Template:Gene Roddenberry quotes

Gene Roddenberry quotes
"It speaks to some basic human needs, that there is a tomorrow – it's not all going to be over in a big flash and a bomb, that the human race is improving, that we have things to be proud of as humans. No, ancient astronauts did not build the pyramids – human beings built them because they're clever and they work hard. And Star Trek is about those things."
 * - Eugene Wesley Roddenberry, from the Star Trek 25th Anniversary special, 1991 (as cited by Susan Sackett, used with permission)

"I believe in humanity. We are an incredible species. We're still just a child creature, we're still being nasty to each other. And all children go through those phases. We're growing up, we're moving into adolescence now. When we grow up – man, we're going to be something!"
 * - Eugene Wesley Roddenberry, Hollywood Blvd. "Star" ceremony acceptance speech, 9/4/85 (as cited by Susan Sackett, used with permission)

"I had insisted on half women on board [the Enterprise]. The network came to me and said, 'You can't have half women. Our people say it will make it look like a ship with all sorts of mad sexual things going on – half men and half women.' So we argued about it like a poker game and they finally said, 'Okay. We'll settle for one-third women.' I figured one-third women could take care of the males anyway."
 * - Eugene Wesley Roddenberry, from personal conversations with Gene in 1990, at La Costa, CA (as cited by Susan Sackett, used with permission)

"If man is to survive, he will have learned to take a delight in the essential differences between men and between cultures. He will learn that differences in ideas and attitudes are a delight, part of life's exciting variety, not something to fear."
 * - Eugene Wesley Roddenberry, as quoted in an Aardvarque greeting card, Santa Barbara, CA, 1971 (as cited by Susan Sackett, used with permission)

"When they say on a show 'Created by' anyone, like 'Created by Gene Roddenberry,' that is not true. I laid out a pathway, and then the only thing I will take credit for is, I surrounded myself by very bright people who came up with all those wonderful things. And then you can appear very smart."
 * - Eugene Wesley Roddenberry, Hollywood Blvd. "Star" party, 9/4/85 (as cited by Susan Sackett, used with permission)

"That's been a question, one of the big questions in my life. 'What is a human?' What are the elements that make a human?' It's a search for... how many elements do you get before you say, 'Yes, it's human,' where before you were saying it's not human."
 * - Eugene Wesley Roddenberry, from personal conversations with Gene in 1990 at La Costa, CA (as cited by Susan Sackett, used with permission)

"I was pleased that in those days when you couldn't even get blacks on television, that I not only had a black, but a black woman, and a black officer [on Star Trek]."
 * - Eugene Wesley Roddenberry, from the Star Trek 25th Anniversary special, 1991 (as cited by Susan Sackett, used with permission)

"Almost all of this comes out of my feeling that the human future is bright. We're just beginning. We have wonders ahead of us. I don't see how it can be any other way, with the way the future is going. We now have got a telescope up there. We're photographing the universe. We're inventing the next life form, which is the computer. We're in the midst of it. And it will happen."
 * - Eugene Wesley Roddenberry, from personal conversations with Gene in 1990 at La Costa, CA (as cited by Susan Sackett, used with permission)

"Bill [Shatner] was very upset when Leonard came on particularly strong at the beginning [of the series] because he said, 'Am I not the Captain? How come [the writers] don't appreciate that?' It was a very natural reaction. I said to Shatner, 'If we had an Eskimo as a second character, you could be sure the Eskimo would get the most delightful lines because of what he is.' I advised him not to worry about Spock because all that reflected on Shatner. particularly if Shatner continued to treat Spock properly in the show. I suggested they should show each other a lot of friendship in the show and it would eventually right itself. And, indeed, it did eventually right itself."
 * - Eugene Wesley Roddenberry, from personal conversations with Gene in 1990 at La Costa, CA (as cited by Susan Sackett, used with permission)

"Perhaps one of the primary features of 'Star Trek' that made it different from other shows was, it believed that Humans are improving – they will vastly improve in the 23rd century."
 * - Eugene Wesley Roddenberry, from Entertainment Tonight, 20th Anniversary – 1986 (as cited by Susan Sackett, used with permission)

"I have had so much trouble with emotion in my life I thought it just would be fun to write someone who didn't have that problem." (referring to Spock)
 * - Eugene Wesley Roddenberry, from Late Night America – 9/24/85 (as cited by Susan Sackett, used with permission)

"There is a tomorrow – we Humans are going to make it – we're something. To any young-minded person, that's a very important statement." (on what Star Trek had to say that made it endure)
 * - Eugene Wesley Roddenberry, from Good Morning America interview with Joan Lunden, Friday Nov. 21, 1986 (as cited by Susan Sackett, used with permission)

