He has
explored new worlds in Star Trek - going where no one has gone
before - and has helped elevate Roswell to another level.
With the chance to bring Anne McCaffrey's Dragonriders of Pern to
television, Ronald D. Moore has become synonymous with quality science
fiction. In an interview with The WB,
Ron shares his vision of Pern, his year in Roswell, and what
the future may hold.
The WB: How did you
become interested in developing the Dragonriders of Pern as a pilot
for television?
Ron: Well, I read the
books in college and they stuck with me through the years. I just
sort of always enjoyed them, and they were in the back of my mind.
As I approached the end of my tenure at Star Trek, I thought about
what I wanted to develop on my own and what could be potential science
fiction franchises, and Anne McCaffrey's books came to mind.
The WB: Were the
rights available?
Ron: I tracked down the
rights to Eric Weimuller, who had purchases rights from Anne McCaffrey
with a Canadian production company to do a first run syndication
version. I started talking to them seriously about running the show
and doing the pilot, but the deal just never happened and it kind of went
away.
The WB: But you didn't
give up?
Ron: Years later, after I
had left Star Trek and I was with Roswell, I spoke with Eric
Weimuller again. The original deal had come to an end and they never
developed the project further. He and I decided to take it out
together and the natural place to go first was where Roswell was
produced - Regency and The WB. I developed relationships with those
people and they responded really well to it. That's sort of how I
came to do a pilot for The WB.
The WB: What are the
challenges for visually transplanting Anne McCaffrey's books?
Ron: The first challenge
is deciding what to include because the world being created is large -
there are something on the order of 17 or 18 books that cover quite a span
of time. She goes 100 years into the past and how the planet was
originally colonised. The story has many different characters and
all kinds of different tales scattered across the planet.
So, the challenge is to
decide where to begin, and what would be the home of the series. The
character that had always spoken the most strongly to me is Lessa.
Lessa was in the very first book, called Dragonfight, and it was
sort of her story - they journey of this girl whose family is slaughtered
and who was then chosen by the Dragonriders to return with Benden Weyr.
That, to me, was the
perfect place to begin because she is sort of the eye of the audience as
she goes from this sort of hard place to their world. Through
Lessa's world we sort of explore the world of the Dragonriders. So,
that was the crucial decision. Lessa is the star of the series; it's
her journey and the audience is going to view the world of Pern through
her.
The WB: Has Anne
McCaffrey been involved at all?
Ron: I've spoken with
Anne and so has Eric. I had a conversation with Anne just a couple
of months ago when the pilot was getting picked up. We certainly
value her input.
The WB: What can fans
of the books expect from Ron Moore's vision?
Ron: I think they will
recognize it...it will definitely be an interpretation of Anne's
work. Bringing it to the screen has sort of required changing some
elements, translating others, and moving characters around to sort of make
it comprehensible to a new television audience. In a novel form, you
have the luxury to have more freedom to sort of play around with
things. In television you have to have the characters speak for
themselves and the audience has to click into the series a lot faster.
For the fans of the Pern
books, it's not going to be the way they envisioned her, but if you watch
the series you will recognize it. You'll go, "Yes, that is Pern.
It's not exactly the way I envisioned it, but it's
recognizable." The heart and soul of what made the book special
is definitely there and the characters are there. It's a legitimate
translation of the book.
The WB: How would you
compare the experiences between Star Trek, Roswell and developing
the Pern pilot?
Ron: They have all been
very distinct experiences. The biggest thing is that you're dealing
with different groups of characters because as a writer/producer, I'm
telling stories about these distinct group of regulars every week and
everything that I do is towards this goal. So, because the
characters and the settings and the shows are so different, that's what
makes it so unique and exciting.
It has never been dull
and it has never been the same challenge twice. To produce a show
I've learned a lot and those skills translate from show to show. The
challenges of writing the characters and delivering the episodes each week
is very different for each of the shows because they have different
rhythms and they have different styles of story telling and the characters
themselves were distinct.
The WB: Jason
Katims (Executive Producer, Roswell) has said you've
"brought a kind of fearlessness with [you] about the science fiction
aspects of Roswell. It's been a wonderful working
relationship between us because I think our strengths really complement
each other..." Could you speak to what he said?
Ron: It's been a
wonderful working relationship. It has been one of the best working
relationships I've ever had. Jason had tremendous writing talent and
is an exceptional writer. He has great insight into the characters
and he loves telling stories. Sitting in a room with him and just
talking about characters and what we can do has just been an amazing and
wonderful experience and it has been one of the highlights of my career.
The WB: Then in both Pern
and Roswell get picked up, would you consider writing and
producing for both shows?
Ron: I would love to do
both in some capacity. Pern would be my primary - I'd be the
show runner and essentially that would be my job. But, I would also
like very much to still be involved with Roswell in some
capacity. I think Jason has expressed some desire for me to do that
too - God willing both shows are picked up and on the air. I love Roswell.
I love the characters, the cast, the crew, the production team and the
writers. I would love to keep my hand in there in some way.
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