Anyone Else Feel Bad for Remmick?

[Captain Clark Terrell]

To be fair to Roddenberry, I think the real magic of Star Trek came when the writers took his utopia and applied their own opinion of human reality to it.

Seconded.

--Sran

 

[Jonesy]

Even if Roddenberry were still alive today, it wouldn't have mattered. He'd been effectively blackballed since the third season of TNG.

In a way, Gene is lucky that Paramount put up with him much past the first season. Gene had his lawyer working alongside him on the series during the first season, helping to make creative decisions. This lawyer helped drive a wedge between Gene and others within the creative staff (like David Gerrold) as well. Paramount had to intervene and tell Gene that his lawyer was no longer welcome on the Paramount lot.

I think Paramount tolerated Roddenberry, at best. As soon as they found a decent writer to head the writers room (Piller), and took real creative control over Gene, things changed rapidly for the better. This is much the same with the film series, where Gene had input but noone was obligated to follow his instructions

 

[xvicente]

Bastard deserved being shot in the face. Oh wait. He got it.

 

[Blackhorse47]

He's not supposed to be compromised the first time, because that story had nothing to do with the insecty things. It was supposed to be about a serious rebellion in Starfleet, without alien interference. The bug angle came later when Roddenberry didn't like the idea of renegade Starfleet officers. Which is too bad, because that would have been a much better story.

I wasn't aware of that change of focus, but the thing is, the viewer is invited to assume the two stories are linked, or at the very least there's no explanation provided to assume they aren't linked. So it appears that the starfleet rebellion is ultimately being controlled by aliens, which in itself is a pretty standard Trek plot twist. With that in mind, how and when and why Remmick got taken over is hard to explain.

Oh, and I guess on a point of order Remmick probably didn't get killed in the second episode. He was just a shell that looked like Remmick and the real Remmick must have been absorbed, or whatever, some time before. If there was any of Remmick left, Picard's actions are questionable, and they're pretty questionable even if there wasn't.

 

[Hober Mallow]

In a way, Gene is lucky that Paramount put up with him much past the first season. Gene had his lawyer working alongside him on the series during the first season, helping to make creative decisions.

Makes you wonder who put that Shakespeare line about killing all the lawyers in "Farpoint."

 

[Silvercrest]

Shakespeare cribbed it from the original Klingon text anyway.

 

[Kirk1980]

I just thought he didn't seem anything but sincere in wishing he was posted to the Enterprise which suggests to me that he put on a show for his job.

 

[JirinPanthosa]

He was totally sincere when he asked to join the Enterprise.

And if his wish had been granted and he had joined the Enterprise he would have realized every one of his orders by bullying people and treating everybody unconditionally like a traitor.

 

[Moriarty]

He did his job well, part of that job was being a bastard. Anyone can do the jobs where you have to be nice to people. It takes dedication to do what he did. As far as I'm concerned he would have made a fine addition to the Enterprise (and possibly an interesting more often reoccurring character on the show).

 

[Mr. Laser Beam]

The cute and somewhat Roddenberrian thing about "Coming of Age" is that when Remmick drops the Internal Affairs act and says that he'd consider it a privilege to serve on the Enterprise, it very much looks as if our heroes would actually welcome him there. Sure, Picard at first gives the stereotypical icy silence combined with The Look (TM), but he gets over it, and in the very next sentence says he's not holding the events against Remmick.

I'm sure Picard also appreciated that Remmick performed his duties well. Internal Affairs is antagonistic by nature, and if Remmick made people uncomfortable by conducting his investigation, he was doing his job exactly as he was supposed to, something that wouldn't be lost on Picard.

Exactly. Remmick was doing his duty, and nobody can fault him for that. If he spoke like a jackass to the crew, it was because he was supposed to. IA-type people always are like that, because they have to be.

As for Remmick's death in "Conspiracy": He was already dead. Remmick died as soon as he was taken over by the mother creature. What died in the episode was not Remmick.

 

[Captain Clark Terrell]

As for Remmick's death in "Conspiracy": He was already dead. Remmick died as soon as he was taken over by the mother creature. What died in the episode was not Remmick.

Agreed.

--Sran

 

[Captain Rob]

First Officer: "What happened to Commander Remmick?"
Captain: "Commander Remmick was never here."