Ronald D. Moore

Ronald D. Moore
Role:	Executive Producer
BSG Universe:	Re-imagined Series and Caprica
Date of Birth:	July 5, 1964
Date of Death:	Missing required parameter 1=month! ,
Age:	61
Nationality:	USA
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Ronald Dowl Moore, aka Ron D. Moore, Ron Moore or "Caveman", (born 5 July 1964 in Chowchilla, California) is the creator and executive producer of the Re-imagined Series.

(Moore's initials, "RDM," are used on Battlestar Wiki to differentiate articles related to the Re-imagined Series from a similarly-named Original Series article, such as "The Hand of God (TOS)" and "The Hand of God (RDM)".)

Biography

Moore graduated from Cornell University with a degree in Political Science. After college, he moved to Los Angeles in hopes of becoming a working writer. He was two weeks away from joining the United States Navy when Michael Piller, the co-executive producer of Star Trek: The Next Generation, called with good news. His first script, "The Bonding," led to an assignment and a spot on the writing staff in 1989.

By the end of the series, he was serving as a producer and obtained a number of accolades. As a member of the production team, he earned an Emmy nomination for Outstanding Drama Series, and, along with writing partner Brannon Braga, a Hugo Award for Best Dramatic Presentation for "All Good Things...," the series finale. They went on to earn Hugo nominations for the first two Next Generation films, 1994's Star Trek Generations and 1996's Star Trek: First Contact. Braga and Moore also collaborated on the story for 2000's Mission: Impossible II.

After The Next Generation, Moore became a supervising producer on Rick Berman and Michael Piller's character-driven spin-off, Star Trek: Deep Space Nine (1993). He began by writing the third season premiere, "The Search, Part I," which saw the introduction of the USS Defiant. Moore had originally intended to name Captain Sisko's starship, Valiant, after the ship mentioned in the first Star Trek's second pilot, "Where No Man Has Gone Before". However, as Star Trek: Voyager was about to premiere and the studio did not want two ships starting with the letter v, he changed it to Defiant in honor of the ship from "The Tholian Web".

As two of the most ardent classic Star Trek fans on Deep Space Nine's writing staff, Moore and Rene Echevarria were chosen to write the teleplay for "Trials and Tribble-ations" as a tribute to the original Star Trek's 30th Anniversary. Besides bringing Captain Kirk and Captain Sisko together on screen via seamless Emmy Award-nominated visual effects, the episode also brought the pair a Hugo nomination. They went on to write the series penultimate episode, "The Dogs of War," which introduced the new Defiant, formerly the USS São Paulo. The name of the ship and Sisko's line "Hello, ship," were a tribute to the Steve McQueen film The Sand Pebbles. By the time Deep Space Nine ended, he was a co-executive producer, and moved on to his third Star Trek spin-off series: Voyager.

After a two-episode stint as a co-executive producer on Star Trek: Voyager, Moore departed the series over creative differences in the show's production, namely with his prior writing partner, Brannon Braga. This lead him to his first collaboration with David Eick as Moore assumed the role of consulting producer on the final season of the Sci-Fi Channel's fantasy series, Good vs. Evil. Eventually, Moore made his way to Jason Katim's teen SF/Drama series, Roswell, which first aired on The WB, joining former Star Trek: The Next Generation cast member, Jonathan Frakes (Commander William Riker) as a co-executive producer. Due to his work on Roswell, he was able to develop Anne McCaffrey's Dragonriders of Pern as a pilot for The WB, but it was canceled before production began due to creative differences Moore had with Warner Brothers. Moore served as a co-executive producer on Roswell as the series moved to UPN for the 2001-2002 television season.

From Roswell, Moore worked on the HBO series Carnivàle, but left after its first year to dedicate his work on the a second attempt in as many years at reviving a Battlestar Galactica series.

Moore has three children. He remarried in 2004 to Terry Dresbach, whom the fans have come to know as "Mrs. Ron" on the Sci Fi Channel chat forums. Dresbach frequently participated in the podcasts for the series episodes and other audio commentaries.

Battlestar Galactica Development and Philosophy

When developing the Re-imagined Series, Moore made a conscious decision to remake the original story rather than continue it, feeling that its dark premise would resonate more strongly with a post-9/11 audience. He stated that after the attacks, the show presented an "opportunity to write something truly meaningful. We could comment on things that are happening in today's society, from the war against terror to the question of what happens to people in the face of an unimaginable catastrophe."

• Moore discusses using the Original Series as a template:

I approached the original show and looked at what worked and what didn't work. I tried to keep as much of the original show as possible. I kept all the essential elements of Battlestar Galactica: the aircraft-carrier-in-space; the rag-tag fleet; the Cylon attack, the escape and the search for Earth; Commander Adama; Adama's son "Apollo," who's Galactica's lead fighter pilot; the rogue pilot, "Starbuck"; their friend, "Boomer"; and Baltar, the traitor. Those were the main things I knew I had to keep – it wouldn't have been Battlestar Galactica without them.

