Memory Alpha:AOL chats/Ronald D. Moore/ron053.txt

Subj: A Personal Note Date: 9/11/97 9:03:49 PM From:  RonDMoore

Before moving on to answering your questions, allow me to indulge in a personal memory.

I met Prince Charles last year at the London premiere of "First Contact." I stood in the middle of a line of people to be presented to His Royal Highness while my wife and other spouses and friends waited on the opposite side of the room behind a velvet rope. There was a palpable electricity in the air, as we all knew that this was a moment that few, if any, of us would ever experience again. We were about to meet the heir to the throne, one of the most famous men in the world, the bearer of a legacy stretching back over centuries of history.

And yet, the name that hung over everything was Diana.

Charles and Diana. Chuck and Di. The names were so intertwined that we all found it impossible to think of Him without Her. Her name floated through the cloakroom where we cooled our heels before HRH was due to arrive. You'd have thought we were all there to meet the Princess instead of the Prince. We laughed and joked about the possibility that she was a closet Trekkie and might pop in unexpectantly. We listened to the Brits among us spread the latest royal gossip about the world's most famous divorce. And we jokingly dared each other to ask Chuck how Di was doing.

When he stepped into the room and headed toward the receiving line, I was struck by his ready smile, his confident manner as we all stared at him and each awaited our own moment in the sun. And I thought about Her. This man who would be king, was outshown even then by the woman who wasn't there. As he made his way down the line toward me, I remember thinking back to his wedding, to the woman with the dazzling smile in the glass carriage, to the photos of him kissing his new bride on the balcony. And I wondered if this happened everywhere he went. Did anyone see Charles anymore, or did they always see her by his side?

My name was announced and he shook my hand with a smile. Asked me a few questions. Lingered a bit. I can report that his hand is warm to the touch and probably not filled with ice water, nor did I hear any audible clicking or whirring of motors that would indicate a robotic interior. He was a pleasant man. Rick later told me he was surprised at how long the Prince paused to talk with me. I only remember that he seemed genuinely interested in what I had to say. And that as he left, he got a funny look on his face and said, "It must be nice to do something that you love so much." In my memory, he says it with a slightly wistful look, but memory can play tricks with you and perhaps it was just a smile after all.

He's a smart man. Too smart not to know who we were really thinking about. Her. She was there as surely as if she'd walked in the room with him. He knew. And he soldiered on, trying not to think about the fact that every man and woman in that line knew about the most intimate details of his life, his marriage, his infidelities, his polo accidents, his childhood, and his divorce.

He moved down the line, made small talk with everyone, then headed toward the theater where it was announced to the crowd that Marina Sirtis would be sitting next to His Royal Highness during the film. A loud chuckle went through the audience as everyone's mind conjured up the image of the newly single prince putting the move on the somewhat awed British actress. A funny image. But even that light moment had Her name hovering over it. "He could do it, you know. Now that he's not married to Diana." "Marina's beautiful, but she's no Diana." "I wonder if they'd seat her next to him if Diana were here?"

(Cont.)

Subj: Personal Note (Cont'd) Date:  9/11/97 9:03:51 PM From:  RonDMoore

(continued)

Last week, as I watched Charles collect the body of the woman he once loved and cherished, I remembered that day at the theatre. A brief encounter with an ordinary man born into extraordinary circumstances. An ordinary man whose entire identity has now been subsumed by a legend. I mourn for Diana. I cried at her funeral, and I think the world is a sadder place without her. But my heart goes out to Charles. He'll never escape from Diana's shadow. Even when she was alive, she seemed to walk next to him; now that she's dead, she'll haunes, by the grace of God, of united England, Northern Ireland, and the other possessions and territories, King... and ex-husband of the late Diana Spencer."

They say Diana's life was a fairy tale with a tragic ending. Maybe they're right. After all, we all remember Cinderella, and no one remembers her Prince either.

Subj: Answers Date: 9/11/97 10:16:53 PM From:  RonDMoore

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I don't know if it actually stood for anything or not. I didn't write that section of dialog and no one around here seems to recall either.

