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Alan Smithee
- 490 statements
- 92 feature instances
- 18 referencing feature instances
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Alan Smithee (his first name was sometimes also spelled Allen) was one of Hollywood's longest-working and most diverse filmmakers.note (the Internet Movie Database also lists credits for, among others, writing and acting) From the start of his career in 1969 to his retirement in 2000, he directed dozens of films in practically every genre you can think of, as well as episodic television and even music videos. Though his work was of highly-variable quality, with some films suffering outright backlash, he continued, undaunted, with a truly admirable rate of productivity. It helps that he didn't actually exist. See, in the movie industry of the past, if a director's movie fell victim to Executive Meddling and bad acting to the point where they were no longer proud of it, he could request to have his name taken off it, and it would then be credited to "Alan Smithee". There were, of course, rules about the use of the name - for instance, the studio would have to admit that they had wrested the film from the director's control. Directors using the alias were also required to keep their reason for disavowing the film a secret. Before 2000, Smithee was the only alias Directors Guild members were permitted to use. This was changed because of the comedy film An Alan Smithee Film: Burn Hollywood Burn, which revolves around a director who wants his name removed from his film, but is stymied because his name is actually Alan Smithee. Bad press surrounding the film combined with director Arthur Hiller wanting his name removed due to studio interference created an odd metatextual tangle where, under DGA rules, An Alan Smithee Film had to be credited to Alan Smithee, causing the name to be retired. Since then, aliases are selected on a case-by-case basis. However, the popularity of the name is such that Smithee's IMDb page has several post-2000 entries (none of which are presumably under DGA jurisdiction). Closely related to Uncredited Role. Coincidentally, "Alan Smithee" is also an anagram of "The Alias Men". Compare this to the use of the name "Nicolas Bourbaki" in mathematics. |
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| Alan Smithee / int_1251e752 | type |
Alan Smithee | |
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Jon Vitti and David Silverman used the pseudonyms "Penny Wise" and "Pound Foolish" for writing and directing the second and third Clip Show episodes, "Another Simpsons Clip Show" and The Simpsons 138th Episode Spectacular". | |
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One of Peppy's film posters in The Artist gives a director's credit to Alan Smithee. | |
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| Alan Smithee / int_1858fe06 | type |
Alan Smithee | |
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For Sonic the Hedgehog (Archie Comics), the stories "Cry of the Wolf" and "Naugus Games" were credited to "Many Hands"; these stories are usually considered to have the worst art in the series, with the later having four pages of complete darkness except for Sonic's eyes and Sonic's six-page fight with Naugus being completely covered by snow. | |
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Alan Smithee | |
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A rare quintuple-whammy: Joey D'Auria, Cheryl Chase, Rebecca Forstadt, Paul Greenberg and Rick Zieff had voice acting roles in The Mr. Men Show under the respective credits of "Joseph J. Terry", "Sophia Roberts", "Reba West", "Aaron Albertus" and "Danny Katiana".note Forstadt has used the stage name "Reba West" previously, notably playing Lynn Minmei on Robotech under that name. This is likely due to the non-union status of the show. | |
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Alan Smithee | |
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The writer of the short-lived X-Men spin-off The Brotherhood was listed as "Writer X". Most fans believe the writer was either Howard Mackie or Devin Grayson. 17 years later, Mackie confirmed in an interview that he was Writer X. | |
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Alan Smithee | |
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Referenced in Wild AR Ms 3, though in a totally different context. Alan Smithy is a legendary Drifter who leaves signposts with advice all over the landscape. | |
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| Alan Smithee / int_2154daa1 | type |
Alan Smithee | |
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Student Bodies director Mickey Rose kept his name on the credits, but the movie was produced by Alan Smithee ("replacing" Michael Ritchie.) | |
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The single "I'm The Urban Spaceman" by The Bonzo Dog Band credits its producer as one Apollo C. Vermouth - a pseudonym for the one and only Paul McCartney. The band later paid tribute to him with the song "Mr. Apollo." | |
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Alan Smithee | |
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1987's The Hidden was written by Jim Kouf (Stakeout, Grimm) under the name of Bob Hunt. | |
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Alan Smithee | |
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The final run of Strontium Dog Spin-Off Strontium Dogs was credited to an "Alan Smithee" after writer Peter Hogan was fired. | |
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The Simpsons: In-Universe: in "D'oh-in in the Wind", Mr. Burns' recruitment film for the power plant, which had script problems from Day One (i.e., nobody read the script), and which ends with Mr. Burns physically accosting Homer for getting his lines wrong, is credited to Alan Smithee. Jon Vitti and David Silverman used the pseudonyms "Penny Wise" and "Pound Foolish" for writing and directing the second and third Clip Show episodes, "Another Simpsons Clip Show" and The Simpsons 138th Episode Spectacular". Two guest stars appeared under pseudonyms in early episodes: Dustin Hoffman as Sam Etic in "Lisa's Substitute" and Michael Jackson as John Jay Smith in "Stark Raving Dad". Albert Brooks is credited as "A. Brooks" when he voices a character on the show. When "Goo Goo Gai Pan" originally premiered, the story was credited to "Lawrence Talbot", a pseudonym for regular writer-producer Dana Gould. All subsequent versions (US repeats, international broadcasts and home video releases) used Gould's real name. |
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Looney Tunes: Friz Freleng has two notable instances which invert this: He declined a screen credit for 1949's "Dough For the Dodo" as it was a remake of Bob Clampett's original version "Porky in Wackyland" (1938) and Friz felt he'd be stealing Clampett's ideas. In 1946 Friz was suspended for a month for refusing to direct "Hollywood Daffy," feeling it was too much like Avery for his style. Hawley Pratt (a layout artist in the Freleng unit) directed it uncredited. Of other films, 1942's "Crazy Cruise" was started by Avery and finished by Clampett after Avery quit (following the "Heckling Hare" confrontation). It went uncredited. |
