Editing Leslie Stevens

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'''Leslie Stevens''' (3 February 1924&mdash;24 April 1998) was the supervising producer for the [[Original Series]].

In addition to producing, he was also a director and writer for various series, among them ''[[w:McCloud|McCloud]]'', ''[[w:Buck Rogers in the 25th Century|Buck Rogers in the 25th Century]]'', ''[[w:Gemini Man|Gemini Man]]''. 

Stevens is probably best known for his work on the 1963-65 science fiction anthology series, ''[[w:The Outer Limits|The Outer Limits]]'', which he wrote and produced under Daystar Productions, an independent company that he created. 

== Prior to ''Battlestar Galactica'' ==

Stevens wrote a few plays in 1950s, such as ''Bullfight'' and ''The Lovers''. While reflecting upon ''Bullfight,'' [[Richard Colla]] remarked that "he had a lovely poetry and a lovely sense of human value."<ref>{{cite book/sswa|48}}</ref>

In addition to his later work in the 1960s on ''Outer Limits'', Stevens (as L. Clark Stevens) also wrote ''[[w:est: The Steersman Handbook|est: The Steersman Handbook]]'', a science fiction novel written as a non-fictional study that described a future society that arose as a result of "est people." Such "est people," with "est" meaning "Electronic Social Transformation," were described as technically minded, eclectic, and computer literate.

The book lead to Stevens being consulted on numerous "futurist" topics, ranging from ecology, energy, and related fields. Further, Dean Gengle notes that ''est'' "did more to liberate media-created hippies than just about any other work of its time."<reF>{{cite book  | last = Gengle | first = Dean |   title = The Netweaver's Sourcebook: A Guide to Micro Networking and Communications  | url = https://archive.org/details/netweaverssource00geng | url-access = registration | publisher = [[Addison-Wesley]] | year = 1984 |  pages = [https://archive.org/details/netweaverssource00geng/page/215 215], 322  }}</ref>

== ''Battlestar Galactica'' ==

According to [[Alan J. Levi]], Stevens "wrote the [[Saga of a Star World|original script]]. Leslie was one of my best friends. I do know that Leslie had told me at one time way before he ever got into the script that he had this great idea for a script that he was going to take to [[Glen Larson]] and talk about. Now whether in a court of law that would mean that Leslie came up with it and took it to Glen and Glen said, ‘Fine, we’re going to co-do it’ or not, I can’t tell you. I wasn’t there."<ref>{{cite_web|url=http://www.geocities.com/sjpaxton/ajl.html|title=Battlestar zone interview with Alan J. Levi|date=|accessdate=30 April 2008|last=Paxton|first=Susan J.|format=|language=}}</ref> 

Additional interviews conducted for the ''[[So Say We All: The Complete, Uncensored, Unauthorized Oral History of Battlestar Galactica]]'' lead to elaboration by Levi on the above point: "The one thing about Glen [Larson] is that Glen was always the star. There was a little bit of tension between the two of them because Leslie always felt that he had made more of a contribution towards the original ''Galactica'' being done than what he had been given credit for."<ref>{{cite book/sswa|47}}</ref>

It is known that Stevens wrote the never-to-be-produced two-hour episode, "[[The Beta Pirates]]."

Additionally, Stevens was one of two people responsible for recruiting [[Richard Colla]] as director for "[[Saga of a Star World]]," even though Colla believed that the story never rose above being "a comic book" as it pertained to the depth of story telling and characterization.<ref>{{ibid|48}}</ref>

== Notable Works ==

=== Plays ===

* ''Champagne Complex'', 1955 CE<ref>{{cite_web|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=BEribohfC5EC&lpg=PP1&pg=PA4#v=onepage&q&f=false|title=Champagne Complex: A Light-headed Farce in Three Acts
|date=|accessdate=11 October 2020|last=|first=|format=|language=}}</ref>
* ''The Lovers'', 1956 CE<ref>{{cite_web|url=https://books.google.com/books/about/The_Lovers.html?id=OqfPAAAAMAAJ|title=The Lovers: A Play in Three Acts
|date=|accessdate=11 October 2020|last=|first=|format=|language=}}</ref>
* ''Bullfight'', 1958 CE<ref>{{cite_web|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=qilO-rqPL2kC&printsec=frontcover&source=gbs_ge_summary_r&cad=0#v=onepage&q&f=false|title=The Marriage-Go-Round|date=11 October 2020|accessdate=|last=|first=|format=|language=}}</ref>

=== Books ==

* ''[[w:est: The Steersman Handbook|est: The Steersman Handbook]]'', 1970 CE

== References ==

{{reflist}}

[[Category:A to Z]]
[[Category:Behind the Scenes]]
[[Category:Crew]]
[[Category:Crew (TOS)]]
[[Category:Producers]]
[[Category:Producers (TOS)]]
[[Category:Writers]]
[[Category:Writers (TOS)]]
[[Category:TOS]]
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