The Worlds of Jerome Bixby
The Worlds Of Jerome Bixby
Wednesday, December 17, 2014
GALLERY OF RARE "MEN INTO SPACE" PUBLICITY PHOTOS AND MORE
Men Into Space is an American science-fiction television series broadcast from September 30, 1959 to September 7, 1960 by CBS which depicted future efforts by the United States Air Force to explore and develop outer space. The black-and-white filmed show starred William Lundigan as Col. Edward McCauley.
Sunday, December 14, 2014
FREE WATCH ALL 7 EPISODES STAR TREK TOS WRITER JEROME BIXBY WROTE FOR SHOW'S PREDECESSOR 'MEN INTO SPACE"
YOURS TO WATCH FREE
ALL 7 EPISODES STAR TREK TOS WRITER JEROME BIXBY WROTE FOR STAR TREK'S PREDECESSOR "MEN INTO SPACE"
PRESENTED BY THE NEW JEROME BIXBY COLLECTION
"MIRROR, MIRROR: CLASSIC SF STORIES BY THE LEGENDARY STAR TREK AND FANTASTIC VOYAGE WRITER
THIS COLLECTION CONTAINS THREE OF HIS 1950s MAGAZINE STORIES HE LATER ADAPTED IN TO SCRIPTS FOR STAR TREK TOS
EDITED AND INTRODUCED BY HIS SON, SCREENWRITER EMERSON BIXBY
Buy for only $3.99 in Kindle at Amazon.
Below watch 7 episodes of the legendary 1960 science fiction television show Men into Space written by Jerome Bixby. Bixby is celebrated by Star Trek fans for his four scripts for the original series, Mirror, Mirror, By Any Other Name, Who Morns for Adonis?, and Day of the Dove. But six years earlier he had learned the craft of creating top-quality science fiction for television as a staff writer for Men into Space.
The episodes Jerome Bixby wrote for Men into Space showcase many of the qualities that would later make his Star Trek episodes among the best written for TOS. We hope you will enjoy watching them and that you will consider looking at Mirror, Mirror, a new collection of his science fiction stories from the golden age of the pulp magazines that features three stories he later used ideas and themes from in his Star Trek Scripts.
24 Is There Another Civilization? (story)
His first contribution to the series, a story outline. The script was written by someone else, but Bixby provided a strong and intriguing plot.
32 Mission to Mars (as Lewis Jay)
With his first script for the series, Jerome Bixby seems to have become the chief script writer, as he procuces all but one of the remainder of the season's teleplays.
33 Moon Trap (as Lewis Jay)
His skills as an early television writer, when tense dialogue was as important as action, show off well in this episode.
35 Into the Sun (as Lewis Jay)
Buy Star Trek Scripter Jerome Bixby's Mirror, Mirror in Kindle only $3.99.
Click here to see the final three episodes of Men into Space. Including the never aired on TV 38th episode. All three penned by Jerome Bixby.
FREE WATCH FINAL 3 EPISODES STAR TREK TOS WRITER JEROME BIXBY WROTE FOR SHOW'S PREDECESSOR 'MEN INTO SPACE"
PRESENTED BY THE NEW JEROME BIXBY COLLECTION
"MIRROR, MIRROR: CLASSIC SF STORIES BY THE LEGENDARY STAR TREK AND FANTASTIC VOYAGE WRITER
THIS COLLECTION CONTAINS THREE OF HIS 1950s MAGAZINE STORIES HE LATER ADAPTED IN TO SCRIPTS FOR STAR TREK TOS
EDITED AND INTRODUCED BY HIS SON, SCREENWRITER EMERSON BIXBY
Buy Star Trek Scripter Jerome Bixby's Mirror, Mirror in Kindle only $3.99.
36 The Sun Never Sets (as Lewis Jay)
37 Mystery Satellite (as Lewis Jay)
Another idea rich, well-dialoged Bixby Script. Traces of his future work for Star Trek TOS can be seen.
