News Bullets

• According to the Hollywood Reporter, Paramount VP Alli Shearmur has been promoted to co-president of production, in which role she will report directly to new Paramount president Gail Berman. In her new job, Shearmur will oversee the day-to-day development and production of the annual slate of films and literary acquisitions - including, presumably, Star Trek 11. Thanks go out to Star Trek UK for the tip!

• Spock has come in at no.25 on the Knight News's list of the greatest cinema sidekicks.

• If he were stranded on a desert island, Patrick Stewart (Jean-Luc Picard) would like to have a general compendium of the world's best sci-fi with him, because he doesn't feel he knows as much about it as he should. According to the Huddersfield Daily Examiner, the TNG star made his comments Radio Four's Desert Island Discs program, where he also said that one of the pieces of music he'd like to bring along would be the recording of It's A Sin To Tell A Lie by Brent Spiner (Data).

• TV Guide sends along word that the results for their Trek polls are now in, after nearly 20,000 visitors to their web site placed their votes. James T. Kirk and Seven of Nine turned out to be the male and female Trek characters TV Guide readers would most like to spend an evening in the holodeck with, Data the one they would want by their side on a dangerous mission, and Worf's son Alexander the most annoying character. With 60% of the votes, the Borg were voted the most fearsome villain, while their catchphrase Resistance Is Futile also won out. Three TV Guide's four Trek are available in stores now, while an Enterprise-only cover is available from the TV Guide site.

• The TrekUnited fan campaign has revealed the name of the Canadian producer who pitched a plan to Paramount to keep Enterprise going for a fifth season as Al Vinci, a former child actor turned producer. In a chat transcript reposted at the Trek BBS, Vinci claimed to have put together a $18 million financial package, consisting of TrekUnited's $3 million and $15 million from international sponsorships. The SyFy Portal reported on the chat, but noted it was unable to corroborate Vinci's claims.

• Meanwhile, the Sci-Fi Wire notes that TrekUnited leader Tim Brazeal posted an unusual message on the campaign's message boards, in which he admitted that in the early 1980s, he was convicted for stealing a car, placed on 10 years of probation, and ordered to pay $10,000 in restitution. "I have not been in trouble since this time," the Sci-Fi Wire quoted Brazeal. "I was young and stupid, and I learned from my mistakes."

• The official Star Trek site has added a new advice columnist, Alphonse O. Carpone, a graduate student in interstellar law at U.C. Berkeley. As a native of Sigma Iotia II, Mr. Carpone welcomes the opportunity to provide an Iotian cultural perspective to your questions and/or problems.

• Walter Koenig (Pavel Chekov) recently completed filming on Mad Cowgirl, an independent drama film that the IMDB described as dealing with a woman dying of a brain disorder who begins a surreal journey which descends into violence. Koenig played Pastor Dylan, the male lead role. The film is expected to be completed in time for film festivals early next year. Thanks go out to Douglas Dunning for this!

• Julia Houston, the Sci-Fi Guide for About.com, has written an article on sex in science fiction. "Sci-fi in mass-market TV and film might raise some of these titillating possibilities - we get plenty of human sexuality that's just like our own, and we get plenty of weird alien sex things to make us go 'ew' - but inevitably ignores their repercussions," Houston noted, pointing to Trek's holosuites as an example.

• At the Philadelphia Film Festival, Malcolm McDowell (Dr. Tolian Soran) was asked about the reports that he received death threats after playing Kirk's killer in Generations. "Yes, but I don't know how serious they were," the Philadelphia Daily News quoted him as saying. "Anyway, I was very happy to be the man to do it. It gave me great pleasure to get rid of him. Bill Shatner, by the way, is a very amusing guy, not nearly what he appears to be in public. The whole picture was a delight."

• The Hollywood Reporter recently noted there is a large wave of nostalgia programming sweeping through Europe. In particular, in Europe a version of the Sci-Fi Channel has been scoring "small but significant audience numbers" with reruns of, among other shows, the original Star Trek.

• Sid City, the official web site of Alexander Siddig (Julian Bashir), has launched Crusade for Charity, a raffle to raise funds in support of relief for the Sudan. Prizes include a signed poster of Kingdom of Heaven and five signed photos of Siddig himself.

• Jamahl Epsicokhan at Star Trek: Hypertext yesterday announced that his fundraising experiment was successful, as readers of his site donated enough money for him to be able to buy a full collection of The Next Generation DVD box sets. Jammer is hoping to start posting TNG episode reviews sometime in the summer.

• The Swedish Star Trek Database has posted an interview with Sev Trek cartoonist John Cook. An English version is available below the Swedish translation.

• A Non-Canon Star Trek Wiki has launched, devoted to listing all information from non-canon Trek sources such as novels, RPGs, computer games and periodicals. A wiki is a user-contributed knowledge base; there is also a wiki intended primarily to list canon Trek material, located at Memory-Alpha.org.

• Decipher, the publisher of the official Star Trek customisable card game, has posted a new edition of Decipher Games Radio, also containing some news on their Trek line.

• The Futon Critic reports that UPN's 2005-2006 schedule will be officially announced on Thursday the 19th of May in Madison Square Garden, New York.

• Throughout April, internet radio station Great Web Radio will be giving away tickets to the London Expo, an event that will be attended by several Enterprise cast members and Leonard Nimoy (Spock). The station is also giving away Enterprise DVD sets. In order to have a chance at winning these prizes, listeners have to tune in to the station's Expo Hours, on Tuesday (4-5pm), Thursday (7-8pm) and Saturday (10am-11am). On the 14th and 15th of May, the station will be broadcasting live from the Expo.

• Creation Entertainment has announced Alice Krige (the Borg Queen) has been added to the guest list for the official Las Vegas Star Trek convention.

• LowerDecks.com has posted a somewhat belated review of "Divergence."

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