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October 6 2024

TrekToday

An archive of Star Trek News


TREKTODAY.COM - View Archives: April 1999

News headlines from April 1999:


Tuesday April 27, 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:

Kevin Tighe - Picture Courtesy WebTrekIt 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)
    'Cult Times' Issue 44 - cover image copyright Visual Imaginations PublicationsThe 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)
    Star Trek New Worlds - Screenshot Copyright Interplay, courtesy CGO 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:

    Channel 5/Sky News Page 192

    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.... ;-)

    Monday April 26, 1999
    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)

    Sev Trek header
    Sev Trek - cartoon spoofs of Star Trek. Copyright 1999 by John Cook.

    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)
    'When It Rains...' Trailer - Copyright Paramount, Courtesy Mr. Video ProductionsMr. 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.

    'May Sweeps Promo' screenshot - Copyright Paramount, courtesy Mr. Video ProductionsBesides 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)
    'Juggernaut' picture - copyright 1999 Paramount Pictures -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.

    Sunday April 25, 1999
    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)
    Rio Grande Hallmark Ornament - Picture copyright by HallmarkThe 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!

    Saturday April 24, 1999
    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)
    Nicole DeBoer at DS9 Wrap Party - Copyright the Continuum 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 :-).

    Friday April 23, 1999
    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)
    DreamWatch Issue 57 - cover image copyright DreamWatchIssue 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)
    'DS9 - The Fallen' - Screenshot Copyright Collective Studios, Courtesy Computer Gaming Online 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 any case, the reviewer rather liked the novel:

    big draw is the mystery of Kirk's double, "Tiberius," emperor of the mirror universe. Tiberius doesn't make an appearance until the final pages of SPECTRE, leaving a sizzling cliff-hanger lead-in to the next novel, DARK VICTORY. SPECTRE is a fast read, perhaps less satisfying than the earlier THE RETURN, but benefiting greatly from Shatner's intimate knowledge of his hero. While the past decade's STAR TREK novels have largely been antiseptic and lacking in depth of character, Shatner and the Reeves-Stevens duo have seemingly been given the freedom to write in a more adult style by Pocket Books' editors. More power to them.

    More can be found in the full review, where the book receives a B-. Thanks go out to Gustavo Leao for pointing me to this.

    Today On TV
    Christian (12:54 pm CST)
    -In the UK, Sky One will be showing DS9's 'Move Along Home' at 17:00 and at 23:30 GMT.

    -In Germany, Sat.1 will be showing the fourth-season Voyager episode 'Dämon' (Demon) at 19:15 CET.

    Trek BBS Today
    Christian (12:53 pm CST)
    The Trek BBS now has more than 70 registered members, and many more unregistered members, making it one of the most popular Trek forums on the net! Of course, that also means lots of interesting discussions are developing at the BBS. Take a look at a few of the topics that are currently being discussed:

    -Currently, TV Land is airing the Animated Series again. In this thread, the merits of the series are being discussed.

    -The original spoilers for the Voyager season finale mentioned that the episode would feature Species 8472. Now, it seems they have been left out of the episode. What do you think about this?

    -Most reviewers seem to think that 'Strange Bedfellows' is one of the greatest DS9 episodes ever produced. Do you also think so? Here's your chance to let the world know what you think!

    Ten more topics are currently being talked about, but, of course, you're more than welcome to add your topics to that! Head on over to the Trek BBS to meet your fellow fans - remember, you don't even need to register to post! We're looking forward to hearing from you!

    New at TrekSeek.com
    Christian (12:52 pm CST)
    Well, it was a very quiet day at TrekSeek yesterday, with just two site submissions. Still, we're up to 1009 sites, so I guess I shouldn't complain. Take a look at one of those two sites:

    -The Borg Collective is the online source for all that is Borg, plus extensive information, multimedia and more for all the Star Trek series and feature films.

    A listing of last week's new sites can be found here.

    Hello World!
    Christian (12:52 pm CST)
    As I'll be away for most of the day tomorrow, and probably won't be returning until late in the evening, tomorrow's TrekToday update will also arrive somewhat later than usual. Tomorrow's update will probably be appearing about 4 hours later than usual, at 22:00 CET / 3:00pm CST. Sorry!

    Thursday April 22, 1999
    'Timeless' Ratings Report
    Christian (1:41 pm CST)
    The Universe just published the overnight ratings for yesterday's repeat of Voyager's 'Timeless.' The episode did a lot better than last week's 'Counterpoint:'

    Voyager did better than last week, but not as good as expected. Voyager got a 3.4/5 for the 9pm hour, thats up 0.6 from last week. Voyager was 6th for the hour behind "Charmed" that got a 4.0/6. 7 Days that aire a new episode at 8 pm did not do well, it got a 2.6/4 that was only up 0.3 from last weeks rerun. Expect a final rating for Voyager around 2.8 to 3.2.

    Check out the Universe's Voyager news page for more.

    'Strange Bedfellows' Fan Favourite
    Christian (1:30 pm CST)
    Psi Phi's David Henderson sends along word that 'Strange Bedfellows,' this week's new DS9 episode, is considered to be one of the best episodes ever by most of the people who've seen it:

    The early S.O.S. (Spoiler-free Opinion Summary) rating for "Strange Bedfellows" is currently 9.4, the highest rating for the season, and third highest for DS9 overall behind "In the Pale Moonlight" and "Duet"). The rating usually decreases a little as more people vote throughout the week and over the weekend, but this is still a very strong position so far.

    The exact fan ratings can be found by going here, from where you'll also be able to vote. Thanks go out to David Henderson for reporting this.

    Is Sky Dumping Star Trek?
    Christian (1:20 pm CST)
    A few days ago we reported that British television station Sky One may be dumping Star Trek in summer, in order to give the franchise a one-year break. Yesterday, Paul Weaver forwarded me a mail he received a few days ago, which dealt with exactly this:

    What you may not yet be aware of is that Viacom, the Jekyll and Hyde of US TV, has decided to launch an SF channel of its own, in competition with Sci-Fi, so they have started pulling all the licenses for their shows, including Trek.

    It may well be the case that Sky has just lost some of its rerun rights to TNG, as have many US TV stations. Indeed, many stations here have even had DS9 SEASON 7 itself pulled out from under them, and a lot of US fans are disenfranchised because of it. Those of us who still have it are copying episodes as fast as they can be run off and bouncing them around all over the US.

    Considering that Sky is not a US channel, Sky currently isn't even showing TNG, and Sky apparently has three rerun rights for every Trek series it owns, I'm not sure how reliable this is. Furthermore, the letter ended with the following passage, so quite probably the only reason behind it was just to sell more episodes:

    If you want episodes direct from us (DS9 is only 5 episodes from the finale at the moment, so we already have all of season 7 except these few)please let us know. We DON'T charge for episodes. We consider that to be unethical, both from the viewpoint of copyright legality and because we believe that fans should help each other. All you would need to pay for is the cost of tapes and postage.

    Even when this probably hasn't any impact on the United Kingdom, it's still interesting to hear that Viacom is pulling all the Trek licenses for their own SF channel. Perhaps this means Viacom really *is* serious about it. In any case, thanks go out to Paul Weaver for forwarding this mail to me.

    Hear Quirk Speak!
    Christian (1:10 pm CST)
    John Cook at Sev Trek just uploaded a new edition of the 'Write Your Own Sev Trek Competition,' in a rather unusual format:

    Sev Trek header
    Write Your Own Sev Trek Competition - cartoon spoofs of Star Trek. Copyright 1999 by John Cook.

    Take a look at John Cook's explanation of this new experiment:

    The first AUDIO Sev Trek!!!
    This week, we're experimenting with a different format. The voices of Quirk and Spook have been supplied by the very talented Wally Fields. You write Quirk's response and Wally will add the winning punchline to the audio file at the end of the week.

    [...]

    I'm not sure where we're going with this - we might combine the audio with an animated version of the cartoon but I have no idea how to go about doing that. If anyone with the software/skills to do web animations wants to volunteer their help, please email me!

    Please email him, indeed, as a Sev Trek animated cartoon would no doubt be absolutely amazing! More info on the cartoon can be found by going here, which is also where you'll be able to find a text version of the cartoon and submit your own punchlines.

    In other Sev Trek news, as of today you will be able to create your very own Enterforaprize:

    Firstly, you can download a FREE electronic paper model of the Enterforaprize, complete with pizza saucer section, cigarette nacelles and beer can engineering section! The paper model was designed by Erwin de Jong and definitely worth looking at. You can also buy the Enterforaprize D paper model.

    The Enterforaprize model can be found here, while the Enterforaprize-D can be found here. They're pretty cool, and they were designed by a fellow Dutchman, so I suggest you go check them out!

    DS9 and Voyager Ratings Reports
    Christian (12:35 pm CST)
    The Star Trek Nielsen Ratings Information Database just put up ratings reports for two Trek reruns, namely last week's repeat of Voyager's 'Counterpoint,' and last month's rerun of DS9's 'Once More Unto The Breach.' As we already reported yesterday, 'Counterpoint' did rather well:

    For its overnight rating, "Counterpoint" did surprisingly well, staying flat from last week's 2.6 rating, ranking 101st. That's right about on the season average for reruns and well below last year's firstrun episode that aired this week, "Unforgettable."

    [...]

    All in all, Voyager has survived its weakest stint of reruns this year fairly unscathed. Both only dipped slightly below the previous season average of 2.7 despite scoring well below the season average in their firstrun attempts. Next week should come back up with a stronger rerun.

    DS9's ratings, although not stellar, still showed some promise:

    "Once More Unto the Breach" performed slightly above expectations, taking a 3.6 rating, ranking 25th. Although below average for the season, that is slightly up from the last two weeks of reruns. It is, however, down quite a bit from last year's "You Are Cordially Invited."

    [...]

    This performance is heartening as there is some improvement, it would seem. The rerun of "The Siege of AR-558" should improve on this slightly as well, leading into DS9's final stretch. This episode did not perform well compared to the rest of this season, but week-to-week improvement is always a good thing to see.

    For a more detailed analysis, I suggest you take a look at the 'Counterpoint' report or the 'Once More Unto The Breach' report.

    Mania Reviews 'Strange Bedfellows'
    Christian (12:35 pm CST)
    Michelle Erica Green at Mania just finished her review of DS9's 'Strange Bedfellows,' offering lots of praise for the third Final Chapter episode:

    This was a transition episode and felt like one, though it had some truly classic moments - Demar howling in amusement when Worf killed Weyoun, Julian realizing he's in love with Ezri as opposed to Dax, Winn pulling a Trek V Kirk and discovering her own ego is too big to share the universe with any gods. The Worf/Dax storyline dragged somewhat but I liked its resolution these two were NOT meant to be together, but it was much more satisfying to have them find that out through trial and error than it have been had they never made the effort.

    I have gotten a real kick out of Ezri's confirmation of Jadzia's promiscuity, hinted at but never made explicit during the previous six years; it's nice to know that, Voyager's female crew notwithstanding, there are some nice girls who do it and enjoy it and don't have any problem fulfilling their professional duties. I was not a big fan of either Ezri or Worf prior to this mini-arc, but they've both done a superb job owning up to their shortcomings and attempting to move past them. I'm just sorry they didn't do it when there was more time left in the series for us to enjoy them.

    A full synopsis and a detailed analysis can, of course, be found in the full review.

    Juggernaut Press Release
    Christian (12:34 pm CST)
    NOTE: This update contains major spoilers for this Monday's new Voyager episode, 'Juggernaut.' In case you want to avoid being spoiled, click here to move on to the next post.

    AGAIN, below you can find a synopsis of the upcoming 'Juggernaut' episode. Click here to avoid them.

    David Henderson at Psi Phi just put up the official press release for Voyager's 'Juggernaut.' As usual, the press release also contains a small synopsis of 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.

    A lot more (including info on the guest cast) can be found by going here.

    QuakeCity Interviews Rob Gee
    Christian (12:33 pm CST)
    The absolutely wonderful people at QuakeCity just put up an interview with Rob Gee, one of the artists currently working on the Voyager game at Raven. In the interview, we get to hear more about the game than ever before, including some new information on the atmosphere of the game:

    Since I can't discuss game play issues at this time (again, wait till E3) I'll focus on what I can talk about that will separate our game from the rest of the pack: authenticity, accuracy, and attention to detail - they will all contribute to this game's signature. It will be our first Star Trek title out of the gates so you know we're going to make it shine. Our designers are working hard on creating the most exact virtual duplicate of Voyager's layout possible. We're using photos, illustrations and blueprints for the many different locales seen in the Voyager episodes. Many of our current screenshots have been mistaken for scanned reference photos by other Ravenites.

    I'm sure Star Trek fans will be very satisfied with the amount of quality art and detailed design they'll find aboard our Voyager. Rest assured, there will be many various locales other than the Voyager to explore – the majority of which will be extremely dangerous and challenging. I'm sure gamers, hardcore and casual alike, will find this game extremely enjoyable to play and find appreciation for the finer points of game design we're achieving on this title.

    Lots more can be found in the full interview. Thanks go out to Rob Gee himself for announcing this in his .plan file.

    Ted Witt Reviews 'Strange Bedfellows'
    Christian (12:04 pm CST)
    I just noticed on Psi Phi that Ted Witt posted his review of DS9's 'Strange Bedfellows' to the DS9 Discussion Board, as one of the first reviewers on the Net. He's probably also one of the more positive reviewers, as you can see in the below excerpt:

    In short, this episode is a great continuation and growth on the last two. We now know (sort of) what Dukat/Anjohl had scheming, we see the Dominion Breen plan brought to fruition, we get (finally) some resolution to the Ezri/Worf angle, and we get what will surely be Damar's redemtion arc begin. It did NOT feel forced or unnatural...the story developed with emotion and power. But it doesn't end here...the momentum is clearly driving the story on...I want to see just what the specifics of Dukat and Winn's unholy alliance, these strange bedfellows, will bring about--who and how those that stand in their way will fall brushed away like dry leaves in a powerful Winn (wind!). I want to see just what this newly reinvigorated Dominion/Breen alliance will have--"you must understand, of course, that we all serve the founders: Vorta, Jem'Hadar, Cardassians, and Breen." I want to see Damar lead his people away from doom. The prophets vs. the Pagh wraiths. Sisko's sorrows. In short, I want to see more--and I think that is what a sign of a great episode should do.

    Find more in the full review.

    DS9 Wrap Party Chat Today
    Christian (12:04 pm CST)
    As a reminder, the Star Trek Continuum will be hosting a live chat at the DS9 wrap party. Most cast members will be attending, plus several of the show's creators. Advance questions can currently be submitted here, while instructions on how to participate can be found here.

    Kenn Hoekstra Q&A
    Christian (12:04 pm CST)
    Computer Gaming Review just put up a small interview with Kenn Hoekstra, Project Administrator at Raven Software, the developers behind the upcoming Star Trek Voyager game. In it, he talks a little about the Voyager game:

    Well, we're going to be showing Soldier of Fortune and Star Trek: Voyager at the Activision booth this year and we're really excited about it. I think a lot of people are going to be shocked by what they see from both games. Unveiling them for the world to see is going to be a blast.

    In addition, he also talks about the infamous Raven .plan files, which regular users of our TrekFinger service already know about:

    The personal attacks in our .plan files are all meant in good fun. Bob Love and I like to take shots at each other and recently MRJ, Bobby and Rob have jumped into the fray. I get the occasional e-mail from concerned readers, but I assure them that we're just joking around. We have a good laugh about it when we read our .plans at the end of the day. =)

    They're indeed pretty funny, and I recommend you check them out. If you just want to read the full CGR interview, click here.

    New Jonathan Frakes Film Disappoints
    Christian (12:03 pm CST)
    And that is just mildly putting it... according to a review by David Kronke, 'Dying To Live,' today's UPN Thursday night movie starring Jonathan Frakes, the movie is absolutely horrendous:

    Instead of investing time and money in ``Dying to Live,'' couldn't UPN executives have simply licensed an airing of ``Ghost,'' the movie it most obviously rips off? It may have cost a little more, but at least it would've guaranteed an audience. The latest in the network's lamentable Thursday-night film series is a tedious, unfocused, secular version of those old religious movies which provided unconvincing re-enactments of teen life while attempting to warn young viewers of the dire consequences of their benignly evil ways.

    Jonathan Frakes of ``Star Trek: The Next Generation'' does some serious slumming here, playing a guardian angel who basically pops up at the oddest times to gaze upon the antics of a group of teenagers with a kind of beatific dismay. His role here isn't even explained until about 45 minutes into the film, when freshly scrubbed aspiring marine biologist Rachel (Hayley DuMond) dies.

    If you really want to, more can be found here.

    Today on TV
    Christian (12:03 pm CST)
    -In the US, UPN will be showing the new television film 'Dying To Live' at 8:00pm. The movie stars Jonathan Frakes as a 'guardian angel,' and was also co-produced by him.

    -According to TV Quest, Marc Alaimo (Gul Dukat) will be guest-starring on tonight's episode of "Diagnosis: Murder" on CBS in the US. The episode also airs at 8:00pm, so you're going to have to choose between Riker and Dukat. Thanks go out to Psi Phi's David Henderson for this.

    -Today at 7:00pm and at 11:00pm the Sci-Fi Channel will be showing the third-season episode 'The Cloud Minders,' again not one of those episodes you'd really want to watch.

    -In the UK, Sky One will be showing DS9's 'The Passenger' at 17:00 and at 23:30 GMT. At 18:00 GMT, the BBC will be showing DS9's 'Battle Lines.'

    -Tomorrow morning at 01:40 CET, Sat.1 will be repeating TNG's 'Willkommen im Leben nach dem Tode' (Tapestry). At 15:00 tomorrow, they'll be showing 'Der Moment der Erkenntnis, Teil 1' (Birthright, Part One).

    Trek BBS Today
    Christian (12:02 pm CST)
    Now with more than 65 registered members, the Trek BBS is still going strong. Take a look at some of the discussions that are currently taking place:

    -Do you live in Australia? Are you a Star Trek fan? Well, strange as it may sound, you're not alone! Take a look at this thread to talk to some fellow Australians!

    -With some very interesting posts today, the New Series thread is still going strong. Check it out!

    Of course, many other topics are currently being discussed at the Trek BBS, and we'd absolutely love to hear from you as well. If you're not interested in any of the current threads, why not start one of your own? Remember, you don't even need to register to post - just go ahead and open a hailing frequency to the rest of the universe!

    New at TrekSeek.com
    Christian (12:02 pm CST)
    Yesterday we added another four sites to TrekSeek, bringing us to a total of 1007 Star Trek links! Take a look at some of those new sites:

    -Warbird Empire's Guide to Hostile Aliens lists the main villianous aliens from all four Star Trek series - Klingons, Romulans, Borg, Cardassian, Breen, Dominion, Species 8472, Tholians, and more. Also included is a brief description of wars fought by the Federation and major events and battles in the ongoing Dominion War.
    -The Federation Klingon Alliance is an AOL & IRC based sim group for Federation, Klingon, and Romulian simmers.

    The other new sites from yesterday can be found by going here.

    Hello World!
    Christian (12:01 pm CST)
    [NEWSUPDATER.CGI error 293 - Warning! News Reporter Not Inspired Error! 'Hello World!' Message Text Not Submitted.]

    Wednesday April 21, 1999
    Daily Sci-Fi Analyzes Staff Changes
    Christian (1:14 pm CST)
    Three centuries after TrekWeb first reported this, the Den's Daily Sci-Fi talks about the possible writing staff shake-up for Voyager. According to the TrekWeb reports, DS9 writers Ron Moore and Rene Echevarria will be moving over to Voyager, a move which Brannon Braga later seemed to comfirm. The Daily Sci-Fi has some ideas about what this means for the Trek franchise:

    This also leads to some interesting speculations about next season's Trek prospects. It seems that Paramount and possibly Rick Berman seems more interested in consolidating what's good out of the Star Trek universe rather than diluting the mix with a new Star Trek series, at least for this season. With a new team and some strong veterans, it's possible to improve Voyager to the point where it could become more than filler for UPN's Wednesday 9-10 slot, and if its ratings improve, could set the stage for a possible new series in late 2000-2001. But we'll wait until we see what these guys can do with these characters first before speculating.

    Find more in the full report.

    New '11:59' Spoilers
    Christian (1:09 pm CST)
    NOTE: This post contains spoilers for the upcoming Voyager episode '11:59.' In case you want to avoid reading these spoilers, click here.

    Really, some pretty detailed spoilers about '11:59' can be found in this update. Click here to move on to the next update and avoid these spoilers.

    Yesterday, we reprinted the following information from this report at the Daily Buzz:

    [In] "11:59," Kate Mulgrew plays an ancestor of Captain Kathryn Janeway who helped build the Millennium Gate on Earth. The episode is set on New Year's Eve 1999 as another of Janeway's ancestors resists the creation of a massive Millennium Gate, a model for the first colony on Mars.

    Today, insider 415Man posted the following information to the alt.tv.star-trek.voyager newsgroup:

    The ancestor's name is Shannon O'Donnel. She is a cousin who is 15 times (or something like that) removed. She supposedly was this big scientist who worked on all the Mars projects, but we find out she was a nobody, who did nothing except marry a guy twice her age who was afraid of the real world, lived in book store, and who should've been left there.

    A thread dealing with this topic is still available at the Trek BBS - you can find it here.

    Jeff Holzhauer Interview Online
    Christian (12:59 pm CST)
    The Trek Gaming Alliance just put up an interview with Jeff Holzhauer, the man behind Microprose's upcoming turn-based strategy game 'Birth of the Federation.' As the interview took place over the phone, they were not able to give exact quotes, but there still are a few interesting tidbits to be found in the interview:

    TDawg: How open is the programming of the game?? (i.e. did you leave it open so that people could hack into the game?)
    Jeff: Hacking the game files is not going to be easy. But it is possible with some time and effort.

    TDawg: In your opinion, what makes BotF so great?
    Jeff: Well, the thing that makes it so great in my mind is the whole Star Trek thing. And also the Minor Races. The minor races throw in so many variables into it, it makes it interesting. Also I like the look and feel of it, as well as the balance.

    TDawg: Exactly, what does "Ruthlessly Efficient" mean?
    Jeff: Well, it means that Cardiassian's get a few more structures. Like for Sub-Races, you can build a War Camp on their planets to give you extra industry. Basically like Bajor, and yes, you can get kicked off the planet by a revolt.

    In the full interview Holzhauer also mentions that the American release date has now been set to the 25th of May - find this and a lot more by going here.

    Optical Data Network Issue 84 Appears
    Christian (12:52 pm CST)
    I just noticed Adam Bailey sent out a new edition of the Optical Data Network, the bi-weekly newsletter. Take a look at what the new issue has in store for you:

    This issue has a heavy dose of NewsBits: with an inordinate number of independent films and game previews. The US air schedules have been updated with the last bits of unknown information, which should remain pretty static throughout May. The UK airdates article was not ready by press time, and will go out later in the week just to ODNUK subscribers. If you're not getting ODNUK and want to be, see , or just send us a note. With the way your schedules are constantly getting shifted, it's a wonder those of you in the UK can find *anything*. Luckily, David stays on top of things, so we've got that covered, at least on the Trek front.

    We've also got a larger-than-usual set of letters, with both information and opinion (including the one I referred to last issue, but neglected to include). Filling out this issue is a review of the latest album from S.P.O.C.K. from their number one fan: Anders Krampell. (Previous S.P.O.C.K. articles can be found in ODNs 2-15 & 3-17). And finally the Online Spotlight is back with a couple sites: one previously-mentioned and one new.

    The issue also contains a plug for the Trek BBS and lots of references to TrekToday, so how could we not like it? You can find the new issue by going here.

    'Counterpoint' Rerun Final Ratings
    Christian (12:45 pm CST)
    The Star Trek Universe just put up the final ratings for last week's rerun of Voyager's 'Counterpoint:'

    The final rating for the rerun of "Counterpoint" is in, and Voyager did well, it got a 2.6 and was nr. 101. For the first week in month, Voyager wasent UPNs higest rated show. The UPN special "Scared Straight: 20 years later" was UPNs higest rated show with a 3.5 and was nr. 90 Voyager was 6th for the hour behind WBs Charmed that got a 2.9.

    A look at the chances for today's episode ('Timeless') can be found in the full report.

    More 'Til Death Do Us Part' Videos
    Christian (12:41 pm CST)
    SCIFI Headquarters has just uploaded three extra videos from 'Til Death Do Us Part,' last week's new DS9 episode. The three Real G2 videos ('Feeding Time,' 'Evil Moves On' and 'The Breen Come) offer you the chance to see some of the greatest scenes from the actual episode, and can be found by going here.

    'Someone To Watch Over Me' Trailers
    Christian (12:36 pm CST)
    'Someone To Watch Over Me' Trailer - Copyright Paramount, Courtesy Mr. Video ProductionsMr. Video Productions just put up the trailers for next Wednesday's Voyager episode, 'Someone To Watch Over Me.' The preview, which is actually pretty funny, is available by going here, and is available as a video clip, an audio clip, and a zipped image archive.

    As usual, Vidiot's site is down at the moment, but I'm sure Star Trek Interactive! will have the trailers later this evening.

    Jeri Ryan On Entertainment Tonight
    Christian (12:18 pm CST)
    The official Jeri Lynn Ryan Homepage is reporting that Jeri Ryan (Seven of Nine) will be appearing on this weekend's edition of Entertainment Tonight. You might actually be able to see her on the show before that, though:

    Since the weekend editions of ET frequently repeat segments from the weekday editions, it is possible that Jeri may be on ET between now and this weekend. We will post more information if this turns out to be the case.

    Of course, once the Jeri Ryan site posts that info, I'll be posting about it here as well.

    Star Trek CCG Forums Relaunch
    Christian (11:47 am CST)
    Today, the people at Decipher will be launching their new registration/ password system for the Customizable Card Game forums. The reason for this new system is that, previously, the boards were hindered by 'hit-and-run posts and trash talk,' which will now be over. In order to prepare you for this new system, Decipher staff writer Rich Loftus has put up a lengthy article describing the whole process. If you think you already know everything, you can find the updated Star Trek CCG Message Boards here.

    Ordover Q&A Working Again
    Christian (11:41 am CST)
    The Q&A board of John Ordover, editor at Pocket Books, is apparently working again, as he just posted a new batch of answers on the site. Take a look at some of the more interesting questions and answers:

    Query from: Andrew
    John:How well did the Deep Space Nine Rebels trilogy sell in stores? Did it do as good as 'The 34th Rule?' Thanks.

    Response from: John Ordover
    It did slightly better.

    Query from: Andrew
    John:Do you have the DS9 Millennium trilogy locked in for the year 2000?if yes when is it comming out? Like you have the Voyager trilogy set to come out in the summer of 2000.

    Response from: John Ordover
    It's in the first couple of months of the year.

    More answers can be found at the Q&A Board.

    DS9 Final Chapter Spoilers
    Christian (11:18 am CST)
    NOTE: This update contains massive spoilers for 'What You Leave Behind,' the DS9 finale. In case you want to avoid reading these spoilers, click here to move on to the next article.

    Again, all-new spoilers for the DS9 finale can be found below. Click here to move on to the next article.

    I just noticed Backstage Pass (who also recently reported on the Voyager hacking) just put up new info on DS9's Final Chapter. First up is a confirmation of what was already suspected for a long time - the Klingon Empire will soon need to start looking for a new Chancellor:

    Forget the rumors - Gowron definitely buys the farm. In a press release sent out to the stations running the series, Paramount confirms his death after he double crosses Martok. Look for Worf to do the deed (I don't count that as a spoiler because anyone who's been watching the series knows that Worf has been spoiling for this fight for a few years).

    Secondly, Backstage Pass received a report dealing with the 'Weekend at the Promenade' meeting, at which some interesting new tidbits were overheard:

  • The Enquirer "spoiler" piece is way off the mark. Take anything you've read there with a huge grain of salt.

  • There is still about a week's worth of shooting left on the finale but the Promenade has already been torn down. The finality of things is begining to set in.

  • During Andrew (Garak) Robinson's recent guest spot on the "X-Files", he discovered that David Duchovny was quite fan. Duchovny supposedly kept quoting dialogue from movies that Robinson had been in that even he'd forgotten!

  • A charity auction was held during the convention. Some of the notable items sold: The 7th Season "Defiant" construction plaque (which says "Assimilate This!") went for $1,200 and a "House of Martok" lapel pin sold for $450.00

  • The report also has some confirmations of earlier news items, including the renaming of 'Night Tremors' to 'Extreme Measures' and the Gul Dukat fall. Find more in the full report. Also, even though it is apparently untrue, you can still find the National Enquirer report on this page at Warp Eleven, which is where it originally appeared on the net.

    Juggernaut Trailers Available
    Christian (11:17 am CST)
    'Penumbra' Trailer - Copyright Paramount, Courtesy Mr. Video Productions!Mr. Video Productions just put up the trailers for the upcoming Voyager episode 'Juggernaut.' As usual, the trailer is available in MPEG video format, MP3 audio format, and a zip archive showing more than two dozen screenshots from the trailer. You can find the preview by going here.

    Unfortunately, as I write this Vidiot's site is down, so if you really want to see the trailer I suggest you check out Star Trek Interactive!, where the trailer can also be found. It's a very interesting one, so I do recommend actually downloading it.

    Daily Sci-Fi Reviews 'Til Death Do Us Part'
    Christian (11:17 am CST)
    Sarah Kuhn at the Den's Daily Sci-Fi has put up her review of last week's new DS9 episode, 'Til Death Do Us Part.' She rather likes most parts of the the episode, especially the return of two of the most complicated villains in Trek:

    There's Kai Winn, slithering about as usual, all nicey-nice platitudes and sicky-sweet , condescending inflections. Perhaps you thought I would be unavailable," she notes, upon learning that Sisko has asked someone else to perform his wedding ceremony. "But since I'm here, I think you'll agree it would be more appropriate for me to do it." Uh, no.

    I know Winn's become a bit more sympathetic over the years, and that makes her all the more interesting. I, however, have a hard time feeling at all bad for her -- even as she is duped by an ever-wiley Dukat -- since she was partially responsible for the death of one of my favorite characters ever, Vedek Bareil. But that's another rant.

    Of course, Kuhn also thought the return of Dukat to be very interesting - read more in the full review, where she awards the episode 4 out of 5 stars.

    Cinescape Spoils 'Strange Bedfellows'
    Christian (11:16 am CST)
    The people at Cinescape Online have put up their weekly spoiler-packed preview of DS9's 'Strange Bedfellows,' the third Final Chapter episode:

    Cinescape Online contributor Michael Marek recently had the opportunity to catch the next episode of Star Trek: Deep Space Nine, "Strange Bedfellows". This show is the third part of the series finale story arc. As always, Michael doesn't hold back with the info.

    If you really want to hear all the juicy details, you can find them at Cinescape.

    DS9 Wrap Party Tomorrow
    Christian (11:16 am CST)
    Tomorrow, the official DS9 Wrap Party will be held in the Mondrian Hotel in Hollywood, according to a press release from PR Newswire:

    WHAT:
    "Star Trek: Deep Space Nine" celebrates the conclusion of seven successful seasons on television at Skybar.

    WHEN:
    Thursday, April 22 at 7:00 PM (Press arrival at 6:45 PM)

    WHERE:
    Skybar Mondrian Hotel

    During the event, the full cast, the series' creators and most guest stars will be attending. It is interesting to note that Marc Alaimo (Gul Dukat) won't be there - I guess he still isn't fully recovered from that punch by Avery Brooks :-). Unfortunately, the event may only be attended by members of the press - if, however, for some reason you do manage to get in, I'd absolutely love to get a small report from you ;-). More info on the event can be found by going here.

    Fortunately, if you're like me and won't be able to attend the wrap party in person, the official Star Trek Continuum just announced a live chat which will be held at the actual wrap party:

    ST: DS9 Wrap Party
    Thursday , April 22nd, 1999 07:00 PM (PT)

    The following may be at the party and available to chat: Avery Brooks, Rene Auberjonois, Nicole deBoer, Michael Dorn, Cirroc Lofton, Colm Meaney, Armin Shimerman, Alexander Siddig, Nana Visitor, Chase Masterson, Aron Eisenberg, Max Grodenchik, Ira Steven Behr, Ron D. Moore, Rick Berman, Dan Curry, Rene Echevarria, Gary Hutzel and possibly others.

    Info on how to participate can be found here, advance questions may be submitted here. Thanks go out to Dierna D. Soul at the Nicole deBoer mailing list for pointing me to this.

    Replicate A Star Trek CD
    Christian (11:15 am CST)
    A company press release from MusicMaker.com, Inc. mentions that they just closed a deal with GNP Crescendo, which allows Trekkers from all over the world to create their own custom Star Trek CD or download specific Trek songs:

    Music lovers accessing www.musicmaker.com to create their own, personalized CDs use the site's powerful search engines to select music by genre or catalog as well as artist, composer, instrument or label. Up to 70 minutes of music can be selected, arranged in order by the customer, and each CD comes with song or track listings on both the CD label and the jewel case. Customers are prompted to create their own label for each CD ordered, including personalized messages to those who will receive CDs ordered as gifts. CDs range in price from $9.95 to $19.95 depending on the number of tracks ordered. Transactions are completed through a secure credit card link and orders are shipped the same business day.

