F. Freiberger - decent writer

[A beaker full of death]

I've been listening to the Suspense radio shows, and came across the episode The Long Wait, written by Fred Freiberger and starring Burt Lancaster. It can be heard here:
http://www.myoldradio.com/old-radio-episodes/suspense-the-long-wait-ep-360/70

Surprisingly decent. The story seemed familiar, though, and sure enough, it was later adapted for the Alfred Hitchcock Presents episode Salvage, starring Gene Barry.

 

[ZapBrannigan]

When I laid eyes on this thread's title, for some reason I thought it was about the show's property master. But that was Irving Feinberg. And I thought, did he write an article about TOS props? Because that I would have to read.

 

[Christopher]

Based on his scripts from Space: 1999 (written under the pseudonym Charles Woodgrove), I'd say Freiberger could do some decent character writing, but he had no sense of what constituted a good science fiction idea, just tossing in whatever random nonsense struck his fancy.

Although Freiberger has no actual story or script credits on TOS. According to him, most of the episodes in season 3 were based on premises developed by Roddenberry and his staff and left over from earlier seasons. I'm not sure how much rewriting Freiberger did, though. A lot of the episodes were notoriously rewritten -- e.g. "Joanna" becoming "The Way to Eden," or "Spock's Brain" and "The Mark of Gideon" being turned into very different stories with weird gimmicks added -- but I think that was done mainly by Freiberger's story editor Arthur H. Singer.

 

[Spock's Barber]

I've mellowed a little in my disdain for FF. As others have posted elsewhere, there were many factors responsible for the decline of ST. I am glad that FF was not able to produce the 1st season as was related by FF himself. Maybe he would have done a decent job, but who knows? He could have destroyed the whole ST franchise before it even hit sub-light speed. As for his writing skills....

 

[MikeH92467]

Freiberger did a pretty good job under circumstances that were very tough. The good shows of season 3 were as good as any from the first 2 seasons. The bad ones of course were far below the baseline established in the first 2. I really wonder if anyone else could have done better under the circumstances.

 

[Botany Bay]

According to him, most of the episodes in season 3 were based on premises developed by Roddenberry and his staff and left over from earlier seasons.

Non-fiction author Marc Cushman says this is exactly what his research into season 3 uncovered. Roddenberry was much more involved than is generally believed, apparently.

 

[Christopher]

^Well, if the stories were left over from previous seasons' development, I wouldn't really call that "involved."

 

[johnnybear]

When Freddie wrote Rules of Luton for Space 1999, Gerry Anderson had to explain to him that there was a town called Luton in the UK and he went ahead with his story never the less! Heh,Heh!
JB

 

[DWF]

Freiberger's situation was different on Star Trek than Space:1999. On Star Trek they were behind on production of new eps. so he had to go ahead with the scripts he had. Space:1999 seemed to be some of power struggle betwen himself and the actors and he wanted to win for some reason, instead of just working with them. He was a fine producer on The Wild Wild West though.

 

[Harvey]

According to him, most of the episodes in season 3 were based on premises developed by Roddenberry and his staff and left over from earlier seasons.

Non-fiction author Marc Cushman says this is exactly what his research into season 3 uncovered. Roddenberry was much more involved than is generally believed, apparently.

Roddenberry didn't do a single rewrite outside of inserting some merchandise he wanted to sell in "Is There In Truth No Beauty." He moved off the Paramount lot entirely and was busy writing a Tarzan feature for another studio. Outside of rubber stamping some final cuts and writing a few half-hearted memos to justify drawing his executive producer salary...I just don't see it.

Yes, it's true he was involved in season three, but in a far diminished capacity compared to his involvement from 1963-68.

 

[Spock's Barber]

According to him, most of the episodes in season 3 were based on premises developed by Roddenberry and his staff and left over from earlier seasons.

Non-fiction author Marc Cushman says this is exactly what his research into season 3 uncovered. Roddenberry was much more involved than is generally believed, apparently.

Roddenberry didn't do a single rewrite outside of inserting some merchandise he wanted to sell in "Is There In Truth No Beauty." He moved off the Paramount lot entirely and was busy writing a Tarzan feature for another studio. Outside of rubber stamping some final cuts and writing a few half-hearted memos to justify drawing his executive producer salary...I just don't see it.

Yes, it's true he was involved in season three, but in a far diminished capacity compared to his involvement from 1963-68.

Justman was really frustrated and angry that GR turned his back on the series, and I don't blame him one iota.

 

[Gassy Man]

The impression I've had of Freiberger -- fairly or unfairly -- was that he was a businessman before an artist, which is to say that he was more interested in getting a product out the door than in its quality. Pretty much anything I've seen with his name attached to it has been underwhelming. Maybe he didn't start out that way, but he didn't strike me of a man with much vision. At best, he seems like the sort you bring in to keep your ailing store in business while secretly figuring out what sales to have to best liquidate the remaining stock. His Space: 1999 scripts, in particular, were among the worst tripe, reminding me a lot of J.J. Abrams' take on Star Trek.

 

[Spock's Barber]

The impression I've had of Freiberger -- fairly or unfairly -- was that he was a businessman before an artist, which is to say that he was more interested in getting a product out the door than in its quality. Pretty much anything I've seen with his name attached to it has been underwhelming. Maybe he didn't start out that way, but he didn't strike me of a man with much vision. At best, he seems like the sort you bring in to keep your ailing store in business while secretly figuring out what sales to have to best liquidate the remaining stock. His Space: 1999 scripts, in particular, were among the worst tripe, reminding me a lot of J.J. Abrams' take on Star Trek.

