10 Times Gene Roddenberry Hated Star Trek

7. Star Trek III: The Search For Spock

star trek never happened gene roddenberry the animated series
Paramount PIctures

Nowadays, there have been so many ships called Enterprise in Star Trek that it's hard to keep track, but this wasn't always going to be the case. Gene Roddenberry had a strong emotional connection to the original Enterprise and was heart-broken when it was destroyed in Star Trek III: The Search For Spock.

Harve Bennett, another main creative head of Star Trek at the time, knew audiences would appreciate the shock ending of having the Enterprise self-destruct to save the day. Roddenberry, however, believed that the destruction of the Enterprise was symbolic of Bennett trying to take creative control over Star Trek and change it to fit his own vision.

Roddenberry eventually caved in when it was decided that a new Enterprise, the Enterprise-A would be constructed to replace the original. Previously, the plan was to do away with the name Enterprise forever and have the Excelsior be the main hero ship of the franchise.

Contributor

Marcia Fry is a writer for WhatCulture and an amateur filmmaker.