    Musicmaker.com also offers music lovers who digitally download all of the most popular technologies for bring licensed music directly into their computers, including the company's proprietary Secure MP3, Liquid Audio, and, as was announced April 13, Microsoft Windows Media. Not all songs are available on each system. Direct downloads are available for $1.00 per song.

    More information on the deal can be found in the full press release, though you can just beam over to their web site and start compiling as well!

    Today on TV
    Christian (11:13 am CST)
    'Penumbra' Trailer - Copyright Paramount, Courtesy the Star Trek Continuum -Tonight at 9:00pm Eastern/Pacific Time, UPN will be repeating Voyager's 'Timeless.' Take a look at what the episode has in store for you, courtesy of the official Star Trek Continuum:

    Fifteen years after the Starship U.S.S. Voyager crashes into a desolate ice planet, Commander Chakotay and former Ensign Harry Kim, sole survivors of the tragedy, steal the Delta Flyer from a Federation shipyard and return to the U.S.S. Voyager's frozen hull. Aided by Chakotay's striking love interest, Lieutenant Tessa Omond, Chakotay and Kim are hotly pursued fugitives with hope that somewhere embedded beneath the ice, they'll retrieve the only tools they believe can change the fate of their long-dead fellow crew members.

    Note that the above picture is, of course, copyright by Paramount.

    -The Sci-Fi Channel is showing the third-season TOS episode 'The Way To Eden' tonight at 7:00pm. The episode is also being repeated at 11:00pm, but it is unlikely that you'll even want to see it once, let alone twice.

    -At 17:00 and at 23:30 GMT, British television station Sky One will be showing the first-season DS9 episode 'Dax.'

    -In Germany, Sat.1 will be repeating TNG's 'Das Gesicht des Feindes' (Face of the Enemy) tomorrow morning at 02:00 CET. Tomorrow at 15:00 CET they'll be showing the excellent 'Willkommen im Leben nach dem Tode' (Tapestry).

    Trek BBS Today
    Christian (11:12 am CST)
    Things are going increasingly well at the Trek BBS. There are now 58 registered members, many more unregistered posters, and no less than 18 very active discussions going on. Take a look at some of the more interesting active topics of today:

    -Who are the Breen? Amphibians? Robots? The followers of Khan? Two threads are currently dealing with this - this one looks at where the Breen came from, while this one looks at the function of their helmets.

    -Do you like the Star Trek Customizable Card Game? If so, this thread might be the one for you!

    -What should a possible new Star Trek series bring us? A few ideas are suggested in this thread, including a Starfleet Academy series or a Klingon Homeworld series. What do you think? Give your opinions here!

    Of course, it could very well be that these topics don't interest you very much. But, don't despair, as there are many other topics currently being discussed at the Trek BBS, and you can join in as well! Remember, you don't even need to register at the forums to post - just go ahead and open a channel!

    New At Trekseek.com
    Christian (11:11 am CST)
    Finally, as the very first Star Trek search engine ever, TrekSeek crossed the magic 1000-links barrier! Currently, you can find 1003 Star Trek links in more than 100 categories, truly re-affirming TrekSeek's position as the largest, most accessible Star Trek search engine on the net! If your site's not listed yet, submit it now - nothing even comes close to TrekSeek if you want to get lots of hits to your site.

    Of course, the only reason TrekSeek has become so popular is because of all of you so strongly supported it! Thanks for visiting, thanks for linking to us, and, of course, thanks for submitting your site to us! Yesterday, that last thing was done 5 times, giving us, among others, the following sites:

    -U.S.S. Angeles is a Star Trek Club in Los Angeles, CA. They produce fan-made movies and have extensive info on Trek ships. Star Trek art and 3-d graphics for free download! Check out their movie - it's pretty cool.
    -The House SaqIm is a Klingon oriented web page, information on language, Klingon Uniform and costume, Klingon Shareware, and other information. In case you're interested, House SaqIm was exactly the thousandth site in our database!
    -Welcome To My World is prominently linking to TrekZone, so the site immediately scores brownie points. The site has Star Trek NG and Voyager pictures and comments and viewpoints on these to series, specifically the actors and characters.

    As usual, you can find all the other new sites by clicking here.

    Hello World!
    Christian (11:10 am CST)
    I'm about three weeks late in reporting this, but still, take a look at this review. It's absolutely hilarious - it had me rolling on the floor when I first found it!

    Tuesday April 20, 1999
    'Night Tremors' Title Changes
    Christian (1:20 pm CST)
    I don't know precisely where this info came from, but several web sites (including WebTrek and Warp Eleven) are reporting that the title for the 7th Final Chapter episode has changed. The episode, which deals with Bashir/O'Brien and Section 31, used to be called 'Night Tremors,' but is now apparently called 'Extreme Measures.'

    [Update:] Timothy Verheecke, webmaster of WebTrek, just sent me a mail informing that the title change was first reported at Psi Phi. After taking a look, I noticed it was already reported there on the 15th of April - 5 days ago! I bow my head in shame.

    Robert Duncan McNeill News
    Christian (1:17 pm CST)
    Thanks to Becky, about a week ago, we were already able to report that Robert Duncan McNeill would soon be guest starring on an episode of 'Early Edition.' Now, the official Robert Duncan McNeill fan club has some extra information availabe about this:

    On Saturday, May 1st, Robbie will make a rare appearance as the guest star of CBS' Early Edition. Robbie recently spent two weeks in Chicago filming the episode, which reunited him with his Homefront co-star Kyle Chandler. For updated broadcast information, visit CBS' Early Edition page.

    The fan club also is reporting that McNeill's short film 'The Battery,' which he directed and co-wrote, will soon be shown at three more film festivals, namely the 1999 Newport Beach Film Festival, the Canyonlands Film Festival and the New Orleans Film Festival.

    Even more McNeill news, including upcoming convention dates and some info on the episode 'Someone To Watch Over Me,' which he directed, can be found by going here.

    Nose News
    Christian (1:03 pm CST)
    NOTE: (I was nearly going to say 'NOSE' but I decided against it ;-) - This update contains spoilers for the DS9 finale, 'What You Leave Behind.' Click here to move on to the next post.

    Again, some new 'What You Leave Behind' info is contained in the below post.

    Holly Kim Wilson, Charity Coordinator of the Official Marc Alaimo Fan Club, sent me another mail about the Marc Alaimo nose issue. As you may recall, a few days ago he was accidentally punched in the nose by Avery Brooks, and had to be taken to ER:

    Apparently Marc was in full Cardassian make-up when he got hit! Dukat goes away for awhile sometime during the episode and comes back as himself and fights Sisko. They rushed him to the ER in full make-up, too!

    One of the OMAFC members, Janet Ervin, somehow managaed to be at the DS9 wrap party and spoke with Andy Robinson. Andy saw the hit and said that Marc really bled. There "was blood everywhere!" (Which is not surprising. Some areas of the head and face bleed like a facet when cut. Simply because the veins are so close the surface of the skin.)

    As Holly Kim also said, can you imagine the looks of the nurses and doctors when faced with a bleeding Cardassian? Nana Visitor once had the same problem, but certainly a Bajoran nose is nothing compared to full Cardassian make-up.

    In any case, this does tell us that Dukat will be turned into a Cardassian again before or during the DS9 finale, just in time for the last fight with Sisko. Just like yesterday, major thanks go out to Holly Kim Wilson, who cannot be thanked enough for continuing to bring us the latest reports on this!

    Yesterday's Trek BBS topic dealing with exactly this is still available, in case you want to let the world know what you think about this.

    Rock & Roll Aboard Voyager
    Christian (12:47 pm CST)
    GNP Crescendo, the publisher of the Star Trek soundtracks, is reporting about a 'Sounds from Sci-Fi' concert that will soon be taking place, starring most of the Voyager stars:

    Just back from their triumphant Brazilian tour, Neil Norman and His Cosmic Orchestra will bring their unique Sci-Fi sound to the Creation Annual Grand Slam Convention in Pasadena, California on April 23 - 25. Along with their daytime performances, Neil and the band will be hosting a fantastic "Sounds of Sci-Fi" concert Saturday night at 8pm. Joining Neil in concert, from Star Trek: Voyager, will be Tim (Tuvok) Russ, Robert(Tom Paris) Duncan McNeill, Robert (the Doctor) Picardo, Roxann (B'Elanna)Dawson, Garrett Wang (Harry Kim), from Star Trek: The Next Generation Jeff Rector (guest star), and the Swedish rock band "S.P.O.C.K."!

    RanDoM Flight, the official Robert Duncan McNeill fan site, also has some extra info up on the event:

    Robbie confirmed his appearance with Neil Norman this weekend at the Denver convention, and says he's planning to sing rock! He also told us that Garrett claims he can't sing and will be acting as the master of ceremonies!

    More news on this can be found at the Creation Entertainment Site, at the GNP Crescendo Site or at RanDoM Flight, which is where I actually heard about it.

    Official 'Juggernaut' Synopsis
    Christian (12:20 pm CST)
    NOTE: This update contains spoilers for this Monday's new Voyager episode, 'Juggernaut.' Click here to avoid reading these spoilers.

    Again, click here to move on to the next post and avoid these spoilers.

    The Star Trek Universe has posted a one-line official synopsis of the upcoming Voyager episode 'Juggernaut:'

    Voyager rescues two crew members of an abandoned, out-of-control Malon freighter that is about to unleash radiation into the sector.

    'Juggernaut' will air on the 26th of April, in a special Monday night showing.

    René Auberjonois To Star On 'Cyber 9'
    Christian (11:26 am CST)
    AnotherUniverse's Daily Buzz is reporting that René Auberjonois (Odo) has been cast to play the title character in a new futuristic cartoon titled 'Cyber 9.' I haven't got a clue what this 'Cyber 9' thing is, unfortunately - if anyone knows, please let me know about it.

    Birth of the Federation Not Gold
    Christian (11:26 am CST)
    The Trek Gaming Alliance is reporting that Microprose's upcoming Trek game 'Birth of the Federation' did not actually go gold on the 15th of April, as Microprose originally assured everyone it would. Take a look at what project leader Jeff Holzhauer had to say:

    We are still doing the localizations and fixing some multiplayer problems and Paramount issues.

    Even though this obviously is unfortunate news, it shouldn't really affect the game's release date - just a few weeks ago Holzhauer said that, after the game would be finished, they'd still have to wait several weeks for the marketing people to begin their advertising campaigns. Now they should just be able to finish the actual game during the first stages of the advertising campaign.

    Shatner Taping CNBC Interview
    Christian (11:25 am CST)
    The William Shatner Connection is reporting that William Shatner (James T. Kirk) will be taping an interview for CNBC's 'In Profile' series. The show he's taping for will focus especially on Star Trek, so presumably some other actors are being interviewed as well for this. Info on when the show actually airs will be posted here as soon as I hear about it.

    Jammer Reviews 'Til Death Do Us Part'
    Christian (11:25 am CST)
    Jamahl Epsicokhan at Star Trek Hypertext just put up his review of 'Til Death Do Us Part,' last week's new DS9 episode. Just like last week, he finds it rather hard to correctly review this episode:

    The key word, I think, in these early "Final Chapter" episodes is "suspense"--a suspense whose momentum builds slowly and steadily, like an accelerating freight train. The payoff is being deferred, but we sense that payoff is most definitely arriving in the near future. "'Til Death Do Us Part" is a lot like its predecessor, "Penumbra," in that it establishes the groundwork for a lot of what's yet to come. It leaves us dangling on the edge, thirsting for more.

    On that level, for that purpose, this episode is effective. But, again, it's somewhat difficult to analyze a story that's based almost completely on setup--especially considering there's at least four plot lines running concurrently through the episode. I'll say this: We're definitely getting somewhere. Or everywhere. I'd probably also say "'Til Death" had me more wrapped up in the overall story than "Penumbra" did--now that I know what to expect in terms of plotting structure. They both have their shining moments as well as weaknesses, but overall I got a sense that "'Til Death" was a little more cohesive.

    In the end, he awards the episode 3 out of 4 stars - find a detailed analysis by going here.

    Trek CGG Rules Revised
    Christian (11:24 am CST)
    Decipher, the creators of the Star Trek Customizable Card Game, have announced an update to the official Trek CCG rules. These rules especially have a huge impact on how 'stopped' cards work, and therefore Decipher put up an article written by Kathy McCracken looking at precisely this:

    Since the beginning, Star Trek CCG has included the basic concept of cards becoming "stopped" by participating in battle or failing to overcome dilemmas. Stopped cards were prohibited from performing any further actions, such as moving, attempting missions or initiating battle, for the remainder of the turn. More recently, this was clarified to state that stopped cards could not contribute any skills or traits for any purpose.

    This rule has raised concerns over a number of cards with important end-of-turn effects that may be enabled or modified by a personnel's skills or traits. For example, stopping a ship's crew with a well-timed Rogue Borg battle prevents them from "using" their Navigation skills to escape damage or destruction from an unlucky Navigate Plasma Storms probe. A Countermeasure Drone who is stopped by a dilemma can't download, at the end of your turn, the Adapt: Negate Obstruction needed to pass the dilemma next turn. And of course, a stopped Vorta could not (until last month's interim ruling) ration Ketracel-White, forcing the premature countdown of all your Ketracel-White cards.

    More can be found in the full article - I hope you will actually understand it, unlike me.

    Picardo Goes To Mars - '11:59' Spoilers
    Christian (11:20 am CST)
    NOTE: This update contains spoilers for Voyager's '11:59' - click here to move on to the next post.

    AGAIN - click here to be transported to the next article.

    AnotherUniverse's Daily Buzz is reporting that Robert Picardo (the Holodoc) will promote the 'Mars Milennium Project' in a public service announcement airing on Wednesday, May 5, which is also when Voyager's '11:59' will air.

    "I had the idea to do the PSA because of the striking connection between this important educational challenge for kids and one of our upcoming Voyager episodes," said Picardo. "The Planetary Society is helping to promote the project and I'm on their advisory council."

    The Mars Millennium Project, which is a national education initiative, is an official project of the White House Millennium Council Youth Initiative. Besides info on this project, the news item also contains pretty detailed new spoilers for '11:59' itself:

    The announcement was filmed on the last shooting day for this Voyager season. In the May 5th episode, "11:59," Kate Mulgrew plays an ancestor of Captain Kathryn Janeway who helped build the Millennium Gate on Earth. The episode is set on New Year's Eve 1999 as another of Janeway's ancestors resists the creation of a massive Millennium Gate, a model for the first colony on Mars.

    Read more about this in the full report at the Daily Buzz. Also, a special thread has been created at the Trek BBS where you can discuss this news - you can find it here.

    CGO Previews 'Birth of the Federation'
    Christian (11:20 am CST)
    Brett Berger at Computer Games Online put up a preview of the upcoming turn-based strategy game 'Birth of the Federation.' Berger actually played the game, so he's able to give us a pretty accurate description of its gameplay:

    Birth of the Federation has a large number of play options. Besides picking the starting technology levels of the five possible races (Human, Klingon, Ferengi, Cardassian, and Romulan), you pick the size and shape of the galaxy, the number of minor races, difficulty level, and victory conditions. For this game I started at the lowest technology for all races, chose normal difficulty and a small elliptical galaxy, and set domination as the victory condition (in domination you must attempt to control most of the galaxy).

    The Klingons are poor diplomats and spies but they are great at combat. Their motto is: "If we do not have enemies to fight then we will fight our friends!" Not as friendly as tribbles but at least you know where you stand with the Klingons. Since the Klingon advantage is in war I will emphasize a large fleet and high technology in weapons, propulsion, energy and construction. I'll have to minimize biotech and make computer research somewhere in the middle. I'll attempt to expand rapidly until I contact the other races, consolidate my power, and then eliminate the others one by one.

    Berger then describes the next 200 turns of gameplay, so it's definitely worth checking out if you want to know how the game plays. Find it all here.

    Voyager Effects Commotion
    Christian (11:19 am CST)
    A company press release from 'Puffin Designs' mentions that they'll soon be releasing their visual effects program 'Commotion' for Windows NT. Once the program has shipped, it will also be used on 'Star Trek: Voyager,' according to this quote:

    ``Ever since I first heard about Commotion, I've been waiting for it to come out for NT. There are so many NT-based post houses with the rising popularity of NT as a predominant 3D platform, and there is a great need for a complimentary paint & effects application like Commotion. We work on demanding visual effects shots for shows like 'Star Trek Voyager' and Commotion on NT will be an integral part of our production pipeline,'' commented Sherry Hitch, Visual Effects Compositing Supervisor, Foundation Imaging.

    Find more on the program in the full press release.

    Happy Birthday George Takei!
    Christian (11:19 am CST)
    Today is the 62nd birthday of George Takei, the actor best known for his role of Hikaru Sulu on the Original Series. Takei is still one of the most active Original Series stars - he's constantly taking on new roles, and he's a very frequent convention guest. Over the past few years, he's also been actively lobbying for a special 'Captain Sulu' series which would be set on the U.S.S. Excelsior, but it doesn't look as if that will ever actually happen. A full filmography of Takei can be found here.

    Today on TV
    Christian (11:12 am CST)
    -The Sci-Fi Channel will be showing the third-season TOS episode 'Requiem for Methusela' today at 7:00pm and at 11:00pm Eastern Time.

    -In the UK, Sky One will be showing DS9's 'Q-Less' at 17:00 GMT, which is the only DS9 episode ever featuring Q. The episode also repeats at 23:30 GMT.

    -In Germany, Sat.1 will be repeating TNG's 'Aquiel' (Aquiel) at 02:00 CET. Tomorrow at 15:00 they'll be showing 'Das Gesicht des Feindes' (Face of the Enemy)

    Trek BBS Today
    Christian (11:12 am CST)
    Starting today, this is where I'll be telling you about some of the discussions currently going on at the Trek BBS, the new online meeting place for Trek fans. Please feel free to join in some of these discussions - we're all really looking forward to hearing from you!

    -In 'The Changing Face Of Evil' we're talking about the recent trailer for one of DS9's upcoming episodes, which gave away rather a lot about the episode. Do you think this is a good thing? And, what do you think the rest of the Final Chapter will bring us?

    -Voyager popularity over the Atlantic. What is the reason British people (and Europeans in general) prefer Voyager over DS9, while the opposite is generally true in the US?

    -What is your favourite Next Generation episode? Why?

    Of course, many other topics are currently also being discussed at the Trek BBS, and I'm sure you will want to discuss them as well! You don't even need to register at the forums to post - just go ahead and let the world know what you think!

    New at TrekSeek.com
    Christian (11:11 am CST)
    If you want your site to have the honour of being the 1000th site in the TrekSeek database, I suggest you submit your site now, as we currently have 999 sites in our database. Take a look at some of the 5 sites that were added yesterday:

    -The Star Trek: TNG Federation Sound Archive has hundreds of Next Generation sound files in MPEG Layer 3 Wav Format, and dozens of images, including crew pictures, ships, and schematics. Sound Archive e-mail accounts are also available!
    - The Mist Hunter has a Star Wars and Star Trek mix, with recent DS9 and Voyager reviews, SW articles and fan fiction, and Sev Trek and Sev Wars comic strips.
    -Find all Videos, Soundtracks, DVD, and books at the Country Store with great ease, and relaxation!

    All the other sites that were added yesterday can be found by going here.

    Hello World!
    Christian (11:11 am CST)
    As you may know, I consider Mondays to be inventions of the devil - I absolutely hate them and would prefer just to remain in bed for the entire day. Strangely enough, though, Mondays are also the most popular days of the week for TrekToday, and I wonder - why would that be? Do you all also hate Mondays and visit the site from work, not wanting to begin the working day either? It's one of the great mysteries of the world for me.... :-)

    Monday April 19, 1999
    Unconfirmed Rumors Department
    Saleel (3:16 pm CST)
    Once again, here is this week's screen grab from UK Sky One and Channel 5 Teletext page 192:

    Sky

    Remember, these are totally unconfirmed; their motives are to get you to phone a premium line number. As they say, don't believe everything you hear!

    Trek BBS Opens
    Christian (1:01 pm CST)
    Yesterday, we launched our exciting new project - the Trek BBS. Over the past 24 hours, lots of interesting discussions have already been taking place, dealing with everything from 'Will Voyager be going home again?' to 'What is it that makes TNG stand out from the rest' to, erm, me messing up in the Announcements forum.

    As I said yesterday, we'd really love to hear from you all! At the moment, 34 people have already registered, but certainly you wouldn't want to miss out either? And, if you don't really like to register, you don't have to, as the Trek BBS also allows you just to go ahead and post without registering! So, please head over to the Trek BBS and let yourself be heard - we're looking forward to hearing from you!

    Sci-Fi Entertainment Mag Features Trek
    Christian (12:53 pm CST)
    Sci-Fi Entertainment June Cover - copyright the Sci-Fi ChannelThe June 1999 issue of Sci-Fi Entertainment, one of the print magazines of the Sci-Fi Channel, has a cover story on Patrick Stewart and 'Star Trek: Insurrection:'

    O Captain, My Captain
    Patrick Stewart makes his first contact with his alter ego that propelled him into stardom.

    Unfortunately, a preview of this interview isn't available at the web site, but it does have a preview of the 'Alternative Media' article, which will also be appearing in the magazine. In it, the official web sites of the most important science-fiction series. In a surprise move, the article suddenly decides the Sci-Fi Channel's Star Trek page is one of the two official Star Trek sites:

    Although Trek's official master home is over at Paramount's Star Trek Continuum site, The Sci-Fi Channel has a comprehensive, dedicated section (www.scifi.com/startrek) just for the original series, which began airing last year on the network in specially cut and remastered editions. The aesthetically designed site aims for consistency, using the episode, biographical, and character data from the Continuum site; for added synergy, there's a link to the Continuum site from the main page. Also on the main page is quick-link to the next episode scheduled to be aired, which gives most visitors a chance to still run and set the VCR if need be. Interviews with original cast members is a component of the Sci-Fi Channel Special Edition airings of Trek, and accordingly, you can download the most recently aired interviews as QuickTime movies. B+

    Somehow I've got the feeling that writer Melissa J. Perenson saw the web site as it was before the Sci-Fi Channel decided to stop airing the Special Edition episodes... In any case, if you'd also like to read a review of the Star Trek Continuum, the 'real' official site, check out the full article. Thanks go out to Gustavo Leao for pointing me to this.

    New British Trek Ratings Available
    Christian (12:40 pm CST)
    Dave Arquati at the Star Trek Collective just posted the British Star Trek ratings for the week beginning the 4th of April. News wasn't good, unfortunately:

    This week, Star Trek had an extremely bad time... on BBC2, TNG reruns have been losing momentum over the past few weeks, and the week's run of "Time's Arrow, Part 1" gave the lowest ranking so far this year for TNG (19), and the lowest viewing figures, at 2.32 million. Meanwhile, DS9 fared even worse, with their rerun offering ("The Nagus") not even making it into the top 30 on BBC2 (and so no actual ratings figures were available). This also was DS9's worst rating of the season. One of the main reasons may have been the high ratings for the Davis Cup tennis competition, which gained the #1 ranking on Sunday, with the tennis cancelling other programs by several hours. Voyager, however, was not on that Sunday (not a great shock).

    The exact ratings for all the episodes can be found by going here.

    Official 'Someone To Watch...' Info
    Christian (12:31 pm CST)
    NOTE: This post contains spoilers for the upcoming Voyager episode 'Someone To Watch Over Me.' In case you want to avoid reading these spoilers, click here to move on to the next post.

    Again, below you'll find a small synopsis of the episode. Click here to move on to the next episode.

    The Star Trek Universe has posted an official synopsis of the upcoming Voyager episode 'Someone To Watch Over Me:'

    While tutoring Seven in social graces, The Doctor finds himself falling for her; and Neelix commits a serious diplomatic error while working out a trade agreement with a cloistered alien race. Scott Thompson guest stars.

    Thanks go out to the Star Trek Universe for this, of course.

    Chasing Chase
    Christian (12:21 pm CST)
    The Official Site of Chase Masterson (Leeta) has finally updated, providing us with some information on what Masterson is currently up to. At her news page, we learn that:

  • One of her new films is called 'Frozen,' and she co-stars in it together with Faith Ford. The film was shown recently at the Newport Beach Film Festival.

  • The '60 Minutes' Show is currently taping a segment on her other new film, Sammyville. The segment should air sometime in May, more info on that can be found at their web site.

  • Lastly, she'll be appearing at several conventions together with her DS9 co-stars. More info on that can be found here.

  • At her site, she also left a new hand-written personal message in which she thanks everyone for visiting her site, plus an audio file at her charity page in which she talks about her volunteer work for babies with AIDS. Go take a look.

    'Til Death Do Us Part' Video Clips
    Christian (11:46 am CST)
    SCIFI Headquarters has posted two video clips from DS9's 'Til Death Do Us Part,' giving you the chance to relive some of the best moments of the episode, including 'The Prophet's Business' and 'Kai's Vision.' More video clips will be coming soon, but for now you can find these two by going here.

    More on Brooks/Alaimo 'Fight'
    Christian (11:40 am CST)
    Holly Kim Wilson, the charity coordinator for the Official Marc Alaimo Fan Club, just sent me a mail about the nose injury that Marc Alaimo suffered from due to an accident that occurred while they were filming a scene for DS9's final episode. Yesterday, Fan Club president Jeanne Fudala spoke to Marc Alaimo about the accident, and this is what she learned:

    Yes, Avery DID ACCIDENTALLY knock Marc in the nose while filming a fight scene! Marc said that Avery felt really bad about it! They did take Marc to the ER, but he's mostly fine. No "nose cast" as Jeanne put it. And he's in no real pain.

    Also they are NOT shutting down filming so Marc can recover! They resume tomorrow and Marc will be back on the set Wednesday the 21st!

    Major thanks go out to Holly Kim Wilson for this. Meanwhile, we've created a special thread at the Trek BBS where you can discuss this topic - no registration is necessary, just go here and post your opinions!

    'Strange Bedfellows' Trailer Transcription
    Christian (11:39 am CST)
    David Henderson at Psi Phi has just put up a transcription of the recent video preview of DS9's 'Strange Bedfellows,' the episode that will be airing sometime this week. The transcript is probably the most bandwidth-economical, as it lists everything there is to see and hear in the trailer. You can find the full transcript by going here, while the actual video trailers can still be found here at Vidiot's site.

    Cynics Corner Reviews 'Til Death Do Us Part'
    Christian (11:39 am CST)
    David E. Sluss at the Cynics Corner has put up his review of DS9's 'Till Death Do Us Part' in his unique cynical style:

    PLOT TWIST OF THE WEEK: I guess we are supposed to be impressed, alarmed -- something -- over the Breen joining the Dominion. I wasn't particularly impressed, and I can't imagine that anyone would be. They've basically been a throwaway race, with only a couple of fairly trivial appearances that I can recall ("By Inferno's Light" and ... rats, the episode in which Ziyal (R.I.P.) first appeared), and some namedropping here and there. There's certainly never been any indication before now that they are heavy hitters, but this week Worf tells us they are Very Dangerous, and that means that we the viewers should be Changing Our Shorts when we learn they've sided with the Dominion.

    It would have been a lot more interesting if the Tholians had turned up as Dominion allies. Sure, they were a one-shot race, but they were shown to be genuinely dangerous in TOS's "The Tholian Web," and they have an air of mystery about them that the Breen, who are just schmucks wearing helmets, can't touch. In addition, New Trek has been dropping the Tholian name on a regular basis for ten years or more, and it would be nice to have it finally pay off.

    Check out the full review for more.

    New Sev Trek Cartoon
    Christian (11:38 am CST)

    Sev Trek header
    Sev Trek - cartoon spoofs of Star Trek. Copyright 1999 by John Cook.

    Tim Lynch Reviews 'Til Death Do Us Part'
    Christian (11:14 am CST)
    Psi Phi has put up Tim Lynch's review of DS9's 'Til Death Do Us Part,' the second Final Chapter episode. He awards the episode with a 9, and has a very positive opinion of the episode:

    All too often, and especially in the past year and a half, DS9 has had a maddeningly erratic track record when it came to combining multiple stories in one episode. In some cases, such as last year's "Rocks and Shoals", it's worked beautifully; in others, such as last year's finale "Tears of the Prophets", it's wound up feeling needlessly cluttered and scattershot rather than integrated and interesting. Given some of what I saw as filler last week (particularly the Worf/Ezri stuff), then, I had a few qualms about its sequel going in.

    Fortunately, I needn't have worried. "'Til Death Do Us Part" isn't quite perfect, but it hits the mark in so many places that I'd be quite happy if the rest of the year runs on this level. "'Til Death Do Us Part" covers a huge amount of ground, involving characters as disparate as Admiral Ross, Kai Winn, and the female Founder, and actually makes sense out of, if not all of it, then certainly very close.

    More can be found in the full review.

    Shatner's 'Beautiful Dream' Over
    Christian (11:13 am CST)
    The William Shatner Connection is reporting that William Shatner (James T. Kirk) has put up his riding-school 'Belle Reve' up for sale:

    William Shatner is selling Belle Reve. He is downsizing his holdings but will retain some of his best Saddlebreds. He will, of course, continue to ride in competitions. BELLE REVE means "beautiful dream" in French. Located in Woodford County, Kentucky, near the small town of Versailles, in the heart of Blue Grass horse country famous throughout the world of horses.

    The site is also reporting that Shatner's new book 'Get A Life!' is now available. Book signing appearances will soon be announced at the William Shatner Connection.

    Mania Gossips About Trek
    Christian (11:13 am CST)
    Michelle Erica Green apparently also visits Trek spoiler sites, as she just put up a summary of the latest Trek gossip at AnotherUniverse's Daily Buzz. In the update, she talks about the Avery Brooks - Marc Alaimo 'fight,' the rumoured Voyager writer shake-up, and the Voyager season finale reshoot which is currently taking place, even when she mistakenly believes 'Relativity' is the season finale instead of 'Equinox.' Find it all here.

    Mania Reviews 12-Inch Models
    Christian (11:13 am CST)
    Michelle Erica Green at AnotherUniverse's Mania Magazine just put up a new edition of Mania's weekly 'Toy Time' column, this time featuring a review of the latest 12-inch Trek action figures from Playmates:

    With the recent announcement that Playmates intends to phase out its smaller Star Trek action figures and concentrate on the more detailed 9-inch and 12-inch models, the expense of collecting every variation on each character has risen significantly. It was easy to justify owning several Rikers - original ripped uniform, first-season uniform, altered to look like an alien, as his clone Tom, etc. - when each one cost a mere $5, but how many of the $25-$35 variety does one really need?

    Well, in the case of the Star Trek: Insurrection action figures, the answer is: both. The 9-inch Insurrection figure is the first plastic Riker to appear without a beard, while the 12" variety is wearing the Love Boat-style dress uniform seen in the early scenes of the film. I had hoped to find the 9-inch model compelling because I love the way Jonathan Frakes looks without a beard, but this boy wonder doesn't look a thing like him - in fact, stick a Classic Trek uniform on the figure and you'd think it was Dr. McCoy when he was young.

    On the other hand, the 12-inch model is the best likeness of Riker we've yet seen. When I heard Playmates was planning an ongoing 12-inch figure line, I expected them to be oversized, overpriced versions of the 9-inch models, but I have to admit that they're extremely impressive-looking. If you're only going to collect one size, I'm sorry to tell your checkbook that it's worth paying for the big ones.

    If you're very attached to that checkbook, you probably shouldn't click here, as Michelle Erica Green is extremely positive about most of the toys. If you do go there, though, the altruistic people at Mania also offer you the chance to buy the toys online at their own web store - now, isn't that nice of them?

    Today on TV
    Christian (11:12 am CST)
    -Tonight at 7:00pm and at 11:00pm Eastern Time, the Sci-Fi Channel will be showing the third-season TOS episode 'The Lights Of Zetar.'

    -Today at 17:00 GMT, British station Sky One will be showing DS9's 'Captive Pursuit,' which is also repeated at 23:30 GMT. At 20:00 GMT, they'll be showing a completely new episode, namely DS9's sixth-season finale 'Tears of the Prophets.' People who'd like to know more about UK Trek episodes should probably visit the Television Observation Unit of the Star Trek Collective, now available at a new URL and with a new design.

    -Tomorrow morning at 00:05 CET, German television station Sat.1 will be repeating TNG's 'Das Schiff in der Flasche' (Ship in a Bottle). At 15:00 CET tomorrow, they're showing 'Aquiel.'

    New at TrekSeek.com
    Christian (11:12 am CST)
    After receiving 7 new site submissions yesterday, TrekSeek is now up to 994 Star Trek sites - just six more to go before the magic 1000! Take a look at some of those new sites:

    -The Bravo Fleet HQ. Featuring Bravo Fleet's 100 ships and starbases, academy, messages boards, and general information. Stop by and join their 1500 world-wide players in the fun and adventure!
    -The The UK Unofficial ST:Voyager Home Page contains concise news, pictures, episode listings and comprehensive main cast and guest star listings, complete with selected film credits.