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Alan Smithee | |
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Spoofed in The First Nudie Musical, where the Film Within a Film is directed by an incompetent nitwit named John Smithee. | |
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Alan Smithee | |
| Alan Smithee / int_31a48e8e | comment |
Sonya Roberts's script "Joy Ride" for The Outer Limits (1963) became "Second Chance" in the finished product, which gives her story and (with Lou Morheim) teleplay credit under the name "Lin Dane". Take off the capital letters and you'll guess her reaction to the rewrites (which may have been mandated by Executive Meddling). | |
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Alan Smithee | |
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The Season 4 episode of La Femme Nikita "Catch a Falling Star" was directed by Alan Smithee, known to his parents in this case as Joseph L. Scanlan. | |
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| Alan Smithee / int_3ed1462a | type |
Alan Smithee | |
| Alan Smithee / int_3ed1462a | comment |
Richard C. Sarafian used the pseudonym for his 1990 sci-fi flop Solar Crisis due to how ashamed he was of the final product of the film. | |
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| Alan Smithee / int_411acd6e | type |
Alan Smithee | |
| Alan Smithee / int_411acd6e | comment |
Referenced in The Wonderful 101, with one of the supporting characters being a kid by the name of Luka Alan Smithee. | |
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Alan Smithee | |
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2022's The Catherine Tate Show spin-off The Nan Movie carries no director's credit whatsoever, only being billed as "A Catherine Tate film" at the start of the credits. It's believed, though unconfirmed, that Josie Rourke directed the lion's share of the film, but left the production when filming was halted by the COVID-19 Pandemic, and that Tate took over directing duties herself afterwards. | |
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Alan Smithee | |
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In the Discworld novel Maskerade, the Opera House has a similar custom surrounding "Walter Plinge" (the real Walter is the janitor). "Walter Plinge" is in fact another common pseudonym in London theaters, used interchangeably with "George Spelvin" (see below). The gag is that the Discworld theater has an actual Walter Plinge on staff. | |
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Alan Smithee / int_4a94a5fc | |
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Alan Smithee | |
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He first appeared in the 1906 stage version of Brewster's Millions. | |
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Alan Smithee | |
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The notorious Chargeman Ken! doesn't directly credit any of the voice actors involved, listing them only as belonging to "the Kindaiza Theatrical Company." Evidently, none of them wanted to be associated with one of the most So Bad, It's Good anime ever created. | |
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| Alan Smithee / int_537fae8b | type |
Alan Smithee | |
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In Street Fighter X Tekken, Rolento's voice actor is credited as Alan Smithee. It's actually Dameon Clarke. Clarke is no stranger to this, having reprised his voice of Dragon Ball Z villain Cell in the Budokai and Budokai Tenkaichi series of games under the pseudonym "Dartanian Nickelback". |
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Alan Smithee | |
| Alan Smithee / int_53a0bd8b | comment |
The Twilight Zone (1985): Alan Brennert thought that his script "Healer" was so badly acted and directed that he took his name off of the episode. It is credited to Michael Bryant. "Paladin of the Lost Hour", which was directed by Gilbert Cates, is credited to Alan Smithee, as Cates disliked the manner in which it was edited. Richard Matheson had his name taken off of "Button, Button", as he was displeased with the changed ending of his short story made at the insistence of CBS executives. It is credited to Logan Swanson. |
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| Alan Smithee / int_553612e5 | type |
Alan Smithee | |
| Alan Smithee / int_553612e5 | comment |
During the opening credits for Morozko, Mike quips that the names they're seeing are all Russian for "Alan Smithee". | |
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| Morozko | hasFeature |
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Alan Smithee | |
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Tutenstein: For the main cast of the first 35 episodes, the titular character was voiced by Jeannie Elias under the pseudonym of "Marcus Muldoon" and Cleo was voiced by Crystal Scales under the pseudonym of "Babi Mosquito". | |
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| Alan Smithee / int_59151283 | type |
Alan Smithee | |
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Metal Gear: Almost everyone in the English voice cast for Metal Gear Solid were initially credited under pseudonyms due to them not knowing if their work had the Screen Actors Guild's blessing. The only voice actors who used their real names were David Hayter, Doug Stone, and Scott Dolphnote the demo and the European manual credit Hayter as Sean Barker. When the cast returned to re-record their lines for the Nintendo GameCube remake, The Twin Snakes, they all used their real names thanks to the project having open SAG support. EVA from Metal Gear Solid 3: Snake Eater and Metal Gear Solid: Peace Walker was voiced by one "Suzetta Miñet", who has no other credits to her name, with co-star Hayter and voice director Kris Zimmerman eventually confirming was a pseudonym (Zimmerman denied it being an issue regarding Konami or legal reasons; it was apparently just a personal decision). The true identity of EVA's actress remains unknown. Referenced in the "CHAIR RACE" teaser trailer for Metal Gear Solid 4: Guns of the Patriots—when we see the back of the Director's chair, Alan Smithee's name is written on it, which eventually drops off to reveal the name "Shuyo Murata". This references how Hideo Kojima originally planned to work only as a producer for MGS4 (as he planned on leaving the series after Metal Gear Solid 3: Snake Eater) and hand it over to his junior team, with Shuyo Murata as the appointed director. This didn't last long, as the rest of the trailer shows. |
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| Alan Smithee / int_5ce0632d | type |
Alan Smithee | |
| Alan Smithee / int_5ce0632d | comment |
