LIVE CHAT - ROBERT HEWITT WOLFE
(Writer - Filmography)

Chat transcript from 06-15-02 (Content edited for readability)

Benjamin: What was your favorite aspect of Deep Space Nine? 

ROBERT HEWITT WOLFE: I really loved working with the guys, basically. Ira, Ron, Hans, and Rene are great people to work with. The writing process was fun and I'd like to think we did some very good work. Also the cast was terrific, they always did great stuff with everything we gave them. Very talented bunch. By the way, hello all. Nice to see everyone here. And thanks to EWR for the invite 

Merrie: You are my favorite writer from DS9, and I liked Andromeda until you left. Is there something on which you are working for which we can be on the lookout? (Instead of following an actor to a new show, it is a tribute to you that people follow a writer.) :-) 

ROBERT HEWITT WOLFE: There are a number of projects I'm working on right now. Unfortunately all of them are in the very early stages. So I really don't have much solid news about what I'll be doing yet. I have about six different possible jobs floating around. But nothing firm enough yet that I can talk about it. I'd hoped that by the time I gave this chat, I'd be able to talk about something specific. But Hollywood being Hollywood, things just aren't concrete enough to go into detail. I'll be sure to let everyone know though. =) 

Delavs: In your opinion, what made Deep Space Nine unique and special, as compared to the other Star Trek series? 

ROBERT HEWITT WOLFE: DS9 was unique in that it delved a little deeper into the basic Star Trek format. Star Trek in a lot of ways is about an idealized future. Which is a wonderful thing. But DS9 looked at HOW to create such a future. The kind of work it takes to achieve it. And what happens when it's threatened. I think that gives DS9 a unique and special thematic viewpoint. And makes it stand apart from other Star Trek series 

tvfanatic2001: What drew you to the project of Andromeda in the first place? 

ROBERT HEWITT WOLFE: I thought Andromea provided a very interesting opportunity. To develop a completely different SF universe. To explore Roddenberry type themes and characters against an all new backdrop. And to hopefully advance and possibly even reinvent the spaceship based SF drama. Star Trek, to a large extent was working from a 1960s SF model. I wanted to play with more modern SF ideas, nanotech, cyberspace, AI, that kind of thing. And the big reason.... No replicators. =P 

TZen: Can you give us any ideas or hints what your original Trance season finale would have been? I'm not interested in the politics but in the characters and ideas, especially Trance... I really love her childlike playfulness that is giving me life. She can perceive and feint and change hostile situations without getting angry herself. And she's hiding a lot of sadness, fear and anger. She's going to need the help of others to manage that and change herself so the "child" truly becomes an "adult" without losing the "child". Part of me is Trance. 

ROBERT HEWITT WOLFE: I wanted to do a story very much like Knight, Death and the Devil as the season finale (although I haven't seen the final version of Knight). As far as Trance is concerned I worry that the transformation and episodes after I left may have given too much away about her too soon. Still, there's a lot of story left for Trance. And they may still unfold her back-story as I intended it. We'll have to wait and see. By and large though, I prefer the more innocent seeming Trance. Andromeda has two very strong very kick butt women already. Trance's innocent persona provided a nice contrast to Beka and Rommie and I suspect if I were still writing the show I'd miss it 

Abraxas: Hi. Life cycles (Beowulf), historical cycles (the gyres), honor (Gawain), guilt, transience and the way different people/species deal with it seem to be some of the major themes in GRA. Can we expect more of these in your future projects? :) Also, with all the numerous references, you added a strikingly modernist element to sci-fi. Will you do that sort of thing again? :) 

ROBERT HEWITT WOLFE: I am very much a fan of the basic underlying myths and archetypal stories of world civilization. And I enjoy playing with those themes. I see film and television as the modern mythology. And I try to be aware of film's mythical heritage when I write. Which is a long winded way of saying yes. Beowulf is cool, btw. Both it and Gawain and the Green Knight are definitely worth a read.

Roanna: Other than Gene Roddenberry (who I'm taking as a given here :-) ), who are the writers who have most influenced you? Either in genre or more general literary works? 

ROBERT HEWITT WOLFE: Lots and lots. Ummm Joseph Conrad, Robert Heinlein, Roger Zelazny. HP Lovecraft, ERR Eddison, Dunsany. I could make a very long list here. I’ve read a huge amount of genre stuff. And I'm sure been influenced by almost everything I've read in one way or another. A few more and then I'll quit, let's see. Dumas, Wells, Verne, TH White, CS Lewis. K, that's enough. =) 

Starship Captain: If you could change anything which you done during your time on Andromeda, what would it be? 

