RIP Harve Bennett

[EnriqueH]

Harve is one of the most important men in Star Trek lore. He did rescue the franchise and is directly responsible for a lot of the ideas that we now take for granted as being Trek lore.

It's easy to look back at Treks II-IV and say it was destiny, but a lot of it was Harve.

He took some risks: killing Spock, bringing him back, blowing up the Enterprise, doing a comedy. The series seemed alive, risky, dangerous, kept us wondering what would happen next.

And Trek was all the better for it.

These last couple of years, I was REALLY HOPING he would release his memoirs. I'm not sure how far along he was in the process, but I hope it does see the light of day someday soon.

 

[Epsilon-9]

Another STAR TREK loss two in a week now.

Brought STAR TREK back to life with The Wrath of Khan, after watching all 79 episodes and found one that would become famous with the STAR TREK community and most watched and probably the best STAR TREK film, THE WRATH OF KHAN.

RIP Harve Bennett, has beamed aboard the U.S.S. Enterprise.

 

[Epsilon-9]

Harve is one of the most important men in Star Trek lore. He did rescue the franchise and is directly responsible for a lot of the ideas that we now take for granted as being Trek lore.

It's easy to look back at Treks II-IV and say it was destiny, but a lot of it was Harve.

He took some risks: killing Spock, bringing him back, blowing up the Enterprise, doing a comedy. The series seemed alive, risky, dangerous, kept us wondering what would happen next.

And Trek was all the better for it.

These last couple of years, I was REALLY HOPING he would release his memoirs. I'm not sure how far along he was in the process, but I hope it does see the light of day someday soon.

I agree he took some gambles and they paid off.

RIP Harve Bennett.

 

[Allyn Gibson]

These last couple of years, I was REALLY HOPING he would release his memoirs. I'm not sure how far along he was in the process, but I hope it does see the light of day someday soon.

Bennett had a deal to publish his memoirs, with Regan Books. But after the fiasco with O.J. Simpson's (If) I Did It, Regan Books collapsed in 2006 he stopped working on his memoirs.

 

[Trek Survivor]

One of Trek's greatest unsung heroes.

RIP Mr Bennett.

 

[TREK_GOD_1]

Beyond his considerable work history, i've not heard many bad things about the man. He always seemed to be trying to reach for a stronger idea--just in the way he spoke, and that translated into much of his creative output.

Arguably, his varied work influenced more across several generations than Roddenberry. That's not a knock at GR, but an observation, as there are near-endless TV or movie productions well loved/respected that HB was instrumental in shaping.

Certainly, he's off on a greater journey now.

 

[The Doctor]

I had no knowledge of Harve Bennett or his contribution to Trek until I bought the TWoK special edition DVDs. There he was, all over the special features commentary: a man who understood the core of Trek and who did amazing work to see that core shown on cinema screens.

It would have been so easy for Trek II to have been a low-budget disaster that finished Trek off once and for all, had it not been for Harve sitting in his office watching all the episodes on a shaky 16MM projector. He absorbed all the Trek lore and made it his own.

A great hero for Trek fans everywhere. Godspeed, Harve.

 

[inflatabledalek]

A hugely important part of the franchise, Khan should have been an utter train wreck, a cheap cash in to try and make some extra money of the first film. He stewardship of it and generally making all the right decisions on that movie basically saved Star Trek. Even if you don't like Khan, or any of the following movies he produced, if you're a fan of any of the series that followed he is the man to thank.

He also shows, as did Meyer, it is possible to come into Trek with no real idea of what it is beforehand and still do it well if you actually do your homework and give it some thought. Mr. Baird take note.

This might be a terrible thing to say, but I'd genuinely thought he'd died a few years ago. I have a real vivid memory of it being announced and feeling sad at the time. Very odd.

 

[Sir Rhosis]

RIP. He also contributed to my childhood adventures, via THE SIX MILLION DOLLAR MAN and THE MOD SQUAD.

Sir Rhosis

 

[Grant]

Unsung hero indeed!

Meyer gets credit for "saving the franchise", but Bennett is at least half responsible for that.

R.I.P.

 

[EnriqueH]

These last couple of years, I was REALLY HOPING he would release his memoirs. I'm not sure how far along he was in the process, but I hope it does see the light of day someday soon.

Bennett had a deal to publish his memoirs, with Regan Books. But after the fiasco with O.J. Simpson's (If) I Did It, Regan Books collapsed in 2006 he stopped working on his memoirs.

So he never finished his memoirs?

