Ron Moore: Series V Is 'Birth Of The Federation'
By ChristianDecember 6, 2000 - 11:28 PM
Ever since 'Star Trek: Deep Space Nine' ended, the internet has been increasingly abuzz with rumours about Series V, which even then was already reported to be under consideration by Star Trek producers Rick Berman and Brannon Braga. In November of last year, it was reported that the concept being considered by the two producers for the next show was a 'Birth of the Federation' series, set before the time of the Original Series, and since then this concept has been appearing in almost every Series V rumour since then.
After a year of rumours, however, we're now finally getting our first semi-official confirmations. After former Trek script coordinator Lolita Fatjo already stated a few days ago that the new series would likely take place before the Original Series, today Space.com posted an interview with former Trek staff writer Ronald D. Moore, who also said he believes the next show will be 'Birth of the Federation'.
When asked by interviewer Don Lipper if he had talked to anybody about "Birth of the Federation, which is the next series", Moore answered, "Not directly. I've heard probably what you've heard, but I haven't read the entire script or anything like that." When asked for confirmation whether this is really the premise for Seires V, Moore elaborated, "That's my understanding. That's the word around the studio, but I haven't heard that from anyone on the show." Continuing, Moore also gave his own thoughts on the future of Trek, as you can read in the below quote from the interview:
Ronald D. Moore: A little bit, but the feeling always was that Star Trek really was about Starfleet in one way, shape or form. That part of it was a core concept of the franchise. We did talk about it amongst ourselves in "what if" possibilities, but we couldn't quite visualize how you could say that that really was Star Trek.
SPACE.com: Do you think that there is Trek fatigue, and that the franchise could actually benefit from the [threatened summer writers' and actors'] strike?
Ronald D. Moore: I don't know about a strike benefiting anybody particularly. It needs a time out to creatively sit back and reassess. But that [needs to be] a deliberate choice to say, "Okay, I'm going to set this thing down and walk away from it and go do something else and then I'm going to come back and pick it up again." Whereas a strike is saying, "Okay, I'm marking time but I know what I'm doing and when are we going to get back in production?"
SPACE.com: It seems like another ship show. Was there any discussion when you were on DS9 of doing the civilian show that looked at the rest of the universe?
In the full interview, Moore not only talked about Series V, but also about Star Trek X. After mentioning he didn't know anything about the plot of this film, he did relay some interesting rumours he'd heard about future films. "I don't know. The rumblings I've heard periodically is that they might try to move to some sort of combined format, where you would be using characters from different series and combine them for an adventure. Not like the entire casts, but like some of the characters and maybe cameos for others and they would try to move into a more generalized Star Trek movie."
Click here for the full interview, in which you can of course read Moore's thoughts on Series V and Trek X, but also on writing the first two TNG films, and on producing the DS9 finale.
As usual, please be aware that, as Moore himself also stated in the interview, this should not yet be taken as official confirmation that Series V will indeed be a 'Birth of the Federation' show. Paramount hasn't yet officially announced anything about the new series, and until then anything you read about it should be taken as mere rumour or speculation.
Discuss this news item at Trek BBS!
Add TrekToday RSS feed to your news reader or My Yahoo!
Also a CSI: Crime Scene Investigation fan? Then visit CSIFiles.com!
