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Complete Shatner Scenes from Star Trek script
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Twilight: New Moon dethrones The Dark Knight - New opening day record set
Nov 17 | Originally hired as co-executive producer to help with the second half of the show's first season, Kevin Murphy has now taken the reins of Caprica, the Battlestar Galactica prequel on Syfy, according to The Hollywood Reporter. He now serves as an executive producer along with Ronald D. Moore, David Eick and Jane Espenson and oversees the day-to-day functions of the show.
Nov 12 | Star Trek star Zachary Quinto is loosely attached to star in the romantic dramedy Whirligig, reports Risky Business.Quinto would play the lead role in the independent Canadian film, which is aiming to shoot early next year. The movie centers on a man who, in a misguided attempt to woo an older woman, befriends the woman's adopted son.Chaz Thorne is directing the pic, based on a screenplay by Michael Amo, creator of the Canadian supernatural series "The Listener."
Nov 11 | The CNS Foundation, is hosting an on-line charity auction at www.charitybuzz.com. One of the items they are auctioning is a signed movie poster of the new Star Trek movie which has all the cast members and writers. The president of our organization is Carol Abrams, JJ's mother, and she arranged for the donation from Bad Robot Production Company. J.J. Abrams is also a major donor to their organization. The funds raised will go to help find a cure to neurological disorders in children. The auction link is here.
Nov 10 | Candice Bergen, Charles Lisanby, Don Pardo, Gene Roddenberry, Tom and Dick Smothers and Bob Stewart have been selected as the next inductees into the Television Academy's Hall of Fame. They will be honored at a Jan. 20 ceremony at the Beverly Hills Hotel. "This year's inductees have challenged and shaped popular culture, changed television for the better and entertained us royally while doing so," TV Academy Chairman-CEO John Shaffner said. More info at the Hollywood Reporter
Nov 08 | Unreality-SF.net has interviewed Star Trerk author James Swallow about some of his upcoming projects. He talks about Titan: Synthesis and Seven Deadly Sins: The Slow Knife, as well as some forthcoming Doctor Who and Stargate stories.
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By GustavoLeao / 20:05, 12 June 2008 / General Star Trek
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TrekMovie.com posted the first part of an extensive and exclusive interview with Battlestar Galactica producer Ronald D. Moore, in which he talks about his work on Star Trek The Next Generation and Star Trek Deep Space Nine. Here are few excerpts of the interview.
TrekMovie.com: Regarding continuity you were recently quoted saying something to the effect of "Star Trek has too much continuity."... Do you find it ironic that you were the guy back in the 90s saying "let's put more continuity in this thing" and are now the one saying there is too much?
Ron Moore: Yah I do think that is ironic. I can appreciate that. When I started, you have to remember there were exactly three seasons of the Original Series and six movies and two seasons of Next Gen. It wasn't that hard to keep it all straight. You could sit in the writers room and keep it all in your head. By the end of Next Generation we able to do that. As we got deeper into Deep Space Nine it started to become more and more difficult to do that. And as Voyager started to get up and going and it was running concurrently with Deep Space Nine, we all started to get a little stir crazy with it. Because as a writer you want to be able to create things in the moment. You want to be able have something happen on the page. You want a character to talk about an experience that they had and be able to introduce a starship captain and introduce them into a scene and have them start talking about a mission they went on twenty years ago and they remember encountering the Romulan ambassador on a certain outpost and having this strange adventure with them. And you want to be able to invent that. It gets to a point now when you try and invent some scene and everyone goes "I'm sorry but twenty years ago the Romulan ambassador would not be at place" and you go "it doesn't matter how about the Tholian ambassador," "up no sorry, in episode so and so and this episode on Voyager determines the Tholians would be over here..." You start getting caged in. You start getting more and more aware of the strictures of what you can and can't do. And back stories and anecdotes and personal histories have to all fit within this vast map of all these intersecting points of continuity and it becomes incredibly straight jacketed.
The lack of creativity is profound and you start worrying more and more about just coloring between the lines than you are making new and engaging stories. Plus the simple fact that you can't keep it straight. We started having tech advisors on the set - in the art department, like the Okudas, keeping all the continuity for us. And they were becoming more and more useful. But it is frustrating to be in the writers room and tossing out stories then having to stop yourself and go ‘does this work?' ‘does this violate continuity?' And having to call people and check encyclopedias and look up information. You want to have it all in your head and just play. The Trek universe has got to the point where you can't play anymore. It just becomes forbidding. I think it is even more forbidding for a new audience to try to come in and get involved in this new universe. Where do you pick up and how do you understand all these references. It is impenetrable at a certain point. So I was a big advocate of just wiping the slate and starting over. OK this was version one of Trek. Love it. Celebrate it. Watch it forever if that is your cup of tea, go ahead. Let's have version two...let's have another Starship Enterprise with Kirk, Spock, and McCoy and let's tell a different version of the event's. Look at Shakespeare. How many versions of "Cleopatra" can the world stand? As many as you can think of. Let's just do a different take on it and get energy out of it and not worry about all the back stories and not get caught up in what is the first time we supposed to have seen the Romulans. Really we have to now say that we can never do any other back-story with the Romulans except that the first time a human being saw them they looked like Spock's father. We are wedding to that for now on even though it is kind of creaky and there is probably a better way to tell the Romulan story than to rely on that notion. It just seems like you want freedom. You want Trek to be fun. So make it fun.