I concur. I remember both Marc Daniels and Bob Justman made comments about some of the 3rd season production crew being less than enthusiastic about ST.

 

[Botany Bay]

According to him, most of the episodes in season 3 were based on premises developed by Roddenberry and his staff and left over from earlier seasons.

Non-fiction author Marc Cushman says this is exactly what his research into season 3 uncovered. Roddenberry was much more involved than is generally believed, apparently.

Roddenberry didn't do a single rewrite outside of inserting some merchandise he wanted to sell in "Is There In Truth No Beauty." He moved off the Paramount lot entirely and was busy writing a Tarzan feature for another studio. Outside of rubber stamping some final cuts and writing a few half-hearted memos to justify drawing his executive producer salary...I just don't see it.

Yes, it's true he was involved in season three, but in a far diminished capacity compared to his involvement from 1963-68.

Keeping an open mind till I see the evidence, but, quite possibly, this is another Cushman "hook" to try and sell books. We will see.

Rookie question about the film business : if Paramount was so bottom line focused (as Solow and Justman complained in Inside Star Trek), why would they pay Roddenberry to do nothing for a year. Why wouldn't they, say, demand he turn up and give it his all or fire him? Something is murky here, and it wouldn't surprise me if Roddenberry (to some extent) made up a story about his non-involvement in S3 to wash his hands of being involved in the season of Trek that was considered the worst all through his lifetime.

 

[Spock's Barber]

Non-fiction author Marc Cushman says this is exactly what his research into season 3 uncovered. Roddenberry was much more involved than is generally believed, apparently.

Roddenberry didn't do a single rewrite outside of inserting some merchandise he wanted to sell in "Is There In Truth No Beauty." He moved off the Paramount lot entirely and was busy writing a Tarzan feature for another studio. Outside of rubber stamping some final cuts and writing a few half-hearted memos to justify drawing his executive producer salary...I just don't see it.

Yes, it's true he was involved in season three, but in a far diminished capacity compared to his involvement from 1963-68.

Keeping an open mind till I see the evidence, but, quite possibly, this is another Cushman "hook" to try and sell books. We will see.

Rookie question about the film business : if Paramount was so bottom line focused (as Solow and Justman complained in Inside Star Trek), why would they pay Roddenberry to do nothing for a year. Why wouldn't they, say, demand he turn up and give it his all or fire him? Something is murky here, and it wouldn't surprise me if Roddenberry (to some extent) made up a story about his non-involvement in S3 to wash his hands of being involved in the season of Trek that was considered the worst all through his lifetime.

Justman cornered GR one day and bluntly told him that the good ship Enterprise was in deep trouble. GR very briefly assumed command again, but then just as quickly faded into obscurity as far as production was concerned.

 

[Botany Bay]

At best, he seems like the sort you bring in to keep your ailing store in business while secretly figuring out what sales to have to best liquidate the remaining stock. .

Freiberger isn't the only producer you could say that about over the 50 years of this show.

 

[Green Shirt]

Non-fiction author Marc Cushman

Many around here would argue with this description.

 

[Harvey]

Non-fiction author Marc Cushman says this is exactly what his research into season 3 uncovered. Roddenberry was much more involved than is generally believed, apparently.

Roddenberry didn't do a single rewrite outside of inserting some merchandise he wanted to sell in "Is There In Truth No Beauty." He moved off the Paramount lot entirely and was busy writing a Tarzan feature for another studio. Outside of rubber stamping some final cuts and writing a few half-hearted memos to justify drawing his executive producer salary...I just don't see it.

Yes, it's true he was involved in season three, but in a far diminished capacity compared to his involvement from 1963-68.

Keeping an open mind till I see the evidence, but, quite possibly, this is another Cushman "hook" to try and sell books. We will see.

Rookie question about the film business : if Paramount was so bottom line focused (as Solow and Justman complained in Inside Star Trek), why would they pay Roddenberry to do nothing for a year. Why wouldn't they, say, demand he turn up and give it his all or fire him? Something is murky here, and it wouldn't surprise me if Roddenberry (to some extent) made up a story about his non-involvement in S3 to wash his hands of being involved in the season of Trek that was considered the worst all through his lifetime.

Bruce Geller was barred from the Paramount lot during the run of Mission: Impossible for going over budget and refusing to listen to cost conscious Paramount Television executives. He was still credited as "executive producer" on every episode.

Roddenberry's non-involvement is evident from the archival record. I recently posted a letter to Gene Coon recently where he mentioned moving off the lot. Countless other people have described his lack of involvement in a multitude of interviews.

 

[erastus25]

Roddenberry didn't do a single rewrite outside of inserting some merchandise he wanted to sell in "Is There In Truth No Beauty."

Out of curiosity, what as he trying to sell? The IDIC necklace and visors?

 

[Spock's Barber]

Roddenberry didn't do a single rewrite outside of inserting some merchandise he wanted to sell in "Is There In Truth No Beauty."

Out of curiosity, what as he trying to sell? The IDIC necklace and visors?

I actually bought one of those IDIC necklaces from GR's Lincoln Enterprises in the 1970's.