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"Where No Man Has Gone Before" (Sept. 22, 1966) Old TV Guide synopsis: "On a probe beyond the earth's galaxy, the Enterprise encounters an unknown force that transforms two crewmen into superior beings - determined to take over the star ship." Gene Roddenberry's second pilot for his proposed 'WAGON TRAIN to the stars' would be completed in November 1965 to network specifications, William Shatner's new captain (a decision making man of action) partnered with Leonard Nimoy's returning Spock (half Vulcan, half human, a cerebral man of unassailable logic) for an unbeatable double act that would provide the anchor for the resulting NBC series. James Doohan and George Takei would be retained as well, but an elderly Paul Fix, beloved sheriff Micah Torrence on THE RIFLEMAN, would be replaced as ship's surgeon by another longtime Western veteran, DeForest Kelley, nearly always cast to type as villains. Gary Lockwood would soon begin shooting Kubrick's "2001: A Space Odyssey," while Sally Kellerman's career took off with her role as the original 'Hot Lips' in the 1970 feature film "M. A. S. H." The Enterprise crew dealing with omnipotent beings displaying awesome power would be a recurring theme on the numerous TREK series over the decades, and the phaser rifle would become a casualty once the original series started shooting in May 1966. Everything aboard the Enterprise looks right yet still different, in particular Spock's accentuated eyebrows, fittingly broadcast early on before the regular characters took hold.

1974's "The Bat People" is a long forgotten AIP obscurity that sadly deserves its status, director Jerry Jameson and a mostly unknown cast all small screen veterans at the mercy of a lousy script devised by producer Lou Shaw. The title promises a multitude of bloodshed, yet the viewer sits through a crazed fugitive on the run, believed to be a killer by Sgt. Ward (Michael Pataki), who turns out to be quite a creep himself after hitting on the suspect's wife. The few murder scenes are shot subjectively so the killer is never shown, Stan Winston's makeup work consisting of one webbed claw and a mask (only seen during the final reel) that more resembles a gorilla than a bat. Location filming in Bishop shows off the famed High Sierras but little else of interest, a picture that came and went with hardly a ripple long before it was featured on Mystery Science Theater (alternate title "It Lives by Night").

1991's "Life Stinks" was a rare departure for writer-director-star Mel Brooks, not a parody like the glory days of "Blazing Saddles" and "Young Frankenstein," but a seriocomic look at the homeless in downtown Los Angeles (the budget was $13 million). Brooks himself plays the arrogant billionaire Goddard Bolt, who doesn't think twice about tearing down a home for the aged or clearing out an entire rain forest if it means turning a profit with another capital venture. Setting his sights on a piece of L. A. real estate to put up his cherished Bolt Center, he's opposed by fellow billionaire Vance Crasswell (a wonderfully smarmy Jeffrey Tambor), who seeks to purchase the property for himself, proposing a wager that Bolt must spend 30 days among the homeless with no money and no ID or forfeit his half of the land. Stripped of his wallet, his gold watch, and his toupee, Bolt is essentially a fish out of water on his own, at least until he's befriended by street smart bag lady Molly, played in scene stealing fashion by the always radiant Lesley Anne Warren. Fine derelict turns from Theodore Wilson as Fumes and Brooks' longtime buddy from YOUR SHOW OF SHOWS, Howard Morris as Sailor ("I was nearly in the navy!"), who gets to recreate a real life incident that Mel used to discuss on talk shows. After his father Hugo passed away, Howard wanted to have his ashes scattered over the Hudson River, so the dutiful son made his way through the bushes to the cold, damp shoreline, bid farewell to his pop, and watched in horror as the ashes all blew back into his coat (he used to say that his father's final resting place was Rand Cleaners!). When Rudy De Luca's J. Paul Getty tries to best Bolt in the amount of money he lost 'during the crash,' the two get into a slapping match that had Johnny Carson asking Mel if Moe Howard got a residual! Comic invention isn't always consistent, and the final third in particular just kind of peters out, but as a challenging change of pace it remains among the director's personal favorites.