38 Flight to the Red Planet [never aired on TV] (as Lewis Jay)
On Phobos McCauley must make desperate decisions to complete their mission to Mars. Too bad the series wasn't renewed for the second season.
Buy Star Trek Scripter Jerome Bixby's Mirror, Mirror in Kindle only $3.99.
Friday, December 5, 2014
"Mirror, Mirror" New Jerome Bixby Collection Reaches Top 10 on Star Trek Bestseller List at Amazon Kindle
The famed Star Trek script writer's new collection of eleven stories from the pulp science fiction magazines, Mirror, Mirror, has reached the top 10 on the Star Trek bestseller list at Amazon Kindle and the top 50 among science fiction anthologies and collections.
Before he wrote four fan-favorite Star Trek episodes, and the screen story for the movie Fantastic Voyage, Jerome Bixby (1923-1998) was a highly regarded professional science fiction magazine editor. But Bixby deserted magazine editing for Hollywood. Bixby is best remembered for episodes he wrote for the original Star Trek television series, and is much revered by series fans for introducing, in "Mirror, Mirror," the concept of the "mirror universe" where The Federation and Kirk, Spock, et al, are all their evil exact opposites in character and deed.
Bixby also wrote three other episodes, "By Any Other Name," "Day of the Dove," and, "Requiem for Methuselah," which are ranked among the best in the series. The new collection contains a trio of rarely reprinted novelettes containing ideas that Bixby would later mine and transmogrify in two of his highly regarded Star Trek episodes. These stories are "One-Way Street" and "Mirror, Mirror" (both used in the ST script "Mirror, Mirror") and "Cargo to Callisto" (used in "By Any Other Name"). The collection also contains Bixby's most famous short story, "It's a Good Life," memorably dramatized first on The Twilight Zone, then in the Twilight Zone Movie, and finally reinterpreted for the twenty-first century on the series 2002 incarnation, in "It's Still a Good Life."
Thursday, December 4, 2014
Mirror, Mirror Featured on Roddenberry Site
Digital Parchment Services is thrilled that the Roddenberry section of the SF news site, Nexus, has featured the release of our Jerome Bixby collection, Mirror, Mirror:
Jerome Bixby Stories Spotlighted In New Book
'Mirror, Mirror' collection features magazine tales that inspired 'Star Trek' episodes
Stories used by writer Jerome Bixby to create two "Star Trek: The Original Series" episodes are featured in a new book compiling his science fiction work.
Titled "Mirror, Mirror Classic SF by the Famed Star Trek and Fantastic Voyage Writer," the book from Digital Parchment Services includes the never-before-reprinted novelettes "One-Way Street," "Mirror, Mirror" and "Cargo to Callisto." Bixby molded the first two novelettes into a script for his famous 1967 Season 2 episode "Mirror, Mirror" -- which went on to earn a Hugo Award for Best Dramatic Presentation -- and the last for the 1968 Season 2 episode "By Any Other Name."
The book also contains Bixby's famous short story, "It's a Good Life," which was adapted for "The Twilight Zone" and 1983's "Twilight Zone: The Movie." Other stories include his first tale from 1949, "Tubemonkey," and "The God Plllnk," which was published in 1964.
Bixby, who was a highly regarded science fiction magazine editor and writer, also wrote the "Star Trek" episodes "Day of the Dove" and "Requiem for Methuselah." He enjoyed success beyond "Star Trek," however, having co-wrote the story for 1966's "Fantastic Voyage" and penning 1958's "It: The Terror from Beyond Space," which served as inspiration for Ridley Scott's classic sci-fi film "Alien."
Screenwriter and producer Emerson Bixby, Jerome's son, edited the book and wrote its introduction.
The book arrived in stores Nov. 18, and it costs $3.99 for the ebook edition and $9.99 for paperback.
Wednesday, November 26, 2014
DIGITAL PARCHMENT SERVICES Publishes MIRROR, MIRROR By Star Trek And Fantastic Voyage Writer Jerome Bixby!
