Roddenberry was a dirtbag

[jimbtnp2]

^This doesn't surprise me, he slept with at least 2 of the TOS originals while cheating on his wife. One was Nurse Chapel (Of course he later married) 2.) Rumor has it was Nichelle Nichols, go figure! It must be great to be "The man" back in the day too bad it was immoral.

Like I say, people bag on Braga, but Braga was more true to Gene's personality than anyone else I can think of on the production team.

Braga sucks

 

[jimbtnp2]

He was also an incredible opportunist when it came to money and stealing credit.

He wrote the infamous "lyrics" for the theme so he could steal half the royalty money from Alex Courage.

He came up with the "IDIC" and foisted it off on Leonard Nimoy at the last minute while filming "Is There in Truth No Beauty?" so he could sell duplicates through his private licensing operation.

In all his speachmaking down through the years after TOS, he virtually NEVER mentions the fact that most of the "most beloved" things in Trek were actually thought up by others. To hear him talk, you'd think he wrote the show singlehanded, as he doesn't mention his co-producers, his writers, etc. This tendency to glom onto credits (and often associated monies) wound up getting Paramount in trouble with the Writers' Guild during Next Gen, and is why DC Fontana and David Gerrald LEFT shortly after the first season.

For all he was quick to take credit, he was a lazy writer/producer when he wasn't being pushed...witness the story about Justman that when he needed to get something done from Gene he'd have to go stand on his desk (LITERALLY) until he'd get it done.

He could also be terribly vindictive if he felt himself crossed. Witness the way he turned on Franz Joseph after Paramount did an end run around him (Gene) to produce the Tech Manual. Witness the way he and his little brown-nosing remora fish Richard Arnold RUINED the tie-in products for nearly a decade with their ham-fisted restrictions.

No doubt GR was more human than he aspired to be, but and forcing out Gerrold and Fontana was a BIG mistake - I still find TNG-S1 the best and closest to TOS, especially in the age of Babyboomers willing to stepin and suck up for money (berman / braga)

 

[Admiral Buzzkill]

...I'd say "The Cage" alone was quite a step up from FORBIDDEN PLANET...

I beg to differ. The Cage is barely a step sideways from Forbidden Planet. The concept it puts forward is no more innovative. It's almost as antiquated in its vision of women in the future as FB.

Heck, The Cage borrows so much from FB that I sometimes suspects Gene saw the film and decided to make something like it for weekly TV.

Which IMAO is sort of like suspecting that Nixon knew more than he was telling about the Watergate break-in.

"The Cage" is virtually a lift from "Forbidden Planet" in almost every respect other than visual design. And far from being a "step up" it is not as well conceived or written as FP.

 

[Esteban]

Clinton and Roddenberry each had lying and cheating in common. Perhaps Bill ought to consider tv production as a new career? Plenty of young talent out there for him to cast.

Roddenberry has added alot more to my life than Clinton ever did, except that when Bill was President, I could afford to buy ST DVDs, and now thanks to the current wastrel-in-chief, I have to look at the collection as my retirement fund.

They were both Men. And I wish(ed) them moments AS a man.

 

[MANT!]

Gene's "vision" was to make money, eat, drink and get laid (not necessarily in that order).

For God's sake..that's MY vision too...

However, my modifications to Gene's "vision" are simply to restrict "getting laid" to my wife and "making money" to earning my pay without knowingly screwing over others....

 

[AlanC9]

"The Cage" is virtually a lift from "Forbidden Planet" in almost every respect other than visual design.

Well, yeah ... but "Forbidden Planet" is lifted from "The Tempest", and Shakespeare used to rip off anything he could get his hands on. If the show works on its own merits, that's enough for me.

 

[Noname Given]

You weep for morals using Roddenberry as a comparison when we have the ultimate moral breaker sitting in the White House?

I would take Roddenberry in the White House over Bush anyday.

Rob

Even if he were alive he would have lost in 2000 versus Bush. No way a mostly Christian country elects back to back adulterers.

Nope, they just go from a pair of adulterers to an alchoholic, drunk driving cocaine using person; who passed on his flight readiness physical in the Texas National Guard because his buddy got cout martialed because that same exam found cocaine in his system; and GWB knew if he showed up and took it himself at that time, he would have been in the same boat.

Also, nice to know that the 'moral' George W. Bush' cares so much about U'S. military men in Iraq; that their loved ones in the U.S. are scrounging pawn shops in the U.S. for body armor and sending it too them because the GWB administration thinks that it costs too much to provide it to them via channels.

Then there's the GWB policy of rescinding military signing bonuses for military personel that were wounded in combat before the end of their first tour - his logic being that since they were wounded 'so quickly'; they didn't live up to their 'contractual obligations'.

Yep - please tell us more about the 'moral' George W. Bush.

(Hey, wait, this ain't TNZ is it - Sorry for the hijack).

 

[TheLonelySquire]

I would take Roddenberry in the White House over Bush anyday.

Rob

Even if he were alive he would have lost in 2000 versus Bush. No way a mostly Christian country elects back to back adulterers.

