A Writing Enterprise

Judith and Garfield Reeves-Stevens came to Hollywood to write. While in town, they managed to tear down some common entertainment industry assumptions.

Common wisdom says husbands and wives shouldn't work together. But, they are a very successful and inseparable writing team. Industry tradition holds that you have to be 20 years old and fresh out of college to write for television. However, there's no way anyone fresh out of college could have piled up the credits this pair did before arriving in network TV. Finally, Hollywood insists that the nice guys finish last – while the Reeves-Stevenses get work as much for their professional pleasant temperament as their considerable talent.

As co-producers on Enterprise, the last production in Paramount Star Trek television franchise, they were part of a team charged with recharging a series that struggled in its third season. They helped to improve the show by leaps and bounds, though the ratings damage was already too late.

At first impressions, the Reeves-Stevenses seem an unlikely choice for such an important TV task as forging the plot-lines of Star Trek. They seem far too nice to have found so much success in Hollywood. They're the kind of polite, soft-spoken Canadians you'd expect to find running a bed and breakfast in Niagara – not writing screenplays, TV scripts, novels and non-fiction books.

"As writers, we didn't make changes to the show," Garfield said. "Executive producers Rick Berman and Brannon Braga and show-runner Manny Coto planned the overall direction of the series and made any changes to the mythos."

"Our job was to provide good stories that stick to Star Trek continuity. It's to our benefit that we know that continuity after writing Star Trek books for 10 years. In TV, we're telling a more compact story with clearer rules. For television, we were writing a Star Trek tale in a more linear mode, but the themes remain the same – the ideas of exploration and an optimistic future."

He added, "Those themes played a big role with Enterprise because this world is still new."

Both writers said there was no over-riding plan or need to recreate Enterprise after its first three years.

"The entire team felt that it was more a matter of taking what had been established in seasons 1, 2 and 3 and making sense out of that rather than recreating the show into season 4," Garfield said. "In Next Generation, halfway through the series, they made a deliberate decision to invoke the name of Spock – finally naming a character from the original series. They wanted to establish that show as distinct before introducing other past elements."

"The same decision was made for Enterprise. If the first season had been so devoted to prequels and tie-ins, it never would have got on its feet for the same story."

Before being recruited onto the Paramount lot, the Reeves-Stevens wrote several Trek novels, including several with William Shatner featuring the continued adventures of James T. Kirk. On, their own, they're a pair of New York Times and Los Angeles Times bestselling novelists with dual fascinations with NASA and science fiction. Their books are published in the United States, Canada, and England, and in translation in Czechoslovakia, France, Germany, Holland, Israel, Italy, Japan, Poland, Russia, Spain, and the Ukraine.

In TV, the Reeves-Stevenses were staff writers for the second season of Sir Arthur Conan Doyle's The Lost World - the syndicated one-hour action-adventure series from New Line. For the series' third season, the Reeves-Stevenses returned as supervising producers on location in Australia. In other episodic work, the Reeves-Stevenses have written for John Woo's "Once a Thief," "The Hitchhiker," MTV's "Catwalk," and "Beyond Reality."

The team's experience in science fiction made them a natural choice for work on Enterprise: "It was easier for us to come into Star Trek than it might be for other sci-fi writers," Judith said. "Even though they are all very talented and very well-informed on sci-fi, they might not be up to date on all of the Star Trek continuity."

"While writing the Star Trek books, you explain events in the mythos that are still open to interpretation. Now, Enterprise is doing the same thing – such as explaining the origin of Klingon head bumps from the original series to the Star Trek movies."

Garfield explained that in Star Trek lore, what happens on screen is considered narrative canon, while anything in books, comics or video games is superfluous.

"It was a challenge for us to add to the ‘canon,'" he said.

Judith added, "Writing for Star Trek was interesting for us also because we'd written for all of the other Star Trek eras, but we hadn't written for these characters yet. We wondered how quickly we could get the voices of these characters. But, we had the ability to go down to set and watch the actors."

According to Judith, there were other adjustments the pair had to make to their writing and working routine: "Well, we had to start getting up in the morning and going into an office. We obviously write our books out of our home."

Garfield added that Enterprise also offers a much faster process than their book work. The team has three books coming out this year, and the writing of one (Going to Mars) was a six-year process.

