Memory Alpha:AOL chats/Ronald D. Moore/ron020.txt

Subj: Answers Date: 4/14/97 2:27:42 PM From:  RonDMoore

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That was not me and Worf & Dax do not get married in the finale, nor is it a two-part episode.

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Ira is the principal figure guiding the show's creative direction, but Rick is definitely involved in overseeing that direction. For instance, in the season finales or premieres, we always sit down with Rick and discuss at length the story ideas and where we want to take the show. The same goes for the bigger two-part episodes and the high-profile shows like "Trials & Tribble-ations" or "Rejoined." Rick reads everything we put out and usually has notes, comments, and suggestions on everything, but Ira is the one in the trenches every day and he's the one guiding the writing staff throughout the year.

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Thanks -- very funny and I'll pass it around, but I don't think I'll give you our "scores" -- we need to keep some mysteries to ourselves.

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I got the news in a phone call from Michael Piller and I think my first question was "When are you going to produce it?" I was a little surprised that it was shooting in just 3 weeks! After the call, I just sat there for a few minutes in my office (I was a contract administrator at the time for a tiny film distributor) and told myself, "This is a big moment in your life. Remember what this is like." It was pretty cool.

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"The Bonding" was completely out of my hands after I sold the script. Melinda Snodgrass and Michael both worked on the final draft and did so without any input from me. I was more involved in "The Defector." I wrote the 1st draft (which Michael hated) and then I was called in to help "rebreak" the story with the writing staff. Rebreaking the story meant a complete restructuring of the tale and it was my first experience with how a writing staff operates. Fortunately for me, I got along very well with the staff and was actually able to hold my own in the rebreak, so I was given the task of writing Teaser and Act One of the 2nd draft while the other Acts were divided among the other writers. (This is known as a Gang Bang, and is to be avoided unless the production deadline is so close that the script cannot be completed in any other way.) Michael liked my Teaser/One and I left a good enough impression overall that when the slot opened up on staff about 2-3 weeks later that he called me down to start as a full-time staff writer.

I saw one day of shooting on "The Bonding" and it was the first time I met Patrick Stewart. He was very gracious and friendly when he learned that I had written the episode and then asked me if I was writing another. I had just gotten the assignment for "Defector" and so I briefly told him the idea. He nodded his head, seemed intrigued, then said, "Just remember one thing... the Captain doesn't do enough screwing or shooting in this series." And then he turned and walked away. Now, THAT is the Captain of the Enterprise, if you ask me.

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Possibly, but not in the near future.

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Call the Writers Guild at (213) 951-4000 or (212) 767-7800 and ask for one.

Subj: Answers Date: 4/14/97 2:46:55 PM From:  RonDMoore

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You can contact Sherri's office (which is actually called AFH, I believe) at (213) 466-3779 and ask them what their procedures are.

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I had just turned 25 and no, you're at no disadvantage around here.

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I don't recall any story like this that I wanted to do. We would probably never consider this idea from a freelance writer since killing off a regular character isn't something we would do just for a good story. It would be the result of some outside force (the actor wants to leave or we want the actor to leave) and so it would definitely be developed in-house.

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I don't think so.

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We're always interested in what they have to say and certainly if they have a problem with doing something, we try to accomodate them as much as possible. You're right in that the actor playing the part has a different perspective on the character than we do and that point of view should not be discounted. However, actors sometimes confuse themselves with their roles and need an outside agent such as a writer or a director to push them in a direction that the person playing the character would never do ("But I would never do that!") but that the CHARACTER they're playing would ("Yes, but Picard/Janeway/Bashir/Spock/Quark/Worf/Chekov would do that!"). It's a collaborative effort between actor and writer, and neither party is presumed to know everything.

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First of all, I never said this. Second, neither Colm nor Nana felt this way either. Third, if they had, we would've talked with them both about it and worked it out.

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This is pretty flexible. I've turned in Acts that are 5 pages and I've turned in Acts that are 18 pages. Almost anything in between is acceptable for us -- other shows may be more strict. Total length should be in the 55-60 page ballpark and you exceed 65 at your extreme peril.

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I'm sure there's a significance, but no one I've asked seems to know.

<< It seems like we haven't been given any new Ferengi Rules of Acquisition for a while. Is this intentional, and is the staff trying to get away from the Rules for whatever reason, or is it just a coincidence, and should we be looking for more soon?>>

There's no particular reason except that we haven't come up with any new good ones or opportunity to introduce them yet. --- Subj: Answers Date: 4/14/97 3:27:58 PM From:  RonDMoore

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There are two points I'd like to make here: 1) I don't think the Essentialists were a direct attack on a particular political party or person. They were representatives of a philosophical point of view, namely the idea that pleasure and fun are to be frowned at and discouraged because of "the dangers out there" and the notion that those hedonistic tendencies will be the ruin of us all.

2) While Trek is not a political platform, neither is it devoid of politcal thought and opinion. Right from the beginning, Trek espoused a particular philosophy of Gene Roddenberry's which was termed "Liberal" back when that word wasn't thrown around as an epithet by radio talk show hosts.  The Orginal Series' view on things like civil rights, feminism (at least as far as go-go boots & space babes would allow), social equality, environmentalism, war & peace, and tolerance were very much influenced by the political thought of mid-60s American Liberalism.

