Pursuit of Starship Fails to Get Off Ground

Beam me up, Scotty, somebody down here is trying to rip me off.

Like a noble Vulcan battling a gang of beetle-browed Klingons, free-lance writer Craig Pendergast has a mission. He feels Paramount Pictures Corp. swiped his ideas for the movie “Star Trek III: The Search for Spock.”

Pendergast, 33, a San Diego resident and marketing manager for a vocational school, circulated his script, “Ghost Ship,” to several Hollywood agents in the early 1980s. He even has a letter from William Shatner’s agent saying the actor admired the “hook” (the obstacles the hero must overcome).

But when Pendergast asked for a cut of the movie’s profits, doors were closed and phone calls were not returned. His lawyer wrote to Paramount, outlining more than a dozen plot similarities between “Ghost Ship” and “Star Trek III.”

Some examples: Both the screenplay and movie involve new propulsion units for the “warp” engines of spacecraft. In both, Adm. Kirk is temporarily relieved of command. In the screenplay, the 9-year-old son of Spock plays a central role; in the movie, the 9-year-old is Spock himself, regenerating by the “Genesis” effect.

A Paramount attorney responded that any similarity between screenplay and movie is because Pendergast used “elements of our copyrighted works” from previous “Star Trek” movies. He said the movie was already in “post-production” when “Ghost Ship” arrived.

In 1986, Pendergast filed suit against Paramount, Shatner, Leonard Nimoy (who played Spock and directed “Star Trek III”) and several agents and writers. Lacking the money for a lengthy legal battle, Pendergast has not pursued the court case.

He has, however, begun petitioning Congress to change the federal copyright law to make it easier for free-lance writers to pursue claims of literary theft.

“I just can’t get it out of my craw,” Pendergast said. “And I’m not even a Trekkie.”

He is also writing a novel. This time, he’s not taking any chances. He won’t discuss even the barest outline before it’s completed, copyrighted and delivered to an agent.

Ornament Hoods

The Sheriff’s Department hopes it has put a stop to the snatching of hood ornaments in North County.

For months, the ornaments from Mercedes-Benzes and other upscale cars have been disappearing in record numbers--and reappearing as jewelry and club medallions worn by teen-agers. A code of silence among the teens seemed to protect the snatchers.

Four high school students have now been arrested for snapping off ornaments, smashing windows and taking stereos from cars on a Vista used-car lot. When they allegedly ripped off a fellow student’s car, somebody called the cops.

Detective Mary Helmen describes the four as first offenders from “good families” who turned to vandalism out of boredom.

“I doubt we’ll get all the ornaments back,” she said. “The whole senior class is wearing them.”

Imbalance of Nature

Rattlesnakes sometimes bite people. Rattlesnakes always scare people. So, when the county Department of Parks and Recreation opened Louis A. Stelzer Park on Wildcat Canyon Road outside Lakeside six years ago, the indigenous rattlers were relocated.

Whenever a red diamondback or a southern Pacific is spotted, county rangers slip a noose over its head and gently move it to a brushy ravine several miles from the public area. The snake population has dropped sharply, but fewer snakes means more mice.

The park’s other mouse-eaters, two owls and a family of hawks, have not been able to handle the extra workload. As a result, the park has now hit critical (mouse) mass.

“We’ve had a mouse explosion,” said park ranger Maureen McNeece. “They’re eating our files, our maps, our books, everything. We put out baited mousetraps, but they keep coming. It’s extraordinary.”