    A look at all the other new sites can be found by going here.

    Hello World!
    Christian (11:12 am CST)
    Well, the Trek BBS has become a lot more popular than I expected yesterday - we've already got more than 30 registered users. Unfortunately, not all of them have posted yet, but it is a start, I suppose. Again, we'd also really love to see you at the Trek BBS - registration isn't even necessary, you can just visit the forums and start posting!

    Hope to see you all at the Trek BBS!

    Sunday April 18, 1999
    Trek BBS Opens
    Christian (11:16 am CST)
    Here at the TrekZone Network, we just launched an exciting new project - the Trek BBS! Take a look at what, erm, I myself posted in the Announcements area:

    I'm happy to announce that, as of now, the Trek BBS has officially opened! Here you'll be able to talk with your fellow Trek fans about pretty much anything you want - from the latest rumours to your thoughts on the next Trek series to the hottest new Star Trek games!

    We're really hoping the Trek BBS will turn into the premier meeting place for online Trek fans, and we'd absolutely love it if you would also come and join us at the forums - we're looking forward to hearing from you all!

    Extra DS9 Finale Info
    Christian (1:04 pm CST)
    NOTE: As most other updates today, this post contains spoilers for the DS9 finale, 'What You Leave Behind.' As usual, click here to move on to the next update.

    AGAIN - Click here to be transported on to the next article.

    Alex Peckover at Sci-Fi World just posted an interesting tidbit about the DS9 finale, which is in direct contrast with some of the rumours that have been floating around earlier:

    Some news from the National Enquirer has been floating around the various spoiler sites on the net. These sites state that Sisko will die in the finale, only to join the Prophets in the wormhole. Is this true ? No. Sisko does not die in the finale.

    As usual, do keep in mind that this, too, hasn't been officially confirmed yet - it could still very well be that Paramount will blow up the entire station, though they could also decide to let the crew live on happily ever after.

    No DS9 Movie Anytime Soon
    Christian (12:56 pm CST)
    Yesterday, we reported about a convention report in which René Auberjonois was quoted as saying it was 'absolutely sure' there would be DS9 movies being made. Unfortunately, now it seems this might not actually be the case, as TrekWeb just posted the following:

    Rumors [that] circulated yesterday of Rene Auberjonois stating while at a convention that a DS9 movie is "absolutely certain" and that ways to preserve the set(s) were being looked into for this purpose, are unreliable. TrekWeb's sources say that the Promenade set has already been torn down. Sources say that although rebuilding the set(s) is possible yet expensive, the destruction of the set decreases the likelihood of a DS9 movie anytime soon.

    This certainly is sad news - the Promenade always had a special place in my heart, and I wish they would have been able to preserve the set.

    'Tacking Into The Wind' Press Release
    Christian (12:49 pm CST)
    NOTE: This update contains rather major spoilers for the upcoming DS9 episode 'Tacking Into The Wind,' the 6th Final Chapter episode. In case you want to avoid reading these spoilers, click here to move on to the next article.

    A small synopsis of the episode can actually be found below, so you might want to avoid reading it - click here to move on to the next article.

    Mr. Video Productions just posted the official press release for DS9's 'Tacking Into The Wind.' As usual, the press release also contains a small synopsis of the episode:

    While Kira reviews tactical plans with the Cardassian Resistance leaders, Odo returns from a mission, weakened by the disease that's ravaging his race. At the station, Bashir works through the night, trying to find a cure for Odo, while Sisko reproves Chancellor Gowron for reckless attacks which left General Martok injured. Back at the revel headquarters, Kira, eager to discover why the Federation's Klingon ships aren't damaged by Breen-Dominion technology, proposes stealing the enemy's weaponry so that the Federation can engineer a countermeasure.

    More, including a full cast list, can be found by reading the full press release.

    Sisko Punches Dukat!
    Christian (12:41 pm CST)
    NOTE: The below post contains minor spoilers for the DS9 finale - click here to be transported to the next article.

    Steve Krutzler at TrekWeb is reporting that the shooting of the DS9 finale has been delayed for a few days because of one of the most silly reasons imaginable:

    TrekWeb.COM has learned that production has been extended for a few days on Star Trek: Deep Space Nine because of injuries to Marc Alaimo during a stunt fight scene. Avery Brooks threw a punch a little too deep and Marc's timing was off; Marc was hit in the nose by Avery. Marc's appearance is vital to the scenes in question, so those scenes will be filmed after he's had a few days to recover from his injuries. The final day of shooting now looks like April 27th, 1999.

    Thanks go out to Warp 11 and Holly Kim Wilson for pointing me to this.

    Warp 11 Reviews 'Til Death Do Us Part'
    Christian (12:27 pm CST)
    Warp Eleven just put up Curt Holman's review of DS9's 'Til Death Do Us Part,' the second episode of the Final Chapter. The review mostly focuses on Gul Dukat, who Holman thinks is one of the most interesting characters of the entire series:

    I find Dukat fascinating -- he might be the most complicated character in the entire Star Trek franchise, and Marc Alaimo's always been bold and witty in playing him. Sisko's description of him as "pure evil" at the end of Waltz always struck me as an oversimplification, since Dukat proved himself to be capable of doing good deeds (albeit for selfish motives) and for genuinely loving his daughter Ziyal. On "Do Us Part," he even gives Damar a pep-talk without ulterior motive (although I've always marveled at Dukat's ability to forgive the man who gunned down his daughter.) Dukat's character has gone through so many permutations over Deep Space Nine's run that he's hard to sum up quickly, but my take on him is this: he doesn't just want to be feared as a powerful man, but be loved as a great one. But he knows he can't be a great man without being a good one -- and he isn't.

    Of course, 'Til Death Do Us Part' provided Holman with lots of opportunities to talk about Dukat, and that is precisely what he does in the full review. Go check it out!

    'The Changing Face Of Evil' Trailers
    Christian (12:21 pm CST)
    'The Changing Face Of Evil' Trailer - Copyright Paramount, Courtesy Mr. Video Productions! Mr. Video Productions just posted the trailers for the upcoming DS9 episode 'The Changing Face Of Evil.' As usual, the trailers are available as MPEG-video clips, but also as MP3 Audio files and a collection of screenshots from the trailers. You can find the trailers by going here, though you should know that the preview contains some pretty major spoilers for the actual episode.

    In case you're not able to connect to Vidiot's site, something which unfortunately happens far too often, the trailers are now also available at Star Trek Interactive! As Vidiot's trailers are of a slightly higher image quality, I'd suggest you check his site out first, but if you can't get a connection, you can also find the trailers here.

    Naomi Wildman Appearing In Voyager Finale
    Christian (11:16 am CST)
    The Official Scarlett Pomers Homepage is reporting that young Scarlett Pomers will be appearing in Voyager's season finale ('Equinox') in her role of Naomi Wildman again. More information isn't available yet, but I'm guessing that it might be connected to the 'Equinox' reshoots that are currently taking place - with most of the regular actors gone, Pomers might have been one of the few people left they could contact. I'll be reporting more on this as I get to hear about it.

    Today on TV
    Christian (11:15 am CST)
    -Today, British television channel Sky One will be showing DS9's 'The Quickening' at 16:00 GMT, followed an hour later by Voyager's 'Initiations.'

    -Tomorrow at 15:00 CET, German television station Sat.1 will be showing TNG's 'Das Schiff in der Flasche' (Ship in a Bottle).

    New at Trekseek.com
    Christian (11:15 am CST)
    Site submissions are slowly picking up again - yesterday 4 sites were added to TrekSeek, bringing us to a new total of 989 Star Trek links. Take a look at some of the best sites from those 4:

    -Of course, our own Trek BBS, which promises to be the premier meeting place for Star Trek fans on the Internet. Here you'll be able to talk about anything you want related to Star Trek, from your thoughts on the latest DS9 and Voyager episodes, to what you think about a possible new Trek series, to your opinion on the hottest new Trek games around! If you want to talk Trek, the Trek BBS is where you need to be!
    -Starbase Galorra is a free Star Trek RPG group. They play by e-mail and even have an academy for those of you who don't know how to sim. Join SB Galorra today, they're waiting for you!

    All the other new sites that were added yesterday can be found by going here.

    Hello World!
    Christian (11:15 am CST)
    Saleel and I are very excited about this - as you may have read above, we just opened the Trek BBS, a new system of discussion forums for online Trek fans. Here you'll be able to chat with your fellow fans about anything at all related to Star Trek, in a way that was never possible before. I personally am really looking forward to hearing from you - over the past few months TrekToday has mostly just been me engaging in one-way communications. I've received mails from several people about the site, but now there's actually a unique oppportunity for me to talk to all of you frequent TrekToday visitors - I'd absolutely love to hear from you soon at the Trek BBS.

    Saturday April 17, 1999
    Starfleet Command Beta Report
    Christian (2:17 pm CST)
    YnrohKeeg at Star Trek Gaming Central was recently selected as a member of the beta testing team for the upcoming Interplay game 'Starfleet Command.' Today, he received confirmation from lead designer Chris Taylor informing him that he could provide the world with daily beta test reports:

    Since Interplay was kind enough to let me in on their beta test of Starfleet Command, I thought you all would be interested in seeing some of my reactions to what I'm seeing. Thankfully, the beta team isn't under a "gag order", so I'm free to disclose information at my discretion. Please note that I will not post any information about plot points or anything that will make you feel "spoiled". Rather, this is only going to be sort of a "diary" which chronicles gameplay, interface, graphics, sound, and realism issues.

    Also note that this is only a beta version, and some aspects of the game will undoubtedly change. One final note: I am in what Interplay is calling the "control group", or "people who have never played a game of Star Fleet Battles in their lives". The opinions and notes herein are simply those of an old-school Trek fan. My main goal (and that of Interplay) is to see how regular Star Trek fans will react to this game. I will closely monitor its accuracy to established Star Trek precedents. I hope you find these notes exciting and informative. My sincere thanks to the Starfleet Command design team for offering me this opportunity!

    The tester's log can be found by going here.

    Voyager Production Start Date
    Christian (2:11 pm CST)
    As a small tidbit which might interest you, some news about the beginning of filming for Voyager's season six recently made its way to the alt.tv.star-trek.voyager newsgroup. Insider '415Man' mentioned the following on the newsgroup:

    Voyager production starts on June 8th. Post starts a month later, in Mid July.

    Later on, 'Dangermouse' said that actualy shooting for the episode begins on July the 12th or the 19th, or about three months from now.

    Love Trek '99 Convention - Major DS9 News
    Christian (1:59 pm CST)
    Francis Deblauwe, Belgian Star Trek fan, just put up a report of the Love Trek '99 convention in Champaign, Illinois, which he attended in February. The report is very thorough, filled with lots of pictures, and even has some wonderful news on the chances for DS9 movies:

    Great news: yes, there is a future in the Star Trek movies for Deep Space Nine. René had never believed in it but a big shot from Paramount told him recently that it is absolutely sure. It seems there are also discussions going on how to preserve the DS9 station set for future use.

    This certainly is good news! Let's hope René Auberjonois is actually right about this. In any case, I strongly recommend you check out the full report, it is extremely interesting. Very major thanks go out to Leonard Schuurmans at Warp 11, who was kind enough to mail me about this.

    Please do keep in mind that, even though René Auberjonois obviously is connected to the show, these news bits should be considered as rumours, and haven't been confirmed anywhere else yet.

    Former Husband Of Joan Collins Dies
    Christian (1:46 pm CST)
    Last Wednesday, British entertainer Anthony Newley died after a lengthy bout with cancer, according to this article at CNN. Over the course of his 67 year-long life, Newley performed in many top productions, including the 1967 film version of 'Doctor Doolittle.' In his personal life, was married three times, including once to Joan Collins, the actress who guest-starred on the memorable TOS episode 'The City On The Edge Of Forever' as Edith Keeler.

    More information on Newley's life (which in itself didn't have anything to do with Trek) can be found by going here. Thanks go out to Treknews.com's Jason Ellis for this.

    TrekGaming Hosting BotF Chat
    Christian (11:30 am CST)
    TDawg just sent along word that the Trek Gaming Alliance will be hosting a 'Birth of the Federation' chat tonight at 11:30pm GMT / 6:30pm EST. The chat will be held on the IRC server at irc.webmaster.com, and will take place in the channel #trekgaming. People without IRC can also chat using the lovely Java applet the TrekGaming people have set up at http://chat.trekgaming.com/temp.shtml, so you should be able to attend it.

    As an extra little surprise, TDawg also invited the 'Birth of the Federation' producer, Jeff Holzhauer, and several other of the team members, to attend the chat. More info on all of this can be found at the TrekGaming main page.

    UK Star Trek Worries
    Christian (11:22 am CST)
    Things are not looking good for Trekkers in the United Kingdom. For months now, the BBC Voyager schedule has been extremely erratic, and at the rate they're currently progressing they won't even be able to finish season four before the millennium is over. In order to do something against this, Dave Arquati at the Star Trek Collective has launced the 'Treat Trek Fairly' campaign in the form of a petition you can sign online:

    A letter will be sent to the BBC, by email and by post. Hopefully, we'll send it to Viewer and Listener Comments, and Points of View. Who knows, we could even get a newspaper to say something about the petition! But whatever happens, we'd like your name and email address on the letter as support for the cause. I've made it especially easy to send in your name and email address for inclusion - there's a form below. That's all we require - any additional information to send in is optional.

    Currently more than 60 people have signed up for the petition, but they can always use more - go here to read more about it and sign up.

    Unfortunately, this isn't the only problem British Trek fans will have to face, as today Jonathan Davies posted the following alarming bit of info to the TrekWeb Fan Comm Link:

    Subject: SKY dumps Star Trek for a year gap!
    In response to Majel Barret, and the general concensus towards the "there's too much Trek" opinion SKY 1 is droping Star Trek from it's screens this summer for a 1 Year gap!

    After I e-mailed Jonathan about this, he mentioned 'a friend told him this over the phone' - he's currently trying to find out where this info came from. Thanks, Jonathan! The Majel Barret thing is apparently referring to a letter she recently sent to a sci-fi magazine about the current state of Star Trek, if anyone knows precisely which magazine this is reffering to, please let me know. More on the Sky One news will be reported here as soon as I hear about it.

    Shatner's 'Dark Victory' A Bestseller
    Christian (11:22 am CST)
    A news article from Reuters just appeared at Yahoo!, listing the current top 15 hardcover fiction bestsellers, according to the April 19 edition of 'Publishers Weekly.' The top spots are reserved for public favourites such as Steven King, Danielle Steel and John Grisham, but I was happy to notice that William Shatner's new novel 'Dark Victory' also made it to the top 15, albeit just at place 15. The full top 15 can be found by going here.

    Starfleet Command Progress Report & Preview
    Christian (11:22 am CST)
    At Interplay's Starfleet Command forum, designer Erik Bethke just posted the following status update:

    We are working very very hard on getting the first beta (lets call it alpha) in shape. So many things are getting in, finalized, looking cool - it is really a big morale push. The whole team is working on Sunday to help get this alpha out as soon as possible. We are still actively creating features and will continue through to about 5/15/99. Thus the alpha and early beta may have not include some features. For example, the Gorn interface is only about 15% complete, and fighters as a complete feature is about 30% complete.

    In the full update he talks about some of the things the team is still working on, but also mentions a new preview that just appeared at the Daily Dementia. In the preview, Chris Molstad talks to the aforementioned Erik Bethke about the special features that will make the game worth buying:

    "The game offers a highly accurate representation of the Star Trek universe in an exciting real-time setting. It will combine in-depth strategic planning with cinematic, head-to-head action for up to six players via LAN, modem to modem, null modem cable and Interplay's Internet matching service. STAR TREK: Starfleet Command will feature classic Star Trek television and movie footage in its introduction plus engaging audio clips throughout the game."

    "STAR TREK: Starfleet Command will allow the gamer to play one of several races including the most popular: Federation, Klingon, Romulan, and even some new races. There will also be a random campaign game generator featuring the new Dynaverse scenario engine so the gamer can truly create his or her own unique destiny. The missions the player receives will be a direct result of, and have a direct impact upon, the current state of galactic affairs in an ever-changing galaxy. Careers will never play the same way twice."

    In case you're interested, more can be found in the full preview.

    Jonathan Frakes Chat Transcript
    Christian (11:21 am CST)
    The people at the Continuum have just put up the transcript of Thursday's chat with Jonathan Frakes (William T. Riker). Take a look at some of the most interesting parts of the chat:

    Derek asks:
    So did Insurrection do well at the box office?

    Jonathan Frakes:
    It's still doing well. I just returned from opening it in Spain and Brussels, where everyone had gone to Germany to see it. Months before.

    Jordan G asks:
    What is this DS9 Final Chapter thing? Is the show going off air?

    Jonathan Frakes:
    They've already ripped the sets down on Stage 17.

    Katja asks:
    We all know that the whole TNG cast really likes each other. Can you describe the very first day where you met your "crewmembers"at the set?

    Jonathan Frakes:
    I remember meeting Patrick Stewart outside the make up trailer for our first day of make-up tests. I almost said make-up and hair tests... but only some of us went to the hair trailer. He and I discussed the relative merits of cricket vs. baseball.

    Read lots more (including a confirmation of the rumour which said that Frakes wanted to wait until after Star Wars with the next Trek movie) by clicking here.

    Today on TV
    Christian (11:21 am CST)
    -In the UK, Sky One is showing DS9's 'For The Cause' today at 16:00 GMT, followed an hour later by Voyager's 'Worst Case Scenario.'

    -Tomorrow morning at 09:55 CET, German television station Sat.1 will be repeating Voyager's 'Der Zeitzeuge' (Living Witness).

    -Here in the Netherlands, the AVRO will be showing Voyager's 'Retrospect' today at 18:36 CET on Channel One.

    New at Trekseek.com
    Christian (11:20 am CST)
    2 new sites were submitted at TrekSeek yesterday, which certainly isn't bad when you consider that the site was down for most of the day. Take a look at one of those new sites:

    -Trek Wars : The Science Fiction Webpage has images, stories, links, and humor on different scifi programmes.

    More new sites can be found in our listing of last week's new sites.

    Hello World!
    Christian (11:20 am CST)
    I just noticed on my 'Stardate Calendar' that tomorrow is listed as Avery Brooks' 'un-birthday.' Looks like the people at Pocket Books also liked 'Alice in Wonderland.' ;-)

    Friday April 16, 1999
    More On Equinox Reshoots
    Christian (2:43 pm CST)
    Insider '415Man' just posted some extra information on the Equinox reshoots (see below) to the alt.tv.star-trek.voyager newsgroup:

    The writers are all back, scribbling like mad trying to tie up all the loose ends. In addition to the dumping of the B plot, the show is about 5 mins short. So, the writers are currently trying to write scenes based on the actors that are available. Most are out of the country, so they have to use the others. I am not sure who all is around right now. I know Jeri is, because we just looped her for ['Relativity'] this past week. I think Bob Picardo is in town, and Robbie also. I'm not sure who else is available. It should be interesting.

    More news on this will of course be reported here as it becomes available. Thanks go out again to Warp 11 for pointing me to this.

    Voyager Episode Spoilers
    Christian (2:24 pm CST)
    NOTE: This update contains major spoilers for several upcoming episodes from Voyager's fifth season. If you want to avoid reading these spoilers, click here to move on to the next article.

    Warning - Most of the remaining fifth season episodes are thoroughly spoiled in this update - click here to avoid these spoilers.

    WebTrek has posted lots of new info on several upcoming Voyager episodes. I've listed the most important info here below:

  • In 'Juggernaut,' which airs on the 26th of March, we'll see for the first time ever a sonic shower in action. Some lovely pictures that show *why* the characters actually need a shower can be found here.

  • A large portion of '11:59,' which airs on the 5th of May, actually takes place on Earth, even if it is the Earth of several centuries before Voyager. Also, [Janeway's ancestor] has a love interest played by Kevin Tighe (DeSoto from "Emergency").

  • It is now confirmed that 'Warhead,' the episode airing on the 19th of May, doesn't have anything to do with the season finale. In the episode, 'Voyager responds to an automated distress signal, and it turns out to be the bomb, which is "sentient" and feels it can only be satisfied if it blows up. Through some discovery, Voyager learns they can implant the personality of the bomb into the Doctor: they try to give the intelligence a body. It takes over the Doctor, holds Torres and Kim hostage, and threatens to destroy the ship if Janeway doesn't help him complete his mission to blow up some alien thing. Kim finds out that the launch was a mistake, but the bomb doesn't want to hear about it. He just wants to blow up his target.

  • Lastly, the season finale ('Equinox') is currently undergoing some reshoots. 'The B plot -- involving the Doctor being replaced by the Equinox' EMH who's ethical sub-routines have been removed to figure out a way to suck the energy out of the aliens -- is being dumped since it was believed to be too similar to "Warhead." The new scenes will, for the most part, center around Tom Paris.' Equinox is scheduled to air on the 26th of May.

  • More can be found at WebTrek's news page. Major thanks go out to Leonard Schuurmans at Warp 11 for pointing me to them, and for providing me with the airdates.

    Trek CCG Creators Interview
    Christian (2:04 pm CST)
    The Decipher web site is reporting that this week's edition of Radio Free Decipher contains an exclusive interview with Tom Braunlich and Rollie Tesh, game creators for Decipher. Fortunately, the people at Decipher also put up a transcript online, which includes the following quote of them talking about their early Decipher days:

    Q: What Decipher products have you contributed to?
    TOM: Decipher has done a lot of our games. Besides Pente, (which Decipher now sells), they did No Dice (a nice strategy game), Scratchees (scratch-off games), How To Host A Scavenger Hunt, plus the Star Trek and Star Wars CCGs. This past year we have done some more projects with them, including Girl Power, Animorphs, and some other stuff I guess we can't discuss yet.
    ROLLIE: We also co-designed the Star Trek VCR game, which opened the door with Paramount for our future CCG relationship.

    More can be found in the full transcript, though they're mostly talking about their upcoming 'Young Jedi' Customizable Card Game.

    TrekWeb Reviews 'Penumbra'
    Christian (1:56 pm CST)
    TrekWeb just put up Steve Perry's review of DS9's 'Penumbra,' the first Final Chapter episode:

    It's official - we're knee deep in arc. I wish we had more of it this season, because Penumbra was surprisingly involving. This is good stuff. Babylon 5 for awhile did this well, too... I'd argue that DS9 has the potential to do more, because it has so many things that need to be done that it's bound to make involving TV.

    In the end, Perry awards the episode a 'B+/A-' - find his full reasons for that here.

    'Relativity' Synopsis Updated
    Christian (1:16 pm CST)
    You may recall that several days ago TrekToday (and several other Trek news sites) posted a synopsis of the upcoming Voyager episode 'Relativity,' which was sent to us by an anonymous source. Today, Timothy Verheecke, webmaster of Web Trek, posted some extra info on the episode he received from '415Man', who is apparently an insider at Paramount.

    '415Man' makes some corrections to the already-known Relativity Synopsis, provides some extra information, and denies a few of the things happening in the old synopsis. You can read it all by going here and viewing the Web Trek synopsis, though a local copy is also available here at TrekToday.

    New Sev Trek Competition Online
    Christian (1:16 pm CST)
    A new edition of the 'Write Your Own Sev Trek' Competition just went up at the Sev Wide Web:

    Sev Trek header
    Write Your Own Sev Trek Competition - cartoon spoofs of Star Trek. Copyright 1999 by John Cook.

    This week, the competition deals with the mysterious disappearance of Lieutenant Joe Carey:

    The disappearing Lieutenant Carey!
    Voyager watches have surely noticed the mysterious disappearance of Lieutenant Carey after a recurring role in Season 1. He wasn't killed on an away mission or destroyed in a transporter accident. He just plain disappeared! Also, if you have a suggestion for a sevname for Lieutenant Joseph Carey, suggest it on the Ideas Board.

    Considering Joe Carey will actually be returning on the 12th of May in the upcoming Voyager episode 'Relativity,' I'd say this isn't actually an example of great timing. As usual, if you think of any great punchlines, you can submit them here.

    Scarlett Pomers Guest Starring On '7 Days'
    Christian (1:15 pm CST)
    The Official Scarlett Pomers Homepage just announced that Scarlett Pomers (Voyager, Naomi Wildman) will be making a guest appearance on Seven Days, the UPN science-fiction show that airs right before Voyager. The episode airs on Wednesday the 28th of April at 8:00pm, just an hour before Voyager's 'Someone To Watch Over Me' will be shown. More info on this can be found at the Official Scarlett Pomers Homepage .

    'Counterpoint' Overnight Ratings 'Pretty Bad'
    Christian (1:15 pm CST)
    According to the Star Trek Nielsen Ratings Information Database, Wednesday's 'Counterpoint' repeat was yet another Voyager episode that did pretty bad on the ratings front:

    "Counterpoint" proved to be less than stellar in its second airing, falling to a 2.8 rating, 4 share. That should place the episode right at, or possibly below the lowest rating of the year to date, "Unforgettable"'s rerun, which earned a 2.2. That 2.8 overnight is down half a point from last week's "Infinite Regress" (3.3).

    [...]

    Again, this is a pretty bad rating, but it doesn't mean a whole lot. This episode, like "Infinite Regress" last week performed poorly in its first airing, and it looks to do so again. Next week, the ratings and the signifigance factor come back up with the rerun of "Timeless." National numbers will be posted when I recieve them.

    More on this can be found in the full report, though it won't make you much happier.

    In DS9 ratings news, the Nielsen Ratings Info Database is mentioning that the repeat of DS9's 'Once More Unto the Breach' finished out of the top 25, so ratings data for that episode won't come out until next Wednesday.

    'Lives of Dax' Anthology Info
    Christian (1:14 pm CST)
    At the Star Trek Books bulletin board on the Pocket Books site, editor Marco Palmieri just gave some extra info on the upcoming 'Lives of Dax' anthology. 'Lives of Dax' will be a book with short stories dealing with each of Dax' nine hosts, and this is what Palmieri just announced:

    The following is the author lineup for THE LIVES OF DAX anthology, by order of host:

    Lela / Kristine Kathryn Rusch
    Tobin / Jeffrey Lang
    Emony / Michael Jan Friedman
    Audrid / S.D. Perry
    Torias / Susan Wright
    Joran / Robert Simpson
    Curzon / Steven Barnes
    Jadzia / L.A. Graf
    Ezri / Judith and Garfield Reeves-Stevens

    Quite probably this will mean that the 'Lives of Dax' anthology will be the first Trek novel to feature an original story dealing with Ezri Dax. Later on, Palmieri also said the following about the novel:

    The stories will stand alone, being episodes from the life of each host, but together they weave the tapestry of Dax's life across 357 years of Star Trek history. And yes, there will be numerous interesting "guest stars" and special appearances.

    People who are interested in hearing more about this should probably visit the Books BBS.

    GameSpot Previews Starfleet Command
    Christian (1:14 pm CST)
    Denny Atkin at GameSpot has just put up a new preview of the upcoming Interplay game Starfleet Command. The preview is pretty in-depth, and even provides us with some information on the game's storyline:

    The overlying storyline focuses on the disappearance of the Organians, the all-powerful race that forced a treaty on the Klingons and Federation in the original Trek series. Not only does the Organians' disappearance open the door to lots of aggressive behavior throughout the galaxy, but it also causes some very weird occurrences, including rifts opening into other universes and the appearance of some big, mean space monsters.

    The campaign is broken into six segments, one for each race. While each plays out individually, by the time you've finished, they'll form a coherent story that ties into the Organian disappearance. The version we played included only a few sample missions, but the story outlines we've seen are promising. Trek fans, for instance, will appreciate the Federation sequence, which combines elements of two of the best episodes of the original series: Mirror, Mirror and The Doomsday Machine. It seems that, in the mirror universe, Commodore Decker survived his run-in with the Planet Killer. Escaping from that universe's Spock, he travels to our universe, where he hopes to take control of the Planet Killers and conquer the Federation.

    Lots and lots more can be found in the full preview. Thanks go out to Evil Avatar for pointing me to this.

    Today on TV
    Christian (1:14 pm CST)
    -In the UK, Sky One will be showing DS9's 'Babel' at 17:00 GMT and at 23:30 GMT.

    -In Germany, Sat.1 will be showing Voyager's 'Der Zeitzeuge' (Living Witness) tonight at 19:15 CET. At 03:20 CET tomorrow morning, they'll be repeating TNG's 'Geheime Mission auf Celtris Drei, Teil 1' (Chain of Command, Part One).

    New at Trekseek.com
    Christian (1:12 pm CST)
    Even with the site being down for most of the day, we still had one site submission at TrekSeek yesterday, namely: -The Borg Collective, which is a site pertaining to all things Borg. Contains pics, lists, an extensive history of the Borg, and more.

    If you want to see more new sites, I suggest you check out the listing of last week's new sites.

    Hello World!
    Christian (1:10 pm CST)
    Phew. It's certainly been a busy few hours for us. This afternoon, I logged on to the net and wanted to visit our Trek search engine TrekSeek. I was greeted by the lovely sight of... complete nothingness! Naturally, I nearly fainted, thinking about all the other people who had visited the site for nothing.

    After doing some investigating, it turned out TrekSeek had been temporarily taken down because of the last problems I had ever expected - the site was too popular! Apparently, our 'jump.cgi' script, which actually sends you on to the sites you want to visit from TrekSeek, was being used so many times it used up nearly all the CPU resources of the server TrekSeek resides on, so the site had to be taken down.

    Naturally, we weren't too thrilled with this, so we quickly put up a temporary fix and were able to get the site re-opened. Our sincere apologies for all of you who tried to visit the site over the past 12 hours or so - hopefully it won't be happening again. An extra apology should also go out to Jamahl Epsicokhan, whose Star Trek Hypertext is hosted at TrekSeek, and therefore was also down today.

    Again, we're really sorry this happened. Fortunately, we're almost completely certain it won't be happening again, so go pay the site a visit!

    Thursday April 15, 1999
    SciFi Weekly Goes To Horatius
    Christian (1:50 pm CST)
    The latest edition of the Science Fiction Weekly features a review of the reprint of the first Trek book ever, Mack Reynolds' 'Mission To Horatius.' The book is somewhat different from the regular Trek novels:

    Those unacquainted (or out of sympathy) with the five-year mission of the U.S.S. Enterprise will find little to interest them in Horatius, a baldly written narrative of one of Captain Kirk's less-gripping adventures. Fans of Trek fiction, too, may be disappointed, since there is none of the deep examination of these well-known characters that can be found in the countless novels written in recent years.

    Horatius was the first Trek novel, preceding James Blish's Spock Must Die by two years. Originally part of a series of juvenile books based on popular TV series, it was out of print for 30 years before being "rescued" by Pocket Books in a collector's edition that closely reproduces the original. Just as the typography reflects this book as it existed in 1968, so the story reflects Star Trek at that time--and therein lies its interest. Star Trek is shown young but in the first stages of evolution, adding dimension to its universe. For example, Horatius explores what it would be like to serve on the cramped original Enterprise--below decks as well as among the officers on the bridge--as the missions blur together.

    In the end, reviewer Mark Wilson recommends the book for 'completists' - his reasons for that, plus a full synopsis of the novel, can be found by going here.

    TV Zone Features Trek Counselors
    Christian (1:42 pm CST)
    TV Zone May Issue - Cover Image Copyright Visual Imaginations PublicationsThe May issue of cult television magazine TV Zone features interviews with the actresses playing the two counselors in Star Trek - Marina Sirtis (Deanna Troi) and Nicole deBoer (Ezri Dax). Unfortunately, only a short description is available of what the deBoer interview has to offer you:

    New girl Nicole de Boer chats about joining the show for its seventh and final season, and why she was so amazed at the fan reaction to her getting the job.

    Fortunately, there is a short preview available of the interview with Marina Sirtis, in which she talks about her experiences on the 'Encounter at Farpoint' episode:

    "I had been in the States for around only seven months when we began filming the pilot. When I came over here I wanted to learn more about the American method of acting because all of my favourite actors are heavy-duty method actors. So I went to this class and tried to grasp this in the time I had before we began shooting. What I'd done, literally, was the 'Dummies' approach to method acting.

    "I took what I thought I'd learned and tried to apply it in the pilot and it was horrible," laughs Sirtis. "I remember watching the episode through my fingers because I had my hands over my face. I was amazed that I still had my job by the end of it... "

    More of the interview can be found in the full preview. As a special bonus, the people at TV Zone have also put up a review of DS9's 'Chimera,' which you might want to check out as well. If you just want to buy the magazine, go here for instructions on how to get it.

