It would be perversely interesting to read about the early years of TNG from Maizlish's POV. I bet it would put Richard Arnold's interviews to shame.
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- Thread starter EnriqueH
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It would be perversely interesting to read about the early years of TNG from Maizlish's POV. I bet it would put Richard Arnold's interviews to shame.
Not to unduly defend the man (or cast any negative aspersions on the legal profession) but I think most (if not all - did Fontana ever publicly comment on Maizlish's involvement in TNG?) of the bile seems to have come from Gerrold, stemming from his treatment by Roddenberry during the development of TNG. Gene was just being Gene, co-opting credit for ideas that clearly had Gerrold's fingerprints all over them (many dating back to his "World of Star Trek" book in the early '70s). I'm not a Gerrold fan ("Tribbles" IMO overrated and he comes off like a bitter Harlan Ellison wannabe, in temperament if not talent), but he should have been given more credit (and probably compensation) than he got for his work developing TNG. He just unfairly got caught up in Gene's consolidation of his business interests in Trek, which at that point centered on TNG.
For better or worse, Maizlish was hired by Roddenberry to protect his newly reestablished interests (both creative and financial) in Star Trek after being unceremoniously bounced from the films forevermore after TMP. His involvement necessarily increased as Roddenberry's mental and physical capacity diminished; Maizlish was then dutifully (if perhaps overzealously) protecting the Roddenberry estate's stake in the Star Trek property, with Rick Berman, et al. looking out for Paramount's business interests. Just business, but Gerrold took it personally. He didn't want to risk alienating fandom by assailing the Roddenberry legacy, so Maizlish became his target.
Gerrold's issues with Maizlish seem to transcend professionalism and devolve into personal resentment that he, a professional writer, was being forced to collaborate creatively with this lawyer (ever see Alec Baldwin's dripping reading of the word in the film Malice?).
I highly recommend the "Discovered Documents" section of the Mission Log Podcast site; there you will find some very candid and revealing memos from the period, including some from Maizlish. I found one from 1987 (so around the time of Gerrold's issues with Maizlish) regarding TFF particularly interesting. It's the second one on the page and incorrectly attributed to "Paramount Pictures", but it's clearly Maizlish prepping Roddenberry prior to a lunch meeting with Shatner over the TFF story:
http://www.missionlogpodcast.com/discovereddocuments/095/
Note how the memo is from "LM" and not "Leonard Maizlish", perhaps anticipating future WGA scrutiny of his involvement with the creative side of Trek as eventually happened (undoubtedly at Gerrold's prodding) as can be seen in the first and last memos here:
http://www.missionlogpodcast.com/discovereddocuments/118/
From his TFF memo, Maizlish clearly "got" the core creative problems with the story that survived all the way through to the released film two years later. He's even pointing them out to Roddenberry himself; by comparison Roddenberry's memo is rather rambling and unfocused ("Can we talk?"), with something about "religion and God" and "what has been happening to public attitudes in that area" (whatever that means). He seemed to "get" Star Trek as well, at least in the way Gene envisioned it.
Just goes to show that there are still many untold stories behind the scenes of Trek; Maizlish's contribution to Trek may remain largely unknown now that he, Gene, and Majel are gone. Did Susan Sackett discuss Maizlish in her tell-all?
Susan did talk about Maizlish a little bit, but she feels he screwed her over. Her involvement in the franchise ended pretty much the day Gene died.
It never occurred to me the reason that Maizlish might've been a prick to everyone around him was because of the way Gene was treated in the TOS film franchise.
It never occurred to me the reason that Maizlish might've been a prick to everyone around him was because of the way Gene was treated in the TOS film franchise.
You seem to be forgetting that only professional writers should be the ones writing or rewriting scripts. Roddenberry's personal attorney stepping into the creative running of TNG was clearly overstepping his bounds. A lawyer with no experience in the writing field has no business rewriting scripts, or even penning a memo giving his opinion on scripts.
Good point.
Have their been any articles or books that have delved into Maizlish's dealings within Star Trek? (I know, here I go again. Shoot me, I'm a reader and I'm hyper curious about Star Trek behind the scenes.)
I'm afraid that I don't necessarily recall where I first read a lot of this stuff. I know there was an article about gay representation in Star Trek (maybe on Salon.com or possibly on The Advocate's site) where Gerrold talked about how & why his TNG "Blood & Fire" script was axed. Maizlish called Gerrold homophobic slurs to his face. That's all I recall right now.
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