Baird knew nothing about Star Trek before Nemesis.

[Dave]

Stuart Baird has revealed that he knew very little about Star Trek: The Next Generation before signing on to direct Star Trek: Nemesis. The 10th Trek adventure is only Baird's third directing job, after Executive Decision and U.S. Marshals, and it follows a career spent mostly as an editor on such films as Superman: The Movie and Superman II, Outland and Lara Croft: Tomb Raider (on which he went uncredited). "I just approached it like a movie," Baird said of Nemesis in an interview to SciFi Wire. "I didn't bring any baggage at all with me."

Baird added, "I had seen a few of the TV episodes some years before in England, and I had seen one or two of the films. But I could not be called a Trekkie by any stretch of the imagination. I read the script, and I thought it was a good script, a very good script, and I thought maybe a fresh look, a fresh person in there, would give it another dimension or another perspective to it. The story was good, and I think of myself as a storyteller, so I'm treating it like an ordinary movie, except that it has a very great following. So I have been careful to follow some of the guidelines. Of course, [executive producer] Rick Berman and the cast steered me in the right direction if I was veering off too violently."

So, why did we get treated to the big, 'Stuart Baird is a huge Trek fan, 'a personal friend of Brent Spinner', and 'wants to put all the little Trek homages into the film because he has watched Trek since he was a little kid' rubbish that was reeled out last Autumn? Someone isn't telling the truth here, but if it isn't Baird, what was Berman afraid of?

Surely he wasn't afraid of fans being aghast at a non-trek director?

I saw hundreds of posts last year saying please don't let Jonathan Frakes do it again. Also, some of the best ST films have have had Directors completely new to Trek.

 

[Neo]

Do we belive him ???

 

[Dave]

Do you mean "do we believe Baird?"

Actually, I realise I've made a mistake (I do make mistakes from time to time!) I was confusing Stuart Baird the Director with John Logan the Writer. Logan is the one who is best mates with Brent Spinner, huge trek fan and wanted to put in all the little trek homages.

My other point is still valid though, I can't see anyone being bothered about if he has seen trek before or not, it's his Directing abilities which will make a good film.

 

[Dave]

The following report made me change my mind again. As a little bit of a 'continuity pornographer', as Brannon Braga called us, I find the following a little disturbing:

Marina Sirtis (Deanna Troi) has talked about what it was like working with director Stuart Baird on 'Star Trek: Nemesis.'

"Stuart doesn't have the knowledge of Star Trek that anyone who's been involved with the show whether it's Jonathan [Frakes] or even ['Generations' director] David Carson or the actors would just naturally have," Sirtis told the Sci Fi Wire.

"We have butted heads a little bit," she continued. "Because we'll say, 'This is the history,' and Stuart will say, 'Well, I don't really care about the history. I'm approaching this like it's the first Star Trek movie.'

"I don't think anybody's really done that before. I think it's going to be interesting to see how it turns out. I think it's possibly a good way to approach it, to have a new voice in there who's not locked into the past. It might bring some freshness to the franchise that it might not necessarily have had otherwise. The risk is that you could go too far away from what people want and expect. But hopefully it's somewhere in between."

The previous two Next Generation feature films were directed by William Riker actor Jonathan Frakes. Stuart Baird came to the franchise with a host of big-name titles on his resume; including directing 'US Marshall,' and 'Executive Decision' and editing work on 'Tomb Raider.' 'Nemesis' is the first time he has been involved with the Star Trek franchise.

Sirtis gave an example of the way Baird butted heads with the actors on the movie. "You had the actors saying, 'My character wouldn't do that or say that,' and I'm sure Rick [Berman] talked to Stuart about not straying too far from what's worked for so long. And John Logan [screenwriter] certainly knows the show inside and out.

"So if it's fresh and familiar at the same time, we could really be on to something."

Star Trek's strengths are 'the history'; how can you not care about it. However, good the storyline, you need a reason why a character is going to act out of character, and you can never break the established continuity.

 

[McHorde-Trooper]

Star Trek's strengths are 'the history'; how can you not care about it. However, good the storyline, you need a reason why a character is going to act out of character, and you can never break the established continuity.

You have a very good point Dave.
It's good that the author of the script knew his Trek and
that the Actors made sure thier characters werent' too out of line.

I am glad that the script is good even to one Director
outside of the Trek cirlcles.

The Trailor looks cool . .
I wonder if it looks as cool to those that don't know
so may spoliers?

- - - - - -

I'm still in denile about that one movie ever being made
. . you know De-Generations.

I remember reading about how they brought in script
doctors for that movie they never made

The other STNG movies they did make were okay, but
some were more like a decent two part episode.
- -
Any way that's my $0.82