Hmmmm. Guessing that the Disney Channel is going to end up looking a lot like Nickelodeon.
WI: The Enterprise completes its five year mission (Star Trek survives for 5 seasons)
Katzenberg led the Disney renaissance in the theaters with The Little Mermaid, Beauty and the Beast, The Lion King, etc. So he would be a perfect choice.
Disney’s theme parks are largely staying intact but it’s part of the G+W conglomerate. The Disney motion picture and television divisions become part of Paramount. If Katzenberg goes to Disney earlier we need a couple of story ideas that become big hits for Disney in the 80s not named The Little Mermaid
Martin S. Davis became chairman of G+W after Bluhdorn died in 1983. It could have been several other people though. There’s an old NYT article that discusses other successors. G+W will still likely have to divest some of its industrial holdings to remain profitable, especially with this purchase taking a bite out of them.
It ends up looking a little like Nick but not as much as you would think, because the Mouse is still the most popular Disney character and they’ll still want to build around Mickey and Minnie. Disney Channel was formed in 1983 IRL, Nick was formed in 1979, so ITTL, Nick already exists as one of the earliest cable channels. The question is does Paramount form a Disney cable channel sooner than IRL
I saw a lot of both channels as a kid, and never regretted it
As for movies, Disney makes Tron in 1982 which is a hit, but it’s pretty slim pickings until Who Framed Roger Rabbit in 1988, along with Little Mermaid in 89. So the challenge is to fill that gap with at least a couple of movies. Maybe Secret of the NIMH is held back a year or two to get the animation right. Maybe they remake Fantasia with state of the art animation for the 1980s. Maybe with Star Trek and Disney owned by the same company, they make a Star Trek animated feature
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Basil of Baker street/ great mouse detective (depending on the country) was well received but not hyper successful in 1985. With Disney already further along the comeback trail it could be a smash hit here. Also Mickey's Christmas carol is coming in '83 for tv but its only a half hour long.
Can someone please reassure me this doesn't erase the Renaissance and Pixar...
And something tells me George won't sell SW and Marvel won't be owned by the mouse machine. (I can see SW staying with Fox however, before the merger they owned the original, unedited trilogy. Marvel I have no idea, though Incredible Hulk's doing well at NBC.)
And something tells me George won't sell SW and Marvel won't be owned by the mouse machine. (I can see SW staying with Fox however, before the merger they owned the original, unedited trilogy. Marvel I have no idea, though Incredible Hulk's doing well at NBC.)
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How does any change to Disney erase Pixar? Pixar was part of Lucasfilm and then spun off into its own company, it only had a distribution deal with Disney until Disney bought them in 2006.
Dunno Marvel, they can always self destruct as OTL but Paramount already have Star trek so nope
And why people think Charles would die as OTL? that heart attack can be butterfly away, even on a place he can get proper first aid even
The Disney Renaissance starts earlier because Katzenberg gets to Disney earlier than OTL (he and Eisner left Paramount for Disney in 1984). Now, Disney is a part of Paramount so one or both of them can immediately go to Disney w/o leaving Paramount.
This move was made in part to protect Star Wars from Disney. Paramount has Star Trek as its big sci-fi property so 20th Century Fox keeps Star Wars. Marvel could end up with 20th Century Fox (maybe as a deal to become Paramount's biggest rival ITTL), MGM or Universal. Warner Brothers owns the rights to DC Comics movies just like IOTL
I'm for Marvel going to Universal. That also reminds me, does the Incredible Hulk show still end up getting canceled early on in Season 5 or does it get to live a bit longer?
Let's give Incredible Hulk at least to the end of its fifth season, and maybe a sixth
Maybe one feature film with Bill Bixby and Lou Ferrigno after the series concludes, perhaps.
