Interesting research on Roddenberry

Here is an interesting if lengthy research paper done on Roddenberrys early years, not sure if its already been discussed.
http://www.academia.edu/2967654/Sta...re_The_Creation_of_an_Early_Television_Auteur

 

I don't recall if that's been posted here before. But the author seems familiar.

 

I don't recall seeing this before, either. Thanks for posting.

 

A really interesting article, and though I was acquainted with most of the information in it, it has some insights I hadn't been aware of before. Particularly, I like the way it summarizes just how extensively Roddenberry worked to create the image of himself as a visionary auteur, and how much Paramount was compelled to play into his popularity with fandom even though he probably wasn't the best person to be in charge. It seems that with both the movies and TNG, they started off with Roddenberry to appease fandom and then tried to phase him out gently but swiftly.

I did catch one factual error. It says on p. 65 that "There was never a female guest star that played a character higher in rank than Lieutenant in Starfleet," but there was exactly one: Diana Muldaur as Lt. Cmdr. Anne Mulhall in "Return to Tomorrow."

 

Yes, I wonder who wrote that.

 

I like his style, and would be glad to follow his newsletter and/or blog!

 

Really solid piece. While I was familiar with most of the material referenced this essay does a great job encapsulating the creation of the Gene Roddenberry "brand."

 

Finally had a chance to read through the paper, really great work :-)

 

Thanks for sharing.

Now that's the sort of thing you want to see on your reading list for the semester!

 

Heh, when I saw the thread title, I had the thought, "Unless Harvey appproves, I'm not sure I care."

 

I'm still proud of that essay, but it has several mistakes in it that I wish I could fix. The leftover research I accumulated for it was the basis of my blog early on. Maybe soon I will finish my work on the ratings -- but life has been busy recently.

 

It was a really nice reading. I didn't read books about Star Trek, so it cool to see a serious (well written) paper with references to clarifies thins I can read on Internet.

 

On the other hand, the fact she's a scientist with a PhD is more noticeable than her rank.
On a similar track about female character: there's not so much "older" women in TOS. So we see female scientist, civil servants, doctors, etc, but they used to be young, so they don't occupy so much high positions. There's not a lot of T'Pau. Kirk is a young Captain, so generally the other starship commanders he met are played by actors older than Shatner (including Joanne Linville).

I hope you'll able to pursue that works Harvey.

 

Even so, Mulhall's uniform sleeves clearly bore lieutenant commander's stripes. Even though her rank was never stated in dialogue, it is a fact -- clearly an underappreciated one -- that she is the one and only female Starfleet officer in TOS portrayed with a rank higher than lieutenant.

 

What about Number One?

 

^Number One was a lieutenant. Pike called her that right after complaining about the presence of a woman on the bridge. ("No offense, Lieutenant. You're different, of course.") The rank structure wasn't as well-defined back then, and in the Royal Navy (the source of the "Number One" title), an executive officer is usually also called the first lieutenant.

 

Good article. Thanks for the link

 

Nice article! It's good to draw a lot of the sources and evidence together in one place like this.

 

Of course you're right, but I think that confirms Harvey's argument. The one and only female Starfleet officer in TOS portrayed with a rank higher than lieutenant never had her rank stated in dialogue.

 

What Harvey said wasn't an argument, it was a factual assertion: ""There was never a female guest star that played a character higher in rank than Lieutenant in Starfleet." You can't spin facts; they're either correct or incorrect. And as phrased, that sentence is factually incorrect. No reason to fight that; it's simply a matter of rephrasing the sentence for greater accuracy. For instance, "There was only one female guest star who ever played a character higher in rank than Lieutenant in Starfleet, Diana Muldaur in 'Return to Tomorrow;' but even she was addressed only as 'Doctor' and never by her rank."