Memory Alpha
Don't have an account?
Register
Advertisement
Register
Memory Alpha
Memory Alpha
57,147
pages
in: Memory Alpha pages needing citation, Star Trek comic authors, Star Trek reference authors

Mark A. Altman

Revision as of 13:26, 16 March 2016 by Sulfur (talk | contribs) (updating with some requests from Altman for accuracy, and some language cleanup)
Sign in to edit

Template:Realworld

Mark A. Altman (born 29 October 1966; age 57) is a writer/producer, author, and comic book writer having written a number of issues for Malibu Comics, including the entire Star Trek: Deep Space Nine - The Maquis: Soldier of Peace and Star Trek: Deep Space Nine - Hearts and Minds series as well as "Terok Nor". He also contributed a story for DC Comics.

Referred by the Los Angeles Times as the "world's foremost Trekspert" (a moniker occasionally shared with colleague Larry Nemecek) Template:Brokenlink, Altman is also the co-author of several unlicensed reference books about the Star Trek saga, all of them with Edward Gross and much of which stemming from his writings for Cinefantastique-magazine. Their latest collaboration, The Fifty-Year Mission, Volume One: The First 25 Years, is the first of a two-volume set, each devoted to 25 years of the franchise, and is due for release in June 2016.

While working for Cinefantastique from 1989 through 1993, he contributed numerous Star Trek articles for their themed issues. During his time with the magazine, Altman visited the Star Trek: The Next Generation and Deep Space Nine sets many times during filming. In 2003, he acquired publishing rights for the magazine, after it folded upon the death of its founder and chief editor Frederic S. Clarke, and relaunched it with Mark Gottwald under the new title CFQ in 2003. Returning to its original formula of being a critical review magazine, they sold the magazine after several years to publisher Joe Sena.

Mark A

Altman in 2013

While Altman was and is a life-long Star Trek fan, he became disenchanted with the direction Executive Producer Rick Berman took the franchise in stating in 1999, "The dirty little secret is Berman and the people running Star Trek right now hate The Original Series and hate being compared to it. They are not people who have any affection for the old show. When Harve Bennett and Nick Meyer took over the franchise for Star Trek II, they went back and looked at every episode of The Original Series and learned everything they could about what worked and what didn't. When these guys [Berman and writer Brannon Braga] took over, they hated the original and resented being in the shadow and avoided watching it. They'd be happy if people forgot the original, and that's unfortunate." Template:Brokenlink

He was also unconvinced of the viability of the franchise when a fifth, prequel series was announced, what eventually was to become Star Trek: Enterprise, fearing the franchise would overstretch itself. When interviewed by TV Guide, he expressed his great doubt, being on record as having stated, "People are sick of Star Trek. But rather than give the franchise a rest and re-launch in a few years when fervor has built again, Paramount is going to run it into the ground until it's dead." [1] He has subsequently stated that 2017 is "absolutely the right time to bring back Star Trek to the small screen" and is enthusiastic about the new show. (citation needed • edit)

In addition to his works as a journalist and authoring Star Trek comics, he is also a movie producer and was one of the writers and producers of the award-winning 1999 comedy Free Enterprise , which was directed and co-written by Robert Meyer Burnett. Altman had met Burnett at San Diego Comic-Con, and through their mutual interest as Star Trek fans inspired the story line in which two less than successful film producers, approaching mid-life crisis and clinging to their geeky sci-fi obsessions, suddenly meet their idol William Shatner. Shatner agreed to the role when the two rewrote his character in the comedy as an over-the-hill, womanizing alcoholic, allowing Shatner in turn to poke fun at himself. [2]. The film won numerous awards, including a Writers Guild of America Award for Altman as "Best New Writer".

Altman has branched out further into the motion picture industry, predominantly working as a writer and producer from 1998 onward, working on documentaries, television movies, and television series such as Castle (2009), Necessary Roughness (2011), Femme Fatales (2012), and Agent X (2015). He is currently the Co-Executive Producer of The Librarians (2015-). One of his very first motion picture projects was Free Enterprise, followed-up by the 1999 "Making-of" documentary, Where No Fan Has Gone Before: The Making of "Free Enterprise". He later produced James Gunn's superhero spoof, "The Specials" as well as "DOA: Dead Or Alive" for Dimension Films.

Altman is featured in the "Making It So: Continuing Star Trek: TNG" special of the 2012 TNG Season 2 Blu-ray release, as well as in the "Regeneration: Engaging the Borg" special of the 2013 "The Best of Both Worlds" release.

Star Trek credits

Bibliography

Articles

External links

Community content is available under CC-BY-NC unless otherwise noted.
More Fandoms
Advertisement

Fan Feed

More Memory Alpha