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You will hear more Klingon music this season and it will be heard in the wedding show.

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They are avid television watchers and big fans of Sesame Street. Garak's middle name is Bert.

<< Jake has always been an open-minded kid (he was the one who decided to befriend a Ferengi, after all), and now, as a journalist on a Dominion-occupied station, I'm sure he's going to strive to be fair and impartial in his coverage of the situation. Which leads to the question: could we possibly see Jake being drawn over to the Dark Side? Could he end up being Tokyo Rose, feeding Dominion propaganda back to the Federation?>>

Weyoun would like this to happen, but Jake won't be going that route.

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It was an issue for the studio. For whatever reason, the affiliates seem to bitch and moan about being forced to air the episodes in order during second run syndication. We tend to roll our eyes about the issue and it did take a bit of talking to get Paramount to let us do this kind of multi-episode arc.

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First of all, you can only submit a SCRIPT. Be sure that it's in the proper format. The only general advice I can tell you is to write the best characters and story that you can. If the writing is there, you'll get noticed regardless of budgetary or production problems. If they say, " There's no way we can produce this on a TV budget, but boy does s/he know how to write," you're going to get noticed, brought in to pitch and you're on your way.

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Dear Brittany, I'm sorry to say that we're not planning to have anyone from Classic or TNG on DS9 this year because we haven't got any stories for those characters that we'd like to do. If one comes along that we all really like, I promise we'll consider it. We won't be seeing Molly for the first half of the season because there's a war going on around the station and Chief O'Brien didn't want his family to be in danger. I can tell you that we'll be doing lots of action shows and even a couple of funny ones too. And we'll try not to be too mushy. Take care.

l

Subj: Answers Date: 9/11/97 10:17:49 PM From:  RonDMoore

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We assumed that the Borg were using some version of the transwarp conduits established in "Descent" to get that close to Earth, and that something similar was responsible for bringing them so close to the Federation in "Best of Both Worlds."

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At the moment, we see these three races as the power centers of the Dominion.

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Possibly, but we don't have them on the drawing boards yet.

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I've never heard of this before, so if it's not a coincidence, it must have been an in-joke by the prop department.

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We have no plans for the Breen at the moment, but we could explore them in the future.

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It's usually the writer who comes up with the title, but there are times when s/he's stumped and the group has to jump in and find a title.

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That's something you'd have to ask the actors. I know that some of them are closer than others, but that's as far as I'd like to go in characterizing their inter-relationships.

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I don't have a list of all the ships and classes that were seen in that final shot. We've tended to stay away from using Enterprise models as other ships because we didn't want the audience to say, "There's the Enterprise!" when it wasn't really there.

Subj: Answers Date: 9/11/97 10:18:17 PM From:  RonDMoore

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It's possible and it's something that we've kicked around the office now and again. But we've made no decision on this one way or the other.

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TV Guide -- purveyors of television fact and fiction. This one is fiction.

<<Just to settle things up for those people who want gender equality in the Jem'Hadar race, could it be possible that there are Jem'Hadar females in the Dominion that the Jem'Hadar males are unaware of? If not, that's fine. If so, will we see them?>>

We don't believe there are any female Jem'Hadar.

<<In view of the discussions herein regarding history and politics, it occurs to me that we have not obtained an express statement from you regarding the compatibility of science fiction with ideas inherent in philosophical materialism as they relate to history and political science. Query: What is your view of the role of science fiction in exploring ideas that touch upon such themes?>>

I see no reason why science fiction cannot explore these ideas. Speculative fiction would seem to offer many opportunities to the writer interesting in pursuing these themes that are not readily available in other genres. The freedom to concoct entire societies with wholly fictional socio-political philosophies and histories endows the writer with an ability to examine moral and metaphysical questions from a unique perspective and I would encourage sci-fi to be used toward this end.

<<I wonder if after DS9 ends, UPN might have any made-for-tv movies on its Thursday Sci-Fi movie lineup which starts this season. Ron, any thoughts on this?>>

It's possible, but I haven't heard about anything like this.

