1 00:00:00,085 --> 00:00:03,422 [Captain Kirk] These are the voyages of the starship Enterprise. 2 00:00:03,505 --> 00:00:04,506 [Gates McFadden] By the mid '80s, 3 00:00:04,590 --> 00:00:08,135 Gene Roddenberry's original wagon train to the stars 4 00:00:08,218 --> 00:00:11,805 was still rumbling along on syndicated TV. 5 00:00:11,889 --> 00:00:12,931 The ratings are actually better, 6 00:00:13,015 --> 00:00:14,683 and people are watching the show now 7 00:00:14,767 --> 00:00:17,144 for the third, fourth, fifth, sixth, seventh time. 8 00:00:17,227 --> 00:00:20,898 [McFadden] Star Trek was no longer simply a cancelled TV show on loop. 9 00:00:20,981 --> 00:00:24,109 Three lucrative movies had transformed the franchise 10 00:00:24,193 --> 00:00:25,611 into a blockbuster. 11 00:00:25,694 --> 00:00:26,653 [groans] 12 00:00:26,737 --> 00:00:29,490 Star Trek II, III, and IV are just really great movies. 13 00:00:29,573 --> 00:00:32,034 [McFadden] But when it came to this wagon train, 14 00:00:32,117 --> 00:00:33,702 Gene had already fallen off. 15 00:00:33,786 --> 00:00:37,164 [Marc Cushman] He had been screwed over. He wasn't getting any ownership money. 16 00:00:37,247 --> 00:00:39,166 Paramount was rejecting his scripts. 17 00:00:39,249 --> 00:00:40,459 They saw him as the enemy. 18 00:00:40,542 --> 00:00:45,714 [McFadden] Relegated to the sidelines, Gene could only join the growing audience 19 00:00:45,798 --> 00:00:49,760 and watch as Star Trek took off without him. 20 00:00:51,512 --> 00:00:54,056 So beam aboard and hold on tight 21 00:00:54,139 --> 00:00:58,268 as we boldly go into the depths of Star Trek. 22 00:01:00,354 --> 00:01:05,025 And you can see it all from here in The Center Seat. 23 00:01:09,822 --> 00:01:10,823 Take us home. 24 00:01:12,866 --> 00:01:15,619 1986, Voyage Home is a huge hit. 25 00:01:15,702 --> 00:01:17,663 [Kirk] Everybody remember where we parked. 26 00:01:17,746 --> 00:01:21,083 Star Trek was heating up. 27 00:01:21,166 --> 00:01:25,963 Star Trek is the most profitable property that Paramount has. 28 00:01:26,046 --> 00:01:29,466 [McFadden] It may have been profitable, but Paramount wasn't admitting it. 29 00:01:29,550 --> 00:01:31,510 At least, not to Gene. 30 00:01:31,593 --> 00:01:34,972 Gene Roddenberry owned 20% of Star Trek, 31 00:01:35,055 --> 00:01:36,473 and Shatner owned 5%. 32 00:01:36,557 --> 00:01:38,559 [McFadden] Which sounds like more than a little... 33 00:01:38,642 --> 00:01:39,560 [cash register dings] 34 00:01:39,643 --> 00:01:40,561 But in fact... 35 00:01:40,644 --> 00:01:42,771 Neither of them had gotten a penny. 36 00:01:42,855 --> 00:01:45,816 [McFadden] Paramount's excuse? Star Trek was penniless. 37 00:01:45,899 --> 00:01:48,026 [Cushman] Paramount said it's in the red. 38 00:01:48,110 --> 00:01:49,695 It's the most successful show in reruns. 39 00:01:49,778 --> 00:01:51,196 It's now out on home video. 40 00:01:51,280 --> 00:01:52,406 It's in the red? 41 00:01:52,489 --> 00:01:55,075 [McFadden] Gene knew Star Trek was a gold mine. 42 00:01:55,158 --> 00:01:59,872 And if he needed any confirmation, it came to him one day on the golf course. 43 00:02:00,956 --> 00:02:03,792 [David Gerrold] Gene was golfing one day with one of the studio lawyers, 44 00:02:03,876 --> 00:02:06,420 and the lawyer said, "Let's make the next whole interesting." 45 00:02:06,503 --> 00:02:08,463 Gene says, "I tell you what, let's make it really interesting. 46 00:02:08,547 --> 00:02:10,090 How about my royalties on Star Trek?" 47 00:02:10,173 --> 00:02:11,466 And they both laughed, 48 00:02:11,550 --> 00:02:14,386 and Gene said, "What do you think those royalties would really be worth?" 49 00:02:14,469 --> 00:02:16,763 And the lawyer looks one way and looks the other way. 50 00:02:16,847 --> 00:02:18,974 He says, "Probably about 30 million." 51 00:02:19,182 --> 00:02:20,350 [McFadden] And more was to come 52 00:02:20,434 --> 00:02:22,644 because Paramount wanted to bring Star Trek 53 00:02:22,728 --> 00:02:25,647 back to the small screen with a new show. 54 00:02:25,731 --> 00:02:28,525 [Lucie Salhany] The stations were pushing to bring it back, 55 00:02:28,609 --> 00:02:33,030 and we had tried to relaunch it in '81, '82, '83, 56 00:02:33,113 --> 00:02:34,781 but it never really happened. 57 00:02:34,865 --> 00:02:36,992 So for the next few years, they're going back and forth. 58 00:02:37,075 --> 00:02:38,076 "We wanna bring Star Trek back." 59 00:02:38,160 --> 00:02:39,870 [McFadden] The next generation of Star Trek 60 00:02:39,953 --> 00:02:43,415 was going to require the next generation of executives. 61 00:02:43,498 --> 00:02:44,708 My name is Lucie Salhany. 62 00:02:44,791 --> 00:02:48,420 [McFadden] Lucie and her colleagues had an idea that had never been tried before. 63 00:02:48,503 --> 00:02:49,588 Let us syndicate. 64 00:02:49,671 --> 00:02:53,717 [McFadden] Selling a brand-new Star Trek straight into syndication. 65 00:02:53,842 --> 00:02:57,763 [Salhany] That means selling a show station by station. 66 00:02:57,846 --> 00:03:03,727 We will sell the original 79, and we will sell them the new Star Trek. 67 00:03:03,810 --> 00:03:06,229 [McFadden] Local stations got their new Star Trek, 68 00:03:06,313 --> 00:03:09,483 and Paramount kept a share of advertising. 69 00:03:09,566 --> 00:03:14,571 We took half of their advertising time within that 60 minutes. 70 00:03:16,031 --> 00:03:18,325 So we kept seven minutes. 71 00:03:18,408 --> 00:03:23,664 The stations got seven minutes, and those seven minutes would be 72 00:03:23,747 --> 00:03:28,001 three to four times more valuable than any programming 73 00:03:28,085 --> 00:03:29,962 they would be running in that time period, 74 00:03:30,087 --> 00:03:31,421 if the show worked. 75 00:03:31,505 --> 00:03:32,589 [McFadden] Which was a big if. 76 00:03:32,673 --> 00:03:34,383 It was a gamble those stations took. 77 00:03:34,466 --> 00:03:36,718 [McFadden] And it was all about the numbers. 78 00:03:36,802 --> 00:03:40,555 So we'll have this foundation of money from the original TV show 79 00:03:40,639 --> 00:03:44,351 and the advertising revenue from the new Star Trek. 80 00:03:44,476 --> 00:03:46,019 And that's how we paid for the show. 81 00:03:46,103 --> 00:03:47,562 [whistles] 82 00:03:47,646 --> 00:03:49,022 Incredible. 83 00:03:49,106 --> 00:03:51,108 [McFadden] A new television business model 84 00:03:51,191 --> 00:03:54,277 would enable the next generation of Star Trek. 85 00:03:54,361 --> 00:03:56,780 Star Trek broke the mold again. 86 00:03:56,863 --> 00:04:00,075 [McFadden] But what would they call this next generation? 87 00:04:00,158 --> 00:04:02,703 We just kept talking about this next generation. 88 00:04:02,786 --> 00:04:06,873 I don't even know how it came up, but that's how we named the show. 89 00:04:06,957 --> 00:04:10,127 It was Star Trek: The Next Generation. 90 00:04:10,210 --> 00:04:12,546 [McFadden] The colon never made it to screen, 91 00:04:12,629 --> 00:04:16,550 but Star Trek: The Next Generation was heading back into space. 92 00:04:16,633 --> 00:04:18,552 We believed in Star Trek. 93 00:04:18,635 --> 00:04:23,306 We believed it was the time, we believed space was going to be 94 00:04:23,390 --> 00:04:27,936 an important part of what people were thinking and talking about, 95 00:04:28,020 --> 00:04:30,188 and we believed in Gene Roddenberry. 96 00:04:30,272 --> 00:04:32,899 [McFadden] But Gene no longer believed in Paramount. 97 00:04:32,983 --> 00:04:35,444 So when it came to agreeing for a new show, 98 00:04:35,527 --> 00:04:38,488 before signing up, Gene lawyered up. 99 00:04:38,572 --> 00:04:41,366 [Cushman] He realized that Paramount needed Star Trek 100 00:04:41,450 --> 00:04:43,243 and he needed a strong lawyer. 101 00:04:43,326 --> 00:04:47,122 [McFadden] Gene's lawyer was a lot more than just strong. 102 00:04:47,205 --> 00:04:51,835 Gene's lawyer was, to put it politely, one of the most despicable, detestable, 103 00:04:51,918 --> 00:04:56,339 vile human beings I have ever, ever had to deal with in any way. 104 00:04:57,299 --> 00:04:59,092 I could not say enough evil things about him. 105 00:04:59,176 --> 00:05:01,470 When he came down with a brain tumor, 106 00:05:01,553 --> 00:05:03,346 I wanted to send a get-well card to the tumor. 107 00:05:03,430 --> 00:05:07,350 [McFadden] But there was one very notable thing about Gene's lawyer. 108 00:05:07,434 --> 00:05:09,436 He knew how to work a deal. 109 00:05:09,519 --> 00:05:13,065 Gene and his lawyer, Leonard Maizlish, had negotiated a deal. 110 00:05:13,148 --> 00:05:14,357 [McFadden] Not just any deal. 111 00:05:14,441 --> 00:05:16,068 [Cushman] He wrote a contract that said 112 00:05:16,151 --> 00:05:18,320 Roddenberry would get a percentage of the ownership, 113 00:05:18,403 --> 00:05:21,531 that he would get paid by specific dates, 114 00:05:21,615 --> 00:05:23,867 and that he would get to inspect the books. 115 00:05:23,950 --> 00:05:26,078 "What are we gonna call this new series, Gene?" 116 00:05:26,161 --> 00:05:28,455 "Oh, just put down 'Star Trek.'" 117 00:05:28,538 --> 00:05:30,207 [Cushman] So Leonard writes the contract. 118 00:05:30,290 --> 00:05:32,417 The president of Paramount signs it and everything else. 119 00:05:32,501 --> 00:05:35,712 And he said, "Congratulations. Good to have you back in the family." 120 00:05:35,796 --> 00:05:36,713 Gene says... 121 00:05:36,797 --> 00:05:41,718 "By the way, I'm gonna have my accountant call next week to look at the books." 122 00:05:41,802 --> 00:05:43,178 "Excuse me?" 123 00:05:43,261 --> 00:05:44,096 He says, "No, really." 124 00:05:44,179 --> 00:05:45,555 "We're gonna audit Star Trek." 125 00:05:45,639 --> 00:05:49,017 "No, Gene, there aren't any books. We haven't started doing the show yet." 126 00:05:49,101 --> 00:05:51,561 And Gene says, "Look at my contract." 127 00:05:51,645 --> 00:05:54,564 "You just gave me the right. The new contract has auditing rights." 128 00:05:54,648 --> 00:05:57,901 Leonard Maizlish didn't put "Star Trek: The Next Generation." 129 00:05:57,984 --> 00:06:00,237 He put "Star Trek," and they signed it. 130 00:06:00,320 --> 00:06:05,367 So Gene now had the right to inspect the books from the original Star Trek. 131 00:06:05,450 --> 00:06:09,621 [McFadden] Paramount knew all too well the story those books could tell. 132 00:06:09,704 --> 00:06:12,541 And suddenly, instead of a penniless Star Trek, 133 00:06:12,624 --> 00:06:15,293 -it was pennies from heaven for Gene. -[cash register dings] 134 00:06:15,377 --> 00:06:18,380 " We'll give you a million-dollar payout right now." 135 00:06:18,463 --> 00:06:20,757 A Rolls-Royce was delivered to his office at Paramount. 