Yeah, I honestly haven’t heard good things about him. Hollywood in the 90s sounds like a nightmare for ladies on set. I was hoping it was more of what @Bad Thoughts said, only for Terry’s sake.
Is it true that some of the cast didn't get along?
- Thread starter The Rock
- Start date
Maybe, but given the reputation he garnered and how such comments would fit with certain unnecessary costuming decisions the pieces do seem to fit. It would be interesting to see what, ,if any, interviews she's given on the subject in the post #metoo era.
Yes, who knows, maybe she has/will open up about it. It would be nice to get a more clear picture.
There isn't much. As far as I can tell, Berman didn't harass women as much as use insecurities about their appearances to belittle them. Farrell seems to say that Berman wanted the women to have a full breasted look, and in least in her case, she was sent to someone who custom made bras for women who had undergone mastectomies. It is true that women on the cast received the special "industrial strength Star Trek bra," as Sirtis called it, but Farrell contextualized it as something that was demeaning.
In Fifty Year Mission, Farrell claims not only that Berman refused to negotiate (take the contract or leave), but sent a producer to her in order to criticize her appearance. Who that was is uncertain. It certainly wasn't Behr, and I find it hard to believe that Beimler, Moore or Echevaria would have done something for Berman contrary to Behr's wishes, or would have kept it a secret from Behr.
To risk sounding confrontational (and I have no such intent), if a man is using a woman's looks and sexuality to belittle her, doing so from a position of power in a professional environment, requiring her to dress in a certain manner to increase her sexual appeal and doing this so on a regular basis, personally I'd call that harassment.
Certainly having been a union rep in the UK we'd look at that such behaviour in the workplace as warranting a potential sexual harassment case.
I would agree. However, I am not sure how much conversations about appearances are ( or were ) considered legitimate within television industry, and Farrell wasn't necessarily clear over where the line was crossed.
Oh I understand that to some extent those conversations will happen by necessity, "does this person look the part?" for instance. The problem comes when that goes beyond that which is necessary for the role and ventures into simply being about individual appreciation or lack thereof. That's disrespectful and reduces the person to being simply a form of visual gratification, either for the audience or the producer.
When a manager is telling all of his female staff to wear padded bras it's hard to reconcile that with a legitimate creative decision unless there's a very specific reason within the context of the show. In truth it was simply about him liking looking at buxom figures and deciding since these women who were around him all day pretty much had to dress how he told them anyway he'd exercise his control and make them suit his tastes.
Despite being professionals he reduced them into walking talking titillation for himself whist doing their jobs, which is hardly new but I'm quite happy judging him for all the same. I get the impression the issue with Farell may have been that she objected....
@Spot261 I still do not have a clear answer. It never seemed personal, but Berman did think every cast should have a clearly identifiable "babe." It seems that a special bra was part of every actress' costume. The major exception would be the original Voyager cast, which Berman was more hands off on. On DS9, Dax was conceived as the "babe" with brains, but Farrell was the best they could get to fill the role. Of course, the look of every cast member was extensively scrutinized, whether Mulgrew's hair OR Brooks' hair.
The other thing, related to the negotiations, is clearly less excusable. There isn't a whole lot of information, and no one seems to have had a similar experience.
The other thing, related to the negotiations, is clearly less excusable. There isn't a whole lot of information, and no one seems to have had a similar experience.
A producer could argue convincingly that audiences are more likely to watch a show with busty babes on it. Not a very pleasant argument, but that's show biz.
But it's amusing in retrospect (and probably enfuriating in the moment) that Berman would belittle Farrel's looks. Did he not know what she looked like when he cast her? No one could seriously argue that she was deficient in looks...
But it's amusing in retrospect (and probably enfuriating in the moment) that Berman would belittle Farrel's looks. Did he not know what she looked like when he cast her? No one could seriously argue that she was deficient in looks...
Terry Farrell is a megaaaaaaa babe. He was out of his gosh darn mind 
I must admit that back in the 1990s, I was oblivious to the fact that the physical features of these women were enhanced.
I didn’t realize it until just now!
I must admit that back in the 1990s, I was oblivious to the fact that the physical features of these women were enhanced.
I've know it since the 90's when "Entertainment TOnight" did that special episode that focused on TNG's final episode and Sirtis showed off some of the coustumes and kind of showed them the bra's. For some reason it took me forever to notice though how on TNG when they changed the uniforms in season 3 the men got a two pieces and women still had a one piece outfit. I ignored it because the black shoudler area part of the unifroms looked the same on both men and women. Of course it took me forever to know Crusher was wearing a wig until season 6 as well.
Jason
And this gets to the crux of it IMHO. Admittedly, I think it's almost impossible to see where some lines are, in an industry that is so entirely engrossed in esthetics & titillation in general (Even for men too, to a lesser extent, with hairlines & weight gain etc...) Plus there's the issues of esthetic consistency etc... It's a ridiculously shallow industry. There'll never be any getting around that
However, you can't really BS your way around the simple notion that, you hired this person, & they look the same now as they did then. That's so obvious a factor that if someone is still hassling a person over their looks, then it's pretty fair to assume there are other less excusable motives at play, possibly sexual, but more likely power dynamic. It's an entire culture of social cannibalism, & IMHO you'd have to be a sociopath to even last in it
I'm not expecting you to have an answer, merely expounding on my perspective of the culture that existed on the set. That neither started nor stopped with Berman by any stretch of the imagination, Roddenberry's misogyny and treatment of women on set is the stuff of legend, which is ironic considering his widely accepted cultural legacy and let's not forget Seven of Nine's catsuit or Carol Marcus's bra scene.
It's part of the culture surrounding the entertainment industry and sadly Trek has never been an exception despite it's claims to female empowerment.
I didn't know that about Berman.
But it explains a lot about what was going on when it came to certain changes in the Voyager cast.
Uhuh.
The thing I still remember most about Berman is still the story told here at the Trekbbs by someone who had inside info that he didn't let Sisko shave his head early on because it made him look "to black." I haven't forgotten that and that was back when "Nemisis" info was just leaking out and the movie hadn't been released yet.
Jason
Jason
Similar threads
- Poll
