I have been putting off reading the Eonline interview with Ron Moore since it is filled with some season 2 spoilers... After seeing the entire thing reprinted on a few sites, a quick scan told me it would be possible to pull out some of the sections that are spoiler free. I am normally not one to post large amounts of content from other sites (I prefer to link to it) but in this case, to protect from spoilers, I hope Eonline forgives me:
Chris Perez: What do you think of all of the critical acclaim Battlestar Galactica has been receiving?
Ron: It’s really nice! Thank you. It’s really gratifying. I’m really glad that people are finding it and enjoying it because we love making it.
Kathryn Tennaro: have you considered making a movie out of BSG (like Joss' Serenity)?
Ron: I don’t know. I’m not sure that the show lends itself to a feature film. One of the strengths I think of the show is all the serialized elements of it. All the continuing storyline. All the character work and the fabric of the show and the myth, and all the textures of it. With a feature you’re doing a big one off, here’s one big flashy film, and I’m not sure that’s really what this show is about. So I haven’t really seriously considered that.
Lance Q: Were you surprised that some fans were really taken aback by the rape scene?
Ron: I mean, I knew that people would react to it. It’s a very provocative moment. Any rape scene, you’re going to have an emotional response. I knew that that was gonna be a trigger on some level. But, you know, stepping back from it, you can see it’s not really, it’s much more of a thing on the internet than it is in reality. I mean, we did not push the boundaries of television. It’s certainly nothing that you haven’t seen on Law & Order or NYPD Blue or 50 other shows that have gone into this territory. It’s nowhere near as graphic and disturbing, in my opinion, as the moment when you know, remember the character on The Sopranos that beat the stripper to death? That was disturbing television. That was really hard to watch! Like, omigod! And this [scene on Battlestar] doesn’t even approach that. It’s a controversial moment. It’s a provocative moment, but it was important to the story. It was built into the fabric of what show was about, the whole show dealing with what was happening to the cylon, prisoners we had seen, evidence of what had happened already on Pegasus and this was a natural outgrowth of that. So, a lot of the reaction on the internet is just sort of what people do on the internet. They become very dramatic. It becomes a whole thing for people to get on a soapbox and start yelling at the stars. But that’s OK. That’s what people like to do!
Kimberly Owens: Do you ever get pressure from the network to tone down the sexual or violent content out of fear of the FCC or other such nonsense?
Ron: Sure. You know, we have ongoing discussions with the network on every episode, from script to final editing, and we had long discussions on that particular scene. How it was shot, what the final edit was going to be and you know, you make your case and they have their feelings and ultimately you end up at a place where, you know, everybody is sort of satisfied. I was satisfied where we ended up and so were they.
Kristin: I have to ask, with Commander In Chief coming to ABC, everyone’s saying this is the first female president we’ve seen on TV!
Ron: Yeah, I was kind of annoyed by that.
Kristin: How do you think your president would fare up against Geena Davis?
Ron: I love our president! There was actually some [news]paper or Wired or somebody a while back actually sort of outlined it and put a chart up comparing the two! It was actually before Commander In Chief aired. I can’t really remember what that publication was, but somebody had sent me a tear sheet that was like ‘look at this!’ Um, I haven’t watched Commander In Chief, but I like Laura’s portrayal a lot because I feel like we’ve really been there with that character, where we really saw, you know, the woman who wasn’t really even thinking about becoming president. I mean, Commander In Chief, as I understand it, she was the vice president and then steps up, but she’s like in the national arena, she at least had to think about what would happen the day the president died and what she would do. You know, there’s a certain amount vetting that had to go on, and with our character, Laura was 42nd in the line of succession. It just never really was a realistic possibility in her mind that she was ever going to become president. She wasn’t driven to that kind of office, so ours is the story of almost an every woman who’s suddenly thrust into this position. The other interesting thing that I have to say, I’d say the biggest distinction between Commander In Chief and our show is that Commander In Chief hangs it’s hat on the whole notion that this is a show about the first woman president and it’s a big deal and her gender is kind of front and center and that’s why you’re tuning in. In our show, in our world of Galactica, there is no comment on the fact that she’s a woman. You know, her gender role doesn’t even really raise an eyebrow by anybody. It’s a very integrated world in terms of sexual roles. You know, we see [female] fighter pilots constantly, Admiral Cain was a woman, and there’s no even residual feeling in the Galactica world that there’s anything at all unusual about that and you get the feeling that their society has just been sort of gender blind for quite a while. So the fact that Laura’s president is just sort of ‘oh, she’s president’ and one assumes that there were probably female presidents well before she ever even came on the scene.
Mindy Boustead: When will there be a confirmation that Battlestar Galactica was picked up for a season three?
Ron: We’re having general conversations about it. The network hasn’t made it a formal pickup. I’d say the indications look good. But they don’t have to pull the trigger on it for a few more months. It’s just the way networks work, they will probably not do it until they have to. February or March. I’m optimistic. I’ve been optimistic since we did the miniseries that we’d get picked up and I feel that we’re going to get picked up.
Kathryn: How many years/seasons do you anticipate the series will run?Ron: I’ve been asked that question and it’s a difficult question. I just kind of take each season as it comes. At the end of a season, like we’re approaching now, I always feel like, oh god, can I get even one more season out of it? And at the beginning of the season we always come up with more stories than we have time to do. So I’m certain that we could get a couple more years out of it. And you don’t want to overstay your welcome either.
Read the full article for all it's spoiler glory about season 2 plot points... if you are interested.
I really appreciate this. I started to read the interview too until I came across spoilers and didn't want to read further. But this part was very interesting. Thanks.
Posted by: Zot | October 12, 2005 at 07:40 AM