Granted, Gene's vision also had elements of Conservatism thrown in as well, like a robust military presence (say Starfleet isn't the military all you want, it fails the duck test -- looks like, walks like, sounds like, etc.), a strong keep-the-government-out-of-the-individual's-lives view, and the lack of women as starship captains (sorry, couldn't resist). But the dominant philosophy was a more Liberal one and Gene carried that view with him into the creation of TNG, which is filled with Liberal influences. DS9 is more complex and its characters have a wider range of philosophies than TOS ever did, ranging from Odo's latent fascism to Bashir's almost bleeding heart, but our heritage is in Gene's view of the 23rd/24th centuries, and that means it's full of the dread "L" word.

As writers, we also have our own views and political leanings and yes, we do indulge them on occasion (anyone who watches "Rejoined" and thinks I'm a Conservative isn't paying attention), but again, this isn't a platform for those views as much as it is a forum for the discussion and debate of ideas. Sometimes we take a position and sometimes we don't, and that decision is exclusively ours to make. In the end, it's either entertaining or it isn't, and to quote a famous maxim of the Business, "If you want to send a message, use Western Union."

<<Why is it that the Romulans haven't really been used since the Klingon/Romulan conflict episodes of early TNG (i.e. third season, or around then)?>>

We just haven't integrated them into our storytelling. No particular reason except maybe we have too many races on our hands to deal with as it is.

<<Can you confirm the title of the DS9 season finale as "A Call To Arms?" We're itching to get a folder going. :-)>>

That's the title.

<<Is there any possibility that Cyia Batten (sp?) will return as Ziyal?>>

I don't think so. Our current Ziyal is Melanie Smith.

<<A few messages back, you mentioned that Sisko had come to grips with the fact that he may never make admiral. Why is it he thinks that?>>

This was something touched on in "The Search Pt 1" when Sisko was ruminating on a recent visit to SF Command. He used to picture himself there with Admiral's stars, but now he's realized that he'd rather be out here on the frontier in the thick of the action. Dax also observed that Curzon had never thought Sisko was cut out to be an Admiral in the first place. - Subj: Answers Date: 4/14/97 6:28:56 PM From:  RonDMoore

<<will Sisko's role as the Bajoran Emmissary cause anymore friction between him and Starfleet next season?>>

Possibly, but this is undecided.

<<Why was the decision made to reintroduce the character even though there were no plans to use her after that? I for one was glad to see her return and not just written off like so many other romantic interests. Did you feel that her having her in Rapture added enough to the plot to justify her noticable absence the rest of the season?>>

The use of Kasidy is complicated by Penny Johnson's availability since she also works as a regular on "The Larry Sanders Show." We intended to feature Kasidy more this year, but scheduling conflicts precluded her from a couple of episodes (I don't remember which) and then other shows just grew too large and complicated to still fit her in. I hope we can use her more effectively next season.

<<Any chance we'll see Spock's reunification thread picked up (or at least mentioned) on DS9 or maybe a future movie?>>

We have no plans for this.

<<Is the Defiant supposed to be as powerful as a Galaxy Class (only packed in a smaller package) or is more or less powerful. I don't need any specifics, but I am curious as to how you view it when trying to stage the space battles?>>

I can honestly say that I've never really thought about this question and the answer is probably, "It depends on who's in the Captain's chair." The Defiant is supposed to be one tough little ship and could probably hold its own and perhaps demolish a Galaxy-class ship, but it's hard to say. The real question is could Superman beat up Captain Marvel?

<<When DS9 goes off the air, is there a possibility that the story could continue in TV movies, miniseries, or on the direct-to-video market?>>

There's been no discussion of this that I know of, so it's hard to say at this point.

<<Why is it that the last two episodes of DS9's season are always held over into mid-June so that two more reruns can be shown??>>

That is a very good question and one that really frustrates/annoys the entire writing staff. The last two episodes are always "lost" out there by themselves and half the audience thinks the show's wrapped for the year!

<<Why haven't we seen [the Romulans] really go after the Founders and the J'hem H'dar (sp?) in a extremely sneaky and big way.>>

Theydid participate in the combined Romulan/Cardie fleet back in Improbable Cause/Die is Cast, and I imagine the Roms aren't going to make the same mistake twice, so they're probably biding their time and thinking out their next move before jumping into the fray again.

<<Any chance of seeing our old pals The Borg wade into the Founders and their lackeys?>>

The Borg are now the provence of Voyager.

<<What kind of script really seems to demand your attention on the writing staff?>>

It's just gotta be a compelling story -- it's hard to break it down into something more specific than that. Good character work, interesting plot, snappy dialog -- there're a lot of things we look for, but good writing will come through every time.

<<If Picard felt as though he had lived 40+ years in the TNG episode "The Inner Light", wouldn't that have screwed up his life a little more?>>

You're probably right. I've always felt that the experience in "Inner Light" would've been the most profound experience in Picard's life and changed him irrevocably. However, that wasn't our intention when we were creating the episode. We were after a good hour of TV, and the larger implications of how this would really screw somebody up didn't hit home with us until later (that's sometimes a danger in TV -- you're so focused on just getting the show produced every week that sometimes you suffer from the "can't see the forest for the trees" syndrome). We never intended the show to completely upend his character and force a radical change in the series, so we contented ourselves with a single follow-up in "Lessons."