Carl Binder

Based on his first industry project--as a production assistant and single-episode writer for the '80s sitcom "Punky Brewster"--predicting that Carl Binder would eventually wind up a TV sci-fi maven would have been quite a stretch, but 20 years later, that's exactly what transpired, as Binder became one of the main producers behind the "Stargate" franchise. Along the way, he had a big hand as a writer/producer in other decidedly-not-science-fiction productions, starting most prominently with the family Western "Dr. Quinn, Medicine Woman," which starred Jane Seymour in the title role. Between 1995 and 1998, Binder executive-produced, was the lead contributing writer, and directed three episodes of the show, all coming on the heels of co-writing the screenplay for the Disney animated blockbuster "Pocahontas" in 1995. Binder stayed with a wilderness aesthetic for his first work as a creator, the 1998 drama "Little Men," which was shot and produced in his native Canada. After the series' two-season run, Binder began work on his legacy project, first writing an episode of "Stargate SG-1" in 1999, followed several years later by his writing and executive-producing on its spin-off, "Stargate Atlantis"--which was shot in Vancouver--from 2004 to 2009. In 2009, Binder began contributing to a hipper incarnation of the product, the New Mexico-filmed "SGU Stargate Universe," which cast the charismatic British veteran Robert Carlyle as its lead. Binder began producing yet another spinoff, "Stargate Extinction," for video, in 2011.