This is
an informal transcript for a GDC keynote session. This is really a chance for
me to indulge some rampant and highly irregular fanboyishness, since Ron Moore is my
favourite TV screenwriter, and I have followed his career from his early work
on Star Trek: The
Next Generation, through his tenure on Deep Space Nine and onwards. There
are spoilers in the following account of his keynote address, but only if you
have not already seen the mini-series.
What do you
do after you’ve been a part of the rejuvenation of one of the most successful
sci fi franchises of all time? In the case of Ronald D. Moore, you go on to
rejuvenate another classic sci fi franchise – and earn even more critical
acclaim in the process.
As Ron
Moore comes out onto the stage, he displays the casual nonchalance of an
experienced professional speaker, kicking off with a joke or two and a
confession of his general uncertainty as to why, exactly, he was being asked to
speak at the Game Developer’s Conference. He goes on to answer his own question, and observes that the issues relating to franchise development (and
redevelopment) are extremely pertinent to the games industry. From hereon in,
his presentation proceeds with consummate presence and confidence.
[As a
multimedia challenged blogger, lacking in the skills and equipment to capture
audio visual content, I can’t share with you any of the video sequences which
peppered this keynote. It began with the original credit sequence from the
original 1978 television show, interspersed with footage from the new show,
often with hilarious results. The entire presentation was interspersed with
these comparison sequences, which served not only to break up the speaking, but
also to demonstrate just how lovingly this resurrection of the classic show has
been carried out.]
Ron
explains at the outset, that the core of the process of updating the show was
identifying the fundamentals that made the original such a classic. Step by
step, Ron reveals the process by which he took a marvelous, albeit cheesy, space opera
classic, and remade it as a modern drama.
What follows is a summary of the elements Ron identified as core to the original show, and how these were updated for the new format.
The Cylon Attack on the Colonies
One of the
core elements of the original show was the inherent darkness of the concept.
The show was predicated upon the idea of a peaceful society all but eliminated
by a vicious and unrelenting attack which all but exterminates that society.
This is nothing short of genocide, and rarely considered a suitable topic for a
television show!
It was a
given that this element would not change, but there were still questions. What
‘key’ do you play it in? Ron decided not to play the attacks for spectacle –
this seemed inappropriate; “genocide shouldn’t be that fun”. This lead to a
particular conclusion which was to inform the entire adaptation process:
everything should have realism at its base. It’s not that the show wouldn’t
strive to be entertaining, but it should be situated upon a foundation of fundamental
realism.
Ron notes
that he was originally approached to pursue the update to the show shortly
after the terrorist attacks of September 2001. This undoubtedly influenced the
desire to underpin the show with a realistic element, as well as allowing (as
outstanding sci fi is empowered to do) for commentary on contemporary issues in
a context sufficiently far removed from the real world to escape excess
criticism or political insensitivity.
The
Family Adama
Both the
original show, and the new show, have at their centre the family Adama. In many
respects, the family Adama is the subject of the show. In the original, there
were four members – the Commander himself, Apollo, Athena and Zack – who dies
in the pilot movie. Ron felt that it wasn’t very credible that Adama’s family
would all be serving on the same ship. He considered the
options for addressing this, including the possibility of making it a cultural
element – that in this world, commanding officers generally serve with their
entire family.
Eventually,
he decided to pursue a more realistic approach, in keeping with the overall
goal to build the new format on a bedrock of realism. Firstly, Apollo’s
stationing was altered so that initially he is not serving on his father’s
ship. The fact that they end up together then becomes a natural consequence of
the surviving military forces being condensed into a single vessel.
Furthermore, whereas Richard Hatch’s Apollo was a loyal and dutiful son in all
ways, Jamie Bamber’s Apollo has father issues, which present a realistic
tension between the two characters.
The
character of Athena, Ron felt, served no purpose in the original series, except
as a love interest for Dirk Benedict’s Starbuck. With the new series having a
female Starbuck, Ron decided that the daughter relationship could be preserved
without the need for the Athena character. “Adama’s daughter is effectively
Starbuck,” Ron explains.
