RDM - not the answer

[Luke Lightsaber]

BSG is a great show, but man, it's depressing, Can't these people find a little happiness once in awhile?

 

[grabmygoblin]

RDM can write happy! he's not all nitty-gritty Cylon craziness!!
http://www.imdb.com/name/nm0601822/filmoseries
some of those he wrote were really funny, and he had a hand in producing a number of other really light episodes.

I agree RDM can't singlehandedly pull Trek back into popularity, but I'd be much more comfortable seeing him in charge writing in the current continuity than Abrams with his cryptic dropping of hints of a reboot...

 

[Sean_McCormick]

Well, from what i've heard of his next project (Virtuality), i'm not that confident in his abilities as creator with full control.
It seems that the premise for the show is "really bad holodeck malfunction", those stuff already got stale in TNG, but now it seems the entire show is based on it.

 

[RobertScorpio]

He may be overated, but I think his Star Trek tenure was one of the best parts of Berman Era Trek. His work in DS9 was great, and I am one who believes he could have saved Voyager from becoming the predictabe show it became.

Rob
Scorpio

 

[jimbtnp2]

Well, from what i've heard of his next project (Virtuality), i'm not that confident in his abilities as creator with full control.
It seems that the premise for the show is "really bad holodeck malfunction", those stuff already got stale in TNG, but now it seems the entire show is based on it.

ENOUGH with the holowreck - its a DISASTER for story telling

the more this guy does the more i'm sick of Moore -

we need a Ray Bradberry/GR/DC Fontana/Jereme Bixby creative type not a guy who can ldo at 100 different versions of the same old same old

 

[TeutonicNights]

blasphemy thread. He'll smite you ya know.

 

[drasche]

we need a Ray Bradberry/GR/DC Fontana/Jereme Bixby creative type not a guy who can ldo at 100 different versions of the same old same old

How about people who are alive and ready to take on a long term project?

 

[Admiral Buzzkill]

Since Moore isn't producing "Star Trek" this hardly seems like a relevant issue.

He's certainly improved BSG, though, to the point of being a good show rather than the crap that the 1978 version was.

 

[jimbtnp2]

we need a Ray Bradberry/GR/DC Fontana/Jereme Bixby creative type not a guy who can ldo at 100 different versions of the same old same old

How about people who are alive and ready to take on a long term project?

good point good point

problem is I really can't think of any - its like we're in a dark ages of creativity - sans Chris Carter and he's not gonna do Trek

Problem is with really creative people is they want to do their own thing not someone elses

Bryan Singer i guess??

 

[jimbtnp2]

Since Moore isn't producing "Star Trek" this hardly seems like a relevant issue.

He's certainly improved BSG, though, to the point of being a good show rather than the crap that the 1978 version was.

I much prefer the original BSG to the soap opera he's made of nuBSG

 

[Sci]

I would never want Trek to become like nuBSG. It would destroy the very essence of what I love about Trek - the hope, the optimism, the characters who I *don't* wish would just shut the fuck up and die, the atmosphere that is something other than mind-numbingly depressing.

And RDM has said that he would never want Trek to become like nuBSG.

 

[137th Gebirg]

His talent seems to be a Tarantinoesq ability to handle individual scenes but not a complete story

Probably a germ of valid criticism in there.

My big beef (if I have one): he doesn't know anything about science and seems to think people who like or expect a certain degree of science in science fiction are boors.

I would possibly agree with the first assertion regarding characterization but respectfully disagree with the second one regarding science. The scientific aspects, from what I could tell, in NuBSG seem quite solid. They went out of their way from the beginning to include RCS systems on vipers and capital ships, moving and maneuvering in realistic ways in both zero-G and atmospheric conditions. They even wanted the space scenes to be silent (for the first time since possibly 2001:ASO) as there is no sound in space. They eventually had to cave and put sound effects in just to not make it a snooze-fest, but they are still noticeably subdued compared to other properties like Star Wars, B5, Stargate and, yes, Trek too.

I think RDM's gripe with those who expect science in sci-fi shows are more with people who crave technical details about the science being used. He specifically wanted to embrace human character-driven stories rather than resort to endless and excessive technobabble to resolve an issue. He doesn't want us to know how the FTL Spinners in a Battlestar work because it's not in any way contingent to the plot. This is reason number 1 why we haven't seen any official starship spotter books or technical manuals on the NuBSG universe. He felt those things ultimately detracted from telling good stories and put heavy restrictions on what stories writers could generate because they forgot about that "thingy that did something-or-other back on planet X". He and his crew had no interest of making science and technology be the source of cheap plot devices like transporter accidents, time travel, holodeck malfunctions, etc. - things that have been done to death in the genre.

