of his species in this area of space as he left his planet’s sphere of influence years before at the start of his quest. On further questioning it turns out that Pelham hails from yet another unknown human world in a far distant area of the galaxy.

Pelham had been second officer on board his ship which was exploring a planet similar to the one they were now in orbit when it had been attacked by a cloud like entity which had killed the rest of the crew and indeed had attacked him but had left him before he died. After it had left a pink cloud had enveloped him and he had recovered. The pink cloud had always been around when he had got ill or injured and had always healed him. Indeed Pelham surmised that it had slowed the ageing process as well, as by his admittedly faulty reckoning, he had now lived for over 200 years.

The landing party’s reports confirm Pelham’s story. They do not need to hunt the pink cloud but rather a smaller more compact purple cloud. This cloud gives the impression of being angry whilst the pink cloud gives an impression of tranquillity and peace. Then suddenly the ships alarms sound.

The purple cloud leaves the planet, passes through the ship's hull and into the ventilation system. Decker orders Scotty to close all vents and flood the system with gas. The creature exits the vents and attacks two crewmen but is disturbed by the pink cloud before it can cause much harm. It then enters the room assigned to Pelham and attacks him, Spock enters the room and manages to pull Pelham free. The creature seems to dislike Spock’s biochemistry as he is unaffected.

Pelham is taken to the Medical Centre but is dying, Fynely and M’Beke try everything but his body is giving up. Then the Pink Cloud appears and envelops Pelham. A look of peace crosses his face and he turns to Decker and tells him not to worry he has had a good innings and the purple cloud is in for a shock!

Indeed reports are coming in from various crew that they have seen the purple cloud and that it is fleeing them and is condensing. It tries to pass through bulkheads but fails and is found pooled in a corner of engineering. Scotty fires at it with a phaser and the creature is eliminated.

Pelham seems to know when this happens and explains that the pink cloud had subtly changed his biochemistry over the years to have this effect on the purple cloud. It used me as bait, he continues, but in return looked after me and I had a fair old life but I do miss home. Just then a look of wonder crosses his face and the pink cloud spins around him ever faster.

After a minute or so Pelham’s life signs cease to register but a little red cloud forms above his head. This cloud seems to be standing to attention and darts to all the Endeavour crew present giving them a feeling of gratitude. The pink cloud seems to shepherd the red cloud out of the Medical Centre. A message appears on a monitor “Thank You from both of us” and with that both clouds disappear.

 

[Lindseyman]

The Zoo Broadcast February 24th 1968

On Mission date 3901.2, the Endeavour has been released from patrol duties as the fear of a Tellurian invasion has diminished. Indeed the complete lack of any sort of Tellurian response is beginning to worry Commonwealth and Klingon authorities as is the complete lack of any sort of Rhihannaun activity. Whilst the powers that be are deciding what to do, some fleet vessels are being allowed to go back to exploration and scientific duties. The Endeavour has been tasked with investigating the disappearance of the CSS Amundson, which last reported, just before the Tellurian Incidents, from the Vectran System.

On arrival in the Vectran system, they discover the Amundson orbiting Vectra VII but there are no signs of the crew. Reynolds, Stein, M’Beke, Blamire and two security guards beam down to discover a series of unusual environments. First an arctic wasteland, which turns into a lush tropical environment and then desert. They meet the Vectrans, humanoids with intelligent capacities far beyond their own. Stein surmises that they are not only telepathic but communicate at a rate of speed far too fast for them to comprehend. The team is captured by the Vectrans to be made part of a zoo collection.

Once in the human exhibit, they find the surviving crewmembers of the Amundson, one of whom is deathly ill. M’Beke determines he could cure her easily if he only had access to his medical equipment currently held in a display case just outside the exhibit window. Discussing the problem with the Amundson crew, Reynolds comes up with a plan where they all focus their mental images on their need for help, hoping the Vectrans will comply. Their first effort only gains them a supply of food, but a second attempt successfully gets M'Beke’s medical supplies and he is able to treat their dying comrade.

