Few people have had a greater impact on the history of Star Trek than Michael Piller. In addition to turning The Next Generation around in Season 3, Piller also co-created both Deep Space Nine and Voyager.

In this episode of Commentary: Trek Stars, John and Mike are joined by Larry Nemecek, author of The Star Trek: The Next Generation Companion, to begin a new series on Michael Piller which will look at each of his television pilots. In Part 1, we cover Piller's work in Trek. We discuss how he impacted Season 3 of The Next Generation, what he brought to the creation of Deep Space Nine and Voyager, and challenges he faced writing the third TNG movie, Insurrection. We also give our thoughts on the new Starfleet uniforms debuting in Star Trek Beyond.

Originally published as Commentary: Trek Stars 147: Michael and Baseball.