Say it with me everybody: "FUCK RICK BERMAN!"

We all know Berman is a giant pussbucket, so it's not like this is AT ALL unlikely, but can we get a source on this for accuracy's sake?

So I actually no longer own this book, so I can't check what source he cited, but this is from Jewish Themes in Star Trek: Where No Rabbi Has Gone Before by Rabbi Yonassan Gershom

Look, read as many behind the scenes Star Trek books as I have and you know in your bones, in your soul, just without any doubt that anything bad anyone ever says about Rick Berman (and that's all anyone ever says about him) is absolutely 100% the absolute truth.

I've read dozens of behind the scenes books and hundreds of articles and... If someone did something problematic, bad, jerky, sexist, etc? It was Rick Berman. It's actually a massive shock we ended up with such an otherwise progressive show. Because the man has the ethics and morality of a 1950s used car salesman running a strip club. Ok? He's scum. He's sleaze. He's the walking definition of white male mediocrity failing upwards.

Never doubt it. Never.

^ This.

The thing that shocked me the most when I read The Fifty Year Mission (the second book, about TNG through to JJ Trek) was that for years I'd read about how much "Berman & Braga" had fucked up Trek. This was a universal claim on the Trek corners of the web back in the day, and still is in some parts!

But the distinct impression that I got, when reading the sections on Voyager and Enterprise in particular, was that Brannon Braga was really more of a patsy than the one actually responsible for the state of Trek during those two shows. Reading between the lines, it really seemed like he was young, talented (and arrogant because of it, hoo boy the power dynamics on Voyager sounded awful) ... and expertly manipulated into positions of increasing power solely because Berman knew Braga wouldn't stand up to the shitty decisions he was making.

All the stories I've read about the making of DS9 talk about how Ira Behr was always willing to go to bat for the show and for his writers' vision, probably the most famous example being the story about Nog's leg, or when he outright pretended the Dominion War would totally be resolved in 3 episodes lmao. He went toe to toe with Berman and usually won. (Also, importantly, that same book tells us that Behr had NO CLUE that Berman had told Terry Farrell that she couldn't change to recurring and that she wrongly assumed that Behr was aligned with Berman in issuing the ultimatum that led to her leaving).

Meanwhile, over on Voyager Braga ends up getting greater responsibility that he ultimately isn't ready for. If I recall correctly, after the show was finished he wanted to take a break from Trek, and was completely burnt out, but was basically talked into co-creating Enterprise by Berman. I've forgotten the exact details now (really need to re-read that book, it was so fascinating) but it honestly changed my entire perception of the old chestnut that "B&B ruined Trek". Especially in light of Braga's wonderful, progressive episodes of The Orville in recent years.

Berman was the real source of the rot in 90s Trek, especially the shows he had more influence over (Voyager and Enterprise, cause Michael Pillar left after s2 of Voyager). Actors and writers from both Voyager and Enterprise were fighting to have queer characters or storylines on the show. Berman always nixed it.

Enterprise is also the series where Berman - a longtime producer - decided that he had any business writing episodes, which is why we get so many godawful episodes where characters perv on T'Pol (seriously, look at the writing credits for any ep where a dude is a creep to T'Pol and lo and behold, Berman wrote it). The catsuits were always him as well (:

I'm so glad that all of his many shady ass decisions are being brought to the light so folks understand where to address their ire.