DS9's first great writer

[SISKOTODAX]

Peter Allan Fields was a writer for the first 2 seasons of DS9. I think he was the first writer who wrote consistently strong episodes that pushed the envelope and were not trying to copy TNG stories but were DS9 specific.
He wrote:

Duet, Necessary Evil, The Circle, Blood Oath, Crossover, and cowrote Dax.

Then he came back in season 5 and wrote 1 episode, For The Uniform, another strong episode that had shades of grey.

When people talk about the best DS9 writers they usually start with Moore, Wolfe, or Ira but never Peter. Just try to imagine the first 2 seasons without Peters episodes. What do people always say to new viewers who are starting with season 1. It will be a bumpy ride, just make it until Duet.

Also, he is credited with establishing the close relationship between Odo and Kira and with creating Garak in Past Prologue. So even though he was only a writer for 2 seasons he certainly had an effect on the later seasons.

 

[GeorgeKirk]

Yamok sauce and self-sealing stem bolts were his idea also, IIRC. And DS9 just wouldn't have been the same show without those things

 

[PKTrekGirl]

I have always thought PAF was a very good writer and I have always liked his episodes.

IIRC, I believe he also wrote some of the better episodes of other Trek shows.

 

[Pemmer Harge]

Yeah, he definitely made a great contribution. Necessary Evil is one of my favourites.

 

[Garm Bel Iblis]

Before I even clicked on the thread, I read the title and said "PEter Allen Fields" out loud

 

[Sykonee]

Ignoring the Big Three (Behr, Moore, and Wolfe), my first thought was actually René Echevarria, but then I forgot he joined in S3. Honestly though, he was pretty much the spiritual successor to Fields, since most of Echevarria's stories tended to expand upon character threads Fields established (Odo-Kira relationship, Dax, even Garak). Plus let's not forget Sisko "finally got good" in episodes that ol' René had a hand in (Past Tense and Explorers).

 

[SISKOTODAX]

i forgot one small thing about Peter. The DS9 Companion says he got story credit for In the Pale moonlight. The staff actually reached out to him to come up with a tale. However, what he came up with and the initial draft by Michael taylor is pretty different from the final version. I think Moore made some big changes. Man, i don't know why Peter left after 2 seasons but if he had stayed and worked with Ron Moore or Rene they would have made some incredible episodes!

 

[Pemmer Harge]

Man, i don't know why Peter left after 2 seasons but if he had stayed and worked with Ron Moore or Rene they would have made some incredible episodes!

They're actually all credited on The Dogs of War, though what the individual contributions were, I don't know. And I heartily endorse the point about the excellence of many of René Echevarria's episodes.

 

[diankra]

One possible reason why he didn't do much - though what he did was important - after the first couple of seasons is that he was very much the veteran on the writing staff. His first writing credits are on the original Man from UNCLE (so he was working early enough to have written for Kirk-Trek!), so assuming he was only mid-20s then, he was into his 50s by the time of DS9, and if he'd done well enough he might have wanted to just retire (except when something really caught his interest. Though imdb said he also wrote some Legend and Xena during the 1990s).

 

[TheGodBen]

Before I even clicked on the thread, I read the title and said "PEter Allen Fields" out loud

Ditto.

It's a pity that he was only on the show during its "bad" seasons, it would have been great if he stuck around during the later years as the show became more intricate. Still, what he gave us was very good, and he helped to lay the solid foundation the show was set upon.

i forgot one small thing about Peter. The DS9 Companion says he got story credit for In the Pale moonlight. The staff actually reached out to him to come up with a tale. However, what he came up with and the initial draft by Michael taylor is pretty different from the final version. I think Moore made some big changes.

I've very curious about that. I know that the original version of the story had Jake investigating his dad and learning about the plot with the Romulans, but they decided to remove the Jake element because they didn't want to create a wedge in the father/son relationship. What I want to know is whether Taylor's versions of the script included those changes or if Moore's final version was the one that went the Sisko/Garak route.

 

[SISKOTODAX]

The Companion dosent say if it was Taylors or Moores version of the script. Actually the original story idea was to have Jake watergating Shakaar. He finds out a nasty secret about Shakaar that will bring down the bajoran government and Sisko trys to prevent Jake from publishing it. Then they went with Jake watergating Sisko. Then Ron Moore got drunk on Scotch one night and said lets use flashbacks for Siskos log and have him start the episode talking into the camera and the rest is history.

 

[TheGodBen]

Thank the gods for Ron Moore's scotch addiction.

It's amazing how an episode can go through so many changes during development and come out as good as ITPM.

 

[RobertScorpio]

i forgot one small thing about Peter. The DS9 Companion says he got story credit for In the Pale moonlight. The staff actually reached out to him to come up with a tale. However, what he came up with and the initial draft by Michael taylor is pretty different from the final version. I think Moore made some big changes. Man, i don't know why Peter left after 2 seasons but if he had stayed and worked with Ron Moore or Rene they would have made some incredible episodes!

And what about Michael Taylor. I think he has written some awesome TREK stuff over the year, and for other shows as well. Is he related to Jeri Taylor or is that just a rumor??

Rob

 

[SISKOTODAX]

Michael Taylor did write the Visitor for DS9 and I think we wrote some Voyager episodes. Don't know if he is related to Jeri Taylor. I think Moore brought Taylor to NUBSG along with Bradley Thompson and David Weddle who usually write as a team.

 

[RobertScorpio]

I also saw him writing for Heroes...

Rob

 

[Harvey]

Michael Taylor is writing for Caprica now, too. He has a blog somewhere online as well.

I don't think he has any relation to Jeri Taylor, but I could be wrong.