Re: Vanguard talk w/Mack, Ward, Dilmore, & Palmieri on The Chronic Rif
Just listened to the podcast.
Dave, I'm glad you felt Ganz changed as the story progressed and wish his story could have unravelled differently. I agree with you that Ganz was a powerful character in the series, not just a Jabba the Hut character. I enjoyed the smart and controlled crime lord. I especially liked the covert meeting Reyes and Ganz had in "Reap the Whirlwind" where they cut a deal for Ganz to help in rescuing the Sagittarius. After this, I found his lack of control toward Reyes on the Omari-Ekon strange. I though Ganz would have found a way to try to use Reyes. When Reyes appeared on the Ekon, I expected Reyes to begin working for/with Ganz but still hold a moral compass and only do work that met his code of conduct.
I'd have to agree. If we had it all to do over again, I think we might take a completely different approach to the resolution of the Reyes/Ganz story arc in books 5–7.
I also couldn't tell that you had difficulty understanding and relating to Desai. I thought she was well developed, sexy, and her story could not have been improved upon.
Glad to hear it.
If you were not a fan of writing Jetanien, why continue writing his story on Nimbus III after he left the central Vanguard plot?
Well, I don't think the issue was that any of us were not "fans" of Jetanien. I liked the Chelon windbag, even if I found him sometimes perplexing as a viewpoint character.
Dayton Ward and Kevin Dilmore made the decision in
Open Secrets to link Jetanien to the founding of the Nimbus III colony, partly to give the old turtle something to do after the abject failure of the diplomatic mission on Starbase 47 in
Reap the Whirlwind and because the timing of the colony's founding serendipitously lined up with that point in the saga's continuity.
We chose to continue developing the storyline on Nimbus III in
Precipice,
What Judgments Come, and
Storming Heaven because it served the broader arc of the saga, which was to show that things in the original series era were not always as they seemed. While the public story about Nimbus III is that it was yet another high-profile failure, one that seemed to sink the career of Jetanien, it actually served as the cornerstone of a new back channel between the Federation and its two chief rivals in local space, providing a much-needed clandestine "pressure valve" to keep diplomacy alive even when official channels closed. In that respect, Jetanien's efforts on Nimbus III and his work with Lugok helped set the stage for a future peace with the Klingon Empire in the mid-24th century, and might yet prove to be the seed of a new peace with the Romulan Star Empire.
This was all part and parcel of one of
Vanguard's most significant themes, the unsung victory. Is it more important to be seen as a winner, or to achieve a long-term goal behind the scenes while being the public target of scorn? How does one measure success?
Why was the XO, Cooper, not developed more? I wanted to submit that question. It was strange to have a Trek story where the first officer had barely any role to play. Was he intended to never have much of a role? I felt kind of let down that I never got to know him. Perhpas you could discuss this in a later interview.
As we have said before in other interviews, and as we noted even in the series bible, one of the creative decisions we made to distinguish Vanguard from other
Star Trek series was to shift the emphasis onto character types other than those normally seen.
Instead of a starship captain as the central figure, we wanted a commodore with oversight responsibility for several ships, thousands of personnel, and an entire sector of potentially hostile space; instead of a first officer, we wanted a JAG officer in the spotlight; instead of a security chief as a principal character, we wanted a military intelligence officer; then we added civilians to the mix — a diplomat, a reporter, a soldier-of-fortune, and a crime lord.
Put simply, the character of Commander Jon Cooper was never meant to be more than a supporting player, a solid and reliable officer who keeps the station running even though he's not directly in the loop about much of the station's most secret operations.
The funniest part in the podcast was when it was being discussed if Vanguard was HBO Star Trek and someone mentioned how Vanguard "showed more boobies." I ROFLed at that one.
Yeah, Kevin was a riot during this show. He had us all cracking up several times throughout the hour-long show. People often say Dayton is the funniest of the Vanguardians, but Kevin really gave him a run for his money this time.
I love my consolation prize! Although it seems to be more like a first place prize since the reward was the same as that of the "contestant" who had his question asked. I feel honored and will treasure my signed Vanguard set, especially since I had only downloaded the series to my Kindle.
Well, I'm glad you like it.
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