The full interview (plus an audio version) can be found at TrekMovie.
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Quote from perrybw:
Yes, writing in a Blank Slate universe may allow a writer complete and total freedom, but it also means they start at an emotional blank slate with their audience. STAR TREK's complex universe offers writers lots of fuel for good drama.
Unless a character is completely alien (or severely brain-damaged), there's no "emotional blank slate" state for the human condition, which exists independent of backdrop. Individual viewers bring their common Humanity to a fictional universe. We couldn't relate to a new and short story if this weren't so.
Drama isn't a function of environmental complexity. Gifted pantomimes can "tell" a dramatic story with no paraphernalia at all, because they play to our mind's eye -- which is what the imagination uses to "see" (thus to experience, vicariously).
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Up Till Now: The Autobiography by William Shatner
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You could either change the race of the character
Thats how we ended up with the "Klingons with a bad hair day" on Voyager....I mean...the Kazon.
Thats not creativity.
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or take the more adventurous path and tell a story of how this character was an exception to the rule.
Except thats not interesting television. Spending 20 minutes trying to explain why so and so isn't like such and such is boring.
Yes, continuity facilitates creativity. Having a rich backdrop to work with makes for a rich and textured universe. However, Star Trek right now doesn't have a rich backdrop. It has a series of predefined races who always have to behave in a certain way, to the point of cliche (Klingons are always pissed off, Romulans are always sneaky, Vulcans are always arrogant douchebags, Ferengi are greedy) and it has a string of details that have been littered amongst 5 television series and 10 movies that we as fans seem to want to demand slavish attention to.
Star Trek needs a blank slate, just to wipe out the preconceived ideas of how everything has to be. Deep Space 9 did that a bit, with its reboot of the Ferengi and the Trill. TNG rebooted the Klingons. Its happened before, just never on a big scale because there wasn't as much continuity as there is now.
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Scientists discover the world that exists;
engineers create the world that never was.
-Theodore von Kármán
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Quote from gerbil:
Continuity only becomes a burden on the writers when you add a fan base that demands a complete, slavish adherence to it.
Let's not blame fans who invest in what the writers sell as "fact" in a fictional universe.
What Moore appears to have forgotten is that fictional people and places are storytelling devices -- a reusable toolset that isn't an end in and of itself.
For an existing universe, a competent writer first thinks of what kind of tale she'd like to tell, then she selects whichever existing characters may best manifest the desired situation. New storytelling devices are constructed only if/as they enable or enhance the story.
Unforgettable and dramatic narratives about the human condition don't need to fill or use a cluttered universe. Proof: The timeless Star Trek pop-cult phenomenon is based on what's derived from a small ensemble of characters in just three low-budget seasons.
Alas, Moore isn't alone in his contrived, get-rich-quick remake mindset.
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Michael Giacchino's Award-winning Ratatouille O.S.T
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Quote from gerbil:
I can blame the fans for forcing the writers into a corner.
The writers aren't forced into a corner, except by their own creative dependencies. TOS shows the way.
According to the lore, Starfleet came to be in the 22nd century. TOS takes place in the 23rd century, so there are decades of interim events -- yet TOS writers offer virtually nothing for backstory. Throughout three seasons, we're never told how Kirk became captain, for example, and his depth of tender sentimentalism is established in just a few sweet onscreen moments with a woman named Ruth who remains a complete mystery to the audience.
This contradicts Moore's assumption that a narrative with painstaking historical detail is essential. If so, why didn't TOS fall apart from its shameless neglect of backstory?
Whereas Moore tap-dances like a continuity pornographer, Roddenberry et al masterfully wrote morality plays that simply don't try to bank on lore. TOS-style stories could readily transpose into a generic "wild west" frontier setting, substituting Kirk and company for "cowboys and indians" and wagon trains. Timeless and pan-cultural.
Moore can't tell a tale without so much intergalactic name-dropping that it causes a train-wreck of continuity collisions?! Judicious TOS writers sip lore as a catalyst. Continuity junkies Moore et al snort lore as a creativity crutch.
Tell a STORY. Utilize mythology only as needed.
RDM: "Doctor, it hurts when I shove my head up my ass."
Doc: "Then don't shove your head up your ass, Mr. Moore!"
;-)
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Very well said.
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The autumn days swung soft around me, like cotton on
my skin. But as the embers of the summer lost their
breath and disappeared, my heart went cold, and
only hollow rhythms resounded from within.
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"Continuity overriding creativity equals fan fiction."
Though I dont think it applies to all fan-fiction--such as Star Trek (Reborn)--that was however the best definition of 'fanwank' I have ever read.
You need to expand this notion into a full blown essay and post it on Shore Leave, dude.
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The autumn days swung soft around me, like cotton on
my skin. But as the embers of the summer lost their
breath and disappeared, my heart went cold, and
only hollow rhythms resounded from within.
