News headlines from March 2000:

Ryan Narrates UFO Special
Christian (6:06 pm CST)
The official Jeri Lynn Ryan Homepage is reporting that Jeri Ryan (Seven of Nine) has narrated the 'UFOs & Aliens: Search for the Truth: Making Contact' special, which will be airing soon on the Learning Channel. The program looks at how modern technology such as the internet aids in the search for extraterrestrial life. The special will air next Sunday at 9:00pm Central Time, and next Monday at 12:00am.

German Episode Titles
Christian (6:06 pm CST)
Sebastian Lorenz at Voyager Central sends along a list of German episode titles for the first half of season 6. He received this list during a visit to the German dubbing studios for Voyager, about which you'll hopefully be able to see a full report. Here are the titles:

120. 'Equinox, Part Two' - 'Equinox, Teil 2'
121. 'Survival Instinct' - Unknown
122. 'Barge of the Dead' - Unknown
123. 'Tinker Tenor Doctor Spy' - Unknown
124. 'Alice' - 'Alice'
125. 'Riddles' - 'Rätsel'
126. 'Dragon's Teeth' - 'Der Zahn des Drachen'
127. 'One Small Step' - 'Ein Kleiner Schritt'
128. 'The Voyager Conspiracy' - 'Die Voyager-Konspiration'
129. 'Pathfinder' - 'Das Pfadfinder-Projekt'

Trek Shakespeare References
Christian (6:06 pm CST)
Julia Houston at About.com's Star Trek Fans has put up a new feature article, looking at the many Shakespeare references in Star Trek:

TOS and TNG provided Trekkers with a wealth of Shakespearean references which not only allows us to sound really snooty when discussing "thematic relevance," but also enriches many episodes with such a powerful representation of human culture.

DS9 and Voyager, in what seems a conscious decision to avoid repetition and distance themselves from the earlier shows, haven't had much use for the Bard, though they've certainly drawn from many other cultural sources with similar effect.

But our TOS and TNG Shakespearean legacy is large and complex, growing from occasional allusions to a sort of climax of references and relevance at the end of TNG and Star Trek VI: The Undiscovered Country.

Alternate CCG Cards
Christian (6:06 pm CST)
Over at Decipher, the publisher of the Official Star Trek Customisable Card Game, they've put up an article about the development of the recent 'Rules of Acquisition' expansion set:

During the development of a new expansion set, many design elements will change - and then change again. This back-and-forth is part of the refining process which ensures that every new card will be as fine-tuned as possible. However, in addition to providing players with quality products, this evolutionary process makes for great stories! Here are a few of them from the "Rules of Acquisition" file, offering a glimpse at what might have been...

In its first playtest mockup, "Center of Attention" was called "Trouble" and its lore simply read: "Poor Quark."

Originally, it had been planned to introduce the new skill of Bribery, which would figure heavily on new Ferengi missions, and be a condition for using the "Bribe" incident. Very late in the process, however, it was decided that a new skill was unnecessary and the Bribery incident was changed to its final text.

'Galaxy Quest' Video Release Date
Christian (6:05 pm CST)
According to Amazon.com, the home video and DVD of 'Galaxy Quest', the recent Trek-spoof starring Tim Allen, will be released on the 2nd of May. A picture of the video's cover can be found here on Amazon. Thanks go out to Gustavo Leao for this!

Continuum Improvement Update
Christian (6:05 pm CST)
The people at the official Continuum just put up a short news article in which they update us on the changes to the site, which is currently being rebuild to 'enhance your on-line Star Trek experience'. The article lists temporarily disabling the site's chat functionality, removing the Flash version of the site and improving the navigational elements of the site as the three main changes, though it isn't really clear how the first two changes are intended to improve the system. For the full article, follow this link.

Benelux Trek TV News
Christian (6:05 pm CST)
As of Tuesday the 7th of March, the Dutch commercial television station Net 5 will be showing 'Star Trek: The Next Generation' every working day at about 17:15 CET, starting with 'Encounter At Farpoint, Part One'. The show will replace 'Malibu CA', which is currently being shown in that timeslot. Together with the Voyager broadcasts on Saturday and the DS9 broadcasts on Sunday, this means we'll now actually have seven days of Voyager per week here in the Netherlands!