    Ted Witt Reviews 'Till Death Do Us Part'
    Christian (1:21 pm CST)
    Ted Witt just posted his review of DS9's 'Till Death Do Us Part' to Psi Phi's DS9 Discussion Area. He certainly didn't like the episode as much as 'Penumbra:'

    Although I liked this episode, I don't feel that it was as good or as interesting as Penumbra. Its main flaw is that it seemed much more choppy with too many short scenes and too many secondary characters getting the focus. The result is the episode lacks a lot of the suspense, build up, and emotional wallop that last week began. That's not to say it wasn't interesting and didn't have its moments--but, in a single word, the episode was "fragmented." I fear that the writers of DS9 have done such a marvellous job of adding layer upon layer to an epic story, allowing them to build, change, develop, and surprise successfully over the last seven years, that now, as everything is coming to an end, they have too many layers to deal with.

    Find more in the full review. Thanks go out to Psi Phi for pointing me to this, even if their link is still pointing to the old 'Penumbra' review.

    SCIFI HQ Penumbra Clips Available
    Christian (11:04 am CST)
    SCIFI Headquarters has just put up six new clips from DS9's 'Penumbra,' the first episode of the Final Chapter. I'm not sure about the legality of this, but they offer you the chance to relive some of the best moments from the episode, including Sisko choosing Jake as best man and Ezri leaving to search for Worf. You can find the videos here.

    DS9 Finale Script Info
    Christian (11:01 am CST)
    NOTE: Major spoilers for 'What You Leave Behind,' the DS9 finale, are contained in this update. In case you want to avoid reading these spoilers, click here to move on to the next article and still be able to enjoy the episode without knowing anything about it.

    Again, click here to be transported to the next update - there really are some major spoilers to be found below.

    Glen at Ain't It Cool News has posted some extra info on the DS9 finale. First of all, he mentions the TrekWeb reprint of the National Enquirer's finale preview, and Glen adds to this that the finale probably won't appeal to everyone:

    I believe many Babylon 5 fans will draw strong parallels to that series' closing episode ("Sleeping in Light"). Also, there is clearly a strong contingent of fans who are expecting to see an apocalyptic attack on DS9. There is a gigantic, balls-to-the-wall space battle in the finale, but it takes place no where close to DS9.

    Does "What You Leave Behind" anihilate the possibility of following-up the series with TV movies or a feature film? No. It's a solid script with some magnificent moments, but this last show might be characterized as a bit too "safe" when all is said and done - by viewers expecting a little more "oomph". And - to dispel another rumor which has been hanging out there lately - no, Worf does not go back to the Enterprise E in the series' finale. He & O'Brien get new (unrelated) jobs though, but neither is on Enterprise. They are jobs which could...reasonably...re-insert them into the Next Generation or Deep Space Nine mythos if needed at a later Date.

    On top of that, Glen also provides some extra info on what will happen to the various characters:

    Julian, who came to the station as a disenfranchised, action-seeking, lonely young doctor finds love, action, and home on DS9 in the series' finale. Kira's previously genocidal hatred of Cardassians has now evolved into an admission and understanding that Bajor (her world) and Cardassia (the world of her enemies) are actually critically connected & entwined. Odo discovers that even though he is more or less detached from The Great Link, he still has incredible value and significance to them (making him feel much better about who he is), and has the capacity to make all the difference when the chips are down.

    Later on, in the Talk Back section of the site, Glen also revealed that the last line of the finale belongs to none other than Quark, who says: 'the more things change, the more they stay the same.' For more info, read the full update at Ain't It Cool News. You also might want to take a look at Warp 11's reprint of the National Enquirer article, which, surprisingly enough, contains one extra important paragraph which can not be found in the TrekWeb version. In it, we learn the fates of Chief O'Brien, Worf, Bashir, Garak and Ezri Dax.

    Thanks go out to Gustavo Leao for pointing me to the Ain't It Cool News-report.

    Voyager Special FX Firm Is Hiring
    Christian (11:00 am CST)
    According to a report at the Den's Daily Sci-Fi, Foundation Imaging is currently looking for talented people to help them with their 'Starship Troopers' series:

    If you've got major talent in the realm of computer art and animation, here's a chance of a lifetime for you. Foundation Imaging, a computer graphics/effects company, which has done work for shows like Voyager and Babylon 5, is looking for people to model and animate the new Starship Troopers TV series.

    Perhaps, if you're real good, you might even be allowed to move over to their Voyager team after a while. If you think you've got what it takes, you can click here to apply.

    Mania Reviews 'Till Death Do Us Part'
    Christian (11:00 am CST)
    Michelle Erica Green at AnotherUniverse's Mania Magazine has put up her review of DS9's 'Till Death Do Us Part,' the second episode of the Final Chapter. At first, she doesn't seem very impressed with the episode:

    So the mysterious Breen drop in for a guest appearance in the Deep Space Nine final arc. I admit I don't find this as satisfying as I might have found a more regular enemy - the Borg spring to mind, since I wonder whether they couldn't have assimilated the Great Link and might therefore pose no threat to them - but I guess there needed to be some new infusion of blood to keep the Dominion as a viable threat to the Federation, and here it is.

    As she goes on, it turns out she actually liked the episode a lot. Find her complete analysis, plus a detailed synopis, by going here.

    Jonathan Frakes Chat
    Christian (10:59 am CST)
    This evening at 06:30pm Pacific Time, the Continuum will be hosting a chat with Jonathan Frakes (William T. Riker):

    Chat with Jonathan Frakes ("Riker" on ST:TNG) about his Star Trek experiences and his upcoming UPN project Dying to Live.

    You can still submit questions here, while you can find info on how to participate here.

    George Takei Stars In Interactive TV Series
    Christian (10:59 am CST)
    George Takei (Sulu) will soon be starring in an interactive television series made available exclusively over the Internet, according to a new press release from Electrifier, Inc. The company, which is a 'provider of rich media solutions for the Internet,' has developed a program that will be used to create full-screen interactive video sequences, to be used for interactive television via the Internet.

    One of the first companies that will be using this new technology is Star Network, who will be launcing their first series 'Star Festival' in May:

    StarNetwork will premiere in May on MediaOne RoadRunner, one of the leading Broadband ISP's in the country. The series follows the journey of a high tech PDA, dropped in Japan by a Japanese-American Professor -- played by Star Trek's George Takei -- and retrieved over the Internet by Megan, a high school student who shares her discovery via her website.

    Although to see the actual series, you'll have to wait until May, a preview of the first episode is currently available at the Star Network site:

    Megan, a high school student, finds intriguing video fragments on the Web. She begins to piece together the story of "the Professor" and his return to his Japanese hometown. She shares her find via her webcam and her own hand-drawn website, observed by Harold, her cat. The Professor sends puzzles from his current location, engaging Megan and us, the audience, in his rediscovery of his roots and the mystery of his disappearance. Learn about Japan from an insider. Follow the example of Megan and "the Professor" to learn about your own heritage.

    I personally wasn't able to access the preview, but you should be able to find it here. Also, the full press release can be found by going here.

    CNN Previews 'Birth of the Federation'
    Christian (10:58 am CST)
    The people at CNN have just posted a preview of the upcoming turn-based strategy game 'Birth of the Federation,' which is scheduled to 'go gold' today. The preview is basically a 'first look' at the game, and doesn't seem to be held back by any actual knowledge of the game itself:

    In BOF, players can choose to play one of five major powers: the Federation, Romulans, Klingons, Ferengi, or Cardassians. And you'll be able to take full advantage of each race's specific attributes as you build your empire. Build up a totalitarian Klingon empire devoid of any diplomacy, if you wish. Or establish a Ferengi trading coalition, with the hopes of one day buying off your enemies.

    The possibilities are endless; you may even feel some strange desire to play as the Romulans, building a cowardly armada of cloaked starships. Who knows? In your hands, the Romulans might actually be trustworthy.

    Still, there are a few nice screenshots in the full preview, so you still might want to check it out. The preview also contains the worrying quote 'look for BOF to hit store shelves in June' - I certainly hope that's not true. Find it all here.

    Today on TV
    Christian (10:58 am CST)
    -At 7:00pm and at 11:00pm Eastern Time, the Sci-Fi Channel will be showing the third-season TOS episode 'That Wich Survives.'

    -At 17:00 GMT, British station Sky One will be showing DS9's 'A Man Alone,' which is also being repeated at 23:30. At 18:00 GMT, the BBC will be showing DS9's 'Vortex,' also from the first season. Thanks go out to the Television Observation Unit of the Star Trek Collective for this last bit of info.

    -Tomorrow morning at 01:40 CET, German station Sat.1 will be repeating TNG's 'Geheime Mission auf Celtris Drei, Teil 1' (Chain of Command, Part One). At 15:00 tomorrow, they're showing the conclusion.

    New at Trekseek.com
    Christian (10:57 am CST)
    Yesterday TrekSeek received 5 new site submissions, bringing us up to 981 Star Trek Links. Take a look at some of those new sites:

    -The Star Fleet Command Network brings you info on the upcoming Interplay game 'Starfleet Command,' apparently not realizing that Star and Fleet shouldn't be two separate words. This site keeps up with the news, information and pictures.
    -The The Unofficial Star Trek: Voyager Home Page contains concise news, pictures, episode listings and comprehensive main cast and guest star listings, complete with selected film credits.

    All the other new sites can be found by going here.

    Hello World!
    Christian (10:57 am CST)
    Just so that you all know, after posting the first batch of news items I'll be going away for a few hours, so expect the second batch at around 19:30 CET / 12:30 CST.

    Wednesday April 14, 1999
    AVault Previews Starfleet Command
    Christian (12:58 pm CST)
    Pete Hines at the Adrenaline Vault has just put up a preview of Interplay's upcoming strategy game 'Starfleet Command.' In his preview, he provides some interesting information on the various races that feature in the game:

    There are seven races in Starfleet Command, each with different strengths and weaknesses: United Federation of Planets; Klingon Empire; Romulan Empire; Orion Pirate; Hydran; Lyran; and Gorn. At this point, only the Orion Pirates is a non-player race, although nothing is set in stone. Playing each race is a slightly different experience since you must adapt to that race's abilities. For example, Lyrans and Klingons like to get into close range when fighting, while Romulans are more likely to evade enemy detection by going into cloak mode, attacking, then moving out of enemy range and recloaking. There is a wide range of ship and weapon types to choose from, and the selection available in any given campaign is determined by the race you've chosen.

    In addition, the ships and their features mirror the personality of their respective race in both form and function. There are roughly 50 hull types and hundreds of variants that can be selected, allowing for the creation of a huge variety of ships. Ship types you can eventually control include everything from massive dreadnoughts to light cruisers. You can command up to three in any given mission, plus others that might be attached to your fleet.

    In the full preview he goes on to talk about the various weapons you'll have available, the games graphics engine and its new Dynaverse feature. The preview also includes lots of screenshots from the game, so go check it out!

    Win The Insurrection Soundtrack
    Christian (11:43 am CST)
    Star Trek Central has just launched a new competition where you can win a free copy of the Star Trek Insurrection soundtrack - all you have to do is enter your name and e-mail address, and you're set and ready to go. The competition will end somewhere in May, so go to the competition page now and maybe you'll win a copy of Jerry Goldsmith's fantastic soundtrack!

    Starfleet Command Chat Announced
    Christian (11:31 am CST)
    The people at Interplay have just announced a new Starfleet Command-themed live chat, to be held on Tuesday, the 27th of April:

    The latest in our series of monthly chats for Star Trek: Starfleet Command. These are usually a lot of fun :) If you're at all a Trekkie, a strategy gamer, or an old-time Starfleet Battles player, you should check this out too.

    The chat will probably also be attended by development team members such as Chris Taylor and Erik Bethke, so it should be worth visiting. More info on how to participate can be found here, while you also might want to check out the official Starfleet Command site. Thanks go out to Star Trek Gaming Central for pointing me to this.

    Star Trek RPG Sourcebook Appears
    Christian (11:24 am CST)
    The latest edition of Kenneth Hite's 'Out of the Box' column has just gone up at AnotherUniverse's Mania Magazine. In the column, he takes a look at some of the latest RPG releases, including a new sourcebook for his own 'Star Trek: The Next Generation' RPG:

    Hardbacked and a hard time coming, The Price of Freedom: the United Federation of Planets Sourcebook (157 page, full color hardback, $25) for the Star Trek: The Next Generation Roleplaying Game has some nice stuff in it, if I say so myself. And if I say so myself, it's because I developed the first four and a half or so chapters, and wrote many bits and pieces therein. There's a bunch of new overlays, background histories (a whole section on the UFP Merchant Marine), 15 new ships, tech, stuff on the Son'a, etc. from Star Trek IX and all manner of Trekly fun.

    Although this is all he says on the TNG RPG, some news on the TOS RPG he's currently working on can be found in the full column, together with reviews of more than a dozen other RPG books.

    Jeff Mariotte Interview Updated
    Christian (11:14 am CST)
    Jeff Mariotte - Image Courtesy WildStorm Online Because we liked it so much, we've given Monday's interview with Jeff Mariotte a permanent place in the Longer Articles section. Even if you've already read it, it's still worth checking out again, as I've added a few extra comments from Jeff to the interview, including this 'current progress report:'

    I'm already soliciting stories from a variety of writers, and reading unsolicited stories from others. These will go through our approval process (assuming I approve them, of course). Once approved, I'll be lining up art teams to draw them, arranging for productions and shepherding them through to the printing process.

    In the full interview, he goes on to talk about the frequency at which the comics will be appearing, WildStorm's focus on 'quality over quantity,' and the 'Early Voyages' series. Find it all here.

    Robert Picardo Joins Planetary Society
    Christian (11:08 am CST)
    Although this news is already over a month old, I don't think I've seen it mentioned yet. According to CARPE, the Central Alliance of Robert Picardo Enthusiasts, Robert Picardo (The Doctor) recently joined the Advisiory Council of the Planetary Society:

    Robert Picardo recently received (and accepted!) an invitation to become a member of the Advisory Council of the Planetary Society. The Society was founded in 1980 by Carl Sagan, Bruce Murray, and Louis Friedman to encourage the exploration of our solar system and the search for extraterrestrial life. It's a nonprofit, nongovernmental organization, funded by dues and donations from individuals around the world. The Society encourages all spacefaring nations to explore other worlds, supports educational activities about the exploration of the solar system and the search for extraterrestrial life, and supports and funds innovative and novel research and development projects that can seed future projects of planetary exploration.

    According to the press release from the Planetary Society, Robert Picardo has already been very active in this new role:

    [Robert Picardo has] quickly become active participants during their short tenure. Picardo recently served as MC for the official burning of the mortgage on the Society's headquarters in Pasadena, California. Nye will co-chair, with Buzz Aldrin, the Society's upcoming festival, Planetfest '99, on December 3-5 as the Mars Polar Lander arrives at the Red Planet.

    More on this can be found in the full press release or at CARPE s news page.

    Kristine Kathryn Rusch Chat
    Christian (11:08 am CST)
    The Sci-Fi Channel will soon be organising a panel discussion with some of the nominees for the prestigious Nebula awards. One of the participants will be Kristine Kathryn Rusch, who was nominated for her novelette 'Echea.' For us Trek fans, she might perhaps be more familiar as the co-author of more than a dozen Trek novels, together with her husband Dean Wesley Smith. For more on what the chat will bring you, take a look here.

    Also, yesterday they had a live chat with, among others, Vonda N. McIntyre, who has also published several Trek novels. Sorry for not reporting this in time, but fortunately a transcript will be up in a few days here.

    Bikini Magazine Interviews Nicole deBoer
    Christian (11:07 am CST)
    According to 'Beer Hound' in the rec.arts.startrek.fandom newsgroup, the May issue fo Bikini Magazine features an exclusive interview and photo shoot with Nicole deBoer (Ezri Dax). More info on the magazine itself (including a cover picture of the current magazine, so you know what to look for), can be found at the Bikini web site.

    The Cynic Reviews 'Penumbra'
    Christian (11:07 am CST)
    David E. Sluss at the Cynics Corner has just put up his review of DS9's 'Penumbra.' Unlike most other reviewers, he doesn't believe the Sisko-Yates relationship worked well:

    CHEMISTRY OF THE WEEK: None that I can find, either in the Ezri/Worf tryst, or the Sisko/Yates engagement. The latter relationship has never really worked, in my opinion, largely due to acting on the part of both Brooks and Johnson, and although this episode was better than many in this regard, it still doesn't play. Just look at that kiss; they act like they can't stand each other!

    Even so, he still awards the episode with a 7,5 - more, erm, arguments against that rating can be found by reading the full review.

    Infinite Regress Ratings 'Decent'
    Christian (11:07 am CST)
    The Star Trek Nielsen Ratings Information Database has just put up the final ratings report for last week's rerun of Voyager's 'Infinite Regress.' The episode did a lot better than expected:

    "Infinite Regress" did not perform as poorly as I suspected it would from the overnight ratings, earning a 2.6 rating, 5 share. That places it just below the average rerun rating this year of about a 2.7, but doesn't place it below the lowest-rated rerun this year, "Unforgettable," which only mustered up a 2.2. This 2.6 rating is down from last year's first-run "Vis a Vis," which managed a 3.1, and also down from the last stint of reruns in which both episodes turned in a 2.7.

    [...]

    As indicated in the overnight ratings post for this episode, these ratings don't mean a whole lot for the rest of the season. Next week is slightly more important and "Timeless"'s rerun will be quite signifigant. If anything, this rerun of "Infinite Regress" shows that the audience as far as reruns goes hasn't fallen off much, if at all, this season. Considering the fact that "Infinite Regress" was one of this years' worst performances in its first airing, this rating is decent.

    Find more, including an analysis of the competition, in the full ratings report.

    Jeri Ryan 'Late Show With Craig Kilborn' Video
    Christian (11:06 am CST)
    Jeri Ryan at the Late Late Show with Craig Kilborn - Picture Courtesy the Official Jeri Lynn Ryan Homepage Sisko at the SCIFI Headquarters has just put up a 4.5 MB video of Jeri Ryan's appearance on the 'Late Late Show with Craig Kilborn:'

    It is Real Video G2 and since it was a long interview (8 minutes) I made it at 80KBPS, 160x120 and it is 4.5 MB. If I did the video at my regular quality the file size would have been about 12 MB or more.

    Still, the video is very interesting and can be found by going here.

    Alternatively, if you just want to see pictures of Jeri Ryan, the Official Jeri Lynn Ryan Homepage has just put up twenty-three images of her appearance at the show. According to the site, she talked about 'her recent TV Guide cover, Duran Duran and the very early days of [the official Jeri Lynn Ryan homepage.]' You can find the images by going here.

    Ordover Posts Q&A At Trek Forums
    Christian (11:05 am CST)
    Because of technical difficulties, John Ordover's Q&A page is currently not functioning. Fortunately, the Star Trek novel editor at Pocket Books just posted a whole series of responses at Pocket's Star Trek Books forum, answering all the questions that were asked over the past week or so. Take a look at some of the highlights:

    Question:
    The producers of DS9 have stated that the series finale will have a finality to it that TNG did not. (Nothing really "ended" for TNG). Two questions: 1) Do you already have access to the series finale story? 2) Will you be allowed to continue the story of the DS9 characters and situations no matter what the ending brings us?

    Answer:
    I can answer two but not one: We will be allowed to continue the story of DS9 after the finale, just like we were for TNG. But how we will deal with the situation we're left with at the end remains to be decided.

    Question:
    I've noticed there's seems to be a pool of writers that you seem to draw from. Is this because these are proven writers with good track records or are there very few good product as far as writing goes ?

    Answer:
    It takes a special talent to write well within a shared universe. We're always looking for new voices, but we'll keep going back to those who can handle it well.

    A lot more answers can be read in John Ordover's full post.

    Today on TV
    Christian (11:05 am CST)
    -In the US, UPN will be repeating Voyager's 'Counterpoint' tonight at 9:00pm Eastern / Pacific Time. Take a look at what the episode has in store for you, courtesy of the official Star Trek Continuum:

    As the U.S.S. Voyager rescues two families of telepathic alien refugees from the Devore Imperium, they are intercepted by a Devore squadron and boarded by inspectors searching for the defectors. Soon Kashyk, the lead Devore officer pleads with Janeway to grant him asylum.

    -Tonight, the Sci-Fi Channel will be broadcasting TNG's 'Mark of Gideon' at 7:00pm and at 11:00pm Eastern Time.

    -Today at 17:00 GMT, British station Sky One will be showing DS9's 'Past Prologue,' the first regular episode of the first season. The episode also repeats at 23:30, in case you miss it. At 18:00 GMT, BBC 2 will be showing TNG's 'Time's Arrow, Part Two,' the conclusion to yesterday's Part One.

    -In Germany, Sat.1 will be repeating TNG's 'Datas Hypothese' (The Quality Of Life) tomorrow morning at 02:20 CET. At 15:00 tomorrow, they're showing 'Geheime Mission auf Celtris Drei, Teil 1' (Chain of Command, Part One)

    New at Trekseek.com
    Christian (11:04 am CST)
    Unfortunately, no more than 3 sites were added to TrekSeek yesterday, still bringing us to a total of 979 Star Trek links. Take a look at what two of those new sites promise to bring you:

    -The Tom Paris Adjective Page is made by some seriously obsessive people - here you'll find descriptions of all of Tom Paris' bodyparts, as well as lots of Tom Paris pictures.
    -Fondazione Vulcaniana tells you all you will ever need to know about Vulcan and the Vulcans. The site is in Italian, though, so most of us probably won't find it very useful.

    For a look at 'all' the other new sites in our database, click here.

    Hello World!
    Christian (11:03 am CST)
    I just noticed this story at the Sci-Fi Channel's news service which made me very excited - apparently Ridley Scott will be directing the movie version of Isaac Asimov's novel 'The End of Eternity.' I *so* desperately want to see that movie - 'Blade Runner' is still my all-time favourite movie, and 'The End of Eternity' was one of the best books Asimov ever wrote. Let's hope the movie will be finished soon - I can't wait to see it!

    Tuesday April 13, 1999
    Psi Phi Puts Up 'Penumbra' Credits
    Christian (1:29 pm CST)
    David Henderson at Psi Phi has put up the full list of credits for DS9's first Final Chapter episode, 'Penumbra.' Click here to read it.

    Robert Picardo Convention Report
    Christian (1:26 pm CST)
    soundcage just posted a small convention report to the rec.arts.startrek.current newsgroup in which she/he talks about last weekend's I-CON 18 convention, where Robert Picardo also appeared.

    According to soundcage, Picardo made two very interesting comments at the convention. First of all, he said he 'had a feeling' Voyager would be returning to the Alpha Quadrant 'sometime next season.' Secondly, he said that since DS9 will be ending soon, Paramount will 'probably' launch a new Trek series in 2000. Even though Picardo obviously hasn't been told everything, as an actor he has probably picked up a few hints from the writers, so this is still rather interesting.

    Tim Lynch Reviews 'Penumbra'
    Christian (12:49 pm CST)
    Tim Lynch's review of DS9's 'Penumbra,' the first Final Chapter episode, has just gone up at Psi Phi:

    A more appropriate title for "Penumbra" might be "A Tale of Two Romances"; the three successors to "Penumbra" were supposed to be titled "Umbra", "Eclipse", and "Emergence", but since those three have changed "Penumbra" itself is a somewhat meaningless title. "A Tale of Two Romances" neatly sums up most of the episode, dealing as it does with the continuance of the Sisko/Kasidy romance and the probable beginnings of a Worf/Ezri one. Both have their charms, but only one really came off as real to me when all was said and done.

    To find out which one came off as the most real romance, take a look at the full review.

    Hollywood Museum Honours Star Trek
    Christian (12:39 pm CST)
    This comes from the last source I would ever have expected to get Star Trek news from, but the 'General Daily,' my local Dutch newspaper, is reporting that the new 'Hollywood Entertainment Museum' currently has a special Star Trek attraction. Take a look at a translation of part of the article:

    Star Trek's special effects aren't just explained in a very clear way, they are also made visible in a very imaginative way. If you wish, you can be 'beamed' to the cockpit of the U.S.S. Enterprise, where you can then set a course for the ship. It is surprising to experience how something that looks cheap in the studio, can be made to look completely natural using the camera and the right lighting.

    This new attraction is locatet on the 'Hollywood Boulevard,' which can presumably be found in Hollywood. If anyone knows more about this, I'd love to hear something about it.

    New Playmates Schedule Available
    Christian (12:26 pm CST)
    The Raving Toy Maniac has just received an updated toy release schedule from the people at Playmates, who actually produce the toys. For the most, the release dates for the 9" and 12" figures remain pretty much the same, though some of them have been delayed by a few weeks. There is a piece of sad news included in it, though:

    The 12" Electronic Profiles figures have been put on "hold." Presumably, Playmates is seeking out additional retailer support for this line before going forward with it.

    Take a look at all the changes by going here, or just read the full release date schedule by going here.

    Jammer Reviews 'Penumbra'
    Christian (12:17 pm CST)
    Jamahl Epsicokhan at Star Trek: Hypertext has just finished his latest 'Jammer's Review,' this time looking at DS9's 'Penumbra:'

    As we head into the final stretch of Star Trek: Deep Space Nine, the commonly adopted name for this major story arc, "Deep Space Nine: The Final Chapter," looks to be an appropriate one. With "Penumbra," we can see the latest of the groundwork being paved.

    And if "Penumbra" is any indication, it's going to be tough to judge these early episodes as individuals until we know more--maybe a lot more. I liked "Penumbra." I wasn't riveted by a lot of it, but I'm more than intrigued about where these elements will take us.

    In the end, he awards the episode 3 out of 4 stars, as you can read in the full review.

    Unreliable Rumours Department
    Christian (12:09 pm CST)
    Thanks to the Trekzone Network's own Saleel Majeed, we bring you this week's Sky & Channel 5 Star Trek Teletext headlines:

    Sky Teletext Headlines

    It's interesting to see how all the wild rumours that appeared on the net over the past few weeks all appear in these headlines - they are also all unconfirmed or even blatantly untrue, a fact the people organising this obviously chose to ignore. As usual, don't believe any of these headlines until they are confirmed elsewhere - the only reason the page exists is to let people call an expensive phone number.

    New 'Rules of Netquisition' Contest Announced
    Christian (12:08 pm CST)
    Psi Phi's David Henderson sends along word of the new 'Rules of Netquisition' Contest:

    Psi Phi is pleased to announce the 1999 Rules of Netquisition Contest. Starting April 13, 1999, the fifth and probably final annual Netquisition contest will be accepting entries. Prizes, including copies of the "DS9 Technical Manual", "Legends of the Ferengi", and "The 34th Rule" will be awarded to the top three winners.

    Rules will be accepted through May 1, 1999, and voting by visitors to Psi Phi will take place between May 3 and May 30, 1999.

    More news on the contest can be found by going to the official contest page at Psi Phi.

    Digital Streams Creates New Trek CGI
    Christian (12:07 pm CST)
    The people at Digital Streams have just put up a new, completely re-worked version of the Original Series' famous opening sequence. The opening sequence is part of their re-worked version of 'The Doomsday Machine,' in its original version one of Classic Trek's most famous episodes:

    "The Doomsday Machine" is one of the classic episodes of the original Star Trek series. As part of our 1994 demo presentation to Paramount, we enhanced that treasured episode with state-of-the art special effects.

    Star Trek opening sequence - Copyright Digital Streams According to The Lensman at the TrekWeb message board (which is where I learned about this), this opening clip was actually created last year, when Digital Streams re-did the full episode. You can download the picture at the Digital Streams download area, which is where you'll also find some other clips from 'The Doomsday Machine' which were already put up earlier.

    After downloading the video, I have to say it is indeed looking impressive, though not as good as it could have been - what happened, for instance, to the bright colours of the planets? Why did Digital Streams have to use boring grey? In any case, you can see for yourself how the new opening sequence turned out by going here.

    Jonathan Frakes Chat On Thursday
    Christian (12:06 pm CST)
    This Thursday, the Continuum will be hosting a live chat with Jonathan Frakes (William T. Riker), director of the latest two Star Trek movies. In the chat, he'll be talking about 'his Star Trek experiences and his upcoming UPN project Dying to Live,' according to the promotional info. The chat begins at 06:30pm Pacific Time, but advance questions can already be submitted here. Meanwhile, the Continuum has also announced a new chat with Dan Curry:

    Dan Curry
    Thursday , April 29th, 1999 06:30 PM (PT)

    Chat with Dan Curry (Visual Effects Producer on ST:TNG, ST:DS9, ST:VOY).

    Previously, the Continuum already announced chats with Leonard Nimoy and John DeLancie, both of which will be taking place in May. Check out the Continuum's Auditorium for more.

    James Darren Goes To Hollywood
    Christian (12:06 pm CST)
    Or Planet Hollywood, at least. According to the Continuum, actor James Darren (DS9, Vic Fontaine) will be attending a press event at the Planet Hollywood restaurant in Atlantic City. The event will take place this Thursday, April 15, at 1:00pm Eastern Time. I haven't got a clue why exactly he'll be there, but as soon as I hear more I'll be reporting about it here.

    Today on TV
    Christian (12:05 pm CST)
    -At 7:00pm and at 11:00pm Eastern Time, the Sci-Fi Channel will be showing the third-season TOS episode 'Let That Be Your Last Battlefield.'

    -Following yesterday's showing of 'Emissary, Part One,' today Sky One is showing 'Emissary, Part Two' (surprise, surprise!). The episode airs at 17:00 GMT, and is repeated at 23:30 GMT.

    -Tomorrow morning at 2:20 CET, Sat.1 is repeating TNG's 'Eine Handvoll Datas' (A Fistful of Datas). Tomorrow at 15:00 CET, they're showing TNG's 'Datas Hypothese' (The Quality Of Life)

    New at Trekseek.com
    Christian (12:05 pm CST)
    Incredibly, we're now up to 974 Star Trek links at TrekSeek - we might still reach the magic 1000 before the weekend! Take a look at some of the 10 (!) sites that were added yesterday:

    -The The Starship Builder's Guide offers a behind-the-scenes look at the design and construction of Hollywood science-fiction studio miniatures as well as how-to information on designing and building your own replicas of these fantastic models. SBG offers the most in-depth reference on the TOS Enterprise on the Internet, plus the Movie Enterprise and Excelsior!
    -The SolarFlare Forums form one of the older Star Trek communities on the Internet. [Note - you can still read our article looking at the recent troubles regarding the SF forums by going here.
    -The Sci-Fi Café is a site I actually should have mentioned yesterday already, but due to a database error I was unable to. Apparently, the original cast of Star Trek are opening a theme restaurant "Sci-Fi Cafe". Their website has informtion on this, but also sells 8000 hard to find sci-fi products.

    A listing of all the other new sites can be found by going here.

    Hello World!
    Christian (12:05 pm CST)
    Rain is a very bad thing. Lots of rain is even worse. Lots of rain combined with a newly discovered hole in the sole of your left shoe is the worst thing imaginable in this world. Ugh.

    Monday April 12, 1999
    'What You Leave Behind' Spoilers
    Christian (1:02 pm CST)
    NOTE: This update contains spoilers for the DS9 finale, 'What You Leave Behind.' In case you want to avoid reading these spoilers, click here to move on to the next article.

    Final warning - if you do *not* want to be spoiled, click here to be transported to the next article.

    Warp 11 has posted some new spoilers on the DS9 finale, which I myself should have posted a few days ago already. Sorry! Anyways, this is what Warp 11 had to report:

    Jerry Mannor posted a message on TrekWeb's messageboard saying he just came from a convention in Southfield Michigan with Marc Alaimo [Dukat]. Marc Alaimo hinted that in the final episode Dukat and Sisko have a fight scene, and that they left Dukat's death an iffy thing so that it might look like he's dead but he might not be. Marc Alaimo was unable to tell anything beyond that.

    Find more on the final episode at Warp 11's special info page.

    Wildstorm Comics Editor Speaks Out
    Christian (12:53 pm CST)
    Jeff Mariotte - Image courtesy WildStorm Online As you may know, a few months ago WildStorm obtained the Trek comics license via its parent company DC Comics. Recently, WildStorm's Trek editor Jeff Mariotte was kind enough to answer a few questions about WildStorm's plans with its Trek line.

    First of all, I asked him about the frequency at which WildStorm will be publishing their Trek comics:

    The plan is to have something out every month -- either a Prestige Format one-shot or an issue of a miniseries. Also, the minis will be collected into Trade paperbacks after a while. Some months there will be more than one Trek book, but there shouldn't be any month after November in which there are none.

    As I myself rather liked Marvel's 'Early Voyages' series, which chronicled the adventures of Captain Pike and his crew, I also asked Jeff if WildStorm was considering publishing these stories as well. Unfortunately, it seems that will not be the case, at least for the near future:

    We only have a couple of years and a limited number of issues to work with, and at this point it's our sense that people would rather see adventures of the better-known crews than anything that had been created just for comics. that could change, of course, if we hear a groundswell or interest for more "Early Voyages" tales, but nothing's in our plans right now.

