Mark Altman '88 Speaks of Life as 'Trekspert'

November 12, 1995

The list of people who graduated from Brandeis only to move to California and succeed in the film and television industry keeps growing. Mark Altman '88 has been a member of this group for the past few years. He is currently the editor-in-chief of the magazine Sci-Fi Universe and recently wrote a book called "Captains Log," which discusses in detail the four television shows in the "Star Trek" series. He recently visited his alma-mater and gave a talk on "Star Trek and American Society," as well as giving a talk in the Hiatt Career Center about careers in writing.

Success did not come overnight for Altman. After graduating from Brandeis, he spent some time as both an agent and a t-shirt designer, but quit both jobs to become a free-lance writer. He was a stringer for the magazine Cinefantastique, and wrote "Twin Peaks: Behind the Scenes" and "The Woody Allen Encyclopedia." It was through his solid work on Cinefantastique that he got his current job on "Sci-Fi Universe." In addition to his work on this publication, Altman has written several Star Trek comic books, including one with an original idea for DC Comics.

Altman graduated from Brandeis almost eight years ago, but he said what he learned here still influences his life.

He said the most important thing about being a professional writer is that one "should keep plugging away. You never know what an editor will take a liking to. The more you write, the more your writing improves, but it won't if you don't put the words on paper."

At Brandeis he was an American Studies major, with an interest in film. He went here prior to the introduction of the film program, when there were only a few film classes to take, taught by Professor Tom Doherty (AMST) or Professor David Marc (AMST).

"I wouldn't be doing what I am doing if it wasn't for Tom," Altman said. "It was during his classes that my critical faculties were honed."

Altman was very involved with the Justice throughout his Brandeis career. He was the Arts editor for a year, and midway through his sophomore year, he became the paper's editor-in-chief, a position he held for two years.

"I think working for the Justice was the single best experience I had at Brandeis," he said. "I learned more from it than any class I had to miss while getting the paper out. Working at the paper was the closest thing in atmosphere to where I am now, with the group camaraderie. It allowed me to learn layout, and most importantly to deal with deadlines."

Having been editor-in-chief, he was able to get stringing experience both with the "Boston Globe" and the "Jewish Advocate." He said it gave him access to people and enabled him to get free-lance work. It was working for the Justice that he first wrote about "Star Trek: The Next Generation."

"'The Next Generation' first came on the air when I was a senior," he said. "And at the time, no one knew what a bit hit it would become. The people at Paramount sent out a press release urging papers to write stories on the show, and they gave a list of ideas of what to write about. One of the ideas was to take a trip out to Paramount to visit the set. I got Paramount to send me and two of my friends to California and I spent time on the set, interviewing the cast and crew."

Once he got a taste of writing about Star Trek, he never gave it up and has become what the Los Angeles Times called, "the world's foremost Trekspert." Altman added that a lot of what was in the book came from that first trip. "Everyone was very accessible, and no one was a prima donna," he said. "Remember, this was at a time when Patrick Stewart (Capt. Picard) was living out of a suitcase because he thought the show would only last 13 weeks."

Although Altman has been out of school for a while, he said there are still some things he misses about Brandeis. "Well, aside from the gourmet cuisine of Sherman, what I miss is the sense of community. I kept a lot of my friends, but it's not the same when you are spread across the country."

As editor-in-chief of "Sci-Fi Universe" he has become involved with the changes that are happening in the world of Star Trek. In some sense a traditionalist, Altman said he is convinced that Kirk was a better captain than Picard. "Star Trek lives or dies by its captain," he said. "Kirk was a real frontier hero. He was a man of action. Picard was more of a diplomat, who kept losing his ship." Altman added that he grew up on the original series of Trek so that might have colored his thinking a bit.

Altman said he believes that it is because Star Trek depends so much on its captain that the two remaining series are in a state of decline.

Altman also said the series might not survive because it is too much a product of its times. With "Star Trek: The Original Series" the country was in the middle of Vietnam, and they were looking for a strong leader. Enter Captain Kirk, a bold, young, virile leader, trying to force American-style democracy on alien races, just as America was doing in Vietnam.

By the time the "Next Generation" came about in the late '80s, both the country and the creators of the show had become more conservative. Everything was talked about and done by consensus, like the Gulf War. Enter Captain Picard, the diplomat.

Both the current series, "Voyager" and "Deep Space Nine" have kept the original outlook that things are bound to get better in the future. But America in the mid-1990s is a more cynical time than was the '60s. In the Star Trek universe, everyone is trusted, but by contrast, in other science fiction shows like the "X-Files," no one is trusted. "Deep Space Nine" is trying to move in a darker direction, but for the moment it is still too optimistic, Altman said.