I'm going to post an update in the next couple of hours. Lots of conversation was stoked by this Paramount/Disney merger
Chapter 139: Rest of July 1979
I separated the Paramount/Disney update as its own post because I felt it was that important. In this update, more fallout from the merger, plus the 1980 Democratic primary for President gets underway as both Ted Kennedy and John Glenn announce their runs for President by the end of the month. Finally, the Star Trek actors discuss their thoughts on what happened at boardroom level with Paramount, in recollections.
PARAMOUNT UNDERGOES MAJOR REORGANIZATION AFTER DISNEY MERGER
July 20, 1979
Paramount CEO Barry Diller is shuffling the deck when it comes to executive assignments at Paramount, after the largest entertainment merger in history. He has tapped Jeffrey Katzenberg, the executive in charge of production for the highly successful Star Trek: The Motion Picture, to become chairman of Disney's motion picture division. Katzenberg reportedly has several ideas for the Disney animators, who will be rehired after the Paramount takeover. To replace Katzenberg at Paramount Pictures, Diller has promoted Frank Mancuso from the Paramount marketing department, where he served as a senior vice president, to run the movie division. Paramount president Michael Eisner will remain in his current post to assist Diller with the acquisition of the remaining television network chains the studio requires to launch the fourth major television network, which Diller wants to start broadcasting in September 1980. Paramount has given notice to the Big Three networks (CBS, NBC, ABC) that they will remove their programming from those networks after the spring of 1980 and produce them for the new network, at a cost of $75 million. Additionally, Paramount has entered into early contract negotiations with news anchors at the Big Three to launch a Paramount Evening News broadcast, which will also premiere next autumn. CBS's Roger Mudd and Ed Bradley, NBC's Edwin Newman, and ABC's Harry Reasoner have reportedly been contacted regarding positions at the embryonic Paramount Evening News. "Paramount is diving into the deep end of the pool," a source at the studio said. "This is Mr. Diller's big dream, to be a network TV honcho like Bill Paley at CBS."
KENNEDY, GLENN DECLARE FOR PRESIDENT WITHIN 24 HOURS OF EACH OTHER; CARTER TO FOLLOW
July 29, 1979
The Democratic primary for 1980 has begun. Two days ago, Ohio Senator John Glenn began his run for the presidency from his hometown of Cambridge, Ohio, a small industrial town in the eastern half of the state. Yesterday, Massachusetts Senator Edward Kennedy, considered the frontrunner for the Democratic nomination, threw his hat into the ring. "We need a different kind of politics from the slash and burn of the Reagan administration," Kennedy said in his first speech as a presidential candidate from Boston. Glenn proposed his "Real Deal" for the American people in his introductory campaign speech. "Americans need a real deal, not this raw deal of false promises of trickle-down economics from this White House." Kennedy and Glenn are close in early polling; the youngest Kennedy brother has a two point lead, 24 percent to 22 percent, over the former astronaut in Glenn. Georgia governor James Earl Carter, considered a competent, moderate executive over two terms in Atlanta, is expected to announce his candidacy next week after a talk with his wife, Rosalynn. "Carter expects to carry most of the Southern states and be a leader for the nomination," Vernon Jordan, an aide to Carter, said. Walter Mondale, a Democratic Senator from Minnesota, and Gary Hart, the relatively youthful senator from Colorado, are also considering the race, as is New York City mayor Ed Koch.
Recollections of the Paramount/Disney merger from the Star Trek actors and Gene Roddenberry:
Shatner: Paramount wanted to turn Star Trek into a Disney production. Leonard, Dee and I flatly refused. Star Trek was already popular with kids, and we didn't need to make it a kids show. The themes we talked about were understandable for almost everyone. We were offered a chance to star in an animated feature film with the Disney label, and we turned it down immediately. We believed that we would not be taken seriously in live action films if we made a cartoon film for kids. The box office returns for the five other Star Trek films we made as a cast proved us correct.
