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Hello World!

Well, I certainly wasn't expecting to have to type another note like this so shortly after the last one.

Last week, when we added the new Star Trek product advertisements at the end of each news item, I was hoping that that would be enough to weather the internet advertising storm. Unfortunately, this didn't turn out to be the case - information on TrekToday's advertising revenue for the first two months of this year came in this week, and it turned out to be several times lower than what I had estimated in even my worst-case scenarios. In order to increase the site's chances of survival, I've had to take a few actions which many of you probably won't be too happy with:

• In the first place, as you probably noticed, I've had to add a so-called 'skyscraper' advertisement to the TrekToday front page, something that UGO has been suggesting for a while. The skyscraper advertising format was created this year to offer advertisers alternatives to the standard banner, and according to UGO they are in fairly high demand.

  Of course, the skyscraper does mean extra download time, and so I've taken a few steps to minimise the 'damage'. Firstly, the skyscraper is currently only intended to run on the front pages of the sites, and not on the actual news pages. Secondly, the skyscraper will only run half the time, with a smaller Star Trek product advertisement running the other half. And finally, like all UGO ads, on most browsers the advertisement will only load once the rest of the page has loaded. Hopefully that will make this new advertisement more acceptable.

• In the second place, I'll also be adding these new advertisements to our Andromeda sister site, SlipstreamWeb, something I was already planning to do anyway. It's a bit harder to find Andromeda-related merchandising, but hopefully general science fiction merchandising and Hercules products will also do well.

• Finally, I've added a few new products to the TrekToday advertising rotation. I personally think the most interesting new products are the downloadable Star Trek audiobooks, which are available at prices far below what they would cost on CD. I'll probably be buying 'Spock vs Q' myself, both because it looks like a really cool play and to see how well it actually works. Other new ads promote the Star Trek Trivia game and a subscription to the Star Trek Communicator. Of course, if you have any suggestions for any Trek products we could advertise here or would like to buy advertising space yourself, please do let me know.

These ads are pretty essential for TrekToday's survival, so I appreciate any attention you give to them, and certainly appreciate you checking out the Star Trek products on offer. Again, of course many thanks go out for all your understanding and support, and in return, we'll try to keep up the quality of the site as much as possible, of course!

Trek BBS Today

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

-What is the Original Series episode most relevant for our time?

-Which of the shows had the worst seventh season?

-If the Defiant and the Dominion had been introduced in season 1, would Deep Space Nine have been a hit?

More topics can be found at the Trek BBS!

Trek Two Years Ago

Below are some of the most important headlines that appeared on TrekToday on Wednesday the 7th of April, 1999:

• DS9 Final Chapter Spoilers At SF World - Deep Space Nine spoilage continued, with British web site Sci-Fi World revealing the Dominion would sign an alliance with the Breen, Martok would replace Gowron as Chancellor, and a new Defiant would arrive at the station.

• 'Can UPN Survive?' Asks Article - The 'Voyager' network probably reached its absolute low point ever around this time, with 'WWF Smackdown!' not on the regular schedule yet, and 'Voyager' ratings sinking so low UPN had to cut several minutes from each episode to be able to sell more advertisements. Network affiliates were dropping like flies, and one anonymous UPN staffer commented, "It's pretty dismal around here. We don't know if we'll have a job for much longer."

• Why Seska Won't Be Back - Martha Hackett explained in an interview with Michelle Erica Green why the character of Seska was written out of the series. "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." Of course, in the recent episode 'Shattered' Hackett reprised her role again.

Today's Television Listings

• The Sci-Fi Channel will be holding another Original Series Marathon from 9:30am to 6:30pm, comprising of 'All out Yesterdays', 'The Ultimate Computer', 'Shore Leave', 'The Menagerie I&II', 'Amok Time', 'Mirror Mirror', 'Journey To Babel' and 'The City on the Edge of Forever'. This will be followed by 'Star Trek VI: The Voyager Home' at 6:30pm.

• In the United Kingdom, Sky One will be showing Voager's 'Timeless' at 06:00 (repeat at 16:00), DS9's 'Rapture' at 14:00 and 'The Darkness, the Light' at 15:00, followed by Voyager's 'Infinite Regress' at 17:00. Meanwhile, Sky Premiere Three will air 'Star Trek VI: The Undiscovered Country' at 11:10. Thanks go out to the Great Link for this!

• In Germany, Sat.1 will be showing the original series episode 'Was summt denn da?' at 14:00 (repeat at 02:05) and Voyager's 'Schwere' (Gravity) at 15:00

• In the Netherlands, NED2 will show Voyager's 'Timeless' at 17:10. Thanks go out to StarTrek.nl for this!

Tomorrow's Television Listings

• The Sci-Fi Channel will be showing the Original Series episode 'Charlie X' at 10:00am Eastern Time. At 1:30pm, they will be showing 'Star Trek IV: The Voyage Home', and at 9:00pm 'Star Trek VI: The Undiscovered Country'.

• In Canada, Space! will be showing the Original Series' 'That Which Survives' at 10:00am Eastern Time and TNG's 'Haven' at 11:00am.

• In the United Kingdom, Sky One will be showing three TNG episodes, beginning at 14:00 GMT with 'Menage a Troi', continuing at 15:00 with 'Transfigurations' and ending at 16:00 with 'The Best of Both Worlds, Part One'. At 18:30, BBS Two will be showing the Original Series' 'Amok Time'. Thanks go out to the Great Link for this!

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