"You'd have to be a madman to sit down and say, 'Well, what do I do today? I think I'll create a phenomenon!' "
 * - Eugene Wesley Roddenberry, from a CNN interview on the 20th Anniversary, 9/8/86 (as cited by Susan Sackett, used with permission)

"I've never had a bad experience with a Trekkie."
 * - Eugene Wesley Roddenberry, from Late Night America – 9/24/85 (as cited by Susan Sackett, used with permission)

"I have nothing but admiration for this silly race of ours. Even with the Hitlers in it and so on. Sometimes it goes into ugliness, but, in all though, it is a beauty. It's like a rose, which also has thorns. We're something."
 * - Eugene Wesley Roddenberry, from personal conversations with Gene in 1990 at La Costa, CA (as cited by Susan Sackett, used with permission)

"I have always been reasonably leery of religion because there are so many edicts in religion, 'thou shalt not,' or 'thou shalt.' I wanted my world of the future to be clear of that."
 * - Eugene Wesley Roddenberry, from personal conversations with Gene in 1990 at La Costa, CA (as cited by Susan Sackett, used with permission)

"I'm not the same man I was when I created the original Star Trek. I did the best I could with that, but almost 25 years have gone by. I had the experience of seeing many science fiction shows fail. It made me even more sure that we should do a quality show."
 * - Eugene Wesley Roddenberry, from a conversation at La Costa, CA, 1990 (as cited by Susan Sackett, used with permission)

"We always figured there would be some families aboard [the Enterprise]. But now we figured we're leaning more heavily on the families. And the reason is these Galaxy-class ships go out for a longer time. From the way we designed our ship for the new [Next Generation] series, they were to be out longer. And if you want people to join Starfleet, you want to take families, to have a healthy family life. I think it's a better show now because we deal with that."
 * - Eugene Wesley Roddenberry, from a conversation at La Costa, CA, 1990 (as cited by Susan Sackett, used with permission)

"I wouldn't want to do a third generation of Star Trek. I'm Star Trekked out. It has satisfied many of my needs. It satisfied my needs for respecting myself... and it gives me a good feeling that it's a body of work in my life that is worth considering."
 * - Eugene Wesley Roddenberry, from a conversation at La Costa, CA, 1990 (as cited by Susan Sackett, used with permission)

"I would like to write and create other things. I would hate to have just Star Trek on my tombstone."
 * - Eugene Wesley Roddenberry, -from a conversation with me in the late 1970s (as cited by Susan Sackett, used with permission)

"My other thought at this moment brings a pleased smile. It turns out that the Trekkies have been right all along – and on nearly everything they have tried to tell us."
 * - Eugene Wesley Roddenberry, introduction to The Making of Star Trek: The Motion Picture (as cited by Susan Sackett, used with permission)

"We must question the story logic of having an all-knowing all-powerful God, who creates faulty Humans, and then blames them for his own mistakes."
 * - Eugene Wesley Roddenberry, referring to the God of the Bible, from one of Roddenberry's lectures in the 1970s &bull; more Roddenberry quotes

"It speaks to some basic human needs, that there is a tomorrow – it's not all going to be over in a big flash and a bomb, that the human race is improving, that we have things to be proud of as humans. No, ancient astronauts did not build the pyramids – human beings built them because they're clever and they work hard. And Star Trek is about those things."
 * - Eugene Wesley Roddenberry, from the Star Trek 25th Anniversary special, 1991 (as cited by Susan Sackett, used with permission)

"I believe in humanity. We are an incredible species. We're still just a child creature, we're still being nasty to each other. And all children go through those phases. We're growing up, we're moving into adolescence now. When we grow up – man, we're going to be something!"
 * - Eugene Wesley Roddenberry, Hollywood Blvd. "Star" ceremony acceptance speech, 9/4/85

"I had insisted on half women on board [the Enterprise]. The network came to me and said, 'You can't have half women. Our people say it will make it look like a ship with all sorts of mad sexual things going on – half men and half women.' So we argued about it like a poker game and they finally said, 'Okay. We'll settle for one-third women.' I figured one-third women could take care of the males anyway."
 * - Eugene Wesley Roddenberry, from personal conversations with Gene in 1990, at La Costa, CA

"If man is to survive, he will have learned to take a delight in the essential differences between men and between cultures. He will learn that differences in ideas and attitudes are a delight, part of life's exciting variety, not something to fear."
 * - Eugene Wesley Roddenberry, as quoted in an Aardvarque greeting card, Santa Barbara, CA, 1971

"When they say on a show 'Created by' anyone, like 'Created by Gene Roddenberry,' that is not true. I laid out a pathway, and then the only thing I will take credit for is, I surrounded myself by very bright people who came up with all those wonderful things. And then you can appear very smart."
 * - Eugene Wesley Roddenberry, Hollywood Blvd. "Star" party, 9/4/85

