Tragic SandwichAug 31, 2023
c0nc0rdance

Fun reminder that Lucille Ball is the only reason that Star Trek exists.

As the head of Desilu Productions, she green-lighted a pilot; then when it was deemed "too cerebral" by the networks, funded a financially-risky SECOND pilot that got the series picked up by NBC.

Aug 30, 2023 at 3:09pmWeb
Show threadc0nc0rdanceAug 30, 2023

Article here:

https://www.businessinsider.com/lucille-ball-is-the-reason-we-have-star-trek-heres-what-happened-2016-7

Lucille Ball is the reason we have 'Star Trek' — here's what happened

Comedy icon Lucille Ball is known for "I Love Lucy," but her and her production company Desilu were also responsible for other pop-culture staples, including "Star Trek."

Business Insider
Show threadSophia 🎶☃️🩵✨Aug 31, 2023
@c0nc0rdance I had to look up the word "cerebral" (because English is a foreign language for me) It made me laugh.
Show threadLt. Commander ReggieAug 30, 2023
@c0nc0rdance #LLAP to those like Lucille Ball and her vision for a better tomorrow! 💙💛❤️ #StarTrek #IDIC
Show threadRenato RamondaAug 30, 2023
@c0nc0rdance and she pushed for the use of high quality film (despite its cost), which is why a show from the 60s could be restored to look better than pretty much all 80s and 90s television
Show threadFrançois Caron 🇨🇦Aug 31, 2023

@renatoram @c0nc0rdance The only problem is that it reveals a lot of warts in the sets! 😁

Good thing the stories were very well written for the most part.

Show threadRenato RamondaAug 31, 2023
@Milnoc @c0nc0rdance what do you mean? In the future the most prominent construction materials will be future-papier-maché and future-laminated-wood, clearly! 😁😁
Show threadFrançois Caron 🇨🇦Aug 31, 2023
@renatoram @c0nc0rdance And badly laid out carpeting! 😂
Show threadMichael PorterAug 30, 2023
@c0nc0rdance @BrownKnowser That “too cerebral” judgement still kills me.
“How are we going to sell toilet paper and cars with *this*?!”
Show threadEddeAug 31, 2023
@MichaelPorter @c0nc0rdance @BrownKnowser an insult of the viewers too 😠
Show threadImpersonalAug 31, 2023

@MichaelPorter @c0nc0rdance @BrownKnowser same reason Matrix has the silly "humans are batteries" premise.

Originally, the machines used human brains, their neural networks, for computation.

Show threadMichael PorterAug 31, 2023

@impersonal @c0nc0rdance @BrownKnowser Ugh. You just hit on my biggest beef, by far, about the whole series. When I heard the “batteries” premise I thought, “Seriously??” If you need energy, feeding animals isn’t the way to do it…

I had never heard the original premise. That would have been *so* much better, and opened up really interesting avenues to explore. What happens when one of your nodes is schizophrenic? 🤔

Show threadImpersonalAug 31, 2023
@MichaelPorter @c0nc0rdance @BrownKnowser i guess there's an error correction algorithm. Probably named Agent Smith, or The Oracle or something ;)
Show threadMichael PorterAug 31, 2023
@impersonal @c0nc0rdance @BrownKnowser As long as it’s not this guy 😄
Show threadImpersonalAug 31, 2023
@MichaelPorter @c0nc0rdance @BrownKnowser No, that's our simulation's Architect, unfortunately.
Show threadMichael PorterAug 31, 2023
@impersonal @c0nc0rdance @BrownKnowser 😱
Show threadMichael PorterAug 31, 2023
@impersonal @c0nc0rdance @BrownKnowser “How’s that working out for you?” 😄
Show threadAndrewAug 30, 2023
@c0nc0rdance https://www.alternatehistory.com/forum/threads/that-wacky-redhead.220395/reader/page-1 enjoy
That Wacky Redhead

September 20, 1986 We open on a lavishly decorated but somehow cozy and intimate interview room, with two empty chairs in the middle. Assorted flower arrangements are everywhere. Everything is in soft focus - an appropriate stylistic choice, for more reasons than one. Enter Baba Wawa -...

alternatehistory.com
Show threadDeb4+ aka Deborah DT 🏳️‍🌈🏳️‍⚧️Aug 30, 2023

@c0nc0rdance

There's a whole documentary series on Prime about Star Trek and Lucille Ball is the star of the first one on its beginnings.