136 00:06:20,841 --> 00:06:21,675 [horn honks] 137 00:06:21,758 --> 00:06:23,426 Hands him the keys, a brand-new Rolls-Royce. 138 00:06:23,510 --> 00:06:25,053 Hands him a check. 139 00:06:25,137 --> 00:06:26,888 [ Gerrold] "A bonus for signing with Star Trek, 140 00:06:26,972 --> 00:06:29,766 and then we'll pay you an enormous amount of money each week." 141 00:06:29,850 --> 00:06:33,353 That's what Leonard Maizlish was able to do for Gene Roddenberry. 142 00:06:33,436 --> 00:06:34,896 [McFadden] So thanks to Gene's lawyer... 143 00:06:34,980 --> 00:06:36,690 [Gerrold] He was getting an enormous amount of money. 144 00:06:36,773 --> 00:06:39,109 I don't know how much, but it was a lot. 145 00:06:39,192 --> 00:06:40,152 [McFadden] More than that... 146 00:06:40,235 --> 00:06:42,112 Gene Roddenberry is running the show. 147 00:06:42,195 --> 00:06:46,658 He's running it more than he's gotten to do any of the recent movies. 148 00:06:46,741 --> 00:06:48,368 [Cushman] And as a result, 149 00:06:48,451 --> 00:06:51,997 Gene Roddenberry was always indebted to Leonard Maizlish 150 00:06:52,080 --> 00:06:54,082 and gave him a lot of power. 151 00:06:54,166 --> 00:06:58,044 [McFadden] But since Leonard the lawyer had no power over creative matters, 152 00:06:58,128 --> 00:07:00,463 and with Gene a bit under the weather... 153 00:07:00,547 --> 00:07:01,631 He was having health issues. 154 00:07:01,715 --> 00:07:03,300 His best years were behind him. 155 00:07:03,383 --> 00:07:05,969 [McFadden] And so he asked his two most trusted writers 156 00:07:06,052 --> 00:07:07,804 from the original series for help. 157 00:07:07,888 --> 00:07:11,516 He asked Dorothy and he asked David Gerrold to prepare the bible. 158 00:07:11,600 --> 00:07:15,562 [McFadden] This was the perfect opportunity to reimagine Star Trek. 159 00:07:15,645 --> 00:07:18,815 "Oh, great. We can fix the stardates. We can fix the warp speed. 160 00:07:18,899 --> 00:07:21,026 We can fix all of the stuff that was inconsistent." 161 00:07:21,109 --> 00:07:22,611 A manifest. 162 00:07:22,694 --> 00:07:23,820 Yes, sir. 163 00:07:23,904 --> 00:07:26,364 [McFadden] If he was going to write the show bible, 164 00:07:26,448 --> 00:07:28,325 David was going to write a new testament. 165 00:07:28,408 --> 00:07:30,410 [Gerrold] "Let's have an older, more thoughtful captain 166 00:07:30,493 --> 00:07:32,871 who doesn't beam down and put himself in danger." 167 00:07:32,954 --> 00:07:34,122 The away team's ready, sir. 168 00:07:34,206 --> 00:07:35,373 Energizing. 169 00:07:36,583 --> 00:07:37,709 Gene says, "Oh, I like that." 170 00:07:37,792 --> 00:07:40,086 And Gene says, "Well, we need a Spock character." 171 00:07:40,170 --> 00:07:41,463 That is wise. 172 00:07:41,546 --> 00:07:42,881 "Well, we can't have a Vulcan." 173 00:07:42,964 --> 00:07:45,425 I am an android, though anatomically I am a male. 174 00:07:45,508 --> 00:07:46,343 Ha. 175 00:07:46,426 --> 00:07:48,220 [Gerrold] "Let's do the opposite." 176 00:07:48,303 --> 00:07:51,556 I seem to have reached an odd functional impasse. 177 00:07:51,640 --> 00:07:54,517 "Let's have an android who wants to learn how to be human." 178 00:07:54,601 --> 00:07:55,560 Intriguing. 179 00:07:55,644 --> 00:07:59,064 I just, you know, took a shot and did my best, 180 00:07:59,147 --> 00:08:00,815 and happy to have a job. 181 00:08:00,899 --> 00:08:03,693 [McFadden] Some of David's ideas were truly radical. 182 00:08:03,777 --> 00:08:06,112 And I said, "We could have a Klingon on the bridge." 183 00:08:06,196 --> 00:08:07,948 [laughs] 184 00:08:08,031 --> 00:08:09,866 -Gene said no. -Impossible. 185 00:08:09,950 --> 00:08:12,285 [McFadden] But Gene was clinging on to the past. 186 00:08:12,369 --> 00:08:13,453 [Gerrold] Dorothy came along later, 187 00:08:13,536 --> 00:08:15,538 she said, "Let's have a Klingon on the crew." 188 00:08:15,622 --> 00:08:16,456 Gene said no. 189 00:08:16,539 --> 00:08:19,084 [McFadden] So Gene had doubled down on no Klingons, 190 00:08:19,167 --> 00:08:24,214 but he did want original series writing legend D.C. Fontana's way with words. 191 00:08:24,297 --> 00:08:27,259 He asked me would I please write the pilot script, 192 00:08:27,342 --> 00:08:28,385 "Encounter at Farpoint." 193 00:08:28,468 --> 00:08:29,302 And I said, "Fine." 194 00:08:29,386 --> 00:08:33,807 This Farpoint station will be an excellent test. 195 00:08:33,890 --> 00:08:36,226 We were telling people, "Don't suggest putting a Klingon on the ship. 196 00:08:36,309 --> 00:08:37,143 Gene said no." 197 00:08:37,227 --> 00:08:38,895 When we get to "Encounter at Farpoint," 198 00:08:38,979 --> 00:08:43,024 and Dorothy writes it where Tasha Yar is in command... 199 00:08:43,108 --> 00:08:44,109 Yar here. 200 00:08:44,192 --> 00:08:48,071 And Gene rewrites it and introduces the character of Worf. 201 00:08:48,154 --> 00:08:49,781 I am Lt. Worf. 202 00:08:49,864 --> 00:08:52,325 So he won't have to have a woman in the command chair. 203 00:08:52,409 --> 00:08:54,160 [McFadden] And suddenly, David and Fontana 204 00:08:54,244 --> 00:08:56,413 had their Klingon on the bridge, 205 00:08:56,496 --> 00:08:58,915 but Gene had burned a bridge in the process. 206 00:08:58,999 --> 00:09:01,418 She added to my pilot script, and that was the first thing 207 00:09:01,501 --> 00:09:02,502 that was a little disappointing. 208 00:09:02,585 --> 00:09:05,005 I see. I see. 209 00:09:05,088 --> 00:09:07,424 [D.C. Fontana] He added all the stuff that had to do with Q. 210 00:09:07,507 --> 00:09:09,301 We call ourselves the Q. 211 00:09:09,384 --> 00:09:12,470 [Gerrold] Gene took her script and he adds the character of Q, 212 00:09:12,554 --> 00:09:14,973 who is now testing the Enterprise. 213 00:09:15,056 --> 00:09:16,766 Gene only had one story. 214 00:09:16,850 --> 00:09:19,144 "We meet God and we beat the crap out of him." 215 00:09:19,227 --> 00:09:22,689 The same old story all over again. 216 00:09:22,772 --> 00:09:26,609 [McFadden] Gene had a long history of playing God with the scripts. 217 00:09:26,693 --> 00:09:28,987 Which I didn't particularly care for, but it's not my choice. 218 00:09:29,070 --> 00:09:32,198 [McFadden] This time, Gene was not just rewriting the script, 219 00:09:32,282 --> 00:09:33,950 he was rewriting the deal. 220 00:09:34,034 --> 00:09:35,660 I had to share that script credit with him. 221 00:09:35,744 --> 00:09:37,871 [Gerrold] He said, "The studio wants my name on it." 222 00:09:37,954 --> 00:09:40,165 And this is Leonard Maizlish's doing. 223 00:09:40,248 --> 00:09:41,374 Dorothy was furious. 224 00:09:41,458 --> 00:09:44,878 Gene had lied to her, and he now was getting half the credit 225 00:09:44,961 --> 00:09:47,464 and half the money on this script. 226 00:09:47,547 --> 00:09:50,008 [McFadden] Having been pushed aside on her own pilot, 227 00:09:50,091 --> 00:09:53,303 Gene threw Fontana a small but lucrative bone. 228 00:09:53,386 --> 00:09:54,888 And this is where it gets really ugly. 229 00:09:54,971 --> 00:09:57,307 [McFadden] She could write the story as she saw fit, 230 00:09:57,390 --> 00:10:00,143 but not for TV, for a book. 231 00:10:00,226 --> 00:10:04,147 Publishing was gonna give $30,000 for the novelization. 232 00:10:04,230 --> 00:10:08,568 [McFadden] Dorothy promptly wrote the novelization of her own episode. 233 00:10:08,651 --> 00:10:11,446 And Dorothy had written the novelization, she was done with it. 234 00:10:11,529 --> 00:10:14,532 [McFadden] But no matter how evil her own villain in the book, 235 00:10:14,616 --> 00:10:18,036 it was nothing compared to what Leonard the lawyer had planned. 236 00:10:18,119 --> 00:10:20,038 [Gerrold] She was gonna turn it in, and Leonard Mazelis says, 237 00:10:20,121 --> 00:10:22,415 "We're taking the novelization away from you." 238 00:10:22,499 --> 00:10:24,542 And he comes to me and says, 239 00:10:24,626 --> 00:10:28,004 "Would you like to do the novelization of 'Encounter at Farpoint'?" 240 00:10:28,088 --> 00:10:29,798 So I said, "Yeah, I can do that." 241 00:10:29,881 --> 00:10:32,384 [McFadden] But Leonard Maizlish was about to hit a roadblock 242 00:10:32,467 --> 00:10:34,302 made of solid loyalty. 243 00:10:34,386 --> 00:10:36,596 And its name was David Gerrold. 244 00:10:36,679 --> 00:10:38,681 And then I go to Dorothy very privately. 245 00:10:38,765 --> 00:10:42,060 I said, "I know you finished the book and I know what Leonard has done. 246 00:10:42,143 --> 00:10:44,938 Give me your book. I'll turn it in and give you the money." 247 00:10:45,021 --> 00:10:47,232 I would do anything for Dorothy Fontana. 248 00:10:47,315 --> 00:10:49,651 And you know, if Leonard is gonna screw her, he has to go through me. 249 00:10:55,907 --> 00:10:59,452 [McFadden] Eighteen Earth years since its last primetime adventure, 250 00:10:59,536 --> 00:11:02,705 Star Trek was finally launching a new mission. 251 00:11:02,789 --> 00:11:05,792 Gene Roddenberry wanted to make a Star Trek that was different 252 00:11:05,875 --> 00:11:07,335 from what he had done in the '60s. 253 00:11:07,419 --> 00:11:11,840 Break us out of orbit and continue to our next assignment. 254 00:11:11,923 --> 00:11:13,883 [McFadden] But this next-generation Star Trek 255 00:11:13,967 --> 00:11:15,927 posed a next-level challenge. 256 00:11:16,010 --> 00:11:17,595 We must proceed in our own way. 257 00:11:17,679 --> 00:11:20,557 [McFadden] How to reshape the franchise for a new generation 258 00:11:20,640 --> 00:11:23,518 without losing touch with Star Trek's roots. 259 00:11:23,601 --> 00:11:27,147 Every Star Trek begins with, "How do we make it exactly like the others 260 00:11:27,230 --> 00:11:28,273 except totally different?" 261 00:11:28,356 --> 00:11:30,733 [Michael Okuda] Gene was very proud of what 262 00:11:30,817 --> 00:11:32,152 he had done on the original series, 263 00:11:32,235 --> 00:11:34,195 but he wasn't afraid to shake things up. 264 00:11:34,279 --> 00:11:36,531 [McFadden] Everything was up for renegotiation. 265 00:11:36,614 --> 00:11:38,658 [David Livingston] The set design, the costumes, 266 00:11:38,741 --> 00:11:40,618 the makeup, the hair design... 267 00:11:40,702 --> 00:11:43,621 Everything had to be created new and invented. 268 00:11:43,705 --> 00:11:46,624 [McFadden] Including a new and redesigned Enterprise. 