 

[Allyn Gibson]

These last couple of years, I was REALLY HOPING he would release his memoirs. I'm not sure how far along he was in the process, but I hope it does see the light of day someday soon.

Bennett had a deal to publish his memoirs, with Regan Books. But after the fiasco with O.J. Simpson's (If) I Did It, Regan Books collapsed in 2006 he stopped working on his memoirs.

So he never finished his memoirs?

He read from them at Farpoint the years he attended. He had stopped writing them after Regan Books collapsed, and when I spoke to him in 2007 he told me that the warm reception he had received at Farpoint in 2006 and 2007 had him convinced that he would finish writing them.

Unfortunately, I do not know if he ever did return to writing them.

 

[EnriqueH]

I hope his family or estate release whatever he did right, because I've always been SUPER curious about his memoirs.

 

[STEPhon IT]

Bennett was the true visionary responsible for the revival of Star Trek. Nicholas Meyer talks about him as a father figure, mentor, and a man who love ideas and drama. He was a TV executive producer who created shows such as The Six Million Dollar Man and won tons of awards, when Barry Diller and Michael Eisner approached him to make a sequel to Star Trek they wanted to know he could make the picture less than 45 million dollars. Response from Bennett, he could've made 4 pictures with that amount of money.

So he did, and hired Meyer to direct and formulated a new wave of Trek which sparked a billion dollar franchise. His run ended on Star Trek V, and his leadership was missed immediately.

Before JJ Abrams did his reboot of Trek, Bennett proposed an IDENTICAL concept in the late 80's. Just shows how innovative he was. This special person will be sorely missed.

 

[Tallguy]

RIP Mr. Bennett. A driving force behind some of my favorite Star Trek moments.

I didn't watch Wrath of Khan last week. I will tonight.

 

[MANT!]

Trivia per IMDB..

He was one of radio's "The Quiz Kids" for five years during the 1940's. He attended the University of California at Los Angeles Los Angeles, California, and earned a BA in theater arts.

In 1989 Produced Star Trek V: The Final Frontier (1989), and appeared on it as "Star Fleet Commander Robert Bennett".

Was columnist for the Chicago Sun Times.

Winner of the Emmy for Outstanding Drama Special A Woman Called Golda (1982).

The novelization of "Star Trek V" (1989) listed his character as Admiral Bob Caflisch. Even though he has since been known as Adm. Bob Bennett.

Following Star Trek V Bennett had wanted to produce and direct a Star Trek movie prequel, entitled 'Starfleet Academy'. This was to chronicle the early adventures of Kirk, Spock and McCoy (a project since very successfully undertaken by J.J. Abrams) using a fresh (and thus relatively inexpensive) cast. Once the idea leaked out, it was vociferously opposed by Gene Roddenberry and on the convention circuit by members of the supporting cast. Though he was offered $1.5 million to do Star Trek VI, Bennett decided to call it a day and left the franchise.

There was a bit of bad blood between him and GR, but that's to be expected when one takes over the care and feeding of the franchise that GR created.. according to several sources Gene could be rather ruthless at times..

IN Mr. Bennett's words

I had very little to do with Roddenberry on the movies. I was fortunate enough to have a mandate from Paramount not to pay any attention to him, which is easier said than done because he is the master manipulator of a large and loyal following. It's like the Bolshevik party, it isn't that there were so many of them, it's just that they were so smart and vociferous. He is a remarkable visionary, but a very bad supervisor of other writers. I don't want to rake muck, because it is not my nature to do that. There is a tremendous misconception about Roddenberry. I am his replacement. His vengeance, some say, is Star Trek: The Next Generation. He alienated some really creative people who were doing the very best to make his show a hit. That's the summation of what my perspective is.

I would say the man did a lot to make Star Trek successful in the 80s and very early 90s.. He understood the franchise,fanbase, and the actors.

Requiescat in pace Mr. Bennett, I will always remember your good work..

 

[Mr Pointy Ears]

All the top people who were involved with trek are parting this world a lot lately,thank u harve for some great star trek movies.

 

[Unicron]

* sighs *

 

[DarthPipes]

RIP, Harve Bennett. He definitely deserves a lot of credit for the success of Star Trek and the movie franchise. It's ironic he passed only a few days after Leonard Nimoy.

I remember Time Trax, it was a good show.

 

[Khan 2.0]

Pity they didn't bring him back for the TNG movies (or at least as an exec producer) maybe the movies would've been better and there'd have been another 'trilogy' (maybe a FC/Borg trilogy) that veered away from the episode like feel of the TNG films we got and been more movie like