Fade In: The Writing of Star Trek: Insurrection

[Joel_Kirk]

I agree with Christopher that Nemesis would have been much improved with the inclusion of the deleted Picard/Data scene. When I watched the scene on DVD I couldn't believe that they felt it neccessary to cut it out of the movie.

A couple of years ago I heard a rumor that Rick Berman was writing a book about his behind the scenes experiences. I hope the rumor is true. Considering how often Berman has been villified in the fan community, I would be interested to see things from his perspective.

 

[JD]

A couple of years ago I heard a rumor that Rick Berman was writing a book about his behind the scenes experiences. I hope the rumor is true. Considering how often Berman has been villified in the fan community, I would be interested to see things from his perspective.

Me too. As I've looked back over the shows during the past few months, I've found that alot of my favorite episodes were actually written by Berman.

 

[Sxottlan]

The article has been removed. Did anyone else save it or can recap what the earlier versions of the story included?

Maybe, but I find it hard to belive that a man who has been nominated for 8 different writing awards could have actually written something as bad as Nemesis.

No offense, but just because he's been nominated for a couple awards really doesn't mean he's infallible. One doesn't exactly follow the other. Everyone can have a stinker to their name. But it's a matter of taste.

I myself think that the movies Logan's been associated with that were good were so in spite of his participation. Or at the very least, the screenplays were the least remarkable aspect about them and those movies excelled due to the director.

 

[Christopher]

Me too. As I've looked back over the shows during the past few months, I've found that alot of my favorite episodes were actually written by Berman.

Well, the only actual scripts Berman wrote prior to Enterprise were "Brothers" and "A Matter of Time." Other than that, all his writing credits were collaborations on story outlines that were then scripted by other people (generally season premieres, finales, and big sweeps-event 2-parters). I suspect those must be the episodes you're thinking of. The one show where he actually participated regularly in writing actual scripts and dialogue was ENT, as Braga's screenwriting partner on that show.

 

[Rihann-shoe]

They took the manuscript down:-( If someone would send it to me, I would greatly appreciate it. As an aspiring writer and HUGE fan of Star Trek, I would love to read it. A little help, guys?

 

[JarodRussell]

Actually, Baird is highly regarded in Hollywood for his ability to salvage troubled productions in the editing room. Directing Nemesis was his reward for making something of Simon West's debacle on the Tomb Raider film. Given Baird's track record in Hollywood and his strengths in post, his hiring suggests some interesting conclusions.

Stuart Baird edited Superman: The Movie. I'd say that's a pretty respectable credit, at least from the genre geek's point of view.

Personally I think the pacing was NEM's main problem, but I blame it less on the film's editor or director than on this bizarre editorial philosophy dominating Hollywood that every film must have a relentless pace that never slows down. As a result of that "pace above all" mentality, a dramatically vital scene between Picard and Data was left out because it was "too slow" and a totally pointless, overly long chase sequence was left in because the film "needed action." Swap those out -- restore the Picard/Data scene that supplies the context for Data's later sacrifice and dump the gratuitous buggy chase -- and I think NEM would be better received.

Since there were many terribly slow scenes in Nemesis (that were very boringly staged, as I mentioned some posts before), I don't really get your point.
And Baird is an action movie director (US Marshals and Executive Decision are his only directorial credits). Of course he allows pointless and overly long chase sequences to stay in the final cut.
I do think that your opinion about the studio's influence is a bit prejudiced. From what I read and heard, it was Baird's decision to cut these scenes. If I remember correctly, he said once that there won't be a Director's Cut because the final release was the director's cut.

 

[BillJ]

If I remember correctly, he said once that there won't be a Director's Cut because the final release was the director's cut.

I don't think Baird had the 'final say' on which cut would be released. That's usually between the studio heads and the producers. Unless specifically written into his contract.

 

[slappy]

Having read this, it's very interesting for several reasons. One of which is how misguided they ALL seem to be about what to do. These are professionals, all pretty bankrupt in the idea department. Where's the imagination? Berman references Trek 4, but although no weapons were fired, the stakes were HIGH. Earth was at stake, both ours and the one of the future. The personalities of the classic characters were on full display. We saw everything we loved, the heart, the adventure. There's none of that in ANY version of Insurrection. It's all medicine and Picard and Data and alien staleness.

 

[Xavier_Storma]

Too bad it has been taken down. I was busy last week with science. Anyone could send me a copy? I am dying to read it.

 

[Tom Hendricks]

Did you get a copy?

