Man, I ripped through Michael Piller’s Fade In book. So glad they finally found a way to publish it. Apparently, it was actually written for Pocket Books, which published all the official Trek books in the 90s. I think they still might, actually. But, anyway, I’d always kinda assumed Michael wrote the book on his own, but no. He was commissioned. They only scrapped it later. I don’t know specifically why, but one can imagine. The internal memos and personal letters, all of which were apparently used by permission, but nonetheless can presumably make the higher-ups nervous because it’s such a peek behind the curtain. The so-so performance of the film. Etc.
It’s a poignant read, actually, because Michael didn’t live much beyond that book. A few years. Cancer got him. I don’t know what kind, specifically. And the fact that it was his feature film debut, something he didn’t acknowledge in the book, really. Quite the pressure-cooker to make your debut in—that film was being made. Everything was on a schedule from the very moment he said ‘yes.’
I think I’d probably like Michael. At the end of the day, for me, the flaws in the story were there from his very first ideas. The hook was never there. The point of conflict that makes you sit up in your seat and say, ‘I’d watch the shit out of that.’ And by the time it came for studio notes and such, I was onboard with all they brought up. I should mention: the book includes two FULL script drafts, plus the major rewrites that lead to the shooting script, including a last-minute-revised explosive ending. Pretty damn cool. But, yeah…this was not a case of a great script ruined by the studio or the movie’s stars. It was flawed from the jump, and magic was not found in the process to recover from that. It happens. The story isn’t a failure, but it is mediocre. And it hurts to read about that. I’ve DONE that. It’s a horrible, horrible feeling. I outline in terror of that feeling. So…that is to say, it might sound rather harsh to say the movie is mediocre, but it is, and I say that as someone who’s written a large quantity of mediocre work. It just works out that way sometimes.
Night night.