TREKTODAY.COM - View Archives: January 2000
News headlines from January 2000:
| Friday January 28, 2000 |
Christian (9:40 pm CST)
Over at Fandom's Star Trek Central, they've put up Part Five of Anna L. Kaplan's seven-part interview with Ronald D. Moore, the former TNG, DS9 and Voyager writer. In this part, Moore mostly talks about the future of Trek, and Series V. One of the Series V premises he discussed is the 'Birth of the Federation' concept:
"I think that is really hard for Rick and Brannon. It's hard for them to do that, because they don't like the original show. Let's not mince words. They don't like the original show. They have never liked the original show. They'll bob and weave a bit here and there in public. But they don't like it; they don't want to have anything to do with it. If you are going to go before the original series and do something, you better have a change of attitude. You better have an epiphany about how much you love the original series. It's all going to be about leading up to that."
"The STAR TREK past—it's challenging; it sounds like it's fun on one level, and I thought that was an interesting way to go for a long time. But it has a lot of pitfalls to it. You have a very complex future mapped out. If you are going to go into STAR TREK's past, say, pre-Kirk, you better have an iron-clad commitment to maintaining the continuity that's been established, or I think you are just going to lose everybody. Because if you go back before Kirk, and you start screwing around, and you just don't care what NEXT GEN or DS9 or VOYAGER established, or the movies, or even the original series, you just try to make it up as you go along, I think you just lost everyone. The whole franchise will just collapse, because it will have no validity whatsoever. If you are going to go there, you really better be prepared to truly put on the STAR TREK mantle and be the keeper of the flame."
Lots more can be found in the full interview, interesting as ever.
Jammer's 'Blink Of An Eye' Review
I'm inclined to use the phrase "updated retelling." One gets the sense that this story might've been intended to seem fresh to new-Trek fans who were not familiar with the original premise; at the same time, the fact that the title has barely been changed (the TOS episode was called "Wink of an Eye") is a hint that maybe the writers were consciously, if quietly, acknowledging their source material.
Still, with a premise built on such an interesting hook, it almost seems like the original script's writers, Arthur Heinemann and Gene Coon, deserved to be inserted into this week's credits. "Blink of an Eye" is not a rehash, mind you. "Blink" is, in fact, miles ahead of "Wink," which had that great starting premise but didn't do much with it, and required viewers to overlook crucial flaws in logic in order for the story to work.
Christian (9:40 pm CST)
Jamahl Epsicokhan at Star Trek: Hypertext has uploaded his review of 'Blink of an Eye', last week's new Voyager episode. Jamahl rather liked the episode, and awarded it three stars, though he also noted the striking similarity between 'Blink' and the Original Series 'Wink':
"Blink of an Eye" is a compelling hour of Voyager, and it might've seemed like a truly original sci-fi concept if it weren't for the fact the basic premise was made into an episode of original Trek more than 31 years ago. Is this new episode an homage, an updated retelling, or a blatant plundering of already-used ideas?
Click here for the full review.
Joe Menosky To Leave Voyager
Christian (9:39 pm CST)
Some fairly bad news here from one of TrekToday's regular sources - apparently, staff writer Joe Menosky will be leaving 'Star Trek: Voyager' after the current season. Over the past few years Menosky has been responsible for some of Voyager's most memorable episodes, including 'Scorpion', 'Timeless' and, most recently, 'Blink of an Eye'. As usual, treat this as you would any rumour - of course this hasn't been officially confirmed by Paramount yet.
Official UPN 'Tsunkatse' Synopsis
Again, this is where you need to click to avoid being spoiled.
UPN just posted the following official episode synopsis for 'Tsunkatse':
Christian (9:39 pm CST)
NOTE: Below you'll find some major spoilers for 'Tsunkatse', the Voyager episode airing two weeks from now. Click here to avoid these.
With special WWF Superstar guest THE ROCK
'Tsunkatse', in which WWF Superstar Guest THE ROCK will be speaking a grand total of five lines, airs on the 9th of February.
While on shore leave on an alien planet, the Voyager crew enjoys the popular bloodsport known as Tsunkatse, unaware that Tuvok and Seven of Nine have been kidnapped by a diabolical promoter who sees box-office appeal in coercing a Borg to battle. When he threatens to harm the wounded Tuvok, Seven is forced into using her Borg skills in a death match with a formidable warrior.
Fandom Buys AnotherUniverse
Fandom provides science fiction, fantasy and horror entertainment enthusiasts with an online environment that tailors commerce, content, and community to their needs and interests. At the core of the site's activities is fan-generated news and information dedicated to genre entertainment icons. Well-trafficked fan-sites have been acquired and integrated into special sections or "domains" that are maintained by Fandom's "Head Fanatics" who spend considerable time and energy providing fans with exciting forums on topics ranging from Japanese monster movies to superhero comic books.
AnotherUniverse.com is one of the largest online retailers of genre merchandise with nearly one million unique visitors every month. The site combines editorial content with an extensive product line of toys, comic books, and animation items.
Christian (9:38 pm CST)
It seems two of TrekToday's most frequent news sources will be merging, as Fandom, Inc. (home of Star Trek Central) just announced they'll be buying AnotherUniverse, featuring regular Trek content from Michelle Erica Green. Take a look at how the official press release starts:
Fandom, Inc. (www.fandom.com) the Internet's premier destination for science fiction, fantasy and horror entertainment news, information and merchandise, today announced the acquisition of certain business assets of AnotherUniverse.com, a leading Internet retailer of comics and science fiction related products. The acquisition of AnotherUniverse.com will extend the ecommerce capabilities of the company. Terms of the deal were not disclosed.
The full press release on this can be read by following this link. I'm actually quite surprised Fandom was already able to do this, considering they've only existed for a year or so. All those Ron Moore interviews must have done miracles for their popularity :-).
'A Piece Of The Action' Figures
But New Force Comics, which has managed to bankroll a few of their own exclusives with Playmates, pulled a coup and rescued a run of one thousand of each "Piece of the Action" Kirk and Spock for its domestic customers. That, to my knowledge, is the lowest run of any limited edition STAR TREK toy (the Star Trek Communicator magazine exclusive of Kirk as a Romulan from "The Enterprise Incident" was a run of 3,000, the previous record—earlier Kay Bee and Target exclusives features runs of around 7,000 figures), and New Force sold out its run of the figures rapidly.
Christian (9:38 pm CST)
Jeff Bond at Eon Magazine has put up a review of the new action figures of Kirk & Spock from 'A Piece Of The Action', two of the last new action figures produced by Playmates. Apparently the figures are destined to become highly sought-after collectibles:
If you don't have these toys by now, you're out of luck. Originally planned as Kay Bee exclusives themselves, the 12-inch "Piece of the Action" figures fell victim to Playmates' intention to dump the STAR TREK line at the end of 1999. Despite the fact that production had already begun on the figures overseas, Kay Bee elected to not carry these figures, and there was some question of them being available domestically at all.
In the full review, the figures are awarded an A.
'Amdromeda' Promo Art
Christian (9:38 pm CST)
Cinescape just posted a promotional poster for 'Andromeda', the new series starring Kevin Sorbo (from 'Hercules'), based on the work of Gene Roddenberry and headed by former DS9 writer Robert Hewitt Wolfe. The poster presents the current tag line of the series, "From the mind of the master, comes the adventure of the age'.
'DS9: The Fallen' Delayed
Christian (9:37 pm CST)
Stephen Butts at IGN PC has just put up a new interview with Ken Gordon, the Executive Producer of the Collective's upcoming 'Deep Space Nine: The Fallen' game. In the interview, Gordon starts out by announcing the game has been delayed:
"The bottom line is that we have encountered some delays." So begins my conversation with the Executive Producer of Deep Space 9: The Fallen, Ken Gordon. Rather than shooting for a March release, the team now expects the game to ship in August. Ken says that the "bottom line is that we are promising quite a lot with this game…and what we wanted to make sure of as publishers is that we make sure it lives up to its potential." This idea of potential is one that Ken was sure to emphasize again and again in our discussion. It's a critical title for Simon and Schuster and Ken says they "want to make sure that we don't short circuit it by pushing it out too soon and by cutting features."
In the full interview, you'll be able to find some information about the new features added to the game, as well as fourty (!) new screenshots. In related news, Inside Mac Games has also posted a brief Q&A with Gordon on their news page (scroll down), mentioning that part of the reason for the delay is a switch from the 'Unreal' to the newer 'Unreal Tournament' engine. Thanks go out to Evil Avatar for the first and Blue for the second news item.
Shatner Attracts Female 'View'ers
Christian (9:37 pm CST)
Or he might have. TV Guide is reporting that the ABC daytime talk show 'The View' scored its highest ratings ever among women 18 to 49 for the week ending January 21. Coincidentally, William Shatner (James T. Kirk) appeared on the show on the 19th of January, but it is not known whether it was also his appearance that caused the female public to tune in.
Cinescape Reviews 'Virtuoso'
Christian (9:36 pm CST)
Michael Marek, regular Star Trek contributor at Cinescape, has put up his review of 'Virtuoso', last Wednesday's new Trek episode. Here's how he starts his review:
"Virtuoso" takes its cue from episodes earlier this season in which we find the series' holographic Doctor more and more interested in music, and in particular operatic singing. It has some interesting moments, but generally falls short of the mark. This episode fits into that general formula of story we have seen several times before in which a lead character decides to leave the ship, after which events transpire to make him or her reconsider.
The full interview can be found at Cinescape.
UPN Smacks Down Clinton Speech
Christian (9:36 pm CST)
UltimateTV just posted the overnight ratings report for yesterday, when the four major networks (ABC, CBS, NBC and Fox) all covered Bill Clinton's final State of the Union speech. Helped by its 'WWF Smackdown!' show, UPN achieved a third place for the night, scoring a 6.7 rating / 10 share and beating the WB, CBS and Fox. At 9:30 'Smackdown!' peaked with a 7.3/11, and then the net was even able to beat NBC. The full report on this can be found here.
Today On TV
-On Saturday in the United Kingdom, Sky One will be showing DS9's 'Equilibrium' at 16:00 GMT, followed an hour later by Voyager's 'Warlord'. Thanks go out to Kathryn Hughes for this!
-On Saturday in Germany, Sat.1 will be showing the Original Series 'Implosion in der Spirale' (The Naked Time) at 14:00 CET, and DS9's 'Bis daß der Tod uns scheide' (Till Death Do Us Part) at 16:00.
-On Saturday in The Netherlands, the AVRO on Nederland 1 will be showing Voyager's 'Barge of the Dead' at 18:11 CET. Thanks go out to StarTrek.nl for this!
Christian (9:36 pm CST)
-On Saturday in Canada, Space! will be showing DS9's 'Profit and Loss' at 4:45am Eastern Time and the Original Series' 'The Doomsday Machine' at 10:00am.
Trek BBS Today
-Welcome to our lovely new server!
-Can the Holodoc be copied?
-How do you think 'Fury', the episode featuring the return of Kes, will turn out?
Find more topics at the Trek BBS!
Christian (9:36 pm CST)
Located at the new server, some interesting threads are still going on at the Trek BBS:
Hello World!
Christian (9:34 pm CST)
Good thing I got that dedicated server in time... today my old web host disabled the script responsible for displaying the forums at the Trek BBS, as they apparently felt the bulletin board took up too much system resources. I immediately started transfering the BBS to the new server, which was slightly hindered by the fact I still had (have) no clue at all about how to deal with several important aspects of the server. Fortunately the BBS is at least functioning now, though for the next few days you'll only be able to access it via its IP-address: http://208.231.7.187/. Hopefully the domain transfer should also go through soon and you'll be able to use the domain name again.
| Thursday January 27, 2000 |
Christian (7:07 pm CST)
Over at the Trek Nation, we've just put up a ">very extensive report by Jennifer Whildin of the Slanted Fedora Trek convention which took place this weekend in New York. The report is a truly interesting read, and offers a detailed account of almost everything that took place in the con - you can read it by going here.
Julia Houston Reviews 'Blink Of An Eye'
Christian (7:06 pm CST)
Julia Houston at About.com's Star Trek Fans has uploaded a fairly positive review of 'Blink of an Eye', last week's Voyager episode. Here's how she starts her review:
Here's an episode that looked like a stinker for the first ten minutes, got better quickly, has some lovely minutes, and ends without the reset button I thought I saw coming a millennium away.
An in-depth analysis of the episode can be found by following this link.
Four New 'Elite Force' Pictures
Christian (7:06 pm CST)
Over at Federation HQ, they've posted four new screenshots from 'Voyager: Elite Force', all of which first appeared in the Computer Gaming Strategy Plus magazine. The shots show Voyager's conference room, bridge and sickbay, as well as the first shot ever of Seven of Nine. You can find the screenshots by going here.
Down To Earth Trek Comics
Christian (7:06 pm CST)
Down To Earth, a daily online cartoon, has just started a week during which they'll be publishing strips dealing with 'Star Trek: Voyager'. Currently only the Wednesday's strip and today's strip are up, but over the coming days a few more Voyager strip should be added. The cartoons are actually pretty funny, though of course that's not very difficult when you consider they deal with a guest appearance by Wesley Crusher on Voyager. Thanks go out to Fandom's Star Trek Central for this!
Willing Piker Spotlight
Christian (7:06 pm CST)
The Sev Trek Movie Page has been updated with a new character preview for the film, looking at Commander Willing Piker:
Commander Willing Piker is the Number One of the Enterforaprize... well, he's actually the number two but Captain Pickhard prefers to call him number one. It's not surprising that on a ship that doesn't seem to have a toilet, the crew seem to get their number ones mixed up with their number twos!
You can find the spotlight here.
Mania 'Virtuoso' Review
Don't get me wrong: Bob Picardo was terrific both singing and playing the increasingly deluded Doctor. And Jeri Ryan was quite moving portraying Seven's sense of abandonment by the Doctor - both when she accused him of arrogance and when she consoled him with the fan letter - though we didn't learn anything new about Seven from her dialogue. Janeway's reaction to the Doctor's use of her first name was hysterical in a sad sort of way; OK, he was way out of line, but no wonder she doesn't have any friends on the ship. My favorite moment was when the Doctor sang the notes of "Thus Spoke Zarathustra" famous to genre fans from the film 2001: A Space Odyssey. It's nice to get a reminder that once upon a time, filmmakers knew how to produce real science fiction.
Christian (7:06 pm CST)
Michelle Erica Green at AnotherUniverse's Mania Magazine has put up a new edition of her Hailing Frequencies column, also featuring her review of yesterday's new Voyager episode:
Last week we learned that the Doctor had a son, about whom he has apparently already forgotten. This week we learned that his primary emotion towards his Voyager crewmates is scorn, and he wishes he could be someplace where advanced beings appreciate his brilliance. Sort of like the Voyager writers? Seven notes that the word "fan" derives from "fanatic," and adds, "This glorification of the individual is irrational." OK, that's fair. Then Janeway announces the reason for adulation of celebrities: it makes unimportant people feel important. Gee, now that we know, we can stop wasting our money on Star Trek conventions and collectibles! Thanks, Paramount!
In the full column you'll also find a round-up of the latest episode rumours, book reviews, and a 'Virtuoso' plot summary.
Incite 'Klingon Academy' Features
Gorn spacecraft are built for speed and survivability, and are equipped with the latest in gravity-manipulation weapons – a specialty of the Gorn culture. Klingons are advised that any attack against the Gorn could evoke a response from the Federation, as the two groups share some political ties.
Christian (7:05 pm CST)
incitegames has posted a set of nine new screenshots and four short new movies from 'Klingon Academy', showing several battles between Gorn and Klingon ships:
The Gorn Star Kingdom is a fading civilization, but by no means does that make its military might any less fearsome. The "declining" race in Interplay's Klingon Academy maintains a well-organized, disciplined fighting force that can be stirred to action with the proper impetus (say, an invasion into Gorn territory).
You can find the new 'Klingon Academy' materials here. Thanks go out to Blue for this!
TrekWeb Merchandise Survey
The final results will be published online as well as in the Communicator magazine.
Christian (7:05 pm CST)
TrekWeb just launched a new online survey asking you about your favourite types of Trek merchandise, together with the official Star Trek Fan Club:
TrekWeb.COM, in association with the Star Trek Communicator and the Official Star Trek Fan Club, wants to know what types of new 'Trek' merchandise you want the Communicator to produce for its Exclusive 2000 line. From action figures to clothing, the Communicator wants you to take a minute to fill out a quick survey regarding new products.
You can take part in the survey via this page.
Trek CCG Top Ten
Christian (7:05 pm CST)
Decipher, the publisher of the official Star Trek Customisable Card Game, has published the current top 10 of the best CCG publishers in the world. Take a look at how they describe the top ten:
This is a closely grouped Top Ten, with less than one hundred points separating No. 1, Jason Drake (1940) from No. 10, Dennis Dockx (1863). The results of a single tournament could stir this pot into a very different alignment. Eight of the Top 10 have contested in past World Championships. Perhaps we'll see current World No. 2 Shane Kay of Gympie, Australia, and No. 10 Dennis Dockx of Belgium at the DecipherCon 2000 World Finals. Trek's Top Ten is a truly international group, with five of the delegates hailing from outside the US, including perennial top-ranking players Ken Tufts of British Columbia and Steven Livanes of Australia.
The actual list of top players can be found here.
Australian Trek Ride
Christian (7:05 pm CST)
A news report on Excite Australia is reporting about Studio City, a new theme park set to be developed in Melbourne, Australia, by Viacom. At the moment Viacom is apparently trying to raise $A450 million (US$ 294 million) from institutional and private investors, $A360 million (US$ 235 million) of which will be used to build Paramount's Studio Adventure, "a 23-ride family theme park based on Paramount Films such as 'Star Trek' and 'Top Gun'." A bit more on the share offering for this project can be found in the full article.
'Starship Creator: Warp 2' Announced
``STARSHIP CREATOR: WARP 2'' will also allow Trekkers to import their newly created Starships into Simon & Schuster Interactive's tactical combat / role playing game, ``Star Trek Deep Space Nine: Dominion Wars''
Christian (7:04 pm CST)
Simon & Schuster Interactive have issued a press release containing the official announcement of 'Starship Creator: Warp 2', the sequel to last year's software product which allowed Trek fans to create their own starships and send them on missions. Here's how the release starts:
Simon & Schuster Interactive announced today they are developing a new Star Trek entertainment title ``STARSHIP CREATOR: WARP 2 (PC/Mac CD-ROM, shipping in April).'' The follow-up to the best-selling ``Starship Creator Deluxe,'' ``WARP 2'' gives Trekkers what they've been waiting for - the ability to create their own Starships, fly them simultaneously in one of 10 scenarios, the ability to create their own scenes for ``mini-episodes'' with a drag-and-drop scenario creator and export them onto a Palm Pilot or Visor PDA, and photo editing features that puts Trekkers in actual Starfleet Officer's uniforms.
For more on the game's features, read the actual press release. 'Starship Creator: Warp 2' is currently scheduled for an April release for both the PC and the Mac, at an estimated retail price of $29.95. In related news, Federation HQ has posted the first set of screenshots from the program.
Excellent 'Virtuoso' Overnight Ratings
Voyager extended its lead over "Get Real" in the overnights, taking a strong fourth in the timeslot. "Get Real" was 5th with a 4.5/7 and "Roswell" sank further into 6th with a 3.7/5. "Seven Days" took a 3.0/5 in its second week of reruns.
Christian (7:04 pm CST)
Greg Fuller at the Star Trek Nielsen Ratings Information Database again posted some really encouraging Voyager ratings news, this time in the form of a 'Virtuoso' overnight ratings report:
"Virtuoso" scored one of Voyager's best overnight ratings of the season, rising to a 4.9 rating, 7 share. That's up from last week's "Blink of an Eye," which tallied a 4.5/7 and the highest mark since "Pathfinder" in early December.
In all probability, this will also mean a higher final rating. You can find the original report on this here.
'Elite Force' Hands-On Preview
Raven software knows a few things about first-person-shooters, being the masterminds behind such games as Soldier of Fortune and Hexen. The straightforward use of the Quake III engine makes sense not just because it's one of the best looking engines out there, but also for its ability to create curved surfaces. The 3D interiors of the Voyager and other starships look dead-on like the TV show's sets, making it easier for gamers and trekkers alike to suspend their belief. Coupled with the intense gameplay inherent in any Quake engine, and you've got a potentially ass-kicking Star Trek title.
Christian (7:04 pm CST)
Gamespot UK has put up a short new preview of 'Voyager: Elite Force', Raven's new first-person shooter game. Gamespot seem to think the game is going to be really good:
Elite Force is being developed with the Quake III Arena engine, so the level of fast-paced
shoot 'em-up action should be much higher than anything ever actually seen on Star Trek Voyager, the show.
A bit more can be found in the full preview. Thanks go out to Evil Avatar for the lead.
Happy Birthday!
Christian (7:04 pm CST)
Today is the 60th birthday of James Cromwell, who starred as Zefram Cochrane in 'Star Trek: First Contact'. He has also appeared as Nayrok in TNG's 'The Hunted', as Jaglom Shrek in 'Birthright, Parts One and Two' and as Minister Hanok in DS9's 'Starship Down'.
Poll Results
Christian (7:04 pm CST)
Below you'll find the results of the most recent TrekToday poll, in which you were asked if you thought Ronald D. Moore was right in speaking out in the recent series of interviews at Fandom.com. Apparently, most of you thought he was:
| ||||||||
80.6% - (291
Votes)
Please also participate in the new TrekToday poll, asking what you thought about yesterday's new Voyager episode, 'Virtuoso'.
Today On TV
-On Friday in Canada, Space! will be showing DS9's 'Playing God' at 4:00pm, the Original Series 'Amok Time' at 10:00am and at 4:00pm, and DS9's 'Profit and Loss' at 10:00pm.
-On Friday in the United Kingdom, Sky One will be showing Voyager's 'Future's End, Part Two' at 17:00 and at 23:30 GMT. Thanks go out to Kathryn Hughes for this!
-On Friday in Germany, Sat.1 will be showing Voyager's 'Transplantationen' at 15:00 CET.
Christian (7:03 pm CST)
-On Friday in the United States, the Sci-Fi Channel will be showing the Original Series episode 'The Naked Time' at 4:00pm Eastern Time.
Trek BBS Today
-Read da Woim's review and Russel Christiansen's criticism of 'Virtuoso', then after that compare the episode to 'Tinker, Tenor, Doctor Spy' or just talk about the episode. Lastly, there's also a thread in which you can complain about the multitude of 'Virtuoso' threads.
-Are you also looking forward to 'Voyager: Elite Force'?
-Was Deep Space Nine the best Trek ever?
More topics can be found at the Trek BBS!
Christian (7:03 pm CST)
Below are some of the topics currently being discussed at the Trek BBS:
Hello World!
Christian (7:03 pm CST)
Over at Cinescape I just read some absolutely fantastic news - it seems that movie studio Universal has started work on a movie adaptation of 'The Lion, The Witch and the Wardrobe', the first in the Chronicles of Narnia series by C.S. Lewis. That book is easily the book I have the fondest memories of, and I must have read it at least a dozen times as a kid - and even now it's still great to read through again or read to others. The novel series has had a permanent place on my main bookshelf for as long as I can remember, even though my original Dutch books I'd bought from the library have since been replaced by a beautiful English hardcover box set. The only problem is of course that it will be very hard to make the film live up to the original books (maybe with Narnia it's even harder than with 'Lord of the Rings'), but I do know that this is one movie I'm very eagerly looking forward to.
| Wednesday January 26, 2000 |
Christian (7:48 pm CST)
Lisa Cantwell and Bernie Seilhamer just sent in two reports about the Slanted Fedora Trek convention which took place this weekend in New York. Take a look at Bernie's report:
René Auberjonois (Odo) was a real trooper - he was very ill from filming a scene in the upcoming movie "The Patriot" with Mel Gibson. He was wading in 40 degree water during an overnight shoot for hours.
Chase Masterson (Leeta) informed us that her company has put out a product called 'ABC (Already Been Chewed) Gum' available in toy stores now. She told us about her experience working with Bob Picardo on the DS9 episode 'Doctor Bashir, I Presume' (I think that was the title of the episode where Dr. Louis Zimmerman tries to woo Leeta). In the last scene, where Leeta goes off with Rom, there was no dialogue for Picardo, so he suggested a line for his character when he notices an attractive woman boarding the shutlecraft departing the station. Chase said Bob was hillarious - they filmed two different lines: The one that was chosen - "Excuse me miss, have you heard about my work on the kama sutra?" and the other that Chase liked was "Excuse me miss, have you heard about my work on Star Trek Voyager?"
Max Grodenchik (Rom) was there too on stage with Aaron Eisenberg (Nog), Chase and Lolita. I was very impressed with them all - you can tell they really liked working with one another - they were like family. Later on that evening Rene and Armin Shimmerman performed for us during Slanted Fedora's Dinner with the Stars. They acted out scenes from Thurber, Armin did a dramatic reading of the Telltale Heart, they performed a hillarious The Great Train Robbery, and both actors performed for us as Odo and Quark, stuck on a shuttle craft together. It was an honor to see two fine actors perform on stage. Armin joked that unlike Rene, he did not have a Tony award, but that now he could say he performed on Broadway (the back door entrance of the Holiday Inn was on Broadway [34th and Broadway]).
On a sadder note, Lolita, Rene and Armin said there definately would not be a DS9 movie, because as they finished filming the last scene,on each of the sets of the three sound stages on the Paramount lot,for the final episode, the sets were torn down and destroyed. Paramount wanted their sound stages back and there was no place to store the massive sets. The TV show Judging Amy now occupies the old DS9 set.
I was at a Slanted Fedora Con in Manhattan on Sunday. I asked [script coordinator] Lolita Fatjo if there was any truth to the rumor that Jennifer Lein was reprising her role as Kes this season on VOY and she said YES, the episode is called 'Fury' and they started filming on Monday.
Thanks go out to Bernie for sending this in! Especially interesting is the news that the Kes episode is apparently not 'Good Shepherd', as was previously reported. Lisa Cantwell also added to this that, according to Lolita Fatjo, "we will see Kes as we've never seen her before", though it will just be a one-shot deal. Thanks again to both Bernie and Lisa for this!
Star Trek And Sex
"Giggle sex" is sexual innuendo, talking about sex without actually talking about it. This treats sex as though it's "dirty but funny" and invites everyone to waggle their eyebrows and smirk at lot, as well as to feel about twelve years old.
"Jiggle sex" is putting people in skimpy outfits and making them run around, kickbox and bike. Think Battle of the Network Stars or Baywatch.
Christian (7:48 pm CST)
Over at About.com's Star Trek Fans, Julia Houston has put up a new feature article called 'Star Trek and Sex'. Not surprisingly, in the article she looks at how sexual relationships are handled on Trek:
I've held on off writing this article for almost three years, but after "Fair Haven," I could wait no more.
Until the 80s, there were only two types of sex on television: giggle sex and jiggle sex.
In her full article, Julia argues that Trek hasn't progressed much beyond this, and criticises the series' apparent inability to portray any realistic relationships.
Official 'Armada' Site Opens
Star Trek: Armada is the first real-time 3D strategy game set in the Star Trek: The Next Generation universe. In various campaigns, the player assumes command of the fleets of the Federation, Klingon, Romulan, and Borg, using up to 30 starships in dynamic ship-to-ship combat, as well as overseeing the construction, repair and staffing of the ships.
Christian (7:48 pm CST)
Activision has opened the official web site for 'Star Trek: Armada', their upcoming real-time strategy game. Here's how the site describes the game:
The Borg have returned! A starship from the future has materialized to warn of the latest Borg threat. You are in charge of the fleets on Federation, Klingon, Romulan, and Borg ships that will wage this epic battle. Build starships, construct space stations, and research special weapons to lead your side to victory. Along the journey you will survive a Klingon civil war, Romulan subterfuge and the Borg's search for perfection. The future is in your command.
On the site you'll be able to find images and other downloads from the game, as well as information on the development team and a message board. Thanks go out to the Omega Project for this!
'Memorial' Trailer
Christian (7:48 pm CST)
Mr. Video Productions has put up the official UPN promo video for 'Memorial', next week's new Voyager episode. As usual, the video runs for 22 seconds and has a file size of 4.0 MB, and actually made me really look forward to the episode. You can download the video from Vidiot's site, but we've of course also provided a local TrekToday mirror.
DS9 Mirror Universe Icons
Christian (7:47 pm CST)
Icons.cx, a site dedicated to providing you with 'cool icons and desktops for your Mac', is currently working on a set of icons based on Deep Space Nine's mirror universe! Not much is yet known about the set, but you can find a three-icon preview on the site's main page. Thanks go out to Jeff 'Koganuts' Koga for this!
More 'Andromeda' Info
Dylan proceeds to recruit a crew from the salvage ship, a crew described as: "roguish and sexy Beka; the resident scientist Rev Bem, a reformed member of a fearsome race; Tyr, a Nietzschean who is the ultimate survivor; irascible Earth born Engineer Keith Harper; and mysterious Alien Life Support Officer & Biologist, Trance Gemini." Together they set forth on a quest to reunite the Commonwealth.
Christian (7:47 pm CST)
Cinescape has posted some more info on 'Andromeda', the new SF series starring Kevin Sorbo (from 'Hercules'), based on Gene Roddenberry's notes and headed by former DS9 scribe Robert Hewitt Wolfe. Take a look at the new info, which includes the first detailed information on the rest of the crew:
Confirming previous stories, Sorbo plays the lead role of Dylan Jericho, a captain in the High Guard sworn to protect the vast Systems Commonwealth which, spanning a million worlds, was the greatest civilization history had ever known. Betrayed from within, the Commonwealth falls in a devastating attack with Dylan and his ship nearly destroyed and left for dead at the event horizon of a black hole. 300 years later a salvage operation retrieves the ship only to find not only Dylan alive but the ship itself now a sentient being loyal only to its captain.
Cinescape reports that more information about the series should start coming out soon, as the series is promoted at the NATPE 2000 television promotion event.
Good 'Blink Of An Eye' Ratings
[...]
This is a promising performance because it brought Voyager back above the season average only one week after the season's largest set of reruns. With over a full month of new programming on the horizon, Voyager's ratings performances should at least remain stable for the forseeable future. If nothing else, this is a good sign that season six won't follow the typical Voyager pattern of collapsing after the December reruns.
Christian (7:47 pm CST)
Greg Fuller at the Star Trek Nielsen Ratings Information Database just posted his final ratings report for 'Blink of an Eye', providing us with some pretty encouraging news for Voyager:
"Blink of an Eye" saw a significant improvement over last week, earning a 3.7 rating/6 share. That's up over the season average and "Fair Haven," which managed a 3.4/5. "Latent Image," which aired this week last year slightly outperformed "Blink" with a 3.8/6.
Information about timeslot competition can be found in the full report.
'I, Zimmerman' Details
Again, this is where you need to click to avoid spoilers.
TrekWeb just posted a news bit about 'I, Zimmerman', an upcoming Voyager episode based on an idea by Robert Picardo (the Holodoc). In his recent Eon Magazine interview Picardo already provided the basic storyline of the episode, but TrekWeb has some very interesting news about the episode's guest stars:
Guest characters include Reginald Barclay and Deanna Troi.
Christian (7:47 pm CST)
NOTE: Below you will find spoilers for I, Zimmerman, an upcoming Voyager episode. Click here to avoid being spoiled.
When Earth's "Pathfinder Project" transmits its first block of data to
Voyager, the Doctor receives disturbing news -- Louis Zimmerman, the creator
of the Doctor's program, is dying. Hoping to save this "father" he's never
met, the Doctor's program is transmitted back to the Alpha Quadrant.
You can find the full report here, and the Eon Magazine interview here.
Mac Central Con Report
Christian (7:46 pm CST)
Dennis Sellers at MacCentral has written a short report about a recent Star Trek convention, which was attended by several Mac-using Trek actors. Besides René Auberjonois (Odo), one of these actors was Aron Eisenberg (Nog), who appears to be a really dedicated Mac fan:
Eisenberg was using his celebrity at this show to promote the Mac, even going so far as to pull out his wife's tangerine iBook and showing the PC users a thing or too about the better half of computers. He asked every person who came to his table for signatures and photographs which computer they owned. If they were a PC user he teased them about how they should buy a Mac.
More can be found in the full report. Thanks go out to Jeff 'Koganuts' Koga for this!
Reuters Trek CD-Rom Reviews
There are a few drawbacks. Simon & Schuster didn't take advantage of all the cross-referencing and build in hot links that would have allowed users to hopscotch around the database whenever a topic interested them. There are surprisingly few photographs. And the Quicktime 4 program to run the videos is apparently incomplete -- after the installation, it keeps badgering you to go on the Internet and download a video image decompressor that, if it were so important, should have been included on the CD-ROM to begin within. Nonetheless, I was able to play the videos without it.
Christian (7:46 pm CST)
Gene Emery at Reuters has written reviews of both Activision's 'Insurrection: Hidden Evil' game and the TNG and DS9 Companions recently released by Simon & Schuster Interactive. Being a mainstream review, 'Hidden Evil' is described pretty positively, but after the ten thousand other reviews of that game I'm not going to quote from this one as well. Emery is also pretty positive about the TNG Companion:
The good news for ``Next Generation'' fans is that Simon & Schuster Interactive now has a $20 CD-ROM version of Nemecek's book (Windows/Macintosh) that includes a searchable library of all 178 scripts and the ``coming attractions'' trailer from each show. It offers easy access to lots of facts about each show, including why some characters were dropped from the series, how other characters came to be and how many of the stories were fashioned.
