CARETAKER: Rick Berman and his production methods

Once given the go ahead by Paramount executives Kerry McCluggage and Tom Mazza, RICK BERMAN is the man in charge of Star Trek. Berman is the head of the company. Almost nothing gets approved without his prior blessing. His control is so utterly complete that even Berman himself often lapses into the imperial "We" as in "Make sure We don't hate it."

He is a "hands-on producer". One moment he is approving the first edit, frame-by-frame, of an episode of [DS9], the next he is reviewing (again, frame-by-frame) an optical effect for a [Star Trek Voyager] scene and then critiquing, word-by-word, the final draft screenplay for [Star Trek VIII: First Contact]. In the corporate world of big business this is usually called 'micromanaging'. Board chairmen and chief executive officers do not like to be accused of 'micromanaging' as the term generally denotes a poor manager, one who has difficulty letting go of control and delegating authority to qualified subordinates. Gene Roddenberry's method of producing was to gather around him the right group of people to whom he could safely delegate the work. Roddenberry's and Berman's methods differ markedly, but both methods work(ed). See also ARTICLES INDEX: In Memoriam: Gene Roddenberry.

Rick Berman, of Gene Roddenberry and Star Trek: "I learned Gene's vision directly from Gene. It wasn't my vision of the future, but it was at the foundation of Star Trek. It was like learning a foreign language. I studied it, and I know it quite well. We bend it a little bit, but we try not to break it."

In addition to producing-style differences, Berman's relationship with the fans is also the antithesis of Roddenberry's. 'The Great Bird of the Galaxy', as Roddenberry was affectionately known‡, was readily accessible to fans everywhere and enjoyed the feeling of connectedness, and the fans loved him back. Berman does not do that, and does not have to as his job is to uphold the vision not get pally with the fans. While, according to Poe, he might be a difficult man to please, his results show. Ironically, his success has meant that Star Trek has grown so big that he can no longer oversee everything to the minutest detail as there is so much more work than ever before. Since the late 1980s Berman has steadily added layers of producers and staffers to help ease the workload. This expansion has been mirrored at both Paramount and Viacom. As the number of series, features, theme parks, retail stores, and related ventures proliferates, more people are needed to oversee various aspects of the Star Trek universe.

‡ During the production of [TOS: The Man Trap], in which George Takei's character, Sulu, uses this expression to wish someone a blessing, Takei called Roddenberry this and the nickname stuck. (Sulu appears in [#44 Flashback].) It was occasionally used in a joking threatening manner, as in Bob Justman's memo to Matt Jefferies: "If I don't get those preliminary set sketches for [Mudd's Women], the Great Bird of the Galaxy is going to do something nasty on you." (The Jefferies tubes were named for Matt Jefferies, and the name was officially used in [TNG].)