ESTATE SALE
The item listed here comes from the estate of my mother-in-law after she passed away. We're going through the items that she collected while she worked in the entertainment industry.
She started her career as a Page on the Paramount Pictures studio lot in Hollywood, California in the mid-1990s. From there she worked in various departments such as the mail room, Special Events and Product Development (Licensing) where she had access to numerous one of a kind items like prototype collectables, scripts and behind the scenes images and details. She then moved on to other companies in the entertainment industry in positions both on and off production.
Over the years, she obtained an extensive collection of rare Hollywood items, especially from her favorite franchise "Star Trek". Scripts, crew gifts, screen used props, prototypes for collectables, rare discoveries at the Archive Building and much, much more.
This item up for bids would make a great addition to any Star Trek fan’s collection. It is a script from the show:
“Star Trek: The Next Generation”
“A Fistfull of Datas”
SEASON #6
SEASONAL EPISODE #8
SERIES EPISODE #134
From the writer's offices of "Star Trek - The Next Generation" in the Hart building on the Paramount Pictures studio lot in Hollywood.
The script contains pages that are printed on white paper only as this was kept in the writer’s office for continuity references. It was not meant to be distributed to the cast and crew.
For more detail about this, please refer to the web site for
Set Hero as they have a detailed description of script handling on productions, or do a google search for the many articles that talk about script revisions. (Screen shot also attached in auction details for clarity.)
It is in near pristine condition with some slight discoloration due to age as well as some MINOR creases from use and age. It has been stored in a plastic storage bag with a cardboard backing ever since the season was completed.
This item is the real deal, not a copy of a copy of a copy like a lot of other auctions that you'll run into.
Always kept in a non-smokers house!
NO torn pages!
NO missing pages!
NO stains or other damage!
The script is 62 pages in length.
(72 Physical pages which includes the Cover, Cast & Sets Pages.)
Written on September 17, 1992
First aired on November 9, 1992
Background information quoted from the Memory Alpha web site:
Production history
Story and script
- This was Robert Hewitt Wolfe's first contribution to Star Trek. He later wrote many episodes of Star Trek: Deep Space Nine. Wolfe recalled, "I'd pitched to TNG a few times. I didn't sell anything, but Michael Piller liked my pitches enough that he invited me back. Finally, I came in and pitched two stories, one of which I was sure they'd buy – but didn't – and another one which they actually did buy." The unsuccessful pitch involved Jean-Luc Picard and Geordi La Forge traveling back in time to twentieth-century Los Angeles just before the Watts riots, a premise which was later developed into the Deep Space Nine episodes "Past Tense, Part I" and "Past Tense, Part II". (Star Trek: The Next Generation 365, p. 282)
- The episode title is an homage to the Sergio Leone film A Fistful of Dollars, starring Clint Eastwood, the first in a series of what came to be called "Spaghetti Westerns" because they were produced in Italy by Italian filmmakers, such as Leone, often on a low budget. The original title was "The Good, the Bad and the Klingon", a paraphrase of the title of Leone's third "dollar spaghetti western", The Good, the Bad and the Ugly, again starring Eastwood. (Star Trek: The Next Generation Companion, 2nd ed., pp. 225-226)
- After Wolfe completed the draft script, it was assigned to Brannon Braga to revise. Braga was not familiar with Westerns and watched a number of films for inspiration. "I became a lover of the Western genre and watched dozens of them." (Captains' Logs: The Unauthorized Complete Trek Voyages, p. 265)
- The original story involved a greedy land baron, but Ira Steven Behr suggested that the plot instead be a homage to Rio Bravo. (Star Trek: The Next Generation Companion, 2nd ed., p. 225)
- Wolfe's story had Alexander attempting to bring Troi and Worf together romantically. Jeri Taylor noted that this was removed as it was felt that Worf's relationship with Alexander was becoming too similar to a contemporary soap opera or sitcom. "That's the kind of story that you can see on the air anywhere […] It's not an element of Star Trek I want to concentrate on. I think we just mined out all the stories about Alexander and Worf's problems as a daddy." Braga added, "[I]t felt false to me. This was a holodeck romp and it should be light and fun." (Captains' Logs: The Unauthorized Complete Trek Voyages, p. 264)
Production
- Director Patrick Stewart remembered, "There had been rumors around the production offices for some months that there was a Western episode coming up, and, of course, every director was eager to get a hold of it because everyone feels they have at least one Western in them." Originally, another director had been assigned to the episode but there was a switch, much to Stewart's delight. "There is nothing I have done in my career anywhere that could match the amazing thrill of directing a Western." (Captains' Logs: The Unauthorized Complete Trek Voyages, p. 265)
- Despite Stewart's enthusiasm, he also had little knowledge of the genre. Braga noted this was ironic but believed that he brought a freshness to the episode. (Captains' Logs: The Unauthorized Complete Trek Voyages, p. 265)
- Jeri Taylor recalled, "Patrick approached this with such zealousness – he went out and rented two classic Westerns every night. The next morning he'd come in and tell us what great ideas he'd had, and we could always tell just what he'd watched." (Star Trek: The Next Generation Companion, 2nd ed., p. 225)
- Stewart revealed that the shot where Alexander looks out of the bottom of the saloon doors was a homage to a similar scene in the film Shane. (Bold New Directions Year Six, TNG Season 6 DVD special features)
- A scene cut for time included an homage to The Ransom of Red Chief with Alexander as the testy captive. (Star Trek: The Next Generation Companion, 2nd ed., p. 226)
- Another deleted scene featured Worf nearly shooting himself in the foot after a quickdraw lesson from Troi. (Star Trek: The Next Generation Companion, 2nd ed., p. 226)
Sets and locations
- The Western sequences were filmed on one day on the backlot of Universal Studios in Los Angeles, better known as the "Western Town". (Star Trek Encyclopedia, 2nd ed., p. 12, Bold New Directions Year Six, TNG Season 6 DVD special features) The exact location is Six Points Texas, Backlot, Universal Studios – 100 Universal City Plaza, Universal City, California, USA.
