Ron Moore Blog/March 12, 2005

This entry of the Ron Moore Blog was published on 12 March 2005. It was titled "Q & A".
==Transcript==
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Transcript=
"Hello, Ron. I have a question about Baltar you ought to answer. One of the things I liked about the original series was the way Baltar did all his chair-swiveling. Boy, he sure looked evil way the frak up there on that big pedestal. And then Lucifer or some other Cylon would come in, and there would be those big, dramatic polytonal chords, and then Baltar would slowly swivel around in his chair to face whatever had come into his room because before they came into his room, he was facing a wall, or something off screen-- who knows what was there. I'm sure there's been a lot of speculation about it. But you see, when you made the new Baltar the way he is-- that is, a non-- chair-swiveller, I didn't think the show could work at all. You've got to have a chair-swiveller in it, and there hasn't been one-- until now. Just as I'm getting used to Callis NOT being a chair-swiveller, there he is at the end of "Tigh Me Up" SWIVELING IN HIS CHAIR! Well, I must say I was very pleased with that, and so now I must ask: Was James Callis's chair-swiveling scene a tribute to John Colicos's chair-swiveling?"
Chair-swiveling is an old and honorable avocation for any accomplished and self-respecting villainous personage. How could its inclusion be anything but a loving tribute?
"Ron, I was just wondering if you were at all influenced by the posts you read on the message boards."
I'm interested in how people respond to the show and I suppose on some level it must influence me in some way as I go about writing and producing the series, but I'm not sure in what quantifiable way. I mean, I know there are large cadres out there with strong feelings for and against the Baltar/Six story, the Caprica story, Starbuck, etc., but I can't honestly say that anything I've read has caused me to change any of those elements one way or another. I basically just try to tell the best story I can according to my own lights and hope that the rest of you agree.
"My question to you would be this; How do you view Fan Fiction? Is it something that you dislike, especially now that it is starting to be created with what could be called, your reimaged Battlestar Galactica Universe, or do you encourage people to express themselves (with in limits) like Gene did with with the fan fiction for Star Trek? Is it something that writers are able to glean potential story elements from or should the fans just leave the stories to the writers of the shows? Where would you draw the line on fan fic for Galactica."
As far as I'm concerned, fan fiction (that is, fiction written for fun, or non-professionally) should feel free to go in whatever direction it feels like going. If you want to write a story about Starbuck being Adama's illegitimate daughter and how she's carrying on an illicit affair with Laura following an accident which flings them across time and space to the Ponderosa Ranch, be my guest. It's certainly no further out there than the K/S stories in Trekdom which detailed the sexual and romantic liasons between one James Kirk and one Mr. Spock.
If you're inspired by this series and these characters and you want to turn that inspiration into artistic expression, I've proud and hope you enjoy the process. (And it should go without saying that there is a very bright and bold line between writing for fun and writing for profit and only the foolish would care to mess with NBC-Universal's legal department.)
"Quick question, not actually BSG-related. In your recent post in your blog you mention that you grew up in Central California. I was just wondering if you'd care to share which town. I grew up in Merced, myself..."
I was a neighbor of yours. I grew up in Chowchilla.
"There are a lot of references to Republican Rome in BSG, in everything from the names Gaius and Valerii to the Religion to the democrato-militaristic govennment. Has this been done on purpose, or is it just a lot of coincidences?"
The original series used elements of various ancient civilizations and I wanted to continue that element, but I didn't feel that the Egyptian motif, which they used predominantly, would be particularly resonant in this series. Greco-Roman influences were also present in the orginal, and I felt that Roman influences in particular would have resonant value given today's American society both in the republicanism (lower-case) and in the portrait of a culture that had ascended to a certain plateau, had driven its enemies from the field, proclaimed itself the guardian of truth and justice and yet was still prey to the same frailties and failings of all other human endeavors.
"If we go too far with this are you prepared to deliver Captain Kirk's 'Get A Life' speech?"
I should be so lucky as to watch you guys get to that point.
"Twelve cylon models and twelve Olympian gods seems too much of coincidence to me. Is there any connection? "
And Twelve Colonies. Coincidence....?
"I would like to know, what happened to the group of people left behind with Helo, from the mini.
Also, during times of conflict, the military often calls upon the old retired service members. It would be interesting, to see some old time Viper pilots in the seats.
In this conflict, everyone is a participant. I would think it to be a good ideal to have everyone trained up for military duty. "
The fate of the people left behind on Caprica and the other Colonies was a grim one and we'll be dealing more with that next season. With fewer than 50,000 survivors, it's always going to be a judgement call as to which occupations and avocations are represented in our fleet. This very issue came up when we first started talking about "Act of Contrition," where the question of the availability of pilots, and specifically old Viper pilots, came up in the writers' room. I felt that I didn't want the old pilots sitting around for us to capitalize on and that I wanted to be very careful when we had a story where we "happened" to find the very skills we needed in the survivor population. The press corps, for example was established as being aboard Galactica in the opening of the pilot, so the continuation of them in the fleet felt plausible and reasonable to me while also allowing us to play certain elements of media and culture in the show.
"Are there any plans in the pipeline to recruit authors and release a series of BSG v2.0 books? Of Particular interest would be the first Cylon war."
Books are in the works and the Cylon Wars are part of the possible subject matter.
"Tangentally, will the BSG bible ever be streamlined and built for public release? (perhaps as a companion to the series?)"
Possibly. A lot of the background information on the characters is starting to come out in both Seasons One and Two, so there might come a point where I'd let the bible be put out there for public consumption.
"I am aware that you intend to addressthe logistical problems the fleet suffers, however, do you intend to explore indepth the consumable production vs consumption directly. Considering the tonnage dictated by Baltar in one of the episodes one would think that every possible space would be converted to hydroponic grow ops (of the legal variety)? There seems to bee an awefull lot of wasted space on some of these ships."
This has always been in the back of my mind and I'd like to bring it up in the show at some point. (And they're probably growing the illegal variety too.)
"Could you please explain the writing process for an extra season stroy arc if you don't know if you are going to be signed from one season to the next? hopefully the Sci Fi network will come to there senses and offer a multi year contract. "
I just proceed as if it were already a done deal. I wrote the miniseries as a pilot for a series, without ever considering how to cover my bases if it didn't get picked up and I wrote the Season One finale as a cliff-hanger without any backup plan whatsoever if we didn't return.
Sometimes you just gotta roll the hard six.
"What are your thoughts on the decision to aire BSG in the UK before North America? I personally think the the pirating of the episodes is hurting the ratings."
I think, on balance, it was very positive for the show. Despite the pirating and file-sharing of the shows from the UK, which may or may not have depressed ratings slightly, I think that the UK exposure and earlier critical response helped to build momentum and interest for the series premiere in the US. I'm happy it worked out the way it did.
"Are you still working with Zoic for design work?"
Absofrakkinglutely.
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