PatD

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Damned good trailer. Perhaps for the first time in 45 years, they'll finally release a documentary about "Star Trek" that treats it with the same respect as "Star Wars" or "Lord fo the Rings" ect. It's about time.

Traxan

What could they possibly cover that hasn't been done to death, other than bring in a new batch of virgins?

DaveNinja

i hope they mention Trekkies 2

PatD

I don't recall anyone complaining about the billionth time we heard about the making of "Star Wars" (with the standard issue story of Kurosawa films and Flash Gordon) when "Empire of Dreams" was put in '04.

Welcome to contemporary geekdom--where guys dressed as Storm Troopers can sneer and yell "fuckin' nerd!" at guys dressed as Klingons.

Derrich

Saw part of it until i realized it was just the same stuff.

D

PatD

Wow. This is more like 2 very different Star Trek documentaries.

The first hour is like a standard issue fluff I've been seeing for the last 20 years. I was willing to write it off. But.... It's not till one reaches the the second hour that it actually becomes personal and more candid than one would expect. The interviews with D.C. Fontana, Ronald D. Moore, and Rick Berman were more honest than one would expect in a Trek doc. Seth MacFarlane offers more intelligent insight into the way Next Gen worked was more than one would expect. And the bit with George Lucas giving his two cents about Roddenberry's creation is pretty decent.

There's room for improvement here, but still worth a watch.

"I remember watching the first Star Trek movie with my father...and I was...bored."
--Eugene Roddenberry (in this documentary)

collven

Thought it was OK. Pretty heart breaking that he didn't have a better relationship with his father. The relationship with his mother didn't seem to be much better. The interview with her was painful to watch.

How long had he been working on this documentary? Seems like he started around '93, right? Maybe even earlier. Wonder why it took him so long to finish.

PatD

It's my understanding that Eugene Roddenberry was working on this since at least 2003. (It was made as a sort of counterpoint to 1999's "Trekkies".) You'll notice that there's interviews with the late Michael Piller and his late mother specifically for this project. And George Lucas was making time for him while working on his movie (I'm assuming "Episode III").

I thought the most heartbreaking moment was the outtakes from the famous 1986 interview where he's losing his memory.

Traxan

Have to admit, it was a refreshing change to see Rod talk about his dad so honestly. Obviously it was done a while ago if it had Majel Barrett in it.

madcougar

Was Trekkies not considered to be a good documentary? I honestly thought it was, but only saw it once years ago.

DaveNinja

its good. I prefer Trekkies 2, though, but i'm biased

collven

Yeah, I meant to say '03.