- The production staff had very little time to create this episode, and Stewart actually asked that all the sets be set up at night, so they could catch every portion of daylight for shooting. (Bold New Directions Year Six, TNG Season 6 DVD special features)
- Production designer Richard James recalled that filming on the backlot was an uncomfortable experience for the cast and crew. "The temperature must have been a hundred and thirteen in the shade. It was awful. The guys in makeup, particularly Michael Dorn, were just miserable." Guy Vardaman was one of three people doubling for Brent Spiner. He recalled, "Everybody felt for Michael because of the Klingon headpiece and the wig and all that. It all came down to the heat, with all of us periodically running back to stand in front of whatever air-conditioning unit was functional – anything to avoid sweating makeup onto the wardrobe. Data should never be observed sweating." (Star Trek: The Next Generation 365, p. 282)
- Patrick Stewart greatly enjoyed the day of location shooting, notwithstanding the heat. "That was one of the most exciting days of my life. I had three cameras rolling almost all the time there, including an action slow-motion camera. I had the biggest crane that you could get in Hollywood. I had some wonderful toys to play with." (Captains' Logs: The Unauthorized Complete Trek Voyages, p. 264)
- Stewart nominated as a highlight the opportunity to ride in the crane along with the camera operator for the shootout scene. He remembered, "I was buckled into the spare seat alongside the camera, and someone actually found a megaphone for me. I was able to call 'Action' through a megaphone, on the Warner Bros lot!" (Star Trek: The Next Generation 365, p. 283)
Cast and characters
- Marina Sirtis (as Deanna Troi) was originally written to play the dancing girl from the saloon, instead of the stranger. (AOL chat, 1999)
- When she performed as Durango, Sirtis initially tried to blow rings of smoke, but Michael Dorn (Worf) cut her off and said "Stop it! Don't be funnier than me, this is my show." (Bold New Directions Year Six, TNG Season 6 DVD special features)
- Brent Spiner commented that although he enjoyed playing all the villains in this episode Data was "homely" as the female bartender he played. (Special Crew Profile: Lt. Cmdr. Data, TNG Season 6 DVD special features)
- In another interview, Spiner remarked, "I had the chance to play five or six characters in a show and Patrick directed, which made it additionally fun. It's certainly the most fun episode I've had to do and I would have liked to have done a show called 'For a Few Datas More'." (Captains' Logs: The Unauthorized Complete Trek Voyages, p. 265)
- According to the Red Dwarf reference guide "The A to Z of Red Dwarf", Patrick Stewart later caught the Red Dwarf episode "Gunmen of the Apocalypse" on TV, and, mistaking it for a dramatic series, found the plot so similar to "A Fistful of Datas" that he briefly considered calling his lawyers. Only after watching the episode further, he realized that the show was a comedy and started laughing.
- In this episode Data notices Geordi La Forge growing a beard, and the beard appears fuller in the next episode, "The Quality of Life". La Forge was once seen unshaven in Season 5's "The Outcast".
Props
- Picard's Ressikan flute, first seen in "The Inner Light", reappears here and once more later in this season ("Lessons").
- In that scene, the Mintakan tapestry from "Who Watches The Watchers" is seen unfolded on his chair on the background.
- The backing of Alexander's game that he plays in the beginning of the episode is made from 5.25" floppy drive face plates.
- Although the holodeck portion of the episode takes place in Deadwood, South Dakota, there is a map of the Arizona Territory (now the states of Arizona and New Mexico) in Worf's office.
- The chair in Worf's quarters was also seen in the episodes "Peak Performance", "Family", "Reunion", "Redemption", "New Ground", "Cost Of Living", "Birthright, Part I", "Parallels", "Genesis", and "Firstborn" and was used as the command chair aboard the Tarellian starship in the first season episode "Haven". It was designed by Peter Opsvik.
- Worf's quarters also feature the Ligonian glavin again. It was previously seen in the episodes "Peak Performance", "Reunion", "Redemption", "New Ground", and "Cost Of Living".
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