During production of Jetsons: The Movie, Janet Waldo's dialogue for Judy Jetson was re-recorded by singer Tiffany after Waldo had recorded all her dialogue, as executives wanted more people to see the movie. Andrea Romano, one of the voice directors, was so against the decision that she asked to have her name removed from the end credits (though this only applies to the theatrical version, since she was still credited on the home media releases and TV airings). | |
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| Alan Smithee / int_5f46db0f | type |
Alan Smithee | |
| Alan Smithee / int_5f46db0f | comment |
Episode 3 of Kanamemo features a Shout-Out to the name when Kana and Mika go subscriber hunting. One of the potential customers they visit has the name "Aran Smythee". | |
| Alan Smithee / int_5f46db0f | featureApplicability |
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| Alan Smithee / int_60e46926 | type |
Alan Smithee | |
| Alan Smithee / int_60e46926 | comment |
MAD lampshaded this in its Watchmen parody, by having a caricature of Moore introduce himself in the opening splash as Alan "Smithee" Moore. | |
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Alan Smithee / int_60e46926 | |
| Alan Smithee / int_60e46d26 | type |
Alan Smithee | |
| Alan Smithee / int_60e46d26 | comment |
Over the years, MAD has used several pseudonymous bylines for varying reasons. One of the most common is "J. Prete", actually ex-editor John Ficarra. Also, Sam Viviano began crediting his own artwork to "Jack Syracuse" after he took over as art director in the early noughties. | |
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| Alan Smithee / int_631805af | type |
Alan Smithee | |
| Alan Smithee / int_631805af | comment |
Referenced in the "CHAIR RACE" teaser trailer for Metal Gear Solid 4: Guns of the Patriots—when we see the back of the Director's chair, Alan Smithee's name is written on it, which eventually drops off to reveal the name "Shuyo Murata". This references how Hideo Kojima originally planned to work only as a producer for MGS4 (as he planned on leaving the series after Metal Gear Solid 3: Snake Eater) and hand it over to his junior team, with Shuyo Murata as the appointed director. This didn't last long, as the rest of the trailer shows. | |
| Alan Smithee / int_631805af | featureApplicability |
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| Metal Gear Solid 4: Guns of the Patriots (Video Game) | hasFeature |
Alan Smithee / int_631805af | |
| Alan Smithee / int_64494e71 | type |
Alan Smithee | |
| Alan Smithee / int_64494e71 | comment |
The pilot for Walker, Texas Ranger and the episode "Storm Warning" were written and co-written respectively by Leigh Chapman under the name "Louise McCarn". | |
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| Walker, Texas Ranger | hasFeature |
Alan Smithee / int_64494e71 | |
| Alan Smithee / int_6721b359 | type |
Alan Smithee | |
| Alan Smithee / int_6721b359 | comment |
Gene L. Coon was credited as Lee Cronin on the third season episodes he wrote, as he was a staff writer on It Takes a Thief (1968) by that point, and didn't want to give away the fact that he was still moonlighting on TOS. | |
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| It Takes a Thief (1968) | hasFeature |
Alan Smithee / int_6721b359 | |
| Alan Smithee / int_6abf16c2 | type |
Alan Smithee | |
| Alan Smithee / int_6abf16c2 | comment |
Referenced in the Big Finish Doctor Who mini-episode "My Own Private Mozart": the unluckily-immortal Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart has lived for so long and become so infamous for uninspired rubbish that modern audiences assume that it can't all have been made by the same person, instead opting to believe that his name is just an alias used by composers who don't want to admit to making something really bad. | |
| Alan Smithee / int_6abf16c2 | featureApplicability |
1.0 | |
| Alan Smithee / int_6abf16c2 | featureConfidence |
1.0 | |
| Big Finish Doctor Who (Audio Play) | hasFeature |
Alan Smithee / int_6abf16c2 | |
| Alan Smithee / int_6c4031ea | type |
Alan Smithee | |
| Alan Smithee / int_6c4031ea | comment |
The 2001 French dub credits of Disney's Snow White provide a variation of this trope, where the adaptor's and lyricist's names are listed as an "all rights reserved" notice. | |
| Alan Smithee / int_6c4031ea | featureApplicability |
1.0 | |
| Alan Smithee / int_6c4031ea | featureConfidence |
1.0 | |
| Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs | hasFeature |
Alan Smithee / int_6c4031ea | |
| Alan Smithee / int_7041cf12 | type |
Alan Smithee | |
| Alan Smithee / int_7041cf12 | comment |
In Kaguya-sama: Love Is War, Ai Hayasaka doesn't want her classmates knowing she's Kaguya's maid, so she uses the pseudonym Haysaca A. Smithee if she has to meet one of them in uniform. It's not quite as dumb as it looks — the Haysaca part looks closer in English than it really is, and why would Japanese schoolkids know about Alan Smithee? — but it's still hard to believe she fools the genius Shirogane this way. | |
| Alan Smithee / int_7041cf12 | featureApplicability |
1.0 | |
| Alan Smithee / int_7041cf12 | featureConfidence |
1.0 | |
| Kaguya-sama: Love Is War (Manga) | hasFeature |
Alan Smithee / int_7041cf12 | |
| Alan Smithee / int_7318210e | type |
Alan Smithee | |
| Alan Smithee / int_7318210e | comment |
Dragalia Lost's English voice credits is subverted, while there are some characters that are credited under actual voice actors/actresses (Vincent Tong, Tabitha St. Germain, Kazumi Evans, Sabrina Pitre, Lizzie Freeman, and Samuel Vincent), the majority of the characters credited are credited with pseudonymous names. | |
| Alan Smithee / int_7318210e | featureApplicability |
-0.3 | |
| Alan Smithee / int_7318210e | featureConfidence |
1.0 | |
| Dragalia Lost (Video Game) | hasFeature |
Alan Smithee / int_7318210e | |
| Alan Smithee / int_73e1e827 | type |
Alan Smithee | |
| Alan Smithee / int_73e1e827 | comment |
For unknown reasons in Sanjay and Craig, Chris D'Elia was credited as "Remington Tufflips As Himself". | |
| Alan Smithee / int_73e1e827 | featureApplicability |
1.0 | |
| Alan Smithee / int_73e1e827 | featureConfidence |
1.0 | |
| Sanjay and Craig | hasFeature |
Alan Smithee / int_73e1e827 | |
| Alan Smithee / int_746814ae | type |
Alan Smithee | |
| Alan Smithee / int_746814ae | comment |
Arthur voice actors Daniel Brochu and Bruce Dinsmore reprised their regular roles of Buster, Binky Barnes and David Read, respectively, for the direct-to-video film Arthur's Missing Pal, however since it was a non-union project recorded in Los Angeles rather than Montreal and Toronto like the show, they went under pseudonyms. Brochu was credited as "Conway Bruce" for voicing Buster, while Dinsmore voiced Binky and David Read under the pseudonym of "Bruce Smithee". | |
| Alan Smithee / int_746814ae | featureApplicability |
1.0 | |
| Alan Smithee / int_746814ae | featureConfidence |
1.0 | |
| Arthur | hasFeature |
Alan Smithee / int_746814ae | |
| Alan Smithee / int_74ccd31 | type |
Alan Smithee | |
| Alan Smithee / int_74ccd31 | comment |