Nimoy: Jeffrey Katzenberg, who did such a wonderful job from the studio end of ensuring the first Star Trek film was a success, proposed the idea of a cartoon film with us. I politely told him no thanks. We made an animated series already, which was somewhat popular with children, but our series had deeper concepts that we believed would not stand up in an animated film. So we unanimously told Katzenberg to focus Disney on other projects, which turned out both to Disney's benefit, and to ours. Disney released The Secret of NIMH and a remake of Fantasia, and they were extremely successful. We remained successful as a Star Trek cast. We didn't cross the streams, so to speak, and everyone benefitted.
Kelley: I told Katzenberg, if you force me to make a cartoon movie out of Star Trek, I will simply retire and never return to the franchise. I told him, "how can you replace Dr. McCoy?" He shook his head and said, "I can't." So there was no Star Trek cartoon movie. We made the rest of our films, and I retired in 1991 after The Undiscovered Country, only to make a brief cameo in the first movie for The Next Generation, just like I made a cameo for the first episode of The Next Generation.
Doohan: I actually didn't mind making a cartoon movie, because I was able to play several roles in the animated series. I thought there was great potential in an animated feature, but Bill refused to be in one. Once Bill said no, it wasn't happening. Our other movies were very successful though, so Bill's business sense prevailed, even though I still don't like the guy. Bill and Leonard knew what worked and what didn't for our characters, for the most part. I was glad Bill never got to direct though. He threw a fit about not being allowed to direct a movie, but I think it would have been a disaster if he did.
Takei: I was agnostic over making a cartoon movie. It was simply more work for me, and we probably would have made money. But I got a chance to be Sulu for several more movies and got to be the star of the show on Excelsior, so I can't complain. Walter didn't agree with me though. He couldn't stand being turned into a cartoon, because he was already a caricature at times during the original TV series. On Excelsior, he got to be my first officer, and we brought in the ratings. His comedy worked there.
Koenig: The cartoon movie idea was stupid. It was almost as bad as Planet of the Titans, which I really didn't want to film because I felt we were being demoted back to television. I'm no fan of Bill Shatner, but he did us a favor when he told the studio that he would never perform in a cartoon movie and turn his character, Admiral Kirk, into a caricature. I didn't want to be turned back into a cartoon because they did ridiculous things with my character on the TV show. I was glad for Excelsior. I got to be a complete character as Chekov, because I was given a lot more to do.
Nichols: I don't know what Disney was smoking trying to make us into a cartoon movie. We just made one of the greatest hits of all time with that first movie, and they wanted to make us a cartoon? I know a few of us didn't like making the TV movie Planet of the Titans, but we did that for Gene, because we thought that was the last time we'd ever work with Gene. But I'm glad Bill and Leonard put their foot down. We were serious actors, and we were going to be treated as such. That didn't mean we wouldn't be voice actors later, in other productions for Disney. We were OK with that.
Roddenberry: After I made Planet of the Titans, Paramount pretty much shut me out of my creation. They brought in Harve Bennett to run Star Trek. They asked me to do a Star Trek: Reliant miniseries, but I flatly refused. Paramount needed me though, because they were short of programming for their new network. So I was happy to oblige. I put two series into production for them: Battleground Earth in 1980, and Andromeda for 1981. Both were reasonably successful, and had five year runs, just like Star Trek. Unfortunately, Paramount declined my proposal for an Andromeda feature film. They did ask me back for the new series, The Next Generation, and I was glad to return.
