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TREKTODAY.COM - View Archives: April 1999
News headlines from April 1999:
Brent Spiner Convention Report
Christian (1:50 pm CST)
Welcome, Brent Spiner Fans! just put up a convention report of last weekend's 'Grand Slam 5,' in which Okie reports on Brent Spiner's appearance:
He came out, wearing a blue denim shirt and beige pants. That red tint in his hair is gone and it was a nice silver-gray. I was so far away though, I couldn't even see if he was wearing glasses or not! He posed in about 20 different ways for photo ops, most of which were pretty goofy.
First, he said that his thoughts were with DeForrest Kelley (who I guess is quite sick??? correct me if anyone knows I'm wrong, I couldn't hear very well). And he gave his usual spiel about not asking questions about Star Trek and his personal life, but added that he would answer any questions about DeForrest Kelley's personal life!
Does anyone know what is wrong with Kelley? I certainly hope he'll be recovering soon from whatever that's troubling him.
In any case, the report goes on to mention a few news items on Brent Spiner. Apparently he said he's currently being considered for another Broadway role, following his success with '1776.' Also, he'll apparently have a small speaking role for South Park - The Movie! Find more in the full report.
New Voyager Spoilers
Christian (1:38 pm CST)
NOTE: This post contains huge spoilers for the last few Voyager episodes of this season. To avoid reading these spoilers, click here.
Again, major spoilers are contained below. Click here to be transported to the next article.
What are all these sites trying to do? Kill me? Both WebTrek and the Universe put up new info on the last Voyager episodes of this season.
First of all, the Universe received the following info from insider 007:
It deals with Janeway having this facination about an ancestor of hers that inspired her to join starfleet. Janeway has always been told great tales about this woman (Shannon O'Donnel) and how she worked on all of the Mars projects, and in particular one project called the millineum gate that was very controversial, and had an entire town pitted against her. At one point early in the show, Paris informs her that he knows all there is to know about Mars history, and her ancestor had nothing to do with it. This causes Janeway to research this ancestor more thoroughly. We see things in a kind of "flashback" mode, where we are there, and actually see what really happened. Mulgrew plays the part of her ancestor.
In the end, we find out that it was passed down in her family over the generations, and that her ancestor was nobody who didnt do much of anything except consult on the millineum gate, and the whole town actually WANTED the gate built.
In the episode, Janeway also has a love interested played by Kevin Tighe. The great WebTrek posted a picture of him, which I decided to reprint above. WebTrek also posted some new info on 'Warhead' and 'Equinox:'
In 'Warhead,' Ensign Kim finds a warhead on an abandoned planet that has artificial intelligence. The warhead is beamed aboard Voyager and the crew has to "teach" it not to go off in order to save the bomb's target from being destroyed.
In 'Equinox,' John Savage of "The Thin Red Line" stars as the Captain of another Federation ship. Janeway and the crew think they have found a kindred spirit, but in reality, this other ship is using Janeway and her crew to get piece of technology from an alien nation. In the process, this Federation ship kidnaps a couple of our crew members. Will Janeway be able to rescue them?
Lastly, the Universe also posted some new info on the Equinox reshoots:
What is done is about 39 minutes worth of the final show, the rest is still being shot. The evil doctor is already in the show, so that wont change. The rest of the new shots they are writing and doing should* have something to do with Paris and his Jealously over (cant remember his name right now) Torres' old boyfriend. Right now there is nothing in the show dealing with that except one scene where he and Tom are first introduced - - and even then, the "jealousy" thing is not really a big deal.
More can be found in the full WebTrek update or the Universe report.
Voyager's Leading Ladies Interviewed
Christian (1:20 pm CST)
The most recent issue of British magazine Cult Times contains interviews with the two leading ladies of Voyager, Kate Mulgrew (Kathryn Janeway) and Jeri Ryan (Seven of Nine.) Take a look at a part of their interview with Jeri Ryan, in which she talks about the difficulties she faced during her first season on the show:
"Last year was a very physically and emotionally gruelling year," she reveals. "I had a lot of huge storylines. She was a new character and I had to quickly tie her in with everyone else's storylines, [introduce] her backstory and figure out her place in the crew. I was commuting to Chicago every weekend, so I didn't have my weekends to recuperate, so I was literally sick all season last year.
"By the time the end of the season rolled around, it was all I could do for the first month of hiatus to get out of bed. I was exhausted - I physically hit the wall. I'm not doing the commute any more, I'm in one place, I'm having some free time, I don't have all of the huge emotional turmoil and stresses that I had last year. It's infinitely more enjoyable this year."
More can be found here, though if you want to read the full interview, you're going to have to buy the magazine. Thanks go out to Gustavo Leao for pointing me to this.
James Darren Interview
Christian (1:12 pm CST)
Holly Kim Wilson, Charity Coordinator of the Official Marc Alaimo Fan Club and organizer of the Weekend with Marc Alaimo, just sent along a very interesting article that appeared in the Atlantic City Press for April the 17th. In the article, James Darren (DS9, Vic Fontaine) is interviewed, who appeared at Planet Hollywood that day to donate a shirt and tie he wore as Vic Fontaine to the restaurant's collection. Take a look at a short quote from the interview:
When the Trek people first came to him to do the show, Darren said no, he felt "it was too dead on to the real me. They approached me about
four times, but finally my agent said, 'Could you at least do them the
courtesty of reading the script?'"
"I read it and I knew I had to do it," Darren said.
Darren will also be appearing in the final five episodes of 'Melrose Place' as Tony Marlin, and apparently that role is the result of his performance on Deep Space Nine. Furthermore, in Atlantic City, he was performing in a few shows at the Claridge Casino Hotel which were also a direct result of his role on DS9, so in a way the show reactivated his performing career (he has been directing for some time now.)
The web site of the Atlantic City Press can be found here, but unfortunately their archive doesn't go back more than a week. Major thanks go out to Holly Kim Wilson for reporting this!
Starfleet Command Chat Tonight
Christian (1:01 pm CST)
I just noticed on Computer Games Online that Interplay will be organising a chat with the Starfleet Command developers tonight at 6:00pm PST:
Members of the Starfleet Command development team will be on hand to talk about the game and answer questions.
Developers on hand for the chat will include Erik Bethke - Project Leader/Lead Designer, Chris Taylor - Senior Game Designer and other undisclosed developers from the team.
More information about the chat can be found by going here.
First Ever Jeri Ryan Motion Picture
Christian (12:59 pm CST)
According to the Official Jeri Lynn Ryan Homepage, Jeri Ryan (Seven of Nine) will soon see her first ever motion picture released:
Entertainment Weekly is reporting in its April 30, 1999 issue that the movie Men Cry Bullets, co-starring Jeri Ryan, will be released this August. The film is one of two independent features Jeri made before joining the cast of Star Trek: Voyager and will be her first motion picture release.
Men Cry Bullets stars Steven Nelson, Honey Lauren and Jeri Lynn Ryan and was written and directed by Tamara Hernandez. The film was named best narrative feature at the 1998 South by Southwest Film Festival in Austin, TX.
According to the Jeri Lynn Ryan FAQ, the movie is 'a tragic comedy that uses gender reversal to demonstrate the insidiousness of an abusive relationship.' Thanks go out to Gustavo Leao for reporting this.
Even More Interplay Videos
Christian (12:52 pm CST)
Soon we'll have more hours of gameplay footage than we'll actually spend playing, as Interplay just released three more movies showing off their upcoming Trek games 'Starfleet Command,' 'New Worlds' and 'Klingon Academy.' Together, they're about 60 MB, but they should certainly prove to be interesting for Trke game fans. You can download them here, thanks go out to Star Trek Gaming Central for pointing me to this.
Unreliable Rumours Department
Christian (12:42 pm CST)
Thanks to the TrekZone Network's own Saleel Majeed, here is this week's Channel 5/Sky News 'Star Trek Teletext' screenshot:
Remember that these headlines are either made up or wildly exaggerated, and their only reason for existence is to make people call an expensive pay phone number.
Dan Curry Chat On Thursday
Christian (12:34 pm CST)
The Star Trek Continuum will be hosting a live chat with Dan Curry, Visual Effects Producer for all three modern Star Trek series, this Thursday at 06:30pm Pacific Time. Advance questions can already be submitted here, while info on how to particate can be found here.
