When was Richard Arnold in his 'prime'?
- Thread starter ronny
- Start date
Wow, was he really that big of a jerk?
Dunno. I never dealt with the man. In fact, I've never met him. All I know of him is purely second-hand.
Well then, why does the Creation people treat you writers as badly as they do? Is there some sort of resentment going on? What could possibly be the problem, other than the books have been pretty much the best in the entire Trek line over the past decade or so, no offense to previous authors and books, some of which were extraordinary too. 
They pretend they don't like us, because they don't want anyone to know that they secretly have the hots for us.
Nope. My loathing is utterly heartfelt. My only regret is that I have not yet found the perfect Hallmark card to mark the occasion.leandar said:
Nope. My loathing is utterly heartfelt. My only regret is that I have not yet found the perfect Hallmark card to mark the occasion.leandar said:
Can't Kevin write one for you?
Ah, I'd say you guys are a lot higher than C-level. Surely there are conventions that treat you with better class then than Creation so you don't need them. Do any of you authors ever go to conventions?
Nope. My loathing is utterly heartfelt. My only regret is that I have not yet found the perfect Hallmark card to mark the occasion.leandar said:
We'll work on getting you a card.
^ There are several conventions which include writers among their guests, and treat them quite well.
At Creation, we're C-level. We go to conventions all the time, but those are actual conventions, as opposed to Creation's dog-and-pony shows, which are primarily designed to separate the attendees from their cash.
When news broke that he'd been escorted off the lot by security, I think every Trek novelist who participated in the Compuserve Star Trek forum at the time posted celebratory remarks.
One of the best sources on Richard Arnold is Trek fan Tim Lynch's interview with him from 1991, mentioned by Allyn upstream and available here.
Yes. And I'm speaking here as just a witness to stuff before I did any Trek writing, but I'd see him at cons where he was representing Trek and I'd be a Dr Who-related guest, and yes he is.
I went to one or two in the TOS-movie/TNG early years.
Then I didn't go until the 40th Anniversary Vegas con because it coincided with a milestone birthday of mine, and I also wanted to see one of the stage shows I wrote with Bob Picardo and Ethan Phillips.
As for how Creation treated me? I got in to see the play free, but that was it. Not a day pass or anything else. I roamed around the autograph room (no cover charge, can you believe it?) and subtly ogled Suzie Plaksen and Lee Meriwether. Never got the nerve to talk to James Darren or Lee about The Time Tunnel (I was writing a modern-day conclusion to that series at the time).
I would have loved to have gone to one Shore Leave during the three years I was in SNW, but being a writer, I couldn't afford it.
Back on topic: Despite what I've heard about Richard Arnold (and yes, I do believe it because the opinions are from people I trust and respect), my only encounter with him was extremely positive. He enjoyed my initial TNG spec submission (the good-old Open Submission Policy days), told me why it could never be produced, and encouraged me to write another and submit it. I did, and that script led to ten years of pitching to TNG, DS9 and Voyager. (Ironically, the script was submitted after Arnold had "left" Paramount.) It was a very young Brannon Braga who read it and gave me my initial invitation.
--Ted
Despite being written in a simple Q & A format, excluding the analysis afte the four part interview, the tone of Richard Arnold's answers are quite arrogant and, once again, placing him self as the burning bush to Gene Roddenberry. In several cases, he goes out of his way to refer to PAD as "David" and not "Peter." Arnold even goes to point out his error but continues anyway making it.
^^ I don't think that's an error, it's just referring to him by his last name. Like if someone called me "Bennett."
They definitely weren't on a first-name basis. Except when PAD called Richard Arnold "Benedict".
Indeed. However, Arnold in the interview makes such a fuss over "correcting his error" of calling PAD by his last name alone. This seemed like a dick move on Arnold's part. At least, it came off as one. Had he not made a fuss, then I could've dismissed it as someone just referring to a person by their last name, ala "Bennett" or, in my case, "Riddle."
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