Ron Moore's BSG "Bible"

[firesprite]

For those of you who are big BSG fans like me, Ron Moore's "Bible" for the BSG series has been made available on the internet. If you aren't familiar with the term, I'm not talking a religious text, but a writing aid that's given to writers of a series to make sure that details mesh even when several different people are writing for it.

Should make for an interesting read!

BSG Bible

 

[Carson Dyle]

Cool; thanks for posting.

 

[CB2001]

Nice find. But the one thing I'd like to read is Moore's "What Life is Like for Cylon" article that was handed out to the actors who played Cylons, which describes what it's like to live on a Basestar, technology, beliefs and so on. From a writing standpoint, even with Season 3 and 4, I believe we truly haven't seen everything with the Cylons than we think. I feel that with what we've seen, it's only a fraction of what is there. I mean, we've only heard about other things that's happened between the 40 years at the end of the Cylon War and the start of the attacks on the Colony (I say other, meaning not just the stuff mentioned), also what life was like on the Cylon Colony (where they went to after the treaty was signed) during that time and the full detail of what it's like day to day on the Basestars (like what else do they do other than nude yoga, walking the halls projecting and discussing how to destroy humans).

But thanks for the link.

 

[SmilingOtter]

Nice. Thanks.

 

[epilepticsquirl]

now this should make for a fun read, thanks for the link!

With the new show, will they make a new bible or adapt this one to their needs?

 

[firesprite]

now this should make for a fun read, thanks for the link!

With the new show, will they make a new bible or adapt this one to their needs?

Given that David Eicke is heavily involved with Blood & Chrome so far, I expect they'll probably use this one as a jumping-off point.

CB: Yes, I think you're right. There's a LOT that we don't know about Cylon culture and history. Hopefully, B&C will give us some of those missing pieces. Also, they're going to have to bring in the Final Five at some point to broker the deal which ends the war so we should get to see them again which would be fun. Personally, I'd love to see a short series like Walking Dead dealing with the Cylon Earth and the Final Five's dealings with the Colonial Cylons prior to the Colonial holocaust.

I find it pretty amusing that Moore takes some not-so-subtle jabs at Star Trek in what little I've been able to read of the 'Bible' so far.

 

[Solo4114]

Interesting. I skimmed it. It seems pretty genuine. No discussion of "God did it," no grand overarching plan for the entire show, and the Cylon "plan" isn't mentioned at all. No discussion of who the hidden models of cylons are, and DEFINITELY no mention of Saul, Sherry (Saul's wife), or Tyrol being cylons themselves.

Proof positive that they made **** up as they went along, rather than having a grand plan. Which only sours me further on how the show was "sold" to viewers.

 

[CB2001]

CB: Yes, I think you're right. There's a LOT that we don't know about Cylon culture and history. Hopefully, B&C will give us some of those missing pieces. Also, they're going to have to bring in the Final Five at some point to broker the deal which ends the war so we should get to see them again which would be fun. Personally, I'd love to see a short series like Walking Dead dealing with the Cylon Earth and the Final Five's dealings with the Colonial Cylons prior to the Colonial holocaust.

Honestly, I'm surprised there isn't a "Walking Dead" like episode of BSG covering the Cylon Apocalypse post Colonial Attack (which I was sort of working on as a machinima comic book fan fiction series) before they left. I mean, not all survivors are going to be like Anders in his group. In fact, there may be some that may end up moving around to keep from getting caught or killed by the Cylons. Or, there are probably groups that huddled together like Anders, but may be worse representation of what humanity is in a post-apocalyptic setting than Anders group (kinda like the cannibals in The Road).

 

[Carson Dyle]

If the hypothetical writer/producer of a pending TV series were to announce tomorrow that he'd locked down four seasons worth of narrative arc prior to having shot a frame of footage, I've no doubt many people would think "Great; that's certain to result in a really dramatically satisfying viewing experience!"

My reaction, on the other hand, would be "You're either lying, or you're an idiot, and in any case I have no interest in watching so rigidly pre-plotted a series."

Certainly there are moments in Moore's BS:G where the plotting is less than tight, but tight plotting at the expense of spontaneity results in orderly, logical and dull drama.

Criticize Moore all you want for having (gasp!) sold his audience a false bill of goods, but I think he was smart to allow his writers the breathing room needed to keep BS:G fresh.

To the extent Moore knew where his series was headed, he knew more than enough.

 

[Jeyl]

To the extent Moore knew where his series was headed, he knew more than enough.

Not enough for Caprica it seems.

 

[Carson Dyle]

Moore had nothing to do with Caprica, other than having conceived the pilot.

God knows the series could have used him. I found it unwatchable.

 

[firesprite]

Moore had nothing to do with Caprica, other than having conceived the pilot.

God knows the series could have used him. I found it unwatchable.

Well, Ron is listed as an 'executive producer', but I'm not sure if that's because David Eicke's production company was involved or if he was hands-on at all. I have no idea what the role of an executive producer is.

 

[JediG60racer]

^signs checks.

 

[B-Movie Zombie]

Nice Find. Thank you!

 

[Pete SSS]

I haven't had a chance to read through this yet. but I did listen through all of the Ron Moore commentary Podcasts that acompanied the series.

He spoke a lot about the show bible in those. I really enjoyed listeneing to them alongside watching the DVDs, full of insights and reasoning behind decisions made or not made. He's also pretty candid about which episodes/characters/plot points he's dissapointed with or thought could have been better. He's also good at taking the blame for things that didn't quite fit, which I like.

Thanks for posting Firesprite!

 

[Solo4114]

If the hypothetical writer/producer of a pending TV series were to announce tomorrow that he'd locked down four seasons worth of narrative arc prior to having shot a frame of footage, I've no doubt many people would think "Great; that's certain to result in a really dramatically satisfying viewing experience!"

