#rick berman

[1shirt2shirtredshirtdeadshirt]

Sexism in TOS: Worst Offender, or Progressive in Retrospect in Comparison?

I see a lot of folks claim that TOS was the most sexist of the Star Trek shows by a landslide -- and while I agree that it definitely suffered from the sexism of the times, I also have other perspectives to share to give some food for thought.

I am of course not insinuating that TOS isn't sexist -- it is, but I have to ask folks to consider the breadth and depth of Berman's sexism in his run and ask yourself: Was Gene Roddenberry genuinely more sexist in his storytelling and delivery than Rick Berman?

I'm not telling you to feel one way or the other, but all I ask is that you hear me out and consider some perspectives and make your own balanced assessments. Nobody is obligated to share my opinion, but it means a lot just to have folks hear it and see their thoughts on the subject. So here is what I was originally responding to:

Someone's response to this photo:

"Devil's advocate. This was a part of the popular form of cardio during the production time of TNG. Yes, it was heavily sexualised by men, but so is literally every other way women work out. Men have been caught taking pictures of women while trying to do dead lifts, running on tracks and working on sled machines. They post them online to share too. The fact is, there is no way a woman can be shown working out without it going there. And yeah,t hat includes the combat forms of workout they do in Star Trek. Just look at how Dax dresses when she spars with Worf. Yes, they're dating, but still, same goes when 7 does and any other female.

Aerobics routines like this were made dirty and cringy. This was what women wore then by and large. This is how the workout was done. We make it cringy."

My response to them:

"I respect your take, but I disagree on a few fronts.

The miniskirt was chosen by the TOS female cast, not the male cast, specifically requested by Grace LW and affirmed by Nichelle and Majel who would go on to vehemently defend the miniskirt over the years as comfortable and embraced by them.

Grace said it was comfortable and seen as a symbol of female sexual empowerment during the 60s and thought it would be a progressive garment (and turns out that it was, as it was later adapted and worn by male crew as a skant on TNG) -- FYI those were designed by a gay man and Gene approved them.

This was also supposed to be Spock's TMP outfit:

Literally lingerie.

We saw both Uhura (who saves Kirk in from Marlena Mirror Mirror) and Yeoman Landon (the first to initiate combat with a classic Kirk-esque kick to help the Captain being attacked in The Apple) carry out their combat training in their Starfleet uniforms without ever being made to change into any ridiculous workout gear.

In fact, I'd argue Jim Kirk was sexualized even more than the ladies of the week on the show and I saw his naked body more than anyone else's on a fairly regular basis. He wore red yoga tights while topless in Charlie X while the women wore full length gymnastic suits that covered their entire body. If anything, it went out of its way to avoid sexualizing women practicing fitness in those scenes and instead focused on Kirk.

Gene confessed that he asked to have Shatner filmed in suggestive/provocative ways to "give something to the ladies", so he -- as he said -- liked to "film him walking away" or have him conveniently busting out of his shirts in just about every episode as it were, because Shatner apparently had great assets. LOL

Gene made an effort to at least sexualize both if he was going to sexualize one, and he carried that attitude forward in wanting the m/m and f/f scenes in the background on Risa for TNG. He also insisted that the men and women wear skimpy outfits on THAT TNG planet. You know the one. LOL I mean the dudes even had on less than the women:

Gene also gave permission to K/S shippers to have their conventions back in the 70s when he was asked for permission. Gene and Nimoy felt with all the skimpy outfits they had the ladies wear, why not let the ladies and gay men have their fun, too? It's how we ended up with moments like this:

Yes, those are two people dressed up as Kirk and Spock's penises doing interpretive dance. Gene didn't give two damns. LOL

In my eyes, that was a very progressive take on Gene's part for the 60s. It was actually PARAMOUNT STUDIOS who had the big problem with K/S stories and vehemently tried to shut them down. Gene literally hired slash authors on his payroll and even had several slash stories/writers published in his official Star Trek books (The New Voyages & The New Voyages II).

I feel I saw Uhura and women in TOS engaged in more physical combat/altercations defending themselves that Troi or Bev were shown holding their own.

