Robert Wolfe: Worst pitches
Ben
Dear Robert Wolfe,
Would it be out of order for you to tell us what the WORST pitches or story
ideas you've heard recently were? I remember hearing about a Next Gen one
which involved Troi milking a cow for a lot of the episode ...
As ever,
Ben
Robert H. Wolfe
In <AF4E4506...@rayl.netkonect.co.uk> ro...@rayl.netkonect.co.uk
(Ben) writes:
>Would it be out of order for you to tell us what the WORST pitches or
>story ideas you've heard recently were? I remember hearing about a
>Next Gen one which involved Troi milking a cow for a lot of the
>episode ...
Ummm, this is a tough one for me, philosophically. Just because I
thought an idea sucked doesn't really make it right for me to hold it
up for public ridicule. Someone thought that it was a good idea and
put a lot of effort into it, enough to write a spec script or come in
and pitch it. Why should I make fun of their efforts?
Now, my efforts, on the other hand, are totally legitimate targets, so
I hereby put forward "LET HE WHO IS WITHOUT SIN" as the stupidest idea
for an episode I've ever heard. <grin>
Robert
John David Watker
What was going through your head when writing that one? I've been
waiting a while to see if it was safe to ask that! :-) (Didn't want to hurt
your feelings or something)
--
John David Watker
e-mail: jdwa...@cybercomm.net
WWW: http://www.cybercomm.net/~jdwatker/ ("Operations: John's Website")
"With the first link, a chain is forged. The first speech censured,
the first thought forbidden, the first freedom denied, chains us
all irrevocably." -Capt. Jean-Luc Picard "The Drumhead"
Robert H. Wolfe
In <5gp3br$p...@crow.cybercomm.net> jdwa...@cybercomm.net (John David
Watker) writes:
>
>In article <5gk1lp$r...@sjx-ixn3.ix.netcom.com>,
>rhw...@ix.netcom.com(Robert H. Wolfe) wrote:
>>I hereby put forward "LET HE WHO IS WITHOUT SIN" as the stupidest
>>idea for an episode I've ever heard. <grin>
>>
>>Robert
>
>What was going through your head when writing that one?
"Please don't let this suck. Please don't let this suck."
>I've been
>waiting a while to see if it was safe to ask that! :-) (Didn't want to
>hurt your feelings or something)
Thanks. I think the wounds have sufficiently healed.
Robert
Shanna Swendson
In article <5gpome$3...@sjx-ixn5.ix.netcom.com>,
rhw...@ix.netcom.com(Robert H. Wolfe) wrote:
> In <5gp3br$p...@crow.cybercomm.net> jdwa...@cybercomm.net (John David
> Watker) writes:
> >
> >In article <5gk1lp$r...@sjx-ixn3.ix.netcom.com>,
> >rhw...@ix.netcom.com(Robert H. Wolfe) wrote:
>
> >>I hereby put forward "LET HE WHO IS WITHOUT SIN" as the stupidest
> >>idea for an episode I've ever heard. <grin>
> >What was going through your head when writing that one?
>
> "Please don't let this suck. Please don't let this suck."
>
> >I've been
> >waiting a while to see if it was safe to ask that! :-) (Didn't want to
> >hurt your feelings or something)
>
> Thanks. I think the wounds have sufficiently healed.
Oh, come on, it wasn't THAT bad.
Not on my top-ten list, granted, and I won't be replaying it over and over
again or showing it to friends to convince them this is a great series
they're missing, but it did give me a few good grins, and I enjoyed it
while I was watching it. The other DS9 fan in my office and I even had a
fun little chat about it the morning after it aired, and we laughed again
at some of the lines.
Mind you, I'd much rather see more like "In Purgatory's Shadow," but it's
not like you should be cast into the Pit of Despair for having a hand in
"Let He Who is Without Sin."
Shanna
(In a forgiving mood)
Dave Roy
>In article <5gpome$3...@sjx-ixn5.ix.netcom.com>,
>rhw...@ix.netcom.com(Robert H. Wolfe) wrote:
>> Thanks. I think the wounds have sufficiently healed.
>
>Oh, come on, it wasn't THAT bad.
[snip]
>Mind you, I'd much rather see more like "In Purgatory's Shadow," but it's
>not like you should be cast into the Pit of Despair for having a hand in
>"Let He Who is Without Sin."
Nah, it wasn't that bad, but it sure was bad. How about we just cast
him into Heck for a little while? Maybe let Phil, the Prince of
Insufficient Light deal with him? :-)
Dave Roy
Tom Willson
Shanna Swendson wrote:
>
> In article <5gpome$3...@sjx-ixn5.ix.netcom.com>,
> rhw...@ix.netcom.com(Robert H. Wolfe) wrote:
>
> > >rhw...@ix.netcom.com(Robert H. Wolfe) wrote:
> >
> > >>I hereby put forward "LET HE WHO IS WITHOUT SIN" as the stupidest
> > >>idea for an episode I've ever heard. <grin>
> > >What was going through your head when writing that one?
