Season one cast of Star Trek: Voyager. Photo copyright of UPN.
I recently discovered several interviews I did a number of years ago that, for one reason or another, were never published. Rather than have them continue to gather "dust" in my computer, I thought I would share them with you. In this interview - Ken Biller talks about his career and work as a producer, writer and director on the first few seasons of Star Trek: Voyager.
The ultimate success of any film, television series or stage play hinges on whether or not it tells a good story. Does it have a beginning, a middle and an end? Is it interesting and, above all, does it make sense to the audience? All of these factors plus a number of technical concerns are taken under weekly consideration by Star Trek: Voyager producer Ken Biller and the rest of the show’s creative team when putting together an episode. Star Trek fans are a loyal bunch but also choosy when it comes to stories and, according to Biller, this keeps everyone constantly on their toes.
“Our biggest challenge, of course, is trying to come up with fresh ideas,” he explains. “I can’t say that we do that every single week but we certainly try. It’s difficult on any television show but particularly so on one such as Voyager because the audience expects to be surprised with mind-bending science fiction when they tune in every week.
“We have to contend with the fact, however, that there have been literally hundreds of other episodes of all the various incarnations of the Star Trek franchise. Certainly, some fans will always say, ‘Oh, that episode reminds me of when they stole Spock’s brain,’ or something like that. We always really try, however, to do something original or that at least has a new twist to it. So our most daunting task continues to be figuring out what kinds of stories we’re going to tell each week.”
Born in Durham, North Carolina but raised in Providence, Rhode Island, Biller graduated in 1986 from his hometown Brown University with a degree in theater arts. He moved to New York City and started working in the theatre as a producer’s assistant and workshop director. Following that he spent a season as assistant stage manager with the Lyric Opera in Chicago, Illinois.
In 1990 Biller headed out to Los Angeles to break into the film and television industry. He worked as a network executive for CBS and Fox before teaming up with friend and fledgling screenwriter Chris Brancato to try his hand at writing. The two penned the first-season X-Files story Eve and wrote pilots and scripts for several other television programs including Beverly Hills, 90210. They eventually split up to pursue different projects and shortly after that Biller was hired for Voyager.
“My friend Rene Echevarria had worked on Star Trek: The Next Generation and went on to be a writer and producer on Star Trek: Deep Space Nine. I had stopped writing television for a while because I wanted to concentrate on making a short film. At one point Rene had offered me a chance to write an episode of Deep Space Nine but I turned him down. I was busy doing other things and I really didn’t feel as if I had a particular affinity with the show. I wasn’t a Star Trek buff and I hadn’t watched much of The Next Generation, so it wasn’t really my forte.
“A few months later I needed some extra money so I called Rene and asked, ‘Hey, can I still do that episode?’ He said, ‘Actually, they’re starting this new series called Voyager,’ so he gave some of my writing samples to Jeri Taylor who at the time was one of the executive producers and writers [and co-creators]. She read my material and called me up and told me, ‘I’d like you to write an episode for us.’ I said, ‘That’ll be great.’
“I wrote the story Elogium which was supposed to be one of the first-season episodes but it was held back for a while,” explains Biller. “When I got the assignment I began doing research on Star Trek and watched some of the episodes. I discovered, ‘Wow, this is pretty interesting stuff.’ They liked my script and asked me if I wanted to join the staff. I was hesitant at first because I know from experience that once you join the staff of a show it can sort of take over your life. It seemed like a great opportunity, though, so I ended up doing it and four years later I’m still here.”
Voyager follows the adventures of Captain Kathryn Janeway (Kate Mulgrew) and the crew of the U.S.S. Voyager who have spent the last four years trying to get home to the Alpha Quadrant after an alien transports them against their will to the far-flung Delta Quadrant. As one of the writers for this fourth Trek incarnation, Biller was faced with the task of having to help develop stories for all brand new characters. Although he does not have one in particular for whom he especially enjoys writing, Biller does confess to having a soft spot for a few of them.
