Speaking of Olympic events (or at least things that should be Olympic events), who wouldn't want to see William Shatner versus Milton Berle in a scenery-chewing contest? Well, it almost happened. Writer Norman Spinrad, author of the second-season TOS episode "The Doomsday Machine," was invited by the producers to write an episode featuring Berle, who was a big Star Trek and wanted to appear on the show. But here's the kicker: Berle, at the time America's most beloved comedian, didn't want a comedic role. According to Spinrad, Berle wanted to establish himself as a serious actor, and had chosen Star Trek as the means by which to do so. As the story went, Berle would portray a sociologist named Bayne, who studies a planet's primitive society, gets a bit too full of himself, and starts masquerading as a god. It falls to Kirk and the Enterprise crew to intervene and uphold the Prime Directive (presumably, Kirk would also find time for carnal relations with a fetching native girl, which totally isn't against the Prime Directive). The episode nearly made it to the production schedule before the producers decided against casting Berle in a straight dramatic role. Attempts were made to rewrite it into a comedy piece, but the episode was ultimately abandoned.
Recovering print journalist, writing professionally since 1991, polluting the internet and wasting the world's bandwidth since 1995. Board-certified Doctor of Memetics and Trollology, offering free consultations to qualified patients.