    Although this certainly is disappointing news, I have no doubt that in the capable hands of Jeff Mariotte the comics will turn out to be absolutely wonderful. He certainly is experienced enough to handle the task:

    I own a specialty science fiction/mystery/horror bookstore, Mysterious Galaxy, here in San Diego. I have been selling books for almost 20 years, and know most of the authors in the field. I also am a writer, and have published short science fiction. I have not been a die-hard Trekker, but I've had dinner with Nichelle Nichols (!) and have watched the shows. I'm now in the process of trying to educate myself further with regards to all things Star Trek, though.

    Major thanks go out to Jeff for answering my questions - I truly appreciate it. Meanwhile, if you want to find out more about him, check out his biography at the WildStorm site (which is also where I found the above photo).

    German Trek Index Opens Trek Shop
    Christian (12:26 pm CST)
    The German Star Trek Index (DSi) has just opened the DSi Shop, its new online Trek store. As of today, you can buy no less than 500 articles in 36 different categories directly from the Index itself, with more to come as they have time to develop it further. If you live in Germany or somewhere close to that, this is probably the best choice currently available for you - click here to start spending some latinum :-).

    Cinescape Spoils 'Til Death Do Us Part'
    Christian (12:16 pm CST)
    Michael Marek at Cinescape Online has put up his new spoiler-packed preview of DS9's 'Til Death Do Us Part:'

    The second episode of the Deep Space Nine series finale story arc came off the satellite this weekend. Here is a brief look at the story action:

    If you really want to hear everything about the episode, go here to read all about it.

    Jeri Ryan Magazine Scans Available
    Christian (12:10 pm CST)
    Jeri Lynn Ryan picture - copyright Star Trek Monthly Magazine, Courtesy Official Jeri Lynn Ryan HomepageThe Official Jeri Lynn Ryan Homepage has posted several new photos of Jeri Ryan which they scanned in from the latest editions of the British 'Star Trek Monthly Magazine' and the new American 'Star Trek: The Magazine.' Although there are a few new images, most of them are either old publicity shots or stills from 'Dark Frontier.' Still, they're well worth a look - find the pictures from 'ST Monthly' here, and the 'ST Magazine' pics here. Thanks go out to Gustavo Leao for reporting this.

    As a reminder, don't forget that Jeri Ryan will be appearing tonight on the Late Late Show with Craig Kilborn.

    Vidiot 'Strange Bedfellows' Trailers
    Christian (11:51 am CST)
    'Strange Bedfellows' Trailer - copyright Paramount, courtesy VidiotMr. Video Productions has put up his version of the trailers for DS9's 'Strange Bedfellows,' the third Final Chapter episode. As usual, the trailer is available both as regular MPEG-video files and as MP3-audio files, while a collection of high-quality still images is also available. The trailer can be found by going here, but be warned, it does contain several major spoilers for the episode itself.

    Robert Duncan McNeill In 'Early Edition'
    Christian (11:16 am CST)
    Becky just sent me a mail informing me that Robert Duncan McNeill (Tom Paris) will soon be guest starring in an episode of the CBS drama series 'Early Edition:'

    At a Trek convention on March 28, Robert Duncan McNeill said that he would be guest starring in an episode the CBS television series "Early Edition". He said that they would be shooting the episode that week (of March 29), but that he didn't know when exactly the episode would air.

    As soon as I hear exactly which episode he guest stars in, you'll be able to read it right here at TrekToday. Major thanks go out to Becky for reporting this!

    'When It Rains' Press Release
    Christian (11:15 am CST)
    NOTE: This update contains major spoilers for DS9's 'When It Rains.' If you want to avoid reading these spoilers, click here to move on to the next post.

    Again, click here to be transported to the next post and still be able to enjoy the episode... don't say I didn't warn you! Mr. Video Productions has posted the official press release for the upcoming DS9 episode 'When It Rains,' the 5th episode of DS9's Final Chapter. As usual, it also contains a short synopsis of the episode:

    Eager to aid Damar's rebel movement on his homeworld against the Dominion, Sisko orders Kira toput her antipathy for the Cardassian aside and train his staff in resistance tactics. Bashir asks Odo to assist in his medical project by donating the Changeling-equivalent of a skin sample. On Bajor, Kai Winn studies the forbidden text of the Kosst Amojan to learn how to release the evil Pah-wraiths. Hoping to ease Cardassian sentiment against the Bajoran Kira, Sisko givers her a Starfleet commission and uniform.

    The full press release also contains a full cast list and info on the TV Guide ads. Find it all here.

    Shatner Attends French Film Festival
    Christian (11:15 am CST)
    According to the William Shatner Connection, famed Trek actor William Shatner (James T. Kirk) is currently attending a film festival in Biarritz, France. Although not much more information is available at the moment, the site is able to report he's there as 'Honorary Jury Chairman.' The event lasts from today until Saturday, the 12th of April.

    Klingon Academy Movie
    Christian (11:14 am CST)
    'Klingon Academy' Trailer - Copyright Interplay & GameFan Online The people at GameFan Online have posted an exclusive Klingon Academy movie, which shows some actual gameplay from Interplay's upcoming Klingon Academy game, currently scheduled for a Fall 1999 release:

    Because they love you, Interplay has fixed GameFan up with an exclusive, early MPG movie file of their upcoming PC shooter, Star Trek: Klingon Academy. The video does not contain audio, though it does give you a little taste of just how good the game will be, graphically.

    The movie can be downloaded by going here, while GameFan's extensive Interplay Feature is also still available. Thanks go out to Evil Avatar for pointing me to this - you might want to check out his site as well, he has some interesting comments on the movie.

    Voyager Guest Appearances
    Christian (11:14 am CST)
    Michelle Erica Green at AnotherUniverse's Daily Buzz is reporting about two actors which will soon be making an appearance on Star Trek: Voyager, namely Scott Thompson of the The Larry Sanders Show and John Savage of the The Deer Hunter:

    Thompson guest stars on April 28th ['Someone To Watch Over Me' - TT] in an episode directed by series regular Robert Duncan McNeill, playing the ambassador of a monastic company. Savage appears in the season finale May 26th [Equinox] as a fellow Federation officer stranded in the Delta Quadrant.

    A few more 'Voyager Season Spoilers' can be found by going here.

    Today on TV
    Christian (11:14 am CST)
    -Tonight, the Sci-Fi Channel is showing the third-season TOS episode 'Whom Gods Destroy' at 7:00pm and at 11:00pm.

    -In the UK, Sky One apparently decided to start showing DS9's first season yet another time, as today at 17:00 GMT they're broadcasting 'Emissary, Part One.' The episode also repeats at 23:30 GMT.

    -Tomorrow morning at 00:05 CET, German television station Sat.1 is repeating TNG's 'Erwachsene Kinder' (Rascals). At 15:00 tomorrow, they're showing 'Eine Handvoll Datas' (A Fistful of Datas)

    New at Trekseek.com
    Christian (11:14 am CST)
    Another six sites were added to TrekSeek yesterday, bringing us to a total 965 Star Trek links. As usual, here's a look at some of yesterday's new sites:

    -The Core is the ultimate resource for Star Trek webmasters. Everything from free e-mail and software, images and sound files to tutorials and tips and the Top 50 Trek sites. Th site incorporates The Star Trek Animated GIF Archive. If you're a Trek webmaster you should certainly take a look at the site - I found it very interesting.
    -I'd say the Star Trek Banner Exchange is probably a little bit less useful, but still worth checking out if you run a Trek site.

    More new sites can be found by going here.

    Hello World!
    Christian (11:13 am CST)
    Ironically, we actually managed to get more visitors than usual yesterday, despite the IP address change. The reason for this is probably that I posted about the problems at a few Trek forums, which in turn inspired many people to visit the site for the first time ever. Maybe we should be switching IP addresses every week or so... I wonder how popular we'd get then ;-).

    Sunday April 11, 1999
    'Strange Bedfellows' Trailers Available
    Christian (12:33 pm CST)
    'Strange Bedfellows' Trailer - Copyright Paramount, Courtesy Star Trek Interactive!David Reineke at Star Trek Interactive! has put up the new trailers of the upcoming DS9 episode 'Strange Bedfellows,' the third Final Chapter episode. The video trailers are available in both MPEG and ASF format, while, as of this week, there are even MP3-trailers available! This is combined with a list of 30 stills from the trailers, and extra info on the episode. Most definitely worth a look. Star Trek Interactive! has also just opened a Final Chapter Discussion Forum, you might want to check that out as well.

    New Sev Trek Cartoon Online
    Christian (12:32 pm CST)

    Sev Trek header
    Sev Trek - cartoon spoofs of Star Trek. Copyright 1999 by John Cook.

    Psi Phi Publishes New Promo Transcript
    Christian (12:32 pm CST)
    David Henderson at Psi Phi has posted a transcription of the trailer of DS9's 'Till Death Do Us Part.' As usual, the transcription tells us what can be seen and heard in the trailer, and (nearly) eliminates the need to download the actual trailer. Find the transcript here, while, if you still want to waste bandwidth, you can find the original trailer here at Vidiot.

    Ted Witt Reviews 'Penumbra'
    Christian (12:32 pm CST)
    I probably should have posted this before, but it was only today that I read about it at Psi Phi. At the Psi Phi DS9 Discussion Area Ted Witt posted a review of DS9's 'Penumbra, which he thought was absolutely wonderful:'

    In short, excellent. I'm VERY excited for the final chapter. A little fearful, but very excited none the less. Seven years of watching what is definately my favorite version of Star Trek and Sci fi in general, with all the twists, turns, arcs, and developments--coupled with the characters that are definately interesting, Roddenbery's heart still present, and the exploration of the darker side of human nature looks to pay off BIG. There is a LOT of anticipation for this final chapter, perhaps rivaled ONLY by the Phantom Menace. But I am definately excited for the next installment of the final chapter.

    More praise can be read by going here.

    11:59 Spoilers Available
    Christian (12:31 pm CST)
    NOTE: This update contains spoilers for the upcoming Voyager episode '11:59.' In case you want to avoid reading these spoilers, click here to move over to the next article.

    The Great Link has posted some new information on Voyager's '11:59,' which will air on the 24th of March. Apparently, Brannon Braga, Executive Producer for Voyager, recently said the following in the first issue of Star Trek: The Magazine:

    We're also going to be doing a millenium episode that takes place completely in the year 2000 on Earth, where we get to follow Janeway's distant, distant ancestor, great-great-great-great-great-grandmother. She will be played by Kate Mulgrew, and it will be a quintessential Star Trek story told in contemporary times.

    Find more on the episode by visiting this part of the Great Link. This might actually be the last time you'll be visiting the Great Link in the next two weeks, as the Great Link's webmaster, Chris Howell just announced the following:

    This will probably be the last TGL update for a while, probably the last update for the next 10-14 days. 'Why' I hear you scream? Because I'm moving house, hopefully at the end of next week. Luckily for me, my new 'Dominion HQ' has been decorated, with fitted carpets and curtains thrown in, so all I have to do is obtain the usual items a Vorta needs - you know, Cooker, furniture.....orbital defence platforms etc etc. Still, I'll have some work to do on the house, and I'm not sure how long it will take me to do that work. If I (somehow) find time to update TGL in the next 2 weeks, I will. But until then....

    Find more at the Great Link news page.

    Sev Trek Picard Cartoon Online
    Christian (12:31 pm CST)
    Due to a problem with his scanner, Sev Trek's John Cook wasn't able to post new cartoons for a while. To make up for that, today he posted two new cartoons, this one, and the 'Star Trek: The Motionless Picture' one, which I'll be putting up later today.

    Sev Trek header
    Sev Trek - cartoon spoofs of Star Trek. Copyright 1999 by John Cook.

    More On Insurrection DVD Extras
    Christian (12:30 pm CST)
    The Flagship has posted a follow-up to yesterday's story about the Insurrection DVD, which will probably feature extra bits not included on the VHS version:

    Just a quick note before I pass out from exhaustion (I can't keep these late hours anymore; getting too old at twenty-two): According to the Insurrection page at DVDfile.com, the Star Trek: Insurrection DVD will not feature deleted scenes. It will, however, have a "brief featurette" on the making of the film, trailer(s), and web links that can be used by DVD-ROM owners like myself. The disc will be THX-certified, 16x9 enhanced, and have English soundtracks in Dolby Digital 5.1 and 2.0. There will also be Spanish subtitles and English closed-captioning. I don't know if this is the final info on the subject--I'll keep checking.

    Find the full list of Insurrection DVD features by going here.

    Warp Eleven Has 'Penumbra' Review
    Christian (12:30 pm CST)
    Starting with this episode, Leonard Schuurman's Warp 11 news site will be providing you with exclusive reviews of the episodes of DS9's Final Chapter:

    This is the first in a serie of nine reviews of the last nine episodes of Deep Space 9's Final Chapter, exclusively written by Curt Holman for Warp Eleven. Curt Holman is a freelance writer in Atlanta, Georgia, who reviews television, theater, film and books for Creative Loafing and restaurants for CitySearch Atlanta. Mr. Holman has limited the amount of spoilers to a minimum. Enjoy!

    'Enjoy' is also something Curt Holman did while watching the episode, as he liked it rather a lot:

    Who is going to die? What is the origin of the Founders' disease? Will we see "Benny Russell" again? How about those "locusts" Sisko spoke of in Rapture?

    These and other questions are on the minds of DS9 fans going in to the long-awaited "Final Chapter," for which Penumbra is a sort of overture and first movement. The final arc promises all manner of interstellar upheaval and major shifts in the quadrant's balance of power, so it's sort of ironic that "Penumbra's" main concern proved to be marriage.

    In the end he awards the episode with a 'B,' as you can read in the full review.

    Today on TV
    Christian (12:30 pm CST)
    -In the UK, Sky One will be showing DS9's 'The Muse' at 16:00 GMT, followed an hour later by Voyager's 'Displaced.' At 18:25 GMT, the BBC will be showing Voyager's 'Concerning Flight.' Thanks go out to the Television Observation Unit of the Star Trek Collective for that last bit of info.

    -In Germany, there won't be any Star Trek on TV until tomorrow at 15:00 CET, which is when Sat.1 will be showing TNG's 'Erwachsene Kinder' (Rascals).

    New at Trekseek.com
    Christian (12:29 pm CST)
    7 new sites were added to TrekSeek yesterday, bringing us to a total of 960 Star Trek sites. Take a look at some of the highlights:

    -Delta Blues has Jim Wright's acclaimed, humor-packed "full summary" Voyager episode reviews. "The next best thing to seeing the episode - sometimes even better!" Also contains original fiction and links.
    - Star Trek provided the very helpful description 'This site is only about Star Trek.' - Not exactly the best description to provide when submitting to a Star Trek search engine...
    -Philip Anglim ~ Acting Naturally has information on Vedek Bareil and Deep Space Nine.

    All the other new sites that were submitted yesterday can be found by going here. However, that is not the only new thing we have to offer, as we finally put up Steven Hartzog's new Site of the Month review:

    The LCARS: Federation Databank will simply dazzle you with style... and take you back to STFC with RealAudio. Wait, another database? What about the SF Collective Database reviewed in January 1999? Isn't this just another database site? ... Uhhh, yes... and no.

    Sure, it's a database - but it is so much more. I am not just talking about the great prizes BobaTrek gives away in his 'Monthly LCARS Contest' either. Although, come to think of it... I want the latest prize myself. (It's only an autographed photo of Chase Masterson of DS9!)

    Steven goes on to provide a review of the site in his usual style, looking at the site's content, organization, look, and technical qualities. New this month, he even provides us with several screenshots of the site! Go check it out!

    Hello World!
    Christian (12:29 pm CST)
    Sorry for the extremely late update today, but for once I actually have a good explanation. Today our web host assigned our sites new IP addresses, which meant that most people who visit the site frequently would not be able to visit the site for a while. In order to try to solve this, I posted messages to the Trekweb and Psi Phi message boards, but then I noticed that most graphics wouldn't work with just the IP numbers. I spent a lot of time fixing that, so now, whenever the site crashes again, at least the graphics will still work ;-).

    Seriously, this should be the last time this happened... my apologies if this gave you any trouble. In case this led you to miss yesterday's news update (which also includes the big news article from the National Enquirer about DS9's final episode), click here to read yesterday's update.

    Saturday April 10, 1999
    Voyager Schedule Updated
    Christian (2:24 pm CST)
    Mr. Video Productions has posted an updated version of the official Voyager schedule, which now confirms the airdates for the last 4 Voyager episodes of this season. No real surprises there - Equinox (the season ender) is still airing on the 26th of May, as expected. Find the full schedule by going here.

    Stewart Returns To Centre Of The Earth
    Christian (2:15 pm CST)
    The people at the Science Fiction Weekly have just posted a review of Rick Wakeman's new CD 'Return to the Centre of the Earth.' The CD is a follow-up to his 1974 album 'Journey to the Centre of the Earth,' which in turn was based on the Jules Verne novel on the same name. The new CD contains 22 new tunes that reflect Verne's tale, while it also contains certain narrative pieces provided by Patrick Stewart (Jean-Luc Picard), which is the reason I'm posting this here. More information on this CD can be found by going here and reading the review.

    'What You Leave Behind' Spoilers
    Christian (2:05 pm CST)
    NOTE: This update contains spoilers for the final episode of DS9. These spoilers are really of the mega-huge variety. In the very likely event you want to avoid reading any of these spoilers, click here to be immediately transported to the spoiler-free safety of the next post.

    Again: Do NOT proceed reading this post if you do NOT want to be spoiled - just click here to move on to the next article and still be able to enjoy the final DS9 episode.

    Leonard Schuurmans at Warp 11 has received an article which will supposedly appear in the April 20 edition of the National Enquirer. The article, which was written by Darryl Wrobel, reveals a lot of interesting information about 'What You Leave Behind,' DS9's final episode:

    Married, with his wife Kasidy expecting a baby, Sisko leads the Federation to a great victory against the Dominion. As Sisko achieves victory, he has another vision from the Prophets and viewers will realize that Sisko's work is not done. Even after the war victory, he will win one final battle with his archenemy Dukat, who is trying to unleash the supernatural forces of the evil to take over the galaxy.

    The next thing viewers know they will see Sisko being congratulated by the Prophets, who tell him he has saved the galaxy. Sisko talks about going home to his pregnant wife but is informed he can't -- because he's dead! The shocking turn is not all sadness for fans. It is explained that Sisko is now one of the Prophets, thriving in an afterlife that enables him to return to his wife in one last vision and tell her what has happened.

    This certainly is a rather shocking end, though it has already been reported that Sisko will be joining the Prophets by a few other sources. According to the insider, the final episodes will bring the Dominion War to a 'shocking and brutal' conclusion, though it'll also pay a lot of attention to some of the major character arcs:

    Senior Chief Miles O'Brien, played by Colm Meaney, returns to Earth to teach at the Star Fleet Academy. Worf (Michael Dorn) leaves Deep Space Nine to become an ambassador. Garak, played by Andrew Robinson, ends his exile on Deep Space Nine and goes back to Cardassia. And Dr. Julian Bashir (Alexander Siddig) finds love with Ezri Dax (Nicole DeBoer).

    Read more on this in the full article - you've been spoiled already, so it won't make much of a difference anymore.

    Warp 11 isn't the only site to have received info on 'What You Leave Behind,' as the Great Link has also just posted several spoiler snippets for the DS9 finale:

  • A love triangle with unexpected happiness.
  • A bed.
  • Kira and Garak on Cardassia Prime.
  • A battle. No, the word 'battle' probably won't do this justice...
  • The truth about the Changeling disease.
  • A betrayal.
  • A very painful lesson.
  • A turning point.
  • A Clever Kai.
  • A Teacher.
  • Ruthless Starfleet.
  • Ruthless Breen.
  • Lots of death.
  • Info about Morn's dinner guests.
  • Klingon beverage

  • More of the Great Link's information on 'What You Leave Behind' can be found at the special page for that episode.

    Spiner Finishes Filming 'Dorothy Dandridge'
    Christian (1:31 pm CST)
    'Dorothy Dandridge' Picture - Courtesy BrentFemme's Brent Spiner Page, Copyright HBO BrentFemme's Brent Spiner Page is reporting that Brent Spiner (Data) has finished filming the HBO movie 'Dorothy Dandrige.' The film, which is currently on the Home Box Office schedule for August, is based on Earl Mills' biography 'Dorothy Dandridge.' Brent Spiner was actually cast as this Earl Mill, who was the manager of Dorothy Dandridge. Take a look at what the film is about, according to the official press release:

    DOROTHY DANDRIDGE traces the true story of the legendary black actress (Berry) from her youth to her tragic early death. Dandridge achieved success in the title role of the 1954 film "Carmen Jones," making history by becoming the first black woman ever nominated for a Best Actress Academy Award.® Along with her accomplishments came heartache and despair over two high-profile failed marriages, a love affair with Otto Preminger (Brandauer), the institutionalization of her only daughter, and drug dependency.

    For more on this (including a larger version of the picture) check out BrentFemme's page, where you'll also be able to find the full press release.

    First 'Trekminds' Broadcast Available
    Christian (1:09 pm CST)
    The German Star Trek Index is reporting that the very first edition of Radio Trek's 'Trekminds' program is now available for your listening pleasure. Trekminds is a bi-weekly radio show in which certain themes will be discussed with listeners via telephone, fax or e-mail. Take a look at what the current edition has to offer you:

  • 'Best Of Both Worlds,' which looks at how users from the German Star Trek and Babylon 5 newsgroups organised a meeting for fans of both series.

  • 'Q Vadis?' A commentary about the development of the most famous Star Trek 'enemy.'

  • The question of the week, in which the question 'What do you imagine about the DS9 final' will be discussed.

  • Trekminds is available for people with 28k8 modems and for people with 56k and ISDN modems. Do keep in mind, though, the program is in German, and you won't understand a word of it if you don't speak the language. More info can be found on the official Trekminds site, which is also only available in German.

    Trekminds banner - copyright German Star Trek Index / Radio Trek

    New Trek Toys Announced
    Christian (12:57 pm CST)
    The Raving Toy Maniac has just posted some new info on several upcoming toy figures. First up is the news that Toy's 'R' Us are now selling the 'Star Trek Champions:'

    The entire series of Star Trek Champions is now available at TRU for $6 each. The pewter statues that have been released in this series to date are Spock in Vulcan Robes from TMP, the movie U.S.S. Enterprise, Captain Kirk from TMP, Khan Noonien Singh from Star Trek II, and the previously unannounced Klingon Bird of Prey.

    Also, Toys 'R' Us are now selling the new assortment of 12-inch figures for a mere $24.99 each. Perhaps in reaction to this, the price of the 12-inch figures at Target has dropped from $34.99 to $29.99. Lastly, the Raving Toy Maniac also has some news on a completely new action figure:

    Captain James. T. Kirk from "A Piece of the Action" will be the fifth Star Trek exclusive offered by ToyFare. The coupon for this figure will be in ToyFare #23, available on May 12th.

    Lots more on this (including pictures of some of these toys) can be found at the Raving Toy Maniac.

    'Someone To Watch Over Me' Pictures
    Christian (12:40 pm CST)
    NOTE: This update contains spoilers for Voyager's upcoming episode 'Someone To Watch Over Me.' Click here to be transported to the next update.

    Warning - a major plot point of the upcoming episode 'Someone To Watch Over Me' will be given away in this update. Click here to move on to the next update.

    'Someone To Watch Over Me' screencap - courtesy the Great Link & Star Trek Monthly Magazine, Copyright ParamountThe Great Link has posted what are probably the first ever images from the Voyager episode 'Someone To Watch Over Me,' which will air on the 28th of April. As you can probably see from the picture this is the episode where the Doctor falls in love with Seven of Nine and takes Seven on her first date. More info on the episode itself and another picture can be found by going here.

    Insurrection DVD To Contain Extras?
    Christian (11:46 am CST)
    The Flagship has a short report up on the 'Star Trek: Insurrection' DVD, which will apparently contain some extra bits:

    For a while now, we've heard rumors that the Insurrection DVD will contain extras other than the trailers, but no one could say for sure. Well, I just checked Chris's DVD Release List on SurroundFreak's Home-theater Site and discovered that the disc will have both trailers and extras, but not commentary (no surprise there). I've been checking Chris's list for a year now, and haven't been led wrong yet. There's no word, though, on what those extras will be . . . but a good guess is that they'll be the scenes cut from the film.

    As soon as more info on this gets out we'll, of course, be reporting on it.

    Star Trek Monthly Interviews John Eaves
    Christian (11:41 am CST)
    The May 1999 issue of the British 'Star Trek Monthly Magazine' contains an interview with TNG and DS9 Illustrator / Designer John Eaves, and the Great Link was kind enough to post the interview to the net. In it, he speaks about the Insurrection ships (which he helped design), his work as a designer on DS9, and the coming end of the series:

    We keep hoping for a new Star Trek series, but we're pretty much realising day by day that it's just not going to happen right now, at least not while we're all still here. So, everybody is a little melancholy about what to do next. I mean, do you go on to something else? Do we starve? Nobody knows for sure. So, we're all kind of biting our nails. It's kind of sad. I've been here for four years and the family aspect of it is what I've enjoyed the most. The show itself has been fun, too, but I've rarely seen Deep Space Nine on the screen. We see episodes or parts of episodes eight or nine times in rough cut before you see them on television, and they always look pretty good. But, really, I'll miss the guys the most. It's kind of like the breaking up of a family.

    Read more in the full interview.

    Nana Visitor Interview At Great Link
    Christian (11:35 am CST)
    The Great Link has published an interview with Nana Visitor (Kira Nerys) that previously appeared in the May issue of the British 'Star Trek Monthly' Magazine. In it, she admits she doesn't really like the way the Odo/Kira relationship is developing:

    Well, frankly, I don't love the whole storyline. I kind of like the idea of a strong friendship remaining a friendship. Having us get together just reinforces the old idea that men and women can't be friends without something else happening. Kira and Odo were really deep friends. I think they probably could have remained just friends. Maybe deep friends can't just be friends, and maybe that's the point the writers are trying to make and I'm mistaken. After all, I married Sid, and he was my best friend. So, there you go!

    Even when she doesn't like this particular plot development, she's still very fond of the show, and is very sad to see it all end:

    I assume that when I wear my uniform for the last show, the last scene, that that will be it, I assume that I'll cry very hard and say good-bye to this character. I've heard rumblings, as I'm sure everyone else has, that some of us from Deep Space Nine might be involved in the next Next Generation movie or that we might eventually have a movie of our own. I just don't see Deep Space Nine movies as a reality, but, if it actually happened, I would be thrilled. I think our entire company could rock on the big screen. I think we could really kick some butt.

    In the full interview Nana Visitor goes on to talk about her experiences over the past 7 years, what she would have done had she been a writer for the show, and she discusses some memorable episodes. Go check it out!

    More On Voyager Writer Shake-Up
    Christian (11:19 am CST)
    Steve Krutzler at TrekWeb has posted an update to his story from yesterday in which he reported that there'd be some major changes in the Voyager writing staff:

    I had the opportunity to speak with Brannon Braga (executive producer, Star Trek: Voyager) about the rumored changes in the writing staff today. Although he did not want to make any comment on the record, I can say that he conceded that some changes are in store for Voyager's writing staff. What exactly the nature of those changes are at this point, he is not able to make any comment.

    TrekWeb's report goes on to say they've received some confirmations of the Ron Moore transfer, as well as a hint that his DS9 colleague Rene Echevarria may be moving over as well. Read more in the full report.

    Daily Sci-Fi Previews Weekly Sci-Fi
    Christian (11:15 am CST)
    The Den's Daily Sci-Fi has put up its weekly look at next week's science-fiction television shows, including the new Voyager and Deep Space Nine offerings, 'Counterpoint' and 'Til Death Do Us Part' respectively. Teasers for these episodes, plus info on all the other major SF shows are also included in the preview, which can be found here.

    Tim Russ Chat Transcript Up
    Christian (11:14 am CST)
    The Continuum has posted an extremely long transcript of Thursday's live chat with Tim Russ (Tuvok). A small selection from some of the best moments from the chat:

    T'Pel asks:
    I heard on the internet that recently Robbie McNeill had a little accident on the set where he almost set himself on fire with a prop? Did that really happen?

    Tim Russ:
    Yes, it did. It was a jet pack strapped to his back during the "Chaotica" episode. The special effects coordinator has often singed us in striving to create excitement in the scenes. Robbie is fine, but he will be, I'm sure, a little more wary about doing that bit again. I think his words were "Never Again"

    3 of 5 asks:
    How do you feel about the cancelation of DS9? Do you think it will affect Voyager in any way?

    Tim Russ:
    I think a lot of the focus from the studios, networks and fans will be on our show as a result of DS9's cancellation. Each one of these shows is planned to go a certain number of years and ours will probably run about the same time. I think it's probably a good idea for the shows to end their run when they are the strongest.

    Ruzena, Czech Republic asks:
    In the Czech dubbing, Tuvok's voice was changed and it does not fit to your "vulcanese" face any longer. Why there does not exist a rule not to change dubbing, or does it?

    Tim Russ:
    Once the show has been completed, here at the studio and is sold... overseas, it is completely out of out hands. That is the responsibility of the distributors in each country. I have seen only one other version of my character... dubbed, and that was in Germany... and it was very strange to see me with someone else's voice coming out of my mouth. But these actors are hired to replace the dialogue very quickly and inexpensively... they do no spend a great deal of time on the artistic aspect of portraying these characters.

    Tim Russ certainly is right about the dubbing - when I'm in Germany, I always try to catch a few Trek episodes, and there are few things more hilarious than hearing some of the German voices. Lots and lots more can be found in the full transcript.

    Gary Hutzel Chat Transcript Finally Up
    Christian (11:14 am CST)
    NOTE: This post contains minor spoilers for some of the DS9 episodes in the Final Chapter. If you want to avoid these spoilers, click here to move on to the next article. Nearly a month after the actual chat took place, the Continuum has finally put up the transcript of the chat with DS9 Visual Effects Producer Gary Hutzel. Looking at the transcript, it is fairly obvious why it was held back so long, as Hutzel provides us with some spoilers of Final Chapter plot elements. All of these have now already been officially confirmed by Paramount, so I guess they decided they could post this transcript as well. Take a look at some of the highlights from the chat:

    Jonny asks:
    How do you create the calendar pictures in each year's Star Trek offerings?

    Gary Hutzel:
    The calendar photos are photographed as four by five inch original transparencies elements and composited electronically in Photoshop. The high resolution output is used for the calendars and in the past, have even appeared 80 feet tall on the side of buildings in Hollywood. No one was more surprised than me when it showed up on the side of a building. No one had said a word about it to me. When I photograph the miniature ships they must be shot as separate elements in order to appear as they do in the television series. A single photograph might have as many as seven separate elements. For instance, the so-called beauty pass is actually only the key light and fill light on the ship. With no additional lights. I will then photograph separately the engines, windows, nacelles, etc. This is so that each element will be correctly exposed and color-corrected for printing in the final composite.

    Crom asks:
    Do you still film models or use al CGI?

    Gary Hutzel:
    Until the end of last season, I had exclusively photographed models for the show. At that time I began to develop an infrastructure for doing photographic quality computer generated ships. We are at this time just reaching the fruition of that process and I hope to use those techniques for the final battle sequences which will most certainly appear in our final episodes.

    chris asks:
    are there plans for another st:tng movie

    Gary Hutzel:
    To my knowledge that is being discussed right now.

    Read more of the transcript by going here, it's very interesting.

    Birth Of The Federation Release Date
    Christian (11:13 am CST)
    Paul Weaver at FedCom posted some extra info on the release date of Microprose's upcoming turn-based strategy game, 'Birth of the Federation:'

    Just been confirming some things with Jeff Holzhauer. The game is still going gold on April 15th, and final work will be finished by 6PM on Wednesday. The master will then be made and sent to be duplicated on the 15th onwards. Everything's going on scedule. The new official release date is the 25th of May, for the USA. Originally the UK and USA releases were meant to be simultaneous, but the US release date for the USA has been put back a week, so it may be out in the UK slightly earlier than the USA.

    According to FedCom, the reason for this delay is to give publisher Hasbro the time to market the game. More on this can be found at FedCom, where you'll also find info on what the development team is currently doing and some news on the Hotseat play option (which does not exist).

    Shatner Stars As 'Big Giant Head'
    Christian (11:13 am CST)
    AnotherUniverse's Daily Buzz is reporting that William Shatner (James T. Kirk) will be guest starring in the season finale of NBC's '3rd Rock From The Sun' comedy series:

    The show's season finale on May 25 will reveal the former Captain Kirk actor to be the leader that has spoken through Harry for three and a half seasons.

    In the hour-long episode, Shatner visits Earth to check on the progress of the aliens' mission, only to wind up drinking to excess, trying to pick up chicks (including Jane Curtin's Mary), and demoting High Commander Dick Solomon (John Lithgow).

    In the full report members of the production crew go on to mention how extremely nice and down-to-earth Shatner was. You can find the full report here.