Show threadSpeculaterAug 30, 2023
@c0nc0rdance too cerebral...I fucking hate that television is made for the lowest common denominator.
Show threadHawkmoonAug 30, 2023

@c0nc0rdance

Wow!

Show threadMarco van Burgsteden 🍋Aug 30, 2023
@c0nc0rdance Fascinating...
Show threadChupacabra 78704Aug 30, 2023
@c0nc0rdance This made me cry in thanks to Lucy.
Show threadrobAug 30, 2023

@c0nc0rdance

@sburall 😀 😎

Show threadBC253Aug 30, 2023
@c0nc0rdance. I Love Lucy 💖
Show threadThiago Ferrer MoriniAug 30, 2023
@c0nc0rdance There is a FANTASTIC alternate history book where Lucille Ball decides to keep Desilu —instead of selling it to Paramount, as it happened— and develops it from there https://www.alternatehistory.com/forum/threads/that-wacky-redhead.220395/
That Wacky Redhead

September 20, 1986 We open on a lavishly decorated but somehow cozy and intimate interview room, with two empty chairs in the middle. Assorted flower arrangements are everywhere. Everything is in soft focus - an appropriate stylistic choice, for more reasons than one. Enter Baba Wawa -...

alternatehistory.com
Show threadRodneyPetersonTalentAgencyAug 30, 2023

@c0nc0rdance

Wagon Train (Gene Roddenberry's previous series) to the stars.

She must have very much respected his work.

Show threadES MichelsonAug 30, 2023

@RodneyPetersonTalent @c0nc0rdance

Like Lucille Ball, he appeared to be very much of a similar force of nature. Read Roddenberry's 1970s era book, The Making of Star Trek. It's pretty interesting as those things go.

Show threadRodneyPetersonTalentAgencyAug 30, 2023

@esmichelson @c0nc0rdance

I made a mistake. Wagon Train was not his series. He pitched Star Trek as Wagon Train to the stars. He came to prominence becoming a Los Angeles policeman who wanted to be a writer, and eventually the liaison between the department and the long running Jack Webb police drama reenactment series, Dragnet. Fortunately, he kept some financial interest in Star Trek, unlike Rod Serling, who did not own and of Twilight Zone when it became popular in reruns.

Show threadMark T. TomczakAug 30, 2023
@c0nc0rdance And when her own studio team suggested they drop it (costs), she vetoed them with no further justification than "I just like it."
Show threadVicente PerezAug 30, 2023
@c0nc0rdance and a little thing called Mission Impossible…
Show threadVenitaAug 30, 2023
@vpermar @c0nc0rdance and The Dick Van Dyke Show.
Show threadBrett KosinskiAug 30, 2023
@c0nc0rdance What's wild is The Cage, the first pilot, was extraordinarily expensive to produce, costing upwards of $500,000 dollars, having gone way over time and budget. To be willing to order a second pilot (Where No Man Has Gone Before) in the wake of that is truly remarkable.
Show threadsettimaAug 30, 2023
@c0nc0rdance I love Lucy x
Show threadYour Autistic Life FR/EN/ESAug 30, 2023

@c0nc0rdance

Quite fartsinating.

(And now, of course, I'm imagining Lucille Ball with her anti-pinch dress doing the skit in the video below with Spock.)

https://spectra.video/w/iypSHsdBYLHk3JzsQNPinS

Fartsinating

PeerTube
Show threadDanaBlankenhornAug 30, 2023

@c0nc0rdance Lucy also greenlit "Mission Impossible" at the same meeting Star Trek was greenlit. Over the objections of her board, who said two such expensive shows would break the company..

