Whedonesque : Comments on 8675 : Michael Piller, the man who gave Jane Espenson her foothold, has died.

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November 02 2005

Michael Piller, the man who gave Jane Espenson her foothold, has died. The man who opened the doors of Paramount to young unrepresented hopefuls has passed away.

I know this is not overly close to the Whedonverse. But his guy meant a lot to me and many others. He created the unique and now sadly defunct policy of reviewing unsolicited work on Star Trek: The Next Generation. Among those unearthed, Jane Espenson. He was a hero of mine and will be missed

Andy Dufresne | General | 14:55 CET | 13 comments total | tags: espenson

Hero of mine, too. Pretty shocking.

Please don't delete, mods.

[ edited by Dym on 2005-11-02 13:00 ]

Quit | November 02, 14:59 CET

I read about this yesterday, great shame. Didn't know about the Jane Espenson connection.

Simon | November 02, 15:10 CET

Damn, this stinks. I knew the name and associated positive things with it, but did not know the details. Now that I have read about him, I realize why. Thanks Andy D. for posting this. He will be missed.

newcj | November 02, 16:32 CET

That is a shame. I was aware of his involvement with ST, but not the other details. The man certainly knew talent when he saw it.

Madhatter | November 02, 16:50 CET

So sorry to hear this. For those who didn't know, Keith Parkinson also passed away recently (26th Oct).

zeitgeist | November 02, 17:20 CET

Thanks for keeping this open mods. Many people may not know that Piller discovered Ron D Moore too who went on to bruise behinds on DS9, Carnivale and Battlestar Galactica. Also Rene Echeverria who went on from trek to do Dark Angel and Medium.

Andy Dufresne | November 02, 18:01 CET

When I was a big time trek nut, I knew of all the producers and names involved, TNG and DS9 especially, Michael Piller was a important element, it's sad to hear of his passing.

R.I.P

SeanValen | November 02, 18:04 CET

And don't forget Rene's creation of The 4400 which featured our very own Summer Glau (alongside the fantastic Jeffrey Combs of DS9 and Re-Animator fame) and The Inside's (hi, Tim!) Peter Coyote. Nevermind Robert Hewitt Wolfe, Ira Steven Behr, and the Whedonverse's own Doug Petrie.

zeitgeist | November 02, 18:05 CET

Wow Zeitgeist I had no idea that there were so many Trek/Whedonverse crossovers.

Andy Dufresne | November 02, 18:18 CET

RIP MP. He was responsible for some really good TV. I have to think that Dead Zone won't be exactly the same.

DarenG | November 02, 19:37 CET

I'm glad this is up here, too. Piller continued the policy of nurturing new writers and helping them break into the business with "The Dead Zone." The man who discovered Jane Espenson (not to mention a number of other writers who have changed the face of television) deserves honoring.

Nebula1400 | November 02, 20:30 CET

I was just gutted when I read this yesterday. Michael Piller was the greatest Trek writer ever, and spearheaded the change in Next Gen from a bland, barely watchable show into an actually interesting drama. The world just dimmed a bit to my eyes.

IMForeman | November 03, 02:27 CET

Deep Space Nine was my favorite Trek show, and a large reason for that is all the hard work Michael Piller put in improving the series. He is one of the reasons modern Trek was so succesful.

May he R.I.P.

rabid | November 03, 02:41 CET

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