I changed the things I knew didn't work. The original Baltar didn't have a motivation for betraying his race, so I knew I'd have to change that character. I also never understood why the Cylons were so intent on pursuing these humans across the galaxy, so I changed the background of the Cylons and their relationship with the human beings. Making the Cylons the creation of humanity enabled the Cylons to have a much more complicated love/hate relationship with humans, and also provided us with a way to use humanoid Cylons in the series...

• Moore discusses the religious aspects of the series:

The religious aspects of the show developed naturally out of my intention to reflect every aspect of the human experience. I was delighted because I'm fascinated with this notion of monotheism versus polytheism, and I felt its addition to the show enriched it and helped make it unique.

Caprica Development and Philosophy

As co-creator and executive producer of Caprica, Moore was central to establishing the series' tone and direction.

Creative Philosophy

• Moore carried over the core philosophy from Battlestar Galactica of grounding the series in a sense of truth and realism, wanting Caprica to be a "drama first and foremost that was all about the characters."
• He deliberately avoided common science fiction tropes that he felt were distracting, such as "silly chairs and silly hair and spandex costumes."
• The inclusion of widespread smoking was a conscious and "perverse" choice, intended to defy anti-smoking trends and serve as a bonding element for the male characters.
• Moore later reflected that the original subplot of Amanda Graystone having an affair was a "misstep" by the writers, as it made the character "very unlikable" in early cuts, leading to its removal.

Story and World-Building

• The concept for the paper-thin computers originated from a conversation Moore had nearly 20 years prior with a college friend, Naren Shankar, who explained the theoretical physics behind such a device.
• He provided a detailed explanation of the political landscape of the Twelve Colonies at the time, clarifying that they were not a unified government but separate "nation-states." The tension between colonies like Caprica and Tauron was an intentional element to set up future conflicts.

Production Anecdotes

• Moore recounted the "kid-like thrill" of being on set when both Caprica and Battlestar Galactica were filming on adjacent sound stages, allowing him to walk between the two productions.
• Regarding vehicles, he and David Eick decided to use real-world cars instead of futuristic concepts to maintain the show's grounded feel. The mandate was to use "interesting" vintage or exotic cars that would look unfamiliar to American audiences.

Director credits for Battlestar Galactica

• Season 4:
  • A Disquiet Follows My Soul

Writer credits for Battlestar Galactica

As executive producer, Moore has a hand in nearly every aspect of the show's production, and his influence can be felt throughout the entire series. Although he approves every script and sometimes rewrites other writers' episodes, he is only officially credited with writing the following episodes:

• Miniseries
• Season 1:
  • 33
  • Water
  • Kobol's Last Gleaming, Part I
  • Kobol's Last Gleaming, Part II
• Season 2:
  • Home, Part II
  • Resurrection Ship, Part II
  • Lay Down Your Burdens, Part I
• Season 3:
  • Occupation
  • Precipice
• Season 4:
  • A Disquiet Follows My Soul
  • Daybreak, Part I
  • Daybreak, Part II

Notes

• Moore has a cameo appearance in the finale episode Daybreak, Part II as a man on the street reading National Geographic magazine.
• In the pilot episode of the fifth Star Trek series, Enterprise, a character was named after him. The farmer who shot the Klingon (Klaang) in the beginning of the episode was named Farmer "Moore". This is not only homage to Moore's reputation with Klingons, but also his reputation for killing off characters.
• Ronald D. Moore makes weekly podcasts (audio commentaries) for every episode of the Re-imagined Series starting with "Tigh Me Up, Tigh Me Down". He is sometimes joined by executive producer David Eick, and occasionally by episode writers and his wife Terry Dresbach. Most of the eight episodes before this in Season 1 also have podcasts by Ron Moore, though "Fragged" in Season 2 never had a podcast due to technical delays, despite the fact that Moore says it is one of his favorites.
• Moore has created a tradition of sorts in his podcast where he enjoys a brand of cigarette and scotch while narrating the podcasts. As Dresbach does not appreciate cigarettes, podcasts she attends are generally cigarette-free.
• At the 2005 Hugo Awards, Moore earned a Hugo for Best Dramatic Presentation (Short Form) for the series premiere "33".
• In 2007, Moore earned an Emmy nomination in Outstanding Writing For A Drama Series for the two-part Season 3 premiere "Occupation" and "Precipice".

External Links

• Ronald D. Moore article at Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia.
• Ronald D. Moore article at Memory Alpha, the Star Trek wiki.

• Ron Moore's personal blog
• The Ron Moore Battlestar Blog
• Conference Call with Ron Moore and David Eick of January 6. 2009
• Press Conference with Ron Moore and David Eick of June 1, 2007
• Next Gen Coverage of GDC Keynote
• Slashdot Coverage of GDC Keynote
• Informal Transcript of GDC Keynote
• TheStreet.com RDM Interview - According to this post at Scifi there is a spoiler about a returning cast member, a reason for the lack of Civilian fleet ops, and some insights into the motivations of a character in the audio version of the interview