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Quote from IamKirok!!!:
If I was a professional writer I'd be disgusted that I had to actually reference an encyclopedia about something that doesn't exist just to do my job and please fans!
The mark of a professional is masterful work in a demanding environment.
Creatives who won't apply their craft to the demands of a job commitment are pretentious artistes who have no business pitching themselves as "professional."
Moore is arguing for shortcuts that exploit an existing brand, not that blaze creative new trails.
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Exclusive: "Mirror, Mirror" Dr. McCoy
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"Moore is arguing for shortcuts that exploit an existing brand, not that blaze creative new trails."
Moore's expressing the fact that the size of the mythology is frustrating, not "arguing for shortcuts to exploit" anything.
Have you ever noticed that you rarely make it through a single talkback post without hysterically mischaracterizing someone's comments?
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The autumn days swung soft around me, like cotton on
my skin. But as the embers of the summer lost their
breath and disappeared, my heart went cold, and
only hollow rhythms resounded from within.
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Quote from Chronic Harlot:
Moore's expressing the fact that the size of the mythology is frustrating...
TOS shows that the size of a mythology is irrelevant to the purpose of storytelling.
A list of names is neither "too large" nor "too small", unless you believe that name-dropping amounts to validation -- in which case you're talking about gratuitous "continuity porn", not legitimate storytelling.
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Retro Cloth Series 6 -- Chekov and Cheron
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TOS shows that the size of a mythology is irrelevant to the purpose of storytelling.
Except TOS didn't really have a mythology. It had an undeveloped backdrop that changed as the series went on. It wasn't until the movies came along, and finally TNG, that the backdrop got developed into something more.
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Scientists discover the world that exists;
engineers create the world that never was.
-Theodore von Kármán
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Quote from Merlinus Ambrosius:
Except TOS didn't really have a mythology.
Zilch is a list quantity, and is irrelevant to the purpose of storytelling.
A continuity pornographer sees the mythology as an end in and of itself, like name-dropping, which is problematic as a creative dependency.
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TOS Communicator Replica
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Quote from Ronald D. Moore:
"The lack of creativity is profound..."
Bingo.
As soon as lazy sci-fi scribes can't just pull an otherworld chapter out of their arse, they moan about the inconvenience of continuity. Funny, how non-sci-fi fiction writers don't proselytize and nag about being stifled by Earth's long and detailed history, i.e. the "backstory" of human civilization.
This simply isn't a problem for competent storytellers, who recognize continuity as a frame of reality that's essential for a meeting of minds between author and audience.
Moore is talking about riding the coattails of established brand names. For example: Instead of starting a new series with its own brand, RDM et al took the name and concept of Glen Larson's Battlestar Galactica. Had Moore's series been a total botch, his so-called "clean slate" would not have prevented a dishonor to the entire BSG family -- just as ENT is like a stinky backwash into the mouth of Star Trek.
Moore's mindset hardly differs from the "genius" behind all the crappy remakes of pop-cult faves.
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A Practical Guide to Ubuntu Linux ++ Live CD
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As soon as lazy sci-fi scribes can't just pull an otherworld chapter out of their arse, they moan about the inconvenience of continuity. Funny, how non-sci-fi fiction writers don't proselytize and nag about being stifled by Earth's long and detailed history, i.e. the "backstory" of human civilization.
Oh please. Non science fiction writers don't complain about history, they simply ignore it when it conflicts. For example, contrary to what you see in Saving Private Ryan, the first landing party didn't actually make it to the beach.
The difference is, in that type of fiction, the fans don't go absolutely ape-shit over that sort of detail when the story is actually compelling. Not so with Star Trek fans, who flood message boards with complaints when a phasor is fired from a photon torpedo tube.
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Scientists discover the world that exists;
engineers create the world that never was.
-Theodore von Kármán
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Quote from Merlinus Ambrosius:
The difference is, in that type of fiction, the fans don't go absolutely ape-shit over that sort of detail when the story is actually compelling.
No, the difference is that a vast majority of moviegoers are ignorant of real-world historical fact (and current events), and they don't care. Watch Jay Leno's Tonight Show "Jay Walking" passerby interviews for an embarrassment of examples. In contrast, attentive Trekkies know their canon.
Star Trek fans aren't a separate breed of human with a peculiar response to errors in what they hold to be "fact". Trekkies come from all walks of life. Only a noisy minority go "absolutely ape-shit" over minutia, which is generally true for any group of proactive fanatics.
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Quote from AlexR:
Sure, there's some research involved in playing in a big and well-established universe. If one is not up to the task, my response is: go play somewhere else.
Human civilization has a long and detailed "backstory" -- it's called history. So, why don't all storytellers grouse about needing an army of historians?
Generally, true creatives don't argue for a shortcut to Tinseltown riches.
;-)
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The Free & Open Productivity Software Suite
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Quote from Sam Cogley:
Many authors do a good job of mangling this newfangled "history" thing.
Indeed, but none can (sensibly) make Moore's "clean slate" argument -- i.e. that the solution to writer ignorance is to purge humanity's accumulated historical knowledge.
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Star Trek: Conquest (PS2 | Wii)
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