Hello World!

In the new television season thus far, I've lasted for two episodes of Smallville and one episode of Boston Legal (and guess why I watched that). I tried watching Lost, but it just didn't happen for me. I meant to watch Veronica Mars but couldn't remember which night it was on, since they moved it from the pilot to the second episode...and if I can't keep these things straight, and I've written articles about UPN's schedule, who can blame other viewers for being confused. I gave the new CSI show its ten minutes but I have the same problem with it as I had with the previous CSI shows: lots of dead people, and no Mulder and Scully to make it worth my while to find out how they got that way.

So I returned to my own personal Alan Rickman Film Festival instead. First, because it's an election year, old favorite Bob Roberts. I remember that when I first saw that movie, I thought it was very entertaining but over-the-top in terms of political parody - none of those things could actually happen in America! Now I most heartily take back those sentiments. It's chilling how relevant and accurate parts of it seem now.

I found Quigley Down Under in a used DVD store for $6, so I had to get that (it's only a couple of bucks more than a rental) despite the Tom Selleck factor. And he was actually very entertaining in it, as was Rickman as a vicious Australian rancher trying to grab more and more land, though I will admit that the selling points for me were Rickman 1) with a moustache, 2) doing Russell Crowe's accent and 3) possibly wearing chaps. Then I watched Dark Harbor, in which Rickman does another American accent and plays a dark, brooding guy in a very screwed up marriage. He does dark and brooding better than anyone.

And since I'd seen so many of his more recent films in the past few months, we decided to have family movie nights and watch Robin Hood and Galaxy Quest. The first was just as bad as I remembered, with Rickman as the Sheriff of Nottingham being its only good point besides Kevin Costner's naked butt, but the latter was even better than the last time: I hadn't realized how much nostalgia I was feeling for original Trek and the ethos it created. Anyone reading this who has somehow not seen that movie, go and do so at once. And not just for Alan Rickman.

Trek BBS Today

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

-What if Manny Coto had been on Enterprise all along?

-These Friday night ratings are painfully bad!

-Want to share articles about the Farscape revival?

More topics can be found at the Trek BBS!

Trek Two Years Ago

These were some of the major news items from October 2002:

• 'Sickbay' Keeps Overnights Healthy
  Though lead-out show The Twilight Zone was already in the loser's column, "A Night In Sickbay" continued Enterprise's strong ratings trend on Wednesday nights, averaging a 5.1 rating / 8 share in the overnights, tying "Minefield" from two weeks before and lifting the overall record which had declined from the previous spring.

• Billingsley Talks Upcoming Episodes
  John Billingsley revealed a few tidbits about upcoming Enterprise episodes, including his character's quirky excesses:

  My tendency is to rather cheerfully and blithely go on with whatever medical experimentation that might interest me. This is where I'm prepared to open up Mayweather's skull, because he has a headache and I'm curious to find out where it might be stemming from. He's extremely cheerful in his willingness to commit a lobotomy on one of the crew.

• Berman: 'Nemesis' Length Just Under Two Hours
  Executive producer Rick Berman denied that major cuts had been made in Star Trek Nemesis, claiming that the only trimming was necessary to get the film down under two hours "like all Paramount films are trimmed down to get to that length." Wil Wheaton's very brief cameo as Wesley Crusher, for instance, was cut out for reasons of timing alone.

More news can be found in the archives.

Poll Results

Below are the results of the most recent TrekToday poll:

How would you rate 'Storm Front, Part II'? 9-10 31.6% - (351 Votes) 7-8 26.5% - (295 Votes) Wasn't able to see it 13.3% - (148 Votes) 5-6 12.1% - (135 Votes) Didn't want to see it 6.3% - (71 Votes) 3-4 5.4% - (61 Votes) 1-2 4.4% - (49 Votes) Total Votes: 1110

This week UPN is hyping a Vulcan wedding that may or may not take place. Vote on your previous best-loved Trek wedding!

This Week's Television Listings

At 8:00pm (7:00pm Central) next Friday, UPN will air Star Trek: Enterprise's "Home". According to Star Trek.com, "Once the NX-01 finally returns to Earth, the weary crewmen face repercussions of their journeys, both positive and negative."

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