Customer Reviews

The View From the Bridge: Memories of Star Trek and a Life in Hollywood

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The View from the Bridge is the most interesting book about how movies get made I've ever read. Nicholas Meyer talks about the art and the commerce both, and shows how each influences the other.

The way Nicholas Meyer became a screenwriter and movie director in the 1970s was similar to Michael Crichton. Meyer parlayed a screenplay based on his own bestselling detective-adventure novel about Sherlock Holmes and Sigmund Freud (The Seven-Per-Cent Solution: Being a Reprint from the Reminiscences of John H. Watson, M.D. (Norton Paperback)) into a chance to direct another of his screenplays (Time After Time) about the time-traveling H.G. Wells and Jack the Ripper. After that Meyer began the tradition of making "good" even-numbered Star Trek movies by directing Star Trek II: The Wrath of Khan.

Even though Meyer makes it clear he understands making movies like Star Trek is a business (he never would have gotten into what he at first considered ludicrous space opera if not for the money), he never once in this book uses the word "franchise." His films are stories, and he wants audiences to relate to them as tales about real people (as William Shatner said, even on Star Trek everyone is human), not as interchangeable portions of a video game.

The fact that the title of Meyer's memoir alludes to a play by Arthur Miller as well as the bridge of the starship Enterprise proves he means it when he says he intends his work to be art. He characterizes himself as not a creator but a re-creator of stories. This doesn't sound like false modesty because there's very little modesty in the rest of the book.

But no one thinks less of Francis Ford Coppola as a film artist because he made movies from a pulp novel about the mafia or from a book about Africa on high school English reading lists that usually goes unread.

Meyer's early films are his best--The Seven-Per-Cent Solution with Nicol Williamson and Robert Duvall, Time After Time with Malcolm McDowell and Mary Steenburgen, Star Trek II: The Wrath of Khan, with Ricardo Montalban, and Star Trek IV: The Voyage Home. His early TV work is also good--The Night That Panicked America, about Orson Welles's War of the Worlds broadcast, and The Day After, a TV movie staring Jason Robards about the horrific effects of nuclear war that became part of the national debate surrounding the Reagan administration's military policies.

Nicholas Meyer is still making films about real people. I hope he gets to make his Don Quixote.

I have to admit that when I get a book I scan through it first and initially I was disappointed since I assumed this would be a book mainly about Startrek and giving all the inside gossip about who did and said what. If that's what you are looking for avoid this book; but then you would be missing a fabulous voyage into how films come into existence.
Nicholas Meyer directed or was involved with the Startrek II, IV and VI films. He also is responsible for many other highly regarded films such as The Seven-Per-Cent Solution, Time After Time, and The Day After. You begin to realize how refreshing it is not to have a story filled with nasty gossip as you become engrossed in the details of how a motion picture is made; the scripts, the storyboards, the music- how it fits and helps . There is much to learn here, and it is written in an easy, entertaining way. He describes the differences between an American unit and an European one and how e mail and computers have changed the creation of movies. There is a marvelous comparison of successful stories (including the Startrek series) and Horatio Hornblower. This is really a successful voyage in the undiscovered country of making films.

Many great books of the past two-hundred years fall into a category described by the German word 'bildungsroman' - that is, a coming of age tale documenting the maturing of a protagonist through loss and struggle with the eventual realization of success, rarely unalloyed.

Reading Nicholas Meyer's (very) contemporary autobiography, I was frequently reminded of one of these classic stories; here's a man who by his own admission was a mediocre student (though with exceptional, recognized gifts) who lost a parent at an early age, journeyed into a strange world where he had few personal contacts - and invented himself as the hero of his own story much as he created popular fiction. (For those who don't remember, Meyer's "The Seven Percent Solution" - which he wrote while still in his mid-twenties - spent many months on the New York Times bestseller list before it was made into a critically acclaimed and commercially successful motion picture.)

