#Eddie Paskey

[small-witch-big-hat]

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What we really need is a video game with the mechanical sensibilities of Dark Souls and the aesthetic sensibilities of Star Trek: The Original Series. Give Captain Kirk an actual reason to be rolling everywhere!

[dominickeating-source]

Dominic Keating at Destination Star Trek Europe (2016)

Day 1: The first two photos include various actors from different Star Trek series, including William Shatner, George Takei, Walter Koenig, Marina Sirtis, Connor Trinneer, Jeffrey Combs, Garrett Wang, Chase Masterson, Terry Farrell, Alice Krige, Eric Pierpoint, and Eddie Paskey.

Day 2: Dominic Keating, Connor Trinneer and Vaughn Armstrong sat front and center for their entertaining panel moderated by Voyager's Garrett Wang. - Keating on getting word that Enterprise was canceled and then going back to work. "It was a weird time knowing we were 8 or 9 weeks away from oblivion." Of his Enterprise experience, Keating added, "My one regret was not getting to direct an episode."

Source: StarTrek.com - Day 1, Day 2

[chernobog13]

Actor Eddie Paskey (left rear) making his first appearance aboard the U.S.S. Enterprise in the second pilot for Star Trek, Where No Man Has Gone Before.

Although Paskey’s character is best known as Lieutenant Leslie, in this episode - as well as The Naked Time - he is Lieutenant Ryan.  In Mudd’s Women he’s addressed as “Connors.”  It’s not until the episode Balance of Terror that he becomes Lieutenant Leslie, the name his character keeps for the remainder of his appearances.  

Paskey had to leave the showing the middle of the third season due to pain from an old back injury and cluster headaches.  Despite that early departure, Lt. Leslie still managed to appear in more episodes than either Sulu or Chekhov.

Lt. Ryan/Connors/Leslie was quite the industrious crew member, working in numerous different departments and stations throughout the ship.  He wore uniform shirts of all three principal colors before it was settled he would stay in a red shirt.

True to form, that red shirt got Lt. Leslie killed in the episode Obsession.  Strangely enough, he was right back at work in the very next episode, Wolf in the Fold, with no explanation.  Apparently there was an unfilled scene in Obsession where Dr. McCoy is able to save Lt. Leslie’s life.  I guess the producers thought no one would notice; they weren’t quite as continuity conscious as folks are today.

[hellodarjeeling]

[oujiblanchette]

All smiles TOS publicity photos for “Star Trek”. Eddie Paskey, Leonid Nimsy and Jill Ireland. 

[redshirtgal]

The many tunics of Eddie Paskey  plus the corresponding jumpsuits. Plus an additional appearance as a background crew member in the beige tunic used in “Where No Man Has Gone Before.”

[oldschoolsciencefiction]

Lieutenant Leslie scoffs at Starfleet's notion of "divisions" and wears whatever color shirt he wants.

[frank-o-meter]

Star Trek - Rest In Peace - Part 3

All but one of these crewmen are Red Shirts. Two (Mallory & Rizzo) died in prior episodes under different names. Two died as noted but appeared in later episodes under the same names (perhaps twins?). According to several Star Trek reference guides, Thompson was the only female Red Shirt to die on the show.

“The Apple” - Hendorff - Kaplan - Mallory - Marple “The Deadly Years” - Galway “Obsession” - Rizzo - Unknown (2) - Leslie “By Any Other Name” - Thompson “The Ultimate Computer” - Harper “Omega Glory” - Galloway

[defconprime]

Eddie Paskey as Lieutenant Leslie

[stellabystarlight12]

Eddie Paskey   August 20, 1939 - August 17, 2021

[fromthefilesofredshirtgal]

Our last article involved the appearance of chess boards in publicity photos for Star Trek: The Original Series. However, those sets turned up quite frequently in TOS episodes.

Sometimes they were pivotal in the episode. In “Court Martial” Kirk was damned by the Enterprise’s own computer tapes that clearly showed him pressing the eject button. However, Spock played a hunch (yes, you know he did) and played chess against the ship’s computer. When he won several games in a row, he realized that there was reason to cast doubt on the prosecution’s main witness. As it turned out, Finney had reprogrammed the system, which included the memory banks. So we can claim that chess saved the day in this episode.

