Reeves-Stevenses Talk Trek Writing

New Star Trek: Enterprise writers Judith and Garfield Reeves-Stevens got their start in educational publishing bt gravitated from books to teach kids to the world of Star Trek as they pursued more creative endeavors, ending up teaming to write for Pocket Books.

In a recent interview, the first half of which is posted at StarTrek.com, the pair said that after co-developing a series for elementary school children to introduce them to science and technology, they discovered that they enjoyed working together but "never wanted to do another textbook series!"

The pair was visiting New York from Canada, where they saw Star Trek IV: The Voyage Home and thought that they might be able to write Star trek novels. Garfield Reeves-Stevens had published horror novels, so the publisher was receptive to their story ideas, and picked Memory Prime for their first project. The pair had relocated to Los Angeles by the time it was finished, and Pocket Books asked if they would be interested in working on behind-the-scenes books on the franchise. They went to work on The Making of 'Deep Space Nine'.

"Because it was a behind-the-scenes book, it introduced us to the whole workings of a television series in production," explained Judith Reeves-Stevens. "That was a wonderful introduction to the television world in general, but also to Star Trek." The Reeves-Stevenses credit executive producer Rick Berman with giving them access to the production at all levels. The pair were particularly interested in how the scripts were developed and written.

Both writers believe that Star Trek will remain popular for many more generations. The Next Generation, said Garfield Reeves-Stevens, "showed that the metaphor of Star Trek, the context of Star Trek, is what made the series compelling. You could build another completely new series within that context." Judith Reeves-Stevens added that the original series is evidently a product of the 1960s, depicting the concerns of people from that era, while each subsequent series has addressed themes of importance to the audience of its time.

The first half of StarTrek.com's interview with the Reeves-Stevenses, who wrote this Friday's Enterprise episode, "The Forge", is here; part two, in which the pair presumably will discuss Enterprise, will be posted later in the week.

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