PARAMOUNT UNDERGOES MAJOR REORGANIZATION AFTER DISNEY MERGER
July 20, 1979
Paramount CEO Barry Diller is shuffling the deck when it comes to executive assignments at Paramount, after the largest entertainment merger in history. He has tapped Jeffrey Katzenberg, the executive in charge of production for the highly successful Star Trek: The Motion Picture, to become chairman of Disney's motion picture division. Katzenberg reportedly has several ideas for the Disney animators, who will be rehired after the Paramount takeover. To replace Katzenberg at Paramount Pictures, Diller has promoted Frank Mancuso from the Paramount marketing department, where he served as a senior vice president, to run the movie division. Paramount president Michael Eisner will remain in his current post to assist Diller with the acquisition of the remaining television network chains the studio requires to launch the fourth major television network, which Diller wants to start broadcasting in September 1980. Paramount has given notice to the Big Three networks (CBS, NBC, ABC) that they will remove their programming from those networks after the spring of 1980 and produce them for the new network, at a cost of $75 million. Additionally, Paramount has entered into early contract negotiations with news anchors at the Big Three to launch a Paramount Evening News broadcast, which will also premiere next autumn. CBS's Roger Mudd and Ed Bradley, NBC's Edwin Newman, and ABC's Harry Reasoner have reportedly been contacted regarding positions at the embryonic Paramount Evening News. "Paramount is diving into the deep end of the pool," a source at the studio said. "This is Mr. Diller's big dream, to be a network TV honcho like Bill Paley at CBS."
KENNEDY, GLENN DECLARE FOR PRESIDENT WITHIN 24 HOURS OF EACH OTHER; CARTER TO FOLLOW
July 29, 1979
The Democratic primary for 1980 has begun. Two days ago, Ohio Senator John Glenn began his run for the presidency from his hometown of Cambridge, Ohio, a small industrial town in the eastern half of the state. Yesterday, Massachusetts Senator Edward Kennedy, considered the frontrunner for the Democratic nomination, threw his hat into the ring. "We need a different kind of politics from the slash and burn of the Reagan administration," Kennedy said in his first speech as a presidential candidate from Boston. Glenn proposed his "Real Deal" for the American people in his introductory campaign speech. "Americans need a real deal, not this raw deal of false promises of trickle-down economics from this White House." Kennedy and Glenn are close in early polling; the youngest Kennedy brother has a two point lead, 24 percent to 22 percent, over the former astronaut in Glenn. Georgia governor James Earl Carter, considered a competent, moderate executive over two terms in Atlanta, is expected to announce his candidacy next week after a talk with his wife, Rosalynn. "Carter expects to carry most of the Southern states and be a leader for the nomination," Vernon Jordan, an aide to Carter, said. Walter Mondale, a Democratic Senator from Minnesota, and Gary Hart, the relatively youthful senator from Colorado, are also considering the race, as is New York City mayor Ed Koch.
Recollections of the Paramount/Disney merger from the Star Trek actors and Gene Roddenberry:
Shatner: Paramount wanted to turn Star Trek into a Disney production. Leonard, Dee and I flatly refused. Star Trek was already popular with kids, and we didn't need to make it a kids show. The themes we talked about were understandable for almost everyone. We were offered a chance to star in an animated feature film with the Disney label, and we turned it down immediately. We believed that we would not be taken seriously in live action films if we made a cartoon film for kids. The box office returns for the five other Star Trek films we made as a cast proved us correct.
Nimoy: Jeffrey Katzenberg, who did such a wonderful job from the studio end of ensuring the first Star Trek film was a success, proposed the idea of a cartoon film with us. I politely told him no thanks. We made an animated series already, which was somewhat popular with children, but our series had deeper concepts that we believed would not stand up in an animated film. So we unanimously told Katzenberg to focus Disney on other projects, which turned out both to Disney's benefit, and to ours. Disney released The Secret of NIMH and a remake of Fantasia, and they were extremely successful. We remained successful as a Star Trek cast. We didn't cross the streams, so to speak, and everyone benefitted.
Kelley: I told Katzenberg, if you force me to make a cartoon movie out of Star Trek, I will simply retire and never return to the franchise. I told him, "how can you replace Dr. McCoy?" He shook his head and said, "I can't." So there was no Star Trek cartoon movie. We made the rest of our films, and I retired in 1991 after The Undiscovered Country, only to make a brief cameo in the first movie for The Next Generation, just like I made a cameo for the first episode of The Next Generation.
