What If..Roddenberry had Full Creative Control

[Wally]

I'm always fascinated on instances of creators having full control without being constrained by networks or producers or whatever. James Cameron of recent times; prequel era George Lucas etc. Sometimes it is for the best, sometimes it is a beautiful disaster. But I wonder, what would Star Trek be like if Roddenberry always had creative control.

At the very least I think for TOS that Number One would have been kept which likely would have resulted in a reduced prominence of an a more emotional Science Officer Spock. Since Majel Barrett would already have a roll, I doubt a regular Christine Chapel character would have been created. I think we still would would have had Shatner, since it was Hunter who decided to leave, not the network.

It seems like instead of Wrath of Khan there likely would have been the time travel/meet JFK movie, and there certainly would not have been the march towards militarization that seemed to be the theme of some of the movies (mostly Meyer's 2 & 6)

Any other thoughts on how it would be different? Would it have been a greater success, or would it have cratered?

 

[Richard S. Ta]

If Roddenberry were allowed to exert full creative control, without any limitation or opportunity for outside objection, Star Trek would have been unutterably worse. I doubt we'd have anything to discuss beyond TOS or even if we'd be discussing it in the kind of number we are.

He was a great ideas man, but he only had, say, 3 good ideas out of 5. He needed other creatives around him to tell he when he'd conceived a duffer.

Wind forward to TNG times and he was actively doing more damage to the production than help.

He was a troubled figure and somehow a damaged one. I have the greatest respect for Gene Roddenberry, but I think he was better at making sandboxes for other people to play in than he was at playing in them.

 

[C.E. Evans]

I think it would have been a more controversial series at times, because Roddenberry would have tackled some issues like racism a bit more head-on that would have made some uncomfortable. To be honest, Roddenberry needed someone to reign him in periodically, because he could sometimes have the subtlety of a sledgehammer, IMO...

 

[Richard S. Ta]

If Roddenberry had his way, Troi would have had four breasts I believe?

And Ferengi would have been famous for having the hugest weiners in the Alpha Quadrant or something.

So there's that. Puzzle on that for a while.

 

[Wally]

If Roddenberry had his way, Troi would have had four breasts I believe?

And Ferengi would have been famous for having the hugest weiners in the Alpha Quadrant or something.

So there's that. Puzzle on that for a while.

3 or 4, in any case, it was more than 2.

 

[Firebird]

Having read Gene's script for Star Trek II, or as it's better known, "The God Thing," the franchise would be worse off if we got the full, unfiltered Roddenberry.

 

[Richard S. Ta]

Spock would have been red-skinned and would have had some kind of metal plate embedded in his body through which he needed to periodically recharge.

Puzzle on that.

Also, though in these times I feel cautious for saying so, there would have been an increase in boobies across the board and I'm okay with that. Roddenberry loved boobies and was always trying to get more onscreen.

 

[Paul755]

Spock would have been red-skinned and would have had some kind of metal plate embedded in his body through which he needed to periodically recharge.

Puzzle on that.

Also, though in these times I feel cautious for saying so, there would have been an increase in boobies across the board and I'm okay with that. Roddenberry loved boobies and was always trying to get more onscreen.

yeah, lots more sexy time shenanigans for sure.

 

[Wally]

I never heard about the metal plate in the body that Spock would need to recharge. Interesting.

And yes, I would expect the amount of male gaze and eye candy to simply explode as well.

 

[JirinPanthosa]

Less clothing, more sex, and no moral ambiguity.

 

[Dukhat]

I can't speak for TOS or the movies, but as far as TNG is concerned, if Roddenberry wasn't already on the way out after the 2nd season due to his health, he and Leonard Maizlish would probably have been fired.

 

[JirinPanthosa]

Roddenberry would have hated In The Pale Moonlight.

If he was alive he’d be foot stomping even louder than Lucas.

 

[Richard S. Ta]

If Roddenberry was in total control, Patrick Stewart wouldn't be Picard.

I never heard about the metal plate in the body that Spock would need to recharge. Interesting.

https://www.metv.com/stories/heres-what-spock-was-originally-going-to-look-like-on-star-trek

An interesting read.

If Roddenberry had control, Spock would look like Satan, minus the horns, and have a British accent. With a metal plate in his stomach it turns out. I misremembered it was on his neck.

But still.

Just imagine.

Just...

... Imagine it.

 

[Citiprime]

Even for TOS, one thing a lot of people don’t realize is that a LOT of Star Trek’s most recognizable elements do not come from Roddenberry, but from Gene Coon who served as a writer and producer on the show.

It is Coon who created or wrote:

• The Prime Directive
• The Klingons
• The Gorn
• Gave Starfleet and the United Federation of Planets their names
• Khan Noonien-Singh and the Eugenics Wars
• Zefram Cochrane
• Credited with developing the love-hate relationship between Spock and McCoy
• Coon either wrote or adapted "The Devil in the Dark,” "A Taste of Armageddon,” "A Piece of the Action," “Errand of Mercy,” “Space Seed,” and “Arena.”

 

[Trekker09]

Even for TOS, one thing a lot of people don’t realize is that a LOT of Star Trek’s most recognizable elements do not come from Roddenberry, but from Gene Coon who served as a writer and producer on the show.

It is Coon who created or wrote:

• The Prime Directive
• The Klingons
• The Gorn
• Gave Starfleet and the United Federation of Planets their names
• Khan Noonien-Singh and the Eugenics Wars
• Zefram Cochrane
• Credited with developing the love-hate relationship between Spock and McCoy
• Coon either wrote or adapted "The Devil in the Dark,” "A Taste of Armageddon,” "A Piece of the Action," “Errand of Mercy,” “Space Seed,” and “Arena.”

I've been impressed with this as well....so, was it GR or GC who originated the idea of a future utopia on earth - peaceful cooperation, no crime, war or poverty etc.....?

 

[Gotham Central]

I've been impressed with this as well....so, was it GR or GC who originated the idea of a future utopia on earth - peaceful cooperation, no crime, war or poverty etc.....?

That was Roddenberry and mostly post TOS. You really see his vision of the future in the novelization of the Motion Picture

 

[Gotham Central]

The obvious answer to their question can be found in The Motion Picture and the first season of TNG

 

[Hofner]

How much of the sexism of TOS was due to Roddenberry?

It is a shame how sexist TOS had to be considering other shows of that time weren't as bad like "The Fugitive".

Robert

 

[JoseNoodles]

He was a troubled figure and somehow a damaged one. I have the greatest respect for Gene Roddenberry, but I think he was better at making sandboxes for other people to play in than he was at playing in them.

I couldn't agree more. Like Lucas, Roddenberry needed others to help him flesh out his world and make it more believable , otherwise it would have felt too contrived, too small in scope, and too hung up on sci-fi tropes from older tv shows and movies. We can thank him for getting the ball rolling, but we should also be thankful for the contributions of others.

 

[XCV330]

Desilu would have given up on it. Lucille Ball was had kept it alive in 1966 after the board wanted to give up on it, even after NBC had given the green light. She wasn't going to ok a show with complete creative control in every aspect by a man she did not know and probably did not like very much. She did trust Robert Justman and Herbert Solow. So I think the show never would have even made it to screen.