Ronald B. Moore

Ronald "Ron" B. Moore is a visual effects (VFX) coordinator and supervisor who worked on , the movie , , and . In a smaller capacity, Moore has made, as a script supervisor, uncredited contributions to other Star Trek movies as well, breaking down scripts for the VFX requirements and budgeting them. They included , on which he and long-time friend Dan Curry also shortly worked as supervisors on one single VFX scene, and , his last Star Trek movie involvement. (Flying Starships, pp. 77, 90) He also worked as VFX supervisor on the 1996 s Star Trek: Klingon and Star Trek: Borg.
==Star Trek==
His work on Star Trek spanned eighteen years, encompassing the very first modern spin-off television episode in 1987, as well as the very last, in 2005, becoming one of the relatively few Star Trek production staffers in any function (the exclusive assembly encompassing among others Rick Berman, Peter Lauritson, David Takemura and Michael Okuda), who officially served uninterrupted on the entire run in the "Berman-era" of the modern television franchise, even though he has not worked on . His work on the franchise earned him five Emmy Awards and eight supplemental nominations, a Visual Effects Society Award (VES) as well as an additional nomination, joined by a FantastiCon Award, in the process becoming the third most honored Star Trek staffer, only surpassed by friend Curry and make-up artist Michael Westmore.
Due to the close similarity in names, Ron Moore was often confused with writer Ronald D. Moore, who started working for the franchise in 1989, and the confusion was not restricted to outsiders only, as Ron B. Moore gleefully recalled, "When Ron D. started working on TNG I even got his first paycheck. I did give it back to him but pointed out that he should be careful, as I know I would have no problem cashing his checks. I never got another, but am still hoping I do." (Flying Starships, p. 78) The confusion even persisted as late as 1993, when Moore was credited as "Ronald D. Moore" for his work on .
===The Next Generation===
As VFX coordinator, Ronald Moore was brought in as the third senior VFX staffer, after Gary Hutzel and Robert Legato, in 1987 to work on the production of the new Star Trek: The Next Generation television show. After the production of the pilot episode, "Encounter at Farpoint", it was soon realized that the new show was the most VFX laden television production of its day, much like its illustrious predecessor, (and of which Moore was a big fan), was in its. A fourth senior VFX staffer was deemed necessary to alleviate work pressure, and Dan Curry was brought in, partly on recommendation by his friend Moore. In order to streamline and increase production efficiency, the four were paired in two teams to work on alternating episodes, Moore being paired with his friend. The 16th (12th production number) first season episode, , was the first episode Moore and Curry worked upon as a team. () The format worked so well, that it has remained in use for the entire subsequent run of the Star Trek television franchise, though the boundaries between the two teams became a lot more fluid during the later seasons of Deep Space Nine, Voyager as well as Enterprise.
In his autobiography, Ronald Moore has confessed that he found working on the new Star Trek show a frustrating experience at first, early in the first season. Partly this was due to his own visions as a fan of The Original Series that did not, in his view, correspond with those of the producers of the new show. Repeatedly venting his frustration, Moore recalled, "Rob [Legato] called me aside one day and told me that he had never worked with anyone who had quit as many times as I had." (Flying Starships, p. 104) Properly chastised by the wake-up call, Moore managed to change his mind-set, professionally distanced himself from his fan-views and has thoroughly enjoyed his tenure on the franchise ever since.