I am still looking forward to the day that, once the show is complete, we'll get some kind of technical manual-type publication that shows star charts, pages out of the Book of Pythia, aerial photos of the Kobollian continents and ruins, ship schematics and other things that tech fanatics such as myself can sink our teeth into. That's exactly the kind of thing that RDM wants to stay away from at this point in time. I don't think he has anything against science in the show itself, just not make science another cast member, is all.

Thoughts?

 

[Mr. Laser Beam]

I would never want Trek to become like nuBSG. It would destroy the very essence of what I love about Trek - the hope, the optimism, the characters who I *don't* wish would just shut the fuck up and die, the atmosphere that is something other than mind-numbingly depressing.

And RDM has said that he would never want Trek to become like nuBSG.

Really? Where?

 

[Sci]

I would never want Trek to become like nuBSG. It would destroy the very essence of what I love about Trek - the hope, the optimism, the characters who I *don't* wish would just shut the fuck up and die, the atmosphere that is something other than mind-numbingly depressing.

And RDM has said that he would never want Trek to become like nuBSG.

Really? Where?

Pardon me. In looking up the exact quote, RDM doesn't say that explicitly. However, it does seem to be the jist of what he's saying in response to a question about whether Star Trek: Voyager would have been like Battlestar Galactica if he had been the showrunner here:

If I had been the showrunner from the beginning I probably would have sent it into a darker direction and sent it into a more harrowing journey yes. And made them more on the run and more less of a pretty journey getting back, and at the same time, I probably would have felt compelled to stay within certain boundaries of what Trek was and how Trek had established itself. So I don’t think I could have taken Voyager to the places I have taken Galactica, even if I did have the reins.

(Bold added.)

 

[jimbtnp2]

And RDM has said that he would never want Trek to become like nuBSG.

Really? Where?

Pardon me. In looking up the exact quote, RDM doesn't say that explicitly. However, it does seem to be the jist of what he's saying in response to a question about whether Star Trek: Voyager would have been like Battlestar Galactica if he had been the showrunner here:

If I had been the showrunner from the beginning I probably would have sent it into a darker direction and sent it into a more harrowing journey yes. And made them more on the run and more less of a pretty journey getting back, and at the same time, I probably would have felt compelled to stay within certain boundaries of what Trek was and how Trek had established itself. So I don’t think I could have taken Voyager to the places I have taken Galactica, even if I did have the reins.

(Bold added.)

The point is whether he made it like nuBSG or not - it would likely suck - but to a lesser degree and not in the same way
I find him very uncreative and inward focused - we need grand thinking not 'who are the final' five - who cares

 

[Sci]

Really? Where?

Pardon me. In looking up the exact quote, RDM doesn't say that explicitly. However, it does seem to be the jist of what he's saying in response to a question about whether Star Trek: Voyager would have been like Battlestar Galactica if he had been the showrunner here:

If I had been the showrunner from the beginning I probably would have sent it into a darker direction and sent it into a more harrowing journey yes. And made them more on the run and more less of a pretty journey getting back, and at the same time, I probably would have felt compelled to stay within certain boundaries of what Trek was and how Trek had established itself. So I don’t think I could have taken Voyager to the places I have taken Galactica, even if I did have the reins.

(Bold added.)

The point is whether he made it like nuBSG or not - it would likely suck - but to a lesser degree and not in the same way
I find him very uncreative and inward focused - we need grand thinking not 'who are the final' five - who cares

1) I wasn't addressing the question of whether or not a Moore Trek series would suck, I was addressing Babaganoosh's concern that it would be so much like Battlestar Galactica that it would loose its Trek identity.

2) I firmly, firmly disagree with you. I find Moore's writing to be insightful, creative, deep, and grand -- far moreso than the cardboard cutouts that pass for good character writing and good plot writing found in much of TNG, VOY, and ENT.

 

[Mr. Laser Beam]

I was addressing Babaganoosh's concern that it would be so much like Battlestar Galactica that it would loose its Trek identity.

And, RDM's comments aside, I'm still not convinced that this would not happen.

 

[Hobs202]

Hasn't RDM already said something along the lines of not wanting to be involved in Trek again? Doesn't that make all this conversation moot?

 

[Admiral Buzzkill]

I much prefer the original BSG to the soap opera he's made of nuBSG

Once in a great while I like a McDonald's Quarter Pounder with cheese.

That doesn't make McDonalds' food good. It's terrible.

There isn't ten minutes of good writing or drama in the 1978 BSG; the show was crap. That doesn't mean that people can't like it.

 

[Sci]

I was addressing Babaganoosh's concern that it would be so much like Battlestar Galactica that it would loose its Trek identity.

And, RDM's comments aside, I'm still not convinced that this would not happen.

Erm, how can you set his comments aside? He basically says, "Yeah, I'd make it darker, but I wouldn't want it to be so dark it wouldn't be Trek anymore." He essentially says that he would not do exactly what you said you'd be worried he would do. I mean, unless you're just looking for an excuse to make assumptions on the basis of no evidence...