Moore/Behr Interview: Studio wanted to get rid of Bashir/Move Station

FrontierTrek · May 18 2013, 12:52 AM

Hello my fellow Niners!

I did a great on-camera interview with Ronald D. Moore and Ira Steven Behr last year which we've just made public at TrekCore this week. Part 1 mainly focuses on their introduction to Star Trek with TNG, but in Part 2 we discuss the move to DS9 and there are some very interesting revelations from Behr:

* Michael Piller originally told Behr the premise for DS9, describing it as "edgier, funnier, grittier, more character driven" and then said after 2 years he would hand the show over to Behr.
* Immediately after the pilot, people were saying "Make the show more TNG-like." "don't make it so dark"
* At the end of Season 1, the studio said "Should we put engines on the space station and fly it through the wormhole? Do we need the character of Bashir?"
* Behr describes the show being on a knife edge at one point, but luckily they were able to weather it.

The full interview is here:
Part 1 - http://trekcore.com/blog/2013/05/exc...erview-part-i/
Part 2 - http://trekcore.com/blog/2013/05/exc...rview-part-ii/

C.E. Evans · May 18 2013, 02:31 AM

To be fair, I think the studio saw where the ratings were going after the end of Season 1 and realized that many fans of TNG had not embraced DS9...

HaventGotALife · May 18 2013, 02:49 AM

Wow, I still love hearing about the show behind the show. Great stuff! Thanks for the interviews!

Dream · May 18 2013, 02:57 AM

C.E. Evans wrote:

To be fair, I think the studio saw where the ratings were going after the end of Season 1 and realized that many fans of TNG had not embraced DS9...

The ratings already dropped huge in numbers in the second episode from the Pilot. However, it is common for ratings to fall the longer it goes on.

HaventGotALife · May 18 2013, 02:58 AM

C.E. Evans wrote:

To be fair, I think the studio saw where the ratings were going after the end of Season 1 and realized that many fans of TNG had not embraced DS9...

Yeah, but if creatively they hadn't fought for it, something closer to Voyager may have killed the Star Trek franchise. They were flat-wrong creatively.

No Bashir? No Starfleet arrogance? No James Bond take? No genetically-engineered genius? It wouldn't have been the same without him.

sttngfan1701d · May 18 2013, 04:48 AM

Behr still has that odd purple goatee and Moore looks more like George Lucas with each passing year. Wow.

R. Star · May 18 2013, 04:53 AM

Well, DS9 was paying attention to their audience's feedback. After season 1 Bashir -was- the unpopular character. They made a concerted effort to make him better, but considering pulling the plug on him was bound to come up. I think it worked out well.

Phily B · May 18 2013, 06:20 AM

It really confuses me why the studios kept the "make it like TNG" mantra for so long, it eventually killed the franchise on television. I think a show like DS9 would be stellar in todays climate.

R. Star · May 18 2013, 06:33 AM

Phily B wrote:

It really confuses me why the studios kept the "make it like TNG" mantra for so long, it eventually killed the franchise on television. I think a show like DS9 would be stellar in todays climate.

All things considered... DS9's staff wasn't -that- much darker than TNG's... what made the show great was the support staff and the continuous story that tested our heroes resolve.

Can you really imagine DS9 running for seven years without Dukat, Rom, Nog, Weyoun, Martok, Damar, Zek, Brunt, Ziyal and the rest of the support cast? These people are what gave DS9 life and drama.

NKemp3 · May 18 2013, 06:46 AM

R. Star wrote:

Phily B wrote:

It really confuses me why the studios kept the "make it like TNG" mantra for so long, it eventually killed the franchise on television. I think a show like DS9 would be stellar in todays climate.

All things considered... DS9's staff wasn't -that- much darker than TNG's... what
.

DS9 WAS much darker than TNG. That's in part because you couldn't get more "lighter" than TNG....well, not outside of Stargate. TNG was great but in many ways it was more rosy and upbeat and positive than TOS. DS9 on the other hand was less feel-good because so many of its characters were shaded in darkness. Not to mention in its final two seasons there was an all-out war taking place in the AQ.

