Rick Berman TNG Star Trek Is Really Michael Piller Star Trek
The Next Generation Era of Star Trek Is Commonly Called Rick Berman Trek, But Producer & Showrunner Michael Piller Was Far More Creatively Important
In 1987, Star Trek fans jumped into warp drive as they were overjoyed when Star Trek: The Next Generation hit the broadcast airwaves with none other than original series creator, Gene Roddenberry, manning the spin-off helm by guiding the sequel television series to go boldly into the uncharted and unknown.
Lasting seven years in syndication, the sequel to Captain Kirk’s Starship Enterprise energized even the most discriminating fans as they thrilled to the cosmic adventures of Captain Jean-Luc Picard’s luxury liner, the Galaxy Class USS Enterprise 1701-D.
After Roddenberry, aka The Great Bird Of The Galaxy, stepped down from his active producing duties on Star Trek: The Next Generation, others, including Rick Berman, took on the sizable task of shaping the sci-fi sequel's future. While it's true Berman became Executive Producer, and contributed to Trek’s narrative tapestry, the real driving, creative force and brilliant storytelling talent behind TNG remained its showrunner, Michael Piller.
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While I agree, my read of the situation in Paramount is that Piller required Berman to run cover for him with the higher ups. As is so often the case, creative power requires management defenders, otherwise it is swiftly excised. It has been fun digging even deeper into the production issues than ever before for WAMTNG - the TNG writing room seems to have been something very special.
All the best!
Chris.