Some of the storytelling we did in 'Battlestar Galactica,' to graft that onto 'Star Trek,' it would have required changing the entire format of the show and, really, a different taste of the show.
With 'Outlander,' definitely the book fans were at the door, ready to go, as soon as we started. But it felt like it kind of crossed over into more of a general audience rapidly. That did surprise me - I thought it would take longer for general audiences to come around.
The technobabble in 'Trek' just got completely out of control.
What got my interested in science fiction was actually the American space program.
The last thing I wanted to do was 'Battlestar Galactica.' I thought, 'I've done sci-fi. I did 'Blade Runner.' I don't have to do anything more.'
Essentially, you know, one of the great advantages of working in science fiction is it does give you an opportunity to talk about interesting and somewhat controversial themes and social issues and in a way that doesn't really threaten the audience, because I'm not challenging their particular points of view.
The original 'Star Trek' is very much a product of the '60s - the new frontier, optimism, the idea of bringing democracy to the galaxy. It's still a timeless show, but it's very much a show made in the 1960s.
I'd argue that in the last few decades in America, when people are asked what they hope the future will look like, they still turn to 'Star Trek.' They hope we put aside our differences and come together as humanity, that we rise above war, poverty, racism, and other problems that have beset us.
I think I started watching 'Trek' in the mid-'70s when I was in elementary school, and I was just into space. Somewhere along the way, I started realizing there were really interesting ideas in the show.
I was very pleased with the way that the show ended creatively and personally. It just feels like we've completed the piece. And now to be able to step back a little bit and look at it from beginning to end, I feel good about the complete story that is 'Battlestar Galactica.'
What does it mean to be human, and what is at the human heart, and is there a soul, or is that all there is? Can an artificial being be intelligent? Is 'intelligent' the definition of humanity, or is it something deeper?
I'm just smart enough to know what it is I don't know and try to learn as I go along and accept that you're going to make mistakes, and there are going to be things that are not going to be perfect.
There are some good space battles in some of the later series, but that wasn't why you were tuning in every week. You were tuning in every week because Spock was a fascinating character. Because his friendship with Kirk was profound and really unusual.
I felt that 'Deep Space' was the way to do a spin off series of an existing franchise where you really are doing a very different show. It's a different format. It's a different feeling.
This is my philosophy since 'Star Trek' and 'Battlestar': You have to be willing to have fandom hate what you're doing or love it and not care either way on a certain level, because you cannot become a slave to their emotion or their vote. It's not a democracy, as I'm always fond of saying.
I have the distinct pleasure of doing exactly what I want to do and get paid for it. It's a joy.
'Generations,' we slaved over for a year; we worked it over and over and over again, and in the end, it just fell short.
There's a special joy you get having a show on the air that people are interested in and wanting to know what happens next. You really want to enjoy that while you have it.
There was definitely a sense that 'The Next Generation' was the 'Star Trek' stepchild that nobody liked.
I'm an agnostic in the truest sense of the word. I think about these things - I grew up Roman Catholic, I've been interested in Hinduism, in Eastern religions, but I'm not dedicated to anything - I go through periods where I think maybe it's all nonsense; maybe it's 'The Matrix...' I'm open to various ideas.
Looking back now on our workload, I just shake my head at our pace. 'Star Trek: The Next Generation' was my first series, so I didn't know anything about that when I started. I just assumed it was normal to make 26 episodes a year on a seven-day shooting schedule.
In television, there's this weird sense of isolation from your audience; you kind of get this feeling that you write the show for you and your wife and your friends and the other people who work on the show. It's our little show, and then it goes out into the world, and somebody watches it.
There is not a new hopeful, optimistic vision of the future that I am currently aware of. Certainly, not one that has penetrated pop culture awareness in the way 'Star Trek' has.
I enjoyed directing, and I really found that it was a great new field to try my hand in.
I'm used to something where you have to create an entire world, and I do like that process. I like getting the audience to believe that outside of the frame of your television set, there's a whole real world that exists that is different from your day-to-day reality.
The danger of serialization is that you almost get into a monotone - where they all have the same beat and pace, and it's all one long thing - and when you can kind of do this interesting mixture of episodic and serialization, you can kind of take the audience on a more interesting journey.
Romance classically has tragic underpinnings to it.
Sometimes you just have to be willing to delegate and not feel like you're the only one with the answer.
I started my career at 'Star Trek,' and that had a huge, very vocal fan base.
I guess, at the beginning of any project, I always have the same hope, which is that it's going to be wildly successful and critically acclaimed, and it'll be a major thing.
I like interacting with fans, and I like hearing what they say, but you have to take it all with a grain of salt.
When I grew up, I saw the moon landing, and I was fascinated watching them as a child, and that's what really turned me onto space and science fiction, and I started watching things like 'Lost In Space,' and that led me to 'Star Trek,' which was a major influence on my life.
It's been an old saw in science fiction for a long time, since 'Frankenstein,' that we're going to create life that's going to turn on us.
'Battletar' took a while to kinda permeate out into pop culture generally. It hit first with the science-fiction fan community, then the critics, and then it kind of went to the general population.
I really wanted to write the death of Captain Kirk.
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