Brandon Tartikoff Brandon Donald Tartikoff was the Chairman of Paramount Pictures from to . Tartikoff was actually brought in initially on 2 May 1991 as " President Motion Picture Group " as replacement for David Kirkpatrick by interim Paramount President Stanley R . Jaffe who himself had to stand in for recently fired Frank Mancuso , Sr . ( " City of Dreams : The Making and Remaking of Universal Pictures " , 1997 , p . 4 ) Tartikoff found himself thrust in the midst of a tumultuous period of an intense power struggle at the top of Paramount Pictures , at the time scoffingly referred to by the press as the " The Studio Shuffle " , brought forth by a string of disappointing , yet very expensive , movie releases ( which included ) leaving the studio deeply in the red , only aggravated by a . One of his very first assignments was to oversee the tail - end of the already troubled production of , which entered the final stages of post - production at the time . As a matter of fact , his immediate predecessor Kirkpatrick had been fired over the circumstance that he had actually canceled " The Undiscovered Country " , only to have the decision reversed by Jaffe , when he took over from Mancuso and subsequently " canceled " Kirkpatrick himself . Still , by the time Tartikoff was able to see " The Undiscovered Country " to its premiere in early December 1991 , most of the studio turmoil had died down . ( " Star Trek Movie Memories " , 1995 , pp . 393 - 394 ) Informed that this was to be the last " Star Trek " movie , Tartikoff was reported saying , when he saw a rough cut at an early screening , " " Why does this have to be the last one ? " " , foreshadowing things to come . ( " Cinefantastique " , Vol 22 # 5 , pp . 52 , 54 ) A few months later , " Star Trek " creator Gene Roddenberry passed away , and Tartikoff together with Director Nicholas Meyer took it upon themselves to devise a commemorative closing title card , which however was met with utter disdain by Spock Performer and Story Writer of the film , Leonard Nimoy , even though he himself had no love lost for Roddenberry , " Very late in the game , I found out that Nick Meyer and Brandon Tartikoff , who ' d just arrived at the studio , were meeting to decide how the dedication should read . I thought to myself , " " Where do these people get off ? " " I think , maybe , Nick might have waved at Gene Roddenberry one day . I don ' t think the two ever had a real sit - down face - to - face meeting . And Brandon Tartikoff ? He had nothing at all to do with the making of this picture . By the time he arrived at the studio , we had already had our final cut in the can . So these were the people , of all people , who were deciding what the dedication to Gene Roddenberry should say . Again , nobody told me anything . " So when I found out about that , I called up John Goldwyn , who ' d become our new studio executive on the picture , replacing Teddy Zee , and I vented on him . I said , " " I think it ' s absolutely disgusting that these two kids are running around in a playpen they don ' t even own . It ' s not even their territory . Why aren ' t you people talking about this to somebody who ' s connected to the picture ? Someone who ' s had a relationship with Gene ? Why not have this thing put together by somebody who knows exactly who Gene was , and what he was ? How dare you arbitrarily slap something onto the top of a film as if it were some box office decision ? How dare you guys ? " " At that point he sort of sighed into the phone and halfheartedly asked , " " Well , how would you like it to read , Leonard ? " " After expressing myself on how badly I thought of the situation had been handled , I hung up on him . " He rang me back for days , but I wouldn ' t take his calls . What fun to get angry . I handled it badly , but I ' m too old and too rich . I ' m at the point in my life where I can afford myself the luxury of saying , " " I don ' t give a shit . If it kills my relationship with the studio , so be it . " " That ' s the way it went down . And ultimately , the argument over that dedication was really over whether to keep it simple or make it more complex . Tartikoff wanted something elaborate and flowery , but Nick thought that might be a little distasteful , a little flittery . Nick came up with the verbiage for the final dedication . " ( " Star Trek Movie Memories " , 1995 , pp . 