'Juggernaut' Ratings Disastrous
Christian (12:33 pm CST)
Ugh. The Universe just put up the Overnight Ratings for yesterday's 'Juggernaut,' and 'Very Bad' doesn't even begin to do them justice:
The overnight ratings for yesterdays airing of "Juggernaut" is in, and Voyager did BAD. Voyager only got a 3.2/4 yesterday, and was ofcourse 6th for the hour, it is almost 100% sure that it will be the lowest rated first run episode ever. The show that have that record now, is The Fight that aired late March.
At 8 Dilbert got a 3.4/5, and at 8:30 the new UPN show "Home Movies" got a 2.4/4.
Expect a final rating around 2.4 - 2.8.
Of course, the reason for this is easy to pinpoint - a lot of people didn't know 'Juggernaut' would be airing yesterday. Why didn't UPN promote the show a little better?
TrekNews Convention Listing Updated
Christian (12:21 pm CST)
TrekNews' Jason Ellis just sent along word that his site's convention listings have just been updated 'with the latest information about Trek conventions across the U.S.' Currently the convention list contains more than 30 conventions taking place between now and November, so if there's a convention near you, this is where you'll probably find it! You can find the updated listing by going here.
Mania Reviews 'Juggernaut'
Christian (12:21 pm CST)
Mania's Michelle Erica Green apparently didn't miss yesterday's special Voyager showing, as she just put up her review of Voyager's 'Juggernaut:'
Finally we get a Torres episode to follow up on her depression in "Extreme Risk," and it leaves me with one burning question: How come when Worf gets mad, it's excused as typical Klingon behavior, but when Torres behaves the same way, it's treated as a pathology which must be cured by alien meditation? First they won't let her grieve, then they won't let her refuse medical care by a mass murderer, now they won't even let her express a little frustration on the job. Infinite Diversity in Infinite Combinations, in Tuvok's book - and Chakotay's, and Janeway's - seems to be limited to races whose behaviors fit their own personal codes of proper comportment.
Yes, Torres was very naughty to break Doc's camera, but considering that she has a job to do in engineering making sure the ship runs properly and doesn't blow up, it's understandable that the oft-meddlesome Doctor might drive her up the wall - at least she didn't break his nose. She's obviously a vastly better engineer than anyone else on board (well, except Seven, and Tom, and Neelix, but let's just block all those past episodes out for now), so like the exceptions Picard made for Worf to do things his way, Janeway should be doing the same for her Klingon Terrible.
'In Defense Of B'Elanna' continues in the full review, which also includes a detailed synopsis of the episode. Find it all here.
Creating The Holodeck
Christian (12:20 pm CST)
A story from PRNewswire talks about the upcoming 'Carnegie Mellon Building Virtual Worlds Demonstration,' at which university students will be talking about the 'holodecks' they've created:
``Ghostbusters,'' a virtual fortune teller, ``Jurassic Park'' and a mine cart ride featuring ``Indiana Jones'' are just a few of the computer-generated universes you'll experience as teams of Carnegie Mellon University students demonstrate what they've created for their class in Building Virtual Worlds. Those in the audience also will have an opportunity to experience telepresence as they control a virtual world shared by a student at the University of Virginia and another from Carnegie Mellon.
``If you like Star Trek's holodeck, this is the closest thing to it in the world,'' says Randy Pausch, associate professor of human-computer interaction, computer science and design, who developed and teaches this unusual course.
During the one-hour demonstration, the students will also describe how they created their virtual words. More can be found in the full article, but also at the official 'Building Virtual Worlds' web site.
Voyager Game Creators Interviewed
Christian (12:20 pm CST)
Geoff Keighley at GamePen just put up an interview with Kenn Hoekstra, Brian Raffel and Brian Pelletier, top dogs at Raven Software. In the interview, they mostly talk about their upcoming 'Soldier of Fortune' game, though some info on 'Star Trek: Voyager' is also presented:
Geoff: Let's talk about the Voyager game for a minute. Historically, Star Trek games have never really been successful. The last Star Trek action game, Klingon Honor Guard, was a complete disgrace to the franchise. So, what is Raven going to do to patch up Star Trek's reputation in the gaming arena? Are you looking at another 3D shooter in the Star Trek universe, or something more?
Brian Pelletier: There are a lot of Star Trek fans at Raven and all of them are putting their input into the Voyager project. We know that Honor Guard missed the mark and we are working very closely with Paramount to ensure that the game is authentic and fun with an intriguing story. Raven is taking this very seriously and we are confident that we can make a compelling game that is true both to Star Trek and to action gaming. You can be assured that the Voyager game won't be "just another 3D shooter in the Star Trek universe." It will be much more.
A little bit more info can be found in the full interview, which you can find here. Thanks go out to Kenn Hoekstra for mentioning this in his .plan file.
Cinescape Spoils 'The Changing Face...'
Christian (12:19 pm CST)
As every week, Cinescape's Michael Marek has put up his spoiler-packed report of this week's new Deep Space Nine episode, 'The Changing Face Of Evil.' Some pretty major things happen in this episode (including several things that were floating around on the net as Very Major Spoilers), so if you still want to be surprised by the episode you would be advises not to read the Cinescape report. If you do want to read it, you can do so by going here.
Janeway & Seven To Leave Voyager?
Christian (12:19 pm CST)
Backstage Pass finally fixed the link to its Voyager report, so I was able to see what news they posted a few days ago. First of all, they're confirming the reshoots for 'Equinox,' which has apparently been dubbed 'The Episode That Wouldn't Die' by Voyager's cast and crew :-). More interesting is the following tidbit:
Other scuttlebut coming out of the Voyager camp has Kate Mulgrew grumbling about leaving the series (again). The interesting twist this time is that Jeri Ryan appears to be interested in leaving the series as well (which would probably hurt the show more than Mulgrew's departure).
Hopefully this is just a rumour - certainly Jeri Ryan wanting to leave is completely unexpected.
Backstage Pass is also reporting on transfers by several members of the DS9 production crew. Apparently Michael and Denise Okuda have already agreed to move over, while other members of the DS9 writing and production staff have also been asked to transfer. Find more in the full report.
[Update, 20:50 CET:]Heather Jarman, columnist at the Starfleet Journal just sent me some more info on the matter:
A couple of months back in Jeri Ryan's chat on ST Contin., Jeri mentioned that she and Kate are both contracted through the end of the 6th season. That may be one of the reasons why it would be possible for Jeri and Kate to both leave and not just Kate. Apparently, both actresses would need to re-negotiate contracts.
In all possibility, then, Mulgrew and Ryan are leaking some rumours to the press in order to have a stronger bargaining position with the producers, who have stated several times they want to go for the full seven seasons. Major thanks go out to Heather for reporting this!
'It's Green'
Christian (12:18 pm CST)
Gail Appleson, one of the writers at Yahoo's Daily News, had a lot of fun describing 'Blavod,' a new *black* variety of Vodka. In his article, he makes no less than three Star Trek references, concluding even with a recipe for creating a Star Trek drink:
To make a drink that looks like it came right out of Star Trek, try pouring cranberry juice into a glass and topping it with a layer of Blavod. The effect is even more spectacular when the two are mixed, resulting in a royal purple liquid. One bartender came up with the name 'Forbidden Love' for that combination.
You can find more about this rather aggressive drink by visiting BlackVodka.com, or you can just read the actual article by going here.
Today on TV
Christian (12:17 pm CST)
-The Sci-Fi Channel will be showing the third-season TOS episode 'All Our Yesterdays' at 7:00pm and at 11:00pm.
-In the UK, Sky One will be showing the not-so-good first-season DS9 episode 'Vortext' at 17:00 BST and at 23:30 BST.
-Tomorrow at 02:00 CET, German station Sat.1 will be repeating TNG's 'In der Hand von Terroristen' (Starship Mine). Tomorrow at 15:00 CET they'll be showing 'Der Feuersturm' (Lessons), which is worth watching for the 'Inner Light' music alone.
Trek BBS Today
Christian (12:17 pm CST)
The Trek BBS now has more than 90 registered members, almost guaranteeing a constant stream of interesting threads. Take a look at three of the discussions that are currently going on:
-Continuing the 'The Best ...' threads, this thread deals with the best character in all of Star Trek.
-Is DS9 the best Star Trek series? And, related to that, is Voyager really the 'lesser Trek?'
Many more current discussions can be found at the Trek BBS and, of course, you're welcome to add your own voice to the discussions - remember, you don't even need to register to post!
New at TrekSeek.com
Christian (12:17 pm CST)
Yesterday TrekSeek received 5 site submissions. Unfortunately, one of those didn't include a valid URl, another one wasn't a Star Trek site, and yet another site was already listed in our database, so we actually just had two new sites yesterday. One of those is the following:
-Klingon Outpost Brak'lul is a Klingon trading post on the Klingon/Romulan border.