After having already been given the opportunity to flex his muscles as VFX supervisor on the earlier The Next Generation episodes , , and , Ron Moore was permanently promoted into that position at the start of the sixth season as the third VFX staffer to hold the title, after Robert Legato and Gary Hutzel (who became the fourth VFX supervisor on that occasion) moved over to work on the new television show, and after Dan Curry was promoted to the newly conceived senior position of VFX producer. On this occasion, Moore was teamed up with VFX veteran Philip Barberio, newly hired as visual effects coordinator, joined by newcomer Edward L. Williams as visual effects associate for both VFX teams. (Cinefantastique, Vol 23,#5, p. 62)
Though their duties and work were on par with that of colleagues Rob Legato and Dan Curry, neither Ron Moore nor Gary Hutzel received official credits for their efforts on the first two seasons of The Next Generation. This was partly due to Hollywood union regulations, partly due to studio policies, and partly due to the lack of space and time on the credit roll at the end of a show. Nevertheless the omission was rectified from season three onward, as a grateful Moore has later elaborated upon, "But in TV you only have so much time at the end of the show. Getting your name there is not easy. At the beginning of TNG only Rob Legato had a visual effects credit. Rob went to bat for Gary and I. He eventually got us credits in the shows. It was nice of him to do it. There are so many people who worked on the show that didn't get credit. People whose contributions were essential to the shows received no on-screen credit. It is not always fair. I believe Rob even offered up to give credit on an episode and give it to someone else but the idea was rejected." (Flying Starships, p. 124) It was not just Legato, who felt this way; Curry too, felt compelled to set the record straight when an article in the magazine Cinefantastique referred to Moore and Hutzel as "assistants", as he wrote in , somewhat irked, to the magazine, "Ron Moore and Gary Hutzel were referred to as assistants to myself and Rob Legato in your article on STAR TREK effects [12:2/3:39 –typo; meant was, Vol. 23, #2/3, p. 39 –]. This is not the case and being referred to as such diminishes their incredibly valuable contributions to the show. Up until this season Ron and Gary were Visual Effects Coordinators and had a wide range of responsibilities ranging from scheduling and logistics, to direct creative involvement in bringing the effects into existence. Both men also served as Visual Effects Supervisors on several episodes where they had the opportunities to show the technical and creative resources that led to their being offered the position of Visual Effects Supervisors for this current season." (Cinefantastique, Vol 23,#5, p. 62)
===Generations===
Near the end of season seven Ron Moore became one of the relatively few senior VFX television staffers to serve on a Star Trek motion picture feature as well, while the television franchise was in production, when he was offered a position as VFX supervisor on Generations by Producer Peter Lauritson. Moore was fully aware of the fact, that if he accepted he might end up without employment within the franchise when the movie project ended, but jumped at the chance nevertheless. Upon conclusion of the movie project, Moore indeed very nearly found himself without gainful employment within the franchise. It was partly for this reason that Moore turned down a similar offer for the subsequent movie, , a chore eventually taken over by former subordinate David Takemura.
===Voyager and Enterprise===
Yet, Ron Moore was asked to join the Voyager production team as VFX supervisor in order to fill the gap Robert Legato had left, when the latter had shortly before decided to leave the franchise. Pairing up with Michael Backauskas, and thereby forming Voyagers second alternating VFX team, the sixth season one episode, , was Moore's first contribution to the new series. Moore was again asked by Lauritson to work as VFX supervisor on the subsequent feature, First Contact, but this time, after some preliminary budgeting work, opted to stay on with Voyager. David Takemura subsequently took the position on the movie production in his stead. Backauskas left the franchise after season one and was replaced with newcomer Mitch Suskin, coming over from digital VFX house Foundation Imaging, with whom Moore was teamed up for the remainder of Voyager. ()
Upon the request of GE Fabbri's editors Ben Robinson and Tim Leng, Ron Moore kept a diary during the entire production of Voyagers sixth season episode, , which was published in its entirety as a two-part article in and . In December 2012, Moore published his autobiography, Flying Starships (and in which his "Fury" diary was reprinted), which was entirely centered around the work he had performed on Star Trek, during his many years of involvement with the franchise.
Moore appeared in the final episode of Star Trek: Enterprise, as Commander Ronald Moore on a computer screen. There are many in-universe references to Moore throughout the spin-off television series, including a noted comedian in the episode , R.B. Moore, and Captain Moore, the latter also referenced to in Generations.
===Unofficial Star Trek work===
Outside the official Star Trek franchise framework, Ron Moore has provided his knowledge as VFX consultant on several episodes of James Cawley's fan-made internet series Star Trek: New Voyages (2006-2011), where he worked with Trek alumni Marc Scott Zicree, Michael Reaves, Jeffery Quinn, Doug Drexler, Kevin Haney, Koji Kuramura, Philip Kim, George Takei, Grace Lee Whitney, Majel Barrett Roddenberry, John Carrigan, Iain McCaig, Michael Okuda, James Van Over, Daren Dochterman, Denise Crosby, Leslie Hoffman, and Tom Morga. He is a member of the "" that writes and performs songs about Star Trek, and which has performed on numerous Star Trek conventions. The other members are Vaughn Armstrong, Richard Herd, Steve Rankin, William Jones and Casey Biggs. Moore plays the electric guitar.