In other Benelux news, the Belgian Kanaal 2 will start broadcasting of Voyager's fourth season this week, after they've completed DS9's fourth season. Kanaal 2 will skip 'Scorpion, Part Two' and instead show 'The Gift' as the first episode of the season. Thanks go out to Adrian and StarTrek.nl for this!

'Dark Frontier' Beats 'Spirit Folk'
Christian (6:05 pm CST)
Now there's a surprise. Greg Fuller at the Star Trek Nielsen Ratings Information Database is reporting that 'Spirit Folk', last week's new Voyager episode, didn't perform that well:

Hurt by the tough Grammy competition from CBS, "Spirit Folk" only managed a season-low 3.2 rating, 5 share. That's down from last week's mediocre 3.5/5 mark set by "Collective" and well below last year's 4.7 household rating achieved by "Dark Frontier."

In timeslot competition, Fox and CBS both aired specials that performed stronger than their usual lineups, CBS with the Grammys (17.3) and Fox with "Secrets of Street Magicians Finally Revealed" (6.1). "Spirit Folk" still finished 5th in the timeslot, ahead of an "Angel" rerun, which only tallied a 1.6. "Seven Days" started UPN's Wednesday with a 2.0, "WWF Smackdown!" led the netlet with a 4.9.

New 'Armada' Shots
Christian (6:04 pm CST)
Over at Federation HQ, they've put up 12 new screenshots of Activision's upcoming 'Star Trek: Armada' real-time strategy game. You can find the shots by going here. In addition, Gamespot UK has put up a short preview of the game.

Probable Chris-Craft Lawsuit Failure
Christian (6:04 pm CST)
Yesterday's edition of Studio Briefing contained the following news item:

A New York judge seemed to indicate Monday that he will not issue an injunction to block Viacom's $50 billion acquisition of CBS. The injunction is being sought by Chris-Craft-controlled BHC Communications, partnered with Viacom in the UPN television network. During a hearing Monday, State Supreme Court Justice Herman Kahn told an attorney for BHC that even if the Viacom-CBS deal is completed, BHC could still sue Viacom. As reported by Bloomberg News, Cahn declared: "Any rights you have under the agreement with Viacom you'll still have. ... If (the merger agreement is) actionable, then you still have an action."

No Talking Apes At UPN
Christian (6:04 pm CST)
Or at least not in that part of UPN which is actually shown on television. Variety's Michael Schneider is reporting that UPN and Todd McFarlane won't be able to develop a 'Gorilla World' series after all:

The 600-pound gorillas at Fox have apparently stopped ``Spawn'' creator Todd McFarlane from aping one of the studio's classic franchises. McFarlane and UPN last month sealed plans to develop ``Gorilla World,'' a new take on talking chimps inspired by the ``Planet of the Apes'' movies.

Twentieth Century Fox lawyers decided it sounded a little too similar to the studio's ``Apes'' franchise, and quickly sent a cease-and-desist letter to the network. The studio was apparently upset by McFarlane's contention that the studio didn't hold a monopoly on projects about talking apes.

Today On TV
Christian (6:04 pm CST)
-Tonight at 9:00pm (8:00pm Central Time), UPN will be showing the new Voyager episode 'Ashes To Ashes'. Here's how UPN describes the episode:

To the shock and disbelief of the crew, their colleague, Ensign Lyndsay Ballard, returns to the Starship after having been killed on a mission long ago. Pursued by her alien Kobali abductors, whose reproductive system is centered on reanimation of the dead, she rekindles her former relationships with Janeway and the crew of the Voyager, hoping to reverse the effects of the alien genes implanted in her system. Her old friendship with Lieutenant Harry Kim ignites and deepens until the moment in his quarters when she realizes the horror and extent of her Kobali genes. Harry's support and affection complicates Ballard's final decision as to whether she will remain human or return to the Kobali homeland with the alien family that loves her.

-On Thursday in Germany, Sat.1 will be showing Voyager's 'Prototyp' at 15:00 CET.

Trek BBS Today
Christian (6:03 pm CST)
Below are some of the topics currently being discussed at the Trek BBS:

-The first Voyager video of the sixth season has just been released in the United Kingdom. What did you think about it?

-Do you think that Star Trek games should come to the Playstation 2?

More topics can be found at the Trek BBS!

