10 Moments That Almost Killed Star Trek
4. "Mean Gene"
Star Trek was really precious to Gene Roddenberry and this sometimes led him to be aggressively protective of it and what it should represent. When he didn’t like something, he let everyone know it; he openly slated any element of the property that he didn’t approve of.
He hated Star Trek VI and forced significant rewrites; he hated the piolet for TNG and rewrote the whole thing himself. He argued viciously with the cast and crew, going so far as to hire a private lawyer to spy on and intimidate them.
Roddenberry wanted his own way and when he didn’t get it, he kicked off. He created Star Trek and understandably thought it was his. As Star Trek grew, naturally, more and more people were involved, more and more people were making the decisions. At the same time, due partly to misfires like The Motion Picture, Roddenberry was edged slowly out of the captain’s chair. Despite this, he always managed to maintain significant influence over the franchise.
Even though new directions were often the right way to go, it was never a good idea to go against Roddenberry because he’d let you know. Then, he’d let everyone else know and when the beloved creator takes issue, there's a real problem.