269 00:11:46,708 --> 00:11:48,501 It seemed like everything was new. 270 00:11:48,585 --> 00:11:51,171 Gene had a very definite directive to me. 271 00:11:51,254 --> 00:11:52,172 "No pistols." 272 00:11:52,255 --> 00:11:53,631 These phasers have been retuned. 273 00:11:53,715 --> 00:11:55,717 [McFadden] Which led to a few new questions. 274 00:11:55,800 --> 00:11:59,804 How do you hold an energy weapon if it's not like a gun? 275 00:11:59,888 --> 00:12:01,723 Well, then it's like a flashlight. 276 00:12:01,806 --> 00:12:02,765 Hold it right there! 277 00:12:02,849 --> 00:12:06,144 I think the first time I pulled out my phaser, I went... 278 00:12:06,227 --> 00:12:08,354 [buzzes] You know, like, I made a noise. 279 00:12:08,438 --> 00:12:10,440 [McFadden] Actually, Denise was on the right track. 280 00:12:10,523 --> 00:12:14,068 We redid the entire sound library with modern sound. 281 00:12:14,152 --> 00:12:17,280 Everything had to be familiar enough and yet new enough. 282 00:12:17,363 --> 00:12:18,323 [laser sound] 283 00:12:18,406 --> 00:12:22,785 [McFadden] Ships and guns were one thing, but what about the people to control them? 284 00:12:22,869 --> 00:12:25,538 Star Trek had to find a new leader, 285 00:12:25,622 --> 00:12:27,957 and that person had some big boots to fill. 286 00:12:28,041 --> 00:12:29,209 You're from outer space. 287 00:12:29,292 --> 00:12:32,128 No, I'm from Iowa. I only work in outer space. 288 00:12:32,212 --> 00:12:35,215 Gene wanted to have everything be not original series, 289 00:12:35,298 --> 00:12:38,843 and so what's the totally opposite you can be of an Iowa farm boy 290 00:12:38,927 --> 00:12:40,053 is a French guy. 291 00:12:40,136 --> 00:12:43,306 I'm Captain Jean-Luc Picard of the USS Enterprise. 292 00:12:43,389 --> 00:12:45,808 [McFadden] But it's a long way from Iowa to Paris. 293 00:12:45,892 --> 00:12:48,228 [Salhany] Well, we were used to Shatner. 294 00:12:48,311 --> 00:12:51,272 The expectation is, you're gonna get somebody like him. 295 00:12:51,356 --> 00:12:53,107 [McFadden] A far bigger problem was who should play 296 00:12:53,191 --> 00:12:55,193 this aristocratic Frenchman. 297 00:12:55,276 --> 00:12:57,654 What the devil am I doing here? 298 00:12:57,737 --> 00:12:59,739 "How many French actors are we gonna read?" 299 00:12:59,822 --> 00:13:01,115 [McFadden] The answer was obvious. 300 00:13:01,199 --> 00:13:02,033 Oh, great. 301 00:13:02,116 --> 00:13:03,451 [McFadden] An Englishman, of course. 302 00:13:03,535 --> 00:13:07,747 When they came up with it, we went, "Oh, my God." 303 00:13:07,830 --> 00:13:10,083 [McFadden] Gene Roddenberry was unconvinced. 304 00:13:10,166 --> 00:13:12,418 Gene didn't want Patrick Stewart. 305 00:13:12,502 --> 00:13:15,838 [McFadden] He felt there was something missing about Patrick Stewart. 306 00:13:15,922 --> 00:13:18,800 [Cushman] Gene didn't like the fact that he was hairless. 307 00:13:18,883 --> 00:13:22,262 Gene wanted it to be somebody who looked like Jeffrey Hunter or William Shatner, 308 00:13:22,345 --> 00:13:24,347 that standard American leading man. 309 00:13:24,430 --> 00:13:27,976 [McFadden] Gene felt Star Trek would be losing touch with its roots 310 00:13:28,059 --> 00:13:30,937 if it cast a captain that didn't have any, 311 00:13:31,020 --> 00:13:32,897 but he was abundant with something else. 312 00:13:32,981 --> 00:13:34,524 He had a gravitas. 313 00:13:34,607 --> 00:13:35,692 All right! 314 00:13:35,775 --> 00:13:38,945 Gene was so impressed by his acting, he said okay. 315 00:13:39,028 --> 00:13:42,031 [McFadden] But if Gene loved Patrick's smooth acting, 316 00:13:42,115 --> 00:13:44,242 he still wasn't a fan of his smooth head. 317 00:13:44,325 --> 00:13:45,201 Damn. 318 00:13:45,285 --> 00:13:48,580 [Livingston] This bald guy shows up looking for the hair department. 319 00:13:48,663 --> 00:13:52,417 With his very proper English accent, he says, "Hi, I'm Patrick Stewart," 320 00:13:52,500 --> 00:13:53,876 and he has this box. 321 00:13:53,960 --> 00:13:57,505 In the box were wigs for a hair test. 322 00:13:57,589 --> 00:14:01,009 Because, Gene Roddenberry, he was not about to have a bald captain. 323 00:14:01,092 --> 00:14:02,802 [McFadden] Who's to say 324 00:14:02,885 --> 00:14:06,556 whether Patrick Stewart passed or failed the hair test? 325 00:14:06,639 --> 00:14:07,974 It was a little bit of a shocker. 326 00:14:08,057 --> 00:14:10,059 [McFadden] But then someone had a bright idea. 327 00:14:10,143 --> 00:14:12,103 [Cushman] "Why not let him just be what he is? 328 00:14:12,186 --> 00:14:14,689 It won't be compared to the original Star Trek." 329 00:14:14,772 --> 00:14:16,065 As simple as that. 330 00:14:16,149 --> 00:14:17,442 [McFadden] Of course. 331 00:14:17,525 --> 00:14:21,112 What Patrick Stewart lacked was not a problem, it was the solution. 332 00:14:21,195 --> 00:14:24,991 If they try to get somebody like Shatner, it's gonna kill the show. 333 00:14:25,074 --> 00:14:27,702 We need somebody different that people will talk about. 334 00:14:27,785 --> 00:14:29,746 [McFadden] Patrick Stewart's skull 335 00:14:29,829 --> 00:14:32,624 was the least of Star Trek's casting problems. 336 00:14:32,707 --> 00:14:35,668 Creating that ensemble, it's a... 337 00:14:35,752 --> 00:14:39,672 85% of the success of your show is your casting. 338 00:14:39,756 --> 00:14:41,674 [McFadden] But not to worry because... 339 00:14:41,758 --> 00:14:44,010 [Gerrold] Gene had a superpower, and it was casting. 340 00:14:44,093 --> 00:14:45,762 He would go with his gut feeling. 341 00:14:45,845 --> 00:14:48,222 He will triumph who knows when to fight. 342 00:14:48,306 --> 00:14:50,350 [Gerrold] With the men, he looked for people 343 00:14:50,433 --> 00:14:52,477 who were capable of heroic deeds. 344 00:14:52,560 --> 00:14:53,728 [McFadden] And for the women... 345 00:14:53,811 --> 00:14:59,025 Gene was always looking for women who had a certain presence. 346 00:14:59,108 --> 00:15:02,987 And you can see it with Marina Sirtis and Gates McFadden. 347 00:15:03,071 --> 00:15:05,114 Their presence is compelling. 348 00:15:05,198 --> 00:15:06,616 Dr. Crusher. 349 00:15:08,034 --> 00:15:09,160 Captain. 350 00:15:09,243 --> 00:15:12,205 [McFadden] As for my presence, yes, that's me. 351 00:15:12,288 --> 00:15:14,666 I almost wasn't even present at my audition. 352 00:15:14,749 --> 00:15:18,294 I had come out to LA for something else, and I was on my way back to the airport 353 00:15:18,378 --> 00:15:21,130 when my agent said, "Please go to Paramount and audition." 354 00:15:21,214 --> 00:15:23,591 "Well, what's the part?" She said, "Oh, just go, just go." 355 00:15:23,675 --> 00:15:26,177 I went there and they said, "Yeah, any of the women's roles." 356 00:15:26,260 --> 00:15:27,345 Doctor, all I've got is-- 357 00:15:27,428 --> 00:15:29,472 Is an order to report to sickbay 358 00:15:29,555 --> 00:15:33,101 from the only person aboard this ship who can give you an order. 359 00:15:33,184 --> 00:15:37,814 Gene made it very clear that I was a high-ranking officer, 360 00:15:37,897 --> 00:15:40,692 that Riker and Crusher had the same rank, 361 00:15:40,775 --> 00:15:44,487 and that if I felt that the captain, something was off 362 00:15:44,570 --> 00:15:47,657 psychologically, medically, I could ask him to step down. 363 00:15:47,740 --> 00:15:51,953 I thought it was a big step forward for women in command positions, 364 00:15:52,036 --> 00:15:56,290 the fact that she was a mother and had to deal with her child on the ship. 365 00:15:56,374 --> 00:15:58,918 Mom, could you get me a look at the bridge? 366 00:15:59,001 --> 00:16:02,004 All of those things were why I ultimately said yes. 367 00:16:02,088 --> 00:16:03,172 Mr. Crusher. 368 00:16:03,256 --> 00:16:05,133 [McFadden] Star Trek's first single mom 369 00:16:05,216 --> 00:16:08,553 would bring with her Star Trek's first series regular teenager. 370 00:16:08,636 --> 00:16:10,221 I'm with Starfleet. 371 00:16:10,304 --> 00:16:14,225 Gene really wanted a character that kids could relate to. 372 00:16:14,308 --> 00:16:16,352 Breathe. 373 00:16:16,436 --> 00:16:17,854 Gotta remember to breathe. 374 00:16:17,937 --> 00:16:21,190 [Wil Wheaton] I was a super weird kid. 375 00:16:21,274 --> 00:16:26,279 I was shy, and I just felt so seen by Star Trek. 376 00:16:26,362 --> 00:16:30,825 So when I had an opportunity to become part of Star Trek, 377 00:16:30,908 --> 00:16:35,538 I was so nervous that I went in there and I just sucked. 378 00:16:35,621 --> 00:16:36,873 I wasn't prepared at all. 379 00:16:36,956 --> 00:16:40,418 I just blew it and I left, and I was like, "Well, I just lost that job." 380 00:16:40,501 --> 00:16:42,128 Do you judge your condition good? 381 00:16:42,211 --> 00:16:43,755 I judge it excellent, sir. 382 00:16:43,838 --> 00:16:46,424 [McFadden] Denise Crosby entered through the backdoor, 383 00:16:46,507 --> 00:16:50,261 thanks to a last-minute brainstorm and a trip to the movies. 384 00:16:50,344 --> 00:16:53,598 We had seen Aliens, and we were so impressed with Vasquez. 385 00:16:53,681 --> 00:16:56,893 [McFadden] The hard-hitting heroine played by Jenette Goldstein. 386 00:16:56,976 --> 00:16:59,645 "We need a strong woman like that," Gene said. 387 00:16:59,729 --> 00:17:02,023 So I created-- I called her Macha Hernandez. 388 00:17:02,106 --> 00:17:04,317 He said, "Oh, we can't name her Macha, that means 'lesbian.'" 389 00:17:04,400 --> 00:17:06,110 "Yeah, what's your point?" 390 00:17:06,194 --> 00:17:08,154 All right, so they changed the name to Tasha Yar. 391 00:17:08,237 --> 00:17:12,200 Originally, I was reading for the part of Counselor Troi. 392 00:17:12,283 --> 00:17:15,995 I came in and read for Rick Berman and Gene Roddenberry, 393 00:17:16,078 --> 00:17:20,416 and Gene said, "Would you mind reading the part of Tasha Yar?" 394 00:17:20,500 --> 00:17:22,543 As security chief, I can't just stand here and let-- 395 00:17:22,627 --> 00:17:24,295 Yes, you can, Lt. Yar. 396 00:17:24,378 --> 00:17:26,255 And Gene said, "I see it suddenly differently." 397 00:17:26,339 --> 00:17:27,632 [Captain Picard] Wesley. 398 00:17:28,966 --> 00:17:31,803 I haven't stepped one foot on your bridge, Captain. 399 00:17:31,886 --> 00:17:34,305 [McFadden] And for Wil Wheaton, the door didn't shut. 400 00:17:34,388 --> 00:17:38,392 [Wheaton] Casting had called and said, "Just wasn't what we know he can be. 401 00:17:38,476 --> 00:17:40,520 We just want him to come back and take another swing at it." 402 00:17:40,603 --> 00:17:41,979 Sit down over there, young man. 403 00:17:42,063 --> 00:17:45,149 [Wheaton] I went back and I didn't suck. That never happens. 