Some of the other sites that were added over the past week to our database of 1025 Star Trek sites can be found by going here.
Hello World!
Christian (12:16 pm CST)
For close to a decade now, I've been a huge fan of Roxette, the Swedish pop group. I own all their records, have spent thousands of guilders on completing my collection, and usually have one of their latest CDs on while updating TrekToday.
As you can imagine, I was rather happy when I heard on the Roxette mailing list that MTV Europe would be having a special 'Roxette Weekend' next weekend. However, I was absolutely amazed when I saw on MTV itself that the preview for that weekend was based on Star Trek! In the preview, you see a transporter room, on the walls of which several Roxette clips are shown. Then, Roxette appear via transporter beam, and a voice-over says that, this weekend, 'MTV will be beaming the best Roxette videos to your home.'
Is that a coincidence or what? I'd almost think something more is at work here than mere human powers.... ;-)
New British Trek Ratings Available
Christian (2:51 pm CST)
The Television Observation Unit of the Star Trek Collective just posted the British Trek ratings for the week beginning the 11th of April:
After the previous week's abysmal performance, it was good to see a slight recovery for Star Trek on BBC2. TNG's "Time's Arrow, Part 2" gave the series a boost by 6 places to #13, although the number of viewers, at 2.79m, was still quite low compared to ratings earlier in the year. Meanwhile, Voyager did well considering the very intermittent schedule it's had - "Concerning Flight" was just two places below TNG, at #15. The viewing figure of 2.58m was lower than offerings earlier in the year, but for Voyager's Sunday timeslot was respectable.
However, DS9 first season reruns continued the appalling performance from the week before - this week's "Vortex" was not in the top 30 programmes, and so no actual viewing figures were available.
Actual ratings, plus a historic rundown of the past several months, can be found by going here.
FocalPoint Issue 4 Appears
Christian (1:28 pm CST)
Finally, after more than two months, a new edition of FocalPoint has been sent out. FocalPoint is the newsletter published by Star Trek Central, and provides subscribers with a round-up of all the latest Star Trek news:
In this issue:
-FOND NEXT GENERATION MEMORIES
-STC - WHAT HAVE WE BEEN DOING?
-WIN AN INSURRECTION SOUNDTRACK
-GOODBYE DEEP SPACE NINE (UPDATE AND RUMORS)
-KATE MULGREW (JANEWAY) NEWS
-SESKA FORGES AN ALLIANCE WITH EUROPE
-MILENNIAL TREK AWARDS
-VOYAGER IN ADVERTISING CONTROVERSY
-NEXT FILM/NEW SERIES
-UK STAR TREK UPDATE
-YOUR FEEDBACK
If you haven't yet received the actual issue, you can subscribe by going here.
Tim Lynch Reviews 'Strange Bedfellows'
Christian (1:22 pm CST)
And he's not altogether positive about the episode:
This "beginning of the end" four-parter of DS9 is starting to take a somewhat strange shape. While the powers that be are clearly aiming for a lot of twists and turns before we reach the series' end, the twists themselves seem to alternate between the interesting, well-placed varieties and the out-of-character, subtle-as-a-brick ones. Of the two major stories in "Strange Bedfellows", one had a twist of the first variety, and one of the second. I'm still engaged enough to be quite curious about what lies ahead, but some of the fervor from "'Til Death Do Us Part" has faded.
More can be found in Tim Lynch's full review, which was just put up at Psi Phi, and in which Lynch awards the episode a 7,5. Find it all here.
New Sev Trek Cartoon
Christian (1:13 pm CST)
Ezri In Bikini
Christian (1:12 pm CST)
As you may already know, the May 1999 issue of Bikini Magazine contains an interview with Nicole DeBoer (Ezri Dax). For those of you who haven't been able to find the actual magazine, wonderful Nicole DeBoer site Obsessive Attitudes put up a transcript of the article on the web. Take a look at a small quote from the article:
They say animals know when a disaster is coming. So if you live near Toronto and notice the cows getting nervous, it might be because Nicole deBoer's coming back to town. While she claims her only attempt at cow tipping was ill-fated, she recalls the incident with a longing in her voice. Thought the Canadian-born actress has started eating meat again ("I didn't for like 10 years"), she insists her days of bullying bovines is long behind her. Apparently there's little time for livestock wrestling when you're playing space shrink Ezri Dax on Star Trek: Deep Space Nine.
"Yesterday we had to do a scene where we were hanging upside down," she says. "Sometimes we do the weirdest things. I'm hanging upside down while they're fixing a light, and I'm thinking, 'This is what I do for a living.'"
You can find more in the full article, from where you'll also be able to find a picture of DeBoer as it appeared in the magazine. While you're at it, why not check out Obsessive Attitudes itself? It's an absolutely wonderful site! Thanks go out to Adrienne for posting about this to the Nicole DeBoer mailing list.
Equinox Reshoot Info
Christian (1:12 pm CST)
Contrary to what the Universe recently reported, Voyager's final episode, 'Equinox,' did indeed undergo some reshoots. Take a look at what the Vulcan Cafe just reported:
What are the extra sceens in Equinox?
Some walk 'n talk in a corridor and Astrometrics
Who is in these scenes?
Jeri [Ryan], Robert [Picardo] and some Equinox folks
According to what was previously reported, the reshoots became necessary after it was the decided that the show's b-plot was too similar to one from the previous episode, 'Warhead.' More info on this might later on be appearing at the Vulcan Cafe, thanks go out to Warp Eleven for pointing me to this.
TrekWeb Giveaway Expands
Christian (1:11 pm CST)
For about a month now, TrekWeb has been running a special Autograph GiveAway, in which you could win autographed photos of James Doohan (Scotty), Jeri Ryan (Seven of Nine), Roxann Dawson (B'Elanna Torres) and Robert Duncan McNeill (Tom Paris). The Doohan autograph has since been given away, but fortunately TrekWeb just added two additional items to the giveaway list:
An autographed photo of Alice Krige as the "Borg Queen" (Star Trek: First Contact), and to celebrate the end of Star Trek: Deep Space Nine this summer, one of the original 10,000 show bibles, written by creators Rick Berman and Michael Piller prior to the show's premiere and completed on June 29th, 1992! The bible includes a certificate of authenticity.
Certainly these are interesting items to win, and you can find more information about what you have to do to qualify here. Basically you'll have to download a test version of @Backup, which, according to TrekWeb, is all you have to do. They conveniently forget to mention the fact that @Backup will be spamming you for the next month at least, but I guess that's something a real fan will gladly go through to win those items.
Brannon Braga Praises Naomi Wildman
Christian (1:10 pm CST)
The Official Scarlett Pomers Homepage just updated to include two recent interviews dealing with Scarlett Pomers (Naomi Wildman). In the first article, which originally appeared in Star Trek: The Magazine, Voyager's executive producer Brannon Braga talks a little about the character of Naomi Wildman:
"We wanted to introduce Naomi in 'Once Upon a Time.' We've got a great actress in Scarlett Pomers, and it just turned out that of all the character interactions in that particular episode the most fun was with Seven of Nine, so we began to play with that relationship. Then [in 'Bliss] it is visited again, where the Voyager crew is incapacitated and it's up to Seven, the Doctor, and Naomi to save the day, which is a great trio. They're a lot of fun together." Did he have Wesley Crusher in mind when delineating Naomi's character? "Not at all. No, we wanted to portray Naomi as a realistic 24th-century child. She's advanced far beyond a normal six-year-old from today, but is still deeply neurotic, and although she's an enlightened little girl she has irrational fears as well, so she's hopefully a textured little child. We just wanted to show an interesting child character."
He says more in the full interview. Perhaps more interesting is a reprint of an interview which first appeared in the 'Star Trek Communicator' of March 1999, in which Scarlett herself is interviewed by Jamie Painter. You can find that one by going here.
New DS9 Trailers
Christian (1:08 pm CST)
Mr. Video Productions just put up the trailers for the upcoming fifth episode of DS9's Final Chapter, 'When It Rains...' As every week, the trailer is available as a 32-second MPEG video, but also as an MP3 audio file and a zipped archive of images. You can find the preview by going here, though at the moment Vidiot's site is down, as usual. If you're really anxious to see the trailers, they've also been put up at Star Trek Interactive!, though the image quality of those trailers is slightly lower than Vidiot's.
