Rick Berman
Richard Keith Berman (born December 25, 1945 in New York, New York, USA) is an American science fiction writer. He took over the production of Star Trek from Gene Roddenberry.
Berman graduated from the University of Wisconsin-Madison in 1967 with a B.A in speech. From 1977 to 1982, he was the senior producer of The Big Blue Marble for PBS. His work won an Emmy for Outstanding Children's Series. Between 1982 and 1984 he was an independent producer. He worked on various projects, including What on Earth, an informational series for HBO, and The Primal Mind, a one-hour award-winning special for PBS.
Berman joined Paramount in 1984 as director of current programming. He oversaw such popular shows as Cheers and MacGyver.
In 1987, Berman was selected by Paramount to help Gene Roddenberry create (TNG). After Roddenberry's death in 1991, Berman took over as executive producer of the show.
Berman was the executive producer and co-creator of ', ', and . He is also responsible for the production and story behind the four TNG movies: (1994), (1996), (1998), and Nemesis (2002).
Rick Berman, together with Brannon Braga, is blamed by many Trekkers for Star Trek's downturn in ratings (and, according to many, quality) after TNG.
Berman is also criticized for his corruption of Star Trek canon and the timeline, which was carefully upheld during TOS, the movies and TNG.
Under Berman many Star Trek ideals such as peaceful exploration were thrown away, instead leading to the long war story arc of Deep Space Nine.
During Berman's control of "the franchise" many old time fans became disinterested in Star Trek, and Berman effectively created a split between Old Trek and New Trek fandom. Many Old Trek fans see the new series as weak and inferior copies of the first two series.
Rick Berman is believed by numerous trekkers to be interested in money, and not the ingenous plots and stories of the original series. He is seen by many as attempting to distance the newer series he's worked on from and Roddenberry's vision. Many episodes written by Berman ignore canon from TOS, and if either Kirk or his era are mentioned, they often are treated with contempt.
Additionally, Berman is blamed for the diminishing success of the Star Trek franchise as a whole. With the exception of First Contact in 1996, the movies produced by Berman were poorly received by fans of Old and New Trek alike. The first three films Berman produced made a profit. But Nemesis became the only Star Trek movie to so far make less than it cost to produce, and helped diminish the perception that even numbered Trek films are superior.
The series Enterprise is seen by many Trekkers as an attempt by Berman and the studio to shift the demographic of those who watch Trek related shows. Even before Enterprise, Trek in general had become much more action oriented. Also the shows have become more sexually explict. Both Seven of Nine and T'Pol have worn form-fitting jumpsuits that emphasize certain body features; T'Pol was shown in a number of revealing poses. This has been seen as an attempt by Berman to make the show appealing mainly to young men.
The future of the Star Trek franchise is now uncertain. With the low ratings of Enterprise, as well as the problems of Voyager and the poor performance of Nemesis, some fans have begun to feel that the Star Trek series should be retired for a time. Some have said that "Star Trek is Dead." Marina Sirtis, Jonathan Frakes, and Patrick Stewart have each commented that no further Next Generation films are planned, that the Next Generation's role in the franchise is at an end. Enterprise has seen its order this season reduced from 26 episodes to 24. It has been widely rumored that after the show reaches 100 episodes that it would be canceled.
However, Paramount has not indicated the future of the franchise one way or the other. Berman has stated that work is underway on an 11th film, which is rumored to be a prequel film to be released by 2005 or 2006.
Rick Berman and Brannon Braga wrote many popular Star Trek episodes. Berman authored or co-authored the acclaimed episodes "Brothers" and "Unification" for TNG. Berman's writing was even more prolific in the early seasons of . He wrote the premiere episode and pilot, "Broken Bow", along with the episodes "Shockwave", "Cogenitor", and "The Expanse", the last of which served as the second season finale; these episodes have been praised by many fans. Additionally, Berman was responsible for the story behind over 30 episodes from the various Star Trek series he has produced.Work in television
Work in Star Trek
Criticism by Trekkers
Credit for Berman