Moore's Galactica, what exactly was number 6?

[JirinPanthosa]

Most shows don’t need planning that far in the future.

But when a major part of your show’s appeal is based on dreams, prophecies, and other long term mysteries, you should have some specific idea what they meant.

 

[JD]

Yeah, the prequel movie is set in the past, but before James Gandolfini died they were talking about a sequel movie.

OK, I was just curious because I know some prequels will still sneak in scenes set later as frames for the main story.

 

[Xerxes82]

I think that a program like, for example, TNG with stand alone episodes doesn't have to be planned very far into the future but in the case of continuing storyline and nubsg there at least should be somekind of a plan.

Ooh, TNG is actually the source of one of my favorite TV writing stories I've ever heard. According to what I've read, "The Best of Both Worlds, Pt 1" was written with absolutely no idea how to resolve the cliffhanger. The writer put no though into it whatsoever, believing resolving the story would be somebody else's problem the next season. But then ended up writing Pt 2, and so had to figure a way out of his own quagmire.

 

[The Wormhole]

Ooh, TNG is actually the source of one of my favorite TV writing stories I've ever heard. According to what I've read, "The Best of Both Worlds, Pt 1" was written with absolutely no idea how to resolve the cliffhanger. The writer put no though into it whatsoever, believing resolving the story would be somebody else's problem the next season. But then ended up writing Pt 2, and so had to figure a way out of his own quagmire.

A majority of the Trek season ending cliffhangers didn't have Part 2 or an ending thought up until the writers came back to start the next season. The only exceptions, IIRC, were TNG's Time's Arrow and Enterprise's Shockwave, which did have their endings planned while Part 1 was written.

 

[theenglish]

That explains some of the disappointing conclusion episodes.

 

[JD]

I can't remember what show it was, but I remember reading a writer saying that they would purposefully come up with the craziest cliffhanger they could think at the end of the season, just to torment the person who had to come up with a resolution when they started the next season.

 

[Anwar]

I can't remember what show it was, but I remember reading a writer saying that they would purposefully come up with the craziest cliffhanger they could think at the end of the season, just to torment the person who had to come up with a resolution when they started the next season.

I remember one of the Twin Peaks creators saying that they went as over the top as possible with all the cliffhangers in S1 so that the network would have to give them a second season.

 

[The Wormhole]

I remember one of the Twin Peaks creators saying that they went as over the top as possible with all the cliffhangers in S1 so that the network would have to give them a second season.

IIRC, a similar line of thinking is why Enterprise's third season ended with the Alien Nazis.

 

[Reverend]

IIRC, a similar line of thinking is why Enterprise's third season ended with the Alien Nazis.

Wasn't that particular show runner the same guy that put alien nazis on Voyager, and wanted to make a romulan war movie with nazis on the moon...or was it antarctica? I think nazis were just kind of his thing...

I can't remember what show it was, but I remember reading a writer saying that they would purposefully come up with the craziest cliffhanger they could think at the end of the season, just to torment the person who had to come up with a resolution when they started the next season.

Isn't that what Sorkin did when he exited The West Wing, though possibly out of spite? I'm sure it's not an uncommon thing in television.

 

[David cgc]

Honestly, I don't remember. It's been a while....
But the point I was (maybe foolishly?) making was that (if I got it right) the writers themselves admitted that nubsg was not that well thought out and they were making stuff up as they went on. That doesn't seem to be very brilliant way of making a continuing storyline. Suddenly you might find yourself in a situation that can't be resolved that quickly and there might be only few episodes left in the series.

I think that a lot of that comes from Ron Moore’s podcast and how incredibly frank he was about how the sausage gets made. I really don’t think anything he said about how the show was made was outlandish or atypical or shoddy, but people were expecting something more magical or something and didn’t like having their illusions disrupted.

I mean, the gold standard of pre-planned sci fi TV, Babylon 5, actually didn’t resemble the original plan except in broad, thematic strokes when JMS finally released his pre-season one, five year outline (with a cliffhanger leading to another five year show).

 

[137th Gebirg]

I can't remember what show it was, but I remember reading a writer saying that they would purposefully come up with the craziest cliffhanger they could think at the end of the season, just to torment the person who had to come up with a resolution when they started the next season.

I thought that was what happened between BOBW1 & 2!

 

[tafkats]

Has anyone ever tallied up for how many on-screen minutes Tricia Helfer is actually playing a Cylon, and for how many she's playing the Messenger?

