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Ronald D. Moore on Voyager, Deep Space Nine, Galactica and Caprica

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By GustavoLeao / 16:19, 7 January 2009 / General Genre/SciFi

CinemaBlend posted a new interview with Battlestar Galactica producers Ronald D. Moore and David Eick and here are few excerpts.

What's in the future for both of you? And what's the latest on Caprica?

Ron Moore: Well I think we both have various projects under way. Caprica has been picked up for a full season. We start shooting that probably in July. We're putting the writing staff together now and the crew. And, just staffing up and getting ready to go. We'll start breaking stories probably in February or maybe even as soon as the end of this month, kind of depending when all the pieces go together. We have a game plan of sort of what the general story line is and sort of some direction. So we're not starting completely from scratch.

So things are well in hand. In Caprica we feel really good about that. And beyond that, you know, there's, I've got some future things in development and sort of waiting to see what will happen with Virtuality which is a pilot at Fox.

David Eick: Nothing really, I'm going to shoot some pool. Try to do a lot of drinking. No, there's a lot, as I said, we both have deals at Universal. So there's a pretty active development slate for both of us in terms of pilots. There are two at NBC right now that I have that are in serious contention and, you know, various and sundry things elsewhere. So it's an act of time. But I think our focus, our most primary focus right now is Caprica because that really is the next at bat.

Ron, having worked on Star Trek in years past, we're there any lessons that you took home from those spin off series that you're now able to apply to Caprica as a spinoff of the Battlestar universe?

Ron Moore: Probably first and foremost that you don't try to repeat the formula. You know, I think that, you know, I questioned at the time Trek's, when Star Trek - after Deep Space Nine when they developed the Voyager, and then subsequently Enterprise. Both those projects felt too similar to Next Generation and to the original series for me and by my lights.

I felt that, Deep Space was the way to do a spin off series of an existing franchise where you really are doing a very different show. It's a different format. It's a different feeling. You know, and the Deep Space Nine station lent itself to continuing stories. The Next Generation was episodic. I mean they were just very different animals. I felt that it was more creatively satisfying to do that instead of doing a, you know, a spin off that just felt like a different version of the mother ship. And so that definitely informed, you know, the process as we went into Caprica.

There's a lot of talk about Caprica. And I really wanted to know because there were some - there was some success with Razor. And most definitely will be with The Plan. Do you think that there will be any more opportunities for a prequel for Battlestar and for Caprica, you know, movie offshoots.

Ron Moore: Don't know about Caprica. Haven't had - haven't even thought about that direction. I don't know that there's really any opportunity to do more Battlestar pieces. We've struck the set. You know, I mean the sets are gone. So that alone, you know, raises a huge hurdle to try to do any more. Because, I don't know what, how they would scrape together the money to reassemble that ship. But, you know, there's always virtual versions of the ship. And you never say never. But I would say it's very, very unlikely that there would be any more.

The full, extensive interview, can be found here.



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I partly agree with RDM | Report this post to moderator
By: VZX (Odo's file, contact) @ 10:37:30 on Jan 08, 2009

I do agree with Moore in part. I agree that the new format for DS9 made for a show that, while still Star Trek, was very different. I enjoyed that format, and it is one of the reasons why DS9 is my favorite show of all time. Star Trek does not have to be a starship-based show. But I am glad that they based DS9 on a space station and not on a planet like they originally planned.

I disagree with Moore, though, about the fact that a spin-off show HAS to be different. As evident by many posters on this talk-back, many Trek fans enjoy the ship-based format. I believe that a ship-based spin-off could do quite well, if properly executed. The problem is that Voyager and Enterprise were handled poorly.

BTW: here are two concepts I would love to see for a new Trek show: a USS Titan, ship-based, TNG-era show with characters from the other spin-offs;
OR a TOS-era (based on Abrams' movie designs) space station show.


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I want to see a Quark story arc! by Stilgar @ 20:03:14 on Jan 08

RE: You're so wrong Mr Moore | Report this post to moderator
By: DixonHill (Odo's file, contact) @ 07:24:03 on Jan 08, 2009 | Edit History (1)

Actually, I don't know why people keep repeating this argument again and again. DS9 might have been a great series but it was never the Star Trek I wanted to see. Apart from some occasional TOS and NG references it had nothing to do with Star Trek's original premise, a starship-based show bodly going where no man has gone before and thus doesn't really count in my book. I like it as a series but it never comes to my mind when thinking about great Star Trek.