In fact, Kirk used to get furious when someone would "dress up" his female crew members without their consent (Trelane episode, Shore Leave episode) because like his male crew members, he wanted them to be treated professionally and to also have his male crew act professionally.

Berman brought some of his own personal biases into Star Trek that in some ways regressed it. While TOS had blatant sexism and was called on it time and again, that show was made in the 60s -- a solid 21 years before TNG. We as a modern audience understood why some of it was cringe/sexist due to the time period -- look at any other media coming out in the 60s and Star Trek was miles ahead of what other shows were doing.

Compare that to Berman who was churning sexist stuff out when women like Starbuck and Scully were simultaneously on screen on other programs airing, and we had already had Sigourney Weaver and other strong women in Holywood playing respectful roles.

In my eyes, there was no need of the sexism seen in TNG but especially VOY and ENT. There was no excuse for it when other shows were writing women far better and a number of those weren't even set in the future like Trek was, making it age even faster due to having those dated perspectives frequently highlighted.

In the Center Seat documentary as well as "The Fifty Year Mission" book you will find cast members, writers and other studio alumni who attest to this. Some discussions from "The Fifty Year Mission":

"First, Berman was supposed to have been a real sleaze ball . . . According to Terry Farrel, he would go on constantly about how her breasts weren't big enough, how she should do something about it, and how his secretary was a good example to follow as she had huge breasts. She even had to have fittings to get larger bras, and that was all done at his behest.

Later Berman and Braga developed a name for Jeri Ryan's character prior Seven of Nine. They originally called the character "perineum" which if you look it up it is the area between the anus and the scrotum. Later they floated the name "6 of 9". I mean, what does it tell you about where these two were coming from in the development of this character if they had names like that put forward in all seriousness for her?"

Gene Roddenberry also had some of his own more progressive ideas for TNG cut or watered down by Berman. Roddenberry agreed TNG should have homosexual relationships and representation at a con in the 80s and insisted on it in a meeting with his writers -- something Berman later would not honor. Gene wanted the AIDS episode, showing m/m and f/f in the Riza scenes -- these were some of Roddenberry's requests to include in TNG that Berman later stonewalled.

Berman's era was sadly dated by his own misogynist bias, IMO, to the point that it can somewhat hurt the shows he worked on through his cringe egoism and blatant disrespect toward his female cast.

There is a reason why Gene could keep female actresses working with him and Berman had a revolving door of women that he couldn't seem to keep working for him -- he was abhorrent to women, on and off set. Gene wasn't perfect at all, he had a lot of issues himself -- but Berman was a whole other level. Just look at what he did to poor Jolene Blalock, Marina Sirtis and his toxic commenting on her body weight which exacerbated her struggles with eating disorders, or how he treated and talked to Terry Farrell.

Anyway, just some food for thought. I'm not saying anyone is wrong regarding a take like that, but there are a variety of ways to look at this. Gene Roddenberry isn't a saint by any means, but it definitely bothers me how folks will tote the Berman era as if it were the lesser of two evils or the more progressive depiction of women when I felt there were far more concerning portrayals of women in his era with far less justification.

(P.S: I don't event want to go near the sheer amount of "creepy old dude/villain preys on innocent/naïve/scared young woman or little girl" stories there were in Berman's era, either. But that's a whole other can of worms I can write about in a part 2.)

#star trek #star trek tos #star trek tng #star trek voy #star trek ent #star trek ds9 was the one show that went above and beyond #1shirt2shirtredshirtdeadshirt #oc #octrekmeta #octrek #gene roddenberry #rick berman #brannon braga #kirk #spock #uhura #rand #nichelle nichols #majel barrett #grace lee whitney #tos #tng #voy #ent #marina sirtis #jolene blalock #terry farrell

[star-trek-fandom-confessions]

#534

"I want to dropkick Rick Berman for multiple reasons."

