Voyager/BSG's Michael Taylor talks SyFy's DEFIANCE debut tonight—Pt. 1

Writer-producer Michael Taylor, who I've known since the later Voyager days, sat down with me last summer for an EXCLUSIVE early chat about the unique and potentially historic TV/game crossover project called DEFIANCE—whose TV incarnation on SyFy debuts tonight at 9 ET/PT.

Here's just Part I of our chat—where we're just getting started on the idea... and how the heck a busy TV staff can interface enough with a game staff to make the revolutionary concept work. Coming in future TREKLAND segments: details on the development of the characters and setting—a future Earth where eco-damage from an aliens/human war on Earth has repaired by terraforming where they all must now work together.

Mike, of course, also wrote some great episodes on Ron Moore's Battlestar Galactica and was involved with both Caprica and Blood and Chrome (as well as the late Michael Piller's breakout Dead Zone on USA). Later on, we'll reminisce about those years as well—and there's more below the video fold here, too:


Yes, there's more—like this FYI: In case any of you are out there grousing about getting invested in an expensive and risky genre series only to see it cancelled after one year—apparently, series exec producer Kevin Murphy is letting on that the series' second season is already into production. We'll try to update with Mike on that as well.

Meanwhile, in case you haven't seen it, here's the extended trailer for the TV series:



AND the first 14 minutes of Monday's pilot (sorry for the embedded ad)...

STV: Ira Steven Behr, Part 2: On his new ALPHAS of SyFy—and DS9, of course

It's been some weeks for Ira Steven Behr since we posted Part I of our pre-ALPHAS vidchat.... In that time, the new 10 p.m. Monday series has come in for great critical and audience approval alike and become SyFy's newest hit.  


Meanwhile, here's our next piece with the DS9 showrunner, also of the late great The 4400 and many more—in which Ira addresses more of his new show and can't help but shout out to his old Trek days. Especially since I lead him there...with even more to come in Part 3: we're just getting warmed up.

STV: Ira Steven Behr, Part I—on "Alphas," "DS9"... and what about that manuscript?!

Congrats to Ira Steven Behr, showrunner for the new SyFy Monday-night hit Alphas—according to early numbers and critical response—and thanks to him for sitting down for yet another talk about it... but this time, on guerilla-cam for Trekland.

Can I tell you a story? On my second working trip to Hollywood—but the first not be crazed, not on an insane deadline and for longer than five days—Ira was my very first interview subject during his first year on DS9. At the time I had no idea he'd just had a run-in with a well-known genre magazine writer. And his first sentence to me was, before I ever sat down on a chair in his Hart Building office: "You aren't going to fuck around with my quotes, are you?  You better not. Because I'm tired of being honest and being misquoted."

Welcome to Hollywood and Trekland, Larry.

But what a bonding moment. So thanks for sharing again, Ira—my ST VI Blu-ray audio-mate. I guess I faked the trust thing good enough.



And everybody else, stay tuned for the rest with Ira next week ...and for more new eps of Alphas on SyFy Mondays at 10 pm ET/PT. As for DS9 and The 4400—you can find 'em on DVD (October for Netflix).

As for Ira's book ...we'll have to be patient.