Having seen the success of their effort to get help, Reynolds suggests trying to similarly focus on a communicator as an object they direly need. A young Vectran (guest star Sally Thomsett) responds, and Reynolds signals the Endeavour for a beam-up but the youngster snatches away the communicator at the last second and is itself beamed aboard the ship.

The adult Vectrans, not realizing exactly what has happened except that their child has disappeared begin focusing all their telepathic energy on Reynolds trying to find an explanation. Meanwhile aboard the Endeavour, the youth reaches the bridge. She probes the Bridge crew’s minds and processes the ship's entire library system, and promptly proceeds to take the Endeavour galloping out of orbit.

On the surface, the other officers, organised by Stein, try to project a mental barrier to protect Reynolds from the overwhelming telepathic assault of the adult Vectrans. Then the child beams back down. The youngster communicates what she has learned, and the adults decide that although still extremely primitive, the Endeavour and Amundson crews are too intelligent to be kept as zoo exhibits and are set free.

 

[Lindseyman]

Between a Rock... Broadcast March 2nd 1968

Mission Date 3931.2 the Endeavour is sent on another SAR mission. This time it has to try and locate and help if necessary the CSS Rutherford a small science vessel which was carrying out a detailed survey of Maya IV which had shown some unusual readings when the Maya system had been surveyed by CSS Endurance 3 years before.

The Endeavour arrives at Maya IV. The planet is an ecological oddity. Despite long-term geologic evidence of liquid water existing on the surface, it is one vast desert. There is no sign of recent (or future) rainfall, despite the dense cloud formations. Scanning the surface Spock finds the Rutherford on the planet’s surface. This is unusual as although the Rutherford (and the rest of her class) are designed to be able to make landings they very rarely do so unless in extreme danger. He also picks up the crew’s life signs but they are very weak. The instruments also detect a further minimal but unidentifiable form of life.

Reynolds, Summers, Stein and M’Beke beam down to the bridge of the Rutherford. They find the crew still alive but extremely dehydrated and on the point of death. However the Chief Science Officer is missing. M’Beke beams the Rutherford crew back to the Medical Centre on the Endeavour and Blamire and two more security personnel beam down.

Stein analyses the logs on the Rutherford but is baffled by some of the recordings and so transfers them to Spock on the Endeavour. Reynolds examines the Captain’s log and finds the final entry made by the Captain (guest star Nicholas Courtney). The crew has found itself becoming extremely dehydrated and week. All the water has gone from the ship as well. It seems to be related to rock samples that the CSO had brought up from the surface. The Captain had landed the ship with his last remaining strength and had launched a distress beacon.

Summers wondered why he hadn’t just left orbit and used the autopilot. Reynolds was more understanding saying that stress and dehydration can make you do things that you would not normally have done. It didn’t explain why there had been no record of the distress beacon’s signal as it had obviously been launched. They hadn’t picked it up nor had the fleet and the fleet should have done almost as soon as it was launched!

Meanwhile in the science labs, Stein is examining some samples left on the microscope. The computer analysis of the rock is inconclusive. However examining a liquid smear on one of the samples Stein finds that the fluid contains structures similar to blood corpuscles—the rock is a living organism. He knocks two of the samples next to each other with his elbow. The two samples glow furiously and, with energy arcing between them, fuse into a single, larger body.

Reynolds and Blamire explore outside the Rutherford. They find the body of the CSO a few yards from the ship completely desiccated. Just then, stein calls, telling them the rock is now glowing green. Reynolds orders him to vacate immediately. Moving for the hatch, Stein is obstructed by multiple beams of green energy, which herd him into a corner. Stein watches as another ray plays over his supplies, as if searching for a specific item. He makes a break for the exit, but is caught by the green light. Stein slips to the floor, conscious but paralysed by an all-pervading numbness.

As Stein remains helplessly pinned, another beam resumes probing the cargo area. Alighting on a water bottle, it intensifies. Pulled through the bottle's sides, a jet of water streams across the module to be absorbed by the rock. After draining the container, the rock's pulsing glow strengthens. Stein relays these facts via an open communicator. Outside, Reynolds and company realise the rock-forms need water to survive. Some meteorological event in the past stopped the rain cycle; over time, the rocks drained this planet dry. Many of the surrounding 'normal' rocks are probably deceased members of the species.
They realise that they must have used the Rutherford’s crew as a last desperate source of water.

