#theodore sturgeon

[trek-tracks]

The funniest part of this reply is not that it was on a completely innocuous post...

The funniest part is that it was on an innocuous post about Amok Time, an episode which canonically, as a major plot point, makes Star Trek characters roll around in the dirt.

Sir, take this up with Theodore Sturgeon, I was not involved in this decision

#star trek #star trek tos #spock #jim kirk #amok time #leonard mccoy #captain kirk #bones mccoy #theodore sturgeon #i'm counting bones because he also gets his knees dirty #cw homophobia #is this person a dry cleaner who despairs for the state of starfleet pants #well they're blocked now because I gave them three chances to try for a positive interaction #and instead they got worse #Ah yes #they also suggested instead of aos that we get a series about refitting the Enterprise with a secondary hull #or a universe where the borg have conquered everything

[electronickingdomfox]

This is the ending of the first story outline for "Amok Time".

Of course, the final script is much better and much slashier than this early concept. From their talk about "biology", to Spock refusing to live long and prosper after killing Kirk, or his smile while shouting "Jim!", or the infamous titty window.

But this ending... This ending.

The full story outline can be downloaded here: https://collectingtrek.ca/2019/01/07/amok-time-the-original-story-outline/

#star trek tos #k/s #amok time #spirk #theodore sturgeon

[your-name-is-jim]

"Ted, why doesn't Spock die when he doesn't get laid?"

Listen, I have to make a post about this because I'm laughing out loud :D

In 1967, Gene L. Coon (Star Trek showrunner) wrote to Theodore Sturgeon after reading the first draft of Amok Time:

First of all, Ted, let me say that we are all generally pleased with the first draft of "Amok Time," although, of course, a certain amount of polishing and so on will be necessary. [...] We have to learn why Spock will die if he doesn't get to Vulcan in eight days. What kills him? Swollen gonads?... [And] since we have established that Spock either gets to Vulcan within eight days or dies, why doesn't he do so when he doesn't get married or laid? We must establish a sound explanation and have it explained or a lot of people will be unhappy with us…

The source unfortunately doesn't report if Sturgeon ever gave an answer about this. We just know that in the actual episode we never got it.

What I find hilarious is that Coon was worried about a lot of people potentially being unhappy about the lack of "a sound explanation"… But what actually happened is that a lot of people found their own based on what we saw on screen… aaand they wrote and drew a lot about it :)

#spirk #james t. kirk #spock #star trek the original series #star trek tos #k/s #kirk x spock #meta #sort of I guess #theodore sturgeon #gene l. coon #slash fandom #fandom history

[dig-jules]

Theodore Sturgeon, the dude "considered to have single-handedly opened the science fiction world to explicit gay images"(Uranian Worlds, 1990) wrote amok time and the backrub scene. Food for thought.

#he also wrote whatever was going on with Finnigan and Jim so #star trek #star trek tos #jim kirk #spirk #spock #amok time #shore leave #theodore sturgeon

[gremlin-pattie]

losing it over amok time again.

like. ok. you tell me that vulcans need to fuck every 7 years or they will Die. alright. 

then you show me spock wrestling around with jim. and somehow this cures his blood fever. but i thought you just said the only thing that can cure it is-*gunshots*

#LIKE???? #i know people have been saying this for like 50 years but jesus christ #don’t WORRY mr sturgeon I SAW YOUR SUBTEXT #star trek #star trek tos #kirk/spock #spirk #amok time #pon farr #theodore sturgeon

[atomic-chronoscaph]

Killdozer! (1974)

#killdozer gif #70s tv movies #b-movies #70s horror #70s movies #jerry london #theodore sturgeon #james a. watson jr. #seventies #1974 #gif #chronoscaph gif

[bitterkarella]

Midnight Pals: Trapdoor Spiders

Fletcher Pratt: i'd like to welcome you all to the first meeting of the No Mildreds Club Mildred Baldwin: hey what are you boys doing in here Pratt: um excuse me Pratt: [pointing at sign] sorry mildred

Pratt: first order of business for the NO MILDREDS Club Pratt: the chair recognizes isaac asimov Isaac Asimov: yes can we change the name? Asimov: its a little on the nose Pratt: well what would you call it? Asimov: how about Asimov: the trapdoor spiders

[meanwhile] Poe: hey did you guys hear about this Trapdoor Spiders club? Poe: seems really exclusive King: whys it called that? Barker: its a sex act Poe: no its not clive Barker: be a lot cooler if it was

King: so what is it? Poe: its a male eating club Barker: haha well i know all about that Poe: no clive it's not that kind of male eating CB Blanchard: i know all about that Poe: it's not that either

King: so it's an exclusive club for boys? Patricia Highsmith: sounds fun. maybe i'll stop by Poe: oh sorry patricia it's men only Highsmith: yeah i think they'll let me in Poe: Poe: yeah i don't know why but that scans Barker: yeah that really does doesn't it? Highsmith: you know, chat with the boys, hang a few laughs, maybe chase a skirt

