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Gene Roddenberry Filmography
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Gene Roddenberry: Life and work
Roddenberry was married twice. He had two children by his first wife, Eileen Rexroat (to whom he was married 27 years) — Dawn, and the late Darleen. His second marriage was to
Majel Barrett, who played Nurse Christine Chapel in the original
Star Trek series, Lwaxana Troi, and the voice of the computer in the later three series. He had one child, Rod, with Majel.
Roddenberry joined the U.S. Army Air Corps in 1941 and became an aviator. After leaving the service, he was a commercial pilot for Pan American World Airways and then served on the Los Angeles Police Department from 1949 - 1956. Before
Star Trek, he wrote scripts for many of the popular television series of the 1950s. He was also trying to get other science fiction series off the ground, mostly without success.
Following the cancellation of "Star Trek" Roddenberry pitched four sci-fi tv series concepts that had pilot movies produced but were not picked up. "The Questor Tapes", "Genesis II", "Planet Earth", and "Strange New World". He also directed a minor feature film "Spectre".
During the latter 1970s, Roddenberry lectured at universities around the country. He amused the attendees with anecdotes from the Star Trek set, spoke of his visions of the future and showed the
Star Trek Blooper Reel, a collection of outtakes from the original series. Fans bestowed upon him the affectionate nickname "The Great Bird of the Galaxy" after a mythical creature referenced in an episode of the original Trek series.
Star Trek ran for three seasons. Although it was cancelled due to low ratings, the series gained wide popularity in syndication. The Star Trek episode "" was meant to be the pilot for a spinoff series which never came to fruition. Beginning in 1975 go-ahead was given by Paramount for Roddenberry to develop a sequel "Star Trek" television series based around as many of the original cast as could be recruited. With the success of "Star Wars" this production was elevated to feature status. The result ' had a lukewarm response but nevertheless, several feature films and a new television series,
Star Trek: The Next Generation, were created in the 1980s. Roddenberry was deeply involved with creating and producing
', although his involvement lessened in seasons 2 and 3 due to deteriorating health. Star Trek also spawned the television series ', ' and '.
Roddenberry only produced the first Star Trek film, '. Due to cost overruns and a problematic relation with the Paramount management, Roddenberry was ousted and replaced by Harve Bennett. He continued as executive consultant on the next four films -
Star Trek: The Wrath of Khan, Star Trek III: The Search for Spock, Star Trek IV: The Voyage Home and Star Trek V: The Final Frontier. The last film based on the original Star Trek series, Star Trek VI: The Undiscovered Country was dedicated in Roddenberry's memory; he reportedly viewed a version of the film a few days before his death.
Writers on the show have charged that ideas they developed were later passed off by Roddenberry as his own, or that he lied about their contributions to the show at Star Trek conventions. Roddenberry was confronted by these writers, and apologized to them, but according to his critics, he continued to repeat the false claims. In her autobiography, actress
Nichelle Nichols who played Uhura in the first Star Trek series, reported having had a love affair with Gene Roddenberry. She felt that his strong and controversial inclination to get her on the show had a lot to do with their relationship.
Roddenberry's life and work has been favorably chronicled in the biography
Inside Trek: My Secret Life with Star Trek Creator Gene Roddenberry by Susan Sackett, his close associate for 17 years. The book has been described as inaccurate by his critics.Despite his reduced management of
Star Trek near the end of his life, Roddenberry was still respected enough that Paramount Pictures, owners of the various
Star Trek series, agreed to his request that the ' not be considered canon by the studio. According to the reference work
The Star Trek Chronology, Roddenberry reportedly considered elements of the fifth and sixth Trek films to be apocryphal, though there is no indication that he wanted them removed from Trek canon.
Gene Roddenberry was a secular humanist . After his death, a lipstick-sized capsule of his ashes was sent into space to orbit the earth for six years (after which they burned up in the earth's atmosphere). There is an asteroid named in his honor called 4659 Roddenberry. A crater on Mars is named after him.
After his death in 1991, Roddenberry's estate allowed the creation of two long-running television series based upon some of his previously unfilmed story ideas and concepts. ' and Andromeda have become reality under the guidance of
Majel Barrett, although the actual inspiration of at least one of these series (
Andromeda) seems very tenuous indeed. A third Roddenberry storyline was adapted in 1995 as the short-lived comic book
Gene Roddenberry's Lost Universe.
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NewsSept. 8, 1966: Liftoff for the Starship Enterprise
1966: Star Trek makes its network television debut.
Given the cultural impact and enormous franchise spawned by the original Star Trek series, it's hard to believe that the show lasted just three seasons -- 80 episodes -- and was canceled by NBC in 1969 because of low ratings.
But if network numbers-crunching and the short-sightedness of advertising sponsors doomed it, Star Trek's long-term survival, evidenced by its ongoing syndication, not to mention the numerous TV spinoffs and feature-length films it inspired, is both a vindication of and a tribute to its creator and executive producer, Gene Roddenberry.
And Roddenberry was a guy badly in need of vindication. His career began promisingly: Roddenberry wrote scripts for some popular 1950s TV shows like Naked City, Highway Patrol and Have Gun, Will Travel. But the original Star Trek TV series, as well as the first feature-length film, Star Trek: The Motion Picture, were conspicuous successes in an otherwise unremarkable and often problematic association with Hollywood.
The commercial success of the first Star Trek movie would spawn other films and a new TV series, Star Trek: The Next Generation, although Roddenberry's involvement with those projects was diminished. But if his relationship with the industry had its rough patches, his reputation as a futurist and visionary -- which begins and ends with Star Trek -- is assured.
