Chris Snellgrove | Posted
Star Trek has often had a strange obsession with baseball. deep space nineFor example, it is shown that Captain Cisco has a great passion for old sports and keeps a baseball in his office as a prize. That spinoff even featured a fun baseball game that pits the DS9 team against the arrogant Vulcans, and fans still love cosplaying in the same Niners baseball uniform they wore in the “Take Me Out To the Holosuite” episode. But Star Trek’s maximum The famous baseball game was no doubt the one mentioned below. next generation The episode “Evolution” references the 1951 National League tiebreaker matchup between the Brooklyn Dodgers and New York Giants.
The Star Trek writer loves baseball.
If you’re one of those Star Trek fans who doesn’t watch much actual baseball, you might find the main plot of ‘Evolution’ confusing. This episode features an eccentric scientist with a passion for baseball, who rather than recreating the classic game on his holodeck, recreates it in his mind as a kind of reward to himself. He demonstrates his abilities by reciting “Lockman on first base, Dark on second, Thomson at the plate, Branca on the mound,” a direct reference to the aforementioned game between the Brooklyn Dodgers and New York Giants. mistake.
Star Trek: The Next Generation Showrunner Michael Piller wrote “Evolution” and is a huge baseball fan (more on this later). He chose this game because it was so special. This clash of baseball worlds led to the so-called “Shot Heard ‘Round the World.” This is the nickname given to New York Giants outfielder Bobby Thomson when he hit a walk-off home run in the ninth inning that helped his team win the National League pennant. This made the 1951 game unforgettable for sports lovers. But Dr. Paul Stubbs, the baseball fanatic at the center of “Evolution,” actually gets key details wrong when describing the game.
Star Trek expert Michael Piller, despite his great love of baseball, got a few details wrong when he wrote that Stubbs had “Lockman at 1st, Dark at 2nd, Thomson at bat, Branca on the mound.” The lineup changed a bit with the replacement of Giants player Clint Hartung. To be completely accurate, former phenom Stubbs should have said, “Lockman at second, Hartung at third, Thomson at the plate, Branca on the mound.”
He may have gotten a few details wrong, but we doubt the late, great Piller lost any sleep over those mistakes. It was this Star Trek script and baseball references that ultimately helped him land his job as a showrunner. next generation. Before Piller, Michael Wagner was briefly showrunner but soon left the production, and the “Evolution” script helped Piller convince executive producer Rick Berman. Piller later said that Berman “shared my love of baseball” and that Stubbs’ speech “hit him right between the eyes”, leading to a “partnership” in which Piller became the showrunner of this hugely popular sci-fi spinoff. I lost.
There you have it, folks: what if Star Trek: The Next Generation The episode “Evolution” wouldn’t have been all that much about baseball, Michael Piller might never have gotten the showrunner job, and TNG might have continued to be a mess instead of “evolving” into one of the greatest shows in television history. And without Berman and Piller’s mutual love of America’s greatest pastime, we wouldn’t have gotten Captain Sisko’s baseball obsession, let alone the near-perfect DS9 episode “Take Me Out To the Holosuite.”
As a franchise, Star Trek fans owe much to its creators’ passionate love of baseball. That’s why we’re here to ask the big questions. When will Trek baseball legend Buck Bokai? finally get your own picard– Style’s solo series?
