Michael is the co-creator of "Star Trek: Deep Space Nine" and "Star Trek: Voyager", and was an executive producer of "Star Trek: The Next Generation". His latest project is the screenplay for the upcoming Star Trek movie, to be released this fall.

Michael Piller: It's a pleasure to be here... I'm wearing sunglasses because I'm doing my Ira Behr imitation and because I can't see the screen without my distance glasses.

Question: hello mr. piller, i was just wondering why you decided to leave both Voyager and DS9 and act only as a creative consultant.
beefcake

MP: I felt after being in space for almost a decade, that I needed to try something new and I had seen a marvelous documentary on Rod Serling who did very little after the "Twilight Zone." Serling had a great influence on me and I wanted to avoid making the same mistake.

Q: Since you were one of the best writers on "Voyager," do you think you might come back to write another episode?
Brian

MP: Thank you very much. I've been extremely busy with other projects including the new movie, but I would never rule out writing an episode in the future.

Q: For what reasons should fans anticipate the forthcoming film as much as or more so than they did for "First Contact."
Star Trek Fan

MP: It's a very different film from First Contact... people who have read it have compared it to STIV in tone and humor. We knew we couldn't out-Borg the Borg, so we decided to make this movie something entirely different. There's a lot of fun, some very serious topical drama, a great space battle between Data and Picard, and all sorts of surprises.

Q: Have you been keeping up with dramatic developments on "Voyager" and "Deep Space Nine", and if so, what is your assessment of the shows from a viewer's standpoint?
Star Trek Fan

MP: I read every story and script and give detailed notes as I feel are necessary. I think 7 of 9 has made Voyager a better show and has even helped other characters grow, most notably Janeway, by her presence. I like their shows that deal with character more than the episodes that are high-concept thrill rides. I think DS9 had a sensational season. Week in and week out, I was moved and surprised and thought that the family of characters had really reached their full potential. Ira Behr and group have done terrific work.

Q: Will Star Trek IX (Star Trek "icks") feature more of Beverly and Deanna than were in the previous two TNG flicks?
Captain O

MP: All of the regular characters will have substantial parts to play in the new movie, in particular Troi, Riker, Geordi have significant subplots. Beverly had a major subplot in the first draft of the script, which was the only good thing in it but the concept changed so radically, we had to lose it.

Q: Do you feel that the "fountain of youth" theme of "ST9" will be played out in a way that is original and hasn't been done a million times before?
Star Trek Fan

MP: I sure hope so. I was intrigued by the youth culture we live in as the baby boomers begin to age and I asked myself if we really did discover a Fountain of Youth what would we do? This movie explores the answer.

The typo [which was corrected -- Ed.] is the responsibility of my former assistant, Eric Stillwell. :)

Q: I read that you didn't like the way the whole matter of Data and his emotion chip was handled in the last two films. Is it true this character development won't be acknowledged in "ST9" and instead we'll see Data more akin to the way he was on the TV series?
Star Trek Fan

MP: There will be a reference to the emotion chip, but it was a subject of much discussion. I'll be honest, I really didn't want to deal with the emotion chip but Brent felt we were treating Data as though the last 2 movies didn't exist. I felt strongly that the motion picture audience deserved to see the qualities of Data that made him beloved in the first place. Jonathan Frakes also wanted very much to return to Pinochio and although we haven't taken Data back all the way, I think we did resurrect a bit of the spirit of Pinocchio.

Q: Why do you keep the Reset-syndrome going and going? You must've noticed that it's not very popular among Trekkers. Nothing is so irretating than to watch a good episode and then see that everything in it is beeing ignored in the next episodes and it's never brought up again.
Jonne

MP: I have consistently encouraged the writers of Voyager to continue themes and character arcs over several episodes, but they're gun shy after the fans reaction to the attempts we made in season 2. I feel every quality TV drama does that and we should, too. I think DS9 is more successful in this regard.

Q: Do any of the Star Trek characters from any series reflect your own personality?
Spot

MP: All of them! In fact, one of the tricks of being a writer is to find those qualities of each character you're writing in yourself. That way you know they're speaking the truth. Over the years, I have mostly identified with Riker

Q: Will any members of the casts of DS9, Voyager or TOS be in the new movie?
lilac

MP: Three cast members from DS9 including Worf.

Q: Where did you get the idea for this movie, was it something you wanted to do for the series or something new?
Trekchild

MP: I got the idea while putting on my Rogaine one morning.

