Star Trek: Phase II
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Image:PhaseIIenterprise.jpg Star Trek: Phase II was a planned television series set to air in Spring 1978 on a proposed Paramount Television Service based on the characters of Gene Roddenberry's Star Trek. The planned series was to describe the adventures of the Enterprise crew on a second five-year mission after the completion of the first series.
The series was planned to have included William Shatner and DeForest Kelley reprising their roles as James T. Kirk and Leonard McCoy. Conspicuous by his absence was Leonard Nimoy, who declined to return due to a marketing issue over the Spock character and obligations to the play Equus.
The series would have included several new characters, such as Commander William Decker, Lieutenant Ilia, and the Vulcan Lieutenant Xon.
Despite the completion of most of the sets, several television grade models (Including the Enterprise herself and many of the pilot episode's models), and twelve full scripts, plans for a series were cancelled in favor of a feature film - Star Trek: The Motion Picture - in which all of the characters made an appearance (however briefly). Decker and Ilia appeared as major characters throughout the movie. Lieutenant Xon (now called Commander Sonak) appeared only for a few minutes and had a few lines of dialogue before being killed in a transporter accident — the actor who was to have played Xon in the series, David Gautreaux, instead made a cameo appearance in the movie as Epsilon 9's Commander Branch. [1]
At one early stage, the character ultimately named Xon had instead been given the name Savik. A variation of that name, Saavik, was later given to a female Vulcan in the next movie, Star Trek II: The Wrath of Khan.
Two scripts for the series ("The Child", "Devil's Due") were rewritten for use in Star Trek: The Next Generation due to a writers' strike. Additionally, some of the new elements in the series were eventually adapted into TNG. Riker may be seen as a version of Decker; and Troi of Ilia.
Twelve episodes of Star Trek: Phase II were scripted:
- "In Thy Image" by Harold Livingston: The two hour pilot that eventually became Star Trek: The Motion Picture. A huge starship crosses the universe looking for its creator on Earth.
- "Are Unheard Melodies Sweet?" or "Home" by Worley Thorne: While searching for a missing starship, the Enterprise comes across a world in need of men.
- "Cassandra" by Theodore Sturgeon: The Enterprise mediates a dispute between two worlds over "The Monitor", while a clumsy ensign takes care of an infant alien.
- "The Child" by Jaron Summers and Jon Povil: A being of light impregnates Ilia to experience life as a Deltan. The Enterprise's hull begins to fail as they come across a strange nebula. The idea for this episode was later used as the basis for a Next Generation episode of the same name.
- "Deadlock" by David Ambrose: While searching for a missing starship, the Enterprise is recalled to a Starbase to engage in a very strange war game.
- "Devil's Due" by William Douglas Lansford: The Enterprise has a first contact with the planet Naterra just as a mythical creature, who was sold the planet in exchange for peace millennia earlier, appears. The idea for this episode was later used as the basis for a Next Generation episode of the same name.
- "Kitumba" by John Meredith Lucas: The Enterprise is sent to the Klingon homeworld to help Ksia, the underage Klingon leader, stop his regent from making war on the Federation.
- "Lord Bobby's Obsession": The Enterprise comes across a derelict Klingon Cruiser with one life form aboard - one Lord Bobby from Earth's late 19th century.
- "Practice in Waking" by Richard Bach: The Enterprise comes across a sleeper ship where Decker, Scott and Sulu get trapped in a simulation of the 16th century witch burnings.
- "Savage Syndrome" by Margaret Armen and Alfred Harris: While investigating an ancient starship, the Enterprise is hit with a blinding light which brainwashes the crew reverting them to savages.
- "To Attain the All" by Norman Spinrad: The Enterprise gets caught in a solar system sized logic game where, if you win, you "attain the All," a huge repository of knowledge.
- "Tomorrow and the Stars" by Larry Alexander: During a Klingon attack, Kirk orders an emergency beamup and is transported to Pearl Harbor, Hawaii just before the Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor.
Canon issues
Due to the decision by Paramount Pictures and Roddenberry in 1988 that only live-action events seen on screen qualify as canon, plus the fact that major elements including two episodes were incorporated by other Trek series, nothing involving Phase Two is considered elements of Star Trek canon. This creates some complications since many sources suggest that a second five-year mission of exploration - intended to incorporate Phase Two - occurred after TMP.
This hypothesis was included in the Star Trek Chronology by Michael Okuda, deeming "Phase Two" to be, as it were, deuterocanonical: while not strictly canonical, it does have the backing of the Star Trek production staff, and is generally more highly regarded than pure fan speculation.
External links
| Star Trek television series and feature films | ||
| Television Series The Original Series · The Animated Series · Phase II · The Next Generation · Deep Space Nine · Voyager · Enterprise | ||
| Feature Films The Motion Picture · The Wrath of Khan · The Search for Spock · The Voyage Home · The Final Frontier The Undiscovered Country · Generations · First Contact · Insurrection · Nemesis · XI | ||