Hello World!
Christian (6:03 pm CST)
If I didn't know better I'd almost say it was time for a massive system re-install. This evening alone, Internet Explorer crashed three times, the last time taking the entire system down with it. I guess I shouldn't complain - it's now six months after my last complete re-install, which means I've actually broken my record.

Daily UK Trek To End
Christian (5:34 pm CST)
Dave Arquati at the Star Trek Collective just sent in some rather bad news for UK Trek viewers: from Monday 12 March, weekday repeats of 'Voyager' on Sky One will be replaced by repeats of 'Stargate SG-1'. Presumably this will last until Sky has run through all the Stargate episodes once.

Mulgrew To Retire After Voyager
Christian (5:34 pm CST)
Totally Kate! has put up the transcript of a TV interview with Kate Mulgrew (Kathryn Janeway) and her husband, former Ohio politician Tim Hagan. Here's a short snippet from the interview, which was shown in WKYC-TV Cleveland Channel 3 News on the 23rd of February:

Tim Hagan - I'd like to have a more normal existence when Kate comes to Cleveland and have time to take a walk in the woods and go to a movie without worrying about being somewhere else.

Kate Mulgrew - It's getting a little wearing at this point… but we understood this going in, so… we have in our sights another couple of years. We can do that. We'll punch through somehow and then I will leave Hollywood, I'll sell this house, go to Cleveland. [Interviewer] Dick Russ - When the Dynamic Duo does come to Cleveland, they plan to build a house and settle into a more domestic lifestyle, at least to start. Kate Mulgrew - You will see me in the kitchen of my house, cooking endless meals for my ever hungry, voracious and demanding husband.

Boxleitner Signed For 'Genesis' Series
Christian (5:34 pm CST)
Frank Garcia at Fandom has posted an interview with former Babylon 5 star Bruce Boxleitner, who has been signed to star in a remake of the Gene Roddenberry project 'Genesis II'. No shooting has actually been done on the series yet, though, as it seems to have been place on an extended development cycle:

There's some irony attached to choosing Boxleitner as the "new" Dylan Hunt: Alex Cord, the actor who originated the role, is actually a friend. GENESIS II, the 1973 film written and produced by Roddenberry, starred Cord as the 20th Century scientist who was accidentally frozen in an underground cavern and revived in the year 2133, where he joined a peaceful society of scientists and teachers whose goal was to help rebuild the fragmented, post-nuclear world. In 1974 Roddenberry tried the idea again at ABC, called PLANET EARTH, with John Saxon in the lead role.

Don't expect to see GENESIS's main title theme on your TV screens any time soon. The property is presently unsold and looking for a cable outlet just as another series, Gene Roddenberry's ANDROMEDA starring Kevin Sorbo, prepares for filming in Vancouver, British Columbia this summer for a Fall 2000 premiere in syndication. GENESIS was originally envisioned as one half of a two-hour block of Roddenberry programming in syndication, together with ANDROMEDA. But that ideal may take some time to bring to life. Boxleitner says that Tribune has opted instead to place Earth's rebirth on the development burner.

Anna L. Kaplan Interview
Christian (5:34 pm CST)
As part of his Ronald D. Moore week, AntonyF at Fandom's Star Trek Central has put up an interview with Anna L. Kaplan, the writer behind the recent series of Ron Moore interviews. In the interview, she mentions how the interviews actually came into being:

AntonyF: Thank you Anna for taking the time for this interview. I know you're aware of the interest that have been generated by your interviews with Ron Moore, not a day went by without an email either agreeing with Ron or complimenting you on the interviews. I know some people are curious to how the interviews came about. How did it all start? Did Ron contact you, or did you seek him out?

Anna Kaplan: I have been interviewing Ron Moore for years. In 1996 we talked for the first time about the feature FIRST CONTACT which he co-wrote with Brannon Braga. After that, I interviewed him regularly about DEEP SPACE NINE. Ron joined the writers and producers of DS9 after THE NEXT GENERATION finished, eventually becoming co-executive producer. During these years I wrote all the STAR TREK coverage for the magazine CINEFANTASTIQUE. Ron and I would do a long interview at the end of each season, discussing all the episodes.