More on the DS9 Companion (which Emery didn't like as much) and 'Hidden Evil' can be found here.
Syndicated Voyager Schedule Update
Christian (7:45 pm CST)
David Henderson at Psi Phi has updated his Voyager episode schedule with the syndicated Voyager schedule for late January and early February.
Today On TV
-On Thursday in the United States, the Sci-Fi Channel will be showing the Original Series episode 'Where No Man Has Gone Before' at 4:00pm Eastern Time.
-On Thursday in Canada, Space! will be showing DS9's 'Shadowplay' at 4:15am Eastern Time, the Original Series 'Who Mourns For Adonais?' at 10:00am and at 4:00pm, and DS9's 'Playing God' at 10:00pm.
-On Thursday in the United Kingdom, Sky One will be showing Voyager's 'Future's End, Part One' at 17:00 and at 23:30 GMT, while BBC Two will be showing TNG's 'Homeward' at 18:00. Thanks go out to Kathryn Hughes for this!
-On Thursday in Germany, Sat.1 will be showing Voyager's 'Subraumspalten' at 15:00 CET.
Christian (7:43 pm CST)
-Tonight at 9:00pm (8:00pm Central), UPN will be showing the new Voyager episode 'Virtuoso'. Take a look at how UPN describes the episode:
Thanks go out to Mr. Video Productions for the above image, which is of course copyrighted by Paramount Pictures.
The Doctor's ego soars when Voyager engages an advanced but arrogant race which is entranced by the medical officer's passable singing talent, granting him instant rock-star status. Janeway and the crew are perplexed by the effect that The Doctor's voice and variety of song selections have on such a superior alien culture as the Qomar. Millions of them mob his concerts, countless "fan mail" messages arrive and groupies abound, but one particular female Qomar catches the good Doctor's eye, and he ponders resigning his commission to stay behind.
Trek BBS Today
-Does Starfleet have too many starship classes?
-Will there be a two-hour Voyager episode this season?
Find more topics at the Trek BBS!
Christian (7:43 pm CST)
Below are some of the topics currently being discussed at the Trek BBS:
Hello World!
Christian (7:43 pm CST)
Are there any people out there who use non-standard browsers to access TrekToday? As I mentioned before, after we've moved to the new server the site's design will also be slightly updated, and though I will be able to test it in Internet Explorer, Netscape and Opera (all for Windows), but it'll be very hard for me to also test it in other browsers, so if you use a non-standard browser and would be willing to test out the new design, please let me know!
| Tuesday January 25, 2000 |
Christian (7:57 pm CST)
David Henderson at Psi Phi has posted the preliminary schedule for the new line of DS9 novels to be published by Pocket Books, starting in May:
This is the current schedule for the new DS9 books. Please note that this is subject to change. This schedule also uses the assumption that the new DS9 books will start over with #1. This is not yet confirmed, however, and the books might continue with the current numbering, starting with #28.
The actual schedule can be found by following this link.
Marina Sirtis Interview
Christian (7:57 pm CST)
Voyager's Delights has put up an interview with Marina Sirtis (Deanna Troi) which first appeared in the official Star Trek Magazine. In it, Sirtis talks about her appearance in 'Pathfinder', her career in theatre, and 'Insurrection':
In some quarters, INSURRECTION was not perceived as quite the success STAR TREK FIRST CONTACT had been. Marina says, "The real Trekkers loved it because it was a real Roddenberry movie. Majel [Barrett Roddenberry] loved it because she felt it was something that Gene could have written. It was very STAR TREK in its original conception; it was an issues-based story. But it wasn't an action movie, and after FIRST CONTACT, which is my personal favorite of the three, I think that probably a lot of the fans were disappointed that it was more cerebral. It's hard for me to be objective because all I remember is what a good time we had shooting it, so I can't really judge it. Ifs very difficult for an actor to objectively watch anything that they're in, because usually they're watching themselves on the screen and bemoaning the fact that their nose looks too big or whatever!"
You can find more in the full interview.
First 'Live Fast And Prosper' Details
Again, this is where you need to click to avoid being spoiled.
The KJB at Backstage Pass just sent in a copy of the casting sheet for 'Live Fast And Prosper', which will begin filming on the 3rd of February. The episode will directed by LeVar Burton (Geordi LaForge). The episode deals with three alien con artists named Feydra, Mobar and Zev, who have obtained extensive information about 'Voyager' and are now posing as Janeway, Tuvok and Chakotay, respectively. In this way, they're trying to scam others out of money and needed materials. The casting sheet notes that the actors cast in these roles do not need to be of the same ethnicity as the realy Janeway, Tuvok and Chakotay, as the aliens are scamming people who have never met the real Voyager crew. Four other characters in the episode include:
Christian (7:56 pm CST)
NOTE: Below you will find some fairly detailed information about 'Live Fast And Prosper', an upcoming Voyager episode. Click here to avoid this.
Visit Backstage Pass for inside information about the entertainment world.
Well-Rounded 'Hidden Evil' Review
They say if you put enough chimpanzees in a room full of typewriters, eventually one of them will write the Gettysburg Address out of sheer random luck. By that standard, if you put one chimp in a room in front of a single PC running Star Trek: Hidden Evil, it would solve most of the puzzles within two or three days. Of course, that assumes Star Trek: Hidden Evil can keep a chimp interested for that long. It's not an assumption I feel safe making.
Christian (7:56 pm CST)
David Brazeal at Well-Rounded Entertainment has posted his review of 'Insurrection: Hidden Evil', Activision's new "mortal blow to the adventure gaming genre", to quote Brazeal. Here's how he starts his review:
I hesitate to be blunt here. If I'm blunt, you might read this review and dismiss me as a disgruntled former Trekkie who was spurned at a convention by Lieutenant Uhura. But the fact is, Star Trek: Hidden Evil is not a good game. In fact, it's like one of those games your grandmother would buy you from the bargain bin at her corner Walgreen's, because she knows you have one of those newfangled "computing machines."
To read the full review, go here.
Andromeda News
More 'Andromeda' news will be posted here on TrekToday as it comes out - this is one series I'll also be following closely, because of its strong ties with Star Trek.
Christian (7:56 pm CST)
Several news items have popped up today regarding 'Andromeda', the new series starring Kevin Sorbo (from 'Hercules), based on the work of Gene Roddenberry and currently headed by former DS9 writer Robert Hewitt Wolfe. Take a look:
Today On TV
-On Wednesday in Canada, Space! will be showing DS9's 'Paradise' at 4:30am Eastern Time, the Original Series' 'Friday's Child' at 10:00am and at 4:00pm, and DS9's 'Shadowplay' at 10:00pm.
-On Wednesday in the United Kingdom, Sky One will be showing Voyager's 'Remember' at 17:00 and at 23:30 GMT, while at 18:45 BBC Two will be showing the wonderful DS9 episode 'Far Beyond The Stars'. Thanks go out to Kathryn Hughes for this!
-On Wednesday in Germany, Sat.1 will be showing Voyager's 'Die Parallaxe' (Parallaxis) at 15:00 CET.
Christian (7:55 pm CST)
-On Wednesday in the United States, the Sci-Fi Channel will be showing the first-season Original Series episode 'Charlie X' at 4:00pm Eastern Time.
Trek BBS Today
-What would you like to see if they made a sequel to last year's Birth of the Federation game?
-Do you think Series V should be shown on UPN?
-Where exactly is sickbay located on the Enterprise-D?
Find more topics at the Trek BBS!
Christian (7:55 pm CST)
Here are some of the topics currently being discussed at the Trek BBS:
Hello World!
Christian (7:55 pm CST)
Finally, things are going pretty well with the new server - I've managed to set up the sites so that putting up articles on the Trek Nation will be a lot easier, and I'll be able to easily refer to them here on TrekToday. The only problem I'm still facing is finding out a way to set up FTP accounts so people can log into specific directories without being able to modify everything on the entire server, but I'm sure I'll be able to solve that as well. I'll keep you up to date on all this.
| Monday January 24, 2000 |
Christian (8:18 pm CST)
Welcome, Brent Spiner Fans! is reporting that the soundtrack for 'Gepetto', the new made-for-tv musical featuring appearances by Brent Spiner (Data), René Auberjonois (Odo) and Scarlett Pomers (Naomi Wildman) will be released on the 4th of April. The soundtrack features a song called 'Bravo, Stromboli', sung by Spiner in "a sort of mock-opera tenor."
Delta Blues 'Blink Of An Eye' Review
So though the details don't always hold up, the overall tale met my needs. It was a pleasant, light hour of TV with a sf premise.
Christian (8:18 pm CST)
Jim Wright at Delta Blues has posted his review of Voyager's 'Blink of an Eye'. Though he didn't consider the episode to be the instant classic many people thought it was, he still awarded the episode a decent three stars:
There's plenty to nitpick, but the truth is, I enjoyed this episode. I liked the many and changing views of the planet from the same vantage point. I liked how the society progressed based on their twin desires to understand the nature of the light in the sky, and solve their ground shaking problems. I liked how the mythology built, bit by bit, as superstitions evolved to fit the time, and how the culture was affected in ways large and small by the arrival of Voyager. You'd expect that to happen.
You can find the full review and huge synopsis by following this link.
New Sev Trek Competition
Christian (8:18 pm CST)
John Cook at Sev Trek just posted a new edition of the 'Write Your Own Sev Trek' competition:
Take a look at what this week's competition deals with:
Beta pushes Cruncher.
Submit your punchlines here.
One of the most interesting (and perplexing) scenes in Sev Trek: Degenerations is the 19th Century sailing scene. Having found themselves with a motion picture budget and existing sets and models, they had to spend the money somewhere! Rather than spend it on something that might advance the plot and expand the Trek universe, instead they opted for another gratuitious hollowdeck simulation! (oh oh, I think I'm ranting)
'Blink Of An Eye' Tube Review
Christian (8:18 pm CST)
Jeff Bond at Eon Magazine's Tube Reviews has put up his review of Voyager's 'Blink of an Eye', awarding it a B-, quite a bit more than most recent Voyager episodes:
"Blink of an Eye" won't go down as a classic STAR TREK episode, but it should be praised as a step in the right direction for a series that once defined itself as "the X-FILES of STAR TREK."
Click here for more.
Hypospray In Mass Production
Powderject says the injection system, powered by BOC's helium micro-cylinder, can be used by anyone and is therefore ideal for people such as diabetics who have to inject themselves regularly with insulin. The helium in the delivery system acts as the energy source which when released breaks a membrane and releases the fine, powdered drug particles.
Christian (8:17 pm CST)
A news item from Reuters reports about a new medical device Anglo-U.S. group PowderJect Pharmaceuticals will be introducing soon - a needle-free device to inject drugs which looks rather a lot like Star Trek's hypospray:
BOC Group Plc, a British industrial gases group, will produce the power source for the device, which injects powdered drugs "painlessly" through the skin at 1,700 miles per hour (2,736 km/hr), or more than twice the speed of sound.
The devices will go in mass production in early 2002. More on this can be found in the full article, which I was pointed to by Jason Ellis at TrekNews.com.
Jake Simpson Interview
Answer: The thing to remember there is that when Activision bought the rights for the Star Trek licenses, each of the licenses are considered separate. So like Voyager is one license, Next Generation is another one, Deep Space Nine and so forth. Each of the different licenses had time to lapse before Activision could pick them up. So we got Voyager immediately, the Deep Space Nine one is not up yet.. They do have the Next Generation one now. Since Voyager is the first one that we picked up they went and handed it directly to us at that point.
Christian (8:17 pm CST)
AGN3D has just posted the transcript of Jake Simpson's appearance on the online talk show Lilith & Eve, in which the Raven programmer talked about 'Voyager: Elite Force'. Here's a short quote from the interview, in which Simpson goes into some details about the specifics of Activision's Star Trek license:
Question: Stepping away from the Voyager series, it would have been nice to have seen you work on a Next Generation or the original Star Trek based gave instead of Voyager.
You can click here for the full interview. Thanks Blue for this!
First 'Professor X' Images
In related news, AICN has also put up a new Series V rumour report, part of which has an anonymous person describing a rather unlike Series V concept involving a group of Section 31 operatives who assimilate a Borg sphere. I'm told that that particular report can be considered '100% unadulterated bullshit', which will probably not surprise you.
Christian (8:17 pm CST)
Ain't It Cool News has posted two official cast pictures of 'X-Men: The Movie' showing Patrick Stewart (Jean-Luc Picard) as Professor Xavier. The pictures can be found as part of two sets of 'X-Men' pictures on AICN, showing all of the main cast members, including also Famke Janssen (who appeared in TNG's 'Perfect Mate'). You can find the pictures here and here.
Season Six On Dutch TV
But because of following the US broadcast schedule so closely, the AVRO is going to experience some problems in obtaining new Voyager episodes. This week, in stead of broadcasting episode 2 of season six "Survival Instinct", the AVRO is going to broadcast episode 3 "Barge of the Dead". If these problems persist, the AVRO might be forced to stop broadcasting Voyager for a few weeks.
Christian (8:17 pm CST)
This truly is amazing. StarTrek.nl is reporting that the AVRO (shown on Nederland 1) will continue to show episodes from Voyager's sixth season after last Thursday's 'Equinox, Part Two', meaning we're only about ten episodes behind on America now here in the Netherlands. Take a look at the StarTrek.nl news item:
Last week, AVRO (NED1) started broadcasting Voyager's season six. In my opinion we have to give the AVRO credit for following the broadcasting of brand new Voyager episodes in the USA so closely. The AVRO is only about 10 episodes behind the latest Voyager episodes broadcasted on the United Paramount Network.
I'm fairly surprised the AVRO is allowed to do this, by the way - CIC Video must not be happy with this. In other Dutch news, StarTrek.nl has also put up a (Dutch) interview with Robert Picardo (the Holodoc), in which he reveals he is currently 'working with a few people on a new television series where I will play the main role'.
'Galaxy Quest' Weekend Box Office
Christian (8:16 pm CST)
Cinescape is reporting that, in its fifth week at the box office, Tim Allen's Star Trek spoof 'Galaxy Quest' took in $4.5 Million, giving the film a sixth place in the weekend's top ten.
Today On TV
-On Tuesday in Canada, Space! will be showing DS9's 'Whispers' at 4:00am Eastern Time, the Original Series' 'Metamorphosis' at 10:00am and at 4:00pm, and DS9's 'Paradise' at 10:15pm.
-On Tuesday in the United Kingdom, Sky One will be showing Voyager's 'The Swarm' at 17:00 and at 23:30 GMT. Thanks go out to Kathryn Hughes for this!
-On Tuesday in Germany, Sat.1 will be showing Voyager's 'Der Fürsorger, Teil 2' (Caretaker, Part Two) at 15:00 CET.
Christian (8:16 pm CST)
-On Tuesday in the United States, the Sci-Fi Channel will be showing the first TOS episode ever aired in the US, 'The Man Trap', at 4:00pm Eastern Time.
Trek BBS Today
-Take a look at some Fake Trek X posters created by Gustavo Leao.
-Would Worf have left the Next Generation if Tasha Yar hadn't?
-What are your favourite music scores of Voyager episodes?
Find more topics at the Trek BBS!
Christian (8:16 pm CST)
Take a look at some of the topics currently being discussed at the Trek BBS:
Hello World!
Christian (8:16 pm CST)
Quite a while after midnight, Christian slumped down in his chair and discovered again that having a social life and intending to do an early update do not mix very well.
| Sunday January 23, 2000 |
Christian (7:04 pm CST)
In the startrek.voyager newsgroup at the official Continuum, 'Wulf' just posted a report of an appearance by William Shatner (James T. Kirk) on CNN's 'In The Money' on Friday. During the five-minute interview, Shatner mostly talked about his association with PriceLine.com, though some interesting news about his other upcoming projects was also presented, according to Wulf:
Apparently Mr. Shatner is computer illiterate, or so he claimed. He
has a new recording contract to sing, and was offered a part in a
musical which he turned down (claiming he's too busy at the moment).
'In The Money' aired last Friday at 11:00am Eastern Time.
'Klingon Academy' Movie
Christian (6:50 pm CST)
Interplay have put up a new 'Klingon Academy' movie, featuring 1.44 seconds of gameplay footage (though without sound) from their upcoming space simulator. You can download the 22.6 Meg video at Interplay's download page. Thanks go out to Klingon Academy News for this!
Nana Visitor Audio Book Review
Christian (6:50 pm CST)
Bob Vigliano at Intendant Kira has written a review of the audio book version of 'Mother of Pearl', originally written by Melinda Haynes and performed by Nana Visitor (Kira Nerys). Here's how Vigliano describes Visitor's performance:
As the cover of the audio-book reads, "Performed By Nana Visitor". And for good reason - Nana did just that! She didn't just read the story, she lived it, acted it, sucking the listener right into Even and Valuable's world. You can feel the intensity of Nana's voice as she brings Ms. Haynes' characters to life. She mastered the dialects they spoke and her vocal interpretations included a wide variety of emotions. The language is very salty in some places, with enough "colorful" four-letter expressions & sex-talk to earn the audio-book an R-rating. But it is a great listen, and Nana does a superb job - I highly recommend it!
The full review has a description of the actual novel, as well as a listing of Visitor's other audio novels.
'New Earth' Cover Images
Christian (6:50 pm CST)
After yesterday adding the back cover texts of the first three novels in the upcoming 'New Earth' multi-novel series, David Henderson at Psi Phi has now also added the cover images for these novels. Online at the site now are the cover images of New Earth #1: 'Wagon Train to the Stars', by Diane Carey, New Earth #2: 'Belle Terre' by Dean Wesley Smith with Diane Carey and New Earth #3: 'Rough Trails' by L.A. Graf.
Cynics Corner 'Blink Of An Eye' Review
Christian (6:50 pm CST)
David E. Sluss at the Cynics Corner has uploaded his review of 'Blink of an Eye', last week's new Voyager episode. Awarding the episode an 8.0, Sluss apparently rather liked the episode, though that of course didn't stop him from finding a few things to criticise, such as this one:
MYSTERY OF THE WEEK:
You can find the full review by following this link.
The Doctor's son: "It's a long story?" What the hell is that? It's so typical of Voyager's writers to treat something this significant as a cheap laugh, just as they treat the trivial as if it were momentous (c.f. last week's "Fair Haven"). I think we can assume the son was adopted (though Trek "science" admits the possibility that The Doctor used any permutation of Treknobabble pranks like nanoprobes, DNA manipulation, and other hoohah to become a "biological" father in some bizarre sense, I suppose). Even so, it's a life-changing event, and probably a significant breach of Starfleet rules and protocols, one that we'll never hear of again, apparently.
UK Trek Information
Christian (6:50 pm CST)
The Great Link has been updated with several news bits which should be of interest to British Trek fans. Firstly, they're reporting that starting in April, Sky One will start showing episodes from Voyager's sixth season on Mondays, following the final DS9 episodes still left to air. Secondly, the new update also contains the following info on new magazine issues available in the UK:
Thanks go out to the Great Link for this!
Today On TV
-On Monday in Canada, Space! will be showing the Original Series' 'Catspaw' at 10:00am and at 4:00pm Eastern Time, while at 10:00pm they'll be showing the rather good DS9 episode 'Whispers'.
-On Monday in the United Kingdom, Sky One will be showing Voyager's 'The Chute' at 17:00 and at 23:30 GMT, while at 20:00 they'll be showing the new DS9 episode 'Inter Arma Enim Silent Leges'. Thanks go out to Kathryn Hughes for this!
-On Monday in Germany, Sat.1 will be showing Voyager's 'Der Fürsorger, Teil 1' (Caretaker, Part One) at 15:00 CET. For the next few months they'll be showing episodes from Voyager's fifth season in this timeslot, replacing the DS9 episodes which used to be shown here until last Friday, when the DS9 season six finale 'Tears of the Prophets' aired.
Christian (6:49 pm CST)
-On Monday in the United States, the Sci-Fi Channel will be showing the first Original Series pilot 'The Cage' at 4:00pm Eastern Time, starting their fifth run of the Original Series.
Trek BBS Today
-Did you like the character of Captain Sisko?
-Why doesn't Voyager do more comedy episodes?
-What is more impressive - Voyager's landing capability or the Enterprise's saucer separation?
Find more topics at the Trek BBS!
Christian (6:47 pm CST)
Below are some of the topics currently being discussed at the Trek BBS:
Hello World!
Christian (6:47 pm CST)
Did TrekToday get featured on a major internet site or something like that today? According to my statistics program, today we already got 25% more visitors than we've ever had on a single day in the past two months, even though on Sundays there are usually a third less visitors than usual, and I really don't have a clue why. All you new people - where did you come from :-)?
| Saturday January 22, 2000 |
Christian (7:26 pm CST)
Some great news dealing with Interplay's upcoming 'New Worlds' real-time strategy game today -it appears that Chris Taylor, who headed Interplay's '25th Anniversary', 'Judgement Rites' and 'Starfleet Command' games has joined the 'New Worlds' development team! Take a look at part of his introductory post:
I'm just joining up with the STNW team to help them finish up. My goal is to again work on the game first and let the license work itself out. Not to say that we won't be true to the Trek mythos, but if we don't make the underlining game very solid -- what's the point? (Rhetorical question, please don't answer... :) Star Trek games fail when they place too much emphasis on slapping a Vulcan here and a phaser over there, without considering the ramifications of the gameplay decisions they are asking the players to make.
Taylor's full post can be found here. In related news, a few days ago Interplay announced that 'Chip', the New Worlds producer, has left the development team to pursue personal interests. Thanks go out to the New Worlds Network for this.
Trek Communicator Details
Christian (7:26 pm CST)
Section 31 has put up a short description of the contents of the latest Star Trek Communicator:
The latest issue of the Star Trek Communicator features a cover story on the filming of "Pathfinder", with exclusives interviews with guest stars Marina Sirtis (Troi) and Dwight Schultz (Barclay), who talks about the Voyager episode and the TNG movies, plus executive producer Brannon Braga on the latest season of Voyager. The issue also features a exclusive interview with Robert Beltran and a 20th anniversary tribute to Star Trek The Motion Picture.
A picture of the new issue's cover can be found here.
Mo(o)re Interviews
Christian (7:26 pm CST)
Anna L. Kaplan has put up two more parts of her seven-part interview with Ronald D. Moore, talking about his short-lived stint on 'Star Trek: Voyager'. In the third part of the interview, Moore gives us his opinion on what exactly Voyager is lacking, while in part four he talks about working on Voyager. I wish I could quote the whole interview, but below is one of the most interesting quotes from Moore:
"VOYAGER won't accept itself. It won't believe it's really in this situation in this area of the galaxy and that these are really the prospects in front of them. They just won't embrace it. They fight against it. There have been more episodes that have taken place on Earth, or alternate Earth, or past Earth than I think the original series did in its whole run, and the original series was set over in the Alpha Quadrant. Kirk and company never went to present day 23rd century Earth, their contemporaneous Earth, ever. Gene wouldn't do it. Voyager is on the other side of the galaxy, and they have already run into some alien race recreating Starfleet Academy. They've run into Ferengi, the Romulans. It doesn't feel like they are that far away from home. It just doesn't feel like they are in that much trouble out there. At its heart, VOYAGER secretly wishes it was NEXT GENERATION. If you really get down to it, VOYAGER on some level just wishes it was NEXT GEN. It really wants to be back in the Alpha Quadrant: 'Just let us be normal STAR TREK.'"
Again, read more in part three and part four. Thanks go out to Jeff 'Koganuts' Koga for this!
Upcoming Woodard Projects
Christian (7:25 pm CST)
Yesterday's edition of Studio Briefing has a report about Robert Redford's Sundance Film Festival for independent films, which started Thursday night with the premiere of 'What's Cooking?', a film about four families preparing Thanksgiving dinner, starring Alfre Woodard (Lily Sloane). While searching for some info about this at the IMDB, I noticed Woodard will also be appearing in the movie 'Love and Basketball' as the mother of main character Monica Wright, and in the high-profile computer animation film 'Dinosaurs'.
CVG Reviews 'Hidden Evil'
Christian (7:25 pm CST)
The British Computer and Video Games Review has posted a short review of 'Insurrection: Hidden Evil', awarding the Activision adventure game a surprisingly high 4 stars:
It looks visually rich, the gameplay's uncomplicated and accessible and there's a decent plot. If you're into things like Gabriel Knight and have penchant for anything science fiction, I have no reservation in recommending Hidden Evil. This is the first decent Star Trek game I've ever played and with Raven's Star Trek Voyager: Elite Force, the first-person shooter based on the Quake III Arena engine, coming up next year, the future's very bright indeed for Star Trek fans.
You can find the full review here. Thanks go out to the Omega Project for this!
A Take On Series V
Christian (7:24 pm CST)
In a new installment of his A Take On Trek column at the Trek Nation, Fred Shedian looks at the three Series V premises currently reported to be under consideration by Paramount:
Several days ago, I was surprised by a post on TrekToday announcing the fact Paramount Pictures had indeed held a focus group meeting to discuss three Series V ideas. The three ideas, now classified commonly as "Black Ops," "Birth of the Federation" and "Starfleet Academy", are interesting to say the least. Today, I will spend some time reviewing what I believe to be the good points and the bad points of each idea.
You can read the full column here.
New Radio Free Decipher
Christian (7:23 pm CST)
Over at Decipher, the publisher of the Official Star Trek Customisable Card Game, they've put up a new edition of Radio Free Decipher, the weekly online radio show hosted by Carol Wisely. In this week's show, she talks to Evan Lorentz about upcoming developments for the Trek CCG, including the U.S.S. Jupiter card based on the 'Armada' computer game. You can listen to the show here.
'New Earth' Back Cover Texts
Christian (7:23 pm CST)
David Henderson at Psi Phi has uploaded the back cover texts of three upcoming Star Trek novels: New Earth #1: 'Wagon Train to the Stars' by Diane Carey, New Earth #2: 'Belle Terre by Dean Wesley Smith with Diane Carey, and New Earth #3: 'Rough Trails' by L.A. Graf.
New Sev Trek Comic
Christian (7:22 pm CST)
In other Sev Trek news, the Sev Trek Movie Page has been updated with news that they're looking for people to voice several of the Sev Trek characters:
Sev Trek need voices for the Sev Trek movie! If you do good impersonations of Next Generation characters and are interested in being part of our production, here are the characters we need:
You can find information on how to audition by going here.
Cinescape Reviews 'Blink'
It sounds like an uninspired retread of the original Star Trek series episode with a very similar name, "Wink of an Eye." In fact, this episode is delightful. The strong story is by Michael Taylor. Joe Menosky uses his solid understanding of what makes for "good Star Trek" to turn in an even better final script. In addition, director Gabrielle Beaumont makes this story with a very broad scope feel warm and personal.
Christian (7:22 pm CST)
Michael Marek, regular Star Trek contributor at Cinescape, has written a review of last Wednesday's 'Blink of an Eye'. Here's a snippet:
Every now and then, a Voyager story comes along that sounds like a loser but turns out very nicely. "Blink of an Eye" is a perfect example. Voyager visits a planet on which time passes at a different rate that it does in space. For every second that passes on Voyager, a day passes on the planet.
You can find the full review over at Cinescape.
'Memorial' UPN Synopsis
Again, this is where you need to click to avoid being spoiled.
The nice people at UPN have put up their official synopsis of 'Memorial':
Christian (7:21 pm CST)
NOTE: Below you will find spoilers for 'Memorial', the first Voyager episode in the February Sweeps. Click here to avoid these spoilers.
When Chakotay, Paris and other crewmen arrive back from a two-week planetary exploration, they each succumb to horrid flashbacks depicting the wartime extermination of Nakan colonists, an occurrence in which they are involved. When Janeway and other crew members begin to fall victim to the same malaise, she retraces the team's shuttle route in search of answers - while hoping that her worst fears of the crew's involvement in war crimes are not proven.
'Memorial' airs on the 2nd of February.
Avery Brooks Narrates Video
Christian (7:21 pm CST)
e-Realbiz and SlingShot Entertainment just announced they'll be bringing the IMAX film 'The Greatest Places', narrated by Avery Brooks (Benjamin Sisko) to video on the 8th of February:
``The Greatest Places'' (Item # 9007, 40 mins.) presents the greatest collection of diversity ever produced. ``The Greatest Places'' is an amazing film that takes viewers on a journey to seven of the most geographically dynamic landscapes of the Earth. From the mighty Amazon river to the harsh, ice-covered island of Greenland to the ancient grandeur of Tibet's Chang Tang Plateau, IMAX® cameras travel to these natural phenomena and capture each location's unique beauty. Narrated by Avery Brooks (``Star Trek: Deep Space Nine'') with musical score by Christopher James Thomas. Directed by Mal Wolfe. ``The Greatest Places'' is a presentation of the Science Museum of Minnesota, Fort Worth Museum of Science and History, St. Louis Science Center, Cincinnati Museum Center and Goto Optical Mfg. Co.
Along with 'The Greates Places', three other IMAX films will be released on video. Read about that here.
'Armada' Beta Tests Start
Christian (7:20 pm CST)
WON.net send along word they've started a beta test program for 'Star Trek: Armada', the new real-time strategy game in development by Activision. Take a look:
WON.net has launched the Star Trek: Armada beta sign-up program today in conjunction with Activision for their newest Real Time Strategy game. WON.net and Activision will be choosing up to 1,000 beta testers for this first 3-D Real Time Strategy game set in the Star Trek: The Next Generation universe. You could be one of the first to play Armada online over WON.net.
So if you want to rule the galaxy (and perhaps earn a free copy of the game), this is the place to be.
You can site up for the beta test by going here.
Tennis Star To Appear On 'Voyager'
Christian (7:20 pm CST)
A sports article on Yahoo! is reporting that tennis player Jan-Michael Gambill, who recently expressed a desire to appear on Star Trek, has been offered a guest spot on 'Star Trek: Voyager', according to the ATP (Association of Tennis Professionals?) In the world of sports Gambill (ranked 58th of the world) hasn't been so successful lately, dropping out of the Australian Open after the first round.
'Voyager: Elite Force' Interview
Jeff Dischler One effect I created is supposed to be used as a cargo/personnel transporter. My idea was to have bursts of particles traveling between the two endpoints, which by itself is not particularly interesting...so... I made them begin in a stopped position, rapidly accelerating them until they reach the mid-point of the transporter beam, then decelerating them to a stop at the other end of the effect. The end result is that the beam feels like it's stretching and ripping away on one end and compressing on the other, with a fast blurring in the middle. The motion is kind of unusual which is why I like it, though, I'm not sure if the effect will actually make it into the game.
Christian (7:19 pm CST)
German fan site HazardTeam.de has put up an interview with Jeff Dischler, a new programmer at Raven who's been working on the weapons and environmental effects for 'Voyager: Elite Force' since Septemver. Here's a description of one of these effects:
Benjamin Boerner: You are working on the environment effects. What eye-catcher can we await in the game, if you're allowed to name some?
You can find the full interview here. Thanks Federation HQ for this.
Poll Resulfs
Christian (7:19 pm CST)
Below you'll find the results of the two most recent TrekToday polls. In the first one, you could give your opinion about the three Series V premises reportedly currently under consideration by Paramount:
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In the second poll, you were asked what you thought about Voyager's 'Blink of an Eye':
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Please also participate in the new TrekToday poll, asking if you thought Ron Moore did the right thing in speaking about his experiences working on 'Voyager'.
Today On TV
-On Sunday in Canada, Space! will be showing the Original Series episode 'Operation - Annihilate!' at 10:00am Eastern Time.
-On Sunday in the United Kingdom, Sky One will be showing DS9's 'The House Of Quark' at 16:00 GMT, followed an hour later by Voyager's 'Elogium'. At 18:45 BBC Two will be showing Voyager's 'Night', the nearly unwatchable season 5 premiere. Thanks go out to Kathryn Hughes for this!
-On Sunday here in The Netherlands, RTL 5 will be showing DS9's 'Shattered Mirror' at 18:00 CET.
-On Sunday in Belgium, Kanaal 2 will be showing DS9's 'Soldier of the Empire' at 18:05 CET. Thanks go out to StarTrek.nl for these last two items.
Christian (7:18 pm CST)
-On Sunday in the United States, the Sci-Fi Channel will be showing the Original Series episode 'Is There In Truth No Beauty?' at 11:00am Eastern Time.
Trek BBS Today
-Will you be going to any conventions this year?
-What do you think about the direction the new DS9 novel series is going in?
-It's the first charity thread for me! I don't know whether I should feel honoured or scared now...
Find more topics at the Trek BBS!
Christian (7:18 pm CST)
Here are some interesting Trek BBS discussions to keep you busy over the weekend:
Hello World!
Christian (7:17 pm CST)
Sometimes I just feel like an idiot. One of these times was this afternoon, after I had just spent literally six hours changing web server configurations, plowing through my manuals and searching to Linux to make the server direct visitors to the right directory for the various sites in the Nation. I tried installing and de-installing network interfaces, retyping the same configuration at least two dozen times, and also loudly cursing at my monitor, which while making me feel a lot better still didn't really help. In the end the solution turned out to be really simple - I just had to restart the server after changing the configuration. Sigh. Why do I always miss the really simple things?
| Friday January 21, 2000 |
Christian (1:27 pm CST)
The new edition of Eon Magazine contains an interview with Robert Picardo, currently starring as the Holodoc on 'Star Trek: Voyager'. In the interview, Picardo talks about his character, about a story idea of his which will be adopted into a Voyager episode later this season, and about DeForest Kelley (Leonard 'Bones' McCoy):
Picardo even thought of a story idea that could have created a historic meeting bridging the gaps between the two TREK doctors via CGI.
