Star Trek: Phase II

Star Trek Phase II

• William Shatner as Adm. James T. Kirk, Commanding Officer
• Stephen Collins as Cmdr. Willard Decker, First Officer
• David Gautreaux as Lt. Xon, Science Officer
• DeForest Kelley as Dr. Leonard "Bones" McCoy, Chief Medical Officer
• James Doohan as Cmdr. Montgomery "Scotty" Scott, Chief Engineer
• George Takei as Cmdr. Sulu, Helmsman
• Nichelle Nichols as Lt. Cmdr. Uhura, Communications Officer
• Walter Koenig as Lt. Chekov,Chief of Security
• Persis Khambatta as Lt. Ilia, Navigator

1. In Thy Image
2. The Child
3. The Savage Syndrome
4. Practice in Waking
5. To Attain the All
6. The Prisoner
7. Tomorrow and the Stars
8. Devil's Due
9. Deadlock
10. Lord Bobby's Obsession
11. Are Unheard Melodies Sweet?
12. Kitumba

The story:

The year is 1974. Paramount Studios has developed the perfect plan for promoting its upcoming television network: A new Star Trek series, reuniting the cast of TOS for another season of space-faring. Their strategy in hand, the studio began production.

The sets were built, the props were designed (including an all-new version of the Enterprise), the cast was signed (with the exception of Leonard Nimoy, who was replaced with Lt. Xon above). But Phase II was slated to reluctantly go where no Star Trek series had gone before: the Dumpster. Paramount cancelled their plans for the new network, and with it the new series.

But Phase II died not in vain. Paramount, having abandoned its dreams of a network, turned its sights again towards film, and PII's pilot episode, "In Thy Image," was adapted to become Star Trek: The Motion Picture. Also, when the Writer's Guild struck in 1988, "The Child" provided the basis for TNG's second season premiere, and "Devil's Due" became a TNG episode in the fourth season.

Some have observed that it might have been for the best that the "Lost Series" remained lost, such as the authors of Star Trek Phase II: The Lost Series, who postulate

if Star Trek II had aired even so much as one season of episodes, that we would not now be watching reruns of Next Generation, or new episodes of Deep Space Nine or Voyager, because [PII] would almost certainly have failed... dimming the prospects for the theatrical movies which were responsible for Trek's TV rebirth in the late 80s. This is an insightful and truthful assessment...Though fascinating, it is understandable when [the authors] declare that Star Trek II's greatest gift to the franchise is that it remained on paper.

Sources:

Green, Earl. "Star Trek Phase II: The Lost Series." Book review. Available at http://www.thelogbook.com/read/stphase2.htm.

"Mike's Guide to Star Trek." Available at http://www.geocities.com/Area51/Corridor/7516/phase2.html.

Pocket Books. Publisher information on Star Trek Phase II: The Lost Series. Available at www.barnesandnoble.com.