Rick Berman

[brazilianjiujitsu1979]

I heard in the podcast that Rico said some  Trek Fans don't like Berman.  WHY?

Andy

[Rico]

Well, that's a pretty big question.  And I personally don't feel that way.  Maybe just a tiny bit.  Basically, some fans feel he drove the Trek franchise down into the ground.  Too many consecutive episodes and series and not enough new ideas - some say.  Honestly, I think it's one of these things where a few people start to say some bad things and others just follow along.  Doesn't really matter anymore as he is pretty much out of any future Trek.  Hopefully JJ Abrams can do well with the next movie and whatever happens after that.

[Blackride]

Well, that's a pretty big question.  And I personally don't feel that way.  Maybe just a tiny bit.  Basically, some fans feel he drove the Trek franchise down into the ground.  Too many consecutive episodes and series and not enough new ideas - some say.  Honestly, I think it's one of these things where a few people start to say some bad things and others just follow along.  Doesn't really matter anymore as he is pretty much out of any future Trek.  Hopefully JJ Abrams can do well with the next movie and whatever happens after that.

Lots of people think JJ is only good with stuff for a short time also. My opinion is dont listen to "them" :). That was not directed at you Rico. I am just saying people tend to hear things once and run with it, just like you said.

[moyer777]

I have never understood why people don't like Berman.  I really enjoyed the work he did on Trek and am grateful there was somebody to grab the torch and go on where Gene R. left off.  He had an awesome run and I miss his stuff. 

Here's to you Rick Berman!   :cheers

[Ktrek]

I'm not a Bermanite but I ain't agin 'im either! Berman must be given credit for really giving Star Trek new life. It wasn't until Berman came into control and Gene was pretty much out of the picture that TNG really started to take on a life of it's own. As much as I like Roddenberry and credit him as the "creator" of Star Trek, I really think that if he had been in good health and was able to control Star Trek TNG never would have had a seven year run and we never would have had DS9, VOY or ENT.

That said I also have to say that I think ENT, although a good show, could have been the best Star Trek ever, if, Berman and Bragga had not had so much "creative" control. Of the four seasons the weakest episodes were ones they had written. If they had turned the reigns over to their writing team early on I think we would have had a show that was great and not just average. ENT did not really live up to it's potential until the third and fourth seasons when B&B finally did let the reigns go a little but by then they had already isolated a large part of the Star Trek fan base. They tried to recover some of it by adding "Star Trek" to the title hoping that adding it would generate more interest and they changed the tempo of the opening music. They hired almost all new writers, and that really did help for us faithful out there, but there just wasn't enough of us left to keep the show on the air.

I'm still saddened by it because I think the fourth season was the best ENT had done and perhaps the best Star Trek ever done. It would have been cool to have seen ENT continue for at least one more year to see where Manny Cotto and his writing team could have taken us. Manny Cotto proved to me that there are still plenty of fresh Star Trek stories out there to be told but you have to "infuse" the franchise with "new blood" once in a while. That is to Berman's credit that he did "infuse' the franchise and I am convinced we would not have ever seen "Best of Both Worlds" and other great episodes that proceeded it without him. If Berman was still in charge and there was still Trek on TV as a die hard fan I would probably still watch it. In fact I wish there was still two Trek shows on TV to watch and Berman was in charge because to me even bad Trek is better than no Trek at all!

Kevin