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Documentry: Chaos on the Bridge, the story of the creation of Star Trek The Next Generation.

transmaster

transmaster

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William Shatner writes and directs this juicy documentary of the behind the scene, back stabbing, ego's, walkouts, firings, general "A" holiness surrounding the cast, and writers and producers, Gene Roddenberry, his cronies, and the principles of Paramount Studios. I love these kinds of details. I remember the first couple of years thinking the series never took on any issues, sweetness and light, no money, no troubles, etc. The was Gene Roddenberry's vision of HIS!!! Star Trek. Out side the show there were Trekkies demanding the original cast. The series really didn't hit it's stride until after the death of Roddenberry marked by the entry of the Borg. After you watch this documentary on Netflix, when you watch the first 3 years of Star Trek The Next Generation, also available on Netflix, you will have a new insight to what you are seeing on the screen. I love William Shatner's presentation and his access to the principles.
 
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transmaster said:
William Shatner writes and directs this juicy documentary of the behind the scene, back stabbing, ego's, walkouts, firings, general "A" holiness surrounding the cast, and writers and producers, Gene Roddenberry, his cronies, and the principles of Paramount Studios. I love these kinds of details. I remember the first couple of years thinking the series never took on any issues, sweetness and light, no money, no troubles, etc. The was Gene Roddenberry's vision of HIS!!! Star Trek. Out side the show there were Trekkies demanding the original cast. The series really didn't hit it's stride until after the death of Roddenberry marked by the entry of the Borg. After you watch this documentary on Netflix, when you watch the first 3 years of Star Trek The Next Generation, also available on Netflix, you will have a new insight to what you are seeing on the screen. I love William Shatner's presentation and his access to the principles.
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Roddenberry became a crackpot. "You will not need pockets in the 22nd century. :rolleyes:

Enterprise was a refreshing change Star Trek: The Next Degenerates

Many of us were aware of the thinness of the first three seasons as they were being aired. The entire Wesley crusher storyline had to end. That was the first glaring warning sign!

There taking on issues during season four on, left a lot to be desired.

The Trekkies should be ignored. Most of them were still single and living in their parent's basement. These people were not I touch with reality. They probably still are not.

Hearing of the mess should be very entertaining.
 
Always thought it was WAY too "Wooden", by & large the 1st year. VERY "Eighties", Riker was the archetypical Yuppie. Everything was an object lesson on "Consensus" building, Groupthink decisions.
 
Sandy G said:
Always thought it was WAY too "Wooden", by & large the 1st year. VERY "Eighties", Riker was the archetypical Yuppie. Everything was an object lesson on "Consensus" building, Groupthink decisions.
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And how many times did Wesley crusher "save the day"? It was like the rest of the crew flunked out of are fleet academy!
 
Everything changed when I started to watch J. Michael Straczynski's Babylon 5.
Here was a series with the mysterious Vorlons, The Shadows, the mafia like Centauri, the Minbari with their unlikely connection to mankind, and the tragic Narn. There are crooks, drug dealers, characters who where heroic, cowards, trapped. The first episode I managed to watch had a Narn by the name of Na'Toth who at the beginning of this episode was in the customs area of the B5 station as I was watching she spied a lady shouted YOU!!!! and then jumped and preceded to all but beat her to death. I thought at the time wow this is no Star Trek. One of the real treats of B5 was the character Alfred Bester of the Psych Corp, played by Walter Koenig a delicious ominous enforcer for Psych Corp. Seeing Koenig playing the part of this intimidating policemen you realize he was much more then Pavel Chekov on Star Trek.
 
transmaster said:
Everything changed when I started to watch J. Michael Straczynski's Babylon 5.
Here was a series with the mysterious Vorlons, The Shadows, the mafia like Centauri, the Minbari with their unlikely connection to mankind, and the tragic Narn. There are crooks, drug dealers, characters who where heroic, cowards, trapped. The first episode I managed to watch had a Narn by the name of Na'Toth who at the beginning of this episode was in the customs area of the B5 station as I was watching she spied a lady shouted YOU!!!! and then jumped and preceded to all but beat her to death. I thought at the time wow this is no Star Trek. One of the real treats of B5 was the character Alfred Bester of the Psych Corp, played by Walter Koenig a delicious ominous enforcer for Psych Corp. Seeing Koenig playing the part of this intimidating policemen you realize he was much more then Pavel Chekov on Star Trek.
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THIS. Straczynski's vision was a strong and unifying force that gave B5 its power. The third and fourth seasons contained some of the best TV sci-fi I had seen to that point. These were characters I really could care about.
 
As much as I liked TNG it was a bit too idealistic. I realize the crew of the Enterprise is supposed to be the best of the best but really, those people were saints.
And yes, Wesley, they should have let the Edo execute him, he did break a window after all.

They also made the future look boring, every time they visit a colony everyone's standing around in robes and sandals doing some type of scientific tests on the water supply, don't these people have Television or Play Stations?

Oh yeah, the Documentary, I watched it, and liked it. Shatner was pretty low key.
 
I have always thought "Enterprise" the last Star Trek TV series was the best of the bunch. Here is a series where Earth is the new kid on the block. The Enterprise NX-1701 is not the technological paragon of the universe. Vulcans are complete "A" holes. and alien races such as the Andorians turn into real people.

If you have been keeping up with "Star Trek Axanar" IMDB shows the movie is coming out in 2016. I have read there may be a TV series based on Axanar. We will see what happens.
 
