Back in the pitch part of this subseries of story bible/writer’s guide reviews, we looked at the crew of what was then the SS Yorktown, who would become the USS Enterprise crew in the original pilot. Of course only one of them would make it to the pilot that was actually picked up, “Where No Man Has Gone Before” (and yet the story about the shapeshifting salt vampire siren was the first aired, “The Man Trap”). The rest have only shown up in stories going back to Christopher Pike’s days, while Robert April is basically a trivia note from the Animated Series and various novels and comics.
In this installment we get a look at the crew we got. I would love to see the listing from the original draft or second draft, before scripts were written and maybe not every main and supporting regular character had an actor to go with them. This third draft came out between seasons one and two, so while Pavel Chekov is not yet part of our merry band (tell that to Khan) most of the rest of the regular and recurring members of the people who got to visit the bridge should be there. In the same vein, I wouldn’t mind seeing the later draft where he was added, and if I ever get to see the guide for The Animated Series we can also learn about M’Ress and Arex.
DeForest Kelly’s Doctor McCoy wasn’t in the opening credits for season one, and wasn’t even in the pilot, yet the first aired episode centered on him. Everyone else we know among the regulars, right down to Yeoman Rand, are here for us to meet. It’s only five pages, but I’m expecting these to be interesting enough to cover one article. In fact, while writing this I realized just going on the main three was taking up a lot of time when going over the history of the characters, so we’ll have to do the rest of the crew next time. Kirk, Spock, and McCoy, now recognized as the main three of the show, each get their own page while the characters who were only in the closing credits despite how often they appeared share the final two. So what does the writer’s guide have to say about our heroes going into the second year of their mission?
BW Media Spotlight 
Some Videos About Mark Waid’s Poorly Timed Response
Superheroes. Maybe we don’t want their world to exist as ours, seeing that it often comes with supervillains and a lot of destruction and even death. Still, when done right they’re a great escape from the weight of the day, a catharsis where good triumphs over evil and everything is right with the world. Try telling that to Mark Waid. The man who made many superhero comics in the 1990s, some with questionable stories, like dismembering a hero’s girlfriend and shoving her parts into a refrigerator, now says that due to Donald Trump retaking the White House, Waid is no longer able to write superheroes because he no longer believes in the goodness of humanity.
He’s started working on Justice League Unlimited, where practically every DC hero is now a member of the League, something they tend to flip flop on a lot through the various incarnations.
Two videos from Comics By Perch on this one, plus one more after that by two other guys. The first is a gut reaction to Waid’s post on Bluesky (where some people ran to after Elon Musk opened TwitterX to all points of view) about not being able to write heroes anymore. The third is a clip from the Rip & The Silverback podcast that goes over what should be DC’s response rather nicely. This started out just being a Daily Video with Perch’s response, but I had more to say and boosted it to full article. Note that there will be swearing in the videos but they make the point better than I can.
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Posted by ShadowWing Tronix on November 12, 2024 in Comic Spotlight, DC Spotlight and tagged commentary, Justice League Unlimited, Mark Waid.
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