50 Years of Star Trek Page #5

And it was... it all got more natural.

And as it got more natural,

I think it got more

appealing to the audience.

I decided to write a spec script,

so I wrote a script

called "The Bonding."

Michael Piller came

aboard to be the new head writer,

and he found my script.

And I get this call one day

that he wants to buy it and produce it,

which literally changed my life.

We used to do 26 episodes

a year, and it was great.

So we'd work for ten months,

and then the first

Monday after the 4th of July,

we'd come back to work.

And that lasted for seven

years and could have lasted,

in all fairness, for ten years probably.

The humans of the 24th

century on "Next Generation"

didn't have the kinds of

problems and squabbles

and petty jealousies that we have today.

Chief O'Brien talks to me.

Keiko talks to you.

Why do they not talk to each other?

[chuckles] That's

a good question, Data.

I wish I had a good answer for you.

Perhaps when they're ready, they will.

Hmm. Many aspects of this

situation are puzzling to me.

Roddenberry somehow

magically made us... made me

believe in his vision of

the 24th century, right?

He said to me, "In the 24th century,

there will be no hunger, and

there will be no greed.

And all of the

children will know how to read.

Gene Roddenberry.

He was given the right to do "Star Trek"

the way he wanted to do it.

Unfortunately his

health was failing by the time

they even got "Star

Trek:
The Next Generation" on.

So he didn't really get the chance to do

all of the things he wanted to do.

Narrator:
When Gene

Roddenberry dies in 1991,

"The Next Generation" is

more popular than ever.

Carrying on his legacy, week after week,

for the next three years.

There were those of

us, myself included,

who thought it could

go on for ten years.

That we weren't done yet.

Knowing that there was

another series waiting in the wings

where we could continue to tell stories

that we hadn't told yet made that okay.

And it seemed smart to

take "Next Gen" off

at the peak of its popularity.

'Cause it was a very popular show.

There is a part of me that wished,

that wishes "Next Gen" had continued.

I was asked to direct the first

"Next Generation" movie.

I just... I wasn't

attracted to it.

I read it,

and it didn't feel like something

that I was gonna have a good time doing.

Ron Moore and I were asked to write

the first "Next Generation" movie.

We were very excited.

It was the first movie either

of us had written.

We loved these

characters. We knew these characters.

And we set about

conceiving the first "Next Gen" movie.

Kind of hand-off from

the original series,

Kirk to Picard.

There was sort of a list of things

that the movie had to have,

so when Bran and I stepped in,

here's the list of things it has to be.

"It's gonna be the next

first "Next Gen" movie.

"It can have the original cast in it.

"We want a transition

film, but the original cast

"can only be in the first ten minutes

"or 15 minutes of the movie tops.

"It has to be a Picard story.

"There has to be a Data

humorous runner in it.

"We want to have a big

villain, sort of like Khan.

"We also want to

have the Klingons in it.

And it should probably

have some time travel involved."

And you're just going, "Okay.

By the time "Generations," the

first movie, is coming out,

you have Kirk and Picard on

the cover of "Time" magazine.

That's the apex, it's

the zenith of the show.

"Generations" was still in the theaters

when the said, "Hey,

let's do another one.

And we want you guys

to do the second one."

And we said, "Okay."

"First Contact" was the

film that they should have made

every time after that.

Then the second movie, "First Contact,"

is, you know, a roller coaster ride

and wonderful and really sort

of redeems that franchise.

That movie was a huge

success. It made a lot of money.

And everybody liked it.

And Alfre Woodard was great in it.

And Cromwell was great in it.

I'm not a drinker, so

I got a fifth of Jamesons.

And I took one before when we rehearsed.

And then between every shot,

I would go back up to my tr...

[laughing]

So by the time I did the

thing we're at the bar,

when I take the drink... [retching]

Ahh!

- [gagging]

- Oh!

- [coughing]

Narrator:
"Star Trek: First Contact"

debuts in 1996 with

Commander Riker himself,

Jonathan Frakes in the director's chair.

It was great to work

with Jonathan, you know?

We'd worked with him

before as a director on the show,

so we knew his working

methods, he knew us, you know.

There was a great shorthand, obviously,

between him and the

entire cast and the crew.

This was our first

movie that was just "Next Gen."

So that... that was a

life-changer, you know.

I think "Star Trek's" a TV show.

The movies are fun, but, you know,

it's... it's a TV show.

It needs to tell the stories each week.

"First Contact" is fanta... it's like...

It's the best of the

"Next Generation" movies.

I'm sorry, everyone, that's how I feel.

- Probably.

- I see some grunting happening

over on the corners here.

Bobak, you grunted particularly hard.

I'm just a big "Insurrection"

fan because...

What? What?

It's the most like a "TNG" episode.

The movies really,

like, diverge from my thought

what made the show great.

And I like that it was a

little bit more of that

"TNG" -style episode than I

felt the rest of the movies were.

So we go from "Insurrection."

"Voyager's" still running at this point.

And then we end up

with, I hate to say it,

"Star Trek:
Nemesis," so Janeway...

They asked me to be in

that. Did you know that?

Really? What were

you gonna do in that?

Were you gonna be on the Enterprise?

- Evidently.

- Why would you say no?

What is wrong with you?

'Cause I had just

gotten off of "Voyager."

- Oh, my God, Jeri.

- My biggest fear is in signing

on to "Star Trek" to begin

with, not having been a fan,

and not really knowing

much about it other than that

- the actors get pigeonholed.

- Yeah.

And it was sort of known for that.

- Yeah.

- That was one of my big fears

in accepting the role is ever

breaking out of that character.

- I don't know if that's even...

- No, please.

- Known by anybody, but

apparently they were

replacing a character.

They were gonna yank and character out

and stick Seven of Nine in there.

It's a popular

character, get her in the movie.

And that's what it felt

like. And it didn't feel like

it would be anything other

than that story-wise.

Yeah.

Narrator:
Coming up, "Star

Trek" takes a dark turn.

"Deep Space Nine" is

the most meaningful to me.

- Mm-hmm.

- Because it gets into

the darker side.

I mean, it's after Gene

Roddenberry's death.

They're kinda free to kind

of get away from this, you know,

- everything ends happily.

- Yeah.

You know, you look at war in

a variety of different ways.

I mean, there's a great episode on PTSD,

where Nog has to deal with

the loss of his leg.

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