B5 for a change was a great show because it was created as a station-based show from scratch. The B5 universe failed when they tried to become more like Star Trek, introducing a starship-based show. That couldn't work because B5 always was a station-based concept.

Star Trek is about the starship Enterprise (or Voyager) exploring space! You can modify its execution but if you change the premise it ceases to be Star Trek.
DS9 may have its own hardcore fanbase but there is a reason they call themselves Niners in order to distinguish themselves from general Trekkers. It's a different thing!

Those people believing DS9 to be the best Trek ever just don't like the original Star Trek idea. They may like the universe and some ideas of it but not the premise. There is nothing wrong with that but you have to admit it.

There are people bored by that "to bodly go"-premise who prefer DS9's stationary premise but says everything about their expectations: they wanted a different Trek because of their dislike for GR's original premise (exploration, utopian society etc)...

VOY and ENT didn't fail because of their Trekish premise but their lame execution and their blatant waste of potential.

Let me put it that way: DS9 did the wrong things right. VOY and ENT did the right things wrong! DS9 is a good TV show but VOY and ENT are mediocre Trek shows. I personally prefer VOY's mediocrity over DS9's departure from Trek's core.

But I'm still waiting for a Trek show to finally do the right things right again...based on the original premise but elaborating on it and elevating it onto a new creative level...




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DS9 was good, but was it Star Trek? | Report this post to moderator
By: Stilgar (Odo's file, contact) @ 04:23:48 on Jan 08, 2009

Star Trek was about the Federation holding to some standards. In DS9 these standards had been done away with one by one. The Federation was presented as an increasingly flawed society:

1. Started with the unreasonable treatment of the Maqui colinists.

2. We saw get back to nature disident groups turning their back on the Federation.

3. The whole land of plenty was turned into one using currency and of economic shortages.

4. The Federation was shown as corrupt and on the verge of turning into a dictatorship under the slightest pressure.

5. Then the war came and more principles went out the window... all with their own justifications, but it was not in the spirit of Star Trek as established before.

6. The novels, which I stopped reading a LONG time ago (when John Ordover was the editor), seem to continue this trend. We have some large Borg invasion causing vast devastation on top of the Dominioin War destruction, and reducing the Federation into more problems.

These plot themes are based on destroying what has been built up as what Star Trek is about. They have the shock value at least initially, but quickly become boring because they are used so often. The shock value only works because of the background built up by previous shows... it is not set up by the shows and novles using these devices.

I am rewatching DS9 right now, all episodes from the beginning, and while I like it for the most part, the show went to far in tearing down what has been established about Star Trek prior to it. Just about the thing I enjoy most are the Ferengi episodes and the Quark substories.

I think DS9 should be restarted with Quark in it as the lead telling the story of how he got his moon. Other carracters can appear for some side stories.

--------

All message content © 2003 by Stilgar sietch_tabr[-at-]bigfoot.com, permission to reprint specifically denied to Michael Wong mike@stardestroyer.net


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RE: DS9 was good, but was it Star Trek? by Sam Cogley @ 11:36:35 on Jan 08
    RE: DS9 was good, but was it Star Trek? by Stilgar @ 19:23:15 on Jan 08

You're so wrong Mr Moore | Report this post to moderator
By: DixonHill (Odo's file, contact) @ 22:12:10 on Jan 07, 2009 | Edit History (1)

Repeating the same formula is the ONLY way of doing a spin-off if you don't want to piss off the fans. VOY and ENT failed because of their execution. The formula was right.

If you want to do something different, start a different franchise and don't meddle with an existing one.


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RE: You're so wrong Mr Moore by Tupperfan @ 01:47:36 on Jan 08
    RE: You're so wrong Mr Moore by DixonHill @ 07:36:48 on Jan 08
       RE: You're so wrong Mr Moore by jimbtnp @ 20:47:55 on Jan 08
RE: You're so wrong Mr Moore by Bondo @ 22:53:55 on Jan 07
RE: You're so wrong Mr Moore by Sam Cogley @ 22:17:40 on Jan 07
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