Sometimes chess may not have been a major plot point but it aided our understanding of a character. For example, in “Charlie X” we could see a side of Charlie’s nature no one aboard the Enterprise knew about when he melted several chess pieces in frustration over losing to Spock. And in “By Any Other Name,” Spock used chess to gauge how well Kirk’s strategy of frustrating the Kelvans was working on Rojan.

And even if we did not see a single chess set in “Whom Gods Destroy,” the game played an important part here as well. When Garth disguised as Kirk attempted to beam aboard the Enterprise to escape the insane asylum on Elba II, he could not give the correct chess move to counter Mr. Scott’s “Queen to queen’s level 3.”

Of course, there are countless other episodes in which we see the game either appear in Spock or Kirk’s quarters or in the rec room. It’s one of the most famous props used on the show. However, how much do we know about the background of this unique version of chess?

As we all know, the chess board used in The Original Series was often referred to as three dimensional or tri-dimensional chess. The actual board and chess pieces built for the show were in fact cannibalized from other game sets. For example, the chess pieces in the show were already in existence. They were part of Peter Ganine’s Classic Chess set, released in 1961. Ganine created several different versions of such sets and they were highly valued. A complete set of the same version above sold for $1250 on eBay in 2010. And that did not include the original board.  Today you may see individual pieces going for $25.  Btw, from here on out, my main source for this material comes information contributed by Gregory Schnitzer to several discussions on the Trek BBS. Schnitzer was the propmaster for Star Trek - New Voyages: Phase II for many years and was meticulous in his research and duplication of most of the TOS props used in that fan series. I will reference several of his Flickr collections at the end if you want to see detailed photos of his work.

Now the chess board has its own interesting story.  The three large main boards were taken from the then currently available Space Checkers, sold at that time by a company named Checkline. Even though the boards were originally clear, the alternating squares were painted red for the customized 3D chess version. The game of Space Tic Tac Toe itself seems to have made its first appearance in early studio publicity photos. The one on the right above appeared in The Making of Star Trek.

Another ‘60s game, Space Checkers, provided the attack boards of the 3D chess set. They were slightly smaller in size, which gave the Trek version a distinct look once both were inserted onto the metal base and frame. Normally there were four of the 2X2 attack boards that, when added to the three 4X4 main boards, totaled the 64 squares needed for a regulation chess board.

(You can barely make out a Space Checkers set against the wall behind Kirk and Spock in “Where No Man Has Gone Before”  - photo credit belongs to Gregory Schnitzer)

However, if you keep your eyes open, you will occasionally see a set with five attack boards, such as in the same scene from “Where No Man Has Gone Before” mentioned above. This set would then have a non-traditional 68 squares. (Btw, that is Eddie Paskey directly behind Kirk).

All three games often appeared in recreation deck scenes. The photo on the left comes from “The Conscience of the King.” Notice the Space Tic Tac Toe game on the table uses standard black and red checkers. Evidently, the original board pieces were missing. And we see both Space Checkers and 3D chess in “Charlie X.” Props like these, which were both familiar and unfamiliar at the same time, added visual interest to the background in many episodes. And it deepened our understanding that even in the 23rd century, board games would still be popular as a way to pass time, keep one’s mind active, and form social groups.

Again, we would like to recognize Gregory Schnitzer, prop-master extraordinaire for the Star Trek fan film series New Voyages: Phase II.  Much of the information on the sets themselves came from his Trek BBS discussions. If you would like to see some of his replicas patterned on the original game sets, these three links are fascinating. https://www.flickr.com/photos/10901121@N06/sets/72157602298653167/with/2134027950/  

https://www.flickr.com/photos/10901121@N06/sets/72157602298653167/with/2134027950/ https://www.flickr.com/photos/10901121@N06/albums/72157608722638071?fbclid=IwAR0TPuj07YZVKSGgdF0UuhbhqmljPnVNsNUSTBRPV9XM9hW4WLlYF-8ZePQ

[per-ineptia-ad-astra]

starhearth: episode four

Second Month of Spring, Days 3-4

The snow stops falling in the night, and the next day dawns clear, but still cold. A few people sit together by the berry bushes as they eat what’s currently passing for breakfast. Thanks to the berries and the jerky from Uhura’s trapping the crew is in no danger of starvation, but no one’s exactly real happy about the quality of food they’re getting either.

[ID: A screenshot of McCoy, Chapel and Rand sitting among the berry bushes, eating from plates of square purple berries.]