Reynolds has an idea. He signals Spock and asks him to launch a probe full of rain making crystals into the clouds above them. This is done and within half an hour there is a steady heavy down pour. As they look around they see more and more faint glows. Stein, released from his paralysis, brings the samples left on the ship outside and places them in the rain.

The team beam back to the Endeavour. A crew is beamed down to the Rutherford and brings it back into orbit where Scotty and O’Gorman have a field day making repairs! Another ship the CSS Curie arrives with a relief crew and orders to ensure that the rain continues and the Endeavour departs.

 

[Lindseyman]

The Conference Broadcast March 9th 1986

On mission date 4042.3, the Endeavour has been recalled to Earth so that the senior crew can be involved in a conference about both the Tellurians and the Rhihannaun. It has rendezvoused with a Vulcanian transport and has beamed on board a Vulcanian delegation headed by the legendary Savek (guest star Anthony Quayle) who was the Vulcanian who initiated first contact with Earth, after the flight of the Phoenix.

Savek is, to the crew’s intense surprise, Mr. Spock's grandfather. Decker is also taken aback by how coldly Savek views his grandson, apparently because Spock chose to devote his life to the Fleet instead of the Navy or Diplomatic service, against Savek's wishes.

The conference is to take place in a secure building at Woomera which is easy to keep secure. However Savek insists on hearing first-hand about the expedition to Tellus from the crew of the Endeavour but not Spock. Savek explains that it is the humans’ impressions that he wishes to discuss not Spock’s as Spocks report is as thorough as he would expect and he believes it without any further explanation.

On arrival at Earth Savek and his delegation beam down to the conference at Woomera as do Decker, Spock and Holmes. Meanwhile, Stein has detected a fast-moving vessel at the extreme edge of sensor range. Soon similar reports are coming in from all Fleet and navy Vessels in the Solar System and from planetary based sensors as well. There seem to be a plethora of small fast moving ships darting in and around the Solar System. Several Navy ships are ordered to intercept and identify.

Meanwhile, at the conference, they are hearing from the Quos (Earl Cameron) that the Klingons have sent scouts into the space controlled by the Rhihannaun but have discovered only wrecked Rhihannaun and Tellurian ships. They reached the Rhihannaun home world but found it completely devoid of life with no evidence that there had ever been any! It was as if the planet had been completely scoured. They discovered a track of scoured worlds that led from an edge of Rhihannaun space that butted onto an area never explored by any member of The Commonwealth nor the Klingons and which headed straight towards Tellus. Eventually the expedition had found some surviving Rhihannaun colonies but they had fired on the Klingons and had refused to communicate.

The Klingons had been unable to make sense of any information that they had found on any of the wrecked ships and had forwarded that information to the Commonwealth. Savek now spoke, the Vulcanians had managed to interpret some of the data that they had received from the Klingons. There were multiple refernces to an absolutely massive energy field which just brushed past the Rhihannaun as if they did not exist and treated any Tellurian ships it met the same way. It appeared that this Energy field paused at planets and afterwards there was just no evidence of there ever having been life on them. (Backing the Klingon evidence). What Savek then says shocks all the delegates at the conference “This has happened before!”

It would appear that millennia ago when the Vulcanians first ventured into space that they had found scoured worlds in a straight line. They had seeded the worlds with Vulcanian life but before they could colonise those worlds that civilisation had destroyed itself in a holocaust. When they had finally climbed back to civilisation and had passed the equivalent crisis they had found the worlds that they had seeded occupied by other races such as the Kllngons and Andorians.

Just then the alarms go off in the conference centre. The Commonwealth defences have been overwhelmed as hundreds of the small scout ships appear in orbit above all outposts. A signal is then received that overwhelms all others. “The situation has become critical it is time that we introduced ourselves”. On all view screens appears a hooded face. A gloved hand reaches up and pushes back the hood. The face revealed is that of Spock!