ROBERT HEWITT WOLFE: No regrets, no retreat, no surrender. I done my best. Like the Spartan moms used to say to their sons... With your shield or on it. Basically means fight until the end. Cause when Greek soldiers retreated they threw away their shields, which were heavy 

Cardie: Could you describe the sequence of events that led to your becoming a staff writer for DS9? And to your leaving the staff after season 5? 

ROBERT HEWITT WOLFE (ID=268) (Jun 15, 2002 6:30:22 PM)
Sure. Let's see, I sold Fistful of Data’s to TNG just as DS9 was staffing up. So it was kind of lucky timing. I wrote the script and they liked it enough to hire me to write Q-Less. Which they also liked. So Michael Piller and Ira Behr hired me onto DS9, right around when we were shooting episode 3. I worked on the show for the first five seasons. And then I left voluntarily at the end of season five. Since I felt I'd really done about all I could with the show, and I didn't want to just "go through the motions" for two more season. Seasons that is. But I loved working on DS9. It was one of the best professional experiences of my career and I learned a lot from Ira and Michael, who are terrific writers and excellent showrunners. 

Oxmyx: If Paramount approached you and asked you to join Enterprise as Executive Producer or Writer, would you consider doing it? 

ROBERT HEWITT WOLFE: Sure, why not? If the circumstances were right.. But they have a staff in place so I think it unlikely 

TrinSheDevil aka Synge's Babe: I'm a BIG Andromeda fan and I was wondering, do you know what we can expect from season 3? (Especially with Beka and Tyr) Any little hint would be helpful, the suspense is killing me, with the cliff-hanger season finale and all. 

ROBERT HEWITT WOLFE: Not a clue. I didn't watch the last five eps or so myself, so I couldn't even tell you what to expect from the last part of season TWO. =) 

Calvin: Howdy Mr. Wolfe! What are your thoughts on the importance of intricate story-arcs versus quickie stand-alone episodes meant for action? What advice would you give to aspiring writers in regards to this contrast? Lastly, I just want to say that I absolutely adore Andromeda's episode titles. Cheers! 

ROBERT HEWITT WOLFE: Okay, kind of involved one there. Basically, I think a certain level of episode to episode continuity is important these days. Audiences are more mature, and SF fans especially dig that kind of thing plus in the days of 100 channels and DVDs and MMORPGs and all that. You need to give fans a REASON to tune in every week and hooking people on the ongoing story is a way to do that. That being said the material needs to be approachable to the casual viewer as well. Which is one way that stand alones help I'm not a big fan of soap opera style shows where you need to watch episodes 1-30 to enjoy ep 31. I think every episode of a show should be enjoyable on its own. But have enough story continuity and running threads to hold the attention of the dedicated viewer. It's a tough balance to strike. I'd like to think we did a good job of it during my administration of Andromeda. But who knows? Oh and thanks about the episode titles. We liked them too 

Andulasia; Hey Robert :-) There's been quite a bit of discussion on Slipstream about the Andromeda episode Lava and Rockets. Could you tell us who came up with the story for that? Was it really Seth Howard and Phil Segal? (I think that's his last name) 

ROBERT HEWITT WOLFE: Zack and Ashley came up with the story for Lava and Rockets, that's why they got the writing credit. Seth and Phil basically said wouldn't it be cool if Dylan had an adventure with a hot chick and kissed the girl that's fun, but it's not a story. A story is a lot more work than that. To get story credit, a writer has to write a story document. This is a six to eight page document with all the major beats of what happens in the episode. 
FYI, writing credits on a show are determined by the Writers Guild of America and are arbitrated by an impartial panel. So they usually are pretty accurate in reflecting who did the work 

Photoman (ID=247) (Jun 15, 2002 6:45:45 PM)
Assuming you have formed an opinion of ENTERPRISE, what would you have done different? 

ROBERT HEWITT WOLFE: I haven't really formed an opinion of ENTERPRISE, so I can't really answer that what I've seen seemed fun but that's not really an informed opinion. =) 

XeneX: Hey RHW! What's your take on genre television today versus ten years ago when you started out on TNG? 

ROBERT HEWITT WOLFE: Genre television offers a lot more to choose from now than it did ten years ago, which I think is great many cool shows out there sadly, the syndication first run market (which is where TNG, DS9 and GRA aired) is basically dead but the networks and cable have taken up the slack. I've seen several of the pilots of next season's genre shows including Twilight Zone, Dead Zone, Firefly, and Birds of Prey and I think there's some good stuff in the pipeline too 

Benjamin: What was the reasoning behind Sisko's hair change? He went from having hair to becoming bald. Also what were the reasons for bringing in Worf, other than ratings? Brannon Braga said in an interview, saying the staff of writers working on Enterprise haven't done so great, since Rick Berman and Brannon Braga have had to rewrite pretty much every episode. Does this problem frequently happen amongst television shows? 

