Altman Mark A. - The fifty-year mission vol 2: the complete, uncensored, and unauthorized oral history of Star Trek: the next 25 years from The Next Generation to J. J. Abrams

The author and publisher have provided this e-book to you for your personal use only. You may not make this e-book publicly available in any way. Copyright infringement is against the law. If you believe the copy of this e-book you are reading infringes on the authors copyright, please notify the publisher at: us.macmillanusa.com/piracy.

FROM MARK A. ALTMAN

To my wonderful wife, Naomi, whom I married despite the fact she likes Captain Picard way more than Captain Kirk. Thanks for tolerating me.

To my incredible kids, Ella and Isaac, who may one day like Star Trek as much as Star Wars, but I kinda doubt it.

To my amazing mom, Gail, who took me to see North by Northwest at the Thalia when I was a kid, beginning an obsession with movies and television that would last a lifetime.

To my fabulous brother, Ira, for being way cooler than me.

To my incredible dad, Michael, for occasionally turning off the hockey, baseball, tennis, golf, and football games so I could watch Star Trek.

To our charming cats, Ripley, Giles, and Willow, for staying off my Mac keyboard while I wrote these books most of the time.

To Cinefantastique s Frederick S. Clarke, for proving there was a place for intelligent entertainment journalism about the genre and giving me the incredible opportunity that led to the creation of this book.

Ditto to my own Professor Kingsfield, the brilliant and inspirational Thomas Doherty.

Also a final nod of gratitude to the late Larry Goldman, one of the founders of the PR firm Bender, Goldman & Helper, who, for reasons I continue to find unfathomable, received a query letter from a young college student and invited him and his college roommate to Los Angeles to tour the sets of Star Trek: The Next Generation in 1987which began a thirty-year journey that led to the writing of this bookand bought lunch at the commissary to boot.

And to three other people without whom this book would not be possible: Edward Gross, my incredible partner in crime, who truly is the hardest-working man in showbiz; the jocular bard of book publishing, Brendan Deneen, our editor and enthusiast-in-chief; and, last and certainly not least, the late, great Gene Roddenberry, without whom there would be no starship Enterprise A, B, C or bloody D .

FROM EDWARD GROSS

To Eileen, my best friend who also happens to be my wife: I cant remember a time when I was on this voyage without you, and I would never want to.

To my sons, Teddy, Dennis, and Kevin (all of whom have inherited the geek gene): I dont know how I could be as blessed as I am to have three children who have turned into such fine men. Im grateful for all of you.

To my daughter-in-law, Lindsay: Welcome to the family. We couldnt be happier. And thanks for being a geek, too.

A life is like a garden. Perfect moments can be had, but not preserved, except in memory.

Actor/Director/Poet Leonard Nimoy, his final Tweet

The destiny of Googles search engine is to become that Star Trek computer, and thats what we are building.

Amit Singhal, the head of Googles search rankings team, at South by Southwest

There are three sides to every story: your side, my side, and the truth. And no one is lying. Memories shared serve each differently.

Robert Evans, The Kid Stays in the Picture

In 1987, as a young college student writing about the fledgling Next Generation series for the student newspaper, I first set foot on the bridge of the starship Enterprise during production on the first season episode, Too Short a Season.

It would lead to many published articles about the making of Star Trek over the years (as well as myriad subsequent visits to the bridge of multiple starships, numerous away missions to Deep Space Nine, and the set of several of the feature films). My love affair with Trek , of course, predated my arrival in the twenty-fourth century by almost two decades, but this was the beginning of a professional association that continues to this day.

Revisiting the world of Star Trek with Edward Gross after these many years for this book reminded us both of one thing: the world needs Star Trek . In a cynical twenty-first century consumed by dystopian visions of the future, Star Trek is unique. It postulates a future in which we are better than we are today and where technology has allowed a united Earth to colonize the stars while leaving behind a planet that is a paradise; no longer ravaged by war, disease, hunger, climate change, or the Tea Party.

Over the years Star Trek has been great, its been awful, and, at its worst, its been plain mediocre. But when its good, Star Trek s unique lens for observing the human condition is unparalleled in examining our society in a way that no other series in popular culture has even come close to.

The drama behind the making of the series is far less utopian, but someone had to make the sausage, and this is their story; honest, uncensored and unabridged. At the end of the day, whether you love each of these individual seriesor only some of themthere is not one person interviewed in this book that didnt care deeply about the work and didnt make every effort to make their corner of the Star Trek universe great. For that, we thank you.

Knowing the late Michael Piller would appreciate this baseball analogy most of all, I would be remiss not to acknowledge his thoughtful and prescient decision to recruit rookie writers over the course of Trek s many years in space, which led to him assembling a deep bench of talented wordsmiths akin to the 1927 Yankees of the Writers Guild of America. Among those he discovered, or who were subsequently hired as a result of the open submissions policy he championed, are such now legendary showrunners as Ronald D. Moore ( Battlestar Galactica, Outlander ), Bryan Fuller ( Pushing Daisies, Hannibal, American Gods ), Brannon Braga ( Cosmos: A Space-Time Odyssey, Salem ), Ren Echevarria ( Dark Angel, Castle ), Naren Shankar ( The Expanse, CSI: Crime Scene Investigation ), Rob Doherty ( Elementary ), Mike Taylor ( Defiance, Turn: Washingtons Spies ), Ken Biller (Legends, Perception) and Mike Sussman ( Perception ), to name only a few of the exceptional talents that toiled in the Star Trek universe under Pillers sage tutelage and mentorship.

So now it seems only appropriate that as we celebrate five decades of Star Trek and prepare to once again boldly go on future Trek s yet to come, we look back and see the many things these immensely talented craftspeople did rightand admittedly wrongover the years, and hope that as Star Trek lives again on television in 2017, their aspirations to do it even better the next time will be realized as this unstoppable franchise continues to boldly go where no one has gone before.

Keep watching the stars.

Mark A. Altman

February 2016

STAR TREK ABBREVIATIONS

Star Trek: The Original Series : TOS

Star Trek: The Animated Series : TAS

Star Trek: Phase II : Phase II

Star Trek: The Next Generation : TNG

Star Trek: Deep Space Nine : DS9

Star Trek: Voyager : VOY

Star Trek: Enterprise : ENT

Star Trek: The Motion Picture : TMP

Star Trek II: The Wrath of Khan : STII

Star Trek III: The Search for Spock : STIII

Star Trek IV: The Voyage Home : STIV

Star Trek V: The Final Frontier : STV

Star Trek VI: The Undiscovered Country : STVI

Star Trek: Generations : Generations

Star Trek: First Contact : First Contact