Richard Arnold?

[SicOne]

1) Just who was this guy who seem to have wielded so much power in the late 80s/early 90s in Trek Lit? I've heard the name slung around the forum, never spoken of with much affection, but was curious where he came from and what his qualifications were.

(2) And why did Roddenberry let this individual get away with slamming so many restrictons down on Gene's own creation?

(3) Whatever became of him, then, that TrekLit turned out much better than apparently it had been while he was running the show? It sounds like the authors miss him like the residents of Tokyo miss Godzilla.

I look forward to being educated about this individual, so that I may keep his contributions (or lack thereof...) to Trek Lit and the Trek universe in general, in proper perspective...that is, unless the authors don't speak of him, or if they do so it is in hushed tones like you'd discuss vampires, Roswell conspiracies, or the Internal Revenue Service...

 

[F. King Daniel]

Richard Arnold was Gene Rodenberry's personal assistant. With Gene busy (and later, in failing health) he ended up vetting the novels and enforcing Gene's various directives. He got the job by virtue of being Gene's friend and was fired when Mr. Rodenberry died.

Some think he was Gene's stooge, getting the bad rap for enforcing his decisions (Gene was changing the rules as he went along), and some think he'd gone a little power mad and was doing what he thought best, and was somewhat of an inflexible fundamentalist with regard to canon.

Thus, no continuity between novels (because only the TV episodes and movies "happened"), no conflict between "evolved" 23rd and 24th century crewmembers, a planet-of-the-week format for the comics and novels, no mention of the animated series and no stories focusing on invented characters. This "reign of terror" lasted through the early-to-mid 90's.

 

[Therin of Andor]

1) Just who was this guy who seem to have wielded so much power in the late 80s/early 90s in Trek Lit? I've heard the name slung around the forum, never spoken of with much affection, but was curious where he came from and what his qualifications were.

In his early years in fandom, Richard Arnold ran the Official Grace Lee Whitney Fan Club. He got to know Gene R, Majel and Bjo Trimble via conventions in the 70s and developed a friendship with Susan Sackett, GR's personal assistant. When RA arrived in LA, he got a volunteer position as a Paramount Studios tour guide, which he did when not on shift at his paid job. Anyone on the Paramount tour (only a very small group per day) wanting a tour through the empty ST movie sets in the early 80s, hoped to get RA as their guide for the day, since not all the Paramount guides took people into those soundstages.

After ST IV's huge financial success, GR was able to hire new staff. Ernie Over became his driver (and eventually his carer, when GR's health was failing) and GR convinced Paramount to let him hire RA as "Star Trek Archivist", due to his photographic memory for ST facts and his supposed understanding of "Gene's Star Trek philosophy".

(2) And why did Roddenberry let this individual get away with slamming so many restrictons down on Gene's own creation?

With TNG, Susan Sackett was too busy to oversee the licensed tie-in manuscripts. That workload, plus finding all manner of clips and stills needed by licensees, went to RA. GR wanted those restrictions. I recall RA telling us at a convention that Gene was once given a convention flier that announced its GoH, ST novelist Diane Duane, as "the creator of the Rihannsu", and GR got really angry. Original elements in ST novels often took on a life of their own and he was conscious not to let the tie-in tapestry get too broad too soon. During the hiatus between TNG Seasons 1 and 2, GR pressured Paramount to renegotiate all the tie-in contracts, and that's when the new restrictions went up.

RA also used to pen a monthly column in "The Communicator", the magazine published by the now-defunct Star Trek: The Official Fan Club.

(3) Whatever became of him, then, that TrekLit turned out much better than apparently it had been while he was running the show? It sounds like the authors miss him like the residents of Tokyo miss Godzilla.

After getting fired, RA started offering himself for freelance work for various ST licensees, and also acts as a kind-of agent to the actors, helping conventions liaise with suitable guests of honor. RA has enough friends and contacts at Paramount that he still attends a ST convention every few weekends (all over the world), presenting slideshows of official pics on behalf of the Publicity Dept, and images from GR's estate. RA was an extra in ST:TMP and JJ Abrams' Star Trek.

I look forward to being educated about this individual, so that I may keep his contributions (or lack thereof...) to Trek Lit and the Trek universe in general, in proper perspective

I've met RA many, many times since January 1984 and - although I didn't agree with some of the things that happened on his watch in 1989 - consider him to be a friend and a fellow geeky fan. I'm not too sure I'd want to be one of the writers trying to get my manuscripts past him, but he's as avid a fan as many of us.

 

[Defcon]

I'm not too sure I'd want to be one of the writers trying to get my manuscripts past him, but he's as avid a fan as many of us.

Probably to avid. I guess he saw Star Trek in a certain way, and did everything to make sure it stayed like he liked it, not taking into account that it isn't in the best interest of the novel line and a majority of authors and readers.

