Maurice Hurley's unused Generations script?

[Superman]

I'm packing up books in my "man room" to make room for Superbaby #2's crib and came across my copy of the novelization of Generations.

The Reeves-Stevens wrote a little behind-the-scenes piece in the back of the book, which mentions that Maurice Hurley wrote a GEN script while Braga and Moore were writing theirs.

Does anyone know what this script entailed story-wise? Is there a copy of it anywhere or a synopsis?

\S/

 

[Michael]

Hm, interesting question. After a quick search on Memory Alpha I found this:

As written by former TNG writer/producer Maurice Hurley, the film followed William Shatner as James T. Kirk traveling through time to the 24th century.

But I'd like to learn more about this other script, too ...

 

[Superman]

^^^Same here.

I'd never heard of it until reading about it in the GEN novelization.

It couldn't have been worse than the GEN we got...

\S/

 

[mythme]

seriously, because this is the Generations we got - http://youtube.com/watch?v=u6bqtbNl00E&feature=related

 

[Allyn Gibson]

Hurley's script did not involve time travel.

Rather, Kirk was recreated on the holodeck, a la booby trap, for Picard to interact with and gain advice from when something came through interphase space (as in "The Tholian Web") and started attacking Federation colonies.

It's interesting conceptually, though I wonder if fans wouldn't have felt cheated because Picard didn't meet the "real" Kirk.

EDIT: Here's a vintage USENET post on the Hurley script.

 

[Michael]

^ Sounds surprisingly like the crap we got with "These Are The Voyages", doesn't it?

 

[Kegek]

To be honest; either plot sounds equally ridiculous and contrived. If well executed it might have permitted us to ignore that; but that is by no means certain.

 

[ChristopherPike]

This is Maurice Hurley were talking about here. He practically invented the Borg. It wouldn't have been anywhere near as crap as These are the Voyages... Unlike Riker boning up on the NX-01, Picard seeking info from a holo-Kirk would likely have been a pivotal part of the film. Possibly with some of that heart Relics had, if he somehow is aware of what he's become.

 

[Allyn Gibson]

^ Sounds surprisingly like the crap we got with "These Are The Voyages", doesn't it?

Hurley's concept doesn't sound anything like "These Are the Voyages," though. (And clearly Berman had a hard-on for that particular story, considering that he wanted to use it as a vehicle for Shatner.)

To me, Hurley's concept sounds like "The Tholian Web" tossed in a blender with "Booby Trap." Which, on the surface, sounds derivative as hell, but there's no telling what the execution would have been like.

I tend to think it's a crossover concept that fandom wouldn't have embraced, however. Not that Generations was really any better.

 

[Michael]

^ Sounds surprisingly like the crap we got with "These Are The Voyages", doesn't it?

Hurley's concept doesn't sound anything like "These Are the Voyages," though.

Huh? "A member of the Enterprise crew recreates a historical Starfleet figure on the Holodeck to get advice for a current problem." So conceptually they are similar. It's not like I'm saying Berman and Braga stole the idea from Hurley or something.

 

[Kegek]

^
It also sounds like "Booby Trap". In fact, remove the word 'Starfleet' from your sypnopsis and you've got "Nothing Human". I liked both episodes.

 

[Michael]

^
It also sounds like "Booby Trap". In fact, remove the word 'Starfleet' from your sypnopsis and you've got "Nothing Human". I liked both episodes.

Yeah, I liked them, too. (But for "Nothing Human" you'd have to remove Enterprise, too. )

 

[Kegek]

^
Point taken.

Of course, what differentiates both of these episodes from TATV and Hurley's concept is that the gimmick is at the service of an idea. In the case of "Booby Trap"; it's a love story about an unreal woman. In the case of "Nothing Human", it's the premise for a thorny issue of medical ethics.

For TATV and this... it's bringing these characters together because gosh wouldn't that be cool. The gimmick is at the service of another gimmick. A bit like the idea for a holo-Khan episode of TNG. It'd need more substance; and no, 'saving the universe' does not count.

 

[Campe]

Holo-Khan episode?

 

[erastus25]

Holo-Kirk would be interesting but would come off as little more than a shout out for the fans. The computer can only know what's saved in the historical database, and Picard could very easily read that. Why would he bother to go hang out on the holodeck when he could just call up all the info. himself? In fact, he's probably already read most of the info on Kirk as he is 1. a student of history and 2. Kirk's mission is part of the early Starfleet history course at the academy (thank you, Voyager). The only time the holodeck historical figure recreation worked was in the poker game when it was fun and not for legit advice, and in The Nth Degree when Barclay needed someone with crazy superior knowledge to debate with (i.e. the Enterprise computer represented by Einstein). For these reasons, this script by Hurley would have been more likely to be These Are the Voyages or that crazy Voyager episode where Holo-Leonardo hangs out with Janeway on a planet.

And I don't buy the "It was Maurice Hurley the guy who made the Borg so it would have been good" argument. If it was so good it would have been bought as the script for Generations. And just because he wrote some excellent stuff in the past doesn't mean everything he writes will always be teh awesomeness.

 

[Admiral Buzzkill]

Notice how quickly TNG improved when Michael Piller took over as the producer in charge of the writing?

Assigning Hurley to write a TNG movie script sounds suspiciously like sandbagging - ie, a response to executives saying "we want to see more than one script before we make up our minds..." when someone already knew that they wanted Moore and Braga to write the movie.

 

[Kegek]

Assigning Hurley to write a TNG movie script sounds suspiciously like sandbagging - ie, a response to executives saying "we want to see more than one script before we make up our minds..." when someone already knew that they wanted Moore and Braga to write the movie.

I thought Berman had script approval and also comissioned both scripts; though I could be wrong. It kind of makes sense; he was one of the few people still associated with Star Trek who had been around when Hurley was.

And I don't buy the "It was Maurice Hurley the guy who made the Borg so it would have been good" argument.

Hell, Michael Piller wrote "The Best of Both Worlds" and Insurrection. In fact, Moore and Braga were writing "All Good Things..." at the same time they were writing Generations. So, yeah, past success is no guarantee of future success.

Holo-Khan episode?

Yes. I don't remember the specifics of the plot; but the idea was batted about.

 

[Allyn Gibson]

Holo-Khan episode?

It was Lawrence V. Conley's spec script that got him the pitch invitation that led to his writing the second Crystalline Entity episode. (Sorry, I'm blanking on the title at the moment.) He wrote an article for Starlog about the TNG scripting process. Spec scripts were written to show the production staff what a writer was capable of, not necessarily that it was something that they would buy. So I don't think that Conley's Picard-vs-Khan script was ever seriously considered, but it did get his foot in the door.

 

[cardinal biggles]

Holo-Khan episode?

It was Lawrence V. Conley's spec script that got him the pitch invitation that led to his writing the second Crystalline Entity episode.

"Silicon Avatar"

 

[Cyrus]

Berman was asked by the studio to come up with 2 competing scripts. He picked Piller and Hurley to write them. Piller declined because he didn't like the concept of competing scripts, so Moore & Braga replaced him,