Yes, he's best known for his "Star Trek" films (generally acknowledged as the most popular features in the franchise) but as "The View From The Bridge" reveals, his work is as distinguished by its variety as its quality ("Sommersby" - his re-interpretation of the 'Martin Guerre' story - and his adaptation of Philip Roth's "The Human Stain" being just two examples.)

Not surprisingly, Meyer's narrative is as compelling as one might expect from the man behind all these motion pictures - and while there's much to be enjoyed by those looking for inside Hollywood (and inside 'Star Trek) anecdotes, this book will be fascinating to anyone interested in how a fine craftsman gains proficiency in his chosen field (albeit that in Mr. Meyer's field, millions of dollars are routinely at stake).

Well-done!

So here's the deal... this book is just like most athlete and entertainer autobiographies. It's a quick read with candid stories of moments only the fans love. Because of Meyer's extensive writing history, it's definitely a more cerebral read than your average celebrity memoir, but you can still read the entire thing in a one night setting, especially if you flip through to the movies that interest you the most. So yeah, it's not a bad book at all, but like most of these types of books, it's probably not worth buying until the price drops dramatically or you find a good deal on a used version.

Meyer writes about his early life (which I admit, I skipped), and then dedicates most of the book to each of his life's projects. The cover advertises his most famous movies -- Star Trek II and VI -- and was admittedly the reason I bought it to begin with, but he does have some fun memories with other projects as well. Some of the efforts/chapters he covers:

-- Time After Time. An underrated time travelling drama and Meyer's first big directorial debut. Probably the best part of this chapter is his stress in dealing with Hollywood as a new director. The Hollywood brass tried to push him around more than usual because of his rookie status but he stuck by his guns, and thought that his career was over because the bosses claimed his movie stunk. Of course, since when have the Hollywood execs ever known what a quality movie was and it's fun reading about the "egg on your face" reaction from the suits as the film started receiving great praise after initial screenings.

-- Star Trek II. He confesses that he was a total amateur to the Star Trek world, but somehow managed to make what many consider the best Trek film ever made. The first film was an expensive boring dud although it did make enough money at the box office to spawn a sequel. With a much smaller budget, Meyer talks about his attempts to bring the swashbuckling aspect back to Star Trek. The film also spawned a lifelong friendship with Ricardo Montalban, a highly underrated actor, and Meyer has great stories about trying to direct Montalban. Like most Trek films Meyer seemed to be involved in, there was a script floating around that no one was happy with. Meyer quickly wrote the final screenplay, and also faced death threats from Trekkies as rumors of Spock's death spread.

-- The Day After. I wasn't aware that Meyer directed this controversial TV mini-series about a realistic nuclear war. Even at a small age, I still remember the controversy around it. (My parents wouldn't let me watch it because of graphic portrayals of nuclear fallout.) Meyer talks about his fights with TV censors about even basic sideplot elements such as the lady who buys birth control. For odd reasons, the network censors also tried to delete his scenes about EMP (electromagnetic pulses) side effects and other scientific fact. Meyer spent most of his time fighting to include the deadly effects of a nuclear war in the mini-series because that's what he felt the entire project was about and even admits it was a mediocre drama. It's not surprising that so much crap was produced by network television until the last 20 years. He talks about the alleged influence this project had on Ronald Reagan who discussed it in his own autobiography. I guess it took a movie to influence a former movie actor.

-- Star Trek VI. Meyer refused to make the film at the unrealistic low budget he was first offered, and the film was almost canned, but a last second shake-up in Paramount management allowed it to go forward. He talks about writing Christopher Plummer's Klingon character with Plummer specifically in mind the entire time he wrote the screenplay. He talks about fights with Leonard Nimoy who took the production process very seriously, especially since Nimoy had experience with Trek and other film productions. He also reveals that they tried hard to bring back Kirstie Alley in the role of Savvik again to play the role that Kim Catrell eventually took over as a Vulcan traitor. He also reveals how he saved the final scene for last in the filming process because it was a good-bye both on and off the screen, but it didn't go well as every actor was anxious and ad-libbed their dialogue knowing it was their final scene in Star Trek.

