Creating a universe as vast and diverse as Star Trek takes a whole army of people. The most ruminant are the ones in front of the camera bringing the heroes of Starfleet to life. But behind the scenes is an army of artists shaping the hopeful vision of the future.
From designing stunning landscapes to making sure someone rank pins are on straight, every hour on screen takes an army of creative minds to bring the vision together and more production crew than could fit on a starship to make it all work.
Some jobs are just there to pay the rent. Some jobs are dreams come true. When it comes to working for a production like Star Trek, one thats influenced so many over the decades, there are few lucky enough to transition from fan to being a core part of the universe. One of those lucky souls not only got his job thanks to his fandom, but made a career from it like few others.
For over a hundred years Hollywood has been the mecca of film production in the united states and still stands as the place to go to follow your dreams in show business. Los Angeles is filled with artists clamouring for their chance to prove themselves and make it. Most never do and more often than not, those who do get their foot in the door only get that far by sheer luck.
After graduating from the Cornell University, mastering in political science, a young and hopeful Ronald D Moore took his chance, moving from New York to Los Angeles in the hopes of becoming a writer. And just like the hundreds of other people who followed the same path, nothing happened. Even when he was able to get a tour of the Star Trek set, sneakily dropping in one of his own scripts to showcase what he could do, it all seemed a futile endeavour.
Months passed and no one was biting. That Star Trek script was tossed aside and left to collect dust. Just as Moore had given up all hope and was getting himself ready to join the Navy instead, Star Trek producer Michael Piller found his script and liked it so much that it was making it’s way into production. The Bonding was a story of an officer who died in action and Worf caring for the orphaned son she left behind. It left an impression. Piller wanted to see what else this unknown writer had.
By the end of 1989, Moore was a part of the writers room. Staying the distance, he became a strong fixture within the Next Generation production team, becoming synonymous with Klingon plot-lines and being entrusted to write the series finale, All Good Things, as well as the Next Generations first feature film Generations alongside Brannon Braga.
His legacy in Star Trek continued, with a move to Deep Space Nine following the Next Generations run, working his way up to Co-Executive producer by the final season. As a fan of the original series growing up, his episodes usually features references to the classic era of Star Trek, or in the case of Trials and Tribbleations, an entire flashback episode using footage of the original cast mixed with Deep Space Nine.
Collaborating on Deep Space Nine under lead show-runner Ira Stephen Behr gave Moore room to explore beyond the usual sci fi trappings of the Next Generation. Aside from being one of the key writers for shaping Klingon culture stemming from Sins of the Father, Moore and the team explored a more personal and darker turn through the Dominion war and exploration of what Starfleet under pressure looked like.
Once Deep Space Nine came to an end in 1999, so did Moore’s Star Trek career. After a very brief stint on Voyager, Moore’s desire to push that creative field a little further saw disagreements with former writing partner Brannon Braga and moved him to a new direction.
Moving on to another science fiction show, Roswell, Moore ended up being approached by David Eick to delve into another childhood favourite; Battlestar Galactica. The premise of the last survivors of humanity fleeing from their synthetic creations gave him just the opportunity he was looking for. With no ceiling or Star Trek styles he was bound to, Battlestar became a whole new story from the original as it followed the few highs and many, many lows of a struggling fleet looking for a new home while under constant attack.
Spanning a handful of season, two films and a spin off, BSG didn’t just give Moore another job but became a creative touchstone for sci fi, shifting the balance from showcasing humanity’s idealism to focusing on the struggles and conflicts it takes to get there. The style would influence not only new shows being made, but long term franchises including Stargate and even back to Star Trek itself.
Showing no signs of slowing down, Moore’s career has continued to move to fresh ideas. The short lived Helix focused on small scale horror while fantasy series Outlander became a massively successful period drama with a bit of a time traveling twist.
While Outlander is still ongoing, Moore developed alternate history sci fi For All Mankind – the story of US Space Exploration following Russia being first to land on the moon – has been another huge success for Apple TV.
Having grown and evolved in style, Moore’s career now is a far cry from Piller stumbling upon a random hopeful’s script in a pile. Twenty five years on though, Moore’s career beginning with a ten year mission in the Star Trek universe makes it not only hard to escape from him being a huge part of the franchise, but one of Star Trek’s best behind the scenes success stories.
