Norman Spinrad wrote the script as potential dramatic showcase for actor Milton Berle.
“This original version was rewritten into an unfunny comedy by the line producer Gene Coon apparently unaware that Uncle Miltie was also a serious dramatic actor and a good one,” Spinrad wrote on his blog. “It was so bad that I complained to Roddenberry … I killed my second
Star Trek, which, down through the years has cost me tens of thousands of dollars in lost residuals.”
You can buy this little piece of 'almost history' for your
Amazon Kindle.
“I thought the text of my original version—written on a typewriter!—was lost forever until recently a fan asked me to autograph a faded copy he had bought somewhere,” Spinrad wrote. “I did, and in return he sent me a pdf off a scan, and that’s what I’ve put on Amazon, not a great copy maybe, but the only one that exists or probably can exist.”