#normal feeling #confession 534 #star-trek-fandom-confessions #star trek #rick berman

[gay-spock]

here’s a compilation of why rick berman of star trek fame could have ruined the franchise with his bigotry, thanks to @/thisismewhatevs on twitter:

- rick berman is usually cited by writers as the main reason gay characters were not allowed on screen in TNG/VOY/DS9/ENT even though gene roddenberry specifically wanted gay representation in the 1980s

- notably, he is responsible for demanding female actors be "sexed up" in various ways including jeri ryan's catsuit and padding terry farell's breasts

- when terry farell asked for a reduced contract similar to those of her male costars, she was fired, leading to the sudden death of jadzia dax

- with seven of nine's catsuit, not only was it berman's idea to make her "born sexy yesterday" her original costume pinched her neck so much she kept passing out. rather than change it, berman brought in nurses to administer oxygen between takes

- berman would continually comment on the appearance of female actors to the point that marina sirtis developed an eating disorder. sirtis also mentions how tight her corset and how large her breast padding was under her "uniform"

- berman was left in charge of trek because he was in the right place when roddenberry got sick. He had no experience with scifi previously and didn't really believe in roddenberry's vision of the future:

- In addition to being a dick to denise crosby after pushing her out, he's also the reason for wil wheaton was kicked out for similar contact negotiation as terry farrell

- harry kim was never promoted from ensign since berman hated his actor, garrett wang, according to him

- enterprise was a step backwards in a lot of ways because berman had far more creative control (seasons 1-3) and took a much more hands on writing role. here's t'pol actor jolene blalock discussing his sexualization of her

- as DS9 went on, garak and bashir spent less time together and garak was given zyial as an incredibly gross love interest because andy robinson's portrayal as queer coded made berman uncomfortable

- despite the "equality" promoted on the show, berman hired very few female writers, with less than 30% of episodes having even one female writer during his time

- “Rick Berman is not the only asshole to have worked on Star Trek and he is not the reason for every bad choice from TNG-ENT. However HE WAS the executive producers and show runner in charge of production so much of the sins of that time lie at his feet. When people get confused about how some people seem to "misunderstand" the point of Star Trek and don't know how they can watch/enjoy the "progressive" nature of the show and be such vile sexists and racists, this is how. They let a sexist asshole run the show for three decades. On screen representation is important. It's amazing for people to see themselves in such a hopeful future, but the behind the scenes matters just as much if not more than who is in front of the camera. Representation without responsible storytelling is a tragedy.“ -Deep Space Fine on twitter

this is not to say that TNG/DS9/VOY/ENT are bad shows, or that they shouldn’t be watched, or anything else; but that understanding why these awful choices were made behind the scenes in depicting a “progressive” future. rick berman didn’t agree with this future because he didn’t want others who weren’t white, cis, straight men like him to benefit in the ways he did.

#i wanted this info to be easier to find all-together on tumblr #star trek #rick berman #the next generation #deep space 9 #voyager #enterprise #star trek meta

[avalon-of-babylon]

So while I'm waiting for the next season of Lower Decks, I've decided to watch everything in chronological order, and it's been a time so far.

I don't hate Enterprise, but at the same time, it bounces wildly between captivating and middling with aggressively forced heteroerotic moments between characters who, up to the point I'm at, have shown no intrest implied or otherwise towards each other. It is painfully 2000 "haha we don't talk about the gays" kind of straight media, which is weird given how flamboyant DS9 was just 2 years before, and Rick Berman created both shows.

If it wasn't for Shuttlepod One being some of the gayest shit in Star Trek since Garak put his hands on Bashir's shoulders, I might start getting conspiratorial. It's genuinely like they decided to shove all of season one's homoerotism into that episode, I am not joking.