Wonder Park has an interesting variation. Originally, former Pixar animator Dylan Brown was set to direct the movie, but he was booted off the project in 2018 due to allegations of sexual impropriety, and he was replaced by David Feiss. Since Paramount didn't want to credit someone with a sketchy background, nor did they want someone credited for only doing a small portion, it's one of the rare films out there to have no credited director, period. | |
| Alan Smithee / int_74ccd31 | featureApplicability |
1.0 | |
| Alan Smithee / int_74ccd31 | featureConfidence |
1.0 | |
| Wonder Park | hasFeature |
Alan Smithee / int_74ccd31 | |
| Alan Smithee / int_7b8a465f | type |
Alan Smithee | |
| Alan Smithee / int_7b8a465f | comment |
A VHS compilation movie based off Mighty Ducks: The Animated Series is credited to Alan Smithee. | |
| Alan Smithee / int_7b8a465f | featureApplicability |
1.0 | |
| Alan Smithee / int_7b8a465f | featureConfidence |
1.0 | |
| Mighty Ducks: The Animated Series | hasFeature |
Alan Smithee / int_7b8a465f | |
| Alan Smithee / int_7bc91abd | type |
Alan Smithee | |
| Alan Smithee / int_7bc91abd | comment |
The "Vid Kid" strip in the British comic Buster was credited to "Sue Denim". Initially, this was because the artist, Jack Edward Oliver, drew it very hurriedly in between working on his other Buster strips and disliked the simplistic art style that resulted, but he kept with it out of habit even after he was able to improve the artwork in the following years. | |
| Alan Smithee / int_7bc91abd | featureApplicability |
1.0 | |
| Alan Smithee / int_7bc91abd | featureConfidence |
1.0 | |
| Buster (Comic Book) | hasFeature |
Alan Smithee / int_7bc91abd | |
| Alan Smithee / int_7f5a405c | type |
Alan Smithee | |
| Alan Smithee / int_7f5a405c | comment |
Episode 6 of My Sister, My Writer, an anime rife with animation errors, has a credit for Sh�jiki Komata; this isn't a real person's name, and it actually translates as either "Honestly, I'm Screwed" or "We're in serious trouble". | |
| Alan Smithee / int_7f5a405c | featureApplicability |
1.0 | |
| Alan Smithee / int_7f5a405c | featureConfidence |
1.0 | |
| My Sister, My Writer | hasFeature |
Alan Smithee / int_7f5a405c | |
| Alan Smithee / int_8125b468 | type |
Alan Smithee | |
| Alan Smithee / int_8125b468 | comment |
Referenced in the Batman miniseries Harley and Ivy; when Harley hijacks the film being made about the pair, the director's name is listed as Alice Smithee. | |
| Alan Smithee / int_8125b468 | featureApplicability |
1.0 | |
| Alan Smithee / int_8125b468 | featureConfidence |
1.0 | |
| Batman (Franchise) | hasFeature |
Alan Smithee / int_8125b468 | |
| Alan Smithee / int_933c175a | type |
Alan Smithee | |
| Alan Smithee / int_933c175a | comment |
Actor Brett Halsey didn't have faith in Today We Kill... Tomorrow We Die! and opted to use the pseudonym Montgomery Ford so people wouldn't associate him with it. The film ended up being his most successful ever and to this day he's credited as Montgomery Ford in Italy. | |
| Alan Smithee / int_933c175a | featureApplicability |
1.0 | |
| Alan Smithee / int_933c175a | featureConfidence |
1.0 | |
| Today We Kill... Tomorrow We Die! | hasFeature |
Alan Smithee / int_933c175a | |
| Alan Smithee / int_93aef75 | type |
Alan Smithee | |
| Alan Smithee / int_93aef75 | comment |
City Heat was originally going to be directed by Blake Edwards, who wrote the original script—but he was fired (Richard Benjamin took over) and the script rewritten by Joseph C. Stinson; Edwards still has story and co-screenplay credit under the pseudonym "Sam O. Brown" (think about the initials). | |
| Alan Smithee / int_93aef75 | featureApplicability |
1.0 | |
| Alan Smithee / int_93aef75 | featureConfidence |
1.0 | |
| City Heat | hasFeature |
Alan Smithee / int_93aef75 | |
| Alan Smithee / int_959e314b | type |
Alan Smithee | |
| Alan Smithee / int_959e314b | comment |
In Fire Emblem Heroes, the artist for the Mythic Hero Elimine is anonymous, credited as "Alan Smithee" in English, with the same name transliterated into kanji in Japanese. | |
| Alan Smithee / int_959e314b | featureApplicability |
1.0 | |
| Alan Smithee / int_959e314b | featureConfidence |
1.0 | |
| Fire Emblem Heroes (Video Game) | hasFeature |
Alan Smithee / int_959e314b | |
| Alan Smithee / int_976efc02 | type |
Alan Smithee | |
| Alan Smithee / int_976efc02 | comment |
Referenced in Mystery Science Theater 3000: During the opening credits for Morozko, Mike quips that the names they're seeing are all Russian for "Alan Smithee". Carnival Magic: Upon seeing that Al Adamson was the film's director, one of the riffers quips, "Al Adamson is the name Alan Smithee uses when he doesn't want his name on a film." |
|
| Alan Smithee / int_976efc02 | featureApplicability |
1.0 | |
| Alan Smithee / int_976efc02 | featureConfidence |
1.0 | |
| Mystery Science Theater 3000 | hasFeature |
Alan Smithee / int_976efc02 | |
| Alan Smithee / int_996f00c1 | type |
Alan Smithee | |
| Alan Smithee / int_996f00c1 | comment |
John Alan Schwartz used two pseudonyms for his work on the Faces of Death series, crediting himself as "Conan le Cilaire" for his directing work, and "Alan Black" for his writing credits. This was in partly due to him working as a network television writer at the same time, but also to avoid being targeted by Moral Guardians. | |
| Alan Smithee / int_996f00c1 | featureApplicability |
1.0 | |
| Alan Smithee / int_996f00c1 | featureConfidence |
1.0 | |
| Faces of Death | hasFeature |
Alan Smithee / int_996f00c1 | |
| Alan Smithee / int_9a7088bc | type |
Alan Smithee | |
| Alan Smithee / int_9a7088bc | comment |
Star Trek: The Original Series: Gene L. Coon was credited as Lee Cronin on the third season episodes he wrote, as he was a staff writer on It Takes a Thief (1968) by that point, and didn't want to give away the fact that he was still moonlighting on TOS. D. C. Fontana used the pseudonym Michael Richards on all her third season episodes (except for "The Enterprise Incident"), as a protest against producer Fred Freiberger and script editor Arthur Singer's handling of the show. Attempted, but failed by Harlan Ellison for "The City on the Edge of Forever", as he wanted to be credited under his pseudonym Cordwainer Bird in order to protest the heavy rewrites, especially Gene Roddenberry's deletion of a drug-dealing character and the Karmic Death that he eventually got. However, it was well known that he used that pseudonym to flag up works that he felt were sub-par, and Roddenberry, afraid that people would otherwise go in expecting the episode to suck, was able to tie things up in legal matters until the episode had already aired, by which point it didn't matter (though this had the unfortunate side-effect of also preventing D.C. Fontana — who had mostly written the final script — getting a co-writer credit). |
|
| Alan Smithee / int_9a7088bc | featureApplicability |
1.0 | |
| Alan Smithee / int_9a7088bc | featureConfidence |
1.0 | |
| Star Trek: The Original Series | hasFeature |
Alan Smithee / int_9a7088bc | |
| Alan Smithee / int_9c723656 | type |
Alan Smithee | |
