Star Trek: 10 Greatest Jeri Taylor Episodes
Jeri Taylor gifted Star Trek with some of the most important episodes and stories of them all
The news that Jeri Taylor had passed away spread like a ripple of sadness through the fans of the franchise. Though Taylor had stepped away from active involvement with Star Trek some years ago, her impact has crafted some of Trek's greatest stories, characters, and indeed series. She was a co-creator of Star Trek: Voyager, helping to bring Captain Janeway into existence.
That Taylor has a lasting impact on Star Trek may seem a simple thing to say, but one needs only look to the tributes coming from those she inspired with her writing too. Aaron Waltke tweeted a memory of how she inspired him, as a young writer, by donating her annotated scripts to Indiana University. In this action, she was then not just a co-creator of Voyager, but helped inspire the team that created Star Trek: Prodigy.
She was an incredible writer, with many of Trek's strongest stories owing her a debt. In this list we will discuss episodes that were either written by Taylor outright, or in which she had a hand - teleplay by, story by, or co-written by. There are too many for one list - Unification, Suddenly Human, Investigations, Nothing Human - these are all also fantastic episodes that helped improve the franchise as a whole.
Taylor leaves behind an amazing legacy in Star Trek. Here are ten of her best episodes for consideration.
10. The Drumhead
Working from a story by Ronald D. Moore, Jeri Taylor wrote the script for The Next Generation's The Drumhead. We know the episode by now - an admiral obsessed with rooting out the threats to the Federation sets her sights on Jean-Luc Picard, reminding us that nothing is safe when all things are shrouded in good intentions.
Taylor was inspired by Senator McCarthy's House UnAmerican trials, wherein many people were rounded up and put on trial for supposed links to communism. In the future of the 24th Century, Taylor wanted to show that the will to protect all we hold dear can slip into the removal of liberties and freedoms - all in the name of being a saviour.
Jean Simmons plays Admiral Satie, the singular-minded zealot who is exposed for what she is. Taylor described the episode as 'darker than what had come before,' which at the time was more unusual than not. The Drumhead is an obvious inspiration for ideas like Section 31 - displaying the will for a police who will work to save the Federation no matter the cost. Here, Taylor created someone who would easily have given Section 31 the greenlight - years before the organisation was introduced in Inquisition.