Starfleet Logsitics:AOL chats/Ronald D. Moore/ron078.txt

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Subj:  Answers
Date:  1/23/98 5:00:52 PM Mountain Standard Time
From:  RonDMoore

Not much time, so let's get right to it:

<<Are you surprised that a good number of people in "Waltz" were disappointed in
the absoluteness of Sisko's judgment of Dukat's evil? Do you (as a writer and
observer of character) think Ben's overdoing it?>>

I'm not that surprised.  I knew that there'd be a fair chunk of the audience
that would be rooting for there to be a silver lining in Dukat's dark soul, but
I thought it was important to lay out some kind of judgement on this guy.   He's
a Villain.  He's charismatic and intriguing, but he's an evil guy who's done
some exceptionally evil things.  Be titillated by him, be amused by him, be
fascinated with him, but don't forget who he is and what he's done.  BTW, the
scripted lines in Sisko's final scene were a little different than those that
aired.  The scripted line was, "Then you spend some time with a man like Dukat,
and you begin to realize that there is such a thing as evil after all."  As
aired it was, "...and you begin to realize that there is such a thing as pure
evil."   Avery was more comfortable with this version and I supported him in
changing the lines.

<<This may have been answered earlier, but are the Jem'Hadar's shrouding
abilities.technological or a biological ability that comes from the White?>>

The shrouding ability is biological in nature and seems to be linked to the
amount of White in the body.

<<What do you think are the chances of seeing some of the recurring characters
from TNG again? (Like the Traveller, Tom Riker, Q and Vash, etc...)>>

There are no plans for any TNG guest stars to recur at the moment.  However, all
you fans of pointed-ears and padded-shoulders may be interested to know that
some Romulans may be on the horizon after all...

<<How did you view dukat's "chorus" (kira/weyoun/damar) when you wrote them [in
"Waltz"]? Are they supposed to be parts of his own mind... all saying things he
is thinking? If so, which parts represented what?>>

They were all representatives of Dukat's inner demons:  Weyoun -- the demon that
tells him the Dominion is smarter, tougher and better than him;  Damar -- the
loyal aide forever trying to prop him up and convince him that he himself is the
greatest of them all; and Kira -- the nagging voice of self-loathing that
condemns him for his crimes and tells him that he'll fail in the end.

<<When Bareil was beaming in to OPS [in "Resurrection"] Dax says that there are
no other ships in range.  Where       is the 9th fleet which is supposed to be
based there?>>

The 9th Fleet has its headquarters on DS9, but that doesn't mean that the ships
of that fleet are there all the time, in fact they probably spend more time away
from the station than actually docked there.

<< Landing Pad A is shown as an Upper Docking Pylon.  Was this to delay Bareil
or a mistake?>>

I'm not sure about this one.

<<Are we to assume that the Federation let the Dominion have the Cabral System
from Stat. Prob. or not?  >>

No.  The talks failed and Cabral did not change hands.

<<DS9 and Earth:Final Conflict were both named "Resurrection" the same week.
Ron, was this done purposely or by pure coincidence? >>

Weird, but coincidental.

<<When working on the recent story arc did you look back to the 3-episode story
arc from the beginning of Season 2, The Homecoming, The Seige, & The Circle?>>

No, but we were very familiar with them.

<<Will there be new dress uniforms?>>

We've tweaked them a few times and the new versions were seen at the wedding of
Worf & Dax.




Subj:  Answers
Date:  1/23/98 5:37:43 PM Mountain Standard Time
From:  RonDMoore

<<Nog's rank pip is one of the black ones that a Lieutenant Commander or a
Lieutenant J.G. would wear.  What is the reason for this?  What is his official
rank?  >>

I just noticed this myself.  I believe it's a continuity error and that the pip
should be solid (Ensign).

<<Was Captain Rachael Garret supposed to rhyme with Majel Barret?  >>

No.  I named the character, but I don't recall where I grabbed the name.

<<I think ds9 sucks and voyager rules. if you agree with me email me and if you
dont then dont cause I dont care what you have to say unless you agree with
me.>>

Nice to see that the high level of discourse on this board has not suffered in
my absence.

