Funny how things go. In my last post, which I wrote a few months ago prior to a much needed break on which more later, I answered this question from a meme: "from the teevee (or movies) you've been watching recently, name the top five characters you'd want coming to rescue you from a bad situation." I put Jamie Fraser from Outlander on one and Captain Jean-Luc Picard on two. Little did I know that about two months later I would be sitting in a theater in Edinburgh to listen to the man who had much to do with bringing these characters to life. That's right: Ron D. Moore (show runner for the STARZ production Outlander - on which definitely also still more later- who got his break in Hollywood as a writer on Star Trek TNG) sat down for a masterclass as part of the Edinburgh Festival. I could not pass up the opportunity to be in the same room with the man who was so instrumental to two of my favourite shows (because yes, you can be a futuristic Sci-Fi geek and a hopeless romantic at heart all at the same time - isn't life wonderful), so I got myself a ticket and a good seat.
The audience was as versatile as the guest of honour's repertoire, ranging from die hard Outlander fans to equally die hard Trekkies. To be honest, the masterclass really was more of an interview, with the discussion leader (Richard Edwards, clearly more of a Star Trek and Battlestar Galactica fan than an Outlander groupie) taking up the majority of the time. Q&A was alternated with some scenes from both Outlander and TNG on the big screen - we were in a theater after all. These bits made me realize that the production quality of Outlander is seriously through the roof. The footage looked amazing all blown up and it would be an absolute joy to binge-watch an entire season on the big screen in a theater. Surely, such a thing must be
possible to arrange at some point. The fan base is active and big enough that this is going to be a sure hit - I'm just saying.
The only downside of the event was that it was way to short. Between the official Q&A and the clips that were being shown, only a few minutes were left for questions from the audience. And just when there was a large show of hands, time was up and things were wrapped up.
That is not to say, however, that there weren't some informative insights to be gotten. It was interesting to hear
Ron describe how he got his lucky break in TV writing. As they say,
chance favours the prepared mind. So when a friend got him on the list (make sure you get on "the list" folks) to tour the Star Trek TNG set, he was not only excited to take the tour but also stuffed a spec script in his pocket just in case. Surprise surprise, he handed it to his tour guide who happened to be a writer on the show. The script ended up on the slush pile and was ultimately read by the right person who then offered Ron a writing job on the show. It makes you wonder whether he is paying this forward and I will tell you this: I am not leaving the house without a script stashed in my bag if I ever plan to be in this guys's vicinity again.
Although Star Trek and Outlander may seem like worlds apart, there were some connections to be drawn. Interestingly, Ron started out as a huge Star Trek (the OS) fan before ending up in the TNG writing room. It made him realise that some things you would really want to see as a fan, simply don't work in the format or the setting of the show. This segwayed into a discussion of the Outlander world/community. Since the series is based on the book series penned by Diana Gabaldon, the saga has amassed a large following who have lived and breathed (and loved!) these characters for decades. Then there's folks like me, who only learned about the books after I started watching the show and so the cast and crew are facing a situation where they have to find a way to both appeal to the original fans and the new recruits that have to be drawn in from scratch. Clearly they have done an amazing job, but Ron nicely described how this is a constant balancing act.
The discussion also branched out into broader areas, touching upon how it is just simpler to produce something that is based on existing material: it's just easier to sell stuff to folks (producers and audiences alike) if they are a bit familiar with what's coming - the fact that this is happening has more to do with basic psychology than with the fact that Hollywood is out of ideas. For those not familiar with the concept of a Hollywood writing room, Ron explained the going ons in sketching out an episode. He also discussed how technological advances have opened up new possibilities in terms of writing and story telling. Thanks to "TV" series now being available on demand, it has actually become possible to tell larger, more dramatic character and story arcs. People that miss a step can simply go back and rewatch. In the olden days, the networks were worried that if people had missed the first two episodes they could never be drawn in for the remainder of the season. Ron also pointed out though, how the setting for the show made a real difference. TNG was basically a sit-sci-fi: the space ship never changed. The crew simply arrived at a planet, had an adventure and then rinsed and repeated things in the next episode. Deep Space Nine (the second Star Trek show he worked on) was much different in that regard. Since DS9 wasn't going anywhere, things that happened on the station also stayed on the station, allowing for problems to linger and feelings to fester over the course of multiple episodes. A final interesting observation was that by going into the world of Science Fiction, it becomes easier to give a direct commentary on society. Two alien species battling each other can be an obvious, but well accepted metaphor for conflicts in current society.
And so, while the event itself was way too short it was a tremendous pleasure to be spending some time with this creative genius, who shared insights from both the producer ("Kill everything!") and te writer ("Keep everything!") angle. It will be interesting to see what he is going to do with his latest project, adapting the short stories of Philip K. Dick. But for now I just hope that he will continue to give me some Claire and JAMMF. And maybe read my script some time.
