RDM says technobabble was gibberish

[Myasishchev]

Leaving aside the quasi-philosophical issues relating to the reproduction of a consciousness, all I want to know is how Cylons were indistinguishable from humans when they had super-strength, super-endurance, and the ability to connect telepathically with each other and biochemically with their ships via corn syrup.

Of course, you can ask the same question about how on numerous occasions our heroes and our villains pretended to be another species, in a world where a cursory tricorder check can sequence a genome. Yeah, I just got finished watching "Conundrum." Great job doing a routine examination before sticking the mind-warping device on the alien spy, Beverly.

Oh, please. Of course it is. When writing technobabble for Star Trek, Moore and his compatriots consulted scientific experts to make it sound plausible. He didn't bother to consult theologians for his theobabble, so you know it's good.

I'd advise against going beyond 4.0 with BSG; pretend "Revelations" is the finale (as it, indeed, almost was, due to what was, in hindsight, a writer's strike that should have lasted just slightly longer). I wish I had. I know that curiosity is an implacable beast, but what you will see cannot be unseen.

While some of the criticisms labelled against Moore are certainly true, and they are right, he is a bit of a hypocrite on this issue, but I love the comments on that site where people are defending technobabble and saying they love it as a form of plot resolution. I know some people are angry at Moore for BSG seasons 3 & 4, but they're letting it override rational thought.

To be expected, sadly; "Daybreak" causes brain damage.

Okay, okay, I'll stop.

 

[Admiral Buzzkill]

Everything Moore says here is true. End of story. Why all the wailing?

 

[TheMasterOfOrion]

Everything Moore says here is true. End of story. Why all the wailing?

The BSG solution

http://forums.syfy.com/index.php?showtopic=2337646

Writers were burned out/bored

http://forums.syfy.com/index.php?showtopic=2280957

Ron openly admitted in the season finale podcast that Roslin was underused this season, Mary McDonnell complained, and they realized she was right. Officially, "Apollo was given all of Roslin's screentime".....BUT, "we had no idea what we were doing with Apollo this season,

http://forums.syfy.com/index.php?showtopic=2258474

deus ex machina time travel

It came with the one year jump and then another four month gap between the stories. I think that...was a mistake.And I think that's why we're having a problem now.

http://forums.syfy.com/index.php?showtopic=2337646

God did it! [ 10 ]

[30.30%] Starbuck is magic! [ 6 ]

[18.18%] Let's abandon technology and kill ourselves! [ 12 ]

[36.36%] Who turned out the lights? I feel a song coming on! [ 0 ]

[0.00%] One year later ... [ 0 ]

[0.00%] 150,000 years later ... [ 3 ]

[9.09%] Other (write in) [ 2 ]

[6.06%]

http://forums.syfy.com/index.php?showtopic=2309473

Season three went wrong.

http://forums.syfy.com/index.php?showtopic=2282586

The Final Five

http://www.theatlantic.com/doc/200901/battlestar-galactica
Says ratings went to the shitter
calls it a space opera
compares BSG fans to scientologists

 

[Gepard]

Oh great, another opportunity for all the Ron Moore haters to show up.

Took the words right out of my mouth.

Everything Moore says here is true. End of story. Why all the wailing?

The BSG solution

http://forums.syfy.com/index.php?showtopic=2337646

Writers were burned out/bored

http://forums.syfy.com/index.php?showtopic=2280957


http://forums.syfy.com/index.php?showtopic=2258474



http://forums.syfy.com/index.php?showtopic=2337646


http://forums.syfy.com/index.php?showtopic=2309473

Season three went wrong.

http://forums.syfy.com/index.php?showtopic=2282586

The Final Five

http://www.theatlantic.com/doc/200901/battlestar-galactica
Says ratings went to the shitter
calls it a space opera
compares BSG fans to scientologists

For the love of God, STOP POSTING THIS SHIT. Look, Moore's not above critique, but your nonstop shallow, copy-paste, content-free anti-Moore/BSG posts are the most vacuous, obnoxious things I've seen in a long time. It's like you think Moore personally wronged you, and you won't stop whining about it until we've all caved in and agreed with you. Jesus. Give it a rest.

 

[WeAreTheBorg]

My favourite example of technobabble was a rare case when it was NOT used in a situation that normally requires it.

Voyager was being boarded and their transporters were being used to beam the crew off the ship...

Janeway: "Cut power to the transporter!"
Paris: "Can't."

No explanation... just can't!

 

[Triskelion]

I don't know how others felt at the time of viewing but when I watched Voyager on its first run I got the distinct impression the producers thought the viewing audience was stupid - or that perhaps the producers were stupid, or just lazy, if that technobabble deus ex machina week after week impressed them. I watched VOY in spite of this obvious flaw but it represents a score of wasted opportunities for good storytelling. Every reference to a shield remodulation is yet another character moment lost. Considering what they did with cardboard cutout characters like Chakky and Kim, a double-offense.

I understand business and compromise. But technobabble was a decision, and a running tactic willingly embraced, that devalued the entire franchise.

I know why people like to mock Trek fans. To assuage their own inadequacy to comprehend the relevance of an intelligent cultural self-definition. Just easier to denigrate it as "just a show", and not have to face yourself or your inadequacies to comprehend the significance of a vital cultural exercise like science fiction. Yes, it's just a show. I mean, if that's all it is, then that's all it is. A business.

They deserved Nemesis. And they ought to kiss the XI creative team's collective derriere for pulling the business back from the brink.

But if they think they can creatively coast now, they're wrong. Something new will surely come along, that more accurately reflects the interests of a more saavy and distracted viewing audience.

 

[Anwar]

Of course, it helped that Paramount decided to spend real money on NuTrek compared to the cheapskate manner they used for the TNG movies.

