Trek Writers' Best and Worst, Part 1: Gene Roddenberry

[Eddie Roth]

By popular demand, a poll companion piece to the corresponding thread, dealing with some of ST's prolific writers' best and worst efforts. What was problematic in that thread was

1. remembering who wrote what and
2. making the choices.

This poll is supposed to amend that. I felt it logical to start with Gene Roddenberry, who has fewer writing credits as one would think. He of course (sometimes infamously) rewrote many, if not most, TOS scripts, yet his name appeared relatively rarely as a writer.

From the lists above, which do you think are GR's best writing efforts and which his worst? Oh, and please feel encouraged to discuss why.

(The BBS won't let me post two polls - it used to be able to do that. Oh well, let's then add "worsts" in writing...)

By the way, these credits come as they are listed on Memory Alpha.

 

[Eddie Roth]

I myself voted for The Menagerie. The Cage itself is great, but I've always felt that it was the frame story of the two-parter that turned the rejected pilot into a classic, adding themes of mistrust between early Kirk and Spock,a suspenseful hijacking and court room setting. All of that served to effectively contrast leadership styles between the old and the new captain, retell the original story faithfully and retroactively play up Spock's role in it. Excellent.

His worst would have to be The Savage Curtain for me. I enjoy the episode, moreso than some others on this list, but the concept of finding historical personalities in space only to have them duke it out deathmatch-style seems odd, like a rejected note scribbled on a napkin that was then stretched out to fill 50 minutes.

 

[TheGodBen]

I agree with both your choices, The Menagerie was his best episode, it takes the core concept of The Cage but adds an interesting framing story that's a classic in its own right.

The Savage Curtain has to be the most absurd idea in the original show, and I didn't think anything could out-absurd The Omega Glory. The only good thing about the episode was seeing Lincoln literally fighting with Genghis Khan, something I have wanted to see since childhood.

 

[DevilEyes]

I think that The Cage is a great episode in itself (I am certainly influenced by the fact that I saw it before The Menagerie), but they both work as great stories; the ending of The Menagerie is very poignant; the only thing that hurts the two-parter a bit is how far-fetched the whole thing with watching the scenes from The Cage is.

But in a way, I see them as one story, with the Menagerie bringing the story to its conclusion. It's no doubt GR's best writing work.

I must say I'm not really crazy about any of the other episodes he is credited in. Though Charlie X is OK, and I like Bread and Circuses for the Bones/Spock interaction (however, it also contains another classic sexist moment from GR, the Kirk/Drusilla the slave thing), and A Private Little War has its moments, too, as does Encounter at Farpoint (but it also has a lot of weaknesses as well)... but none of those is a great episode by any stretch of imagination.

Worst? I'll go with Mudd's Women, sexist and stupid, but The Omega Glory and The Savage Curtain are close: talk about ham-fisted and preachy, and all that within absurd storylines.

 

[Shatnertage]

I voted for "The Menagerie," but I'm amazed at how few GR episodes I actually like. And I don't hate "The Omega Glory" as much as most other people--it's actually got one of the better sci fi concepts in TOS, but the Yang and Kom elements take away from it.

 

[Cepstrum]

Eddie Roth: thank you so much for getting this up snd running. I look forward to future installment: sadly, I've seen very little of TOS.

But I really like TMP, even though I tend to not like the films as much.

 

[Piper]

Best writing? Gotta be The Cage, in the end it proved quite influential.

Gotta put in a for the fantastic silliness of The Savage Curtain, one of my favourite TOS episodes, even if it's far more Irwin Allen than ST...

 

[Harvey]

I'll go with "The Cage." It is interesting just how few episodes carrying Roddenberry's name are classics--"Charlie X" is a decent hour, and "The Menagerie" makes good use of the original pilot (though the envelope has a few moments that don't work).

 

[bullethead]

It is interesting just how few episodes carrying Roddenberry's name are classics

I think it's because he was a better idea guy than an actual writer. He was more suited for a showrunner position where he oversaw the writers, making sure their ideas didn't conflict with his own and giving some ideas to them.

 

[RyuRoots]

It is interesting just how few episodes carrying Roddenberry's name are classics

I think it's because he was a better idea guy than an actual writer. He was more suited for a showrunner position where he oversaw the writers, making sure their ideas didn't conflict with his own and giving some ideas to them.

EXACTLY. I love The Cage (and by extension, The Menagerie), but he doesn't have a lot of good writing work under his belt because he's generally NOT a good writer; he's an idea man. He made a great fictional universe, but I think Trek was usually better when he wasn't directly involved.

 

[Eddie Roth]

Many people say that, and I'm inclined to believe them. Some producers are that way. I imagine Rick Berman was similar. No doubt (and despite all the vitriol against him in recent years) he contributed much to modern ST, yet his writing credits are few and far between (and maybe not among the most prestigious). Roddenberry may have been like that.

 

[plynch]

Don't forget you're hearing his writing a lot in the first season when others are credited, thanks to his re-writing. He might be a better words guy than you think. I believ he considered himself a writer first, though I have no documentation for that as I sit here eating Life cereal. Be well.

 

[Mr. Laser Beam]

Menagerie for me as well.

Worst? The novelization of TMP.

 

[Admiral Shran]

Best: The Menagerie

Worst: Mudd's Women

 

[Valin]

Best writing-- "The Menagerie" and "The Cage." Both versions work extremely well with character moments, SF elements, drama and tension.

Worst--"Encounter at Farpoint."

 

[steevo]

Best: "The Cage". It had its action elements, but told a very intriguing Sf-type story. It combined the two deftly.

Worst: TMP. Even though it was enjoyable to see them again after many years, the story was just slow and boring.

 

[stj]

Landru the computer is presented as technology run amuck but really makes more sense as a symol of society as a system of control. There have been many repressive societies imagined, but the notion of a built in orgiastic element is much less common. And it still seems much more human to insist that assent is a superior foundation for society than obedience.

And the returning archons being the Enterprise crew is a little surprise in itself.

So I'd put in Return of the Archons. The Cage, The Menagerie, Bread and Circuses, Charlie X are all good TV sf.
Omega Glory out-absurds The Savage Curtain. And A Private Little War in the contemporary context of Vietnam is simply dishonest: The Communists did not start the war nor did the French or the US restrain themselves to providing assistance. Posing the issue that way was misleading but no one could help drawing the parallel. Even Omega Glory at least used the preamble to the Constitution!

 

[JWD75]

I voted for The Menagerie although I was tempted to vote for TMP because I am a fan of the movie despite its flaws. However I am uncertain how much of the credit (or the blame) Roddenberry deserves for the movie since Alan Dean Foster generated the story and Harold Livingston co-wrote the script with Gene. It seems apparent to me that Gene was awful for the most part at creating original stories of his own but pretty good at cleaning up the work of other writers. He did his best work during the first two years of TOS but what writing talent that he did have deteriorated over time.

 

[Michael]

"The Cage" was Roddenberry's best script. The action, the plotting, the theme, the dialog; everything's good with this one. "The Omega Glory", however, was his worst episode by far.

 

[JiNX-01]

I vote for The Cage and The Menagerie (one of my favorite TOS episodes ever).