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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.

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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."

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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.

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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

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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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News Story

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Ronald D. Moore Says Religion Was Not Part of Star Trek, Talks Final Cylon and Caprica 

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By GustavoLeao / 04:58, 27 December 2008 / General Genre/SciFi

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Sci Fi Scanner posted a new interview with Battlestar Galactica producer Ronald D. Moore and here are few excerpts (beware of minor spoilers).

Q: You admitted recently that Battlestar's themes of faith and religion were something the network requested after reading a line in the miniseries. How did it evolve?


A: It was very natural. At Trek I was always trying to work in those angles and blur peoples' religions, but it was very much not a part of what Trek was about -- it just wasn't part of Gene's vision. It appealed to me because science fiction shows just didn't go there. I thought the idea of robots who believe in God was just a fascinating concept. And then I really liked the idea of the polytheists versus the monotheists, and that the monotheists were actually the "bad guys" because there's certain repetition in Western society of the one God driving out the many. There were just layers and layers to play with.

Q: The build-up to the final Cylon has been unprecedented. How is the revelation not going to be a letdown?


A: It will never be as powerful as the build-up. I resigned myself to that a long time ago. The "Who Shot JR" of it all is an instructive lesson: No matter who it is, it's still going to be a bit of a letdown. But I decided that precisely because of that, it wasn't going to be in the final episode. I didn't want that to become the entire series. I'm sure there will be a variety of reactions. Some people will love it, some people will hate it. But I think when you see how the revelation fits into the overall mythology of the show, when all the questions are answered by the end, then it'll make sense and you'll think, "Oh, well it kind of had to be that person."


Q: Next you've got Caprica. Are you surprised it took so long for SciFi to greenlight it?


A: I'd literally given up. You hear that a lot from studios and networks: "Well it's not really dead, we're not saying no." But they're saying no. It's never coming back, and I just thought we were in that spot. It's a gamble: We're making a character drama in a science fiction universe that has nothing to do with action/adventure each week. Nobody's been able to pull that one off, and it would be great to do that. It would be another way to validate the genre as supporting interesting and good programming.
 
The full interview is here.



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A character drama that has nothing to do with action/adventure? | Report this post to moderator
By: OkeydokeyObi (Odo's file, contact) @ 15:07:18 on Dec 28, 2008

Wasn't that DS9 in a nutshell? Yeah the dominion war and all that, but by and large, it was largely character driven.

--------

The dog is a gentleman; I hope to go to his heaven, not man's. -Mark Twain


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Guys, he's not referring to DS9! | Report this post to moderator
By: Muldfeld (Odo's file, contact) @ 00:28:55 on Dec 28, 2008 | Edit History (1)

Yeah, Mr. Moore always forgets to clarify that. When he says "Star Trek", he means "The Next Generation" or maybe even the original series. When he's talking about "Star Trek: Deep Space Nine", he calls it "Deep Space". It's really obvious because when he criticizes "Star Trek" he refers to all kinds of problems that he's gone on record as saying were not issues on DS9, on which Ira Steven Behr gave him lots of free reign. He talks about "technobabble" being a problem on "Star Trek", but, by the time he was on DS9 in Season 3, it was rarely used as a plot device. He LOVES DS9 and his time on it. His only complaints are in reference to Rick Berman, but he always says (and he's right to) that it was the best Trek.

He'd be the first to admit how huge a role the exploration of religion and faith played in that amazing show!

The only great Trek!


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Religion | Report this post to moderator
By: Hanabi (Odo's file, contact) @ 06:35:12 on Dec 27, 2008

Maybe i am missing something - but religion played a pretty big part in Star Trek - certainly in Deep Space Nine where you had the Bajorans worshipping the prophets.

Didn't RDM work on that show? :)


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  • RE: Religion | Report this post to moderator
    By: nsr019 (Odo's file, contact) @ 13:54:49 on Dec 27, 2008 | Edit History (2)

    Even in Deep Space Nine, religion was always viewed as what the "other guys" believe in. None of the main characters was ever depicted as religious, with the exception of Kira, who herself was something of an outsider among the main characters. Aside from her, you never saw the main characters attending services or consulting holy scriptures or factoring their spiritual beliefs into decisions. And no, I don't think Sisko's spastic opinion of the Prophets counts.


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  • RE: Religion | Report this post to moderator
    By: DIGINON (Odo's file, contact) @ 07:24:49 on Dec 27, 2008

    I guess he's talking about humans (or the Federation) in Star Trek.
    Yes, several alien cultures were shown practicing some sort of religion, but even then their "gods" were often shown to be malfunctioning computers or other aliens trying to take advantage of those cultures.
    The Bajorans may be an exception in that their gods did not have an evil agenda. But even the Bajoran gods were revealed to be wormhole aliens. The Federation considered them alien (non-humanoid) lifeforms, not gods.


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    • RE: Religion | Report this post to moderator
      By: VZX (Odo's file, contact) @ 13:49:41 on Dec 27, 2008

      The only mention of Earth religion I can think of was in the original series when Kirk refrenced a Christmas party, I can't remember which episode. That's pretty much it.

      That is something that always bothered me about Star Trek. You would think that our religions that have lasted thousands of years would last around a few hundred more in Trek timeline, at least in some fashion. I wish RDM could have pushed Christmas or something more on Trek.