"I took them a story about regret that used footage from the original series, but they were afraid it would be too much like 'Trials and Tribble-ations,'" says Picardo. "I wanted to do a show where I went back for him on his behalf on the holodeck recreation, and he had a regret about something he had done in the past, and it was about whether or not regret is a useful emotion, something that is good for us and motivates us in a positive way or just a bad emotion. But we never got to do it, so now the theme of my story has become the theme of the memory, which is I regret that we never did it."
"I talked to DeForest about being on our show and he liked me and was interested in doing it, but there were always issues of his health that concerned the producers," Picardo acknowledges. "They can't commit to doing a story unless there's a good chance they're going to be able to do it, and to me it's one of the great missed opportunities of this experience that we weren't able to be on film together."
The full interview can be found here. It's definitely worth checking out, as it also contains info on a story idea of his Picardo says will be turned into an actual episode this season.
Nimoy Voices Award-Winning Anime
Christian (1:27 pm CST)
Stephen Huba at the Cincinnati Post is reporting that the animated film 'Rashi: A Light After the Dark Ages' won the best-animation award at 1999 Atlantic City Film Festival back in October, mostly due to an innovative new technique known as hand-painted watercolor animation. 'Rashi' features the voice of Leonard Nimoy (Spock) as the title character, Rabbi Shlomo ben Isaac, a famous Jewish scholar and teacher who lived in 12th-century France. More information on the film, which will soon be shown at the Cincinnati Museum and may be broadcast on public television in the US, can be found here. Thanks go out to Lisa for the link!
Jammer's 'Fair Haven' Review
By the end, Janeway is hopelessly conflicted over this dilemma. So am I. Janeway is not satisfied with how things turned out. And, unfortunately, neither am I. "Fair Haven" is a nice try on some levels, but it has too much implied messiness and ultimately doesn't work. And besides--Janeway deserves better than a hologram.
Christian (1:27 pm CST)
Over at Star Trek: Hypertext, Jamahl Epsicokhan has uploaded his first Voyager review of the year, analysing 'Fair Haven'. He doesn't appear too happy with the episode:
All things considered, "Fair Haven" is a mediocre romance story. There's too much filler and bizarre characterization, and not enough chemistry. What remains of value are the arguments about how "real" a holographic simulation can be. It's a halfway interesting concept to tackle, but in the end it left me just as frustrated as ever about the supposed nature of holograms. At one point Doc tells Janeway that Michael is as real as Janeway needs him to be. But is he? Or will Janeway feel as hollow about the experience in a month as she did when she first sobered to the fact it was all an illusion? Can she--should she--force herself to accept the imaginary as reality?
In the full review, the episode is awarded 2 stars.
Playing Ferengi CCG
Christian (1:26 pm CST)
Over at Decipher, the publisher of the Official Star Trek Customisable Card Game, they've published a new article by Kathy McCracken, in which she gives a few pointers on how to use the new Ferengi affiliation which was recently introduced:
If you've been contemplating trying out the new affiliation on the block, the Ferengi, you have a wealth of options to consider: mission-solving strategies, side strategies, card-drawing engines, ways to thwart your opponent and how to get your personnel into play. Sure, you could use a few Kivases, report to a standard-issue Ferengi Outpost with a Red Alert and go out and solve missions with a Ferengi icon. But it's a lot more fun to exploit the distinctive Ferengi "character" and exercise a little greed, acquisitiveness and profit-taking. So let's take a look at how the Ferengi do business.
Follow this link to read the actual guide.
ShatnerToday
Secondly, SciFi Headquarters has put up a digitized video clip of Shatner's appearance on the ABC talk show 'The View' yesterday. The video has a file size of just over 10 MB, and can be found on this page.
Thirdly, Shatner appeared on the Howard Stern Show today for Stern's 46th birthday party. Take a look at how Howard Stern fan site MarksFriggin.com describes Shatner's appearance:
Christian (1:26 pm CST)
I might as well rename TrekToday in that, as most of the news items these days seem to concern public appearances by William Shatner (James T. Kirk). First of all, Tom Campanile sends along word Shatner appeared on financial news station CNBC this afternoon to talk about Priceline.com, the company for which he is the official spokesperson. On CNBC they first showed one of Shatner's commercials for Priceline and then aired a short interview with Shatner.
After [Jay Leno's] call William Shatner came in. Shatner didn't waste any time plugging Priceline.com. He's their spokesman and gets paid in stock so he's more than happy to plug them. Howard spoke to him about Priceline.com a little bit and tried to get some info out of him about how much he's worth now that Priceline has taken off. Shatner wasn't talking about his money so Howard brought up the death of his wife instead. Howard sent Shatner a note after his wife died. Shatner also sent Howard a note after he and his wife separated. Howard thinks that Shatner sent the note only because he sent him a note. Howard then tried to get Shatner to say something about his former co-stars on Star Trek. Shatner didn't bad mouth anyone but did say that they don't really cross his mind at all. He is friends with Leonard Nimoy but the others all seem to hate him. Howard tried to find out if Shatner is dating yet since his wife died but he didn't let him get around to answering. Instead he tried to pimp out his niece Pam. Pam came up on stage and met Shatner fir a minute. Howard said the two of them together looked like a kidnapping.
Lastly, a recent issue of Wired Magazine recently contained a feature called 'The Wired Diaries 2000', in which celebrities talked about the future. Here's what Shatner thought would define the future:
Sunglasses and hats - the ozone hole, you know.
The full feature can be found here. Thanks go out to Jeff 'Koganuts' Koga for these last two items!
Eon Reviews 'Lives Of Dax'
Christian (1:26 pm CST)
Jeff Bond at Eon Magazine has put up a review of 'The Lives Of Dax', the new Trek anthology edited by Marco Palmieri. Awarding the book a B, here's Jeff Bond's conclusion:
[Anyone] who picks this book up based on the cover art should be well-satisfied with this after-the-fact fleshing out of an ambitious character concept that never really got its due during the run of the series (particularly after being sidetracked by a lengthy romance with Worf). Keeping track of the Dax timeline while assigning these stories must have been a major undertaking, but for the most part, the gamble pays off. In fact, this might be an interesting way of approaching another TREK TV series, with a character who can be followed through Federation history and played by several different actors.
Click here for the full review.
New Hailing Frequencies Column
She admitted that she rarely watches Voyager any more, being busy keeping Roddenberry's legacy alive through the other shows, but she did say this: "I hear that after the wrestling episode, the network may be doing a truck show. So we might get an episode about trucks. They're going to squeeze every last dime out of this franchise before they lose the viewers, and I get royalties, so I'm grateful to Rick Berman. I think it would serve Star Trek's best interest if it took a break and went off for a few years, but not the network's!"
Christian (1:26 pm CST)
Michelle Erica Green at AnotherUniverse's Mania Magazine has put up a new edition of her 'Hailing Frequencies' column, this week including a look at some recent Trek news, her review of 'Blink of an Eye', and a preview of a forthcoming interview with Majel Roddenberry they'll be publishing:
I interviewed Majel Roddenberry last week about her shows Earth Final Conflict and the upcoming Kevin Sorbo series Andromeda (watch this space for more details about that). In the course of conversation, I asked her what she thought about the commercialization of Star Trek on UPN, with wrestling crossovers and the like, and what she thought her late husband might have felt about such marketing decisions. Mrs. Roddenberry reminded me that Gene regularly fought the networks over what he felt were poor decisions in the name of crass commercialism - such as the refusal to have a female first officer, and the refusal to permit interracial romance.
The full column, including a somewhat positive 'Blink of an Eye' review, can be found here.
Marco Palmieri On New DS9
Christian (1:25 pm CST)
David Henderson at Psi Phi has updated his DS9 books page with several new quotes from Pocket Books editor Marco Palmieri, responsible for the new line of DS9 novels. In one of the quotes, Palmieri explains what exactly his role is for the books:
I'm responsible for creating the core concepts and basic profiles for the new characters. As the authors of the new DS9 novels develop story ideas and character arcs, they're all building from the blueprints I've provided. There's plenty of room for the authors to work their own ideas into the characters, but it's my job, as the editor, to make sure the character development is logical and consistent from one book to the next.
You can find the full feature here.
IGN Review 'Blink Of An Eye'
Christian (1:25 pm CST)
Blake Fischer at IGN Sci-Fi has uploaded his review of 'Blink of an Eye', Wednesday's new Voyager episode. Unlike most of the online fans, Fischer thought the episode was only so-so, awarding it 3 out of 5 stars:
Star Trek is caught in a downward spiral of mediocrity, but as episodes like "Blink of an Eye" show, it's not necessarily due to bad ideas -- just poor execution. In fact, despite this episode's glaring problems it still stands out as one of the more creative flashes of sci-fi I've seen in quite some time. But the execution is mediocre.
You can find more in the full review.
Voyager 'Action Generic' Promo
Christian (1:25 pm CST)
Mr. Video Productions has just uploaded a new Voyager 'Action Generic' promo video, which UPN can use to promote Voyager in general instead of a specific episode. The promo runs for 32 seconds, and is accompanied by a male voice-over saying "40.000 light years from home... surrounded by hostile aliens... survival in this part of the galaxy... is no laughing matter. Resistance IS futile." Most of the scenes shown in the promo are from previous episodes, though it of course also again includes a few seconds of wrestling from 'Tsunkatse', including one of the five or so lines spoken by The Rock - "I'm trembling." The video isn't really worth downloading (especially since it's a large 5.7 MB), but if you do want to you can find it either at Vidiot's site or here on TrekToday.
'Armada' Preview
Christian (1:25 pm CST)
The Daily Radar's Joel Durham Jr. has written a new preview of 'Star Trek: Armada', the real-time strategy game currently under development by Activision. The preview mentions that 'Armada' didn't start out as a Star Trek title, meaning hopefully that this will also be a good game instead of just a Trek game:
Star Trek: Armada didn't actually start out as a Star Trek title. According to producer Marc Turndorf, the design team was inspired to create a space combat game by the incredible Federation vs. Borg space battle in the beginning of the film Star Trek: First Contact. They couldn't believe their luck when the coincidental opportunity to base it in the Trek universe came up. Armada will be an attempt to recreate the feel of Trek's best space battles from in a realtime strategy game.
You can find the full preview, along with a bunch of screenshots, here. Thanks go out to Blue for this!
Beaumont Talks 'Blink Of An Eye'
All this and within the usual seven days prep, seven days shooting. All under the firm hand of veteran director Gabrielle Beaumont.
"It was an ambitious script," Beaumont told The Continuum by phone from her farm in the mountains of Majorca, Spain. "We had to build that hillside and then lay in the scenery vistas afterwards. Vistas alone take alot of planning about how to shoot them because you have to get the perspective right. But it was an interesting script, too, because the story had so many different levels."
Christian (1:24 pm CST)
Debora Fischer at the Continuum has written another of her behind-the-scenes articles, this time looking at 'Blink Of An Eye', Wednesday's new Voyager episode. In the article, director Gabrielle Beaumont talks about how ambitious this episode was:
The story's device forced staff writers Michael Taylor (story) and Joe Menosky (teleplay) to use an unusual number of what are called "open scenes," scenes in which Voyager regulars do not appear (generally considered taboo on Trek.) There were a large number of matte shots used to show the changing vistas of the planet, many guest actors, and no time to actually shoot exterior-looking shots outside. Even though you could swear that in act two, the actors are standing outside, bidding good-bye to that tiny, hot-air balloon sailing up with its message to the starship, they're not.
In the full article Beaumont talks a bit more about 'Blink of an Eye', as well as directing in general.
Today On TV
-UK TV listings will return tomorrow again.
-On Saturday in Germany, Sat.1 will be showing the Original Series' 'Spitze des Eisberges' (Where No Man Has Gone Before) at 14:00 CET and DS9's new 'Im Ungewissen' (Penumbra) at 16:00 CET.
-On Saturday in The Netherlands, the AVRO on Nederland 1 will be showing 'Equinox, Part Two' at 18:11 CET. Here's hoping that means they'll also continue showing the rest of the sixth season after that, but somehow I doubt it. Thanks go out to StarTrek.nl for this!
Christian (1:24 pm CST)
-On Saturday in the Canada, Space! will be showing DS9's 'Armageddon Game' at 4:30am Eastern Time and the superb TOS episode 'The City On The Edge Of Forever' at 10:00am.
Trek BBS Today
-What is it with the UPN promos for Voyager? Have they ever been good?
-Why are there turbolifts on starships when they already have transporters?
-What are the best enemies Voyager ever encountered?
Find more topics at the Trek BBS!
Christian (1:24 pm CST)
Below are some of the most interesting topics currently being discussed at the Trek BBS:
Hello World!
Christian (1:23 pm CST)
Early update again, today. A television station here in the Netherlands will be showing both 'Close Encounters of the Third Kind' and 'Alien Nation', so I'll be spending the next few hours in front of the television.
| Thursday January 20, 2000 |
Christian (4:52 pm CST)
Two down, five to go. Anna L. Kaplan at Fandom has put up part two of her really interesting series of interviews with Ronald D. Moore, who left Voyager's writing staff in the Summer of 1999 after a major internal conflict. After already saying a lot about this in part one of the interview, in part two he again comments on why he didn't like working on Voyager:
DEEP SPACE NINE took [the closeness of the writing staff] to another level. We were so tight as a writing staff, we loved the show so much, that we could sit in that room and literally scream at each other. Hans Beimler and I could just go at it, hammer and tongs, yelling and really getting upset. We would just sit there and yell about story points, and then, 'Where are we going to lunch today?' We would all go out, and really enjoy each other's company and have a good time. What I found on VOYAGER was suddenly it wasn't about the work anymore. It wasn't about making the best show that we possibly could; it was about all these other extraneous issues. It was about the politics of the show, and the strange sort of competition of egos within the writing staff and the producing staff and the management of the show. 'Competition' is probably a misleading term. The politics of the show were such that the egos of the people in charge of the series were threatened by the people who worked for them. To be blunt, [writers] Bryan Fuller and Mike Taylor were treated very shabbily, and it pissed me off. They took a lot of crap, and the only reason it was done was to keep the guys on the top of the pyramid feeling good about themselves. It also had the effect of keeping the writing staff from working in concert as a group. The DS9 staff by contrast was very tight.
Moore's thoughts on Voyager, plus a look back at the rest of his career, can be found here. I can't wait for the next parts!
Discuss the Ron Moore interview at the Trek BBS!
Shatner On 'The View'
The only mention of Trek came later, when Starr Jones asked him to say the phrase "Beam me up, Scotty." He asked her to say it instead, as if in the throes of passion, which she did while holding Shatner's hand. I was disappointed by the lack of sensitivity regarding Shatner's
feelings about his late wife, and I was disappointed by the focus on money. But it was fun to see Shatner, who is looking very well.
Christian (4:51 pm CST)
Sean O'Rourke, Michael Schillace and Holly Johnson all sent in reports about yesterday's appearance by William Shatner (James T. Kirk) on the ABC talk show 'The View'. Below you'll find Holly's report (which was the longest of the three, which is why I'm quoting it here):
I saw The View today with Shatner. He was asked (by Barbara Walters) about his wife's death--he got tears in his eyes when speaking about her and about the foundation he started in her honor, which he hopes will "keep her name alive forever." He spoke mostly about his work for Priceline.com, and would not commment on how much money he has received for doing the promotional work, nor would he confirm that he received stock options as partial payment, nor
would he say what those stock options are now worth. Barbara Walters pressed him for answers, but he turned the questions aside with joking comments. He mentioned the current TV ad campaign for Priceline, which is a satire on his "singing career"--using the spoken word instead of actually singing.
Thanks go out to Sean, Michael and Holly for sending in their reports! Michael also reported that Shatner would be appearing on the Fox News Channel this morning at 7am - again, if anyone saw that I'd love to receive a report!
DeLancie On Mac Show
Christian (4:51 pm CST)
Yesterday, John DeLancie (Q) appeared on the online radio program The Mac Show, talking to host/producer Shawn King about Alien Voices, the audio novel company of DeLancie and Leonard Nimoy. You can find the archived edition of the show here. Thanks go out to Jeff 'Koganuts' Koga and J.R. Cortez for this!
Ryan To Star In 'The Kid'
Christian (4:51 pm CST)
It looks like Jeri Ryan (Seven of Nine) has landed a rather major role in an upcoming feature film - according to E! Online, she'll be starring in the new Disney film 'The Kid', opposite Bruce Willis. The film is about an image consultant (Willis) who is visited by his 10-year-old self. Ryan will play a celebrity who hires Willis to help her with image problems. The film is written by Audrey Wells, who previously wrote the hilarious 'The Truth About Cats & Dogs'.
More On Huntington UPN Situation
But Sandy Pastoor, senior VP affilation relations for UPN in Chevy Chase, MD disagrees with the all-or nothing policy. "An all-or-nothing policy? That's just not true. We would be
happy to have discussions with any of the stations in your market clearing our network programs. We've contacted every one of them & told them we would like to do that. I have to believe someone has been misinformed on this issue".
Cindy Bledsoe, WVAH program coordinator, says she been busy taking call & emails from complaining Trek fans. "We've heard from more than 130 people", Bledsoe says. The article mentions that they still have the rights to the Next Generation(which they are "resting at this time but are been shown on their sister station WCHS) & DS9 which they are showing at 5PM Saturdays(& 2:30AM weeknights).
Christian (4:50 pm CST)
Gary Manis just sent in an update on the situation in Huntington, WV, where the television station WVAH Fox 11 recently dropped its UPN affiliation. Take a look:
In the Thursday January 20 edition of the(Huntington)Herald-Dispatch, there is a front page story about WVAH Fox 11 dropping Voyager along with the other UPN programs. According to Ed Groves, general manager of WVAH, the station fell victim to UPN's "all-or-nothing" policy. "A UPN affilate has to carry all of their programs. Paramount has expanded its progrmming to the extent that we aren't able to accommodate the entire package. There just aren't enough time slots. And I have X-amount of programming from Fox that I have to run & other programs that have been purchased on a contractual basis-mostly sporting events-& that doesn't have enough hours".
Thanks go out to Gary for sending this in!
Nicole DeBoer Film Premiere
Christian (4:50 pm CST)
Jeff 'Koganuts' Koga sends along word that, to the January 17th issue of The Hollywood Reporter, the film Rated X, starring Charlie Sheen and Emilio Estevez (who also directed the film) and Nicole deBoer will be premiering at the Sundance 2000 Film Festival, which runs from January 20th-30th.
Romulan 'Armada' Preview
Christian (4:50 pm CST)
Trent C. Ward at IGN PC has put up a an update to his preview of Activision's 'Star Trek: Armada' real-time strategy game, giving us all-new details about the weapons the Romulans will be using in the game. The preview, which is accompanied by several new screenshots, can be found here. Thanks Federation HQ.
'Virtuoso' Promo Online
In any case, the promo, which was just put online by Mr. Video Productions, does show clips from several other upcoming episodes, including even a few shots of Seven of Nine fighting with The Rock in 'Tsunkatse'. The 4.0 MB video runs for 22 seconds, and can be found at Vidiot's site, though we've of course also put up a local TrekToday mirror.
Christian (4:50 pm CST)
The UPN promo people never cease to amaze me. Next week's Voyager episode, 'Virtuoso', is an episode focusing completely on the Doctor. So who is the one Voyager crew member they fail to include in the promo? That's right, the Doctor. As a matter of fact, the promo doesn't really seem to promote 'Virtuoso' at all, except for noting that on Wednesday 'the first of six all-new Voyager adventures begins', which does sort of leave you wondering what UPN considered 'Fair Haven' and 'Blink Of An Eye' to be.
Overnight 'Blink Of An Eye' Ratings
"Blink of an Eye" kept Voyager in 4th in the 9 p.m. timeslot, defeating Fox's "Get Real"'s 4.3/6 and the WB's "Roswell," which remained in 6th with a 3.9/6. Since its premiere, "Roswell" has not defeated any first-run Voyager episode. "Seven Days" earned a 3.0/5 in a rerun.
Christian (4:49 pm CST)
Over at the Star Trek Nielsen Ratings Information Database, Greg Fuller has uploaded the overnight ratings report for yesterday's 'Blink of an Eye'. Take a look:
"Blink of an Eye" improved slightly over last week, rising to a 4.5 rating, 7 share in Nielsen's overnight markets. That's up from last week's 4.4/7 showing from "Fair Haven" and fairly level with the rest of the season.
More can be found here.
Simpson On Online Talk Show
Christian (4:49 pm CST)
Jake Simpson, one of the programmers at Raven Software, will be appearing on the online Lilith & Eve show to talk about Raven's 'Voyager: Elite Force' game. The show begins at 7:00pm Eastern Time, and will be shown in RealMedia format. Thanks go out to Blue for this!
IFT Excelsior Press Release
The EXCELSIOR Campaign is the talk of Trek fans around the world. The campaign is pushing for the production of a television series focusing on Captain Hikaru Sulu (George Takei) and the crew of the starship EXCELSIOR. You might remember Sulu as the helmsman of the USS ENTERPRISE in the original series and in the first five movies. He was seen in command of EXCELSIOR in "Star Trek VI: The Undiscovered Country."
"This is an idea Trek fans talked about some 8 years ago," reports IFT President Russ Haslage, and manager of the EXCELSIOR Campaign. "At the time, it was a nice idea, but its time had not yet come. Since then, the Star Trek legacy as spelled out by Trek creator Gene Roddenberry has been twisted and changed into something completely different. That might have something to do with the sagging ratings and lack of revenues Paramount has seen from the last feature film and its current television series, 'Star Trek: VOYAGER'."
Christian (4:49 pm CST)
The International Federation Of Trekkers just sent in a press release about their 'Excelsior' campaign, aimed at pressuring Paramount into creating a Star Trek series featuring Captain Hikaru Sulu, his first officer Pavel Chekov and senior staff members Nyota Uhura and Janice Rand. Here's a snippet:
With the death of Star Trek reported all over the media, a fan-grown campaign to bring new life to the phenomenon by going back to Trek's roots is taking the Star Trek universe by storm.
You can find the full press release right here.
'Strange New Worlds' Article
Christian (4:49 pm CST)
Over at the official Star Trek Continuum, they've put up an article about the 'Strange New Worlds' fan fiction contest organised annually by Pocket Books. The article contains some interesting info about the three winning stories for the third edition of the contest:
Colorado writers Sarah A. Hoyt and Rebecca Lickiss snared the contest's top honor with "If I Lose Thee ...," a story about Lt. Uhura's daring journey through the gate of the Guardian of Forever into Elizabethan England. Kim Sheard of Virginia earned second prize with "Ninety-Three Hours," which recounts the internal emotional struggle of Ezri Tigan's transformation into Ezri Dax. Third prize went to Robert T. Jeschonek of Pennsylvania with "Whatever You Do, Don't Read This Story," a Star Trek: The Next Generation tale that [editor Dean Wesley] Smith says exemplifies the anthology's experimental side. "In all my years of writing and editing, I've never seen a writer - professional or amateur - even attempt to pull that off," he says of the story's narrative technique, "and Robert pulls it off. That is the freedom we have here; newer writers often have the freedom and the courage to take these kinds of chances."
The full article has more quotes from anthology editor Dean Wesley Smith.
Upcoming Frakes Guest Appearances
Christian (4:48 pm CST)
Daniel Kikin just sent in a report about two upcoming guest appearances by Jonathan Frakes (William T. Riker) on science-fiction shows. First of all, according to TV Grid he will be appearing as himself on the February 2 episode of 'Roswell', the WB show he also co-produces. Take a look at how TV Grid describes the episode, called 'The Convention':
Max (Jason Behr) plays host to Jonathan Frakes (guest starring as himself) at the annual UFO convention while trying to avoid the meddlesome couple (guest stars Kevin Weisman and Wendle Josepher) who witnessed Max's life-saving powers.
Secondly, it appears the New York Post is reporting Frakes and his wife, actress Genie Francis, will be guest starring in an episode of '3rd Rock From The Sun' as a married couple, sometime in the February Sweeps.
'Voyager: Elite Force' Preview
"For example," says Pelletier, "you need to go to sickbay to get healed after a mission, you walk up to the Doctor "use" him and he acknowledges your presence in his sarcastic way and heals you. There is also your team interaction; while on a mission, the away team will be talking amongst themselves and to the player about the strange vessel they beamed on to and echo their fear and anxiousness for combat. The player character will offer his own feedback making the player feel like s/he's interacting with his/her teammates"
Christian (4:48 pm CST)
Ewan Fleming at GamezNet has written a new preview of 'Voyager: Elite Force', Raven Software's upcoming first-person shooter. The preview is a pretty long, talking about all aspects of the game, including the characters the player will be encountering in the game:
While on Voyager and during you missions there will be NPC's all around you. They include generic crew members and, of course, the characters from the show. The NPC's will react to the player and call them by name, giving them story background or just small talk. The player will be able to engage another character and get a response from them by walking up to someone and pressing a "use" key.
More details, plus a few quotes from Raven's Brian Pelletier can be found in the full review. Thanks go out to Evil Avatar for the lead.
'Fair Haven' Ratings Disappointing
Christian (4:48 pm CST)
Just like the actual episode, many would say. Greg Fuller at the Star Trek Nielsen Ratings Information Database just posted his final ratings report for 'Fair Haven', last week's Voyager episode. Take a look at how he starts his report:
"Fair Haven" brought in a pretty low national rating, earning a 3.4 rating, 5 share. That's up from the previous month's reruns, but down from "Pathfinder," the last first-run episode to air. "Haven"'s mark ties "Riddles" for lowest first-run rating of the season. The first episode after the December reruns last year, "Latent Image," managed a 3.8/6.
Fortunately Voyager still did pretty well in timeslot competition, as 'Roswell' sinked to a low 1.9 - the WB must be regretting locking in a two-season commitment last year. For more on this read the full report.
Majel Roddenberry Joins WebZinger
The WebZinger Online Research Engine is a key component in ImaginOn's recently introduced ImOn.comTV product. The launch of WebZinger Online is intended to demonstrate to Internet users a key component of ImOn.comTV, without requiring a high bandwidth connection or a high performance computer. WebZinger Online is the world's first and only online research engine, fully automated and hands-free. Users simply type in the subject they need researched, and WebZinger does the rest. It locates Web sites by topic, visits and analyzes each site, downloads graphics and text from qualified sites, and then formats it all into a clear, easy to read, printable report. At the user's option, WebZinger research reports also include links to video and audio. WebZinger reports are fully hyperlinked, enabling users to click through instantly to the source website.
Christian (4:48 pm CST)
ImaginOn, an internet company specialising in internet television, just announced the launch of its new Online Research Engine, WebZinger, featuring the voice of Majel Roddenberry, who also provides the voice for the Starfleet computer on Star Trek. Take a look at part of the official press release:
A noted actress of stage, screen and television, Majel Roddenberry (www.roddenberry.com) is perhaps best known to the world as the voice of the Federation Computer in every TV and film version of Paramount Pictures' Star Trek (www.startrek.com), and its successors. Mrs. Roddenberry's late husband, Gene Roddenberry was the creator of the series, in which Majel Roddenberry appeared many times u as Number One in the pilot for the show, as Nurse Chapel in the original series, and then as Lwaxana Troi in Star Trek: Next Generation. She can be heard currently in Star Trek: Voyager.
The full press release on this can be found here, while you can already hear Roddenberry's voice on the newly opened Web Zinger site.
'Virtuoso' Press Release
Christian (4:47 pm CST)
Vidiot has put up the official press release for 'Virtuoso', next week's new Voyager episode. In addition to a one-line plot synopsis, it also contains full cast, guest cast and creative staff info, revealing that the episode's story was co-written by the recently announced new staff writer Raf Greene. You can find the full release here.
New 'Red Squad' Screenshots
Christian (4:47 pm CST)
The Omega Project has put up a set of four new screenshot from 'Red Squad', Activision's upcoming space simulator for the Sony Playstation.
Gone, But Not Forgotten
Christian (4:47 pm CST)
Today would have been the 80th birthday of DeForest Kelley, who starred in the Original Series as the sympathetic doctor Leonard 'Bones' McCoy. Sadly, Kelley passed away last year on the 11th of June. The memorial page at the official William Shatner Connection still has info on his memorial fund. We still miss you, De.
Today On TV
-On Friday in Canada, Space! will be showing DS9's 'The Alternate' at 4:00am Eastern Time, TOS' 'Errand of Mercy' at 10:00 and at 4:00pm, and DS9's 'Armageddon Game' at 10:00pm.
-On Friday in the United Kingdom, Sky One will be showing DS9's 'The Search, Part Two' at 17:00 and at 23:30 GMT. Thanks go out to Kathryn Hughes for this!
-On Friday in Germany, Sat.1 will be showing DS9's 'Tränen der Propheten' (Tears of the Prophets) at 15:00 CET.
Christian (4:46 pm CST)
-On Friday in the United States, the Sci-Fi Channel will be showing the last TOS episode ever filmed, 'Turnabout Intruder', at 4:00pm Eastern Time.
Trek BBS Today
-What did you think about 'Blink of an Eye', yesterday's new Voyager episode?
-What if Data were windows-compatible?
Find more topics at the Trek BBS!
Christian (4:46 pm CST)
Below are some of the topics currently being discussed at the Trek BBS:
Hello World!
Christian (4:46 pm CST)
Phew. I spent practically all day reading through books about the operating system Linux and the web server Apache, both of which I have no experience at all with, but which are running on the new Trek Nation server. If all goes well I should be able to start moving the sites over to the new server tomorrow evening, but I'll post another status update here before actually changing the TrekToday domain name to point at the new server.
| Wednesday January 19, 2000 |
Christian (6:09 pm CST)
You may be surprised at how early this TrekToday update is, but I felt I had to rectify this error as soon as I was able to post this. Last week, when Ain't It Cool News published its report on the focus group session where Paramount tested the waters for 3 Trek series ideas, I immediately discounted the reports, thinking they were completely fabricated. I really hate to have to say this, but - I was wrong. After asking around some more with my regular sources, it turns out that, yes, the focus group session did happen. In addition, it is highly likely we'll be seeing an official announcement from Paramount on the new series within 4-6 weeks, at most two months.
This also means that suddenly a lot more information is available on the three premises considered by Paramount, assuming the below two reports provide a correct description of what happened during the focus group sessions. To begin with there is of course the info posted in the AICN report, but even more info has been posted to the startrek.voyager newsgroup on the official Paramount server. One of the newsgroup's regular posters, Valar8, claimed to have attended one of these focus group sessions, organised by a marketing group presumably related to Paramount. She confirmed that three Series V premises were suggested to the attendants, namely 'Starfleet Academy', 'Enterprise' and 'Alpha Squad'. Below you'll find a short summary of these three concepts:
- The 'Starfleet Academy' idea was apparently presented on a monitor using a series of illustrations and a basic storyline and character background. The characters in this series would be Academy cadets who would also "serve on a starship commanded by a seasoned Captain." In the series, the characters would be sent out on training missions, though they would often end up in life-and-death situations. Valar8 rated this premise as 'Fair', as she liked the difference with current Trek, and the possibilities for new storylines. However, she also believed there were too many 'soap opera' aspects, such as a female Vulcan cadet "who was
studying the ways of humanity and seriously considering developing a romance with one of the other cadets (non-Vulcan)." Another character in this series, which would take place after the Dominion War, would be a Changeling disguised as a Klingon.
- The 'Enterprise' idea was presented in the same way as 'Starfleet Academy', and dealt with a series based in the 22nd Century. The characters in this (about which Valar8 didn't provide any details) were reportedly a lot more interesting than in 'Starfleet Academy', and Valar8 also thought the storyline itself was rather good. However, she also thought that the series was basically just a rehash of TOS and TNG, and that they would run out of good storylines far too quickly. Valar8 rated this premise as 'Good'.
- The third idea, called 'Alpha Squad', was just presented on paper, despite seeming to be the most popular of the three suggested premises. This series would take place long after the Dominion War, with Voyager already having made it home. The series would deal with an elite force consisting of two ships and special forces officers, whose job it would be to "be dispatched on specific missions against enemies of the Federation to neutralize threats." A few examples of such missions were also given, though except for mentioning a 'biological threat' scenario Valar8 didn't say anything more about this. Valar8 rated this as 'Excellent', while it also was the highest-rated premise for most of the other attendants.
| ||||||||||
You can still vote in the poll, which can be found in the right-hand menu here at TrekToday. Of course I'll be posting more news on these Series V pitches here as soon as it comes out. And again, my apologies for so easily dismissing this story last week - I should have investigated it more carefully before making such judgements.
Read Tuesday's News - In case the early update today caused you to miss it.