-- Other projects: Volunteers, The Deceivers, Company Business, Vendetta, Sommersby, Star Trek IV, etc... Either as a writer, director or both, Meyer offers segments to all of his films. He covers everything from his bond with Pierce Brosnan after both lost their wives to cancer to his screenplay that saved Star Trek IV. He had hits and misses and eventually Hollywood stopped offering him director seats after a long hiatus which is a shame because I thought a lot of his scripts were ruined by directors who took them in different directions. Right now he's working on a Theodore Roosevelt epic directed by Martin Scorsese and starring Leonardo DiCaprio which will hopefully put Nicholas Meyer on the map again because in my opinion, he's an underrated talent.

I have been a fan of Nicholas Meyer for more than 30 years, in awe of his imagination and devotion to craft. His impressive resume is recounted in other reviews posted here, so no need to rehash the obvious. This guy has talent and he has proven himself time and again on both the printed page and the big (and small) screen.

The good news is that "The View from the Bridge" is not a Star Trek book, though a large portion is devoted to the making of Star Trek II, IV, and VI -- as any Trekkie knows, these are the only good ones in the series. Meyer does not disappoint in taking us behind the scenes of each production. His affection for Ricardo Montalban is obvious; his feelings towards Leonard Nimoy after ST VI seem less clear. He's honest enough to fess up to a twinge of guilt in how he battled Gene Roddenberry right before the Star Trek icon died. But this is not idle celebrity gossip -- Meyer takes us through the creative process and shares with us the many battles that were fought to get the end product on the screen. I know a little about the industry, but I was stunned to read of the most intense of arguments over the smallest of issues, i.e. studio heads wondering if anyone knew what "Wrath" meant.

No, to me, this important book will be better received by those more interested in the creative process in Hollywood. Let me be clear: "The View From the Bridge" should be mandatory reading for anyone thinking of trying to write a Hollywood screenplay, anyone who fancies themselves as a director or producer. Yes, the Hollywood of today has changed radically from when Meyer first arrived back in the '70s. However, those creative battles fought by Meyer and other writer-directors rage on today and I guarantee you'll look at the process with fresh eyes after reading this book.

It is also a somber read at times. My god, how can you read about how close Meyer came to making Don Quixote into a movie without feeling his heartache? How refreshing to read a produced writer discuss all the scripts he's written that haven't been made and how the writer has to accept that reality. And I'm not sure I'll ever look at Gene Hackman quite the same way after reading the chapter on "Company Business."

Bottom line: This is the book. Buy it without hesitation. Give it as a gift. Nick Meyer has once again delivered a compelling story, equally entertaining and surprisingly heartfelt, documenting the many creative windmills he's chased over the years. It left me wanting to know more and that is always the sign of a fascinating subject.

Show business must seem very strange to the outsider, especially if you have any exposure to tabloid media in print or on TV. This book brings it all into perspective. You learn of the process a writer goes through to attain work. You discover what it takes for the writer to develop into a director and you see what that job requires. Your beliefs of what it is like to deal with a movie studio as a director are confirmed but you realize it's not all that bad. Nick does a tremendous job of guiding us through almost 40 years in show business and it's a great journey. Sure it's a biography but the insights you get along the way are fascinating and intriguing. While you are introduced to Nick's life you also get a lesson in the ways of the business. If you're a Trekkie it's an added bonus. The behind the scenes stuff on his work on the Star Trek films is worth the read if that was all you were interested in.

I admit that I picked this book up because I'm a Star Trek fan and The Wrath of Khan is one of my favorite films of all time. I had no idea how thoughtful, intelligent and well-read Nick Meyer was until I listened to his audio commentary on the Star Trek II: The Wrath of Khan - The Director's Cut (Two-Disc Special Collector's Edition). Thankfully this book rewards anyone who found those observations about film making and art in general to be of value.