395 - 396 ) No matter how Nimoy felt , before " The Undiscovered Country " had hit the theaters on 5 December 1991 , Jaffe had to return to his regular position as Vice - President of Paramount Communications ( formerly Gulf + Western , and owner of Paramount Pictures ) , and decided on that occasion to move Tartikoff forward as the new Chairman of the Board , and President of Paramount Pictures . With the success of the six and , Tartikoff subsequently approached Rick Berman and asked him to create a third live action " Star Trek " series to launch into syndication . Berman and Michael Piller returned with series notes that they had previously discussed with Gene Roddenberry , and worked up a proposal , which Tartikoff later approved , for what would become . ( " " , DS9 Season 1 DVD special " A Bold New Beginning " ) However , him ordering a third live - action " Star Trek " television series , entailed far more than just doing that . Berman recounted a series of meetings he had with Tartikoff , starting in the summer of 1991 ; as a former television network executive , Tartikoff was acutely aware that even the most successful series had a limited , economical life - span for a variety of reasons , ranging from psychological cast fatigue , through naturally increasing production costs – if only for the annually inflation adjusted production staff wages as ordained by the Hollywood Unions , and not in the least for star cast salaries habitually inflating exponentially with each sequel – , to increased competition with itself for scarce syndication time - slots the longer a series runs . Together with Berman , Tartikoff decided upon an optimum " Star Trek " series run of seven seasons , meaning that " The Next Generation " had at that time only three seasons left to go . Though enamored with the " Original Crew " movies , Tartikoff was well aware that they too had run their course , if only for the age of the cast , but figured this was the perfect time to pass the baton to " the next generation " , thereby starting a new " Star Trek " movie franchise . He instructed Berman to start looking into that , and have a movie ready at the end of " The Next Generation " television series ( by which time the new " Deep Space Nine " series had to be up and running for two seasons ) , preferably one which , one way or another , featured the transition of the " Original Crew " to " The Next Generation Crew " . Given his marching orders , Berman was sent on his way to his most daunting year in his career , 1994 . For all intents and purposes , it was Tartikoff who had come up with the leap - frogging seven - season format of the modern " Star Trek " television franchise , " and " the start of " The Next Generation " movie franchise , though he had to leave the actual production start in February 1993 and oversight of what was to become the first " Next Generation " film , , to his immediate successor Sherry Lansing , due to his premature departure . ( " Star Trek Movie Memories " , 1995 , pp . 399 - 403 ; " " , pp . 154 - 157 ; ) Ironically , it had been co - producer of " The Undiscovered Country " , Ralph Winter , who at the completion of the movie had already made similar musings . Though understandably proud of what he and the creative team had achieved , he had second thoughts on Harve Bennett ' s " " - project , which would have featured an entirely new cast but was scrapped in order to make " The Undiscovered Country " , reasoning in hindsight that it would have instituted a long - term studio strategy for a sustainable " Star Trek " live - action production line , as opposed to the somewhat chaotic , spur - of - the - moment planning as hitherto employed . " " With a long term plan you could milk this forever . " " , Winter had mused . ( " Cinefantastique " , Vol 22 # 5 , p . 35 ) Even Winter could not have foreseen that he was to have his wish fulfilled so soon , as Tartikoff was to exactly do , what Winter had imagined . By initiating a third " Star Trek " television series , Tartikoff had actually reverted his stance he originally had in the fall of 1986 , when Paramount ' s Television Group President John S . Pike had approached him as head of NBC ( the network that had aired ) , to air a new science fiction television series , " The Next Generation " , that was in development at the time . On that occasion Tartikoff had declined , as interest in science fiction for television was at an all time low at the time ( after " The Next Generation " started its run , it was for years the only " new " science fiction series being aired ) . ( " " ) Upon his passing , Tartikoff was tributed by " Deep Space Nine " s production staff with an " In Memory of " closing title card in the season six opening episode , . Career