Text 217, 117 rader
Skriven 2004-11-16 07:33:32 av Lance Lyon (3:712/313.1)
Ärende: Interview with Trek writers Judith & Garfield Reeves-Stevens
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This week's Star Trek: Enterprise episode "The Forge" was penned by acclaimed
sci-fi writing duo Judith and Garfield ("Gar") Reeves-Stevens, who joined the
show's writing staff this season. (See related Production Report.) The Canadian
duo's rich and varied background has served them well in their chosen field,
providing them with perfect credentials to write for the show.
The two met while both were working in the field of educational publishing in
their native Canada. Although they started out writing books on conventional
educational subjects such as math and English as a Second Language, they soon
gravitated towards the creative world. Looking at their impressive résumé, it's
clear that they didn't simply halve their work by being in a creative
partnership — they doubled it!

"I was doing some non-fiction writing, and Gar had already embarked on some
horror novels," comments Judith on their early career. "I was the editor for a
series they called 'Energy Literacy' for K thru grade 13 (in Canada they have a
grade 13!) and I lost patience with some of the writers I was working with and
I thought, 'Gee, Gar could do a great job on this,' and brought him in because
both of us had a great interest in science and technology. We really enjoyed
the process of working on it and we went on to develop a series of our own for
kids in grades 1, 2 and 3 to introduce them to science and technology through
activities."

"That took about three years and had us flying across Canada dealing with all
the ministries of education," recalls Gar. "At the end of it, well, we enjoyed
working together and we never wanted to do another textbook series!"

"So we thought, 'What's something else we could write together?'" Judith
recounts. "Gar had written horror fiction, but technically, he hadn't written
science fiction. So we happened to go to New York and we saw 'Star Trek IV.'
When we came out of the movie we thought, 'Gee, I wonder if they do books?'"
The pair then called down to Pocket Books in New York and the first question
the publishers asked was if they were already published and if they had an
agent. They said yes and later followed up by sending some of their story
ideas, one being a Klingon trilogy.

Pocket picked one of their other ideas. "That was 'Memory Prime,'" says Gar.
"And we hadn't met anybody in New York. We just did it by the mail," adds
Judith.

The first novel was written during their transition from Canada to Los Angeles.
"We finally figured out that you could write books in a place where there was
no snow! About that time, Pocket Books said, 'You're only living 20 minutes
from the studio, how would you like to do some behind-the-scenes books on Star
Trek?'" says Judith.

The pair was all over the invitation for more work and their new assignment
brought them within the hallowed studio gates. "The first time we came through
the Melrose Gates at Paramount...," starts Judith. "Was for 'The Making of Deep
Space Nine,'" says Gar finishing her thought.

"We started working on that book towards the end of the first season," Judith
picks up the story once more. "And the nice thing about that was, because it
was a behind-the-scenes book, it introduced us to the whole workings of a
television series in production. And we were able to talk to people since it
wasn't too far back, in terms of the planning; we were able to talk to them
about how the whole series had come into being. That was a wonderful
introduction to the television world in general, but also to Star Trek."

"That was something that Rick Berman really made possible, because, basically,
he opened the door to every department for us and so we were able to be flies
on the wall for virtually the entire production process. And that was
invaluable," says Gar.

As writers, they had a perfect window seat into the world of television
production and writing. "We concentrated on the writers, in that book,"
continues Judith, "because we were really interested to see how the series got
up and running and was developed — its format, its bible — and the way the
characters were handled in the first few scripts. That also led to other
non-fiction books, behind the scenes, for Pocket, and with 'The Art of Star
Trek' we were able then to find out about the other aspects, the physical
production and all of the artifacts that they had around from the original show
onwards that have never really been brought together to showcase them."

The idea of writing strictly in the non-fiction or fiction genre, however,
simply doesn't appeal to the duo. "We love mixing it up," says Gar.

"We love mixing it up," continues Judith, "because they are part of the same
process. It was a lot of fun to be able, though, to see both sides. I think if
you concentrate on one or the other you might not get the whole picture."

The insider's look into the Trek world brings with it a certain amount of
educated speculation. For instance, Judith and Gar wrote "Star Trek Phase II –
The Lost Series" which dealt with the origins, development and ultimate
plug-pulling of what would have been the second TV series. The question being,
would a new show have worked back then? "At the time," offers Gar, "there
definitely would have been a market for it. And, quite possibly, Star Trek
might have sputtered out at that point because it was basically a continuation
of the Original Series and there wasn't a lot that was new to it. It was sort
of like a fourth season, and a fifth season."

Or, as Judith notes: "When you put it between the Original Series and The Next
Generation, you can see it as a continuum."

"It's certainly a transition piece," concludes Gar.

All the Star Trek shows, the authors agree, fit within their cultural timeframe
as well as the Trek-verse, while maintaining their overarching message. "There
are many great things about The Next Generation," says Gar. "But what that did
was, it 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."

"What's fascinating to us," Judith picks up the thread, "is you can see how the
Original Series was of its time. When you looked at the Sixties, it fit its
time and it fit the concerns of people at the time. The Next Generation is very
different, but it matched its time as well and that's just a trend to have that
continued. Each series, you can see it having themes and issues that are of
interest to the current audience. But they still all fit within Star Trek."

"And that's why we think Star Trek is a storytelling medium that is going to be
with us a long, long time. It's almost like each generation gets to find an
element of Star Trek that they can tell stories in."

"And it's unique!" chimes Judith.

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 * Origin: Timeline BBS (3:712/313.1)