Production
Writing
Wilber conceived the general plot for a different series, Captain Video and His Video Rangers , which featured humans from Ancient Greece who were preserved in cryogenic suspension and revived. The script changed numerous times during preproduction as producer Bob Justman felt that it would be too expensive to film. Eventually Gene L. Coon and series creator Gene Roddenberry also made alterations. These revisions include the marooning of the criminals at the end of the episode and the change of the primary villain from a Nordic character to a Sikh. Roddenberry attempted to claim the primary writing credit for "Space Seed", a request turned down by the Writers Guild of America.
Carey Wilber was hired to write a script for an episode of Star Trek. His idea was based on an episode he wrote for the television series Captain Video and His Video Rangers (1949–1955). His work on that show featured Ancient Greek-era humans transported in suspended animation through space, with the people of the future finding that they have mythological powers. For "Space Seed", Wilber replaced these mythological powers with abilities that were enhanced due to genetic engineering. [2] Wilber had briefly worked with Gene Roddenberry on the television series Harbormaster . His science fiction extended beyond Star Trek: he also wrote scripts for Lost in Space and The Time Tunnel around the same time. [3] [4]
In Wilber's first proposal for the story that became "Space Seed", dated August 29, 1966 (shortly before the first episode of Star Trek aired) [5] the villain was Harold Erickson, an ordinary criminal exiled into space. He sought to free his gang from Botany Bay, seize Enterprise, and become a pirate. [4] Parts of the story were inspired by the use of penal colonies in the 18th century, and characterizations were based on descriptions from the series' writer's bible. As a result, several elements of the draft differed from how the characters behaved in the series; for example, the draft includes a scene where Spock defeats Kirk at chess by cheating. [5] Producer Gene L. Coon told Wilber that his work was the best outline he had seen during his time on Star Trek. Fellow producer Bob Justman was less enthusiastic; he compared it negatively to Flash Gordon and Buck Rogers , and felt the concept would be too expensive to film. There were also concerns that an unsolicited script submitted by science fiction author Philip José Farmer resembled the proposed plot which, as Roddenberry had corresponded with Farmer, might lead to litigation. [4]
NBC executives reviewed the plot for "Space Seed" and approved it, but Justman reassessed the outline, saying that it needed to be heavily revised. [6] In September, Wilber was given a list of suggested changes including asking him to remove any mention of the setting, as the producers did not want to say how far in the future Star Trek was set, and to remove the chess scene. [5] Wilber submitted a second draft, but Roddenberry still had problems with basic elements of the script. He did not believe common criminals would be fired into space as a solution and strongly disliked the notion of space pirates. [6] [7] The second draft introduced the idea that Kirk marooned Erickson and his crew on a new planet; this remained in the final version. [8] Wilber was not asked for a third draft; Coon was tasked with the re-write; [9] he submitted it on December 7 and updated it twice over the following five days. [10] Wilber accepted Coon's re-writes, and left the staff after the submission of his second draft as his contractual obligations were complete. [3]
Coon proposed that Erickson should be a rival to Kirk, a genetic superman who had once ruled part of Earth. [11] Roddenberry and Justman were still unhappy with the script, and Roddenberry revised it once more a week before filming was due to begin, after Montalbán had been cast. [9] [12] In this draft the blond Nordic character of Erickson became closer to the version seen on screen. [9] In Roddenberry and Coon's script, the character was renamed Sibahl Khan Noonien. The name Govin Bahadur Singh was suggested by the DeForest Research company, who checked scripts for potential errors on behalf of the production company; the Singh name was suggested in part because it was closer to actual Sikh names. Coon and Roddenberry settled on Khan Noonien Singh; Roddenberry had an old Chinese friend named Noonien Wang that he had lost touch with, and hoped that Wang would see the episode and contact him. [12] In the final draft, Roddenberry listed himself as the primary writer, Coon as co-writer and Wilber was absent, but the Writers Guild of America turned down Roddenberry's request to be credited; Coon received the main credit; Wilber was given co-writer and "story-by" credits. [9] Wilber did not often watch his own work, and nearly thirty years later had never seen "Space Seed". [3] Coon was later credited as Lee Cronin for his part in production of the script. [13]
Casting
