Nimoy-Bennett fallout
- Thread starter EnriqueH
- Start date
When Nimoy got enough clout to disregard Bennett's creative input, they clashed. By the end of IV Bennett felt that the actors had all the power. Shatner had to sweet talk him back to Star Trek V.
I think they argued over the casting in Star Trek III and whether the alien probe in Star Trek IV should be subtitled. Nimoy didn't want sub titles. Bennett had a lot of clout going into Star Trek III and he probably felt undermined by Nimoy in Star Trek IV.
Nimoy made the right call. Subtitles would've ruined the mystery and alieness of the entire thing.
I agree. Subtitles would’ve been terrible.
Bennett's transition from a highly successful executive producer to a motion picture producer was difficult; on TV he road the bus and his plan for a project spanned for about 5 years - launched talented peoples careers and showing loyalty - and working hand in hand with the studio and the network investors. The movie world was entirely different for him and he seem to have a similar ground in his ethics but he had to battle with a lot of selfishness from the subordinates he rooted for and promoted to other positions which bothered him. I read there was a feud between and his long time friend on the proper credit of producer in TWOK which ended. I believe Harve did a lot of cajoling with Eisner and Katzenberg under the radar to get Nimoy the director's job and created a monster, a monster who had a long bitter resentment of the Hollywood system, and like a rabid dog had bit him.
TWOK was Bennett's stepping stone and like the executive producer he was he was thinking long term, designing new models Reliant, and expanding it. There's no question the introduction of Excelsior was to introduce audiences to his version of Trek, as ugly as the designs were Bennett seemed to be going for big ideas. The possible end goal was the new Enterprise to be an Excelsior Class ship, and move on to more big concept, epic stories. The original concept for Star Trek III with the Romulans was a grand idea; an appropriate follow up to TWOK, after hiring Nimoy a first time director, he wasn't up for the task. Bennett, like a great mentor, tried to help Nimoy with something he would be comfortable in helming but would hope to gear him in line to go with bigger ideas or better yet follow his vision for Trek.
In the book "I AM SPOCK" Nimoy talks about how he discussed his story ideas with Gene Roddenberry and Gene was not a fan of Bennett and what he was doing to his baby <good or bad>. I believe there were influences going on which ended up going to task and ended up being confrontational. The hardest task for a producer is to tone down the large egos in his production and for IV one who's not only the director but is also a cinematic figure to all of the Star Trek franchise. YOWZAH!
On the ST II: TWOK 4k Bluray Robert Sallin is interviewed in a new documentary. He said that Paramount wanted him to produce Star Trek III and Bennett to return to television. Sallin said he couldn't do that to Bennett since Bennett recruited him in the first place. It may be that Paramount was never that keen on Bennett and they were happy to let the actors usurp his authority.
I liked Bennett's original idea for Star Trek III too. I think it could have turned out better than what we got.
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That's fascinating. I'd heard murmurs about the Romulans originally being the villains in TSFS, but never heard what they had planned.
Very intriguing.
Very intriguing.
As I recall (I think from Shatner's Star Trek Movie Memories), Nimoy said that he and Bennett got conflicting signals from Paramount going into STIV. Nimoy was told, "The training wheels are off. Go make your Star Trek movie." Bennett was told by the studio, "You're our guy." With them starting out the movie like that, it was probably inevitable that they'd clash.
And yeah, they had creative disagreements. Nimoy wanted Edward James Olmos to play Kruge in STIII, but Bennett disagreed. Bennett wrote some prospective dialogue for subtitles for the probe in STIV, which Nimoy objected to (It was stuff along the lines of, "Where are you? Why won't you answer?"). IIRC, Ralph Winter pointed out to Nimoy that as a director for hire, he would move on when his movie was done, but Bennett had an overall deal with the studio. He would still be there after STIV was completed and he was trying to give his bosses what they wanted. And yes, along those lines he was thinking long-term about trying to make Star Trek as lucrative a movie franchise as he possibly could.
Bennett was most hurt when the regimes changed at Paramount, though. After his Starfleet Academy story being planned as STVI, when Brandon Tartikoff took over Paramount all of a sudden they wanted another movie with the original cast for the 25th Anniversary in 1991. Bennett didn't think another movie could be written and shot in that short amount of time, and his heart was with the Academy story, so he walked. But he took it hard. Bennett said that that was the first time in his life that he began to drink to excess.
And yeah, they had creative disagreements. Nimoy wanted Edward James Olmos to play Kruge in STIII, but Bennett disagreed. Bennett wrote some prospective dialogue for subtitles for the probe in STIV, which Nimoy objected to (It was stuff along the lines of, "Where are you? Why won't you answer?"). IIRC, Ralph Winter pointed out to Nimoy that as a director for hire, he would move on when his movie was done, but Bennett had an overall deal with the studio. He would still be there after STIV was completed and he was trying to give his bosses what they wanted. And yes, along those lines he was thinking long-term about trying to make Star Trek as lucrative a movie franchise as he possibly could.
Bennett was most hurt when the regimes changed at Paramount, though. After his Starfleet Academy story being planned as STVI, when Brandon Tartikoff took over Paramount all of a sudden they wanted another movie with the original cast for the 25th Anniversary in 1991. Bennett didn't think another movie could be written and shot in that short amount of time, and his heart was with the Academy story, so he walked. But he took it hard. Bennett said that that was the first time in his life that he began to drink to excess.
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In the VI issue of Cinefantasique and the Making of Trek VI book pretty sure I remember reading that Bennett said he intended the Academy movie to be his directorial debut which added to the loss of the project for him, and that the studio tried to get him on board to produce TUC saying they'd do the Academy movie after which he didn't believe would happen, (whereas he was of the opinion theyd should do VI after the SFA movie to which the supporting tos cast called BS) also that he had Ethan Hawke and John Cusack ready for Kirk/Spock..
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There are other artifacts of the Romulan involvement in Star Trek II as well. "The Klingons don't take prisoners". Actually, that's Romulans from "The Deadly Years". "Gamma Hydra" was also specifically referenced as being near the Romulan Neutral Zone. There was no mention of a Neutral Zone involving Klingons until Star Trek II.
That's right. I'd forgotten that Bennett was supposed to direct it, too. No wonder it was so disappointing for him.
I can see both POVs there. If the Academy movie was a big success, I think that yeah, they probably would've gone on making more movies with the younger and cheaper cast. And since STVI was basically a big goodbye film, there was no real reason to then flash back to the beginning for those characters.
But considering both the topicality of STVI's story and the fact that 1991 was the 25th Anniversary of Trek, I think that STVI was made at the perfect time.
Yeah, but they had that footage of the Klingon ships from TMP, so...