Give a TNG movie the budget Trek XI had and it would've turned out fine.

 

[RobertScorpio]

Yeah, and a broken clock is right twice a day. Moore is no one to talk about technobabble being crap. Sure, he eschewed explanations--in everything--but that doesn't make him better than Brannon Braga or anyone else famed for their technobabble, who at least tried to explain their bullshit, only with more bullshit.

"Mitochondrial Eve" is still technobabble if you don't know what it means. "Silica relays" is still technobabble if it doesn't make sense.

And I'd like to ask Moore if theobabble is any better.

Theobabble!!! That was funny. I would like to ask him that too, since for me, it kind of tarnished SOME of nuBSG's luster. Got too silly...

Rob

 

[barnaclelapse]

more enlightened insight from Ron Moore

Exactly.

 

[The Wormhole]

Of course, it helped that Paramount decided to spend real money on NuTrek compared to the cheapskate manner they used for the TNG movies.

Give a TNG movie the budget Trek XI had and it would've turned out fine.

So budget=quality to you?

 

[Nerys Ghemor]

And I'd like to ask Moore if theobabble is any better.

I hope your comment is meant strictly to reference Moore's involvement in Battlestar Galactica...

 

[Admiral2]

Everything Moore says here is true. End of story. Why all the wailing?

Because that's what you do when someone stops slurping the Kool-Aid, as Moore (god bless him) eventually did.

Rule of Star Trek Fandom #24: Trek writers are God. Thou shalt not question their output. (See Rule #25)

Rule of Star Trek Fandom #25: Unless their names are Berman and/or Braga. Then smite them, yea verily.

 

[PhasersOnStun]

What's interesting is that in the video, RDM says that he loved his time on Trek. So I don't see his comment about writing "tech the tech" as RDM saying "Trek sucked" so much as "raising the curtain so we can see the wizard."

In fact, lets look at it another way:

Let's say that you have a great writer (either a great sci-fi writer, a great television teleplay writer, or both) who is available and willing to write a Star Trek story. However, said writer knows nothing about the technology in Star Trek. What is the better option, to tell the writer to bugger off or to tell the writer "it's okay, just write a great story/outline, we've got science/tech writers who will fill in the rest."

Even the original series had D.C. Fontana as "Script Consultant" (AKA "script doctor") who took scripts written by established science fiction and television writers, and then shaped them into "Trek stories."

I don't see anything in RDM's revelation that is anti-Trek. He wanted to get away from that in nuBSG, and that's fine too. I love chocolate desserts, but sometimes, when I've had enough chocolate, I want to have vanilla desserts for a change. Doesn't mean that chocolate desserts suck. Just that I want to change, and that I can laugh now at the fact that for years, I'd refuse to eat anything but chocolate desserts.

 

[Admiral2]

What's interesting is that in the video, RDM says that he loved his time on Trek. So I don't see his comment about writing "tech the tech" as RDM saying "Trek sucked" so much as "raising the curtain so we can see the wizard."

In fact, lets look at it another way:

Let's say that you have a great writer (either a great sci-fi writer, a great television teleplay writer, or both) who is available and willing to write a Star Trek story. However, said writer knows nothing about the technology in Star Trek. What is the better option, to tell the writer to bugger off or to tell the writer "it's okay, just write a great story/outline, we've got science/tech writers who will fill in the rest."

Even the original series had D.C. Fontana as "Script Consultant" (AKA "script doctor") who took scripts written by established science fiction and television writers, and then shaped them into "Trek stories."

I don't see anything in RDM's revelation that is anti-Trek. He wanted to get away from that in nuBSG, and that's fine too. I love chocolate desserts, but sometimes, when I've had enough chocolate, I want to have vanilla desserts for a change. Doesn't mean that chocolate desserts suck. Just that I want to change, and that I can laugh now at the fact that for years, I'd refuse to eat anything but chocolate desserts.

I'm actually allergic to chocolate. I had to switch to vanilla because my last chocolate sojourn put me in the hospital.

So in keeping with the analogy, I found the vanilla switch better for my health in both cases (nuBSG gave me less agita).

 

[Myasishchev]

And I'd like to ask Moore if theobabble is any better.

I hope your comment is meant strictly to reference Moore's involvement in Battlestar Galactica...

I guess.

Though, the pah-wraiths sucked too.

 

[TheGodBen]

To be expected, sadly; "Daybreak" causes brain damage.

As evidenced by the extremely negative reaction shown by 50% of the audience, or the positive reaction by those of us who loved the finale?

 

[Myasishchev]

To be expected, sadly; "Daybreak" causes brain damage.

As evidenced by the extremely negative reaction shown by 50% of the audience, or the positive reaction by those of us who loved the finale?

I think both.

 

[Anwar]

Of course, it helped that Paramount decided to spend real money on NuTrek compared to the cheapskate manner they used for the TNG movies.

Give a TNG movie the budget Trek XI had and it would've turned out fine.

So budget=quality to you?

Aside from occasional exceptions (District 9), a higher budget can attract better writers and actors to improve the product.

Also, better budget can improve marketing to attract audiences.

 

[Ziz]

But a bigger budget also gives bad directors and writers the freedom to go overboard where they shouldn't. Michael Bay...McG....these names ring a bell?

 

[Ward Fowler]

Yeah, I always considered technobabble lazy writing, especially when the plot of the episode revolved around a tech solution.

I prefer it when Trek does away, mostly, with tech jargon. TNG and VOY were probably the worst offenders. TOS, DS9, and ENT didn't have much tech speak, if I recall correctly.

Agreed. IMO, TNG didn't start heavily depending on it until the later seasons, which I think is evidence for the case of lazy writing. To me, it always felt like a cheat to set up situations and then solve them with some heretofore unmentioned "magic".