How to authenticate scripts?

[Lt.Washburn]

I was wondering if there are ways of telling if scripts are original or reprints? Obviously, provenance helps. But if it’s just the script, should one just assume it’s not real, or are there tells? Are reprints from non-production sources common? Were there a lot of licensed scripts made to sell to fans, so they’re pseudo-real but not really?

[sanjoelo]

There were a LOT of licensed scripts made to sell to fans, from Star Trek Ent/Lincoln Ent days forward. A lot of the old ST collectible catalogs used to feature them. Federation Trading Post, New Eye Studio, Cyrano Jones Trading Post are some of the ones I seem to recall selling scripts. I’m not sure how much of a handle they had on licensing in those days.

[Lt.Washburn]

Do you know if that continued through TNG and even ENT?

[sanjoelo]

Definitely through TNG, but unsure beyond that. My kids were young during those years, didn’t have a lot of time for fandom.

[tosgraphics]

Some years ago, I bought a few Enterprise scripts from a seller on ebay which when I received them appeared to be originals. They had colored pages (for the revisions) and original call sheets stuck in between the pages. I bought several different scripts from the same seller and each had the revised colored pages in them. Of course, I have a ton that are not originals.

[Mr.Atoz]

There are tells…
For TOS scripts there are red,yellow and gray jacketed scripts.
they are usually numbered at the top and have a distinctive font style on the covers.
They are three holed punched but have only two brads. Revision scripts are rarer
and have multicolored pages pink, yellow, green etc. My understanding (someone correct me If I’m mistaken) Is the red covered scripts were office use and extras, more than likely the “extra” ones that Roddenberry ordered for sale through the LE catalogs. The yellow and gray scripts were mid to final revised shooting scripts. The covers are a soft raggy vellum cardstock. Interiors are mimeoed.
Not entirely sure but I don’t think/believe that LE ever sold yellow or gray covered scripts…

[SGT]

Yes, you are correct. All the Lincoln scripts were mimeographed and sold throughout the years. I do have a yellow one but I will need to check for the grey since I’m looking at some old photos of mine. I purchased many items from the first 4 or 5 catalogs but other companies started to pop up in the late 70s. Since the mimeographs were taken directly from the originals you got the original covers. Reprints have fancier covers and modern print. The are copies, I worked for Xerox for 25 Years. I will do a backstory on Star Trek Enterprises in a separate Thread. Star Trek Enterprises/Lincoln Enterprises was started by Majel Barrett/Betty Jo Trimble. The studio didn’t bother them on the collectables they sold. Bjo told Me they thought they were going to be rich. I have some interesting stuff from the earlier catalogs like the Star Trek II Writers Guide, The Cage script and revision scripts for The Menagerie. I don’t have many scripts but you can see them in the top left corner. They did come with only two small brads but I replaced them with 3 bigger brads to protect the paper. Originals were done on the Xerox 914, 1959+ because offset was too expensive.

[Mr.Atoz]

My understanding is that the yellow script cover in the above pic would be an example of a reprint.
Allegedly this font was never used on production scripts…

[SGT]

You are probably right, I haven’t looked at those scripts in a long time so I don’t know about the cover fonts and others do have different ones.TNG+ used the correct covers. I’d have to dig them out which I will do. From what Majel told me, the scripts were taken from the originals directly from the studio. She told me that when I found pages missing and ask about them. She did offer the missing pages but some she couldn’t, saying that’s what came from the studio. IMHO you don’t have an original without provenance but then that is the same for the Alpha Comm. Eugene Roddenberry told me I was one of the original customers, I did talk to Majel on the phone since everything I ordered came damaged, only in an envelope. She said I was the pest from Montreal. Once, I ordered up all the stationary that Lincoln had from Eugene and it got heavily damaged, I returned it for a refund because he wouldn’t offer a discount, so what was sold after was damaged.

[SGT]

Mr.Atoz, I remember you being a big 35 MM half frame clip collector which Lincoln offered. I ordered several full sets from the first catalog but stopped as later ones were exactly one clip cut instead of the cut 2 1/2" or 3" of frames meaning 2-3 clips. I collected the 35 MM trailers up to Star Trek JJ but after that it went digital.

[DigiGal]

At some point didn’t they introduce different tells like typos, etc. so if a script leaked out in advance they could trace who it came from.

[Mr.Atoz]

Yes, long time collector of clips…(since catalog #2) contributor to Star Trek History site and Gerald Gurians books…

[Mr.Atoz]

Ha ! That’s funny I remember writing to Majel and objecting to what was described as a film clip of the Enterprise, Well it was the Enterprise, but it was the Enterprise on a soundstage… If I had known then
what I know now… I would have bought it all.
Curiously… I wrote Lincoln Enterprise / Rod / back in the early 90’s when the catalogs were no longer being
put out… I casually enquired about the film clips… They had long ago stopped selling them… The response
was… ( I paraphrase) Hi Christopher, we just happened to find a box of film clips we had completely forgotten about, some of the clips are anamorphic clips from stmp the rest are tos, glad to see that you are interested, let me work up a price and get back to you… The next thing I see are the clips sold in strips inside plastic protectors…and then eventually sold at auction through PIH… None of my emails were returned, after the initial inquiry and back and forth…soured me a bit.

[SGT]

…soured me a bit.

Chris, I had to tell them to package well every time on an order. Sure it was OK with scripts but other things would get trashed. Anyone who ordered from them would know that. Let me take Star Trek Enterprises to another Thread.

[SGT]

Looks like they are Original with the color inserts.

[SGT]

Yes, I ordered stuff from them also, New Eye Studio is another one. Some are still on eBay. I have their old catalogs. I don’t know the reason why they had Lincoln stuff though. Rod Roddenberry sold a lot off but not that early?

[SGT]

I think that might be a rumor. Star Trek was being cancelled and people knew that because Harlan Ellison’s letter of December 1966 confirmed it, nobody cared. One big rumor is that Gene signed the Intersteller Club certificates or the deluxe one? This is wrong, they were signed by his secretary (bjo answered that)

Scripts were mimeographed in house at Lincoln. They didn’t sell enough to rent a Xerox* so they kept doing the mimeographing themselves. *Copying machines of that time (from 1959) I worked on were one quarter tone and shiny, not grey or matt. In the early 1980s full tone came in which was matt. You could put a complete mimeographed script in Xerox 9400 and have them collated and the grey color was the same. What you got is copies of copies, a reason I never bought many. Many studios must have used the full tone copiers for scripts. In huge runs you would go with offset.

[DigiGal]

Understood, I was thinking movie era and some of the later series.

[sanjoelo]

I ordered a ton of stuff from New Eye back in the day, when they were in Willimantic, CT. I still have some of it. I used to love getting those (and other) catalogs in the mail back in the day. So much Trek-related happened via the post office and the landline phones back then.

[LostinTrek]

I LOVED the New Eye catalogs. That newspaper format was so cool. Dad read the local paper, I read the catalog.