<<Ron, can you please explain the most mysterous character in Trek? What exactly is Guinan's relationship to Picard? Will Mrs. Goldberg be appearing as Guinan ever again? And what about the rumors of Guinan's son making an appearance on DS9.>>

We never, ever spelled out the backstory between Picard and Guinan, even among the writing staff. The relationship worked better if their past was left mysterious. I don't know if there are any plans for Guinan in the next film, but we have no plans to see her on DS9.

<<Ron, what exactly is the definition of an "open com link" I had assumed that it meant that whoever said they would kep the open com link would be able to here what was going on where the other person is withou teither person hitting their communicator or otherwise initiating communications.Am I wrong 'cause in two different Voyager episodes (no, I'm not blaming you-I know it's not your fault, just trying to figure this out) Janeway has said that she will keep an open com link but both times she obviously wasn't hearing what was going on and I remember for sure once, the person hitting their communicator to initiate communications; both times things would hav ebeen a lot better if she could have heard what was going on from the start. So what's an open com link?>>

Regardless of the odd com protocols currently employed in the Delta Quadrant, we on DS9 see an open com link as being analogous to keeping the line open and information continually flowing at least in one direction, sometimes two.

Subj: Answers Date: 9/11/97 10:18:41 PM From:  RonDMoore

<<In Siskos office sits a model of a contempary space station, and a model of the conjectrual design for the Daedalus class ship. is it an *official* Daedalus class? why did the production staff put it in Siskos office? why did the production staff put the space station model in Siskos office? and why would the charactor of Sisko have them in his office?>>

I'm not sure what you mean by "official". They're official in the sense that Sisko has them and that means the models exist in the 24th century. They could be replicas of actual vessels, or simply prototypes. The production staff put them in his office to show Sisko's involvement with ship design (remember he briefly worked at the Utopia Planetia Yards).

_

Subj: Answers Date: 9/11/97 10:34:03 PM From:  RonDMoore

<<Everyone at Paramount kinda gets uppity when spoilers leak to the 'Net. But it seems to me that they're not doing anything about it (good news for spoiler people). Is there anything you'd like to see done? For instance, the infamous Ellen coming-out show, they printed the script on red paper so it couldn't be copied or faxed- but that could get pretty expensive on a show-to-show basis. >>

So far every solution to the problem of leaks has been either too expensive or impractical or both. The distribution list for scripts on the lot is a couple of hundred people long since so many departments are involved with the production of any given episode and eventually *someone* is going to give away a script, make a copy for a friend, or something. It's a headache, but one we've basically learned to accept. BTW -- far from being "infamous" I found Ellen's coming out to be one of the more courageous pieces of television in the last twenty years.

<<The Generations and Yesterday's Enterprise Bridges look similar, was this design made to help with funding, or just pulled out of the drawing book with no intent with making it look like the YE bridge?>>

The designs themselves were completely independent of each other, but when Brannon and I wrote the description of the E-E bridge, I was influenced by the "look" of the YE Bridge. Although even that was influenced by the TOS bridge -- the raised captain's chair without anyone standing directly behind him being the primary design element shared by all three.

<<Is it possible that the Changlings gave little Odo the boot because he couldn't mimic very well? Is they're insatiable need for order the real reason he ended up in the Alpha Quad?>>

Not a bad theory, but not our current thinking either. At the moment, we're going on the assumption that Odo was sent out for the reasons stated by the female shapeshifter.

<<any plans to bring back the Female changling? And if you do, will we learn what her role in the Great Link is?>>

You will definitely be seeing more of her this season and learning more about the Great Link.

Subj: Answers Date: 9/12/97 6:11:02 PM From:  RonDMoore

<<Now that the first six episodes comprising the current Dominion War arc have been written and filmed, how do you think they turned out? Did you and the staff reach the expectations that you had for the episodes? >>

I've seen the first five cut together and I'm very pleased so far. Until they're finished, I hesitate to give a definitive answer, but I think that we accomplished what we set out to do. They're a unique set of stories within the Trek saga and I think they're going to kick the sixth year off with a dramatic flourish. The seventh show is being shot now (it's mine) and I think it's going to be a real gem as well.