NKemp3 · May 18 2013, 06:50 AM

Two things I will never forgive the bean-counters at Paramount for in regards to DS9:

1)Not allowing the Dominion occupation of DS9 to last a few more episodes at the beginning of season six.
2)Not allowing the ENTIRE seventh season to be strictly continuous like the last nine eps of the seventh season (The Final Chapter). Boy, that would have been something.

R. Star · May 18 2013, 06:59 AM

To be fair... even letting the Dominion occupy DS9 "at all" was a giant risk in the realms of Trekdom. I remember the first time I watched a "Time to Stand" I just got shivers from Dukat giving the Captain's Log.

Sure it would've been great if it lasted longer, but... well they can be forgiven that at the time the fans wanted a payoff to that story arc. DS9 set the standard in Trek for that continuous story telling. Could it have been better? Sure... but it's what we got and it was great. I wish Enterprise had taken a page from the DS9 book.

HaventGotALife · May 18 2013, 07:26 AM

R. Star wrote:

To be fair... even letting the Dominion occupy DS9 "at all" was a giant risk in the realms of Trekdom. I remember the first time I watched a "Time to Stand" I just got shivers from Dukat giving the Captain's Log.

Sure it would've been great if it lasted longer, but... well they can be forgiven that at the time the fans wanted a payoff to that story arc. DS9 set the standard in Trek for that continuous story telling. Could it have been better? Sure... but it's what we got and it was great. I wish Enterprise had taken a page from the DS9 book.

"A Time to Stand." That brings back memories. It was the first year that I had an internet connection (at the local library, couldn't afford a computer). I printed out pictures from First Contact and Insurrection. And some site had cracked how long the Dominion would occupy the station (six episodes). I also learned about Worf's wedding on that site. First Star Trek spoilers. They even had whole scripts online. It was fantastic! I didn't usually read the scripts. God, what was that, like, what 1997?

R. Star · May 18 2013, 09:39 AM

HaventGotALife wrote:

R. Star wrote:

To be fair... even letting the Dominion occupy DS9 "at all" was a giant risk in the realms of Trekdom. I remember the first time I watched a "Time to Stand" I just got shivers from Dukat giving the Captain's Log.

Sure it would've been great if it lasted longer, but... well they can be forgiven that at the time the fans wanted a payoff to that story arc. DS9 set the standard in Trek for that continuous story telling. Could it have been better? Sure... but it's what we got and it was great. I wish Enterprise had taken a page from the DS9 book.

"A Time to Stand." That brings back memories. It was the first year that I had an internet connection (at the local library, couldn't afford a computer). I printed out pictures from First Contact and Insurrection. And some site had cracked how long the Dominion would occupy the station (six episodes). I also learned about Worf's wedding on that site. First Star Trek spoilers. They even had whole scripts online. It was fantastic! I didn't usually read the scripts. God, what was that, like, what 1997?

LOL, we were so much more innocent back then. I had the internet but it never even occurred to me to look for spoilers!

Though to be fair, I was only 14 at the time!

TheSubCommander · May 18 2013, 10:59 AM

What is ironic is Stargate Atlantis DID move their "station" (the Atlantis city), and DID kill off their doctor, and that is when the show really went south. Good thing they kept Bashir and even though they did end up putting thrusters on DS9, it didn't move to a different planet system, otherwise it might have ended up like SGA!

May 18 2013, 12:52 AM	#1
FrontierTrek Fleet Captain Location: TrekCore.com	Moore/Behr Interview: Studio wanted to get rid of Bashir/Move Station Hello my fellow Niners! I did a great on-camera interview with Ronald D. Moore and Ira Steven Behr last year which we've just made public at TrekCore this week. Part 1 mainly focuses on their introduction to Star Trek with TNG, but in Part 2 we discuss the move to DS9 and there are some very interesting revelations from Behr: * Michael Piller originally told Behr the premise for DS9, describing it as "edgier, funnier, grittier, more character driven" and then said after 2 years he would hand the show over to Behr. * Immediately after the pilot, people were saying "Make the show more TNG-like." "don't make it so dark" * At the end of Season 1, the studio said "Should we put engines on the space station and fly it through the wormhole? Do we need the character of Bashir?" * Behr describes the show being on a knife edge at one point, but luckily they were able to weather it. The full interview is here: Part 1 - http://trekcore.com/blog/2013/05/exc...erview-part-i/ Part 2 - http://trekcore.com/blog/2013/05/exc...rview-part-ii/ __________________ www.TrekCore.com :: The Net's LARGEST Trek Multimedia Site Over 450,000 Trek DVD & Blu-Ray Caps from EVERY episode/movie!