GameFan 'Armada' Preview
Christian (6:09 pm CST)
Apache at GameFan has written a short new preview of 'Star Trek: Armada', the real-time strategy game currently under development by Activision. Impressively, Apache manages to fill three of the preview's paragraphs with an introduction about Star Trek in general, before actually talking about the game itself:
Activision's Star Trek Armada is the first 3-D, real-time strategy space combat simulation based on "Star Trek: the Next Generation;" in Armada, players can choose between the Borg, Federation, Romulans and Klingons to expand empires, research new technologies, colonize new worlds, build massive fleets, and wage war against one another. The single-player portion has some twenty missions, from winning a Klingon civil war to engaging in Romulan espionage, Borg assimilation, and aiding the survival of all humanity. Some three dozen different ships are are planned as well, including the Borg's infamous cubes, Klingon birds of prey, Romulan cruisers, and Federation starships.
You can find the full preview here, along with a bunch of new screenshots.
'Gepetto' Set Photo
Christian (6:09 pm CST)
BrentFemme's Brent Spiner Page has just been updated with a photo from the new edition of Entertainment Weekly, showing a scene from 'Gepetto', the new Disney musical set to premiere on the 7th of May on ABC. The photo shows Pinochio and Gepetto, as well as Stromboli, the character played by Brent Spiner (Data). The film also features appearances by René Auberjonois (Odo) and Scarlett Pomers (Naomi Wildman). Thanks go out to Welcome, Brent Spiner Fans! for this!
Frakes To Direct Sci-Fi Spoof
Christian (6:09 pm CST)
Variety's Michael Fleming is reporting that Jonathan Frakes (William T. Riker) has signed a six-figure deal to direct 'Steve Was Here', a science fiction comedy from the producers of 'Independence Day' and 'Godzilla'. Take a look at what the film deals with:
In ``Steve Was Here,'' the inhabitants of a depressed town decide to stage a phony alien landing to attract tourists, but they get more than they bargained for. Norman Steinberg is writing the script.
The full press release has more info on the people behind the film. Frakes of course previously directed 'Star Trek: First Contact' and 'Star Trek: Insurrection'.
Space 'Fair Haven' Review
Unfortunately, the character of Michael, designed to be a romantic foil for Janeway, is sadly uninteresting. Even after given an "education," he comes across as somewhat simpleminded.
Nevertheless, while there is little that is new or exciting here, the story unfolds in a pleasant and inoffensive manner. The holographic Irish town has some charm, as does the traditional Irish music. Janeway's need for companionship is plausible, even if inexpertly acted.
Christian (6:08 pm CST)
Kenneth Silber, one of the staff writers at Space Imagined, has put up his review of 'Fair Haven', last week's Voyager episode. As usual, his review is broken up into several different parts, such as a synopsis, a technology reality check, and a short analysis. Here's a snippet from that last part:
"Fair Haven" taps into a thematic vein -- the holodeck as escapist addiction -- that has already been explored in other Voyager episodes, as well as on Deep Space Nine.
You can find the full review here. (Actually, you could have found it there a week ago already, but I unfortunately completely missed it).
Shatner Also On 'Today'
When asked if he would be in another episode of Star Trek, he replied that he wasn't sure about it. He then began talking about Third Rock from the sun.
Christian (6:08 pm CST)
According to a report by Finniksa in the startrek.starfleetheadquarters newsgroup at the official Continuum, William Shatner also appeared on the NBC Today show this morning, in addition to his appearance on the ABC talk show 'The View', which we reported on yesterday. On the Today show, he was interviewed by host Matt Lauer, and they mostly talked about his promotional work for Priceline.com. However, Lauer also talked about a few other topics, according to Finniksa:
He was really shaken up when Matt Lauer tried to talk about his wife's death. I think, personally, the Today show was too insensitive by displaying pictures of her when he was so visibly upset and when Matt asked him for details about her death.
If anyone saw this morning's edition of 'The View' with Shatner on it, I'd certainly love to receive a report.
Gamespot Wins 'Armada' Tournament
Christian (6:07 pm CST)
Michael Mullen at GameSpot is reporting that his bosses, editors Elliott Chin and Greg Kasavin, won the 'Star Trek: Armada' tournament against the editorial staff of Computer Gaming World. The tournament was organised by Activision, the publisher of the game, on the 14th of January:
When the space dust settled, GameSpot's Elliott Chin and Greg Kasavin walked away as the winners. Activision and Computer Gaming World will donate US$2,500 each to GameSpot's chosen charity, Guide Dogs For the Blind Inc. "We came up with a strategy early on and that strategy was easy to execute," said Greg Kasavin, GameSpot previews editor upon reflecting on the match. Activision will also donate $2,500 to Computer Gaming World's charity, CompuMentor.
The full news item on this can be found here.
'Computers Of Trek' Interview
Of course, that wouldn't make for good dramatic tension, something both Gresh and Weinberg acknowledge. So they don't come down too hard on the most obvious technological faux pas in Star Trek: all those computer keyboards.
''Keyboards are going to be gone in 20 or 30 years, maybe much sooner,'' Weinberg says. With voice-recognition software cheap, fast and getting faster, ''300 years from now the thought of somebody typing into a keyboard is pretty ridiculous.''
Christian (6:07 pm CST)
Elizabeth Weise at USA Today has put up an interview with Lois Gresh and Robert Weinberg, the authors of the new non-fiction book 'The Computers of Star Trek'. In the interview, the authors predict that computer technology will continue to develop so quickly that even the computers seen on the current Star Trek series will have been easily surpassed by real-life technology. However, the authors do not really blame Star Trek for this:
'When Captain Picard says, 'Let's go to Cygnus 5,' the computer's going to hear him and go to Cygnus 5,'' says Weinberg. And he'll probably say it from a conference room in the middle of the ship, not the bridge. That's ''the most vulnerable spot -- they're always getting hit by alien fire.''
In the full interview, Weinberg and Hesh also talk about the important role Trek played in making the public accept computers.
'Insurrection: Hidden Evil' Review
Sadly, Hidden Evil lives up (or is it down?) to these danger signs. Despite fairly good graphics and some entertaining puzzles, the game is hard to control and just too damn short.
Christian (6:07 pm CST)
Brian at Game Revolution has written a new review of 'Hidden Evil', Activision's by-now-not-so-new-anymore adventure game based on the latest Trek film. Here's how the review starts:
From the get go, Star Trek: Hidden Evil has two tough obstacles to overcome. One is the fact that it's a Xmas season Star Trek game, which historically aren't well received (like Klingon Honor Guard and A Final Unity). Plus, it is billed as an 'action/adventure' game, the kind of hybrid that could mean just about anything. Trying to build a Star Trek adventure is a very daunting task.
In the full review the game is awarded a C.
CCG In The Year 2000
Christian (6:06 pm CST)
Francis K. Lalumiere at Decipher, the publisher of the official Star Trek Customisable Card Game, just posted an article describing the products his company will be releasing over the coming year. One of the most interesting of these products is a 'The Trouble With Tribbles' expansion set, set for release in June 2000:
In June 2000, Star Trek CCG enthusiasts will be treated to The Trouble With Tribbles, the game's first major expansion set of the century - and the first set to include material from the original Star Trek series (yes, the famous Captain Kirk made a randomly scheduled guest appearance in the Dominion set, but he's about to become part of the permanent crew). This set will contain a total of 131 cards, one of which will be an ultra-rare. A new entry point into Star Trek CCG, The Trouble With Tribbles will be packaged in two different preconstructed starter decks as well as the traditional expansion packs. One deck will be designed for the Federation affiliation, while the other will be awaiting Klingon players. Each of these two decks will be ready to play right out of the box and will include two randomly selected rare cards from the Trouble With Tribbles set as well as a special premium card. The set will feature plenty of classic Star Trek material from the Deep Space Nine episode "Trials & Tribble-ations" as well as elements from other Star Trek properties such as Deep Space Nine and The Next Generation.
More on Decipher's plans for 2000 can be read by following this link.
Today On TV
-On Thursday in the United States, the Sci-Fi Channel will be showing the third-season TOS episode 'All Our Yesterdays' at 4:00pm Eastern Time.
-On Thursday in Canada, Space! will be showing DS9's 'Rivals' at 4:15am Eastern Time, TOS's 'Devil in the Dark' at 10:00am and at 4:00pm, and DS9's 'The Alternate' at 10:00pm.
-On Thursday in the United Kingdom, Sky One will be showing DS9's 'The Search, Part One' at 17:00 and at 23:30 GMT, while BBC Two will be showing TNG's 'Pegasus' at 18:00. Thanks go out to Kathryn Hughes for this!
-On Thursday in Germany, Sat.1 will be showing DS9's 'Der Klang ihrer Stimme' (The Sound Of Her Voice) at 15:00 CET.
Christian (6:06 pm CST)
-Tonight at 9:00pm (8:00pm CT) UPN will be showing 'Blink of an Eye', promising to be one of the most intriguing episodes of the season. Here's the official UPN synopsis:
Thanks go out to Vidiot for the image, which is of course copyrighted by Paramount Pictures.
When Voyager becomes ensnared in the orbit of a strange, primitive planet, it's energized core enables it to rapidly develop into a society with warp technology. So Janeway briefly transports The Doctor to the alien world, only to learn that the presence of Voyager has inspired invention among the society, which without warning, aims its own weapons at Voyager.
Trek BBS Today
-What kind of art exists in the 24th Century?
-After the events of 'What You Leave Behind', who actually commands the Defiant?
More topics can be found at the Trek BBS!
Christian (6:06 pm CST)
Below are some of the topics currently being discussed at the Trek BBS:
Hello World!
"Hmmm... yes... according to the computer someone tried to get money from your account yesterday, but was rejected by the machine... if that happens more than three times your bank card is automatically taken in."
That was it. She turned around to her computer again, clearly considering this considering over. No apology, no nothing. Nor did she even seem to care about the fact that I am now completely without cash, and will be for the next week or so. I can't even visit family at the moment, as I can't even afford a train ticket! I guess I'll have to go bug some friends here in town again...
Link of the Day: Fellow Dutchman gets a great job - Thanks to Blue for this.
Christian (6:05 pm CST)
Remember me mentioning yesterday I really hated my bank? Well, I was wrong. Compared to what I now feel for my bank I was wildly in love with them yesterday. This morning, I again went to the post office to get some money from the ATM, as, after all, the bank had promised me my account would be fully functional as of today again. Imagine my surprise when instead of giving me the 200 guilders I was expecting, the bloody machine just swallowed my bank card 'due to security reasons'. At a breakneck speed I cycled to my own bank again (where of course an entirely different staff from the day before was present), and loudly complained about this. At least I got an explanation:
"Of course I was rejected by the machine yesterday - that's because you blocked my account!"
"Oh. Well, you'll just need to get a new card. We'll send it to you within a week."
| Tuesday January 18, 2000 |
Christian (6:55 pm CST)
Anna L. Kaplan at Fandom just put up an article which everyone will probably want to read - the first interview with Ronald D. Moore following his sudden departure from the Voyager staff in the summer of 1999. Here's a short snippet from the interview, in which Moore mentions how he regrets ever joining Voyager:
But I just didn't want to leave. I loved it so much and I just didn't want to go away from the franchise, and I just really enjoyed it. I was afraid to leave the nest on a certain level. They made it very easy for me. They gave me a lot of money. They let me stay in my own office, just change the business card on the front of the desk.. Then it just turned into this other thing, and it was this bad trip, and it was a bad place to work, and it was an unhappy experience. I was surrounded by people that were unhappy working there, and didn't like their own show, and weren't pleased with the people they were working with. It's a bad thing to work through. Part of me is hurt, and a bit angry at Brannon on a personal level, as my friend, not as my boss. As my friend, I felt pretty pissed off. I am not angry any more. I am just grateful that I don't have to be there. I am just happy that I am not working on that show every day. I know it hasn't gotten any easier."
"I regret going to the show. I think that was my mistake. I should have known better. I should have been smart enough to know. He and I had been partners and friends for so long; 'we can work it out.' You get into that kind of situation, and things change. Things changed, and it was a slap of cold water. I think all the other writers on DS9 knew better. None of them flat out said it. None of them said, 'You are making a mistake,' and I am not saying that they should. I wouldn't have listened to it if they did. But I knew at the time that they all thought this was a mistake. I should have left on DEEP SPACE NINE because that was a high point. I could have left the stage with the audience still applauding and feeling good about the performance. You take your curtain call and you get off . That's why I didn't do the next movie, for just that reason. Rick asked Brannon and me to make the next movie, and I said no because I was happy to leave FIRST CONTACT as my swan song to the TREK features. I should have been smart enough to do that and not take the VOYAGER gig.
Lots more can be found in the full interview, which is only part one of a seven-part (!) feature. Thanks go out to Elaine Butler for pointing me to this!
Comment on this at the Trek BBS!
Rob Doherty Interview
Rob hopes to eventually become a story editor. "It's a step up," says Rob. "It means you've kind of proven yourself as a staff writer and you can be depended upon. and they're rewarding you with a greater title and more responsibilities. I know a story editor plays a big part in getting new interns in, takes a lot of pitches, writes up a lot of stories. I'm not entirely sure because I'm a lowly staff writer! I'm hopeful I will learn what greater responsibilities there are." So far, Rob has carried out his writing assignments alone, which is the way he likes it. "I've never tried writing with someone else. I don't think it would suit me; I prefer to write by myself I'm a very deliberate writer, and I tend to need time to really chew on dialogue and go over things again and again. But before long I could be paired with someone; I don't know"
Christian (6:53 pm CST)
Voyager's Delights has reprinted an interview with Voyager staff writer Rob Doherty, which first appeared in the official Star Trek Magazine. In the interview he talks about how he got his position on the show, the episodes he's worked on this season ('Riddles' and 'Tsunkatse'), and what his ambitions are:
What is Rob's day like? "It really depends on the schedules of the bigger guys, the producers like Brannon and Ken and Joe [Menosky]," he says. "When I'm writing, I can have days when I'm here by 6.30 and I don't leave until 10 or 11 at night; then I can have days when I'm not writing, but we're always busy if we're breaking a story we could be in the same room together all day; It just really depends on what's going on."
The full interview can be found by following this link - it also includes a new 'Tsunkatse' image showing Seven in her wrestling outfit.
Visitor Musical Closing Early?
Christian (6:53 pm CST)
Several people on the message board of the Observatory, a Nana Visitor (Kira Nerys), have suggested that the musical 'Chicago', starring Visitor, might be closing its run in Las Vegas before April, earlier than originally planned. The reason is apparently disappointing ticket sales over the past few months. The original thread on this can be found here. Thanks go out to Georgiana Steele for this!
Voyager Schedule Updated
Christian (6:53 pm CST)
David Henderson at Psi Phi sends along word he's updated the Voyager schedule to include a few more confirmed episode dates.
'Tsunkatse' Spoilers
Again, this is where you need to click to avoid being spoiled.
Voyager's Delights has posted a short news bit about 'Tsunkatse', taken from the official Star Trek Magazine:
Christian (6:53 pm CST)
NOTE: Below you will find spoilers for 'Tsunkatse', the upcoming Voyager wrestling episode. Click here to avoid those.
In the story, Seven of Nine is pitted against several aliens, including John's Hirogen, in a wrestling match. "I was on my son's first hunt, and in the middle of that I was beamed out involuntarily by this organization, the Norcadians. We don't know who they are, but I've been in this arena, in this gladiatorial thing for 19 years; there's no way out of it, you have to fight when they say to fight, or else you die. ~~~ An interview with J. G. Hertzler from Star Trek: The Magazine.
Thanks go out to Voyager's Delights for this!
William Shatner On 'The View'
Christian (6:52 pm CST)
Tomorrow morning, William Shatner (James T. Kirk) will be interviewed by Barbara Walters on the ABC talk show The View. On their web site, they offer you a chance to submit a question for tomorrow's show, enabling you to ask William Shatner a question about Star Trek. If you want to know when 'The View' is on where you live, please go here. Thanks go out to BORG for this!
Heather Jarman Reviews 'The Lives Of Dax'
Christian (6:52 pm CST)
Over at Jim Wright's Delta Blues site, a review of the new 'A Lives Of Dax' book has gone up, written by Heather Jarman. Here's her short review summary:
The affectionate ensemble book that Pathways should have been. A delightful departure from the character-poor Trek novelizations that generally dominate Pocket's offerings. Intelligently crafted, entertaining, worthy of repeat reading. A must buy for all DS9 fans and a solid, enjoyable read for fans of any of Trek's series.
The full 4-star review can be found here. In related news, my own review of the book should finally be going up within a few days.
Major Upcoming Voyager Spoilers
Again, this is where you need to click to avoid being spoiled.
Michael Iversen at the Universe has posted fairly detailed synopses for seven upcoming Voyager episodes, namely 'Virtuoso', 'Memorial', 'Tsunkatse', 'Collective', 'Spirit Folk', 'Ashes to Ashes' and 'Child's Play'. Below you'll find the spoilers for the three-part Borg episode arc, about which fairly little was known before this:
Ashes to Ashes - A crewman who was killed in an earlier season while on an away mission with Kim returns to Voyager as another species. Seems this species procreates by taking dead bodies, and reanimating them and turning the DNA into their own. They are supposed to forget their former lives, but she breaks away and goes back to Voyager. Kim is thrilled because he was in love with her. The doc makes her look human again, but it doesn't stick and she goes back to her race when they come looking for her and start to attack Voyager. The B plot is Seven trying to play mother to the 4 remaining borglettes. They rebel, run around, and do the things that kids do. Seven is unprepared. The classic line when she dumps them into a room with Naomi is "fun will now commence".
Child's Play - This episode marks yet another return of the droneling children. The oldest (Icheb - I believe) is reunited with his parents. He does not want to return at first, and seven doesnt want him to go. She has become attached to him. He also turns out to be quite smart and could be a major help to the Voyager and her crew. He invents a device to scan for wormholes and the like at a miniature 'science fair' aboard Voyager, etc. Eventually he decides to stay with his parents, and that seems to be that. However, one of the kids clues Seven in that Icheb's parents lied when they relayed the story of his assimilation. Voyager returns to the planet to find that he has been set out alone and unconcious in a shuttle designed to attract the Borg by his loving parents. Further investigation reveals that he was geneticallly engineered to be a 'Borg Killer', and that he was responsible for the virus that killed the cube back in "Collective". Janeway and crew rescue him, and he winds up back on Voyager at the end of the episode.
Christian (6:52 pm CST)
NOTE: Below you will find new spoilers for the next 7 (!) Voyager episodes after 'Blink of an Eye'. Click here to avoid these spoilers.
Collective - A group of five Borg Children running an entire cube on their own hold Chako, Neelix, Kim, and Tom Paris ransom for Voyagers deflector dish so they can contact the collective to come for them. All the Drones on the Cube died of some 'Borg pathogen' thing, and Janeway has the doc recreated it incase she needs to gas the drone wannabe's. To make a long story short, Seven interacts with them, shows them that a message from the collective says that the Borg believe the children are 'defective' and does not want them. This divides the ranks, the numero uno borg boy dies, and the other four return to Voyager and become 'individuals' until they can be reunited with their respective species.
This could actually be a really great episode arc, finally giving the Borg some real development again. And even if it doesn't include that, just the 'fun will now commence' scene will probably make up for that. Many more spoilers (including a description of 'Spirit Folk' where, yes, the Fair Haven folk also gain individual thought, just like every other hologram on Trek) can be found on the Universe's news page.
'Klingon Academy' Demo Update
On a separate note, we recently received temp voice-over files from our sound department. We had a great time listening to Colonel Poktarl's imaginative use of language and hope you will enjoy the game's characters as much as we do.
Christian (6:51 pm CST)
Brent Kollmansberger, one of the designers working on Interplay's 'Klingon Academy', has posted the following update to the official Klingon Academy Development Page:
Work is proceeding well on the demo. Ron is working to reduce the size of the download by identifying files that will not be needed. Steve has been busy meeting with the scriptors and setting up the really cool in-game movies that you will soon experience. I am currently reviewing the verbal orders system and difficulty settings to identify bugs and polish things up.
Thanks go out to Federation HQ for this!
Delta Blues 'Fair Haven' Review
[...]
The Doctor suggested that Janeway "can't" have a romantic relationship with a member of her crew. It's the philosophy Janeway herself has often expressed, and whether or not you agree is irrelevant. It's been her consistent policy from Day One, infuriating or not, and she'd as soon blow you out an airlock than change her mind.
What this says about Janeway is somewhat relevant, but we've already determined that she's a little nuts. But so was Kirk; in some ways, it's a survival trait. Picard wasn't nuts, but he was duller than dirt most weeks, and so were most of the Enterprise-D's milk runs, mercy missions, and Rescue 911s. Sisko--definitely nuts, and my kinda captain. So maybe she's nuts for not going for Chakotay--accept it, and move on.
Or don't--and leave me out of it.
Christian (6:51 pm CST)
Jim Wright at Delta Blues has uploaded his review of 'Fair Haven', last week's new Voyager episode. Awarding the episode 3 out of 4 stars, Jim is a lot more positive than many other reviewers, apparently disagreeing with many of the criticisms people had about this episode:
In Roddenberry's vision, sex is simply an itch to be scratched. RELATIONSHIPS--that's the dirty word he wanted his enlightened humanity to avoid like the plague or organized religion. So the ultimate irony is that the first time we get a woman heading her own series and sitting in the big chair, people complain because she's not looking for someone--usually a very particular tattooed someone--to do the R Word with. They made her engaged in "Caretaker," I think, in the hopes of avoiding the issue entirely, though they threw that advantage away in "Hunters."
A more in-depth look at the issues explored in this episode can be found in the full review, together with the usual huge synopsis.
Salhany Named CEO Of LifeF/X
Christian (6:50 pm CST)
LifeF/X Inc. has just put out a press release announcing the appointment of Lucie Salhany as its chief executive officer and co-president. LifeF/X specialises in creating 'Stand-Ins', 3D digital representations of human faces that can be transmitted and interacted with via the internet. Salhany previously served as CEO of UPN, where she oversaw the debut of shows such as 'Star Trek: Voyager' and 'Moesha'. Before that, Salhany also served as chairman of Fox Broadcasting, where she launched 'The X-Files', and as president of Paramount Domestic Television, where she oversaw the development of 'Star Trek: The Next Generation', among several other series. Find more in the full press release.
More 'Digital Streams' Articles
"Second, there is more to visual effects production and filmmaking than simply having a powerful computer system and rendering software. In my opinion, the Digital Stream effects point out how important it is to have an experienced visual effects supervisor, as well as someone who knows lighting and editing. Third, I disagree with some of Digital Stream`s artistic choices. For example, I dislike the arbitrary redesign of the Planet Killer, and I do not like the added paneling on the Starship Enterprise. This is not to say that my tastes are correct and that theirs are wrong. Far from it. I`m sure that if I had done a 'special edition,' there would be those who would have equally strong, and equally valid complaints about my choices. The point is that any given set of artistic choices are likely to disappoint at least as many fans as they will please, particularly in the case of a property for which so many fans feel so proprietary."
Christian (6:50 pm CST)
Frank Garcia at Fandom has put up the concluding two parts of his series of articles on Digital Streams, the company seeking to create a 'Special Edition' of the Original Series with new special effects. In Part Three Trek celebrities do the same. Take a look at what Trek's Scenic Art Supervisor Micheal Okuda had to say about the new FX footage:
"I think it is clear that a great deal of hard work and love went into the effort. You can tell that these people cared a great deal about STAR TREK. That being emphasized, I must say that I was disappointed by the work. First, the renderings just aren`t that good. They have an excessively perfect, plastic, CGI look. The texture maps are not as rich as I`d like. Surface quality is too simplistic. Worse, they did not integrate the look (color, saturation, grain, contrast) of the CG effects with the live-action footage. Yes, there are ways to deal with these problems, but these techniques can be expensive (in terms of rendering time) and require both technical skill and sophisticated equipment and software. There is no way of knowing, from the demo material, whether Digital Stream is technically capable of such work, or even if they were aware of the problems.
The full article also includes comments from people such as Rick Sternbach, Robert Wolfe, Norman Spinrad, Dean Wesley Smith and Kristine Kathryn Rusch, and Ronald D. Moore. Definitely recommended reading.
Trek Authors Novelize 'X-Men'
Christian (6:50 pm CST)
A news item on the Sci-Fi Wire mentions that Dean Wesley Smith and Kristine Kathryn Rusch, the writing duo previously responsible for several Trek novels, will write the novelization of Fox's upcoming feature film 'X-Men'. The novel will be released on the 14th of June, prior to the actual film. The 'X-Men' film stars Patrick Stewart (Jean-Luc Picard) as Dr. X.
GalaxyOnline Trek Connections [...]
Andrew Koenig, a former-actor (``Growing Pains'')-turned-director, will direct his father, Walter, for the first time for an episode of ``Warped.'' The show is produced by prolific sci-fi screenwriter and story editor (``Star Trek'') DC Fontana and world-renowned author David Gerrold (``Star Trek,'' ``Babylon 5'').
Christian (6:50 pm CST)
GalaxyOnline, calling itself the "largest science-fiction and science-fact-related interactive online network in the universe", has announced its nearly ready to wrap production on 'Warped', an internet broadcast series of mini-movie comic spoofs. These mini-movies have been in production since December, and will be shown on GalaxyOnline starting Monday the 24th of January. Among the people involved with the series are many people connected to the Trek franchise:
Those scheduled to appear include: Mark Hamill (``Star Wars''), Richard Hatch (``Battlestar Galactica''), Walter Koenig and Nichelle Nichols (``Star Trek''), Tim Russ (``Star Trek: Voyager''), Claudia Christian and Chase Masterson (``Babylon 5''), Bruce Young (``The Sentinel''), Bill Mumy (``Babylon 5,'' Will Robinson in ``Lost in Space'') and Angela Cartwright (Penny in ``Lost in Space'').
The series will also be using sets from many movies and television series, including the bridge set from 'Voyager'. More on this, plus several quotes from director Andrew Koenig, can be found here.
Valentine On Testosterone
Christian (6:49 pm CST)
Michael Peck at TV Guide has posted a report of a recent press conference at which UPN executives talked about the network's resurgence this season, and their plans for next year. At the conference, UPN president Dean Valentine pledged his support for 'wrestling, monster trucks and things that explode', as well as saying the following about the network's image:
"I think if it has high testosterone, we'll air it," network President & CEO Dean Valentine declared at the Television Critics Association's Press Tour in Pasadena, CA, responding to questions about his web's image in the wake of other network execs backing away from reality-based fare. "When I was growing up, I remember there was a whole big thing about how terrible comic books were. Somehow in every generation whatever young guys seem to like is what's bad for you and I'm sure this generation is no different than any other."
More info on the press tour and UPN's plans for next season can be found in the full article. You might also want to read this AP report, which goes into a bit more detail on upcoming UPN shows like the 'I Dare You' super-stunt series and their WWF-like monster truck show.
Today On TV
-On Wednesday in Canada, Space! will be showing DS9's 'Sanctuary' at 4:15am Eastern Time, TOS' 'This Side Of Paradise' at 10:00am and at 4:00pm, and DS9's 'Rivals' at 10:00pm.
-On Wednesday in the United Kingdom, Sky One will be showing DS9's 'A Call To Arms' at 17:00 and at 23:30 GMT, while BBC Two will be showing DS9's 'Who Mourns For Morn?' at 18:45 CET. Also, 'Star Trek: Insurrection' debuts today on pay channel Sky Box Office 3. Thanks go out to Kathryn Hughes for this!
-On Wednesday in Germany, Sat.1 will be showing DS9's 'Das Zeitportal' at 15:00 CET.
Christian (6:49 pm CST)
-On Wednesday in the United States, the Sci-Fi Channel will be showing the third-season TOS episode 'The Savage Curtain' at 4:00pm Eastern Time.
Trek BBS Today
-What happened to the TOS characters after 'Star Trek VI: The Undiscovered Country'?
-What did you think about the Tim Russ interview mentioned on TrekToday yesterday, in which he talked about his encounters with Trek fans?
Find more topics at the Trek BBS!
Christian (6:49 pm CST)
Below are some of the topics currently being discussed at the Trek BBS:
Hello World!
In other news, several people have been asking me if the recent slowness of the sites is due to the impending server move. This is actually not the case - all the sites are still located on my old web host's servers at the moment, but it appears this host is facing some connection problems at the moment, so we're moving to the new dedicated server nicely on time.
Christian (6:49 pm CST)
I truly, madly and deeply hate my bank. This morning I had to go to the post office, to fax a fairly important document. Before doing that, however, I first had to get some money from the ATM, as I didn't have any cash left anymore. Surprisingly, the machine told me it couldn't accept my bank card, and spit it out again. Thinking it was just a problem with the machine, I crossed the street to another bank, where my card was also rejected. Then I went to my own bank, to see if maybe there my card would be accepted. As it wasn't, I went inside to complain that my card wasn't working, where the very nice lady behind the counter told me that my entire bank account had been suspended! The reason turned out to be that one of the letters they had sent me over the past month had been returned as undeliverable, and the geniuses at the bank apparently suspend every account with which that happens. After becoming sufficiently angry I did actually manage to convince them that I was me (who ever thinks of bringing their passport?) and they reinstated my account, but they couldn't let that take effect until midnight. Fortunately I was able to join a few friends for dinner, as I also didn't have any food anymore at home. From now on I'll make sure to always carry at least a hundred guilders with me...
| Monday January 17, 2000 |
Christian (8:31 pm CST)
The René Auberjonois Internet Link, the official fan page of René Auberjonois (Odo), has posted a progress report on 'The Patriot', a new film starring Mel Gibson in which Auberjonois will also be making an appearance. Take a look at what the film actually deals with:
René's character, Reverend Oliver, at first resists the call to arms, but at the last moment joins the militia because he feels he must tend to his flock wherever they go.
The story is loosely based on the exploits of Francis Marion, the "Swamp Fox," a Revolutionary War hero. The filming began in early October 1999, and is taking place in the north and central parts of the state, with director Roland Emmerich and cinematographer Caleb Deschanel.
Comments from Auberjoinois himself plus some more info on the film, scheduled for release in June 2000, can be found here.
Julia Houston's Treknology Guide
Christian (8:31 pm CST)
Julia Houston at About.com's Star Trek Fans has put up an incredibly handy article, providing a short listing of all the important technobabble items from Star Trek. Here's one which I just had to quote here:
LCARS: Library Computer Access and Retrieval System. These cause your computer to take forever when you're trying to access a Website that has no actual information on it other than a brief plot synopsis or a link to some sound files. They also have a tendency to make the page far too big for your monitor and are often accompanied by enormous and very slow-loading WAV files that say something like "Access granted" on every damn page.
This really made me think of the old design TrekToday had during its first few months of existence - looking absolutely fantastic but also taking three years to load. Anyway, check out the full article here!
New Sev Trek Competition
Christian (8:31 pm CST)
John Cook at Sev Trek has put up a new edition of the 'Write Your Own Sev Trek' Competition:
Here's what this week's competition deals with:
Bologna loves Tomb.
You can submit your punchlines here. In related news, a new character render of Chief Engineer Gaudy Regurge has been added to the Sev Trek Movie Page.
One of those scenes that finally left the B/T fans happy! Now sevilians get to write an appropriate response (while observing that infernal lewd/crude rule of course!)
'Fair Haven' Tube Review
Christian (8:30 pm CST)
Jeff Bond at Eon's Tube Reviews has written a review of 'Fair Haven', the first new Voyager episode in the yeat 2000. Sadly, Bond wasn't too impressed with this episode either, awarding it just a C+:
Unfortunately, "Fair Haven" doesn't have enough faith in the audience to allow Janeway's dilemma to remain at center stage, and much time is eaten up by a classic TNG-era B-story about an interstellar storm of blue gas. This doesn't provide any particular excitement and whittles away at Janeway's scenes until there's only the bare bones of a plot for the viewer to sink their teeth into. Why not really explore the idea of being able to alter an artificial character to interact with you, or the perils of allowing a holodeck creation to have genuine emotions? All these aspects are given lip service, but they don't really resonate long enough to be resolved in a satisfying dramatic fashion. They're merely dispensed with in an ambiguous final programming scene for Janeway. "Fair Haven" is well-directed and Mulgrew gets some of her better moments as Janeway, but the final result only highlights how little this character has been fleshed out over the years.
You can find the full review here!
'Armada' Ship On CCG Card
Created through the use of computer graphics, the U.S.S. Jupiter is one of the sleek Akira-class ships first seen in the Star Trek: First Contact motion picture. In Activision's computer game, the ship plays an important role in helping the U.S.S. Enterprise defend against a Borg attack. It's also the first ship to be equipped with the Chain Reaction Pulsar, a new, powerful weapon capable of ricocheting off multiple enemy ships.
Christian (8:30 pm CST)
Decipher, the publisher of the official Star Trek Customisable Card Game, has announced that the 'Star Trek: Armada' game from Activision will ship with a very special CCG card:
The newest ship in the Star Trek CCG universe is The U.S.S Jupiter, a limited edition card featuring the Jupiter, an Akira-class starship, that will be included in all packages of an upcoming real-time strategy game, Star Trek: Armada, by Activision. The game is scheduled to release this winter. Later in 2000, the U.S.S. Jupiter card will become available to players and collectors through other channels - exactly how is not yet decided.
You can find the full article on this here, including information on future tie-ins between Decipher and Activision.
Tim Russ Makes Good Money
``So it is like, `Galaxy Quest,' '' I say, referring to the Tim Allen-Sigourney Weaver comedy of ``Trek''-like actors. They drag themselves from convention to convention, bombarded by nerdy teen-age boys with lists of continuity errors in long-forgotten episodes.
