Star Trek News Roundup; Birthdays, Death, Anniversaries

Here’s a Star Trek news roundup for March 5, 2018. The past couple of days produced a couple of birthdays, a death and two anniversaries.

The latest Star Trek news…

ANNIVERSARIES:

Star Trek earned its first TV Guide cover 51 years ago. Kirk and Spock adorned the cover of TV Guide in 1967. We love the smirk on William Shatner’s face.

The episode: The Omega Glory celebrated its 50th anniversary.

The show aired March 1, 1968. In this episode, the Enterprise discovers an abandoned USS Exeter. The crew has been reduced to crystals and the boarding party consisting of Captain Kirk, Mr. Spock, Dr. McCoy and Lieutenant Galloway, must beam down to the planet to avoid contaminating the Enterprise.

Once planet-side, the crew learns of an on-going civil war between the Yangs and Kohms. The Exeter’s captain, Ron Tracey, convinced that he’s discovered a fountain of youth, disobeys the Prime Directive and interferes in the civil war. The episode looks like a classic until it ends with an impractical discovery of the United States Constitution.

Little known fact: This episode was one of three considered for the second pilot.

What’s cool about this episode? Lots of stuff!

— Ron Tracey, played by Morgan Woodward, sensationally delivers in his role as starship captain driven mad by command failure and lust for power.
— Woodward also played Dr. Simon van Gelder in the episode Dagger of the Mind.
— We receive a rare glimpse at another Constitution class ship in the USS Exeter.
— There’s Tracey’s bulky uniform shirt badge.
— Great fights!
— Patriotism!

BIRTHDAYS:

We celebrated a pair of birthdays in Gates McFadden and the late James Doohan.

McFadden needs no introduction, but for the uninformed, she played the role of Dr. Beverly Crusher on Star Trek: Next Generation.

Crusher left the Enterprise briefly to serve as head of Starfleet medical. She returned a year later to the show. As a character, Crusher delivered a degree of calm, class and a whiff of unfulfilled romance/tension with Captain Picard. A widow, Dr. Crusher raised her son Wesley, aboard the Enterprise.

Jame Doohan, who passed away in 2005, would’ve celebrated his 98th birthday. We detailed the of “Mr. Scott” in this post.

IN MEMORY

The acting world lost a gem in David Ogden Stires who passed away. Stires is best known for his role as Dr. Winchester in the TV series M*A*S*H. He played the role of Dr. Timicin in the Star Trek: TNG episode “Half a Life.”

Stiers passed away from bladder cancer. He was 76.