Ron Moore on the Trek Interregnum

Ron Moore, formerly of Star Trek: Deep Space Nine and now helmer of the Battlestar Galactica remake (though I prefer Ward's more insulting but colorful name for it), has posted his thoughts on the disappearance of Trek from the (nonsyndicated, nonrerun) airwaves.

[T]here is another side of this story, one that perhaps is somewhat more hopeful and positive: Star Trek has now been returned to the care of its community of fans...I say returned because there was a time when the fans were the exclusive owners and operators of what would later become the Franchise. From 1969 until 1979, a genuine grassroots movement of fans gathered together in conventions, published newsletters (in the primordial ooze of the pre-internet era, no less), wrote scads of fan fiction, created their own props and uniforms, and dreamed the dream of what it was to live aboard the good ship Enterprise...Star Trek now returns to the care of its fans and its fans can decide for themselves what kind of experience they want to have during this next interregnum. They can consume the seemingly endless licensed products available to them from the Franchise, everything from barware to shower curtains, and read only the mainstream, officially licensed and sanctioned books, or they can go their own way. Some of the most daring and creatively challenging Star Trek material has been created not by Paramount, but by amateurs, who simply had an idea for an interesting twist on the Trek universe.

The man has problems keeping a series going sometimes (see his firing from ANDROMEDA) but he is a deep thinker with a great love of science fiction. It is great that he has moved his periodic postings from AOL's messageboards onto a real grown-up blog.