In my opinion, it's probably too late to do it for TOS. With the re-boot of the franchise, you might be able to do it for TNG. Post-TNG series are too soon. Here's why:
Unlike
Doctor Who (which, I agree, is an awesome program and the 2005-to-present series are fantastic),
Star Trek has a mythos within its own fandom. We are, as a group, a bunch of elitists about our program.
As near as I can tell, this grew out of an idealism of the 1960s youth to seek The Truth. TOS became part of fans' personal "Truth."
This was heavily capitalized-upon by Roddenberry primarily and the actors secondarily. Roddenberry used his status as creator to install himself as a de-facto leader of a movement in which TOS was prominent.
And, let's face it, he lied a lot about the show. He consistently highlighted his own contributions (which were naturally many, as the show's creator and producer) while at the same time downplaying or never mentioning the contributions of others.
The actors did it, too. They found themselves also at the center of attention in a movement, being anointed de-facto leaders. For most of them, the only way they were making any money was by telling TOS anecdotes and signing autographs.
There is consequently a great deal of nonsense about how TOS was produced. TMOST -- written during production -- has some of the best, most immediate information on the series. However, even that shows signs of Roddenberry's fingerprints -- up to and including that all his major quotes be capitalized and indented. It's as though his were meant to be the Word of God or something.
Now, the reality is that some of the factors that go into making artistic decisions are not at all artistic. A lot of the time, it's just plain money. Other times, it can be personality quirks showing themselves. In any venture with more than one person, there are politics and interpersonal squabbling.
No series made about a show while the show is in production can afford to be 100% truthful. In TOS' case, TMOST is a decent book because the author primarily focuses on the physical mechanics of making the show. He doesn't get into how episodes are written except in a general way. Where he gets specific, it's amusing rather than malicious.
To look at this another way, because
Doctor Who Confidential is a series about a series that is currently in production, there are things it's not telling you. There are people it cannot afford to piss off. There is internal politics and squabbling that is entirely normal but that might make the show's runners appear petty to viewers. This could, in turn, impact the ratings of not only
Confidential, but the program itself.
TMOST was the same way. It could talk about factual mechanics of making a TV show. It could tell some of the more amusing stories. It could not tell the story about Nichelle Nichols being caught waiting for Roddenberry under his desk. It couldn't talk about how he had not just one (Majel) but at least two (Nichols) mistresses -- and that some of his casting choices had clearly been made with Roddenberry's hormones.
Those stories can be told now, because almost no one of consequence from the time is still working in Hollywood. In fact, a lot of them are dying of old age. You can tell the story about Nichols now and it doesn't matter: he's dead and she's a great-grandmother. If Majel and Nichols are upset about it, who can they complain to? Nobody -- it just doesn't matter any more.
Now would be a great time for an in-depth treatment of TOS -- except that people are dying. I'd personally have used Bob Justman and Herb Solow pretty intensively, and now Justman is dead. I don't know Solow's health status, but he's an elderly man at least.
Who do you call that has in-depth knowledge of the facts, can actually remember them, and is willing to talk about it? Roddenberry didn't tell the straight story when he was alive. The actors have been embellishing in minor ways for 40 years at cons. I'm sure that even they believe the minor embellishments after all these years. Most of the actors remain hung up on Shatner, too -- and the reality is that while important, the actors' contributions to a show actually come last. They're also the least-utilized, at least in a low-ratings show like TOS that had no Big Name Star. Shatner could command some attention by being the lead, but I guarantee that James Arness commanded a great deal more over on
Gunsmoke.
Anyway, a lot of TOS has become more dogma than truth, and there's no longer anyone alive who can really remember how it all got done. They have half-century-old memories of a period of three years where they worked really hard. Some of the harder work they'll remember -- but how vividly?
In short, for TOS, I think damned near all has been said that can be said. It'll be the work of the next half-century to piece together all that's been said and attempt to find the common truth in them.
You might be able to get away with a Confidential-style treatment for TNG. The people who made it are still alive, they probably remember a lot of it, and they might be willing to talk about the "bad parts" now. I would be very interested, for example, in hearing more about Roddenberry and Leonard Maizlish. Maizlish was Roddenberry's attorney. The way I've heard various stories makes it sound like that by TNG's second season, Roddenberry had basically turned his affairs over to Maizlish and this caused all kinds of problems.
There've been hints at that for years ... I spoke to both Peter David and Jeanne Dillard about it personally in about 1991 -- after they'd both had a little to drink at the Michigan City Star Trek festival. At the time, Maizlish was running roughshod over Pocket Books, and neither of them were very happy about it.
I'd like to hear about that side of things, now that the principals are fairly irrelevant.
Later than TNG, and you get into people who are still working in the industry, so telling those stories accurately becomes more difficult. No doubt somebody on
Enterprise was getting hummers under the desks from somebody else -- but those people are still working. Tell the stories now, and it could undermine one's career.
What would be really grand would have been a series of hidden cameras all over the Desilu lot -- even in Lucille Ball's office. If they'd done that, then stored everything in a vault (not to be opened until, say, after Leonard Nimoy's death), we could finally get a true account of how and why everything was done the way it was. Short of that ... well, the story we've got is probably the one we're stuck with.
I'd advise anyone connected with the JJ-verse
Star Trek to keep a detailed, logged, accurate account of their involvement. Take tons of pictures, video records, etc. Measure and record everything. Spend twice as much time documenting as you do performing real work. Then, when you're about 65, release it and make a fortune.
Dakota Smith