Russ smiles, ``Hey, they got that right. Especially the part about the conventions. You really don't know what to say to some of this stuff. I mean, I do the shows. It's good money. But there are people who watch `Voyager' who see things I never knew existed.''
[Update, Tuesday, 13:03 CET:] As of this morning, the interview link returns a 404 'File Not Found' error on the Pioneer Planet web site. I have no idea why.
Christian (8:30 pm CST)
Brian Lambert at Pioneer Planer has just put up an interview with Tim Russ (Tuvok), talking about his experiences with fans and the dream job, income-wise, Star Trek is for an actor. Here's a pretty funny snippet from the interview:
``Oh, it's strange sometimes. I'd say I get recognized 12 to 15 times a day. And you do get these super fans coming up to you in stores and parking lots with their silly-ass questions. You know, you're standing next to your trunk with a bag of groceries trying to explain something about dilithium crystals or a holodeck experience someone had.''
The full article also provides some interesting details on the fairly good income any Star Trek series provides its actors with, and how any Trek series is almost guaranteed to survive due to very high foreign and merchandise returns.
On Game Licenses
The license may be more stringent, but it is also more rewarding. "There are millions of Star Trek fans worldwide. Not a bad audience to start with... You start with an established group of fans of the license who are instantly willing to buy the game, and you add to that group as people get excited about the game itself."
Christian (8:29 pm CST)
Eurogamer's John 'Bye' Gestalt has put up a new feature about games based on established 'licenses', such as comics, books or movies. One of the game's looked at in the article is 'Voyager: Elite Force'. Take a look at what Raven's Kenn Hoekstra has to say about the Star Trek license:
"The franchise fee is fairly high", Kenn admitted. "And we can't do anything like kill off main characters, or blow up the ship, or have them meet James T Kirk, or anything else that Paramount deems 'inappropriate use' of their license."
The full article can be found here, with the Voyager comments on page 3. Thanks Blue for this!
'Galaxy Quest' Box Office
Christian (8:29 pm CST)
According to Cinescape, 'Galaxy Quest', the new Star Trek spoof starring Tim Allen, made $6.6 million in its fifth week of release, giving it a 6th pace in the box office top 10.
Poll Results
Christian (8:27 pm CST)
Below you'll find the results of the latest two TrekToday polls. In the first one, you were asked what you thought about last week's 'Fair Haven':
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And below you'll find the results of the TrekToday poll before that, asking which recent Voyager episode you liked best:
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- 'Riddles' - 7.25
- 'Dragon's Teeth' - 7.74
- 'One Small Step' - 8.58
- 'The Voyager Conspiracy' - 6.92
- 'Pathfinder' - 8.61
'Pathfinder' easily wins the popularity poll, perhaps also because of the huge marketing push for the show, but 'One Small Step' also turns up as a very strong episode. A bit surprising is perhaps the relatively large number of people who selected 'The Voyager Conspiracy' as their favourite episode, considering the poll ratings show it to be the worst episode of the bunch, but that might be explained that the results of this episode's poll also had the highest standard deviation of the season so far, meaning people either really liked or really hated the episode.
In other statistics, the average episode rating for these 5 episodes was a 7.82, compared to a 7.58 for the first five episodes, while the highest-rated two episodes of the season also fell in the last five, meaning you believe the season has shown some definite improvement over time. Or you've just become more forgiving, that's of course also possible :-).
Please also participate in the new poll, asking you what you think is the best Series V premise mentioned in the recent Ain't It Cool News Report about a rumoured focus group meeting at Paramount. This report may or may not be true, but certainly the premises mentioned in it were interesting!
Today On TV
-On Tuesday in Canada, Space! will be showing DS9's 'Second Sight' at 4:00am Eastern Time, TOS' 'Space Seed' at 10:00am and at 4:00pm, and DS9's 'Sanctuary' at 10:15pm.
-On Tuesday in the United Kingdom, Sky One will be showing DS9's 'In The Cards' at 17:00 and at 23:30 GMT. Thanks go out to Kathryn Hughes for this!
-On Tuesday in Germany, Sat.1 will be showing DS9's 'Die Beraterin' at 15:00 CET.
Christian (8:27 pm CST)
-On Tuesday in the United States, the Sci-Fi Channel will be showing the third-season TOS episode 'The Cloud Minders' at 4:00pm Eastern Time.
Trek BBS Today
-If you registered at the Trek BBS before the 1st of December but never actually posted a message there, read this, as there is a chance your account will be removed.
-How fast are warp speeds actually?
-What are some of the really great DS9 episodes that somehow are seldom mentioned?
Find more at the Trek BBS!
Christian (8:26 pm CST)
Below are some of the topics currently being discussed at the Trek BBS:
Hello World!
What will this mean for you? If all goes well, you won't notice any negative effects, but there is a chance that for a few days you will need to visit the sites in the Trek Nation via temporary forwarder page, depending on how quickly your ISP refreshes its DNS entries. Also, the BBS will be closed for a few hours while I transfer everything to the new server, but all that will probably still take at least a few days - I'll post a more exact time when I know it.
Of course, there will also be some major benefits for you. In the first place, most in the sites will probably load up a lot faster - especially the BBS, as it now won't need to run on a server which is as overloaded as the current server. In the second place, I'll be able to integrate the sites in the Trek Nation a lot better, meaning that TrekToday news headlines could show up on the Trek Nation, and even that 'New at the Trek Nation' bar at the top of TrekToday might finally be regularly updated :-). Lastly, in about two weeks we'll be opening an all-new site here at the Nation which I can't yet tell you very much about, but which will definitely be worth visiting!
Of course, if you have any questions about this, or if you encounter any problems over the next few days, please do let me know at either christian@trektoday.com, or in the unlikely event that doesn't work, trektoday@hotmail.com.
For now, on with the news!
Christian (8:26 pm CST)
Over the next few days, a rather major change will be taking place here at the Trek Nation, as we will be moving from our current hosting provider to a dedicated server. The reason for this is, mainly, you :-). There are too many of you. Especially the Trek BBS and TrekToday have started to eat bandwidth and system resources in unbelievable quantities, and in order to ensure the sites will be able to remain operating a dedicated server is now simply a bare necessity.
| Sunday January 16, 2000 |
Christian (8:28 pm CST)
Web magazine The 11th Hour contains a feature comparing the big directors and producers from the world of science-fiction and fantasy, listing their good, their bad and their ugly accomplishments. Included in the list are three people connected to Star Trek:
RICK BERMAN
BRANNON BRAGA
JONATHAN FRAKES (William T. Riker)
More details on these three persons, plus descriptions of seceral other sci-fi directors, can be found in the full article.
The Good: Star Trek: The Next Generation, First Contact
The Bad: Beyond Belief: Fact or Fiction?, Insurrection
The Ugly: Roswell
The Good: Star Trek: The Next Generation, First Contact
The Bad: Star Trek: Insurrection
The Ugly: Star Trek: Generations, Star Trek: Voyager
The Good: Star Trek: First Contact
The Bad: Next Generation episodes "Aquiel" and "Sub Rosa"
The Ugly: Star Trek: Voyager
Takei Reviews 'Galaxy Quest'
I also thought Tim Allen was very funny, and his Shatner parody was
airtight, right down to the scene where his uniform gets torn while he¹s
fighting the alien and the Sigourney Weaver character remarks "Oh, his
shirt¹s off again." Believe me, that was something that was said more than
once on the Star Trek set.
And the other characters were on the money, too, including the classically
trained actor complaining about being typecast as an alien. (I can¹t imagine
who they based that on!)
Christian (8:21 pm CST)
The new edition of Entertainment Weekly contains a review of 'Galaxy Quest', the Tim Allen-starring Star Trek spoof, written by none other than George Takei (Hikaru Sulu)! Here's a short snippet from the review, in which he talks about how true-to-life the movie was:
The early part of the film at the science fiction convention certainly rang
true-- all those fans in costumes and alien makeup. Some of the Klingons we
see at conventions get so into their role, I sometimes wonder if they¹re
playacting at being human for their day jobs.
The full review can be found in the new Entertainment Weekly.
Julia Houston 'Fair Haven' Review
Kirk broke our heart, falling in love with a woman who had to die to keep the Nazis from winning WW II, or an android who only loved him when she died, or Mirimani before she was stoned to death, or whoever the latest inappropriate or fragile woman was. High melodrama is great at emphasizing the doomed-to-be-alone captain. Ah! Look at his suffering! Look at [fill in the blank] dying in his arms!
But even better is Janeway's quiet and -- forgive me for saying this -- all-too-feminine compromise. Like women who buy boxes of chocolate and a dozen Harlequins at the bookstore, or get wrapped up in the sexual adventures of their favorite soap operas, or even fall in love with strangers in Internet chatrooms, Janeway's lack of options have left her with empty arms too many nights in a row not to drop her standards just enough to find someone -- no matter that he isn't real -- to fill the void. Frankly, falling in love with a hologram is about the most human thing we've seen Janeway do.
Christian (8:13 pm CST)
Julia Houston at About.com's Star Trek Fans has written a review of 'Fair Haven', the recent Janeway Romance episode. Contrary to most net reviewers, Julia thought the episode was rather good:
People on the 'net are complaining, of course, that Michael isn't a real person and thus isn't good enough for Janeway as a romantic partner. Well, of course he isn't. That's the point.
Find a more in-depth analysis in the full review.
CIC UK Video Release Dates
Christian (8:13 pm CST)
The Vorta's Video Vault at the Great Link has just been updated with a list of release dates of CIC UK Voyager Season Six video release dates. The first two episodes of the sixth season ('Equinox, Part Two' and 'Survival Instinct') will already be released on the 28th of February, with the rest of the tapes being released once per month until September, and after that every two weeks. The full schedule can be found here.
'New Worlds' Preview
Christian (8:13 pm CST)
Incite Games has made available a set of all-new screenshots from Interplay's upcoming real-time strategy game 'Star Trek: New Worlds'. You can find them, together with a short information blurb, by going here. In related news, an interesting message has been posted to the official message boards by the game's development team leader, explaining what the team is currently working on. Thanks New Worlds Network for this!
Writing For Star Trek
For those of you who think they have a great storyline in their head - a story that will please the producers and thrill the audience - here is the start of a three-part guide on getting your script written and submitted to the powers that be.
Christian (8:13 pm CST)
AntonyF at Fandom's Star Trek Central just posted an article on writing scripts for Star Trek, one of the few shows on television allowing amateur writers to send in spec scripts. Take a look at what the articles will be dealing with:
I suspect that most Trek fans, at one time or another, have thought about a story or possible plotline for Star Trek. Whether it's because of a bad episode served up by the writers or because you just have a great idea, then you may have thought about submitting a 'spec script' - your story to the writers and producers in the hope it'll be used on the show. However it's not an easy thing having your story accepted. Out of seven years of The Next Generation only a few episodes derived from spec scripts. In short, acceptance is very hard. So don't go getting your hopes up yet.
To read the full article, follow this link.
Official UPN 'Virtuoso' Description
Again, this is where you need to click to avoid being spoiled.
UPN has just put up their official synopsis of 'Virtuoso', the second Doctor Comedy of the seson. Take a look:
Christian (8:13 pm CST)
NOTE: Below you will find spoilers for 'Virtuoso', an upcoming Voyager episode. Click here to avoid these spoilers.
The Doctor's ego soars when Voyager engages an advanced but arrogant race which is entranced by the medical officer's passable singing talent, granting him instant rock-star status. Janeway and the crew are perplexed by the effect that The Doctor's voice and variety of song selections have on such a superior alien culture as the Qomar. Millions of them mob his concerts, countless "fan mail" messages arrive and groupies abound, but one particular female Qomar catches the good Doctor's eye, and he ponders resigning his commission to stay behind.
'Virtuoso' airs on the 26th of January.
Cynics Corner 'Fair Haven' Review
DECEPTION OF THE WEEK: By now we've all gotten used to the ridiculous promos that UPN creates for Voyager, which often have a tenuous connection at best to the content of the episodes they promote. The promo for this show is no different, except to the extent that, as bad as the "Bermuda triangle in space" premise is, the actual content of the show is so much worse. The show staggers between themes, from trying to be dead-serious about Janeway's "moral dilemma" (more below), to the obligatory "sci-fi threat," to idiotic slapstick, such as the town lout, inevitably named Seamus, ogling Seven or the amateurish "space-sickness" scene with Tuvok. None of these concepts are worthwhile to begin with, and the fact that they seem to be assembled at random makes the sum even less than its parts.
Christian (8:12 pm CST)
David E. Sluss at the Cynics Corner Interactive has uploaded his review of 'Fair Haven', last week's Voyager episode. Here's how he starts his, not very positive, review:
THE BOTTOM LINE: An exercise in masturbation, in more ways than one.
More criticisms of the episode can be found in the full article.
CYNICS CORNER RATING: 3.0
Today On TV
-On Monday in the United Kingdom, Sky One will be showing DS9's 'Empok Nor' at 17:00 and at 23:30 GMT, and the new DS9 episode 'Badda-Bing, Badda-Bang' at 20:00. Thanks go out to Kathryn Hughes for this!
-On Monday in Germany, Sat.1 will be showing DS9's 'Valiant' at 15:00 CET.
Christian (8:12 pm CST)
-On Monday in the Canada, Space! will be showing the Original Series episode 'A Taste Of Armageddon' at 10:00am and at 4:00pm Eastern Time, and DS9's 'Second Sight' at 10:00pm.
Trek BBS Today
-When in the Trek timeline did 'Star Trek: Insurrection' take place?
-Did Tuvok go through Kolihnar, the Vulcan ritual for getting rid of all emotions?
Find more topics at the Trek BBS, our Star Trek discussion forums!
Christian (8:11 pm CST)
Here's the usual look at some of the topics being discussed at the Trek BBS today:
Hello World!
Christian (8:11 pm CST)
You people are beginning to know me too well. From yesterday's 'Hello World!':
Lots of interesting news today again. Has anyone else noticed how that often happens on Saturdays?
Today I received 6 emails, plus another two comments from real-life friends, all remarking about the obvious excuse for a lack of inspiration this was :-). Maybe I should write up a few Hello World's in advance for days such as yesterday... at least then I'll be able to hide it better.
| Saturday January 15, 2000 |
Christian (6:10 pm CST)
NOTE: Below you will find info on the casting sheet for 'Good Shepherd', an upcoming Voyager episode, obviously containing many spoilers. Click here to avoid those.
Again, if you want to avoid spoilers you should click here!
Jason Davidson at Star Trek News has posted a summary of the official casting sheet for 'Good Shepherd', which might well turn out to be Voyager's own 'Lower Decks' episode:
As Star Trek News also points out, this does make you wonder if 'Good Shepherd' is also the episode featuring the return of Kes, as these characters wouldn't really seem to fit in with that. 'Good Shepherd' is directed by Winrich Kolbe. In addition to this, Star Trek News is also reporting that 'Voyager' has added Raf Greene to its writing staff, bringing the total number of Voyager staff writers to eight.
Braga Talks Series V
"It can't just be another group of people on a ship with a different name. It has to have something about it that will give people a compelling reason to watch, without straying too far away from the core elements. How exactly that will develop is hard to say at this point, so I couldn't imagine anything getting on the air before January or fall 2001."
Christian (6:09 pm CST)
Mark Dawidziak at Cleveland Live has put up an interview with Kate Mulgrew (Kathryn Janeway), her husband Tim Hagan and Voyager's Executive Producer, Brannon Braga. The first part of the interview deals mainly with Tim Hagan, who, after having been a county commissioner for 16 years, is now having to deal with the fact that his wife is more in the spotlights than he himself. In the second part of the interview, Dawidziak talks to Brannon Braga, who mentioned that Paramount has given the green light to the development of both Star Trek X and Series V:
"There's a concept, but it's in the very preliminary stages," said [Brannon Braga]. "It's just way too early to talk about, because there are so many ideas on the table. We're all in agreement that it needs to be "Star Trek' - it needs to embody the "Star Trek' philosophy, but it also needs to be a little bit different.
The actual interview, which also contains quotes from Mulgrew about Voyager, can be found here. Thanks go out to Don D'Amore for this!
Dorn In 'Klingon Academy'!
Christian (6:09 pm CST)
Tim Callahan at Klingon Academy News has posted some really great news - besides Christopher Plummer (Chang) and David Warner (Gorkon), Interplay's upcoming space simulator will also be featuring an appearance by Michael Dorn (Worf)! Dorn will be appearing as T'hok Mak, the brother of Colonel Worf (from Star Trek VI) and grand-uncle to the TNG Worf. Read a bit more about this in the Entertainment Tonight article where it was announced.
'Elite Force' Development News
my test yesterday got our standard crewmen rebuilt including the LOD models with 906 frames.
the old md3 files took up 4M and the carcass is only 2.6M even with the LODs! Now if we compress the bone matrices down we can drop that again and save even more memory. This all means that we can continue to make great animations with a lot of detail for distinct actions without using up every byte in the system.
Christian (6:09 pm CST)
James Monroe, lead programmer for Raven's 'Voyager: Elite Force' game, has updated his .plan file with news that the game has now switched to a skeletal animation system:
whew! we got our skeletal system (carcass) working for exporting animations from SoftImage!
we had a bit of trouble finding out that the mesh had to be in the export for the bones to come out right, but it is pretty nifty now.
The original update can be found here. In related news, ClanWorld has posted a 400 KB screenshot of the level editor used for the game, with one of the Voyager levels loaded. Thanks go out to Federation HQ for this!
Fandom 'Digital Streams' Article
Christian (6:08 pm CST)
Frank Garcia at Fandom.com has written an article about the efforts undertaken by the 'Digital Streams' company to create a new version of the Original Series, replacing all the old special effects with computer-generated footage. The article is part one in a series of three, and includes a detailed history of Digital Stream's campaign, plus a description of the updated scenes. Personally I have never really been in favour of updating the Original Series in this way, but in the article Garcia provides a very interesting idea about what Digital Streams could also do:
Cheer up, Rich. If Paramount turns down your proposal, there are other ideas. If someone's itching to update STAR TREK, why not take the 1973 Animated series and rework it with CGI animation like REBOOT or ROUGHNECKS: STARSHIP TROOPERS CHRONICLES? Take the same scripts and dialogue tracks but replace the now-antiquated 1970s flat animation and give them the 3-D treatment. Many fans don't like the series so any change would be an improvement.
This might actually be a great idea, and I'm surprised no one at Paramount thought of this before. Digital Streams still are working on their Original Series update, however, as you can read in the full article.
New Sev Trek Comic
Christian (6:08 pm CST)
Sev Trek's creator John Cook also just announced he'll be attending a convention right here in the Netherlands in October:
Just letting my Dutch readers know that I'm attending my first overseas convention appearance in the Netherlands! The Utopia 2000 convention will be held at the Bilderberg Hotel in Scheveningen (next to the capitol city The Hague) on the 19/20th October 2000. I'll be signing books at comic bookstores before the con, screening the Sev Trek movie at the convention and hope to launch the Sev Files book there as well, plus the usual signing other sev merchandise. I'll also be running a few workshops. I'm looking forward to meeting all my Dutch readers who seem to constitute a large part of sevilia.
The Hague is less than an hour away from where I live, so this is also pretty good news for me.
Kirk & Spock On Amusement Ride
Viewers of the carousel will find Kirk and Spock situated between a guitar-strumming Chuck Berry, a small, meditative Gandhi and the wave-riding duo of Annette Funicello and Frankie Avalon.
Christian (6:08 pm CST)
Eon Magazine is reporting that William Shatner (James T. Kirk) was recently honoured in a very special way, when a merry-go-round image of Shatner as Kirk was unveiled on the Turn of the Century Carousel, created for the Greater Los Angeles Auto Show. Here are some details on the figures:
The figure of Captain Kirk, which is joined by Leonard Nimoy's Mr. Spock, is one of 31 figures on the refurbished merry-go-round depicting 20th Century celebrities, historic characters and, yes, even the famed-food served in aluminum trays. While a person might stand on the carousel as it moves around, it is by no means a traditional carnival ride with painted horses – or anything else on which to ride.
A report of the unveiling, which was also attended by Shatner himself, can be found here.
EuroGamer Jake Simpson Interview
"We got to a point in the process where most of the Q3 engine was done, rendering pipeline wise, and so when we got updates, we simply cut and pasted those changes that we wanted into the code base we had. You might say that Voyager is based on an early build of Q3, with more up to date bits pasted in."
Christian (6:07 pm CST)
John 'Gestalt' Bye at EuroGamer has uploaded an interview with Jake Simpson, one of the programmers at Raven Software. Of course, in the interview he also talks a bit about 'Voyager: Elite Force', a project he worked on for a while before moving on to heading Raven's recently-announced game for the Playstation 2. The article gives some info on the difficulies Raven had with using the 'Quake III: Arena' engine for their Voyager game:
There were problems though, the biggest of which was that id Software released Quake III Arena six months later than they had originally intended to, and the engine was being constantly changed and updated throughout that time. This obviously held up Raven's work on the project, as Jake explains. "Trying to hit a moving target is never fun. We expected the Q3 engine to be done long before it was, and this definitely had an impact on our delivery dates too, not least of which is that we can't release [Elite Force] too close to Quake III Arena."
The full interview can be found by following this link, you'll find the Voyager comments on page 3. Thanks go out to Evil Avatar for this!
Today On TV
-On Sunday in Canada, Space! will be showing the first-season TOS episode 'Return of the Archons' at 10:00am Eastern Time.
-On Sunday in the United Kingdom, Sky One will be showing DS9's 'Blaze of Glory' at 16:00 GMT, and Voyager's 'Scorpion' at 17:00. Thanks go out to Kathryn Hughes for this!
-On Sunday here in The Netherlands, RTL 5 will be showing what may well be my favourite DS9 episode ever, 'Hard Time', at 18:00 CET.
-On Sunday in Belgium, Kanaal 2 will be showing DS9's 'Ferengi Love Songs' at 18:05 CET. Thanks go out to StarTrek.nl for these last two items!
Christian (6:07 pm CST)
-On Sunday in the United States, the Sci-Fi Channel will be showing the third-season TOS episode 'The Way To Eden' at 11:00am Eastern Time.
Trek BBS Today
-How did you first get involved with Star Trek?
-Does everyone really hate Wesley Crusher?
More topics can be found at the Trek BBS!
Christian (6:06 pm CST)
Here are some of the topics currently being discussed at the Trek BBS:
Hello World!
Christian (6:06 pm CST)
Lots of interesting news today again. Has anyone else noticed how that often happens on Saturdays?
| Friday January 14, 2000 |
Christian (8:34 pm CST)
The new edition of Eon Magazine contains a short interview with Ethan Phillips, currently starring as Neelix on 'Star Trek: Voyager'. In the interview, he also talks about Jennifer Lien's upcoming guest role on Voyager:
"I guess on STAR TREK you can do anything you want, but I can't believe she's coming back," Phillips says excitedly. "She's coming back to do a guest star, which is terrific, but it's the last thing I ever expected. So hopefully I'll get a nice squeeze out of this. I never get enough action on the show."
"I just heard that Jennifer Lein's going to be on the next episode," Phillips says of the actress who plays Kes, confirming that the character will return for an episode despite her evolving into some kind of higher energy form and leaving the series in the fourth season episode "The Gift."
You can find the full interview here. In related news, TrekWeb is reporting the title of the episode featuring Kes will be 'Good Shepherd'.
'Survival Instinct' Final Ratings
This is Voyager's worst rerun rating since last year's second showing of "Unforgettable," which only managed a 2.2 on December 30th. This rating is quite poor for a rerun, but isn't unexpected following a week with no Voyager on the air. New episodes return after over a month of reruns next week with "Fair Haven."
Christian (8:34 pm CST)
Slightly delayed, Greg Fuller has posted the national ratings for the 'Survival Instinct' rerun to the Star Trek Nielsen Ratings Information Database. The show did not at all do well:
"Survival Instinct" slipped from previous weeks of reruns, falling to a 2.4 rating, 4 share. That's down from "11:59"'s 2.7/4 and last year's episode airing the first week of January, a rerun of "Night," which earned a 2.8/4.
The original report can be found here.
Continuum 'Klingon Academy' Features
Besides that, they've also put up an interview with three of the game designers, and a screenshot gallery.
Christian (8:33 pm CST)
The official Star Trek site has put up a new set of features dealing with 'Klingon Academy', the upcoming space simulator from Interplay. Perhaps most interesting is the Star Trek Interplay Treasure Hunt, which lets you hunt for ten special tokens on the Continuum, ET Online and Paramount.com. Once you've found them all, you will have a chance of winning either a new compuer system or a set of Interplay software titles. You can participate in the hunt here.
IGN 'Fair Haven' Review
Christian (8:33 pm CST)
Blake Fischer at IGN Sci-Fi has written a review of 'Fair Haven', awarding the episode just three out of five stars. Here's how his review starts:
After several weeks of reruns, Voyager is back. Unfortunately, the return of the series is marred by the lamest of all Trek plot devices: the holodeck. Luckily, though, the episode isn't about characters getting trapped in a strange fantasy setting or even about a holodeck character who takes control of the ship; no, this time it's actually about the crew, which makes for a fairly good outing.
More can be found by following this link.
UPN Plans New Shows
Trek Game Screenshots
Cinescape 'Fair Haven' Review
'Fair Haven' Background Article
"The scary one was the cow," laughs Riehle who had wrangled one in years past working on a western. "You forget how big a cow is and they don't always stop on their mark. You can see in one take that Ian and I are trying to guide him and Ian is literally being pulled along."
Today On TV
-British TV listings will resume tomorrow again.
-On Saturday in Germany, Sat.1 will be showing TOS' 'Der Fall Charlie' (Charlie X) at 14:00 CET.
-On Saturday here in the Netherlands, the AVRO on Nederland 1 will be showing Voyager's 'Equinox, Part One' at 19:02 CET. Thanks go out to StarTrek.nl for this!
Trek BBS Today
-Was Voyager's 'Treshold' really as bad as it's made out to be?
-How come we never see Constellation-class starships anymore?
Find more at the Trek BBS!
Hello World!
John Cook:It's very exciting to work on it. We've just started production and I'm getting more psyched as we go. It started out as a short 10 minute animation and it's grown and grown as we've gotten further into it. At the moment, it looks like it's going to be a standard half hour show. It'll feature the X-Generation crew and we're looking to go way, way beyond any animation we've done before - space battles, bat'leh fights, chase scenes, phaser fights... it's certainly an ambitious project.
However, through sheer providence, we've got really talented people working on it. Wally Fields does incredible voice impersonations - his Picard is so good that I've written the story around him (but hey, aren't all the latest movies like that anyway). Andrew Simpson does an amazing job converting my cartoons (which are definitely not designed for three dimensions) into 3d models. We're now looking for a musician to score the movie but have already spoken to a number of talented people who are interested so I'm very optimistic there.
Psi Phi Voyager Updates
Mania Reviews 'Fair Haven'
'Blink Of An Eye' Promo
'Voyager: Elite Force' Interview
Brian: No, the game isn't being used as a tool to get more ratings for the show but it would be nice if that did happen. On a side note to this, there is a TV station in Germany that saw a demo of the game and said that the game looked so good it would probably increase their ratings. But who knows what will happen. I'm more concerned with just making a fun gaming experience.
Our goal for this game was to make the player feel like they are a part of the crew and that they are participating in an actual episode of the show. We do this with our in depth story driven game play and interaction with the main character from the show.
'Fair Haven' Overnight Rating
AICN Series V Rumours
The premises were presented to us in very crude animatics (the focus groupers stressed that they final series would be live-action, and that these animatics were just for demonstration purposes.) Proctored discussion followed each presentation.
Today On TV
-On Friday in Canada, Space! will be showing DS9's 'Rules of Acquisition' at 4:00am Eastern Time, TOS' 'The Alternate Factor' at 10:00am and at 4:00pm, and DS9's 'Necessary Evil' at 10:00pm.
-On Friday in the United Kingdom, Sky One will be showing DS9's 'Soldiers Of The Empire' at 17:00 and at 00:30 GMT. Thanks go out to Kathryn Hughes for this!
-On Friday in Germany, Sat.1 will be showing DS9's 'Zeit der Abrechnung' at 15:00 CET.
Trek BBS Today
-How did you like 'Fair Haven'?
-What do you think about Roswell High, the SF series running directly opposite Voyager on the WB?
Find more topics at the Trek BBS!
Hello World!
Wacky News Submission Of The Day: "The bell doth toll for thee... Seen the episode "Fair Haven?" Star Trek has made it official. Holographic males will replace biological males in the future! Put men on the endangered species list! HA HA HA HA HA HA!" - Lisa Cox, presumably feminist TrekToday reader, also featured at Another Universe.
Gamespot vs. CGW On 'Armada'
The winning staff will receive a US$5,000 donation to the charity of its choice ($2,500 from Activision and $2,500 from the losing team). And to be fair, Activision will also be donating $2,500 to the losing team's charity.
Mulgrew Happy On 'Voyager'
Mulgrew is looking forward to returning to the Alpha Quadrant. "Can you imagine the stories that could evolve out of that premise? The Maquis are criminals, Tom Paris is supposed to be in jail, Seven of Nine is a Borg! The possibilities are absolutely endless."
Voyager November Sweeps Report
-Three of sweeps' four episodes fell in comparison to last years marks, but combined with "Pathfinder"'s improvement over "Infinite Regress" in comparable weeks, this year's November wasn't far behind last year's. This year's episode airing the night before Thanksgiving, "The Voyager Conspiracy" outperformed last year's show airing that Wednesday, "Infinite Regress," which only managed a 3.3. On the flip side, the biggest hit of this year's November period was "Pathfinder," with a 4.0, down from "Timeless"'s high 4.3 rating last year.
SSI Announce 'Trek Tamagotchi'
Happy Birthday!
Today On TV
-On Thursday in the United States, the Sci-Fi Channel will be showing the third-season TOS episode 'The Lights Of Zetar' at 4:00pm Eastern Time.
-On Thursday in Canada, Space! will be showing DS9's 'Melora' at 04:15am Eastern Time, TOS' 'Arena' at 10:00am and at 4:00pm, and DS9's 'Rules of Acquisition' at 10:00pm.
-On Thursday in the United Kingdom, Sky One will be showing DS9's 'Ferengi Love Songs' at 17:00 and at Midnight GMT, while BBC Two will be showing TNG's 'Parallels' at 16:00. Thanks go out to Kathryn Hughes for this!
-On Thursday in Germany, Sat.1 will be showing DS9's 'Auf seine Art' (His Way) at 15:00 CET.
Trek BBS Today
-What are the best Star Trek Books ever?
-Considering Q appeared in the TNG pilot and finale, should he also feature in Star Trek X, rumoured to be the last TNG film ever?
-Why didn't The Next Generation ever make it to BBC One in the United Kingdom?
More topics can be found at the Trek BBS!
Hello World!
Why do I begin by telling you that? Well, firstly to illustrate how entirely LAME the storyline is. Second, I wanted to give a comparison to Star Trek: Judgment Rites, and Star Trek: 25th Anniversary, both fairly good adventure games that I have played in the same vein as STHE. How does STHE stack up in comparison to these relatively "old" games? Well, STHE has about nine chapters or "missions" which is quite similar to the others. However, even the initial missions of Judgment Rites and 25th Anniversary were mind benders if you did not think a bit. For STHE, Mission # 1 involves taking control of Sovok, and delivering an item from Capt. Picard across five or six screens to Cmdr. Data. That's it. This mission took me approximately eight minutes total to complete, and I screwed up and got lost for a good portion of it too.
Sev Trek Calendar & Movie Teaser
Secondly, the Sev Trek Movie has been updated with a 3D profile of Captain Pickhard. Over the coming weeks the site will be further updated with 3D pictures of all the 'Sev Trek: The X Generation' characters that will be featured in the first Sev Trek movie, due for release on video in May.
UPN Voyager Romance Promo
Even More Trouble For Experience?
But Then Again, Maybe Not
TV Guide Awards Online Voting
Trek Soundtracks In MP3 Top Ten
McDowell In 'Saint Patrick'
Bill Gates Prefers Kirk
BG: I watched Star Trek when it was mainly Captain Kirk, so I haven't given the new guy a fair chance. Maybe he's better. I'll take Sean Connery, Captain Kirk--I'm 44 years old! What can I say?
Today On TV
-On Wednesday in Canada, Space! will be showing DS9's 'Cardassians' at 4:30am Eastern Time, the Original Series episode 'The Squire of Gothos' at 10:00am and at 4:00pm, and DS9's 'Melora' at 10:00pm.
-On Wednesday in the United Kingdom, Sky One will be showing DS9's 'Ties of Blood and Water' at 17:00 and at 23:30 GMT, while BBC Two will be showing DS9's 'Waltz' at 18:45. Thanks go out to Kathryn Hughes for this!
-On Wednesday in Germany, Sat.1 will be showing DS9's 'In fahlem Mondlicht' (In The Pale Moonlight) at 15:00 CET.
Trek BBS Today
-If you had to introduce someone totally ignorant of Trek to the Next Generation, which episode would you choose?
-What do you think about the apparent return of Kes?
Find more topics at the Trek BBS!
Hello World!