outside " Star Trek " . A Freeport , New York , native , Brandon Tartikoff was a graduate of the Lawrenceville School and Yale University , where he contributed to campus humor magazine " The Yale Record " . While at Yale , Tartikoff developed a keen interest in television management and production , working as an account executive and sales manager at such stations as WNHC - TV in New Haven , Connecticut , as well as in Hartford , Connecticut . And even while he was on vacation , Tartikoff spent his holidays in Los Angeles looking for a job in network television . Upon graduating from Yale , he found gainful employment in advertising and local television at a series of local stations , including WLS - TV in Chicago , Illinois . In 1976 , Tartikoff took a position at television network ABC but switched less than a year later over to NBC , becoming a program executive . In 1980 , Tartikoff was appointed the president of NBC Entertainment , thereby becoming the youngest executive to have ever helmed the network at the time of his appointment , holding that position until 1991 . He was responsible for bringing NBC out of a ratings slump with innovative programming such as , by Paramount Television ( under the auspices of Rick Berman ) produced and " Cheers " ( whose cast members included Kelsey Grammer and Kirstie Alley , and in which Tartikoff himself had a cameo in the 1993 episode , " It ' s Lonely on the Top " , befittingly as a bar patron ) , and most notably the acclaimed comedy series " Seinfeld " ( whose regular cast included Jason Alexander and whose season nine episode " The Butter Shave " , also carried the " In Memory of " closing title card , as featured in the " Deep Space Nine " episode , even though he no longer worked for NBC ) . He also took on a very active role in the production of " Saturday Night Live " ( among the new cast members whose hiring he approved was Charles Rocket ) , and hosted the opening show of its ninth season on 8 October 1983 , while Joe Piscopo was a member of the cast . In that episode , Tartikoff exhibited a great sense of humor as he allowed the production staff to ruthlessly poke fun at him , by rolling closed captions of his less than successful decisions as a television executive for five minutes , while he glowingly ( and seemingly oblivious ) presented , and praised his staff of the new season of " Saturday Night Live " . His tenure on NBC won Tartikoff a 1991 Television Critics Association Award in the category " Career Achievement " . On 29 October 1992 , having been less than two years in the employment of Paramount , Tartikoff resigned his position , retiring entirely from the motion picture industry . While at the time , rumors abounded that he could not abide to work under his less than flexible mentor Jaffe , the actual reason was that he wanted to take care of his young daughter Calla , who had sustained critical injuries in a car accident . ( " City of Dreams : The Making and Remaking of Universal Pictures " , 1997 , p . 4 ) In 1994 , Tartikoff returned to the television industry , now as a producer on such productions as the series " The Steven Banks Show " and " Last Call " , as well as the television movies , " XXX ' s & OOO ' s " ( 1994 ) , " Best Defense " , " OP Center " ( both 1995 ) , " Tribe TV " ( 1997 ) and " Blade Squad " ( 1998 ) . Shortly before his death he created the television series " Beggars and Choosers " , which ran for one season after his death , and served as executive consultant for another , " Second Noah " . In addition , Tartikoff shortly served in 1994 as chairman of New World Entertainment . Just prior to his death , Tartikoff also served as the chairman of the AOL project " Entertainment Asylum , " to build the world ' s first interactive broadcast studio . Aside from this he also made guest appearances , either as himself or in a role as extra , in such series as " Night Stand " , " Dave ' s World " and " Arli $ $ " . Together with author Charles Leerhsen , Tartikoff has written an autobiography , " The Last Great Ride " , which was published by Random House on 13 October 1992 . Tartikoff died in 1997 from complications of . The disease had plagued him throughout his life , having beaten it on two earlier occasions , the last time in 1982 . He was survived by his wife ( a well - known activist , socialite and restaurateur , whom he had married in 1982 ) , and their two daughters , Elizabeth Justine and Calla Lianne , who had made a largely complete recovery from her severe accident , and who later started a restaurant with her sister .