 

[Lindseyman]

Reset Broadcast March 16th 1968

The episode starts in the conference room in Woomera. There are now two Spocks in the room. One is the Science Officer of the Endeavour, the other is the hooded and cloaked version seen at the end of the last episode. It is this Spock that is addressing the startled and frightened conference.
He tells them that he is an android from a society called “The Rememberers”. It is their chosen role to record and remember as much as possible that happens in the galaxy. They have been carrying out this task for hundreds of thousands of years.

To the horror of the conference he announces that the energy field is the harbinger of the end of this history! It has reappeared several times since the Rememberers started recording. Each time it heads for a version of Earth scoring planets along its path. When it finds an Earth it sends a signal if it does not receive the expected reply that Earth is scoured and the whole galaxy is reset back by about 10 000 years. As a side effect another Earth also appears in the galaxy! The Rememberers strongly suspect that this had happened even before they were created, in a previous pass of history. It is as if this energy cloud is trying to recreate the Earth from which it originated has become the accepted theory. Only once did history not get reset as the version of Earth that it then visited was then in a preindustrial age and it was as if it knew that the time was not right so history was allowed to continue. It was this pass of the cloud that Savek (Anthony Quayle) had referred to earlier.

However this time it was heading towards Tellus which had reached an appropriate level of industrialisation and history was going to be reset again. The Android Spock tells them that each pass of history follows the same basic path but the details are different. There has been a United Planets, an Association of Planets, a Federation of Planets, once there was a Terran Empire! The time before the reset is longer when the USA was the leader in creating a United Earth which then led the creation of the galactic community. As this time it was the German Empire on Tellus, the Rememberers expect history to be reset quickly.

They had announced themselves to the Commonwealth as they had interacted with the Rememberers before, albeit with certain rogue elements for example on Gemini III and its environs. Android Spock tells them that it is possible to save the records of their history and perhaps even the Commonwealth itself, if enough of their ships are in jump space when history is reset. They can show the Commonwealth how to reengineer their jump engines to achieve that.

Decker gathers his Spock and Holmes and beams back to the Endeavour. Back on board he has a meeting of his command crew. They agree that they have to attempt to stop the Energy Cloud. Scotty and O’Gorman look at the recordings of the cloud and say that they can come up with a way to neutralise it but then it depends on what is creating the cloud. Just as they are preparing to break orbit three people beam on board. One is Admiral Pike (Christopher Plummer) the previous Captain of the Endeavour, one is Quos (Earl Cameron) and the other is the Android Spock.

Pike tells Decker that he suspected what he was going to attempt as he would have done it himself and wanted to offer his help as did the Android Spock. Quos has brought schematics of the Klingon Stealth Device which they will need to evade the Tellurian Navy. Scotty and O’Gorman begin to build a Stealth Device and Decker orders the Endeavour to prepare to jump to the Tellus system.

PS Does anyone know haow to change the date in the title of my last episode from 1986 to 1968?

 

[Lindseyman]

Shock Broadcast March 23rd 1968

Missiondate 4043.6, the Endeavour is having to fight her way out of the Solar System. She is being continually attacked and harried by the small ships of the Rememberers. Although any one, or indeed ten, of them would be no problem there appear to be hundreds of them and they are slowly wearing the Endeavour’s defences down. Decker is hailed by the CinC of the fleet (guest star Bernard Lee) who tells Pike and Decker that they should come to their senses as this a Code Trinity situation.

On hearing this Decker and Pike share a surprised glance and Decker orders all systems to be shut down with immediate effect. Scotty registers a complaint but does so. Almost as soon as the Endeavour’s systems have shut down there is a massive energy surge through the Solar System. All the Rememberer ships cease any sort of activity. The Android Spock also slumps no longer functioning.

“Well that is an added bonus” murmurs Pike to Decker. Within 5 minutes the Endeavour’s systems are back up and running and she makes the jump point.
“We won’t jump straight to the Tellurian System” Decker announces “as we will need to test the Stealth Device”. He orders a jump to the Gemini System. However there is a strange discontinuity and instead of arriving at the Gemini System the Endeavour arrives at the Guardian’s Planet. Decker remarks that he thought that this planet was no longer approachable after the Zeng He had left at the end of Pike’s court martial.