The details
of Zack were kept largely the same, but rather than killing him in the pilot
episode (as in the 1978 series), he was instead killed in the backstory. This
served much the same purpose in narrative terms, but saved screen time for more
important developments.
Adama, Ron
notes, is key because he is the father figure – both figuratively and literally. Lorne Greene's Adama was a true believer in every manner; Edward James
Olmos' Adama needed to be toned down for a more realistic take. The element of
being a true believer was kept in the sense of his firm faith in democracy, but
this was tempered by the reality of being the commander of a battleship in a
time of war. The new Adama was to be fallible and human, making him easier to
relate to for the audience.
Providing
Balance: Roslin
In the
original show, there is no figure to balance Adama. Ron felt it was necessary
for their to be a counterweight, and this came to be Laura Roslin, the
President of the Colonies, played by Mary McDonnell. Ron contends this
character is vitally important to the new show for three reasons: firstly, she provides
balance in the sense of being the civil authority to Adama’s military authority. She is also the
mother figure to balance Adama’s father figure. And she is also emblematic of
the apocalypse – a constant reminder of the attack which destroyed mankind.
Although Ron fell short of linking her cancer to the fragility of the fleets
continual existence, one assumes this is also part of the metaphorical role of
the character of Roslin.
The
Quorum of Twelve
This was
imported from the original show, but as Ron observes, in the original show the
quorum were “straw men” whose sole purpose was to suggest absurdly ridiculous
courses of action which Adama could then shoot down. Ron wanted to lend weight
to the quorum of twelve, and to use them as a means of expressing the
preservation of the ideals of a free society. This was, naturally, in keeping
of the tendency towards greater realism in the new show. (The issue of casting Richard Hatch - the original Apollo - as one of the members of the Quorum of Twelve does not come up).
Starbuck
as a Woman
He notes
that the logline for this character is cliché of the highest order – the
hotshot pilot, gambler and sexually promiscuous rogue is something all too familiar.
Ron notes that the original character works solely because of Dirk Benedict,
who makes the role his own. But in making the character realistic, there are
consequences. Applying the same role with a realistic bent, and in the context
of a female character, implied that this person would naturally be somewhat
disturbed. She’s still a hotshot pilot, and thrilling to watch in action, but
underneath is a fundamentally screwed up person.
Colonel
Tigh
Tigh,
played originally by Terry Carter and now by Michael Hogan, is another part of
the ‘family’. In the backstory of the original series, Tigh and Adama had
served together as pilots, and this was kept for the new show. To get something different out of the
character, Ron wanted to make him different from the usual TV executive officer
(XO) archetype. “I wanted to make him different to Commander Riker” he says,
although he’s quick to point out that Jonathan Frakes is a good friend, and he
doesn’t want to disrespect his performance on Star Trek: The Next Generation.
However, Riker’s role on that show generally devolved into being a yes man for Captain Picard, and occasionally saying ‘Red Alert’.
Ron notes
at this point that he actually had a brief spell in the Naval ROTC – and spent
some time on a frigate in the Atlantic. He observes that nobody likes the XO. He or
she is the barking dog who comes down hard on everyone. Giving Tigh, as XO of
the Galactica, a drinking problem deepened the character, and also gave a new
element to Adama. Tigh is Adama’s blind spot; he feels he must protect him, but
his flaws present constant problems.
Boomer
This
character was originally a “third banana” in the original show, lacking any real narrative purpose. In the new
show, Ron wanted there to be a second family, to balance the omnipresence of
Adama’s family at the centre of the story. Originally, this would have been
Boomer, Chief Tyrol and Boxy. (Ron never comments on how and why Boxy was cut,
although there are certain logical reasons why this had to be so).
At some
point, Ron’s colleague (and co-Executive Producer on the new show) David Eick
suggested that there was one sure way to make sure the pilot got picked up by
the networks: make Boomer a cylon. This immediately clicked, and works
perfectly because Grace Park plays the character in such a human manner throughout,
so the resulting reversal where she is revealed at the end of the pilot to be a
cylon has correspondingly greater intensity.
