That happy medium rides a tenuous line on Earth: Final Conflict, a series that, with its loss of major characters and actors and rather unexpected plot turns, has seen more story fluctuation than Babylon 5. "Originally, an episode can be scripted well," he explains, "but through revisions and notes can become sort of discombobulated, because so many people are trying to make it their show. There are two groups of people involved in it right now. There's one that wants it to be simply chase/action/gunfight, and there's a group that wants it to be introspective."

Above all, the young man is primarily concerned with preserving the vision of his father. "All the Star Trek shows have their Spocks or their Datas or their hologram doctors who ask the simple questions that we overlook every day -- what are feelings, why do you chew bubblegum -- these things are a kind of Roddenberry tradition. On Earth, Da'an was supposed to do that, but it's really hard to get self-reflecting ideas like that into a show. And for me, being new to the industry, just coming in, I sometimes have days of complete depression, because I can't believe how hard it is to get something out there that you're passionate about. I don't know -- the industry's a dangerous place. Sometimes I just want to throw it all out and produce Baywatch in Space."

Still, Roddenberry retains a positive attitude with the progression of the series. "Season three is fantastic. It's got a good chunk of action, it's got good stories, it's got strong performances. Our actors are all top-notch. We've really lucked out. We've got some good intellectual themes every now and then-we're working on it. Season three is where season two should have begun."

Young Roddenberry also offers assurances to Star Trek fans who have been disappointed with recent developments on Voyager and the news of upcoming Star Trek-related shows. "Something I need to let everyone know is that the Roddenberry name, my mother and myself, don't have any say on Star Trek -- that's Paramount a hundred percent. For some reason, and I wish I could ask him why, my father sold the rights for Star Trek to Paramount in the 80's. If we owned it, I don't know what we'd be doing today, but I really think that they should let Star Trek rest for a while, for another ten or twenty years."

Though not a rabid fan of the shows, he does, however, give credit to the various producers responsible for The Next Generation, Deep Space Nine and Voyager. "I am proud of Paramount and Rick Berman, from the episodes that I have seen. I don't think they're bad shows, and I do like the fact that every now and then, they'll still hit an issue. Even if they've done it a hundred times, they'll still do an interracial relationship, for example. I like that. With all the grief they get, they're doing good."