Besides the 'When It Rains...' trailer, Vidiot also put up a special two-minute 'May Sweeps Program Filler,' with which Paramount hopes to make lots of people watch the Final Chapter. At 21 MB, it's a hefty download, but it does provide some very interesting teasers for the upcoming Final Chapter episodes. You can find the preview by going here, though of course that'll be a bit difficult if Vidiot's site is still down. Star Trek Interactive! should have the trailer up in a few hours as well, though, so you will probably be able to download it there.
Enterprise Free
Christian (1:08 pm CST)
Absolutely great news, as the Sci-Fi Wire is reporting that the worldwide rights of 'Free Enterprise,' the Star Trek spoof starring William Shatner, have finally been bought by a distributor:
Regent Entertainment bought the worldwide rights to Free Enterprise, an independent film starring William Shatner. The movie is a spoof that follows two would-be filmmakers and science fiction fans who get to meet Shatner, their TV idol, only to learn that he's a hard-drinking woman chaser.
Free Enterprise earned awards for best picture and best screenplay at the 1998 AFI Los Angeles International Film Festival. It is scheduled to play at the Cannes Film Festival on May 15 before opening in Los Angeles on June 4.
This is definitely a film I want to see - hopefully the film will also make it to the Netherlands.
Captain Janeway Marries
Christian (1:07 pm CST)
Poor Chakotay, now his chances are forever gone. AnotherUniverse's Daily Buzz (and a couple of thousand other sources) are reporting that Kate Mulgrew (Kathryn Janeway) married on Monday:
Kate Mulgrew, who plays Captain Kathryn Janeway on Star Trek Voyager, married Ohio politician Tim Hagan on Monday in Florida. The ceremony reportedly included only the couple and a friend of Mulgrew's.
Mulgrew - who is expected to return next season to the series - has two sons from a previous marriage. Hagan - who did not seek reelection as Cuyahoga County Commissioner, and is currently on staff at Cleveland State University - has two daughters.
Congratulations to Kate Mulgrew, but let's hope her marriage won't cause her to leave the series before the end of the seventh season.
Today On TV
Christian (1:06 pm CST)
-Tonight at 9:00pm, UPN will be airing a new Star Trek Voyager episode in a special Monday night showing. Tonight's episode is called 'Juggernaut,' and this is what the Continuum has to say about the episode:
The U.S.S. Voyager rescues two crewmen from an abandoned, out of control Malon freighter that's about to unleash a theta radiation blast into the sector. Soon, Lieutenant Torres leads an away team to board the freighter and contain the poison - despite warnings from its crewman, Fesek and Pelk, about the Angel of Decay that wreaks havoc aboard the cargo ship.
Note that the above picture is, of course, copyrighted by Paramount. While we're on the subject, let me just applaud UPN for temporarily replacing their main site with a page 'honoring the memory of those lost in the Columbine High School tragedy' - this is truly styleful and I respect UPN for this.
-The Sci-Fi Channel will be showing the third-season TOS episode 'The Savage Curtain' tonight at 7:00pm and at 11:00pm Eastern Time.
-At 17:00 and at 23:30 BST, British television station Sky One will be showing DS9's 'The Nagus.'
-In Germany, Sat.1 will be repeating TNG's 'Der Moment der Erkenntnis, Teil 2' (Birthright, Part Two) tomorrow morning at 00:05 CET. Tomorrow afternoon, at 15:00 CET, they'll be showing 'In der Hand von Terroristen' (Starship Mine)
Trek BBS Today
Christian (1:06 pm CST)
The difficulty with doing this 'Trek BBS Today' is that, as I write this, the American day isn't even halfway through, so the listing of Today's Active Topics also just lists a few current discussions. Still, even though most people still need to visit the site today, lots of interesting discussions have already been going on over the past few hours, including:
-After the 'Favourite Episode' thread, board regular Spaceburger started a new thread, asking you what your favourite DS9 character is - make your choices known here.
-A very interesting new thread in the Voyager forum deals with the question of Star Trek and Homosexuality. In this thread, you can voice your support for a possible gay character on Trek, and hopefully someday the producers will actually include such a character in the show. (BTW, related to this, does anyone know what happened to the Voyager Visibility Project, which also campaigned for this? You heard a lot from them a few years ago, but now it seems they've completely disappeared)
-Does anyone actually like Neelix? Do you?
And, as usual, many more discussions are taking place at the Trek BBS, and we'd all absolutely love to hear from you! Please feel free to add your thoughts to the current discussions, or perhaps even start a new thread altogether! Remember, registration isn't even required - just go ahead and open a channel!
New at TrekSeek.com
Christian (1:05 pm CST)
After 7 site submissions yesterday, TrekSeek has reached a total of 1023 Star Trek links. Take a look at some of the highlights:
-The The Win95 to LCARS transformation page has a listing of available freeware/shareware programs to give your win9x computer that LCARS look.
-The Bad Guys of Star Trek has information on Star Trek bad guys, TOS charactors, outcasts, rules to Fizzbin, chat room, message board and much more.
-TheTrek.Net is currently in beta, but when it opens it'll provide you with up to the minute Trek news, database, episode libraries, and more.
For a look at all the other new Star Trek sites that were added to TrekSeek yesterday, take a look here.
Hello World!
Christian (1:05 pm CST)
Inspired by a recent discussion topic at the Trek BBS, today I watched DS9's 'The Visitor' again. Just like the first time I saw it, I was deeply moved by the episode, and it made me see again precisely why I love Star Trek so much. 'The Visitor' had everything a good show should have, and it told its tale in an even more compelling way than TNG's 'The Inner Light.' 'The Visitor' is also one of those rare shows you can show non-Trek fans, and be absolutely certain they're going to like it. But, most importantly, it showed that Trek can do great stories just by focusing on its one major strength - characters, instead of action. Really, 'The Visitor' was the perfect example of how I think Star Trek should be.Boy, am I going to miss Deep Space Nine.
German Trek News
Christian (1:49 pm CST)
After server problems caused the site to be down for most of the weekend, the German Star Trek Index just went up again, providing us with lots of new German-language Star Trek news.
First up is a news report about the 'Star Trek World Tour,' which will beam down to Vienna on the 29th of June. The event will last until the 8th of August, giving Austrian Star Trek fans nearly six weeks to be terribly disappointed. More info on this can be found (in German) by going here, but if I were you, I'd just skip the World Tour and use the money to buy a few Star Trek tapes - in Germany it was a major disappointment when I visited, and it probably won't be much better in Austria.
Secondly, the German Star Trek Index received a letter from television station Sat.1, telling them about the new Voyager airdates. As you may recall, a few months ago Sat.1 was considering cancelling Voyager altogether because of bad ratings, but now they've simply decided to move the show from the Friday to the Saturday. The current plan is to show the two remaining new episodes from the fourth season, then Sat.1 will repeat three older fourth-season episodes, and, starting the 12th of June, they'll be showing third-season episodes on Saturdays. A detailed schedule can be found by going here.
Lastly, a new edition of Radio Trek's TREKminds show is available. The current edition of this (German) internet radio show mostly deals with the aforementioned Sat.1 troubles, including editorial commentaries and a reader phone-in. You can find the current edition of the program by going here.
Warp Eleven 'Strange Bedfellows' Review
Christian (12:47 pm CST)
A few minutes ago, Warp Eleven put up Curt Holman's 'Strange Bedfellows' review, in which he analyzes the third episode of DS9's Final Chapter. He certainly isn't as impressed with the episode as a lot of other reviewers were:
Most Trek fans on-line know that Strange Bedfellows was originally titled Eclipse, and 'Til Death Do Us Part was to have been Umbra. With Penumbra, the three titles would have gone through the stages of an eclipse, and I'm disappointed they were changed. The Eclipse sequence of titles would have had a much higher C.Q. (Coolness Quotient) than the ones they replaced them with. In general, memorable or evocative titles have never been this series' strong suit: my favorite DS9 episode titles probably Rocks and Shoals, and that one by default.
Find the full review here.
The Secured Channel Issue 18 Appears
Christian (12:47 pm CST)
Daryus Aden has sent out issue 18 of the Secured Channel, the official newsletter of the TrekZone Network. This issue marks the first anniversary of the newsletter:
It's nearly been one year to the day since this newsletter started publishing. In that time we've seen the Behaviour Group come and go, lost members and recieved new ones, and we've made many new friends. Through all of this TSCN has kept growing. So, a happy Birthday to TSCN, may your second year be as eventful as your first. A big thanks to all the readers of the newsletter, after all you are the reason we are still here!
In the issue, you'll find a detailed round-up of all the latest Star Trek news, and I certainly recommend the newsletter to everyone. If you haven't yet read the latest issue, you can now find a copy of it on the web by going here. If you want to subscribe to the newsletter, I suggest you go here for instructions.
