Trivia / Star Trek S3 E21 "The Cloud Minders"

• Creator Backlash: David Gerrold was very disappointed in the final episode. In his original draft, Kirk forced the Troglytes and the Stratosians into negotiation with a phaser and left just as negotiations started, hopeful they would resolve the industrial dispute peacefully and permanently, while Bones sadly reflected on all the children^note unmentioned in the final draft that will die in the mines in the meantime. Gerrold sarcastically described the "gas masks for everyone!" resolution as "if we can just get them troglytes to all wear gas masks, then they'll be happy little darkies and they'll pick all the cotton we need..."
  • However, there is a epilogue scene where Vanna makes it clear that now they know about the gas and have the filter masks, the Troglytes' political movement for social justice is going to continue, and Droxine indicates that the Stratosians may start working in the mines.
• Executive Meddling: The episode was based on an outline by David Gerrold, "Castles in the Sky". In his original outline, the planet's mine workers were rebelling, caught between two different leaders: a violent militant and a revolutionary pacifist. The story would have culminated with Kirk literally sitting the three leaders — the militant, the pacifist, and the overlords' leader — down at phaserpoint and commanding them to talk to each other; the end would have had Kirk congratulating himself that at least they were now talking to each other, so given enough time they'd work things out, and McCoy answering, "Yes, but how many children will die in the meantime?" Gerrold was profoundly disappointed when the final script established that the mine-workers were only acting the way they were because of the pernicious effects of "zenite gas" in the mines.
• Looping Lines: A line of dialogue forgotten in the filming of this episode was dubbed in later by William Shatner, but Kirk's mouth is not even moving as he says, "Who are you? What is the meaning of this attack?" Some recent telecasts have cut that line.
• Prop Recycling: The bed Kirk sleeps on was last seen as the couch from "The Empath" and, earlier, as the Eymorg's table in "Spock's Brain".
• Working Title: Castles in the Sky.