“Tuvok [Tim Russ] is a lot of fun to write for because he speaks in a very specific sort of way,” he says. “So is The Doctor [Robert Picardo] because he has a great sense of humor and a certain smugness about him that’s a real treat to dig into. I continue to enjoy writing for the character of B’Elanna Torres [Roxann Dawson]; she’s kind of a tortured soul. I can honestly say, though, that I don’t make an effort to write for any one of them more than any other.
“Writing for film or television is always a big challenge,” continues Biller. “On Voyager there has always been a fine line between being silly and hokey and writing something that’s interesting and involving. I would say that Janeway, certainly, is a difficult character to write for because she has to wrestle with all the moral issues and has to find a balance between being a ship’s captain and a woman and also someone who has personal feelings for those on the ship. So I suppose she’s always a challenge, but it really depends on what’s happening in the scene. I’d say that more than finding a particular character enjoyable or challenging I might choose to describe a certain scene as being that way.”
Some of the fifteen episodes Biller has written or collaborated on since joining Voyager include Maneuvers in which Cardassian spy Seska (Martha Hackett) lures her former lover Chakotay (Robert Beltran) on board a Kazon battleship, Tuvix, a tale of crossed identities involving Neelix (Ethan Phillips) and Tuvok, and the disturbing story of a telepathic species caught trafficking in stolen thoughts appropriately entitled Random Thoughts. One of the writer’s favourite episodes, Before and After, has Kes (Jennifer Lien) travelling back to the time before she was born. “I like that one because it’s a pure high-concept science fiction show,” says Biller. “It really was a challenge to try to figure out the plot of that one and how to tell it backwards.
“Unity is another episode I enjoy because it explores a new aspect of the Borg. It was sort of a commentary on the fall of communism and an interesting perspective on it. There is a story I wrote called Lifesigns in which The Doctor falls in love. I like that one because it helps in a number of ways to humanize The Doctor. I also have a certain fondness for my first Voyager episode ever aired, Faces, which examines B’Elanna’s dark side after the character is split in two.”
Biller has gone from writer to executive story editor to his current Voyager role of producer. Although his responsibilities now include such things as participating in production meetings, sitting in on casting sessions and helping decide which optical effects the show can and cannot afford, he is still heavily involved in writing scripts.
“That remains my primary function,” he says. “We meet as a group and discuss outlines for each episode. I receive notes on every script and I do far more rewriting than I used to. There’s a lot of rewriting taking place on television, especially uncredited rewriting. For example, we’re about to start shooting the fifth episode [mid-July 1998] of our fifth season. Of the four shows we’ve already filmed, I wrote one and did rewriting work on the other three.
“We have some new young writers on staff this season. They’ll turn in a first draft, we’ll give them notes so they can try to rework the story and then an experienced writer like myself, Brannon Braga [executive producer] or Joe Menosky [producer] will kind of write after them. In other words, we’ll take their work and try to solve problems in the scenes and make any changes necessary to fit in with the actual production of the episode. So I guess that’s pretty much in a nutshell what I do on a daily basis. That’s the fun thing about television - the writers get to be the bosses,” notes Biller.
When Voyager’s fourth season began, Biller and the rest of the show’s writing team had to deal with the departure of original castmember Jennifer Lien and the arrival of Jeri Ryan as Borg-turned-babe Seven of Nine. “It’s always sad to see somebody go,” says Biller. “I think the character of Kes was really fascinating and provided us with some terrific story material. I wrote the previously mentioned Before and After around her character and Brannon wrote a show called Cold Fire in which Kes explores her mental powers.
“So Kes was interesting in that sense, but I think the show needed a jolt at that point. We knew that we wanted to bring a new character in and, frankly, it was really the studio that was not so keen on continuing with Kes’s character. I think Jennifer is a fine actress and I certainly enjoy the episodes I wrote involving her, but that’s showbiz and that’s what happens. Things change, people leave and the show has to continue.
