Marc Scott Zicree, Screenwriter/Author: But ultimately for any film or tv show or book
or any work of art, to have relevance, it has to touch you here. It has to move you emotionally.
We love Van Gogh not because of the theory of what he's
doing. We love Van Gogh because those paintings speak to us, they move us.
Film Courage: What do you love about Star Trek Discovery?
Marc: Doug Jones I think is terrific. He's the lead in Space Command as well (or one of our lead
actors) and he's absolutely wonderful. I think the production design is pretty amazing. I think the
detail on sets and costumes is pretty amazing, the visual effects are good. I think it's gone
kind of…I haven't watched all of the third season yet but I felt the first couple of seasons were
pretty weak in terms of just characterization and story line. There's a lot of talent in that cast
but I would have developed the characters very differently. I would have gone much deeper. I
think that there's a very hit-and-miss quality to a number of the characters where it's like who are
these people? What what's the point of this story? I think they're often talking about the emotion
without actually dramatizing the emotion and so A Strange New World's maybe the Star Trek episode
the show we're all waiting for that's the ones captain pike the fun part about that is captain
pike was the original captain the first pilot that Gene Roddenberry did of Star Trek in 1964.
and so if that and now that's being greenlit as a show so it's the longest period for when a show
was pitched when a pilot was made to when they actually picked up the show it's like 55 years or
60 years that's pretty fun how do you think gene roddenberry would have felt about Star Trek today
I think he would be have very mixed feelings I think he'd be very glad that was still
generating billions of dollars and still popular I think I don't think
he would necessarily be that fond of Star Trek discovery or picard simply because
they are missing the opportunity of telling stories that have
relevance to the current moment you know I think he was very very much someone who wanted to
make emotional points that related to the real world and I think Star Trek discovery and
picard have been they kind of have sort of they're kind of drifting a little bit you know and it so
I don't think he'd necessarily like those shows particularly but that's not for me to say you know
ask him when they clone him you know what's your argument that Star Trek is better than star wars
well my argument is I wouldn't say that Star Trek is better than star wars I would just
say that it's different I you know it's my friend mel gilden says the golden age of science fiction
is 13. and of course by that he means that when you're a 13 year old that's when you find those
things in science fiction that really speak to your heart and the universes you want to live in
it's just for me I remember when I was a kid I recorded the original broadcast of Star Trek on
reel-to-reel tape in case the show never aired again and there were no vcrs there's no way to
you know record the entire show where you could watch it but I remember that week after week
after week there were stories that i'd never seen anywhere before they were astonishing and they
had such profound meaning for my life you know I remember a city on the edge of forever where
kirk and spock and mccoy go back to the 30s and kirk falls in love with this woman who runs a soup
kitchen and ultimately he finds out that in order for the time flow of time to turn out correctly
she has to die and so he literally allows her to be hit by a truck he throws her into a truck
and every tv show i'd ever seen before that the hero saved the girl it was just a given and in
this one he's responsible for the death of the girl and and the message was sometime in your life
there'll be something you know is the right thing to do but it'll break your heart but because it's
the right thing to do you have to do it and I was profoundly changed by that one episode that harlan
ellison wrote and and I and and so Star Trek had a deep deep formative influence on me and
whereas I can't say that luke or leia or obi-wan or any of those characters as much as I like them
changed me in any way particularly other than entertaining me for a few hours
so so I'm not I think if someone thinks that star wars is better than Star Trek more power to them
I think it's fine for anyone to have any opinion basically as long as it doesn't hurt anyone
you know I think compassion has to be what rules us and it's it's so liberating when you don't need
to be right you know when you say this is just my opinion if you have a different opinion it's fine
that does of course that doesn't mean racism or misogyny or any of those things you have to speak
out against things that are really hurting people but most opinions are just people having opinions
you know is star wars better than Star Trek I don't know not for me but for other people sure
it's fine like when jj abrams loves star star wars you know I mean you know I'm sure that he
feels really bad that he wasn't able to to do everything he wanted to do with it you know so
luck of the draw it reminds me a little bit of the keith richards biography where he talked