    Wildstorm's Trek Comics Plans
    Christian (11:12 am CST)
    Michael Doran at AnotherUniverse's Mania Magazine has put up an article looking at the plans of Wildstorm for the Star Trek comics line. Wildstorm recently obtained the Trek comic license through its parent company DC Comics, and currently plans to publish its first Trek comic in November. Readers may expect a slightly different format than before, according to the Mania article:

    As to their early plans for the vast Trek universe, Mariotte explained their take might slightly differ than other comics incarnations that have come before. "First off, we're not planning to do any ongoing series," explained the editor. "Star Trek episodes on TV have always been fairly well self-contained, although individual episodes reflect events from other episodes. So instead of having a long-running ongoing, we're going to do a series of minis and prestige format one-shots, so no individual storyline will run more than 4 issues."

    The article also contains good news for fans of Pocket Books' New Frontier series, as Wildstorm is actually considering publishing New Frontier comics as well:

    Asked if fan-favorite Star Trek comics writer and novelist Peter David (who is on public record as saying he'd only probably be interested in comics based on his New Frontier series of novels) would be considered, Mariotte responded, "Absolutely. Peter and I are talking."

    The full article goes on to talk about the writers that will be contacted and about possible tie-ins with Pocket Books - find it all here.

    Today on TV
    Christian (11:11 am CST)
    -In the US, TV Land will be showing an episode of Star Trek - The Animated Series today at 12:30pm Eastern Time. Thanks go out to Captain Jim at the Trekweb Bulletin Board for reminding me of this.

    -In the UK, Sky One will be showing DS9's great episode 'Hard Time' at 16:00 GMT. An hour later, they're showing Voyager's 'Real Life.'

    -Here in the Netherlands, the AVRO will be showing Voyager's 'Prey' tonight at 18:37 CET on Channel One.

    New at Trekseek.com
    Christian (11:11 am CST)
    7 new sites were submitted to TrekSeek yesterday, bringing us to a total of 954 Star Trek links. As usual, a selection of those new sites:

    -Beta's Voyager Database is your on-line guide to Star Trek: Voyager. Beta's Voyager Database includes episode news, guides, exchanges, reviews, voting arenas, penpals, trivia quizzes, and much more!
    -Lisa's Sci-Fi Conventions Home Page has information on Star Trek and science fiction conventions, including pictures and links.

    Take a look at the other new sites by going here.

    Hello World!
    Christian (11:10 am CST)
    Within a few days we'll be putting in another re-design of the TrekToday main page. This time around, we'll be removing some of the graphics at the top of the page to make room for more news, so that the page will load faster and you'll be able to see the news a few seconds sooner. We don't know how the site is going to look in the end, but I can guarantee you one thing - it's going to look absolutely fantastic :-)!

    Friday April 9, 1999
    Eon Magazine Reviews Trek Toys
    Christian (2:31 pm CST)
    Issue 15.1 of Eon Magazine has putup a review of two new 12" Action Figures - the Spock figure and the Andorian Ambassador figure. Reviewer Jeff Bond was pretty impressed with the figures:

    Playmates has been teasing collectors for a year with a few photos of some beautiful 12 inch Classic STAR TREK alien figures, but up to now we've had to settle with the ridiculously over-priced and somewhat unimpressive "Masterpiece Editions" of the original series's Captain Kirk and TNG's Jean Luc Picard. Now it looks like Playmates will actually be devoting most of their resources to a new line of 12" action figures, with four sets of four standard release figures and at least three twelve inch exclusives to be made available through the STAR TREK fan club COMMUNICATOR magazine later this year.

    If the first releases are any indicator, these figures should easily prove as popular among fans and collectors as Playmates' nine inch line, which appears to be coming to an end this year.

    Read more in the full review, in which Bond awards the figures with an 'A' grade.

    'Trekkies' Head To Head With Star Wars?
    Christian (2:21 pm CST)
    Mr. Showbiz is reporting that Paramount may be looking to attract some Star Wars fans by putting 'Trekkies,' in theaters around America around the same time as the new Star Wars movie will be opening:

    I'm told that Paramount is considering a "wide" opening — hundreds of theaters, as opposed to the usual dozen or so in major cities that would be appropriate for a documentary. Paramount publicity is telling me that nothing has been decided.

    [...]

    The doc has played the festival circuit and was well-reviewed by Variety and The Hollywood Reporter. I don't know how many disappointed Star Wars fans who can't get into showings of The Phantom Menace will be that anxious to see Trekkies, but Paramount's (alleged) plan to open it in this fashion seems reasonably canny.

    No news on a European release, unfortunately for me :-(. More on this can be found in the full news report, thanks go out to Evelyn Gago for posting this to the rec.arts.startrek.current newsgroup.

    Voyager Writing Staff Shake-Ups?
    Christian (2:10 pm CST)
    TrekWeb has just posted a very interesting report about the Voyager writing staff, which could be undergoing some major changes next year:

    Reports are surfacing which say that after this season Ken Biller is "gone" to work on other things and Ron Moore was asked to transfer to Voyager - a move which Ron has denied online for months. But rumors place a Ron Moore/Voyager deal already in motion. Status of others (Bryan Fuller, Joe Menosky, Rene Echevarria (DS9)) is still to be determined (except Brannon Braga and Michael Taylor who will remain for sure).

    For a while another paragraph was attached to this report, which mentioned that Brannon Braga had apparently said something at AOL along the lines of 'Good to have him aboard.' This paragraph has now been removed, so I don't know if Braga really said this.

    McNeill Film To Be Shown At Film Festival
    Christian (2:04 pm CST)
    RanDoM Flight, the official fan club of Robert Duncan McNeill (Tom Paris) has some news up on McNeill's short film 'The Battery:'

    Robbie's short film, "The Battery," was shown during the recent 1999 Newport Beach Film Festival and has been accepted at the Canyonlands Film Festival, which will be held in Moab, Utah, on the weekend of April 15 - April 19, 1999. While Robbie won't be able to attend the Canyonlands festival due to his previous commitment to appear at the Starland convention in Denver that weekend, "The Battery" will be shown during the festival and will compete for the festival prizes. For more information and ticketing, visit the festival website.

    According to the fan club's web site, 'The Battery' was directed and co-written by Robert Duncan McNeill himself, who has been more and more active on the directorial front. More news on McNeill, including some upcoming convention dates, can be found at the RanDoM Flight news page.

    Sci-Fi Talk Interviews Brent Spiner
    Christian (1:52 pm CST)
    The Sci-Fi Talk online magazine has just up a new interview with Brent Spiner (Data), which was conducted near the end of 1998. In it, Brent Spiner gives a long answer on the question 'Will there be another movie:'

    I don't know. Hollywood USA is a business. Star Trek is very big business for Paramount Pictures. So if the film is successful, then there will be another one. It is approaching that we're all getting a bit long in the tooth to keep doing these. I wish we were all 15 years younger and could keep doing a whole slew of them. But we did do a whole slew of them on television.

    I don't think we have much time left. I don't. I think I'm good for one more and after that the suitability quotient is out the window. I don't think I would be believable in the character. for very much longer.

    I actually called Rick Berman before they wrote the script and asked him, Why don't we kill Data off in this one ? He said why? I said well one, it's bound to make an interesting scene in the movie. It will have value on that level. Two, Paramount doesn't have to negotiate with me anymore. Which I'm sure would make them happy. Because it does get increasingly difficult. It 's always about establishing what you think you're value is as opposed to what they think your value is. You push it as far as you can and their idea of what your value is changes. But it's a necessary evil of this kind of deal. It's not fun for anyone. So I said they won't have to go through that again. Thirdly, you won't get into a situation where you write a script with me in it and I say I don't want to do it then your stuck having to rewrite.

    Well he said that he was going into a meeting with the executives from Paramount and the writer. I 'll let you know. A few weeks later, I get a script in the mail. On the script there is a card with Rick Berman on it and it said, "Sorry, Kill you next time."

    There's a lot more in the full interview, in which Spiner goes on to mention that he'd love to be able to do more movies, but that it simply wouldn't be believable anymore. Fascinating reading. Major thanks go out to Welcome, Brent Spiner Fans! for pointing me to this.

    Minor Nog Spoilers
    Christian (1:33 pm CST)
    NOTE: This update contains very minor spoilers about the character of Nog on Deep Space Nine. Personally I'd say you can probably read these spoilers, but if you really want to avoid it click here to be transported to the next article.

    Section 31 received some interesting news from Jason Chappel about a possible promotion for Nog:

    I received word from my cousin who is working on a new paramount movie, that Nog will be made a Lieutenant. My uncle was walking around the Paramount lot on his lunch break, when he saw Aron Eisenberg standing outside Stage 18, wearing his "ears" and wearing a new set of pips.

    Considering the size of these pips, I do wonder how he was actually able to see this... let's hope for Nog he had his glasses on.

    Jammer Reviews 'Think Tank'
    Christian (1:08 pm CST)
    Jamahl Epsicokhan has just put up his latest 'Jammer's Review' at Star Trek Hypertext. In it, he analyzes last week's Voyager episode 'Think Tank:'

    "Think Tank" is a fairly enjoyable hour that's halfway effective, but shows Voyager making compromises with itself. It reveals a surprising amount about what works about this series and what doesn't.

    This episode works as a reasonable TOS-like entertainment that pushes the buttons on the control panel labeled "ESTABLISHED PLOTTING LORE," and comes off as something watchable. Where the episode suffers is in its use of so many plot elements that aren't developed to their full potential; the episode refuses to dig deeper for something more challenging, which is ironic considering one of the episode's main themes is about seeking out challenges.

    In the end, he awards the episode 2.5 out of 4 stars - find his full reasons for that here.

    New Sev Trek Competition
    Christian (12:52 pm CST)

    Sev Trek header
    Write Your Own Sev Trek Competition - cartoon spoofs of Star Trek. Copyright 1999 by John Cook.

    A new edition of the weekly Sev Trek competition has just gone up at the Sev Wide Web:

    The Fungi Rules of Acquisition
    This week is a little different - there will be multiple winners as YOU write the Fungi Rules of Acquisition! At the April 17 judging session, we will RANK the top punchlines and the highest ranking punchlines will go into the comic strip (as many as can fit).

    As usual, you can submit your punchlines here. Info on how to participate in the judging sessions can be found here.

    'Relativity' Synopsis Available
    Christian (12:43 pm CST)
    NOTE: This update contains spoilers for the upcoming Voyager episode 'Relativity.' If you want to avoid reading these spoilers, click here to move on to the next article.

    This morning, someone sent me a detailed synopsis of the script of the upcoming Voyager episode 'Relativity,' which will probably air on the 12th of May:

    I have in hand the original script of a Voyager episode "Relativity" The title refers to the 29th Century Federation Timeship "Relativity" whose mission is to protect the time line. The story is by Nick Sagan and the teleplay is by Bryan Fuller, Nick Sagan, and Michael Taylor. It is directed by Allan Eastman. Below is a synopsis of the script by act, please feel free to post it to your web site and distribute it to others.

    Even though many other Trek sites have also posted this synopsis, I've now put it up at TrekToday as well. The synopsis contains a detailed breakdown of the teaser and the following five acts, and you probably shouldn't read it if you still want to be surprised about the episode. If that doesn't bother you, click here to read the synopsis. Do keep in mind, though, that even this should be seen as a rumour, and hasn't been officially confirmed yet.

    Daily Sci-Fi Reviews 'Penumbra'
    Christian (12:00 pm CST)
    The people at the Den's Daily Sci-Fi have just put up Sarah Kuhn's review of the first DS9 Final Chapter episode, 'Penumbra.' Even though she finds some parts of the episode rather hard to believe, in general she really likes the episode:

    So, right off: about Worf and Ezri. I don't buy it. Not in this galaxy or any other one, not for a second. I want to. But I don't.

    That said, let's rewind. Here we have the beginning of what is to be "DS9's" last arc, and it drops plenty of excellent hints (well, maybe not "hints" if you've read the spoilers) as to what's going to happen. I appreciate that they're allowing the story to unfold slowly, in the grandiose style of one of my favorite arcs of all time, the Bajoran trilogy from Season #2.

    Lots more can be found in the full review, in which Kuhn awards the episode 4 out of 5 stars.

    Robert Picardo Real Video
    Christian (11:25 am CST)
    The Star Trek Universe is reporting that the 'Air and Space Channel' have a video interview with Robert Picardo (Holodoc) online. The Real Video interview (which is only available live, and not for download) is split into two parts - in one he's talking to the audience, and in the other he's being interviewed. In the videos, Picardo talks about his role on Voyager and about some of the technology Star Trek is using. More on this, including links to the 56k6 versions of the videos, can be found by going here and scrolling down somewhat.

    Viacom Launching Science-Fiction Channel
    Christian (11:25 am CST)
    A Reuters/Variety report written by Richard Katz and Laura Freeman mentions that Viacom, parent company of Paramount, will soon be launching its own science-fiction television channel:

    Viacom chairman Sumner Redstone, whose company owns the ''Star Trek'' franchise, Thursday mentioned plans to launch a cable network to compete against the Sci-Fi Channel. ``Our sci-fi channel will consist of real, true sci-fi, not horror,'' Redstone said, a jab at Sci-Fi, which also airs fantasy and horror fare.

    Viacom's Paramount division certainly has produced plenty of attractive sci-fi programming. However, its original ``Star Trek'' as well as ``The Twilight Zone'' have been sold to Sci-Fi Channel until at least 2004. Viacom, however, has not sold the rerun rights to its three newer ``Star Trek'' spinoffs, ``The Next Generation,'' ``Deep Space Nine'' and ``Voyager.''

    Redstone also said that contractual obligations forbid them from launching a sci-fi service until after fall of 2001, but that they would introduce their sci-fi station within the next few years. Coincidentally, Voyager will probably end its run early 2001, so perhaps Viacom's new sci-fi service will be launched together with a Trek Series V.

    More on this can be found in the full article, including some comments from a Viacom spokesperson who denies that the company has any definite plans yet, and some statements from the Sci-Fi Channel's management.

    DS9 Rerun Ratings Available
    Christian (11:25 am CST)
    Ratings reports for two DS9 episodes, 'Chrysalis' and 'Treachery, Faith and the Great River,' are now also available at the Star Trek Nielsen Ratings Information Database. These episodes were both repeats, and aired a few weeks ago. 'Chrysalis' didn't do that well, though that was already expected:

    "Chrysalis" started this run of reruns in less than convincing fashion, earning a 3.5 rating, tying with "Image In the Sand" as the lowest rerun rating of the year. That's also down quite a bit from last year's 4.6 rerun rating for "Favor the Bold." Xena and Hercules, also in reruns, both defeated DS9 on the week. Xena was the top syndie drama with a 3.9, Hercules trailed with a 3.7.

    The ratings for 'Treachery, Faith and the Great River' were more of a surprise - and not a good one:

    "Treachery, Faith, and the Great River" stayed flat from last week, equaling the mark of "Chrysalis," a 3.5. That ties with "Image in the Sand" and "Chrysalis" as the lowest-rated rerun of the year. That's also down a lot from last year's "Sacrifice of Angels," which nabbed a 4.6.

    [...]

    This mark could have been higher, especially considering the fact that "Treachery..." was the highest-rated firstrun episode this year. However, the 3.5 mark isn't a disaster, and the next two episodes should at least hold that mark, perhaps improve it.

    More can be found in the 'Chrysalis' report and the 'Treachery...' report.

    'Infinite Regress' Overnight Ratings
    Christian (11:24 am CST)
    The Star Trek Nielsen Ratings Information Database has posted its overnight ratings report for the repeat of Voyager's 'Infinite Regress,' which aired on Wednesday. The news is not good:

    "Infinite Regress" started this next burst of reruns with a whimper, earning a 3.3 rating, 5 share. That's one of the lowest overnight ratings this season and a bit lower than the last couple reruns.

    As would be expected, Voyager finished 6th in its timeslot, behind the other networks' mostly firstrun episodes. The WB's "Charmed" was the closest at a 6.4/10. It is possible that Fox's special on sexy commercials (9.1/14) drained some of Voyager's audience -- they do target the same demographic.

    Fortunately, according to the full report, not all hope may yet be lost. Find out why in the actual report.

    Today on TV
    Christian (11:24 am CST)
    -At 17:00 GMT, British television station Sky One will be showing Voyager's 'Before & After.' The episode also repeats at 23:30 GMT.

    -In Germany, Sat.1 will be showing Voyager's 'Unvergessen' (Unforgettable) tonight at 19:15 CET. They're also repeating TNG's 'Eine echte Q' (True Q) tomorrow morning at 02:55 CET.

    New at Trekseek.com
    Christian (11:24 am CST)
    Just a week ago we were celebrating reaching 900 links, and now TrekSeek is already halfway through to the magic 1000! No less than 8 new sites were submitted yesterday, including the following three sites:

    -The Julian/Ezri Relationshippers is the first site dedicated to the relationship of Dr. Julian Bashir and Lt. Ezri Dax of Star Trek: Deep Space Nine.
    -The Starship Design Bureau is a web site with information on how to edit Birth of the Federation, Microprose's upcoming turn-based strategy game.
    -Pete's Star Trek for Dummies is a Trek site containing the history of each series and movie. With pics, sounds, and a starship registry.

    Take a look at the five other new sites by going here.

    Hello World!
    Christian (11:23 am CST)
    Well, I indeed wasn't able to complete yesterday's news update, but the reason for that is *not* that I had no time - no, my ISP simply decided to break down in the middle of my update. As promised, today I'll be posting all the news I wasn't able to post yesterday, so you won't be missing out on anything :-).

    Thursday April 8, 1999
    Tim Russ Chat Tonight
    Christian (1:40 pm CST)
    As a reminder, the Continuum will be hosting a chat with Tim Russ (Tuvok) this evening at 06:30pm Pacific Time. In the chat, you'll be able to ask him questions about 'life as a Vulcan on Star Trek:Voyager,' but he'll probably answer other questions as well. Detailed info on how to participate can be found here, while you also have the chance to submit advance questions.

    Delta Blues Not Shutting Down
    Christian (1:36 pm CST)
    A few days ago, the April issue of the Starfleet Journal newsletter was published. The newsletter also contained a new edition of 'Notes from Sandrine's Bar,' the column of Jim Wright. In the column, he mentioned he'd been approached by a Paramount representative (April Poole), who had ordered him to remove his reviews from his Delta Blues web site.

    If you didn't get that this was an April Fools joke (perhaps because the column didn't go online until a few days after the 1st of April), a few days ago Jim put up the following notice at the Delta Blues site:

    Yes, it is an April Fools column. Do not send outraged letters to Paramount, UPN, Viacom, or anyone associated with the letters TPTB. I am NOT being shut down. Direct all flames my way. Chalk it up to my 35th birthday, a nasty flu and a 24-hour case of terminal adolescence. All the same, I'm pretty darn pleased with how it turned out. (Reaction has ranged from "Not Funny" to "one of the best pranks I've ever seen." Take a look and decide for yourself.)

    No less than 3 people sent me a mail about this, so I thought I'd also post this explanation here on the site. Meanwhile, the original column that caused all the trouble can be found by going here, while Delta Blues can still be found here.

    UPN Hacks On
    Christian (1:00 pm CST)
    Apparently UPN doesn't seem to mind all the publicity, as the station is still continuing their Voyager hack job - yesterday's repeat of 'Infinite Regress' had another few minutes removed, according to Vidiot's report:

    Note: the original airing was only 45:20 in length. It was 30 seconds shorter because of the Star Trek: Insurrection behind-the-scenes piece. This was a tough one to figure out, because of pieces that were restored and the pieces that were removed. My guess is that they actually edited a full 45:50 version. UPN had a chance to restore the original length, but instead they $#^%(@ it. The fans get screwed yet a second time with this episode.

    In the end, UPN removed 1 minute and 45 seconds of footage from the episode, while they restored a mere 19 seconds. A detailed breakdown can be found in Vidiot's full report.

    DS9 Rumour Control At Ain't It Cool
    Christian (12:47 pm CST)
    NOTE: This update contains spoilers for DS9's Final Chapter. If you do *not* want to be spoiled, click here to be transported to the next article.

    Final Warning: Some spoilers for the last episodes of DS9's final season are contained in this update. Click here to move on to the next article.

    Glen at Ain't It Cool News has just put up a report dealing with DS9's final episode:

    First up, I have (literally) just received the script to the final episode of Star Trek: Deep Space Nine.

    Glen goes on to say that he hasn't actually read the script yet, but that he can provide us with some info on what *won't* be in the DS9 finale:

  • No Enterprise-E appears in the finale. There is a space battle which could, in theory, incorporate the ship - but no Enterprise-E characters (other than DS9 series regular Worf) appear in the script, and there is no specification that the Enterprise-E makes an appearance in any way.

  • No Gowron.

  • No Spock.

  • No Sloane (although there is a reference to Section 31).

  • Considering that, according to what is currently thought to happen, Gowron and Sloane will be dealt with in episodes taking place before the finale, some of this isn't all that surprising. It's a pity the Enterprise-E isn't appearing, though, I would have liked a small cameo appearance. The full report also contains a list of characters who *will* be in the DS9 finale (including Morn! Hurrah!) - find it all here.

    Internet Explorer 5 Has Star Trek Easter Egg
    Christian (11:26 am CST)
    Kyle Beckman, owner of the Observation Lounge Forums, sends in some incredible news - the most recent release of Microsoft's Internet Explorer contains a reference to Star Trek! If you have Internet Explorer 5.0, and want to see the easter egg, do the following:

    1. From the IE 5.0 menu, select Tools, Internet Options, General, then click the Languages button.
    2. Click the Add button.
    3. Enter "ie-ee" without the quotes and click OK.
    4. Move the ie-ee entry to the top of the list.
    5. Exit the Tools configuration dialog box.
    6. Click the Search button on the tool bar and examine the new options in the Search pane.
    7. Click the radio button next to "Find Yourself" and then perform a search.

    I'm not telling you exactly what the easter egg is, you'll have to find that out for yourself. I *can* say, however, that it's absolutely wonderful and you definitely have to give it a try!

    'Dr. Soran' Stars In 'Visitors'
    Christian (11:26 am CST)
    Cinescape Online is reporting that Malcolm McDowell (Dr. Tolian Soran, 'Generations') has joined the cast of 'The Visitors,' a remake of the French science fiction film Les Visiteurs. In the movie, McDowell will play the part of a wizard, according to the article. The movie will start shooting later this month in Chicago and in the United Kingdom.

    Former Paramount Employee Speaks Out
    Christian (11:25 am CST)
    The Den's Daily Sci-Fi has posted a letter from a former Paramount employee, who provides some insight in what is 'really' going on at Paramount:

    As a former Paramount employee, I was there when Voyager and ST:First Contact were launched and saw first-hand the confusion at how something that premieres with such powerful numbers can drop so far so fast. The simple truth is two-fold:

    1. The once "Holy Franchise" is not itself tired. However, those who run the show are creatively burnt out and are also no longer on the cutting-edge of Sci-fi. Furthermore, they have lost touch with their core audience and have failed to recognize that this same audience has not only become increasingly sophisticated, but has ever-rising expectations. The problem with replacing them is that the forces behind Trek have such a cozy and financially rewarding relationship with the administration at the studio that replacing them is very, very difficult. After all, it's not easy to fire your friends, people whose kid's birthday parties you bring your kids to on a regular basis.

    This 'insider' also goes on to mention that the producers fail to see they're quickly becoming an anachronism, as, in a few years, '3 kids working out of their parents garage' will be able to take over from them and produce the next high-quality science-fiction epic. A bit more from this obviously unbiased *former* Paramount employee can be found by going here.

    Mania Magazine Reviews 'Penumbra'
    Christian (11:25 am CST)
    Michelle Erica Green at AnotherUniverse's Mania Magazine has put up her review of DS9's 'Penumbra,' the first episode of the Final Chapter:

    I watched this show with a sense of foreboding and loss, knowing that it's the beginning of the end for this series and probably for some of these characters. It was superb: considering that my favorite DS9 characters are Kira and Odo and we barely saw them for a minute, I was surprised at how powerful I found "Penumbra."

    The full review contains mroe of Michelle Erica Green's analysis, and also provides us with a detailed synopsis of the episode.

    Gamecenter Previews Birth Of The Federation
    Christian (11:25 am CST)
    The people at Gamecenter have just put up a short preview of the upcoming turn-based strategy game 'Birth of the Federation.' The preview, written by Todd Volz, begins as follows:

    What do you get when you cross Master of Orion II and Star Trek? Thankfully, not a disappointing muddle like Star Trek Generations, MicroProse's last foray into the Star Trek universe. On this voyage, the developer has steered the right course; players can look forward to its promising turn-based strategy game Star Trek: The Next Generation--Birth of the Federation, shipping late this May for the PC and in June for the Mac.

    Admirably, after weathering a two-year development cycle and MicroProse's buyout by Hasbro Interactive, Birth of the Federation has not lost its focus. We recently put a late beta to the test, and we can safely say it still promises Next Generation fans a dose of deep strategy in the context of their favorite universe.

    Find out why in the full preview. Thanks go out to Evil Avatar for pointing me to this.

    Official DS9 Finale Press Release
    Christian (11:24 am CST)
    Paramount has just issued an official press release which talks about the upcoming end of DS9, and also confirms 'What You Leave Behind' as the final episode title:

    Paramount's STAR TREK: DEEP SPACE NINE, the #1 first-run drama series in national syndication, ends its highly successful seven-year run with the filming of a two-hour final episode entitled ``What You Leave Behind.'' Production began last week and continues through April 20. ``What You Leave Behind,'' written by Ira Steven Behr and Hans Beimler and directed by Allan Kroeker, will air the week of May 31, 1999.

    [...]

    Executive Producer Ira Steven Behr [says], ``There will be closure of the story arcs for all nine main characters, as well as for the over 20 guest stars that will appear in the episode. Additionally, viewers can expect one of the biggest special effects sequences the show has ever done.''

    The rest of the press release goes on to talk about the show's history, and also has a remarkable quote from Rick Berman in which he says that they 'had always intended to tell the story of DEEP SPACE NINE in the span of seven years' - I wonder if that's the case for Voyager as well?

    Today on TV
    Christian (11:24 am CST)
    -The Sci-Fi Channel will be showing the third-season TOS episode 'Elaan of Troyius' tonight at 7:00pm and at 11:00pm Eastern Time.

    -In the UK, Sky One is showing Voyager's 'Favourite Son' at 17:00 GMT. The episode also repeats at 23:30 CET, in case you miss it.

    -Lastly, German television station Sat.1 is repeating TNG's 'In den Subraum entführt' (Schisms) tomorrow at 01:40 CET in the morning. At 15:00 CET tomorrow, they're showing 'Eine echte Q' (True Q)

    New at Trekseek.com
    Christian (11:24 am CST)
    After receiving six new site submissions yesterday, TrekSeek is now up to 940 Star Trek links. Take look at some of those new sites:

    -The Alpha Quadrant Institute of Technology is home to more than 50 original Federation, Klingon, Romulan, and Gorn ships, as well as VIVA LAS VEGAS, the highest center of learning in the galaxy.
    -KA Chang's Fleet, hosted at the Trek Gaming Alliance we reported on yesterday, is a Klingon Academy site, containing lots of information on Klingon Academy.

    All the other new sites can be found by going here.

    Hello World!
    Christian (11:23 am CST)
    Sorry for the rather late start - I don't have much time today, and I'm not even sure if I'll be able to finish a complete update. If not, I'll see if I have the time to add another short update tomorrow morning, if not, I'll make it up in tomorrow's regular update again.

    Wednesday April 7, 1999
    DS9 Final Chapter Spoilers At SF World
    Christian (1:10 pm CST)
    NOTE: This update contains huge (*H*U*G*E*) spoilers for DS9's Final Chapter - you probably want to avoid them and still be able to enjoy the episode. Click here to do exactly that and move on to the next article.

    Final warning - click here to be transported to the next news item and avoid these spoilers.

    Once again, Sci-Fi World has posted very major spoilers for most of the episodes in DS9's Final Chapter. As there are simply so immensely many spoilers available at the site, I'll just sum up the most important ones:

  • In 'Eclipse,' the third Final Chapter episode, the leader of the Breen ('Thot Gor') and the Female Changeling begin preparations to sign an alliance. Damar objects to this, as concessions made to the Breen may end up harming Cardassia. Meanwhile, Kai Winn and Anjhol (Dukat in disguise) pledge to restore Bajor, even if the Emissary stands in their way.

  • In 'Tacking Into the Wind,' the sixth Final Chapter episode, Gowron and Martok get into an argument, as Martok believes Gowron's strategies are too risky. Worf agrees with Martok, and challenges Gowron to a fight, after which Martok is named Chancellor. Meanwhile, Kira and Garak are helping Damar with his resistance movement, while Odo is suffering more and more from the Changeling disease (though he tries to keep it hidden from his friends).

  • In 'Night Tremors,' the 7th Final Chapter episode, Bashir and O'Brien lure Section 31 director Sloan to the station, where they want to try to get a cure for the Changeling disease for Odo.

  • In the penultimate Final Chapter episode, 'The Dogs Of War,' the new Defiant arrives (the old one was destroyed by the Breen.) The Cardassian resistance movement grows in support, though they're being hunted by the Dominion and the Breen. Sisko is plagued in many ways - he learns that Kassidy Yates is pregnant, and he has to launch a major offensive against the Dominion.

  • As I said, this is just a tiny portion of what's available - get all the info at Sci-Fi World.

    Trek Gaming Alliance Opens
    Christian (12:52 pm CST)
    Trek Gaming Alliance LogoTDawg sends along word that the Trek Gaming Alliance has finally opened. The site is aiming to be the only Trek gaming site you'll ever need to visit, offering discussion boards, a Trek store, and daily updated news on everything dealing with Trek gaming news. I can certainly recommend the site to everyone - the Trek Gaming Alliance is probably going to be a regular TrekToday source. Check the site out by clicking here - you won't be disappointed!

    'Can UPN Survive?' Asks Article
    Christian (12:18 pm CST)
    Following yesterday's New York Post Article, another article looking at the recent Voyager-hacking has gone up at Backstage Pass, entitled 'Can UPN Survive?' Apparently the answer to that question does not necessarily have to be 'yes:'

    "It's pretty dismal around here," one UPN staffer anonymously confided in me a few weeks ago. "We don't know if we'll have a job for much longer." This feeling wasn't helped recently when producer Colombia / Tristar asked UPN for a guarantee that the network would stay in business. The network refused and everyone started talking. It's not unusual for a network to ask for a guarantee from a producer but the opposite is virtually unheard of. UPN has said that the request wasn't necessary.

    [...]

    Affiliates are moving or dropping UPN programming in favor of higher rated syndicated fare such as Xena or even Baywatch. With rival network The WB and Bud Paxson's new PaxNet making offers to independent stations as well, it's become time for UPN to put up to shut up, literally.

    Of course, as the article mentions, the Voyager hacking isn't a sign of a healthy financial situation either, and the full article explores this further. Thanks go out to Vidiot's site itself for the link.

    Final 'Think Tank' Ratings Available
    Christian (11:41 am CST)
    The Star Trek Nielsen Ratings Information Database has put up the final ratings report for Voyager's 'Think Tank,' which fortunately did a lot better than the disastrous 'The Fight' episode:

    "Think Tank" rebounded from last week's disaster, bringing Voyager back to right around its season average, earning a 3.7 rating, 6 share. That's up 22% from last week's "The Fight," Voyager's lowest-rated episode ever to air. Last year's episode airing this week was a rerun, but "Think Tank" easily defeated the episode from last season airing nearest to this week, "Vis a Vis," which only mustered up a 3.1.

    Of course, this might have something to do with the Jason Alexander guest appearance, but these ratings are still encouraging. Find more in the full report.

    Trek CCG World Championship Details
    Christian (11:38 am CST)
    More info is coming out everyday at the Decipher web site about the upcoming Championships. Their latest report provides us with extra details on the World Championship:

    Each of the three phases of this year's World Championship is explained with hints and tips for tournament directors and players.

    Phase 1: Regional Preliminary events
    Phase 2: Regional, Open and Invitational Championships
    Phase 3: 1999 Star Trek CCG World Championship Weekend

    Full details for these three phases can be found by going here.

    Jeri Ryan Appearing On Talk Show
    Christian (11:32 am CST)
    According to the Official Jeri Lynn Ryan Homepage, Jeri Ryan (Seven of Nine) will be making an appearance on the 'The Late Late Show with Craig Kilborn' on Monday, April 12. More info on the late late show can be found at the official web site, which is actually pretty funny - don't forget to try its 'search' engine!

    William Shatner Appearing On Talk Show
    Christian (11:23 am CST)
    The William Shatner Connection is reporting that today, William Shatner (Kirk) will be taped for an appearance on the Donny & Marie Talk show. The show will be aired on Wednesday April 28, three weeks from now. More information on the talk show itself can be found at the Donny & Marie web site.

    DS9 February Ratings Report
    Christian (11:19 am CST)
    The Star Trek Nielsen Ratings Information Database has (finally) published its February ratings report for Star Trek: Deep Space Nine. This report brings us both bad and good news:

    Unsuprisingly, every episode in this period was off from the previous year, some by quite a bit. The closest DS9 came to a season 6 mark was "Badda-Bing, Badda-Bang," which was off by a still fairly hefty 11%. The top episode of the month ended up being "The Emperor's New Cloak," which like "Who Mourns for Morn?" last year, opened the month with a strong comedy performance.

