Dispatch from The Quest: Jordan Earls

Last week as we did here on GITS, the Quest writers focused on the subject of Time. Today’s dispatch: Jordan Earls gets into sci-fi hog heaven:

Someone recently asked me about the differences between Star Wars, Battlestar Galactica and Star Trek. She tried to tell me they’re all basically the same thing, right? Wrong. In fact, that question is so loaded with wrongness (I like to make words up, we’ll call it creative liberty) that it would give any sci-fi nerd a brain aneurism.

First of all, Star Wars takes place in an entirely different universe. You could surmise that simply because there’s no planet earth. The difference between Battlestar Galactica and Star Trek, though? Time. That’s right, the theme of The Quest last week separates the two series. Battlestar takes place many centuries before Earth’s present day and Star Trek takes place many centuries after. The difference in time also impacts the two shows thematically — Battlestar is about who we are and Star Trek is about who we want to be, but I’m gonna try to stay on a relevant track right now.

Without getting into intrinsic detail, it’s clear time is an important ingredient to story telling. Discussing and thinking about time last week made me realize I’ve never spent enough time thinking about time. If we want to tell stories with honesty, we’re required to treat our characters as more than just that. We have to assume they’re flesh and blood and have all the nuances that any other human would have. Every character has had a childhood with parents who probably f*cked them up a little bit (let’s face it, all parents do) and experiences that have sculpted them to be who they are when their story is told. And every character is going to continue living after FADE OUT. We may not write about it, but it’s all there.

Earlier I mentioned creative liberty. Now, I don’t just tote that term when my vocabulary fails me, because creative liberty is, in essence, the ego of writing. It basically means the writer is god of her story. And time is flexible to any god. As a writer, I have the liberty to bend time to my will. If I want a flashback, I can do that. If I want a flash forward, I can do that. It’s all determined by me because, as god of my story, I have absolute power. This is where I lean back in my chair, tent my fingers and give my best Mr. Burns impression.

Last week I had an epiphany of sorts (okay, maybe “epiphany” is giving myself too much credit). Essentially, Battlestar and Star Trek encompass the past and future of our present day Earth. It’s the backstory (Battlestar), present story (present day Earth) and future story (Star Trek) all rolled into… two. Or three, however you want to look at it. Of course, we’re dealing with screenwriting and not landmark television series creating, but I think the take away point is this: in stories, time is relative to the characters, first, and then to writer. The job of the writer is getting the character’s entire life down, and then delegating which parts are meant to be told.

Here’s a great example of the issue of time in relation to science fiction, when Kurtzman & Orci were tasked with rebooting Star Trek. The choices: Prequel? Sequel? Remake? No, how about dealing with the time issue by creating a parallel universe. This preserves the preexisting Star Trek stories while allowing the new take to go anywhere they want.

By the way if you want to read my analysis of the 2009 Star Trek movie, go here.

Tomorrow: Another Dispatch from The Quest.

About Jordan: Portland based writer. Connoisseur of film with an affinity for Nolan, Boyle and Jackson. Twitter: @jordanpaige00.