As everyone sets to their morning work, a new villager arrives. This one has 5 Mind, 5 Body and 5 Spirit, and the Courageous trait (they get a happiness boost after defending the town from enemies). That naturally makes them best suited to being a combat unit. This does raise the minor problem of what to name them; we’ve got most of the main crew here by now, and while there are any number of characters in Star Trek whose job it is to fight things, most of them don’t tend to stick around long enough to leave much of an impression. In the end, he gets named after one of the show’s more frequently recurring redshirts, Leslie. Leslie doesn’t ever have a first name mentioned onscreen, so I named him after his actor, Eddie Paskey.

[ID: A screenshot of Leslie, a villager with short light brown hair, fair skin and blue eyes. His character page is open, showing that his mood is Content, he has the Pioneering Spirit happiness buff, and he has a trait called Courageous, as shown with the icon of a little cartoon sword and the caption, “Courageous: Ed Leslie loves to save others, and puts the safety of the town as paramount.”]

In other news, Uhura has made it to Level 2, which means she’ll no doubt soon be bringing a lot of pets home.

[ID: A screenshot of a notification box titled Nyota Uhura has Leveled Up! The text in the box reads, “Nyota Uhura has achieved Trapper Level 2!” Below are three icons: a pink square with a cartoon rabbit with hearts for eyes, with a caption reading, “Charm Pet: The trapper will occasionally choose to turn a particularly fine animal into a pet!” a blue square with a red and white bullseye above a cartoon animal trap with the caption, “Job Opportunities: The trapper now qualifies for advanced jobs. Click the promote command for details,” and a red cartoon heart with the caption, “Max Health +10.”]

By the next day it’s warmed up again, but now it’s raining, which isn’t improving anyone’s mood much. McCoy sets out to go gather some more berry bushes and move them into the camp, but winds up falling asleep on the ground before he makes it all the way back.

[ID: A screenshot of McCoy sleeping on the shore of the lake with a berry plant in a pot at his feet. The info box at the bottom of the screen reads “Leonard McCoy—sleeping on the ground.”]

mood

We don’t have enough food and net worth to attract a new villager today, but never mind that right now, we’ve got another problem: water. We’ve run out of all the drinks that came with our starting rations, and with no other source of drinks, everyone’s getting pretty thirsty. (In my defense, this wasn’t even an existing gameplay mechanic the last time I played, so I completely forgot about it until the negative mood modifiers started piling up.) At the moment we don’t have the ability to brew up anything fancy, but we can at least dig a well for water.

The well is set to be placed next to the tavern, near the kitchen door. Only problem is, digging the well counts as a building project, and since the tavern was placed first, everyone’s prioritizing that. It takes pausing the construction of the tavern entirely before anyone—Leslie, specifically—will address the well.

[ID: A screenshot of Leslie digging a well outside the partially completed tavern walls. The unfinished well, a simple post with a bucket attached to a rope, hanging above a hole in the ground, is visible but transparent to show that it has been placed but is not yet built.]

Once (finally) started, the well doesn’t take long to complete. Soon, everyone’s stopping by for a nice cool drink of water.

[ID: 1. A screenshot of Chekov sitting on the ground next to the well and drinking from a simple cup. 2. A similar screenshot of Kirk sitting on the ground and drinking from a simple cup.]

But Kirk’s break is rudely interrupted by another attack. This time it’s a group of Entlings, who are much like the Stonelings except they’re little tree dudes instead of little rock dudes.

[ID: A screenshot of Kirk holding his sword ready as he fends off four Entlings, which resemble blocks of wood with arms and legs, about half Kirk’s height.]

For some reason, Chapel decides this would be a great time to strike up a conversation.

[ID: A screenshot of Kirk fighting the last Entling, with a red heart over his head that is three-quarters full, showing his depleted health. Chapel is standing behind him, while the info box at the bottom of the screen reads, “Christine Chapel—talking to James Kirk, Log-Splinter.”]

No, go on, I’m not busy or anything.

Apparently this distraction isn’t enough to deter Kirk from handily wiping out the Entlings. The achievement even earns a title for both him and his sword. Not sure who hands out these titles, but hey.