Nope, they just go from a pair of adulterers to an alchoholic, drunk driving cocaine using person; who passed on his flight readiness physical in the Texas National Guard because his buddy got cout martialed because that same exam found cocaine in his system; and GWB knew if he showed up and took it himself at that time, he would have been in the same boat.

Also, nice to know that the 'moral' George W. Bush' cares so much about U'S. military men in Iraq; that their loved ones in the U.S. are scrounging pawn shops in the U.S. for body armor and sending it too them because the GWB administration thinks that it costs too much to provide it to them via channels.

Then there's the GWB policy of rescinding military signing bonuses for military personel that were wounded in combat before the end of their first tour - his logic being that since they were wounded 'so quickly'; they didn't live up to their 'contractual obligations'.

Yep - please tell us more about the 'moral' George W. Bush.

(Hey, wait, this ain't TNZ is it - Sorry for the hijack).

Don't mention it. Daily Kos propaganda is always good for a hoot. You did forget to mention those 1,000,000 vets currently living under bridges though!

It's all good.

By the way, back on topic. I hope no one misinterprets my love of TOS and GR's contribution as anything other than boundless. I was just shocked in reading Justman and Solow's book is all.

 

[Esteban]

That's a great book, my second favorite after "The Making of Star Trek" by Stephen Whitfied "and" GR.

 

[TheLonelySquire]

That's a great book, my second favorite after "The Making of Star Trek" by Stephen Whitfied "and" GR.

I'll have to check that one out. Did GR write or just get the credit for it? JUST KIDDING!!!!!!!!!

 

[Balthier the Great]

...I'd say "The Cage" alone was quite a step up from FORBIDDEN PLANET...

I beg to differ. The Cage is barely a step sideways from Forbidden Planet. The concept it puts forward is no more innovative. It's almost as antiquated in its vision of women in the future as FB.

Heck, The Cage borrows so much from FB that I sometimes suspects Gene saw the film and decided to make something like it for weekly TV.

I thought that was what happened. I always heard that version of Trek history -- GR saw FP and decided to make Trek. I thought it was mostly urban legend, but I never heard a different version of the story.

 

[Noname Given]

...I'd say "The Cage" alone was quite a step up from FORBIDDEN PLANET...

I beg to differ. The Cage is barely a step sideways from Forbidden Planet. The concept it puts forward is no more innovative. It's almost as antiquated in its vision of women in the future as FB.

Heck, The Cage borrows so much from FB that I sometimes suspects Gene saw the film and decided to make something like it for weekly TV.

I thought that was what happened. I always heard that version of Trek history -- GR saw FP and decided to make Trek. I thought it was mostly urban legend, but I never heard a different version of the story.

One of the first lines on the bridge of the saucer in Forbidden Planet:

"De-Cee at 17:01 skipper"

NCC number of the U.S.S. Enterprise: 1701

coincidence?

 

[Michael]

One of the first lines on the bridge of the saucer in Forbidden Planet:

"De-Cee at 17:01 skipper"

NCC number of the U.S.S. Enterprise: 1701

coincidence?

Wow! I didn't know that! I always wondered where the 1701 comes from. Thank you for that little piece of Trek history.

 

[Red Ranger]

Yeah, but he's my kind of dirtbag! -- RR

 

[Mr. Fergy]

Gene's "vision" was to make money, eat, drink and get laid (not necessarily in that order).

For God's sake..that's MY vision too...

However, my modifications to Gene's "vision" are simply to restrict "getting laid" to my wife and "making money" to earning my pay without knowingly screwing over others....

Understood. I am assuming that you wouldn't repeatedly do something morally wrong while making a quick buck?

BTW: I like your screen name. Are you a Transformers Fan?

 

[MANT!]

Gene's "vision" was to make money, eat, drink and get laid (not necessarily in that order).

For God's sake..that's MY vision too...

However, my modifications to Gene's "vision" are simply to restrict "getting laid" to my wife and "making money" to earning my pay without knowingly screwing over others....

Understood. I am assuming that you wouldn't repeatedly do something morally wrong while making a quick buck?

BTW: I like your screen name. Are you a Transformers Fan?

I never knowingly did anything morally wrong to make a quick buck..which explains my financial situtation..and goldbug came from Edgar Allen Poe's story..but I do like the Xformers movie...

 

[Ronald Held]

Is there any other source that confirms the 1701 comes from FP?

 

[number6]

Is there any other source that confirms the 1701 comes from FP?

No, because that's not where 1701 comes from. Matt Jefferies came up with 1701 because it was a number that could easily be seen from a distance.

Source: Matt Jefferies--Inside Star Trek:The Video!!

 

[Michael]

Is there any other source that confirms the 1701 comes from FP?

No, because that's not where 1701 comes from. Matt Jefferies came up with 1701 because it was a number that could easily be seen from a distance.

Source: Matt Jefferies--Inside Star Trek:The Video!!

But I like the Forbidden Planet explanation, too. Actually both could be true.

 

[Joshua Howard]

Roddenberry has added alot more to my life than Clinton ever did, except that when Bill was President, I could afford to buy ST DVDs, and now thanks to the current wastrel-in-chief, I have to look at the collection as my retirement fund.

They were both Men. And I wish(ed) them moments AS a man.

This is fondly profound; you made me laugh.