Franz Kafka: can i join? Poe: King: Koontz: Lovecraft: Barker: Barker: i'm going to tell her Poe: no clive Poe: the prime directive Barker: that's stupid Barker: i'm going to do it

Barker: we need to get into this club King: well gosh clive it's invite only King: and they're sci fi guys King: i don't know that we have any horror guys in that you could ask Dean Koontz: there's theodore sturgeon Barker: why yes Barker: there IS theodore sturgeon Barker: dean, you're a genius Koontz: i helped :)

Theodore Sturgeon: [wearing lab coat, holding erlenmeyer flask] behold it is i Sturgeon: theodore sturgeon Sturgeon: critical thinker and seeker of knowledge Sturgeon: excelsior!

Barker: hey theo Barker: i wanna ask a favor Sturgeon: speak, fellow science fan!

Barker: so Sturgeon: [scribbling equations on chalkboard] silence, clive! i'm almost at a break-through Sturgeon: soon, if my calculations are correct Sturgeon: i shall soon perfect Sturgeon's Revelation Sturgeon: or perhaps even Sturgeon: Sturgeon's law

Barker: Barker: yeah so anyway Sturgeon: eureka! I've found it Sturgeon: by my calculations Sturgeon: 80% of everything is crud Sturgeon: wait a second Sturgeon: 90%. 90% of everything is crud Sturgeon: sorry, forgot to carry the one

Barker: yeah ok i'm gonna leave you to Barker: whatever the hell all this is Sturgeon: scientific progress! Sturgeon: behold! the fruits of science! Sturgeon: a marvel of modern technology! Sturgeon: i'm building a killdozer

Sturgeon: behold! the killdozer! Sturgeon: bullet proof glass. Touchscreen gear shift. Sturgeon: and the steering wheel is a squircle

Sturgeon: the killdozer can cross water up to 2.5 feet deep Sturgeon: but also um you shouldn't get it wet Barker: Sturgeon: especially don't back it into a lake or something

Barker: you scientists are always so busy asking whether you CAN build a killdozer, you never stop to ask whether you SHOULD build a killdozer Barker: cuz that thing looks like shit Barker: like it really looks like shit

Sturgeon: you think i'm smart? you should see my brother peter Sturgeon: you know mensa? Barker: i've heard of it Sturgeon: he's so smart he FOUNDED it Barker: yeah? is he a member? Sturgeon: Sturgeon: i don't know

Barker: so you're pretty smart huh? Peter Sturgeon: [levitating, enormous saucer person head throbbing] Heard of Plato? Aristotle? Socrates? Peter Sturgeon: all morons!

#midnight pals #the midnight society #midnight society #stephen king #clive barker #edgar allan poe #dean koontz #theodore sturgeon #peter sturgeon #isaac asimov #mildred baldwin #fletcher pratt #CB Blanchard #Patricia Highsmith #Franz Kafka #hp lovecraft

[thehauntedrocket]

Vintage Paperback - Assignment In Tomorrow by Frederik Pohl

Lancer (1972)

#Paperback Art #Paperback Cover #Science Fiction #Frederic Poh #Frederic Pohl #Assignment In Tomorrow #Lancer Books #Lancer #Vintage #Art #Ray Bradbury #Kurt Vonagu #Kurt Vonnegut #Theodore Sturgeon #Lester Del Rey #Alfred Bester #CM Kornbluth #Lancer Science Fiction #1972 #1970s #70s

[rainbowresurrection]

My sis bought this for me during pride month & it's one of my greatest material possessions

The fact he got any shred of this published in 1953 is mind-boggling

#theodore sturgeon #🏳️‍🌈 #not trek #well not directly #the world well lost #gay art #scifi #m/m #click for better quality srry #retro scifi #amok time

[dduane]

Theodore Sturgeon

Here’s what he looked like (this photo’s by Marc Zicree). There are other pics via his Wikipedia page, which has much more about him for those of you who might be interested. And you can hear a brief interview with him here.

His Star Trek script for “Amok Time” has already been getting some discussion... which is as it should be, as I don’t think there’s any ranking system that wouldn’t put it at least among the top ten ST:TOS episodes. For that episode Ted created the Vulcan “Live long and prosper” greeting (to which Leonard Nimoy added the now-famous hand gesture, adapted from one that originated in Jewish ritual tradition).

Sturgeon also wrote ST:TOS s1e15, “Shore Leave,” which is completely different in feel from “Amok Time”, but in which you can still clearly hear the grace of Ted’s writing even when he’s being (for the circumstances) really funny. But that was always one of his gifts -- for being serious without necessarily being at all somber. (Disclosure: Ted was a fixture in Los Angeles SF fandom in the late 70s, when I moved there, and so I was lucky enough to run into him pretty often at conventions and other functions of the local fannish circles. He was kindly and funny, one of those people who could critique someone’s writing both gently and incisively... which is a real gift.) 

