David Gerrold interview

[Balok]

I found this over at TVShowsOnDVD.com. Gerrold certainly could have an ax to grind here, but it's some stuff I never knew:

David Gerrold Interview (Part 3)

(The other two parts of the interview don't really discuss much about Trek; they are chiefly concerned with other aspects of Gerrold's television work.)

[REG]

Wow. Lawyers writing TV script. What's next? They're writing role-playing games, too?

Oops. Sorry, Steve Long.

[BouncyCaitian]

I like his advice....think I might take it

[Snake_Plissken]

What 99% who complain about Berman don't get is that the guy is very well-connected. Anyone else then him would have gotten his a** fired a long time ago. Berman is also very good friends with Sherry Lansing, the (then) Paramount CEO. ... maybe they have the same rabbi

Regarding the article, maybe seasons 1&2 of TNG were lacklustre but no-one can claim that the rest was generally awesome television.

[REG]

What 99% who complain about Berman don't get is that the guy is very well-connected.

If he's so connected, then we'll just take him and all his connections down as well. On the bright side, more employment opportunties would open up.

P.S. We need an evil or devil smiley, like the ones in FBR.

[Ezri's Toy]

I guess that's part of the problem with the Hollywood system. There's so much money riding on, and rewarding, success that bean-counting and office politicking get in the way of quality entertainment. Had I been Gerrold, I wouldn't have put up with Roddenberry's lawyer. I'd've hired a P.I. to dig up some dirt on the guy; A shark like that always has some kind of unethical behavior in his background that would get him disbarred.

Why has American entertainment been so bland in the past 10-15 years ? Lawyers and business people are running the show and are making all the creative decisions. And, because these people are creatively bankrupt, its no wonder they look to making someone else's material or re-making successful material. No wonder most writers complain about Hollywood.

It makes me wonder how fan favorite Chase Masterson remains such a sweetheart when she has to deal with that kind of garbage.

[REG]

"So much money riding on"? They cut the asking price of their episodes this season in half, relying merchandise sale to recoup the loss of the other half. Trust me, I haven't been buying any Trek merchandise for a long time.

If they're the kind of good businessmen that sees the "bottom line," Paramount should have removed Rick Berman a long time ago. He's a liability, not an asset. That goes double for Brannon Braga. They stayed too long.

Bring in a freshly creative guy like Manny Coto for a much lower salary, and terminate Braga's and Berman's employments, and Paramount save money from those two senior-level salaries.

[D.S.McBride]

Originally posted by Ezri's Toy
Why has American entertainment been so bland in the past 10-15 years ? Lawyers and business people are running the show and are making all the creative decisions. And, because these people are creatively bankrupt, its no wonder they look to making someone else's material or re-making successful material. No wonder most writers complain about Hollywood.

And there we have it. One of the major reasons that the first season and a half of TOS stood out so prominently was a gentleman named Gene Coon. This individual was definitely from the Hollywood old school: a producer, yes, responsible for maintaining deadlines and keeping the budget monster locked in the storm cellar, but he was also a writer, a man who understood storytelling necessities at a bone-deep level and who knew what made storytelling work. It's no coincidence that many of the best episodes from that series - "Arena", "Errand of Mercy", "Space Seed", et al - have his name stamped on the writing credits.

Gerrold's entire recount of the debacle - in large part - that became TNG's first season reminds me of that story from Stephen King's Danse Macabre regarding Harlan Ellison and his pitch to Paramount for what might have been ST: TMP. I find it little wonder that there's less and less coming out of the Hollywood machine that people want to take a look at these days - witness the success of the indie documentaries this past year - and the crippling weaknesses of the last two Trek series and movies makes Berman's quiver-and-hide-from-change approach only more apparent. To paraphrase Woody Allen, if Gene Coon could come back and see what certain people were doing with his legacy, he'd never stop throwing up.

P.S.: I'm stilled heavily pissed that it's been more than ten years since the last Chtorr book came out, and Gerrold's still sitting on the fence with when he'll have number five ready for release. Talk about jumping the shark, man...

[T'lara]

Berman a suit... people like me have been saying it for years. Berman a control freak never. This just proved points made by us anti-Bermanites that those supporting Berman said was not true. Thank You.