Ron is the Visual Effects Producer for Star Trek: Voyager. He has worked in the production of visual effects on both Star Trek: The Next Generation and Star Trek: Deep Space Nine. Before Star Trek, Ron worked on feature films including "Ghostbusters" and "2010."

Question: Could you describe what you do as visual effects supervisor?
AL

Ron B. Moore: From the preproduction meeting, the visuals are described in the script, and discussed, so that we can understand what it is exactly that the producers want. My first job is to get as much money as I possibly can from Paramount to create the visuals. What usually happens is they won't give me all I ask for. So I want to give as much as I can of the money allotted to create the best visuals I can. Star Trek is really good in that they give me a lot of freedom to design the shots and have them created. There's a lot of people involved in any given episode. And I try to coordinate all their work to the final end product. My boss is Peter Lauritson and below him, Dan Curry, and we're in constant communication. When I complete the work I send a tape to Peter and he cuts the effects into the show. At that point, I find out how much they like them or don't like them and make corrections. At any given time, I may be working on as many as five episodes. It can get confusing.

Q: a couple weeks ago when voyager crash landed on the ice planet....how long did it take to develop that entire sequence? It was an excellent job...my hat off to you all....
Mike

RM: As a visual effects supervisior, having as many as five shows at once, we have found it impossible to do every episode. I do every other episode and that was not one of mine. They did a really great job, but I don't know the details.

Q: About how much does it cost for the special effects for one episode?
James

RM: No two episodes are the same and visual effects will range from $30,000 to $250,000, roughly. The cast and crew and Paramount employees, like myself, would not be included in that number. It's interesting to note that Episode One, Star Wars had two thousand visual effects shots. They did them in about 18 months or so. We do about the same amount of work. They had 12 hundred people; We have about 12. Our budget is about a sixth, or less. Though their shots certainly had more depth.

Q: Star Wars - DId Jar Jar ruin it for you too?
LostWookie

RM: I thought the character Jar Jar was an incredible feat. The computer generated shots were terrific. I may be alone, but I like Jar Jar.

Q: Do you like Star Trek fans? Have you seen "Trekkers" and do you like it?
GoldarMegabot

(the movie is "Trekkies")

RM: I love Star Trek fans. I just got back from a Sea Trek cruise and had a great time. I met many fans and some of them have become close friends. I haven't seen Trekkies yet. I'm dying to see it and Free Enterprise as well.

Q: How long does it take to finish a weekly show with the level of technical know-how involved?
Orrchral

RM: For every show, I begin by scheduling six days in an edit bay and that's where I will complete the episode. Prior to that, I will probably work a month with the CGI facilities. This is where we create the space shots, ship models, creatures, etc. In the edit bay, all of the various pieces come together. We work probably 10 hour days in the edit bay. Some shows, like the season closer, Equinox, take considerably longer. Probably almost a month in editing. Six weeks is probably average from preproduction through delivery.

Q: What was your favorite thing to blow up?
lordicefire

RM: We blow up the ships much too often. The best, actually there are two... the best was Remmick's face in the TNG episode, "Conspiracy". That was a hamburger face loaded with explosives and we got to blow meat all over stage 16. It was banned on the BBC. My second favorite was from "Killing Game" (Voyager) where we blew up Nazi Headquarters. That was probably the most expensive shot we've ever done.

Q: Did you know Gene Roddenberry, and if so, what did you think of him?
lordicefire

RM: I was lucky enough to work with Gene Roddenberry for a number of years. And I thought that Gene was a very special person.

Q: Ghostbusters is my favourite movie of all time! It makes my heart swell to know you were a part of it...:) Which effects were you personally involved with?
Gul

RM: I did a lot of the Gozer Bolts. I loved the Slimer eating the hot dogs. I did a little bit of work with the Terror Dogs.... and it was a long time ago.

(He says trying to remember...)

Q: Mr. Moore, Do you ever look at something you see in everyday life and say, "Wow, that reminds me of something we did on our set!"?
Darryl

RM: All the time. But it generally works the other way around. I like to keep my eyes open and see things that I can modify and use in the show. Nature's pretty cool.

