This guest blog is by my good friend Gerald Gurian, about his new book:
"To Boldly Go - Rare Photos from the TOS Soundstage: Season One"
By Gerald Gurian
I am very pleased to announce my first endeavor as an author with the
release of this 218 page, full-color interior, softcover volume entitled
"To Boldly Go - Rare Photos from the TOS Soundstage: Season One", which
is now available for purchase!
This edition contains approximately 330 rare, behind-the-scenes images -
the majority in full and vivid color on large 8.5" by 11" pages - from
the making of the first season and pilot episodes of Star Trek: The
Original Series. All of the photographs shown in this book come from my
personal collection; which I began as a youth in the early 1970's with
the purchase of about 700 to 800 film clips from Gene Roddenberry's Star
Trek memorabilia company called Lincoln Enterprises, and which I have
continuously grown over the last forty years. It now consists of
thousands of rare NBC publicity shots, candid still photos/negatives
taken on the TOS sets, and rare Lincoln clips. For those that are not
familiar with the exact nature of the film cells sold to fans by Gene
Roddenberry's company, they were the unused pieces of printed footage,
called the "trims" and "outtakes", that were left over after the Desilu
Studios film editors assembled the desirable footage into the finished
master versions of the Star Trek episodes. So the most desirable
versions of these little pieces of 35 mm half-frame film featured some
truly spectacular behind-the-scenes imagery, such as the clapperboard
technician - typically Bill McGovern - holding a slate in front of the
actors about to film a scene; or other rare casting or special effects
related footage, or sometimes imagery with members of the
behind-the-camera production crew actually visible in the frame. In
January, 2014 - as many photos from my collection were published in
black-and-white format in the first volume of the Saturn-award winning
book series "These Are The Voyages - TOS" by Marc Cushman - I wrote the
following article for this website, which still provides a good overview
and introduction to my rare Star Trek image collection:
http://www.startrekpropauthority.com/2014/01/special-report-behind-scenes-look-at.html
"To Boldly Go" presents not only many of the most exciting images from
the Cushman TOS Season One book - most of which are now seen in color -
but also a wealth of additional rare photos not included in the "These
Are The Voyages" series.
I have personally digitally restored all of the rare photos that appear
in this edition, and I paid special attention to the goal of recreating
the bold and vivid colors that were present in the original broadcasts
of the episodes. Since early 2013, I estimate that I've devoted between
2,000 and 3,000 hours to this activity. It was first necessary to
perform what was sometimes extensive repair work on many of the images
that appeared in the three "These Are The Voyages" books; to correct
defects such as scratches and/or blemishes on the film scan - which I
performed first on the color versions of the imagery, and also completed
a preliminary color correction effort to remove the heavy magenta
tinting affecting many of these photos before creating and then
fine-tuning the black and white versions. And throughout 2015 into the
start of this year, I completed my final color correction efforts on all
of the first season imagery - which typically involved selecting tiny
portions of geometry within the individual photos and adjusting the
colors one group of similar geometry at a time - such as all the actors
skin, or all of the red velour Starfleet tunics, or just the red/orange
railing in Bridge photos, etc. On a few occasions, the knowledge gained
by the appearance of screen used TOS memorabilia at auction has enabled
me to enhance the vintage imagery with unquestionably real world,
historically accurate colors. For example, modern day photos from the
recent 2013 sale by Julien's Auctions in Los Angeles of Captain Kirk's
Laser Rifle from the second pilot "Where No Man Has Gone Before" were
very useful to my efforts to colorize an early B&W NBC publicity
shot featuring Sally Kellerman and William Shatner, who posed with the
laser rifle. Here is what the original publicity photo looked like prior
to colorization ... (Note: clicking on any picture below will display
an enlarged version).
and here is one of the Julien's images of the Laser rifle at auction ...
Finally, presented below is the colorized version as it appears in the pages of "To Boldly Go" ...
Another example can be drawn from the 2010 sale by the California
auction house Profiles In History of the famous Balok alien puppet head
seen in the episode "The Corbomite Maneuver". The consignor of the
Balok puppet was very gracious in providing me with a number of close up
photos of the puppet head for display on this website in the month and a
half preceding the auction; and those pictures were particularly useful
to me in clarifying the paint colors employed in detailing the puppets
eye/Iris, and the periorbital skin (the region surrounding the eyelids)
on the puppet when I set about to colorize a rare B&W candid shot of
William Shatner on set with Balok. Here is how the original image
appeared ...
and one of the modern day reference photos of the Balok puppet ...
and now the finished, colorized version of this image as it appears in the pages of "To Boldly Go" ...
I believe that my photo restoration efforts have also been aided by the
fact that, as a longtime Star Trek prop and costume collector, I have
been quite fortunate over the years to have actually owned and/or
handled dozens of screen used items from The Original Series, and so am
familiar with their correct colors, and still possess items that have
and will continue to serve as excellent color references. Although, it
is certainly true that the appearance of some memorabilia, in particular
the gold velour 1st and 2nd season command fabric as well as the
olive-green nylon 3rd season command fabric used in the Starfleet
tunics, could at times vary drastically under stage lighting or in flash
photography, and thus not really closely resemble their natural,
in-person and off-screen colors. Still, it is my belief that the
readers of this book will truly be able to enjoy some of the finest,
historically accurate rare Star Trek photo restorations ever produced --
which are in some cases quite unique with regard to what has been seen
in the past as I have especially created - for the first time ever to my
knowledge - a number of brand new colorized versions of certain B&W
candid and publicity shots just for inclusion in this volume.
It should also be noted that the rare pictures in this collection are
all accompanied by usually brief but, on occasion, quite extensive
descriptions or anedotes about the filming of the related scene or
episode. Which makes this volume, I believe, an entertaining and
unique (and hopefully somewhat informative) photographic history of the
making of the first season of TOS.
Presented below are some additional samples of the interior pages of "To
Boldly Go - Rare Photos from the TOS Soundstage: Season One" (Again,
just click to enlarge any picture)...
It is truly my hope that those fellow fans who decide to purchase a copy
will be pleased to discover perhaps several previously unseen rare TOS
images that will bring a smile to their faces; and that "To Boldly Go"
will be a valued addition to their personal Star Trek libraries.
Special thanks to my good friend and Saturn Award winning author Marc
Cushman who has graciously given much of his time and knowledge in not
only authoring the Foreword to this volume; but also in providing
detailed editing notes and recommendations.
"To Boldly Go - Rare Photos from the TOS Soundstage: Season One" will
shortly appear on sale at Amazon.com (and indeed international Amazon
websites) for its full list price of $40; but it is immediately
available for purchase at the Createspace (an Amazon company) estore at
the link provided below. As a special enticement for buyers to visit
the Createspace store, I am pleased to provide the following
introductory offer Discount Code which can only be used at Createspace
and which allows you to buy "To Boldly Go" for just $36 (and thus
realize a special 10% savings off the regular purchase price).
Interestingly, at $36 for 330 rare photos, the cost per image is close
to 11 cents - which is slightly less than the 8 for $1 sales price of
the Lincoln clips back in 1970.
The Createspace discount code is: DJSNR44B
which may be used to buy a copy of "To Boldly Go" for $36 at this Createspace estore link:
https://www.createspace.com/5716514
Gerald Gurian
