>Gerrold had indeed had some issues with Roddenberry, stemming from the Original Series days, but these had since then long been resolved. But they were right in their assessment that there was also a personal element involved, which stemmed from Gerrold's script-draft for the ultimately unrealized episode "Blood and Fire", an allegory on AIDS, featuring gay characters…"The last time I saw [Maizlish] I was helping Herb Wright pack up his office. The lawyer came to make sure we weren't stealing anything. To my face, he called me "an AIDS-infected cocksucker. A fucking faggot…"
>"(Leonard Maizlish) was making it impossible for anybody to do any real work. He was rewriting scripts. He was committing (Writers) Guild (of America) violations. People were very unhappy. It was one of the worst working environments I'd ever been in. So when my contract came up for renewal, I asked Gene not to [renew it]."…Rick Berman has credited him with suggesting actor John de Lancie for the part of Q, who went on to become one of the most popular recurrent characters on The Next Generation, in no small measure due to the way de Lancie portrayed his character. Concurrently, it was Maizlish who convinced Roddenberry to keep the name Data…And even his illegitimate hiring of Maurice Hurley, the detrimental effect it had on Roddenberry notwithstanding, eventually resulted in the acclaimed episode "Q Who", introducing the hugely popular villains, the Borg.
>Loathed, reviled and universally held responsible for the departure of all Original Series veterans…The now isolated and friendless Roddenberry was subsequently left dangerously exposed to studio politics at which he was notoriously inept. Maizlish was, after another series of clashes with the subsequent writing staff, definitively removed from the production at the end of the second season, as Roddenberry was from creative control due to his failing health…"Ultimately, Rick "raging homophobe" Berman ended up in control rather than Maizlish because Berman played the politics of the studio more effectively,"
Got rid of all the TOS hippies, removed the gays, got Berman in the right place to deal with later-day TNG and the ease-in to DS9, and also was responsible for every interesting thing that ever happened on TNG.
Is he /ourguy/?