The End of the Voyage

Over two volumes, author Marc Cushman's These Are the Voyages series took me from being skeptical that he'd have any new information about the original Star Trek to enthralled with what he had to say. After finishing his books on season one and two of the original series, I was eager to jump right into his book on the much-maligned (though not unfairly so) season three.

Season three is notorious among fans of the original series for its precipitous drop in quality. Many lay this at the feet of the producer who oversaw this final season, Fred Freiberger. But in These Are the Voyages, Season Three, Marc Cushman delves into the full story of what happened. It's an intricate tale of almost inevitable decisions, a tale with unclear villains and heroes.

Having already offended NBC executives several times over, Star Trek creator Gene Roddenberry overplayed his hand in a showdown over the time slot for Star Trek season three. He threatened to walk away from day-to-day production of Star Trek if it was scheduled on late Friday nights, and the suits saw that ultimatum as a win-win. When Roddenberry followed through and gave up oversight, at the same time the show's budget was reduced once again, a decline in quality was sure to follow.

But Cushman's chronicle is interesting in how it isn't so black and white. He details how Roddenberry shifted his attention to a self-serving merchandising scheme and alienated some of the series' biggest advocates in the process. He shows how Roddenberry slighted long-time collaborators to whom he could have bequeathed the series, choosing an outsider to take over... and then documents how this quickly drove away the last few people who might have protected Star Trek.

On the other hand, Cushman writes how new producer Fred Freiberger might not deserve all the hate fans have given him over the decades. A detailed log of each episode's creation shows how Star Trek might not even have gotten a full third season had Freiberger not kept things running as close to on-time and on-budget as he did. The same careful recounting of every episode also shows that the third season was not, week in and week out, as bad as everyone remembers. Sure, there are notorious clunkers like "Spock's Brain" and "And the Children Shall Lead." But there were also episodes either wholly great or at least featuring great moments: "The Enterprise Incident," "The Tholian Web," and others.

This third volume of These Are the Voyages paints an intriguing picture of art and commerce colliding, of people still trying to do good work without full support. It follows the fracturing of a found family as the show came down around them, with actor protests on set delaying production, longtime directors getting fired by new company management, and people with a deep emotional investment learning bit by bit to let go.

Season three of Star Trek was inarguably the worst, but the book about it is the most fascinating. I zipped through These Are the Voyages Season Three faster than either of the earlier volumes -- two books I'd already enjoyed a great deal. If you're a Star Trek fan with any interest at all in the behind the scenes of making entertainment, it's an essential read. I give it an A.