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      • RE: Religion | Report this post to moderator
        By: DIGINON (Odo's file, contact) @ 17:39:50 on Dec 27, 2008

        Quote:
        You would think that our religions that have lasted thousands of years would last around a few hundred more in Trek timeline, at least in some fashion.

        That's the big question. Like I said down below, I'm not an expert in theology or anything, but to me it seems that a big part of most religions is to make sense of things that apparently don't make sense.
        At least in the past, there were a lot of phenomena that couldn't be explained. So people kinda invented a higher being to "explain" the things they didn't understand.
        As our scientific understanding of the universe grows, that part of religion loses it's importance. We can now scientifically explain things that our ancestors believed to be caused by gods.

        The second part of religion is the belief that everything happens for a reason. People want to believe that there is a "plan" behind everything, that the progression of the universe is controlled by someone and follows a purpose, as opposed to being a series of random events or accidents if you will.
        Especially when bad things happen to us, a lot of people seem to find consolation in the belief that it's all "God's plan" (working towards a greater good that we just may not be able to see) instead of being just "bad luck".
        I guess, that part of religion could live on to the 23rd or 24th century.


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      • RE: Religion | Report this post to moderator
        By: captainkoloth (Odo's file, contact, web site) @ 14:13:45 on Dec 27, 2008

        Quote:
        The only mention of Earth religion I can think of was in the original series when Kirk refrenced a Christmas party, I can't remember which episode. That's pretty much it.

        That is something that always bothered me about Star Trek. You would think that our religions that have lasted thousands of years would last around a few hundred more in Trek timeline, at least in some fashion. I wish RDM could have pushed Christmas or something more on Trek.

        And in "Who Mourns for Adonais" Kirk says to Apollo, "One god is enough for us.". An interesting comment to be sure, considering Gene Roddenberry's vision of the future.

        As for the Christmas mentions, that's not necessarily "religious". Christmas/Hannukah/etc. are really just based from pagan rituals (i.e. the winter solstice). I celebrate Christmas, but I'm not celebrating the birth of Jesus of Nazareth. : )



        --------

        There once was a man named Scorned,
        whose posts were more offensive than porn.
        He posted one too many,
        got kicked out on his fanny,
        and all the while he had been warned.


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        • RE: Religion | Report this post to moderator
          By: Sam Cogley (Odo's file, contact) @ 16:27:50 on Dec 27, 2008

          And Uhura was the one who figured out which "Sun" was being worshiped in "Bread and Circuses" - the way she said it was more as someone recognizing a kindred spirit than someone making an analytic observation.

          --------

          Growing up leads to growing old and then to dying,
          And dying to me dont sound like all that much fun...
          -John Mellencamp

          Political tags-such as royalist, communist, democrat, populist, fascist, liberal, conservative, and so forth-are never basic criteria.
          The human race divides politically into those who want people to be controlled and those who have no such desire.
          -Robert A. Heinlein

          Samuel T. Cogley, Attorney at Law


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    • RE: Religion | Report this post to moderator
      By: Hbasm (Odo's file, contact) @ 10:31:58 on Dec 27, 2008

      Quote:
      The Federation considered them alien (non-humanoid) lifeforms, not gods.

      Which is just splitting hairs. It makes no difference what word is used. Calling them gods does not mean you have to practice the bajoran religion. But why didn't the FED do more to befriend the prophets?


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      • RE: Religion | Report this post to moderator
        By: DIGINON (Odo's file, contact) @ 16:47:47 on Dec 27, 2008

        Quote:
        Which is just splitting hairs. It makes no difference what word is used.

        Of course, it's somehow splitting hairs. I guess the difficult part is the definition of God, or of a god.
        I'm not religious so that isn't exactly my field of expertise. What makes a god a god?
        There were certainly a lot of beings on Star Trek that were more advanced than humans, beings from other plains of existence, energy beings or whatever.
        The Q were shown to be all-powerful and all-knowing entities. Their powers probably make them the most god-like but they were never shown as gods in a religious sense.
        So what is God? The creator of the universe and all things in it? Some being with special powers? A representative from a technologically advanced civilization whose technology allows them to do some magic tricks?
        There certainly were examples of the latter two in Star Trek, but they kinda avoided talking about the first.


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      • RE: Religion | Report this post to moderator
        By: Sam Cogley (Odo's file, contact) @ 11:55:38 on Dec 27, 2008

        The Prophets didn't seem terribly interested in the Federation, outside of Sisko himself.

        --------

        Growing up leads to growing old and then to dying,
        And dying to me dont sound like all that much fun...
        -John Mellencamp

        Political tags-such as royalist, communist, democrat, populist, fascist, liberal, conservative, and so forth-are never basic criteria.
        The human race divides politically into those who want people to be controlled and those who have no such desire.
        -Robert A. Heinlein

        Samuel T. Cogley, Attorney at Law


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Religion | Report this post to moderator
By: Hanabi (Odo's file, contact) @ 06:35:06 on Dec 27, 2008

Maybe i am missing something - but religion played a pretty big part in Star Trek - certainly in Deep Space Nine where you had the Bajorans worshipping the prophets.

Didn't RDM work on that show? :)


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