Sadly the job was emotionally drainign and she sold out to Gulf + Western now Paramount

Show threadJim. From Kansas.Aug 30, 2023
@DanaBlankenhorn @c0nc0rdance Those two shows were a huge drain on Desilu's cash flow, which contributed to the need to sell the studio. If she could have held on until Trek hit it big in syndication, so many different possibilities open up....
Show threadDan O'NeillAug 30, 2023
@c0nc0rdance I love Lucy
Show threadCyningstanAug 30, 2023
@c0nc0rdance I was a fan of Lucille Ball even before I learned this. Lots of happy hours during an unhappy time of life watching reruns of "I Love Lucy" from the 1950s.
Show threadBullet With Butter Tart WingsAug 30, 2023
@c0nc0rdance Lucille Ball could be the reason Star Trek exists, but William Shatner could never be the reason I Love Lucy exists
Show threadDocHollidayAug 30, 2023
@c0nc0rdance but can you name her first movie role?
Show threadI TRIED TO TELL YOUAug 31, 2023
@WmShakesp3are @c0nc0rdance not Room Service, Is it?
Show threadDocHollidayAug 31, 2023
@4d3fect @c0nc0rdance correct. I was incorrect. Nice.
Show threadBleistifterinAug 30, 2023
@c0nc0rdance the scandal! Do not tell the trekkies subgroup "scifi is for boys!"
Show threadBill LambAug 30, 2023

@c0nc0rdance

She not only made the world laugh, she went on to make us all think, since TOS was still entertainingly cerebral. 👍

Show threadMelissa Ratisher ⓋAug 30, 2023
@c0nc0rdance DID NOT KNOW!
Show threadMary BranscombeAug 30, 2023
@c0nc0rdance green-lit is the perfect term when you think about how many times they had to reprocess the footage of the Orion slave girl because the processing house kept colour correcting it back to white
Show threadFrances LarinaAug 30, 2023

@c0nc0rdance

Lucille Ball is right up there with Amelia Earhart, Maya Angelou, Hedy Lamarr & Delores Huerta when it comes to role models.

It's sad how Paramount is treating the franchise like they are owned by a private equity company.

Show threadDanOlaAug 30, 2023
@c0nc0rdance
Interesting piece of information 👍
Show threadFarksnatcherAug 30, 2023

@c0nc0rdance

She was such a trailblazer and not afraid of taking risks. Her idea to appear pregnant against the advice of pretty much everyone. A non-white husband to boot.

Show threadLot⁴⁹Aug 30, 2023

@c0nc0rdance

Not illogical

Show threadEvil Bunny PottymouthAug 30, 2023

@c0nc0rdance

...and don't forget "The Twilight Zone"!

https://www.cbr.com/i-love-lucy-helped-launch-star-trek-the-twilight-zone/

How I Love Lucy Helped to Launch Star Trek and The Twilight Zone

The stars of I Love Lucy, Lucille Ball and Desi Arnaz, had an unexpected hand in bringing The Twilight Zone and the original Star Trek to audiences.

CBR
Show threadJack Yan (甄爵恩)Aug 30, 2023
@c0nc0rdance We love Lucy for Mission: Impossible, too!
Show threadWaka/JoewakaAug 30, 2023
@c0nc0rdance Thank you! I did not know that until today. #AlwaysLearning #scifi
Show threadAviva GaryAug 30, 2023
@c0nc0rdance damn go here go
Show threadStan Wonn 🏳️‍🌈 🌹Aug 30, 2023
@c0nc0rdance Yet another reason to love Lucy! 👍
Show threadBellwetherFarmAug 30, 2023
@c0nc0rdance @georgetakei !!
Show threadTom LevensonAug 30, 2023
@c0nc0rdance I do love Lucy.
Show threadUrsidinoj/The BjornsdottirsAug 30, 2023

@c0nc0rdance "too cerebral"

nothing's too cerebral for TV.

Show threadDavid HotrumAug 30, 2023
@c0nc0rdance MY favorite as a teen. I watched the first episode.