Memory Alpha:AOL chats/Ronald D. Moore/ron027.txt

Subj: Answers Date: 5/2/97 7:16:39 PM From:  RonDMoore

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I only vaguely remember this episode since it was filmed well before I came aboard DS9, and we were completely unaware of the Listener connection when we were writing Generations.

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John, do I get to see the galleys on this one or not?

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This is very much on our minds. We're too far away from knowing about year 7 to make plans one way or the other yet. At the moment, we're planning the beginning of next season and we won't have to make any decisions about the wrap-up or continuation of the series for several months. But knowing sooner would be A LOT nicer.

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If you mean the negative publicity, the answer is: nothing. Media coverage goes in cycles and we've been in a "bash Trek" cycle for some time now -- alth ough I think that's on the wane now too. As for the ratings, they speak for themselves. Xena & Hercules have beaten us several times this season and there's no denying it. More power to them. We're doing the best show we can and we all feel very good about it. If people want to watch, they will and if they don't, they won't. Nothing would make me happier than to see our ratings suddenly skyrocket, but we really do have enough faith in what we're doing that I'm not losing any sleep over the ratings. We have at least another year and if it ends, we'll hold our heads high and feel proud of the work we did.

<<*Professor* O'Brien? >>

I don't remember when we started using this title, but I don't think it's something recent.

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You keep a-knocking, but you can't come in...

<< I'm figuring you will at least bring the Dominon and Federation to war. In that event, Starfleet would launch a major defensive movement, if history follows suit. BUT, if history DOES follow suit, any major Defensive would be lead by the Federation Flagship. In that event, would Paramount Exec's justify bringing back the TNG cast and Enterprise-E just to keep from insulting the fans intellegence and maybe giving us just a couple of episodes of what we want?>>

You mean on DS9? No. And I don't see how that's insulting anyone's intelligence.

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We presume that all Starfleet officers are court-martialled following the loss of a ship. Most are honorably cleared, as was Picard.

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This is a question we're never going to answer as we don't want to be pinned down on a specific number. --- Subj: Answers Date: 5/2/97 7:44:52 PM From:  RonDMoore

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This was something we starting thinking about over the course of Season 4 as we saw the chemistry between Worf and Dax develop. It seemed like they both enjoyed the by-play and that their characters had a natural affinity for each other.

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Not at the moment.

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As I've said before, if you're going to write to anyone, write FIRST to your LOCAL AFFILIATE and then to Paramount. Your local station is the one that orders the show and who needs to hear from its audience -- YOU.

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I really can't comment on this kind of stuff regardless of what I may or may not hear around the offices.

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Well, if you all take up a collection and send cash (in small unmarked bills)...

Actually, I really haven't given this much thought, but I doubt I'll be joining Voyager.

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No, I was asked to answer some questions for them and I said sure, since I usually agree to do interviews if I have the time. I'm staying here.

<<We've seen [Kirk] up against odds much more incredible than this. And yet he falls down a cliff? That's the end of a great, legendary hero? Granted, some of history's greatest heroes have died under less than grand circumstances, but this is Hollywood, and better yet, its Star Trek!!! It's not meant to be realistic!!! I'd like to close with one comment. I remember reading an article, can't remember what magazine it was, where either Ron or Brannon said after writing this scene that they felt some sort of remorse over Kirk's death. In a word: o-kie.>>

Once more into the breach...

I've said it before and I'll say it again: It's not that I failed to care about the character or that I had a complete lack of sensitivity to the impact of Kirk's death that led me to write his death scene the way it was in Generations. I simply wanted a different death for Kirk than screaming at the Klingons or Obi-Wan-Kenobi-ing off into the celestial bluescreen. I thought that the quiet, unexpected death of a legend could be more powerful than coming up with some over-amped battle sequence and that's what we went for.

You didn't like it -- fine. But I do get a little tired of people accusing me of "having no respect for the character" or not caring about Kirk or the fans or some other nonsense. I wanted Kirk to go out with dignity and have a moving death. I still think that's what he got, but I've never said that anyone who disagrees with me is some poltroon who's too dense to see what's right in front of his face, so I fail to see why those on the other side of this argument have to ascribe all these negative motivations to Brannon and I. We wanted the same thing you did and we cared about the character too. (Yes, even Brannon. Trust me, he wasn't angling to damage one of the the biggest characters in our first feature film.)  Kirk was my hero too.

BTW, what the hell does "o-kie" mean? -- Subj: Answers Date: 5/2/97 7:59:11 PM From:  RonDMoore

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It's always possible, but there's nothing on the boards at the moment.

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It's possible.

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This is almost impossible to answer. You just have to write it and see what happens. We're willing to consider changes in the regular characters within certain limits but those limits are hard to define. Just give it a shot.

<< I truly enjoyed Star Trek: First Contact. My question is this... Why only one Borg Cube? Why not a whole armada of the cubes trying to conquer The Federation/Starfleet... Did you ever consider having more than one Borg Cube in the screenplay? >>

We did think about it, but then decided that a single cube was more in keeping with the way the Borg had been established before. I too, wish we could've had a longer and more spectacular space battle up front, but I wasn't willing to make significant cuts elsewhere in the film for the extra bang-bang at the beginning.

<< I've been wondering is how are directors chosen for the show? What kind of imput do they have? Since Trek is basically a same camera moves type of show. How creative can they get?>>

The directors are chosen by Rick, Ira, and Steve Oster. The input of the director is very important and we try to work closely with them during pre-production on every episode. But once they're on the stage, the director is in charge and you have to let him/her tell the story you've given them in their own way. There is a definite "look" to Trek and most directors can pick it up rather quickly since it's not nearly as stylized as, say, NYPD Blue. Within that context, the directors are free to set up and shoot as they see fit.

<<It struck me that the point is exactly what someone said a couple of posts back: death is often banal, trivial, senseless and pointless, and to have a major character go out in this idiotic fashion simply points up the fact that death is always the ultimate winner. So live life to the full, don't count on your death to make it important. It's a sobering realization. I hope that I'll die doing something I love, active, involved, not whimpering in a hospital somewhere, but that might not be my choice.

By showing death as something that simply strikes with no warning, giving one no time to prepare or react, I think it makes it that much more powerful and mysterious. And I am NOT a fan of all these resurrections, which seem to me to cheapen the emotion the audience felt when they lost someone, be it Kirk, Spock or Sito. But that's just MHO.>>

Thank you, Karla. Those are EXACTLY what our feelings were when we were planning Kirk's death.