Q: What kind of person are you? Do you like music? Books? Computers? Bikes? Hiking? What can you tell us about yourself?
Slamdancer

RM: Love music. I try to play surf music on the guitar... Love concerts... movies... I like to fly and I'm a big scuba diver.

Q: I see postings in the Star Trek newsgroups from a RonMoore, is that you? Is there another Ron Moore? I mean on Star Trek?
Posterchild

RM: There are two "Ron Moore"s. Myself and the other one. He writes. I make him look good. Incidentally, his middle initial is 'D' I follow Compuserve's Star Trek boards and get involved now and then.

Q: Mr. Moore, Have you ever found yourself incorporating anything from your personal dreams into the effects of any of the Star Trek series?
Darryl

RM: No, my dreams are too weird.

Q: Are we ever going to see, on Voyager, any close up effects of ships speeding by in close proximity like we see in DS9?
Belgarath

RM: Yeah. I think that computer models are getting better and better. Which means we'll be getting closer to them. On Voyager we're doing almost exclusively CGI ships. We do it because we can do so much more. And we hope that they improve with every episode. We got real close to the Generational ship in "The Disease." It was probably the biggest computer model we've ever made. The problem with CGI shots with these really big ships is render time. The Generational ship could take 5 hours per frame to render. And our opening shot was 22 seconds long. We had to take some shortcuts.

Q: What kind of hardware do you use to render?

RM: We use a render farm which is a series of computers, I believe they're DEC Alphas right now, so many frames can be rendered at once. It still takes a long time. We're using between 30 and 50 machines.

Q: What do you think of these online chats? A little easier than conventions? Do you enjoy them? Ever chat in the lounge anonymously?
Bandit4Me

RM: I never have... but I will. I think it's great. (on-line chats) I've been on-line through various boards for quite a few years now and spent quite a bit of time checking out various sites.

Q: Can you tell us some of the special effects for next season? So that way we can hypothesize?
Admiral Mike

RM: This year I'm trying to push the envelope. For the work that we do. Star Wars couldn't help but make me feel challenged. I think people expect more. I think the main thing I'm looking at is moving the camera more. It's easier for effects shots to keep the camera steady... locked down... But maybe we're doing it too much. So I'd like to be a little bolder. I think it's better to try something and fail than not to try something.

Q: What's the biggest technological improvement since the beginning of TNG and the present season of Voyager?
Kevin

RM: There's very little left of the technology that we used for TNG. The video tape we use is much better, the equipment that we use to composite is much better, and we have computer images that we can afford now. We can do things now that were impossible in TNG. Things that would cost way too much money then can be done easily and inexpensively today. Much more fun. I brought along some visual effects shots from last season and they are rotating in the upper left corner of the chat client. Starting around now.

Q: How many frames per second are there in Voyager?
Kevin

RM: It depends. Video is 30 frames a second, but we shoot the show at 24 frames per second. This means we have to convert one to the other. So we add what they call "3/2" to the 24 frames a second images to make them 30. I would rather do the show at 30 but it's not up to me. To me, 24 frame a second 3/2 images have a stuttering quality I don't like. In TNG, I did all my shots at 30 and left them at 30. So I think the space shots were smoother. One of the problems that we have is that we always see the images on a very expensive, high quality monitor and we're hard judges. Most likely, most people couldn't tell the difference.

Q: I have met you on one of the cruises and you mentioned diving, do you do a lot of it and where do you go?
Swimmerino23

RM: I do as much as I can and go as many places as I can. This summer I was at Cozumel. It was great. I'm really lucky to be so close to Catalina. I probably do most of my diving there. I dive with Steve at Scuba Love. He was the safety diver working on Generations. That's where I met him and we became really good friends.

Q: What is your favorite starship model?
Kevin

RM: The Romulan ship. I just find it a really interesting ship and it was lots of fun to photograph.

Q: Were you a Star Trek fan before you worked on the show?
MaryB

RM: Absolutely.

Q: What's with this Soy Milk in the coffee thing?
Starbuck

RM: I don't know but it's really good. I just finished it.

