Tracy Tormé
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Tracy R. Tormé (born April 12, 1959)[1] is an American screenwriter and television producer.[2] He is best known for his creation of the science fiction series Sliders, but also he worked for Saturday Night Live, Odyssey 5, Star Trek: The Next Generation, Fire in the Sky and Carnivàle.
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Sliders
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Tracy Tormé is the co-creator of the show Sliders, but had conflicts with the Fox Network during the production of the show. Tormé wanted the end of an episode to be linked to the beginning of the next episode, but he claimed that Fox did not allow him to do this because they wanted to air the episodes in their preferred order, and that linking episodes would force them to air them in Tormé's order. He also felt that this damaged the show's continuity.[1]
He claimed that Fox wanted an action-oriented show based on popular movies. He complained that with such TV shows, the viewer forgets what has been seen five minutes later. He also claimed that Fox did not want anything intellectual or political, and that they did not want satire. He says he was embarrassed by the third season.[2]
Tormé says that by the third season, all his allies had been fired, and the other executive producers, the network, and the studio all wanted to go in a direction that he disagreed with. Tormé had gotten tired of fighting battles with the network. Also, his father was ill and Tormé wished to spend more time with his family. He walked away from the show. [3]
He has been critical of the changes to the characters of Sliders, saying that originally, Quinn Mallory and Rembrandt Brown were intended to be misfits but were then changed to be "action heroes" and were always getting into fights with people. In the summer of 1997, after Sliders had been cancelled by Fox but before it was picked up by the Sci Fi Channel, Tormé said he would like to bring Sliders back to its original roots [4]. The Dimension of Continuity claims that Tormé had bid to reclaim control of Sliders in the fourth season (which is the first season on the Sci-fi Channel), but that he did not want to work with David Peckinpah, who had been contracted for another season.[citation needed]
Star Trek: The Next Generation
Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found. Tormé joined the writing staff of Star Trek: The Next Generation in 1987 and worked as executive story editor throughout its first season and creative consultant throughout its second. During this time he contributed five original stories (two in collaboration with other staff writers) and one teleplay adaptation. His most enduring contribution was the creation of the fictional detective Dixon Hill, a circa 1940s gumshoe portrayed by Captain Jean-Luc Picard in a recurring series of Holodeck simulations.
Tormé's first solo story was a season one episode entitled "The Big Goodbye". It introduces (within the Star Trek Universe) the "Dixon Hill" series of novels, and sees Picard using the holodeck to create a simulation of one. Along with other members of the Enterprise crew, he enters the holodeck and they assume the roles of fictional characters from the novel. The eponymous character would make two more appearances during the series: in the season two episode "Manhunt" and the season four episode "Clues". The character reappeared on the big screen in Star Trek: First Contact, the second film to feature the Next Generation crew.
Other stories credited to Tormé include "Haven", "Conspiracy" and "The Schizoid Man". Tormé was responsible for two further episodes, although his name does not appear in the credits. "The Royale" and "Manhunt" went through such significant rewrites and treatments before being filmed that Tormé insisted he not be credited directly, using the pen names Keith Mills and Terry Devereaux respectively.[citation needed] Ultimately, it was the treatment of his Dixon Hill character in the episode "Manhunt" that was instrumental in Tormé's leaving the Next Generation writing staff.
Political views
During an interview with Brad Linaweaver during the 1990s, Tormé said he has libertarian tendencies and that he voted for Harry Browne, the Libertarian Party's candidate for U.S. President in 1996. He finds the official Libertarian position too isolationist though he agrees with libertarians on 90% of domestic issues and says that if the whole world accepted libertarian principles, then there would be no need for an aggressive military. [5]
Torme has made connections between his politics and the television show Sliders that he co-created. He suggested that there has been a Libertarian tone to Sliders[6] and said, "If we ever had the Sliders find a libertarian world, it would be the closest they'd come to Utopia as far as I'm concerned." [7] Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found. He stated he is an ex-Democrat. Tormé has also said that he is sort of a radical animal rights person, sort of a radical environmentalist, and that he is to the left by nature. He opposes political correctness because he sees it as the great lie of the left. [8]
Personal life
His father was noted singer Mel Tormé, and he is a graduate of Beverly Hills High School.[3]
References
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- ↑ Koltnow, Barry. "`Fire in the Sky' hero still blazes alien trail in tiny Arizona town", Orange County Register, March 9, 1993. Accessed April 25, 2008. "In early November 1975, Tracy Torme was sitting in the library at Beverly Hills High School, listening to rock music on his headphones while pretending to read a book."
- ^ http://www.dimensionofcontinuity.com/bts.htm - Accessed February 4, 2006
- ^ http://www.earth62.net/transcripts/torme27jun97.htm - Accessed February 4, 2006
- ^ http://www.scifi.com/transcripts/dragon97/TracyTorme.html - Accessed February 4, 2006
- ^ Linaweaver, Brad; Sliders: The Classic Episodes. 1998. TV Books. New York. ISBN 1-57500-053-9. Pages 274-75.
- http://www.earth62.net/transcripts/torme15jun01.htm (reference for Tracy Torme's middle initial)
