Roddenberry calls Wrath embarrassing

[GNDN18]

Do you recall where it was the Bennett mentioned this step? So many interviews, I cannot recall the specifics of this one.

Maybe here:

Harve had said, at the end of our meeting, “Well, draft five of the script is coming in.” And so I said, “Okay, you’ll send it to me.” And then weeks went by, and I didn’t hear from him. I asked him what was wrong and where was the script. He said, “Oh, it’s… I’m not happy with it. I can't show it to you.” And I said, “Well, why not?” I badgered him, and he showed it to me. And I didn’t understand it. I said, “Well, what about draft four?” He said, “You don't get it. Draft four, draft three, draft two. These are all just five separate attempts to get a second Star Trek movie, and they’re not related.” I said, “Well, can I read them all?” Because now, I was really sort of stoked about this submarine movie that I wanted to make.

So, a van drove up and disgorged a pile of scripts. I’m a very slow reader. And I plodded my way through all of them. Then, I suggested to Harve that we make a laundry list of elements in each of these scripts that appealed to us. I didn’t care if it was the plot, the subplot, a sequence, a scene, a character, a line of dialogue. Didn’t matter. Let’s just make that list. And then I would write a screenplay to accommodate as many of those things we picked as I could. Which is what happened.

 

[JonnyQuest037]

Meyer also tells the story in his (highly recommended) book A View From The Bridge.

 

[Maurice]

The quote GNDN18 posted is what I remembered: Meyer suggesting he and Bennett do this task, not Bennett suggesting it to the other producers. This is why I asked.

 

[Kor]

So I guess somebody at some point decided to no longer honor the "personal and confidential" notice in the letter.

Kor

 

[JonnyQuest037]

The quote GNDN18 posted is what I remembered: Meyer suggesting he and Bennett do this task, not Bennett suggesting it to the other producers. This is why I asked.

You misread my post then. I never said that Bennett was the one who suggested that idea.

 

[Maurice]

You misread my post then. I never said that Bennett was the one who suggested that idea.

Apparently I did!

 

[fireproof78]

So I guess somebody at some point decided to no longer honor the "personal and confidential" notice in the letter.

Kor

Wait, that's a thing?

Sadly, not really in this day and age.

 

[Commishsleer]

GR may have had some valid criticisms but could/did he do any better?

 

[Vger23]

I think a lot of Roddenberry's comments are dead-on. And, based on what we see as a final product, it looks like some of them were somehow incorporated into the film.

I think his comments, combined with the sensibilities and story elements from Meyer and Bennett made the film a great finished product.

 

[CT0760]

As great as Roddenberry was, its stuff like this that helps show he isn't the greatest authority on what makes star trek good, (he probably would have just hated DS9 in general because of how dark it was since it went against his utopian view of the future, while I would like to hope we will have that, its just unlikely due to human nature)

 

[Valenti]

Miracles do happen - case in point - Star Trek itself.

 

[SpyOne]

I think this shows a really interesting contrast:
The script Gene is complaining about sounds bad, and the fixes he proposes are good ones.
But he also apparently didn't like the final version of the film, while audiences loved it.

Apparently to make good Star Trek you needed to listen to Gene, and also to know when to stop listening to Gene.

 

[fireproof78]

As great as Roddenberry was, its stuff like this that helps show he isn't the greatest authority on what makes star trek good, (he probably would have just hated DS9 in general because of how dark it was since it went against his utopian view of the future, while I would like to hope we will have that, its just unlikely due to human nature)

I have no doubt he would have hated DS9.