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Ronald D. Moore

Ron Moore
For the visual effects coordinator, please see Ronald B. Moore.

Ronald D. Moore (born 5 July 1964; age 60) is a writer and producer of several Star Trek series and films, as well as several other science fiction and genre programs. Moore was recognized for his writing work on the Star Trek franchise with seven award nominations, winning two of them. In his post-Star Trek years, he greatly added to this list of laurels.

Moore participated in filming of the documentary What We Left Behind.

Star Trek

While residing in Los Angeles as a struggling and budding writer, Ron Moore started to date a woman who worked on the set of Star Trek: The Next Generation. In 1989, Moore, an avid fan of the Star Trek: The Original Series, convinced her to take him on a tour of the lot. He had written a script for the show, which the producers liked enough to actually film. It became "The Bonding", and Moore was soon hired as a staff writer.

He remained at that position until the end of the series. He co-wrote 27 episodes of Star Trek: The Next Generation including the series finale, "All Good Things..." for which he won the Hugo Award for excellence in science fiction writing along with Brannon Braga. Moore and Braga also co-wrote two films featuring the Next Generation cast, Star Trek Generations and Star Trek: First Contact. As producer of TNG in 1994, Moore shared an Emmy Award nomination when the series was nominated as Outstanding Drama Series that year.

Ron Moore and Gene Roddenberry
Moore and Gene Roddenberry

After The Next Generation ended in 1994, Moore joined the writing staff of Star Trek: Deep Space Nine as a supervising producer, a post which he held from that show's third to fifth seasons. In 1997, he was promoted to co-executive producer. He is credited as writer or co-writer of thirty episodes of DS9. Moore is something of an innovator in fan interaction via the internet. He regularly ran online chats with fellow fans via AOL during his tenure on Deep Space Nine.

In 1999, after DS9 finished its run, Moore briefly joined the staff of Star Trek: Voyager and publicly suggested he might co-write with his one-time writing partner and Voyager Executive Producer Brannon Braga again. (AOL chat, 1999) Moore quickly became frustrated by the atmosphere in Voyager's writers' room and left the series after writing one episode and co-writing the story for another; as a result of this experience his relationship with Braga soured(X) for a time. However, the two later recorded a commentary for the DVD release of Star Trek Generations together in which they indicated that any problems between them were now in the past.

Moore's love of the original series showed itself through a myriad of allusions to the show, presented in many of Moore's episodes, such as the mention of the Tholians in "Reunion" and the first appearance of Starfleet Academy in "The First Duty". It is perhaps because of this fondness that Moore was chosen to write "Relics" (after Braga turned down the writing chore, because he knew nothing of the Original Series), which featured Montgomery Scott and a Holodeck duplicate of the bridge of the original USS Enterprise, and "Trials and Tribble-ations", set during an episode of the original series. His favorite TOS episode is "The Conscience of the King". (AOL chat, 1997) This inspired his first attempt at writing Star Trek, an unfinished novel that would have told the story of Tarsus IV. (AOL chat, 1998)

Moore's hand in "Sins of The Father" gave him the nickname of "the Klingon guy", and he went on to write nearly every Klingon-centric episode of TNG and DS9.

Over the years, a character named after Moore was mentioned in a few pieces of background artwork, such as starships' dedication plaques. On his role in the franchise, Moore has commented, "Personally, I think of myself and other writers as artists. I believe in a fairly loose definition of "art" as almost any creative form of expression and that writing (and screenwriting) certainly falls within that category." (AOL chat, 1997)

Due to the close similarity in names, Ron Moore was often confused with Visual Effects Supervisor Ronald B. Moore, already employed by the franchise in 1987, and the confusion was not restricted to outsiders only, as Ron B. Moore gleefully recalled, "When Ron D. started working on TNG I even got his first paycheck. I did give it back to him but pointed out that he should be careful, as I know I would have no problem cashing his checks. I never got another, but am still hoping I do." (Flying Starships, p. 78) The confusion even persisted as late as 1993, when Moore was given an unjustified visual effects credit for "Gambit, Part II", which was meant for Ron B. Moore.

In 2014, Moore mused on Star Trek that "[It] would be fun to return to one day, but hard to see how you get from here to there." However, he expressed enthusiasm for a future series being streamed via Netflix, as "it would be wonderful to see a show like Star Trek cast in that realm where they could literally go where no show has gone before." He also expressed interest in exploring a mirror universe for the rebooted films' timeline. [1]

Career

Ron Moore attended Cornell University through the US Navy's Reserve Officer Training Corps program, intending to be commissioned as an officer in the Navy upon graduation, with his ultimate ambition to pilot the F-14 Tomcat. When he was later medically disqualified from flying, that career path was no longer possible. However, while at Cornell, Moore had enjoyed "writing on the side", as he put it, and joined a number of campus literary societies. Graduating with a Bachelor of Arts degree in political science, Moore decided to move to Los Angeles to pursue a career as a writer. His career was initially not doing well, but it was there that he began dating a crew member of Star Trek: The Next Generation, the event eventually leading up to his position on The Next Generation.