You can watch his current projects For All Mankind on Apple TV while Outlander is currently exclusive to Prime Video.
About the author
A Fistful of O’Brien
Entering the Star Trek world as an unnamed extra with a few bits of dialogue, O'Brien soon became a fixture on the Enterprise D as it's transporter chief before moving to Deep Space Nine to head up engineering and operations on what was thought to be a backwater outpost before it became one of the most strategically important stations in the quadrant!As the only enlisted or non commissioned officer to feature in the main cast of any Star Trek show to date, O'Brien stands as the only working class hero in the Star Trek universe with a vast and varied career taking from the front lines of the Cardassian war as a soldier, to the front lines of the Dominion War as an engineer, retrofitting DS9, keeping the Defiant from blowing itself apart, and even sniping Dominion troops. All in […]
[Q2&A] Career Track
SFC has always structured it's internal reward and recognition system on the command structure of Starfleet on screen. Newbies are cadets. When they become full members, they become Ensigns. And those eager to take on a leadership role can rank up to Commander or Captain. Even the board of directors are mirrored within the theme as Commodores and Admirals! It's always been the way, but the path of an officer isn't for everyone... Despite the original idea of all star ship personnel being highly trained astronauts, therefore nullifying the need for enlisted crew, the enlisted ranks have existed in some form since the original series. More defined in the film era, particularly under the revision of style and structure in The Wrath of Khan, they have been slightly more prominent since. Most notable of the enlisted members of Starfleet was […]
[Retro Review] Space Seed
By chance, the Enterprise comes across an ancient Earth ship drifting through space. On board they find a whole bunch of people held in suspended animation, wake up the leader of the gang and accidentally unleash one of the most iconic villains of the franchise. Being coy with his identity at first, ship historian Marla McGivers becomes fascinated with a glimpse at the past while Kirk and the rest of the non-historians figure out that he just happens to be one of the most notorious war lords in Earths history... Star Trek, Season 1 , Episode 22 For all the action and adventure of deep space and the idea of using alien make up to mask more down to earth stories, Space Seed gives the first real glimpse of Star Trek's history. Khan is a relic of Earth from long […]
Resistance Is Optional: Choose Your Adventure!
Our trials of bringing the fleet together have been hit and miss with scheduling and dates being a bit slim. So we're opening the floor to the fleet to pick the next date and theme! You can make your selection below on what works best for you ahead of our next fleet event! The final outcome will be shared at Europa on Facebook and in Fleet Alert in the Officers Hub as soon as we have a comfortable number of notes. For more information or to get direct updates on non-Discord online events, you can the subscribe to Twitch channel, visit twitch.tv/sfcq2. Google Meets events are hosted by our google account - you can add sfcquad2@gmail.com to your whitelist to ensure direct notification. Info and invite confirmations may also come from jt@sfcq2.com directly.
Sixty Year Mission…
It's been a really weird year already for the world of Star Trek fans. We started 2026 with a new venture into a strange new future with Starfleet Academy. Then just as the show had won people over, we found out it's the latest in a long list of recent productions to get a cancellation order, is a bit of a weird way to start the 60th anniversary of a legendary franchise. The past few years we've kind of spoiled. Growing up it was exciting to have Deep Space Nine run alongside the Next Generation. In modern times we had multiple shows going at once with Discovery's launch spawning a new world of story telling from revisiting Picard in his post-Starfleet years, to animated comedy with Lower Decks, to finally telling the story of Captain Pike and even a peek […]
[Retro Review] Let This Be Your Last Battlefield
Often shown in highlight reels and quoted in discussions about Star Trek's more forward thinking messages, Let This Be Your Last Battlefield is at it's simplest, a story of the ridiculousness of segregation. En route to a vital mission of mercy, Kirk and his crew end up in the middle of a political minefield. Interrupted in the mission by a stolen Federation shuttle carrying an injured alien, Lokai from the planet Cheron, they're soon further interrupted by Commissioner Bele, an official representing Cheron who announces Lokai as a political traitor and demanding custody. One asylum request later, Kirk's stuck between the two trying to find the right course of action knowing he has orders to follow beyond the situation. The separation between Belle and Lokai is a simple context. And also a strangely charged one looking at it from a […]
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