Site Columns

By Caillan
January 5, 2003 - 10:40 AM

Hello World!

Lake Superior State University has published its latest "List of Words Banished from the Queen's English for Mis-Use, Over-Use and General Uselessness."

My personal favourites include "undisclosed, secret location," "all-new" and "as per," which I admit I myself use on occasion. To this list, I would like to add "special time" and "fun size."

Why do television networks call shoving your favourite program to a time when no one is able to watch it "special." Is it to trick us into thinking we're being done a favour? I know I've never jumped for joy when I hear the television announcer saying "Due to this rerun of Cleaning Houses, The West Wing will not be shown tonight, and instead can be seen at the very special time of 2:15am on Sunday!"

Let's move on to the "all-new episode." If we don't hear the words "all-new" will we not tune in that night, assuming that we've seen half the episode before? Is there such thing as a "part-new" episode? I suppose you could call clip shows "part-new," though I doubt they'd actually admit it.

Finally, the "fun size" chocolate bar. I doubt I've ever actually had more fun eating a smaller Mars bar than a bigger one. And if the small ones are "fun size," what are the big ones? "Super fun size"? Actually, I shouldn't have mentioned that - I might be giving them ideas...

Trek BBS Today

Below are some of the topics currently being discussed at the Trek BBS:

- What do you think happened to Harry Mudd?

- Do you agree with Janeway's punishment of the Doctor in 'Flesh and Blood'?

- Who would you like to see featured in the next Trek film?

More topics can be found at the Trek BBS!

Trek Two Years Ago

These were some of the major news items on January 5 & 6, 2002:

'Prophecy' and 'Shattered' Photos
SFX Magazie published behind-the-scenes images from the upcoming Voyager episodes 'Prophecy' and 'Shattered.'
Voyager To End On May 23
UPN entertainment president Tom Nunan announced Voyager would fly off television screens on May 23 in special 2-hour finale. "We keep saying that we've saved the best for last and we really hope the audience agrees," said executive producer Ken Biller.
Security Crackdown at Paramount?
Speaking at the UPN winter press tour, franchise head Rick Berman expressed his dismay at how spoilers for upcoming episodes were regularly leaked to the Internet. The producer said all they can do is "try to keep the story, the concept, the script in as tight a group of people as we can and keep our fingers crossed."