Is Rod Roddenberry kind of a douche?

Discussion in 'General Trek Discussion' started by James T. Vader, Mar 11, 2013.

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  1. RandyS

    RandyS Vice Admiral Admiral

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    Read several posts above.
     
  2. Anji

    Anji Rear Admiral Rear Admiral

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    Rod always struck me as a kid who needs to grow up and find out who he is. I actually feel sorry for him because I don't know if he can escape the family name long enough to develop his own identity.

    But I like the kid, and if I knew him, I'd try to help him the way I help my own children.
     
  3. teacake

    teacake Fleet Admiral Admiral

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    The "kid" is 39 years old.
     
  4. RAMA

    RAMA Admiral Admiral

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    Um exactly...he didn't need to make the documentary for money.

    RAMA
     
  5. RAMA

    RAMA Admiral Admiral

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    He didn't exactly say that...imagine you grew up with someone considered legendary or you only heard good things about them...what if you found out they weren't perfect? He can disapprove and still find it humanizing. Why are you always so black and white about everything??

    Junxon:

    Rod isn't that unusual in Hollywood...rich people have kids and the kids have access to $, nightlife, the beach and what have you. Frankly, I find it more believable he was disinterested and became interested later on and wanted to explore it.

    RAMA
     
  6. Lt. Cheka Wey

    Lt. Cheka Wey Commander

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    Did her mom know about it? Did she care?
     
    Last edited: Mar 24, 2013
  7. DalekJim

    DalekJim Fleet Captain Fleet Captain

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    Nothing I've read about him suggests he's as big a douche as his father.
     
  8. Anji

    Anji Rear Admiral Rear Admiral

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    Why are you all trashing the kid? He's just a KID! He grew up in Hollywood part of a very protective family.

    Did he know his father? No, but then neither would anyone if they lost a parent when they were teenagers...because when you're a teenager you're busy being a teenager and you don't pay too much attention to your parents.

    As far as Majel not caring, oh no, to the contrary, she cared too much. She cared so much she let him get away with it. I have never seen a woman so in love with a man as she was with Roddenberry. It must have been very painful for her to hear the stories of his relationships. She was an outstanding woman who put up with far more bullpoop than she needed to.

    Now if you want to say that the movie he did about finding his father was done poorly, then, yes, I would say that he needed more help in organizing his thoughts on film. But a douche no.

    He's a kid who grew up in a sheltered family and has no idea how difficult real life is like. I feel sorry for him when reality hits him he will be in for quite a shock.

    And reality comes for us all.
     
  9. xortex

    xortex Commodore Commodore

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    He makes me laugh like an over sized surfer dude who probably hated the giant shadow his father placed over him rightly so and resents it or even hates it or him at times. But he looks so out of place speaking at Nasa that we're lucky they didn't cancel the whole space program altogether because of him. LOL. He seems clueless and unfortunate (I would like to be that unfortunate) but he kind of looks like he's being constantly kicked through a door into a room that he doesn't belong in. You want the next universe over to the left. I like him better than the Manny Coto evil clown that killed Star Trek. At least Rod has been fairly innocuous so far though I don't care to ever see anything he's done or has to say about Trek.
     
  10. Nerys Myk

    Nerys Myk A Spock and a smile Premium Member

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    He's 39 years old, hardly a kid.

    Just how sheltered a life did this "kid "lead"? Haven't seen the film so I'm not sure. Or are we just making generalization about how "rich kids" live.
     
  11. Galileo7

    Galileo7 Commodore Commodore

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    Agree.:vulcan: Treknation filmed visit of Rod to Skywalker Ranch was uncomfortable to watch from the gate guard interaction to the sit down interview with Lucas.
     
  12. teacake

    teacake Fleet Admiral Admiral

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    I already replied to another one of her Anji's posts and told her that. Either she didn't see it or she really wants to view him as a kid.
     
  13. Danger Ace

    Danger Ace Commander Red Shirt

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    Like others I could only make it halfway through his documentary. The cynic in me does feel he is trying to find a niche or foothold in the world of "Star Trek" (it is kinda the family business). But I also think there was some real effort to try and get to know his father and his legacy - he was only 17 when his dad passed, and, in time, discovered just how much he had taken for granted.

    The bit with Majel Barrett was odd and uncomfortable to watch. She actually struck me as having been crying and I shared her questioning of what exactly Rod was looking to discover. Part of that I feel is that GR's image and mythology had been cultivated and protected for years and that Majel worried Rod would or could undo all that.

    In the end, I tend to give Rod Roddenberry the benefit of the doubt. His professed ignorance of Star Trek and lack of any intimate knowledge or insight to the Trek-verse, however, also means that I feel he has no real standing in it.
     
  14. Therin of Andor

    Therin of Andor Admiral Moderator

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    Well, of course, for many years Majel herself was "the other woman". She was Roddenberry's mistress while he was married to Eileen and raising his family.

    Welcome to Hollywood.
     
  15. Danger Ace

    Danger Ace Commander Red Shirt

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    At the risk of sounding insensitive, let's remember Majel Barrett was once the other woman as Gene Roddenberry was married to someone else (Eileen Rexroat) with two daughters. She was also aware of his having multiple affairs at the time (Nichelle Nichols, etc ...). He was a swinger and always on the prowl. She knew the deal and some would say her pain was karma - that she was experiencing the pain and suffering she helped inflict upon others.

    It also begs the question, what kind of person was Gene Roddenberry really? What was the quality of his character? Not the facade or manicured public persona, but the real, under-it-all human-being?

    As much as I love "Star Trek," I have just heard and read too many stories from too many different close sources to realisticly feel Gene Roddenberry was a person that I would want to know or associate with.
     
  16. BillJ

    BillJ The King of Kings Premium Member

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    He was a douchebag of epic proportions, no doubt about it. From the lying, to the adultery, to taking credit for others work.

    Kind of sad the hero worship some folks give him.
     
  17. Navigator_NCC2120

    Navigator_NCC2120 Captain Captain

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    I remember listening to an audio only interview of DeForest Kelley online a few years ago, who said Gene Roddenberry had an underhanded way about him to get things done. He may have also said if GR wasn't underhanded there may not have been a "Star Trek" television series. I don't remember when the interview was originally recorded.


    Navigator NCC-2120 USS Entente
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  18. Melakon

    Melakon Admiral In Memoriam

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    It depends on the perspective of the person speaking. Someone 39 might be considered a kid if the other person is 10 or 15 years older. The funniest thing I ever heard at 19 was my 101 year old grandfather calling my 70-ish aunt and uncle "kids".
     
  19. Danger Ace

    Danger Ace Commander Red Shirt

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    Late-30s is just about the age many look back for the first time with perspective and realize what they took for granted and what opportunities they should have made the most of when they were just a kid.

    Not a matter of being sheltered. To him, growing up with "Star Trek" since birth probably made it all white-noise. Very understandable.
     
  20. Nerys Myk

    Nerys Myk A Spock and a smile Premium Member

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    Oddly enough, I am about 15 years older than Rod.

    Which has little to do with him being called a "kid".

    But that's not what Anji was talking about.
     
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