ROBERT HEWITT WOLFE: Three questions in one really. Sisko's hair first I always thought Avery looked better bald... and more importantly Avery thinks Avery looks better bald so I was advocating letting him shave his head from the first day I came on. Ira too. I think it's important for an actor to feel comfortable in their role and hair (believe it or not) can be a big part of that so I was very glad when Paramount gave Avery the okay to shave and grow back his goatee. Question Two: Worf was added to get TNG viewers to resample DS9. I think his addition added a lot of fun and energy to the show. And lastly: The head writers frequently rewrite scripts. Often it's just a polish sometimes it's a major rewrite. A strong staff means its usually just a polish though. We had a strong staff on DS9 and Andromeda. I really can't speak to other shows, but I considered myself lucky to have the kind of talented people I had working for me when I was running Andromeda. 

Cylkoth (ID=269) (Jun 15, 2002 6:55:48 PM)
What is your opinion of the current state of tv and film science fiction? Do you feel it's pushing itself to do more than just "action hour entertainment" business as usual? In your time away from DROM have you watched anything that truly impressed you? 

ROBERT HEWITT WOLFE: Tough question. I think that it's hard to paint all of genre tv and film with a single brush for everyone movie or show that tries something ambitious there's naturally going to be someone who goes for the Lowest Common Denominator, that's the nature of the business. As far as stuff on right now that excites me I enjoy Alias, which is kind of a SF show, in a weird way, Smallville I like, Angel is often very good. There's other stuff out there that's not so good, but there's always gonna be good stuff and bad stuff and your good stuff and bad stuff may vary 

wile1: Hello Mr. Wolfe thank you for being here. I'd like to know why so many people think a show has to have a story arc to be good, what's wrong with stand alone shows? The original Star Trek was stand alone and look at it now. And also what do you think of people who seem to think shows like EFC and Andromeda are real and argue with others who watch for pure entertainment? 

ROBERT HEWITT WOLFE: I kind of answered this already. I think stand alone shows are fine. Arc shows are good too. I prefer stuff that's a combination of both but really, it's all about execution as far as real vs. entertainment, it's all about enjoying the viewing experience. If you dig a show that you take very seriously, cool, if you dig a show that's total fluff, that's cool too. As long as you're enjoying yourself, it's all good if you're not, change the channel 

Cwcandromeda: Hi Mr. Wolfe! I was just wondering what you enjoyed most during your work on Andromeda. 

ROBERT HEWITT WOLFE: I loved the chance to tell stories like Angel Dark, Demon Bright, It Makes a Lovely Light, Devil Takes the Hindmost, and Double Helix. I love working with a team of talented writers and creative people. Both in Vancouver and LA and I'm really glad Laura Bertram is getting her degree, even though I have nothing to do with that. I just think it's way cool that she kept her education a priority even though she was getting paid a nice chunk of change to play-act. =) 

Sci_Fi_Ian: Hi Mr Wolfe, going off topic for a sec. What do you think of the Sci Fi Channels plans to Re Imagineing of Battlestar Galactica. And Re Imaginings of older shows in general? Also is Re Imagining really a word:) 

ROBERT HEWITT WOLFE: I hadn't heard of them talking about it as re-imagining myself. But Ron Moore is working on it, so I'm betting it will be good and I think re-imagining is a word, so long as you include the hyphen. Oh, re-imagining shows in general that's all execution. The idea of doing it isn't necessarily good or bad in and of itself. It's all about whether or not you can pull it off\ i.e. Charlie's Angels was a fun movie. Machale's Navy was not. 

M: What were your feelings as to being part of a show carrying the Roddenberry name? and what is your opinion as to the philosophies associated with a Roddenberry show? 

ROBERT HEWITT WOLFE: I was very proud to be working on a Roddenberry show, both on DS9 and on GRA I think doing that means trying to do more than just tell a wham bam story. I think it means giving the audience something more to think about, something to take away with them. I'd like to think we did that on both DS9 and GRA. As for a particular philosophy I think GR was a complicated man and I don't think you can reduce his work to soundbytes. I've had the pleasure of reading his personal papers and he was a pretty deep thinker not simplistic at all. So you could say his philosophy was one of secular humanism but he also talked and thought and wrote a lot about religion and miracles and such things. So it's not so simple. I'd like to think we tried to do justice to the Roddenberry name on GRA. We may not have achieved it, but while I was there, we certainly tried 

ROBERT HEWITT WOLFE: I really enjoyed answering your questions. Thanks for visiting. My wife wants me to plug the Andromeda Fest in Tulsa next week I think. So check it out if you're in the neighborhood. Anyway, I hope we get a chance to do this again. Bye all!