Visit to a Weird Planet Revisited

"Visit to a Weird Planet Revisited"
Attribution
Series:	Star Trek: The Original Series
Author(s):	Ruth Berman
Publication information
Printed:	Star Trek: The New Voyages
Chronology
Date:	1967 and 2268

"Visit to a Weird Planet Revisited" is a short story by Ruth Berman, the fourth in the anthology The New Voyages. In this story, William Shatner, Leonard Nimoy, and DeForest Kelley temporarily switch places with Captain Kirk, Commander Spock, and Dr. McCoy while filming Vincent McEveety's "The Omega Glory."

Summary

Episode director Vincent McEveety was filming a scene in the transporter room set at Desilu Studios, on a day when shooting had been going poorly and when VIPs were visiting the "hot" set. William Shatner, Leonard Nimoy, and DeForest Kelley stood at attention while James Doohan stood behind the console. As the scene started, Shatner’s foot slipped, ruining the shot. They took a break, then tried again. But this time, the actors felt dizzy and seemed to see spots. Recovering quickly, Shatner said his line, but the man behind the console seemed not to know the proper response. Looking around, they realized they were no longer in a set. Nimoy grinned and wondered aloud how producer Robert Justman managed to pull off a hoax like this. Kelley realized the man behind the console wasn’t Doohan, but Montgomery Scott, and fairly quickly all three deduced that they were aboard the USS Enterprise.

A turbolift-ride later and they were in sickbay, all wondering what was going on. Then Sulu called from the bridge, reporting to Kirk that the ship was under attack. Shatner said he was on his way, and the three went to the bridge. Sulu said the deflectors were protecting the ship. Chekov asked Kirk if the landing party had found anything that explained Klingon interest in the planet. Shatner knew he couldn’t say yes, so he said no. Nimoy replied the statement was illogical, and that there could still be something of value. But Nimoy started to crack up, and hurried off the bridge to laugh himself silly in the turbolift.

Shatner asked Uhura to hail the Klingons, and Kor appeared. Shatner was distracted by the Klingon behind Kor, who was of a different race, and he reminded Kelley of a time when makeup designer Fred Phillips realized he’d come up with two makeup designs for Klingons. Kor said they’d named the planet Kahless, and that Federation interest prompted him to claim the planet for the Klingon Empire. After ending the conversation, Shatner fished for information from the bridge crew, then asked Uhura to have Scott meet them in McCoy’s office.

Once there, Shatner tried to explain to Scotty that they were actors. Nimoy said it was similar to when they switched places in TOS episode: "Mirror, Mirror" when Spock had a beard. That was proof enough for Scott, as the official report didn’t mention Spock’s beard. Scott started to consider the scientific aspects of the transposition, but Shatner asked if Scott would explain what was going on with the planet. Scott said the Klingons were found in the system, there seemed to be no reason for their interest, yet they also wouldn’t leave. Kirk had beamed down with a landing party to investigate. Scott said the actors could continue their masquerade for now, in case Kor asked to speak to Kirk again.

Back on the bridge, Chekov lamented there was no reason for anyone to want the planet, and that it didn’t even have a moon. Instinctively, Nimoy commented that it had to have a moon, since it had tides. He’d grown up in the Boston area and knew what tides looked like. Uhura raised the possibility of solar tides, but Chekov’s scans were negative, concluding that a moon had to be in orbit, one which Shatner realized was invisible. He reported the discovery of the cloaked moon to Scotty, who agreed that the Klingons would have had no choice but to claim the planet, or else expose what they had really been doing there.

Scott subtly suggested that Shatner, Nimoy and Kelley come to the transporter room. When they arrived, they overheard Kirk talking to Scott through the console speaker, which made Shatner uneasy. Kirk said they’d get into position on the transporter platform. The actors did the same. When the room faded back into view, Shatner stepped off the platform to tell Gene Roddenberry excitedly where they’d just been, ruining the take yet again. McEveety, having had enough of such failures, gave up and called a halt for that day of shooting.

References

Characters

Christine Chapel • Pavel Chekov • James Doohan • DeForest Kelley • Kor • Vincent McEveety • Leonard Nimoy • Montgomery Scott • William Shatner • Hikaru Sulu • Nyota Uhura

Referenced only

Gene Roddenberry • Matt Jefferies • Robert Justman • James T. Kirk • Leonard McCoy • Fred Phillips • Spock

Starships and vehicles

USS Enterprise

Referenced only

ISS Enterprise

Locations

Earth (Los Angeles, California) • Kahless

Races and cultures

Human (Scottish) • Klingon • Romulan

States and organizations

Glen Glen Sound • Klingon Empire • Starfleet • Terran Empire

Other references

20th century • camera • clapboard • cloaking device • crab • Organian Peace Treaty • phaser • pirate • salt • television • transporter

Appendices

Background

• While officially published in a licensed omnibus edition, this story was a sequel to a story that was never officially published. The preceding piece, Visit to a Weird Planet, was written by Jean Lorrah and only saw print as a fan fiction edition at conventions and on mailing list fanzines.
• Scott called it a ”multi-parallel, space-time inversion,” and he was able to return everyone where they belonged before the “anomaly” shifted.

• Director Vincent McEveety filmed three episodes in which Chekov was aboard the Enterprise: Spectre of the Gun, Patterns of Force, and The Omega Glory. Since the crew were otherwise occupied in Spectre of the Gun and Patterns of Force, that left The Omega Glory as the only potential setting.
• The Omega Glory was filmed between December 15-26, 1967. (The Omega Glory article at Memory Alpha, the wiki for canon Star Trek.)
• Kirk’s line, “Scotty, get a report on that power source and meet me in the briefing room,” wasn’t in the transcript of The Omega Glory. (http://www.chakoteya.net/StarTrek/54.htm)

• Scott said that Kirk had omitted the detail that Spock (mirror) had a beard from the official report of events from TOS episode: "Mirror, Mirror".

• While Shatner, Kelley and Nimoy were aboard the Enterprise, Kirk, Spock and McCoy were back on Earth in 1967 on the set of the TV Series.

• Kor said he’d been promoted to a rank “equivalent to commodore.”

Related Stories

• TOS comic: "Getting Real" – The USS Enterprise time travels from 2279 to 1983, but arrives in an alternate reality where there is a Star Trek TV Series.
• DS9 episode and novelization Far Beyond the Stars
• SNW story The Man Who Sold the Sky
• SNW story Research

Connections

published order
Previous story: The Enchanted Pool	Star Trek: The New Voyages	Next story: The Face on the Barroom Floor
chronological order
Previous Adventure: The Omega Glory	Pocket	Next Adventure: Assignment: Earth
Previous Adventure: The Omega Glory	Voyages of the USS Enterprise (NCC-1701) (2264 to 2270)	Next Adventure: Assignment: Earth