New York Comic Con Friday, 5 October 2018
Once Upon a Twilight had the opportunity to attend the most recent New York Comic Con. This year, the experience afforded the opportunity to experience different types of panels; workshops, screenings, panel discussions, static displays and the general splendor of the convention floor.
New York Comic Con provided a workshop concept at at a venue called “The Studio @ NYCC”. The workshop was a Master Class at the Studio with Producer, Ron Moore (Star Trek, Battlestar Galactica, Outlander fame), hosted by Sony Executive Chris Parnell, and Television historian, and writer, Mark A. Altman. The Workshop venue allowed a small audience to listen and learn about Ron Moore’s history. Part interview, part Master Class on writing for television, Mr. Parnell and Mr. Altman talked with Ron Moore about his student days at Cornell University leading to the structure of his television career (his early days as a Star Trek Next Generation script writer), how Ron Moore came into the writers room for Star Trek and his growth as a writer throughout the later Star Trek shows (Deep Space Nine, Voyager), and his journey to Battlestar Galactica, The Outlander Television Series and his upcoming work for Apple Television (coming in 2019).
Some of Mr. Moore’s memories shared in the context of the interview were how entranced he was with the Moon landing of Apollo 11, and how that led to him becoming a life-long Star Trek fan, and how the Star Trek ethos shaped his worldview. Ron relayed that writing has always been there for him, but as a student, he viewed writing as a fantasy and not something like a real job.
Ron Moore also imparted his first impressions of being on the set of Star Trek Next Generation. He received a tour of the set, and stated to himself “he would work on this show”. That self-belief became a reality a few episodes later. Ron relays that his acceptance into the Writers room of the writing staff of Star Trek Next Generation enabled him to learn the craft of writing for television.
When discussing his writing process, Ron referred to 2004 as the Peak Year for Television. He attributes that year to being the year where television changed to more of a story arc, than single episodes in a television series without a connecting plot line (examples used were Lost and Battlestar Galactica).
When discussing Battlestar Galactica, Ron stated that he was motivated to write his version of the show in a post 9/11/2001 world. He believes the show has resonated so much with the fans because it looked at the world around us in the present day, through the lense of science fiction. He discussed the religious aspects of the show in that the protagonist characters on the show worshiped many gods, and the antagonists worshiped on single god.
In the last segment of the workshop, the Moderators, Chris and Mark walked Ron Moore through a discussion about Outlander. Ron stated that Outlander was not just a romance, it was also an adventure story, and an adventure story about a woman named Claire. In a more technical aspect of television writing, Ron walked the audience through the process of dramatizing a show from a book that is told in “first person narrative”, and how he dramatized Claire’s voice (character on the show, played by Catriona Balfe), and not make the show too repetitive, or weigh down the pacing of the show with too much explication and voice over.
As a souvenir from the workshop, Writer Mark Altman and his writing partner, Edward Gross had signed copies of their book “So Say We All.” A complete, uncensored unauthorized oral history of Battlestar Galactic. The copy of the book is available via a contest to Once Upon A Twilight subscribers
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