I'd argue that in the last few decades in America, when people are asked what they hope the future will look like, they still turn to 'Star Trek.' They hope we put aside our differences and come together as humanity, that we rise above war, poverty, racism, and other problems that have beset us.

Looking back now on our workload, I just shake my head at our pace. 'Star Trek: The Next Generation' was my first series, so I didn't know anything about that when I started. I just assumed it was normal to make 26 episodes a year on a seven-day shooting schedule.

Some of the storytelling we did in 'Battlestar Galactica,' to graft that onto 'Star Trek,' it would have required changing the entire format of the show and, really, a different taste of the show.

The last thing I wanted to do was 'Battlestar Galactica.' I thought, 'I've done sci-fi. I did 'Blade Runner.' I don't have to do anything more.'

I really wanted to write the death of Captain Kirk.

There is not a new hopeful, optimistic vision of the future that I am currently aware of. Certainly, not one that has penetrated pop culture awareness in the way 'Star Trek' has.

The danger of serialization is that you almost get into a monotone - where they all have the same beat and pace, and it's all one long thing - and when you can kind of do this interesting mixture of episodic and serialization, you can kind of take the audience on a more interesting journey.

I guess, at the beginning of any project, I always have the same hope, which is that it's going to be wildly successful and critically acclaimed, and it'll be a major thing.

I started my career at 'Star Trek,' and that had a huge, very vocal fan base.

'Generations,' we slaved over for a year; we worked it over and over and over again, and in the end, it just fell short.