The chapters touching on Nick's participation in ST II, IV and VI (not coincidentally the classic "even-number" films many find superior to the rest) are very good, and as a fan I was pleased with the insights. However, if you're a fan, don't overlook the rest of this breezy yet engrossing book -- it's all fantastic stuff.

Although it's a quick read (took about an afternoon), and I was left wanting more, be sure to pick this one up. It's light years (or warp speed?) ahead of other Trek memoirs that cover the same material, such as William Shatner's Star Trek Movie Memories, which reads like it was phoned in from a country club golf course and then transcribed by a chimp.

Nick Meyer is one Trek participant who doesn't need to be ghost written -- in fact I'd encourage him to help the other cast members with their hasty and sophomoric efforts.

The View from the Bridge, Nicholas Meyer's memoir of his life in Hollywood, is a perfect example of why I have a Kindle. It was a book I was interested in reading, but never would have sought out in a book store. The ease of use of Kindle erased the barrier to entry -- my laziness -- and resulted in access to a thoroughly entertaining book.

Breezy and conversational, Meyer offers up his story of making movies in Hollywood, including lively accounts of his involvement with three of the original crew Star Trek movies. Most of this information is old news to longtime Trekkers, as Meyer himself writes, but Meyer goes into a greater level of detail regarding the business aspects of film making than past accounts. For anyone interested in the art of movie making, as well as the practical limitations placed on writers and directors by the corporate suits at the studio, Meyer's book gives a great glimpse into that world as it stood in the 1980's and 1990's.

There's not much else to say regarding the book -- the Kindle edition is a bit overpriced for the content, but Meyer is an interesting and self-deprecatingly honest character, and spending a few hours reading him spin the great Hollywood yarn that is is own life is definitely recommended. Just wait for the price to drop.

I have long been a fan of Nick Meyer's. I was a Houdini buff from the time I was a kid and Meyer's dad's book on Harry is a must read for any fan of magic. I fell in love with Mary Steenburgen when I was 16 and I've been madly in love with her ever since. She married Malcolm after they worked together on Nick's Time After Time. He then starred in Star Trek Generations. David Warner, also a pal of Meyer's, appeared in several Treks thanks in part to his association with Meyer.

The book is an easy read and Meyer is a classy guy. All the folks who've pissed him off over the years are nameless goons or they've apologized and he's forgiven them. If you're looking for a book that dishes the dirt, this ain't it. If you want a deeply insightful look into Nick Meyer the man, who was deeply influenced by his psychologist father, then this is the book for you.

I'm not into much-Trek is pretty much it... except... for Houdini and Sherlock Holmes. It's ironic that the Meyer family are responsible for some of the greatest works of all three genres. View From the Bridge is a great peak into Hollywood and the soul of a man who is at heart, a great storyteller. We live our lives vicariously through our mythology and Nick has feed our souls with some of the best out there.

thanks man! live long and prosper...

There is often too little truth in the world, even less kindness. But by careful adherence to the first quality, Mr. Meyer conjures a Hollywood where one finds the second in abundance. There is, of course, much bad behavior, even betrayal, (serious good fun that). But there is kindness and friendship and decency that are usually ignored in telling Hollywood's story. (No book about working in film is autobiography; they're all partial biographies of place. Imagine Meyer's book as one volume of an ongoing Alexandria Quartet, Sestet, Dodecatet, Infinitet?) He sees that neglected part of Hollywood because he is himself kind and decent. You can tell. But no one will read this book to discover such blasphemy. So he offers something even rarer, an honest look at how the whole business works, really works. There is no better guide to the creative process in a financially driven town than this. He has succeeded here and he has failed, but he hasn't forgotten how it all happened. He never once descends to settling old scores, but neither does he shy from careful criticism. He has obviously had a great love affair with movies and he is a born story-teller. He writes with wit and clarity. But he has managed to tell a great deal more than the story of his life here; he has told the story of a way of being here. This is way better than a Star Trek memoir. Meyer is a writer of value and consequence.