<<Was the idea of burdening Dukat with a �backup chorus�...  part of your
original plan or did it come up as a method to solve some of the logistical
problems of both showing Dukat�s continuing unbalanced state and providing a
sounding board for his mad musings?  >>

"Waltz" began life as a story we called "Dukat's Head" around the office.  The
notion was for Sisko to go visit Dukat in the mental hospital and while Sisko
was trying to engage the catatonic Cardassian in conversation (by speaking in
alliterative sentences)  we would push in on Dukat's face and then go inside his
head and show us the fantasy life he was living.  The story would've gone into
the past, dealt with his Bajoran mistress (Ziyal's mother, whose name escapes me
at the moment) his rise to power, his treatment of the Bajorans and even the
fantasy life he was trying to construct for himself on Terok Nor with Kira as
his wife and himself as beloved leader of Cardassia & Bajor.  We struggled with
the storyline for quite a while, but never found a way to make it compelling.
Eventually, we noticed that the scenes we liked the best were the ones in the
hospital room between Sisko and Dukat and we decided to toss out everything but
that.  However, some of the character dynamics we had envisioned for the fantasy
sequences eventually were realized in the phantom images of Weyoun, Damar, and
Kira as they appeared in Dukat's hallucinations.

<<Will we ever see any more of Natima Lang?  >>

I doubt it.

<<Did Andreas Katsula have a cameo in First Contact?>>

No.

<<In First Contact the label on the holodeck door at one point says "holodeck"
and at another point says "holosuite."  Did anyone notice this before?>>

This is the first I've heard of it.

<<After finding out that Dukat hadn't fixed the rescue beacon and that the
shuttle could fly,
can we the viewers question just about everything else Dukat tried to give as
fact about
the accidental death of the guard, Sisko's supposed sickness, Dukat's inability
to fix
Sisko's arm,etc.? That he, being insane, planned the scenario after escaping to
get Sisko
alone?>>

Initially, I had included a scene where you actually saw Dukat drag Sisko out of
the shuttle and then turned and discovered that the Lt. had died during the
journey.  I didn't want to imply that Dukat had killed him, because I thought
that it would distract us from the drama, but the scene got cut for time and so
the reference to the Lt. is a "widow" -- a term we use for a line that refers to
something no longer in the script.  All the other things you mention were true
-- Sisko's arm was shattered, and he did get violently sick the night before.

<<Ron... did you have any particular inspiration for Keevan? How did you come up
with the character? >>

No one in particular directly inspired the character.  I just tried to make him
as despicable as possible while making his motivations completely believable.

That's all the time I've got for now -- have a great weekend everyone!


Subj:  Answers -- Sort of
Date:  1/23/98 6:42:15 PM Mountain Standard Time
From:  RonDMoore

Just wanted to say that BirdofPrey's attempt to tighten up the board a bit has
my endorsement.
As much as I like the concept of "anything goes" in here, I think it's only fair
to moderate that somewhat in consideration of all the fans who come here solely
for a chance to ask Trek questions.  As the Bird said in his below posting, it's
still a free-for-all on topics, but let's try to keep the *length* of discussion
to something reasonable and try to leave those dead equines alone.

STFC:BOP --

<<...Yes, Ron himself has said he does not mind the side threads. He supports
"free expression" in message boards, as do I. His idea of free expression went a
bit further than mine, though,and went so far as to endorse the theory of
"off-topic doesn't exist" for his folder. I was more than willing to agree to
this in exchange for his presence in our forum.

Lately, however, an alarming trend has developed. People take threads to the
ends of the universe. Others use this folder for their own agendae. Still more
try to save money on psycho-therapy by sharing their innermost souls and
outermost feelings.

So what are we asking here? (Yes, we- this has been discussed with Ron.)  Not
much- just, let's try to get back to basics.

Why is this folder here?
1. To Ask RonDMoore.
2. To wait courteously for a reply
3. to comment on questions people ask Ron
4. To comment on Ron's gracious replies
5. And maybe take these comments off on a tangent.
6. To realize, once that tangent has been explored, to LET IT GO

Please note, # 3 4 5 and 6 above still allow the free-discussion Ron endorses.
However, even he has shown concern at the total morass some of the more recent
folders have become. Face it, would *you* want to try to sift through some of
that to find where people asked you questions?

To summarize- let's remember that Ron's here for us- not vice versa Let's try to
show him some appreciation by making his participation a bit easier! (Then maybe
we'll see him more often!)

STFC B0P>>


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