Rick Berman Interview on StarTrek.com

[CoveTom]

Has anyone checked out the Rick Berman interview on StarTrek.com (links below)?

It's a pretty detailed interview. There's three parts of questions from the interviewer, and then two parts of questions from fans.

I found it very informative. Berman speaks far more candidly than I've ever seen him speak before about things that we've speculated endlessly about here at TrekBBS.

He talks about the reason he fired Ron Jones and his feelings about music scores; about his supposed disdain for TOS and his lack of respect for what came before; about the alleged friction between him and Ira Steven Behr over the direction of DS9 and his level of involvement with that series; about the things that went wrong with the movies; and a lot more.

I found it refreshingly candid and I came away with it realizing that while Berman may be spinning some things to his advantage, it's quite obvious that we've been treated to only one side of the various issues for quite some time.

He's supposedly shopping a potential memoir about his years on Trek and I, for one, will be anxiously awaiting it if it does get published. I'd like to hear "his side" in detail.

Links:
Part One
Part Two
Part Three
Fan Questions, Part One
Fan Questions, Part Two

 

[Trek Survivor]

This was a really interesting interview. I too would like to read any memoir from him.

 

[Gaith]

All parts of the interview are interesting, and he certainly comes across as a decent guy, but I wish he'd been asked about inter-episode continuity and story arcs in the later series.

 

[sonak]

thanks for the links. interesting interview.



What particularly struck me was Berman mentioning that even by the time of "Enterprise," he'd STILL only seen two-thirds to three-quarters of TOS.


If not downright disrespectful to the legacy of the franchise you're working on, it certainly shows a pretty casual attitude toward it.

 

[Trek Survivor]

These are being discussed elsewhere in the TNG and DS9 forums at length...

 

[JarodRussell]

If not downright disrespectful to the legacy of the franchise you're working on, it certainly shows a pretty casual attitude toward it.

Oh get over yourself.

 

[AstroSmurf]

^ You need to rein it in a bit JarodRussell before you find yourself with a warning. Feel free to discuss and argue the topic but lets not make it personal.

 

[sonak]

If not downright disrespectful to the legacy of the franchise you're working on, it certainly shows a pretty casual attitude toward it.

Oh get over yourself.

whatever.


If I were going to be a high-up figure in a company, produce a show with a long history, etc. I'd make sure to be pretty well-informed about the history of that show or company.


If they tapped me to be director of a future James Bond movie, I'd watch every last Bond movie at least once to know what worked, what didn't, etc.


I think Nick Meyer watched every TOS episode before writing TWOK.

 

[AstroSmurf]

^ And that now goes for you to sonak.

 

[Harvey]

Oh, I don't know. When Harve Bennett took control of the film series, he screened all 79 episodes of the original. And that was all for a two-hour movie. Berman was the executive producer in charge of four theatrical movies and twenty-five seasons of live-action television. It just seems odd that in the 18 year he was associated with the franchise, he never found the time to familiarize himself with the source of it all.

 

[sonak]

-astrosmurf


wait, excuse me??!!?


are you on a power trip or something?


my one-word reply of "whatever" to someone who insulted me gets me a warning?


that's absurd.

 

[AstroSmurf]

I am simply doing my job. If you continue to bait JarodRussell or he you, I will give a warning for trolling.

You also need to keep this thread on topic. If you have an issue with what I have said you need to send a PM instead of derailing the thread. Do not make another post about this here.

 

[Gaith]

It just seems odd that in the 18 year he was associated with the franchise, he never found the time to familiarize himself with the source of it all.

I found the quote odd at first also, but just because he never watched every ep doesn't mean he didn't know enough about them to cover his bases. I've never seen Spock's Brain, for instance, but I don't consider it a perquisite to being a Trekker, and honestly, if I were prepping Enterprise, I'd probably skip it, too.

 

[RandyS]

It just seems odd that in the 18 year he was associated with the franchise, he never found the time to familiarize himself with the source of it all.

I found the quote odd at first also, but just because he never watched every ep doesn't mean he didn't know enough about them to cover his bases. I've never seen Spock's Brain, for instance, but I don't consider it a perquisite to being a Trekker, and honestly, if I were prepping Enterprise, I'd probably skip it, too.

Watch it at least once. While I agree it's far from one of the classics, I also think it's not as bad as people say.

 

[Gaith]

Thank you, no. Life is too short, and quality media too plentiful and accessible, to purposely squander on mediocrity - even Trek mediocrity.

 

[BlobVanDam]

Oh, I don't know. When Harve Bennett took control of the film series, he screened all 79 episodes of the original. And that was all for a two-hour movie. Berman was the executive producer in charge of four theatrical movies and twenty-five seasons of live-action television. It just seems odd that in the 18 year he was associated with the franchise, he never found the time to familiarize himself with the source of it all.

I agree that at the start it's good to be familiar with a franchise, but at that point I almost feel the reverse. 2/3 is plenty enough to become familiar with the source, and after getting that far into a different era of Trek entirely, seeing the original series doesn't seem all that important anymore. They'd done their own thing by that point, and TOS was 30 years in the past (and even further into the past in show continuity).

 

[Solarbaby]

Gene Roddenberry hired Rick Berman because he HADN'T seen much if any of TOS. He wanted new blood to revive the franchise. So you can't blame Berman on that point regarding TNG era shows.

However to create a prequel without having seen the future show -TOS- in entirety- so you know what you are doing is absolutely stupid and totally unprofessional.

He was under pressure to create these shows with short time for planning- the studio has to take a lot of them blame for the failings

 

[Gaith]

However to create a prequel without having seen the future show -TOS- in entirety- so you know what you are doing is absolutely stupid and totally unprofessional.

How is it stupid to maybe read a detailed summary of but never actually watch Spock's Brain? Reply with details specific to that episode, please.

 

[JarodRussell]

Thank you, no. Life is too short, and quality media too plentiful and accessible, to purposely squander on mediocrity

Proud founding member of the Star Wars Prequel Rejection Society - now in blog form! updated 3/13

However to create a prequel without having seen the future show -TOS- in entirety- so you know what you are doing is absolutely stupid and totally unprofessional.

Wrong. Professional is when the studio asks you to produce a show and you deliver it. Berman didn't need to know anything about TOS, since most of his creative team knew it well. Has Abrams already seen all of Trek, as he is "in charge of the franchise" now? There's a big difference between working on a show and being a fan of a show. Patrick Stewart can't name all TNG episodes, nor does he remember if there were 3, 4 or 5 lights. Tom Hanks, on the other hand, can. William Shatner claims he hasn't seen a complete episode of TOS!

A fan who calls that stupid or disrespectful or whatever is simply just arrogant.

 

[Gaith]

Thank you, no. Life is too short, and quality media too plentiful and accessible, to purposely squander on mediocrity

Proud founding member of the Star Wars Prequel Rejection Society - now in blog form! updated 3/13

1) The purpose of the SWPRS Blog is to create satire, not to consume anything.

2) The SWPRS Blog is far more about celebrating the OT than dwelling on the PT. If there were a PT but no OT, there would be no SWPRS.