“Well the Curie made several attempts and failed each time” is Pike’s reply. Just then the Endeavour is hailed from the planet’s surface. Instead of the Guardian, it is Magister (guest star Christopher Lee) that speaks to them.
“Good you have arrived. We have a little problem, our mutual little friend has tried and failed to stop the energy cloud but we don’t know why. This is going to take a lot of explaining so can you beam down and we’ll discuss the problem”

Decker, Pike, Spock and Quos beam down to the planet’s surface and are met by Magister. He leads them to a room where the Guardian is resting on a bed. There are several chairs around him and he waves weakly at them to sit down. He gestures to Magister and whispers in his ear. Magister looks surprised and whispers something back. The Guardian nods and then slumps back.

Magister then begins to explain about the cloud but says that he will have to include some very ancient history. “Thousands of Millennia ago, this planet was the centre of a thriving civilisation. Like all civilisations it had its idealistic, pragmatic and even corrupt periods but the lot of its peoples was generally happy. Then it discovered Time Travel, at first it was just used to observe, then over the centuries it became abused until the civilisation was very corrupt and decadent. One of the peoples that were enslaved by this civilisation (mine adds Magister) rebelled and after a short war a new more equable consensus was reached and applied. However whilst this war was continuing another species developed time travel and found out about the way that history had been altered including their own. They objected strongly and a Time War broke out between the two civilisations. It was horrendous Time was in a period of constant flux as each race tried to gain an advantage by changing the other’s history. Just as the newcomers had just about beaten our defences down something happened the cloud appeared for the first time. It had obviously observed our conflict for some time and had prepared more than adequate defences. Both our and our enemies’ fleets were completely destroyed. It destroyed our world (already severely damaged by my experiments adds a subdued Magister), the Guardian only survived because he was elsewhere. It then headed to our enemies homeworld signalled it and when it did not receive the expected reply scoured it and somehow reset history by 10000 years. As a side effect a duplicate of its homeworld was created.”

Just then Decker interrupts “Are you saying that the new time travelling civilisation was us?”
“No” replies the Magister “but it was human and based on Earth!”

To be continued

 

[Lindseyman]

Tempus Fugit Broadcast March 30th 1968

Missiondate 4051.2 the Endeavour is preparing to leave the Guardian's planet to try and stop the energy cloud. The crew is very aware of Magisters last message. "It is unlikely that you will succeed. To the Guardian's knowledge this has been attempted over 100 times and each time history has been reset. Our time travel device will only work within the reset history not through all history even though he has records of them all." Magister has given them the records of all the attempts to stop the cloud of which the Guardian has access. It has been sobering to see them. Some of the crews and ships have looked very familiar even if the names have been different. One of the attempts has piqued their interest. In this version of history a Spaceship called the USS Enterprise commanded by James Kirk (that bombast mutters Decker (see the Episode Decline and Fall)) managed to stop the cloud but failed to transmit the full signal needed.

Spock and Scotty pore over the records of that attempt and think they have found out why it failed. The Enterprise broadcast an old contact signal of their equivalent of a late 20th century NASA probe called Explorer II. It caused the cloud to stop but Spock says it is as if the ship at the centre of the cloud deliberately stopped the signal from working. It has given him an idea and he has found the equivalent from their history and has compared the signals. They are almost identical.

Decker, Pike and Quos agree that it has to be worth a try so they jump to the Tellurian system and engage the Stealth Device. Once there they find utter carnage. There are multiple wrecks of ships some of which have survivors. We'll worry about them if we succeed is Decker's order. They approach the cloud which has almost reached Tellus. The energy cloud has dissapated somewhat but Scotty and O'Gorman manage to cause the remaining energy cloud to shut down (as they had promised earlier). At the centre is indeed a craft that looks like a 20th century probe although it has some interesting additions almost as if someone had repaired it using different technology.

The craft begins to broadcast a signal to Tellus. Spock and Holmes analyse it and find that it is an old NASA signal but is being broadcast on an old long unused radio frequency. They broadcast their old NASA reply. The probe swings round and scans them. It then sends out a blocking signal which also damages their energy systems. The Endeavour is left virtually powerless and they register a power buildup of an unusual type centered on the probe.