404 00:17:45,233 --> 00:17:47,068 I'm really lucky and really grateful. 405 00:17:47,151 --> 00:17:50,696 Generosity has always been by weakness. 406 00:17:50,780 --> 00:17:52,907 [McFadden] John de Lancie's casting as Q 407 00:17:52,990 --> 00:17:57,495 came from the unlikely combination of daytime TV, heart surgery, 408 00:17:57,578 --> 00:18:00,122 and a lawyer pretending to be someone else. 409 00:18:00,206 --> 00:18:03,334 A guy walks out, he said, "I'm one of the producers." 410 00:18:03,417 --> 00:18:05,837 He actually wasn't. He was Gene's lawyer. 411 00:18:05,920 --> 00:18:07,588 [McFadden] Leonard the lawyer was back. 412 00:18:07,672 --> 00:18:09,465 -[horn honks] -As a producer? 413 00:18:09,549 --> 00:18:11,092 [John de Lancie] And he said, "This is a payback. 414 00:18:11,175 --> 00:18:13,803 Four or five years ago, I was flat on my back 415 00:18:13,886 --> 00:18:16,055 with a quadruple bypass operation. 416 00:18:16,138 --> 00:18:18,057 Every day, I would watch you." 417 00:18:18,140 --> 00:18:19,976 I had been on a soap opera. 418 00:18:20,059 --> 00:18:23,104 You should have seen the smile on her face. 419 00:18:23,187 --> 00:18:26,399 "And you made me laugh when I thought I was gonna die." 420 00:18:26,482 --> 00:18:29,694 Leonard Maizlish brought me in, 421 00:18:29,777 --> 00:18:31,988 and I was there at 6:00 in the morning on Monday. 422 00:18:32,071 --> 00:18:34,115 Another brilliant suggestion. 423 00:18:34,198 --> 00:18:35,992 [McFadden] The question for the producers was, 424 00:18:36,075 --> 00:18:38,911 how would all of this play in the kingdom of fandom? 425 00:18:38,995 --> 00:18:41,873 There was an actual protest about The Next Generation. 426 00:18:41,956 --> 00:18:43,791 "You're never going to replace Kirk and Spock! 427 00:18:43,875 --> 00:18:46,586 You can't wipe away Kirk and Spock and McCoy for us!" 428 00:18:46,669 --> 00:18:50,464 You know, the fans, they just thought we were killing the sacred cow. 429 00:18:50,548 --> 00:18:52,550 [Brent Spiner] Leonard Nimoy said that, you know, 430 00:18:52,633 --> 00:18:54,677 "How many times can you create lightning in a bottle?" 431 00:18:54,760 --> 00:18:58,264 It was unlikely that we were going to be a success. 432 00:18:58,347 --> 00:18:59,974 It is possible. 433 00:19:00,057 --> 00:19:02,310 But absolutely no margin for error. 434 00:19:02,393 --> 00:19:04,061 [McFadden] Lightning or not, 435 00:19:04,145 --> 00:19:06,772 things did get a little rattled come opening night. 436 00:19:06,856 --> 00:19:11,193 [de Lancie] When the show aired, when I saw that crane shot, 437 00:19:11,277 --> 00:19:13,571 and it came in like this... 438 00:19:14,572 --> 00:19:15,948 [laughs] 439 00:19:16,032 --> 00:19:17,283 I went, "Oh, dear." 440 00:19:17,366 --> 00:19:18,367 [grunting] 441 00:19:19,577 --> 00:19:21,996 [stammers] It was out of a great comedy. 442 00:19:22,079 --> 00:19:23,831 I mean, you just couldn't make that up. 443 00:19:23,915 --> 00:19:26,584 [laughs] "This show isn't gonna go anywhere." 444 00:19:26,667 --> 00:19:29,003 [McFadden] The first episode, "Encounter at Farpoint," 445 00:19:29,086 --> 00:19:33,674 went shakily into the unknown on September 28th, 1987. 446 00:19:33,758 --> 00:19:36,385 "Encounter at Farpoint," to me, is a strange hybrid. 447 00:19:36,469 --> 00:19:38,304 It's way too long. 448 00:19:38,387 --> 00:19:41,182 It's a two-hour, and it's really only got enough story for an hour. 449 00:19:41,265 --> 00:19:44,727 It's kind of undisciplined and loose-limbed. 450 00:19:44,810 --> 00:19:46,395 It kind of flops around a bit. 451 00:19:46,479 --> 00:19:49,148 I don't see no points on your ears, boy. 452 00:19:49,231 --> 00:19:51,817 But you sound like a Vulcan. 453 00:19:51,901 --> 00:19:55,613 [McFadden] But something about this loose-limbed, ill-disciplined behemoth 454 00:19:55,696 --> 00:19:56,739 struck a chord. 455 00:19:56,822 --> 00:19:58,991 [Salhany] The early returns were phenomenal, 456 00:19:59,075 --> 00:20:02,036 far beyond what anybody thought they would be, 457 00:20:02,119 --> 00:20:04,413 and we knew we had a major hit on our hands. 458 00:20:04,497 --> 00:20:07,500 A feeling of great joy. 459 00:20:07,583 --> 00:20:09,168 [McFadden] It sure was. 460 00:20:09,251 --> 00:20:10,544 And gratitude. 461 00:20:10,628 --> 00:20:12,254 [McFadden] But not for long. 462 00:20:14,590 --> 00:20:16,926 [McFadden] Despite a shaky debut, 463 00:20:17,009 --> 00:20:19,470 Star Trek: The Next Generation was an instant hit. 464 00:20:19,553 --> 00:20:21,597 I feel strange but also good. 465 00:20:21,681 --> 00:20:24,433 [McFadden] This brand-new chapter was a breath of fresh air 466 00:20:24,517 --> 00:20:27,561 for Gene Roddenberry's aging franchise. 467 00:20:27,645 --> 00:20:29,397 Hello, stranger. 468 00:20:29,480 --> 00:20:31,399 [McFadden] But then the air went stale. 469 00:20:31,482 --> 00:20:35,486 The third episode was the one, I think, where, as a viewer, I stopped watching. 470 00:20:35,569 --> 00:20:37,238 The dreaded "Code of Honor." 471 00:20:37,321 --> 00:20:41,075 [McFadden] Episode three arrived with a storyline so loaded, 472 00:20:41,158 --> 00:20:44,412 it looked like unexploded ordnance from another time. 473 00:20:44,495 --> 00:20:49,667 We go to the all-Black planet and I've gotta fight the woman. 474 00:20:49,750 --> 00:20:51,961 [grunting] 475 00:20:52,044 --> 00:20:55,381 He's gonna take the white woman as his new wife. 476 00:20:55,464 --> 00:20:57,550 We were like, "Are we really doing this?" 477 00:20:57,633 --> 00:20:59,135 [McFadden] Yep, they did. 478 00:20:59,218 --> 00:21:01,053 There is no excuse for that episode. 479 00:21:01,137 --> 00:21:06,475 It should be burned in a magnesium fire and never aired again. 480 00:21:06,559 --> 00:21:09,812 Star Trek... up in a really, really, really bad way. 481 00:21:09,895 --> 00:21:12,523 There is no doubt in my mind that the cast would have pushed back 482 00:21:12,606 --> 00:21:13,816 if it was later in the run. 483 00:21:13,899 --> 00:21:16,360 Some of the people who could have made a difference 484 00:21:16,444 --> 00:21:17,945 would have just refused to go to work. 485 00:21:18,029 --> 00:21:20,948 It's the same kind of pompous, strutting charades 486 00:21:21,032 --> 00:21:23,325 that endangered our own species a few centuries ago. 487 00:21:23,409 --> 00:21:24,994 [Denise Crosby] I was scratching my head, thinking, 488 00:21:25,077 --> 00:21:27,371 "There's no way this is gonna get on the air. 489 00:21:27,455 --> 00:21:28,289 There's no way." 490 00:21:29,081 --> 00:21:33,753 If they had not had a guarantee of two seasons, 491 00:21:33,836 --> 00:21:37,506 this show would not have gotten past the first season. 492 00:21:37,590 --> 00:21:42,094 We were, like, trying to find our way, and there were a lot of bad episodes. 493 00:21:42,178 --> 00:21:45,181 I am programmed in multiple techniques, 494 00:21:45,264 --> 00:21:47,099 a broad variety of pleasuring. 495 00:21:47,183 --> 00:21:49,643 That first season was all over the map. 496 00:21:49,727 --> 00:21:50,728 [all screaming] 497 00:21:50,811 --> 00:21:51,645 [laughs] 498 00:21:51,729 --> 00:21:52,646 [Ronald D. Moore] The show is trying to figure out 499 00:21:52,730 --> 00:21:55,024 what it is on a very basic level. 500 00:21:55,107 --> 00:21:57,485 "How close to the original series should we be, 501 00:21:57,568 --> 00:21:59,278 and how different should we be?" 502 00:21:59,361 --> 00:22:01,781 It's almost just like they're throwing things at the wall 503 00:22:01,864 --> 00:22:02,948 and seeing what'll stick. 504 00:22:03,032 --> 00:22:04,617 [Geordi La Forge] Coordinates set in, Captain. 505 00:22:06,327 --> 00:22:08,329 Speed, warp five. 506 00:22:08,412 --> 00:22:09,455 [McFadden] For the actors, 507 00:22:09,538 --> 00:22:12,083 the only thing more uncomfortable than the storylines 508 00:22:12,166 --> 00:22:13,584 were the costumes. 509 00:22:13,667 --> 00:22:14,835 Nice suit. 510 00:22:14,919 --> 00:22:15,753 Thank you. 511 00:22:15,836 --> 00:22:21,258 There are some costume choices where I go, "Oh, my God, it's just terrible!" 512 00:22:21,342 --> 00:22:22,676 Splendid! Splendid! 513 00:22:22,760 --> 00:22:27,181 This looks like something that one would come up with for Halloween or something. 514 00:22:27,264 --> 00:22:29,016 We finished our ski lesson, sir. 515 00:22:29,100 --> 00:22:30,893 [Wheaton] I hated Wesley's sweaters. 516 00:22:30,976 --> 00:22:33,312 I hated the colors. They were baggy. 517 00:22:33,395 --> 00:22:37,024 They were weird. Like, I just felt awkward. 518 00:22:37,108 --> 00:22:38,859 The gray spacesuit, 519 00:22:38,943 --> 00:22:42,488 wardrobe built a big muscle suit that I had to wear underneath. 520 00:22:42,571 --> 00:22:44,990 I hated that thing so much. It was so uncomfortable. 521 00:22:45,074 --> 00:22:46,534 It was always too tight. 522 00:22:47,535 --> 00:22:49,578 [McFadden] But some costumes were ill-fitting 523 00:22:49,662 --> 00:22:51,789 in ways wardrobe couldn't fix. 524 00:22:51,872 --> 00:22:52,748 What do you think? 525 00:22:52,832 --> 00:22:57,837 Gene brought Bill Tice, his original Star Trek designer. 526 00:22:59,004 --> 00:23:00,339 Bill Tice was a lovely man. 527 00:23:00,422 --> 00:23:01,799 But you look at his costumes, 528 00:23:01,882 --> 00:23:04,301 you think you're looking at the original series. 529 00:23:04,385 --> 00:23:07,596 These costumes hadn't really evolved. 530 00:23:07,680 --> 00:23:09,014 [Data] You should get into uniform. 531 00:23:09,140 --> 00:23:11,600 [McFadden] Even the standard issue was so problematic, 532 00:23:11,684 --> 00:23:14,353 it was affecting actors' performances. 533 00:23:14,436 --> 00:23:16,522 The tail was wagging the dog. 534 00:23:16,605 --> 00:23:18,149 [Livingston] The costumes for the permanent cast 535 00:23:18,232 --> 00:23:22,194 on The Next Generation were Lycra one-piece suits, 536 00:23:22,278 --> 00:23:24,864 and they wreaked havoc on the cast 537 00:23:24,947 --> 00:23:27,283 because they would pull on their body 538 00:23:27,366 --> 00:23:30,077 and force the actors into a hunched position. 539 00:23:30,161 --> 00:23:33,831 [Wheaton] When you sit down in that spacesuit, the tunic rides up. 540 00:23:33,914 --> 00:23:36,208 Patrick started dramatically tucking it down, 541 00:23:36,292 --> 00:23:37,501 and they call it "The Picard Maneuver." 