I mentioned that I finally got my copy of the Blood and Fire script below. Well, now I've read it and written up a little history on how David Gerrold pitched a Star Trek episode in 1966, tried to novelize it and ended up with something completely different in Yesterday's Children in 1972 and then did a straight novelization in The Galactic Whirlpool in 1980, and wrote an unproduced TNG script in 1987, and published a novelization of it in 2004 featuring a slightly revised version of the main character from Yesterday's Children...



Well, anyway, this page lays out the story, with plenty of spoilers.



In other news, I got an email from Alan N. Shapiro and/or his publisher about his new book, Star Trek: Technologies of Disappearance. It's another academic critique of Star Trek. Here's an excerpt from the email, which I assume is a copy of a press release:

But does Star Trek's worldview coincide with the unbridled high-tech enthusiasm of recent years? Or is there a tension between the show's originality and the Borg-like assimilation of its creativity by the Star Trek industry? Focusing on the stories themselves, the author reveals the basic principles behind Star Trek that contest the ideology of mainstream technoscience, consumer culture, and liberal humanism promoted by Paramount Pictures.



Bringing together the passion of a true fan and an intellectual reflection on science, technology and media culture, Star Trek: Technologies of Disappearance explains the real reasons for Star Trek's global mass appeal for the very first time. The encounter between thought and a popular subject mutually transforms both, and brings about genuine movement in ideas.

I'm intrigued, and I've ordered a copy from Amazon.com.



(Now playing: the Velvet Underground, "Foggy Notion," Peel Slowly and See Disc 4.)