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Lord Borg
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 Fri Sep 16, 2005 6:14 pm Herb Wright, TNG Producer/Writer passes |
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| startrek.com wrote: | Herb Wright Remembered
Herbert J. Wright � writer/producer who helped launch Star Trek: The Next Generation in 1987 and came to be known as the "Father of the Ferengi" � has died. Wright passed away in his sleep on Wednesday, August 24, of natural causes. He was 58.
Besides his involvement with TNG, Wright also made news in recent years when he gained the rights to revive Questor, a TV series about an android in contemporary times which Gene Roddenberry developed but abandoned in the mid-1970s (related 2003 story).
Wright is survived by his wife, Elaine Giftos Wright, as well as a brother, two sisters, a daughter from a previous marriage and three grandchildren. A private family funeral was held, but an additional memorial is being planned for later this month. We will update this article as more information becomes available.
Wright was a producer on TNG during its first season, and at Roddenberry's behest wrote the episode which introduced the Ferengi race, "The Last Outpost." He followed that up with the second Ferengi episode, "The Battle." He also contributed to "Heart of Glory," the first Klingon-themed episode of TNG.
After that first season Wright moved to another Paramount show, a TV series version of War of the Worlds, but returned to TNG in its fifth season as a producer. During that time, he co-wrote the episode "Power Play."
Wright's association with Gene Roddenberry went back to 1973 when he was working on the Universal Studios lot as a producer on The Six Million Dollar Man, and Roddenberry was producing "The Questor Tapes," the TV movie starring Robert Foxworth and Mike Farrell which was to serve as the pilot for the Questor series. Wright became aware of the new project and snuck into screenings of its dailies. Inspired by the show's premise about an android serving as a guardian for mankind, with its spiritual and philosophical underpinnings, he decided that that was the show he wanted to work on. After submitting writing samples to Roddenberry, Wright convinced him to let him join the nascent series. However, the day Wright was set to report to work, the Questor offices at Universal were cleared out. It turns out Roddenberry had walked off the show due to creative differences with the studio.
At that point, Roddenberry considered Questor to be dead and buried. But Wright never gave up on the concept. Over a decade later Wright joined the creative team developing the all-new Star Trek series, The Next Generation. Wright urged Roddenberry to hold back on "cannibalizing" the Questor character to create Data, on the possibility of someday reviving that series. Roddenberry rebuffed the notion.
Flash forward to the current decade: The rights to Questor finally reverted back to the Roddenberry family, and Wright secured the option to the property and set out to once and for all produce the series, staying as true to Roddenberry's vision as possible while contemporizing it. He announced commencement of the project at the 2003 Grand Slam convention in Pasadena, and promoted it at several other conventions that year. He had booked production facilities in Santa Clarita (just north of Los Angeles), and was putting together financial and distribution deals, while developing the first script.
However, within a year Wright fell ill, and the show was delayed. Ultimately his body succumbed to disease. Wright's business and creative partners are still in talks to continue moving forward on Questor based on the work that Wright has completed.
Other shows Wright worked on throughout his career as a writer/producer included Rod Serling's Night Gallery, Stingray, Hunter, Space Rangers and others. In 1982 he received an Emmy nomination, along with director Ron Howard, in the category Outstanding Children's Program for the TV movie "Through the Magic Pyramid."
"Herb was one of the good guys," said Eugene W. Roddenberry Jr., Gene's son. "He was a gentle thinker � someone I could instantly trust. He wasn't a typical Hollywood producer. I was very impressed that when he wanted to do Questor, he would come to the conventions and talk to the fans, and find out what they wanted and what they thought. He wanted to do the right thing with the Roddenberry name." |
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