Related to this, would anyone perhaps know of a CGI script allowing user comments to be added to news stories, sort of like what is already being done at sites such as Ain't It Cool News, TrekWeb and Slashdot? I've already got a news script running which is capable of creating static HTML-pages with the news, but now I'm looking for a commenting script which will allow me to automatically include a feedback page on every news page. Please do let me know if you know of such a script, or know of another way to accomplish this (perhaps an entirely different news updater already including a talkback feature?)
Stephen Poe's last few years were dominated by a heroic battle against
leukemia. Stephen took an active role in his fight against the deadly
cancer, working closely with his doctors to beat the killer.
During this struggle, Stephen wrote his last book, "Vision of the Future: The
Making of Star Trek Voyager." It was a point of pride with Stephen that he
interviewed virtually everyone in the production crew, celebrities and
average workers alike, making many, many friends in the process.
Stephen challenged the frontiers of medical science, and his efforts kept him
alive long after the top experts in the field said he should be dead. In
doing so, he helped those experts to explore new avenues of treatment, giving
them experience that will benefit others suffering from leukemia. Up until
the very end, he remained firmly convinced that he would beat the disease by
helping his doctors to find a cure.
In lieu of flowers, Stephen's wife, Fran, suggests that contributions can be
made to the Stephen Poe memorial fund, so that the war against leukemia can
be won. Donations can be sent to:
The Leukemia Society
Kes To Return!
Extra 'Experience' Info
More On Trek In Austria
'Hidden Evil' Review [...]
Is Hidden Evil for you? Well, I would say that this would be a good game for a pure adventurist who would like to dip their toes in the shallow end of the action/adventure pool. It may not be as satisfying to players more used to action games.
The Power Of Sub-Culture
But after two and half years of reading Star Trek fan email, I have to admit that I'm beginning to understand this "success victim" point of view.
New Sev Trek Competition
Christian (8:32 pm CST)
Reuters and Variety have just sent out a news item giving full details on UPN's plans for next season, when they are once again planning to go for the young male demographic they have been achieving moderate success with this season. The most high-profile new show mentioned in the article is 'Gorilla World', exploring 'a post-apocalyptic world where gorillas have evolved to rule the earth and humans are an endangered species', and headed by Todd McFarlane. However, the article also mentions the following shows:
More details can be found in the full article, which I was pointed to by Jeff 'Koganuts' Koga.
Christian (8:32 pm CST)
Evil Avatar has received a new character sheet from Raven Software, showing off a Borg drone from their 'Voyager: Elite Force' game. You can find it by going here. In addition, Planet Unreal has put up a set of new screenshots from 'Deep Space Nine: The Fallen', along with word from game developers Collective Studios that they are still looking to hire level designers. Those shots, plus the job ad, can be found here. Thanks go out to Blue for this!
Christian (8:31 pm CST)
Regular Cinescape Trek contributor Michael Marek has put up his review of 'Fair Haven', Wednesday's Voyager episode. Marek rather liked the episode, apparently:
In the final analysis, "Fair Haven" is a fun episode. It could have had more depth and stronger character development, but it hits its target and nicely sets the stage for future stories.
The full review can be found at Cinescape.
Christian (8:31 pm CST)
Debora Fisher at the Star Trek Continuum has written a behind-the-scenes look at 'Fair Haven', last Wednesday's new Voyager episode. The article is based mainly on an interview with Richard Riehe, who guest starred in the episode as Seamus, after having previously appeared in the TNG episode 'The Inner Light' as Batai. In the interview, Riehle talks a bit about the actual 'Fair Haven' set:
In addition to work on the Paramount lot, "Fair Haven" went on "location" to the back lot of Universal where an entire 1850's Irish village was built complete with animals. Besides sharing space with a large cast, a small flock of sheep and a horsedrawn cart, Riehle says he and guest star Mckeown were called upon to wrangle a cow.
Click here for the full article.
Christian (8:30 pm CST)
-On Saturday in Canada, Space! will be showing DS9's 'Necessary Evil' at 4:30am Eastern Time and TOS' 'Tomorrow is Yesterday' at 10:00am.
Christian (8:30 pm CST)
Some of the currently active topics at the Trek BBS:
Christian (8:30 pm CST)
As is usual for Fridays, my inspiration for 'Hello World!' has completely dried up. Maybe I should think about also offering reruns on such days.
A Sev Interview Thursday January 13, 2000
Christian (8:22 pm CST)
Myrkr.com has put up an interview with John Cook, creator of the wildly popular Sev Trek cartoons. In the nine-question interview, Cook talks about how he first started the site, his sources of inspiration, and the upcoming Sev Trek movie:
Myrkr.com: It must be very exciting to be working on a Sev movie! What information can you give us about it? There's about a billion questions I could ask about it, but instead I'll just give you as much space as you want to tell us about it (so you can sell the idea to our readers)! ;-)
The actual interview can be found by following this link.
Christian (8:22 pm CST)
David Henderson at Psi Phi just updated the Voyager section of his web site. First up is an updated air schedule, which is now current through the 23rd of February (when the episode 'Spirit Folk' will air). The update also includes the addition of the official 'Blink Of An Eye' press release, presenting us with info on the creative staff and guest cast for next week's episode.
Christian (8:22 pm CST)
Over at AnotherUniverse's Mania Magazine, Michelle Erica Green has put up a new edition of her 'Hailing Frequencies' column, which from now on will also include her Voyager reviews. This week, the column contains news on several Star Trek people and on upcoming episodes, and also Green's review of 'Fair Haven'. Not surprisingly, considering her preview from last week, she wasn't exactly impressed by the episode - read why in the actual review.
Christian (8:21 pm CST)
Mr. Video Productions just put up the official UPN promo video for 'Blink of an Eye', the second new Voyager episode of the year, airing next week. As usual, the promo, weighing in it 4 MB, is 22 seconds long, and for once actually managed to make me look forward to the episode. You can download the video at Vidiot's site, but I've of course also put up a local TrekToday mirror.
Christian (8:21 pm CST)
Stonewall at RPOV has put up a new interview with Brian Pelletier, currently working as project leader on Raven Software's 'Voyager: Elite Force' game. Besides talking about the usual things such as the game's story and interactions with the other characters, it also contains this interesting exchange about the relationship between the show and the game:
stonewall: It has been said that this game will appeal to both "Trekkie's" and FPS fans. Voyager seems to have the lowest following of any of the past Star Trek television shows but it looks like FPS fans will not be disappointed with this game. Do you think one of the reasons Paramount agreed to have this game made to recruit new viewers to the Voyager show? Will Star Trek Voyager:Elite Force give players the feeling of living out episodes of the show?
More can be found in the full interview. Thanks go out to Evil Avatar for the link!
Christian (8:21 pm CST)
Greg Fuller at the Star Trek Nielsen Ratings Information Database has uploaded the overnight ratings report for 'Fair Haven', the first Voyager episode of the year. The episode's performance was fairly average:
Fair Haven," Voyager's first new episode of the new year performed fairly level with the other first-run shows this season, taking a 4.4 rating, 7 share. That's up from all the reruns of the past month and the special "Roswell: Aliens Attack," but down from Voyager's last first-run episode, "Pathfinder."
The full report can be found by following this link.
Christian (8:21 pm CST)
Harry Kowles at Ain't It Cool News just put up an anonymous report about a supposed Paramount Series V focus group:
Last night, over here in Glendale, CA, there was a focus group session where they floated 3 possible ideas for a new Star Trek series; ran them up the flagpole, so to speak, to see which ones we saluted. The focus group consisted of about 10 people, representing all demographics (male, female, young, old, all races.)
The three premises mentioned in this report are Starfleet Academy, a sort of Navy SEALS series, and Birth of the Federation. Personally I strongly doubt such a meeting I ever happened (and my sources seem to concur), as a series focus group with ten people isn't exactly how Paramount usually operates or would be expected to operate with the new Star Trek series. Still, should you wish to read more, you can find the rumours here.
Christian (8:20 pm CST)
-On Friday in the United States, the Sci-Fi Channel will be showing the third-season TOS episode 'Requiem For Methuselah' at 4:00pm Eastern Time.
Christian (8:20 pm CST)
Below are some of the topics currently being discussed at the Trek BBS:
Christian (8:20 pm CST)
Isn't it funny how time works? On days when there is almost no news at all (yesterday) you have loads of it, and days where you are almost without any spare time (today) turn out to be filled with news. Expect me to catch up tomorrow on all the news I missed today.
Huntington-Charleston Loses UPN Wednesday January 12, 2000
Christian (7:08 pm CST)
Gary Manis just sent in some bad news for Voyager fans in Huntington Charleston, WV. As of midnight, January 15, the local UPN affiliate (WVAH Fox 11) will be dropping all UPN programming. Unfortunately WVAH did not disclose why they dropped UPN, while it is also not known yet if another station in the area will pick up the network. WVAH will still be showing syndicated Voyager episodes, and part of its UPN programming will be replaced by DS9 reruns.
Christian (6:53 pm CST)
Gamespot is announcing that its editorial staff will soon be facing their colleagues at Computer Gaming World for an Activision-sponsored 'Star Trek: Armada' contest:
On January 14, 2000, in the offices of Computer Gaming World, the editorial staffs of GameSpot and Computer Gaming World will be facing off to see who holds the title of "Gamer of the Year." The contest, sponsored by Activision, will pit the two teams against each other in a 60-minute battle royal of Activision's real-time strategy game, Star Trek: Armada.
More on this rather unique way of promoting a Star Trek game can be found in the full report.
Christian (6:53 pm CST)
Tyler McLeod at the Calgary Sun has put up an interview with Kate Mulgrew (Kathryn Janeway), in which the Voyager star talks about working on Star Trek, the unhappiness with her role she expressed last season (she now explains she was just preocuppied with her private life), and how she expects the series to end:
"They will not reveal (when the series will wrap) because I think they have not decided themselves. But if I was in charge, I would get us home either at the end of this season or early on in the next."
The full interview can be found here. Thanks go out to Cinescape reporting about this.
Christian (6:53 pm CST)
Greg Fuller at the Star Trek Nielsen Ratings Information Database just put up his November ratings report, looking at the Nielsen ratings Voyager achieved in this all-important first sweeps month of the season. Here's how Greg starts his report:
This sweeps month saw a fair amount of improvement over the last few weeks of October and easily outperformed Season 5's May Sweeps, the worst the series had ever seen.
A more detailed comparison with the other episodes this season and the weak May sweeps, plus some extra observations on Voyager's ratings, can be found in the full report.
Christian (6:52 pm CST)
According to Gamespot, Simon & Schuster Interactive will soon announce a sequel to its apparently successful 'Starship Creator' series. Take a look at how Gamespot's report describes the game:
Called Warp 2, the title is described as a "Star Trek Tamagotchi." Players will be able to choose from seven different Federation and one Klingon class of starship to build from the ground up. Everything from the hull skin to the size of the crew living quarters can be tweaked and can affect the capital ship's total behavior. For example, spartan living quarters will yield a larger crew, but their morale will most likely dip faster than that of a crew who has luxurious quarters. Conversely, living quarters with a lot of amenities will only yield a smaller crew. You'll have to consider a number of these choices when designing your ship.
More info on 'Starship Creator: Warp 2', including info on the game's multiplayer capabilities and its compatibility with the upcoming strategy game 'Dominion Wars' can be found in the full report. The product is scheduled for a Spring 2000 release.
Christian (6:52 pm CST)
Today is the 49th birthday of Kirstie Alley, who starred as Lieutenant Saavik in 'Star Trek II: The Wrath Of Khan', before being replaced by Robin Curtis for the subsequent two movies.
Christian (6:52 pm CST)
-Tonight at 9:00pm UPN will be showing the new Voyager episode 'Fair Haven'. Take a look at how the official Continuum describes the episode:
Thanks go out to Mr. Video Productions for the image, which is of course copyrighted by Paramount Pictures.
Captain Janeway and her crew enjoy some hard-earned leisure time in the holographic setting of a charming Irish village where she can't help falling for a ruggedly handsome townsman - but their holiday is darkened by an approaching wave of deadly neutron radiation.
Christian (6:51 pm CST)
Below are some of the topics currently being discussed at the Trek BBS:
Christian (6:51 pm CST)
Hmm, not much real news happening today... I guess it's just the quiet before the 'Fair Haven' news storm...
GamesDomain 'Hidden Evil' Review Tuesday January 11, 2000
Christian (6:28 pm CST)
Their second one, actually, though it is just as negative as their first review. In this new 'Second Opinion', Michael A. Gonsalves also strongly criticises the game:
As Mike said in his original review, the plot is pretty transparent, even from the beginning. The basic premise is that while directing an archaeological dig on the planet Ba'ku, Capt. Picard and company stumble upon the remains of an ancient civilization. This civilization is supposedly little known to the current inhabitants of the planet, and so they require expert archaeological advice. From Capt. Picard? Well, I'll let that go... for now. Shortly after uncovering the site, the scurvy dogs that were trying to take over the planet and steal its life energy in Insurrection rebel! Go figure. Why they do that is mostly given away in the events that transpire immediately after that. I'll just add that there are indeed Romulans, genetics and "doomsday" devices, but the plot line is pretty bare bones at best.
More can be found in the full review. Thanks go out to Federation HQ for this!
Christian (6:28 pm CST)
John Cook just made two rather major updates to the Sev Wide Web, home of the weekly Sev Trek cartoon strip. Firstly, from now until the 14th of February you'll be able to buy personalised Sev Calendar Prints from the Sev Shop, featuring any Sev comic strip of your choice on an A3 sized calendar. All calendars will be autographed by Cook himself.
Christian (6:28 pm CST)
Mr. Video Productions has put up a new generic promo used by UPN to promote 'Star Trek: Voyager'. The promo shows all the men from Voyager, both alone as well as paired with female crew members or aliens, accompanied by a voice-over saying "If you can't find the men of your dreams on Earth, maybe you're looking in the wrong moves (?)". The actual promo, as tasteful as only UPN can make it, can be downloaded via this page on Vidiot's site.
Christian (6:27 pm CST)
After the recent report on Starland stating that the 'Star Trek Experience' in Las Vegas might be in danger of being shut down, it appears that the Trek attraction might be facing some more problems besides low attendance figures, according to a report in yesterday's Studio Briefing:
Universal City Studios' theme park unit is suing Paramount Parks claiming that the Star Trek Experience simulator ride at the Las Vegas Hilton Hotel infringes on its patents. Universal claims that it was granted a patent in 1993 for a similar simulator ride.
Thanks go out to Jeff 'Koganuts' Koga for this!
Christian (6:27 pm CST)
The Sci-Fi Wire, your daily source of Paramount denials, has put up a news article quoting Susan Lomax, a spokesperson for Paramount Parks. According to Lomax, the report on Starland stating Paramount was considering closing the Experience due to lower-than-expected attendance levels is not true:
"It is actually a very profitable business, and we're very happy with the way it's performing," said Susan Lomax, a spokeswoman with Paramount Parks. The TrekWeb.com site and others have reported that The Experience would close as early as March because of lower-than-expected attendance levels. But Lomax disputed those rumors. "It's meeting if not exceeding our attendance and revenue projections," she said.
Find the full report here.
Christian (6:27 pm CST)
Over at the TV Guide web site they now allow you to vote for your favourite shows in five special online-only categoties, including favourite news show, favourite children's show and also favourite Sci-Fi/Fantasy show. As was to be expected, 'Star Trek: Voyager' is one of the nominees in this category, along with 14 other shows. To vote, please follow this link.
Christian (6:27 pm CST)
EMusic.com, a web site offering legal MP3 music downloads for 99 cents per track or $8.99 per full CD, just put out a press release including their Download Top 10 for the year 1999. The list was headed by rock bands such as They Might Be Giants and the Goo Goo Dolls, but the 'Star Trek Soundtrack Series' also did pretty well, coming in at No.5. The full top 10 can be found here.
Christian (6:27 pm CST)
The Fox Family Channel just announced that on the 12th of March at 7:00pm it will be showing a new original movie called 'Saint Patrick, the Irish Legend', bringing "the powerful, moving tale of the patron Saint of Ireland and his awe-inspiring works and miracles to television audiences for the first time ever." The main title role in the film is played by Patrick Bergin, while the film also stars Malcolm McDowell as Saint Patrick's nemesis, the British Bishop Quentin. McDowell previously appeared in 'Star Trek: Generations' as Dr. Soran. More on the film can be found in the full press release.
Christian (6:26 pm CST)
As part of a large feature on Bill Gates, last week's edition of the Entertainment Weekly also contains a short Smart Man, Stupid Questions article by Noah Robinson, in which the Microsoft founder is asked several questions about film and television. One of the questions asked dealt with Star Trek:
EW: Captain Kirk or Jean-Luc Picard?
Thanks go out to Jeff 'Koganuts' Koga for pointing me to this!
Christian (6:26 pm CST)
-On Wednesday in the United States, the Sci-Fi Channel will be showing the Original Series episode 'That Which Survives' at 4:00pm Eastern Time.
Christian (6:26 pm CST)
Here are some of the topics currently being discussed at the Trek BBS:
Christian (6:26 pm CST)
Over 40 people wrote in to comment on the new way of posting TrekToday news stories I mentioned yesterday, where instead of all the news put together on one page you'd get separate pages for the major news stories or collections of short news items. About half of you appear to be in favour of such a new design, while the other half are fairly much against it. So, in order to accomodate both groups of you, what I'll probably be doing is institute a transitional period of about a month or so during which the news will be presented in both formats, after which I'll see how popular the old style still this and decide if I'll keep on offering it.
Stephen Edward Poe Dies Monday January 10, 2000
Christian (7:48 pm CST)
Some very sad news today - Stephen Edward Poe, author of the ground-breaking behind-the-scenes book 'The Making of Star Trek', died on Thursday the 6th of January, at the age of 63. Here's the press release describing Poe's life:
Poe was a successful author and multimedia producer. Under the pen name
"Stephen Whitfield," he wrote the classic book, "The Making of Star Trek"
with Gene Roddenberry in 1968. In doing so, not only did Poe create the
"making of" book genre, but he gave millions of fans a fascinating glimpse at
the creative team whose weekly adventures were every bit as exciting as those
of Captain Kirk and the crew of the Starship Enterprise.
I still have both 'The Making Of Star Trek' and 'A Vision Of The Future' displayed on my top bookshelf, and not too long ago reread the second book. Poe will certainly be missed.
In Memory of Stephen Poe
3105 Site Circle, Suite 101
Sacramento, CA 95825
Christian (7:47 pm CST)
TrekWeb is reporting that at a recent Trek convention in Portland, OR, Robert Picardo (the Holodoc) announced that Jennifer Lien has been signed to reprise her role as Kes in a guest shot later this season! Kes was last seen in the fourth-season episode 'The Gift', where she ascended to a higher plane of existence. No word on whether this will also mean the return of Wesley Crusher from that same plane.
Christian (7:47 pm CST)
John A.D. Holt just sent in a news submission which would seem to confirm some of the things recently mentioned on the Starland web site, which claimed that the Star Trek Experience in Las Vegas might soon be closing its doors due to disappointing attendance figures. Here is what John had to say:
I interviewed several people at the Experience last September, for a space show for The Discovery Channel. Despite trying to put a positive spin on it, the PR person for The Experience admitted that the attendance figures for the Experience were low from the beginning, and that they were far from hitting their goals for their first year in operation. Even when I was there, they seemed desperate to get feedback on the ride and the other
aspects of the attraction, for "fine tuning".
It looks like the Experience might really be in trouble - hopefully visitor figures will soon rise again, as it would be a great shame to lose this Trek attraction.
Christian (7:47 pm CST)
The German Star Trek Index is reporting that the Austrian television station ORF will start showing Deep Space Nine on the tenth of February at 15:30 CET, when they'll be showing 'Der Abgesandte, Teil 1' (The Emissary, Part One). Over the next several years they hope to show all seven seasons of the series.
Christian (7:47 pm CST)
Ray Ivey at Adventure Gamer has put up his review of 'Insurrection: Hidden Evil', the Activision adventure game. Awarding it 2.5 out of 5 stars, Ivey is only mildy positive:
All action/adventures have to tread the line between action and adventure in their own way, and Hidden Evil does this with mixed results. The most noticeable problem with this balance, perhaps, is that the game is very adventure-heavy in the first half, and very action-heavy in the second half. One result of this was that I had no problem with the combat in the first half of the game, but the combat in the final mission was so vexing I finally resorted to a cheat code. I just got tired of being killed over and over.
Find the full review here.
Christian (7:46 pm CST)
Julia Houston at About.com's Star Trek Fans has put up another great opinion article, this time looking at the great power Trek had as a cult series, and how its mainsteam success actually ruined some of the power of the franchise:
A few years ago, I read some articles about Star Trek where the general argument was that the franchise was being ruined by its own success. At the time, this struck me as quite unlikely. Star Trek had always been a cult success, so the idea that the cult could get too big seemed about as logical Dr. McCoy on a bender.
Read why in the full, three-part article!
Christian (7:46 pm CST)
John Cook at Sev Trek has put up a new edition of the 'Write Your Own Sev Trek' Competition:
Here's what this week's competition deals with:
Counsellor Tryhard's jumpsuit.
You can submit your punchlines here.
In the futuristic age of enlightenment and political correctness, it seems strange that Sev Fleet still insists on dressing all their women in skimpy, skin tight suits (and this applies to all the Sev Trek incarnations). This week's cartoon attempts to explain this anomaly in the case of Counsellor Tryhard.
'Galaxy Quest' Climbs Again
Christian (7:46 pm CST)
Good news for 'Galaxy Quest', the Star Trek parody starring Tim Allen! For the second consecutive week, the film has climbed in the box office top ten, now reaching a fifth spot, suggesting good word of mouth. During its third weekend in release, the film took in $8.3 million. Thanks Cinescape for this!
CCG Postcards Return
Christian (7:46 pm CST)
Rich Loftus at Decipher has announced that electronic postcards based on their Star Trek Customizable Card Game are available again:
Electronic postcards featuring Star Wars CCG and Star Trek CCG images are once again a hot feature of the Decipher Web site. They're fun, and easy to use. Send a card to a friend when you have something interesting to say that deserves more than an email.
Information on how to send the cards can be found here!
Today On TV
-On Tuesday in the United Kingdom, Sky One will be showing DS9's 'Business As Usual' at 17:00 and at 23:30 GMT. Thanks go out to Kathryn Hughes for this!
-On Tuesday in Germany, Sat.1 will be showing DS9's 'Inquisition' at 15:00 CET.
Christian (7:45 pm CST)
-On Tuesday in Canada, Space! will be showing DS9's 'Invasive Procedures' at 4:00am Eastern Time, the Original Series episode 'Shore Leave' at 10:00am and at 4:00pm, and DS9's 'Cardassians' at 10:15pm.
Trek BBS Today
-Precisely how is money (or the non-existence of it) actually handled in the Federation?
-In Deep Space Nine's 'Defiant', why did Thomas Riker react so strongly against Chief O'Brien?
Find more topics at the Trek BBS!
Christian (7:45 pm CST)
Take a look at some of the topics currently being discussed at the Trek BBS:
Hello World!
Christian (7:45 pm CST)
I'm currently looking at enhancing the site by installing a new news script, which instead of lumping all the news item together as is done now would create a separate page for each news item. The benefits of this are manyfold: people would be better able to link to stories, it would be easier to find news in the archive, I'd be able to update the site several times per day to bring you more up-to-date news, and you'd only have to read the news which actually interests you. Still, I can imagine that there are some people who would not like this format, so I thought that before changing anything I'd first ask you for some input - what do you all think about this? Should the news be displayed as it is now, or do you think a multi-page news display would work better? Please let me know!
| Sunday January 9, 2000 |
Christian (8:25 pm CST)
And deservedly so, I might add. In their January 11 update (!), the German-language Corona WebBEAT is reporting that after the current run in Singapore has ended, the Star Trek World Tour will cease to exist. Organised by the Düsseldorfer Messe, the World Tour consisted of a cheap-looking replica of parts of the Enterprise-D, an overpriced fan shop and a Star Trek exhibition, and had already made stops in Düsseldorf, Vienna and now Singapore. According to Corona, the reason for the closure are the enourmous losses incurred by the Tour - supposedly 90 million DeutschMark (about $45 million). Because of the failure of the Star Trek World Tour and a similar Titanic World Tour, Joachim Krebs and Jürgen Schroer, CEO and financial manager of the Düsseldorfer Messe, respectively, have already been let go. The original (German) report can be found here.
Ryan Nominated By TV Guide
Christian (8:25 pm CST)
According to the official Jeri Lynn Ryan Homepage, Jeri Ryan (Seven of Nine) has been nominated as Best Actress in a Drama by the editors of TV Guide, for the 2000 TV Guide Awards. Ballots for voting are available in both the January 8-14 and the January 15-21 issue, while the actual awards ceremony itself will be in March.
Spiner On 'Gepetto' Soundtrack
Christian (8:24 pm CST)
Welcome, Brent Spiner Fans! has put up a short statement by Stephen Schwartz, who wrote the music and lyrics for the upcoming Disney/ABC musical 'Gepetto', in which he talks about the inclusion of Brent Spiner (Data) on the soundtrack album:
[There] will be a soundtrack album, and Brent's number, which is one of the high points of the show in my opinion, will be included. His number is entitled 'Bravo, Stromboli,' and it is sort of a send-up of 'The Barber of Seville.' Brent sings in a sort of mock-opera tenor and hits a high G, which he holds for an inordinately long time. He's very good and very funny, and I think a lot of his fans, particularly those who know him primarily through Star Trek, will be surprised at how well he sings.
'Gepetto' also features appearances by René Auberjonois (Odo) and Scarlett Pomers (Odo) - it is not yet known if they are also featured on the album.
Trek Music In 'Iron Chef'
In the second-to-last episode of the series (part three of four), called "Iron Chef King: Final Round," Iron Chef Sakai "fought" against Iron Chef Chin. And after the judges had made their decision, when the winner of the match was announced, the "STAR TREK: GENERATIONS Overture" was played!
IRON CHEF has regularly used film music in the past (according to the aforementioned site, BACKDRAFT, GLORY, DRAGON: THE BRUCE LEE STORY are used quite regularly), but I believe it's the first time the series has made use of STAR TREK music. On top of that, it was used for this epic battle (the Iron Chefs have not battled against each other except on special shows) to decide the Iron Chef King, so it was a big deal.
Christian (8:24 pm CST)
Jeff 'Koganuts' Koga sends along word of Star Trek music being used on a Japanese television series:
There's a Japanese television series that's developed a cult following here in the United States called 'Iron Chef'. You can read what about it and the premise at www.ironchef.com.
Thanks go out to Jeff for sending this in!
Stewart Returns To Broadway
Christian (8:24 pm CST)
Patrick Stewart - The Actor's Actor is reporting that Patrick Stewart (Jean-Luc Picard) will soon be taking on the role of Lyman Felt in Arthur Miller's play 'The Ride Down Mt. Morgan'. Mt. Morgan will start previews on the 21st of March, while it will officially open on the 9th of April for a run through the 23rd of July. The play will be running at the Ambassador Theatre, which will start selling tickets for the play on the 28th of February. A bit more info on this, plus links on in-depth articles about the play, can be found here.
'Klingon Academy' Gaming News
Thanks go out to Klingon Academy News, Federation HQ and Blue for this!
Christian (8:23 pm CST)
Several news items related to Interplay's upcoming 'Klingon Academy' game today:
More On E:FC Litigation
Either EFC was inspired by Roddenberry (his memory and bankable name more than anything else) or it is an entirely new creation; either way, no 'created by' credit. I think to a certain extent, it's OK to know that the issue of creator credit is being litigated because I think the suit was filed last week or maybe even the week before. If that's true, then it's public knowledge. If it hasn't been filed yet, then I probably shouldn't say much, if anything, on the record. Not that I don't want to, this sort of outrageous misrepresentation is extremely offensive. And in the case of Gene Roddenberry, it sullies his memory for actions that he would most likely not have authorized if he were alive to know about it, Paquette said.
Christian (8:23 pm CST)
SyFyWorld has put up an interview with Andrew Paquette, one of the creators of the 'Harsh Realm' comics series, who recently stated that his lawsuit against Fox over credits certainly wasn't unique, as he believed a lawsuit was currently also taking place over Gene Roddenberry's creator credit on 'Earth: Final Conflict'. Paquette told SyFyWorld the following:
(Gene) Roddenberry's [creatorship] is not undisputed. Based on what I've heard and seen, I don't consider Roddenberry the [creator] of the series, and know of at least one Hollywood power player that agrees and has signed his name to that. . In saying this, I am relying entirely on information provided to me by one of the (biased) players and the declaration of this other person, a successful producer.
In the interview, Paquette also eloborated on a recent comment he made about E:FC not being based on Roddenberry's notes:
While I believe his notes were not used (at least not the way EFC fans are meant to believe), it's not the sort of thing I can say with authority because I am relying so heavily on the word of some of the parties involved, Paquette said. The situation has been explained to me in some detail, but I would have had to read the 800-page complaint that I was handed cover to cover (I skimmed it) before I could have arrived at any conclusion that would have allowed me to use the word 'definitely' in that sentence.
The full interview can be found here. Keep in mind that this certainly isn't first-hand info, though - as Paquette also notes in the interview, he also just heard this from someone else.
CIC Cover Scans
Christian (8:16 pm CST)
As part of the weekly Great Link update, the Vorta's Video Vault has also been updated with cover scans of the CIC videos of DS9's 'What You Leave Behind' and Voyager's 'Warhead' & 'Equinox, Part One'. Both videos are now out in UK, continental Europe and Australia. You can find the scans on this page.
New Radio Free Decipher
Christian (8:15 pm CST)
Host Carol Wisely at Decipher, the publisher of the official Star Trek Customizable Card Game, has readied another edition of her 'Radio Free Decipher' web show. This week's broadcast mostly focuses on Decipher's Star Wars CCG, but also include info on this year's Grand Slams, which will feature 'hot prizes for Star Trek CCG players'. You can listen to the show here.
Is The Experience In Trouble?
There were problems with the Experience from its genesis. The concept started as a high-tech experience for Las Vegas gamblers and proved to be a troublesome adventure. Three-years of planning didn't prevent the delays. When mechanical and safety problems with the virtual reality simulator could not be overcome, tour operators were left in limbo and unable to plan events concurrent with its opening.
The initial attendance projections were probably calculated using Trek's popularity during Picard's reign over the Star Trek franchise. However, by the time the Experience finally opened, The Next Generation had already ceased production. Subsequent movies, Deep Space Nine and Voyager only segmented the Star Trek audience and much of the general public has turned its attention elsewhere.
Christian (8:15 pm CST)
Starland, a site apparently dedicated to convention news, is reporting that the Las Vegas-based 'Star Trek Experience' may be in quite some trouble:
There's talk that the Star Trek Experience in Las Vegas might be closing in March. It's under pressure for not attracting the crowds that its 70 million dollar investment demands. Recently, the entire administrative staff was replaced and cost-cutting efforts have been established.
More on these rumours (that's all they should be considered to be for now, this is the first we've heard about this) can be found by visiting Starland. Thanks go out to Elaine Butler for pointing me to this!
Today On TV
-On Monday in Canada, Space! will be showing the first-season TOS episode 'The Menagerie, Part Two' at 10:00am and 4:00pm Eastern Time, while at 10:00pm they'll be showing DS9's 'Invasive Procedures'.
-On Monday in the United Kingdom, Sky One will be showing DS9's 'A Simple Investigation' at 17:00 and at 23:30 GMT, while at 20:00 they'll be showing the new DS9 episode 'Chimera'. Thanks go out to Kathryn Hughes for this!
-On Monday in Germany, Sat.1 will be showing DS9's 'Tiefes Unrecht'at 15:00 CET.
Christian (8:14 pm CST)
-On Monday in the United States, the Sci-Fi Channel will be showing the third-season TOS episode 'The Mark of Gideon' at 4:00pm Eastern Time.
Trek BBS Today
-Unfortunately, Trek BBS administrator The Lone Ensign might be forced to permanently leave the net. Read here why, and leave your goodbyes! Needless to say, this is a great blow for all of us at the BBS - I doubt many people would have been able to maintain the BBS as TLE did.
Find more topics at the Trek BBS.
Christian (8:13 pm CST)
Below is the most important topic currently being discussed at the Trek BBS:
Hello World!
Christian (8:13 pm CST)
Bargain bins are not good for my TrekToday work morale. Today I went with a friend to Rotterdam to see the great Federation Science exhibit (expect to see a full report of that tomorrow), and afterwards I stopped by the biggest bookstore in the Netherlands (and I think even in Europe) to check out their winter sale. In the computer corner, I saw a huge stack of about 25 copies of the Elder Scrolls adventure game Redguard, for just 20 guilders ($10) a piece! About a year ago, when the game first came out, I had almost bought it, but as it wasn't available here then and the game received many reviews I never got around to it. Now that I've got the game, I really don't know why it didn't become the enourmous success it deserved to be - okay, I did spend an hour configuring sound drivers, but for the rest Redguard simply delivers a fantastic gaming experience. It already starts with the manual, which gives a look at the history and geography of Tamriel, the world in which all the Elder Scrolls games are set. This epic background setting is then further explored in a comic strip available on the game's official site, and in the ten-minute introduction film. The game itself I've only played for about twenty minutes yet (a certain Star Trek news site was calling, after all), but that, too, looks set to be really great - the graphics are very good, especially for a year-old game, the voice acting and soundtrack manage to immerse you in the game, and I already very much care for the storyline. If you enjoy adventure games, you should certainly pick up 'Redguard' if you come across it!
| Saturday January 8, 2000 |
Christian (8:18 pm CST)
The Star Trek Continuum has posted about 20 screencaps from 'Fair Haven', next week's new Voyager episode. All the pictures show the new Irish town holoprogram, and many feature Tom Paris, Harry Kim, the Doctor and of course Kathryn Janeway wearing costumes from around the year 1900 to fit in. The pictures do certainly count as spoilers (especially the pictures of Janeway and the hologram 'Michael' leave fairly little unknown), but if you do want to see them, please click here.
