Memory Alpha:AOL chats/Ronald D. Moore/ron100.txt

Subject: Answers Date: Mon Apr 13, 1998 14:40 EDT From: RonDMoore Message-id: <1998041318403201.OAA17247@ladder03.news.aol.com>

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In most cases, this is handled by John and the people over at Paramount Licensing without our involvement. We're not too worried about whether or not the novels contradict something we're doing. It's more of a concern for Pocket Books since the filmed episodes are "canonical" and they try to hew as close as possible to them. John has called on occasion to ask specific questions about where we're going or if we'd have a problem with them using this or that character, but that's about it. I haven't read any of Bill's books.

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In "The Sound of Her Voice" the exhausted and tense crew of the Defiant picks up a distress call from a marooned Starfleet Officer on a distant world. As they head for her, they are only able to talk to her over subspace radio and never see her face to face. The show is about the conversations they have with her and the way these talks reveal different aspects of our characters.

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I believe our last decision was that Dukat would not remember Kira from "Wrongs..."

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No.

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I love it. I think it's great television and a wonderful vision of the Apollo program. I'd also strongly recommend Andrew Chaikan's (sp?) book, "A Man on the Moon" to anyone who's enjoying "From the Earth..." I thought the first two episodes were great and the fourth one ("1968") to be powerful, moving, and one of the best things I've seen on television in recent years. If you're not watching it, START.

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All of the above characters are still on our "maybe" list of stories for next season. We'll see.

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Sorry guys, but I really can't do this. I have to be very clear about this sort of thing, so:

I cannot accept any suggestions for stories, premises, or notions on this board. It is against the rules of Paramount Pictures and the Writers Guild for me to do so. Please do not post story ideas or send them to my e-mail. Thank you for your understanding.

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I know that Trekweb posts my answers regularly, and I think there are some other websites that do as well.

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I'm not sure when the closed captioning people recieve the scripts, but I have heard of this happening before. However, even if they have the final draft, there are sometimes changes made on the set that were never incorporated into the script and that could account for some of the discrepancies.

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We have thought about using Olympic as a name from time to time. I just named a starship Olympia in "The Sound of..." after the flagship of Commodore Dewey.

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Maybe and probably not.

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It's difficult to be just a fan anymore. I do enjoy the show and still like to watch the show as an audience member, but I find that unless I'm watching something from a few years ago, it's hard to put aside all the production headaches, story changes, editing decisions, etc. and view the show as simply entertainment.

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I have read the book, and found it very interesting and informative. I met Bob and Herb when they were doing a book signing here at Paramount and they were gracious and engaging. As someone who works in TV, I can tell you that their book has the ring of truth to it. Even taking into account the fact that the original series was produced 30 years ago, the process they went through to produce the show was similar to the one we use today. It seems like the most complete and honest account of the making of the original series I've read since Stephen Whitfield's book "The Making of Star Trek."

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We had extended conversations about the backstory to Section 31 and yes, there was a lot of debate about how long and under what circumstances this branch had existed.

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No. Although we did discuss this possibility during the story break, we decided not to go in this direction.

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I'm not sure, frankly, why she called out "Dukat" rather than "Meru." I should ask David and Bradley. I never thought about it until now.

<<Did you see Titanic yet? What did you think?>>

I enjoyed it. I felt that there were enough moments of pure movie magic to make the whole thing work and which compensated for some truly bad dialog. The last third of the film is so well done that it's easy to forgive "Titanic" its flaws.

<<Is Terry Farrel leaving? I need to know if I should start letter-writing. >>

Can't go there yet.

<<You said that the season finale will be quote, "BIG". Bigger than "Call To Arms"?>>

Not bigger than "Call to Arms," but it will have large repercussions throughout season 7.

<<Which was/is harder, working for TNG or DS9?>>

TNG was filled with more tension and anxiety day to day and year to year. I saw a lot of upheaval in the writing staff, especially in the early years and the show always seemed to be in a state of turmoil. I did like many of the people I worked with and I know that during that time of my life, I loved my job. DS9 has been a more enjoyable experience overall because of the particular strength and unity of the writing staff and the coherence of vision that Ira has brought to the show. The work has been harder, but the rewards have been greater.

<<Do you plan to bring back "Section 31" again before DS9 ends??>>

Yes.

<<I've noticed this seasons seems to have much better episode titles. Did the writers talk about this, or did it just happen?>>

It just happened that way -- glad you like them.

<<"In the Pale Moonlight">>

Just watched this one over the weekend and wanted to say I think it's an outstanding episode. I did a fairly significant re-write on Mike Taylor's script (so don't blame him if you think we've gone too far this time -- I'm the culprit here and I'm rather proud of it) and I'll be happy to answer questions on the show next week.

Subject: Ooops Date: Mon Apr 13, 1998 14:46 EDT From: RonDMoore Message-id: <1998041318464501.OAA18143@ladder03.news.aol.com>

<<At the end of the episode why did Kira tell Dukat to leave? Couldn't she just have left and if Dukat got so be it and if not good? I suppose I'm asking why did Kira save Dukat?>>

RDM: <I'm not sure, frankly, why she called out "Dukat" rather than "Meru." I should ask David and Bradley. I never thought about it until now.>

My answer should've said "I should ask Ira and Hans, since they are the ones who wrote "Wrongs Darker than Death or Night."

Is the season over yet?