Thinking that they have failed Decker orders that the Endeavour should ram the probe to try and destroy it before their history is expunged. Spock in a last attempt broadcasts the signal on every wavelength that the damaged Endeavour can manage. Just as they are about to reach the probe the energy build up stops and a massive signal is received which burns out the Endeavour's sensors.

However five minutes later they are still there. Scotty by some miracle gets some sensors working. The probe has gone, Tellus is still there as are the wrecked remains of its fleet but there no longer seem to be any survivors and there are no signals from Tellus. They seem to have suceeded although they cannot contact the Commonwealth. Decker orders them to make enough repairs to attempt the jump back to Earth.

 

[Lindseyman]

Episode list for Series 3 (second half of Season 2 elsewhere)

1. Tomorrow's Endeavour broadcast 6th Jan 1968
2. The Message broadcast 13th Jan 1968
3. Through the Looking Glass broadcast 20th Jan 1968
4. What They Found There broadcast 27th Jan 1968
5. Of Mhysse and Men broadcast 3rd Feb 1968
6. Decline and Fall broadcast 10th Feb 1968
7. The Quest broadcast 17th Feb 1968
8. The Zoo broadcast 24th Feb 1968
9. Between a Rock... broadcast 2nd Mar 1968
10. The Conference broadcast 9th Mar 1968
11. Reset broadcast 16th Mar 1968
12. Shock broadcast 23rd Mar 1968
13. Tempus Fugit broadcast 30th Mar 1968

Once again Star Trek beat anything that the BBC scheduled against it into the ground. However once again there was a slight decline in viewing figures although Tomorrow's Endeavour and Tempus Fugit both achieved the highest viewing figures for any episode of Star Trek broadcast so far. Research showed that the casual viwers were dropping away because of the runs of linked episodes which meant that they felt that if they missed one they couldn't pick up the story. (These linked episodes would however be a major selling point when it came to selling the video tapes, then the DVDs and then the Blu Rays but thats long in the future )

However there was a battle brewing between Lew Grade and the American Networks on one hand and the unlikely (given their falling out earlier) partnership of the Roddenberrys and the Andersons over how Star Trek should approach Series 4 and 5 (Season 3). Lew and the Americans wanted more BANGS, a settled bad guy and episodes which could be broadcast in any order. The Roddenberrys and Andersons liked story arcs and a definite episode order(although they didn't mind having some stand alone episodes). There was a massive behind the scenes battle virtually from when series 3 was in the can until the start of filming for series 4. When the dust settled there were some major changes on the production and direction side.

 

[Lindseyman]

Gene Roddenberry was proving to be too much of an irritant to Lew Grade. He just didn't have any idea how to budget properly. Star Trek ALWAYS overan its budget. Lew shuddered to think what would have happened to the budget if Gerry and Sylvia Anderson hadn't been involved. OK they could both be prima donnas about intellectual property and being left alone but they did understand about the bottom dollar.

Also to sell the program to the states the program had to be made more user friendly for the networks who claimed that story arcs and no real bad guys just people trying to get along doing the best they could did not make successful television. They also bemoaned the lack of romantic interest, although several of the crew obviously did have families and relationships and the lack of big bangs which had occurred in Thunderbirds. On being told that the lack of these didn't seem to have hampered sales and viewing figures in the rest of the world they just shrugged their shoulders and said if you want prime time US television slots you need to make a primetime US television show!

Both Gene and Gerry saw the reasoning but neither did they see the need to change something that obviously worked. Lew argued long and hard that programmes that did well in the States did well elsewhere but that the opposite did not often work and that Star Trek was a prime example of that! He wanted to crack the US market and to keep to budget.

The arguments started before the end of filming for series 2, continued through the filming for series 3 and eventually Lew had had enough.
Gene Roddenberry was promoted to be Executive Producer but had no real power over the programmes. Like wise for Gerry Anderson although he was still in charge of the special effects. To produce the show Lew brought in Leonard White and Brian Clemens from the Avengers, it was in hiatus as they couldn't find a suitable replacement for Diana Rigg. Clemens brought in Malcolm Hulke as chief scriptwriter as he had experience of Science Fiction programmes and Hulke brought along his "protege" Terence Dicks.

