Star Trek: 10 Greatest Jeri Taylor Episodes

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.