| Alan Smithee / int_9c723656 | comment |
Night After Night After Night: Some last minute re-editing by the distributors was responsible for director Lindsay Shonteff adopting the pseudonym "Lewis J Force", making it the only film he's disowned. | |
| Alan Smithee / int_9c723656 | featureApplicability |
1.0 | |
| Alan Smithee / int_9c723656 | featureConfidence |
1.0 | |
| Night After Night After Night | hasFeature |
Alan Smithee / int_9c723656 | |
| Alan Smithee / int_9db82263 | type |
Alan Smithee | |
| Alan Smithee / int_9db82263 | comment |
Rick Rosenthal didn't want his name on The Birds II: Land's End, which made Alan Smithee the only director with the guts to try to fill the shoes of Alfred Hitchcock. | |
| Alan Smithee / int_9db82263 | featureApplicability |
1.0 | |
| Alan Smithee / int_9db82263 | featureConfidence |
1.0 | |
| The Birds | hasFeature |
Alan Smithee / int_9db82263 | |
| Alan Smithee / int_a0d9dcd7 | type |
Alan Smithee | |
| Alan Smithee / int_a0d9dcd7 | comment |
As noted in the trope description, the Alan Smithee name was officially retired after 1998's An Alan Smithee Film: Burn Hollywood Burn. The movie itself was a parody of "Alan Smithee" as a pseudonym, where the titular movie director who wants his name out of the fictional movie Trio, played by Eric Idle, is actually named Alan Smithee, so he resorts to stealing the only copy of the film and threatening to destroy it. Veteran director Arthur Hiller (of Love Story and more) was unhappy with the film's script and asked to have his name taken off the credits — and sure enough, he got credited as Alan Smithee, which caused the Directors' Guild to discontinue the practice.Hiller spent over a decade without directing anything due to the movie's awful critical reception and box office gross. It was also strike three for screenwriter Joe Eszterhas after Showgirls and Jade in 1995, and was one of many busts that convinced The Walt Disney Company to shut down the Hollywood Pictures label (which released Burn Hollywood Burn). Its greatest legacy is as part of Roger Ebert's Most Hated film list and the winner of five Golden Raspberry Awards, including Worst Picture of 1998. | |
| Alan Smithee / int_a0d9dcd7 | featureApplicability |
1.0 | |
| Alan Smithee / int_a0d9dcd7 | featureConfidence |
1.0 | |
| An Alan Smithee Film: Burn Hollywood Burn | hasFeature |
Alan Smithee / int_a0d9dcd7 | |
| Alan Smithee / int_a183d57f | type |
Alan Smithee | |
| Alan Smithee / int_a183d57f | comment |
Futurama: "In-A-Gadda-Da-Leela" was written by "Carolyn Premish", and "How the West Was 1010001" was written by "Nona di Spargement". Both are pseudonyms for regular writer-producer Ken Keeler. In the 2022 L.A. Comic Con panel, Patric M. Verrone mentioned that How the West Was 1010001 was written by Keeler, with crew member Corey M. Barnes later confirming on Reddit that "Carolyn Premish" was Ken Keeler as well. |
|
| Alan Smithee / int_a183d57f | featureApplicability |
1.0 | |
| Alan Smithee / int_a183d57f | featureConfidence |
1.0 | |
| Futurama | hasFeature |
Alan Smithee / int_a183d57f | |
| Alan Smithee / int_a1a0e518 | type |
Alan Smithee | |
| Alan Smithee / int_a1a0e518 | comment |
The LeapFrog animated movies they produced often made use of these cast lists. For example, all the voice actors on The Letter Factory are credited under pseudonyms. For example, Debi Derryberry was credited as "Dee Dee Green", while Candi Milo was credited as "Mary Jo Rogers". | |
| Alan Smithee / int_a1a0e518 | featureApplicability |
1.0 | |
| Alan Smithee / int_a1a0e518 | featureConfidence |
1.0 | |
| LeapFrog | hasFeature |
Alan Smithee / int_a1a0e518 | |
| Alan Smithee / int_a289a6cd | type |
Alan Smithee | |
| Alan Smithee / int_a289a6cd | comment |
Sunset Overdrive: In-Universe: The Mooil Rig mission called "Alan Smithee's Treasure Ocean", where a film director called "Alan Smithee" starts with talking about directing: | |
| Alan Smithee / int_a289a6cd | featureApplicability |
1.0 | |
| Alan Smithee / int_a289a6cd | featureConfidence |
1.0 | |
| Sunset Overdrive (Video Game) | hasFeature |
Alan Smithee / int_a289a6cd | |
| Alan Smithee / int_a796bde8 | type |
Alan Smithee | |
| Alan Smithee / int_a796bde8 | comment |
Almost everyone in the English voice cast for Metal Gear Solid were initially credited under pseudonyms due to them not knowing if their work had the Screen Actors Guild's blessing. The only voice actors who used their real names were David Hayter, Doug Stone, and Scott Dolphnote the demo and the European manual credit Hayter as Sean Barker. When the cast returned to re-record their lines for the Nintendo GameCube remake, The Twin Snakes, they all used their real names thanks to the project having open SAG support. | |
| Alan Smithee / int_a796bde8 | featureApplicability |
1.0 | |
| Alan Smithee / int_a796bde8 | featureConfidence |
1.0 | |
| Metal Gear Solid (Video Game) | hasFeature |
Alan Smithee / int_a796bde8 | |
| Alan Smithee / int_aea84589 | type |
Alan Smithee | |
| Alan Smithee / int_aea84589 | comment |
The book for You're a Good Man, Charlie Brown was credited to "John Gordon". Gordon didn't actually exist; the original 1967 New York production didn't have a script as such. The cast and crew literally just went through Peanuts books and picked out strips to dramatize for the scenes between songs, but they needed to credit someone for the book, so Gordon was invented. | |
| Alan Smithee / int_aea84589 | featureApplicability |
1.0 | |
| Alan Smithee / int_aea84589 | featureConfidence |
1.0 | |
| You're a Good Man, Charlie Brown (Theatre) | hasFeature |
Alan Smithee / int_aea84589 | |
| Alan Smithee / int_af60702d | type |
Alan Smithee | |
| Alan Smithee / int_af60702d | comment |
Using nicknames or pseudonyms in credits, such as "Ten Ten", "Mammy Preco", or "Yuukichan's Papa" was common in the video game industry (especially in Japanese games, like Capcom's arcades whose credits roll are usually about 90% pseudonyms) up through the beginning of the fourth generation, although the practice itself remained until at least 2005. In this case, the reason for not putting their real names on the product was not out of dissatisfaction with their work, but to prevent rival companies from hiring away their talent. | |
| Alan Smithee / int_af60702d | featureApplicability |
1.0 | |
| Alan Smithee / int_af60702d | featureConfidence |
1.0 | |
| The Legend of Zelda (Video Game) | hasFeature |
Alan Smithee / int_af60702d | |
| Alan Smithee / int_b273393a | type |
Alan Smithee | |
| Alan Smithee / int_b273393a | comment |
Inverted by Takeshi Kimura of Destroy All Monsters fame: after a Creator Breakdown, Kimura wrote all his scripts (Godzilla or otherwise) under his real name Kaoru Mabuchi. They were noticeably less-well-written than his pre-Mabuchi screenplays. | |
| Alan Smithee / int_b273393a | featureApplicability |
1.0 | |
| Alan Smithee / int_b273393a | featureConfidence |
1.0 | |
| Destroy All Monsters | hasFeature |
Alan Smithee / int_b273393a | |
| Alan Smithee / int_b36cc8e7 | type |
Alan Smithee | |
| Alan Smithee / int_b36cc8e7 | comment |