Q: How come you so often use stock footage of the ships flying by? It is very annoying. I want fresh scenes of the ships instead. Nevertheless, you and the others do a great job!
Tommy

RM: I couldn't agree more. If it were up to me, every shot would be a new shot. I replace stock shots whenever I can. Many of the facilities will do it for me, but the bottom line is cost.

Q: Hi Ron, Thanks for joining us on the chat. If one was interested in getting involved with Special Effects, what would be your advice on how to get started in this fascinating field?
RickV

RM: Good education in art and photography, and then find a job. Not as a producer or director... but maybe as a driver.That's what I did. You get to meet people... you get to see how the business works... and if you work hard, you move up to do what you want to do. It really works.

Q: The visual effects in "Dark Frontier" were astonishing!!! What would you say was the most challenging and complicated thing you helped to create for "Voyager" ?
Cureboy

RM: The biggest challenge in a show like Dark Frontier is creating the 'look' for things like the Borg City. Everybody has a different idea of what it would look like, and ultimately we have to get everybody to agree, and we don't have a lot of time. Other things like the Slipstream take many variations to come up with the right look. No show is without its challenges.

Q: the visual effects of the various space battles are fantastic--is the techology cost effective to create large scale land battles (like at the end of the Phantom Menace?)
tommcp

RM: The big problem with land battles is a moving camera. The ground is always a reference, so the creatures, people, whatever, have to be in contact with the ground and not slide around. For us this means tracking. And this can be a big deal. Space shots don't have the reference so it's considerably easier to choreograph. The technology is getting better, though, and maybe we can do that before long. I'm for it.

Q: I have heard that you are an avid diver. Where is your favorite place to dive?
Lauren

RM: Tahiti.

Q: Greetings Ron. Is there any particular effect, very inexpensive/easy to create/do that turned out exactly the way you wanted?
Captain MM Huber

RM: Not on purpose. The most fun is when they don't work. You're on the last day... You've shot 1000 feet of film... you got this great plan... and it looks like crap. Wake up call! We have books of elements; splashing water, clouds, Mylar pom pom, rocks... all sorts of things... I dive into the book and see if I can find something that will work. Now that's a challenge. And I think that's when we do some of our best work.

Q: how many computer generated aliens have you done?
kathleen

RM: Probably a dozen. The first for Star Trek was the Crystalline Entity in "Datalore." It was really hard and took a long time. It was very expensive. At that time we wondered why we didn't spray paint a tumbleweed and shoot it... Oh well. We did Galaxy's Child creatures. They looked like Hostess Pies or Raviolis. We gave birth to one of them. Some have been better than others. We do people. Many epiosdes have CGI people, especially if they're doing something really dangerous. Robbie was more bold. And tried to use a real jetpack. You might ask him about that. But I'm sure the next time it'll be a CGI Paris.

Q: When does the new season start filming?
Sandy

RM: Started last Tuesday. We started it on the beach, as the first day was on location. Try to figure out how that figures into the story.

Q: Have you ever been forced to use a model when CGI would have been easier?
Will

RM: Yes. But still there were advantages. I still feel the look of a model is better. The difference is we shortcut the motion a little.

Q: With so much of the Star Trek mystique determined by visuals, how do you satisfy your creative talents while keeping the series' visual styles and Star Trek thematics in tact?
Robert

RM: I can't imagine a job in this business more satisfying to work on than Star Trek. This is my 13th year and I was as excited about this season as I was for the first. I've worked on many features, but the creative freedom never touches what we do on this show. As an individual, the producers give me a lot of freedom to create what I want. They seem to trust me and my team and that's very rewarding. Features cost so much money that most of the creativity is done early and the visual effects team is trying to match storyboards. It's good work but it's quite different. I like the challenge of the TV show. The number of visual shots that we do is really amazing. Thousands of shots every year.

Thank you very much, Ron, for taking the time to chat with us today.

RM: Really enjoyed being here. Gladly do it again.

Thanks for bringing in the great images too!

RM: Star Trek has been very good to me. I've got a great job and love to share it all I can. It's rewarding to me, especially on really bad days, to know that the fans really enjoy what we're doing. And that's really really important to me.

Thank you very much for having me.