Episode: "The Lights of Zetar"
Series:
Star Trek: The Original Series
Season 3, Episode 18
Original Air Date: January 31, 1969
"The Lights of Zetar" is a Scotty story. En route to Memory Alpha, the galaxy's Library of Congress equivalent, the Enterprise encounters a mysterious storm cloud of flickering lights. The cloud turns out to be quite hostile, attacking the nervous systems of those it encounters, including killing the entire Memory Alpha staff. The cloud entities take particular interest in Scotty's new lady love: Lt. Mira Romaine, believing her to be the ideal physical host for their own non-coporeal forms.
The episode was co-written by Shari Lewis (puppeteer for Lamb Chop) and her husband Jeremy Tarcher. Lewis was a huge fan of the show and deliberately favored Scotty in this tale, feeling Captain Kirk was the one who always got the girl and it was high time someone else got a shot. Unfortunately for Scotty, "The Lights of Zetar" marks Mira's only appearance in the
Star Trek universe. She does, at least, survive to the end of the episode.
*****
One of the people most responsible for the visual legacy of
Star Trek was costume designer Bill Theiss. He was born November 20, 1931 in Medford, Massachusetts. After graduating with an art degree from Stanford, he joined the Navy for a four-year stint. His first Hollywood gig was as personal secretary for Cary Grant.
In addition to designing the now iconic Starfleet uniforms, Theiss became well known for the Theiss Titillation Theory, the claim that "the degree to which a costume is considered sexy is directly proportional to how accident-prone it appears to be." This philosophy helps explain the rather daring/questionable/offensive (depending on one's point of view) choices frequently made for the costumes of
Star Trek's female guest stars.
While
Trek is probably Theiss's best long-term claim to fame, he had numerous film credits as well, including Oscar-nominated costumes for
Bound for Glory,
Butch and Sundance: The Early Days and
Heart Like a Wheel. His work on
The Man with One Red Shoe included
one dress for Lori Singer that certainly caught the attention of this blogger in his adolescence. His influence on
Trek extended to 151 episodes of
The Next Generation. He won an Emmy in 1988 for
TNG episode, "The Big Goodbye."
Theiss died of AIDS in 1992.
I love The Man with One Red Shoe, though I don't remember that dress.
ReplyDeleteIt's all about that scene where they take apart his bathroom and put it back together.
And Carrie Fisher and her ape noises.
I thought it was hilarious at the time but it's been decades since I've seen it. I have wondered how it would hold up now.
DeleteYeah, I may need to re-watch it.
DeleteMe, too.
Delete"Theiss Titillation Theory"...I never heard that but I think it explains a lot (and it's hilarious).
ReplyDeleteIt is funny, isn't it? What a strange legacy to have!
DeleteShari Lewis! Now there's an unexpected Trek connection!
ReplyDeleteNo kidding! Who's have thought?
DeleteI always loved Shari Lewis!
ReplyDeleteDid the costumer have to glue that costume on? There were several costumes in the orig. series that made me wonder.
I won't pretend to know a whole lot about costume design but from what I've read, he really liked the idea of a dress appearing to defy gravity and yet it usually is held up by its own weight.
DeleteBut again, I'm no expert.
The evil cloud's effect on Memory Alpha may have obliquely affected mine. I don't remember this episode at all. Will look it up on Netflix!
ReplyDeleteI always appreciate your thoughts. I hope you'll share them after you've watched.
DeleteThis has long been my favorite Star Trek episode. Hope you can visit my blog http://defendinglightsofzetar.blogspot.com
ReplyDeleteAwesome! I'll be right over...
Delete