Longview News-Journal from Longview, Texas • Page 58

(ItlllillllltMllt?) i 'IMIiK I i I I I I i huh 'I i 3 'WPMfiJlMpnnjfi)1 Jeri Taylor guides 'Next Generation' UTi- 1 il When Jeri Taylor, executive producer of The Next Generation," joined the show's writing staff in Inside Trek reunions. Along the way Taylor has written or co-written some of "Next W) 1990, she knew nothing about "Star Trek." Taylor had been a writer and producer for programs such as "Quin-cy, M.E.," "Magnum, P.I." and "In the Heat of the GenV finest hours, including "Final Mission," "The Drumhead," "The Outcast," "Unification and "Times Arrow II." Expanding into other Trek Ian Spelling lis a rare snow 111 mai 1 ieel a difference is being made," she says. "When you write something for 'Next it's going to be seen by millions of people and it can affect their lives in a profound way. The moral structure of our show, what it espouses, is good and positive. We have a wonderful staff of people I work with and like.

"All of these very positive things definitely make it worthwhile." Trek preview Deep Space In "Car-dassians," a repeat, Rugal (Vidal Peterson), a young Cardassian boy raised by Bajorans after being orphaned in the war, becomes the center of a custody dispute. When several Cardassians demand the boy's return, Sisko (Avery Brooks) must mediate the situation. "Next Patrick Stewart directed "Phantasms," which looks at how Data's (Brent Spiner) first bad dream affects his fellow crew members. Highlights of this repeat include Worf (Michael Dorn) eating a cake in the form of Deanna (Marina Sirtis) and a psychoanalytical session between Data and Sigmund Freud (Bernard Kates). Con calendar Feb.

4-6 Vulkon at the Holiday Inn DFW Airport in Irvine, Texas, featuring Nana Visitor. (Call 305-434-6060.) Creation at the Hyatt Regency in Vancouver, Canada, featuring Michael. Dorn. (Feb. 5-6 only; 818-409-0960) Creation at Jackie Gaughan's Plaza in Las Vegas, featuring Armin Shimerman and Rick Stern-bach.

(Feb. 5-6 only; 818-409-0960) Trek alert -If you have Trek news or trivia to share or if you have questions relating to "Star Trek" write to Ian Spelling, care of The New York Times Syndicate, 130 Fifth New York, N.Y. 10011. Be sure to enclose a self-addressed, stamped envelope if you would like a reply. Night," but she had never seen an episode of "Next Gen" or even "Trek'-classic.

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." "I had to take a crash course in 'Star Trek' history," Taylor says, sitting at the desk in her roomy office on the Paramount Pictures lot in Hollywood. 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 I was able to bring some kind of fresh perspective to it." The producers apparently liked what they saw. After completing "Suddenly Human," Taylor was invited to beam aboard as a staff writer and was later promoted to producer.

Over the years Taylor, who hails from Indiana, 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 projects, Taylor Taylor wrote the Pocket Books noveliza-tion 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. 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. "Beyond that, I don't have much of a life." Is all that work worth the effort? "Absolutely," says Taylor, who will move onto creating and producing the new series "Star Trek: Voyager" after "Next Gen" jumps to the big screen later this year.

"It's immensely gratifying to be involved in helping to create another part of the 'Star Trek' legend," she says of "Voyager." Though she has decided not to participate in the "Next Gen" feature film, Taylor is proud of her work on the award-winning series. CO 5 SS cj) .2 SS CO to To mi (3 5 -J 3 KTBS 3 3 "3 3 3 1 3 3 4 KDFW 4 4 3 5KXAS 24 23 10 6 KTAL 6 6 6 10 6 6 6 6 6 23 7KLTV 7 8 7 9 7 7 7 7 7 11 KTVT 22 11 11 11 A-1 11 10 11 39 12KSLA 12 12 12 5 12 10 12 12 10 24 13KERA 13 13 13 13 13 12 24KLTS 24 14 13 13 13 13 13 33KMSS 11 9 11 8 10 39 KXTS 2 4 51 KFXK 8 10 20 12 8 7 22 22 4 8 56KETK 9 6 6 6 9 9 9 8 9 6 AMC 33 31 26 14 Acts 30 37 35 BET 28 36 17 31 17 33 CNN 17 26 4 4 7 22 2 2 15 12 Headline 38 33 28 Cinemax 14 27 14 24 24 24 19 City Govt. 5 21 CMTV 37 34 26 24 35 3 C-SPAN 18 19 27 27 25 C-SPANII Discovery 29 29 35 23 30 30 8 8 27 Disney 16 16 28 15 16 23 23 23 15 EternalWrd 40 ESPN 18 18 25 21 21 21 21 14 10 Family 20 17 2 18 34 20 20 11 CNBC 27 24 38 19 36 HBO 2 14 23 A2 2 26 26 26 20 HomeShop 28 32 15 17 HSE 31 19 28 29 32 18 Inspir 38 Lifetime 35 28 33 22 36 36 IT" 15 2l" ItT Local wea 33 12 MTV 21 31 29 18 18 IT Nashville 41 35 16 31 28 11 11 16 Nick 21 20 24 22 17 17 17 17 2 Payview 33 Public Acc. 10 QualityVal. 30 29 Showtime 2 25 21 JT "22" SIN 21 TMC 1L TNT 15 30 20 15 31 28 14 Trinity 39 Univision 42 USA 32 15 30 18 34 18 16 t6 16 31 43 23 39 37 Weather Ch.

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