Q: What was it like the first day working on star trek?
Cyndel

MP: Incredibly intimidating. We had no scripts and no stories and were in prep of the fourth episode of season three and I didn't know the difference between a Transporter and a Turbolift. I grabbed a spec script that had been submitted by an amateur writer named Ron Moore and made it the next show. And the rest is history.

Q: What does an executive producer do?
Cyndel

MP: In my case, when I was executive producer, I was responsible for delivering a quality story and script every week. And that was a full-time job. Rick Berman oversees all aspects of production and contributes significantly to the creative development of each episode.

Q: What does a creative consultant do?
Cyndel

MP: A lot less. I give notes on every story and script. But they don't have to pay attention to me.

Q: I really enjoyed "Legend" when it was on. Do you have any other shows in the works? Hopefully involving John De Lancie or R. D. Anderson?
Mark

MP: Bless you and keep those cards and letters coming in! Rick and John would like to do a Legend movie and there have been discussions with Showtime. If you're interested, you might drop Showtime a note. I do have other shows in development. One in which I'd like DeLancie to star.

Q: As early as this past March, a 20-page alleged synopsis of the next movie Star Trek 9 surfaced on the web. Have you seen it? How accurate is it? And how do you feel about Trek episodes/films getting "spoiled" in this manner?
MikeJonas

MP: I appreciate that this has become a game. But I think there's going to be a lot more attention paid to the violation of intellectual property rights on the Internet in the future. I suppose those people who don't want to spoil the movie experience don't have to read what they see. My biggest complaint is that the thief who stole the script and synopsized it was such a lousy writer.

Q: I have recently read that Lisa Klink left the writing staff of Voyager. I think it is very sad that there is no woman any more to write for this series. Do you think this will change again?
Katrin

MP: I think Lisa was uncomfortable with the direction the show took last season and it was mutally decided that it would be best for her to move on. I think she is very talented and I enjoyed working with her. When we started Voyager and decided to have a female Captain, Rick and I thought it would be smart to invite Jeri Taylor to join us in its creation. So yes, I certainly hope they continue to hire female writers. It will be interesting to see how the boys treat the girls on the show next season.

Q: Michael Piller, what process is the next Star Trek movie in currently?
spockears

MP: We're about half way through shooting and I can tell you that we've shot some spectacular footage and that, in my opinion, Patrick is giving one of the great performances of his Star Trek career and that Brent lights up the screen every time he appears. Both of them have very demanding roles in this movie.

Q: Will Jadzia's death be mentioned in Star Trek IX?
Gunter

MP: Did Jadzia die?

Q: What advice would you give to someone trying to work in your field?
Cyndel

MP: I have a strong commitment to opening doors for young writers and we continue to hire interns through the Writers Guild program. I'm also trying to encourage my alma mater -- University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill to form a definitive screenwriters program. I would encourage everyone who is interested in writing to read as many screenplays as you can and to write a little bit every day. I also very strongly recommend William Goldman's "Adventures in the Screen Trade" which inspired me to go off on my first adventure.

Q: When you write for Star Trek, how do you come up with the many different names for the characters and what do you do if you run out of ideas for names?
Dean

MP: Sometimes they are the first thoughts that come to my mind. Sometimes I look in the geographical dictionary and adapt names of places.

Q: What challenges arose while you were writing Star Trek IX, that you did not experience while writing for the various Star Trek television series?
MvRojo

MP: Well, there was a lot more at stake here. It's the first story in two years as opposed to churning out one every week, so I felt a lot of pressure to do something special -- Ultimately we threw out an entire script because we didn't like it and started over from scratch. I've thought about publishing that script in a book about the writing of ST9. It's a good thing nobody stole that draft and put it on the Internet!

Q: Is there a confirmed date on when the trailer is coming out, a confirmed movie it will be comming out with? Is the movie still scheduled to come out in November or has the release date been called off till December?
Nate Dog

MP: We tried to confirm those dates today and were unable to. Maybe it would help if the movie had a title.

Q: In every ensemble, there is one character at whom it's easy to poke fun (I'm picturing a rippled forehead and deep voice even now). However, not all characters are so easy. When you were writing ST9, which character was the most fun/challenging/intruiging to write comedy for? Thanks for reading!
Flagship

MP: The comedy in ST9 was tricky, because we're dealing with a Fountain of Youth and much of the humor evolves from the effects it has on people. The danger was in getting too silly. I went back and watched a movie called "Monkey Business" with Cary Grant and Marilyn Monroe where they get younger from a magic potion and it scared me because of how irritating everybody was behaving. I finally found what I think is the key by drawing the humor from the warm memories of youth instead of just having our people do dumb things. For example, Worf sleeps through his alarm clock. I had the most fun with Riker and Troi.

