Why Rick Berman prevented Trek from being cool for so many years..

[Thrall]

Of course he was going to favor TNG crew. TNG was his baby. He helped make it the highest rated genre show of all time. TOS crew was old. Very old. Many of them were only a few years away from dying. Infact it was a pop-culture joke just how old and tired the franchise was at the time. And the movies weren't making as much as they used to. The Final Frontier really pissed off people. So swtiching it to a highly successful venue like TNG only made logical sense. Because the idea of recasting everyone was considered to be disrespectful to the cast, the fans, and Roddenberry at the time. My how things change.

TNG movies suffered from a lot problems. Too many to name. Mostly they just suffered under people without vision and just basic medicore writing. Much like the TV shows of that time. But I think the main problem was that TNG wasn't an action show and most of it's characters didn't translate well into a big budget, action movie. So having an intellectual philosopher like Picard ripping his shirt off and killing the bad guy with witty one-liners seemed really sillly. Generations was a bland, forgetable film that pissed off TOS fans even more then they already were. With First Contact they brought in a hugely popular enemy and let Ron Moore be Ron Moore. That should have been the rocketpad for all TNG movies. The acclaim and good will of that film was completely undercut by Insurrection, which was basically a bad 2 hour Voyager episode. Nemesis had the chance to redeem the TNG brand, but spent most of it's time doing a bad Wrath of Khan impersonation.

Rick Bermans big crime was to cater to hardcore fans. He tried to do something fresh with DS9, and they burned him for it. Granted, the first season was awful so the dislike wasn't totally unjustified. After that, it was nothing but safe, by-the-numbers Trek. He was simply giving them what they wanted. They wanted Next Gen and everything associated with it. So he gave them that. And he gave them that to the point that people began to throw up all the Next Gen he was giving them. He gave them that even if the show wasn't Next Gen, like Voyager and Enterprise. Occassionally he'd try to do something different, but he and Brannon Braga were such mediocre writers it always came accross as insulting to the fans and audience. But by that point TV had changed since TNG. Because of shows like DS9, genre shows were more serialized and more cutting edge now. His safe brand of Trek was now seen as the stagnant, retro-90's cardboard that it really was.

So people can blame Berman all they want. He deserves alot of it. But there was a point where he was offering something new and different, and fans spat in his face for doing that. So the fanbase is just as much to blame as he is IMO for the lesser years of Trek.

 

[TheGodBen]

He knows he was offered to be in it, but he declined because his role was reduced to a very unsubstantial one people. It's why he was so taken aback by Abrams and co. because he realized the Spock character finally had a purpose again. He also declined directing Generations because of the utter mess the script was. Get your facts straight Trekkies.

Why don't you get your facts straight? Nimoy's words:

They never contacted me, never suggested anything, we never had discussion or conversation.

Complete bullshit. There was discussions, he had a meeting with Rick Berman where Berman offered him the directors role and he chose to turn it down. This not only came out in interviews, but Braga and Moore actually discuss it on the DVD commentary and how they knew something was wrong when they saw Nimoy's face coming out of the meeting.

Nimoy is plain wrong and he is peddling utter rubbish in an attempt to make the TNG producers seem like bad guys and to make JJ out to be a visionary. It's bullshit and he is wrong.

 

[number6]

Of course he was going to favor TNG crew. TNG was his baby. He helped make it the highest rated genre show of all time. TOS crew was old. Very old. Many of them were only a few years away from dying. Infact it was a pop-culture joke just how old and tired the franchise was at the time. And the movies weren't making as much as they used to. The Final Frontier really pissed off people. So swtiching it to a highly successful venue like TNG only made logical sense. Because the idea of recasting everyone was considered to be disrespectful to the cast, the fans, and Roddenberry at the time. My how things change.

Recasting wasn't off the table. The notion of recasting the TOS with younger actors had floated around since the 70s. TNG was a good way of avoiding the recast, but recasting was always an option as was having younger characters just take over and slowly phase out the old.

TNG movies suffered from a lot problems. Too many to name. Mostly they just suffered under people without vision and just basic medicore writing.

Also realise that post TOS trek had fewer writers from the "golden age." A lot of those writers had served in WWII and could write those kinds of swashbuckling stories of heroism we saw with Kirk and Spock.

TNG represented a "kinder, gentler" family oriented show. That was by design. In doing so, modern Trek was slightly less edgy than it's 60s counterpart.. and writers in the 80s certainly had a different style, just as television writing in the 90s an so on.

Much like the TV shows of that time. But I think the main problem was that TNG wasn't an action show and most of it's characters didn't translate well into a big budget, action movie. So having an intellectual philosopher like Picard ripping his shirt off and killing the bad guy with witty one-liners seemed really sillly. Generations was a bland, forgetable film that pissed off TOS fans even more then they already were. With First Contact they brought in a hugely popular enemy and let Ron Moore be Ron Moore. That should have been the rocketpad for all TNG movies. The acclaim and good will of that film was completely undercut by Insurrection, which was basically a bad 2 hour Voyager episode. Nemesis had the chance to redeem the TNG brand, but spent most of it's time doing a bad Wrath of Khan impersonation.

This is also indicative of the prevailing trends in Hollywood entertainment. Don't think the actors didn't play a part in that. Nemesis suffered from Stewart and Spiner's input as much as anything. Paramount wanted a Wrath of Khan for the 90's. They still see TWOK as the benchmark of success for the franchise. Even the current Trek is being compared to TWOK...on many levels.

Rick Bermans big crime was to cater to hardcore fans. He tried to do something fresh with DS9, and they burned him for it. Granted, the first season was awful so the dislike wasn't totally unjustified. After that, it was nothing but safe, by-the-numbers Trek. He was simply giving them what they wanted. They wanted Next Gen and everything associated with it. So he gave them that. And he gave them that to the point that people began to throw up all the Next Gen he was giving them. He gave them that even if the show wasn't Next Gen, like Voyager and Enterprise. Occassionally he'd try to do something different, but he and Brannon Braga were such mediocre writers it always came accross as insulting to the fans and audience. But by that point TV had changed since TNG. Because of shows like DS9, genre shows were more serialized and more cutting edge now. His safe brand of Trek was now seen as the stagnant, retro-90's cardboard that it really was.

I think Berman's biggest mistake was trying to placate the fanbase. DS9 was a great show from the opening line, but fans pissed all over that because it was "too dark."
So rather than rock the boat we got more of the TNG formula in VOY. With ENT, they tried to bridge that gap, but didn't lean on the original series lore enough for some and didn't try harder to forge its own identity for others. I think it tried too hard to do both, and B&B should have just gone further with it.

So people can blame Berman all they want. He deserves alot of it. But there was a point where he was offering something new and different, and fans spat in his face for doing that. So the fanbase is just as much to blame as he is IMO for the lesser years of Trek.

You can read my other posts on the matter if you want my take on Berman's deserved role in all of this. People need to realise how much we should be thanking him for as well.