Watched this last night. What a hoot. The best part was hearing about Denis Crosby's whining about her small script parts. And the Paramounf exec with his comment, "she wanted to be a movie star", or something to that effect.

Her character needed to go as well, right after Wesley.
 
transmaster said:
Everything changed when I started to watch J. Michael Straczynski's Babylon 5.
... I thought at the time wow this is no Star Trek.
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I've gotta try these out.

Another "no Star Trek" is the modern remake of Battlestar Galactica. Not for kids.
 
Good thread. We just finished the original episodes on Netflix and started TNG. I remember the original reruns as a kid and TNG when I was in high school. Yeah Wesley needs to go. He is all over those first episodes! I lost interest after TNG. To much soap opera.
 
Apple TV/iTunes They have the complete Babylon Series,
They also have Crusade (1999) a spin off of B5 which TNT canceled before the first episode aired.

Other spin offs, and TV movies in the B5 Universe, all are really good:
B5: In The Beginning (1998)
B5: Third Space (!998) Best of the TV movies not for young children it is frightening
B5: River of Souls (1998)
B5: A Call to Arms (1999)
B5: The Lost Tales (2007) Available on Apply TV/iTunes
B5: Series: The Legend of The Rangers: To Live and Die in Starlight (2002)

Crusade never really got going. TNT by this time was suffering from crap programing.
they realized the people watching Crusade where tuning into TNT just to watch Crusade and nothing else. The SciFi channel tried to obtain it but didn't have the money.
The first 3 episodes where the last 3rd that where produced. The fight scene in the first episode was forced on Straczynski by TNT executives he said that it was an attempt by them to get an excuse for breaking the contract for the series because they did not want to air it. Crusade is a bit strange but in a good way at least to me.
 
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ducati_EL34 said:
The Trekkies should be ignored. Most of them were still single and living in their parent's basement. These people were not I touch with reality.
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I can vouch for Trekkie strangeness. I am a hamradio operator (W7ITC) and I was in the Ham Radio Outlet store in Denver. There happened to be a Star Trek store next store. I had never been in such a place. I walked in and there where some really strange people there. I remember some dweeb sitting in from of a computer he was playing some sort of computer game, the only thing moving was his index finger on the keyboard. The song Barny Google (with the goo-goo-googley eyes) instantly started playing in my head. I backed out of the front door this place was too strange even for me.
 
transmaster said:
I can vouch for Trekkie strangeness. I am a hamradio operator (W7ITC) and I was in the Ham Radio Outlet store in Denver. There happened to be a Star Trek store next store. I had never been in such a place. I walked in and there where some really strange people there. I remember some dweeb sitting in from of a computer he was playing some sort of computer game, the only thing moving was his index finger on the keyboard. The song Barny Google (with the goo-goo-googley eyes) instantly started playing in my head. I backed out of the front door this place was too strange even for me.
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Yes. In my city was a Trekkie who had painted up his minivan to look like a star fleet shuttle craft. This same guy was at one of the trek movie openings in full uniform, along with some of his friends. This guy looked to be in his 30s! :wtf:
 
MacNoob said:
I've gotta try these out.

Another "no Star Trek" is the modern remake of Battlestar Galactica. Not for kids.
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You definitely need to give B5 a shot. I envy someone who can come to this series for the first time with the DVDs. Back when this aired, it was on second tier channels and often shown in the middle of the night. It took some viewer commitment and a VCR to truly follow it back then. Binge viewing of the DVDs also makes it possible to get through Season 1 more quickly. The series got off to a slow start, but it's important to hang in there for these initial chapters of the "novel" because they establish the characters and contain many plot points that pay off later. The series really takes off in Season 2, and it's quite a ride, especially through Season 4.

As for the BSG reboot, it was engrossing for a couple of seasons, but they didn't seem to have a plan for the ending. IMO, not nearly as satisfying as B5 overall, but worth watching nonetheless.
 
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Conflict and negativity in the Federation was not where Roddenberry wanted to go in the 80's as he was trying to get ST:TNG on the air after a couple of aborted tries - this despite how popular culture was expanding conflict, and TV was a lot more about drama, confrontation, and anti-heroes. He was also trying to find some type of rhythm to the writing, cast, and characters while fighting intervention from Paramount - obviously because they were all new and learning as they were going. The ensemble was much larger and of course supporting characters would be difficult to feature consistently. This was very much a parallel to TOS series. The idea of family, children, other people other than Starfleet personnel on a starship - an expansion of Roddenberry's original vision of Earth's future and how it was going to have to be, rather than just doing military, political, and conflict extension. Problem is, doesn't always make for compelling TV. So yeah, once the writing was opened up, and large long arcs were created with Klingon civil war, the Borg / Q, Cardassians/Bajor (who could forget Gul Ducat?), and more, the writing and storytelling was much more compelling. Piller and Berman took over in Season 3.

Favorite episodes include Conspiracy, Contagion, Yesterday's Enterprise, Best of Both Worlds, etc.

Although I like procedural cop shows, I get pretty tired of murders and crime being the constant drumbeat whether in entertainment or news.

I like Shatner too, but maybe he should do a documentary on why ST V:The Final Frontier, which he directed, ended up being so bad? He's not perfect either, I respect his work, and his online presence today, but very few shows on TV are spotless in their creation and execution.

BTW, If you like Trek, check out some of the podcasts of fan developed "radio" type dramas which explore other areas of the Trek / Federation Universe, including Section 31. Available on iTunes and other places.
 
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