Power is Ephemeral

William Shatner :

Power is an ephemeral;

it's What is Perceived. 

In order for Power to exist it 

has to be acknowledged by the 

people who are involved in

The Work. 

What I began to see 

was Gene Roddenberry, 

The Creator of Star Trek, 

aging and in diminishing 

health trying desperately 

to hold on to his creative vision, 

his legacy, and ultimately, 

His Power. 

Hurley:

Roddenberry had an incredible Loyalty, 

he was very loyal to his friends. 

David Gerold :

No, Gene screwed over all his friends 

as well as his enemies. 

You know, he had a lot of demons. 

He was very perceptive, 

had a high IQ. 

Gene was a Historical Revisionist. 

Creative and contributive

and collaborative. 

Very intimidating guy.

His good nature. 

He could be a bully. 

But he was a nice man and 

was a generous man. 

Gene had a way of making you feel really good about yourself. 

He could inspire people to do better than they believed they were capable of. 

Sir Patrick Stewart :

I just found him a decent man. 

And had a lot of worldly experience. 

A bomber pilot in the Pacific, decorated 

Pan-Am pilot world wide. 

I had great arguments about philosophy 

and all sorts of things. 

He was a really remarkable man, I thought. 

Gene was fun... but then later as things were 

not going as well I think he got sour. 

There's this twenty years

in The Desert for Gene. 

He's the forgotten man. 

D.C. Fontana:

The things that didn't happen 

were disappointing 

and very saddening.

 

His wife Majel would go to the conventions 

and they would sell memorabilia 

and make some money that way 

and that money helped sustain him. 

When you're out of work as a writer 

in Hollywood and you can't find it,

it's a difficult life. 

I guarantee you he had a difficult life 

between Star Trek and the first movie — 

We get back together for Next Gen and for him 

it's like he's been called back 

out of The Desert and given 

A Position of Power again. 

At the time Gene Roddenberry was considered 

somewhat of a pain in the neck, 

he was kind of a blustery guy 

who was not very agreeable. 

Everybody else forgot him after

Star Trek : The Motion Picture, this epic disaster. 

Every aspect of it got out of hand, 

this was a runaway train. 

He wasn't trusted with anything. 

He had been relegated to being 

the executive consultant on the movies. 

They paid him very well. 

I think that may have been enough. 

He had a big corner office in the Hart building. 

He pretty much spent his days in correspondence with people 

from all over the world who had become Star Trek fans. 

So they gave him this emeritus status, 

and he was a Has-Been.