Gerrold on 'Blood And Fire'

[TrekToday]

Years after it was first proposed and written, David Gerrold's Blood and Fire will finally see the light of day, arriving sometime before Halloween.

As reported by DoorQ.com, working on Blood and Fire was enjoyable for Gerrold. "I have never had such an incredibly wonderful production experience on any show I've been on," said Gerrold. "the passion, the enthusiasm, the commitment, the dedication, the people there, not just the cast, the crew behind-the-scenes...And then there were moments of such passion, such drama and excitement, in front of the camera, not behind the camera, where Bobby Quinn Rice, James Cawley, Denise Crosby, Bill Blair, all of our actors just brought their characters to life with such drama. I mean, there were times we had tears running down our cheeks just watching."

The storyline concerns "a plague so horrible that Starfleet had issued standing orders not to attempt rescue of any infected ship but to destroy it immediately." And Blood and Fire is also noteworthy for including a gay couple. The inclusion of the couple was part of the reason that it didn't appear when first written, as it made some studio executives nervous. This time, however, audiences seem to be more receptive. "We screened a rough cut of it the other night, the audience loved it," said Gerrold. "The audience had a great time and I was very satisfied that we got at least ninety-per-cent of what I intended on the screen."

Gerrold expects Internet fans will enjoy Blood and Fire too. Emails are already arriving after a preview was made available. As expected, some are negative, asking "Why are you putting gay characters in 'Star Trek?'" Gerrold has an easy answer for that. "Because Gene promised and we're keeping that promise." He added that "Such emails "[give] me a sense of 'this is why we had to do the episode.'"

Blood and Fire may touch those who are gay and feel alone and/or ostracized. Gerrold hopes that those fans will reach out after seeing Blood and Fire. "The emails that I think would be the most rewarding to receive, because this is a breakthrough episode including gay characters, would be to get something from say like a fifteen-year-old kid or a twenty-three-year old or somebody even who is still in the closet at age thirty and who says, 'Thank you for doing this, thank you for letting us know that gay people are part of human society, that we're part of the crew too, that we're here too. Thank you for showing our relationships honestly.' And I think that would be the email that touched me the most because being alone and not knowing that other people share who you are, share your feelings, being alone with that is a very scary way to be and if somebody says you know look here, love exists and it's cherished and honored and respected, man, that's the email I want to get because in my life, I've had the experience of knowing enormous love of all kinds, friends, family, my son and just incredible...but I think that when we deny ourselves the opportunity to have loving relationships with each other, we're denying what being human is all about."

To see the video interview, head to the link located here.

[EnsignYoshi]

I can't wait to see that episode

[Brian]

After Gene's health took him away from TNG and his successors shelved the script, Gerrold turned it into a non-Trek novel. If you enjoy the episode, you may want to check out the novel as well. It's the third book in his "Tales of the Star Wolf" trilogy, titled (of course), "Blood and Fire".

[Mysterion]

brains! wrote:

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After Gene's health took him away from TNG and his successors shelved the script, Gerrold turned it into a non-Trek novel. If you enjoy the episode, you may want to check out the novel as well. It's the third book in his "Tales of the Star Wolf" trilogy, titled (of course), "Blood and Fire".

My understanding is that the script was turned down while Roddenberry was still active in the production of TNG.

But, I second your recommendation of the "Star Wolf" books, which are excellent reading.

[Admiral Buzzkill]

Yes, Roddenberry himself shelved the script during preproduction on the first year of TNG.

Josh Engels goes into the story in quite some detail in his biography of Roddenberry - including eye-witness details that could have come from only two people: Herb Wright and/or David Gerrold.

[Brian]

Hmm.. I had read it was Roddenberry's attorney, who stepped in and started meddling in the show when Gene's health began failing. If you read Wiki accounts, there have been several versions of the story over the years. :/

[Admiral Buzzkill]

brains! wrote:

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If you read Wiki accounts, there have been several versions of the story over the years. :/

There have been, but Engels' account comes from interviews with the participants. Gerrold was one of the acknowledged sources for the book.

People ought to stop excusing Roddenberry for being a bad manager and not dealing fairly with his employees - too many of them have recounted their own poor experiences in that regard over the decades.

[Brutal Strudel]

Starship Polaris wrote:

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There have been, but Engels' account comes from interviews with the participants. Gerrold was one of the acknowledged sources for the book.

People ought to stop excusing Roddenberry for being a bad manager and not dealing fairly with his employees - too many of them have recounted their own poor experiences in that regard over the decades.

Not the least of whom being Fontana and Gerrold, two people who speak eloquently to the degradation of GR's management skills over the years.