Subject: Answers
Date: Wed, Feb 25, 1998 13:48 EST
From: RonDMoore
Message-id: <19980225184801.NAA29785@ladder03.news.aol.com>

<<Now that we have a confirmed Seventh Season, do you guys have any inklings
to move things back into the Gamma Quadrant a bit for season seven? >>

We don't know yet.

<<Do you suppose there are any worlds on the other side of the wormhole that
the Prophets value in the way they value Bajor?>>

Possibly.  We've discussed this many times but haven't made any firm
decisions.

<<What do you suppose ever became of Kai Opaka?  Do you think we'll ever see
her again?>>

Presumably she's still waking up and getting killed on a daily basis on that
planet we left her on.  We might see her again before the end of the series,
but not this year.

<<Great show with "Far Beyond the Stars"  Just one question.
Was there a debate among the staff as if or if not the word "Nigger" would be
used in the show.  I know that it was.  The first time it has been used in any
trek.  Also was there a debate as to who would use it, a white or black
character, and what context it would be used.>>

There were several discussions among the staff and with the studio about this.
We felt that it would be a lie to tell that story in that time period and not
use the word.   In the end, it seemed that having it come out of Cirroc's
character would have the most impact in that it said something about his point
of view and the way he saw the world.

<<Was the character in "Far Beyond the Stars" portrayed by the actor who plays
Martok originally written for Andrew Robinson (Garak)?  It seemed odd to me
that the General's alter ego would want to draw a picture of Cardassians
rather than Klingons.>>

In early discussions, the illustrator was orginally going to be Odo and the
editor was going to be Martok.  But as the story developed, the role of the
editor became more and more important and we felt that Odo would be a better
choice.  There was discussion of using Rom as the illustrator, but then we
decided to go with Martok.  The fact that the illustrator wanted to draw a
Cardassian instead of a Klingon was a deliberate choice, which told the
audience that these people weren't simply "alter egos" of our characters.
They were the inspirations for the characters that Bennie created in his
stories.

<<Wondered if you knew--was K.C. Hunter (Kira) in FBTS a tribute to D.C.
Fontana?>>

No.  I believe that Ira & Hans came up with the name as a tribute to another
woman who wrote during this time period and had to pretend to be a man -- her
name escapes me at the moment, but I've seen her mentioned on these boards
before and she was also married to another sci-fi writer.  

<<Do you have an opinion regarding the Nielsen ratings system?>>

I think it's a crock.  The sample is small and the methodology is pretty
questionable.  Does anyone remember the way that "Soundscan" (I think that's
the system) revolutionized the music industry?  For years, they'd been relying
on individual record store owners to report their own sales figures as a way
of guaging the most popular artist(s).  The system was pretty subjective and
relied on the owners giving accurate information to the record
companies.  When they changed over to Soundscan, each purchase was logged
electronically and the true sales data was actually reported for the first
time.  The result was a shock to the entire industry.  Big name artists were
kicked off the top of the charts by artists with far less prestige.  The
Nielson system is a sample of viewership, not a true head count.  I suspect
that if we really knew exactly what people were watching out there, we'd
all be surprised.