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Remembering Jeri Taylor

By Larry Nemecek

Our Crew and events for Star Trek: The Cruise VIII this month draw from all across the Star Trek universe.  But we are especially looking forward to marking one milestone in particular: the 30th anniversary of the premiere of Star Trek: Voyager.

Most of the cast will be joining us aboard for that celebration, but we should also remember they did not create Voyager alone. Dozens of behind-the-scenes creatives are equally part of making the series so memorable. And with the impact that Voyager’s Captain Kathryn Janeway has had on a generation of girls and young women seeing themselves in the future, let’s recall Janeway’s real-life creator, executive producer Jeri Taylor, who just passed on November 24, 2024 at age 86.

Jeri came to Star Trek for The Next Generation’s fourth season on a trial basis, knowing nothing about the franchise but hailed as a “triple threat” in television as a writer, director, and producer on series such as Quincy and Jake and the Fatman. Amazing, she got there only after having jumped into the industry as a newly divorced L.A. mother of 3 at age 37!

When Voyager co-creators Rick Berman and Michael Piller had decided the franchise’s next series would be led by a female captain at the helm, they asked Jeri to join them. So much of Jeri is part of Janeway’s DNA—her Hoosier roots, her degree from Indiana University, even her love of tennis and Gothic novels.

But even beyond her impact on Janeway and the series’ strong women like B’Elanna, Kes, and then Seven of Nine, Jeri was an excellent mentor and boss. From “the boys” of The Next Generation she mentored, to the next-gen “boys” of Voyager (along with a rare 90s Star Trek female writer, Lisa Klink), Jeri’s influence on the Delta Quadrant stories fans love extended far beyond the start-up phase of the show.

Jeri insisted on a quiet, humble retirement after 1999 until, thankfully, she was coaxed and prodded onto a few convention stages live, and before cameras again for the upcoming documentary To The Journey! and others. It’s only right that all those little girls who grew up so affected by Captain Janeway should meet her maker, after all— and it’s only right that we remember Jeri as we celebrate the series and its impact that bears so much of her own DNA.

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