Similarly, after Disney refused to let Miramax release Kids for its sexual content, the Weinsteins created a new company called Shining Excalibur Films to release it. | |
| Alan Smithee / int_b36cc8e7 | featureApplicability |
1.0 | |
| Alan Smithee / int_b36cc8e7 | featureConfidence |
1.0 | |
| Kids | hasFeature |
Alan Smithee / int_b36cc8e7 | |
| Alan Smithee / int_b36d2de2 | type |
Alan Smithee | |
| Alan Smithee / int_b36d2de2 | comment |
Leap!: Rise of the Beast was co-produced by Alan Smithee over eleven years after his retirement. | |
| Alan Smithee / int_b36d2de2 | featureApplicability |
1.0 | |
| Alan Smithee / int_b36d2de2 | featureConfidence |
1.0 | |
| Leap! | hasFeature |
Alan Smithee / int_b36d2de2 | |
| Alan Smithee / int_b3702492 | type |
Alan Smithee | |
| Alan Smithee / int_b3702492 | comment |
David Anspaugh apparently doesn't like his films to be edited for TV. The TV version of Rudy is credited to Smithee, while "Jack Nemo" gets the director credit for the edited version of Hoosiers. | |
| Alan Smithee / int_b3702492 | featureApplicability |
1.0 | |
| Alan Smithee / int_b3702492 | featureConfidence |
1.0 | |
| Rudy | hasFeature |
Alan Smithee / int_b3702492 | |
| Alan Smithee / int_b507f2d1 | type |
Alan Smithee | |
| Alan Smithee / int_b507f2d1 | comment |
Letterer Bill Spicer had his name replaced on the credits of Scooby-Doo #9 (Marvel run) with Mordecai Richler, mainly because he was a fan of his books. | |
| Alan Smithee / int_b507f2d1 | featureApplicability |
1.0 | |
| Alan Smithee / int_b507f2d1 | featureConfidence |
1.0 | |
| ScoobyDoo | hasFeature |
Alan Smithee / int_b507f2d1 | |
| Alan Smithee / int_b9c76a6e | type |
Alan Smithee | |
| Alan Smithee / int_b9c76a6e | comment |
Double Dare (1986): Dana Calderwood, who was the original director from 1986-1988, directed the Double Dare 2000 revial under the pseudonym "Hal Leigh". He based the name on his daughter Hallie. | |
| Alan Smithee / int_b9c76a6e | featureApplicability |
1.0 | |
| Alan Smithee / int_b9c76a6e | featureConfidence |
1.0 | |
| Double Dare (1986) | hasFeature |
Alan Smithee / int_b9c76a6e | |
| Alan Smithee / int_ba666650 | type |
Alan Smithee | |
| Alan Smithee / int_ba666650 | comment |
EVA from Metal Gear Solid 3: Snake Eater and Metal Gear Solid: Peace Walker was voiced by one "Suzetta Miñet", who has no other credits to her name, with co-star Hayter and voice director Kris Zimmerman eventually confirming was a pseudonym (Zimmerman denied it being an issue regarding Konami or legal reasons; it was apparently just a personal decision). The true identity of EVA's actress remains unknown. | |
| Alan Smithee / int_ba666650 | featureApplicability |
1.0 | |
| Alan Smithee / int_ba666650 | featureConfidence |
1.0 | |
| Metal Gear Solid 3: Snake Eater (Video Game) | hasFeature |
Alan Smithee / int_ba666650 | |
| Alan Smithee / int_bb55a676 | type |
Alan Smithee | |
| Alan Smithee / int_bb55a676 | comment |
The final issue of the Threeboot Legion of Super-Heroes, which rapidly tied up all the plot threads before Final Crisis gave us the original Legion again, was apparently written by "Justin Thyme". Mr Thyme has also been an artist for Marvel (penciller on the Excalibur Weird War III graphic novel and colorist on Black Panther Vol 3 #44) and done some work for CrossGen. | |
| Alan Smithee / int_bb55a676 | featureApplicability |
1.0 | |
| Alan Smithee / int_bb55a676 | featureConfidence |
1.0 | |
| Legion of Super-Heroes (Comic Book) | hasFeature |
Alan Smithee / int_bb55a676 | |
| Alan Smithee / int_bc758ea9 | type |
Alan Smithee | |
| Alan Smithee / int_bc758ea9 | comment |
One episode of Tiny Toon Adventures had a couple of cartoons with inferior animation directed by "Allen Smithee." The episode's Credits Gag was: "Number of Retakes: Don't Ask." | |
| Alan Smithee / int_bc758ea9 | featureApplicability |
1.0 | |
| Alan Smithee / int_bc758ea9 | featureConfidence |
1.0 | |
| Tiny Toon Adventures | hasFeature |
Alan Smithee / int_bc758ea9 | |
| Alan Smithee / int_bdf80310 | type |
Alan Smithee | |
| Alan Smithee / int_bdf80310 | comment |
Brenda Starr was partially rewritten by Delia Ephron, who chose to be credited as Jenny Wolkind. Tellingly, it's not mentioned on her website. | |
| Alan Smithee / int_bdf80310 | featureApplicability |
1.0 | |
| Alan Smithee / int_bdf80310 | featureConfidence |
1.0 | |
| Brenda Starr | hasFeature |
Alan Smithee / int_bdf80310 | |
| Alan Smithee / int_c19eee35 | type |
Alan Smithee | |
| Alan Smithee / int_c19eee35 | comment |
The second pilot of The Spirit of Christmas was credited to "Robert T. Pooner" instead of Parker and Stone's real names. After the short went viral, many other animators claimed ownership of the pilot to get jobs before Parker and Stone went public. This name also appeared in the credits of the episodes "Chickenlover" and "Mr. Hankey's Christmas Classics." | |
| Alan Smithee / int_c19eee35 | featureApplicability |
1.0 | |
| Alan Smithee / int_c19eee35 | featureConfidence |
1.0 | |
| The Spirit of Christmas | hasFeature |
Alan Smithee / int_c19eee35 | |
| Alan Smithee / int_c43df4d8 | type |
Alan Smithee | |
| Alan Smithee / int_c43df4d8 | comment |
Doctor Who has had a few examples over the years, usually for cases where serials had to be radically rewritten by the script editor and/or producer. BBC guidelines typically disallowed staff from receiving credits for positions other than the ones they were officially appointed to, and the process for making exceptions was long and arduously bureaucratic. Thus, the affected stories would often be credited to various pseudonyms. "The Dominators" was credited to "Norman Ashby", due to writers Mervyn Haisman and Henry Lincoln falling out with the production office after script editor Derrick Sherwin heavily rewrote their storyline and reduced it from six episodes to five. "The Dæmons" gave the writer's credit to "Guy Leopold", as writers Robert Sloman and Barry Letts were unable to take credit for contractual reasons; Sloman was working for another TV company, while BBC regulations forbade Letts from being credited with any role in addition to his producer's credit. Terrance Dicks, unhappy with Robert Holmes' rewrites of "The Brain of Morbius", asked for it to go out under "some bland pseudonym". So Holmes credited the story to Robin Bland; Dicks was so thoroughly amused by the pseudonym that he made up with Holmes afterwards. A special feature on the DVD for the story "The Invasion of Time" was a documentary about the story's writer. The Elusive David Agnew was credited as being directed by Alan Smithee, but the documentary itself was a mockumentary, since David Agnew was also a pseudonym used by the BBC; "Agnew" is the credited writer of "The Invasion of Time", as another story had been discarded at the last minute, forcing producer Graham Williams and script editor Anthony Read to write it themselves, using the pseudonym to sidestep the behemothic process for getting multiple credits. Agnew was also credited as writing "City of Death", not because it was a bad episode (it's actually considered