Hey Everyone,
If you happen to be a big Star Trek fan like I am, you will probably enjoy this privately produced not-for-profit episode done by an outside company with the consent of the trademark owners of the Star Trek franchise. We had a thread started about this episode a few years ago. At the time, it was being released on Youtube in dribs and drabs of things like Part 1, scene 1 of 5, part 2 of 8. Part 2, scene 4 of 10, etc. We didn't yet have all the final pieces released. So we were left hanging on the ending. Finally all the individual scenes were combined and released in a much simpler two parter format.
The history of this episode and the script for it is controversial and still full of more questions than answers to this day. It was intended to be an episode to be filmed for Star Trek TNG in 1987. That much we know. The script was never filmed on ST-TNG. We know that also. It was written as a support to and a plea for tolerance of gays and the gay civil rights movement. Its plotline is a veiled and tangential reference to the much feared deadly fatal plague of the 1980's decade...AIDS. One forum member years ago said he understood that Gene Roddenberry turned the script down because he couldn't conceive of a gay crew member serving aboard the Enterprise. Mind you, this was still about 25 years before gays were even legally allowed to serve in the U.S. military.
I don't know if that part is true about Roddenberry turning down the script for those reasons. Gene Roddenberry was so far ahead of his time on so many levels. I dare say he was a man out of time who thought and lived several decades ahead of where society was at. (Much like Tesla I would say.) I see him as a pioneer of sorts in civil rights (in his own way of course) by placing the beautiful African-American actress Nichelle Nichols as a main character in a mainstream tv series, as a lieutenant aboard the original Enterprise. The first scripted bi-racial kisses filmed in a major tv show was between the characters of Captain Kirk and Lieutenant Uhura. And that was in 1968! It was quite controversial at the time. In some quarters it was probably considered scandalous.
He made sure throughout the history of the franchise that all major races on Earth were represented. Blacks, Asians, whites and even our Cold War enemy the Russians, were all depicted favorably with respect and dignity. All of them getting along with each other and all residents of Earth getting along with most alien beings in intergalactic harmony.
The first time I saw a clip of "Blood and Fire" about 3 years ago, it said in the beginning credits that this episode was dedicated to all of those who have died of AIDS. That intro appears to have been redacted. It still keeps the tribute to the amazing Majel Barrett Rodenbbery.
"Ad from David Gerrold, in which he sells a unused script for Star Trek: TNG and donates the money to the "AIDS Project Los Angeles."
From the ad: "'Blood and Fire' was written for Star Trek: The Next Generation in May of 1987. It's about the fear of AIDS and what it does to people. (Yes, this is the one with the two gay characters in it.) A few weeks after it was turned in, 'Blood and Fire' was shelved. No explanation was ever given why the script was set aside." According to a Trexperts published around 2008, this script was to have been filmed by a fan-run group for a show called "New Voyages."
Credit to: http://fanlore.org/wiki/AIDS_and_Fandom
The quality of the episode (as far as acting for instance) is not totally up to the same standards of the mainstream franchised series. Nevertheless the acting and filming of it overall is still of an amazing quality. I was also blown away by how striking the similarities are between one of the main characters (Captain Kirk's nephew Peter Kirk) and our model Daniel. When you look at the eyes, smile and hair it's obvious that they could easily be brothers or first cousins. The resemblance is uncanny! I think you'll agree.
Between them the episodes take a little under 2 hours to view. They also have no commercials. Yay! lol I hope you enjoy. I look forward to hearing any of your comments or reactions.
For whatever reason, these links will not pull up in a screen format here. You can follow the links to Youtube though.
[video]http://youtube.com./watch?v=QtifyhPScCw[/video]
[video]http://youtube.com./watch?v=c-LbNN-7Pbc[/video]
If you happen to be a big Star Trek fan like I am, you will probably enjoy this privately produced not-for-profit episode done by an outside company with the consent of the trademark owners of the Star Trek franchise. We had a thread started about this episode a few years ago. At the time, it was being released on Youtube in dribs and drabs of things like Part 1, scene 1 of 5, part 2 of 8. Part 2, scene 4 of 10, etc. We didn't yet have all the final pieces released. So we were left hanging on the ending. Finally all the individual scenes were combined and released in a much simpler two parter format.
The history of this episode and the script for it is controversial and still full of more questions than answers to this day. It was intended to be an episode to be filmed for Star Trek TNG in 1987. That much we know. The script was never filmed on ST-TNG. We know that also. It was written as a support to and a plea for tolerance of gays and the gay civil rights movement. Its plotline is a veiled and tangential reference to the much feared deadly fatal plague of the 1980's decade...AIDS. One forum member years ago said he understood that Gene Roddenberry turned the script down because he couldn't conceive of a gay crew member serving aboard the Enterprise. Mind you, this was still about 25 years before gays were even legally allowed to serve in the U.S. military.
I don't know if that part is true about Roddenberry turning down the script for those reasons. Gene Roddenberry was so far ahead of his time on so many levels. I dare say he was a man out of time who thought and lived several decades ahead of where society was at. (Much like Tesla I would say.) I see him as a pioneer of sorts in civil rights (in his own way of course) by placing the beautiful African-American actress Nichelle Nichols as a main character in a mainstream tv series, as a lieutenant aboard the original Enterprise. The first scripted bi-racial kisses filmed in a major tv show was between the characters of Captain Kirk and Lieutenant Uhura. And that was in 1968! It was quite controversial at the time. In some quarters it was probably considered scandalous.
He made sure throughout the history of the franchise that all major races on Earth were represented. Blacks, Asians, whites and even our Cold War enemy the Russians, were all depicted favorably with respect and dignity. All of them getting along with each other and all residents of Earth getting along with most alien beings in intergalactic harmony.
The first time I saw a clip of "Blood and Fire" about 3 years ago, it said in the beginning credits that this episode was dedicated to all of those who have died of AIDS. That intro appears to have been redacted. It still keeps the tribute to the amazing Majel Barrett Rodenbbery.
"Ad from David Gerrold, in which he sells a unused script for Star Trek: TNG and donates the money to the "AIDS Project Los Angeles."
From the ad: "'Blood and Fire' was written for Star Trek: The Next Generation in May of 1987. It's about the fear of AIDS and what it does to people. (Yes, this is the one with the two gay characters in it.) A few weeks after it was turned in, 'Blood and Fire' was shelved. No explanation was ever given why the script was set aside." According to a Trexperts published around 2008, this script was to have been filmed by a fan-run group for a show called "New Voyages."
Credit to: http://fanlore.org/wiki/AIDS_and_Fandom
The quality of the episode (as far as acting for instance) is not totally up to the same standards of the mainstream franchised series. Nevertheless the acting and filming of it overall is still of an amazing quality. I was also blown away by how striking the similarities are between one of the main characters (Captain Kirk's nephew Peter Kirk) and our model Daniel. When you look at the eyes, smile and hair it's obvious that they could easily be brothers or first cousins. The resemblance is uncanny! I think you'll agree.
Between them the episodes take a little under 2 hours to view. They also have no commercials. Yay! lol
I hope you enjoy. I look forward to hearing any of your comments or reactions. For whatever reason, these links will not pull up in a screen format here. You can follow the links to Youtube though.
[video]http://youtube.com./watch?v=QtifyhPScCw[/video]
[video]http://youtube.com./watch?v=c-LbNN-7Pbc[/video]
