News Behr: Deep Space Nine – What We Left Behind

A new news article has been published at TrekToday:

Star Trek: Deep Space Nine: What We Left Behind Producer Ira Steven Behr updated fans in a TrekMovie interview on the progress...

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So excited for this! Shows CBS people are still interested in the DS9/TNG era.

 

Exciting to get an update on their progress. I got my perks in the mail recently, so that was an added bonus. Looking forward to it!

 

So what's the deal with Avery Brooks, does he hate DS9 or the people that made it? he did take part in the captains doc but if I remember right didn't have much to say about Star Trek.

 

He's just kind of quirky and reclusive. IIRC he's said he wants the work to speak for itself. And he does show up at cons (albeit rarely). I don't think he hates Star Trek or has beef with anyone. I think he's just private.

 

As I understand he has simply moved on and no longer wishes to be bothered with Trek. I doubt he hates it or what not. He's just tired of it.

I would understand-7 years a lead actor, countless convention circuits, fans, and interviews.

I recall reading both Shimmerman and Auberjonois have stated basically there "is nothing left to say" as in they have answered every question, made every observation, and so on.

 

Wouldn't it sort of be like everyone talking about 'the high school days' over and over again?
Same questions different town?
I totally get it.
They just want to move on with their lives.

 

Yeah I imagine they have been asked every possible question, been interviewed countless times, and so on.

It's probably tiresome for them now-not that they hate it or didn't enjoy their roles but that they simply wish to go on to other things.

 

SIGH

Sometimes I wonder if Avery feels his role in DS9 didn't have the impact he hoped it would. Him not participating in an undertaking like this makes me quite a bit less interested in watching it.

 

I went to the convention and did the DS9 meet and greet perk. Behr said he talked to Avery semi regularly, that Avery gave some notes on the documentary and that he has been sending raw footage to Brooks ... he did not close the door on him participating still, but it seems unlikely.

I spoke with James Darren for a bit, really nice guy as was "Rom", Darren said he filmed close to 12 hours of interviews for this and was wondering how they would edit it to 90 minutes.

 

I was at the "What We Left Behind" panel and I think I'm more excited for this than Discovery, and I'm really excited for Discovery. They showed a trailer to the doc and it's awesome. In terms of Avery Brooks, It sounded like Ira and Brooks has close ties and Avery just felt he didn't have anything new to contribute. It's unfortunate, but it's his prerogative.

 

He did say there were archived answers from Avery, including convention panels ... so he will be in it ... if he was going to say the same things again .. then maybe it is fine

I'll add, the Alaimo clip they showed with his memory of Avery hitting him while filming the finale was spectacular and funny, that needs to be in the documentary or at least an extra somewhere.

 

I was wondering has Alaimo always had a voice like that? I thought he might have been sick but then he did the general DS9 panel and it came across like he was a heavy smoker.

 

Mr. Brooks always did seem to have quite a different personality than the majority of Trek cast members. Not in any bad way, just different. At one time I wondered if there wasn't a little bi-polar going on there, but that's none of my business and I am too far removed to form such an opinion... which is probably wrong anyhow. I can understand moving on from past achievements while remaining proud of them at the same time.

 

Most likely he's moved on - or is someone who doesn't like to constantly remissness about a job he did 2 decades ago.

 

Brooks' heart was never in television or film the way it was on the live stage. He gave his best, and though I'm disappointed he won't participate, I understand his desire to turn the page.

 

I want to hear what it was like eating a bagel on that one Tuesday, dammit!

 

I've seen videos of Avery at conventions where every time a fan asks him a Trek-related question, he responds with a random non sequitur non-answer that has nothing whatsoever to do with Trek, or at best, it has only the tiniest semblance of any connection to Trek.

Therefore, I doubt his "archived answers" will actually give any insights about Trek or the Sisko character.

He certainly seems to hate DS9 based on what he said in the small portion of the interview with him that was released on the DS9 DVDs. Too bad no one has ever released that full interview (and the full interviews with the other actors/writers/producers that were made at the time). With all the bad stuff Avery said in those small snippets, and with the knowledge that they cherry-picked those snippets as some of the "best quotations" from him out of what is probably ~two hours of interview footage, chances are he dished much more dirt than what was released to the public (but I am sure Behr wouldn't include that dirt in his new documentary, even if he had access to it, which he probably doesn't).

As for the "Captains" docs, he probably asked Shatner on the phone before that interview, something like: "Do I have to actually talk about Star Trek?" and Shatner probably replied, "No, not at all!"

But that wasn't going to fly with the Behr documentary. Avery would have to talk about Trek if he participated in that, so that might explain why he would say yes to "Captains" and no to Behr.

 

That's how he is on every subject. It's not personal.

 

He doesn't go to Conventions. It sounds like he's pretty secluded and doesn't want the limelight. I can respect that.