Subj:  Answers
Date:  10/3/97 12:08:20 AM
From:  RonDMoore       

<<What are all these other planets doing while the federation and klingons
are dying to defend the alpha quadrent?? There have to be some that actually
want to survive>>

There are probably other planets and/or alliances that have joined in the
fighting, but they would be much smaller players than the Feds and the
Klingons.  We may or may not mention them at some point.  Remember that there
were many nations fighting the Axis in WWII, but only the major players are
usually referred to.

<<And, Dear, please try to work in a guest appearance by me, accompanied by
an all-expenses paid trip to Hollywood, an all-access tour of the Paramount
lot, and dinner and dancing with the Trek babe of my choice...>>

No problem.  Just show up at the gate.  Wear a big sign that says, "I'M HERE
NOW" and I'll have someone escort you to your very own makeup trailer where
they'll put some dark makeup on your fingers and then take some pretty
pictures...

<<Is Sisko being promoted to Admiral?  >>

No.

<<Why do the writing staff break their own rules when it comes to spec-
scripts and freelancers?
Example. In the DS9 season 5 pitch letter, it says" tensions between the
Klingons will get worse and worse" and yet the opposite happens.>>

Well, they are *our* rules!   Seriously, the pitch letter is composed at the
beginning of the season and it only reflects our thinking at that time.
 Things often change over the course of the year, but we seldom get around to
going back and revising the pitch letter.  We also just feel that certain
story ideas are better left to the staff -- things like bringing in the
Holodoc from Voyager are ideas that have to be developed in-house because
they involve a fair amount of political manuevering within the shows so as
not to step on anyone's toes.  Overall, the pitch letter and the guidelines
are meant to steer you away from things that everyone and their brother tries
to pitch or write and we're just sick of seeing them on paper.  The rules
can, of course, be broken -- we'll read your spec or take your pitch anyway
-- but you lessen the chance of serious consideration with every guideline
that you break.

<<And would a spec script that came back without REJECTED written all over it
mean anything of or would this be nothing to worry about unless it had a
pitch invite with it.>>

I'm not sure I understand.  You got your script back without "rejected" on
it, but it did or did not have an invitation to pitch?

<<Now that there are more than one Defiant class (reference the Final Scene
of Call to Arms), will the Defiant itself lose it's NX registry letters? >>

I don't know.  Maybe.  It's a question of whether or not it would screw up
our library of stock Defiant shots to suddenly make a change on the exterior
model.

<<Did Dukat in fact KNOW what the Dominion was planning to do [in "Inferno's
Light"]? >>

I think he knew.

<<What is the estimated population of Bajor and it's moons?
Thus, how many people could possibly have been killed if Kira hadn't stopped
the Bashir changeling?>>

I don't know, but assume it's at least in the hundreds of millions, if not
billions.

<<So, how much of a pay raise does that translate into for Kira...after she's
promoted, that is...>>

She's getting a tax credit instead.

<<I just wanted to thank you again for attending the TV Academy program last
week.  It was nice to meet you!  In my last post, I simply asked for your
impressions of the evening.>>

It was a very pleasant experience.  It was nice to be on a panel that
celebrated the people behind the scenes who don't get nearly enough credit.
 I was surprised at the large turnout and how polite everyone was after the
event was over and Ira and I were just mingling in the lobby.
--------
Subj:  Answers
Date:  10/3/97 12:39:36 AM
From:  RonDMoore       

<<-- Real Genius, 1985

Which is one of the best movies Val Kilmer EVER made!>>

Other great Kilmer flicks are "Tombstone" and "The Doors".  His Doc Holiday
is a real scene-stealing performance and should not be missed by any western
fan.  And although "The Doors" is a flawed movie in many ways, I think that
Kilmer's turn as Jim Morrison is nothing short of amazing.  

<<I heard a rumor that Vedek Bareil will be brought back in the mirror
universe episode this year.  Is this true?  yes/no/maybe?>>

Yes/no/maybe.

<<Anyway, it's really insulting when the writers like to hear how cool what
they did is but insult us when we have the nerve to say that we didn't find
thus and so cool because it violated all the established continuity. >>

Oh, get over yourself.  I take my lumps along with everyone else.  I screwed
up the date of the Eugenics Wars and I take the blame for it just like I'll
take the rap for writing "Acquiel" and "Rascals."  I don't take some high and
mighty attitude with you and you know it, Catbyte.  

<<you've ignored the big question at the end of the post>>

Which was what?