Satisfied that he was now going to get the Star Trek that he wanted, Lew was happy. It didn't quite work out as he had planned!

 

[Lindseyman]

Excerpt from an interview given by Malcolm Hulke in 1976

I and Terry had a big problem on taking up the reins. The three Americans (Richard Bradford, Glenn Corbett and Gary Clark) all wanted out for various reasons but mainly as they were getting fed up of being away from home for so long. They HAD to appear in the first episode at least, to tie up the loose ends so to speak and we got that agreement from them. Lew (Lew Grade) insisted on having a big name known in the US to replace them. Our first thought was Robert Vaughn and he was interested, but our schedules never coincided enough for him to be feasible (although he did make a guest appearance). The actor we did get, whilst not a mistake as he was a consumate professional, did bring a LOT of baggage from his previous role!

 

[Lindseyman]

Excerpt from an Interview with Terence Dicks 1988

Replacing those three (Richard Bradford, Glenn Corbett and Gary Clark) was something we (Terence Dicks, Malcolm Hulke,Leonard White and Brian Clemens) could have done without! The big sticking point was Lew Grade's insistance that at least one of the replacements had to be a name recognised in the US.

Unfortunately Robert Vaughn was a no, although it was closer than most people think. We then thought about Roger Moore as he was getting fed up with the Saint but he signed on for another series. Chris (Christopher Plummer) suggested Bill Shatner and again we got close but the timings were wrong. Andy Griffiths was available as was Robert Reed but they weren't willing to spend so much time in the UK and were wary of SF. Adam West was approached but although he thanked us for our interest he wanted to do something completely different and everyone would have expected Kapow to appear on the screen every time he punched someone!

Shooting was getting closer when someone suggested Bill Cosby. He was available and willing especially as he was going to be the lead. It caused no problems in the UK or elsewhere but we were NOT prepared for the reaction to this casting in the States!

 

[Lindseyman]

The First Officer Post was easy, recalled Brian Clemens in 1976, we finally gave Spock the promotion his character deserved but this made free the post of Chief Scientific Officer. Ian Richardson's Holmes was first choice but he wanted to cut back his appearances as he was getting a lot of theatre offers. Although we loved Brian Blessed's character Stein, there was no way any sane organisation would have him in charge of the Sciences!

We wanted a fairly objective and impartial character to be CSO, then I remembered the Colonel from the film Quatermass and the Pit. Julian (Glover) was available and willing so he became CSO Commander Richard Bryne. We also filled our other post with an actor from the same film as Bryan Marshall became Lieutenant Commander John Travis Chief of Security.

Bill Cosby as Captain Benjamin Russell was a delight to work with at all times. However we were all taken aback by the strength of the reaction to his casting by some of the US Media.

 

[Lindseyman]

From an interview with Terence Dicks in Doctor Who Magazine October 2013

I and Malcolm(Malcolm Hulke) had just started work on Star Trek when we started hearing the rumours. We ignored them, surely no one could be that stupid! We were so wrong! The BBC press release caught us completely by surprise but not the newspaper headlines the next day. The Sun had the headline "EXTERMINATE" and the Mirror more prosaically "Daleks finally get the Doctor!"

Both played on the fact that the BBC had cancelled the next series of Doctor Who to replace it with Terry's (Terry Nation) spinoff "The Daleks". Some idiot in the BBC hierarchy had decided that they couldn't run both programmes and as viewing figures had slipped the Doctor had to go! It caught poor Pat (Patrick Troughton) on the hop, he really thought that there would be at least one more series. He swore never to work for the BBC again (1), he felt that badly let down. It bore all the hallmarks of a rushed decision as the last episode wasn't a farewell (unlike Sylvester McCoy's in 1987)(2). It really was a case of decide in haste and repent at leisure!

I felt sorry for Terry! Overnight he went from being the "Whovians" favourite scriptwriter to one of the most hated men in Britain. He had nothing to do with the decision. In a strange way it also signed Star Trek's death warrant although we didn't realise it at the time (68/69 series 4 and 5) but a year later (69/70 series 6 and 7).

