Tracy Tormé
Encyclopedia
Tracy R. Tormé is an American screenwriter
and television producer
. He has worked for Saturday Night Live
, Odyssey 5
, Sliders
, Star Trek: The Next Generation
, Fire in the Sky
and Carnivàle
.
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.
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.
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.
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 . 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.
Tormé did get to work with his dad, legendary jazz singer and composer Mel Tormé
, in one episode of the series. Mel plays an alternate version of himself who is also a government agent in the 1996 episode "Greatfellas".
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.
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 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."
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.
in 1987 where he 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 1930s 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", before reappearing 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. Ultimately, it was the treatment of his Dixon Hill character in the episode "Manhunt" that was instrumental in Tormé leaving the Next Generation writing staff.
, and he is a graduate of Beverly Hills High School
.
Screenwriter
Screenwriters or scriptwriters or scenario writers are people who write/create the short or feature-length screenplays from which mass media such as films, television programs, Comics or video games are based.-Profession:...
and television producer
Television producer
The primary role of a television Producer is to allow all aspects of video production, ranging from show idea development and cast hiring to shoot supervision and fact-checking...
. He has worked for Saturday Night Live
Saturday Night Live
Saturday Night Live is a live American late-night television sketch comedy and variety show developed by Lorne Michaels and Dick Ebersol. The show premiered on NBC on October 11, 1975, under the original title of NBC's Saturday Night.The show's sketches often parody contemporary American culture...
, Odyssey 5
Odyssey 5
Odyssey 5 is a Canadian science fiction series that first ran in 2002 on Showtime in the United States and on Space in Canada.In the United States, the initial run of the series ran for 14 of the 20 episodes, leaving the six remaining episodes unaired for a period of roughly two years...
, Sliders
Sliders
Sliders is an American science fiction television series. It was broadcast for five seasons, beginning in 1995 and ending in 2000. The series follows a group of travelers as they use a wormhole to "slide" between different parallel universes. The show was created by Robert K. Weiss and Tracy Tormé...
, Star Trek: The Next Generation
Star Trek: The Next Generation
Star Trek: The Next Generation is an American science fiction television series created by Gene Roddenberry as part of the Star Trek franchise. Roddenberry, Rick Berman, and Michael Piller served as executive producers at different times throughout the production...
, Fire in the Sky
Fire in the Sky
Fire in the Sky is a 1993 film based on an alleged extraterrestrial encounter, directed by Robert Lieberman, and written by Tracy Tormé based on Travis Walton's book The Walton Experience. The film stars Robert Patrick in the leading role as Walton's best friend and future brother-in-law, Mike...
and Carnivàle
Carnivàle
Carnivàle is an American television series set in the United States during the Great Depression and Dust Bowl. In tracing the lives of two disparate groups of people, its overarching story depicts the battle between good and evil and the struggle between free will and destiny; the storyline mixes...
.
Sliders
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.
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.
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.
He has been critical of the changes to the characters of Sliders, saying that originally, Quinn Mallory
Quinn Mallory
Quinn R. Mallory is a fictional character on the science fiction television show Sliders, played by Jerry O'Connell.-Childhood:Quinn was born in 1973 and raised in San Francisco, California, the son of Michael and Amanda Mallory...
and Rembrandt Brown
Rembrandt Brown
Rembrandt Lee Brown is a fictional character played by Cleavant Derricks on the science fiction television show Sliders. In 1994, Rembrandt was living in San Francisco. Rembrandt is a musician, whose stage name is The Crying Man because of his ability to "cry real tears" on stage...
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
Syfy
Syfy , formerly known as the Sci-Fi Channel and SCI FI, is an American cable television channel featuring science fiction, supernatural, fantasy, reality, paranormal, wrestling, and horror programming. Launched on September 24, 1992, it is part of the entertainment conglomerate NBCUniversal, a...
, Tormé said he would like to bring Sliders back to its original roots . 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
David Peckinpah
David Ernest Peckinpah was a television writer, producer and director. David Peckinpah was the nephew of film director Sam Peckinpah...
, who had been contracted for another season.
Tormé did get to work with his dad, legendary jazz singer and composer Mel Tormé
Mel Tormé
Melvin Howard Tormé , nicknamed The Velvet Fog, was an American musician, known for his jazz singing. He was also a jazz composer and arranger, a drummer, an actor in radio, film, and television, and the author of five books...
, in one episode of the series. Mel plays an alternate version of himself who is also a government agent in the 1996 episode "Greatfellas".
