Exciting news for Star Trek fans: the upcoming Voyager documentary will feature new interviews with executive producer Jeri Taylor.
If you don’t know Taylor’s name, you certainly know her work. She joined The Next Generation as a supervising producer in season 4, eventually moving up to executive producer on season 7. From there, she became co-executive producer of the fourth series in the Star Trek franchise, Voyager. Taylor is responsible for creating Trek’s first female captain, Janeway (played by Kate Mulgrew).
“If it weren’t for Jeri’s voice in the creating of Voyager, it wouldn’t be the show it is today. She brought that female captain in and created her to be what everybody loves about Janeway. Of course Kate [Mulgrew] brought her acting skills, but Jeri really was the driving force behind that character,” said documentary producer Lolita Fatjo.
Though deeply involved in the franchise and fandom during her involvement with TNG and Voyager, when Taylor retired in 1998, she largely stopped making appearances at conventions and giving interviews. But during the recent WonderCon panel for the Voyager documentary To The Journey, the creative team revealed Taylor agreed to participate in interviews for the film.
“She’s had this “I’m retired now, you don’t need anything more from me” [approach] for so long, it’s great you’re going to get her on camera,” moderator Larry Nemecek said of the news.
“She’s a wonderful human being and I’m so happy I got to know her, not only in a work situation but on a personal level,” added Fatjo.
455 Films is currently crowdfunding the Voyager documentary to great success. The IndieGoGo campaign recently surpassed $1 million in funding from over 9,000 backers.
To learn more about To The Journey, visit the IndieGoGo campaign page. You can also hear more directly from the creative team in the full WonderCon panel below.