Will there ever be a Gene Roddenberry movie?
- Thread starter Jayson
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Rod (Gene's son) has been making a documentry about his dad and Star Trek called Trek Nation (no relation to this place) . It will feature alot of behind the scenes stuff with Gene and his family also (or so Rod a has told me a couple times) . A theatrical Bio would be cool to concidering there is ones made about almost every on else. 
I always wished that Nasa would name a ship or somthing 'The Roddenberry' , true there was the whole Enterprise prototype shuttle in the late 70's but something under his name would be cool.
I always wished that Nasa would name a ship or somthing 'The Roddenberry' , true there was the whole Enterprise prototype shuttle in the late 70's but something under his name would be cool.
I don't know if I like this. I went through a period where I read a lot of biographies and autobiographies of writers I admire, and I learned two things: (1) Just because someone writes well doesn't mean that person is particularly interesting; and (2) Just because I admire someone's writing, that doesn't mean I'm going to admire the person. Being a jerk and being a great writer are not, alas, mutually exclusive. There are writers I could hardly bear to read for years after reading about what jerks they were in private life.
A documentary would be interesting, though, if it focuses on his work on Trek and scifi in general.
A documentary would be interesting, though, if it focuses on his work on Trek and scifi in general.
Biopic-wise, it might fall between a few stools:
On the one hand, you want to appeal to the 'The Man Who Saw The Future' audience - he's the visionary behind Star Trek, the dream that inspired a generation!
On the second hand, there's all the womanising, etc, reality you get from other people's biographies, which is also a great story, but gets in the way of the above.
And on the third (alien) hand... it's in some ways a story of failure: young cop and pilot becomes acclaimed writer. Creates series - which then gets cancelled. Ok, so said series then comes triumphantly back from the dead in syndication... but he's pushed out of the films after the first one (having failed to turn any of his later pilots into series). Then he gets his third chance at Star Trek, which succeeds triumphantly - but by then his health is failing, and you possibly have to get into stuff which relates to advisers who are still alive (and might have lawyers!). Not exactly a Hollywood ending.
It could make a great film... but only if it was in the same vein as Ed Wood and Gods & Monsters in many ways, which might not be how it would be done.
On the one hand, you want to appeal to the 'The Man Who Saw The Future' audience - he's the visionary behind Star Trek, the dream that inspired a generation!
On the second hand, there's all the womanising, etc, reality you get from other people's biographies, which is also a great story, but gets in the way of the above.
And on the third (alien) hand... it's in some ways a story of failure: young cop and pilot becomes acclaimed writer. Creates series - which then gets cancelled. Ok, so said series then comes triumphantly back from the dead in syndication... but he's pushed out of the films after the first one (having failed to turn any of his later pilots into series). Then he gets his third chance at Star Trek, which succeeds triumphantly - but by then his health is failing, and you possibly have to get into stuff which relates to advisers who are still alive (and might have lawyers!). Not exactly a Hollywood ending.
It could make a great film... but only if it was in the same vein as Ed Wood and Gods & Monsters in many ways, which might not be how it would be done.
And not all writers and artists have interesting lives. Who wants to watch two hours of Gene arguing with network executives?
I'd rather see an Ed Wood-style bio of William Moulton Marston, the man who invented Wonder Woman. He was an eccentric psychiatrist who also invented the lie director, lived with two women simultaneously back in the forties and fifties, and seemed to have a fascination with bondage. Plenty of chewy stuff there to work with.
I'd rather see an Ed Wood-style bio of William Moulton Marston, the man who invented Wonder Woman. He was an eccentric psychiatrist who also invented the lie director, lived with two women simultaneously back in the forties and fifties, and seemed to have a fascination with bondage. Plenty of chewy stuff there to work with.
I've wanted to see something like this for a long time. My ideal title: ... To the Stars, as in GR's pitch "Wagon Train to the Stars".
In order to craft the best story, it might be best to end the movie with TOS' not-at-all assured second-season renewal. That way, the focus would be on GR's early life, the inspiration behind Star Trek, the troubles with the pilots and the challenges of the first season. And at the underdog-victory end of the movie, we'd know that his/TOS' finest moments - Season Two and the whole rest of the franchise - are still ahead.
In order to craft the best story, it might be best to end the movie with TOS' not-at-all assured second-season renewal. That way, the focus would be on GR's early life, the inspiration behind Star Trek, the troubles with the pilots and the challenges of the first season. And at the underdog-victory end of the movie, we'd know that his/TOS' finest moments - Season Two and the whole rest of the franchise - are still ahead.
Me too, though if I were doing it, I'd probably make it more about the women who inspired Wonder Woman (Elizabeth and Olive, his wife and their partner) rather than about Marston himself.
We actually sell a comedy film called 'Roddenberry On Patrol' with a few actors from various Star Trek series and directed by Tim Russ:
http://www.renegade-studios.com/main/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=149&Itemid=190
(go to bottom)
Unfortunatly, we are currently sold out of DVD's for now.
http://www.renegade-studios.com/main/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=149&Itemid=190
(go to bottom)
Unfortunatly, we are currently sold out of DVD's for now.
That's only if you tell it the way Gene Roddenberry would have wanted it told. In the way that made him look like a hero for daring to go against the suits.
If the movie was told the way it actually happened with Gene Roddenberry lying and conniving and then blaming it all on the suits you've got a wonderful comedy about a two-faced producer. Has it been done? Sure. But Roddenberry was one of those megalamaniacal producers who actually built up a cult of personality around himself that stands strong today in spit of the truth being out there.
That's different. No such cult surrounds Aaron Spelling. That's for fucking sure.
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