The original show's most visionary aspects were social, not scientific, and that had everything to do with the times. The country was in turmoil, embroiled in Vietnam and the growing civil rights movement. Roddenberry said later that these events influenced many of the themes, as well as the multicultural makeup of the crew.
Roddenberry remained in demand on the lecture circuit to the end of his life, speaking not only at universities but at some other pretty significant places, too, including the Smithsonian Institution and NASA.
Star Trek's impact on popular culture is matched by only a handful of other television shows, and surpassed by precious few.
The original cast members on the USS Enterprise's 1966 flight deck became household names: Capt. James T. Kirk (William Shatner), First Officer Mr. Spock (Leonard Nimoy), Dr. Leonard "Bones" McCoy (DeForest Kelley), Chief Engineer Montgomery "Scotty" Scott (James Doohan), Communications Officer Nyota Uhura (Nichelle Nichols) and Helmsman Hikaru Sulu (George Takei). Navigator Pavel Chekov (Walter Koenig), who joined the cast in the second season to give the Russians their due in space, was also a popular character.
Phrases like "Beam me up, Scotty" and "Live long and prosper" and "to boldly go ?" entered the lexicon, and the show's cult following, kept visibly alive by the numerous and rollicking Star Trek conventions, remains strong to this day. An 11-foot model of the starship Enterprise is on display at the Smithsonian.
On the tech front, the communicator used by Enterprise crew members is said to have been the inspiration for the flip-open cellphone.
The original pilot episode for the series, "The Cage," was filmed in 1964 but not aired in its entirety until 1988. After the original pilot was rejected by NBC, "The Cage" was chopped up and heavily edited, and eventually shown under the title "The Menagerie" during Star Trek's three-year run.
Nimoy's Mr. Spock was the only character from the pilot to later appear in the TV series, although he was most un-Spock like, showing a lot more emotion than your average Vulcan. In the pilot, the Enterprise was commanded by Capt. Christopher Pike (Jeffrey Hunter).
Because of all the spinoffs that resulted from it, Roddenberry's Star Trek is often referred to as The Original Series. For a lot of us who came of age watching Shatner chewing on all that alien scenery and nibbling on all those alien necks, it was The Only Series.
Source: Various
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Have some favorite Star Trek moments you'd like to share with us? Wired.com wants to hear about your favorite Star Trek series, episode and feature film. Have a copy of the Animated Series on Laserdisc? Please, do share.
Published: Mon, 08 Sep 2008 05:00:00 GMT - Source: Wired.Com - Read the articleNewsAlt Text: Ashes to Caches -- Cremation Services for Dead Geeks
I've been contemplating the ever-present specter of death and eternal nothingness, mostly because Warcraft has been getting a little dull lately. I'm not too worried about the disposition of what eternal soul I may or may not possess, but I realize my surviving loved ones will have to deal with the rapidly cooling rest of me.
I've pretty much settled on cremation, because of the efficiency and because the whole pallbearer conversation is so awkward. But then what? I'm just not an urn sort of guy. Those who are into urns, who are part of the urn scene, recognize me when I come in the door and avoid me.
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Technology, as always, comes to the rescue. There are so many neat things you can do with the dead, burnt part of yourself these days that mulling over the options is like visiting a death-obsessed Apple Store. Here are just a few of the options available to you, me or anyone mortal.
Portrait
Ashes to Portraits will take your earthly remains, mix them into some paint and paint a picture ... of you! It's like a really sensitive mad scientist. If life were a movie, I'd completely go for this one, because you know you can't get made into a corpse-portrait without something cool happening. You'll come back to terrorize the family that moved into your home, or you'll help a young insecure woman find true love, or maybe you'll just drive someone insane with the staring. There's no bad outcome.
But this is real life, or so I'm told, so I see no reason to be painted into a portrait of me. I'd rather be a painting of a robot version of myself with vibro-claws, earthquake-beam eyes and a nice HD screen.
Space
This is the go-to destination for the rich, accomplished, dead geekish person, thanks to Space Services. Timothy Leary went this route. So did Gene Roddenberry.
I'm not so keen on it myself. Why should my remains get to do something I can't? I'm the one hauling these calcium phosphates around, but after I get hit by a semi or try the pork tartare, they get to go on the trip of a post-lifetime? Let my ashes buy their own freaking ticket if they want to go into low-Earth orbit so much.
Diamond
For those who enjoy jewelry, and the being thereof, LifeGem will infuse your remains into a diamond. Becoming one of the hardest substances known to humanity doesn't sound too bad -- at least I'd finally be in shape. Michael Phelps may have a perfect swimmer's body, but can he scratch chrysoberyl? I think not.
I'd want all my cremains made into diamond, though. No reason to break up the set. That's either a lot of diamonds, or one huge diamond, requiring the assets of a small European country to purchase. All the more reason to get one to install me now as overlord.
Pencils
Yes, you can get your ashes made into a bunch of pencils. I'm not sure if this is commercially available yet, but I don't really care. Who uses pencils? People who are bad at crosswords, that's who. And people taking Scantron tests. Those are not groups I want fondling my remains. I'm sure there are many people who would love nothing more than to spend their post-life being sharpened, but I'm not one of those people.
Fireworks
Of all the services I've covered, the fireworks option is my favorite. My loved ones will be touched to see me reincarnated briefly as a shining work of art in the night sky, and my enemies will enjoy seeing me blow up.
The toughest decision is whether to go for the smiley-face. They can make me into one of those smiley-face fireworks, but do you think they'd be willing to explain to the crowd that I'm being ironic?
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Born helpless, nude and unable to provide for himself, Lore Sjöberg eventually overcame these handicaps to become a moralizer, a morphologist and a memento mori.
Published: Wed, 03 Sep 2008 05:00:00 GMT - Source: Wired.Com - Read the article
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