'Insurrection' To Premiere HDTV
Christian (8:18 pm CST)
The official Star Trek Continuum is reporting that the Showtime cable channel will be launching its High Definition Television (HDTV) services in a very special way - by showing the latest Trek feature film, 'Insurrection':
SHOWTIME HDTV will be presented in 1080i - the highest-resolution format. Transmitted in the widescreen 16:9 aspect ratio, it will offer viewers the opportunity to experience the ultimate in home theater performance. The HDTV feeds will be offered to affiliates at no additional cost, providing that there is no additional charge to subscribers.
In the full article, the Continuum mentions a January 23 airdate, meaning that today's broadcast of 'Insurrection' on Showtime will probably not be HDTV-enhanced.
SF TV In The Nineties
Christian (8:17 pm CST)
Jo-Ann Parks at Space.com has put up a series of articles looking at television science fiction in the 1990s, and then especially the 'Big Three' franchises, 'Star Trek', 'The X-Files' and 'Babylon 5'. The article is split up in a main feature, which looks at how SF became popular on young networks, cable channels and the internet, and more in-depth features about the future of Star Trek and the relationship between Babylon 5 and Star Trek.
EON Reviews 'Spock Vs. Q'
Christian (8:17 pm CST)
Jeff Bond at Eon Magazine has written a review of 'Spock Vs. Q', the new audio book created by Leonard Nimoy (Spock) and John DeLancie (Q) for their 'Alien Voices' company. Awarding the audio book a B-, reviewer Jeff Bond doesn't seem very impressed:
There's nothing that elegant or amusing on display here [compared to Spock's meeting with Trelane in TOS], as by the end of the century Nimoy's Spock has mellowed out to the point where he's capable of being almost as silly as Q (as when Q makes a reference to Homer and Spock replies "Simpson?"). In fact, by the end of the encounter Spock is engaging in poetry that's every bit as bad as Q's. Both characters exist to hold a mirror up to human foibles (and achievements), and they do that well enough. As a souped-up, hour-long convention appearance SPOCK VS. Q should please rabid Trekkers as much as it appears to goose the wildly appreciative live audience here. But if I want to see the real Spock, I'll stick to classic TREK, and if I'm of a mind to revisit Q, I'll stick with his better TNG appearances like "Deja Q" and "Q Who?"
You can find the full review here. Thanks go out to Gustavo Leao for pointing me to it!
'Fair Haven' Synopsis
Again, this is where you need to click to avoid being spoiled.
The new edition of Rob Allstetter's Trailer Park column for Mania features the following detailed synopsis of 'Fair Haven':
Christian (8:16 pm CST)
NOTE: Below you will find spoilers for 'Fair Haven', next week's Voyager episode. Click here to avoid them.
Captain Janeway and her crew enjoy some hard-earned leisure time in the holographic setting of a charming Irish village where she can't help falling for a ruggedly handsome townsman - but their holiday is darkened by an approaching wave on deadly neutron radiation. Created by Paris as a diverson for himself and his mates, sunny FairHaven offers Janeway a deceptively realistic fantasy figure named Michael, whose physical and intellectual specifications are made to order for her. Soon, her attention is commanded by the trailing edge of a speedy radioactive wavefront that poses more a threat than anyone knows. Fintan McKeown guest-stars as Michael in the episode, which was written by Robin Burger and directed by Allan Kroeker.
All these descriptions do make me wonder why the UPN promo didn't even once mention the holoprogram which appears to be so important for the episode, instead just going on about a Bermuda Triangle-like plasma storm.
TOS DVD Release Dates
Christian (8:15 pm CST)
According to DVD Express, Paramount will be releasing Volumes 7 & 8 of the Original Series DVDs on the 22nd of February. Volume 7 will contain the episodes 'The Galileo Seven' and 'Court Martial', while Volume 8 will contain both parts of 'The Menagerie'. Thanks go out to Ricardo Delfin Martins for this!
E:FC Not A Roddenberry Show?
Christian (8:15 pm CST)
The people at Comic Book Resources have put up a rather interesting article about the lawsuit filed against Chris Carter and Fox over 'Harsh Realm', the mystery series which, in addition to failing itself, also failed to credit the creators of the 'Harsh Realm' comic book series. In the article, they talk about a recent interview with Andrew Paquette, one of these two comic creators, who mentioned that this apparently isn't the first time this has happened:
Paquette told Allstetter that, even by Hollywood standards, giving Carter a "created by" credit and while the comic writers get an "inspired by" credit is wholly inappropriate. "It is strictly forbidden by Writer's Guild policies to allow a 'created by' credit to be given when source material exists. Not that the Writer's Guild is above quashing the rights of their constituency in favor of the more well- heeled studios. They do it all the time; they did it with us, with The Visitor (adapted by Emmerich and Devlin from work by Jerry Burns), with Earth: Final Conflict (definitely not developed from Roddenberry's notes, but under litigation so I can't disclose true authors at this time), and many others."
Note especially the comments about 'Earth: Final Conflict', of course. Thanks go out to SyFy World for this!
Happy Birthday!
Christian (8:14 pm CST)
Today is the 57th birthday of Stephan Hawking, the brilliant scientist who appeared as a hologram of himself in TNG's 'Descent, Part One'.
Today On TV
-On Sunday in the United Kingdom, Sky One will be showing DS9's 'By Inferno's Light' at 16:00 GMT, followed an hour later by Voyager's 'Displaced'. Thanks go out to Kathryn Hughes for this!
-On Sunday in Canada, Space! will be showing the Original Series episode 'The Menagerie, Part One' at 10:00am Eastern Time.
-On Sunday here in The Netherlands, RTL 5 will be showing DS9's 'Rules of Engagement' at 18:00 CET.
-On Sunday in Belgium, Kanaal 2 will be showing DS9's 'Ties of Blood and Water' at 18:05 CET. Thanks go out to the Benelux Star Trek TV Guide for these last two news items.
Christian (8:14 pm CST)
-Today at 7:00pm in the United States, premium cable channel Showtime will be showing 'Star Trek: Insurrection'. Thanks go out to the Flagship for this.
Trek BBS Today
-Did you ever get any great story ideas for Voyager?
-What do you think about the 'Fair Haven' screencaps which just went up at the official Continuum?
Find more topics at the Trek BBS!
Christian (8:13 pm CST)
Below are some of the topics currently being discussed at the Trek BBS:
Hello World!
Christian (8:13 pm CST)
Okay! Okay! You've convinced me - you do read 'Hello World!' Now stop sending me mail :-)!
| Friday January 7, 2000 |
Christian (8:16 pm CST)
Dawson On Life After Voyager
Christian (7:54 pm CST)
The Sci-Fi Wire is reporting that a recent edition of the San Antonio Express-News contained an interview with Roxann Dawson (B'Elanna Torres). In the interview, she mostly talked about not wanting to be typecast because of her work on Trek:
Roxann Dawson, who plays half-Klingon Chief Engineer B'Elanna Torres on Star Trek: Voyager, wants to avoid the type-casting that has plagued her Trek colleagues. "I'm just an actor," she told the San Antonio Express-News. "I go from job to job. And once we're through doing Voyager, I'd like to be able to move on to the next job without any restrictions, without having to be B'Elanna for the rest of my life."
For more, please follow this link.
EON Reviews TOS DVD #5
Christian (7:49 pm CST)
The new edition of Eon Magazine contains a review of the fifth Original Series DVD released by Paramount, containing two digitally remastered episodes and the original episode trailers. Here's how the Eon review starts:
For some reason Paramount has elected to split up its current release of Classic TREK DVDs this time around; Volume 5 has been available for a couple weeks now, while Volume 6 is due this week. If I had my way, they'd be releasing one of these fantastic DVDs per week, but then I'm a greedy Trekkie. We're still early on in Classic TREK's first season here, so the episodes "What Are Little Girls Made of?" and "Dagger of the Mind" set up a number of formulas, plot and character threads that would resonate throughout the series.
In the full review you'll find a more in-depth analysis of the two episodes included on the DVD, which is awarded an A. It's great to hear the DVDs are apparently so good, by the way - I myself actually already own three of the first four DVDs, but as I don't have a player yet I haven't been able to see them yet.
Bring Back Sulu Campaign To Launch
Among other things, the fan group hopes to enlist the help of cast members of the original Trek series, including Takei and Nichelle Nichols (Lt. Uhura). Haslage said his group will launch its campaign later this month.
Christian (7:33 pm CST)
Apparently not satisfied with the Bring Back Kirk campaign, a group of fans are organising a campaign to pressure Paramount into considering a television series featuring Captain Hikaru Sulu, the Sci-Fi Wire reports:
"At this time, our plan is to basically bombard Paramount with mail," said Russ Haslage, president of the International Federation of Trekkers. "IFT has thousands of members around the world, and most have pledged their support to this mission. In addition, since this campaign is meant to represent all Star Trek fans, we hope to garner a great deal of help and support from the grassroots fans of the world."
More can be found in the full report!
'Survival Instinct' Overnight Ratings
Christian (7:33 pm CST)
Greg Fuller at the Star Trek Nielsen Ratings Information Database has put up the overnight ratings report for 'Survival Instinct', the last repeat Voyager episode for quite a while. Here's a snippet:
Voyager returned to the airwaves with a 3.3 rating, 5 share. That's down a bit from "11:59"'s 3.4/5 rating two weeks ago and off from the special "Roswell: Aliens Attack" last week which earned a 3.6/6.
A more detailed analysis can be found here!
Mariotte Writes Countdown Series
Christian (7:32 pm CST)
In yesterday's edition of AnotherUniverse's Daily Buzz, Rob Allstetter is reporting about a new 12-issue maxi-series DC Comics and Wildstorm will be launching, featuring the talents of artists Aaron Lopresti and Randy Emberlin and writer Jeff Mariotte, who also serves as editor of Wildstorm's Star Trek comics:
"The 12-issue Countdown maxi-series is my most ambitious comic book project," Mariotte told Comics News Bytes. "And I've been really impressed by Aaron's art so far -- a new peak by a guy who is really one of the most talented artists in the field."
To read about the plotline of the series, which will be launching in April, please go here.
Ask The 'Elite Force' Dev
Christian (7:32 pm CST)
Gaming site Exxtreme3D has added Raven Software's Kenn Hoekstra to their "Ask The Dev's" section, in which fans can send questions to computer game developers. One of the projects Hoekstra is currently working on is of course 'Voyager: Elite Force', the first first-person shooter set in the Delta Quadrant. If you want to know something about this game, follow this link to ask your questions. Thanks go out to Blue's News for this!
'Fair Haven' Promo
Christian (7:31 pm CST)
Mr. Video Productions has put up the official UPN promo for 'Fair Haven', next week's new Voyager episode. Surprisingly, the holodeck program which will apparently feature heavily in the episode isn't shown at all in the trailer, which itself looks rather standard. Still, if you want to see the promo you can get it at Vidiot, though we've of course also put up a local TrekToday mirror.
Ryan To Attend Film Premiere
Christian (7:31 pm CST)
Via the Entertainment Wire comes the news that Jeri Lynn Ryan (Seven of Nine) will be attending the premiere tomorrow of 'My Dog Skip', described by studio Warner Bros as "a heartfelt coming-of-age story about a unique friendship between an 8-year-old boy and his dog, based on the best-selling childhood memoir by award-winning author Willie Morris." The event begins at 10:30am in the Egyptian Theater in Hollywood, though the celebrity guests (including Ryan) will be arriving an hour earlier. Find more in the official press release.
UPN 'Blink Of An Eye' Description
Again, this is where you should go if you do not want to be spoiled.
UPN has put up the following synopsis of 'Blink of an Eye':
Christian (7:30 pm CST)
NOTE: Below you will find spoilers for 'Blink Of An Eye', the Voyager episode airing on the 19th of January. Click here to avoid these spoilers.
When Voyager becomes ensnared in the orbit of a strange, primitive planet, it's energized core enables it to rapidly develop into a society with warp technology. So Janeway briefly transports The Doctor to the alien world, only to learn that the presence of Voyager has inspired invention among the society, which without warning, aims its own weapons at Voyager.
'Blink of an Eye' is the second new Voyager episode in the year 2000.
Shatner To Wrestle In Sitcom
Christian (7:29 pm CST)
TV Guide posted some interesting news about William Shatner, the actor of course best known for his role as James Tiberius Kirk on the Original Series. Apparently he currently is working on two upcoming projects - a film, and a television sitcom:
William Shatner isn't resting on the laurels of his success as the spokesman for Priceline: Variety reports that the 68-year-old actor has two cutting-edge projects in the works. First up is a film titled The Shiva Club — as in sitting shiva after a Jewish funeral. Shatner came up with the idea following the recent death of his wife. "I came up with a comedic idea," he says. Shatner is also working on a wrestling sitcom tentatively titled Down for the Count, in which the former Star Trek captain could "wrestle and sing 'I've Got You On Top of My Skin.'"
Find the original report here.
'New Worlds' Slips
Christian (7:28 pm CST)
Sega Web is reporting that the release date of Interplay's 'Star Trek: New Worlds' real-time strategy game for the Dreamcast has been delayed to the 1st of July. No word on what this means for the PC version.
'DS9: The Fallen' Also Slips
Christian (7:28 pm CST)
And Gamespot is reporting that the release date of 'Deep Space Nine: The Fallen', the third-person action game currently under development at The Collective has also been delayed, namely to May 2000. Publisher Simon & Schuster Interactive told Gamespot the game was originally scheduled for a March release, but has been pushed back for play-balancing reasons.
Happy Birthday!
Christian (7:27 pm CST)
Yesterday was the birthday of Aron Eisenberg, who had a recurring role on 'Star Trek: Deep Space Nine' as Nog, Quark's nephew. He also appeared on Voyager in the episode 'Initiations' as Kar.
Today On TV
-On Saturday in Germany, Sat.1 will be showing DS9's 'Unter den Waffen schweigen die Gesetze' (Inter Arma Enim Silent Leges) at 16:00 CET. Thanks go out to Andreas Uller for this!
-On Saturday here in The Netherlands, the AVRO on Nederland 1 will be showing Voyager's 'Warhead' at 18:16 CET. Thanks go out to the Benelux Star Trek TV Guide for this.
Christian (7:27 pm CST)
-On Saturday in the United Kingdom, Sky One will be showing DS9's 'In Purgatory's Shadow' at 16:00 GMT, followed an hour later by Voyager's 'Real Life'. Thanks go out to Kathryn Hughes for this.
Trek BBS Today
-Did you see Galaxy Quest, the Trek spoof starring Tim Allen?
-A new Voyager video has been released in the United Kingdom! What did you think about 'Warhead' and 'Equinox'?
Find more topics at the Trek BBS!
Christian (7:27 pm CST)
Over the past two days, several interesting topics have been discussed at the Trek BBS. Here's a selection:
Hello World!
Christian (7:26 pm CST)
Sometimes I wonder if anyone ever reads Hello World! Despite announcing here two days ago I wouldn't be updating the site yesterday, I still got flooded by two dozen mails all asking why the site wasn't being updated, plus another dozen simply *telling* me I hadn't updated the site yet, a stunning fact those people apparently didn't think I would realise myself. Of course, now I'm wondering why I even bother to complain about this here, as the people who didn't read the previous Hello World! likely won't read this either... I just can't win.
| Wednesday January 5, 2000 |
Christian (8:04 pm CST)
The Sci-Fi Wire has posted a short mini-interview with Majel Barrett-Roddenberry, in which she provides some info on the new Star Trek series. Besides mentioning that the studio is currently planning to air the new series after Voyager's seven-year run ends next season, she also confirmed the reports from a while ago stating that Paramount has already rejected two Series V pitches from Rick Berman and Brannon Braga. In the interview, she provides some new information on what these pitches actually dealt with:
One premise centered on a much younger cast than in previous series, and another was based at a non-Federation outpost, said Roddenberry, whose own involvement with the franchise is limited to providing a voice for the computers. No new ideas have been pitched since the last one was rejected. "I think everyone is taking a little vacation right now," she said.
In the full interview Roddenberry also mentions that the tenth Star Trek feature film is "on the backburner for the while." This definitely is a very interesting article - not only does it finally officially confirm many of the things fan sites such as TrekToday have been reporting for months now, it also shows how much Paramount's denials of those same reports were worth.
'Chicago' Play Review But also give the entire cast a big round of applause, too. Robert Urich showed a lot of brass, and that suits the manipulative Flynn to a tee. Vicki Lewis sang with considerable power and swagger, was funny as hell, but her dancing (while pretty good at times, and showing a lot of comic flair) was not nearly as graceful as Nana. Other stand-outs include Ray Bokhour's portly, long-suffering Amos Hart, Brian Carmack as Roxie's fated stud-in-waiting Fred Casely, and the delightfully mysterious Krissy Richmond as Hunyak ("Nnnnyot... Guil-ty!"). Carol Woods and J. Maldonado flexed their considerable vocal-cords as "Mama" Morton and Mary Sunshine, respectively. But above it all struts Nana! The audience applauded wildly after every number (even Nana joined in on a couple of occasions), and reaction to Nana's numbers were particularly enthusiastic. There's no question that Broadway & vaudeville is in her blood and the crowd knew it!
Christian (8:03 pm CST)
Bob Vigliano at the Intendant Kira Home Page has written a review of 'Chicago', the musical starring Nana Visitor (Kira Nerys) as Roxie Hart. In his review, Vigliano appears fairly impressed:
I'll start right off the bat and say: that was one of the most incredible experiences I ever had! I may be accused of a little favoritism toward Nana - I've been a member of her fan club(s) since 1995, fer chrissakes! - but if you've already seen her onstage as Roxie, I think you'd agree: she gave one hell of a performance!! To catch Nana in CHICAGO, I drove nearly 11 hours from Jacksonville, FL to Washington and was not disappointed in the least.
Find more here.
Trek Book News
Christian (8:02 pm CST)
The January edition of Locus, a science fiction magazine, contains a review of the 'Captain Proton' story which recently appeared in an issue of Amazing Stories. In the review, Locus' Mark Kelly is actually quite positive about the story, marking perhaps the first time a positive comment about media tie-ins appears in Locus:
The Fall issue of Amazing Stories includes. "The Space Vortex of Doom", by D. W. "Prof" Smith (a.k.a. Dean Wesley Smith) [which] is about Captain Proton, hero of a space adventure holodeck scenario...patterned after Flash Gordon or Buck Rogers. Aboard Proton's spaceship is his pal Buster, and a woman named Constance Goodheart whose only function is to scream every third paragraph. They face a series of perils sent their way by Dr.Chaotica, "the meanest man in all of known space", including a red star sent hurtling toward Earth that Captain Proton must deflect into the space vortex at his own peril. A parody of creaky space opera, including Star Trek itself (sparks fly and smoke fills the control room as Proton's ship struggles to free itself), the story's effect is really too easy, but you can't help but smile anyway. There's something endearing about the totally naïve incomprehension of basic physics and astronomy that characterizes this subgenre.
Thanks go out to John Ordover for this! In related news, David Henderson at Psi Phi has put up the official contest rules for 'Strange New Worlds IV', the Trek short story contest organised by Pocket Books.
Aliens Kidnap Star Trek Guide
A few days before your celebration of the birth of Christ, who seems to be known to you as both the son of God and the founder of your first department store, we visited your small, out-of-the-way planet in an attempt to judge Earth's readiness to join in the inter-stellar union of planets known as The Club. New members are granted a special card that allows them to abstain from inter-stellar conflicts until their technology will grant them something like a fighting chance, and is also good for discounts at any Stop&Fly Refueling Station.
While here, we conducted several social studies, and paid particular attention to two groups o Earth-people known as the "Trekkies" and the "Trekkers." As we understand it, one group plans trips to gatherings where thematically linked merchandise is sold, and the other group takes these trips.
Christian (8:02 pm CST)
Julia Houston at About.com's Star Trek Fans has updated her site with what must be the most far-fetched excuse for not updating the site since the internet was launched - apparently she was kidnapped by aliens in an effort to learn about Star Trek. Fortunately, they were kind enough to provide us with a research report:
Greetings, People of the Earth.
Read all about the aliens' research into Star Trek by following this link to the full article.
Swiss Store Offers Videos Cheap
Christian (8:01 pm CST)
Our German partner site TrekZone.de is reporting that the Swiss media store chain ExLibris is offering all its Trek videos with a 50% discount this week. The reason is apparently that ExLibris won't be regularly stocking new Trek videos anymore in the future. The videos available are mostly fifth-season DS9 and fourth-season Voyager videos, and are available for a price of 13.25 Swiss Franks.
Sirtis 'Politically Incorrect' Transcript
Christian (8:01 pm CST)
Marina Sirtis (Deanna Troi) appeared on ABC's 'Politically Incorrect With Bill Maher' on Monday, the 3rd of January. The other guests were Amy Alkon, Elayne Boosler and Drew Pinsky, all complete unknowns to me, unfortunately. If you missed the show, a full transcript has been put up here on Politically Incorrect's official site. Thanks go out to Liam Dynes for this!
'Pinata' Site Opens
Christian (8:01 pm CST)
Hill & Brand Productions have opened the official site for 'Pinata: The Movie', a new horror film set in the exotic jungles of Central America. One of the main stars of the film is Voyager's Garrett Wang (Harry Kim), appearing as a character named Paul. Info on his character, plus the movie itself, can be found from the main page of the site. Thanks go out to Dark Horizons and Ricardo Delfin Martins for this!
Majel Roddenberry Talks 'Andromeda'
Christian (8:00 pm CST)
The people at the Sci-Fi Wire have put up a new article about 'Gene Roddenberry's Andromeda', the upcoming syndicated television series starring Kevin Sorbo (from 'Hercules'), created by former DS9 writer Robert Hewitt Wolfe and based on material left behind by Star Trek's creator. Apparently, the series has already received a two-season commitment from Tribune Entertainment, and is ready to begin casting this month. Take a look at how Roddenberry describes the series:
Roddenberry described Andromeda as a departure from her other projects, including Earth: Final Conflict, which was also based on an idea by her late husband, Gene. Andromeda is "ER style: fast, rapid, with everything going on at once," she said. "The whole timbre of the thing will be much more fast-paced, and there will be an awful lot of special effects of course, so that means an awful lot of money I'm afraid."
You can read more on the series by following this link.
Green Reviews 'Fair Haven'
Christian (7:59 pm CST)
Which is quite an accomplishment, considering the episode won't air for another week. Michelle Erica Green has written a new edition of her 'Hailing Frequencies' column for AnotherUniverse's Mania Magazine, telling us why she already dislikes next week's Voyager episode:
I've been getting some letters asking how come I keep saying nasty things about the upcoming Voyager episode "Fair Haven" - formerly "Safe Harbor" - when I haven't even seen the episode or read a final script. How come I won't give a chance to a story about Janeway falling in love with a hologram? Here's why.
Read why in the actual column.
GD Reviews 'Hidden Evil'
Christian (7:58 pm CST)
Another day, another 'Insurrection: Hidden Evil' review. This time around, the trashing is done by Mike Smith at Games Domain:
Sadly, I can't even bring myself to recommend Hidden Evil to hardcore Trekkies. The plot, such as it is, fails to capture the atmosphere of the series and the trivia and in-jokes beloved of fans are sadly absent. The only way you will get your money's worth out of Hidden Evil is to buy it and keep it shrink-wrapped to complete your collection of poor Star Trek computer games. Perhaps it will be worth something one day.
Find more in the full review. Thanks Blue's News for this.
200th Daily Trek
Christian (7:58 pm CST)
Today our German partners at TrekZone.de sent out issue 200 of Daily Trek, their German-language newsletter featuring Star Trek news and background articles, plus news from the world of science fiction in general. This milestone is celebrated with an extra-long issue, plus a special online radio broadcast which will be available here tomorrow. Congratulations go out to the Daily Trek team for this accomplishment!
'Fair Haven' Details
Again, here is where you need to click to avoid spoilers.
UPN just posted the official episode synopsis for 'Fair Haven', the episode where Janeway falls in love with a hologram. Take a look:
Christian (7:57 pm CST)
NOTE: Below you will find spoilers for 'Fair Haven', the first new Voyager episode to air in 2000. Click here to avoid being spoiled.
Captain Janeway and her crew enjoy some hard-earned leisure time in the holographic setting of a charming Irish village where she can't help falling for a ruggedly handsome townsman - but their holiday is darkened by an approaching wave of deadly neutron radiation.
'Fair Haven' airs on the 12th of January.
Gambill Wants On 'Voyager'
Christian (7:56 pm CST)
In what is probably the first sports news item on TrekToday ever, the Seattle Post-Intelligencer is reporting that Jan-Michael Gambill, a rising star in the world of tennis, is currently lobbying for a guest appearance on 'Star Trek: Voyager':
The Spokane native, who finished the 1999 season ranked 58th, is hoping to make an appearance in his favorite television show "Star Trek: Voyager" after meeting with the casting director and befriending Captain Kirk himself, actor William Shatner.
"I'll be any kind of creature they want me to be. [...] I don't care how small or large the part is. [...] I met with the (Star Trek) casting director, which was great," says Gambill, currently playing in the Hardcourt Tennis Championships in Adelaide, Australia. "I think he'll give me a shot at least to do a reading. I'm really good friends with Bill Shatner now."
Find the full report here.
Jake Simpson Interview
Our first interview is with Jake Simpson, programmer and self-proclaimed "Captain of Industry" over at Raven Software. He is one of the guys behind games such as Heretic II, and the upcoming Soldier of Fortune and Star Trek Voyager: Elite Force.
Christian (7:56 pm CST)
Brian Evans at 3DGPU has uploaded an interview with Raven Software's Jake Simpson, one of the people working on 'Voyager: Elite Force'. Here's how Evans introduces the interview:
The last several years have resulted in huge advances in the consumer graphics industry and the 3d gaming industry as well. As we start off the new millennium, the future looks even brighter. Wanting to get some perspective on the past, present, and future of 3d hardware and software, I decided to ask the people who make the games that drive our 3d hardware purchases, the game designers.
In the actual interview, Simpson talks about game technology, his own work schedule, and some of his favourite games from 1999. Thanks go out to Blue's News for pointing me to this.
Mania On How To Save Trek
Despite all this naysaying, the Trek Pocket Books franchise is going strong, Wildstorm has a new comics license, and dozens of new official products hit the shelves this year. That's not even counting the underground zines, the unlicensed RPGs, the homemade costumes, the fan art sold by clubs to raise money for charity, and the thriving fan fiction exchange both in print and on the Internet. For a franchise that's supposed to be dying, Star Trek still commands a tremendous amount of interest and loyalty.
So is there a glut of Trek? Or isn't there enough really good material? Do we need a new series to revitalize the franchise, or a few years' break? Have we reached a point in history when different Treks directed at different audience segments have become necessary? Perhaps all of the above.
How, then, to revitalize Star Trek?
Christian (7:55 pm CST)
Michelle Erica Green at AnotherUniverse's Mania Magazine has written a really long feature in which she tells us precisely why and how Star Trek needs to be saved. Here's how she starts the article:
Major publications from TV Guide to Entertainment Weekly have been ringing the death knell for Star Trek since Deep Space Nine went off the air . . . well, in some cases since The Next Generation went off the air, or since Gene Roddenberry's death a few years into the run of the first of the new Trek shows. There's no denying certain incontrovertible facts: Voyager's ratings are down, attendance has dropped at big conventions, the last film was a box office disappointment.
The answer to this question can be found here.
Today On TV
-On Thursday in the United States, the Sci-Fi Channel will be showing the third-season TOS episode 'The Lights Of Zetar' at 4:00pm Eastern Time.
-On Thursday in the United Kingdom, Sky One will be showing DS9's 'The Darkness and the Light' at 17:00 and at 23:30 GMT, while BBC Two will be showing TNG's 'Inheritance' at 16:00. Thanks go out to Kathryn Hughes for this!
-On Thursday in Germany, Sat.1 will be showing DS9's 'Ehre unter Dieben' (Honor Among Thieves) at 15:00 CET.
Christian (7:55 pm CST)
-Tonight at 9:00pm, UPN will be showing a repeat of Voyager's 'Survival Instinct'. Take a look at how the network describes the episode:
Thanks go out to Section 31 for the picture, which is of course copyrighted by Paramount Pictures.
While at a docking station, Seven of Nine receives a curious Borg relay that prompts her to recall a flood of unpleasant memories from life in the Collective just as she is being stalked by three breakaway Borg drones who seek information to break their own neural links.
Trek BBS Today
-Do you think that Star Trek fans have above-average intelligence? (I wonder who is going to say 'no' to this.)
-What did you think about the death of Damar on DS9?
Find more topics at the Trek BBS!
Christian (7:54 pm CST)
Below are some of the topics currently discussed at the Trek BBS:
Hello World! Because of this, it's also a pity that there might not be a TrekToday update tomorrow, as I'm going to a friend's birthday celebration, which might go on for rather long. If that is the case, I'll of course make up for it on Friday, but at least now you know why there might not be any new news here tomorrow.
Christian (7:54 pm CST)
Welcome to one of the most interesting TrekToday updates in quite a while! I must admit to slightly losing interest in TrekToday over the past few weeks, to the point of me having to drag myself to the computer each day to do an update, but now it turns out this was simply due to a lack of fun news and not due to me having lost all my motivation - there are several fairly major news items today, the return of upcoming episode news, and even an update to one of my favourite fan sites, so I'm finally feeling really energised about working on the site again!
| Tuesday January 4, 2000 |
Christian (5:20 pm CST)
The new edition of Cinescape apparently contains an interview with Kenneth Biller, one of Voyager's staff writers, mostly talking about the upcoming wrestling episode 'Tsunkatse'. At TrekWeb they've put up a three-question preview of the interview, in which Biller reveals some of the episode's plotline, and talks about the episode's development:
"The idea didn't come from the [network]. It came from us [Biller himself, staff writer Robert Doherty and writer Gannon Kenney]. It grew out of a long discussion i had with Brannon Braga. I had a very vague desire to do a story that had something to do with sports, so we started talking about science fiction movies with a sport theme, like Rollerball or [Mad Max] Beyond Thunderdome. I was interested in a way in which sports have become such a big part of our culture and how we idolize sports heroes and the degree to which sports do or don't become an outlet for people's agression."
Find more here.
Script Department Y2K Troubles
Christian (5:17 pm CST)
TrekWeb has the following rather amusing news bit up:
TrekWeb has received report(s) that the Star Trek script department was put out of commission today due to Y2K incompatibilities. Seems that Scriptor, the software used by the department, is a DOS/Word 5.0 based program which is not Y2K compliant. As a result, the software stopped working today and the department was unable to issue scripts or revisions.
If true, here's a free tip for the writers - turn on your computer, set the date back by a year, and continue writing.
DeForest Kelley Tribute In EW
Christian (5:13 pm CST)
Jason Davidson at Star Trek News is reporting that DeForest Kelley (Leonard "Bones" McCoy) was honoured in the 'Bowing Out' section of Entertainment Weekly's Best of 1999 year-end issue. The tribute, written by Troy Patterson, will be posted on the official Entertainment Weekly site, but is now also already available here.
'Armada' Interview
[Gewirtz, Eric] The plotline was developed from two things: What we all wanted to see in a Star Trek story, and how to tell that story in the expansive setting of a Real Time Strategy Game. There were a few things that fit naturally into an RTS, like a Borg invasion of the Alpha Quadrant and a Klingon Civil War, and there were other ideas that were just cool plotlines, like a Romulan alliance with the Borg, and coming up with a nemesis for Picard that would be his equal.
Christian (5:12 pm CST)
Federation HQ has put up an interview with Activision's Eric Gewirtz, talking about their upcoming real-time strategy game 'Armada'. Here's a short snippet from the interview, in which we get to hear more about the game's plot:
Federation HQ: - Could you give us some information on Armada's plot? Perhaps also tell us what inspired the game's storyline? Did Paramount have any decisive influences on this aspect of the game or were you given full control to implement all your ideas?
Find more in the full interview.
Stewart Vs. Pileggi
Christian (5:12 pm CST)
TV Guide has put up another edition of their 'You Sexy Thing!' feature, in which readers get to decide which celebrity is the sexiest. This week, the two contestants are Mitch Pileggi, Assistant Director Skinner on the X-Files, and Patrick Stewart, who of course starred in TNG as Captain Jean-Luc Picard. At the moment, after nearly a thousand votes, Stewart is leading comfortably with 72% of the votes, but if you want to give him an even larger percentage of the votes you can do so here.
Andrew Robinson Interview
"The book begins where the show ends. So the Garak in his final scene with Bashir - the shame, the anger, the sorrow that he feels for the present situation and the circumstances that lead to the present situation - that's the Garak that we meet at the beginning of the book. It does represent a change of direction for him, because obviously he stays on Cardassia - a devastated Cardassia, much the way Germany looked after World War II or the way Kosovo looks now - and he begins to become involved in the rebuilding effort."