Robert Beltran Road Tour Interviews
Christian (12:46 pm CST)
The Official Robert Beltran site just published a new interview with Robert Beltran, which was conducted by MOOD, a group of six Robert Beltran fans who followed him to the various conventions he attended. Take a look at two of the most interesting questions:
Will Voyager last the full seven years, and will there be a movie?"
On the Nielson ratings (the top 120 shows on American television) we are consistently at the 80 - 90 level, so there are a lot of shows doing better than us, but most of them are on a network that is not just starting to get off the ground... The Next Generation and DS9 were syndicated, which means they were seen by every market in the country. We're only seen on UPN, which only covers 80% of the market. So it's hard to get a sense of how many people are really watching. But we've lasted five years and we've beaten everybody who was supposed to knock us off the air. I still get wonderful support from German fans, English - all the British fans are wonderful - so it has a world-wide following, unlike many shows on American TV who get better ratings than us. So it's still a lucrative franchise. I think we'll make the seven years but I don't know about getting to make a film."
How long does it take you to learn your lines?
"Why, what have you heard?" (shouts of "Cosmo" earn the response "I hate the internet" from Robert). Then he said "I must admit, I put it on very, very short term memory - as soon as I say the line, it's over with, and most of the time we need another take, so I'm in trouble most of the time."
Check out the full interview here at the official Robert Beltran site, while you can get more info about Beltran's convention tour here. Also, the Robert Beltran site has put up an information page dealing with his 'A Touch Of The Poet' play, which you might find interesting as well.
Cynics Corner Reviews 'Strange Bedfellows'
Christian (12:46 pm CST)
Cynic David E. Sluss just updated the Cynics Corner with a review of 'Strange Bedfellows,' last week's new Deep Space Nine episode. Take a look at one of his comments on the episode:
RESET BUTTON OF THE WEEK:
The sudden death of Dolly the Vorta VII was certainly a shocker (especially since Worf, who talks the talk but rarely walks the walk when it comes to killing, did the deed), but his resurrection, not five air-minutes later, as Dolly the Vorta VIII was good for a laugh. Even by Trek standards, that's got to be a record of some kind.
Find more in the full review, in which the episode is awarded no more than a 7,5.
Good News For DS9's Future
Christian (12:45 pm CST)
NOTE: Very minor DS9 finale spoilers are contained below. You probably will want to read the below update anyway, but if you really do not want to hear anything at all about the DS9 finale, just click here to move on to the next update.
Backstage Pass, which is rapidly turning out to be a superb Star Trek news source, just posted another update to its DS9 news page, talking about the series wrap parties:
Well, it's all over but for the shouting. There was a small wrap party on Friday for just the cast and crew (there was a larger wrap party on Thursday night with the press in attendance) and a lunch last Thursday where ball caps were given out to the cast and crew. Michael Dorn, when asked if he was ready for a long vacation, gave an enthusiastic, "Oh God YES!"
The good news is that there may still be a future for Deep Space Nine:
One bit of good news - the Defiant sets are being stored for possible future use (even though the last time we see the Defiant it's definitely in need of a good paint and body guy).
A piece of speculation which is purely me doing some wishful thinking: maybe in the final episode of Deep Space Nine they'll blow up the station, which is the reason the Promenade sets are already being destroyed. As you may recall, Ain't It Cool News recently reported DS9's final episode was rather similar to 'Sleeping In Light,' Babylon 5's final episode, and in there the station also blows up. Perhaps Paramount still wants there to be a future for the DS9 cast, and maybe that's the reason why they're just preserving the Defiant sets.
Remember, though, this certainly hasn't been confirmed anywhere yet - perhaps there won't be a future for DS9 at all, but I certainly hope there will be one!
Ordover Updates
Christian (12:44 pm CST)
Pocket Books editor John Ordover just updated his Q&A board again, providing us with some interesting info about the Trek novels:
Query from: Jamie
Is Christie Golden joining Michael Jan Friedman in the writing of "First Virtue"? If so, why?
Response from: John Ordover
Yes, and because Mike's schedule was so filled up that he just wasn't going to have the time to write the book all on his own. Rather than miss a deadline, he asked if he could bring in a collaborator, and of course we said yes.:)
Ordover also gave a slight hint about the future of the DS9 novel line, which could perhaps even be non-existent after the DS9 finale has aired:
Query from: Andrew
John:The Rebels trilogy takes place in the fourth season. When you start up the DS9 line again, will you also start writing novels that take place in the 5th 6th & 7th seasons? Like the REBELS trilogy takes place in the fourth season? Thanks!
Response from: John Ordover
To be honest, we have no idea what we're going to do with the DS9 line at this point.
Find more in the full Q&A session.
Hallmark 1999 Christmas Ornaments
Christian (12:44 pm CST)
The people at Hallmark just put up the first pictures of their 1999 Star Trek Christmas ornaments, plus one other souvenir which doesn't really look like it was made for Christmas. The four new items include a 1960's Star Trek lunch box (or at least that's what it looks like), a Classic Trek U.S.S. Enterprise ornament, and the previously announced Rio Grande model. I'd give you a direct link to the Star Trek page, but unfortunately Hallmark's web server doesn't allow that. If you really want to take a look, I suggest you search around at the Hallmark site for the page. Thanks go out to Ziroc for posting about this to Usenet.
Today on TV
Christian (12:43 pm CST)
-In the UK, Sky One will probably be showing DS9's 'The Storyteller' at 16:00 BST, and Voyager's 'Parturition' at 17:00 BST. The BBC will be showing Voyager's 'Mortal Coil' at 18:45 BST. Thanks go out to the Television Observation Unit of the Star Trek Collective for this.
-In Germany, Sat.1 will be showing TNG's 'Der Moment der Erkenntnis, Teil 2' (Birthright, Part Two) tomorrow at 15:00 CET.
Trek BBS Today
Christian (12:43 pm CST)
More and more interesting discussions are taking place at the Trek BBS each and every day, and below you'll find some of those great discussions:
-Personally I've always thought Jay Chattaway's 'Inner Light Suite' was one of the best pieces of Star Trek music ever created. What do you think is the best music in Trek? Talk about it here.
-What's your favourite DS9 season? Let us know here.
-This is a rather new thread, but still interesting. What do you think about Seven of Nine? Is she a great character who should be used more, or should it be 'Seven's turn to ride in the back seat?' You can talk about this here.
And, as usual, you can also start your own discussion topics at the Trek BBS - you don't even need to register!
New at Trekseek.com
Christian (12:43 pm CST)
Well, we had no more than one site submission yesterday, still bringing us to a total of 1018 Star Trek sites. This is that new site:
-The Omega Fleet Star Trek sim. PBeM and real time options available. Growing fast!
Last week's new sites can still be found by going here.
Hello World!
Christian (12:43 pm CST)
Late again. Sorry!
Star Trek - The Lost Commentary
Christian (4:26 pm CST)
As you probably know, the SciFi Channel recently stopped airing the uncut 'Star Trek - Special Edition' episodes, and reduced Star Trek's timeslot from 90 to 60 minutes. This also meant that Leonard Nimoy's introductions to those episodes would not be aired anymore. Fortunately, WLM, who used to be an employee of the Sci-Fi Channel and also was the very first person to inform the world about the episode cut, recently posted the transcripts to the Sci-Fi Channel's bulletin boards:
Well, given the feedback that I've received, it would seem that there is interest out there in seeing what Nimoy WOULD have said, had SFC decided to continue airing the Special Edition. So, I will post the scripts for all of the episodes that didn't air to the board.
You can find the transcripts by going here and clicking on the episode titles. However, if you want to read this in a more convenient way, the Leonard Nimoy Club put up a special mini-site for the transcripts - you can find that by going here. Thanks go out to Morjana of the Leonard Nimoy Club for posting about this to the rec.arts.startrek.current newsgroup.
More Trek Auctions
Christian (4:18 pm CST)
Several new Trek items just went up for auction at Scifispace.com's charity page, most of them donated by Mark Shepherd (Morn):
A Surprise Item autographed by Quark (Armin Shimerman)
The original large velvet painting prop from "Who Mourns for Morn" that was smashed over Quark's head in the episode.
A shooting schedule signed by: Avery Brooks (Sisko), Michael Dorn (Worf), J.G. Hertzler (Martok), Rene Auberjonois (Odo), Nicole deBoer (Ezri) and, of course, Mark Shepherd (Morn).
If you're interested in obtaining any of these items, I suggest you check out this page. Thanks go out to Lori Brown for posting this to Usenet.