 

[Allyn Gibson]

When discussing Richard Arnold, it's probably best to use his own words.

He sat down for an interview with Tim Lynch in mid-91, when he was at the height of his reign of terror. It's long, it's poorly formatted, but it provides some interesting insights into Arnold's role.

A 1994 screed by Arnold that deals with some of the issues raised in Lynch's interview.

In Arnold's view, he was an unfairly maligned lackey of Roddenberry. In the view of everyone not named Richard Arnold, Richard Arnold was a fan with a self-inflated opinion of himself who weaseled his way into a position where he could do serious damage.

And, a previous go-round here abouts on Arnold.

 

[JD]

There's also an interview with him in Voyages of the Imagination.

 

[captcalhoun]

he's a prat. and Robau should've sent him over to the Narada in his place.

 

[Captain Robert April]

I had several snail mail exchanges with him during the late '80's to shortly after GR died, and they've always been fairly cordial. Never have had the nerve to talk to him personally when he's been out here at Star Fest Denver, but he presented himself as fairly good natured.

In later years, however, I've learned more about how he went about his work, and most notably from David Gerrold, just how minor a player he really was in the big Star Trek game (if Roddenberry was the quarterback, Arnold was the waterboy).

So, I find myself in a bit of a quandry. I've had pretty good dealings with him, but still kind of want to slap him for his approach to some things.

 

[Therin of Andor]

I've had pretty good dealings with him, but still kind of want to slap him for his approach to some things.

I think any outgoing, avid Star Trek fan could imagine themselves in RA's unique position. Some of us would have let the power run to our heads, some jealous fans would say that they thought the power had run to our heads, and some would say we didn't do enough to protect the franchise.

Captain Robert April, think back to the myriad and bizarre reactions of fandom, here on TrekBBS, when you announced you were helping Bjo with her Concordance. You felt strongly we were misunderstanding everything you said. Fan reactions to RA are no different.

My personal dealings with RA have always been very pleasant. I see him at annual ST conventions in Australia almost every year. He spends most of the convention sitting at his table in the dealers' room and will talk to any fan who approaches him. He attends all convention dinners, etc, and offers that if we see him eating breakfast or lunch in the hotel to please join him. He is gregarious and patient, and very knowledgeable about ST. He'd beat most of us in a trivia competition. But... I have no doubt that many ST tie-in authors would find him stubborn, to say the least.

It seems to me that RA doesn't particularly enjoy any ST tie-in material, much preferring the live action TOS. No surprise then, that when ST authors created their own ongoing characters in the late 80s and early 90s, or put their unique stamp on a ST story, that RA would always see it as going way too far from the source material.

 

[Harvey]

I've seen him at a few conventions, and he was always very pleasant, just as Therin describes him.

It was a bit of a surprise, then, to come on this board (and, later, to read other interviews with Arnold) where I discovered the policy he maintained about tie-in works. I can't say I agree with much of his approach there, but thankfully his tenure there is long over.

 

[Steve Roby]

Remember when RA had a column in Star Trek Communicator? His contempt for the tie-ins manifested itself there occasionally.

 

[Greg Cox]

The Richard Arnold era was before my time, and I've had absolutely no personal contact with the man, but, in general, I've found there are basically two types of licensing people.

There are the collaborators, who are positively disposed towards the books and want to work with you to produce the best books possible. (Hi, Paula!)

And there are the guardians, who regard the books as, at best, a necessary evil and see their job as protecting the franchise from those darn tie-in books and making sure that the books and their authors do as little damage as possible.

It's all about whether it's an adversarial relationship or not.

 

[Therin of Andor]

It's all about whether it's an adversarial relationship or not.

The hilariously bizarre battle between Richard Arnold and Peter David is documented, from PAD's side, in the omnibus reprint of his "But I Digress..." columns.

One aspect of tie-in outrage and debate I well recall from the heady Usenet/GEnie days: the ST novel authors complaining to each other, and to everyone else on those BBSs, the new problems being enabled by the advances in technology. It was the era whereby the authors were grappling with the shift from typewriter-produced manuscripts to early electronic submissions via word processor.

Some of the ST authors had been used to making all requested changes to their manuscripts personally, and suddenly they were noticing that submitting electronically gave over the power: that minor changes were being made by someone else. Presumably only the editor, but there was speculation that changes could be (and were being?) made by others in the publishing continuum - with perhaps no record or explanation of the changes being made - and, in one particular case, discussion of what literary degrees a particular scrutineer had, who was suspected of rewriting a paragraph the author didn't notice till the book came out.

 

[F. King Daniel]

he's a prat. and Robau should've sent him over to the Narada in his place.

He was already on the Narada

It's a huge irony that Mister "Don't rock the boat" helped prepare the Red Matter that totally derailed Star Trek history.