Q: Hey, Dad, when are you going to let me write another Voyager episode?
Shawn

MP: I'm very proud of my son with whom I'm collaborating on a sci-fi teenage sex comedy feature, but Shawn, if you want to write another Voyager, you'll have to call Brannon Braga. You might remind him who gave him his first job.

Q: How many drafts of the script were written before the final one was finished???
Nate

MP: Probably five drafts of both versions of the script, but after I got started on the second version, I really felt like I was inside the characters again instead of trying to make them do what we wanted them to do. It's funny. When you are trying to control a script as a writer you don't really realize that it's not really happening properly, but when you are on track, there's something inside you that knows it's right.

Q: How did you initially get involved working on Star Trek: The Next Generation television series?
Ronin

MP: Maurice Hurley, my predecessor, was leaving and invited me to lunch with Rick and Gene. They had already hired another writer to run the staff, but I agreed to write an episode which turned out to be "Evolution." The script turned out to be the only one that everyone involved was satisfied with early in the third season and when the head writer left in a dispute with Gene, they turned to me and asked if I'd like to take over. Fortunately, I said yes. But I did plan to stay only one year. After that I was going to go write screenplays on the beach in Mexico. But Gene came to me at the end of the season and encouraged me to return; I agreed even though it meant I would have to figure out how to end the cliffhanger and defeat the Borg. If I had said 'no,' I wouldn't have had the chance to co-create the next two shows or write the movie so it was a pretty smart decision.

Q: What does the future hold for you? Will you continue to be involved with future Star Trek motion pictures, DS9 and Voyager?
BroncoManiac

MP: I can only say that I intend to stay active in the Star Trek universe as long as they'll have me.

Q: How does working on a major motion picture compare with the various projects you've done in the past? And is it something you'd like to be involved with again?
StarStruck

MP: I've never had a feature produced before so this is a pretty exciting moment in my career. I certainly would like to be involved with more Star Trek projects in the future as long as the subject material is appealing to me.

Q: Hi Michael... always glad when you can join us online... I'm wondering about the title of the movie - or rather the lack of. Many titles have surfaced in past weeks, including many one-word, pedestrian, war-like titles; far cries from the TOS movie titles. Has a title been selected internally, to be released soon, and what are your thoughts on the impact that the title plays in the success of this Trek feature?
Steve

MP: As you can imagine there has been a great deal of conversation about this. The studio wants a title that will get people into the theaters. Some of the titles have been discarded because they turned out to be identified with other creative franchises. Some seemed to misrepresent the movie.

My favorite, "Star Trek: Sacred Honor," was rejected. The words "Prime Directive" "Rebellion" and "Betrayal" have been tossed about. I think we should have a contest to name that picture.

Q: Have you got your own Homepage and an Email Address?
Tommy

MP: Yes to the latter, and you can't have it.

Q: Michael, thanks for the opportunity to "talk" with you. As a writer, what movie and/or TV scripts have you found inspiring?
Gerry

MP: I've already mentioned two with Goldman's "Butch Cassidy" and Rod Serlings body of work on Twilight Zone. I'll tell you what recently I found inspiring was the work that James L. Brooks did on "As Good As It Gets" and I just saw "Bulworth" and thought that it was one of the best scripts I've seen in recent years. I love Ally McBeal and The Practice and I want to be David Kelley when I grow up.

Q: Now that these characters have been established for 10 years, is it more difficult to take them in new directions while keeping the core of each character intact?
Quinn

MP: I think it's important to preserve the integrity of a character even though it is attractive to suddenly change him or her because it seems like a neat thing to do, but I don't know anyone who would like to see Spock get laid back and casual, so I'm usually in favor of exploring the depth of a character's inner conflict rather than changing him or her.

In ST9, I wanted very much to show movie audiences the Captain Picard that I had so admired in the television series -- a man of moral and ethical courage, who lived by principles and who could solve problems by reason and communication instead of violence. But as a feature character, he had evolved into an action hero and I had to deal with that. Patrick and I had many lively discussions about where Picard was going to be taken in this movie. Out of our conflict came, I believe, one of the most interesting roles that Picard has ever had.

Michael, thank you very much for joining us here tonight.

MP: It's my pleasure and I am always impressed and appreciative of the fans' interest in the Star Trek franchise.