 

[Leandar]

And, very true, DS9 did give us our first black commander (although, it took 2 seasons for him to become Captain; and we had to call attention to him being 'black').

I dunno, one look at Avery Brooks pretty well sold me on the thought that the lead actor was going to be black, making Sisko black. I don't recall having to point attention to him being black.

Oh, and actually it took three seasons to get Sisko to Captain from Commander, I gotta agree I thought that was kinda silly to have Sisko as a Commander instead of Captain at start although looking back, I can kinda see why.

They took the manuscript down:-( If someone would send it to me, I would greatly appreciate it. As an aspiring writer and HUGE fan of Star Trek, I would love to read it. A little help, guys?

Too bad it has been taken down. I was busy last week with science. Anyone could send me a copy? I am dying to read it.

According to the site, it was Michael Piller's family who requested it be taken down, not Paramount.

PM me an email address and I'll send it to you.

 

[Bones2]

This was a terrific read. I still think Insurrection is one of the very worst purely because the plot is flawed to the point that the villains, despite there being no attempt to present any ambiguity in the conflict, are in the right. Still, the description of the development and writing process is fascinating, and Berman and Stewart come off very well too. Despite Insurrection, I also think Piller's a great writer. I'm really glad I've got it saved.

 

[Captain Robert April]

Villains in the right, eh?

How many does it take before it becomes wrong? Hm? A thousand? Fifty thousand? A million? How many will it take?

 

[Joel_Kirk]

And, very true, DS9 did give us our first black commander (although, it took 2 seasons for him to become Captain; and we had to call attention to him being 'black').

I dunno, one look at Avery Brooks pretty well sold me on the thought that the lead actor was going to be black, making Sisko black. I don't recall having to point attention to him being black.

Well, granted Avery Brooks being 'black' (or 'brown' if you will) was an obvious clue DS9 was going to have a different commander from previous major ST leads; but I'm referring to episodes 'Far Beyond the Stars'...'Bada Boom Bada-Bing' (I'm probably getting the title wrong)...where we have a 23rd century black man referring to something that happened in the 20th century and even before that.

We didn't have Picard or Kirk constantly make it known (Ex: 'My white ancestors in the 1960s did so-and-so'...or 'A a white man, I feel'...'Numba One, I wonder if white men had a difficult time as the black man, yellow man, brown man; let's go to the holodeck and see...')...

It was the 23rd century; Sisko shouldn't have been written like that in those instances.

Oh, and actually it took three seasons to get Sisko to Captain from Commander, I gotta agree I thought that was kinda silly to have Sisko as a Commander instead of Captain at start although looking back, I can kinda see why.

Yes, I knew someone was going to catch me on that.

3 seasons. (Which obviously doesn't make it any better).

Btw, I may PM you sometime for that file...

 

[kkozoriz1]

And, very true, DS9 did give us our first black commander (although, it took 2 seasons for him to become Captain; and we had to call attention to him being 'black').

I dunno, one look at Avery Brooks pretty well sold me on the thought that the lead actor was going to be black, making Sisko black. I don't recall having to point attention to him being black.

Well, granted Avery Brooks being 'black' (or 'brown' if you will) was an obvious clue DS9 was going to have a different commander from previous major ST leads; but I'm referring to episodes 'Far Beyond the Stars'...'Bada Boom Bada-Bing' (I'm probably getting the title wrong)...where we have a 23rd century black man referring to something that happened in the 20th century and even before that.

We didn't have Picard or Kirk constantly make it known (Ex: 'My white ancestors in the 1960s did so-and-so'...or 'A a white man, I feel...')...

It was the 23rd century.

I'm sure if there had been discrimination against whites we would have heard about it in City of the Edge of Forever. Unfortunately, blacks wee treated very differently in the time periods of those two episodes. Sisko's skin colour was a part of the story in those cases. If they had taken place or been set in the past of another planet we wouldn't have heard a peep. Putting Sisko in those situations, particularly Far Beyond the Stars required that his skin colour be noticed, mentioned and a part of how he acted and was treated.

 

[Joel_Kirk]

I dunno, one look at Avery Brooks pretty well sold me on the thought that the lead actor was going to be black, making Sisko black. I don't recall having to point attention to him being black.

Well, granted Avery Brooks being 'black' (or 'brown' if you will) was an obvious clue DS9 was going to have a different commander from previous major ST leads; but I'm referring to episodes 'Far Beyond the Stars'...'Bada Boom Bada-Bing' (I'm probably getting the title wrong)...where we have a 23rd century black man referring to something that happened in the 20th century and even before that.