#star trek #star trek deep space nine #star trek ds9 #star trek enterprise #st ds9 #st ent #elim garak #julian bashir #doctor bashir #garashir #garak #ds9 garak #garak x bashir #malcom reed #trip tucker #tuckerreed #rick berman #star trek lower decks #st ld #shuttlepod one

[animentality]

the main reason ds9 isn't remembered as well as the original series or tng by the general populace is not just because it wasn't the very first trek or the most popular trek (tng's popularity was what really brought trek into the mainstream).

it was hated by Rick Berman, who was the head of the franchise at its height, and who deliberately spited it by never including its canon in other treks.

and that effect has lasted to this day, as modern writers who only bother to watch Star Trek movies never seem to remember ds9 even exists. the way the Pine-Quinto movies mention Archer and his beagle, and trek movies and shows make multiple references to TOS, and newer treks center entirely around tng plots or the Borg.

the way they brought back seven of nine before literally anyone on the cast of ds9.

there's a reason that the damn tng movies had a million references to Voyager, with Janeway and the EMH actually having cameos, but ds9 never even got a passing reference, even where it actually would've been appropriate.

Berman hated ds9 for its focus on serialization, i. e., connected storytelling, rather than syndication, i. e. episodic storytelling, because he was a money grubbing misogynist and homophobe, who thought all the money was in syndication. he hated the writers/other producers of ds9 for going behind his back and doing their damnedest to make quality star trek.

one of my favorite spiteful Berman stories is that in star trek first contact, the 2nd tng movie, he wanted to blow up the defiant and destroy it permanently, just for no reason at all.

and the ds9 writers were upset because no one had asked them about it. so they said you can destroy the defiant, but we're just gonna keep using the defiant and pretending it didn't blow up if you do.

which is why Worf asks Picard, in a completely thrown in line, what's the status of the defiant, and Picard says adrift, but salvageable.

and this particular movie is funny to me also because in that period, Worf is technically supposed to still be serving on ds9, and bringing him into the movie was basically justified as something of a side quest for him, being dragged off the station for a little tng romp.

so you see the crew of the defiant, but... again. Berman spite. rather than letting ANYONE on ds9 cameo in the first contact movie, even though that might've been cool... they just have some randos. one might be Adam Scott.

and remember that JANEWAY AND THE EMH are in that movie.

so berman deliberately wanted to spite ds9 by destroying the defiant, stealing worf (even making fun of him for his role on ds9 in another thrown in riker line) AND snub the entire crew of ds9 by having none of them anywhere in the movie, even though they COULD HAVE CAMEOED TOO, or at least been mentioned...

and to me that's pretty funny, because Rick Berman could have as many tantrums as he wanted behind closed doors, and hate the staff of ds9.

didn't make a difference. they'd still keep defying him, and you know...

not to be a total prick but... ds9 still has a thriving fanbase to this day. tng does too, and so does tos, and star trek in general is doing pretty well...

but out of all the old treks, ds9 has aged the best, not just in how it looks, but also in how it bridges the gap between, old world optimistic charm and more gritty, humanistic sci fi story telling.

it balanced syndication and serialization really well, and had great standalone episodes AND a fun connecting overarching narrative that made the world of star trek feel richer and more lived in. I also want to say that for modern audiences, who are accustomed to serialization more than syndication, ds9 is a far easier entry point into the world of star trek than any other trek.

Rick Berman can go fuck himself, is what I'm saying, in summation.

ds9 will stand the test of time.

and you know what?

both tng and voy succeeded in spite of Berman. not because of him. everything that makes those two shows work, is in defiance of the Roddenberry mandates that both Roddenberry and Berman constantly tried to uphold, even though it was to the detriment of the stories.

#star trek #tng #tos #voy #ds9 #ent #rick berman #star trek aos

[filmjunky-99]

s t a r t r e k d e e p s p a c e n i n e created by rick berman, michael piller [sons of mogh, s4ep14] 'Comparing Weapons'

#star trek #star trek deep space nine #deep space nine #rick berman #Michael Piller #ds9 season 4 #deep space nine season 4 #ds9 sons of Mogh #sons of Mogh #lot: st ds9 season 4 ep 15/26 (ep 87/176) #terry farrell #michael dorn #jadzia dax #worf #Comparing Weapons

[doctorbeverlycrusher]

Okay so you know how Lwaxana Troi is daughter of the Fifth House, holder of the Sacred Chalice of Rixx and heir to the Holy Rings of Betazed?

Well today I learned that the Sacred Chalice of Rixx was named after Rick Berman. However, it is both confirmed in TNG and some of the novels that the Sacred Chalice of Rixx is just a moldy clay pot.

