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The weather was so miserable this week that all we could stand to do was go to the movies, or conversely watch them at home. We saw Pirates of the Caribbean: Dead Man's Chest twice, around viewings of Pirates of the Caribbean: The Curse of the Black Pearl because we decided there were things we needed to remember from the first one before we saw the second one again - not that this really helped with some of the plot holes, but when you have a movie with a Giant Hamster Wheel of Doom and the best shish kebab scene since John Cleese explained on Monty Python what to do if you were attacked by a banana, who cares if there were plot holes! And a girl who runs away to sea in boys' clothes, and a swordfight that actually outdoes the one in the blacksmith's shop rafters from the first film...there was plenty of entertainment there for me.

We also saw Garfield 2, which is not going to win any awards for humor, acting, effects or anything else, but has the virtue of having been filmed at Castle Howard in England and in bits of London, which was enough to enable me to stay awake (it was better than the first one, at least!) and we watched The Man in the Iron Mask at home, since I had managed not to see it back in the days when I avoided DiCaprio films and had not remedied that recovering due to Total Eclipse. Any film that stars Jeremy Irons, John Malkovitch, Gerard Depardieu and Gabriel Byrne - any one of whom would be a good enough reason for me to see most movies - plus young Peter Sarsgaard as Malkovitch's son (a dead ringer, it's amazing) and Hugh Laurie as a very hot royal advisor, and Anne Parillaud of the original La Femme Nikita as the Queen Mother, was worth putting on the list. I like the costumes, the palace decorations with all their secret passages, the grumpy old Musketeers, Depardieu and his multiple women and his venereal complaints, and the guilty-pleasure royalty in which it's okay to like a King so long as he's not only an impostor but also illegitimate.

Trek BBS Today

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

-Once Burned is one of the best Star Trek books ever!

-Does anyone actually want to sit through an extended edition of King Kong?

More topics can be found at the Trek BBS!

Trek Two Years Ago

These were some of the major news items from July 2004:

• UPN Unveils Fall Plans at Press Tour
  The fourth season of Star Trek: Enterprise was slated to begin airing October 8th, 2004, featuring more self-contained episodes and at least one mini-arc starring a former Star Trek regular. This was the latest fall start date for any of UPN's returning series.

• Frakes In Talks To Direct Trek XI?
  Franchise head honcho Rick Berman stated at the Television Critics Association press tour that he was in discussions with Jonathan Frakes (Riker) regarding his involvement in Trek XI: "There are very, very early conversations going on about a film project. But they're so early that it's really kind of silly to talk about it now." Berman also said that his planned film would not feature any familiar Star Trek characters.

• Coto Outlines His Vision For 'Enterprise'
  New executive producer Manny Coto (Kirk) revealed some of the stories he planned to tell, including an arc about an ancestor of Dr. Noonien Soong and a Vulcan Civil War.

More news can be found in the archives.

Poll Results

Below are the results of the most recent TrekToday poll:

Summer! Great time for... New episodes of 'Stargate' and other summer premieres! 29.4% - (167 Votes) Pulling out those DVDs you need to catch up on! 26.5% - (151 Votes) Who stays inside watching anything when it's gorgeous out? 24.8% - (141 Votes) Going to the movies to see blockbusters instead of TV! 13.7% - (78 Votes) Reruns! 5.1% - (29 Votes) Total Votes: 568

Please vote in our new poll on summer sequels!

Happy Birthday!

Saturday, July 22nd is the birthday of Louise Fletcher, Deep Space Nine's Kai Winn, and Wednesday, July 26th is the birthday of Nana Visitor, who plays Winn's sometime adversary, Kira Nerys.

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