Mentioned in the wikipedia article for TAS under canon issues;
Was he someone the fans liked to hate?
Was he someone the fans liked to hate?
So who is Richard H Arnold?
- Thread starter The Squire of Gothos
- Start date
Thanks, I was searching with the "H".
He was Gene Roddenberry's assistant for many years prior to GR's death.
Arnold was let go by Paramount about a month after Roddenberry's death. He continued to work on as an occasional consultant off and on for some time. Contrast that with another long-time Roddenberry hanger-on who was escorted off the lot within an hour of his passing.
Arnold was let go by Paramount about a month after Roddenberry's death. He continued to work on as an occasional consultant off and on for some time. Contrast that with another long-time Roddenberry hanger-on who was escorted off the lot within an hour of his passing.
number6
Vice Admiral
Who might that be?He was Gene Roddenberry's assistant for many years prior to GR's death.
Arnold was let go by Paramount about a month after Roddenberry's death. He continued to work on as an occasional consultant off and on for some time. Contrast that with another long-time Roddenberry hanger-on who was escorted off the lot within an hour of his passing.
So THAT was the guy who started all that bullshit. Damn glad he got canned, then.
I never met Mr. Arnold, but acquaintances of mine (from fan circles) were acquaintances of his. To this day, I have never attended a fandom convention of any kind. But I knew people who did in the late 1980's and early 1990s.
I received some very negative feedback from my contacts, who told me Mr. Arnold seemed to enjoy rubbing people the wrong way. In an article from the STAR TREK offical fan club magazine (IIRC, it was about 1991) I remember Arnold was one of a few TNG crew who were interviewed. He had a very nasty swagger to him, declaring in his praise of feloow fan-turned-TNG-insider Ronald D. Moore "he really had talent" as if he were some longtime Hollywood mogul who could spot "talent".
One of my contacts was from western Canada, which is originally where Mr. Arnold was from. My contact confirmed what 137th Gebirg is saying above, and then some. As I understood it, Mr. Arnold's sole qualification for serving as Paramount archivist from that era was the fact that he was already employed as Mr. Roddenberry's manservant. Roddenberry sought to monkeywrench certain aspects of TOS-TAS-TNG continuity because some of the ideas (double-digit warp factors, etc.) were not "his" and were therefore declared no longer "Star Trek fact".
Some of it made some sense, IIRC, but most of it was just personalities and egos.
I received some very negative feedback from my contacts, who told me Mr. Arnold seemed to enjoy rubbing people the wrong way. In an article from the STAR TREK offical fan club magazine (IIRC, it was about 1991) I remember Arnold was one of a few TNG crew who were interviewed. He had a very nasty swagger to him, declaring in his praise of feloow fan-turned-TNG-insider Ronald D. Moore "he really had talent" as if he were some longtime Hollywood mogul who could spot "talent".
One of my contacts was from western Canada, which is originally where Mr. Arnold was from. My contact confirmed what 137th Gebirg is saying above, and then some. As I understood it, Mr. Arnold's sole qualification for serving as Paramount archivist from that era was the fact that he was already employed as Mr. Roddenberry's manservant. Roddenberry sought to monkeywrench certain aspects of TOS-TAS-TNG continuity because some of the ideas (double-digit warp factors, etc.) were not "his" and were therefore declared no longer "Star Trek fact".
Some of it made some sense, IIRC, but most of it was just personalities and egos.
Dreadful. Just dreadful. How did anyone stand it?
I had dinner with Richard and talked to him on several occasions when writing stuff for the show - he was a good resource. He struck me as tightly-wound and rather slavish in his devotion to Roddenberry. He was definitely smug.
I have no doubt that most of what Arnold did which alienated merchandisers was done with GR's tacit blessing, giving Roddenberry "plausible deniability" and protecting the halo. That was certainly part of Roddenberry's repetoire of techniques for handling confrontation at the time (see his attempts to interpose Wright between himself and Gerrold regarding "Blood And Fire").
Who might that be?He was Gene Roddenberry's assistant for many years prior to GR's death.
Arnold was let go by Paramount about a month after Roddenberry's death. He continued to work on as an occasional consultant off and on for some time. Contrast that with another long-time Roddenberry hanger-on who was escorted off the lot within an hour of his passing.
Susan Sackett? Or Rodenberry's Lawyer? I'm guessing the latter.
PAD has nothing but bad things to say about the man.
Was Maizlish a Paramount employee?
He was Gene Roddenberry's assistant for many years prior to GR's death.