542 00:23:37,585 --> 00:23:40,045 [McFadden] Costume designer Bob Blackman 543 00:23:40,129 --> 00:23:43,883 came to the rescue in season two with a new two-piece number 544 00:23:43,966 --> 00:23:47,428 that saw Star Trek returning to its military themes. 545 00:23:47,511 --> 00:23:49,972 I looked at the Second World War and saw Dwight Eisenhower 546 00:23:50,055 --> 00:23:52,349 in his little jacket that was fashioned just for him, 547 00:23:52,474 --> 00:23:54,685 and I said, "Let me take that silhouette and work with that." 548 00:23:54,768 --> 00:23:57,146 And that's how we came up with the two-piecer. 549 00:23:57,229 --> 00:23:59,315 The cast was most grateful for that. 550 00:23:59,398 --> 00:24:00,941 [McFadden] Over in the writers' room, 551 00:24:01,025 --> 00:24:03,861 another generational battle was playing out, 552 00:24:03,944 --> 00:24:06,780 and the disagreements were over more than style. 553 00:24:06,864 --> 00:24:09,366 Gene ran it in a very hodgepodge kind of way. 554 00:24:09,450 --> 00:24:10,826 People would bring him stories. 555 00:24:10,910 --> 00:24:14,246 He would give it then to everybody to get notes, and it was very odd. 556 00:24:14,330 --> 00:24:17,958 [McFadden] Even stranger was who Gene brought in as script doctor. 557 00:24:18,042 --> 00:24:21,045 [Cushman] Leonard Maizlish, his attorney, was doing a lot of the writing. 558 00:24:21,128 --> 00:24:21,962 [horn honks] 559 00:24:22,046 --> 00:24:24,632 They didn't like Leonard Maizlish at all. 560 00:24:24,715 --> 00:24:26,634 And they didn't want him rewriting their scripts. 561 00:24:26,717 --> 00:24:29,470 [McFadden] Gene's lawyer had proved he knew how to write a contract. 562 00:24:29,553 --> 00:24:32,473 But when it came to scripts, he'd already lost the room. 563 00:24:32,556 --> 00:24:35,601 Everybody hated Maizlish except Gene Roddenberry. 564 00:24:35,684 --> 00:24:39,188 [McFadden] And Gene's lawyer/producer/writer 565 00:24:39,271 --> 00:24:42,024 was stepping on some very esteemed toes. 566 00:24:42,107 --> 00:24:44,985 As the story editor, I was not terribly well-treated. 567 00:24:45,069 --> 00:24:47,738 Things went over my head that I could have had input in. 568 00:24:47,821 --> 00:24:50,241 Dorothy Fontana has written a lot of great scripts, 569 00:24:50,324 --> 00:24:51,700 and she should have been a producer. 570 00:24:51,784 --> 00:24:54,286 [McFadden] Dorothy wasn't the only high-ranking woman 571 00:24:54,370 --> 00:24:55,329 feeling overlooked. 572 00:24:55,412 --> 00:24:57,706 -Is that an order, Doctor? -Yes. 573 00:24:57,790 --> 00:25:00,918 I often felt very lost and very out of place. 574 00:25:01,001 --> 00:25:02,753 I thought I was captain of this starship. 575 00:25:02,836 --> 00:25:05,214 -Of course you are, but I-- -Thank you for the confirmation, Doctor. 576 00:25:05,297 --> 00:25:08,509 Star Trek in that era, in the late '80s, early '90s, 577 00:25:08,592 --> 00:25:09,635 was a boys' club. 578 00:25:09,718 --> 00:25:12,388 [McFadden] As for the girls' club, well, there wasn't one. 579 00:25:12,471 --> 00:25:15,557 [Crosby] It was never like the women just got together 580 00:25:15,641 --> 00:25:17,518 because we never had a scene together. 581 00:25:17,601 --> 00:25:18,560 [McFadden] And if we did... 582 00:25:18,644 --> 00:25:20,646 It would always be something almost comical. 583 00:25:20,729 --> 00:25:23,816 Like, we would be hitting someone on the head with a pot. 584 00:25:23,899 --> 00:25:25,109 [groans] 585 00:25:27,361 --> 00:25:28,612 [groans] 586 00:25:28,696 --> 00:25:31,490 You're gonna put somebody in a position of power 587 00:25:31,573 --> 00:25:36,203 and then not give them anything powerful, right, to do. 588 00:25:36,287 --> 00:25:38,414 [McFadden] The power struggle on set 589 00:25:38,497 --> 00:25:41,667 mirrored the turf war raging among the producers 590 00:25:41,750 --> 00:25:43,711 as Gene fought to retain control. 591 00:25:43,794 --> 00:25:46,088 That is to say, his lawyer did. 592 00:25:46,171 --> 00:25:50,134 The studio execs, every time they would tell Gene how much they liked my work, 593 00:25:50,217 --> 00:25:51,844 the lawyer would panic. 594 00:25:51,927 --> 00:25:54,513 "Oh, my God, they're gonna fire Gene and put in David Gerrold." 595 00:25:54,596 --> 00:25:57,266 And so Gene would end up bawling me out. 596 00:25:57,349 --> 00:25:59,476 The one I feel bad for is David Gerrold 597 00:25:59,560 --> 00:26:01,729 because he never even got his name on the screen. 598 00:26:01,812 --> 00:26:03,063 I mean, he wrote the bible. 599 00:26:03,147 --> 00:26:04,815 He came up with some of those characters. 600 00:26:04,898 --> 00:26:06,525 They asked me, "Do you want the credit or the money?" 601 00:26:06,608 --> 00:26:07,901 I said, "I'll take the money." 602 00:26:07,985 --> 00:26:09,987 [McFadden] Others chose to take the exit. 603 00:26:10,070 --> 00:26:12,823 I stayed for the first 13 episodes, and then I left. 604 00:26:12,906 --> 00:26:15,326 It was not a terribly happy experience. 605 00:26:15,409 --> 00:26:17,995 Gene should have hired me and Dorothy as producers, 606 00:26:18,078 --> 00:26:20,998 and instead his despicable lawyer brought in a lot of people 607 00:26:21,081 --> 00:26:22,958 who didn't know what Star Trek was at all. 608 00:26:23,042 --> 00:26:27,421 [McFadden] But in the end, David knew the rules better than Gene's lawyer, 609 00:26:27,504 --> 00:26:29,590 and so the writer-turned-lawyer... 610 00:26:29,673 --> 00:26:34,762 Leonard was doing producer-level work on the show when he wasn't qualified, 611 00:26:34,845 --> 00:26:36,930 and this was a violation of Writers Guild rules. 612 00:26:37,014 --> 00:26:40,225 [McFadden] The Writers Guild went directly to Paramount's top brass. 613 00:26:40,309 --> 00:26:45,272 [Gerrold] Within 15 minutes, studio guards had packed up Leonard's entire office 614 00:26:45,356 --> 00:26:47,358 and escorted him from the lot. 615 00:26:47,441 --> 00:26:49,485 He was banned from the lot. 616 00:26:53,447 --> 00:26:55,824 [McFadden] With this Star Trek villain vanquished, 617 00:26:55,908 --> 00:27:00,371 Star Trek: The Next Generation continued its syndicated success. 618 00:27:00,454 --> 00:27:04,666 However, some members of the crew were on their last legs. 619 00:27:04,750 --> 00:27:09,088 I actually asked them, "Could you make a mock-up of my legs?" 620 00:27:10,089 --> 00:27:11,924 [McFadden] And the reason for such a request... 621 00:27:12,007 --> 00:27:14,426 "You're always on Patrick and these guys down here, 622 00:27:14,510 --> 00:27:18,347 so you just really see my legs up there. I can go home." 623 00:27:18,430 --> 00:27:20,766 [McFadden] Denise decided it was time for home 624 00:27:20,849 --> 00:27:24,395 after her request for better Tasha Yar stories was rebuffed. 625 00:27:24,478 --> 00:27:28,482 [Crosby] Gene, he was the one who really said to me, 626 00:27:28,565 --> 00:27:33,487 "The stories are gonna focus on the captain, the first officer, and Data. 627 00:27:33,570 --> 00:27:37,282 It's, you know, Shatner, Spock, Bones." 628 00:27:37,366 --> 00:27:39,076 When in Rome, we'll do as the Romans do. 629 00:27:39,159 --> 00:27:40,077 [comm whistles] 630 00:27:40,160 --> 00:27:43,664 "It's a formula that works, and I'm gonna stick with that." 631 00:27:43,747 --> 00:27:47,334 [McFadden] So Gene made firm plans to dispense with Tasha Yar. 632 00:27:47,418 --> 00:27:51,088 [Crosby] He said, "I want this character to be killed. 633 00:27:51,171 --> 00:27:53,966 I've never done it," and he said, "The only problem is, 634 00:27:54,049 --> 00:27:55,759 you won't be able to come back." 635 00:27:55,843 --> 00:27:57,719 I warn you. 636 00:27:57,803 --> 00:27:58,846 I said, "Yeah, go for it." 637 00:27:58,929 --> 00:28:02,599 [McFadden] And so finally, Tasha Yar got to be the center of attention. 638 00:28:05,060 --> 00:28:06,812 As she lay dying... 639 00:28:06,895 --> 00:28:08,772 [Captain Picard] What's Lt. Yar's condition? 640 00:28:08,856 --> 00:28:11,733 You know, it was such an anti-climactic, you know, death. 641 00:28:11,817 --> 00:28:13,152 [Captain Picard] Dr. Crusher, report. 642 00:28:14,069 --> 00:28:14,903 She's dead. 643 00:28:14,987 --> 00:28:16,280 [McFadden] That, by the way, 644 00:28:16,363 --> 00:28:20,159 was just making my character look like an unlicensed doctor. 645 00:28:20,242 --> 00:28:23,203 There were so many people who died on my table. 646 00:28:23,287 --> 00:28:25,330 [sighs] 647 00:28:25,414 --> 00:28:28,959 I remember Patrick saying, "Don't let her touch you. 648 00:28:29,042 --> 00:28:31,295 Her patients die." [laughs] 649 00:28:31,378 --> 00:28:32,463 How's your patient, Doctor? 650 00:28:32,546 --> 00:28:34,131 Not good. 651 00:28:34,214 --> 00:28:35,174 It's a running joke. 652 00:28:35,257 --> 00:28:38,093 You know, it's like, "I don't know about Crusher, how good she was." 653 00:28:38,177 --> 00:28:41,889 You are here now watching this image of me because I've died. 654 00:28:41,972 --> 00:28:43,974 [McFadden] But Tasha Yar's final moments 655 00:28:44,057 --> 00:28:46,935 would not be Denise's final moments on set. 656 00:28:47,019 --> 00:28:50,689 So "Symbiosis" was the last script that I shot, 657 00:28:50,772 --> 00:28:52,191 and obviously they reversed them. 658 00:28:53,484 --> 00:28:55,194 [McFadden] For that, she prepared an Easter egg. 659 00:28:55,277 --> 00:28:57,571 -[bell dings] -And laid it right on camera. 660 00:28:57,654 --> 00:29:02,493 I waved goodbye in the camera. I'm waving goodbye to the fans. 661 00:29:02,576 --> 00:29:03,911 [McFadden] The fans and everyone. 662 00:29:03,994 --> 00:29:05,245 There she is. 663 00:29:05,329 --> 00:29:08,707 But Denise wasn't alone in wanting more for her character. 664 00:29:08,790 --> 00:29:10,626 [Wesley Crusher] Hey, Mom, look what I can do. 665 00:29:10,709 --> 00:29:13,879 [McFadden] I thought we were gonna have some really great development 666 00:29:13,962 --> 00:29:16,632 between Wesley Crusher and Doctor Crusher 667 00:29:16,715 --> 00:29:20,010 because she was a scientist, he was this genius. 668 00:29:20,093 --> 00:29:22,679 You never seemed that interested in warp theory before. 669 00:29:22,763 --> 00:29:27,893 Wesley was very often an idea 670 00:29:27,976 --> 00:29:31,271 and not a fully realized character. 671 00:29:32,481 --> 00:29:38,195 And it always broke my heart that we didn't get to have those scenes. 672 00:29:38,278 --> 00:29:41,031 It was a difficult part to write for, Wes, 673 00:29:41,114 --> 00:29:44,535 and I think we all sort of backed off from it, 674 00:29:44,618 --> 00:29:47,955 didn't want to because his role was uncertain. 