With all this talk about Star Trek lately, I think it's really important to remember the people behind the scenes that helped to make this franchise what it is today. We all know Gene Roddenberry, who came up with the idea and was the main force which gave us the "wagon train to the stars" that was Star Trek, but who else shaped these series? Here are ten notable names
D.C. Fontana
It might be fair to say that we wouldn't have Star Trek today without this wonderful woman. She wrote some of the series best episodes including "Charlie X", "This Side of Paradise" "Journey to Babel", and "Tomorrow is Yesterday" while also doing re-writes on other stories. She also did a remarkable job fleshing out the characters, especially Spock. She tried to work for TNG when it started but her writing style just didn't mesh with the new show and, well, there's a long story there.
Rick Berman
We all have to know this name, don't we? Berman started up as an executive producer behind Roddenberry on TNG and rose up to the main creator/executive producer after Roddenberry passed away. It was Berman who changed the tone from the goofy 1st and 2dn season to the much ore serious 3rd season, and gave us the TNG that fans loved. He stayed with the show through all the spin off's, right till the end of Enterprise (and we wont discuss the awful final episode he gave us).
Michael Piller
I was a huge fan of this guy who sadly passed away way to soon. I gave Berman credit for giving us the awesome 3rd season of TNG, but Piller deserves just as much if not more credit.He brought some stability to the writing staff and not only did episodes such "Yesterday's Enterprise" come about because of him, but he is directly involved with "The Best of Both Worlds" and "Unification". Piller helped create DS9 and Voyager, and wrote "Insurrection" which wasn't good but hey you can't win them all.
Jeri Taylor
Taylor came into TNG kind of late but quickly rose through the ranks writing some strong episodes, including the one's that gave us The Cardassians. She also developed with Berman and Piller the series Star Trek Voyager and was head writer for four years.
Brannon Braga/Ronald D.Moore
Braga was known for the more offbeat stories on TNG like "Frame of Mind" or "Parallels". Moore was largely responsible for developing the Klingon culture on TNG and DS9 and wrote 27 TNG episodes. Braga teamed up with Moore to create the series finale, "All Good Things.." not to mention the first two TNG movies and in fact the two had many other collaborations. They both went to DS9 and did a lot of work on there before going to Voyager, but Moore did not last on Voyager (long story). Braga worked on Voyager as a show runner and was instrumental in creating the fifth series, Enterprise. He had a hand in creating DS9 and Voyager, so what could possibly go wrong?
Gene Coon
Why does everyone forget the other Gene that worked on TOS? He did a lot to establish Star Trek's identity with the creation of The Klingons and the Organians, not to mention Khan. He worked on a lot of scripts and revised many, including helping David Gerrold with "The Trouble with Tribbles". It is said he created much of the character development in the show, including the Spock/McCoy arguments. He wasn't perfect, since he also wrote "Spock's Brain" under a pseudonym.
Ira Steven Behr
I put him on here because I respect what he did, but he was not a favorite of mine. His whole philosophy about how Trek needed to be darker never worked for me. But it did work on DS9 where he revamped the show and turned into the hit it would become. He wrote more episodes than any other, 53, and was largely responsible for the Dominion War story arc.
Harve Bennett
After the awfulness of the first Star Trek movie, something needed to be done. So the solution was in the form of Harve Bennett (and Nicholas Meyer). Bennett wanted the second movie to be better, but being unfamiliar with Trek he watched all 79 episodes. Of course "Space Seed" and it's open ending intrigued him, and he produced Star Trek II:The Wrath of Khan. He would then serve as executive producer for the next three movies (plus a cameo in "Final Frontier"). I talked before about the rejected idea he has for the sixth movie, which ended his affiliation with Star Trek.But it would be fair to say those movies may never have happened without him.
JJ Abrams
Yeah I figured I had to have this name on here. And he deserves to be, I can't lie. He rebooted the franchise in 2009 and while I have issues with that movie it may be sage to say Star Trek still lives because of him. The three movies he made were decent (he didn't direct or write the latest one) with pros and cons. But I do give him credit for at least trying to respect the past while creating something different.
Leonard Nimoy
Wait, what? I thought I was talking about the creators! Well what a lot of people forget is that Nimoy was largely involved with the movies. After Spock was killed in TWOK, he came back to direct Star Trek III. That went so well that he would also direct Star Trek IV. He also helped shape the stories for both III and IV. And he had a direct hand in the story idea for Star Trek VI, it was his idea to make it the commentary on the Soviet Union crumbling. The coup de grace was bringing back Nicholas Meyer to direct the film.
That's not even all! Course you can look up info on them, and the ten I listed who had fine careers elsewhere but I am just focusing on their Trek work. This was just a little reminder that not all that happened in Trek is behind the scenes. I also neglected to mention Alexander Courage who wrote the classic theme, Jerry Goldsmith who wrote the revised theme's from everything after the TOS, Matt Jeffries who designed the Enterprise (hence the term Jeffries Tube), and Michael Westmore who created those amazing make-up effects on all the shows from TNG-Enterprise!
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