The Wrath of Berman: how 90's Trek succeeded in spite of one poisonous executive

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Title: The Wrath of Berman: how 90's Trek succeeded in spite of one poisonous executive
Creator: 7deadlycinderella at r/HobbyDrama
Date(s): 2023
Medium: Reddit
Fandom: all the Treks
Topic:
External Links: [1]; https://archive.ph/mkuhf archive link]
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The Wrath of Berman: how 90's Trek succeeded in spite of one poisonous executive is a 2023 essay by 7deadlycinderella at r/HobbyDrama.

Some Topics Discussed

From the Essay

Even among Trek fans, Roddenberry as a figure gives many fans mixed feelings. Some of his early edicts on Trek writing (such as no interpersonal conflict within the crew, as well as his edict of “no religion” because he was an atheist who felt humanity would grow out of religious belief, as well as strict adherence to “status quo is god”) have not aged well, as well as his impact on 90’s Trek (he hated Patrick Stewart and wanted him gone). Because of this, as well as Roddenberry’s increasing age and personal instability a Paramount executive was assigned to Trek to ensure all the usual executive and executive meddle-y things were followed: scripts were on time, directors didn’t go over budget, standards and practices were followed. This executive was Rick Berman, and throughout the decade, his actions would cause him to slowly, throughout the 00’s-10’s as more came out, making him arguably the most reviled figure in Trek fandom, entirely behind the scenes.

Even back in the 60’s, Trek had a tumultuous work environment behind the scenes (Not one but two actresses had affairs with series creator Roddenberry, Harlan Ellison once wrote an episode with the drama that doubtless brought to the table, etc), and this continued into the movie era, including Paramount kicking Roddenberry upstairs because of his work on the Motion Picture. Even among Trek fans, Roddenberry as a figure gives many fans mixed feelings. Some of his early edicts on Trek writing (such as no interpersonal conflict within the crew, as well as his edict of “no religion” because he was an atheist who felt humanity would grow out of religious belief, as well as strict adherence to “status quo is god”) have not aged well, as well as his impact on 90’s Trek (he hated Patrick Stewart and wanted him gone). Because of this, as well as Roddenberry’s increasing age and personal instability a Paramount executive was assigned to Trek to ensure all the usual executive and executive meddle-y things were followed: scripts were on time, directors didn’t go over budget, standards and practices were followed. This executive was Rick Berman, and throughout the decade, his actions would cause him to slowly, throughout the 00’s-10’s as more came out, making him arguably the most reviled figure in Trek fandom, entirely behind the scenes

Early on, it was not due to untypical executive meddling. In the 90’s, TV was changing. Because of technology such as VCRs and early internet groups that encouraged tape-swapping, it was no longer completely necessary that every TV episode be solely self-contained, and many acclaimed series were playing with story arcs. However, this did not extend to Trek at first. TNG remained mostly episodic and multiple writers remarked that it was even difficult to allow the characters to change or display any development because of these restrictions (this is very apparent to modern viewers by such clunky arcs as the relationship between Riker and Troi). The famous Dominion War arc in DS9 that helped make it beloved by fans and quite influential in it’s own right, had to be fought endlessly to be allowed to continue with Berman and the execs by producer Ira Steven Behr, and the plans for a season-long VOY arc that eventually became the merely two-part Year From Hell, was vetoed by Berman not long after (a joke from a recent fan video includes the thesis that Berman was so busy ruining VOY and the TNG movies that he didn’t have enough time to ruin the end of DS9 too). This is all bog standard conservative executive stuff, but it managed to get worse.

Fan Comments

[Hodor30000]:

Considering how biased both sources of the confrontation are (Harlan being known to exaggerate if it'd entertain, and Shatner being... well, let's kindly call him 'a clueless egotist'), we'll honestly never the answer. It really could be that Ellison was being ESPECIALLY aggressive that day, or it could be that he was calm (for 1960s Harlan Ellison standards, so a few notches under 'will murder you with his bear hands', and perhaps one notch under 'sends you rotten roadkill- fifth class shipping- for the rest of your life') and just wasn't patting Shatner's ego.

God I wish I was a fly on the wall for that conversation. I'm not sure it didn't inspire the Gorn fight.

[...]

The funniest shit to me is how the final script [of "City on the Edge of Forever"], while arguably worse on the whole, is still recognizably Ellison-esc in most of its elements. He just could not be convinced to write a version that could be filmed within TOS's infamously low budget, its insane- like probably the biggest of his TV tantrums, and absolutely the least warranted given the scale of it.

Like, Harlan Ellison may have been a cantankerous little shit with a myriad of issues to say the fucking least, but good god could he write a hell of a story. Just a damn shame it wasn't until near the end he developed a sense of humor about himself and his at-best-crotchety nature.

[trollthumber]: Hands up if you were there for when the site made Aaron Sorkin dedicate an entire West Wing subplot to how absolutely not mad he was.

[eddie fitzgerald]: My understanding [of the subtext in Star Trek: Deep Space Nine ] was that the situation was exactly the opposite with Siddig, and that he and Robinson deliberately conspired to play Garak and Bashir as queer-coded as possible (in keeping with the vision of the writer's room). It was Berman who absolutely loathed the idea of those characters being queer-coded (or god forbid, actually queer, as some members of the production wanted them to be). I strongly suspect it was Berman who pushed those scenes with Bashir being infatuated with so many women.

[MonaganX]: Using historical accuracy as a cover for thinly veiled misogyny while ignoring all the major anachronisms that have nothing to do with women? Could Rick Berman be a...Gamer?

[eddie fitzgerald]: Wait, who the heck wants Berman to come back? Everyone I know that's into the older Star Trek hates Berman with the fury of a thousand burning suns. Although honestly that sort of underscores the absurdity of so much of this anti-nuTrek nonsense. Don't take me wrong, I personally am really not a fan of nuTrek. But it's like, fifty year old franchises aren't going to last forever, and the new stuff doesn't erase what was good about the old. I think that a lot of people who dislike the new Star Trek but genuinely love the old stuff are pretty zen about the whole situation. And a lot of the people who vocally hate nuTrek don't actually like the old Star Trek, they just see it as a symbol of "the good ol' days" which have now gone corrupted by "wokeness" (cause, ya know, Star Trek has never been 'woke' before). I can definitely see those people stanning Berman. And it annoys me, because that only serves to underscore how little they actually care or know about Star Trek.

[OUtSEL]: The treatment of the female cast on 90s Trek is truly reprehensible, and I'm still sad we didn't get more Tasha in TNG (partly because I shipped her with Deanna Troi but don't mind me). They deserve such a debt of gratitude for making Trek the feminist series it is in spite of its production. Though I will say its misogyny in places did make for some of the most hilarious episodes) of Trek put to writing.

As an LGBTQ person I'm oddly less sore about the lack of rep, but only because it was the 90s and I wasn't really expecting anything. These days Trek is better with its representation but it doesn't have the sociological, person-centric plots the way 90s Trek did so ... yeah, fuck you Berman

[killerstrangelet]: [Richard Arnold's] effect on Treklit alone deserves a writeup. RIP Margaret Wander Bonanno.

[coffeestealer]: After being a huge TOS fan as a teen I decided to embrace my inner Trekkie during the pandemic and start with the 90s series.

Having "Girl" as one of the first descriptors for female characters is the best way I have heard to describe why the female characters in TNG put me off so much...

Also I still can't believe how much Berman got away with. Man fuck that guy.

References

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