May 18 2013, 02:31 AM	#2
C.E. Evans Vice Admiral Location: Saint Louis (aka Defiance)	Re: Moore/Behr Interview: Studio wanted to get rid of Bashir/Move Stat To be fair, I think the studio saw where the ratings were going after the end of Season 1 and realized that many fans of TNG had not embraced DS9... __________________ "Shout, shout, let it all out..."

May 18 2013, 02:49 AM	#3
HaventGotALife Captain Location: Michigan	Re: Moore/Behr Interview: Studio wanted to get rid of Bashir/Move Stat Wow, I still love hearing about the show behind the show. Great stuff! Thanks for the interviews! __________________ To me, Star Trek's stories are about the depth and complexity of human relationships. It studies us and asks us to look within ourselves, to relate, to ask how would we respond to all that is in their world?

May 18 2013, 04:48 AM	#6
sttngfan1701d Fleet Captain	Re: Moore/Behr Interview: Studio wanted to get rid of Bashir/Move Stat Behr still has that odd purple goatee and Moore looks more like George Lucas with each passing year. Wow.

May 18 2013, 04:53 AM	#7
R. Star Commodore Location: Terra 3	Re: Moore/Behr Interview: Studio wanted to get rid of Bashir/Move Stat Well, DS9 was paying attention to their audience's feedback. After season 1 Bashir -was- the unpopular character. They made a concerted effort to make him better, but considering pulling the plug on him was bound to come up. I think it worked out well. __________________ "I was never a Star Trek fan." J.J. Abrams

STAR TREK

CSI

ABOUT US

May 18 2013, 06:20 AM	#8
Phily B Fleet Captain Location: United Kingdom	Re: Moore/Behr Interview: Studio wanted to get rid of Bashir/Move Stat It really confuses me why the studios kept the "make it like TNG" mantra for so long, it eventually killed the franchise on television. I think a show like DS9 would be stellar in todays climate.

May 18 2013, 06:50 AM	#11
NKemp3 Commodore	Re: Moore/Behr Interview: Studio wanted to get rid of Bashir/Move Stat Two things I will never forgive the bean-counters at Paramount for in regards to DS9: 1)Not allowing the Dominion occupation of DS9 to last a few more episodes at the beginning of season six. 2)Not allowing the ENTIRE seventh season to be strictly continuous like the last nine eps of the seventh season (The Final Chapter). Boy, that would have been something. __________________ You will be missed, Richard Biggs 1961 - too soon

May 18 2013, 06:59 AM	#12
R. Star Commodore Location: Terra 3	Re: Moore/Behr Interview: Studio wanted to get rid of Bashir/Move Stat To be fair... even letting the Dominion occupy DS9 "at all" was a giant risk in the realms of Trekdom. I remember the first time I watched a "Time to Stand" I just got shivers from Dukat giving the Captain's Log. Sure it would've been great if it lasted longer, but... well they can be forgiven that at the time the fans wanted a payoff to that story arc. DS9 set the standard in Trek for that continuous story telling. Could it have been better? Sure... but it's what we got and it was great. I wish Enterprise had taken a page from the DS9 book. __________________ "I was never a Star Trek fan." J.J. Abrams

May 18 2013, 10:59 AM	#15
TheSubCommander Lieutenant	Re: Moore/Behr Interview: Studio wanted to get rid of Bashir/Move Stat What is ironic is Stargate Atlantis DID move their "station" (the Atlantis city), and DID kill off their doctor, and that is when the show really went south. Good thing they kept Bashir and even though they did end up putting thrusters on DS9, it didn't move to a different planet system, otherwise it might have ended up like SGA!