Subj:  Answers
Date:  97-06-24 19:53:22 EDT
From:  RonDMoore       

<<several folks are saying a secondary character is going to be killed.
True?>>

Always possible.

<<According to the AOL episode guide, First Contact was on stardate 50893.5.
 In "In Purgatory's Shadow," Sisko refers to "the recent Borg attack."  Now
in the following episode, it is stardate 50564.2.  Now how can FC be refered
to as recent, if it hasn't even happened yet.>>

Never take the Stardates too seriously.  Remember that Gene never wanted them
to make ANY sense at all, and that although we do try to keep them in order
and bring some rationality to them, that at the end of the day they're still
just made up numbers.

<<Does the DS9 staff have a list of rules to the Ferengi game Tahngo, or when
you use it, you just have the cast spin a wheel and say "confront", "evade",
etc...?>>

We have only a vague idea of what the game is actually about and mostly we
just make it up as we go along.

<<Can you verify that I understood the representation of Sisko's visions in
"Rapture?"  The swarm of locusts represent the Jem'Hadar ships.  The part
about them going to initially Bajor, but going to Cardassia represent how the
ships went throught the wormhole, but instead of attacking the stations
immediately, they went to Cardassia to join up with their ships.  The reason
why Bajor needed to stand alone, was if they joined the Federation, they
could not sign a treaty w/the Dominion, and therefore would be an easy
target. >>

That's a very reasonable explanation, but I'd rather not commit us to that
interpretation on the off chance we may want to introduce other possible
explanations.

<<Will we learn why the Romulans sign a treaty with the Dominion?  They
wanted to help defend DS9, in "By Inferno's Light.">>

The Roms are out for themselves and don't give a #%@! about DS9.  They were
only willing to defend DS9 in Inferno's Light because there was no reason for
them to think that the Dominion wasn't going to be coming after the Romulan
Empire as well as the Federation.  Once the Dominion made a better offer, the
Roms were more than willing to sit this one out.

<<Was this the most expensive DS9 episode ever b/c of the battle scene and do
you consider this one of DS9's best episodes?>>

This wasn't the most expensive ever, I think that honor belongs to "Trials
and Tribble-ations" (as a single episode, that is -- "Emissary" and
"Apocalypse Rising" were both two hour epics).  I do think it's one of the
best.

<<How is the Dominion going to justify taking DS9--which is Bajoran
property--after just having signed a non-aggresion treaty with them?>>

Technically, they didn't *take* the station, they simply took over
administration of it in the same manner as the Federation.  Granted, Bajor
could protest this, but unless they were willing to back up that protest with
guns, I don't think the Dominion would even take notice of the protest.

<<Was the opening scene of Generations an 'homage to C.S. Forester and
Patrick O'Brien?>>

Yes, and it was something I'd always wanted to do.  The ties between Trek and
Forester have been long established and I very much wanted to do something
that would put the two of them together on film -- if only we'd had a first
rate ship of the line available!!
-----------
Subj:  Answers
Date:  97-06-24 20:18:53 EDT
From:  RonDMoore       

<<About the credit when someone has an idea? Foe exxample, say I give you an
idea about there being grpoups of Klin Lesbians who do'nt have no intrest in
living with males in a House? And you use this idea, does this mean I get the
credit? Or do I get credit only if I come up with the whole eppisode and
write the whole story and you use it?And what kind of credit? do we get payed
or our name is on the ep. or what exxackly?>>

Please do not pitch stories or ideas to me here on the board.  I cannot
accept them under any circumstances.  That said, I can tell you that the
process works like this:  when someone who's been *invited* to pitch to the
show sells us an idea, we then commission that person to write a story.  They
are paid according to the Guild rules.  Credit is determined at the very end
of the process by the Guild and they make the determination after examining
all the input of all the writers who worked on the episode.  It is virtually
impossible for the writer who wrote the first story to be eliminated from the
credit.

<<Who's your favorite character on DS9?  Are any of them "your baby"?  Was it
a conglomeration?  What would you consider your greatest contribution to the
world of Star Trek?>>

I don't really have a favorite character -- whoever I'm focusing on in a
script becomes my favorite for a time.  I don't know about my "greatest"
contribution -- there're are scenes and episodes that I'm proud of and
influences that I believe to be mine, but I'll leave that sort of thing to
others to determine.

<< I want to know who's idea it was to make Martok a semi-regular and who's
idea was it to make Nog a cadet?>>

We all loved JG Hertzler's performance as Martok and felt it was a real shame
we had to kill him off in "Apocalypse Rising" (it really worked in the story
is why we did it).  When we were talking about "Purgatory/Inferno" I think it
was Ira who came up with the idea that we could find the "real" Martok in the
same prison camp as Garak and Worf were being confined in.  I don't recall
how we came up with the idea of Nog wanting to be a cadet.

<<So, I finally bought ST:Klingon(it's $24.95 you know) and have enjoyed it.
I noticed that you consulted on this one, so I guess your the man to ask.
 What happened to the Deluxe Klingon bridge?  It was great! >>

It's the exact same Klingon Bridge we've always used -- it just looked bigger
on the CD-ROM.

<<Do you have a favorite TOS episode?>>

I have a few favorites, but the one that tops my list is "Conscience of the
King".  I liked the backstory of Kirk as a young man caught up in a
revolution and the nightmarish slaughter by Governor Kodos.  I liked the
Shakespearean overtones to the episode as well as the use of the plays
themselves.  And I absolutely loved Kirk in this episode -- a troubled man
haunted by the shadows of the past, a man willing to lure Karidian to his
ship under false pretenses, willing to do one of his more cold-blooded
seductions on Lenore, willing fight with his two closest friends, and risk
his entire command in the name of justice.  Or was it vengeance?  Kirk's
aware of his own lack of objectivity, his own flaws to be in this hunt for a
killer, but he cannot push the burden away and refuses pull back from his
quest to track down Kodos no matter what the cost.  It also has some of my
favorite lines in TOS:

"What will you do if you decide that Karidian is Kodos?  Carry his head
through the halls?  That won't bring back the dead, Jim."  
"No, but they may rest easier." 

"If the supply ships had arrived on time, this Kodos of yours might have gone
down in history as a great hero."
"But he didn't.  And history has made its judgement."

The scene with Spock and McCoy in Kirk's quarters is one of the series'
highlights.  The brooding tone and the morally ambiguous nature of the drama
fascinated me and definitely influenced my thinking as to what Trek could and
should be all about.  
-----------
Subj:  Answers
Date:  97-06-24 20:27:10 EDT
From:  RonDMoore       

<<My point was that WITHIN THE CONTEXT of the Star Trek universe, creationism
has now been disproved. Admittedly, it's just a TV show, but I still find it
disappointing. What do you think, Ron?>>

Trek does have a point of view, and that point of view accepts evolution as a
believable and valid theory.  Gene himself felt this very strongly and
although we do try to embrace many points of view and many beliefs, there are
some matters on which we do make our feelings known.  That said, I also think
that anyone within the Trek universe who espoused a "creationist" or similar
view as to the origins of life would find their beliefs respected --
"respected" being fundamentally different than "believed."

<<PLEEEEEAASSE! Give Picard and Crusher the chance they deserve.>>

PLEEEEEEAASSE remember that I'm not working on the TNG feature and so the
Picard/Crusher thing is out of my hands.