Well, if you insist to stay 100% on topic, this thread should be closed, since the original question (the inclusion of Of Gods and Men and fan films in General) was answered by you pages ago.
The new Concordance (again) and ST: Of Gods and Men
- Thread starter F. King Daniel
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Well, if you insist to stay 100% on topic, this thread should be closed, since the original question (the inclusion of Of Gods and Men and fan films in General) was answered by you pages ago.
There's some great advice in one of my "how to be a better writer" books. It says that, at some point, quite early in the writing process, a writer should stop talking about the book they're writing and just put the energy into writing it.
False premise #1: I'm not a writer of the Concordance. Bjo is the writer. I'm helping to edit it. And at this stage, that primarily consists of reassembling the existing text into a coherent form, out of lots of scattered pieces on several 3.5 diskettes. The closest I've come to writing anything in this book is tweaking some of the synopses to better reflect the episode being described (some of the plot descriptions are off by varying degrees), and all of that is still pending Bjo's approval. As for right now, we're just trying to get back to the point it was in '95.
It's going to bear her name because she's the one writing it. My name'll be inside, as an editor. And frankly, I take this responsibility quite seriously, because of that legacy.
Need I remind you that it was Bjo's decision to omit the new movie, with no prodding from me? And in light of all the other new entries that have to be included, you may just get your wish and have the new movie included, in some capacity. And, again, any such inclusions will be written by Bjo, not me. All I'll be doing is making sure everything is spelled right and factually accurate.
Again, Bjo's call. Not mine.
Should I just give you Bjo's email address so you can take up her decision with her directly?
Hmm. Soul searching time.From what I can tell the Nu-Concordance appears to be Bob's Abridged Guide to Star Trek. No thanks. Memory Alpha and Beta is a free and comprehensive guide to Trek. I used it when I wrote for SNW. If I ever get any Trek work in the future that's what I'll be utilizing for reference.
If I were you I would look deep down into my heart and ask myself if taking a shot at JJ Abrams was worth pissing on Bjo Trimble's reputation for. Because that's what Bob's Abridged Guide to Star Trek is doing to her. She gave you a job to do. Update the Star Trek Concordance. Do it goddammit!
Lessee......no, no problem there. Because this is still going to be "Bjo Trimble's Star Trek Concordance", not "Captain April's Guide to Star Trek".
Food for thought: When JJ decided he needed to ask someone in the fan community about Star Trek, he didn't ask Bjo. He asked Richard Arnold.
Make of that what you will.
Bjo and Richard are close friends. Bjo never worked for Paramount, Richard did.
Their fannishness is not a competition and they were both very close to Gene Roddenberry. But Richard also worked at Paramount during the days of Harve Bennett, Rick Berman and Michael Pillar. He was Gene's representative for negotiations with the licensees. Bjo attends several conventions a year. Richard attends a convention and interacts with fans almost every weekend.
Thanks. I was going to respond to Bob but frankly his response was a better defense of my post than any I could have made. He should give up the nu-Concordance and try political speech writing considering how much passing of the buck and backpedaling there was in that post.
Gosh, maybe someone should organize a write in campaign asking Bjo to include th new movie.
You know, there's a woman from the 60s - an avid Star Trek fan, very positive about the future - who knows all about how to coordinate effective letter-writing campaigns. Give me a few minutes. I'll think of it....
Reiterating that it's Bjo's book and that she's the only one who's actually writing it is a defense of your assertion that I'M actually writing it and intent on turning into a massive anti-JJ screed?
Seek professional help immediately.
That is the impression you gave from Day 1. Sorry.
Absolutely. I don't think I need professional help because you misrepresented your contribution to the new book. It was a collaboration up until it bit you in the ass then it became Bjo's book. Interesting the way that worked out.
CRA, don't ever get a job in PR. It's not your calling.
^
darkwing_duck1
Vice Admiral
I don't care how many conventions Richard attends, based on his public statements and his actions as Gene's "represenative", he's a sanctimonious a** who did so much damage to the licensed section of the Trek universe that it took a decade to even start recovering from it.
By my recollection of my reading of the official Roddenberry bio (of which Chapter 17 is devoted largely to GR's problems with the books and the use of Mr. Arnold), I'm not so quick to lay all the blame on Arnold. My impression was he was acting on GR's behest, and ended up being kind of a fall guy.
Sure, but I often wonder if, had I managed to get that gig instead of RA, if I - or any one of us - wouldn't have used to opportunity to help shape ST more towards other particular biases? As we've seen thousands of times on this board, we all have our own ideas on what makes good, true Star Trek, but RA was gung-ho enough that GR groomed him to be protective of "Gene's vision".
At the time RA was given the job, there had supposedly been complaints that the licensed fiction had shown signs of moving too far away from the parent TOS and TNG shows; and that, without care, the franchise was being damaged by inaccurate and misleading licensed material. Hence the infamous reissuing of licenses in 1989. Keeping the reigns on licensees is always tricky.
I've disagreed with many things RA was tight about not allowing certain things in the ST tie-ins, but he was also very knowledgeable in catching and correcting thousands of errors. Before RA was doing the job we heard very little about the whole vetting process. Supposedly Susan Sackett did a lot of it between TOS and ST IV, and people still have complaints about things that crept past on her watch.
Bjo Trimble has also managed to tread on fans toes over the years. It's not hard to do when everyone has such varied opinions.
More hilarious are the Peter David essays about his wacky dealings with RA in the "But I Digress..." trade paperback.
Bjo was Roddenberry's friend and was around during much of TOS' production, while Richard was GR's errand boy, and not privvy to nearly as much as he thought he was.
As a friend of both Bjo and Richard, who are also mutual friends going back to the early days of the 70s conventions, I find this to be a bizarre statement.