My reaction, on the other hand, would be "You're either lying, or you're an idiot, and in any case I have no interest in watching so rigidly pre-plotted a series."

Well, at this point, I agree with you that my reaction will be "You're lying." I accept a certain level of spontaneity, but I'm about done with "Great Big Mystery" shows. In my experience, they rarely satisfy IF you're watching for the mystery.

If you're watching to watch the characters just do whatever and be characters, you have a much better chance to enjoy the series -- whatever series that may be. But if you're watching to "solve" the big mystery, what are the odds that:

(A) the big mystery even HAS a solution in the writers' minds?

and

(B) the solution they have in mind doesn't suck? (IE: "Uhh...God did it! Oh, and it really WAS purgatory all along. Oh, and the truth is...umm...there was a government conspiracy about aliens and...uh...you can't stop it. Or something.")

AND

(C) the show won't get canceled two seasons into its planned six-season run, leaving the questions unanswered?



Based on my experience, at this point, I'd say...the odds are pretty ****ing slim.


As for the straw-man argument about "rigid plotting", who says you have to "rigidly" plot anything (unless any kind of plotting strikes you as rigid, I guess)? Have a starting point in mind, have an ending point in mind, and maybe have one or two high points in between in mind. Then fill in the blanks as you go. That's hardly rigid.

I guess I just don't buy the notion that you can't have a plan of some sort, generally stick to it, and still have interesting characters.

I think that's a cop-out.

 

[Carson Dyle]

I guess I just don't buy the notion that you can't have a plan of some sort, generally stick to it, and still have interesting characters.

Nor do I.

Take another look at that bible and tell me Moore didn't have a general plan for where he wanted his series to go. The entire first season was sketched out before one frame was shot. Subsequent seasons were sketched out in a similar fashion following each hiatus.

The end of the series was a foregone conclusion: the fleet would reach earth. Given the anti-technolgy theme inherent in a show about the destruction of the human race at the hands of machines, I suspect Moore knew he would wrap things up with a big battle, followed by some sort of grand anti-technology statement (i.e. sending the fleet into the sun). Beyond that, he probably wanted to keep his options open.

BS:G is by no means perfect, but as show bibles go it had one of the tightest and most detailed I've ever seen.

 

[Solo4114]

I'm not disagreeing with you that it's a good guide for how to write for the show, and contains a good bit of background. Of course, the background on several of the characters get MAJOR overhauls to do something that they decided would be interesting, and it's also pretty clear that there never was a "big mystery" element. Yet week after week, the mystery was emphasized. That may not be Moore's fault entirely, but I still think it's a mistake to say "pfft. Mystery. Like I'm gonna let that tie me down," and just go meander.

I also don't see anything in there about Season 2 or on, so I'm not sure how you know there were individual season arcs/bibles written. I mean, do you have additional info?

Regardless, I'm sticking to my guns on future shows that emphasize "big mysteries." A show that has mysteries each episode is one thing (IE: CSI, Bones, Sherlock Holmes, etc.) A show that is built around a mythology and a grand overarching set of mysteries....yeah, they're just gonna string you along and either get canceled or resolve it in some half-assed "What? Oh, that. Yeah, we never had a plan about that part. Characters, man! It's characters!"


I've still never seen LOST except for one episode that an ex made me watch with her. I had no desire to get sucked into a show like that without knowing where it'd end and whether that end sucked. From what I hear, the end was....weak. Or at least weak in many respects. Didn't live up to the hype that had built up.



I suppose the ultimate issue is a disconnect between the writers' sense of a show's identity, and the audience's sense of the show's identity (which may come as a result of studio/network interference and marketing). But that said, if your show is being marketed as a big mystery thing, if the network is forcing show credits to include big mystery elements, you'd better bloody well plan 'em out, or be prepared for a good chunk of fans to say "WHAT?!! After all this time, THAT'S the big answer?!!"



Better yet, don't bill your show as a "big mystery." Set up season arcs, set up character arcs, plan one season at a time, where each season is a contained story and each successive season builds on the previous work. Make your characters real people instead of TV tropes. AND LEAVE THE ****ING MYSTERY OUT OF IT. Because we all -- by now, at least -- should know that it's just a giant tease most of the time.

 

[Carson Dyle]

I also don't see anything in there about Season 2 or on, so I'm not sure how you know there were individual season arcs/bibles written. I mean, do you have additional info?

Moore and his writers didn't exactly kept their writing methodology a secret.

As related in interviews and podcasts they'd get together in a room and crack the seasonal arc before assigning scripts. Aside from the obvious creative advantages, this sort of rough narrative road map is critical for budgetary and scheduling reasons -- especially on a series so reliant on special effects (i.e. effects that have to be planned and budgeted far in advance).

BTW, the above approach is pretty typical. On expensive series like BS:G networks tend to insist on having some advance idea of where their money is going.

 

[firesprite]

Next time I talk to my friend Aaron, I'll see if he knows the answer to Solo's question about additional material being added to the 'bible' for each consecutive season.

My thought is that they probably DID expand upon the information with where they thought they wanted to take the series for that season.

As a writer, myself, I can tell you that in writing my books, I have a general idea of what's going to happen when in the books and how each one's going to end up... but things can, AND DO, change in the middle fairly frequently. I didn't have all three books plotted out when I sat down to write the first one, but that doesn't seem to stop people from enjoying it and being eager to see what comes next. I'm sure there'll be people who'll be pissed at how my story ends, but just because I haven't shared it with tons of people (there's only one other person who knows what the ultimate ending of the trilogy will be), that doesn't mean I don't know.