[ID: A screenshot of two message boxes overlaid together, titled James Kirk has achieved a new Title! And Practice Sword has achieved a new Title! The first box reads, “James Kirk...is now James Kirk, Log-Splinter! They killed 5 minions of the Wilds! Doesn’t that title have a nice ring to it? You can select which title one of your citizens is using by right-clicking their name in their character sheet or the selected unit window. The second box reads, “Practice Sword...is now Practice Sword of the Forester! It killed 5 minions of the Wilds! Doesn’t that title have a nice ring to it? You can select which title this item is using by right-clicking its name in the selected unit window. You might also consider giving Practice Sword a fancier name to go along with their new title by left-clicking its name in the selected unit window.”]

But the newly acquired accolades aren’t enough to make up for the rest of Kirk’s morning. He told a joke that didn’t go over well, his drink was interrupted so he’s still thirsty, and now he’s all scratched up too. What a lousy day! Now he’s glum too. So are McCoy and Chekov, but that’s probably just them being themselves.

[ID: A screenshot of Kirk’s character information window pulled up over the villager information window. Kirk’s mood is shown as Glum, with one positive mood modifier (“It’s raining...+3”) and five negative mood modifiers: “Very thirsty -8”, “Pain (Scratched) -6” “Tough crowd -5” “My meal was raw -5” and “Slept in a shared bed -2.”]

Apparently, the joke was told to Sulu.

[ID: A screenshot of Sulu’s character information page, showing that his mood is glum and he has several negative mood modifiers. One of them, “Had an unpleasant talk -3” is highlighted, showing the caption, “I can’t believe James Kirk said that!”]

The bad moods don’t last too long, though. Once everyone’s gotten a drink, they start to feel better. By evening, they’re all back up to content. Meanwhile, work on the tavern is progressing nicely; by now the walls are up and work has started on the roof.

Also, as predicted, Uhura has already brought home a pet: a rabbit, named Thumpy.

[ID: A screenshot of a small brown and white cartoon voxel rabbit sitting on the ground, with the crafting stations and stockpile behind it. The information box at the bottom of the screen reads, “Thumpy—befriended by Nyota Uhura.”]

Not really the choice of name I would’ve gone for, personally, but you do you.

[chernobog13]

Star Trek’s second pilot, Where No Man Has Gone Before.

Along with William Shatner, Leonard Nimoy, James Doohan, and George Takei, notice that actor Eddie Paskey was with Kirk’s crew from the start.

Paskey, more familiar to fans as “Mr. Leslie,” was a familiar face on the Enterprise.  He was usually just an anonymous crewman or guard early on.  It wasn’t until until the episode The Conscience of the King that he was addressed as Mr. Leslie, and Mr. Leslie he remained.

Mr. Leslie was certainly a versatile crew member.  He had been observed working at numerous stations throughout the ship, including Sick Bay, and wore uniform tunics of all three division colors (mustard, blue, and red) before it was settled that he would be a “red shirt.”

And, like a typical red shirt, he was killed in an episode.  He mysteriously recovered, with no explanation ever given, but that’s a story for another time.

Also pictured with the series’ regulars is guest star Sally Kellerman, probably most famous as the original Margaret “Hot Lips” Houlihan from the film M.A.S.H.

As an old Army guy meself, I’m tickled pink to see that Spock’s equipment belt is a standard U.S. military web belt painted silver.

[hellodarjeeling]

Broke: Mr. Leslie is a jack-of-all-trades

Woke: Mr. Leslie is a triplet

[redshirtgal]

It’s no secret that Lt. Leslie is a man of many talents. After all, it’s been discussed previously that he has worn the shirts and technician jumpsuits in all three colors plus one of the colors only used in the two pilot episodes. However, Lt. Leslie seems to have an other talent worth discussing - he can change outfits and be in multiple places on the ship in the same episode. Sometimes the appearances are nearly simultaneous. Nowhere is this more obvious than in “Assignment: Earth.”  In the opening scene, the Enterprise is being rocked by an unknown force and Kirk orders Leslie to begin a sensor scan. If you look in the upper right hand corner of the top photo, there he is in his usual spot at the Engineering station (with the ever-present Jeannie Malone next to him). 

Several scenes later - the mysterious Gary 7 finds himself accidentally beamed onto the Enterprise instead of Earth as he had planned. At this point, he has been confined after a struggle. Both Lt. Leslie and Lt. Brent are strolling down one of the corridors as Captain Kirk comes on the intercom, asking for all pertinent personnel to add their input to the situation. But for some reason, Leslie is no longer wearing his red tunic. Now he is wearing the command gold uniform. Maybe the good lieutenant decided this was not a good time to be wearing a red shirt.