Cylons
Obviously,
there had to be cylons. The only question was, what to do with them? There were
several options, mostly dictated by the budget of the show. Firstly, a fancy
suit could be developed. Alternatively, an animatronic appliance could be built
– but probably only a single unit. CGI was originally considered to be
something that couldn’t be afforded (only once the show was rolling did it
become apparent that this was indeed a viable option). This lead to an entirely new
concept – make the cylons look human. This was driven by financial decisions
(obviously, showing a human is much cheaper than showing a robot!) but the idea
had such merit that it drove the construction of the new show.
Ron
observes that if money hadn’t been an object, they probably would have just
stuck with superpowered robots throughout, although he glibly notes than in the
original show the cylons are so incompetent as to “make stormtroopers look like
special forces”. As it happened, the new idea of human-like cylons really adds
significantly to the feel of the new show.
The
Betrayer
Along with
the cylons comes the notion of a betrayer. There had to be a Baltar, the only
question was: why did he do it? Ron was drawn to this central issue of
motivation. However, he was also keen to ensure that the new Baltar (an
impressive performance by James Callis) would be located with the fleet, and
not rapidly written out of relevance as happened with John Colicos’ Baltar in
the original series. (Although it was not mentioned, Ron worked with John
Colicos on Deep Space Nine, as he reprised his role as the Klingon Kor from
the original Star Trek show; he was keen to express his admiration for John,
however).
Baltar, in
Ron’s eyes, is emblematic of the problems originating within the society. He
is, therefore, a metaphor for what has lead humanity to its tragic
circumstances. Ron reveals he has a certain fascination with famous traitors
(he corrects himself from saying “Great Traitors”, by making a joke from it:
“Great Traitors of History!”), and indeed was at one point working on a script
based around Benedict Arnold. He observes that most traitors instigate their
betrayal for one of two reasons: money or women. Since money couldn’t be a
possibility in this case, that left one obvious choice.
There is
something appealing, Ron suggests, about a man so afflicted by hubris that he
leaves himself vulnerable to a flattering woman – or in the case of the new
show, a flattering cylon. He is a victim of his own
pride and arrogance, taken in by a woman who plays to his weaknesses. Yes, you
are a great and clever man. And oh, by the way, you’ve just destroyed mankind.
I was
surprised to hear Ron speak explicitly at this point about the visions Baltar
experiences of Tricia Helfer's cylon ‘Number six’. He notes the ambiguity – is this a chip
(or some other technological mcguffin) or is it a psychotic break? The
allusions to God in these visions seems to further tie into the idea of this
being a mental breakdown, brought upon by inability to relate to the guilt of
what he has done. The cause of my surprise was that I felt this all but
canonically stated that the visions are a consequence of psychosis,
although since Ron is keen to underline the ambiguity, I feel it is safe to say
that even the writing team on the show has not fully decided what the
underlying cause will transpire to be, if indeed it is ever firmly resolved.
Vipers
Ron calls
these “the darlings of the original series”, and stresses that he didn’t want
to make changes. However, one thing he was keen to avoid was immersion breaking
cinematography. He notes that he was working on a Dragonriders of Pern show for
“the WB” (which presumably never happened) and was faced with the problem of
how to show these unreal objects. When special effects shots show camera angles
which are too clean, or which clearly could not have happened, it presents a
break with immersion. He cites an example from Apollo 13 (a film he has
fondness for) in which the launching Saturn V is shown from a position that
would clearly vapourise any camera thus positioned.