Over the years, Moore had accumulated a considerable amount of production items stemming from his Star Trek years. Nevertheless, after having held on to his collection for the better part of two decades, Moore decided to let go of his Star Trek collection and commissioned Alec Peters's Propworx to auction off his possessions. Peters decided to spread the sale over three auctions in 2015, as Moore's collections was augmented with those of former colleague Gary Hutzel and the late property master Joe Longo, the first of which being the Star Trek Auction IV of 21 February 2015. 
==Career outside Star Trek==
Born and raised in southern California, Ron Moore has from an early age onward developed a keen interest in photography, which he has pursued vigorously during his high school years as well as during his two year stint in the US navy as a photographer's mate on the submarine tender he served on. After his stint in the Navy he enrolled, against the wishes of his parents, in the Brooks Institute of Photography in Santa Barbara, California (which was the Alma Mater of his later colleague Gary Hutzel as well, as it was of Dana White) and graduated with a major in Motion Picture Production. Having graduated in San Diego, Moore remained there and enrolled in the National Radio Institute, learning the technical aspects of building electronic equipment such as televisions and radios. As technician he landed his first job at the electronics company Cohu, building televisions and cameras.
An avid reader of the professional journal American Cinematographer, Ron Moore soon realized however, that this path taken led him away from his dream of working in the motion picture industry, and he took the gamble of quitting his job and moving to Los Angeles to find gainful employment in the industry. Not being a member of any of the motion picture industry unions or guilds, Moore had a hard time finding such, but eventually managed to land a job in 1978 as a driver at the Westheimer Company, the very same effects company that provided much of the VFX for The Original Series, a fact not lost on the thrilled Original Series fan Moore. While his job only entailed delivering finished shots to customers, Moore ingratiated himself as much as possible in the company by learning as much as possible about the effects business, whenever he was able to, which eventually paid off when Joseph Westheimer promoted him to optical lineup technician, which prompted Moore to definitively settle in Los Angeles, bringing over his wife Barbara from San Diego. During his years at Westheimer's, Moore made uncredited contributions to the television movie Kiss Meets The Phantom of the Park (1978, his very first motion picture work), The Muppet Movie (1979) as well as the television series The Love Boat, and Project U.F.O..
Between 1981 and 1984, Ron Moore worked for a succession of effects companies and further honed his skills as a VFX technician. Companies he worked for during that period were Freeze Frame, Modern Film Effects (where he met and befriended Dan Curry, and incidentally one of the very few, if not only visual effects house in existence at the time, not being hired to work on The Original Series) and Universal Opticals.
In February 1984, Ron Moore started working for Richard Edlund's company Boss Film Studios as one of that company's first employees when Edlund started his company as "Boss Film Corporation" only one month earlier. Moore would remain in Edlund's employment until he was hired in 1987 by Paramount Television to work on The Next Generation. While at Boss Films, he worked as optical lineup technician on (1984, earning him his first official credit), (1984) and (1985). As a visual effects editorial consultant Moore worked on (1986), (1986), and (1986). Other credits include (1986) and (1987).
During his years at Boss Films, Ron Moore served as a member on the voting board of The Academy of Television Arts & Sciences, the organization responsible for the Emmy Awards. While there, he was one of the members who successfully lobbied for "visual effects" to be split of from the former non-descript "Art Direction" category into a category onto its own. Years later he served for four years in a similar function on the board of directors of the Visual Effects Society, the organization responsible for the VES award, of which Moore had been a recipient.
After having left the Star Trek franchise, Ron Moore worked in 2006 as VFX producer for EntityFX on the action remake Miami Vice, followed by (2007) and the television drama series Kings (2009) for which he received his third VES award nomination for Outstanding Supporting Visual Effects in a Broadcast Program in 2010, shared with Brian Vogt, Craig Weiss, and Niel Wray.
Moore later worked as free-lance VFX coordinator on (2011) and (2012). The two films also feature Trek alumni Billy Burke, Michael Welch, and Jeff Imada.
== Star Trek credits ==
(This list is currently incomplete.)