Upon leaving Voyager, Ron Moore endeavored to pursue other writing opportunities, including the series Roswell and Carnivàle and, most notably, the updated 2003 version of the Battlestar Galactica (BSG) franchise.

Battlestar Galactica

Battlestar Galactica logo (new)
Logo for Moore's Galactica

Moore was approached by Producer David Eick to partner up with him for the development of the revamped Galactica. Eick was charged by his employer Universal Studios for the project, but realized he needed help for the development by someone who had a thorough understanding of what made a science-fiction show "tick", and was aware that Emmy Award winning Moore was soon becoming available. Moore – not only a "trekkie", but also fond of the original Battlestar Galactica show – was willing and eager to lend his talents, but could not join immediately as he had to wrap up his Carnivàle commission first. Nonetheless, with Moore's affirmation, Eick was able to start the development of the new project, before Moore could join him full time. Moore was given the co-executive producer position on the revamped franchise, and therefore becoming the equal of Eick.

Following the 2003 two-part pilot miniseries , the re-imagined BSG franchise ran for a four-season television series , starting in 2004, complemented by two BSG TV-movies, Razor (2007) and The Plan (2009), initially receiving accolades from fans of the original BSG movie and series, as well as media outlets, critics, and fans in both the US and the UK. Remarkable also was the backing the re-imagined series received from original BSG staffer such as veteran actor Richard Hatch (who guest starred as a major character in several episodes), while creator and executive producer of the original series, Glen A. Larson, served as a consulting producer for the entire run of the renewed franchise. The series received a Peabody Award in 2006. Ron Moore won the 2005 Hugo Award for Best Dramatic Presentation, Short Form for writing the first season's premiere episode, "33". It was the second Hugo Award that Moore has received to date, following up from "All Good Things…" In addition, Moore was nominated for a 2007 Emmy Award in the Outstanding Writing For A Drama Series category for writing the "Occupation/Precipice" episode of BSG, his first Emmy nomination in thirteen years. Damon Lindelof was nominated in the same category for co-writing the season three finale of Lost, but both lost to David Chase, who won the award for writing the final episode of the hit HBO TV series, The Sopranos.

BSG proved to be so successful that the second season was announced just as the second week's episode of the first season was being aired. The Sci-Fi Channel had even ordered advance scripts for the first six episodes of the second season before it was officially renewed or had even aired in the United States. BSG's first season aired during the same time as Star Trek: Enterprise's fourth season, and BSG received higher ratings even though it was on a cable channel and Enterprise was on a broadcast network.

Despite the acclaim, there were die-hard fans of the classic series, who denounced the re-imagined series right from the start, increasingly referring to the re-imagined franchise by the acronym "GINO" – Galactica In Name Only [2](X) –, and these fans were subsequently joined by others, critical of the later BSG spin-off productions. In this it resembled the fan criticism that befell The Next Generation prior to, and during its first season. Moore himself reacted to this criticism with humor when he made a cameo appearance in the April 2009 episode "A Space Oddity" of the crime series CSI: Crime Scene Investigation – incidentally co-written by his former Next Generation writing colleague Naren Shankar; the subplot in that episode involved a young director/producer remaking an old science fiction series with a brand new concept, angering fans with Moore, as a convention attendee, being the first person to speak out in order to denounce the remake.

Continuing his interest in fan interaction, Moore maintained a blog on Sci-Fi.com in which he answers a multitude of fan questions in unerring detail and attention. He also provided podcast commentaries, posted on the official website shortly after an episode had aired, from the privacy of his home for each episode in which he often mentions his involvement with Star Trek and criticisms of what he felt led to its decline. Nearly all of these podcast were later included as audio commentaries for their respective episodes on the various video home media releases. References to Star Trek occasionally appeared in BSG; for example, a hatchway on board the Galactica behind which vital plot movements take place is labeled "1701D".