This lead
to the idea of the “hand camera in space” which characterises all of the space
action shots from the new show. The philosophy of the VFX (visual effects) for
the new show is that there is always a camera person somewhere; it is
never a disembodied shot. This violates the film school assumption that the audience
should not be aware of the camera, but in the context of Battlestar
Galactica it works to underline the reality of the experience. (Doubtless,
the rise of reality TV has significantly rewritten the underlying rules of film
making. In this regard, Ron is perhaps ahead of the curve)
Interiors
The new
sets were based very much upon the original sets, but reworked with the
inevitable new focus on realism. The guiding philosophy was to make it feel as
if these were places that people really lived and worked. He notes that one of
the most ridiculous elements of many sci fi shows is that the bridge area has a
huge glass window in it – a serious vulnerability in battle. Rather, the centre
of ship operations (the Combat Information Centre or CIC for the Battlestars)
should be at a safe, central position. Information can be piped to this
location – it need not and should not be at the edge of the ship.
Another
thing that used to drive Ron mad was when people living in space have pictures
of space on their walls. They live on spaceships and have pictures of space in
their personal areas even though space is just outside. This is the
reason why Adama’s quarters in the new show has absolutely nothing related to
space in it.
Mythology
The notion
of Kobol (the birthplace of humanity) and the thirteenth tribe was carried over
to the new show. However, whereas the original was steeped in Mayan and
Egyptian design elements, Ron felt this was too distinctly 1970’s (being
reminiscent of ‘Chariots of the Gods’ – undoubtedly a cultural influence that
affected Glen A. Larson in conceiving the original show). Instead, he pushed
for a more Graeco-Roman influence.
Universe
The old
show had a populous feel, with many different races. But this, Ron observes,
has become a very tired approach to sci fi. The original series had “planet of
the week” shows, and hokey alien races. Ron discarded this because, as much as
anything, he’d worked ten years on Star Trek and had seen enough bumpy
headed aliens. (He does note that the make up people on Star Trek did a
sterling job; it’s just there are only so many places one can position latex on
a person’s face). The new universe, therefore, is barren and largely empty of life.
Ron was
keen to make the new show be a drama set in a science fiction setting, not a
science fiction drama. This forces the show to be internally driven, which was
one of his fundamental goals for the show.
The
Search for Earth
With the
possible exception of the fact that the Battlestar Galactica is an aircraft
carrier in space, there is nothing more fundamental to the concept of the show
than the search for Earth. It is core to the show’s concept. To improve the
audience's ability to accept this element, which risked the audience rolling
their eyes in disbelief when it was eventually brought up, Ron elected to make
it a lie on Adama’s part. He tells the fleet about Earth as a means to an end –
to give a reason to hope. He does not believe it exists. This neatly places the
audience in an unusual position, as they think to themselves of Adama’s
fabrication: “You’re so lucky it’s true!”
Conclusion
Q&A
There
wasn’t much time for questions, but here is what was asked, and an
encapsulation of the response:
Q. Why do
the cylons have one god and the humans many?
A. This
originated in an off-hand line in the original script, but it has allowed for
the show to explore the idea of the one god forcing out the many gods, as
happened in Western history with monotheism unseating polytheism.
Q. What are
your thoughts on episodic content? I’m sure you’d love to know you’dre going to have 22
episodes for 7 seasons, but in reality you don’t know if you’re going to have
another season in advance. How does this affect how you make a show?
A. “22
episodes and 7 seasons? It makes me tired just thinking about it!” [Although
disguised as humour, there is a definite sense that he is serious about this].
I actually don’t like episodic content, I prefer serialisation. I like to be
able to develop a larger plotline, but that’s tough in TV as it places a burden
on the viewer to keep watching regular and follow what’s going on. The
challenge of the show was going to make episodic and serialised content to work
together. With that in mind, I took inspiration from the show Hill Street
Blues. Each week, it had an A story, which was unique to that show, a B
story which ran over a handful of shows, and also a C story which ran over the
entire season. I borrowed this format for the new Battlestar Galactica
show.
Q. The
Centurians in the original show were quite vocal – although admittedly they
only said ‘by your command’ most of the time. Are there any plans for the new
Centurians to speak?
A. No, my
initial thought was that they wouldn’t speak, and that pretty much still stands.
In fact, in the third season, one of the themes we’re going to explore is the
idea that cylon society has social issues – that the human-like cylons
intentionally keep the Centurians at a low level of sophistication so that they
can continue to exploit them as a subjugated ‘slave’ race.
