Alternate Gerrolds by David Gerrold Read Free Book Online Page A

Maybe the android’s best friend could be a teenage computer genius ... the kids would love that. We ended up calling the android REM—it means Rapid-Eye-Movement—and casting Donald Pleasance. Billy Mumy came aboard as Dr. McCoy’s grandson, Wesley.
    To be fair, Pleasance made the whole android thing work, but none of us ever really liked the idea very much. We tried arguing against it, but who ever listens to the writer’s opinion? Whatever Jack wanted, Jack got. Bobby made sure of that. So, there we were—lost in space with Jack Kennedy.

    And then ... to make it even worse, Jack started reviewing outlines, sending us memoes about what Jack Logan would or wouldn’t do. Clearly, he was having trouble telling the difference between the character and the actor who played him. Jack killed a lot of good ideas. I had one where these little furballs started breeding like crazy—kind of like the rabbits in Australia? Dorothy thought it had a lot of whimsy. Everybody liked it. But Jack killed it. He said it made Logan look foolish. He didn’t want to look foolish, said it wasn’t right for his image.
    His image? Give me a break. It doesn’t matter much now, though, does it? He’s got the best image of all. He’s an icon.
    Harlan quit the show first—which surprised all of us, because he was always the most patient and even-tempered of human beings. Y’know, he did that est thing and just mellowed out like a big pink pussycat. Ted Sturgeon used to come to him for advice.
    Dorothy quit three months after Harlan. I tried to stick it out, but it wasn’t any fun without them. I didn’t get along with the new producer, and I finally tossed in the towel too.
    The worst part of it, I guess, was that after we left, the ratings went up. It was pretty disheartening. I mean, talk about a pie in the face.
    What happened to the original crew? I thought you’d never ask.
    Roddenberry went over to Warners and worked for a while on Wagon Train: The Next Generation. Shatner showed up in a couple of guest spots, then landed the lead in a cop show; when he lost his hair, he took up directing—I hear he’s pretty good at it. Nimoy, of course, gave up show business and ran for office. He’s been a good governor; I guess he’ll run for the Presidency. Walter Cronkite called him one of the ten most trusted men in America.
    Dorothy was head of new projects at Twentieth for a while, then she started up her own production company. Harlan moved to Scotland. And me—well, my troubles were in all the newspapers, so I don’t have to rehash them here, do I? But I’m doing a lot better these days, and I might even take up writing again. If I can figure out how to use a computer. Those things confuse me.
    You don’t need me to tell you anything else about Star Track, do you? You can get the rest of it from the newspapers.
    Yeah, I was there when it happened. We all were. I was as close to Jack as I am to you.

    I dunno, I guess none of us realized what a zoo a Star Track convention could be. Not then, anyway. It was still early in the phenomenon.
    I mean, we had no idea what kind of impact the show had made on the fans. We thought there might be a couple hundred people there. You know how big the crowd was? Nobody does. The news said there were fifteen thousand inside the hotel. We had no idea now many more were waiting outside.
    We just didn’t know how seriously the fans took the show. Of course, the Ambassador Hotel was never the same afterwards.
    Anyway, Harlan was there, so was Dorothy. Gene came by, but he didn’t stay very long. I think he felt disgraced. And of course, all the actors. De, Jimmy, Grace, Nichelle, Walter, George, Majel, Bruce, Mark, Leonard, Bill—all the also-rans, as they were calling themselves by then. I guess Bobby had put the screws on. Attend or else. There wasn’t a lot of good feeling—at least, not at first.
    But then the fans started applauding. One after the other, we all went out and chatted and