So in other words, Rick Berman is someone who sounds important but in actuality is just a moldy clay pot.

#lwaxana troi #star trek #star trek tng #star trek the next generation #rick berman #tng #star trek ds9 #star trek deep space nine #ds9 #nsfe

[enigma-the-mysterious]

Can't wait to fast forward 10 years where the fandom remembers Matalas for who he is- the Rick Berman of this era

#picard #star trek picard #star trek #terry matalas #rick berman #orginal post #not incorrect quotes #lol #jean luc picard #patrick stewart #aramis in space #the next generation #fuck terry matalas #all my homies hate terry matalas

[stra-tek]

At least it wasn't a close up of her feet like everyone else got

#star trek #star trek enterprise #rick berman #t'pol #enterprise #star trek twitter

[tboyautism]

i wish flu virus particles were sentient so i could show them ds9 and convince them to murder rick berman

#rick berman #ds9 #star trek ds9 #this is about #jadzia #elim garak #jadzia dax #julian bashir #kiradax #garashir

[that-vexaholic-cryptid]

T'pol is such a cool character, and an excellent Vulcan, but it takes me out of the show every time she's made into a passive sex object

And that happens like, every other episode

Seven of Nine was such a big presence and didn't take any shit, so the effect wasn't as strong. When they do it to T'pol she can't react to it, or she's unconscious, or the camera itself is doing it and it just pisses me off.

#star trek #st ent #st enterprise #t'pol #rick berman

[street-corn]

January 29th, 2024 marks the 28th anniversary of the Star Trek Voyager episode "Threshold." This episode is often heralded as one of the worst episodes of Star Trek ever made and I've previously made the observation that everyone seems to dislike the episode for entirely novel reasons. While it's easy to predict that someone will dislike the episode, I find that the exact reason why can only be found by asking. Is it how it ruins established cannon? Is it the bad scientific understanding of how evolution works? Is it plot related as the crew avoids using an easy way home? Is it the poor parenting? Is it dialog and writing? Is it the lizard sex? There's usually a mix of reasons that I suspect one could use as the basis of Some Kind Of MBTI quiz.

However, rather than reveling in the episode itself, I want to address a bigger issue of how Star Trek fandom approaches its "worst ever episodes" lists that are a mere Bing search away. Too often I see episodes like Move Along Home (aka Allamaraine!) and Threshold at the top of "worst ever episodes" lists and I think its lazy or disingenuous to let these episodes dominate the conversation. Sure, the episodes are cheesy or campy, but they distract from the genuinely terrible episodes. The episodes that celebrate human rights violations, the episodes that propagate white supremacy, the episodes that teach the audience the wrong lesson, or the episodes that can cause physical discomfort to the audience. I would like to shine a light on a few of these episodes so we can properly discuss what it means to be a bad episode of Star Trek.

Tattoo Tattoo is an absolutely rotten episode. It's drizzled with misinformation and misconceptions about indigenous Americans. It states that indigenous people didn't have language, fire, and barely had any stone tool use (and implies they were too stupid to not migrate away from the cold.) So aliens, depicted as tall and strong, with blonde hair and blue eyes, taught them the basics of human civilization because there was no way this particular group of humans could figure it out on their own.

The Fight This episode is painful to watch. It's all of the worst parts about the Prophets of DS9 but without any allegory. It ruins cannon by making Boothby the Most Important Human To Ever Live. The episode, while late into the production of Voyager, continues the vision quest aspect of Chakotay, which ties it back to Tattoo. While not as offensive as other entries, it is worth putting on a list of actual bad episodes.

Cogenitor The NX-1 Enterprise meets some aliens with three genders. 98% of them are male and female but they also require a third gender to procreate, called the cogenitor. The cogenitors are kept as second class citizens. Their lives are owned by the state and their bodies are traded around to married couples that want to have children. They cannot own property, cannot vote, cannot socialize, are forbidden to become educated or literate, and are forced to wear gray drab clothing. Trip Tucker sees this and thinks its wrong. He teaches a cogenitor how to read. Unfortunately, the cogenitor uses this new skill to learn how oppressed their life is and how they are trapped in a system that cannot change, so they end their own life. Trip Tucker is treated as the villain of this episode. Gross.