Sid City Moves To Domain Name
Christian (4:13 pm CST)
Sid City, the excellent Alexander Siddig/ Siddig El Fadel web site, just obtained its own domain name fo http://www.sidcity.com. Together with the new domain name, the site also got a new lay-out, and an entirely new section dedicated to the recent 'Weekend at the Promenade' convention. Currently, the page contains just one report, but more should be added in a few days, including several images. The convention is also getting extensive coverage at the Sid City Message Board. Everyone go check out the site - it's really great!
'11:59' Official Info
Christian (4:06 pm CST)
NOTE: This update contains spoilers for the upcoming Voyager episode '11:59.' Click here to avoid reading these spoilers and move on to the next update.
Again, click here to be transported to the next article and remain spoiler-free.
The Star Trek Universe just posted a short official synopsis for the upcoming Voyager episode '11:59.' Take a look:
Janeway looks back on the life of her ancestor, Shannon O'Donnell, a twentieth century woman who was committed to constructing a structure called 'Millennium Gate', the model for the first Martian colony.
I'm not sure if this info has already gotten out before, but Star Trek News is reporting Kevin Tighe (from Murder One) will be playing Janeway's ancestor's love interest in this episode. Thanks go out to Gustavo Leao for that last bit of info.
Birth Of The Federation Chat
Christian (4:05 pm CST)
Tonight, the Trek Gaming Alliance will be hosting another BotF chat:
Today TGA will be holding it's second BotF Chat. I know I haven't been advertising it a lot lately, but it is still on. This chat will be held at IRC server irc.webmaster.com on channel #trekgaming. You can also join the chat via a java applet here. This chat will be held at 11:30pm GMT (6:30pm EST, 3:30pm PST).
Last I heard, there was a chance Jeff Holzhauer might show up, so this could turn out to be interesting.
Alien Voices L.A. Book Signing
Christian (4:05 pm CST)
According to the Continuum, Leonard Nimoy (Spock) and John DeLancie (Q) will be attending a book signing today:
As part of the Los Angeles Book Fair, Leonard Nimoy ("Spock" on Star Trek) and John de Lancie ("Q" on ST:TNG, ST:DS9, ST:VOY) will be signing copies of their Alien Voices productions on video and audio tape from 3-5 p.m. this Saturday, April 24.
Look for Nimoy and deLancie, whose radio-style stagings of classic sci-fi have been seen live on the Sci-Fi Channel, at the Border Books booth.
IGN PC Has Trek Games Movies
Christian (4:05 pm CST)
IGN PC just put up new gameplay movies of two upcoming Interplay titles, namely of 'Klingon Academy' and of 'New Worlds:'
We just returned from Interplay's Star Trek headquarters in lovely Orange County California and we managed to snag a couple of flicks on our way out the door. The first short gives you a quick peek at the company's upcoming Klingon Academy (read our preview here), a space fighter with some unbelievable graphics. Better still, you'll finally get a chance to show those smug Federation bastards that sitting in easy chairs talking diplomacy all day isn't the best way to get ready for a fight.
Once you've finished basking in the glow of burning Federation starships you'll be ready to tackle our next feature, a lovely piece of cinema we call Star Trek: New Worlds. In this film you'll get a good look at how the newest title in the Star Trek line-up actually moves. As always, if you want a big dose of IGNPC's patented hinkfo, you can check out our preview as well.
You can download the movies by going here. Thanks go out to Star Trek Gaming Central for pointing me to this.
New Radio Free Decipher Broadcast
Christian (4:04 pm CST)
The latest edition of Decipher's 'Radio Free Trek' show focuses exclusively on 'Blaze of Glory,' the new Star Trek Customizable Card Game expansion pack. During the show, host Carol Wisely chats with Sandy Wible and Tim Ellington about the new expansio pack, which should appear in about 8 weeks. You can listen to the show by going here. Major thanks go out to Mark P for reporting this!
DS9 Wrap Party Chat Transcript
Christian (4:04 pm CST)
The transcript of Thursday's live DS9 wrap party chat has just gone up at the Continuum. Take a look at some of the highlights from the transcript:
Suren Seron:
Welcome everyone to tonight's chat! Guests are starting to arrive right now at the ST:DS9 series final wrap party. As we have a chance to interview them, questions and answers will be posted as soon as they arrive.
Alexander Siddig, Nana Visitor, Peter Lauritson, Tiny Ron, Rene Auberjonois, Ira Steven Behr, Dan Curry, David Stipes, and Karen Westerfields have all arrived. We had some rain earlier, but it seems to have gone away as the stars are arriving.
[...]
Ben:
Marc.....can you tell where you are at in Hollywood? and can I join you there?
Marc Wade:
I don't think that would be a good idea, Ben. Too many fans here in L.A. might figure out where we are. Let me just say that we are at an elegant hotel with a beautiful bar and patio It is just getting dark here now. Actually quite dark. In spite of the mild weather, there are space heaters set up outside to keep the guests warm. There is plenty of elegant food and drink available. THe arrivals are right outside our window, Terry Farrell is here.
Question:
What will you miss the most about working on this show?
Terry Farrell:
Well, I've already missed my worm for a year... I'm a rather selfish person... and I don't like sharing my worm with just anyone. But I would have to say I will miss sounding so intelligent on a daily basis. And being a great pilot.
[...]
Question:
Do you feel that DS9 followed the direction that Gene set for Star Trek?
Majel Barrett Roddenberry:
I think they're entirely different and come out of the minds of two different people. I feel it was done to its capacity very well. Very exciting, and probably not the way Gene would have done it at all. But Viva le difference. I think Rick Berman did a fantastic job.
Note that these quite probably aren't the most interesting quotes in the transcript, but I'm afraid I'm not really operating at full capacity at the moment. I have to say I find it funny that Marc Wade didn't want to disclose the location of the wrap party, though, considering this was broadcasted to the whole world in a recent press release! Unfortunately, it apparently didn't attract too much attention, as Marc Wade also said that besides startrek.com, only Daily Variety was present, so I guess we won't be hearing too much about this event.
You can find the full transcript here, which is also where you'll be able to find a few pictures of the event (including the one I put up above, which is, of course, copyrighted by Paramount).
Garrett Wang Places Items On Auction
Christian (4:03 pm CST)
The Star Trek Continuum (which recently redesigned its news service, is reporting that Garrett Wang has placed several items signed by the Voyager cast on auction at eBay. Take a look at the two items you can currently bid on:
VOYAGER photo with 9 autographs
8x10 b/w cast photo for Star Trek VOYAGER from 1997 features the autographs of all 9 actors in the photo: Jeri Ryan, Robert Beltran, Kate Mulgrew, Robert Duncann McNeill, Roxann Dawson, Garrett Wang, Robert Picardo, Tim Russ and Ethan Phillips.
Cast Signed VOYAGER crew hat
Very Rare!! Garrett Wong's 100th Episode Crew hat for Star Trek VOYAGER which he personally had autographed by 9 actors: himself, Jeri Ryan, Robert Beltran, Kate Mulgrew, Robert Duncann McNeill, Roxann Dawson, Robert Picardo, Tim Russ and Ethan Phillips.
The proceeds of the sale will go to charity, namely the Compassion In Action organization. If you yourself would like to place a bid, I suggest you go to the photo auction or the hat auction.
GamePen Previews Starfleet Command
Christian (4:03 pm CST)
Gregg Charlton at GamePen put up a new preview of Interplay's upcoming strategy game, Starfleet Command. The preview starts with the obligatory paragraph about how all other Star Trek games failed, but then they actually go on to provide some interesting info on the game's graphics:
Graphically, Starfleet Command is just about the best strategy game I've laid eyes on. The only other game that's in the same ball park would be Myth. The ships are accurate representations of those that appeared in the TV series while the special effects are even better. Think of Next Generation special effects with Captain Kirk era ships. Particle and lighting effects verge on spectacular – especially when a shielded ship is hit with a simultaneous barrage of phasers and photon torpedoes. Similarly, background items like space stations, asteroids and planets are also beautifully rendered. Sound effect are equally outstanding as I found myself believing I was watching the show itself. Clearly, Interplay and Quick Silver have spent a great deal of time on the presentation end of the game. This is not to say that the basic game engine has been ignored. Turn radii, relative vessel speeds, firepower, shield strength etc. all feel "right". By that I mean that the game plays like the epic space battles seen in the series. Frustrated Trekkies who couldn't stand controlling a starship with a joystick in Starfleet Academy will find that the combat in Starfleet Command is fought as though space-age battleships are pounding away at one another. Now the Enterprise behaves like the heavy cruiser it is rather than as an X-Wing on growth hormones!