to be one of the best serials in the show's history), but because it was hastily rewritten from scratch by Graham Williams and script editor Douglas Adams after the original writer, David Fisher, was unable to perform the extensive rewrites required. Once again, the staff didn't have time to go through the lengthy appeals process and used the Agnew pseudonym to get everything over with. "Attack of the Cybermen" was credited to "Paula Moore", which disguises an extremely complicated and disputed story as to who wrote it. Although the specifics have never been nailed down, the most commonly accepted version of events is that it was largely written by script editor Eric Saward, based on a story outline by continuity advisor Ian Levine. "Moore" (an ex-girlfriend of Saward's, whose real name was actually Paula Woolsey) just agreed to act as the story's author (and allowed the usage of some elements from an unrelated outline she'd previously submitted) so as to get around BBC regulations preventing Saward from being credited as script editor on his own work. |
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| Alan Smithee / int_c43df4d8 | featureApplicability |
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| Doctor Who | hasFeature |
Alan Smithee / int_c43df4d8 | |
| Alan Smithee / int_c7f1fdfe | type |
Alan Smithee | |
| Alan Smithee / int_c7f1fdfe | comment |
Attempted by Tony Kaye for American History X, which was allegedly re-edited by Edward Norton so he had more screen time. Kaye, outraged, wanted to be credited as "Humpty Dumpty" instead of "Alan Smithee", which was flatly rejected. This lead to a war of words culminating in a $200-million-plus lawsuit between Kaye and New Line, and probably costing Edward Norton an Oscar. | |
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Alan Smithee / int_c7f1fdfe | |
| Alan Smithee / int_cc1ec7ec | type |
Alan Smithee | |
| Alan Smithee / int_cc1ec7ec | comment |
D. G. Chichester still had five issues left in his Daredevil contract when he found out he was going to be fired. He wrote those issues, #338-342, under the byline Alan Smithee in protest. (A few years later, he returned under his own name to write #380, the last issue before the Marvel Knights relaunch.) | |
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Alan Smithee / int_cc1ec7ec | |
| Alan Smithee / int_d1648cdd | type |
Alan Smithee | |
| Alan Smithee / int_d1648cdd | comment |
Terrahawks often used this trope stylistically to cover up the fact it only had a few writers; while all but four of the series' 39 episodes were written or co-written by Gerry Anderson regular Tony Barwick, the scripts were usually credited to a variety of pseudonyms ending with "-stein", often feline-connected, due to a major character being called Dr. Tiger Ninestein (example: "The Ugliest Monster Of All" was written by P.U. Mastein). The show lampshaded this on several occasions, most blatantly with "Child's Play" being credited to Sue Donymstein. Only three episodes eschewed fake names — "The Midas Touch", by Trevor Lansdowne and Barwick (credited as Barwick for once) and the two-part opener "Expect The Unexpected" by Anderson himself; the only other non-Barwick episodes in the series are "From Here to Infinity" and "The Sporilla", written by Katz Stein and Leo Pardstein respectively (both pseudonyms for Donald James). | |
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Alan Smithee | |
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There are 54 episodes of EastEnders where the credited writer is the fictitious Julia Honour. The name is used whenever a script from an outside writer is deemed to be totally unusable and has to be rewritten from scratch by a member of the show's editorial team. The name is taken from series co-creator Julia Smith, the idea being that they were protecting "Julia's honour" by rewriting the unsalvageable script. | |
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Alan Smithee / int_d240c96f | |
| Alan Smithee / int_d3f85a2 | type |
Alan Smithee | |
| Alan Smithee / int_d3f85a2 | comment |
The music video for "Ooh Aah... Just a Little Bit" by Gina G was directed by someone named "Fruit Salad" (probably Kevin Godley due to Medialab, a company he directed several music videos for, having produced the video). | |
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Alan Smithee / int_d3f85a2 | |
| Alan Smithee / int_d64ae569 | type |
Alan Smithee | |
| Alan Smithee / int_d64ae569 | comment |
Russell Mulcahy was threatened with a lawsuit if he attempted to petition the DGA to remove his credit from the Highlander II: The Quickening. | |
| Alan Smithee / int_d64ae569 | featureApplicability |
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| Highlander II: The Quickening | hasFeature |
Alan Smithee / int_d64ae569 | |
| Alan Smithee / int_d69208d2 | type |
Alan Smithee | |
| Alan Smithee / int_d69208d2 | comment |
Codename: Kids Next Door: The episode "Operation: F.O.O.D.F.I.T.E." is a Musical Episode set to the tunes of Shock Rock band GWAR. Since pretty much all of their discography is definitely not for children, the band is credited as "RAWG" in the episode. | |
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Alan Smithee / int_d69208d2 | |
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Alan Smithee | |
| Alan Smithee / int_dd4bb8f2 | comment |
The theme song composer for several TV series produced by Ziv in the 1950s was, according to BMI's publishing records (he was never credited on-screen), one "Ray Llewellyn". This was actually a pseudonym shared by several composers who worked for hire at Ziv under a buyout contract (Ziv would buy the rights for the compositions and keep the royalties). The actual composers possibly included David Rose (for Highway Patrol and Sea Patrol), Ray Bloch (for Science Fiction Theater), Dominic Frontiere, Victor Young, Warren Barker and others; some later worked for Ziv under their real names. | |
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| Highway Patrol | hasFeature |
Alan Smithee / int_dd4bb8f2 | |
| Alan Smithee / int_de236f1 | type |
Alan Smithee | |
| Alan Smithee / int_de236f1 | comment |
Hellraiser: Bloodline was disowned by director Kevin Yagher after Executive Meddling cut chunks from the film. | |
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| Hellraiser: Bloodline | hasFeature |
Alan Smithee / int_de236f1 | |
| Alan Smithee / int_e21e248 | type |
Alan Smithee | |
| Alan Smithee / int_e21e248 | comment |
Back when TIX made russ music, he collaborated with an anonymous writing collective known as "The Pøssy Project", which got the credit/blame for the songs' controversial lyrics. However, an article claims that TIX is listed as the sole copyright holder for many Pøssy Project songs, which raises the question of whether he himself wrote the lyrics and was using the label as a way to distance himself from them (the other option is that The Pøssy Project simply agreed not to be listed as a copyright holder). | |
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Alan Smithee / int_e21e248 | |
