Very cool
By spacebeluga

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IB: I think the series as a whole was the greatest contribution. Getting back to telling character-oriented stories, getting back to having conflict between human beings; plot at the service of character. We did our share of space anomalies, usually to screw up O’Brien, [but] I think we created a much more complete universe in which you can have all these characters with all these backstories, all these races, all these supporting characters. You knew more about 'Garak' or 'Gul Dukat', ultimately, than you knew about 'Riker'. So that to me is the contribution.

So true!

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Plus we brought back money, greed, racial bigotry, war, all the stuff that disappeared that I just could not wrap my head around in terms of the reality.

Well...too bad he misses the point. This is why I wouldn't want Ira Behr to be in charge of the Star Trek franchise as some have suggested.

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We obviously did the thing we made a big deal about in season two, which was for me when I began to see opportunities that I hadn’t seen before. It was then [that] we decided that Earth is paradise--we’ll buy into that (I don’t quite understand it, but we'll buy it. It’s unique and "it’s easy to be a saint in paradise" is one of the things Sisko said in "Maquis, Part II." And to have a Federation person say that as opposed to a Cardassian or Ferengi or Bajoran was telling because Sisko was learning things. That opened the door in my mind for the rest of the series.

...But if there is ever any sequel to DS9, Behr is the MAN!

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IB: Everyone speaks for Gene Roddenberry, who’s gone, and I would not speak for Gene Roddenberry or be so quick to speak about what Gene would want or not want. The Gene Roddenberry of 1966 was a hell of a lot different than the Gene Roddenberry of 1989 and I'm sure had he been around in 1997 he would’ve been different from the Gene Roddenberry of 1989. So that criticism I don’t care about at all.

It's so refreshing to see a Star Trek producer who isn't skilled in the art of bullshitting.

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What I resented a lot of the time in both series, TOS (which I was a huge fan of) and TNG, was their "having their cake and eat it too" attitude. When they needed to blow up ships, they blew up ships. But there was no repercussions to it, usually, not really. No one sweated, it was like a tea party in the Hamptons. People were getting killed, there was no sweat, there was no fear, there were no repercussions, and I don’t care whether they're people on a ship and you don’t see them and you don’t care--bad, bad, bad, no good, bad, bad, image!--[and] bad storytelling.

Not an unreasonable observation at all.

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We wanted to say, "hey, people in this world that we live in can't get along in this little tiny planet and we have more in common than Cardassians and humans and we can’t get along." So why do we believe in our absolute arrogance that in the future we can have these disparate races and they will all find ways to avoid war, and we will find ways to avoid war especially with our Federation way of sucking people into our Federation [laughs].

Well I don't think that the idea that humans would not get into a war is integral to Star Trek. As far as I know most DS9 critics say that the portrayal of war is contrary to Star Trek, not the fact that one would exist.

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It’s a very interesting universe that I did not think had been explored enough. We said, "we’re going to explore it, not fully certainly, we’re gonna go down some avenues that people won’t like, and some of it won't hold up to scrutiny, but at least we’ll be doing it instead [of the alternative]." DS9 certainly was the series that refused on a day by day basis to play it safe. We all knew it, every writer was behind it. It was an exhilarating place to be in creatively.

Wow, creativity...I haven't heard that word in awhile...

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IB: Rick called me up, it was his initiative. He asked me had I seen ENTERPRISE, I told him no. He asked if I could look at it--they were thinking maybe of stepping back and that "this be another DS9 experience," whatever that meant. I didn’t really think it over in terms of what were the chances of that reality happening again. They sent me the three shows, I went in, had a two hour meeting with Rick and Brannon. It was a very cordial meeting, but everything I said I am sure they did not like hearing. I would not liked to have heard it if someone came into my office and talked as bluntly as I was talking to them. Though again, it was done all cordially. After it was over I am sure they were uncomfortable, I was very uncomfortable, we shook hands, Rick said, "well, all interesting stuff, we’ll think it over," and I never heard from him again. That's the whole story and it's barely a blip in anyone's lives, it has no impact whatsoever on the franchise. It's just something that happened.

Heh heh heh...I bet B&B thought "This is worse than the time I looked at Trekweb.com!"

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It’s a cash cow, so look here’s the bottom line from my tiny little view: whatever is good for the franchise is good for DEEP SPACE NINE.

LOL - getting a wee bit selfish there, aren't we?

So it's very refreshing to see some honesty about Star Trek, and even though I disagree with some of what he says about TOS and TNG and think he doesn't fully understand it (in fact he said he didn't understand it), I still think he's the last good thing that happened to the Star Trek franchise and that his contributions will have a positive impact (once Berman's gone at least). So good job Ira Behr!