Mexican actor Ricardo Montalbán was cast as the genetic superman Khan Noonian Singh, having been the first choice for the role. [3] [14] He had been suggested by casting director Joseph D'Agosta, who was not looking to cast an actor of a particular ethnic background due to Roddenberry's vision for the series; Roddenberry wanted to show his perceived 23rd century values by not requiring any specific ethnicities when casting actors in guest roles. [8] Montalbán had previously appeared in a television movie created by Roddenberry, The Secret Weapon of 117 (also referred to as The Secret Defense of 117), [3] [14] which was the writer's first attempt to create science fiction on television and aired more than ten years before Star Trek. [15] Montalbán called his role as Khan "wonderful", [3] saying that "it was well-written, it had an interesting concept and I was delighted it was offered to me". [3] The main cast were enthusiastic about working with Montalbán; DeForest Kelley later said "I enjoyed working with Ricardo the best. I was privileged. He is a marvelous actor." [16]
Madlyn Rhue, who portrayed Lt. Marla McGivers, had previously worked with Montalbán in an episode of Bonanza in 1960 as his on-screen wife; she later appeared with him in a 1982 episode of Fantasy Island . [8] [14] Montalbán and Rhue also appeared in separate episodes of Roddenberry's previous NBC television series, The Lieutenant (1963–1964). Main cast member George Takei did not appear in "Space Seed"; the character of Hikaru Sulu was replaced by Blaisdell Makee as Lt. Spinelli. It was the first of two appearances in Star Trek for Makee, who returned in the episode "The Changeling" as Lt. Singh. John Winston appeared for the second time as Lt. Kyle, and went on to make nine further episodic appearances in that role. Following positive feedback from the producers and the network regarding James Doohan, "Space Seed" was the first episode to feature a more prominent role for his character, Chief Engineer Montgomery Scott. [14]
Filming, costumes and post production
Filming of "Space Seed" began December 15, 1966, and concluded on December 22 after six days of shooting. [14] Roddenberry, Coon and Wilber's rewrites resulted in a shooting script of nearly 60 pages and 120 scenes. [17] Marc Daniels was hired to direct the episode; he had previously worked on The Lieutenant. [18] The first day's filming coincided with the airing of the episode "Balance of Terror", and Daniels allowed the cast and crew to go home early to watch it. [19] The other five days ran to schedule, to the extent that there was an early finish on the final day of filming, allowing cast and crew time to return home to watch a repeat of the episode "What Are Little Girls Made Of?" which had replaced "Arena" on that evening's schedule. [20] A scene filmed but later cut from the episode depicted a discussion between McGivers and Angela Martine (Barbara Baldavin), intended to show that McGivers was looking for a forceful man. [19] Further scenes were trimmed after filming following input from NBC. For example, scenes shot on the Botany Bay were cut as executives felt the costumes worn by the newly awakened crew were too revealing. [19] [20]
The character of Khan required five costumes, more than any other guest star in the entire series. This meant that the staff working on costumes had less time to devote to any one costume. Montalbán's athletic physique was such that when his measurements were passed to them, staff thought there had been a mistake. Costume designer William Ware Theiss found it challenging to produce the outfits in the time allotted, to make the materials seem suitably futuristic and to fit his own preferences in design. Two of Khan's outfits re-used previous costumes, while three were specifically created for Montalbán. [17] The production built two new sets for the episode: the decompression chamber in sickbay, and the set on board Botany Bay. [19] A doorframe from that set was later reused as an overhead unit in McCoy's research lab, which appeared later in the series. [21]
Post-production on "Space Seed" began on December 23, 1966, and ran through February 5 the following year. The Westheimer Company produced the majority of effects in the episode, but the scenes of Enterprise and Botany Bay in space were produced by Film Effects of Hollywood who were not credited on screen for their work. Botany Bay utilized a design Matt Jefferies created prior to the USS Enterprise. It had been previously labeled "antique space freighter", [20] and was built by Film Effects of Hollywood. [18] The creation of the ship miniature caused the episode to go over budget by more than $12,000; "Space Seed" actually cost a total of $197,262 against a budget of $180,000. By this point, the series was nearly $80,000 over budget in total. [16] The Botany Bay model was later re-purposed as a freighter for the episode "The Ultimate Computer". [21]
The sound effects team borrowed effects and manipulated them in order to achieve the "painted sound" effect sought by Roddenberry. [16] [20] Although a number of sources were used, they attempted to avoid most science fiction television series as they wanted an authentic sound. The sound archive of the United States Air Force was used, although the photon torpedo sound was created from the 1953 film The War of the Worlds . [16] "Space Seed" was awarded the Golden Reel for sound editing on television by the Motion Picture Sound Editors society. [16]
