Blood and Fire (Star Trek)

"Blood and Fire" is an episode written by David Gerrold for possible use on "". The script was commissioned and written, but never actually filmed because certain studio executives had a negative reaction to its positive depiction of an openly gay couple. It was eventually adapted by Gerrold into a standalone novel.

In the original script, the crew of the "Enterprise-D" came upon a derelict spaceship whose crew had all been killed off by Regulan bloodworms. Since these creatures are highly dangerous and can kill within hours, any ship or space station found to be infested with bloodworms must be sterilized and/or destroyed, as per Starfleet orders. The concept of Regulan bloodworms, mentioned in dialogue in the original "Star Trek" series (but never actually explained until this episode), was intended to be a metaphor for the AIDS crisis, as AIDS was a similarly lethal disease.

This episode was also noted for its inclusion of two openly gay crewmembers, which would have been a first in Star Trek history. Years later, an AIDS allegory would finally be included in a Trek episode, namely the "" episode "Stigma".

Herbert Wright rewrote the script under the name "Blood and Ice", which also was left unproduced.cite news|title=Lost Worlds Revealed|author=Andy Lane|work=Star Trek Monthly|publisher=Titan|date=April 1997]

With Gerrold's permission, Carlos Pedraza rewrote "Blood and Fire" for the fan series "". [http://www.trektoday.com/news/150307_03.shtml] Gerrold did a final draft polish (possibly to expand the gay relationship to something more than a hint) and also directed the episode.

ee also

*LGBT characters in the Star Trek universe

References