Book Review : The View from The Bridge

Nicholas Meyer has directed several films that still resonate today. The fun pairing of Sherlock Holmes and Sigmund Freud in The Seven Percent Solution, H.G. Wells chasing Jack the Ripper in present day (1979) San Francisco in Time After Time, and the bleak portrait of life in middle-America after a nuclear detonation in the television movie, The Day After. Of course, the most popular films, and the reason for his memoir, are the three Star Trek films he worked on. He directed Star Trek II: The Wrath of Khan and Star Trek VI: The Undiscovered Country. In addition, he helped with the screenplay for Star Trek IV: The Voyage Home.



Meyer's memories of working on the three Trek films deliver surprising revelations that even the hard-core Trek fan will have never heard before. Who really wrote Star Trek II? Where those really Ricardo Montalban's pecs?



Meyer provides wonderful stories and insight into the three movies he worked on. (Does this make him the man responsible for the odd numbered film curse?) One aspect that I found lacking was the emotional hook. While he does a good job talking about the making of his films, the parts that deal with his personal life are completely glossed over, such as his first wife's death. Keep that in mind when picking this up. You will learn a lot about Meyer the filmmaker, but virtually nothing about Meyer the person.



7.5 out of 10

http://trekweb.com/articles/2009/10/19/Book-Review-The-View-from-The-Bridge.shtml