675 00:29:48,038 --> 00:29:53,252 You know, it was not clear by any means what his position was there 676 00:29:53,335 --> 00:29:56,088 and what his relationship to the others were. 677 00:29:56,171 --> 00:30:00,509 [McFadden] Second season head writer Maurice Hurley wanted more action too, 678 00:30:00,592 --> 00:30:02,719 but not for his female characters. 679 00:30:02,803 --> 00:30:03,637 What do you want? 680 00:30:03,720 --> 00:30:07,766 [Taylor] He wanted the big adventure, the big conflict, 681 00:30:07,849 --> 00:30:13,480 not so much interested in human dynamics, characterization, 682 00:30:13,564 --> 00:30:14,439 that kind of thing. 683 00:30:14,523 --> 00:30:16,066 [Mark A. Altman] Maurice Hurley, you know, 684 00:30:16,149 --> 00:30:19,069 that old-school, cigar-chomping TV writer, 685 00:30:19,152 --> 00:30:21,863 the bottom line is, he was very sexist. 686 00:30:21,947 --> 00:30:25,993 He wrote women in lazy, tropy ways. 687 00:30:26,076 --> 00:30:28,745 [McFadden] I argued a lot about it with Maurice Hurley, 688 00:30:28,829 --> 00:30:31,248 and I think I was not very diplomatic. 689 00:30:31,331 --> 00:30:34,543 You know, he just was not... not happy with her. 690 00:30:34,626 --> 00:30:37,004 [McFadden] I think I really, really upset him. 691 00:30:37,087 --> 00:30:42,384 And I remember at the closing party of the first season, 692 00:30:42,467 --> 00:30:45,554 I had been told by my agents how popular my character was. 693 00:30:45,637 --> 00:30:48,473 I remember I was saying hello to everybody, 694 00:30:48,557 --> 00:30:52,686 and Maurice Hurley looked at me with a look that I will never forget. 695 00:30:52,769 --> 00:30:57,065 Like, "Okay, you will see. You're gonna be surprised." 696 00:30:57,149 --> 00:31:01,320 And I heard later that he said, "Either she goes or I go," 697 00:31:01,403 --> 00:31:03,655 and then it was like a week later that I was told 698 00:31:03,739 --> 00:31:05,741 by my agent that I was, you know, fired. 699 00:31:06,658 --> 00:31:08,952 You are excused, Doctor. 700 00:31:09,036 --> 00:31:11,038 [McFadden] And so it was Dr. Crusher 701 00:31:11,121 --> 00:31:14,374 who was put into the transporter to nowhere. 702 00:31:14,458 --> 00:31:18,545 He was a producer-writer, so obviously the actor could be easily replaced. 703 00:31:18,629 --> 00:31:20,422 Nobody was cool with it. 704 00:31:20,505 --> 00:31:22,758 I recall the cast being angry about it. 705 00:31:22,841 --> 00:31:24,801 [McFadden] So having killed the doctor, 706 00:31:24,926 --> 00:31:26,219 producers sent for the doctor. 707 00:31:26,303 --> 00:31:27,137 Doctor! Doctor! 708 00:31:27,220 --> 00:31:28,096 [McFadden] This doctor... 709 00:31:28,180 --> 00:31:29,806 Dr. Katherine Pulaski. 710 00:31:29,890 --> 00:31:31,475 [Diana Muldaur] I just got the call and went in, 711 00:31:31,558 --> 00:31:33,101 talked to Gene, and he said, 712 00:31:33,185 --> 00:31:36,271 "Would you be interested in playing a doctor on The Next Generation?" 713 00:31:36,355 --> 00:31:37,189 And I said yes. 714 00:31:37,272 --> 00:31:38,231 [McFadden] Well, that was easy. 715 00:31:38,315 --> 00:31:39,149 I like to help. 716 00:31:39,232 --> 00:31:42,778 I only agreed to do it 'cause I was doing a totally different character. 717 00:31:42,861 --> 00:31:44,571 I'm Dr. Jones. 718 00:31:44,655 --> 00:31:47,199 [McFadden] Different to the doctor she played way back when, 719 00:31:47,282 --> 00:31:50,702 when a female doctor on TV was something to get excited about. 720 00:31:50,786 --> 00:31:53,747 Of course, Dr. McCoy. Please don't worry about me. 721 00:31:53,830 --> 00:31:56,083 [McFadden] And not just for Bones. 722 00:31:56,166 --> 00:31:58,960 I based my character on Bones. 723 00:31:59,044 --> 00:32:00,337 Well, what do you know? 724 00:32:00,420 --> 00:32:02,130 And a lot of fans picked up on that. 725 00:32:02,214 --> 00:32:04,174 Close but different. 726 00:32:04,257 --> 00:32:05,926 [McFadden] While that satisfied the true fans, 727 00:32:06,009 --> 00:32:09,971 Star Trek was about to receive a fan request like no other. 728 00:32:10,055 --> 00:32:11,973 Well, everyone's very curious about you. 729 00:32:12,057 --> 00:32:13,642 Yes, I'll bet they are. 730 00:32:13,725 --> 00:32:15,852 Got a call from Whoopi Goldberg saying that she wanted 731 00:32:15,936 --> 00:32:19,272 to be considered take Denise's role as the head of security. 732 00:32:19,356 --> 00:32:22,901 [McFadden] But with a chance to have a big Hollywood star in their show, 733 00:32:22,984 --> 00:32:25,028 they had other plans for Whoopi. 734 00:32:25,112 --> 00:32:27,322 Whoopi wasn't really the head-of-security type for us. 735 00:32:27,406 --> 00:32:30,701 And Gene and I sat down and we discussed it and thought, 736 00:32:30,784 --> 00:32:33,704 "What a great idea to have a bartender." 737 00:32:33,787 --> 00:32:35,497 -Guinan. -Captain. 738 00:32:35,580 --> 00:32:37,416 [McFadden] But even as a humble bartender, 739 00:32:37,499 --> 00:32:41,503 Whoopi 's megastar power was quietly saving Star Trek. 740 00:32:41,586 --> 00:32:43,004 With experience. 741 00:32:43,088 --> 00:32:47,217 [Spiner] A major movie star at the peak of her career decided to do this show. 742 00:32:47,300 --> 00:32:51,179 I think we became legit when Whoopi came on the show. 743 00:32:51,263 --> 00:32:53,014 It could have been your timing. 744 00:32:53,098 --> 00:32:55,016 My timing is digital. 745 00:32:55,100 --> 00:32:55,934 [chuckles] 746 00:32:56,017 --> 00:32:57,936 [McFadden] Others would soon be departing. 747 00:32:58,019 --> 00:33:01,898 [Muldaur] I was very happy at the end of the year to say bye-bye. 748 00:33:01,982 --> 00:33:03,525 I would not have stayed for more. 749 00:33:03,608 --> 00:33:05,610 -[man] Can I ask why? -No. 750 00:33:07,237 --> 00:33:09,156 I don't need to hear what you don't need to say. 751 00:33:09,239 --> 00:33:12,659 [McFadden] Star Trek's doctors were going down faster than their patients, 752 00:33:12,743 --> 00:33:15,996 and fans were clamoring for the return of Dr. Crusher, 753 00:33:16,079 --> 00:33:18,331 so that's where I come in... again. 754 00:33:18,415 --> 00:33:23,462 I was at Starfleet Medical for a year. I missed about two inches of him. 755 00:33:23,545 --> 00:33:26,882 [McFadden] It took some convincing, but when the captain calls... 756 00:33:26,965 --> 00:33:31,219 I got a call from Patrick, he asked me if I would please consider coming back. 757 00:33:31,303 --> 00:33:33,180 [McFadden] The return of Dr. Crusher 758 00:33:33,263 --> 00:33:35,807 was a bone crusher for head writer Maurice Hurley, 759 00:33:35,891 --> 00:33:37,434 who had previously said... 760 00:33:37,517 --> 00:33:38,602 "Either she goes or I go." 761 00:33:38,685 --> 00:33:41,021 [Altman] Maurice, at the end of the second season, 762 00:33:41,104 --> 00:33:42,939 he voluntarily left the show. 763 00:33:43,023 --> 00:33:45,442 One of the first things that happened at the beginning of the third season was, 764 00:33:45,525 --> 00:33:49,070 "Let's bring Gates back," and Diana was never spoken of again. 765 00:33:49,154 --> 00:33:51,948 [McFadden] But just as the ship began to steady on screen, 766 00:33:52,032 --> 00:33:54,785 Star Trek: The Next Generation was forced to undergo 767 00:33:54,868 --> 00:33:56,703 a changing of the guard at the top. 768 00:33:57,662 --> 00:34:01,041 [Livingston] Gene realized that the day-to-day running of the show 769 00:34:01,124 --> 00:34:03,835 needed to be turned to the next generation, 770 00:34:03,919 --> 00:34:05,003 and that was Rick Berman. 771 00:34:05,086 --> 00:34:06,713 It happened slowly. 772 00:34:06,797 --> 00:34:11,384 He got less and less involved as his illness took over. 773 00:34:11,468 --> 00:34:15,639 Rick Berman was a studio executive who had a lot in common with Gene. 774 00:34:15,722 --> 00:34:17,140 You know, Gene felt he could trust him. 775 00:34:17,224 --> 00:34:20,519 [Rick Berman] Gene's optimistic attitude of the future, 776 00:34:20,602 --> 00:34:23,605 I always felt, was somewhat unrealistic, 777 00:34:23,688 --> 00:34:24,898 but it was his attitude, 778 00:34:24,981 --> 00:34:30,153 and I felt it was my responsibility to keep Gene's optimism alive. 779 00:34:30,237 --> 00:34:32,948 [McFadden] But the long shadow of Star Trek's creator 780 00:34:33,031 --> 00:34:35,784 was putting the next generation in the shade. 781 00:34:35,867 --> 00:34:39,871 We'd have these very acrimonious fights with Rick about what Star Trek was. 782 00:34:39,955 --> 00:34:42,207 "Gene would never do this in a million years," he would say. 783 00:34:42,290 --> 00:34:45,001 Rick was going to defend to his dying breath 784 00:34:45,085 --> 00:34:47,546 what he thought Gene wanted Star Trek to be. 785 00:34:47,629 --> 00:34:50,632 Rick ran the show as he thought it should be run. 786 00:34:50,715 --> 00:34:53,885 If that rubbed certain people the wrong way, so be it. 787 00:34:53,969 --> 00:34:56,388 [McFadden] While Rick defended Gene's vision, 788 00:34:56,471 --> 00:34:59,599 there was one subject matter Gene was willing to explore 789 00:34:59,683 --> 00:35:01,101 that Rick wasn't. 790 00:35:01,184 --> 00:35:02,936 At some point, Gene mentions that we're gonna have to have 791 00:35:03,019 --> 00:35:03,854 a gay crew member. 792 00:35:03,937 --> 00:35:07,107 [McFadden] And so in an episode called "Blood and Fire"... 793 00:35:07,190 --> 00:35:08,817 [Gerrold] There's a scene in "Blood and Fire" 794 00:35:08,900 --> 00:35:11,319 where someone turns to the gay crew member and says, 795 00:35:11,403 --> 00:35:13,530 "How long have you and Freeman been together?" 796 00:35:13,613 --> 00:35:14,447 That was it. 797 00:35:14,531 --> 00:35:15,782 Rick Berman wrote a memo. 798 00:35:15,866 --> 00:35:18,577 "We can't have gay characters on Star Trek 799 00:35:18,660 --> 00:35:20,370 because mommies will write letters." 800 00:35:20,453 --> 00:35:22,122 And I wrote a memo which says, 801 00:35:22,205 --> 00:35:27,669 "Gene promised gay crew members on this Enterprise. If not now, when?" 802 00:35:27,752 --> 00:35:29,796 One of the producers sticks his head in my office and says, 803 00:35:29,880 --> 00:35:32,090 "Great memo. You still have to take the characters out." 804 00:35:32,173 --> 00:35:36,177 [McFadden] David's groundbreaking script was lost to history, 805 00:35:36,261 --> 00:35:39,514 and with it went one of Star Trek's most faithful servants. 806 00:35:39,598 --> 00:35:43,184 That was the reason why I quit because this is hypocrisy. 