Digital Parchment Services
Is Proud To Announce The Publication Of
MIRROR, MIRROR
Classic SF By The Famed Star Trek And
Fantastic Voyage Writer
NEW JEROME BIXBY COLLECTION
CONTAINS THREE SF MAGAZINE STORIES THAT
INSPIRED TELEPLAYS HE WROTE FOR THE ORIGINAL STAR TREK TV SERIES (1966-69)
For Immediate Release
"Mirror,
Mirror", the first collection of Jerome Bixby's science fiction in nearly
fifty years, showcases three forgotten pulp magazine stories by that Bixby
adapted for the acclaimed Star Trek episode.
Before he wrote
four fan-favorite Star Trek episodes
(receiving a nomination for the coveted Hugo Award for Best Dramatic
Presentation), and the screen story for the movie Fantastic Voyage, Jerome Bixby (1923-1998) was a highly regarded
professional science fiction magazine editor and writer remembered for his
"yeoman work in raising the standards of the science fiction action story
(…) whose own stories, though few, are much sought after by discriminating
readers." (Science Fiction Stories 1953)
Bixby soon deserted magazine editing for Hollywood,
where he wrote a number of low-budget, late-1950s monster movies including It: The Terror from Beyond Space (the
acknowledged inspiration for Alien),
and landed scripting chores on the documentaryesque early science fiction
television series, Men Into Space,
before striking it big when he sold Fantastic
Voyage to a studio.
Jerome Bixby is best remembered, however, for the
four episodes he wrote for the original Star
Trek television series, and is much revered by series fans for introducing,
in "Mirror, Mirror," the concept of the "mirror universe"
where The Federation and Kirk, Spock, et al, are all their evil exact opposites
in character and deed.
Bixby also wrote three other episodes, "By Any
Other Name," "Day of the Dove," and, "Requiem for
Methuselah," all of which critics and fans rank among the best in the
series.
Fans of all types will thrill to learn that this
first-ever collection focusing on Jerome Bixby's science fiction will showcase
a trior of never-before-reprinted novelettes containing ideas that Bixby would
later mine and transmogrify in two of his highly regarded Star Trek episodes, "One-Way Street" and "Mirror,
Mirror" (both used in the ST script "Mirror, Mirror") and
"Cargo to Callisto" (used in "By Any Other Name").
The collection will also contain Bixby's most famous
short story, "It's a Good Life," memorably dramatized first on The Twilight Zone, then in the Twilight Zone Movie, and finally
reinterpreted for the twenty-first century on the series 2002-3 incarnation, in
"It's Still a Good Life."
Other Bixby classics include his first SF story for
a pulp magazine, "Tubemonkey" (1949), and his very last, "The
God Plllnk" (1964). You will also find a half-dozen other "lost"
stories and novelettes reprinted for the first time since their original
magazine publication in the 1950 and '60s.
Mirror, Mirror was edited and features a long
personal Introduction by his son, screenwriter and producer, Emerson Bixby.
To be released in both trade paperback and as an
ebook, "Mirror, Mirror Classic SF by the Famed Star
Trek and Fantastic Voyage Writer" is a collection with something for everyone;
it's for fans of pulp magazines, for fans of good science fiction writing, and
for every fan who has ever journeyed along the space lanes with Kirk, Spock and
McCoy.
Digital Parchment Services ebooks and paperbacks are available online through
Amazon, B&N, and other sites, while our ebooks debut at Amazon for Kindle,
and other platforms and bookselling sites to be announced.
ebook
Introductory price: $3.99 – Regularly $6.99
ISBN 9781615082414
Trade Paper
Introductory price $9.99 – Regularly $14.99
ISBN 9781503302433
Distributed by Futures-Past Editions
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For Review Copies Contact:
M.Christian, Publisher
Digital Parchment Services
Digital Parchment Services
is a complete ebook and
print service for literary estates and literary agents. The founders of Digital
Parchment Services are pioneers in digital publishing who have collectively
published over 2,500 ebooks and PoD paperbacks since 1998.
