Eric A. Stillwell

Eric A. Stillwell’s The Making of Yesterday’s Enterprise examines the writing and production of the fifteenth episode from season three of Star Trek: The Next Generation, originally airing on 17 February 1990. In this, it joins a classic tradition of “Making-Of” books that began in 1968 with Stephen E. Whitfield & Gene Roddenberry’s Making of Star Trek and has continued with behind-the-scenes books for each of the motion pictures, the series, and even the various Trek novels. show more Stillwell worked for Paramount and purchased Trent Christopher Ganino’s story idea, working with Ganino to polish it before Ronald D. Moore worked to bring it more in line with the producers’ demands. In his book, Stillwell gives an account that would be helpful to those looking to understand how studio writing works, but he can only write from his perspective so large parts of the narrative are incomplete, based on what he learned later or – in the case of computer effects, modeling, and more – absent from this account. He does, however, show a clear joy for the story and, having been a Star Trek fan from an early age, his enthusiasm is infectious. He includes the various different story treatments so that readers can see how ideas changed, were modified, or abandoned, and includes the final shooting script as an appendix. There are also some nice behind-the-scenes photographs that help put faces to the various names he discusses while also shoring up Stillwell’s credentials. Overall, this is an interesting work that many Trekkers will find worth reading, but it could do with a fuller narrative about the production. show less