 

[Admiral Buzzkill]

With TNG, Susan Sackett was too busy to oversee the licensed tie-in manuscripts.

What was she "too busy" doing other than annoying TNG staff?

Whether he was an irritant to the tie-in writers or not, Richard did actually perform a service as researcher and archivist for the folks at the Trek offices.

 

[Captain Robert April]

Ya think PAD still has a copy of that memo?

 

[Therin of Andor]

What was she "too busy" doing other than annoying TNG staff?

Well, Susan was Gene R's personal assistant and "annoying" people on GR's behalf was just part of her job.

Ya think PAD still has a copy of that memo?

PAD is a ST writer, and is unlikely to have been given a copy of "that memo". It was addressed to the publishers who held the tie-in license, IIRC.

You'd need to ask Archives at DC Comics or Pocket Books. But that kind of paper material is often purged when a licensee relinquishes its license, so there goes DC, too. Pocket has had many changes in editorial. FASA didn't get one because they lost their licence during that hiatus when it was applied. Gene's office files were culled when he died.

 

[SicOne]

Thanks for the detailed explanations thus far, guys. Been very educational. Two questions, however.

(1) If he was fired when Roddenberry died (what, 1991?), why did it take so long to undo what he had done? It hasn't been but since relatively lately that I've noticed the books actually getting "better"...don't mean to stir a debate, but from my perspective, I first began to notice improvements in continuity in the "A Time to..." series. They may have predated that series, but that's when I first began to notice and say to myself, "Self, TrekLit has gotten better since I last read it in the early 90s.". That may simply have been when the writers began to communicate better with each other, I dunno.

(2) Who fired him? Someone like Berman? And usually when someone is fired, they're fired all-the-way; as he seems to be honored at conventions, it appears that all they did was just eliminate him from his position but not really force him out onto the streets...and people who usually get kicked out of their jobs tend to go the complete opposite direction of loyalty to their former company, so to hear of him being active at the conventions makes me wonder if there's something missing from the narrative.

 

[Christopher]

(1) If he was fired when Roddenberry died (what, 1991?), why did it take so long to undo what he had done? It hasn't been but since relatively lately that I've noticed the books actually getting "better"...don't mean to stir a debate, but from my perspective, I first began to notice improvements in continuity in the "A Time to..." series.

Well, it started much earlier than that. I think that after Roddenberry died and Arnold left, the tendency of the licensees for a while was just to keep doing things the same way, on the assumption that it was the accepted policy and what Roddenberry would've wanted. Nobody at Paramount came up and specifically said, "Okay, let's change the way tie-ins are done;" the old approach just kept going on inertia, basically.

I'd say it was after John Ordover came in as Trek editor that things began to change. The first attempt to get some continuity back in the line was the Invasion! tetralogy back in 1996 -- four books, one in each series, that could each stand alone but had an overarching narrative uniting them. And since they came out in '96, they must've been conceived no later than '95, so it was only a few years after Arnold left. This was followed by more such crossovers in later years, but the next big step was the launch of New Frontier in 1997. An ongoing book series focusing on original characters, particularly one written by Peter David, could never have gotten approved in the Arnold era.

It was around 2000-01 that the overarching novel continuity began to emerge in earnest, with the DS9 post-finale novels crossing over with SCE, referencing A Stitch in Time, etc. By 2004, when the A Time to... books came along, Arnold's policies had long since ceased to have any effect.

(2) Who fired him? Someone like Berman? And usually when someone is fired, they're fired all-the-way; as he seems to be honored at conventions, it appears that all they did was just eliminate him from his position but not really force him out onto the streets...and people who usually get kicked out of their jobs tend to go the complete opposite direction of loyalty to their former company, so to hear of him being active at the conventions makes me wonder if there's something missing from the narrative.

Well, I'm sure it was Paramount executives, so that would be "someone like Berman" in the sense that he was a Paramount executive, but beyond that I can't say. And he was kind of "forced out on the streets" in that his office was emptied out pretty much immediately, but it's not like he lived there or something.

And it wasn't the "company" that Arnold was loyal to, it was Star Trek itself and Gene Roddenberry (who tended to cultivate a somewhat adversarial relationship with Paramount anyway). Paramount/CBS doesn't run Trek conventions. They're organized by fans or by professional convention organizers. You can't fire someone from being a Trek fan or a prominent personality that convention organizers would be interested in inviting. However controversial his attitude toward the tie-ins was, there are plenty of people out there who don't care about the tie-ins and are interested in Arnold's insights into the production of the show and into Roddenberry the man.

 

[Admiral Buzzkill]

What was she "too busy" doing other than annoying TNG staff?

Well, Susan was Gene R's personal assistant and "annoying" people on GR's behalf was just part of her job.

On his behalf? And the rest of it was...?

How long did she have a parking space on the studio lot after GR passed?