“I don’t know that we had to get rid of a character to bring in Jeri Ryan, although nine regular characters are a lot to service on any show. If we had added another one it would have taken screentime away from the rest. I definitely think Jeri has been an extraordinary asset to the show and she’s really injected it with some new energy. Seven gets to behave in ways that Starfleet people don’t and say things that Starfleet officers would never say. So I think the audience has developed a real fascination with the character and that’s been, ultimately, a good thing for the show.”
Last season Biller made his debut as a director and served in this capacity on two episodes, Revulsion and One. He had previously directed quite a bit of theatre but this was his first time working behind the camera. “I love it,” he enthuses. “I had, of course, an extremely supportive cast and crew, so that made it much more exciting. I enjoy being on the set and working with the actors. Both shows were very positive experiences. I hope to do a couple more this [fifth] season if I can get some time away from my writing responsibilities.”
Like The Next Generation and Deep Space Nine it took a bit of time for Voyager to win over viewers. It is argued that the program’s first two seasons focused too much on Voyager’s plight of being lost in space and on its crew wanting to go home. The show’s third season concentrated more on character development and telling old-fashioned adventure stories with lots of action. This trend continued into its fourth year and, according to Biller, has been the key to its success.
“There was a big change in the show from the second season to the third. We really did some work during the second year which I feel was pretty frustrating for the audience in a lot of ways. There is this one continuing story line about the Kazon and a spy aboard Voyager that was told in a very confusing manner. It went on for about ten episodes; you’d have a scene or two that had nothing to do with the rest of the plot that was part of this larger sort of spy saga. I think it marred some otherwise really fine stories.
“Take Lifesigns. There’s a scene in the middle of that episode when you come back after a commercial and suddenly you’re in these quarters with this man talking to Seska on a monitor. If you hadn’t seen every episode preceding it, which many people hadn’t, then you were totally lost. I argued strongly against that kind of storytelling, especially for a show like Voyager. When we got to the third year we began playing to our strengths which, I think, are telling stories that stand alone. That doesn’t mean that you can’t refer to another episode but I think viewers basically want to tune in at the beginning of an episode and be able to feel like they understand what’s happening.
“We can do fun romps like Future’s End in which Voyager goes back to Earth in 1998. From there we can do an introspective story like Mortal Coil, one I quite liked but did not write, which is an exploration of Neelix’s religious background and how his faith is shaken. So there’s been a good mix of shows and we try to surprise you every week, which isn’t to say that every episode is a success - far from it. When you do twenty-six episodes in a season you’re going to have your share that aren’t as strong as others, but we’ve had some really good episodes over the past couple of years. I think the first batch of stories we’ve got in production this season is very strong, so hopefully we can continue on this roll.”
Besides his work on Voyager, Biller has written a movie for UPN tentatively called Man of the World which is scheduled to air next spring as part of the network’s Thursday night science fiction film lineup. Biller will act as its executive producer and, if he can find the time, may even direct the project. The writer/director/producer also has a pilot being considered by Fox and he recently signed a developmental deal with Paramount Studios sure to allow him to stretch his imagination to the limit.
“Unlike feature films, which are a director’s medium, television is geared towards writers and that makes them its driving and creative forces. That’s one of the reasons I love working in television. I also enjoy the immediacy of the small screen. Almost everything I write gets produced. Not many writers can say that, so I’m very fortunate in that way.”
After Voyager ended its seven-season run, Biller went on to serve as co-executive producer on Dark Angel, Smallville and North Shore as well as executive producer on E-Ring, Six Degrees and, most recently, the syndicated action/adventure fantasy series Legend of the Seeker.
Steve Eramo
As noted above, photo copyright of UPN, so please no unauthorized copying or duplicating of any kind. Thanks!