Arnold was let go by Paramount about a month after Roddenberry's death. He continued to work on as an occasional consultant off and on for some time. Contrast that with another long-time Roddenberry hanger-on who was escorted off the lot within an hour of his passing.
Doesn't sound like either of them were favorites in the studio.
In any event, I would have to say that I'm glad I never met these people.
Not that I know of, just speculating based on the comments by others who were involved in TNG's first season.
So who was it?
Susan Sackett was booted either on Majel's orders, or anticipation of those orders. Richard, however, took a little longer to uproot.
Regarding the ruling on TAS, based upon some analysis in these parts, it looks like the primary reason TAS was declared off-limits for a time was due to the shutting down of Filmation and the sorting out of who had rights to what. In other words, Roddenberry didn't have anything against TAS (truth be told, he was probably just as proud of it as TOS, particularly of some of the rather subversive storylines they managed to slip onto the sacred ground of Saturday morning cartoons in the early '70s), but for legal reasons, they had to keep away until the assorted lawyers had their fun.
My guess is, nobody bothered to tell Richard why TAS was off-limits, just that it was, and it was off to the races at that point.
Personally, I had a pretty good correspondence going with him in the late '80s and early '90s, up until the time he got canned and a little bit after. I've seen him at a few cons but never have worked up the nerve to introduce myself.
Regarding the ruling on TAS, based upon some analysis in these parts, it looks like the primary reason TAS was declared off-limits for a time was due to the shutting down of Filmation and the sorting out of who had rights to what. In other words, Roddenberry didn't have anything against TAS (truth be told, he was probably just as proud of it as TOS, particularly of some of the rather subversive storylines they managed to slip onto the sacred ground of Saturday morning cartoons in the early '70s), but for legal reasons, they had to keep away until the assorted lawyers had their fun.
My guess is, nobody bothered to tell Richard why TAS was off-limits, just that it was, and it was off to the races at that point.
Personally, I had a pretty good correspondence going with him in the late '80s and early '90s, up until the time he got canned and a little bit after. I've seen him at a few cons but never have worked up the nerve to introduce myself.
My Canadian contact told me Mr. Roddenberry somehow lost the rights to STAR TREK, but whether that meant all of the franchise or parts of it (post-TOS, perhaps?) was never made clear. My contact said Mr. Arnold told him that Mr. Roddenberry was upset about it, that during the '70's and maybe the early '80's things were pretty lean for Roddenberrys due to the "newer" TREK not generating any royalties for him, and so this colored Mr. Roddenberry's feelings about what canon would embrace and what it would not. Taken from that perspective, Mr. Roddenberry's outlook is a little more understandable.
Keep in mind this information dates back to about 1990.
Keep in mind this information dates back to about 1990.
Incorrect. Richard Arnold met the Roddenberrys at the first Bjo Trimble ST conventions when he was a teenager. He also ran the Official Grace Lee Whitney Fan Club for a time, IIRC. As a young adult he'd moved to LA and got volunteer work, for many years, as a studio guide for Paramount, and helping Majel with Lincoln Enterprises. He impressed GR with his photographic memory and, when ST IV did so well at the box office, GR was finally able to get him a weekly salary as "ST Archivist" at Paramount.
Gene's "manservant", as you called him, was his limo driver and personal assistant, Ernie Over. He wasn't employed by Paramount, but paid from GR's payroll. He was GR's fulltime carer after GR's two debilitating strokes. After GR died, Ernie continued as Majel's personal assistant and driver for at least a year.
No. In 1989, Filmation Studios was being dissolved - and ownership of their back catalog of cartoons and TV shows was in legal flux. It was easier to declare TAS off-limits to the licensees of ST tie-ins at the time. The memo issued by the then-ST Office was not enforced after GR's death in 1991.
Wrong.
Among other mistakes there, Majel was not someone who could "give orders" anywhere at Paramount.
Well, except maybe calling the printers and telling them to run extra copies of the writer's guide.
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I've met and spoken to Richard on numerous occasions, though lost touch with him a few years back. I don't always agree with him, but I've never had cause to dislike him. In my experience, he's a decent guy, no more or less perfect than the rest of us.
He has appeared at Creation Cons. I talked with him briefly this week.
[Spock]I believe I said that, Doctor.[/Spock]
No need to, since by then the issue had been resolved and Paramount had the rights back to TAS (hence, the DVD release), and TOS had, essentially, its fourth season back.
Every time I make a joke and sign off with a "noted Trek historian", I feel a little guilty knowing that someone like Therin is here who actually knows what the hell he's talking about.
Joe, noted Trek crank
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