Doohan: I actually didn't mind making a cartoon movie, because I was able to play several roles in the animated series. I thought there was great potential in an animated feature, but Bill refused to be in one. Once Bill said no, it wasn't happening. Our other movies were very successful though, so Bill's business sense prevailed, even though I still don't like the guy. Bill and Leonard knew what worked and what didn't for our characters, for the most part. I was glad Bill never got to direct though. He threw a fit about not being allowed to direct a movie, but I think it would have been a disaster if he did.
Takei: I was agnostic over making a cartoon movie. It was simply more work for me, and we probably would have made money. But I got a chance to be Sulu for several more movies and got to be the star of the show on Excelsior, so I can't complain. Walter didn't agree with me though. He couldn't stand being turned into a cartoon, because he was already a caricature at times during the original TV series. On Excelsior, he got to be my first officer, and we brought in the ratings. His comedy worked there.
Koenig: The cartoon movie idea was stupid. It was almost as bad as Planet of the Titans, which I really didn't want to film because I felt we were being demoted back to television. I'm no fan of Bill Shatner, but he did us a favor when he told the studio that he would never perform in a cartoon movie and turn his character, Admiral Kirk, into a caricature. I didn't want to be turned back into a cartoon because they did ridiculous things with my character on the TV show. I was glad for Excelsior. I got to be a complete character as Chekov, because I was given a lot more to do.
Nichols: I don't know what Disney was smoking trying to make us into a cartoon movie. We just made one of the greatest hits of all time with that first movie, and they wanted to make us a cartoon? I know a few of us didn't like making the TV movie Planet of the Titans, but we did that for Gene, because we thought that was the last time we'd ever work with Gene. But I'm glad Bill and Leonard put their foot down. We were serious actors, and we were going to be treated as such. That didn't mean we wouldn't be voice actors later, in other productions for Disney. We were OK with that.
Roddenberry: After I made Planet of the Titans, Paramount pretty much shut me out of my creation. They brought in Harve Bennett to run Star Trek. They asked me to do a Star Trek: Reliant miniseries, but I flatly refused. Paramount needed me though, because they were short of programming for their new network. So I was happy to oblige. I put two series into production for them: Battleground Earth in 1980, and Andromeda for 1981. Both were reasonably successful, and had five year runs, just like Star Trek. Unfortunately, Paramount declined my proposal for an Andromeda feature film. They did ask me back for the new series, The Next Generation, and I was glad to return.
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I have to figure out casts for Battleground: Earth and Andromeda if they’re made in the early 80s
Sounds like the Big Three networks (CBS, NBC, ABC) better get some programming made then- perhaps they need some Sci-Fi shows? UK has a few available for import/remaking...
Paramount TV or G+WTV or Paramount Channel or Paramount Television or Mountain Channel or PTV?
Hopefully Paramount Television will be making lots of new shows as well as filling their channel with old hits and Disney output.
Disney culture at the time seems to have been quite laid back- how is that going to fit into the picture?
Really would like Paramount- Disney not shipping their animation arms overseas to Korea and Japan like happened OTL during the 80's kids TV boom please. Keep it in House in America and high quality and watch as people prefer your product. No toy sell out too!
John Glenn vs Edward Kennedy? Hum.... I want Glenn just to see the NASA fallout and huge space boost.
A Disney Star Trek movie? Would that be a musical? Did we miss out on Princess Uhura?
Shatner can direct- just not a Star Trek feature!
Star Trek: Reliant miniseries? Yes please! Perfect follow up to TMP, can use existing sets and characters. Gives Takei some work developing Sulu and gives ToK more emotional gut punch imho.
Roddenberry gets to break Battleground Earth and Andromeda? Good for him. Hopefully the ill, old Gene will not be show-runner for TNG and someone fitter, and younger will be in charge.
