Last Monday, Eugene "Rod" Roddenberry dropped by the offices of STARTREK.COM to talk about the upcoming round of publicity he's scheduled to do to promote the Star Trek Remastered showing of "The Menagerie" in theatres, tied in with the HD DVD/DVD release of Season One of the Original Series. Rod has already taped an intro that will appear at the beginning of the screening, and also appear on the DVDs.

About the remastered versions of Star Trek, Rod is optimistic. "It all looks great," he says. "And as I've said before, as long as they don't change the intent of the scene, as long as they don't change the story, I'm OK with it."

Rod also tries to keep in touch with the fans, the ones who tend to be both fans of Star Trek and its inherent humanistic philosophies. He can do this now, quite easily, via Roddenberry.com: "I do video logs about once a week, everything from what's going on in my personal life, to something about Star Trek. But we also try to keep it Roddenberry focused, always with that theme of 'a better future for humanity.'"

It follows quite naturally for Rod to keep up the family legacy. "I try to keep it personal. My mother and father did such a great job of having that one-on-one thing with people. They'd be scheduled to sign somewhere for an hour, and they'd stay for three or four. It wasn't really about making the money or anything like that. It was about the connection with the fans."

Part of reconciling Rod's family legacy has come in the form of a long-gestating documentary ("Trek Nation) that is meant to put a personal touch on his relationship to both his famous father and to Star Trek. It hasn't been an easy creative process. "'Trek Nation' has been one hell of a (creative) battle," says a weary Roddenberry. "Like many Hollywood projects, there are creative differences along the way; no one to blame and everyone to blame. I think the most difficult part for this is that it is a personal project — it's my story and my vision of how I see my father, and my journey. It's hard sometimes to stand back and be objective. It's hard to compromise. It's been an amazing learning experience. It's been difficult, but it's still going to happen."

Rod also touches on the relationships that Original Series-era writers, such as David Gerrold ("The Trouble with Tribbles"), had with his father. Some of these relationships never fully recovered the stresses and strains of production chaos, with claims of authorship always hanging in the air. But Rod has done his best to seek out people like Gerrold and get their take on the situation. "David has a great attitude," says Rod. "He says, 'Hey, you know what, that was then. Things happen, and it may not have turned out the way I wanted it to, but?'"

Says Rod: "I do believe there are two sides. I kind of want to go out and make things right, clear the air."

One person with whom that may not happen is the famously grumpy Harlan Ellison, writer of "The City on the Edge of Forever." According to Rod, Harlan would be less than complimentary towards Gene Roddenberry. "You wouldn't want to hear what I have to say about your father," Harlan would say to Rod. Actually, counters Rod, he does want to hear. "Slam him all you want. I just want to hear the other side," says the truth-seeking Roddenbery. After all, that is Rod's favorite episode and he's happy to tell Harlan as much.

As for when "Trek Nation" will be completed, that remains up in the air. Rod hopes to see a release in the next six months to a year.

PAGE 2: Roddenberry on the new Trek movie, diving and more.