DPS
clients include the estates of multiple Hugo winning author William Rotsler,
and science fiction legend Jody Scott; authors such as Locus Award finalist
Ernest Hogan, Hugo and Nebula nominee Arthur Byron Cover, prize winning mystery
author Jerry Oster, psychologist John Tamiazzo, Ph.D., award winning
nutritionist Ann Tyndall; and Best of Collections from Fate
Magazine and Amazing Stories.
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Friday, November 21, 2014
Emerson Bixby on His Father, Jerome Bixby's Early Years In Hollywood
INTRODUCTION
Jerome Bixby: It Was a Good Life
By EMERSON BIXBY
(excerpted from the Introduction to the new Jerome Bixby collection, Mirror, Mirror: Classic SF by the Legendary Star Trek and Fantastic Voyage Writer)
After writing several thousand short stories —
science fiction, action, horror, western, comedy, etc. — and working for Planet Stories, Thrilling Wonder, Galaxy
and other popular pulp magazines, Dad turned his attention to the screen. He continued writing short stories, often
adapting them later for television or film, as with “One-Way Street,” which was
part of his inspiration for Trek’s “Mirror, Mirror.” He took the theme from
"One-Way Street" and a
story titled "Mirror, Mirror,"
story, from which he also lifted the title.
Dad’s first screenplay was a Western titled
"The Body at Miller's Creek", which sadly never got filmed. Similar to "The Man From Earth", it
took place in one location and was mostly dialogue. A cowboy steps into a saloon during a fierce
blizzard, orders a bottle of whisky, and mentions in passing that there's a
body beneath the ice at Miller's Creek.
Others in the saloon, also trapped by the blizzard, begin to speculate
as to whose body it is, and some fear they are responsible for his death. The Sheriff who ran a drifter out of town,
the bar-girl who harshly rebuffed an advance, the bartender who threw out a
drunk, the rancher who argued with his son, and so on. These people spend most of the film baring
their souls, confessing their sins and regrets, while the cowboy just sits and
listens, drinking his whiskey. Then next
morning, he rides out of town, pausing to look at the body beneath the ice, and
realizes it's a scarecrow. A year or two
later, “Miller’s Creek” almost became an episode of “Have Gun Will Travel”,
with Paladin playing an almost silent role.
Dad felt the producers passed on the script because there was no
bloodshed, no conflict, and Paladin doesn’t kill anyone.
Dad always loved Westerns. He wrote a few more, none of which saw the
light of day. In retrospect, he assumed
he was trying too hard, almost attempting to re-write the genre. He never bothered with the familiar plots
like railroads coming through, so-and-so's out for revenge, and Indian
attacks. Instead, he kept attempting to
write a new Western, something other than the run-of-the-mill stories Hollywood
kept turning out. Don't get me wrong,
Dad loved the good ones. "Red River"
was his favorite, followed closely by "The Ox-Bow Incident."
In 1957, after the fourth or fifth rejected
Western, Dad decided to try writing science fiction films. The next year, "It! The Terror From
Beyond Space", "Curse of the Faceless Man", and "The Lost
Missile" hit theaters pretty much back-to-back.
"The Lost Missile" was Dad's first
film, which he scripted with John McPartland.
On the first day of filming, the director dropped dead of a heart
attack, and his son took over. The film
was well-received, but it suffered from an overuse of stock footage. There was easily fifteen minutes of it: jets
taking off, jets landing, soldiers running, jets taking off, jets landing.
Then came "It! The Terror from Beyond
Space", which was Dad's answer to "The Thing." Dad went to his grave praising Kenny Peach,
the film's cinematographer, and Paul Blasdel, who designed the creature. He was on the set for much of the filming,
and struck up friendships with both Marshal Thompson and Dabbs Grier, who
turned out to be an okay chess player.