With Paramount needing programming I wonder what they are going to do with Trek between movies up to TNG? More exploration of the Trek universe via spin-off miniseries would be my preference. Unless Excelsior runs from during the 82-87 period?
I am not upset about Harve Bennett running Star Trek, he seems to 'get' Trek quite well.
How are the other sci-fi/fantasy shows going?
Paramount TV or G+WTV or Paramount Channel or Paramount Television or Mountain Channel or PTV?
Hopefully Paramount Television will be making lots of new shows as well as filling their channel with old hits and Disney output.
Disney culture at the time seems to have been quite laid back- how is that going to fit into the picture?
Really would like Paramount- Disney not shipping their animation arms overseas to Korea and Japan like happened OTL during the 80's kids TV boom please. Keep it in House in America and high quality and watch as people prefer your product. No toy sell out too!
John Glenn vs Edward Kennedy? Hum.... I want Glenn just to see the NASA fallout and huge space boost.
A Disney Star Trek movie? Would that be a musical? Did we miss out on Princess Uhura?
Shatner can direct- just not a Star Trek feature!
Star Trek: Reliant miniseries? Yes please! Perfect follow up to TMP, can use existing sets and characters. Gives Takei some work developing Sulu and gives ToK more emotional gut punch imho.
Roddenberry gets to break Battleground Earth and Andromeda? Good for him. Hopefully the ill, old Gene will not be show-runner for TNG and someone fitter, and younger will be in charge.
With Paramount needing programming I wonder what they are going to do with Trek between movies up to TNG? More exploration of the Trek universe via spin-off miniseries would be my preference. Unless Excelsior runs from during the 82-87 period?
I am not upset about Harve Bennett running Star Trek, he seems to 'get' Trek quite well.
How are the other sci-fi/fantasy shows going?
See if you can find a role, or two or three, for Lance LeGault...
Lance LeGault
Lance LeGault again
The guy was awesome!!
ABC takes the worst hit of the Big Three because half of their top shows are going to Paramount. NBC and CBS aren’t affected as much. This is an opening for ABC to bring Doctor Who to network television in the States, unless Paramount beats them to the punch...
Paramount’s TV network will either be called United Paramount Network or Paramount Television Network...
Paramount won’t have a full schedule for their first year as a new network so they’ll likely have four nights of programming on weekdays, a Paramount movie night on Fridays with their old classics, and a Disney themed weekend
Disney focused more on their theme parks in the 1970s. That’s going to change dramatically with Katzenberg in charge...Animation could stay in the States ITTL
I want to see John Glenn too but I have to create a feasible scenario for him to be the Democratic nominee. Plus it becomes the closest race against Reagan...
When the Star Trek actors made the animated series IRL, one of Shatner’s concerns was that the series would be too geared for kids...hence the opposition he has towards an animated feature. Shatner won’t be happy that he isn’t directing though...
Star Trek: Reliant might be made but it won’t be made by Roddenberry...probably by Bennett. We need some plots and stories for that miniseries...
Roddenberry might have a female or nonwhite lead for Battleground Earth and/or Andromeda, now that he’s a successful movie producer and still has clout...
Excelsior is going to be in the 1990s. What Paramount can do regarding miniseries is uncertain. Perhaps we get a Klingon miniseries?
Bennett will be a good leader for Trek ITTL just like IRL.
Battlestar Galactica had a successful first season under Glen Larson and Gene Coon ITTL and got picked up by ABC for a second season. Paramount will try to poach that series from ABC. Buck Rogers will premiere on NBC in the fall of 1979 just like RL. The Incredible Hulk is doing well just like RL. Six Million Dollar Man lasts until 1980 ITTL, with Lee Majors as the lead since 1977
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Presumably with a big budget bump and (when it inevitably happens) either an American actress...or at least one who can do a decent accent as companion this time...
Also if the BBC is getting a pile of yankee co-production money Grade's going to find it alot harder to pull his little murder attempt this time...