I think Gene's vision had way more hope.
Let's talk about the elephant in the room, this series violates Roddenberry's vision big time
- Thread starter Sci-fi fan
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From a certain point of view there IS a lot of hope involved in putting your mistress back in the cast when a livid Lucille Ball told you specifically not to.
Gene's vision had it's moments but the vision he had for TNG would not have sustained the franchise had he lived. TNG probably would have been lucky to survive as long as it did and there would have been no DS9 or Voyager.
Alternate Universe Gene Roddenberry who is still alive and well thanks to the miracles of alternate universe medicine saw TNG cancelled before its seventh season.
He then avoided work on Andromeda and threw everything into another trek spinoff "Star Trek: Risa". The new series was banned by the censors before it could enter first run syndication but ultimately Gene trumphed and it gave Cinemax the hit tv show it needed and ushered the golden age of television 15 years early. Risa became the first soft-porn series to win both an AVN, Hugo AND Emmy award simultaneously. His final Star Trek Movie, a rambling incoherent time travel piece about monkeys, naked bald empaths, and the Kennedy assassination never was finished as Terry Gilliam stormed off the set with all the negatives.
He then avoided work on Andromeda and threw everything into another trek spinoff "Star Trek: Risa". The new series was banned by the censors before it could enter first run syndication but ultimately Gene trumphed and it gave Cinemax the hit tv show it needed and ushered the golden age of television 15 years early. Risa became the first soft-porn series to win both an AVN, Hugo AND Emmy award simultaneously. His final Star Trek Movie, a rambling incoherent time travel piece about monkeys, naked bald empaths, and the Kennedy assassination never was finished as Terry Gilliam stormed off the set with all the negatives.
Trek got to where it was in spite of Roddenberry. There were plenty of people behind scenes helping to build Star Trek who managed to prevent Roddenberry from making decisions that would have killed the franchise.
Someone else very well may have made a Forbidden Planet inspired sci fi voyaging show. CBS had Voyage to the Bottom of the Sea, it was already using monsters from Lost in Space on alternate weeks, if they'd put it in orbit, there's star trek. It would not have been called Star Trek is all. It would also have looked cheaper, but again that has nothing to do with Roddenberry. Lucille Ball wanted to be sure her flagship programs, Mission Impossible and Star Trek looked top notch, and she made certain that had good budgets. She was not amused with Gene wasting budget on giving his mistresses jobs. More than likely this other show that almost certainly would have happened it would have a lot of the same writers and maybe even some of the same actors and actresses, maybe even some of the same set designers and prop guys. It was a small world in Hollywood.
I'm not saying Gene Roddenberry did not have a really good idea for a TV show, clearly he did. It was not his work alone though, and as others have stated there came several points where he nearly killed the franchise. Those too are facts. Gene Roddenberry was losing and chasing off writers left and right in the early days of TNG and many of those episodes show just how badly the show needed a change in leadership. None of the movies beyond TMP would have been made if Gene had had his "vision." He wanted that Kennedy assassination movie. Studio execs passed on it every single time.
People have to be distanced from their own creation at times. In another industry years back, the U.S. government was seriously considering taking action to make certain Henry Ford didn't take BACK control of Ford Motor Company during WWII for similar reasons: his vision, whatever it had been, no longer worked with the needs of the age. Discovery gives Roddenberry credit in the opening credits, that coupled with whatever cut his descendants get, should be enough. It doesn't need HIM.
Roddenberry screwed up the initial pitch for Star Trek and it almost never got off the ground until a guy by the name of Herb Solow intervened and helped with the second pitch. Even then the board of Desilu studios weren't interested and wanted to make Mission Impossible and another tv series. If it had not been for Lucille Ball overriding the other board members Star Trek would never have been made.
So yes, Roddenberry came up with the idea, but Star Trek was born because of the help he received from others.
dead horse, beaten by Refuge
Which would never have happened if he hadn't received help.
No, it stopped being GR's vision the day Gene L. Conn arrived on staff and started creating a lot of the 'Star Trek Institutions' fans consider a big part of Star Trek" during the run of the original series.
No one is disputing that Roddenberry created the idea for Star Trek but in terms of making it a successful franchise, he had a lot of help doing it and it almost didn't get off the ground because of him. Those are facts. You can remain ignorant if you want, but it's probably worthwhile to read the actual history of star trek if you're going to debate about it.
To be fair...Ford was tight with the Nazi Party back in the day, and there was a war on.
It’s not exactly Paramount bringing in the TV division to make Wrath Of Khan.
No, but it does have a lot to do with your argument
This show has a longer arc. Modern audiences don't need a hopeful pay off in every episode,.
Plus, Charlie being taken away, Edith ending up on a slab, Zarabeth all lonely, Miramanee and her child dead. TOS had its fair share of darkness.
