“What does God need with a starship?”
or “The Time Paramount Said No To God Until Bill Shatner Came Along”
A sci-fi writer once submitted a partial Star Trek novel to Paramount. It bounced between the revolving door of editors until it found one that liked the concept (spirituality/religion in space). But then….well, he tells it best
“On October 27, 1986, Dave wrote back to me, saying, “Paramount Pictures, though tentatively approving your novel, have in that approval rejected unequivocally one of the central tenets of your book (to my way of thinking): the idea of the great Being actually being (no pun intended) the creator of life on Earth. They have also asked that all references to religion be severely abbreviated. As I stated above, to me this robs the novel of its heart — not to mention a great deal of its marketing potential. I’m returning herein your material with a reluctant rejection.”
And that was the end of that — although three years later, the movie Star Trek V: The Final Frontier premiered with a strikingly similar premise. Paramount might say no to God, but never to William Shatner.”
So he did what any self-respecting fan does. He turned it (back??) into fanfic
“In 2002, the Canadian fanzine Voyageur, put out by by the Toronto-based Star Trek club USS Hudson Bay, published the first four chapters of Armada in four consecutive issues starting with #137, January-February 2002; my thanks to then-editor Karen Bennett for that opportunity.