Star Trek Writer Bob Orci Tackles Cowboys & Aliens

How important was it to include the classic features of movie Westerns?

Bob Orci:  Only inasmuch as they were able to cross over with the genre of the aliens.  So in this, you know, the classic trope of a Western is a guy with no name comes into town, he says few words.  Normally it's because he's tough and he doesn't want to give you the time of day.  In this case, it's because he doesn't remember who he is, because he was abducted by aliens [laughter].

So any time you could find something like that, that actually you could twist in to the genre of sci-fi, that's when we stuck to it.  But we didn't make a list and go, "Well, we have to have this or that or this or that."  It's only when it served the whole.

Any examples? Were you able reinterpret the saloon moment, for instance?

Bob Orci:  Yeah.  Yeah, exactly.  Like, all the beats that you hit that will be familiar, if you've been watching a Western, will have a little bit of a spin on them. 

And then in terms of breaking new ground with a Western, you know, we tried to have some of the characters be - any time you have anyone in - a saloon owner is something you see a lot, but one with a past, who came from the city, who wanted to be a doctor, who's married to a Latin woman, who - you get to do a little bit of updating that wasn't possible when Westerns were in their heyday, probably because Westerns, back in the day, were a little bit brutal.  And they weren't quite - I don't want - I hate this term, but they weren't politically correct.  And even "The Searchers" is, you know, the whole journey actually to the end is sort of getting over the racism for - over Native Americans.  And so we play with that a little bit in that - the settlers and the Native Americans aren't friends at the beginning.  But we are updating some of the Western culture to be a little bit more progressive and a little bit more advanced, in light of the fact that an alien invasion brings everybody together

How much historical research did you do to faithfully write the time period?

Bob Orci:  Part of it was just doing a little bit of homework, looking up what kind of people lived in the - what we're calling the Arizona Territory, New Mexico, back in the day.  You know, so obviously, a Harrison Ford character, Dolarhyde, someone who fought in the Civil War, who got the rank of Colonel.  Back then, if you brought enough men into a battle, you suddenly got a field promotion so you can become a colonel without actually having to go through West Point or any of that kind of stuff.  People migrating from the city, like Doc, who when they hear the dream of expansion to the West, they think that's the place to be and they don't realize how difficult it's gonna be. 

Is it sort of a commentary on American expansionism during this time?

Bob Orci:  I think it's a heartfelt parable, but a parable nonetheless.  You know, one of the themes in the graphic novel that was good is that instead of the natives and the settlers being adversaries - they are at first, as was historically at the time, and in the time that we're doing it, is a time that natives and settlers were getting finally over their differences - but the idea that a common foe unites them.  That's one of the themes of the graphic novel that we really liked.

How about the portrayal of the Apaches and sort of their culture?  The period accuracy looks spot on.

Bob Orci:  We got some great consultants.  There's obviously Apache around here.  A lot of the people we have working are from around here.  In getting Apache consultants, we actually augmented the Apache story to be even more - I don't want to say sensitive - not only better for the story, but something I think the Apache will be proud of.

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