The fictional character Zefram Cochrane from Star Trek did not get what was owed him. “Metamorphosis” is the ninth episode of the second season of the American science fiction television series Star Trek.
Written by Gene L. Coon and directed by Ralph Senensky, it was first broadcast on November 10, 1967. (from Wikipedia.) A brilliant idea, perhaps marred by a low budget, what is obvious is the lack of interest Kirk and Spock have in the inventor of Warp drive. This could have easily been a two-parter if handled correctly, AND could have been the first Star Trek motion picture, if – perhaps – The Return to Talos IV beat it to the punch. Alas, we got the ridiculous Robert Wise-directed pageantry (with Star Trek: the Motion Picture) when the Wrath of Khan proved that going back to the original TV show ideas and extrapolation on those themes resulted in success. Wrath of Khan, Search for Spock and The Voyage Home Films 2, 3, and 4, along with 6 (The Undiscovered Country) and 8 (First Contact) are the most brilliant and compelling of the Trek films. That Star Trek didn’t delve into Cochrane, the Talosians, the City on the Edge of Forever (where Joan Collins’ character could have been rescued and retrieved) and so many other great stories from the original series is…, oh well, Hollywood doesn’t always get it right.
Glenn Corbett had those dreamy eyes of film star Jeffrey Hunter (from the first pilot, the Cage) but both actors were not utilized to their fullest in either of their respective Trek episodes. However, the episodes do exist and The Cage is still one of my all-time favorite movies. Corbett’s isolation in his Trek episode- Metamorphosis – is likened to that of Twilight Zone #1 “Where Is Everybody?” starring Earl Holliman and Twilight Zone #7, Jack Warden as Corri in “The Lonely” – the seventh episode of the American television anthology series The Twilight Zone. It originally aired on November 13, 1959, on CBS In both episodes the men are totally alone, a world of people evaporated, kinda sorta. Kirk himself was found in a sort of lonely vacuum in “The Tholian Web” – the ninth episode of the third season of the American science fiction television series Star Trek.
Star Trek – as hinted above – also had two other men isolated: film star Jeffrey Hunter (though he had Susan Oliver with him, he thought she was a dream at first, and – thus – was by himself,) and Glenn Corbett alone in Metamorphosis with a gaseous alien with him for 150 years, well…The Lonely indeed. Many Twilight Zone actors would appear in Star Trek, including William Shatner, Leonard Nimoy and DeForest Kelly and George Takei. Both Twilight Zone and Star Trek were drenched deep in the imagination and there are slight parallels to both programs…just slight.
James Cromwell as Cochrane in the Next Generation film – First Contact – is an embarrassment and does much damage to the character. Look at the brilliant acting of Alice Krige as the Borg queen and Cromwell as this great unrealized idea of Zefram Cochrane. As with Gregg Corbett the unique idea of the creation of Warp drive is not explored, the two men playing Cochrane do not exploit his science. Corbett, as handsome as he is, plays the part stiff and with no clue about his stature and relevance. Cromwell just looks drunk and out of place. What a pity because IF the original Star Trek Metamorphosis had Zefram Cochrane go to the enterprise and become a repeating character, from one and a half centuries before, and brought that character to the first film, or the extremely faulty fifth film, Star Trek would be even more of a success today. It is not even arguable. Instead of exploring strange new worlds, they should have been exploring character development. It’s less expensive and more rewarding.
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Zefram Cochrane – the Star Trek Character That Got Away