Right after the death of Leonard Nimoy the man who co-saved Star Trek‘s viability for future movies and TV shows passed away.
Harve Bennett was a veteran of television shows such as The Six Million Dollar Man and Salvage I. After the first Star Trek movie’s lackluster long term likability (it was a hit but it would be on par with the 1998 Lost in Space, seemed good at the time, then aged poorly), Paramount handed the reins of the franchise to Harve over Gene Roddenberry. If the rumors about Gene’s idea have any validity, it’s a good thing Harve took over.
Shortly after the first good version of the Wrath of Khan DVD came out, I watched the extra features with director Nicholas Meyer and producer Harve. I loved how Harve watched every episode on 16 mm film (I guess VCR copies weren’t widely available) to see what made the story tick. He said he set his sights on following up on Khan who was abandoned on Ceti Alpha V, hiding out like Osama bin Laden. One detail I would add, I’m confident Ricardo Montalban got the nod thanks to his weekly “hosting” of Fantasy Island. The next monumental task was enlisting Leonard Nimoy to play Spock. Nimoy wasn’t supposed to be in the first movie/TV pilot neither yet Paramount cajoled him with enough money (I’ll have to read I Am Spock to see). Still feeling typecast in 1981, Nimoy was balking again. Harve said he convinced Nimoy easily by saying, “How would you like the greatest death scene ever?” Boom! The best Star Trek and in many ways, one of the best 10 Science Fiction movies was made.
I’m grateful. Now what Star Trek needs is another person who’s good at storytelling while balancing the backstories of these beloved characters. Something JJ Abrams couldn’t do.