> >
> > "Please don't let this suck. Please don't let this suck."
> >
> > >I've been
> > >waiting a while to see if it was safe to ask that! :-) (Didn't want to
> > >hurt your feelings or something)
> >
>
> Oh, come on, it wasn't THAT bad.
>
> again or showing it to friends to convince them this is a great series
> they're missing, but it did give me a few good grins, and I enjoyed it
> while I was watching it. The other DS9 fan in my office and I even had a
> fun little chat about it the morning after it aired, and we laughed again
> at some of the lines.
>
No, it wasn't that bad, but think about all the opportunities they had
to make it better. For example:
1) Why didn't somone tell the essentialist (is that whatthey were
called?)
that protecting the federation by curtailing freedoms and destroying
morale
was ultimately self-defeating? Excessive vigilance breeds brutality!
That argument was marshalled perfectly in Home Front and Paradise
Lost.
2) Wouldn't it have been much more interesting if the Risans themselves
had
been provoked into doing something about the essentialists? (This is
a
tried and true ST plot if ever there was one: the "perfect" society
gets
rather uncivilized when someone rains on its parade.) A violent
reaction by the Risans would have greatly imcreased the tension in
the episode
by simultaniously proving both the essentialists point (people have
gone soft) and the above anti-essentialist argument (excesive
vigilance breeds brutality).
4) Why did the writers bother to have Quark make the trip to Risa if
they never had him DO anything there?
3) Why did Bashir and Lyta (?) find it necessary to formally break up
when
there was no evidence (in previous eps) that they were ever a serious
couple? (I may have missed this, but all I ever remember about them
is
that they once had an interupted conversation.)
5) Finally, why did they waste he story about Worf playing soccer as a
kid.
I thought the story itself was great, but it had almost nothing
to do with the action in the rest of the episode.
The story would seem to explain why it is now so important for Worf
to be
constantly in control -- physically and emotionally -- around
non-Klingons. This
provides a neat explanatin for the awkward stiffness that Worf has
adopted
on DS9 (or it would, if he hadn't behaved so differently on TNG.) But
where
did it come from and what does it have to do with this episode?
Worf spends most of "Wthout Sin..." acting jealous and
self-righteous. We assume
that he is acting from an over-developed sense of macho vanity, but
no, he suddenly
reveals that he is suffering a deep neurosis caused by a childhood
trauma that has
effected all of his interpersonal relationships. The logic is that
he has so
repressed his emotions (after killing the kid playing soccer) that he
despises
anyone around him who isn't as emotionally repressed as he is.
(Actually it
would have been nice if they had just said that, instead of dancing
around it.)
Well, nice diagnosis counseler Troi! Could someone please tell me how
does Worf
is able to arive at this deep and cathartic self-realization. Even
if this is
the ultimate cause of Worf's compulsion about order and self control,
how does
he go from total denial to total self realization in a scene change.
Would
YOU be able to see a conection between you inability to trust of your
lover and
some repressed childhood trauma... without conseling... in the middle
of an argument?
I don't think so. I'm not it even sure it makes sense.
/Tom Willson
will...@pilot.msu.edu
Lisarose
> The story would seem to explain why it is now so important for Worf
> to be
> constantly in control -- physically and emotionally -- around
> non-Klingons. This
> provides a neat explanatin for the awkward stiffness that Worf has
> adopted
> on DS9 (or it would, if he hadn't behaved so differently on TNG.)
I just watched the story about Risa again and I was wondering why Worf
acts as he does on DS9. I'm positive he wasn't that stiff in TNG.
Granted, Troi and Alexander were around and may have losened him up, but
on DS9 he seems to always be on the defense.
Anyone know why?
Lisarose
Sarah McAndrews
In article <33404B...@clarityconnect.com>, lisa...@clarityconnect.com
says...
Oh, this was explained on DS9 in several episodes, mainly in his
conversations with Sisko and O'brien regarding Warf's adjustment to the
loss of the Enterprise and his adjustment to life on the station.
Warf demands and appreciates order and discipline, and on DS9 things are
much more ambiguous and informal than on a starship; also, the station is a
floating hunk of trash, not a well-tuned machine like a Fed starship;
nothing is reliable or predictable.
This character complexity is not wasted like it was on TNG.
pf2...@aol.com
>I just watched the story about Risa again and I was wondering why Worf
>acts as he does on DS9. I'm positive he wasn't that stiff in TNG.
>Granted, Troi and Alexander were around and may have losened him up, but
>on DS9 he seems to always be on the defense.
>Anyone know why?
>Lisarose
>
>
Maybe something happened after "All Good Things" between him and Troi. That would also explain why he is now going out with Dax.