Rick Berman's Nemesis Commentary

[TiberiusK]

I watched about an hour of Nemesis today with Berman's commentary on.

Is it just me, or does he sound completely bored. Most of his comments are completely without insight, and he focuses on "Yeah... we did that to save money... hey, we thought this was a good line of dialogue... um... we did that to save money."

There is no passion or enthusiasm in the guy's voice. It's like listening to a telemarketer train you on how to call people, or a bus driver explain to you what route you need to take.

 

[Jack Bauer]

I've heard several commentaries where the person talking just doesn't come off well. I'm not sure if it's because they bored or they're just not good at expressing themselves very well verbally or if it's just their personality.

 

[CoveTom]

Even in interviews where he's talking about things he's particularly proud of, Berman never sounds too enthused. I think it just comes down to his not being a dynamic public speaker. Trek fans especially have high expectations since Roddenberry was an absolute master of enthralling an audience.

 

[Jack Bauer]

^^^^ Reminds me of Chris Carter. His commentary on Millennium's pilot is boring. He's not a very good speaker.

 

[Kryton]

Berman is very pleased with your judgment of his commentary.

 

[Csalem]

That commentary annoyed me when he mentioned the episode after BoBW was Home when in fact it was Family. He seemed to know very little about the shows he made.

 

[Phantassm]

TiberiusK said:
I watched about an hour of Nemesis today with Berman's commentary on.

Is it just me, or does he sound completely bored. Most of his comments are completely without insight, and he focuses on "Yeah... we did that to save money... hey, we thought this was a good line of dialogue... um... we did that to save money."

There is no passion or enthusiasm in the guy's voice. It's like listening to a telemarketer train you on how to call people, or a bus driver explain to you what route you need to take.

...Its his nature. In every interview I've seen of him he come off as disinterested or yeah...BORED.

 

[Campe]

Csalem said:
That commentary annoyed me when he mentioned the episode after BoBW was Home when in fact it was Family. He seemed to know very little about the shows he made.

Now, I'm not a fan of Berman in any way shape or form, but after producing over 600 hours of Trek and trying to instantly recall the name of one of the episodes, he may have, ya know, made a mistake.

 

[Akira Class]

Campe98 said:

Csalem said:
That commentary annoyed me when he mentioned the episode after BoBW was Home when in fact it was Family. He seemed to know very little about the shows he made.

Now, I'm not a fan of Berman in any way shape or form, but after producing over 600 hours of Trek and trying to instantly recall the name of one of the episodes, he may have, ya know, made a mistake.

That's fine and dandy if he were speaking at a convention or something. However, he was doing a DVD commentary, which was quite likely scheduled well ahead of time. You'd think he'd want to make sure his facts are straight so he wouldn't come off as if he were phoning it in.

 

[StewMc]

^
Ironic words ("phoning it in"), as the first thing he says on the commentary ("This is Rick Berman") sounds like it came from a phone call, like they added it in after the commentary was recorded.

 

[Broccoli]

Berman might not be a good speaker, but he also didn't anyone to play off of. When I watch a commentary with only one person doing it, it is usually a dull track.

To counterpoint, Berman's commentary with Braga on "Broken Bow," I thought, was pretty good.

 

[Trekker4747]

Berman might not be a good speaker, but he also didn't anyone to play off of. When I watch a commentary with only one person doing it, it is usually a dull track.

Not always, it depends on the speaker.

I find Howard's commentary on the Apollo 13 DVD to be very entertaining and enlightening.

I suspect as the OP said, that Berman just wasn't "into" the track so he didn't put any effort into it.

 

[Broccoli]

Trekker4747 said:

Berman might not be a good speaker, but he also didn't anyone to play off of. When I watch a commentary with only one person doing it, it is usually a dull track.

Not always, it depends on the speaker.

Which is why I used the qualifier "usually."

 

[Tino]

Csalem said:
That commentary annoyed me when he mentioned the episode after BoBW was Home when in fact it was Family. He seemed to know very little about the shows he made.

Sorry to pick on it but Berman knows a hell lot more about Star Ttrek than any of us. Think about it. We "only" have to remember 700 hours of episodic television and we have watched each episode numerous times.

I doubt Rick Berman had the time to do that. Furthermore, he has 18 years of Star Trek-production to remember.

10 hours/day
x 5 days/week
x 30 weeks/year
x 18 years

=

27000 hours

 

[CaptJimboJones]

I haven't listened to this, because I don't have the special edition of Nemesis, but it's hard to imagine that it's worse than Stuart Baird's commentary from the initial DVD release.

That was just ... awful. Loooong moments of silence when he just doesn't say anything. And weird disjointed phrases like "And ... yes. That's .... now. The big reveal. Then ... yes."

 

[TK421]

Csalem said:
That commentary annoyed me when he mentioned the episode after BoBW was Home when in fact it was Family. He seemed to know very little about the shows he made.

I'm no fan of the guy, but just because the episodes aired in a certain order and have certain titles now, doesn't mean that they were made in that order or even had those titles when they started filming.

 

[Peach Wookiee]

^That's true...
And I have a feeling that if "Devil's Due" had been more like the original script, the planet wouldn't have been called Neuter (sp?)...

 

[Therin of Andor]

Peach Wookiee said:
And I have a feeling that if "Devil's Due" had been more like the original script, the planet wouldn't have been called Neuter (sp?)...

The "Phase II" planet of "Devil's Due" was called Neuterra (as in New Terra?) and the TNG version was Ventax III. What was your point?

 

[cultcross]

CaptJimboJones said:
I haven't listened to this, because I don't have the special edition of Nemesis, but it's hard to imagine that it's worse than Stuart Baird's commentary from the initial DVD release.

That was just ... awful. Loooong moments of silence when he just doesn't say anything. And weird disjointed phrases like "And ... yes. That's .... now. The big reveal. Then ... yes."

It's not nearly as bad. Baird's was mind numbingly boring and did little but make it clear that he had no idea of the significance of, well, anything. He lets Mulgrew's cameo go past without a mention for example, and most of the time just drones on about nothing in particular. Berman's commentary is a little repetitive, 'this was cut' 'this was longer' 'again, this was longer', but he did have some interesting insights and noted important things - he was also refreshingly honest about who's ideas some of the less well liked aspects of the film were. True the commentary would have been better with a partner to spark discussion but it's not bad, as solo commentaries go.

 

[Peach Wookiee]

Therin of Andor said:

Peach Wookiee said:
And I have a feeling that if "Devil's Due" had been more like the original script, the planet wouldn't have been called Neuter (sp?)...

The "Phase II" planet of "Devil's Due" was called Neuterra (as in New Terra?) and the TNG version was Ventax III. What was your point?

Just bolstering the previous poster's point that things change in a script... Who would leave a planet named Neuterra in a script... [beavis] He said the name of a planet that had its nads snipped... [/beavis] [butthead] Heh-heh... heh-heh... [/butthead]
I think people would have a hard time taking the plot seriously...