    [...]

    On the season, DS9 has taken a lead of .05 of a rating point over Xena, with Hercules trailing far more, down in third. Despite the lead, this month did have quite a few dark spots. Both "Badda-Bing, Badda-Bang," and "Field of Fire" tied the all-time low mark for DS9 set by "The Sound of Her Voice" and "Tears of the Prophets" last year.

    Deep Space Nine did take over the #1 syndicated drama spot, but, unfortunately, the only reason for this is that its two main competitors did even worse than DS9. In any case, a full analysis of DS9's ratings, including detailed comparisons with last year, can be found by clicking here.

    Paramount Releasing More TNG Home Videos
    Christian (11:18 am CST)
    The Continuum is reporting that Paramount will soon be releasing the last TNG episodes on home video, plus two special Star Trek documentaries:

    Star Trek: Thirty Years and Beyond, the 1996 TV special hosted by Ted Danson with the largest assembly of Star Trek actors ever, and the in-depth documentary Inside Star Trek: The Real Story are both available on that date for $14.95 suggested retail. Collectors who order them together in the special "Star Trek: The Experience Gift Set" will find a free pass for two to the acclaimed Las Vegas Hilton attraction, good through August 31, 2000.

    These videos will be relased on the 25th if May, which is also when the last six regular episodes of TNG's 7th season will be released on home video. For a detailed list of the episodes to be released, or for info on all the other Trek home videos, take a look at the full article.

    Why Seska Won't Be Back
    Christian (11:18 am CST)
    AnotherUniverse's Mania Magazine has just put up a lengthy interview with Martha Hackett, the actress who guest-starred as Seska on Voyager. According to the article, she certainly has been keeping herself busy since her role on Voyager ended:

    The actress has been very busy in the months since she last appeared on the series - appearing in the play The Women at Washington, D.C.'s prestigious Arena Stage, playing a role in the Drew Barrymore romantic comedy Never Been Kissed, which opens this month - not to mention taking care of the baby with whom she was pregnant when she appeared on the show.

    Even though all these roles have been a lot of fun for her, in the interview she says that she'd love to come back on Voyager. As a matter of fact, until a few days before the episode where she died started filiming, she nearly wouldn't have had to leave at all!

    In the original draft of "Basics" - the two-part episode which ended the second season of Voyager and launched the third - the plan was to keep Seska around while Kazon nemesis Culluh paid the ultimate price for challenging Janeway. But during the transition over hiatus, when executive producer Michael Piller stepped down and Jeri Taylor took over his role, a decision was made to take the series in another direction. Seska was killed when Janeway's allies reclaimed Voyager, and it appeared that her role on the series was finished.

    [...]

    The rumor from Paramount at the time was that Taylor wanted to get rid of Piller's Kazon arc as quickly as possible because it wasn't popular with viewers, but in doing so, much of the drama which had been built during the second season was erased.

    This isn't the only problem Hackett sees with Voyager, but to hear more about that, you'll have to read the full article, written by Michelle Erica Green In it, Hackett also talks about her experiences in the first several Voyager seasons, her more recent projects, and her fans. Check it out here.

    Strategy Gaming Previews Starfleet Command
    Christian (11:17 am CST)
    Strategy Gaming Online has put up a new preview of Interplay's upcoming strategy game, Starfleet Command. Writer Steve Lieb sat down with the game, and was very impressed with how the game played:

    The actual tactical play was great. The few SFB grognards I discussed this with looked askance at me when I told them it had been converted to real-time. But it works, in my opinion. They've worked hard to hold onto the SFB "feel" and the conversion to real-time only improves the game by eliminating the "end of turn fire everything" tactics. Gameplay IS in 2d (as in the boardgame) - something that might surprise some given the ability of a computer to handle the mathematical chores. However, the SFB system is complex enough to be entertaining without this additional difficult "chrome". Anyone who played the boardgame probably tried some kludgy house rule to play in the 3rd dimension, and more frequently than not, it ended with people getting bored without any real addition to gameplay. (For that matter, in the media they really only remembered the Z-axis once anyway in the Wrath of Khan. So it's no big loss!)

    The rest of the preview contains a look at the game's history, its graphics, and even has several screenshots for you to look at. You can find it all here, and thanks go out to Evil Avatar for pointing me to this.

    'Christmas Carol' Cast
    Christian (11:17 am CST)
    Cinescape Online has just put up a short article in which details of the 'Christmas Carol' cast are presented. Even though this TV adaptation of Patrick Stewart's one-man theater show wrapped several weeks ago, only now do we get to hear who's actually in it:

    In addition to Stewart as Ebenezer Scrooge, Richard E. Grant (The Scarlet Pimpernel) will play the part of Bob Cratchit and Joel Grey will play the Ghost of Christmas Past. David Jones directed from a script by Peter Barnes.

    Find more in the full article.

    Today on TV
    Christian (11:17 am CST)
    -Tonight at 9:00pm Eastern / Pacific Time UPN will be repeating Voyager's 'Infinite Regress,' the episode where '7of9 is taken over by the personalities of those she had assimilated as a Borg.' (quote from the UPN site)

    -The SciFi Channel people have apparently decided to cut their losses and stop putting any effort at all in their Original Series episodes. They have now even removed the "today's episode" listing from the main page, just leaving us with the standard ScheduleBot to find out which Trek episodes they're showing. Tonight they're showing the third-season episode 'The Empath,' which airs, as usual, at 7:00pm and at 11:00pm GMT.

    -In the UK, Sky One will be showing Voyager's 'Rise' at 17:00 CET and at 23:30 CET. At 18:00 CET, the BBC will be showing TNG's 'Time's Arrow, Part One.' Thanks go out to the Television Observation Unit of the Star Trek Collective for the BBC info.

    -In Germany, Sat.1 will be repeating TNG's 'Besuch von der alten Enterprise' (Relics) at 02:00 CET tomorrow morning. At 15:00 tomorrow, they're showing TNG's 'In den Subraum entführt' (Schisms)

    New at Trekseek.com
    Christian (11:15 am CST)
    After five new site submissions yesterday, TrekSeek has now reached an impressive 935 Star Trek links. Take a look at three of those new sites:

    -The Dol Guldur Federation is a worldwide sci-fi (including Star Trek) and fantasy fan organization. Here you'll find information about the club, how to join and what you'll gain from joining. You can join their mailing list and meet other members. You can also chat with them on their registered IRC channel.
    -The official site of Star Trek: The Magazine contains sections from the official magazine and also information on how to subscribe.
    -ConMonality is an Earth: Final Conflict convention featuring many cast members and Gene Roddenberry Jr.

    For a look at all the other new sites in the TrekSeek database, click here.

    Hello World!
    Christian (11:15 am CST)
    Yesterday, I put up a small report about Mr. Vidiot's 'Till Death Do Us Part' trailer, which he'd just made available. In the report, I said that 'even though the trailer was available at Star Trek Interactive! a few days ago already, Vidiot's trailers are usually of a somewhat higher quality.

    A few hours later, I received an e-mail from David, the Star Trek Interactive! webmaster, who asked me what I found wrong with his videos. After giving the matter some thought, I think I owe David an apology, as I also think his site is an excellent one. Even though the image quality of Vidiot's trailers is, in my opinion, slightly higher, STI's trailers are definitily worth checking out as well. For one thing, they're usually available a few days before Vidiot's trailers, and Star Trek Interactive! can certainly be accessed more often than Vidiot's site, which seems to be down more than half of the time.

    In the end, both are excellent sites, and I recommend visiting them both. If your goal is to see the new trailers as soon as possible, I'd say Star Trek Interactive! is your best bet, while if you can wait a few days and would like to get videos with a somewhat higher quality, you probably should go for Vidiot.

    Tuesday April 6, 1999
    New York Post Reports On Voyager Hacks
    Christian (1:26 pm CST)
    The New York Post has put up an article by Michael Starr dealing with the Voyager hack job Mr. Vidiot first discovered:

    UPN is boldly going into "Star Trek: Voyager" and slashing two minutes from each episode - in order to appease angry advertisers, a "Voyager" Internet website is charging.

    Vidiot.com, devoted to all things "Voyager," says it assumes that UPN is using those two minutes to air free commercials owed to advertisers because "Voyager" has failed to reach certain promised ratings levels - a practice known in advertising circles as "make-goods."

    In the rest of the article, we hear Michael 'Vidiot' Brown talk about his discovery, while UPN also comments on the matter:

    "We have no more commercial inventory than any other network," said a UPN spokesman. One insider said the missing footage is due to shows "that come in short" and fail to meet their 45-minute length - a common problem for all six broadcast networks.

    As the full article already mentions, this obviously does not apply to Voyager repeats, which have also been cut down. Thanks go out to Mr. Video Productions for pointing me to this - I'm sure Mr. Vidiot will soon post extra info on this as well.

    Vidiot 'Till Death To Us Part' Trailer Up
    Christian (1:17 pm CST)
    Mr. Video Productions has posted his version of the 'Til Death Do Us Part' trailer. Even though the trailer was available at Star Trek Interactive! a few days ago already, Vidiot's trailers are usually of a somewhat higher quality, and are also available in an MP3-format. The new trailers can be found by going here.

    German Sev Trek Archive Opens
    Christian (12:58 pm CST)
    For a while now, the German Star Trek Index has been translating John Cook's Sev Trek cartoons into the German language. Now that more than a hundred German Sev Trek 'episodes' are available, they've opened the German Sev Trek archive, where you can find all the 102 German Sev Treks published.

    Major DS9 Spoilers In New Press Release
    Christian (12:40 pm CST)
    NOTE: This update contains major spoilers for DS9's 'The Changing Face of Evil.' In case you want to avoid these spoilers, click here to be transported to the next article.

    I really need to create some kind of macro for these spoiler posts... it seems as if not a day goes by without one. Anyways, click here to move on to the next news item and avoid the spoilers.

    Mr. Video Productions has just posted the official Paramount press release for the upcoming DS9 episode 'The Changing Face of Evil.' The press release contains a *very* interesting synopsis:

    The crew's relief at Worf and Ezri's safe return is tempered by reports that the Breen have attacked Starfleet Headquarters on Earth. While Dominion and Breen commanders exult in their sneak attack, their supposed ally - Cardassian leader Damar - secretly plots to free his homeland from Dominion occupation. Meanwhile, on Bajor, Dukat tells Kai Winn she must release the Pah-wraiths - the corporeal enemies of her people's gods - from the planet's fire caves by reading the ancient forbidden text of the Kosst Amojan.

    Find more in the full press release.

    New Penumbra 'Teasers' Available
    Christian (12:27 pm CST)
    Star Trek Interactive! has put up another set of *cough* 'teasers' *cough* for DS9's 'Penumbra.' Nearly 20 minutes of footage from the first Final Chapter episode is available in MPEG-format by going here, though you probably shouldn't follow this link if you're a Paramount lawyer or something like that.

    Scarlett Pomers Chat Announced
    Christian (11:11 am CST)
    The Official Scarlett Pomers Homepage has just announced it will be hosting a live chat with the actress later this month:

    Scarlett will be doing a live chat event later this month. A group of her fans have "gathered" in a Yahoo! chat club, and on April 17, at 9pm EST, Scarlett will be joining them to answer their questions. Scarlett will only be answering questions that are sent in advance, so don't miss out! E-mail your questions for Scarlett to me at ScarlettNW@aol.com as soon as you can, and don't miss out on the chat. The chat club address is http://clubs.yahoo.com/clubs/thescarlettpomersclub.

    More info on Scarlett Pomers herself, who stars as young Naomi Wildman on Voyager, can be found by visiting the official home page.

    Daily Sci-Fi Analyzes Trek 10's Chances
    Christian (11:11 am CST)
    As you probably know, TV Guide recently published a small news item in which Jonathan Frakes said there probably wouldn't be a new Trek film before the Star Wars films have ended. Apparently the people at the Den's Daily Sci-Fi also read about that news tidbit, as they've just published a small article looking at the chances of the next Trek movie:

    If we go by the timeline, the earliest possible date to start a movie would be around 2001, once Patrick Steward becomes interested in captaining again. Add in a year or two for filming and post-production, and we're in 2003 before you see the Enterprise-E on the big screen again (if rumors are true, you will be seeing it again for the last episode of Deep Space Nine). If the Trek crew must be delayed even further, then we may not see another Trek film until after 2005, after the last Star Wars movie comes out (that is, if the new Star Wars films are as good as we hope they are).

    Maybe it's all for the best. If absence makes the heart grow fonder, then a couple years absence from the box office could make fans all the more rabid to see it when it finally arrives.

    More on this (including the original Frakes statements) can be found by going here and reading the full article.

    Trek CCG Tournament Dates Announced
    Christian (11:10 am CST)
    Decipher, the company behind the Star Trek Customizable Card Game, has just announced the approximate dates of the Star Trek CCG Regional, Open and Invitational Championships. These Invitational championships are actually a new thing this year, according to the Decipher site:

    New to this year's qualification system are the Invitational Championships. These events offer an extra avenue of qualification to those that have excelled in Decipher's ratings system. There will be a total of two Invitational championship events for Star Trek CCG.

    These tournaments will be Constructed Deck format, with 5 rounds of play (5 complete games). There will also be a final confrontation after regulation play at all Invitational Championships. A player is eligible to compete in an Invitational Championship if his or her rating on Decipher's Web site (in either Constructed Deck or Sealed Deck format) is 1600 or above, which must be achieved no less than 3 days prior to the Invitational event.

    Of course, 'normal' people can also still take part in the Open and Regional Championships, and the dates and locations for those can be found by going here.

    Official New Worlds Site Opens
    Christian (11:09 am CST)
    Star Trek: New Worlds Logo. Logo Copyright Interplay Production The people at Interplay have just opened the official site for their upcoming real-time strategy game, 'Star Trek: New Worlds.' The site brings you lots of screenshots, info on the three races you can play as (Romulans, Klingons, 'Starfleet'), and even a message board that is also visited by members of the development team. The site itself can be found by clicking here, and thanks go out to Star Trek Gaming Central for pointing me to this.

    Star Trek: The Magazine Launches
    Christian (11:08 am CST)
    Star Trek: The Magazine Issue 1 - Cover image Copyright Star Trek: The Magazine!We first reported about this a few weeks ago, but now it has finally been officially announced - the official Star Trek: Magazine, authorized by Paramount itself. Take a look at what this magazine promises to bring you:

    This new, officially authorized, magazine will bring you the very best new, up-to-date, in-depth news and information on STAR TREK every month, complete with unique new pictures. Every 112 page issue brings you spectacular gatefolds with detailed technical drawings and full color artwork, plus full analysis of the characters, races, starships, as well as 24th-century technology.

    We'll be covering every aspect of all four series and all the movies, from Kirk's first mission to the latest episodes of STAR TREK: VOYAGER and STAR TREK: DEEP SPACE NINE, and we'll be talking directly to the stars, producers, directors, writers, production designers, artists, makeup and costume designers, special effects supervisors and everyone in the world of STAR TREK - past and present.

    The magazine is certainly looking very interesting - the first issue will contain interviews with Patrick Stewart, Robert Justman, Herman Zimmerman, Rick Sternbach and many more Trek stars. Unfortunately the magazine is only available for Americans, so once again I miss out :-(. More info on the magazine can be found at their official web site.

    Tim Russ Chat On Thursday
    Christian (11:06 am CST)
    This Thursday, the Continuum will be hosting a live chat with Tim Russ, who stars on Voyager as Tuvok. The chat takes place at 06:30pm Pacific Time, but advance questions can already be submitted by going here. If this is your first chat, info on how to participate can be found here.

    This isn't the only chat that's coming up at the Continuum. Besides next week's chat with Jonathan Frakes (Riker), the site has also just announced the following two chats:

    John de Lancie
    Thursday , May 20th, 1999 06:30 PM (PT) >

    Leonard Nimoy
    Thursday , May 27th, 1999 06:30 PM (PT)


    Today on TV
    Christian (11:05 am CST)
    -Something seems to have gone wrong with the Sci-Fi Channel web site, as it's been listing 'For the World is Hollow and I have Touched the Sky' as the current show for several days now. However, tonight they're really showing the third-season TOS episode 'Wink of an Eye,' according to the Schedule Bot. The episode airs at 7:00pm GMT Eastern Time, and is repeated at 11:00pm.

    -British television station Sky One will be showing Voyager's 'Darkling' at 17:00 GMT and at 23:30 GMT.

    -In Germany, Sat.1 will be repeating TNG's 'Der unmoralische Friedensvermittler' (Man of the People) tomorrow morning at 02:00 CET. Tomorrow afternoon, at 15:00 CET, they're showing TNG's 'Besuch von der alten Enterprise' (Relics).

    New at Trekseek.com
    Christian (11:03 am CST)
    Absolutely incredible for a Monday, we had no less than 6 site submissions yesterday at TrekSeek, bringing us to a total of 931 Star Trek links. A small selection of those new sites:

    -The Sci-Fi Mall is the center of the Science Fiction Shopping Universe. It sells Star Trek & Star Wars collectibles, and has Sci-Fi news and links.
    -The USS Justice NCC-556 is a Star Trek and sci-fi fan club located in the Morris County, New Jersey area. Their chapter is a part of the organization known as Starfleet International. Their membership partakes in many different sci-fi and fantasy events, as well as other completely non-related events that they find enjoyable.
    -Trekkies Mail offers a free @trekkies.zzn.com Email account for Star Trek fans.

    All the other new sites that were added yesterday can, of course, be found here.

    Hello World!
    Christian (11:03 am CST)
    As of today, I'll start posting the news an hour later than before, namely at 18:00 CET / 11:00pm CST. The reason for this is *not* that I'm a lazy bum and want to play SimCity 3000 for an extra hour, but rather that several people have been complaining about visiting the site only to see 'Hello World!' and nothing else. After giving the matter some thought, I've realized that you people are actually very much right about this, so I've decided to first gather some news, and then post several updates in a row. This should make sure that you will always be greeted by a healthy amount of news, making sure your TrekToday visit is never a pointless one anymore :-)!

    Monday April 5, 1999
    Unconfirmed Rumors Department
    Saleel (4:36 pm CST)
    Courtesy of Sky One and Channel 5 (UK) teletext page 192, here are this week's unconfirmed rumors:

    Sky

    Please remember that these rumors are just that - rumors. A lot of them have been fabricated so viewers phone a premium rate phone line. We recommend checking TrekToday peridoically (how about every day? :-) ) for confirmed news.

    Takei Starring In Simpsons Season Ender
    Christian (1:49 pm CST)
    AnotherUniverse's Daily Buzz is reporting that George Takei (Sulu) will guest star on the season finale of 'The Simpsons.' In the episode, the Simpsons family travels to Tokyo, where they'll undoubtedly be greeted by Takei's character. The episode airs on May 16 at Fox, the same day the current X-Files season will end. Take a look at the original article for more on this.

    Second Penumbra 'Review' Available
    Christian (1:33 pm CST)
    Cinescape's Michael Marek has posted a detailed synopsis of DS9's 'Penumbra,' which will air sometime this week::

    Regular Cinescape contributor Michael Marek returns with his detailed, SPOILER-packed looks at an upcoming episode of Star Trek: DS9, this time for "Penumbra." Mike doesn't hold back on the specifics of what's coming, so if you would rather not know what lies ahead on DS9, move on to the next story. For those of you who can't wait, click here. You have been warned!

    What more can I add to this? A detailed synopsis of the episode can be found here, usual spoiler warnings apply.

    First Penumbra 'Review' Available
    Christian (1:27 pm CST)
    NOTE: This update contains spoilers for DS9's 'Penumbra.' If you want to avoid these spoilers, click here to avoid them and be transported to the next article.

    Another warning: the below post summarizes the events in DS9's Penumbra - there won't be many surprises left if you continue reading. Click here to move on to the next post. Arman re-posted a first review of DS9's 'Penumbra' to the Trekweb Message Board. The review was originally posted by 'STFC WAH' at AOL, and describes what happens in this first episode of DS9's Final Chapter:

    1. This is obviously a set-up for the episodes to follow with several major storylines developing at the same time. Maybe it is just me, but I like that. :)

    2. Worf disappears when the ship he is commanding is attacked. We get to hear Jadzia's voice as Ezri walks around Worf's quarters and she remembers several conversations between Ezri and Jadzia. Ezri decides to take a runabout and search for Worf when the Jem'Hadar force the Defiant to cut off the search. She uses pretty good logic to find him, and there are tense moments as the two of them FINALLY have to share the same space together. When the Jem'Hadar locate the runabout on its way home and attacks, Worf beams the two of them to a nearby planet (very reminiscent of "Change of Heart") and they must spend the night together in the jungle. True to Worf, the two get into an argument, the embrace and kiss each other. They wake up the next morning with Worf's hands on her shoulders. As they begin to wake up, they are surprised by two Breens, who shoot them with their weapons, knocking them unconscious. They wake up in a cell on a Breen ship, their future uncertain. Hey, it's not easy bein' Breen ...

    Undoubtedly you're wondering what the rest of the episode contains, and you'll be able to read this in the full review.

    'Dark Matters' Voyager Trilogy Announced
    Christian (11:34 am CST)
    At his Q&A board, John Ordover, Senior Editor at Pocket Books has just officially announced a new Voyager trilogy, scheduled to come out next year spring or summer:

    Query from: Jim McCain
    How about some hints for 2000 and 2001 since that is what you are working on?

    Response from: John Ordover
    The only thing I can totally confirm for 2000 is the Dark Matters Voyager trilogy by Christie Golden -- three book series that deals with the return of the Romluan scientist from EYE OF THE NEEDLE - and oh yes, the fate of the entire universe.:)

    More answers from John Ordover can be found at his Q&A Board, while Christie Golden's Home Page will probably also contain some info soon.

    Delta Blues Reviews 'Think Tank'
    Christian (11:27 am CST)
    Jim Wright at Delta Blues has put up his review of last Wednesday's 'Think Tank:'

    From the initial reaction, I think I might be in the minority on this one. I thought it was potentially pretty interesting, but the execution didn't do much for me.

    I had the same problem with this that I had with "Bliss." The teaser killed the suspense for me. We learned at the outset what the Think Tank is capable of, so when Kurros came to Janeway knowing as much as he did about the Hazari Paradox, my first suspicion was that Kurros had hired the Hazari. Nothing in the interim caused me to question that, and nothing prompted me to feel any better about Kurros or his motley band of traveling problem-solvers. All in all, I found the episode interesting, but I had virtually no emotional connection with it.

    As usual, an enourmous synopsis and a lengthy analysis of the episode can be found in the full review.

    Ira Steven Behr Connects The Dots
    Christian (11:16 am CST)
    According to the Great Link, the latest issue of the British SFX Magazine contains an interview with DS9's Executive Producer Ira Steven Behr. A short excerpt from the interview:

    Ira Steven Behr - Photo courtesy Warp 11 The end of Star Trek: The Next Generation was kind of bogus, because it wasn't really the end of anything. They knew they had the movies. This is an END. Obviously, Deep Space Nine has evolved over the years. The characters have deepened, the relationships have deepened, the story arcs have deepened. But I think what we're proudest of is that there was a two-hour pilot called "Emissary" which laid out a lot of pipe, a lot of possibilities, for the audience and the people working on the show.

    [...]

    So I think the show has evolved from the pilot. And the last episode will be, in some ways - with all the zig-zagging we've done - a direct arrow's flight from the pilot to the finale. That gives us joy. We're definitely connecting the dots. In fact, I've got to keep rubbing my eyes from the strain of connecting all of these dots.

    A little bit more of the interview can be found by going here. Thanks go out to Warp 11 for the above picture.

    Three Trek Shows In SFX Top 50
    Christian (11:08 am CST)
    The Great Link is reporting that the British SFX Magazine has published a top 50 of the best SF television shows ever. Three Star Trek shows made it into the list:

    #2 Star Trek
    ("...it defined what SF telly is to the telly itself...")

    #10 Star Trek : Deep Space Nine
    ("...developed into one of the most ambitious SF programmes ever televised...")

    #14 Star Trek : The Next Generation ("...set a new benchmark for all TV SF")

    Unfortunately, Voyager did not make it into the top 50, but the magazine did award Gene Roddenberry's 'Earth: Final Conflict' with a 40th place. The (almost) complete top 50 can be found by going here.

    ODN Issue 83 Appears
    Christian (11:01 am CST)
    A week late, the latest edition of the Optical Data Network newsletter has finally been sent out to all subscribers. Take a look at what this new issue has to offer you:

    This issue of Optical Data Network includes a full compliment of NewsBits, including a number of On Screen bits and a whole section of German news. We've also got US episode schedules, a new UK update, and a layout of the final episodes in the Sci-Fi Channel's second run of "Star Trek." No new spoilers, especially since last issue pretty much made it through the rest of the Voyager season. We've also got a review/commentary about the "Trekkies" documentary, from a person who is profiled in the film, and who has spent a lot of time in the Continuum's startrek.filmtrekkies newsgroup answering questions from people. This issue is rounded out with a new Convention listing and a letter about the Sci-Fi Channel's use of pre-filmed interviews.

    Unfortunately I couldn't actually find that Sci-Fi Channel letter in this edition, it's still a good read. If you didn't yet receive the latest issue in your mailbox, a copy can be found by going here.

    Jeri Ryan On TV Guide Cover
    Christian (10:55 am CST)
    TV Guide CoverSeveral months after the actual photo shoot took place, Jeri Ryan (Seven of Nine) and Lucy Lawless (from 'Xena') have finally made the cover of the new TV Guide. Inside the magazine, there's a huge 'Wonder Women' feature, a very large excerpt of which is also available on the TV Guide web site:

    What happens when the Queen of Sword and Sorcery meets the Queen of Outer Space? It turns out that Lucy Lawless, who plays the title role in the syndicated hit Xena: Warrior Princess, and Jeri Ryan, the part-Borg, part-human Seven of Nine on UPN's Star Trek: Voyager, have more in common than their bodacious, butt-kicking characters: Both are strong yet sexy role models. Both are 31. Both mix work and motherhood.

    This is followed by a large interview in which, as TV Guide says, the two women talk about 'sex, feminism and their lesbian fans:'

    Ryan: There was a big petition on the Internet to have Seven be the first lesbian [regular] on Star Trek. Then somebody issued a fake press release announcing it was going to happen. Then all the fans got disappointed when it didn't. Well, not everyone. I don't know that mainstream America is ready for it. But who knows? My character is exploring all aspects of humanity—and sexuality is certainly one of those aspects—so it wouldn't surprise me if lesbianism is touched on. Seven would be the obvious character to explore it with. Our show is about acceptance and shedding prejudice.

    More of this interview and lots of pictures can be found in the full 'Wonder Women' Feature.

    Mania Reviews Star Trek Monopoly
    Christian (10:46 am CST)
    For once, Mania Magazine reviewer Michelle Erica Green is able to review something else besides new Star Trek episodes - namely, the official Star Trek: The Next Generation Monopoly game:

    From the first time I saw it, I thought the Star Wars Monopoly game was a great idea. [...] However, I felt a frisson of fear at the discovery of the Star Trek: The Next Generation Monopoly set. Monopoly's competitive capitalist system is practically the antithesis of the Federation! Could a TNG player be reduced to paying cash to the Cardassians in order to keep Bajor free? Would one have to choose between buying Vulcan or saving the money to build hotels on Risa? The horror! Then again, the idea of owning Angel One - that planet where women rule over scantily-clad men - does have a certain appeal.

    In the end, she concludes that the Monopoly game is actually worth the $50 you'll have to pay for it, especially if you're a die-hard Trek fan. Her full description and review of the Monopoly game can be found by going here, which is, of course, where you'll also be able to buy it directly from Mania. Alternatively, you might want to check out the Official Star Trek Monopoly site, where you can also order the game.

    Today on TV
    Christian (10:44 am CST)
    -In the US, the Sci-Fi Channel will be showing the third-season TOS episode 'Plato's Stepchildren' at 7:00pm and at 11:00pm Eastern Time.

    -In the United Kingdom, Sky One is still continuing with its 'Trek Masters' Easter special. At 16:00 GMT they're showing DS9's 'Trials & Tribble-Ations,' followed an hour later by Voyager's 'Flashback.'

    -Tomorrow afternoon at 15:00 CET, German television station Sat.1 will be showing TNG's 'Der unmoralische Friedensvermittler' (Man of the People).

    New at Trekseek.com
    Christian (10:42 am CST)
    With no less than 8 site submissions yesterday, TrekSeek is still going strong. We've now got a total of 925 Star Trek links in our database, making it nearly twice as large as any other Star Trek search engine. Take a look at some of the new sites that were added yesterday:

    -Gul Maket's Guide to Cardassia contains information on the characters, actors, the world and politics of Cardassia Prime, and even games and collectables. If it's Cardassian, it's here!
    -The Silver Fleet is one of several fleets in Alt.Starfleet.RPG, a PBEM roleplaying/ interactive writing game set in the world of Star Trek: TNG some 40 years after the end of the series.
    -Antares Station has a huge searchable database of Star Trek technology and starships.

    As usual, more new sites can be found by going here.

    Hello World!
    Christian (10:42 am CST)
    This week, the first Final Chapter episode ('Penumbra') will be shown, and has been shown in some places already. Even though it'll still be another year or so before I finally get to see the episode (as I live in Europe), this does make me very sad. I've always considered DS9 to be the best Trek series around, and I'll certainly miss it when it's gone. Let's hope the Final Chapter turns out to be absolutely wonderful - the series deserves no less.

    Sunday April 4, 1999
    New DS9 Final Chapter Spoilers
    Christian (1:37 pm CST)
    NOTE: This post contains spoilers for DS9's Final Chapter. If you do not want to have your viewing pleasure spoiled, or if you are simply fed up with all these DS9 spoilers, click here to move on to the next article.

    Over the past few days, several sources (including Trekweb and Sci-Fi World) have been reporting that the Defiant will be destroyed at some point in DS9's Final Chapter, probably in the episode 'The Dogs Of War.' However, according to the latest edition of the Secured Channel, this may actually be untrue:

    A source of TSCN's has informed me that the Defiant won't actually be destroyed! But, she will be hurt. There's been a rumor floating around on the internet for awhile regarding the possible destruction of the Defiant in one of the final episodes of DS9. A source of TSCN who does some work for Paramount told me the following: 'The Defiant was going to be heavily damaged with the possibility of major repairs, maybe even a slightly uprated model'.

    More can be found in the full issue, but, once again, this is also just a rumour, and hasn't been officially confirmed yet.

    DS9 Finale Novelization More Likely
    Christian (1:31 pm CST)
    About a week ago we reported on the chances of a DS9 finale novelization, which didn't seem to be very good. Last week Friday, the people at Pocket Books hadn't yet received a final shooting script, and, with the deadline of the novelization approaching, it seemed as if writer Diane Carey wouldn't be able to finish the novelization in time. Fortunately, today Pocket Books editor John Ordover said the following at his Q&A Board:

    As of this writing, things are looking up for being able to publish the DS9 finale novelization (which was always a scheduling question, not a motivation question), but that's as much as I can say at the moment.

    In the full update Ordover also talks about the upcoming Double Helix six-parter, which will be published this summer.

    Fan-Produced Final Chapter Promo
    Christian (1:17 pm CST)
    SciFi Headquarters Final Chapter Trailer - Image copyright SciFi Headquarters / ParamountThe SciFi Headquarters has just posted an 'exlusive' new Final Chapter promo, created especially for the site:

    It is a one minute long video that look me about 2 hours to make. It is entertaining and mostly contains old footge, even though there is a little new footage.

    This certainly is interesting - check out the preview by going here.

    The Secured Channel Issue 17 Appears
    Christian (11:49 am CST)
    Daryus Aden has just sent out issue 17 of the Secured Channel, the bi-weekly Star Trek newsletter, and, as of this edition, also the official newsletter of the Trekzone Network:

    Hi all, The upgrade to our new mail server is complete - TSCN is now using the majordomo hosted at Trekzone.net. As well as that the homepage (http://solareclipse.net/Channel/) will be undergoing a refit in the coming weeks. (Time and willpower permitting of course!). I'd also like to take a moment to inform everyone of the new partnership between TSCN and the Trekzone News Network, we'll be working together to provide a full news service to the fans of Star Trek.

    We're really exited to welcome the Secured Channel as a partner of the Trekzone Network - the newsletter is one of the best of its kind, and definitely worth checking out. Every two weeks, the Secured Channel Newsletter will be bringing you news on upcoming DS9 and Voyager episodes, background articles, affiliate news and more! If you didn't receive the latest issue in your mailbox already, you can read the new issue by going here (thanks to Saleel Majeed for putting this versions up). Instructions on how to subscribe, meanwhile, can be found here.