The fourth and final season of Moore's BSG concluded in March 2009. Moore himself made his directorial debut on the fourth season episode, "A Disquiet Follows My Soul." He also went on to write and appear in the finale, "Daybreak." [3] The Sci-Fi Channel announced, already in late April 2006, near the end of the second season, that it was planning on producing a prequel BSG-based TV series named Caprica , detailing the initial creation and revolt of the Cylon robots, and that this new show would also be helmed by Moore, both as writer and executive producer. [4] The series, indeed called Caprica, was eventually produced in 2009, but canceled after its first season in 2010.

Remarkable was that a multitude of Moore's former Star Trek colleagues, predominantly from the visual effects departments had joined him during his time on the BSG franchise, such as Gary Hutzel, joined at a later time by Doug Drexler and David Takemura, and including a host of former Foundation Imaging CGI artists such as Pierre Drolet, Koji Kuramura, Lee Stringer, Adam "Mojo" Lebowitz, to name but a few. Hutzel had, as Moore's right hand where the visual effects were concerned, served on the entire run of the franchise, whereas most of the other former Star Trek effects staffers joined after Star Trek prime had ceased for the time being with the cancellation of Star Trek: Enterprise in 2005. However, former Deep Space Nine colleagues David Weddle and Bradley Thompson were the very first former Star Trek staffers Moore had brought along, to form the nucleus of his creative writing staff as co-producers/writers.

Since then Ron Moore has somewhat distanced himself from the BSG franchise and has not been involved in the 2012 prequel spin-off television movie Battlestar Galactica: Blood & Chrome, though many of his former co-workers on the franchise, including those with the Star Trek pedigree, were. It was partner David Eick who headed that very last outing into the franchise.

Post-Battlestar Galactica career

A two-hour TV pilot for a potential series entitled Virtuality, co-written by Moore and Michael Taylor, was greenlit by the FOX network in April, 2008. [5](X) It was aired as a made-for-TV movie in June, 2009, though it was not picked up as a series. In 2011, Moore began work on 17th Precinct, which was to heavily feature many actors who had previously worked with Moore on Battlestar Galactica; this pilot was also not picked up for series, nor has it ever aired to the public.

He also had a cameo as himself in the 2008 Trek-spoofing CSI: Crime Scene Investigation episode "A Space Oddity," which was written by Naren Shankar and starred Paul Guilfoyle, Liz Vassey, Wallace Langham, and Kate Vernon. In 2012, he played a role in an episode of Portlandia called "One Moore Episode", where two characters become obsessed with Battlestar Galactica; the episode also featured that series' star Edward James Olmos.

Moore worked as writer and executive producer on SyFy's Helix, which premiered in January 2014. Among the Trek alumni who worked on this series were Billy Campbell, Jeri Ryan, and associate producer Stephen Welke. Outlander, a TV series based on Diana Gabaldon's novel, was developed by Moore, and started broadcasting in August 2014. Outlander reunited Moore with Ira Steven Behr.

In 2017, he was the executive producer on the limited series Electric Sheep, based on works of Philip K. Dick.

In 2019, Moore developed the alternate history series For All Mankind, one of Apple TV+ earliest original content series, and serves as one of its executive producers. Among the series' producers and writers are his former DS9 and BSG collaborators Naren Shankar, Bradley Thompson, David Weddle and addended with Voyager scribe Joe Menosky, while both David Gautreaux and Linda Park have appeared in one or more of its episodes. Aside from them, the series reunited him also with Mike and Denise Okuda, who served the production as technical consultants. Moore also brought along Maril Davis as personal production associate, and who was rapidly becoming for Moore what Susan Sackett had been for Gene Roddenberry, as she had served Moore in the same capacity on his previous shows Carnivalé and Galactica, besides Deep Space Nine and the two Next Generation films. [6] Moore has stated in several interviews that as far as he was concerned, that his alternate history show was "(…)like the road to Star Trek. This is like the road that gets you to that kind of optimistic future where technology is our friend and where we solve a lot of the problems here on earth and we go forward as a better race". [7]

Writing credits

Producing credits

In-universe onscreen appearances

Uncredited
Holographic Vic's Lounge patron
Holographic Vic's Lounge patron

Star Trek interviews

Star Trek awards

For his work on Star Trek Ron D. Moore received the following awards and nominations in the various writing categories.

Emmy Award

Moore received the following Emmy Award nomination in the category Outstanding Drama Series

Hugo Awards

Moore received the following Hugo Award and nominations in the category Best Dramatic Presentation

Saturn Award

Moore received the following Saturn Award nomination in the category Best Writer

  • 1997 for the episode "All Good Things…", shared with Brannon Braga

Universe Reader's Choice Award

Moore received the following Universe Reader's Choice Award in the category Best Writing for a Genre Motion Picture

  • 1995 for Star Trek Generations, shared with Brannon Braga

See also

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