Jeri Taylor, Co-Creator of Star Trek: Voyager, Dies at 86

Star Trek has had a fig of salient creative voices implicit its 58-year tally and crossed its assorted TV shows. Earlier this week, 1 of those voices—Jeri Taylor, an enforcement shaper for Star Trek: The Next Generation and a co-creator of its eventual successor Star Trek: Voyager—passed distant astatine 86 years old.

Born June 30, 1938, Taylor got her commencement successful TV penning scripts for Little House connected the Prairie and The Incredible Hulk, and would aboriginal nutrient and nonstop episodes of Quincy, M.E. and Jake and the Fatman. Lee Sheldon, who she’d worked with connected the former, recommended her to the Next Generation producers, and she joined the amusement arsenic a supervising shaper connected play four. During her clip connected the show, she was promoted to enforcement producer, became showrunner for the last play and penned respective episodes, including Wesley Crusher’s (Wil Wheaton) last quality arsenic a bid regular, and “The Wounded,” the archetypal Star Trek episode to diagnostic the Cardassians, who would go a large faction successful ’90s Star Trek in Deep Space Nine.

Taylor aboriginal worked with her fellow Next Generation co-EPs Rick Berman and Michael Piller to develop Star Trek: Voyager, and helped bring Next Generation production unit implicit to the caller show. In summation to being an enforcement shaper for the archetypal 4 seasons, she became showrunner for seasons 3 and 4 earlier retiring, though inactive acted arsenic a advisor for her successor Brannon Braga. But earlier that point, she besides wrote a trio of Trek novels: a novelization of her Next Generation episode “Unification,” the 1996 Voyager prequel Mosaic, and 1998’s Pathways, and the events of both have been referenced successful Nickelodeon’s Star Trek: Prodigy.

Several Star Trek have eulogized Taylor connected societal media. Braga called her “a large writer and showrunner and to me, a cherished mentor. I would not person a vocation without Jeri’s intricate guidance. Her representation volition unrecorded connected successful galore ways, but possibly astir of each successful the quality of Captain Janeway, who reflected the champion dimensions of Jeri herself.” Prodigy EP/co-head writer Aaron J. Waltke attributed his vocation to the scripts she’d donated to Indiana University Lilly Library, saying “I learned to constitute studying her. I wouldn’t beryllium present without her. Thank you, Jeri. For everything.”

David Zappone, a movie shaper down several Star Trek documentaries, said Taylor volition beryllium a “major part” of an upcoming documentary focused connected Voyager, and that her accomplishments and contributions to the franchise”will ne'er beryllium forgotten.”

[via TrekCore]

Want much io9 news? Check retired erstwhile to expect the latest Marvel, Star Wars, and Star Trek releases, what’s adjacent for the DC Universe connected movie and TV, and everything you request to cognize astir the aboriginal of Doctor Who.