about a lot of these jazz enthusiasts and there were two different types there were
the ones that were sort of schooled in the bars and and had learned to play yes
by ear and then there were others that had these theories and they would argue it and
the film world feels like that at times yes well I have I have very little patience with theorists
you know it's funny you know I think of the twilight zone companion as an oral history of the
twilight zone I was very lucky that all all the writers directors producers actors were alive with
very few exceptions I mean rod serling was gone one of the other writers charles bowman was gone
but most everyone else was alive and so I was able to get the direct story from the people who made
these shows who wrote them and directed and produced them and the cinematographer and so forth
and but when you have theorists it's like I don't really want to hear people's theories I don't care
about that it's so academic and so pointless I would rather hang out with people making something
as opposed to people commenting about something and it's funny because when I wrote the twilight
zone companion I wrote it to learn how to be a writer producer in television not and so then when
people offered me gigs to write books about other tv shows I always said no because that wasn't
why I did that book I didn't do that book to then write the making of mash or the making of you know
hello kitty or whatever you know any of anything you know my little pony but you know so I and
and it's funny because on dvds and blu-rays i'll always listen to the commentaries of the directors
or the writers of the film or tv show but when it's some guy some theorists like he's the head
of the film department at you know some university and he has this this theme about alienation or
whatever it's like oh I don't go away you know it's not it's not worth my time and it's not of
interest to me that doesn't mean that you can't have larger meanings or metaphors or any of that
but ultimately for any film or tv show or book or any work of art to have relevance it has to
touch you here it has to move you emotionally we love van gogh not because of the theory of what
he's doing we love ango because those paintings speak to us they move us and you know so that's
the one thing I do like about the modern age is authenticity is valued now so for instance
if people recognize me as an authentic person and that my work is in alignment with who I
am as a person or the people I mentor the run the roundtable I run if everything I do from mr sci-fi
to the round table to space command to all these things are all in a line they all speak to the
same compassions they speak to the same kindness people recognize that I'm authentic in what I say
and do and I'm very glad that that matters because when I started my career the only time someone in
the audience would encounter something of some work of mine is by reading a book i'd written or
watching a tv show I might get a fan letter or maybe meet someone at a convention now
the audience is directly in communication with me and I actually like that because it tells me I'm
on the right path because I know and I don't need the fans I don't need the fans tell me
what to do artistically but it's nice to know that what I'm setting out to do is being accomplished
so it's great well that's the problem it's people who are in the ivory tower people who are I mean
particularly like it's like people who didn't know anyone who made that film or anyone who made
that tv show it's like you know some expert on howard hawks but he didn't know the guy
and free and frequently they'll come up with all these reasons why something was done that
has nothing to do with why it was really done it could be they were losing the light so that's why
he shot it as a one or you know like one with without cuts you know it might not have been
a stylistic choice and then the light was gone or you know there's always things that come out great
through the wonderful chaos that production is you know you always see the love see if
I wanted total control over what I was doing i'd be a novelist because novelists can sit in their
little rooms and the universe can be exactly the way they want it in their work and then
they give it to the editor and they can take those notes or not take those notes but they're
sort of the god of that universe they create I love to collaborate I love what actors bring in
my work what what designers bring my work what everyone brings to my work I love collaboration
because there's such an element of surprise if you choose people who are talented and brilliant
and passionate the work they come up with will surprise you when an actor takes a for instance
there was a in the pilot of space command there was a monologue I wrote for bob picardo where he
talks about the death of his wife and when I wrote it I said this probably won't work but i'll try it
and I can always cut it out and then bob delivered it and it's astonishing it's wonderful and
and so I was really glad I trusted my actors and said okay I'm not convinced let me see what he can
do with it and he surprised me because he really went somewhere truthful and you know and that
was that was me partnering with someone who made my work better so I have nothing but gratitude.