| Alan Smithee / int_e293455a | type |
Alan Smithee | |
| Alan Smithee / int_e293455a | comment |
Austrian film composer Thomas Wanker (Buffy the Vampire Slayer) changed his professional billing on American and British productions to Thomas Wander, for what should be obvious reasons. | |
| Alan Smithee / int_e293455a | featureApplicability |
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| Buffy the Vampire Slayer | hasFeature |
Alan Smithee / int_e293455a | |
| Alan Smithee / int_e6a2610e | type |
Alan Smithee | |
| Alan Smithee / int_e6a2610e | comment |
Archive of Our Own has an orphaning system for authors who wish to no longer associate themselves with works they wrote but don't want to delete them. Authors lose control over a work once they orphan them and all orphaned works are relabeled as being written by "orphan_account". While this can be done with completed stories, most orphan_account stories are Orphaned Series. | |
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Alan Smithee / int_e6a2610e | |
| Alan Smithee / int_ea4f62db | type |
Alan Smithee | |
| Alan Smithee / int_ea4f62db | comment |
Family Guy producer Kara Vallow removed her name from the episode "Excellence in Broadcasting" in protest of the episode's guest appearance from Rush Limbaugh, as a result she went uncredited. | |
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Alan Smithee / int_ea4f62db | |
| Alan Smithee / int_ec28245c | type |
Alan Smithee | |
| Alan Smithee / int_ec28245c | comment |
Clarke is no stranger to this, having reprised his voice of Dragon Ball Z villain Cell in the Budokai and Budokai Tenkaichi series of games under the pseudonym "Dartanian Nickelback". | |
| Alan Smithee / int_ec28245c | featureApplicability |
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| Dragon Ball Z | hasFeature |
Alan Smithee / int_ec28245c | |
| Alan Smithee / int_ee221a4e | type |
Alan Smithee | |
| Alan Smithee / int_ee221a4e | comment |
The Transformers (Marvel) story "DIS-Integrated Circuits!" has the inker credited as "M. Hands". | |
| Alan Smithee / int_ee221a4e | featureApplicability |
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| The Transformers (Marvel) (Comic Book) | hasFeature |
Alan Smithee / int_ee221a4e | |
| Alan Smithee / int_eed321b1 | type |
Alan Smithee | |
| Alan Smithee / int_eed321b1 | comment |
Ars Magica: Alan Smithee is credited as the co-author of the fourth edition Mythic Seas supplement, though the reason why has never been made public. The fan consensus does seem to be that it’s not one of the better books for that edition, though it’s not all that terrible. | |
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Alan Smithee / int_eed321b1 | |
| Alan Smithee / int_f15f622e | type |
Alan Smithee | |
| Alan Smithee / int_f15f622e | comment |
MacGyver (1985): The pilot was directed by Jerrold Freedman but credited to Alan Smithee, and the episode "The Heist" was also credited to Smithee. | |
| Alan Smithee / int_f15f622e | featureApplicability |
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Alan Smithee / int_f15f622e | |
| Alan Smithee / int_f53fe2fa | type |
Alan Smithee | |
| Alan Smithee / int_f53fe2fa | comment |
The Mission: Impossible episode "Live Bait" credits Michael Adams with the story and (with James D. Buchanan and Ronald Austin) teleplay; this was a pen-name for Meyer Dolinsky (who, like Sonya Roberts below, also suffered from meddling on The Outer Limits (1963) with "ZZZZZ", although he kept his name on the episode). "Michael Adams" also has writing credits on series like Dr. Kildare, Daktari and Hawaii Five-O (where he had several credits under his own name—but not "Flash of Color, Flash of Death", which was the last episode he did for the show). | |
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Alan Smithee / int_f53fe2fa | |
| Alan Smithee / int_fae30d91 | type |
Alan Smithee | |
| Alan Smithee / int_fae30d91 | comment |
The Ramrodder was directed by Ed Forsyth under the alias Van Guylder. | |
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Alan Smithee / int_fae30d91 | |
| Alan Smithee / int_ff775db6 | type |
Alan Smithee | |
| Alan Smithee / int_ff775db6 | comment |
An interesting case with Friday the 13th Part VII: The New Blood. As the WGA was currently on strike, a scab writer was brought in after original writer Daryl Haney got the boot. Credited as Manuel Fidello to avoid getting a swift expulsion from the Guild. Their actual identity remains a mystery to this day. | |
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Alan Smithee | |
| Alan Smithee / int_ff9ab17f | comment |
Star Trek: The Next Generation: D.C. Fontana didn't fare much better on TNG than she did in the last season of TOS; she was credited as J. Michael Bingham on "The Naked Now" after Roddenberry rewrote her original, darker and more character-focused draft into a more comedic episode that focused heavily on his Creator's Pet, Wesley Crusher. She would have done the same for "Too Short a Season", which similarly got rewritten beyond recognition by Roddenberry, if not for the fact that she had left the show and simply didn't want to deal with Roddenberry's lawyer. Another former TOS writer, John D.F. Black went under the credit of Ralph Willis for "Justice" for much the same reason as Fontana; his darker and grittier story ended up being rewritten into one with a hamfisted message about how All Crimes Are Equal is inherently injust, with ludicrous levels of fanservice thrown in seemingly for the heck of it. Tracy Torme used the pseudonym Keith Mills for "The Royale", after showrunner Maurice Hurley rewrote his original, more satirical plot into a straightforward gangster pastiche. Later in that season, Torme, wrote another episode, "Manhunt"... which once again got butchered by Hurley in rewrites, resulting in Torme putting another pseudonym (Terry Deveraux) on the episode and storming off the series for good. Hurley himself had previously gone under the pseudonym C.J. Holland for "Hide and Q", after it was heavily rewritten by Roddenberry. In this case, however, Hurley later admitted that he had been too hasty, and that Roddenberry's rewrite had actually improved the episode. In an odd variation, this trope applies to the shooting script of "The Ensigns of Command", but not the aired episode. Writer Melinda Snodgrass wrote the story as depicting Data having to learn that sometimes he would need to resolve a situation through force rather than logic, only for new showrunner Michael Wagner to change the story so that Data is instead prevented from using the forceful solution by Techno Babble radiation. Snodgrass felt that Wagner's rewrite completely destroyed the point of her story and demanded to be credited under the name H.B. Savage, but later relented and allowed her real name to be used after viewing the finished episode, and feeling that her original intent still came through in Brent Spiner's performance (it also helped that Wagner had quit by this point). |
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