More can be found in the full preview, which, disappointingly, doesn't contain any screenshots. Still, it's an interesting read, and Trek strategy fans should probably check it out. Thanks go out to Star Trek Gaming Central for this.
Today on TV
Christian (4:02 pm CST)
-Tomorrow at 09:45 CET, German television station Sat.1 will be repeating Voyager's 'Dämon' (Demon)
Trek BBS Today
Christian (4:02 pm CST)
Though I haven't actually been able to post at the site myself today, the list of active topics tells me it's getting more and more popular every day. Take a look at what some of the most interesting discussions are currently dealing with:
-This thread was first dealing with a question dealing with Voyager's return to the Alpha Quadrant, but now mainly deals with Star Trek books. Check it out here.
-What would you prefer - a Robert April show or a show set in the 29th century? Give us your opinion here.
-Who'd win in a fight between the Borg and the Dominion? Click here to discuss this topic!
Of course, many other topics are currently available at the Trek BBS, and if none of the 20 current discussions interest you, you can always start a thread of your own! Remember, registration isn't even required - just go ahead and post!
New at TrekSeek.com
Christian (4:01 pm CST)
Yesterday, 7 new sites were submitted to TrekSeek, bringing us up to a total of 1015 Star Trek links. Check out some of those new sites:
-The LCARS Central WebRing is a Star Trek related webring devoted to LCARS formatted websites only. The webring has its own web-based email service and more.
-BW's Star Trek Site is all about Star Trek, with pictures, links, discussion lists, and much more. The site also includes the BW Midis Gallery and the BW's Star Trek Picture Gallery.
-109th Fleet is a Klingon/Federation secret. The location of the fleet is classified and the objective of the fleet is to be the last deadly defense if ever needed to save the Alpha Quadrant, but until then, to help in the war effort. Join Today! (PBeM RPG).
Check out all the new sites by going here.
Hello World!
Christian (4:01 pm CST)
Phew, I'm finally back, after a very nice family reunion. I really love those happenings, but they sure make one very tired. I'm afraid that may have had some impact on the quality *and* on the quantity of today's update, but I do think that I've covered the most important things. If not, I'm sure I'll be able to make up for it tomorrow again :-).
SFX Magazine Readers Poll
Christian (2:26 pm CST)
The Great Link just re-printed the results of the 1998 Reader Awards which were voted upon by the readers of the British SFX Magazine. Star Trek actually did pretty well, in most categories. Take a look at some of the main Trek highlights:
Best SF/Fantasy TV Show
3. Star Trek: Deep Space Nine
7. Star Trek: Voyager
Best SF/Fantasy TV Actor
1 - Avery Brooks
9 - Marc Alaimo
"....a few years ago Brooks would have been a contender for worst actor. But the new, bullying, blustering, vision-driven, bald-driven, 'I'll wear an apron if I like so want to make something of it' Captain of DS9 seems to be a development which has given Brooks the chance to show what he's really capable of. It's also good to see someone who's essentially only a bit-parter, Marc Alaimo, doing so well."
Best Individual TV Episode:
3 - Sacrifice of Angels (DS9)
4 - Far Beyond the Stars (DS9)
6 - In the Pale Moonlight (DS9)
8 - Message in a Bottle (Voyager)
10 - Waltz (DS9)
Voyager's "Year of Hell, Part 2" just missed out on entering the Top 10 for this category.
The full list also contains the 'Best Actresses' list with no less than 4 Trek stars, a second place for 'New Frontier' in the 'Best Media Tie-in Novel' category, and lots, lots more. Find it all here.
DreamWatch Interviews Trek Stars
Christian (2:03 pm CST)
Issue 57 of British magazine DreamWatch contains interviews with Roxann Dawson (B'Elanna Torres) and Chase Masterson (Leeta). Take a look at what you will be able to find in the interviews:
Roxann Dawson
As the latest incarnation of Gene Roddenberry's vision reaches the end of its fifth season, Roxann Dawson, alias ship's chief engineer B'Elanna Torres, discusses her character's evolving relationships on board the isolated Federation starship…
Chase Masterson
As the science fiction saga draws to a conclusion, Chase Masterson looks back on her happy years with the Star Trek series as Dabo girl Leeta, considers the character's rapid development into a key figure on the show, and reveals her own ambitious future projects…
The actual issue also contains a book review of Voyager's 'Death of a Neutron Star,' the latest TNG, DS9 and Voyager videos, and news of the season finales for both current Trek series. The issue is on sale now in the UK for a price of 2.99 UKP, $6.95. Thanks go out to DreamWatch's assistant editor Rod Edgar for posting this to the alt.tv.star-trek.voyager newsgroup.
Trek Toy News
Christian (1:38 pm CST)
The Raving Toy Maniac just updated again, providing us with lots of new action figure info. First of all, the Toy Maniac is reporting there probably won't be a 6" Seven of Nine figure:
The 6" Ultra Trek Seven of Nine, previously scheduled as a Diamond Comics Exclusive for March, has been put on hold, with no forseeable release date at this time.
Fortunately, that is about the only bad news to be found at the Toy Maniac, as the site is also reporting about several action figure price drops:
With Playmates' mail order Latinum Gallery program apparently a failure, the remaining stock has been sold off to Diamond Comics and other small retailers who order directly from Playmates. The 12" Captain Kirk from "Where No Man Has Gone Before" and the 12" Seven of Nine statues are being solicited in the March issue of Previews. You may also be able to shop around for lower prices from other mail order dealers.
Extras of the 6" "Mirror, Mirror" Kirk & Spock diorama will probably surface eventually, as well.
On top of that comes the news that Target has drastically lowered the prices of most of its 9" exclusives, which can now be found for as low as $16.70. Lots more Toy news (including a picture of the ToyFare 'A Piece Of The Action' Kirk figure and news of a mix-up by Another Universe) can be found by going here.
PC Gamer Previews Trek Games
Christian (1:28 pm CST)
The US PC Gamer just put up previews of two upcoming Star Trek games, namely Microprose's 'Birth of the Federation' and Interplay's 'Starfleet Command.' In the BotF preview, producer Jeff Holzhauer provides us with some very interesting info on how the various races will play:
The race you choose to lead affects how you should act when you encounter other races, and the computer AI will play the other races appropriately. "If you're not playing the Klingons," said Holzhauer, "you know that there's gonna be a day when they will declare war on you at the drop of a hat.
"As for you playing the races," he continues, "you'll see big differences (between them). "When you play the Federation, for example, people will be very, very unhappy when you go about invading minor races. We don't stop you from doing it, so you can invade Vulcan and set up a military government there, but you'll take a morale hit on all your worlds because the Federation doesn't like to act that way."
The Starfleet Command preview focuses more on how the missions will play out:
As you work your way up through the ranks, the game gradually departs from the Dynaverse engine into a much deeper level of intrigue--scripted by none other than Scott Bennie, made famous for his design work on the incredible Star Trek: Judgement Rites!
Between the Scott Bennie missions and the Dynaverse missions, Starfleet Command offers an impressive range of gameplay. While Starfleet Command focuses on the militaristic aspects of being a starship captain, there's a taste of the classic, moralistic Trek lurking within. "On the Dynaverse missions," says Bethke, "the player builds up his military career, and then on the (later) missions, that's where he has some significant choices to make as far as morals and things like that." But, he cautions, Starfleet Command "is not an adventure game. You're going to have to show you're military skills."
In case you're interested in hearing more, the 'Birth of the Federation' preview can be found here, while the 'Starfleet Command' preview can be found here. Thanks go out to Serfer at the Trekweb Bulletin Board for pointing me to this.
TrekWeb Announces Voyager Writer Chat
Christian (1:20 pm CST)
Steve Krutzler at TrekWeb just announced a new upcoming chat with Voyager writers Bryan Fuller and Michael Taylor. The chat will take place on the 4th of May at 6:00pm PDT, and hopefully they'll be able to provide us with some extra info on the reported Voyager writer shake-up. If you wish to ask them about that, you can already do so now, as advance questions are currently being accepted. More info on this can be found by going here.
Meanwhile, some more info on the possible writer transfer has appeared on WebTrek and at Warp Eleven (which is where I got it from for this update):
Not true about Ron Moore at least - he's said it isn't. Have to ask about the others. About Kenneth Biller's departure he said, Dunno about that - I've been away on vacation for a couple of weeks, remember. But since he has previously been retired from producer to story editor, it perhaps wouldn't be surprising.
