Sunday 05 February 2012

Blood and Fire

For all of Star Trek's high handed protestations of political correctness regarding a liberal, humanistic viewpoint, sexual politics, whether with regard to women or to sexual minorities, would be a blind spot for Roddenberry and his heirs on The Next Generation. Season one story editor David Gerrold was vocal about the series failing to address sexual issues in a clear-headed, adult manner—as seen in the following description of his unproduced script, even a low-key attempt to introduce homosexual characters to the Star Trek universe would not with well with the producers.

David Gerrold's episode "Blood And Fire" involved the Enterprise in investigating a distress call from the Copernicus research vessel. An Away Team beams over to the Copernicus; it consists of Riker, Tasha Yar, Geordi and three male characters named Freeman, Eakins and Hodel. (In an interesting note, this early The Next Generation script features Worf as the Transporter Chief.) When the Away Team beams to the Copernicus, they encounter a sparkling cloud of the sort familiar on the old show, barely perceptible at first but quickly beocming more obvious.

As Hodel and Eakins try to reactive a computer console, Hodel, obviously a busybody, muses on the relationship between Eakins and Freeman; they have been together for two years, ever since Starfleet Academy, says Eakins. Life readings on the ship are weak, and the mummified body of a crew member, utterly devoid of blood, is found. A surviving crew member, hysterical, is also found, but he grabs a phaser and kills himself. As he disappears, more of the red and gold particles are seen. Meanwhile, Data's researches on the Enterprise have revealed that the strange particles are plasmasites, better known as Regulan bloodworms.

This is such a vile incurable disease that Starfleet forbids rescue attempts of anyone infected. An intense series of shocks ensues, as Hodel is attacked by the worms and Eakins must decide to kill the man in order to end his hellish torments. The rest of the Away Team is eventually beamed away to the Copernicus cargo bay, and quarantined inside a slowly weakening repulsor field along with a handful of Copernicus survivors include one Yarell. Yarell, apparently, was on a Federation-sanctioned investigation onto whether or not the bloodworms could be neutralized once they had infested a human host.

Beverly Crusher beams over to the Copernicus over Picard's objections. Some Enterprise personnel express fear that the contagion will spread to their ship, a sentiment quickly put in its place by Picard—"We're not throwing away half the human race because the other half is scared." Crusher, meanwhile, intends to remove everyone's blood and replace it with transfusions, a plan somewhat hampered by a shortage of articial blood.

A blood drive is organised on the Enterprise. As the transfusions proceed, the Copernicus officers are beamed over to the Enterprise, where Picard suspects that the bloodworm research may have potential military misapplications. Eventually, Riker, Eakins and Freeman are the last to go. With the repulsor field collapsing, Freeman forces the other two men to beam back to the Enterprise. The field collapses; sensors indicate that Freeman is still infected, and he kills himself with a phaser blast.

Picard wants to destory the Copernicus, but that might simply release the bloodworms into space. Then it is discovered that the Copernicus is on a course into Ferengi territory; Yarell, who has planned to destroy the Ferengi with the disease, pulls out a vial of bloodworms that he will release if Picard interferes. Eakins pulls a phaser on Yarell; Yarell's subordinate grabs the vial and swallows the bloodworms. He then takes an experimental cure devised by Dr. Crusher and is beamed back to the Copernicus, where Crusher's theory is proven correct and the bloodworms metamorphose into a beautiful, non-lethal life form, with the subordinate sacrificing his life in the process. On board the Enterprise, the crew watch the light move like "a colony of dancing butterflies of light and energy." The Federation is safe now that they know how to transform the wavicles into this form of energy.

Though the production crew loved the story, it would not be produced. Gerrold was told by a person in a position at Paramount who knew the internal things that were going on, that Gene Roddenberry's lawyer thought the script was terrible and on the strength of that one opinion it was shelved.

 

N. Ottens
21 June 2007

Sources for this article include:
• Van Hise, James, Trek The Unauthorized Behind The Scenes Story Of The Next Generation (1992)