* 
** – Visual Effects Coordinator (uncredited) (Season 2)
** – Visual Effects Coordinator (credited as Ron Moore) (Season 3)
** – Visual Effects Coordinator (credited as Ron Moore)
** – Visual Effects Coordinator (credited as Ron Moore)
** – Visual Effects Coordinator (credited as Ron Moore)
** – Visual Effects Coordinator (credited as Ron Moore)
** – Visual Effects Coordinator (credited as Ron Moore)
** – Visual Effects Coordinator (credited as Ron Moore)
** – Visual Effects Coordinator (credited as Ron Moore)
** – Visual Effects Coordinator (credited as Ron Moore)
** – Visual Effects Coordinator (credited as Ron Moore)
** – Visual Effects Supervisor (credited as Ron Moore)
** – Visual Effects Coordinator (credited as Ron Moore)
** – Visual Effects Coordinator (credited as Ron Moore)
** – Visual Effects Coordinator (credited as Ron Moore) (Season 4)
** – Visual Effects Coordinator (credited as Ron Moore)
** – Visual Effects Coordinator (credited as Ron Moore)
** – Visual Effects Coordinator (credited as Ron Moore)
** – Visual Effects Coordinator (credited as Ron Moore)
** – Visual Effects Coordinator (credited as Ron Moore)
** – Visual Effects Coordinator (credited as Ron Moore)
** – Visual Effects Coordinator (credited as Ron Moore)
** – Visual Effects Supervisor (credited as Ron Moore)
** – Visual Effects Coordinator (credited as Ron Moore)
** – Visual Effects Coordinator (credited as Ron Moore)
** – Visual Effects Coordinator (credited as Ron Moore)
** – Visual Effects Coordinator (credited as Ron Moore)
** – Visual Effects Coordinator (credited as Ron Moore) (Season 5)
** – Visual Effects Coordinator (credited as Ron Moore)
** – Visual Effects Coordinator (credited as Ron Moore)
** – Visual Effects Coordinator (credited as Ron Moore)
** – Visual Effects Coordinator (credited as Ron Moore)
** – Visual Effects Coordinator (credited as Ron Moore)
** – Visual Effects Coordinator (credited as Ron Moore)
** – Visual Effects Coordinator (credited as Ron Moore)
** – Visual Effects Coordinator (credited as Ron Moore)
** – Visual Effects Supervisor (credited as Ron Moore)
** – Visual Effects Coordinator (credited as Ron Moore)
** – Visual Effects Coordinator (credited as Ron Moore)
** – Visual Effects Coordinator (credited as Ron Moore)
** – Visual Effects Supervisor (credited as Ron Moore) (Season 6)
** – Visual Effects Supervisor (credited as Ron Moore)
** – Visual Effects Supervisor (credited as Ron Moore)
** – Visual Effects Supervisor (credited as Ron Moore)
** – Visual Effects Supervisor (credited as Ron Moore)
** – Visual Effects Supervisor (credited as Ron Moore)
** – Visual Effects Supervisor (credited as Ron Moore)
** – Visual Effects Supervisor (credited as Ron Moore)
** – Visual Effects Supervisor (credited as Ron Moore)
** – Visual Effects Supervisor (credited as Ron Moore)
** – Visual Effects Supervisor (credited as Ron Moore)
** – Visual Effects Supervisor (credited as Ron Moore)
** – Visual Effects Supervisor (credited as Ron Moore)
** – Visual Effects Supervisor (Season 7)
** – Visual Effects Supervisor
** – Visual Effects Supervisor (credited as Ronald D. Moore)
** – Visual Effects Supervisor
** – Visual Effects Supervisor
** – Visual Effects Supervisor
** – Visual Effects Supervisor
** – Visual Effects Supervisor
** – Visual Effects Supervisor
** – Visual Effects Supervisor
* 
** – Visual Effects Supervisor, Script Supervisor (uncredited)
** – Visual Effects Supervisor
** – Script Supervisor (uncredited) 
* – Visual Effects Supervisor
* – Visual Effects Supervisor
== Star Trek interviews ==
*Star Trek DVD and Blu-ray special features:
** TNG Season 6 DVD-special feature, "Select Historical Data Year Six" ("To CGI or Not to CGI"), interviewed on 
** TNG Season 7 DVD-special feature, "Departmental Briefing Year Seven" ("Creating Parallel Worlds"), interviewed on 11 July 2002
** VOY Season 2 DVD-special feature, "Red Alert: Visual Effects Season Two", interviewed on 
** VOY Season 3 DVD-special feature, "Red Alert: Visual Effects Season Two", interviewed on 16 October 2003
** VOY Season 6 DVD-special feature, "Red Alert: Amazing Visual Effects", interviewed on 
** ENT Season 2 DVD-special feature, "Inside "
** ENT Season 4 DVD-special feature, "Visual Effects Magic"
** TNG Complete Series Boxset-special feature, "Star Trek Visual Effects Magic: A Roundtable Discussion" (2007)
** TNG Season 1 Blu-ray-special feature, "Stardate Revisited: The Origin of Star Trek – The Next Generation: Part 3: The Continuing Mission" (2012) 
** TNG Season 2 Blu-ray-special feature, "Making It So: Continuing Star Trek – The Next Generation" (2012)
** ENT Season 1 Blu-ray-special feature, "To Boldly Go: Launching Enterprise" (2013)
** ENT Season 3 Blu-ray-special feature, "In a Time of War: Call to Arms, Front Lines, Final Conflict" (2014)
== Star Trek awards ==
Ron. B. Moore has received the following award wins and nominations for his work on Star Trek franchise, in the process becoming its third most honored staffer after Make-up Artist Michael Westmore and colleague Dan Curry:
* Emmy Awards: Moore received the following Emmy Award wins and nominations in the category Outstanding Special Visual Effects for a Series:
** Emmy Award nomination for the episode , shared with Dan Curry, Peter W. Moyer, and Steve Price
** Emmy Award nomination for the episode , shared with Dan Curry, Peter W. Moyer, Steve Price, and Don Lee
** Emmy Award win for the episode , shared with Dan Curry, David Takemura, Erik Nash, Don Lee, Peter Sternlicht, Adam Howard, Syd Dutton, and Robert Stromberg
** Emmy Award win for the episode , shared with Dan Curry, Mitch Suskin, Elizabeth Castro, Arthur J. Codron, Paul Hill, Don Greenberg, Gregory Rainoff, Rob Bonchune, Adam Lebowitz, and John Teska
** Emmy Award nomination for the episode , shared with Dan Curry, Paul Hill, Elizabeth Castro, Gregory Rainoff, and Bruce Branit
** Emmy Award nomination for the episode , shared with Dan Curry, Elizabeth Castro, Bruce Branit, John F. Gross, Fred Pienkos, Jeremy Hunt, Les Bernstien, and Paul Hill
** Emmy Award nomination for the episode , shared with Dan Curry, Elizabeth Castro, Paul Hill, Gregory Rainoff, John F. Gross, Bruce Branit, Fred Pienkos, and Jeremy Hunt
** Emmy Award nomination for the episode , shared with Dan Curry, Chad Zimmerman, Paul Hill, Gregory Rainoff, Dave Morton, David Lombardi, John Teska, and Brandon MacDougall
** Emmy Award win for the episode , shared with Dan Curry, Mitch Suskin, Arthur J. Codron, Steve Fong, Eric Chauvin, Rob Bonchune, John Teska, and Gregory Rainoff
** Emmy Award win for the episode , shared with Dan Curry, Arthur J. Codron, Elizabeth Castro, Paul Hill, Steve Fong, Gregory Rainoff, Rob Bonchune, and David R. Morton
** Emmy Award nomination for the episode , shared with Dan Curry, Armen V. Kevorkian, Paul Hill, David R. Morton, John Teska, Sean M. Scott, and Pierre Drolet
** Emmy Award nomination for the episode , shared with Dan Curry, Elizabeth Castro, Paul Hill, Fred Pienkos, Gregory Rainoff, Sean M. Scott, Eric Hance, and Bruce Branit
** Emmy Award win for the episode , shared with Dan Curry, Elizabeth Castro, Paul Hill, Gregory Rainoff, Fred Pienkos, Sean M. Scott, David R. Morton, and Chris Zapara
* Visual Effects Society Awards: Moore received the following VES Award win and nomination in the categories Best Visual Effects in a Television Series/Outstanding Visual Effects in a Broadcast Series:
** VES Award nomination for the episode , shared with Dan Curry and Elizabeth Castro.
** VES Award win for the episode , shared with Dan Curry, David Takemura, and Fred Pienkos.
* Shooting Star Award: Moore received the following honorary Shooting Star Award from the FantastiCon Science-Fiction Convention
** for , and Voyager
== Bibliography ==
* "Behind-the-scenes: Visual Effects Journal: "Fury"", , December 2000 – Author
* "Behind-the-scenes: Visual Effects Journal: "Fury" (Part 2)", , January 2001 – Author
* "Collectables: The STAR TREK Guitar", , May 2001 – Author
* Flying Starships, 2012 – Author
== External links ==
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