Star Trek; Phase 2 (STP2): You're a professional writer of Star Trek fiction, so what pulled you to a fan-run, non-paying Star Trek show?

Dave Galanter (DG): I've been asked that a lot, especially by other writers who wouldn't write on a cocktail napkin without a paycheck. All I can say is that Star Trek has a certain magical quality that Phase II is able to recapture where other incarnations sometimes haven't, and so to be a part of this is special and its own "payday" in many ways.

STP2: How did you get involved?

DG: At the fan-run Shore Leave convention in Maryland (in 2007) I saw a viewing of "World Enough and Time" -- I actually made a special effort to see it, as I'd been following "New Voyages" since the beginning and noticed that each effort was improving in quality.  I was stunned by the quality of the story, the acting, the visual look of the show (and I'm not talking about effects)... it just FELT like classic Trek to me, and that's something I'd not seen done since the original. To be able to capture that lightning in a bottle again put me in awe.  I went up to Rich Newman who'd introduced the episode for New Voyages and I told him I was one of the Trek authors and I thanked him and New Voyages for doing that amazing episode.

STP2: And he asked you to write for the show.

DG: No, no, he didn't know me from Adam and we didn't have a discussion. He was also, I found out later, stunned by the response of everyone to the episode, and we both just shook one another's hands in awe of the experience.  And still in that fog I walked into the lobby to wait for my cab back to the airport and a good friend, Howard Weinstein, was there and I told him what I'd seen. Howie is also one of the Star Trek authors and we'd worked on things before with one another and he told me he'd written a script for "New Voyages" and was planning to work on another, but his time was limited and he asked me if I'd like to help.  I think I'd said something just before that like "do you think they'd accept a script from me if I offered one?"  I just assumed they had a lot of scripts since I knew D.C. Fontana had written one for them.

STP2: So Howard got you in the door.

DG: He did. He and I worked on a plot premise that James wanted to do, and then Howie didn't have the time to really flesh it out and write the script. James wanted to see a script so I brought in Greg Brodeur, with with whom I'd written my first books, and he and I had some fun playing with the idea, but one of our problems was that it was revisiting a concept seen before in Trek, and so we eventually shelved it to so something new.

STP2: That was "Rest and Retaliation?"

DG: Yes. "Rest and Retaliation."  I'll probably pull it out again at some point and do the tweaks needed to make it filmable, but it wasn't right for the time--for the episode after "Blood and Fire."

STP2: So how did "Enemy: Starfleet" come about?

DG: James agreed that "R & R" -- revisiting a previously seen planet right after "Blood and Fire" -- wasn't the way to go and asked for another idea. I got a little advice from Greg on story (but he didn't have time to focus on a second script) and then I got some input from friends along the way, which I always do.  I think in three or four weeks I delivered James a new script, which isn't bad considering I have a full time job.

STP2: How did Patty Wright get involved?

DG: Patty saved this script, because James and I really disagreed about how to do some things with the B-story.  Not being in the same room with him and get what he was looking for made it difficult, but Patty was able to do that and, because she's a talented writer, she was able to pitch in and change the script in that B-story that not only had better Chekov moments in it, but had better Peter Kirk moments in it. When I got the script back, she hadn't tossed out what I'd done, but she'd added to it, and made it better.  I then did some more tweaks, and then she and I worked closely on the little stuff that needed this or that to trim and tighten it. Had she not been around to do all that, I'm not sure James and I would have come to a meeting of the minds on some elements in enough time to film. Eventually we would have, but sometimes a phone conversation can't substitute for working closely in person.

STP2: Attending the shoot in June was your first P2 filming, right?

DG: First time I've seen ANY shoot in person, and people are acting out lines I wrote!  It was amazing.  To see the layers that actors, director, lighting folks, and so on, all give a few simple words... I was humbled.  I wrote a two-second scene in a turbolift, and it took me 30 seconds to write it, a minute to call Patty and read it to her for comments, and another 10 to move a word around or something, and then it takes so much time to get people in costumes and make up, light it, dress it, film it, log it, edit it.... I got a new appreciation for all that goes into making a TV show or movie.

STP2: Have you seen what was filmed?

DG: Yes, both most of the dailies and some of what has been edited together. It's thrilling and a great deal of fun.  Especially seeing the ship shake and the pyro happen... I've seen this bridge so often on TV and in my head, and to write it and then watch it filmed and come alive on my TV is a gift. Truly a dream come true.  And I admit it's strange -- in a good way -- to become used to having a meeting in the Enterprise Briefing Room or to casually walk across the Bridge as if I'd always done so.  And I guess I always have, in my head.  I'm in the middle of writing a Classic Trek book for Pocket Books right now, called "Troublesome Minds" which should be out the summer of '09 and I have to say that having walked the ship in real life, it's easier to block out scenes in the book.  I have an inside peek at the Enterprise that is very useful.

STP2: Can you tell us anything about your book?  Does it tie in to the P2 episode?

DG: No, it doesn't.  It takes place during Kirk's first 5 year mission, so you'll see the same crew, but otherwise this book is yet another new mission into the unknown for Kirk and his ship.

STP2: You wrote the Writer's/Director's guide for the show. What will your role be with Phase II after "Enemy: Starfleet" is complete?

DG: I tweaked and updated the original Phase II guide done 30 years ago, adding some things to account for the type of show P2 is and the updated time, yes.  My role? Whatever time allows and James Cawley needs. I don't care about titles, and I'm helping out for the love of Trek and my new Phase II family, so I can do whatever, but not helping y'all would be missing out on the fantastic set of friends I've been lucky enough to fall into. That was the best thing to come out of this experience, and especially the shoot--the camaraderie with everyone, the family feeling, and the special bond.  You folks are special, and you make me feel a part of it. I'd not miss having that whenever I can, not for anything in the world.

08-04-2008