    Starfleet Journal April Issue Appears
    Christian (11:44 am CST)
    The people at the Starfleet Journal have just published the April issue of the popular online newsletter. As usual, the newsletter contains the most important Trek news from the past month, half a dozen columns and book reviews. However, this month the Starfleet Journal also has word of their 1999 Fanfic Awards:

    As promised, this month sees the launch of our 1999 Fanfic Awards, where you can write your own stories, submit them to us, and see if you win. We will be opening a voting process to give you, our readers, the chance to pick those who will become the Fanfic Writer of the Year for their section.

    More info on the Fanfic contest can be found by going here, and if you just want to read the new issue, go here.

    Cynics Corner 'Think Tank' Review
    Christian (11:34 am CST)
    David E. Sluss at the Cynics Corner has just uploaded his review of Voyager's 'Think Tank:'

    THE BOTTOM LINE: Reasonably entertaining, with contrivances kept to a minimum, but with some irritating problems.

    CYNICS CORNER RATING: 6.7

    Of course, more can be found in the full review.

    'Til Death Do Us Part Trailers Available
    Christian (11:16 am CST)
    NOTE: There are some DS9 spoilers contained in this update. If you want to avoid these spoilers and move on to the next article, simply click here.

    'Til Death Do Us Part' Trailer - Copyright Paramount, Courtesy Star Trek Interactive! New trailers from Deep Space Nine's Final Chapter are now available for download at Star Trek Interactive! The first trailer is a preview of the second Final Chapter episode, called 'Til Death Do Us Part.' There are some interesting scenes contained in the preview, including a small scene in which Kai Winn and Gul Dukat (surgically altered to look like a Bajoran) are kissing! You can find the full trailer, both as a video clip or as a set of images, by going here.

    Incredibly, 'Star Trek: Interactive!' has even more DS9 trailers available, namely 5 new Final Chapter trailers. The themes for these 15-second clips are Worf, Crew, Station, Enemy and History B. They don't generally contain any new footage, but they look at the past 7 years of Deep Space Nine, before telling us to 'Prepare for Deep Space Nine The Final Chapter.' Find the Final Chapter clips by going here.

    TrekAuction.Com Launches
    Christian (11:04 am CST)
    The people at the William Shatner Connection certainly seem to be keeping themselves busy - just a few days after launching the Bring Back Kirk campaign, they have opened their latest project - TrekAuction.com:

    We'll have some very low starting bids on Star Trek collectibles and other items. Most auctions will open at random times during the week and will generally last for one week or so.

    TrekAuction is operating in the same way as big sites such as eBay, the difference being, of course, that this site purely deals with Trek items. Some of the items currently up for auction include autographed photos, a Kirk doll and a TOS episode tape. Find out more at the actual site itself.

    New Sev Trek Cartoon Online
    Christian (11:03 am CST)

    Sev Trek header
    Sev Trek - cartoon spoofs of Star Trek. Copyright 1999 by John Cook.

    YnrohKeeg Writes Release Dates Editorial
    Christian (11:03 am CST)
    YnrohKeeg at Star Trek Gaming Central has just put up a new editorial in which he reacts to the recent public outcry over the constant delays that the upcoming 'Birth of the Federation' game is suffering from:

    I have to make this speech ever time a game is soon to be released. Inevitably, a few of you concerned gamers email me your outrage at a particular game's release date being repeatedly pushed back. Once again, I will explain a thing or two and ask that you all enhance your calm. Okay, here I go.

    The full editorial goes on to talk about the background of delays, bug-fixing and some advice on what *not* to do. Read the full editorial at Star Trek Gaming Central, which is where you'll also be able to learn about a new Starfleet Command preview that can be found in the new edition of the 'Computer Games Strategy Plus' print mag.

    Today on TV
    Christian (11:02 am CST)
    -The 'Trek Masters' weekend is still going strong on Sky One. At 16:00 GMT, they're showing DS9's 'To The Death,' while at 17:00 they're showing Voyager's 'The Q and the Grey.'

    New at Trekseek.com
    Christian (11:01 am CST)
    Incredibly, no less than 12 new sites were added to the TrekSeek database yesterday, now bringing us up to an incredible 920 Star Trek links! Take a look at a few of those new sites:

    -The LCARS: Federation Databank is an excellent ST database, ST links, mailing list, news, a monthly LCARS contest, a bookstore, a STFC Real Audio treat, and more.
    -Star-Fleet (STF) utilizes the WeBB bulletin board system written by Mike Bourdaa. STF currently has over 300 members, who roleplay on 5 ships in each of 6 fleets, a total of 30 ships, each with 17 characters or more. STF is truly the best bulletin board RPG on the net.
    -Scoop Guy's Star Trek Scoop is the oldest and largest fake Star Trek news site on the internet. Go pay this site a visit - I can personally recommend it!
    -'Phase III: Where No One Has Gone Before...' brings you the ultimate in the exploration of Star Trek starship design. Included is a comprehensive library of any and all ships ever to make an appearance on the show. Home to the Final Frontier Award and Final Frontier Webring, Phase III promises to be an experience you won't soon forget.

    More new sites can be found in the full listing, which should keep you busy for a while.

    Hello World!
    Christian (11:01 am CST)
    Happy Easter to you all!

    Saturday April 3, 1999
    Jeri Ryan 'Easter Seals' Screencaps
    Christian (12:26 pm CST)
    James Doohan, Jeri Ryan, Avery Brooks and Majel Barret Roddenberry - image courtesy the Official Jeri Lynn Rian HomepageThe Official Jeri Lynn Ryan Homepage has posted 22 screen captures of Jeri Ryan's appearance on the 'Hollywood Salutes Easter Seals' show. At the show, together with James Doohan (Scotty) and Avery Brooks (Sisko), she posthumously honoured Gene Roddenberry with a Lifetime Achievement Award.

    The award was accepted by Majel Barrett Roddenberry, as you can see on this one picture we got from the Jeri Ryan homepage. Find the full list of pictures by going here - most of them simply show Jeri Ryan talking, but there are a few pictures that also show the other three.

    Listen To The Flagship
    Christian (11:59 am CST)
    Tom Veil at the Flagship has just launched a wonderful new project - The Flagship RealAudio news:

    Okay . . . I'm going to try a little experiment, and I want to start my saying that I'm recovering from a cold, and my voice isn't at its best. The experiment is a RealAudio version of this site--all the latest news and URLs included in a handy little broadcast, in RealAudio G2. [...] Oh, and although it may seem otherwise, I really don't like the sound of my own voice (especially after hearing it now).

    I'd say he doesn't have to worry - it sounds fantastic, and I recommend it to everyone. Listen to the broadcast by clicking here (assuming you've got RealAdio installed), or just visit the Flagship itself to read the news, instead of listen to it.

    Transwarp Issue 60 Appears
    Christian (11:15 am CST)
    I just noticed a new edition of the Transwarp newsletter has appeared, issue 60 to be precise. As usual, the newsletter has episode schedules for the Original Series, Deep Space Nine and Voyager, together with press releases for the new episodes. On top of that, the newsletter also contains a round-up of the most important Trek news from the past two weeks, re-printed background articles and even a Web Page Announcement section that includes the TrekToday announcement. Thanks, Transwarp!

    As usual, this issue comes bundled with the 'Star Trek: Fun' section, which includes trivia contests and the weekly Transwarp poll. This week's Tranwarp question is 'Do you think that Star Trek Deep Space Nine has tied up all of it's loose ends?' - send your responses to this address with your answer in the subject line. The new edition isn't yet available at the Official Transwarp Newsletter Archive, but I'm sure it will be within a few days.

    Major New DS9 Final Chapter Spoilers
    Christian (11:07 am CST)
    NOTE: This post contains huge spoilers for most of the episodes in DS9's Final Chapter. If you do not want to read these spoilers, click here to avoid them and scroll down to the next news item.

    Again - these are pretty major spoilers. Click here to avoid them.

    Sci-Fi World has received new info on most of the Final Chapter episodes. Take a look:

  • In 'Umbra,' the second episode of the Final Chapter, Ezri Dax admits that she really loves Julian Bashir, and not Worf. Also in this episode, Benjamin Sisko and Kassidy Yates get married, even when the Prophets intervene.

  • In 'Eclipse,' the third episode of the Final Chapter, Worf kills Weyoun when he and Ezri are scheduled for execution. Damar helps them escape, and he promises to support the Federation after rejecting the Breen alliance. Lastly, Kai Winn becomes a member of the Pagh'Wraith cult.

  • In 'The Changing Face Of Evil,' the fourth Final Chapter episode, Dukat may not actually murder Kai Winn. It was previously reported that Marc Alaimo had said this on a Trek convention, but now his official fan club has denied this (thanks also go out to the Great Link for this. Moreover, the Defiant is destroyed by the Breen, and Damar declares Cardassia to be under Dominion occupation.

  • In 'When It Rains...', part five of the FC, Odo gets infected with the Changeling disease, the source of which appears to be Section 31 director Sloan. In the next episode, 'Tacking Into The Wind,' Odo really begins to suffer from this, so Bashir and O'Brien start working on a cure. They're presumably still busy with that in 'Night Tremors,' the next episode, as that is when they meet director Sloan again.

  • The site also mentions that in the 8th episode of the Final Chapter, 'The Dogs Of War,' the new Defiant will arrive at Deep Space Nine, which will undoubtedly help to achieve victory over the Dominion. For a much more detailed look at the Final Chapter, check out the Sci-Fi World. Do still keep in mind, though, that these are still rumours, and they haven't been officially confirmed yet.

    German Trek Index News
    Christian (11:06 am CST)
    The German Star Trek Index has a new edition up of 'DSi Aktuell,' the information bulletin about the Index itself. The first news item mentions that the format of Radio Trek, the online radio show dealing with all aspects of Trek fandom, will soon be undergoing some major revisions. These revisions will include a new title, a dedicated information site and some new staff members.

    Secondly, the Trek Index is reporting they'll soon start selling Trek merchandise directly from the site itself. Maximum reliability and a large number of available products will be guaranteed by a partnership with a 'major SF post-order company in Germany.' Lastly, the site mentions it will soon be joining with the existing organizers of the Millenial Trek Award competition to make it available for German sites, probably in a special sub-competition. More on all of this can be found in the full (German) update.

    Today on TV
    Christian (11:06 am CST)
    -In the UK, Sky One is continuing with its 'Trek Masters' Easter weekend special. At 16:00 GMT, they're showing DS9's 'Fascination,' followed an hour later by Voyager's 'Blood Fever.'

    -Here in the Netherlands, the AVRO will be showing Voyager's 'Hunters' at 18:40 CET on Channel One.

    New at Trekseek.com
    Christian (11:05 am CST)
    Trekseek's database now contains no less than 907 Star Trek links, including the 3 new sites we added yesterday. Let's take a look at some of those new sites:

    -The Talaxian Trader's Corner is 'The Totally Unofficial Ethan Phillips Fansite.' The site is a 'cross section' of Ethan Phillips (Neelix) from Star Trek Voyager. It contains fandom; disabled Star Trek fandom; issues created or run by disabled fans as a nonprofit/noncommercial site for the appreciation of Ethan Phillips' work and for his fans and other Trek fans as well. Be warned, though, the site takes *extremely* long to load.
    -Lexington Shipyards is creating tomorrow's future! Contains information on Starfleet starships, Romulan starships, Klingon starships, and other alien starships. Also contains experimental prototypes of Starfleet starships, as well as new technology.

    Of course, a complete listing of yesterday's new sites is also available.

    Hello World!
    Christian (11:05 am CST)
    For the next two weeks, TrekToday will be listed on the main page of the Blue Collar Internet Guide as one of their Featured Sites. What this means is that they've put up a small review of the site on their main page, whichh we appreciate a lot, of course. However, especially great is that we're listed in their web directory as one of the 30 best Entertainment sites on the web, together with major corporate sites such as Disney.com, The Onion, and even Paramount Studios. I'm not sure if TrekToday is really worthy of being listed together with all those major web sites, but we're truly honoured by being selected for this. Our sincere thanks go out to the BCIG people - pay them a visit!

    Blue Collar Internet Guide Four Star Site

    Friday April 2, 1999
    DS9 Trailer Transcripts Available
    Christian (12:39 pm CST)
    Just a few hours after I finally decided to download the actual video files, Psi Phi has transcripts available of two of the DS9 Final Chapter trailers. In the transcripts, you'll be able to see exactly what happens in the trailers, including both the voice-overs and the actual visuals. The transcript of the 'Penumbra' promo can be found here, while the transcript of the first Final Chapter promo is available here.

    New 'Think Tank' Videos Online
    Christian (12:27 pm CST)
    The SCIFI Headquarters has posted new video clips of the two latest Voyager episodes, 'The Fight' and 'Think Tank.' These clips allow you to relive some of the best moments of the episodes, and they've been made available for you in Real G2 Video format. You can find the clips by going here.

    DS9 Final Chapter Spoilers
    Christian (12:16 pm CST)
    NOTE: As most other Final Chapter updates, this update contains major spoilers for the last 9 DS9 episodes. Only proceed if you actually want to read these spoilers, if not, click here to go on to the next news item.

    Yesterday, Alex Peckover at the Sci-Fi World posted some new info on DS9's Final Chapter. Alex notes that, even though he received the info on April Fools Day, they arrived from a reliable source, so they could very well be true. Take a look at the new info:

  • In the sixth episode of the Final Chapter, 'Tacking Into the Wind,' Worf challenges Gowron to a fight to the death, and wins! This apparently confirms the report from the official Robert O'Reilly (Gowron) fan club, although they mentioned Gowron would be killed in the series finale.

  • In the 7th episode of the Final Chapter, 'Night Tremors,' Kira and Garak are assigned to aid Damar in creating an anti-Dominion Cardassian resistance movement.

  • In the final episode, 'What You Leave Behind,' the Breen do indeed join the Dominion, and destroy the Defiant with a powerful new weapon. However, DS9 is assigned the USS Defiant NCC-74205-A.

  • Most of these news bits seem to confirm other rumours already floating around the Net, so they appear to be reliable (or a very elaborate fabrication, that would also be possible, of course :-). Take a look at the full update for more, but do keep in mind that these are still just rumours, and they haven't been officially confirmed yet.

    Star Trek 10 To Wait For Star Wars?
    Christian (12:16 pm CST)
    TV Guide has a rather worrying news item up, stating that the 10th Star Trek movie may not appear until after the new series of Star Wars movies has ended:

    Don't hold your breath (or start lining up) for the next Star Trek flick. "It's going to be a few years before we revisit the Enterprise," Jonathan Frakes (Riker) tells The New York Daily News. "Patrick Stewart (Picard) doesn't want to do one for about three years, and the studio wisely believes we should let the Star Wars films come and go before we get back on the ship. We want to stay out of their way. But you know we will be back."

    If this is true, it would mean we'd have to wait until the year 2003 to actually see Star Trek 10, unless Paramount decides to bring out the movie between two of the Star Wars films. Thanks go out to earl at the TrekWeb Bulletin Board for pointing me to this.

    ET Online Features Jeri Ryan
    Christian (12:15 pm CST)
    Yesterday evening, Entertainment Tonight had an item about the new TV Guide issue, which will include a photo shoot with Jeri Ryan (Seven of Nine) and Lucy Lawless (from 'Xena'). A report about this has been posted on the Entertainment Tonight web site:

    Trading in "Xena's" breastplate and leather for sophisticated elegance, LUCY LAWLESS mounts a pedestal and plays goddess for the cover of TV Guide. Plus, she's sharing the coveted cover with "Star Trek: Voyager's" JERI RYAN, who gets to ditch her character's half-Borg, half-human facade to play glamour girl. These two TV superwomen bonded quickly while sharing some tricks of their trade. On location at the photoshoot, we sat down with each of the sexy stars and captured some behind-the-scenes pictures. Take a look!

    The full article contains interviews with the two actresses, as well as pictures from the photo shoot and two short biographies. Also featured is a poll where you can 'vote on who's the sexiest' - currently Lucy Lawless is winning with 51% of the votes against Jeri Ryan's 48%.

    Overnight Ratings Report 'Think Tank'
    Christian (12:15 pm CST)
    The Star Trek Nielsen Ratings Information Database has put up a short analysis of the ratings for Wednesday's 'Think Tank,' which, as we already reported, were pretty good:

    "Think Tank," no doubt assisted by the appearance of Jason Alexander, cruised to Voyager's best overnight mark since "Dark Frontier," earning a 5.3, 8 share. That's about a 30% improvement over last week's disaster. That rating should assure the episode at least an average final rating.

    The news in the timeslot competition was also quite good, seeing the show finish 4th in its timeslot, ahead of the WB's "Charmed" (4.4/7) and Fox's "Party of Five" (4.3/7). Both of those shows were in repeats. With "Seven Days"' above-average 3.8/6 performance and Voyager's good mark, UPN was actually able to overtake the WB, a feat that UPN has only managed a few other times this year.

    More of this analysis can be found in the full report.

    Daily Sci-Fi Reviews 'Think Tank'
    Christian (11:02 am CST)
    The Den's Daily Sci-Fi has put up a review of Wednesday's Voyager episode, 'Think Tank.' For once, reviewer Sarah Kuhn liked the episode a lot, awarding it 4 out of five stars:

    As I watched this week's installment, I couldn't help but feel a certain sense of deja vu, yet not in that hey-this-is-yet-another-recycled-plotline-from-another-Trek-show kind of way. Finally, I noticed that I kept expecting Keri Russell or Katie Holmes or whoever the It Girl of the moment is to show up. Suddenly, it dawned on me...this week's "Voyager" actually has many elements of both the classic and current teensploitation genre to it, which is probably why I enjoyed it more than the usual fare.

    The rest of the review can be found by going here.

    FedCom Launches User Database
    Christian (10:56 am CST)
    FedCom, the 'Birth of the Federation' fan site, has put up its long-promised user database:

    Often been proposed, but never fully implimented, a database of everyone who comes to FedCom is now ready for you to fill in. All fields are optional except for one of the name fields (obviously this is needed).

    I'm not sure where the actual database itself can be found, but you can now actually fill in the forms by going here.

    New Sev Trek Competition
    Christian (10:03 am CST)

    Sev Trek header
    Write Your Own Sev Trek Competition. Copyright 1999 by John Cook.

    This week's edition of the Write Your Own Sev Trek Competition has just gone up:

    Sev Trek: The Motionless Picture
    The imagination runs wild when one thinks of what Captain Quirk thought of Ilia (you can suggest sevnames on the Ideas Board), the balding, sexually advanced supermodel.

    As usual, punchlines can be submitted by going here, while the funniest entries will be listed here. The 'Pickhard's fear of kids' cartoon will probably be posted around Sunday, but I wonder - why hasn't the Saavik cartoon from two weeks ago been posted yet?

    Gary Morton Dies
    Christian (9:48 am CST)
    An article at CNN is reporting that Gary Morton recently died at the age of 74. Morton was the second husband of Lucille Ball, and he was the manager of her production company Desilu for several years. In this capacity, he also oversaw the production of the Original Series, even though most of the work was done by Herb Solo, the 'executive in charge of production.' Before that, however, he had a long and successful career as comedian, as you can read in this article at CNN. Thanks go out to Jason Ellis for pointing me to this.

    Today on TV
    Christian (9:47 am CST)
    -During this Easter Weekend, Sky One has something very special planned for Trek fans:

    Hosted by Sylvester McCoy, the long Easter weekend has a treat in store for fans of Star Trek as each day features two hours of their favourite episodes from Star Trek: Voyager and Star Trek: Deep Space Nine. In between the specially selected episodes Trekkies compete for the ultimate accolade - to become 'Trek Master'.

    The first 'specially selected' episode is DS9's 'Doctor Bashir, I Presume,' which airs at 16:00 GMT, followed an hour later by Voyager's 'Distant Origin.' This last episode is also repeated at 24:00 GMT.

    New at Trekseek.com
    Christian (9:37 am CST)
    Yesterday we added five new sites to the TrekSeek database, bringing us to no less than 903 Star Trek links. Check out some of those new sites:

    -The U.S.S. Kelly NCC-73400 is the flagship of the 7th Fleet, and also the largest Star Trek fan club in the state of Utah. They encourage invdividual development in the areas of: service, leadership, participation, team effort, and Star Trek knowledge. A lot of effort has gone into their web site - I certainly recommend visiting it.
    -Treknology has a database on Star Trek's technology and physics. Also some real science and a web directory.
    -I often use the Universe as a source for TrekToday, so I was rather surprised to see that it wasn't in our database yet. The site contains updated news on Voyager and Deep Space Nine, and the latest episode trailers.

    All the other new sites that were added yesterday can be found at this page.

    Hello World!
    Christian (9:36 am CST)
    Fortunately, I managed to avoid posting any April Fool jokes, though that was only through sheer luck. Cinescape's report of a Star Wars television series (Jedi Academy) sounded very believable to me, while I very nearly had a heart attack when 'John Ordover' announced Pocket Books would stop publishing Trek books. Fortunately I realized the Pocket Books announcement was a misguided attempt at a joke before actually making an update about it, or I would have had to suffer through ten thousand mails ridiculing me this morning :-).

    [Update 20:17 CET:] Sigh. Remember yesterday's report in which I told you the German Star Trek Index was saying Sat.1 would start showing Voyager's fifth season in May already? Today they're saying it was, 'of course,' an April Fools Joke. I think I'll go hit myself on the head now.

    Thursday April 1, 1999
    Games Zone Previews BotF
    Christian (1:52 pm CST)
    'Birth of the Federation' screenshot - copyright Microprose, courtesy GamesZone The German Games Zone web site has published a new preview of Microprose's upcoming turn-based strategy game, 'Birth of the Federation.' The preview takes a look at some of the features of the game, and also includes an interview with Kyle Brink, long-time member of the 'Birth of the Federation' development team.

    Even though the preview itself is in German, it also includes 7 new screenshots and several unique photographs taken at the Microprose buildings, so it should be worth checking out for non-Germans as well. In case you're really desperate to read the article itself, there is a *very* rough (and hilarious) translation available via the Babelfish translator. Thanks go out to FedCom for pointing me to this.

    Sat.1 Showing Fifth Season In May
    Christian (12:30 pm CST)
    The German Star Trek Index has a short newsflash up stating that the German television station Sat.1 will start showing Voyager's fifth season in May already. As you may recall, a few weeks ago the station was considering cancelling the whole series, but after a huge wave of protests they decided to continue showing Voyager anyways. More info on the fifth season will become available tomorrow at the German Star Trek Index, which is when we'll be reporting about it as well.

    Trek Toy News
    Christian (12:27 pm CST)
    The Raving Toy Maniac has updated again, bringing us news on higher toy prices, toy sales figures, and a new column by Playmates' Consumer Representative Mara Hart. The sales figures info is possibly the most important, as this will play a major role in determining the future of the Trek line. Fortunately, the news is good:

    The currently available 4.5" and 9" figures are selling quite well, with the 9" figures pretty close to sell-out already. Target's order for the second wave of 4.5" figures, Data and Seven of Nine, has already been confirmed and they are on track for their intended April release date. All other planned Target Exclusives are still on the schedule as originally reported.

    Furtermore, a new edition of 'Mara's Corner' is online, in which a representative from Playmates answers questions from the fans:

    Q1: I was just curious to know if Playmates is planning an Ezri Dax figure of any kind? With DS9 leaving the air this year, I believe this would be a great figure (5" or 9") to add to our collections.

    A1: No plans yet, but 4th quarter 1999 exclusives still haven't been decided, and we have newly tooled 4.5" female body in Movie/DS9 uniform.

    14 more questions (and their answers, of course) can be found at the new edition of Mara's Corner, while more Trek toy news can be found at the Raving Toy Maniac's news page.

    Jammer Reviews 'The Fight'
    Christian (12:08 pm CST)
    Jamahl Epsicokhan just put up his review of Voyager's 'The Fight.' Just as most other reviewers, Jamahl wasn't too excited about the episode:

    All in all, this is mediocre Voyager. I was somewhat entertained by the visual ambition of "The Fight," but the underlying story simply did not engage me. At the end, we've faced and escaped another anomaly and logged another day at the office. Chakotay goes back into the holodeck to fight a few rounds. Nothing really wrong with that, but nothing interesting about it either.

    More can be found in the full review, in which he awards the episode 2 out of 4 stars.

    Flagship Reports Insurrection News
    Christian (11:58 am CST)
    The Flagship has some interesting new info about 'Star Trek: Insurrection.' First up is the news that the upcoming issue of 'Cinefex' will have an Insurrection feature:

    One of the Cinefex writers--who was kind enough to write me about some stuff last year--just wrote again to say that the April Cinefex should be in stores right now (or, if not, it will be very soon). The magazine, which can also be ordered by calling 800.434.3339, features 15,000 words on Insurrection effects as well as some new pictures. Check it out!

    The full update continues with the last ever Insurrection Box Office, and news of a bootleg (read: illegal) Video CD version of the movie. Find it all here.

    'Think Tank' Overnight Ratings
    Christian (11:41 am CST)
    The Universe has posted the overnight ratings for Voyager's 'Think Tank,' which fortunately were a lot better than last week's 'The Fight' ratings:

    Voyager was 4th this week, beating both WBs Charmed and FOXs "Party of Five". Its overnight rating was 5.3/8. Also 7 days did well, it got a 3.8 and beat a "Dawson's Creek" repeat. UPN was only 0.1 from being equal to FOXs wednesday lineup. The final rating for Voyager will problaly be around 3.5 to 4.0

    A Think Tank poll is now also up - find it at the Universe's Voyager news page.

    Continuum Trek Previews Up
    Christian (11:27 am CST)
    The Continuum has put up the official previews for next week's new Trek episodes. Unfortunately, nothing new is presented - next week's Voyager episode is a rerun of Infinite Regress, while the preview of DS9's Penumbra doesn't even give us a new picture.

    Daily Sci-Fi 'Previews' Trek 10
    Christian (11:00 am CST)
    The Den's Daily Sci-Fi has put up a short analysis of the current state of the Trek franchise, following up on the recent Communicator article in which Rick Berman talked about Trek 10 being in the talking stages:

    This comes at a time when the entire Star Trek franchise is facing serious popularity problems. With Deep Space Nine ending this season and Voyager losing credibility with fans, the Federation faces a problem more serious than the Borg or the Dominion: obsolescence. Despite rumors of another Trek series in development, there's been no formal announcement, which leaves the Voyager as the only Trek presence for at least the next two years, and they're still stuck in the Delta quadrant. Berman, executive producer for all things Star Trek, may need the positive buzz of a film to keep fans from defecting to Star Wars and other TV networks.

    The rest of the article talks about the Communicator article, and has a lovely picture of the Enterprise-E.

    Hang A Runabout In Your Christmas Tree
    Christian (10:20 am CST)
    This is not the Rio GrandeThis year's Hallmark Star Trek Christmas ornament vehicle will be one of DS9's runabouts, namely the 'Rio Grande.' The ornament will feature the voice of Michael Dorn (Worf), and will presumably go on sale sometime before Christmas. Thanks go out to Mania's Daily Buzz for reporting this.

    Mania Reviews 'Think Tank'
    Christian (10:11 am CST)
    Quick as usual, AnotherUniverse's Mania Magazine has put up a review of yesterday's new Voyager episode, 'Think Tank.' First impressions aren't good:

    What in heck is the point of having Jason Alexander play an alien who's not even remotely funny? I'm sorry if that's a shallow question, but I figured that if we were going to get a big-name guest star, the least Voyager's own think tank could do is give us a big story to go with him. This wasn't a dreadful episode - at least Kuros wanted Seven for her brains rather than her Borg assets like the folk in "Retrospect," her guts like the Hirogen in "Hunters," or her most obvious assets like the creep in "One" - but how many times can we sit through Seven-in-jeopardy stories before starting to wonder why in hell Janeway doesn't just jettison her pet Borg for the safety of the rest of the crew?

    In the full review, Michelle Erica Green provides a detailed synopsis of the episode, and goes on to give a more in-depth analysis. Find it all here.

    CGO Previews New Worlds
    Christian (9:28 am CST)
    The people at Computer Games Online have posted a new preview of Interplay's upcoming real-time strategy game, 'Star Trek: New Worlds.' In the preview, Scott Udel talks about the unique concept behind the game:

    Every once in a while, a game design comes along and your initial impression is, "What are they thinking?" Such was the case when we first heard about Interplay's upcoming Star Trek: New Worlds, a real-time Star Trek strategy game in the general Command & Conquer mold. What's this? Set on the ground?! The only time the Star Trek goes to ground is when the crew beams down to investigate something; that makes it territory for an adventure game like (ahem) Vulcan Fury, not a strategy game right?

    'New Worlds' Screenshot - Copyright Interplay, Courtesy Computer Games Online Well, the folks at Interplay, their new strategy game division 14º East, and developer Binary Asylum certainly don't think so, and you know, after seeing what they've actually got underway, they may have something here. They key issues, of course, are how to differentiate themselves from all the other Command & Conquer-style (versus Myth-style) real-time strategy (RTS) games in terms of game design and how to bring Star Trek down to, err, "planets" in a way that fans will accept. Two tough crowds, RTS gamers and Trekers; let's look at Interplay's plans for assuaging both.

    Not only does the full preview give you a look at Interplay's plans, it also gives you some beautiful screenshots you simply *have* to see. Check the preview out here. Thanks go out to Star Trek Gaming Central for pointing me to this.

    Insurrection Second-Lowest Grossing Trek Film Ever
    Christian (9:28 am CST)
    What is presumably the last ever 'Insurrection' box office report has been put up at the Star Trek Nielsen Ratings Information Database, offering us some rather bad news:

    Apologies for the lack of "Insurrection" data, but there's a very good reason for it: there is virtually no "Insurrection" data. The movie just completed what is almost certain to be its last week in American theaters with an insignifigant 26,000. Because the gross is so low and because there appears to be som adjustment of the total gross in the numbers, that money will not be figured into the total gross.

    It is very safe to assume that the number listed at the bottom of the Domestic chart is "Insurrection"'s final domestic gross, plus or minus a few thousand. So, when it's reported from now on, the final gross for "Insurrection" will be $70.1 million. That's the second-lowest grossing Trek film, defeating only "The Final Frontier."

    The cumulative worldwide gross is now about $107 million, a figure which will also probably stay the same. Detailed analyses can be found at the Box Office Report.

    Final 'The Fight' Ratings
    Christian (9:28 am CST)
    The Star Trek Nielsen Ratings Information Database has put up the final ratings report for Voyager's 'The Fight,' which, as we've reported before, didn't do too well:

    In the end, "The Fight" packed very, very little punch (Ha ha! Sorry). The episode crashed to an awful 2.9 rating, 5 share. That abysmal performance places it even below "Vis a Vis" as the lowest-rated Voyager episode ever to air. Thankfully, the episode at least outpaced the last two weeks of reruns which both earned a 2.7. "The Fight" also finished 6th in its timeslot (no surprise there) behind a rerun of "Charmed," which earned a 3.0 to land the #5 spot. Everything else was far, far away.

    Even with these horrendous ratings, Voyager was still the top-rated UPN show last week, according to this report from Nielsen Media Research. 'Voyager' tied at No. 96 with a rerun of the WB's 'The Jamie Foxx Show' and the WB's 'Rescue 77.' For more on this, read the full ratings report at the Ratings Info Database.

    Happy Birthday Grace Lee Whitney!
    Christian (9:27 am CST)
    Today is the birthday of Grace Lee Whitney, who co-starred as Yeoman Janice Rand in the first 13 episodes of the Original Series. Unfortunately, after those first 13 episodes, her contract wasn't renewed, officially because her presence limited Captain Kirk in his romantic endeavours. Later on, she reprised her role in several of the Star Trek motion pictures, and also returned for the third-season Voyager episode 'Flashback.' More on the character of Janice Rand can be found by visiting Curt Danhauser's Guide to 'Star Trek: Excelsior,' which also includes this Rand biography.

    Today on TV
    Christian (9:27 am CST)
    -In the United Kingdom, Sky One will be showing the first Voyager Borg episode 'Unity' at 17:00 GMT. In case you miss it, the episode also repeats at 23:30 CET.

    -German television station Sat.1 will be repeating TNG's 'Todesangst beim Beamen' (Realm of Fear) tomorrow morning at 7:00 CET. Because of Good Friday, they won't be showing Trek for the rest of the day tomorrow.

    New at Trekseek.com
    Christian (9:27 am CST)
    TrekSeek has finally reached 900 links, once again re-affirming its position as the single largest Trek search engine on the net. Take a look at yesterday's new sites:

    -The Star Trek Library has the final frontier's discount books, videos, games, music and more.
    -This is the story of the USS/ISS COYOTE NCC- 75015: In August 1996, three men dared to create a club in Bronx, NY that would be a haven for Trekkers to have a good time and enjoy each other's company. In February 1997, the dream became a reality. The USS/ISS Coyote was born, and ready to create havoc in fandom around the world. Let our howl be heard!! AWOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO!!!!!!!

    As usual, find our other new sites by going here.

    Hello World!
    Christian (9:26 am CST)
    Public Warning - Today is April 1. As in 'April 1, April Fools Day.' Don't trust any info on new Trek series, new movies or the resurrection of Kirk. I'm desperately hoping I won't fall for any of the jokes myself, but I'm not guaranteeing anything.

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