Christian (5:12 pm CST)
Christopher Howell has updated the Great Link again, this time also including an interview with Andrew Robinson (Garak) which first appeared in the British Star Trek Monthly Magazine. In the interview, Robinson talks about the end of DS9, his favourite moments on the series, and his new book, 'A Stitch In Time':
For Andrew, the DS9 Finale isn't the end for Garak, thanks to his book, 'A Stitch in Time' : "One of the reasons I'm so satisfied about the resolution is because the show ended for everybody else in April. For me, as you can see from this delivery - I walk in the door, and there's this delivery from Paramount of my manuscript - it's still going. I was able, with this book, to work out all the stuff that began with the show and now I'm extending it to beyond the show. As a matter of fact, this is going to be the first DS9 book that will have new material after the show. So it's hard for me to stop at the end of the show because I didn't."
Find more in the full interview.
Salome Jens Interview
"So when Deep Space Nine came up, they really wanted to bring me back. I did read for them again, but some of the people - like Jonathan Frakes [who directed "The Search"] - already wanted me. The others okayed it and I got the part."
Christian (5:12 pm CST)
The Great Link has also put up an interview with Salome Jens, who had a recurring role on DS9 as the female Changeling. One of the things she talks about in the interview is how she actually got chosen for the role:
Unlike the Founder, there's no mystery surrounding the circumstances which led to Jens becoming such an integral part of ST.·DS9. The actress was initially invited to audition for the role following her superlative guest appearance as the 'progenitor of Humanoid life' in Star Trek: The Next Generation's sixth season episode The Chase, "I played a being who came from another consciousness and did the Gene Roddenberry speech about what life and love should be like," she recalls. "They really loved what I did with the one scene I had and felt that it was really powerful. Jonathan Frakes directed the episode and he was just blown away [by the rehearsal]. And after we shot the scene, Patrick Stewart [Captain Picard] came up to me and took my hand and said, 'That was wonderful.' He was very sweet."
The full interview can be read by following this link.
Starbase-1 Goes Dot Com
Christian (5:11 pm CST)
The Starbase-1 Coffee Company, responsible for 'Star Trek-themed gourmet food products' (including coffee, tee, water, chocolate, candy and fruit juice) today announced they're changing their name:
Starbase-1 Coffee Company, Ltd., announced today that it will be doing business under the name of Starbase-1.com to reflect the Company's new direction to expand its website e.commerce marketing and also include an expanded product line of licensed science fiction merchandise. Effective January 5, 2000, the new trading symbol will be ``SIFI.''
The full press release on this can be found here.
Continuum On Y2K Glitch
Christian (5:11 pm CST)
The official Star Trek Continuum has put up a news article about their own private Y2K error from a few days ago, when they were announcing Voyager's next episode would be airing on the 5th of January, 1900. Apparently, this wasn't just an error by the Continuum staffers, but part of something far bigger:
A plot to take over Earth by renegade Daystrom Institute employees using time travel was thwarted over the weekend, the Federation Department of Temporal Investigations (FDTI) revealed today. The plot involved beaming two-dimensional images and audio of the U.S.S. Voyager (Missing-in-Action) to an unsuspecting human population in the year 1900. Additionally, an Earth website in the year 2000 inexplicably promoted the broadcast, calling it an "episode" with the surtitle "Survival Instinct."
The full article can be found here. Meanwhile, the Continuum is reporting airdates for the right century again.
Today On TV
-On Wednesday in the United Kingdom, Sky One will be showing DS9's 'Rapture' at 17:00 and at Midnight GMT, while BBC Two will be showing DS9's 'The Magnificent Ferengi' at 18:45. Thanks go out to Kathryn Hughes for this!
-On Wednesday in Germany, Sat.1 will be showing DS9's 'Das winzige Raumschiff' (One Litle Ship) at 15:00 CET.
Christian (5:11 pm CST)
-On Wednesday in the United States the Sci-Fi Channel will be showing the third-season TOS episode 'Elaan of Troyius' at 4:00pm Eastern Time.
Trek BBS Today
-Did 'Voyager' predict the complete lack of impact by the Y2K bug?
-What did you think about the news item yesterday stating that the average Voyager viewer is 40 years old?
More topics can be found at the Trek BBS!
Christian (5:11 pm CST)
Here are some of the topics currently being discussed at the Trek BBS:
Hello World!
Christian (5:10 pm CST)
Really Dumb Things People Do And Only Realise Afterwards, #716: Get a new, ultra-short haircut right in the middle of the winter, causing you to freeze to death everytime you step outside.
| Monday January 3, 2000 |
Christian (6:56 pm CST)
AnotherUniverse's Daily Buzz posted a rather interesting news item, looking at a recent survey by Nielsen Media Research. In it, the demographics company determined the median age of viewers for each program on primetime network television, with results ranging from a median age of 22.0 for the WB's 'Popular' to a median age of 57.2 for 'Diagnosis Murder' on CBS. The average age for 'Voyager' viewers was 39.9, making it one of the SF programs on US television with the oldest viewers. The full listing of viewer ages can be found right here.
German 'Space 2000' Report
Christian (6:55 pm CST)
Reinhold Heeg at the German Star Trek Index has written a report about the Space 2000 Party, which took place this New Year's Eve in Kreftel, Germany. The party allowed people to celebrate the end of the year in full SF style, and judging by the photos it definitely succeeded in doing so. You can read more in the actual report, but remember it is in German.
New Sev Trek Competition
Christian (6:55 pm CST)
John Cook at Sev Trek has put up a new edition of the 'Write Your Own Sev Trek' competition:
Gym Quirk's last words.
As usual, submit your punchlines here.
I'm sure you can all come up with much more interesting and funnier last words for Gym Quirk...
'Elite Force' Alien Shots
Christian (6:55 pm CST)
Gaming news site Evil Avatar has uploaded three new screenshots showing some alien characters from 'Voyager: Elite Force', the new action game currently under development by Raven Software. The shots show a Malon, a Klingon and a Hirogen warrior, all very lifelike. You can see them by going here.
'11:59' Final Ratings
Christian (6:55 pm CST)
Greg Fuller at the Star Trek Nielsen Ratings Information Database just put up the final ratings report for the rerun '11:59', the last Voyager episode to air in 1999. Fortunately, the show still managed to score decent ratings:
"11:59" continued Voyager's streak of good rerun ratings, earning a 2.7 rating, 4 share. That's down from the last two weeks of reruns, but still on Voyager's average rerun mark for the last two seasons. This week last year, a rerun of "Vis a Vis" earned an identical 2.7 mark.
The full report can be read here.
Trek YA Author On NY Radio
Christian (6:55 pm CST)
Tomorrow (Tuesday) at 1:00pm and at 7:00pm, WSKG Radio in Vestal, New York will be launching its new radio show 'Off The Page', "a platform and forum for writers from our region to tell about their books and share their thoughts with readers and listeners." In tomorrow's first edition of the show, producer and host Bill Jaker will talk to a panel of science fiction writers about what will happen to SF now that the year 2000 has actually arrived. One of these writers will be Patricia Barnes-Svarney, who wrote book 4 and 10 in Pocket Books' 'Starfleet Academy' series of novels for young adults. Thanks go out to David Henderson for pointing me to this!
1999 CCG Retrospective
Christian (6:54 pm CST)
Evan Lorentz at Decipher, the publisher of the Star Trek Customizable Card Game, just posted a short article looking back at 1999. Apparently the year was very succesful for the Trek CCG, as no less than three full expansion sets were released last year.
'Hidden Evil' Review
Christian (6:54 pm CST)
Tinusch at MPOG has put up a review of 'Insurrection: Hidden Evil', the new Activision adventure game. It will come as no surprise to most of you that the review is rather negative:
Hidden Evil has its high points - graphics and sound effects are both amazing, and the game can provide some amusement for a little while. But unfortunately, the game is just too flawed and shallow to be a winner. The bad far outweighs the good. If you're a hardcore action-adventure fan or an obsessed Star Trek fan, you might enjoy this game if taken in small doses. But if you want a good gaming experience, you'll most likely find that Hidden Evil just doesn't cut it. Poor controls, clumsy combat, repetitive gameplay, and tedious puzzles bring this game down. And so, another lowly Star Trek game is sent to an early grave, to join the countless others that had preceded it, and the true Star Trek gaming experience that gamers long for will again be far out of reach. Someday, maybe a good Star Trek game will be made, but until then, we can only hope.
In the actual review, the game is awarded 2 out of 5 stars. Thanks go out to Blue's News for the link!
'Galaxy Quest' Box Office
Christian (6:54 pm CST)
Cinescape is reporting that 'Galaxy Quest', the new Star Trek parody starring Tim Allen did a little better in its second week in theaters, earning $9.7 million and a sixth place in the top 10.
Today On TV
-On Tuesday in the United Kingdom, Sky One will be showing DS9's 'The Ascent' at 17:00 and at 23:30 GMT. Thanks go out to Kathryn Hughes for this!
-On Tuesday in Germany, Sat.1 will be showing DS9's 'Jenseits der Sterne' (Far Beyond the Stars) at 15:00 CET.
Christian (6:54 pm CST)
-On Tuesday in the United States, the Sci-Fi Channel will be showing the third-season TOS episode 'The Empath'.
Trek BBS Today
-Did Starfleet use the Transwarp Drive in any other ship besides the Excelsior?
-What was the special function attached to each of Bajor's Orbs?
Find more topics at the Trek BBS!
Christian (6:54 pm CST)
As usual, there are lots of interesting discussions going on at the Trek BBS. Here's a short selection:
Hello World!
1. Update TrekToday on time.
Sigh.
Christian (6:53 pm CST)
Failed New Year's resolutions:
2. Stop complaining about not being able to finish the site on time.
| Sunday January 2, 2000 |
Christian (4:07 pm CST)
Holly Kim Wilson and Francis Deblauwe both wrote in to report that Avery Brooks (Benjamin Sisko) performed at the official Y2K celebration in front of the Lincoln Memorial in Washington DC, also attended by the president. Here's Holly Kim's report:
Along with all the other actors and musicians for the DC celebration was Avery Brooks. He was one of the actors reading quotes before introducing a musical act and had a Sojourner Truth quote at the last gathering of performers just before midnight. (I don't remember the quote in detail. Just one about how one woman had turned the world upside down at the beginning. So a group of women should be able to turn right side up now. And that men should get out of their way and let them do it.)
Thanks go out to Holly Kim and Francis for sending this in!
Robert Picardo Photos
Christian (4:07 pm CST)
I just noticed that StarTrek.nl has put up 8 photos from a recent autographing session by Robert Picardo (the Holodoc) here in the Netherlands. On the 18th of December he was in the Free Record Shop in Amsterdam to sign videos and posters, and that's where the pictures were taken. You can find them, together with some (Dutch) text about the event, by going here.
DS9, Not Voyager, On ORF
Christian (4:06 pm CST)
Our German partner site TrekZone.de has an article up stating that, contrary to previous reports, the Austrian television station won't be showing 'Voyager' this year, but instead 'Deep Space Nine'. About a week ago the station still said it would be showing 'Voyager' after their current run of 'Stargate SG-1', but apparently they changed their minds.
'New Worlds' A 2000 Pick
Christian (4:06 pm CST)
John 'Gestalt' Bye at EuroGamer has posted a new article looking at some of the most promising computer games scheduled to come out in 2000. One of these games is 'Star Trek: New Worlds', currently under development by Interplay. Here's a short snippet from his piece on 'New Worlds':
The graphics look gorgeous, the gameplay seemed solid, and the plot promises to be full of the requisite twists and turns. Hopefully we should see the end result some time early in the new year.
The full article can be found here. Thanks go out to the New Worlds Network for the link!
Syndicated Schedule Updated
Unlike all other episodes which aired on UPN out of their original production order (which have since been shown in the correct production order in syndication), the episodes "Lifesigns" and "Investigations" will be airing in their original broadcast order. This is because these two episodes were filmed out of order intentionally (probably to accomodate an actor or director's availability), whereas all other irregularities were caused by UPN's questionably-sentient schedulers.
Christian (4:06 pm CST)
David Henderson at Psi Phi has updated the Voyager syndication schedule for the next two weeks. He notes two items of interest:
The episode "Flashback" was skipped. It did not air as part of the "theme weeks", and now it is being skipped in the remainder episodes. One may assume they are holding it back to air on some special day in the future (perhaps during sweeps in February), but that is unconfirmed.
You can find the new schedule here.
'Generations' Ratings
Christian (4:05 pm CST)
UltimateTV has posted the overnight ratings report for New Year's Eve, the 31st of December. While the three major American networks all had special Y2K programming during primetime, Fox instead aired the movie 'Star Trek: Generations' at 8:00pm. The film averaged a 3.5 rating / 6 share, peaking at thw start with a 3.7 / 7. Meanwhile, UPN suffered from the other network's special programming, as their repeat film 'To Die For' only scored a 1.7 / 3. The full report for New Year's Eve can be read by following this link.
Today On TV
-On Monday in the United Kingdom, Sky One will be showing DS9's 'Trials and Tribble-ations' at 16:00 GMT, followed an hour later by Voyager's 'Flashback'. At 20:00 they'll be continuing with their 'Seven Heaven', showing 'Bliss' and the two parts of 'Dark Frontier'.
-On Monday in Germany, Sat.1 will be showing DS9's 'Wer trauert um Morn?' (Who Mourns For Morn?) at 15:00 CET.
Christian (4:05 pm CST)
-On Monday in the United States, the Sci-Fi Channel wil be showing the third-season TOS episode 'Wink of an Eye' at 4:00pm Eastern Time.
Trek BBS Today
-What did you think about the Captain's Table novel series?
-Why didn't Data ever try to create an 'animoid' instead of a human android such as his daughter, Lal.
More topics can be found at the Trek BBS.
Christian (4:05 pm CST)
Below are some of the topics currently being discussed at the Trek BBS:
Hello World!
Christian (4:04 pm CST)
Ah, things are finally getting back to normal - I'm home again, getting more and more accustomed to my new keyboard, and I'm behind on 200 mails again. Hello, 2000.
| Saturday January 1, 2000 |
Christian (3:24 pm CST)
The British Starburst Magazine has produced three exclusive 60-minutes videos hosted by George Takei (Hikaru Sulu) as well as Babylon 5's Bruce Boxleitner and the late Jon Pertwee, from 'Dr. Who'. The videos features coverage of special events like the UK lauch of the Sci-Fi Channel and exclusive interviews with Leonard Nimoy, Nicholas Meyer, James Doohan and many more sci-fi stars. They are not available for sale in the US, but you can order them online via their web site. Thanks Gustavo Leao for this!
New Sev Trek Comic
Christian (3:18 pm CST)
Psi Phi Interviews Ordover
Christian (3:18 pm CST)
David Henderson at Psi Phi sends along word he's put up part one of a two-part interview with John Ordover, Star Trek editor at Pocket Books:
John Ordover is the Executive Editor of Star Trek Fiction at Pocket Books. He has agreed to an interview about the past, present, and future of the Star Trek novels. This is the first half of our interview, in which we discuss the various crossover mini-series and the New Frontier series. In part two, we will talk about the trilogies and two-book series, the annual Strange New Worlds contest for amateur authors, and what's ahead for the Star Trek books.
Find the actual interview here.
Visitor On Washington
Visitor said she did not plan on taking part in any of the area's millennium celebrations, choosing instead to have a massive seafood feast with her family. "My mother is a wonderful seafood cook," she added.
Christian (3:17 pm CST)
Today's edition of the 'Names & Faces' column in the Washington Post, compiled by Pete L. Zanko, has a short report on Nana Visitor (Kira Nerys), who is currently playing in the musical 'Chicago' at the National Theatre in Washington. In the article, she talks about how much she likes Washington, as well as how she was going to spend New Year's Eve:
In an interview at the new Estee Lauder Spa in Tysons Corner, Visitor had nothing but good things to say about Washington. She divulged that she and co-star Vicki Lewis have made a habit of dining out at Old Ebbitt Grill, and that if an offer came to work here again, she would most certainly consider it. When asked to compare her current theater costume with her "Star Trek" outfit, she told us that while her "Chicago" clothes are "more revealing, on 'Star Trek' I felt like Barbarella."
The full article can be found here.
Today On TV
-On Sunday here in the Netherlands, RTL 5 will be showing DS9's 'Crossfire' at 18:05 CET.
-On Sunday in Belgium, Kanaal 2 will be showing DS9's 'Business as Usual' at 18:10 CET. Thanks go out to the Benelux Star Trek TV Guide for these last two items.
Christian (3:17 pm CST)
-On Sunday in the United Kingdom, Sky One will be showing DS9's 'To The Death' at 16:00 GMT, followed an hout later by Voyager's 'The Q And The Grey'. At 19:10, BBC Two will show the TOS film 'Star Trek II: The Wrath Of Khan'. Thanks go out to Kathryn Hughes for this!
Trek BBS Today
-Here's an idea - if Harry Kim wants a promotion he should just murder someone.
-DO you also think Series V is going to be great?
More topics can be found at the Trek BBS!
Christian (3:16 pm CST)
Even the Trek BBS has survived Y2K - take a look at some of the threads currently active at our Star Trek discussion forums:
Hello World!
Christian (3:14 pm CST)
Does anyone else have the feeling this particular New Year will go down in history as one of the most anticlimactic ever? Not only did many huge parties all over the world get canceled a month in advance because of lack of attention and are retailers still stuck with tons of Millennial Merchandise, the Y2K problem has also turned out to be one of the biggest scams in recent history - I wonder who will ever be able to trust the computer industry again...
| Friday December 31, 1999 |
Christian (3:18 pm CST)
The Adrenaline Vault's David Laprad has posted his review of 'Hidden Evil', awarding the game no more than 2 out of 5 stars:
There will be those who interpret this lusterless attempt on Activision's part as an omen, given that the publisher has a long-term agreement to create titles using Paramount's license. I have more optimism than that, but have to declare game one a failure. Granted, the designers got off to a rugged start basing Hidden Evil on an inferior film, but that is no excuse for the uninspired puzzles, ho-hum shooting sequences and oh-so short missions. Beam this one into the bargain bin and set a course for Elite Force or Armada, warp factor 10. Picard out.
The full review can be read by following this link. Thanks Federation HQ for this.
Robert Beltan Interview
Christian (3:18 pm CST)
Voyager's Delights has put up the transcript of an interview with Robert Beltran (Chakotay) which first appeared in the Star Trek Communicator. Here's a short excerpt from it, in which he, as usual, is very positive about the show he works on:
Unlike many actors, though, Beltran hasn't really considered what he'd like to see the future hold for his on-screen persona. "I don't know," he admits unabashedly. "I'm asked that same question by the producers every year, at the beginning of every season. We always have a little meeting, and I don't [have much to con-tribute] because science fiction is very alien to me. I'm not a big science fiction guy. The only thing I ever ask is for well-written stories and interesting scenes. What more can you ask for than that? I don't have any agenda for the character. I like the fact that he's open-ended at the moment. The few suggestions that I have had had already been done [on other Star Trek series], and I just didn't know that. I don't watch Next Generation or Deep Space Nine, and I never watch the original series." least, that is what I try to convey, and that's what I try to have come across. That there's; something about him that we do not know. And probably will never know. Maybe it is a interested in directing film, though, and I have directed in the theater, but for some reason' I'm not that crazy about taking the time to direct a Voyager episode. It doesn't interest me that much." His stage directing credits include Hamlet, Al bee's Tiny Alice and McLure's Lone Star, among others.
More positive remarks about 'Star Trek' can be found in the full interview.
Trek In Eon Lookback
Christian (3:17 pm CST)
The new edition of Eon Magazine contains several articles looking back at 1999. As was to be expected, Trek is featured in several of the articles:
includes both the Trek films and the Classic Trek episodes in his list of the five worst packaged DVD releases.
The actual lists can be found in Eon Magazine.
'Hidden Evil' Review
Christian (3:17 pm CST)
Ryan Thompson at Gaming Age has written the year's last review of 'Hidden Evil', Activision's adventure game based on the soon-to-be-two-years-old TNG movie (I really should stop with these New Year references). Awarding the game a C+, he is only moderately positive:
Fans of the Star Trek Universe should enjoy this despite the bumps in the gameplay, and they have good reason to. The plot flows very well, and easily lives up to the one found in the latest movie. The voice acting is very well done, and if I am not mistaken, use the exact voice talents of the actors who played Data and Picard in the Next Generation series. For adventure gamers looking for a new challenging experience, rather than a trip into the Star Trek Universe, I would suggest you take a look at Gabriel Knight III if you haven't already.
You can find the full review here. Thanks go out to Blue for the link!
More Survey Summaries
Christian (3:17 pm CST)
The official Continuum has posted two more articles summarising the results of their 'Starfleet Surveys' (fan opinion polls) in 1999. The first one lists all the results from May to August, while the second one lists all the September-December results.
Today On TV
-On Saturday in the United Kingdom, Sky One will be showing DS9's 'Fascination' at 16:00 GMT, followed an hour later by Voyager's 'Blood Fever'. Thanks go out to Kathryn Hughes for this!
Christian (3:17 pm CST)
-At 8:00pm Eastern Time in the United States, Fox will be showing 'Star Trek: Generations', the first film featuring the TNG cast.
Trek BBS Today
-There may be a Back to th Future IV!
-What will be Worf's excuse for being in Star Trek X?
Find more topics at the Trek BBS!
Christian (3:16 pm CST)
Even today the Trek BBS is still very active. Take a look at some of the interesting topics currently being discussed at our Star Trek discussion forums:
Hello World!
Fortunately this gives me the perfect excuse for not writing a lengthy retrospective on 1999, in which I'd just point out the obvious major points - the end of DS9, UPN's major comeback, the Series V rumours, and on a more personal level the beginning of TrekToday, the Trek BBS and the Trek Nation itself. I'd also have to include a lengthy list of people I would have to thank for making TrekToday a success in 1999, but as I'd undoubtedly forget many people I'm actually fairly happy I can skip that as well.
I hope everyone manages to bring 1999 to a fitting end, and I hope I'll see you all in the New Year - who's afraid of Y2K, anyway?
Link of the Day: Romulans not as logical as Vulcans - celebrate Millennium a year and a day too early (scroll down to the end)
Extra Link: More attention for Continuum Y2K glitch
Christian (3:16 pm CST)
Sometimes I'm not very impressed with my own intelligence. One of those times is today. As I of course mentioned before, the time I have for updating TrekToday is severely limited over the next few days. So what did I, smart as I am, do today? Buy a Microsoft Natural Keyboard. Without a doubt it feels a lot better than my old keyboard, but it will definitely take a fairly long time getting used to - my right hand still moves over to the left side of the keyboard everytime I want to type a T, a G, a V or a B, and the 'End' is even harder to find.
| Thursday December 30, 1999 |
Christian (2:59 pm CST)
In the last Trek Nation article of 1999, entitled 'Star Trek: To Be Or Not To Be', regular contributor Michael Hinman looks at an option for the fifth Star Trek series which hasn't really been explored yet - a series without the Trek name attached to it:
The current rumors circulating around Trekdom is that next Star Trek series will not have the Star Trek name attached to it. Why? Quite simply, the popular culture has put a somewhat negative impression of Star Trek into people's minds. With every open Star Trek fan, there are probably at least 10 closet Trekkies. In this day and age, being a Trekkie means you have no life, you are a nerd, or you work at NASA.
There is definitely going to be a fifth Star Trek series (or, for you non-canonical purists, a SIXTH Star Trek series), but although it will be Star Trek in both principle and design, will it be Star Trek by name?
In his full article, Michael looks at the implications of Trek without its name, and tries to decide if this would be a good or a bad thing. Recommended reading!
Starfleet Survey Summary
Christian (2:45 pm CST)
The official Continuum has posted an article showing all the results from their online poll from January to April, showing the fan's answers to questions such as 'What is your favourite alien?' and 'What is your favourite film?'. The results can be found in the full article, while two more such articles will be posted over the coming days.
'Trekkies' Review
Christian (2:44 pm CST)
In the new edition of her 'Hailing Frequencies' column in AnotherUniverse's Mania Magazine, Michelle Erica Green provides us with a review of 'Trekkies', the documentary about Trek fandom hosted by Denise Crosby (Tasha Yar). Here are her first impressions of the film:
Trekkies is an odd mix. It shows the very best of Trek and its fandom, the people inspired to get graduate science degrees and to help feed the homeless. It also shows the grotesque excesses, the fans who will pay thousands of dollars for a single piece of memorabilia, and those who become so obsessed with a single actor from the show that they refuse to call themselves "Trekkies" or even "Trekkers" because "Spiner Femme" is cooler. Those are the people who keep their collections in locked safes in the closet in case of disaster.
For the full review, plus a round-up of the latest Star Trek news, please read the full column.
No German Voyager In January
Christian (2:44 pm CST)
Contrary to previous reports, the German television station Sat.1 won't be showing 'Night' and 'Drone' on the 29th of January, but will instead show the double episode 'Das Tötungsspiel' (The Killing Game). Voyager's fifth season now won't begin showing on Sat.1 until April. Thanks go out to the German Star Trek Index and our partner site Trekzone.de for this.
Mulgrew Featured In McCall's
Although it's every bit as elegant as other Hollywood homes, this traditional-style dwelling was designed to reflect the warm, familiar personality of its owners. 'Our house is deeply welcoming,' says KM. 'If you can't put your feet up on the coffee table, it's not home. If somebody drops a glass of wine on the floor, it's not the end of the world, it's probably the beginning of the party.'
Christian (2:43 pm CST)
Totally Kate!, a fan site for Kate Mulgrew (Kathryn Janeway) just reposted an article about Mulgrew which first appeared in McCall's Patterns Magazine, a quarterly magazine dedicated to in fashion, sewing, crafting and home decorating. In their January 2000 issue, they visited Mulgrew's home in Brentwood, CA, to see how she lives:
As the no-nonsense Captain Kathryn Janeway in the UPN series Star Trek: Voyager, actress Kate Mulgrew guides a team of space explorers across the galaxy in search of a way home. Back on planet Earth, though, the 44-year old actress has already found her sanctuary: a 10-room house in Brentwood, CA that she shares with her husband, Tim Hagan and her sons, Ian, 16 and Alexander, 15.
The full article, which was written by Barbara Stepko and featuring photographs by Dale Berman can be found here. Thanks go out to Jason Davidson's Star Trek News for pointing me to this.
Roddenberry On 'Nightline'
Christian (2:43 pm CST)
Michelle Erica Green at AnotherUniverse's Daily Buzz is reporting that Majel Barrett Roddenberry (Nurse Chapel, the Computer, Lwaxana Troi) will appear on ABC's 'Nightline' tonight at 11:35/10:35c:
The broadcast will feature several science fiction luminaries talking about how humans projected their own future versus how the future is shaping up. Martin Landau of Space: 1999, Charlton Heston of Soylent Green and the Planet of the Apes films, and Whoopi Goldberg of Star Trek: The Next Generation will also appear.
The original report can be found here.
UPN News Bits
Christian (2:42 pm CST)
Several interesting news items about UPN (the network also showing 'Star Trek: Voyager') have appeared over the past few days. Here's a summary:
Y2K Bug Hits Continuum
Christian (2:42 pm CST)
The official Star Trek site is currently down, but earlier today their upcoming Voyager episode page apparently showed the following text:
Fair Haven
Hopefully the rest of the Continuum is better prepared for the year 2000. Thanks go out to both Marc Arendt and Mike Jablonski for alerting me of this!
Production 931
First Air Date: 1/1/1900
Stardate Unknown
Today On TV
Christian (2:42 pm CST)
-On Friday in the United Kingdom, Sky One will be showing DS9's 'Dr. Bashir, I Presume?' at 16:00 GMT, as well as on Saturday morning at 01:30. At 17:00, they'll be showing Voyager's 'Distant Origin'. Thanks go out to Kathryn Hughes for this.
Trek BBS Today
-A UK media studies student is currently conducting a survey about Star Trek fans at the Trek BBS - please fill in his questionaire.
-Why can't Voyager go beyond seven seasons?
More topics can be found at the Trek BBS!
Christian (2:41 pm CST)
Below are some of the topics currently being discussed at the Trek BBS:
Hello World!
Christian (2:40 pm CST)
Welcome to a really early TrekToday update! It almost feels strange updating the site before midnight, but still now (10:00pm) is more than five hours later than the time at which I updated the site back when I started.
| Wednesday December 29, 1999 |
Christian (6:57 pm CST)
Gamerworld has put up a pair of new features dealing with 'Klingon Academy', Interplay's upcoming space combat simulator. The first is a set of fairly impressive screenshots combined with a short preview, while the second is an interview with game designer Ron Hodge. Thanks go out to Federation HQ for this.
Why DS9 Must Get A Movie
Christian (6:57 pm CST)
That's the title of a new article on Star Trek Central, written by the site's webmaster himself, AntonyF. Take a look at how he starts his article:
It's pretty much certain that the next film will be the last for the TNG crew. That is if they all come back, even that's not a certainty. Perhaps this could be the time to introduce moviegoers to the DS9 crew? Because I believe that Star Trek: XI (which would be released around 2003) MUST be the DS9 crew.
In the actual article, AntonyF explains his reasons for wanting a DS9 film.
Strange ET Poll Happenings
While the camera did pan the table where the items were, I did not see a Star Trek or a Star Wars tape. Some of the items chosen did match what was the top ten in the poll- the Beatles Greatest Hits, Titanic. But only about half the items seem to match what was in the poll.
Christian (6:57 pm CST)
As you may recall, last week Entertainment Tonight Online was running a poll where people could select 10 Hollywood memorabilia from a list of 20 which would be saved for all eternity in a special time capsule. Among the twenty objects was a tape of the first 'Star Trek' episode, which at the end of voting had reached the second spot on the list. Strangely enough, what was shown on yesterday's edition of 'Entertainment Tonight' did not at all match up to the online poll for the time capsule, according this report by Holly Kim Wilson:
The Star Wars video was the top vote getter in the poll- a Star Wars figure went into the time capsule. No mention of the video. The Star Trek episode was the second vote getter in the poll. No mention of Star Trek at all in the show. A Mickey Mouse watch went into the capsule- not mentioned in the poll winners. An episode of Entertainment Tonight went into the capsule- again, not mentioned in the poll winners. A "I Love Lucy" lunch box went into the time capsule. It was supposed to be an episode of that show.
Thanks go out to Holly Kim for sending in this report! I really wonder what led Entertainment Tonight to simply disregard the entire online poll.
'Valiant' Cover Details
Christian (6:57 pm CST)
David Henderson at Psi Phi has put up both the back cover text and the front cover of 'Valiant', the TNG hardcover by Michael Jan Friedman currently set for publication in April 2000. You can find the cover details for the book, which deals both with Picard's first command (the U.S.S. Stargazer) and the lost ship from the second TOS pilot (the U.S.S. Valiant) by following this link.
More O'Reilly Interview "I was in Candyman 3, which is very funny," he said, "Tony Todd plays the Candyman and also plays Kurn, the brother of Worf (Michael Dorn). So it was very humorous to me because it means the Mogh Brothers both killed me this year."
Christian (6:56 pm CST)
The people at official Star Trek Continuum have put up part two of their interview with Robert O'Reilly, who had a recurring role on TNG and DS9 as the Klingon Chancellor Gowron. In this part of the interview, he talks about being recognized in public, being recognized in make-up by his 1-year old son, and even some of his projects which will hopefully earn him even more recognition in the future:
O'Reilly has been hard at work since Gowron's death in the Star Trek: Deep Space Nine episode "Tacking Into the Wind." He appeared in the film "The Omega Code," as well as "Candyman 3: Day of the Dead," which features another Star Trek connection.
The actual interview can be found here, and of course again contains some info on the Millennium Trekk event O'Reilly will be hosting in Florida.
Trek TV Guide Honourable Mention
Christian (6:56 pm CST)
According to a news story on TV Guide, this morning on NBC's 'Later Today' the magazine's senior editor Lisa Bernhard unveiled her list of the five most important TV series of all time. Though Star Trek didn't make the comedy-dominated list, it was included as one of the two honourable mentions. Click here to see the actual list.
Today On TV
-On Thursday in the United Kingdom, Sky One will be showing DS9's 'Things Past' at 17:00 and at Midnight GMT.
-On Thursday in Germany, Sat.1 will be showing DS9's 'Das Gute und das Böse' at 15:00 CET.
Christian (6:56 pm CST)
-On Thursday in the United States, the Sci-Fi Channel will be running its 'Star Trek Chain Reaction', starting at 9:00am Eastern Time with 'The Enemy Within' and ending at 6:00pm with 'The Trouble With Tribbles'.
Trek BBS Today
-How did Deanna Troi get her accent?
-Which do you prefer - Jeri Taylor's 'Voyager' or Brannon Braga's 'Voyager'?
More topics can be found at the Trek BBS!
Christian (6:56 pm CST)
Take a look at some of the topics currently being discussed at the Trek BBS:
Hello World!
Christian (6:55 pm CST)
Just so you all know, over the next few days my online time will be severely limited, as I'll be celebrating New Year with our entire family at my grandparents' house. Though I will still be able to do TrekToday updates then (I'll be taking my laptop with me), they will be very rudimentary updates, and any other site work will have to wait until 2000. Regular service (along with long-delayed mail responses) will resume on the 2nd of January again.