A. I have
an idea of how they might eventually find Earth, and it won’t be a case of
‘they find Earth, the end’, because it’s going to take some time to play out
the story of finding Earth. But the show should only run as long as it is
viable. I hope we will be able to spot when is the right time to tie it up.
Thanks for this fantastic reporting! I'm linking to you from my blog at http://amongthedust.blogspot.com but I can't work out how to get your trackback system happening.
Posted by: GregT | March 24, 2006 at 12:17 AM
Excellent and thorough round-up... your devotion to the series is clear :)
I've only seen a scant few episodes, but I've been a fan of both ST:NG and DS9 so I probably ought to consider watching it.
My only comment is the bit about the "realistic" choice of shakeycam for the space sequences: everyone and his mother these days is pulling the handheld camera shtick, even for science fiction shows. Most people associate it with Firefly, but it appears to be just "one of those things" that becomes immensely popular seemingly all at once. The people working on Firefly commented that they were very excited to debut the shakeycam style space sequences when the show aired, only to see Star Wars Episode II featured similar (albeit not as pronounced) virtual camera work.
I agree it can be very effective, but I think generally I side with the film school line about not making the viewer aware of the camera. The episodes of BSG I've seen, there were a lot of hasty zoom-ins and camera wobble for interior as well as space sequences, with the net effect (to me) canceling out the effect entirely through its ubiquity.
Besides, we've already got consumer-level hand held cameras that cancel out wobble, what happened to this in the future? I guess that's one of the technologies they'll rediscover once they find Earth again. :)
I may be mistaken about the use of the effect, as I've said, I've only seen a few episodes. This summary has more than piqued my interest in watching it more.
Posted by: Jack Monahan | March 24, 2006 at 04:16 AM
Wow, that was awesome. I really wish I had been there to listen to this myself but I think I have a pretty good idea after reading this. I believe they've started shooting already for the next season so I was hoping he'd comment on that. You didn't seem to mention that.
I'm not really a sci-fi fan but this is really the only one that I enjoy a lot.
Posted by: Paul Mendoza | March 24, 2006 at 09:05 AM
"The cause of my surprise was that I felt this all but canonically stated that the visions are a consequence of psychosis"
Have you seen the recent episode "Downloaded"? With the revelation in that episode about Six, it's extremely hard to believe that it's nothing more than mental breakdown. It seems like someone (though not the Cylons) is deliberately pushing Baltar forward, whether it is the Cylon god, or some third side to the story we haven't heard anything about yet. Admittedly, this latter possibility seems unlikely, but those are the only two possibilities that still make sense after everything we've seen.
Posted by: Mory | March 24, 2006 at 11:42 AM
Greg:
I'm not sure about the trackback system... Since I never trackback to myself, I don't know what to suggest.
Has anyone trackbacked to me successfully and can offer advice?
Jack:
I can't quite believe that I still haven't seen Firefly. I'm sure one of my friends will give me a DVD of it at somepoint.
Paul:
Ron mentioned the new season, but only in the Q&A. So it's definitely coming, but that's all we know. :)
Mory:
Just to let you know, I haven't read your comment because a friend has warned me it contains spoilers for an episode I haven't seen yet! :)
Posted by: Chris | March 24, 2006 at 03:46 PM
Thanks so much for this. I'm such a BSG fanboy, and I was worried that I'd never find out what Moore had to say. I hope someone taped it.
Posted by: Thomas | March 24, 2006 at 08:47 PM
Hi there Chris, seems you have a real scoop here, none of the other GDC coverage I have seen goes into quite as much detail on the BSG Keynote, is this a full transcript? if not is there one available? Thanks
Posted by: Gurahl | May 11, 2007 at 02:28 AM
Gurahl: This wasn't from GDC 2007, but 2006. I don't have a full transcript, I'm afraid, nor do I know if there is one available. If I see one, I'll link it to here, though. Best wishes!
Posted by: Chris | May 11, 2007 at 04:18 PM