How progressive was Star Trek

[Ssosmcin]

So, yeah, give me a break. I long for the moment that there's a much more honest treatment of Roddenberry and what he REALLY did for (and against) Trek over the years.

Isn't the Justman / Solow book good enough? They are pretty up front about Roddenberry's faults, but also credit him where due. The way you're painting it, Roddenberry had the dumb luck to come up with a TV show idea that other people made great.

The thing is, people react so strongly in their efforts to knock the man down a few pegs, that they whittle his contributions to almost nothing. That's no better.

Star Trek was not cancelled because of bad ratings, shows were saved and carried over with much worse. Star Trek was cancelled because the ratings weren't high enough to put up with the crap that the show's staff kept piling out. If Roddenberry had tried to stay on for the third season, there would not have been a third season.

I'd love to see your source for this, since every other word on the subject is that Trek was given a third year and Roddenberry left over the time slot change. Nobody forced him out. He did it all on his own, to his own detriment.

Star Trek was cancelled because it was not making money for the network. Roddenberry was already long gone and the scripts were lacking, even the fans were watching other stuff. Say what you want about his treatment of women and his need to grab credit, but it seems odd that the show's script quality would take such a nosedive as soon as he left, since you seem to be saying he wasn't responsible for any of Trek's success.

Star Trek's success was a major team effort, but Roddenberry was a huge part of that team.

 

[Maurice]

I always thought it was remarkable to have a Russian on the Enterprise at the time of the Cold War.

But Checkov had to pay the price of having to be the one to go nuts and scream his head off.

That's Chekov.

And not so remarkable nor groundbreaking. The Man from U.N.C.L.E. had the Soviet good-guy character Illya Kuryakin three years before Chekov materialized on Star Trek. Kuryakin quickly became the co-star of the show.

 

[Gotham Central]

Its funny that people bring this up. I recently saw the"extended" version of The Cage that includes GR's opening monologue. I found it funny that in that monologue he talks about how one of the reasons the first pilot was problematic for the network was that it did not have an all white crew. Yet The Cage was ALL white. It was so white, that I think that Nimoy was the only person on that set with brown eyes.

The second pilot was only slightly more diverse by having Sulu appear in a couple of scenes.

 

[Therin of Andor]

e.g. the suits not wanting Number One because they wondered "who they hell does she think she is,"

IIRC, this was supposedly the response that female viewers at previews wrote on their survey cards, not the thoughts of "the suits".

 

[Vance]

e.g. the suits not wanting Number One because they wondered "who they hell does she think she is,"

IIRC, this was supposedly the response that female viewers at previews wrote on their survey cards, not the thoughts of "the suits".

Which, in turn, is directly at odds with the written statements dated from the time which said officially that they didn't feel that Majel was strong enough of an actress to be the co-star of the series. (And, privately, they didn't want to give the lead in a series to someone shagging the producer.)

You honestly think Roddenberry would ever publically admit that the main reason 'Number One' didnt' get kept on for the second pilot was due to his own fornication issues?