Almost None Of The Dialogue In Star Trek's Miri Was In The Original Script

In the "Star Trek" episode "Miri" (October 27, 1966), the Enterprise happens upon a distant planet whose geography, by mysterious coincidence, appears to mirror that of Earth's. The denizens of this parallel Earth appear to be human, although the planet had been nearly wiped out by a mysterious plague. The only survivors are the planet's children; the plague seems to coincide with puberty. The children live in fear of grown-ups — nicknamed "grups" — because they were once targeted out of spite by the world's dying adults and, as such, are suspicious of Captain Kirk (William Shatner) and his visiting away team.

Oh yes, and the children are all incredibly long-lived on this planet. The oldest of them appears to be 12, but is, in fact, over 300. Additionally, Kirk — in a very unsavory twist — has to use his masculine wiles on the titular 12-year-old Miri (Kim Darby, 19 at the time of shooting) in order to convince her that adulthood won't be so bad, and that she and her peers can escape the planet and fly away on the Enterprise. As you can see, dear reader, "Miri" contains far too many ideas, mostly bad, to make the teleplay conventionally cogent. The episode is a bit of a mess. "Miri" was banned in England for many years, although it was for the scary depictions of a plague and not because of Kirk having to flirt with a 7th grader as a plot point.

The teleplay was credited to writer Adrien Spies, although his script, Trekkies have learned, wasn't wholly used. A fanzine called the Orion Press once unearthed Spies original script and found that only about 20% of it remained, having been heavily altered by "Star Trek" story editor Steven W. Carabatsos.

One of the more notable elements in Spies' original script was a relationship between Kirk and Yeoman Janice Rand (Grace Lee Whitney). In the early days of "Star Trek," Kirk and Rand had many scenes together, and some viewers thought the two characters may be developing romantic chemistry. Whitney, sadly, was fired from the show for — as she was told — that very reason. The producers wanted Kirk to be single and felt that him having a semi-girlfriend would be detrimental to the series. Whitney later revealed in her 1998 autobiography "The Longest Trek" that she was also likely fired after being horribly assaulted by one of the "Star Trek" producers. Whitney, luckily, survived. She outlived her attacker, recovered from a bout with addiction, and made it to the age of 85.

The original script for "Miri," as it were, featured a romance between Rand and Kirk, with Rand getting an excellent speech about how she was thinking of leaving the Enterprise. It was also the only time Rand's age would be given (24). Her speech in the original script was as follows:

"(a half whisper) It's so stupid, such a waste... (turning to him) Sir, do you know all I can think about? ...( shaking her head, disapproving of her own unmilitary way) My age, the fact that I've ... only had 24 years of life ... (another shake of her head — wistful) 24, sir, and afraid ... scared ..." 

After an exchanged with Kirk, Rand adds, "When we get back, sir ... put in for a dry-eyed Yeoman ..." Kirk then asks if she's going to leave the ship, but she doesn't answer.

In the script, the leader of the kid characters is a slightly older boy only called Fat Little Boy. In the final version, the character was named Jahn and played by the excellent Michael J. Pollard (27 at the time). There was also a new notion in the re-write, stressing that the older kids are in charge of raising and feeding the younger kids. Kirk pointed out late in the episode that when the older kids die out — as they will when they hit puberty — the younger kids are left vulnerable. These scenes weren't in the original teleplay.

Because the script needed to be rewritten, "Miri" experienced that rare gift in TV production: two extra days. The previous episode, "Dagger of the Mind," shut down two days early so that director Vincent McEveety could wait for "Miri" rewrites and take the time to prepare for filming. He ended up shooting the alternate Earth scenes on the Desilu backlot (coincidentally the same sets where "The Andy Griffith Show" was filmed).

The kid cast needed to be rounded out quickly, so Whitney's son Scott and Shatner's daughters Melanie and Lisabeth can be seen among the child actors. Also, two of Roddenberry's daughters, Darleen and Dawn, are in the mix. Some critics have compared "Miri" to a dark inversion of "Peter Pan," wherein the Lost Boys are more violent and filthy and actively want to murder adults rather than merely live in perpetual, joyous youth. "Peter Pan," "Miri" seems to argue, is, in actuality, a bleak tragedy.