 

[Mudd]

Ron Moore then responded "I actually liked the ending of The Sopranos..."

So did I.

 

[Tuskin38]

The ending of BSG never bothered me personally.

Now the ending of Caprica yes, mostly because it was a cliffhangar.

Damn it why couldn't it have done better, I loved that show.

Having a year break between the two halves of the season probably didn't help.

 

[137th Gebirg]

I, too, wish Caprica had a continuation or at least a better ending. Oh, well...

 

[Noname Given]

Ooh, TNG is actually the source of one of my favorite TV writing stories I've ever heard. According to what I've read, "The Best of Both Worlds, Pt 1" was written with absolutely no idea how to resolve the cliffhanger. The writer put no though into it whatsoever, believing resolving the story would be somebody else's problem the next season. But then ended up writing Pt 2, and so had to figure a way out of his own quagmire.

Well A number of things about Best of Both Worlds that was interesting:

- When it was originally pitched and Gene Roddenberry was in control of the story approval; he said 'no' to it - because in the 24th century no officer like Shelby would exist: and there was too much conflict between the main characters.

- The majority of the writing staff on the show who's contracts were up were very fed up with the production environment and weren't planning on coming back for season 4.

- When Gene Roddenberry went to the hospital; and was no longer in approval control, All the writers decided to go ahead with The Best of Both Worlds.

- Rick Berman was firmly in charge though and he gave an edict that he wanted his sonic wallpaper music style. The composer for the episode was really upset by this because he had come up with a number of themes, but Berman said no. What happened with that is said composer decided to do what he wanted to do; with the thought he wasn't interested in doing anything further with Star Trek in the future, so the worst Berman could do to him would be fire him and never bring him back for another episode. He was fine with that and that's how we got a number of the themes that exist in Best of Both Worlds.

- In the end the writers did come up with a scenario that they had no clue how to resolve; but they all loved the ending with Riker saying; "Mr. Worf, fire..." - and yes they figured whomever Rick Berman got to replace them, going forward past that episode ending wasn't going to be their problem.

- But like you said, The joke ended up being on them because I guess certain concessions were given going forward in their new contract offers, so most of them did decide to come back for the 4th season; and they were the ones who had to write themselves out of the situation they put themselves in.

 

[Anwar]

The further irony is that when the TNG writers were put in the spot like that, they turned out better stuff than when they had more time.

Ron Moore and Braga admitted they wrote "All Good Things" on the fly compared to "Generations" and AGT was the far superior work.

Piller being on the spot for BOBW Part 2 gave us the ingenious "Sleep" ending.

 

[theenglish]

Just like how the writers turned out some of the best scripts for the bottle shows.

 

[Noname Given]

The further irony is that when the TNG writers were put in the spot like that, they turned out better stuff than when they had more time.

Ron Moore and Braga admitted they wrote "All Good Things" on the fly compared to "Generations" and AGT was the far superior work.

Piller being on the spot for BOBW Part 2 gave us the ingenious "Sleep" ending.

As I recall they also admitted occasionally being confused as to which of those two projects they were writing for; and created some scenes they felt were good, but realized they had mixed things up and those scenes was unusable.

 

[JesterFace]

Ooh, TNG is actually the source of one of my favorite TV writing stories I've ever heard. According to what I've read, "The Best of Both Worlds, Pt 1" was written with absolutely no idea how to resolve the cliffhanger. The writer put no though into it whatsoever, believing resolving the story would be somebody else's problem the next season. But then ended up writing Pt 2, and so had to figure a way out of his own quagmire.

Was it already mentioned and have I understood this correctly? Michael Piller was originally hired to be on TNG for one season and that's why he didn't write an ending to TBOBW. Then they wanted him back and he wrote part 2 and continued with the series.

 

[JD]

Isn't that what Sorkin did when he exited The West Wing, though possibly out of spite? I'm sure it's not an uncommon thing in television.

Not sure, I've only seen a handful of The West Wing episodes.

I thought that was what happened between BOBW1 & 2!

It was something more recent than that. It was either a sci-fi, fantasy, or superhero show after the turn of the millennium. My first thoughts would be Lost or Farscape, or maybe Once Upon a Time.

I, too, wish Caprica had a continuation or at least a better ending. Oh, well...

Me too, honestly, there were times where I actually found myself enjoying Caprica more than I did Battlestar Galactica.