"The Kirk that never happened" - Tricked into believing this was Star Trek: Phase II

[Justin]

For a brief moment this morning I was tricked into believing this was a clip from the unaired pilot to Star Trek: Phase II. ("But they never filmed a pilot for Star Trek: Phase II, only screen-tests" I thought to myself...) I was right of course. But for about 10 seconds I was trying to make sense of what I was seeing.

The description to this video says "Scene from the unaired tv pilot "Star Trek phase ii" 1977. William Shatner as Captain Kirk, now married with children, having an existential moment. Robert Reed as his first mate." Again, I thought to myself "Robert Reed as first officer? Never have I heard that "Mr. Brady" would've been involved in Star Trek, let alone the first officer on Phase II". 

 

 

What we're actually seeing is a scene from a movie called "Pray for the Wildcats" about a group of middle aged men on a motorcycle road trip to get away from it all. It featured Andy Griffith as a nasty bad guy who can't control his anger and turns on his friends. William Shatner and Robert Reed also starred in this film.

What's so interesting is that in the scene shown above, both William Shatner and Robert Reed are wearing what looks to be appropriate Starfleet uniforms that we might've seen in Phase II, Shatner in Gold and Reed as the "redshirt", then Shatner mentions the name "Farragut" - the ship that James T. Kirk served on as first officer.

Even though this isn't from anything to do with Star Trek, I'm surprised I never came across this until this morning. 

[RickR]

There are a few real clips from "Phase II" that I've seen on the YouTube channel called "Trek World".  They are short, and you can recognize David Gautreaux as Xon.  Mostly, they were testing out sets and costumes (as you mentioned), so nothing beyond that.  But they are fascinating to see!  I'll see if I can find those and link them here.

I've seen this wrongly-associated clip from Wildcats a few times.  I can see how people might get confused by it. 

Edited August 17, 2023 by RickR

[RickR]

Here you go.  This one even starts with the Wildcats footage and notes it is NOT from Phase 2.  And supposedly, this one contains "all" of the known phase 2 footage.

 

[Justin]

EXCELLENT video @RickR thank you!

I've become a big Xon fan over the years. I wish we would've seen a fleshed-out Xon throughout the feature films played by David Gautreaux, if not becoming a recurring character in Star Trek: The Next Generation. David Gautreaux was young enough to have played Xon as a contemporary Vulcan during TNG/DS9/VOY and that would hav worked well. I'm grateful that we received Tuvok though, who is for sure one of the highlights of all of Voyager.

The Phase II test footage from main engineering that appears at the 5min mark in the video is what always comes to mind for me when I think of the test footage of that show. It's amazing how everything feels like it's halfway between TOS and TNG in the look and feel of everything. Almost at home in the original Battlestar Galactica. Its really cool to see the central warp core set from underneath the glass that early on. It's probably the first thing they ever shot on that set.

I also find it quite interesting that the test footage was filmed in movie format as opposed to television. I wonder if this was normal at the time, or if Paramount was already anxious to see tests of this set, costumes and characters for how they would appear in a motion picture should they choose to go that route. 

I enjoyed this video and will have to check out some of his others! Okay enough nerding out for today, time to get back to work 😛🖖

[RickR]

The Trek World videos are really good!  I'm glad you enjoyed that one.  There are series about the ship models used on TOS that are really fun and educational.  Check them out! 

And yeah, I agree with you on Xon.  And Tuvok! 

[RickR]

Not related much...but here's the shortest episode of TOS ever...
 

 

[TrekMD]

TrekWorld has the best videos looking at the Star Trek that never was (Phase II).  There is very little video and most of it doesn't even have sound! 

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6 hours ago, RickR said:

Not related much...but here's the shortest episode of TOS ever...
 

 

ROTFLMAO!  I'm going to have to add this one to my collection just for giggles.  After I pass away, if my kids go through my shows, this should give them a laugh too.

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@RickR's short post was so funny I went on the prowl for more.  I found the Tomorrow is Yesterday episode from Bluejay 4's perspective...

 

[- Ω -]

@RickR I found an even shorter one!

 

[RickR]

LOL.  It feels good to laugh on a Friday after a long week! 

[RickR]

I apologize for the bad language, but....

 

[RickR]

Along the same lines as @Justin's original post...Luke NEVER pointed the lightsaber at his own face in Star Wars.

https://screenrant.com/star-wars-luke-point-lightsaber-face-meme/

 

[TrekMD]

Those videos with the "short" Star Trek episodes are so much fun.  Here is another video from Trek World that is worth watching...