"Writing for TV is great for almost instant gratification because you write a script, and – five weeks later – it's on TV. During that process, you're coming into the office, working on a script and taking meetings only on the script you're working on. But, you watch the sets get built, watch the dailies, come in, etc."

"It helps that it was the 25th season of Star Trek in production," he added. "So it was a well-oiled system we were watching."

"The nicest thing for us was that we knew the people involved through writing the books over 10 years," Judith said. "We were talking to them about their jobs. We were able to see all aspects of the working company. We were able to ask questions that a writer working on a script might not be able to ask."

"So, we came on board as writers and co-producers, it felt as though we were really joining old friends."

Jordan Williams is the owner of eWeb TV World, giving you the inside scoop on todays hottest TV shows. You can get insider news, reviews, and more at eWebTVWorld.com

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The best of the best I have ever watched
Watching DVDs is one of my most favorite past times. It relieves my stress, brings me to a lighter mood and can even ease the problems I have. Three of the best stories from the past that really catch my attention and even touch my heart are The Six Million Dollar Man, Married with Children and Voltron the Defender of the Universe. These three have different themes, each of this DVDs have its own original stories that could give impact to your lives and make you learn things, no matter how simple or complex it may seem. The Six Million Dollar Man DVD focuses on the story of Colonel Steve Austin. As he was testing an aircraft, he crashes and got badly injured. He is an astronaut and test pilot. OSI, a covert government agency is willing to help him and pay for all the expenses for his prosthetics. He lost his legs, eye and arm. The new prosthetics which is made of Bionics will make him faster, better and stronger. But in return OSI want him to become their cover agent. Married with Children focuses on the life of Al Bundy who is a former High school player, who is now a salesman. Peggy his wife always terrified and nag him. They have two children namely Kelly who is gorgeous and attractive and Bud their son who is not so popular but indeed very smart. Voltron the Defender of the Universe focuses on the legend of Voltron. He was a mighty robot, who is loved by good and feared by evil. Peace invaded the galaxy and as well as the planet earth. An alliance was formed at Earth, The Galaxy Alliance. You can get original copies of these DVDs and other stories from the past at TvDvdPlanet. In addition, you can expect high quality products from them with a 100% guarantee. Affordable prices of these DVDs await you.

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As more and more people get broadband Internet connections and put computers in their TV rooms (or laptops on their, well, laps) the notion of television as a one-way street is no longer reasonable. While you watch your favorite show, celebrities, experts, friends, family or (possibly) mortal enemies may be providing live commentary at BuddyTV. Everything imaginable is available; live video, live audio, live text, and interactive polls are all part of the BuddyTV experience. In fact, you can broadcast your own, private, live commentary to all your friends and neighbors. The television experience is now a communal one, where people can interact and socialize with both their friends and celebrities.

Television is never going away and it still draws enormous worldwide audiences; the most popular shows in the US drive over 30MM viewers per show. As the world becomes smaller and the global community continues to effortlessly reach across borders and oceans, television must adapt and become a community hub whose programming brings people closer together. It is happening today and it’s exciting, with BuddyTV leading the charge. Watching TV has never been more fun and exciting. Try BuddyTV out and ask youself this: Is this the next evolution of TV?

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The Untimely Death of Music Videos On TV
In 1986 music was forever changed with the debut of MTV. In the twenty years
since, music videos have become a way for the artists to express themselves
visually. When music videos first came out, it was mostly just the musician or
band playing the song--today music videos are more akin to mini movies featuring famous actors and actresses. The very
first music video played on MTV was “Video Killed the Radio Star” by the Buggles,
and in a sense it was true. Most bands have a music video before the ink has
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channel, but definitely not the last. There are now several channels that show
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One of the most notorious musicians known for her controversial music videos is
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crosses. Her music video of “Justify my Love” in the early 90’s was so
controversial that MTV banned the music video from the lineup. Perhaps the most
controversial genre of music videos currently are the rap and hip-hop music
videos, which typically feature scantily clad women, sexual situations,
violence, and drugs. It seems as though musicians are constantly competing for
the most extreme of music videos, whether it is sexual content, special effects,
obscurity or violence there are always music videos who push the envelope just a
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John Fair is a noted producer and author. He resides in the United States and contributes to www.CampusRights.net