Letter from Ronald D Moore to the fans

he can call it BATTLE STAR GALACTICA ALL HE WANTS TO
it is nothing but a hollow rip off
i belive i will take MR. R.D.M. advice
i will get my popcorn some place else
any place he is not


XANATOS

[Artemis]

I would just like to say that I never attacked Scooter, go back and read the post please. I never said that I support Moore, but it is not the job of a writer to please the fans or be true to the original work as much as we all wish that was true. If it was this whole mess wouldn't be here.
As for calling me a liberal, given the definition:
1. Not limited to or by established, traditional, orthodox, or authoritarian attitudes, views, or dogmas; free from bigotry.
2. Favoring proposals for reform, open to new ideas for progress, and tolerant of the ideas and behavior of others; broad-minded.
Yes I guess I could be described that way, seems like a good thing to me.
Please do not take your anger out on AslanC, he seems to be the only one to read my posts at face value and did not try to make more of them than they were, which was that we should try to behave more civilized towards other humans even if they do something we don't like.
As for defending myself, you will rarely see me on this board on the weekend, I am outside enjoying life or inside gaming with friends not sitting at a computer which I do most of the week, unless I am up to my knees in mud looking for gobies that is.
So if it makes people happy to call me names then by all means I'm glad to be able to make you happy, I have reached a point where I am secure enough in myself to not let it bother me. So have fun, I'm going to spend my lunch reading a certain script, I've wasted enough time here fending off things I never said.
Cheers,
:colwar:

[dvo47p]

Scooter has a point about Ronnie, he is arrogant to the point of being contemptuous of fans that disagree with him.

I. E. He imports Trekkies to Scifi’s BSG bb

Originally posted by AlternityOrange
Odd, I thought he was talking about his own career.

Remember Bonnie Hammer is the one really in charge of BSG (the power of the purse)

Bonnie killed off Farscape, JMS quit shopping projects to Scifi. Scooter is on to something here.

[Belloby]

by Belloby

March 26, 2003

Well, Mr. Moore without a doubt you are a great writer. You've proved it time and time again on Star Trek and now you have proved in the letter you have written to us on Feb. 26. Very wonderful, flowery, even powerful words...but little understanding or heart.

I would like to respond to the following statements made in your release:

"Ask us to care for human beings instead of caricatures"

The people of the Galactica were not caricatures to us. They were as real as the people we live and work with. Every person in reality has their own likes and dislikes...traits that make them what they are, who they are and different from all the rest. And so did the characters on Galactica: Apollo leaned towards the conservative side, Starbuck chased girls and loved gambling, Boomer was the poor soul who tried to keep the two in balance. By eliminating these elements that make them "caricatures", you eliminate the originality of each character and their unique contributions to the show. Galactica was rich in personality. You pretty much knew which point of view the character was going to take...pretty much the way you know the views of your friends in real life.

From the writer's perspective, you do know that season one is all about development and specifically character development, I don't have to explain that. You also do know that Galactica did not have the chance to see a second season so there was no opportunity to further exploration. So the character tags remain on the characters. Wouldn't it have been better to develop the characters as they were, say 20 years later and see how those tags stuck with them or changed? To me it would be much easier to work from something than to start from scratch, which is what you are attempting.

Our goal is nothing less than the re-invention of science-fiction television series.

I have no objection to this, as a matter of fact Galactica did re-invent science fiction television. Suddenly, SF wasn't about grotesque aliens capturing women and heroic captains rescuing them. It was about a people...people who suffered a horrible tragedy to their world and were doing their best to cope with it. And it was balanced. There were women and minorities in all sorts of jobs, not just the lower jobs either...all were working side by side alongside the white males. And they all got a long...as a matter of fact, they had a pretty good time doing it.

We believe we can explore adult themes with adult characters and still tell a good ripping yarn.

Adult themes? How adult? And how are you going to treat the women in this series? Galactica was romantic and about love. Is this going to be about pure sex? I'd like to know. And adult characters? If you make them "adult characters" (and I'm only guessing at the meaning here) you will take away the fun of Galactica. Yes, it was high schoolish, but that's why we liked it.

We believe that to portray human beings as flawed creatures does not weaken them, it strengthens them.

I think you think you're back on Star Trek here. Galactica's characters are filled with flaws:
- Apollo: a little too cerebrial, shy with women, sometimes not willing to take chances.

- Starbuck: Chases girls, smokes cigars, gambles too much, insecurities about family, can't make a committment.

- Tigh: A little on the hot headed side, let's the Colonial Warriors get away with far too much feldercarb.

- Adama: Obsessed with this idea of Kobol. A bit too religious. Still grieving over loss of wife and son.

- Cassiopeia: Former sociolator. Dating Starbuck. Has the tendancy to be too pushy.