Except, within the next few frames, we see Lt. Leslie in a red engineering technician jumpsuit down in Engineering with Mr. Scott. Is this an undetected Mirror Leslie? How can he be both in the corridor with Lt. Brent and in engineering at the same time, much less in different uniforms? And now he’s a technician, not a bridge officer? 

Now, certainly, this is the last time we see Lt. Leslie working for a different department/section, right? Because it would be impossible for him to appear ....

Uh... hold on. What is Lt. Leslie doing on the floor? He and Lt. Lemli both appear to be sleeping on the job. Except that is not what has just happened. Gary Seven manages to neutralize the forcefield that is holding him prisoner and uses his servo pen to put  the young security guard stationed outside the door to sleep.  On his way into the transporter room, he does the same to Lemli and Leslie. So instead of being in Engineering with Mr. Scott in a technician jumpsuit, our mysterious Mr. Leslie is now in the transporter room and is once more dressed in his red tunic. But is he acting in the capacity of a transporter engineer or security? 

It’s more likely he is meant to be a transporter engineer in this scene but that is only based on what we see Lemli doing after Mr. Seven has beamed down into his office on Earth. He appears to be scanning for something as Scotty works with the controls on the transporter.  But wait... we’re not done yet. 

Toward the end of the episode, things are getting tense. And more confusing. In the Transporter Room, Scotty is now operating the same visual scanner Lemli was using earlier to locate Gary Seven. Lemli is nowhere to be seen at this point. Finally, Scotty spots Seven fiddling with a control access panel to the missile armed with nuclear warhead. He calls Security, asks for two men to be sent up and then attempts to bring Gary Seven on board.  Guess who are the only two redshirts in the room with Mr. Scott? Mr. Lemli and now Mr. Leslie. So are these two the security men Scotty has asked for? Or are they both transporter engineers? It appears Mr. Lemli is now holding a phaser at the ready which suggests he and Lt. Leslie were meant to be the security detail. We haven’t seen Mr. Leslie since he was asleep on the floor in Engineering in the first Act. Where has he been all this time?  Ouch, it’s enough to make your head hurt. In any case, Lt. Leslie stands by with Lt. Lemli as Gary Seven begins to materialize in front of them. And looks on in bemusement with his fellow redshirts as Gary Seven suddenly starts to dematerialize and finally disappears from the transporter pad. 

We all know that all ends well. Gary Seven manages to send the missile off-course and detonates the warhead before it reaches 100 feet from ground level. But we are left pondering the mysteries of the multiple Leslies. Was each Leslie one of a set of triplets? Quadruplets? Exactly how many Leslies were there?  Luckily, above is a handy-dandy visual aid detailing each appearance of Mr. Leslie with a caption detailing exactly what his duty was in that part of the episode. So it appears there were possibly five (count ‘em - 5) Mr. Leslies total.   Of course, there is an easy explanation for this. For one thing, there is only one time Lt. Leslie is called by name and that is at the beginning when Kirk calls for Leslie to start a sensor scan. The other times we see Eddie Paskey, he may only be playing a random character.  Viewers in the 60s were not allowed the luxury of zooming in and/or replaying sections of the episode. No such thing as screencaps posted on the internet.  So those who watched “Assignment: Earth as it  first aired may not have noticed Eddie Paskey was the same person in each case. Especially since a few of his appearances only lasted a few seconds. But how did he manage to switch from red to gold and back to red again in a short period of time? A little something called stock footage, which simply means a section of video taken from another source and inserted into an episode. The scene where Mr. Leslie and Mr. Brent walk down the corridor in their command gold shirts was taken from one of the first season episodes.  Again, it’s only seen for a split second and most people would not notice anything but two crewmen in gold shirts. As extras, they were being paid for a full day so the producers used them wherever they could to save money. They certainly got their money’s worth out of Mr. Paskey. He’s been everywhere, from being nearly frozen to death with Sulu in “The Enemy Within” to sitting in the Captain’s chair.  Still, isn’t it fun to think that Mr. Leslie is some kind of Wunderkind, able to appear at random in different uniforms and performing multiple tasks?