History Trivia / StarTrekS1E27TheAlternativeFactor

* ExecutiveMeddling: The original script had a subplot about a romance between Lazarus and Lieutenant Masters (Janet [=MacLachlan=]). It was cut when network heads objected due to the actress playing Masters being black.[[note]]NBC's policy was notoriously ''pro''-diversity in terms of casting, but interracial romances were a different matter--they worried that it would lose Southern affiliates. According to other sources, their problem was not with Masters being black, rather they saw this plot point as too similar to another episode in development at the time, "Space Seed" (where Khan seduces Lieutenant Marla [=McGivers=]), and asked the romance angle to be removed.[[/note]] At the same time, John Drew Barrymore, originally set to play Lazarus, quit abruptly after script rewrites changed his character too drastically. The last-minute casting of Robert Brown and the hasty rewrites that followed were one cause of the uneven story we ended up with.

* TroubledProduction: Good grief. Creator/JohnDrewBarrymore had been cast as Lazarus, the main guest role ... and then didn't show up on the first day of filming. His agent and lawyer couldn't find him, so they cast someone else in a big hurry (Barrymore's absence led to him getting suspended by SAG for six months after Desilu filed a grievance). The beard for the replacement was improvised (Barrymore would not have a beard in the role), and it shows. The script has howler lines like "[[NegativeSpaceWedgie It]] occurred in every quadrant of the galaxy and far beyond...." It also had a subplot in which Lazarus became romantically involved with a black member of the crew — which admittedly seems out of place on the eve of universal Armageddon and didn't have much to do with anything. That was hastily edited out in rewrites when Creator/{{NBC}} got paranoid about how the Southern affiliates would react, resulting in the finished episode's choppy feel.

* TroubledProduction: Good grief. John Drew Barrymore had been cast as Lazarus, the main guest role ... and then didn't show up on the first day of filming. His agent and lawyer couldn't find him, so they cast someone else in a big hurry (Barrymore's absence led to him getting suspended by SAG for six months after Desilu filed a grievance). The beard for the replacement was improvised (Barrymore would not have a beard in the role), and it shows. The script has howler lines like "[[NegativeSpaceWedgie It]] occurred in every quadrant of the galaxy and far beyond...." It also had a subplot in which Lazarus became romantically involved with a black member of the crew — which admittedly seems out of place on the eve of universal Armageddon and didn't have much to do with anything. That was hastily edited out in rewrites when Creator/{{NBC}} got paranoid about how the Southern affiliates would react, resulting in the finished episode's choppy feel.

* TroubledProduction: Good grief. John Drew Barrymore had been cast as Lazarus, the main guest role ... and then didn't show up on the first day of filming. His agent and lawyer couldn't find him, so they cast someone else in a big hurry (Barrymore's absence led to him getting suspended by SAG for six months after Desilu filed a grievance). The beard for the replacement was improvised from what had been designed for Barrymore, and it shows. The script has howler lines like "[[NegativeSpaceWedgie It]] occurred in every quadrant of the galaxy and far beyond...." It also had a subplot in which Lazarus became romantically involved with a black member of the crew — which admittedly seems out of place on the eve of universal Armageddon and didn't have much to do with anything. That was hastily edited out in rewrites when Creator/{{NBC}} got paranoid about how the Southern affiliates would react, resulting in the finished episode's choppy feel.

* ExecutiveMeddling: The original script had a subplot about a romance between Lazarus and Lieutenant Masters (Janet [=MacLachlan=]). It was cut when network heads objected due to the actress playing Masters being black.[[note]]NBC's policy was notoriously ''pro''-diversity in terms of casting, but interracial romances were a different matter--they worried that it would lose Southern affiliates.[[/note]] At the same time, John Drew Barrymore, originally set to play Lazarus, quit abruptly after script rewrites changed his character too drastically. The last-minute casting of Robert Brown and the hasty rewrites that followed were one cause of the uneven story we ended up with.

* TroubledProduction: Good grief. John Drew Barrymore had been cast as Lazarus, the main guest role ... and then didn't show up on the first day of filming. His agent and lawyer couldn't find him, so they cast someone else in a big hurry (Barrymore's absence led to him getting suspended by SAG for six months after Desilu filed a grievance). The beard for the replacement was improvised from what had been designed for Barrymore, and it shows. The script has howler lines like "Starfleet has been getting reports from all over the galaxy and far beyond..." It also had a subplot in which Lazarus became romantically involved with a black member of the crew — which admittedly seems out of place on the eve of universal Armageddon and didn't have much to do with anything. That was actually filmed ... and hastily edited out when Creator/{{NBC}} got paranoid about how the Southern affiliates would react, resulting in the finished episode's choppy feel.

* TroubledProduction: Good grief. John Drew Barrymore had been cast as Lazarus, the main guest role ... and then didn't show up on the first day of filming. His agent and lawyer couldn't find him, so they cast someone else in a big hurry (Barrymore's absence led to him getting suspended by SAG for six months after Desilu filed a grievance). The beard for the replacement was improvised from what had been designed for Barrymore, and it shows. The script has howler lines like "Starfleet has been getting reports from all over the galaxy and far beyond..." It also had a subplot in which Lazarus became romantically involved with a black member of the crew — which admittedly seems out of place on the eve of universal Armageddon and didn't have much to do with anything. That was actually filmed ... and hastily edited out when NBC got paranoid about how the Southern affiliates would react, resulting in the finished episode's choppy feel.

* TroubledProduction: Good grief. Creator/JohnBarrymore had been cast as Lazarus, the main guest role ... and then didn't show up on the first day of filming. His agent and lawyer couldn't find him, so they cast someone else in a big hurry (Barrymore's absence led to him getting suspended by SAG for six months after Desilu filed a grievance). The beard for the replacement was improvised from what had been designed for Barrymore, and it shows. The script has howler lines like "Starfleet has been getting reports from all over the galaxy and far beyond..." It also had a subplot in which Lazarus became romantically involved with a black member of the crew — which admittedly seems out of place on the eve of universal Armageddon and didn't have much to do with anything. That was actually filmed ... and hastily edited out when NBC got paranoid about how the Southern affiliates would react, resulting in the finished episode's choppy feel.

* TroubledProduction: Good grief. John Barrymore, Drew's father, had been cast as Lazarus, the main guest role ... and then didn't show up on the first day of filming. His agent and lawyer couldn't find him, so they cast someone else in a big hurry (Barrymore's absence led to him getting suspended by SAG for six months after Desilu filed a grievance). The beard for the replacement was improvised from what had been designed for Barrymore, and it shows. The script has howler lines like "Starfleet has been getting reports from all over the galaxy and far beyond..." It also had a subplot in which Lazarus became romantically involved with a black member of the crew — which admittedly seems out of place on the eve of universal Armageddon and didn't have much to do with anything. That was actually filmed ... and hastily edited out when NBC got paranoid about how the Southern affiliates would react, resulting in the finished episode's choppy feel.