- Athena: Obsessed with Starbuck. Not agressive enough to tell her father she wants to become a warrior and not a bridge officer.

- Dr. Salik: Parties too much...as a matter of fact he throws the best damn parties in the Fleet.

They don't sound all that perfect to me.

We believe that bringing realism to science fiction is neither contradictory nor a fool's errand.

Nobody will disagree with you that there needs to be more technical explanations of the workings of the Galactica and the Cylons...as long as it stays within established cannon. And given who your boss was...well...

I hear all this wonderful, brave talk, like you're sending us into battle or something, but nowhere do I hear that you understand Galactica.

Galactica was fun. That's it It was pure escapism. It was an hour you spent with people you wish you knew, having fun doing things you wish you could do.

What you are attempting to do is take that fun out of it. If you remove the high schoolishness, put in present day analogies and not use the original cast, you lose Galactica entirely. Heck, you may as well give it a different title all together.

We may have grown up biologically, but in Galactica fans there is still a part of us that wants to be aboard that Battlestar, jumping into Vipers and flighting Cylons, raising glass of ale after a victory, listening to Adama give a lecture on Cylon strategy and perhaps even teaching Muffit how to fetch.

It's who we are.

[kingfish]

Moore was the one who wrote the script for Generations in which Kirk was killed in order to promote the franchise. Kirk died obtaining a keypad. If they brought Kirk back for another adventure, I guarantee the movie would be a smash hit.

[Artemis]

Personally I was glad Kirk died I was getting tired of his delusions of godhood. Piccard was 10X the captain Kirk was. And just for reference sake, I grew up on TOS so my opinion isn't because I am a TNGer.

[Hito]

Originally posted by kingfish
Moore was the one who wrote the script for Generations in which Kirk was killed in order to promote the franchise. Kirk died obtaining a keypad. If they brought Kirk back for another adventure, I guarantee the movie would be a smash hit.

I agree 100%

[dvo47p]

Ok remember Kirk might be in that Nexus place with Whoopi, hell he wants out, now!

Alas, Star Trek without (he is dead, Jim) Bones?

[captmiloman]

I finally got a chance to record the TVLand Awards. Star Trek:TOS was given a special award for its effect on pop culture. It seemed weird not to see DeForrest Kelley or Gene Roddenberry with the others in front of the podium. Although, I think DeForrest and Gene were smiling down on them from the great beyond.

You know, all this BS from Moore reminds me of Marvel EIC Joe Quesieda and President Bill Jemas and their continuing sniping at "old school" Marvel comic fans. Same tone, same contempt, same everything. The running gun battle between the "Neo" Galactifans and the "Retro" ones is blow for blow identical to the "Classic" vs "New" or "Nu" Marvel fans.

[jewels]

Your assessment of the character strengths and weaknesses is dead on. There was no reason to change any of them, save to show they've grown over the last 25 years.

I'm remembering a passage from Stephen King's "Misery." For those of you that are familiar with the story, Ron Moore is cheating. He is either a) not creative enough to tell a story using the framework already in place--a framework that offers a plethora of stories and storylines to be told, or b) unwilling to explore the possibilities.

Futhermore, why does he want to piss off a large, built-in fan base?! I understand that you can't please all the people all the time, but Ronnie is deliberately setting himself up for failure! For whatever reason, he is denying the wishes of a large audience!

Ron! We're standing right here, man! If you build it, we will come! If you don't, there's a dang good chance that no one gets to eat the cockadoodie popcorn, yourself included.

I know I'm preaching to the choir here, I just needed to vent a little.

[Hito]

I have no doubt that moore coul have crafted a well put together continuation or even a remake trueer to the original material.

But is that what he was hired to do?

I dont think anyone would purposly crete somthing that they feel will fail.
Unless he was manipulated into it to bring down the franchise.

Hito, I see your point. I may be bundling my angst entirely against Mr. Moore

However, the road to Hell is paved with good intentions. See "DeLorean, John."

[jewels]

Originally posted by Hito
I have no doubt that moore coul have crafted a well put together continuation or even a remake trueer to the original material.

But is that what he was hired to do?

I dont think anyone would purposly crete somthing that they feel will fail.
Unless he was manipulated into it to bring down the franchise.

It does feel that way doesn't it? Didn't he almost walk away from it last summer a couple of times before the script was done? I don't know why he's acting like its a masterpiece then, though, is the only thing. Too complex for me. Too much politicking not enough movie-making.

[Hito]

Someone on Aint it cool was having a similar discussion on one of their talk back boards about Joel Silver hyping Matrix Reloaded & Revolutions.
Of course he is going to have nothing but good stuff to say about it, thats part of his job as writer/producer.