<<how many Jem Hadar Forces are currently on Cardassia Prime?>>

I'm not sure.  We haven't decided this yet.

<<What would the Jem Hadar do to Cardassia if they even suspected Dukat of
betrayal?
Why is Dukat taking so long to disable the minefield? Was Rom's plan really
such a good one that it is foiling Dukat's attempts to dismantle it? Or is
Dukat simply being Dukat?
And doesn't Dukat realize that even without the ketracel white that the very
last thing that the Jem Hadar would probably do just before dying would be to
take as many Cardassians with them as they could?>>

All good questions, but I'd rather not answer them since it would give away
too much of our thinking.

<<It was a big loss because a bunch of battleships and I believe a carrier
were destroyed. Had they not been at pearl harbor, they wouldnt have been
destroyed. Also, had they KNOWN that the japanese were going to be bombing
them, they wouldnt have been destroyed. The japanes planes that attacked
were, when compared to the US forces at pearl harbor, quite weak. However,
the ships were docked, the guns were mostly unmanned, and the crews were all
out partying. Had the CIA existed at that time, they most likely would have
found out about the attack on pearl harbor, told the captains of the ships,
thereby allowing the captains to get their ships ready to destroy those
attacking planes.>>

Just to clear up some history:  There were no carriers in Pearl Harbor on
Dec. 7, 1941.  Although the CIA did not exist at that time, both the Army and
the Navy had their own intelligence services and they did decode a great deal
of Japanese communiques that indicated an attack was in the offing.  The
problem was in analyzing and disseminating the information that they did
have.   Many officers did expect an attack, but felt it would come in the
Phillippines, not the Hawaiian Islands.  Also, a strongly worded "war
warning" went out on that very morning from Washington, but did not arrive in
Hawaii until after the attack had commenced due to some quasi-comical mishaps
along the way.  The men of the US Fleet in port were not "partying" but were
lining up for morning colors at the time of the attack.  The attacking
Japanese aircraft were superior to almost every American plane in Hawaii at
the time and were manned by highly trained and experienced pilots. 

<<Sisko lost his wife to the Borg. I have always been curious why his
feelings towards them were never addressed with the Borg coming to DS9.
Whether the Borg are good bad guys or not, I think that dynamic would have
been interesting to see, and I have always been surprised that it had never
been done. Was there a particular reason for this?>>

We talked about it a few times, but the idea never seemed to gel with anyone
on staff.  
--------
Subj:  Answers
Date:  10/3/97 12:51:52 AM
From:  RonDMoore       

<<can you tell us what kind of storyline you wanted to involve Spock in? >>

We had a notion of doing a show with the Mirror Spock, but it never got
beyond the notion stage because Nimoy wasn't interested.

<<Also, are budget concerns standing in the way of us ever seeing the
Vulcan/Romulus storyline part of a new ST Series or Movie?  >>

No.

<<How is the ST #9 Movie coming?>>

I really don't know.

<<In this story arc, who is the glass? And who is the rock? 
Or, put another way, WHO is more likely than not to shatter on impact,
regardless of WHO is the cause of that impact? >>

Again, I don't want to give away too much.

<< If he implied his father is dead, to the audience, he is dead.  It's not
bright to play with your audience like that.... I'd prefer a writer's (Ron's)
take on the subject, but he is apparently not up to discussing it>>

How many ways do you want me to answer this?  Sisko IMPLIED his father was
dead.  He didn't SAY he was dead.  So when we wanted to bring on his father,
we were able to do so without breaking continuity, because an IMPLICATION of
death is not the same thing as a STATEMENT of death.  In retrospect, it can
be said that Sisko was referring to a very serious illness that his father
suffered through and that Sisko himself felt powerless to do anything about.
 His father later recovered.

<<My question is, since all the runabouts are named after rivers, why hasn't
a guy who hails from the Big Easy named one Mississippi yet?>>

Good point.  I'll try to remember that.

<<Any chance we'll be seeing the Vorta Eris or Kilana in future episodes?>>

I don't think so.

<<In the "Tribbles" episode you did on DS9, you spent MILLIONS to recreate
even smallest detail, however then it came time to score the show, Dennis
McCarthy was ORDERED (this is confirmed by several published interviews) not
to use a note of Jerry Fielding classic score from the original episode by
"The Powers that Be".  My question is WHY?>>

The argument was that we should score the show with a DS9 original score
instead of merely aping the old show.  I disagreed with the idea and I still
do.