807 00:35:43,268 --> 00:35:46,563 I was emotionally beaten down. 808 00:35:50,275 --> 00:35:51,693 [McFadden] Star Trek: The Next Generation 809 00:35:51,776 --> 00:35:54,654 had been on a merry-go-round of casting chaos. 810 00:35:54,738 --> 00:35:56,573 Well, it's nice to be together again. 811 00:35:56,656 --> 00:35:59,743 [McFadden] The balance of power was shifting behind the scenes too. 812 00:35:59,826 --> 00:36:02,120 It was a switch at the top of the writing staff. 813 00:36:02,203 --> 00:36:05,582 You know, Maurice Hurley had left, and Michael Piller came in. 814 00:36:05,665 --> 00:36:09,127 Things really took a turn and seemed to start going in the right direction. 815 00:36:09,210 --> 00:36:11,463 Can it be possible they know what they're doing? 816 00:36:11,546 --> 00:36:15,717 [McFadden] Well, by the show's third year, maybe, yes. 817 00:36:15,800 --> 00:36:17,093 [Andre Bormanis] God bless Michael Piller. 818 00:36:17,177 --> 00:36:19,512 When he took the reins, he really understood 819 00:36:19,596 --> 00:36:21,181 the potential of the show 820 00:36:21,264 --> 00:36:24,476 and understood storytelling in science fiction. 821 00:36:24,559 --> 00:36:29,940 And Michael's edict was, "We're gonna tell stories about the Enterprise characters." 822 00:36:30,023 --> 00:36:31,900 [Tenuto] The show is not about the ship. 823 00:36:31,983 --> 00:36:35,362 This show is about Riker and Picard and the characters. 824 00:36:35,445 --> 00:36:37,614 It's about people. 825 00:36:37,697 --> 00:36:40,492 [McFadden] But good characters need good stories, 826 00:36:40,575 --> 00:36:42,327 and halfway through season three, 827 00:36:42,410 --> 00:36:45,914 the only action the writers' room had seen was industrial. 828 00:36:45,997 --> 00:36:49,292 The writers' strike had just ended. There was not a full staff. 829 00:36:49,376 --> 00:36:51,294 There was a point where we had nothing. 830 00:36:51,378 --> 00:36:53,672 Once you start shooting, it never stops, 831 00:36:53,755 --> 00:36:56,007 and something shooting tomorrow and then a day after that. 832 00:36:56,091 --> 00:36:58,093 It has to be a sense of clockwork to it. 833 00:36:58,259 --> 00:37:00,095 And if you don't have enough scripts in development 834 00:37:00,178 --> 00:37:01,846 and they're not in good enough shape, 835 00:37:01,930 --> 00:37:03,974 then it becomes an emergency. 836 00:37:04,057 --> 00:37:07,769 [McFadden] But one thing Star Trek still had was its fans, 837 00:37:07,852 --> 00:37:10,897 and Trekkers themselves were about to intervene in a way 838 00:37:10,981 --> 00:37:15,276 that would restore the show they loved and ultimately set a new direction. 839 00:37:15,360 --> 00:37:21,032 We invited absolute unknowns and newcomers to come in and pitch story ideas. 840 00:37:21,116 --> 00:37:23,201 It's like, "Why don't we leverage that fan base out there?" 841 00:37:23,284 --> 00:37:26,454 If you wrote an actual script, you could send it to Paramount 842 00:37:26,538 --> 00:37:27,914 and somebody would read it. 843 00:37:27,998 --> 00:37:31,251 Part of that job fell in my department as the script coordinator. 844 00:37:31,334 --> 00:37:34,587 My office was just piled with scripts everywhere. 845 00:37:34,671 --> 00:37:35,588 It was insane. 846 00:37:35,672 --> 00:37:37,507 [McFadden] One fan script caught the attention 847 00:37:37,590 --> 00:37:39,634 of production assistant Eric Stillwell. 848 00:37:39,718 --> 00:37:43,513 Trent Ganino's script involved an Enterprise from the past. 849 00:37:43,596 --> 00:37:45,682 [McFadden] That script didn't make it to screen. 850 00:37:45,765 --> 00:37:49,352 We had gone up to Trent's hometown for a Star Trek convention 851 00:37:49,436 --> 00:37:52,272 where Denise Crosby was the guest. 852 00:37:52,355 --> 00:37:54,941 We were speaking to her in the autograph line 853 00:37:55,025 --> 00:37:58,945 and she said, You should write an episode and bring me back." 854 00:37:59,029 --> 00:38:01,072 -Tasha. -Yeah. 855 00:38:01,156 --> 00:38:04,534 [McFadden] But there was one small issue to do with her being, um... 856 00:38:04,617 --> 00:38:05,452 What's the word? 857 00:38:05,535 --> 00:38:06,494 Dead. 858 00:38:06,578 --> 00:38:07,579 [McFadden] That's it. 859 00:38:07,662 --> 00:38:08,747 You know, I died. We know that. 860 00:38:08,830 --> 00:38:10,915 [McFadden] Of course, everyone knew that. 861 00:38:10,999 --> 00:38:12,709 I'm not supposed to be here, sir. 862 00:38:12,792 --> 00:38:15,712 So Trent and I together started hashing out 863 00:38:15,795 --> 00:38:19,049 how could we bring Tasha back 'cause she's dead. 864 00:38:19,132 --> 00:38:21,509 [McFadden] Well, there was one way. 865 00:38:21,634 --> 00:38:23,386 Time travel, of course. 866 00:38:23,470 --> 00:38:25,638 So Eric traveled across the hall. 867 00:38:25,722 --> 00:38:28,850 Yeah, I ran across the hall, started just cold pitching. 868 00:38:28,933 --> 00:38:30,226 [McFadden] And Michael Piller said... 869 00:38:30,310 --> 00:38:31,603 Make it so. We'll give you cover. 870 00:38:31,686 --> 00:38:34,147 [McFadden] But it was still a very basic idea. 871 00:38:34,230 --> 00:38:37,317 They turned it over to Ron Moore to polish the story. 872 00:38:37,400 --> 00:38:38,985 I took "Yesterday's Enterprise." 873 00:38:39,069 --> 00:38:41,613 I really liked the idea of the alternate timeline, 874 00:38:41,696 --> 00:38:44,991 and there was a mention of, like, they had been at war with the Klingons. 875 00:38:46,576 --> 00:38:48,787 But it wasn't front and center of the story and I just thought, 876 00:38:48,870 --> 00:38:50,705 "Oh, that's the coolest part is that they're at war when-- 877 00:38:50,789 --> 00:38:53,208 Oh, well, that would make it a darker universe, 878 00:38:53,291 --> 00:38:55,543 and, like, everything would be more war-like and militarized." 879 00:38:55,627 --> 00:38:56,795 What's the matter with the bridge? 880 00:38:56,878 --> 00:38:58,755 This is not a ship of war. 881 00:38:59,964 --> 00:39:01,424 This is a ship of peace. 882 00:39:01,508 --> 00:39:03,927 [McFadden] Now the story had become serious enough 883 00:39:04,010 --> 00:39:06,096 that Captain Picard had to whisper. 884 00:39:06,262 --> 00:39:08,348 [whispering] The war is going very badly for the Federation. 885 00:39:08,431 --> 00:39:12,018 [Moore] They're not just at war, but the Federation's actually losing. 886 00:39:12,102 --> 00:39:14,854 The good guys are losing and it's all gonna come crashing down. 887 00:39:14,938 --> 00:39:17,524 And that gave this episode this sense of stakes 888 00:39:17,607 --> 00:39:19,526 and it made it a bit of a tragedy. 889 00:39:19,609 --> 00:39:22,403 You know, there's a doomed sense to the world that you were in. 890 00:39:22,487 --> 00:39:26,074 The Federation has lost more than half of Starfleet to the Klingons. 891 00:39:26,157 --> 00:39:28,076 [McFadden] And now with the fleshed-out outline, 892 00:39:28,159 --> 00:39:31,454 the stage was set for a beloved character to come back. 893 00:39:31,538 --> 00:39:32,455 In the flesh. 894 00:39:32,539 --> 00:39:35,208 And there was a sense that Tasha didn't go out 895 00:39:35,291 --> 00:39:36,668 with the episode she deserved. 896 00:39:36,751 --> 00:39:39,754 So when we were talking about bringing her back, 897 00:39:39,838 --> 00:39:41,214 everyone was excited by the idea. 898 00:39:41,297 --> 00:39:44,217 Didn't know if Denise Crosby would be willing to do it. 899 00:39:44,300 --> 00:39:46,970 [Crosby] And of course, I read it and went, "This is fabulous. 900 00:39:47,053 --> 00:39:48,638 This is great." 901 00:39:48,721 --> 00:39:49,597 And I said, "I'm on board." 902 00:39:49,681 --> 00:39:51,224 Where am I supposed to be? 903 00:39:52,642 --> 00:39:53,643 Dead. 904 00:39:53,726 --> 00:39:58,481 [McFadden] Producers now had their idea and the actress ready to play Lazarus. 905 00:39:58,565 --> 00:40:01,651 But days from shooting, there was still something missing. 906 00:40:01,734 --> 00:40:02,610 We had no script. 907 00:40:05,446 --> 00:40:08,158 [McFadden] Scrambling to put together an ambitious episode... 908 00:40:08,241 --> 00:40:10,410 There was just an outline of what the thing was. 909 00:40:10,493 --> 00:40:12,120 This was seven days before we shot. 910 00:40:12,203 --> 00:40:15,707 There was no time for any one writer to do a complete draft. 911 00:40:15,790 --> 00:40:20,211 [McFadden] This crowdsourced idea needed a crowdsourced script. 912 00:40:20,295 --> 00:40:22,797 They take Thanksgiving, their Thanksgiving holiday, 913 00:40:22,881 --> 00:40:25,341 and all the writers are writing at home an act. 914 00:40:25,425 --> 00:40:26,509 They all take an act. 915 00:40:26,593 --> 00:40:29,721 They all come back on Monday after losing Thanksgiving 916 00:40:29,804 --> 00:40:31,014 and put it together. 917 00:40:31,097 --> 00:40:34,142 We all wrote separately and then stitched them together. 918 00:40:34,225 --> 00:40:36,936 Everybody thought it was crazy. It was insane. 919 00:40:37,020 --> 00:40:38,605 It's a real mess down here, sir. 920 00:40:38,688 --> 00:40:43,234 [Eric Stillwell] Everybody was convinced that it was just gonna be this hodgepodge, 921 00:40:43,318 --> 00:40:47,113 horrible episode that they had thrown together at the last minute. 922 00:40:47,197 --> 00:40:48,823 What ship is this, Captain? 923 00:40:48,907 --> 00:40:50,450 You're aboard the Enterprise. 924 00:40:50,533 --> 00:40:52,285 [McFadden] In the rush, the writers managed 925 00:40:52,368 --> 00:40:54,412 to smuggle in some Star Trek firsts. 926 00:40:54,495 --> 00:40:57,123 Rachel Garrett. How's my ship? 927 00:40:57,207 --> 00:40:59,042 [McFadden] Rachel Garrett was breaking new ground 928 00:40:59,125 --> 00:41:01,544 as the Enterprise's first female captain. 929 00:41:01,711 --> 00:41:03,504 [Moore] In the script, it wasn't a woman. 930 00:41:03,588 --> 00:41:06,674 I remember thinking at the time, "It's weird that I'm the one doing this." 931 00:41:06,758 --> 00:41:09,177 It's like, "How is this the first time this has been done?" 932 00:41:09,260 --> 00:41:11,471 We'll make it one for the history books. 933 00:41:11,554 --> 00:41:14,515 [Moore] I wanted her to be every bit as brave and heroic. 934 00:41:14,599 --> 00:41:17,143 She had to be worthy of Picard and Kirk. 935 00:41:17,268 --> 00:41:19,687 Captain, I would be lying to you if I told you 936 00:41:19,771 --> 00:41:22,815 there was a chance in hell of coming out of this alive. 