Political views
During an interview with Brad LinaweaverBrad Linaweaver
Bradford Swain Linaweaver is a science fiction writer and screenwriting for low budget movies.The novella version of his novel 'Moon of Ice' was a Nebula Award finalist and the novel length version won a Prometheus Award....
during the 1990s, Tormé said he has libertarian
Libertarianism
Libertarianism, in the strictest sense, is the political philosophy that holds individual liberty as the basic moral principle of society. In the broadest sense, it is any political philosophy which approximates this view...
tendencies and that he voted for Harry Browne
Harry Browne
Harry Browne was an American libertarian writer, politician, and free-market investment analyst. He ran for President of the United States as the nominee of the Libertarian Party in 1996 and 2000....
, the Libertarian Party's
Libertarian Party (United States)
The Libertarian Party is the third largest and fastest growing political party in the United States. The political platform of the Libertarian Party reflects its brand of libertarianism, favoring minimally regulated, laissez-faire markets, strong civil liberties, minimally regulated migration...
candidate for U.S. President
President of the United States
The President of the United States of America is the head of state and head of government of the United States. The president leads the executive branch of the federal government and is the commander-in-chief of the United States Armed Forces....
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.
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 and said, "If we ever had the Sliders find a libertarian world, it would be the closest they'd come to Utopia
Utopia
Utopia is an ideal community or society possessing a perfect socio-politico-legal system. The word was imported from Greek by Sir Thomas More for his 1516 book Utopia, describing a fictional island in the Atlantic Ocean. The term has been used to describe both intentional communities that attempt...
as far as I'm concerned."
He stated he is an ex-Democrat
Democratic Party (United States)
The Democratic Party is one of two major contemporary political parties in the United States, along with the Republican Party. The party's socially liberal and progressive platform is largely considered center-left in the U.S. political spectrum. The party has the lengthiest record of continuous...
. 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
Political correctness
Political correctness is a term which denotes language, ideas, policies, and behavior seen as seeking to minimize social and institutional offense in occupational, gender, racial, cultural, sexual orientation, certain other religions, beliefs or ideologies, disability, and age-related contexts,...
because he sees it as the great lie of the left.
Star Trek: The Next Generation (1987-1989)
Tormé joined the writing staff of Star Trek: The Next GenerationStar Trek: The Next Generation
Star Trek: The Next Generation is an American science fiction television series created by Gene Roddenberry as part of the Star Trek franchise. Roddenberry, Rick Berman, and Michael Piller served as executive producers at different times throughout the production...
in 1987 where he 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 1930s gumshoe
Detective
A detective is an investigator, either a member of a police agency or a private person. The latter may be known as private investigators or "private eyes"...
portrayed by Captain Jean-Luc Picard
Jean-Luc Picard
Captain Jean-Luc Picard is a Star Trek character portrayed by Patrick Stewart. He appears in the television series Star Trek: The Next Generation and the feature films Star Trek Generations, Star Trek: First Contact, Star Trek: Insurrection, and Star Trek Nemesis...
in a recurring series of Holodeck
Holodeck
A holodeck, in the fictional Star Trek universe, is a simulated reality facility located on starships and starbases. The first use of a "holodeck" by that name in the Star Trek universe was in the pilot episode of Star Trek: The Next Generation, "Encounter at Farpoint", although a conceptually...
simulations.
Tormé's first solo story was a season one episode entitled "The Big Goodbye". It introduces (within the Star Trek Universe
Star Trek
Star Trek is an American science fiction entertainment franchise created by Gene Roddenberry. The core of Star Trek is its six television series: The Original Series, The Animated Series, The Next Generation, Deep Space Nine, Voyager, and Enterprise...
) 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
USS Enterprise (NCC-1701-D)
The USS Enterprise is a 24th century starship in the Star Trek fictional universe and the principal setting of the Star Trek: The Next Generation television series...
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", before reappearing on the big screen in Star Trek: First Contact
Star Trek: First Contact
Star Trek: First Contact is the eighth feature film in the Star Trek science fiction franchise, released in November 1996, by Paramount Pictures. First Contact is the first film in the franchise to feature no cast members from the original Star Trek television series of the 1960s...
; 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. Ultimately, it was the treatment of his Dixon Hill character in the episode "Manhunt" that was instrumental in Tormé leaving the Next Generation writing staff.
Personal life
His father was noted singer Mel TorméMel Tormé
Melvin Howard Tormé , nicknamed The Velvet Fog, was an American musician, known for his jazz singing. He was also a jazz composer and arranger, a drummer, an actor in radio, film, and television, and the author of five books...
, and he is a graduate of Beverly Hills High School
Beverly Hills High School
Beverly Hills High School is the only major public high school in Beverly Hills, California. Beverly is part of the Beverly Hills Unified School District and located on on the west side of Beverly Hills, at the...
.