When Jeri Taylor, executive producer of “The Next Generation,” joined the show’s writing staff in 1990, she knew nothing about “Star Trek.”
Taylor had been a writer and producer for programs such as “Quincy, M.E.,” “Magnum, P.I.” and “In the Heat of the Night.”
She came to executive producers Gene Roddenberry, Rick Berman and Michael Piller through a recommendation from short-time “Next Gen” producer Lee Sheldon, who admired her writing skills.
Her first assignment was to co-write the script for the fourth-season episode “Suddenly Human.”
The neophyte Trekker buried herself in videos of every “Trek”-classic episode and film, as well as all “Next Gen” episodes to date.
“It wasn’t easy,” she says, “but maybe, not having any preconceptions whatsoever about `Star Trek,’ I was able to bring some kind of fresh perspective to it.”
After completing “Suddenly Human,” Taylor was invited aboard as a staff writer and was later promoted to producer.
Over the years the Indiana native has brought a feminine touch to “Next Gen,” helping to focus more attention on Beverly (Gates McFadden) and Deanna (Marina Sirtis).
She has also created romances for all the regular characters and explored such family issues as death, father-son relationships and reunions.
Expanding into other Trek projects, Taylor wrote the Pocket Books novelization of the Spock-oriented “Unification” episodes and penned the story for “The Homecoming,” the first episode of the three-part arc that inaugurated “Deep Space Nine’s” second season.
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A typical day for the writer-producer begins at 6:30 a.m. and includes non-stop executive meetings, story-pitching sessions, story-breaking meetings and occasional visits to the set.
She usually eats lunch at her desk and, on a good day, heads back to the Los Angeles home she shares with her husband and their five children by 6:30 p.m.
“I usually take scripts home to read at night,” she says. “Then I write over the weekend. There’s really never room for a breath. Any spare time goes to my husband and my kids.
Trek trivia
Trek trivia has been shortened due to our contest. This one’s for fun, so look for answers at the end of the quiz.
1. What is Keiko O’Brien’s (Rosalind Chao) maiden name?
2. In the “Next Gen” episode “The Big Goodbye,” what office number does the intrepid Dixon Hill (Patrick Stewart) occupy?
3. What did Spock (Leonard Nimoy) do for the first time in the dramatic “Trek”-classic episode “The Devil in the Dark”?
4. Can you recall what happened on Oct. 12, 1974?
5. “It has been said that social occasions are only warfare concealed.” Who made that rather militaristic comment?
Answers
1. Ishikawa. For a while, the character went by the name Keiko Ishikawa O’Brien, but now she is known as Keiko O’Brien.
2. Room 312. (Thanks to Steve Rubin of Chicago for this question.)
3. In communicating with the Horta creature, Spock used the Vulcan mind-meld for the very first time.
4. “The Counter Clock Incident,” the final animated “Star Trek” episode, aired on that day.
5. Khan Noonian Singh (Ricardo Montalban).
Trek TV preview
The following capsule previews are subject to last-minute changes.
“Next Generation” (WPWR-Ch. 50, 6 p.m. Saturday: repeats 10:30 p.m. Sunday the following week): Jonathan Frakes directed this spooky episode called “Sub Rosa.” In it, Beverly (Gates McFadden) arrives on Caldos Four to attend her grandmother’s funeral. While there, she falls for a ghostly dream lover (Duncan Regehr) who has hauntingly romanced the women in her family for 800 years.
“Deep Space Nine” (WGN-Ch. 9, 6 p.m. Sunday; repeats 11:30 p.m. the following Sunday): In “Whispers,” O’Brien (Colm Meaney) returns from an assignment in the Paradas system and finds that everyone, including his wife (Rosalind Chao), has turned against him. Or have they?
NEXT WEEK: Cirroc Lofton