“It!” was followed by "Curse of the
Faceless Man." Now, if anyone out
there ever wants to torture me for information, just play Rap music and force
me to drink Decaf, and I'll sing. For
Dad, just mention "Faceless Man" and he'd beg for mercy. His original script was a love story,
essentially "Titanic" with a volcano.
Set against the eruption of Vesuvius, a beautiful Princess falls for a
lowly Slave, but their undying love can never be. The first half of the script dealt with our
star-crossed love-birds hiding their passion in shadow. Then the Volcano erupts, and our hero spends
the rest of the script attempting to get his love out of harm's way. Jumping from one building to the next over
rivers of lava, outrunning landslides of molten rock, always one step ahead of
the villain who wanted the Princess's hand for himself and who now vows that
both shall die.
"The Faceless Man" was a good script,
but the producers were amused that Dad actually thought they had money to spend
on it. Someone, Robert Kent, I believe,
came up with the bright idea of losing the love story, and hey, let's make our
hero a mummy! Dad never visited the set,
and had no idea that his volcanic love story had become a third-rate mummy
rip-off. After the premiere, I
understand he shared some colorful expletives with Kent and put it all behind
him.
In the late '50's, Dad wrote for "Men Into
Space", a sci-fi adventure series that attempted to depict the coolness of
space travel, minus a budget. He wrote a
script titled "Eye in the Sky", about a military satellite that spots
the lone survivor of a shipwreck in a lifeboat.
"Men Into Space" refused to do the episode; something about
Department of Defense not wanting anyone to think we had satellites pointing
down at Russians, or, goodness knows, Americans. Dad left the show shortly after.
Dad met a girl in, I believe, late 1958; an
interesting precursor of the impending '60s drug-culture. After the divorce a few years later, Dad
raised me and my two brothers single-handedly.
In case I haven't already said this, my father wasn’t just a
multi-talented writer, he was an excellent parent.
When Dad's story "It's a Good Life"
was used as an episode of "The Twilight Zone," Dad had originally
wanted to do the script himself. It
turned out Rod Serling had written the script before purchasing the
rights. Dad was so impressed with
Serling's script that he didn't change one word.
In 1966, a new show about space travel caught
Dad's eye: "Star Trek." After
the third episode, Dad sat and wrote a script on spec, "Mother
Tiger." In it, the Enterprise
encounters
a derelict ship with an alien in suspended animation; an exiled
criminal from its home world and now the sole survivor of its race, which
begins laying hundreds of eggs.
Roddenberry loved the script, but it would have
been far too expensive to film, so Dad promptly wrote "Mirror,
Mirror," which was by far his best Trek.
I'm sure everyone has heard stories of a certain actor on Trek taking
lines from other characters. This almost
happened in "Mirror, Mirror," where so-and-so wanted this line, that
line, and Dad threw a fit. So the
director, Marc Daniels, suggests to so-and-so that they call the head of
Paramount, and have them call the head of Desilu Productions, and have them
call Daniels in the next "two minutes", at which point he'll be happy
to alter the script. Daniels then said
action and the scene was shot, with no changes to Dad's dialogue. Dad was forever grateful to Daniels for that.
Read more about the making of "Mirror Mirror" and Jerome Bixby's other celebrated Star Trek episodes "By any Other Name," "Requiem for Methuselah" and "Day of the Dove," as well as the saga of Fantastic Voyage, and more, in Emerson Bixby's fascinating account of his father's adventures in Hollywood - and beyond. Plus 9 more great novelettes and short stories for the new Jerome Bixby collection Mirror, Mirror: Classic SF by the Legendary Star Trek and Fantastic Voyage Writer $3.99 for Kindle.
Emerson Bixby is a screenwriter and director whose credits include Together in Heaven, On a Dark and Stormy Night (as by Bix Smithee), INRI, Deception,Last Dance, Bikini Island, and Disturbed.
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