937 00:41:23,441 --> 00:41:26,819 [McFadden] Captain Garrett broke through Star Trek's glass ceiling, 938 00:41:26,903 --> 00:41:29,572 but unfortunately also broke her head. 939 00:41:29,656 --> 00:41:35,078 The detail of how Trisha died was really, really important, 940 00:41:35,161 --> 00:41:39,958 the kind of shockingness I wanted to get as part of the war. 941 00:41:40,041 --> 00:41:45,380 So it became harsher and nastier than sometimes deaths were. 942 00:41:45,463 --> 00:41:47,215 This is Lt. Yar, sir. 943 00:41:47,298 --> 00:41:48,633 Captain Garrett is dead. 944 00:41:48,716 --> 00:41:53,388 [McFadden] For the character of Tasha Yar, it was an unlikely win. 945 00:41:53,471 --> 00:41:57,100 [Crosby] "Yesterday's Enterprise" became a redeeming episode 946 00:41:57,183 --> 00:41:59,727 for Tasha's senseless death. 947 00:41:59,811 --> 00:42:01,688 A death without purpose. 948 00:42:01,771 --> 00:42:04,274 She even addresses this very thing. 949 00:42:04,357 --> 00:42:06,943 I'd like my death to count for something. 950 00:42:07,026 --> 00:42:10,989 I always make the joke, "I had to die to get a good script." 951 00:42:11,072 --> 00:42:13,324 This isn't a joke, Natasha. 952 00:42:13,408 --> 00:42:17,620 [McFadden] Just as this fansourced episode reanimated Tasha Yar, 953 00:42:17,704 --> 00:42:20,081 it reinvigorated The Next Generation. 954 00:42:20,164 --> 00:42:22,375 [Moore] "Yesterday's Enterprise" is a very risky episode 955 00:42:22,458 --> 00:42:24,585 that could have gone south a thousand different ways, 956 00:42:24,669 --> 00:42:25,503 but it worked. 957 00:42:25,586 --> 00:42:26,921 You're not part of my crew. 958 00:42:27,005 --> 00:42:30,049 I am now. Captain Picard approved my request for transfer. 959 00:42:30,133 --> 00:42:34,804 It was the first, in my opinion, truly great episode of Next Generation. 960 00:42:34,887 --> 00:42:39,058 And I think it really raised the profile of Next Generation. 961 00:42:39,142 --> 00:42:43,730 I think people sat up, took note, and took the show more seriously. 962 00:42:43,813 --> 00:42:44,939 Welcome aboard. 963 00:42:45,023 --> 00:42:47,567 [McFadden] It seemed that Star Trek: The Next Generation 964 00:42:47,650 --> 00:42:50,445 had finally found its place in the universe. 965 00:42:50,528 --> 00:42:54,324 [Captain Picard] Space: the final frontier. 966 00:42:54,407 --> 00:42:58,161 These are the voyages of the starship Enterprise. 967 00:42:58,244 --> 00:43:00,246 [McFadden] With the steady hands of Michael Piller 968 00:43:00,330 --> 00:43:01,956 and Rick Berman steering the ship, 969 00:43:02,040 --> 00:43:05,293 Star Trek: The Next Generation had successfully extended 970 00:43:05,376 --> 00:43:06,711 the franchise's mission. 971 00:43:06,794 --> 00:43:10,256 [Captain Picard] To boldly go where no one has gone before. 972 00:43:10,340 --> 00:43:11,674 [McFadden] But behind the scenes, 973 00:43:11,758 --> 00:43:14,427 personnel issues were only getting more personal. 974 00:43:14,510 --> 00:43:16,220 [Captain Picard] Mr. Crusher, report to the bridge. 975 00:43:16,304 --> 00:43:20,058 I had this terrific opportunity to go work in a feature film, 976 00:43:20,141 --> 00:43:23,811 and Rick Berman said, "This is a really important Wesley episode. 977 00:43:23,895 --> 00:43:27,231 I have personally written an extremely important scene. 978 00:43:27,315 --> 00:43:28,691 It's a really important part of the show. 979 00:43:28,775 --> 00:43:31,486 Our hands are tied. He has to pass on the film." 980 00:43:31,569 --> 00:43:33,404 You're not involved in this decision, boy. 981 00:43:33,488 --> 00:43:36,574 [Wheaton] After I had passed on the film and the film had been recast, 982 00:43:36,657 --> 00:43:38,826 he wrote me out of the episode completely, 983 00:43:38,910 --> 00:43:40,828 and I was furious. 984 00:43:40,912 --> 00:43:44,123 Look, I have done everything that everyone has asked of me and more. 985 00:43:44,207 --> 00:43:46,584 It hurt so much. 986 00:43:46,667 --> 00:43:49,128 And after that happened, I said to my agent, 987 00:43:49,212 --> 00:43:51,130 "Get me out of this contract. Get me off the show. 988 00:43:51,214 --> 00:43:52,965 I don't wanna work for this person anymore." 989 00:43:53,049 --> 00:43:55,676 [McFadden] It was another unwelcomed departure. 990 00:43:55,760 --> 00:43:58,930 But then came the news of an even more significant loss. 991 00:43:59,013 --> 00:44:03,142 It was during the fifth season of Star Trek: The Next Generation. 992 00:44:03,226 --> 00:44:05,895 Sorry to interrupt. We're receiving an emergency distress signal. 993 00:44:05,978 --> 00:44:07,438 I'm on my way. 994 00:44:07,522 --> 00:44:09,524 [McFadden] The producers received some news 995 00:44:09,607 --> 00:44:12,068 that would stop them in their tracks. 996 00:44:12,151 --> 00:44:13,403 [Jeri Taylor] Rick got a phone call. 997 00:44:13,486 --> 00:44:15,446 He took it and didn't say much, 998 00:44:15,530 --> 00:44:18,032 and then he came back and sat down with us and told us. 999 00:44:19,409 --> 00:44:20,410 And... 1000 00:44:22,745 --> 00:44:24,831 Gene, he passed away. 1001 00:44:24,914 --> 00:44:27,166 [Taylor] One of the most significant individuals 1002 00:44:27,250 --> 00:44:30,837 ever to impact television was now gone. 1003 00:44:30,920 --> 00:44:36,008 [McFadden] Gene Roddenberry died suddenly on October 24th, 1991, 1004 00:44:36,092 --> 00:44:39,429 25 years after the launch of Star Trek. 1005 00:44:39,512 --> 00:44:42,056 His memorial service, it was a perfect send-off to him: 1006 00:44:42,140 --> 00:44:44,225 hundreds and hundreds of people, 1007 00:44:44,308 --> 00:44:46,519 they had the Blue Angels fly over at the end. 1008 00:44:47,562 --> 00:44:53,151 A handful of people actually create something that lasts 55 years, you know. 1009 00:44:53,234 --> 00:44:56,320 [Gerrold] He managed to create this iconic thing 1010 00:44:56,404 --> 00:44:59,365 that defines the best part of the 20th century, 1011 00:44:59,449 --> 00:45:02,452 a vision of hope, a vision of what could be a way 1012 00:45:02,535 --> 00:45:05,872 to ask questions about who we are and what we're up to in the world. 1013 00:45:05,955 --> 00:45:08,499 [McFadden] But even still, Star Trek without Gene? 1014 00:45:08,583 --> 00:45:09,667 It's heartbreaking. 1015 00:45:09,750 --> 00:45:15,423 It was a big deal for the Star Trek family that he was gone. 1016 00:45:15,506 --> 00:45:18,468 [McFadden] Without its creator, Star Trek: The Next Generation 1017 00:45:18,551 --> 00:45:21,762 continued for another two and a half years. 1018 00:45:21,846 --> 00:45:25,475 I think in the 6th and 7th seasons in particular, 1019 00:45:25,558 --> 00:45:31,063 we were on such a roll as the cast was just going so well together. 1020 00:45:31,147 --> 00:45:33,065 The writing was phenomenal, 1021 00:45:33,149 --> 00:45:35,193 and it just seemed to get better and better. 1022 00:45:35,276 --> 00:45:37,945 [McFadden] The series wrapped with a two-part extravaganza 1023 00:45:38,029 --> 00:45:40,490 that Gene no doubt would have been proud of. 1024 00:45:40,573 --> 00:45:43,284 The series finale really brought us full circle 1025 00:45:43,367 --> 00:45:45,828 to some of the issues and themes that were brought up 1026 00:45:45,912 --> 00:45:47,205 in "Encounter at Farpoint." 1027 00:45:47,288 --> 00:45:50,917 It's time to put an end to your trek through the stars. 1028 00:45:51,000 --> 00:45:53,669 I thought it was a sensational double episode at the end. 1029 00:45:53,753 --> 00:45:54,921 Captain Picard. 1030 00:45:55,004 --> 00:45:56,005 -Yes? -Yes? 1031 00:45:56,088 --> 00:45:58,716 There was nothing that I felt I could have asked for more 1032 00:45:58,799 --> 00:46:03,304 than the way they explored where our characters go or have gone. 1033 00:46:03,387 --> 00:46:05,389 [Moore] The whole final episode was a love letter 1034 00:46:05,473 --> 00:46:06,974 to the series and to the fans. 1035 00:46:07,058 --> 00:46:09,477 It didn't feel right to just go up onto the bridge 1036 00:46:09,560 --> 00:46:11,145 and press engage one more time. 1037 00:46:11,229 --> 00:46:13,648 It was really about them and how much they loved each other. 1038 00:46:13,731 --> 00:46:15,233 Yes. Yes! 1039 00:46:15,316 --> 00:46:18,819 [Moore] Yes, we knew we wanted to end the show with a poker game, 1040 00:46:18,903 --> 00:46:21,739 and the key was that Picard never joined the poker game. 1041 00:46:21,822 --> 00:46:24,742 I, uh... I just thought that I might, um... 1042 00:46:25,826 --> 00:46:26,869 I might join you this evening. 1043 00:46:26,953 --> 00:46:29,288 [Moore] So we wanted to gather the family together, 1044 00:46:29,372 --> 00:46:31,290 just loving each other's company. 1045 00:46:31,374 --> 00:46:34,168 I should have done this a long time ago. 1046 00:46:34,252 --> 00:46:36,796 "What's the last line gonna be?" It had to be a poker line, you know. 1047 00:46:36,879 --> 00:46:39,131 And I think it might have been Jeri Taylor who came up with it. 1048 00:46:39,215 --> 00:46:41,008 [Captain Picard] And the sky is the limit. 1049 00:46:41,175 --> 00:46:43,344 [Taylor] It was a very sad time for me 1050 00:46:43,427 --> 00:46:46,847 and a sad episode just because it was over. 1051 00:46:46,931 --> 00:46:50,309 It turned out to be one of the great episodes. 1052 00:46:50,393 --> 00:46:52,395 [McFadden] Paramount's risky experiment 1053 00:46:52,478 --> 00:46:56,148 and direct-to-syndication television had paid off. 1054 00:46:56,232 --> 00:46:59,610 You've saved humanity once again. 1055 00:46:59,694 --> 00:47:01,237 [McFadden] And not just commercially. 1056 00:47:01,320 --> 00:47:03,364 [Larry Nemecek] 1994 was peak Trek. 1057 00:47:03,447 --> 00:47:06,117 You have Next Generation ending with an Emmy nomination. 1058 00:47:06,200 --> 00:47:09,870 [McFadden] But on the other side of every peak is a descent. 1059 00:47:09,954 --> 00:47:12,248 And emboldened by its success, 1060 00:47:12,331 --> 00:47:16,210 Star Trek was about to descend once more into chaos. 1061 00:47:16,294 --> 00:47:17,753 In deep space. 1062 00:47:17,837 --> 00:47:21,299 This was the show that they aren't that pleased with. 1063 00:47:21,382 --> 00:47:25,386 You're obviously a prisoner of Federation dogma and human prejudice. 1064 00:47:25,469 --> 00:47:27,680 [McFadden] And ultimately, deep trouble. 1065 00:47:27,763 --> 00:47:30,725 There were a lot of people who didn't like the way it was going, 1066 00:47:30,808 --> 00:47:31,976 the fact that it was serialized. 1067 00:47:32,059 --> 00:47:34,270 A lot of the audience gave up. 1068 00:47:34,353 --> 00:47:35,980 Paramount just threw up their hands. 1069 00:47:36,063 --> 00:47:38,149 [theme music playing]