When an original work passes hands to a new entity, it goes from the soul of it's creator to a bean counter. The people running Paramount aren't the Killer B's, they're accountants, MBA's with no clue how to create artistic works themselves. They went to college.
A guy like Roddenberry has clout, lots of it. He's created something that makes the accountants a shitload of money. When he says "we should blow more money on this and less on that" the accountants will often shut the fuck up and let it pass. When B&B make that sort of statement, the accountants go nuts. You want to do what? Marketing says you're insane! This chick wont draw guys like flies looking like a robot, she needs to be hotter to be worth this kind of investment! Hence 7 of 9 in a catsuit. /wrists...
Most artists are morons, give them a free hand and they do all kinds of stupid shit in pursuit of their perfect vision. Unfortunately, most bean counters are morons too, give them a free hand and they do all kinds of stupid shit in pursuit of the perfect product. They work best when competing against each other.
The recent works of George Fucking Lucas would be the other end of the spectrum, an artist with no bean counters telling him no...
and the star wars prequels were made by the same entity as the first three...
Screw the prequels, just the batshit insane edits to the originals for his remastering jobs are enough to give the guy the chair. 
