Posted:
12:32:34 on March 16 2002
By: Steve Krutzler
Dept: General Genre/SciFi
Michael Piller announced via the official web site for his new series THE DEAD ZONE, TheDeadZone.net, that former TNG and VOY scribe Joe Menosky has joined the series as executive consultant. Menosky worked on TREK for many years and Piller cites TNG's "Darmok" as one of his trademark episodes.
In a new interview with TrekBrasilis, Piller also confirms that VOY/DS9 writer Michael Taylor has provided at least one script for THE DEAD ZONE, saying, "[he] has a terrific
episode in development for us about Johnny on a jury."
Piller talks about the addition of Menosky to the staff, "Joe Menosky, one of the great Trek writers ("Darmok"
comes to mind) has joined us in a consulting capacity
and his first episode is one of the best pieces of
work he's ever done. It's about Johnny falling in
love with a girl he only sees in a vision from a long
ago time and place. Wow, it's something. I hear my
friends at Enterprise are jealous that I got Joe to
sign on!"
When asked how he plans to please fans of THE DEAD ZONE, which is based on a Stephen King novel (and later, film), Piller says he'll approach the challenge similarly to the way he tackled TNG: "I've tried to put
myself in their shoes the same way I put myself in
their shoes when I was working for Trek and knew that
Gene Roddenberry's fans were so demanding."
But this newest series, which stars Anthony Michael Hall and DS9 actress Nicole de Boer, is based on a story that may not lend itself easily to episodic television.
"Actually, in his book, Mr. King provides a terrific
road to follow and we've tried to treat the source
material with reverance that his fans would
appreciate. So, we had a great advantage having the
book as a study guide, if you will. The first idea
pitched to me was to take the series from the end of
the movie (without Johnny dying of course but instead
on the run) after the assasination attempt on
Stillson. But Shawn and I didn't want John Hinkley as
our hero and it was too derivative of all the Fugitive
genre shows anyway. I wanted to do something unique
for television. And I think the secret was to stay
true to King's original intentions for Johnny Smith," Piller explains.
In addition to Menosky and Taylor, Piller continues his efforts to provide launching grounds for new writers in the industry, hiring David Benz in his first staff writing position. Piller told TrekBrasilis that he has given specific marching orders to potential writers.
"We've been taking pitches for a month now and the
range of stories makes it very clear that we can go
forever with this premise. I've told writers coming
in to pitch to "literally think outside the box
because I don't want to do traditional television" and
I've been rewarded with some classic episode ideas," he says.
For more of the interview, check out TrekBrasilis and for more on THE DEAD ZONE, check out TheDeadZone.net.