Skin of Evil and Tears of the Prophets I'm bundling these episodes together because of their poor treatment of women and actresses behind the scenes. From a plot and writing perspective they do not treat their characters well. They can be summed up as "WTF moments." Behind the scenes it's extra terrible. From writing this I found out something fun and new…

Retrospect This is the episode where Tom Paris is convicted of murder and has to relive the memories of the murder over and over again. Behind the scenes, a certain producer was trying to spin that "women lie and never believe them about sexual assault allegations" while contract negotiations with Terry Farrel were going on. The plot is interesting, but the lessons the episode is trying to teach are wrong.

There are many other well known episodes that involve obvious racism and mistreatment of women, and I think they should make up the entirety of Star Trek's worst episode lists. But bundling campy and cheesy episodes like "Let He Who Is Without Sin…", "Sub Rosa", "The Way To Eden", and "Threshold" with the likes of "Code Of Honor" and "Turnabout Intruder" really confuses what it means to be a truly, awful, no good episode of television.

Anyways, let's watch some salamanders eat pepperoni pizza.

#star trek #threshold #threshold day #rick berman

[animentality]

The power of star trek is that even 24 years later, you can watch it, revel in the joy it brought you, agonize over its most heartbreaking moments, and still mourn Jadzia Dax like it just happened this morning.

Also the hatred you feel for Rick Berman never truly dies, it simply lies in waiting, building its fastidious nest in your heart, where love became grief and bitterness.

#star trek #ds9 #rick berman #terry farrell #jadzia dax

[filmjunky-99]

s t a r t r e k d e e p s p a c e n i n e created by rick berman, michael piller [the visitor, s4ep2] 'The Third Appearance'

#star trek #star trek deep space nine #deep space nine #rick berman #Michael Piller #ds9 season 4 #deep space nine season 4 #ds9 the visitor #the visitor #lot: st ds9 season 4 ep 2/26 (ep 75/176) #avery brooks #tony todd #benjamin sisko #Adult Jake #The Third Appearance

[moonbasetycho]

#meme #star trek #rick berman #evil #heavy metal #loc-nar

[colonel-kira-nerys]

Content Warning: Kidnap and Rape mention

holy shit. holy shit. this is why we need a better system of "warning" for things on podcasts.

So, for anyone who needs a warning, like me, and hasn't already stumbled upon it themselves, if you're in any way triggered by the discussion of trauma, specifically kidnap and rape, you absolutely should not listen to Nana's episode of InvestiGates, or else have someone you trust listen to it first so they can tell you about it and see if it's something you could handle before you're driving home from work, like I was, and are suddenly hyperventilating in the car.

And what really bothers me is that at the beginning of Nana Visitor's first episode, Gates McFadden just says something to the effect of "...she shares something I feel is inappropriate for young listeners." So I was like... okay... I guess this conversation might get pretty dark, but Gates specified young listeners in the warning, and I'm not a child, so I thought I would be okay.

ummmm.... you know what? nope. I should've counted myself among the fucking children, because holy shit, listening to Nana Visitor recount specific details of being kidnapped and raped when she was coming home late after filming an episode of DS9 is not for the fucking faint of heart, let me tell you.

I feel physically ill after listening to that. I don't know what to do with myself. There are so many levels of what I'm feeling, I can't even begin to make sense of all of the emotions inside me right now.

Nana is one of the strongest fucking people in the world, to survive what she survived. That's all I can say. And it's incredibly cruel that she had to go right back to work, as if nothing had happened to her at all. Did none of the producers / nobody on that show think "hey, maybe we should give Nana some fucking time off for a bit, so she can heal from this enormously traumatic, life-altering event?" NO? okay Rick Berman. I hope you enjoy your time in hell.

God. I'm gonna be sick just thinking about it.

#nana visitor #gates mcfadden #rick berman #rape tw #kidnap tw