His TV work was a grace note to a long and distinguished writing career that started in the pulps and quickly surpassed much of their other content. As Neil says, Sturgeon’s writing about love and relationships was unparalleled, and unquestionably far ahead of its time in terms of LGBTQ-friendliness.

His work is worth getting to know. My advice to everybody is: go find some, and experience one of the great voices of our field.

#Theodore Sturgeon

[spaceintruderdetector]

Killdozer!" is a science fiction/horror novella by American writer Theodore Sturgeon, originally published in the magazine Astounding (November 1944) and revised for the 1959 collection Aliens 4.

This story represents Sturgeon's sole output between the years 1941 and 1945. Everything else that was published during this time had been written before. Sturgeon suffered from long bouts of writer's block, but was somehow able to produce this story in 9 days. It is one of his most famous stories, and was his most financially successful during the first decade of his career.[1]

Astounding (UK) v04n10 [1945-05] : Free Download, Borrow, and Streaming : Internet Archive

#theodore sturgeon #science fiction #science fiction literature

[electronickingdomfox]

Now, wait a moment. Theodore Sturgeon joked about this in a memo to Roddenberry from 20 October 1966 (at the time he was writing "Shore Leave", so very early in the series). Retrieved here: https://web.archive.org/web/20220829234225/https://sci-hub.3800808.com/https://doi.org/10.3828/sfftv.2016.9.15

Now let's analyze that "supposed" episode's plot:

Spock is unusually cranky

The solution to that crankiness is for Spock to have sex (sort of)

Spock must do this

Are you telling me this is the inspirational source for Amok Time? I mean, this is the fucking source for ONE OF THE MOST INFLUENTIAL SCI-FI EPISODES OF HISTORY: AMOK TIME!!!?

🤣🤣🤣

*Also, see how in Amok Time, while Kirk learns about pon farr through the "biology" conversation, McCoy has discovered it on his own. So maybe, in a brilliant troll move, Sturgeon DID include his original scenario in the script, even if behind-the-scenes.

#star trek tos #star trek #theodore sturgeon #deforest kelley #amok time #cw suggestive #spock #spones #leonard mccoy

[your-name-is-jim]

“In the anteroom, Spock waits. McCoy comes out wiping his hands and says there's been a miracle. Spock slowly enters. He and Kirk stare at one another. Then slowly Spock goes to him; they clasp hands.”

– Theodore Sturgeon, last part of Amok Time original story outline

Source

#spirk #happy k/s day #amok time #star trek tos #spock #james t. kirk #leonard mccoy #k/s #kirk x spock #space husbands #theodore sturgeon #this outline actually lacked some of the gayest scenes we got in the actual episode #anyway I like to think Sturgeon knew what he was doing

[cantsayidont]

October 1944. Born on Monday: The debut of one of the most fearsome of DC's Golden Age villains, the monstrous Solomon Grundy, in a story written by noted science fiction author Alfred Bester. Although he looked like Universal's Frankenstein Monster (then appearing with Dracula and the Wolf Man in a popular series of monster movies), Grundy was actually a kind of swamp monster, built around the skeleton of murdered miser Cyrus Gold. As Green Lantern explains:

Grundy's origin is very similar to that of the Hillman Comics muck-monster The Heap, who had first appeared in the Sky Wolf story in AIR FIGHTERS COMICS #3 (December 1942), although the Heap had originally been a WW1 German flying ace, Baron Emmelmann. (The Heap later inspired Swamp Thing and Man-Thing.) However, all of these characters ultimately had their roots in a Theodore Sturgeon short story called "It," first published in the pulp magazine UNKNOWN in 1940.

Because Solomon Grundy is immune to Alan's power ring (which didn't work on wood), Alan eventually deals with him by shoving the monster in front of an oncoming freight train. However, as any horror movie fan could tell you, it's not so easy to kill something that's dead to begin with. Grundy would return three more times in the Golden Age, next appearing in the Green Lantern story in COMIC CAVALCADE #13 (Winter 1945).

#comics #all american comics #paul reinman #alfred bester #green lantern #alan scott #solomon grundy #doiby dickles #swamp thing #the heap #man thing #muck monster #theodore sturgeon

[basicallyanotherwitchesthing]

Roger Elwood and Vic Ghidalia (editors) - Young Demons - Avon - 1972

#witches #young demons #occult #vintage #avon books #evilish gems #anthology #roger elwood #vic ghidalia #theodore sturgeon #science fiction #1972

[spirk-the-lecture]

“Dig in there mister spo—“

The year is 2022 and I am on the floor, dying. 🤣

#damn what an episode #shore leave #theodore sturgeon #Star Trek #this is gay #dig in the there mr sp #tos #tos spock #tos kirk #star trek tos #star trek #spirk #spirk is canon #tos spirk #spirk: the lecture #Jim kirk #Captain Kirk #Spock #Kirk #spock x kirk #kirk x spock #k/s #we’re in this for the long haul