"That's been a question, one of the big questions in my life. 'What is a human?' What are the elements that make a human?' It's a search for... how many elements do you get before you say, 'Yes, it's human,' where before you were saying it's not human."
 * - Eugene Wesley Roddenberry, from personal conversations with Gene in 1990 at La Costa

"I was pleased that in those days when you couldn't even get blacks on television, that I not only had a black, but a black woman, and a black officer [on Star Trek]."
 * - Eugene Wesley Roddenberry, from the Star Trek 25th Anniversary special, 1991

"Almost all of this comes out of my feeling that the human future is bright. We're just beginning. We have wonders ahead of us. I don't see how it can be any other way, with the way the future is going. We now have got a telescope up there. We're photographing the universe. We're inventing the next life form, which is the computer. We're in the midst of it. And it will happen."
 * - Eugene Wesley Roddenberry, from personal conversations with Gene in 1990 at La Costa

"Bill [Shatner] was very upset when Leonard came on particularly strong at the beginning [of the series] because he said, 'Am I not the Captain? How come [the writers] don't appreciate that?' It was a very natural reaction. I said to Shatner, 'If we had an Eskimo as a second character, you could be sure the Eskimo would get the most delightful lines because of what he is.' I advised him not to worry about Spock because all that reflected on Shatner. Particularly if Shatner continued to treat Spock properly in the show. I suggested they should show each other a lot of friendship in the show and it would eventually right itself. And, indeed, it did eventually right itself."
 * - Eugene Wesley Roddenberry, from personal conversations with Gene in 1990 at La Costa

"Perhaps one of the primary features of Star Trek that made it different from other shows was, it believed that Humans are improving – they will vastly improve in the 23rd century."
 * - Eugene Wesley Roddenberry, from Entertainment Tonight, 20th Anniversary, 1986

"I have had so much trouble with emotion in my life I thought it just would be fun to write someone who didn't have that problem." (referring to Spock)
 * - Eugene Wesley Roddenberry, from Late Night America, 9/24/85

"There is a tomorrow – we Humans are going to make it - we're something. To any young-minded person, that's a very important statement." (on what Star Trek had to say that made it endure)
 * - Eugene Wesley Roddenberry, from Good Morning America interview with Joan Lunden, Friday Nov. 21, 1986

"You'd have to be a madman to sit down and say, 'Well, what do I do today? I think I'll create a phenomenon!' "
 * - Eugene Wesley Roddenberry, from a CNN interview on the 20th Anniversary, 9/8/86

"I've never had a bad experience with a Trekkie."
 * - Eugene Wesley Roddenberry, from Late Night America, 9/24/85

"I have nothing but admiration for this silly race of ours. Even with the Hitlers in it and so on. Sometimes it goes into ugliness, but, in all though, it is a beauty. It's like a rose, which also has thorns. We're something."
 * - Eugene Wesley Roddenberry, from personal conversations with Gene in 1990 at La Costa

"I have always been reasonably leery of religion because there are so many edicts in religion, 'thou shalt not,' or 'thou shalt.' I wanted my world of the future to be clear of that."
 * - Eugene Wesley Roddenberry, from personal conversations with Gene in 1990 at La Costa

"I'm not the same man I was when I created the original Star Trek. I did the best I could with that, but almost 25 years have gone by. I had the experience of seeing many science fiction shows fail. It made me even more sure that we should do a quality show."
 * - Eugene Wesley Roddenberry, from a conversation at La Costa, 1990

"We always figured there would be some families aboard [the Enterprise]. But now we figured we're leaning more heavily on the families. And the reason is these galaxy class ships go out for a longer time. From the way we designed our ship for the new [Next Generation] series, they were to be out longer. And if you want people to join Starfleet, you want to take families, to have a healthy family life. I think it's a better show now because we deal with that."
 * - Eugene Wesley Roddenberry, from a conversation at La Costa, 1990

"I wouldn't want to do a third generation of Star Trek. I'm Star Trekked out. It has satisfied many of my needs. It satisfied my needs for respecting myself... and it gives me a good feeling that it's a body of work in my life that is worth considering."
 * - Eugene Wesley Roddenberry, from a conversation at La Costa, 1990

"I would like to write and create other things. I would hate to have just Star Trek on my tombstone."
 * - Eugene Wesley Roddenberry, from a conversation with me in the late 1970s

"My other thought at this moment brings a pleased smile. It turns out that the Trekkies have been right all along – and on nearly everything they have tried to tell us."
 * - Eugene Wesley Roddenberry, introduction to The Making of Star Trek: The Motion Picture

"We must question the story logic of having an all-knowing all-powerful God, who creates faulty Humans, and then blames them for his own mistakes."
 * - Eugene Wesley Roddenberry, referring to the God of the Bible, from one of Gene's lectures in the 1970s

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