1 He was persuaded otherwise later.
2 No it's not cancelled permanently.(For how long the Doctor is off the air keep reading)

 

[Lindseyman]

Dad's Army ITTL

As in OTL Dad's Army first aired on Wednesday 31st July 1968 "The Man and the Hour" and is as revered as a gentle but very successful comedy show which runs for years and is continually repeated up to the present day. However there are some cast differences.

Captain George Mainwaring: Jon Pertwee
Sergeant Arthur Wilson: John Le Mesurier
Lance Corporal Jack Jones: Clive Dunn
Private Joe Walker: James Beck
Private Frank Pike: Ian Lavender
Private James Frazer: John Laurie
Private Charles Godfrey: Arnold Ridley
Chief ARP Warden William Hodges: Arthur Lowe
Mrs Mavis Pike: Janet Davies
Rev Timothy Farthing: Frank Williams
Verger Maurice Yateman: Edward Sinclair
Inspector Harold Hodges: Bill Pertwee

The major changes from OTL are that Arthur Lowe plays Mainwaring's rival ARP Warden Hodges and Bill Pertwee plays his brother Inspector Hodges (in charge of the police in the Walmington on Sea area). These two together with the Verger are a constant irritant in Mainwaring's life although he always comes out on top in any confrontation.

 

[Lindseyman]

Extract from an interview with Majel Barrett-Rodenberry in 1992

Gene was sulking. His baby had been taken away from him and he was getting packed to go back to the states. Then he got a phone call from Brian (Clemens) asking him to a meeting with him, Leonard(White), Malcolm (Hulke) and Terry (Terrance Dicks). Gene's first inclination was to refuse but I persuaded him that he could at least hear what they had to say.

We turned up to the meeting to find not only those four but also Gerry and Sylvia (Anderson). To both Gene's and Gerry's surprise they were both asked how they had seen the next season (series 4 and 5) of Star Trek developing. So Gene told them what he thought and then Gerry. Not surprisingly their ideas were similar as they had discussed the forthcoming season in some detail. Then we were told what they thought should happen. Of course their plans were different but only in detail not in general outline.

The end result was that Gene was satisfied that Star Trek's future was in safe hands and both he and Gerry promised to help as and when requested. It did actually help a great deal that Bill (Cosby) was going to become the Captain of the Endeavour. Having an African-American in charge chimed with Gene's views of the future. It also meant that when the four had their battles with Lew Grade over the 69/70 season (series 6 and 7) they had both Gene's and Gerry's full support.

 

[Lindseyman]

The summer of sport went much as OTL including those salutes at the Olympics (and David Hemery getting the Gold in the 400m hurdles). However there was one change which seemed minor at the time but which had big effects at least on cricket. Roger Prideaux who had pulled out of the 5th Ashes Test OTL with a "sore throat" allowing Basil D'Olivera to play a magnificent game doesn't do so ITTL. He scores the superb century instead and the wet ground and Derek Underwood still play their part in England's victory. However when the touring party for South Africa is announced without D'Olivera (Tom Cartwright still being picked), there isn't the massive outcry that there was OTL (as D'Olivera had had a poor tour of the West Indes the previous winter and had done badly early in the Ashes Series) and the tour starts. ITTL it's what happens when the party arrives in South Africa that causes the problems.

 

[Lindseyman]

Broadcast Dates for Series 4 and 5

London Weekend finally agreed to show Star Trek at 730pm on Saturdays so once again it was broadcast at the same time on all the ITV regions.
Broadcast dates were to be as follows
Sept 7th,14th, 21st, 28th, Oct 5th, Nov 2nd, 9th, 16th, 23rd, 30th, Dec 7th, 14th and 21st (1968)
Jan 11th, 18th, 25th, Feb 1st, 8th, 15th, 22nd, Mar 1st, 8th, 15th, 22nd, 29th, Apr 5th (1969).
The observant among you will notice the break from October 5th to November 2nd. This was to allow the broadcast of the 1968 Summer Olympics, from Mexico City, which ITV covered as well as the BBC.