<<...the current epidemic of eating disorders in our modern culture (anorexia nervosa has the highest fatality rate of any of the mental disorders listed in the DSM-IV) relates directly to the way women look on television, Trek being one of the worst culprits in that area.>>

I'm not looking to stir this up again, but relating Trek to eating disorders and then asserting that Trek is "one of the worst culprits in that area" is not only fatuous, but also a prime example of the hysterical overstatement that some people engage in on this board when trying to make a point.

<< <Nana is a very talented actress. She looked completely at ease in the Indendant's costumes, and Anastasia's evening gown in "Our Man Bashir," and in her negligee while in bed with Bareil. (In my opinion.)> While I agree that she is a talented actress, it is ludicrous to suggest that those kinds of scenes take any kind of acting talent. . .her talent has been evident in episodes like "Duet," "The Homecoming/Circle/Seige" etc. NOT in whatever her ability is to strut around in revealing clothing!!!!! >>

Actually, it is ludicrous to suggest that Nana's part in "Our Man Bashir" did not take any kind of acting talent simply because she wore a negligee. In fact, many actors consider comedy to be the most difficult type of acting to execute, and Nana's skills in this area were obvious in the role of Col. Komonanov. The same goes for the skill required to pull of her arch and thoroughly enjoyable turns as the Intendent. (Also, I remember Nana telling me personally on the set how much she liked the role of Komonanov and how she liked the costumes in particular.)

<<Do you know what Odo uses as an energy source? I've asked this once before, but Odo doesn't eat food...and he sure doesn't use energizer batteries...>>

Robert Wolfe used to theorize that the Changelings pulled their energy directly from subspace (or some over quasi-scientific realm we have yet to establish) but it's not a question we're exactly foaming at the mouths to address on the show since it would lead us back into the Land of Technobabble.

<<As a writer, do you ever feel the weapons in Trek are *too* powerful? A hand phaser could probably punch a hole in a boulder -- ducking behind a rock or tree for cover wouldn't help much.>>

I agree. The weapons are way too powerful to present them in any realistic kind of way. Given the real power of a hand phaser, we shouldn't be able to show ANY firefights on camera where the opponents are even in sight of each other, much less around the corner! It's annoying, but just one of those things that we tend to slide by in order to concentrate on telling a dramatic and interesting story.

<<Will Quark and/or Rom be getting into any more mischeif involving the FCA (Ferengi Commerce Authority) and Brunt (Since Combs has his hands full playing Weyoun)?>>

"Brunt -- FCA" will return this season.

<<Do you ever feel like the public is down on you for telling the stories you want to tell? Do you ever feel like Paramount is down on you for telling the stories you want to tell? Do you care, either way?>>

I care -- I'm not sure there are many writers who don't care about how their work is recieved. But I try not to let it bother me if I liked the work. If I agree with the criticism, then I try to take it to heart and do better. --- Subj: Answers Date: 9/12/97 6:20:44 PM From:  RonDMoore

<<I was surprised when I saw that Avery Brooks was cast in the upcoming movie, "The Big Hit," which John Woo (who directed Face Off) is an executive producer for. I was wondering what your thoughts on this were, and if you would ever consider writing a script for John Woo.>>

I think Avery is extremely talented and would be a boon to almost any project. I'd love to work with John Woo, "Hardboiled" being one of my favorite films. (I personally think the opening shoot-out in the tea room is one of the best action sequences ever filmed.)

<<How about an update on the involvement of Romulans, or quite unforunately and more likely lack there of, in this upcoming season, Ron?>>

We have an idea floating around that would involve the Romulans, but it's at a very early development stage.

<<I know I've asked this before, and forgive me if you answered. What are the FED shapeshifters doing these days? Cameliod or Elasomorpf. Might they be the experts who is and isn't who they saw they are. Are they traveling in the Gamma Quad at the behest of SF?>>

I have no idea. We haven't even mentioned these races in a story meeting since I came aboard in TNG's 3rd year.