SyFriday: Michael Hinman risks getting a nasty note from Ronald D. Moore

Believe it or not, there’s an amazing woman who gives "Battlestar Galactica" fan a whole new definition. She spends nearly every morning, scouring the Internet looking for what fans (and even non-fans) are saying about SciFi Channel’s hit show. She joins them in discussion, takes a lot of the punches, and still finds a way to spread wisdom in the end.

The amazing woman I speak of is Mrs. Ron, and she’s married to an equally amazing man, Ronald D. Moore. And I’m sorry, I could not let 2006 end without me expressing how great it is having Terry Moore doing her part to make "Battlestar Galactica" seem even closer to the fans than it already was.

It’s hard to tell if Mrs. Ron is going to remain active for very long on the SciFi Channel boards (she even has her owned pinned thread), but I hope that by sharing some of her wisdom in the penultimate SyFriday column of the year, Mrs. Ron will be further encouraged to stay strong and face fandom, giving her husband much more time to continue producing what is by far the greatest show on television while she continues to bring insightful discussion to a fandom that craves it the most.

Terry has been married to the "Battlestar Galactica" showrunner for just a couple years, and she admitted in one of her opening posts that she really became a fan of the fans when she attended a convention with her husband. She is in a position to get all of the questions about the Cylons, their plans, where Earth is and everything from the man she falls asleep next to each night. But even Mrs. Ron will tell you that she would rather wait until the show airs to see what happens, and will go to any length to do just that.

"I live with the man who writes the show," Mrs. Ron said in an April post. "The writing staff gathers in my living room and works on upcoming episodes. I attend parties and events with studio production peope involved in the show. Dailies arrive to my house every day, with the scenes that were filmed that day. Do you know how much effort it takes to avoid that info that is floating through the air I breathe?"

It is something that would make any of us think twice about how great it would be to be a fly on the wall in those writers meetings. But if we know all the answers ahead of time, then how can we really enjoy the story that Mr. Ron and his crew is trying to put out? And he works hard.

When the miniseries was just getting into production, and even during the time period leading up to what would become the first season of the show, Ron Moore himself would be on message boards, attending chats, doing whatever he could to talk about the series. It could be with fans excited to see his version of the popular 1970s show, or it could even be those who absolutely hated what he did, and hated him for doing it. But that’s the kind of guy Ron has been, even back when he was posting on the AOL message boards for "Star Trek: Deep Space Nine." He has remained a favorite of fans, because he has made it a point to stay in direct contact with the fans.

Running a successful television series, however, and even planning a spinoff or two can take its toll on any human being. And yes, Ron Moore is a human being. Just ask his wife.

"I live a man who works all the time," Mrs. Ron said in her introductory post. "It is actually one of the things I love about him. He is very passionate about what he does. He thinks about this show 24 hours a day. He wrote BSG on our honeymoon, and he is often exhausted."

And Mrs. Ron isn’t sharing this looking for sympathy ... she’s doing what she can to help people understand just how passionate everyone behind the scenes is about the show, and about doing whatever they can to make the fans happy.

"[I’m] just hoping that if everyone knows the reality, they might bring some understanding to the table," she wrote.

With the advent of the Internet, one would think that more showrunners and writers would have a strong relationship with their fans, especially with all the lines of instant communication. But it doesn’t really happen. Even Joss Whedon, who should probably win an award for all the time he spends with fans and listening to fans, still can’t make himself available all the time. And Moore goes through the same issues. He blogs, he does podcasts, he writes episodes, and he runs a show. That’s on top of being a dad, being a husband, and being a regular person who needs to get away and do fun things from time to time.

And that’s why it’s nice to have Mrs. Ron. She is still a connection to the show, I mean, she’s the First Lady of "Battlestar Galactica." Just as I would be just as excited to shake Laura Bush’s or Hillary Clinton’s hand as I would if it were their husbands (hey, trying to be bipartisan here), why should any of us be any less excited that Mrs. Ron is taking over a large portion of the fan interaction duties while her husband concentrates on making things even better on the show that seems to have no flaws.

Since last March, Mrs. Ron has posted on the SciFi Channel message boards nearly 4,000 times. That’s like 20 posts a day. Some of those posts have been defending the show, or defending the fans, but a lot of it has been helping to put a human face to the people behind the scenes that we don’t get to hear or see very much. It makes us think twice before we complain because Ron hasn’t posted a blog, or that a podcast is late. And it makes us feel like we, as fans, are being listened to, and that in the end, the best shows are shows that keep the fan in mind, where we are not going to be talked down to, where we are not going to be forced to roll our eyes, where we are not going to sit down and turn on the TV each week expecting just an average show.

We want to be blown away, and you can’t accomplish such a feat unless you’re in tune with the people you are trying to reach. So, kudos to Mrs. Ron — even in a surrogate role for her husband, she makes "Battlestar Galactica" that much more of a special show, and she makes people like me proud to be a fan of science-fiction.

SyBits

It sucks having no new television shows to watch, so I am spending the holidays catching up on "Nip/Tuck." While the "Battlestar Galactica" mid-season finale wasn’t the greatest in the world, it was still exciting television, with quite a few memorable moments (I loved seeing both the Baseships and the Galactica in orbit together), and it’s hard to predict what the creative people behind the scenes are going to do next.

And the show is keeping everyone busy. Very popular "Battlestar Galactica" composer Bear McCreary is supposed to sit down with us and talk about his latest work with the show, but "Galactica" has been keeping his hands full, so we’ll just have to wait until it slows down after the beginning of the year. I just enjoyed the final night of Hanukkah, and I do want to wish everyone a happy holidays, whether it be Hanukkah, Christmas, Kwanzaa, or just a happy late December day. Enjoy it with your family, enjoy it with your friends, and don’t forget to send me a gift.

We did get quite a bit of feedback from my whole "Heroes" gay character controversy column I wrote last week, but there was one message I wanted to highlight:

Why is it so bad for a gay character to go straight? Isn’t it a lifestyle choice? Shouldn’t we all be more open and tolerant of people chosing their own lifestyle? Why is it OK for a straight to go gay but not the reverse? Let’s be more consistent in our openness and tolerance and not a hypocrite. If you want tolerance, then you have to be tolerant of views that are not your own.
— Anonymous

Forgive me if I don’t feel I’m being hypocritical at all if I don’t tolerate hate, because that is what you are asking me to do. There is a big difference between tolerating people than tolerating an opinion about people, so it’s really not all that interchangeable.

I won’t get into a debate on whether or not being gay is a choice, but I will express my own opinion that I don’t feel it’s a choice at all. We don’t choose who we are attracted to (whether it be redheads over blondes, or guys over girls), so it just doesn’t seem consistent to me when it comes to nature that we would choose our sexuality.