Thanks go out to insider Dangermouse for actually posting this to Usenet in the first place, and to Leonard Schuurmans for pointing me to this.
Voyager Season Finale Spoilers
Christian (1:13 pm CST)
NOTE: This post, as you might have deduced from the title, contains major spoilers for the Voyager season finale. Click here to move on to the next post.
Again, 'Equinox,' the last Voyager episode of this season, is heavily spoiled in this update. Click here to avoid these spoilers.
The Star Trek Universe just received some interesting information from a new source on the Voyager finale:
The evil doctor IS in the show, contrary to what was said to be..... The evil doc knocks off the good doc, takes the mobile emitter, and uses it to spring the crew of the Equinox from Voyagers brig. At the end of the ep, the Equinox steals a security grid generator from Voyager (leaving them defenseless from the alien fissures) and takes off. Seven is unconscious on the Equinox and there is a possibility that the evil doc has remained on Voyager...
The original rumor said that they would make another B plot, because the old one looked to much like the previous episode. My source has seen the episode with [the old] B plot in it.
A few days ago it became known that reshoots were currently taking place for the DS9 finale, in which the doctor's B-plot would be replaced by a Tom Paris plot. Apparently, the Universe's source saw the episode with the old B-plot in it yesterday, so that would seem to indicate the old story is still in. More can be found in the full report.
Thanks go out to Michael at the Star Trek Universe for this, but do please remember that this info, too, should be seen as a rumour, and hasn't been officially confirmed yet. If, however, you want to hear more about this you should probably also check out this thread at the Trek BBS, which deals with precisely this.
Daily Sci-Fi Reviews 'Strange Bedfellows'
Christian (12:57 pm CST)
Just a few days after putting up her 'Til Death Do Us Part' review, Sarah Kuhn at the Den's Daily Sci-Fi has already finished her review of 'Strange Bedfellows.' Just like most other reviewers, she absolutely *loved* the episode:
This episode rocked, and I'll tell you why. It's all about Kai Winn. In the span of an hour, she goes from being an easily manipulated pawn to a sobbing lost soul begging for salvation to flat out pissed. Louise Fletcher makes these transitions completely believable, and the levels of complexity and ambiguity that she and the writers have brought to this role are really quite amazing. She even gets a total "Melrose" moment when she slaps Dukat. Go girl.
With five stars out of five, it is made very clear what Kuhn thought about the episode. Find her complete review here.
A Blaze Of Glory
Christian (12:57 pm CST)
Decipher, the company producing the Star Trek Customizable Card Game, just put up a Q&A with Bill Martinson, Sandy Wible and Tim Ellington, the creators of the upcoming CCG 'Blaze Of Glory' expansion pack. Although they aren't able to provide us with a release date, they do give us the lowdown on what the pack will contain:
Q: Can you summarize the facts of the expansion?
Tim: We're planning on the usual configuration of 130 cards, broken down into 50 rares, 40 uncommons and 40 commons. You can probably expect 9-card expansion packs with 1 rare, 3 uncommons and 5 commons, packaged in 30-pack displays.
Q: What are the gameplay innovations Star Trek CCG players should be on the lookout for?
Sandy: A new battle-related side deck, enhanced capturing rules and cards, theme cards for the Jem'Hadar and infiltrators, and plenty of battle-related cards.
In the full review they go on to talk about how this expansion pack will affect the earlier ones, and about the special battle-related cards they're putting in. Find it all here.
Very Sad Deep Space Nine News
Christian (12:57 pm CST)
This really is very sad news - Backstage Pass is reporting about the tearing down of the Deep Space Nine sets, which is unfortunately proceeding at a steady rate:
Most of the sets are still intact.. but the Defiant is slowly starting to get taken down. There was the Klingon Warbird set there also.. but's it also been taken down. Stage 18 was extremely cramped.
Unfortunately, what is going to happen to the sets makes me even more sad:
I talked to one of the people involved in the production while they were scrapping the deflector dish from "First Contact" with chain saws.. I was somewhat astonished by this and mentioned it to this individual.
He noted to me that there were so many complications in trying to do something
decent with it (and I don't have the time to go into detail) that it just wasn't worth it. It would have been cost prohibitive just to get an agreement to do something decent with it and then cut it into pieces.
Remember there are just so many unions in the studio that that kind of thing gets very VERY complicated and the unions are as shiity about that kind of thing as Viacom can be.. the fans are perpetually the loosers.
Let me put it another way... someone from the studio sent a small piece of some broken plastic to a convention to be actioned off for charity.... he was then met by several VP's that explained to him that next time it happened his rear end would be out the door in no time.
This really is such a terrible waste - why didn't Viacom invest some more time in this and save at least parts of the set? Surely they would have been a great added attraction at, for instance, the 'Star Trek Experience?' Someone should have thought of a 'Save the Sets' campaign several months ago - hell, *I* should have thought of that. It truly feels like a loss to hear that their being taken down in this way.
In any case, if you really, really want to read more about this, click here. Also, if you want to talk about this, a thread has been created at the Trek BBS dealing with this - you can find it by going here.
CGO Previews 'DS9 - The Fallen'
Christian (12:56 pm CST)
The absolutely wonderful Computer Games Online just put up the very first preview ever of 'Deep Space Nine - The Fallen,' the game previously known as 'Millennium.' The preview is certainly interesting, as it mentions, together with a few other things, that a sequel has already been decided upon and will arrive next year. Of course, lots of info on *this* game is also available:
In the game, you'll play one of three Deep Space 9 characters: Sisko, Worf, or Kira. Hare and Gordon both make pains to point out that these aren't just different skins used to play through the same exact mission, but are fully realized characters which will offer a different version of the story and gameplay when you play them through. The game is played out across 12 missions, although perhaps "chapters" is a better term, as Hare says these are really, really large gameplay areas, with muliple objectives per area. You'll move from mission area to mission area in a linear fashion (Hare says, "As much as it's an attractive idea sometimes to think of nonlinearity, it really is kind of a bitch when it comes to story telling"), but activities within each mission area aren't necessarily linear. Many of the missions will be duplicative in the sense that each of the three characters will play a role in them, but the actual paths followed and actions done will be different for each character. At times all three might meet during a mission and a non-interactive sequence will ensue, but beyond that characters' actions (and your gameplay) will be different. Additionally, each character will have three of his or her own mini-missions he or she might go on.
The preview goes on to talk about the game's graphics, and then provides us with some info about something that could very well turn out to be the main selling point of the game:
In a final Trek touch, and one that may be a nice diversion for non-Trekkers tired of normal between mission text or video briefings, when you're not on a mission you'll get to wander about the virtual station, visiting locales and talking with characters from the show. While never necessary for gameplay, in some cases this will give you information about the story or upcoming missions that may be helpful, and in others it'll be sightseeing for the Trek fun of it. After all, that's why we're all visiting this station way out in deep space, right?
Lots more can be found in the full preview - it's really very interesting! Thanks go out to David Henderson, Blue, Jim Wethy, Evil Avatar and Star Trek Gaming Central for pointing me to this, in that order. I guess everyone is really looking forward to the game - I've never ever had so many sources pointing to this!
Insurrection Nominated For Hugo Award
Christian (12:56 pm CST)
A new report at Sci-Fi Wire lists the nominees for this year's Hugo awards, which will be voted upon by the members of the World Science Fiction Society. 'Star Trek: Insurrection' is listed as one of the nominees for Best Dramatic Presentation:
Dramatic Presentation
"Sleeping in Light" (Babylon 5)
Dark City
Pleasantville
Star Trek: Insurrection
The Truman Show
It's a pity none of the episodes from the television series have been nominated, but still, hopefully 'Insurrection' will win. I would have hoped they would Another slightly Trek-related nominee is Kristine Kathryn Rusch, whose novelette 'Echea' was nominated for the 'Best Novelette' award.
Insurrection On US Airways' Flights
Christian (12:55 pm CST)
A press release from airline company 'US Airways' is saying that, as of now, passengers on their transatlantic flights will be able to see 'Insurrection,' the ninth Star Trek feature, starring 'Patrick Stewart and LeVar Burton.' I wonder who thought of that cast list :-)? The full press release can be found here.
Eon Reviews 'Spectre'
Christian (12:54 pm CST)
The latest edition of Eon Magazine contains a review of the pocket book edition of 'Spectre,' last year's William Shatner novel. Precisely why they didn't choose to review his new 'Dark Victory' instead is beyond me - I guess they must have some financial difficulties and couldn't affor the hardcover, or something like that ;-). In