Richard Keith Berman (born December 25, 1945 in New York, New York, USA) is an American science fiction writer. He took over the production of Star Trek from Gene Roddenberry.

Work in television

He graduated from the University of Wisconsin-Madison in 1967. From 1977 to 1982, he was the senior producer of The Big Blue Marble. His work won an Emmy for Outstanding Children's Series. Between 1982 and 1984 he was an independent producer. He worked on various projects, including What on Earth, an informational series for HBO, and The Primal Mind, a one-hour award-winning special for PBS.

Berman joined Paramount in 1984 as director of current programming. He oversaw such popular shows as Cheers and MacGyver.

Work in Star Trek

In 1987, Berman was selected by Gene Roddenberry to help create Star Trek: The Next Generation (TNG). After Roddenberry's death in 1991, Berman took over as executive producer of the show.

Berman was the executive producer and co-creator of Star Trek: Deep Space Nine, Star Trek: Voyager, and Star Trek: Enterprise. He is also responsible for the production and story behind three successful TNG movies: Generations, First Contact, and Insurrection.

Criticism by Trekkies

Although Berman is blamed by many Trekkers for Star Trek's downturn in ratings (and, according to many, quality) after TNG, few credit him for his work as a writer of many popular Star Trek episodes. Berman authored the episodes Brothers and Unification for TNG. Berman's writing has been even more prolific for Star Trek: Enterprise. He wrote the premier, Broken Bow, along with Shockwave, Cogenitor, and The Expanse from season two. All are episodes that have been praised by fans. Additionally, Berman was responsible for the story behind over 30 episodes from the various Star Trek series he has produced.

Still, Rick Berman is believed by numerous trekkers to be interested in money, and not the ingenous plots and stories of the original series. He is seen by many as attempting to distance the newer series he's worked on from The Original Series and Roddenberry's vision.

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