I don't trust one sided accounts. Everyone waited until he was dead to shit on him. I know he was a flawed man, but I don't think everyone speaking ill of him is giving the full story either.
Who should have directed TMP if Robert Wise hadn't been available?
- Thread starter The Salt Umpire
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Victims are usually afraid of retribution while the perpetrator is still living, hence why many wait until they've died or are no longer in a position of power.
I moved past that very idealized "Great Bird of the Galaxy" nonsense after seeing Roddenberry in person at conventions in the early to mid 1970s; even from the information about TOS' production available up to that time, it was clear he was a revisionist salesman trying to brand himself as the one and only mastermind behind TOS' successes, yet that "somehow" all vanished when he put his creative stamp on TMP, arguably the TOS film most removed from all that made TOS a cultural phenomenon.
Which doesn't change the fact that the accounts we get today are one-sided accounts and may not be 100% accurate.
So, we just completely disregard their testimony of abuse simply because the perpetrator made a TV show we happen to like?
Those aren't one-sided accounts. They're a multitude of people with a variety of perspectives giving their experiences of the man. The fact that many, many of the accounts happen to be negative doesn't make them "one-sided." One the contrary, it makes it very likely that at least some of those experiences are true.
Off the top of my head, here's a list of ST creatives who've shared negative experiences they had with Roddenberry:
D.C. Fontana
Dave Gerrold
Bob Justman
Herb Solow
Alexander Courage
William Shatner
Leonard Nimoy
Gary Lockwood
James Doohan
Harlan Ellison
Harold Livingston
Nicholas Meyer
Herb Wright
Tracy Tormé
Melinda Snodgrass
I'm sure there are more I'm forgetting about right now. But ask yourself what's more likely: That ALL of these people were wrong and/or lying about Gene Roddenberry, or that Gene Roddenberry could sometimes be an asshole?
Any account might not be 100% accurate, including one that reflects well on the person under discussion. That's why, for instance, references are asked for, in the plural.
What bad experiences of Gary Lockwood and Nicholas Meyer do you mean? For the former, do you mean his girlfriend telling him Roddenberry tried to kiss her? I know Meyer didn't agree with all of Roddenberry's script notes and surely was unhappy with him leaking Spock's death.
I'm never going to defend his shitty behavior, but I am going to defend him a bit in his role on TOS, where it seems to be in vogue to assign credit to other people for stuff he did. I've read a lot of the behind-the-scenes paperwork and it's clear that he was the one who most understood the show and made suggestions to get the scripts in shape and keep the action quotient up to keep NBC happy.
This is all OT of course.
I'm never going to defend his shitty behavior, but I am going to defend him a bit in his role on TOS, where it seems to be in vogue to assign credit to other people for stuff he did. I've read a lot of the behind-the-scenes paperwork and it's clear that he was the one who most understood the show and made suggestions to get the scripts in shape and keep the action quotient up to keep NBC happy.
This is all OT of course.
I'm curious as well. I know Meyer disagreed with Roddenberry, but I've never heard Meyer say that Roddenberry treated him badly. In fact, in his memoir, Meyer expressed regret at the way he treated Roddenberry.
Yes.
In the Cinefantastique issue on STVI, Meyer talked about how Roddenberry said that Saavik (It was still Saavik rather than Valeris at this point) shouldn't betray the other characters. Meyer pointed out that he created Saavik, not Roddenberry, and that if Roddenberry wanted to express an opinion on what he did with her, maybe GR should give back the money he'd earned off of Saavik. The quote "Maybe then I'll care what he has to say" has stuck in my mind ever since.
And yes, Meyer later expressed regret about his bluntness there. I think he was right, though. Saavik was his character, not Roddenberry's.
Roddenberry was paid to give notes, so he gave notes.
A debate or disagreement over a script is not bad behavior on Roddenberry's part. Roddenberry was Star Trek's creator, was "executive consultant" on the films, and was supposed to review and comment on script drafts as part of his salary for each film. He did just that. The fact that Meyer disagreed with him does not mean that he did anything wrong.