We didn't have Picard or Kirk constantly make it known (Ex: 'My white ancestors in the 1960s did so-and-so'...or 'A a white man, I feel...')...

It was the 23rd century.

I'm sure if there had been discrimination against whites we would have heard about it in City of the Edge of Forever. Unfortunately, blacks wee treated very differently in the time periods of those two episodes. Sisko's skin colour was a part of the story in those cases. If they had taken place or been set in the past of another planet we wouldn't have heard a peep. Putting Sisko in those situations, particularly Far Beyond the Stars required that his skin colour be noticed, mentioned and a part of how he acted and was treated.

Well, being 'black' that would be very obvious to me the treatment of African-Americans during the 1930s...60s... what have you. However, 'Bada Boom' was a holodeck recreation; but 'Far Beyond the Stars' was actually another planet? (It's been awhile since I've seen the episode).

And it doesn't even have to be discrimination. Again, Picard and Kirk can be 'thinking' about their ancestors in relation to people of color; and I'm not just talking about 'blacks'...a reverse of what Sisko did. (However, that never happened).

Interestingly, Guinan and Geordi were in late 19th century (in the TNG episode 'Time's Arrow,') and nothing was said about their color. It was even stated that Guinan traveled to that same time period, IIRC.

Btw, I don't know where this is going in relation to the thread topic of the horrid Insurrection...

 

[darkwing_duck1]

There is a profound passage from Piller in the final pages of the book when he's summing up his experiences and what he's learned from his career:

"There’s a new kind of action writing in Hollywood that I simply don’t know how to do. It begins - even before a word is put down on paper - with identifying “set pieces”, big self-contained action moments that are thrilling and memorable, and then finding some way to string all your set pieces into a coherent narrative. The theory is that audiences are really coming for the “eye candy” -- to see how we’ve filled the screen with awesome visuals and special effects. Set pieces sound great in pitches and make for good coming attractions but in my opinion, this approach almost never results in a good movie because it abandons the fundamental demands of story-telling."

Reading this makes me even more sad that Piller is gone... perhaps he could have continued pushing Hollywood to focus on stories "about something" as opposed to all the drek we get now. Then again, maybe it's better that he didn't live to see what mainstream, big budget movies have quickly become... and I wonder, based on his feelings above, what he would have thought about JJ's Star Trek...

This x 1 googleplex!!!!

Unfortunately, it sounds like he's talking about Star Trek 2009. I'm ashamed to admit it, after the new movie, I started missing Berman and Piller and Braga and Hurly and Behr and Coto.

Piller and Behr, yes. Coto ABSOLUTELY. Berman and Braga can go play in traffic. Hurly I don't know enough about his writing/producing style and philosophy to judge.

 

[Captain Robert April]

Benjamin Sisko, if written consistently as a 24th Century Starfleet officer, likely wouldn't have given two shits about the historical accuracy of a holosuite recreation of Las Vegas.

Avery Brooks, on the other hand, felt very strongly that there was a very big gap in those episodes' portrayal of Vegas back in the days of the Rat Pack, and felt, rightly or wrongly, you decide, that this omission needed to at least be given some mention before going any further.

As for "Far Beyond the Stars", directed by Brooks, this was another opportunity for Avery to make a commentary about some of the more subtle injustices that still haven't been properly addressed, like writers and artists who toiled in obscurity or had their work altered, all because of prejudice.

Brooks is one of those few who seemed to really understand Star Trek on an instinctual, visceral level, that it's not just a flashy space opera, but that it's supposed to be about something.

 

[darkwing_duck1]

That's the difference. Meyer did his research and Baird didn't. Lack of prior knowledge doesn't hurt. Lack of any knowledge does. Baird, and to a lesser degree Abrams, didn't do their homework.

Abrams went one step farther. He deliberately EXCLUDED people with prior Trek knowledge. Eaves was told about this when he applied for a job. Which he didn't get until he was able to assure the production team that he could "do it their way". Then there's the other poor schlub that lost HIS production job just for making a reference chart of the new Enterprise in it's various proposed sizes compared to previous versions.

 

[darkwing_duck1]

A couple of years ago I heard a rumor that Rick Berman was writing a book about his behind the scenes experiences. I hope the rumor is true. Considering how often Berman has been villified in the fan community, I would be interested to see things from his perspective.

Here's a 3 hour interview he did for a historical program:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=w9HcSB9WDTQ

Frankly, he comes across as still being pretty clueless. He still maintains that his policies were good for Modern Trek. Oh, and the interviewer really 'soft pitches' the questions.