At the end of the seventh and final season of DS9, Ron told me he was planning to join the VOYAGER staff. He was looking forward to it. When I heard soon afterwards that he was leaving VOYAGER, I called him just to see if he was okay. It was very traumatic for him, and he and I spoke to each other a number of times during the following months. Mainly I would just be checking in with him to see what he was doing and how he was feeling. Those conversations remain off-the-record. He thought about what happened for a long time, and during a talk with me in November last year, he told me that he wanted to do an interview, for publication, about his experiences. So I would have to say he approached me about the interview, although I initiated a lot of the contact. The articles came from a very long interview session at Ron's home.

Masterson Wins TV Guide Award
Christian (5:34 pm CST)
Geek & Guru is reporting that Chase Masterson (Leeta) won TV Guide Online's People's Choice Award for the Most Popular Science Fiction Actress of 1999. A short article celebrating this event can be found on this page.

Sexy Geeks Name Trek Captain
Christian (5:33 pm CST)
Julene Snyder at the Industry Standard has written a new article about the upcoming 'Sexiest Geek Alive 2000' contest, which is to be held at the South by Southwest Interactive Conference on March 14 in Austin, Texas. More than 16,000 entries have been submitted, split roughly 60-40 between male and female applicants, and here is what they need to do to win the contest:

Given the numbers, making it to the finals is an accomplishment. That feat will not go unrewarded: The 12 finalists will be flown to New York to be interviewed Tuesday on Good Morning America. After the winner is announced in Austin, there will be yet another GMA appearance for the sole standing sexy geek (who must be present at SXSW to win) before being whisked off again to the Big Apple, this time for an appearance on the Montel Williams Show. Fame surely will follow. (One assumes that fortune is already in the bag for the winner - if they've had the foresight to gather stock-options rather than defunct hardware along the way.)

The contest application has fields that seem designed to weed out the true geeks from wannabes. Potential winners are plied not only with questions about "computer experience," "favorite OS" and "what kind of computer set-up do you have at home," they also are asked to name their favorite Star Trek captain, tell what PCMCIA stands for, give the definition of an Osborne, know which state Compaq is located in, describe a META tag, explain the meaning of Heisenberg's Uncertainty Principle and more. In one sampling of applications, the number of people who knew Heisenberg's Uncertainty Principle was a bit startling, but these people are, after all, self-described geeks.

Gerrold To Head GalaxyOnline
Christian (5:33 pm CST)
David Gerrold, who wrote the Original Series script 'The Trouble With Tribbles', has been named as head of development for GalaxyOnline, calling itself the the largest science fiction and science fact related Interactive online network in the universe. Here's what Gerrold will be doing at the company:

As part of the executive team at Galaxyonline.com, Gerrold will oversee the slate of original film and television productions that are currently underway for Galaxy Pictures, a subsidiary. As the supersite begins broadcasting original programming on its online channel Galaxy TV this spring, Gerrold will begin production for the new hour-long sci-fi drama titled ``Star Wolf.''

Marc Wade Feeds The Monster
Christian (5:33 pm CST)
FTM ('Feed The Monster') Media Inc. just sent out a press release announcing that Marc Wade has joined their management team as Senior Vice President of Web Site Development and Services. Previously, Wade served as Supervising Producer at the official Star Trek Continuum. Take a look:

Wade, who has more than 20 years of multimedia design and creative team management experience, joins Feed the Monster from Paramount Digital Entertainment. There he most recently was Supervising Producer/Creative Director for the design, development and ongoing production of Web sites. A pioneer in the commercial use of the Internet, he is credited with the development of the first Web site to promote a major studio motion picture. Among his subsequent projects were the Web sites for Star Trek, Entertainment Tonight, and Paramount Studios as well as numerous movie and television show promotional sites. He supervised teams of producers, writers, coordinators, technicians and graphic artists as well as external software developers and design firms. He will direct a comparable contingent of creative staff at FTM.

SFX Trek Rumours
Christian (5:33 pm CST)
SFX, which also recently reported Series V would be filmed in Australia, just printed a rumour about the fate of Voyager and Series V, with the key word, according to them, being 'melding':

Here's what could happen: Voyager gets a few more regular characters towards the end of its run, and instead of ending with a bang, just - well, just stops. The new series carries on with the new characters. See? This will mean that the new series won't need to start with a pilot movie or two hour special, it will just follow on where Voyager left off, nice and smooth. In theory. Melding, that's the key.

Today On TV
Christian (5:33 pm CST)
-On Wednesday in the United States, the Sci-Fi Channel will be showing the Original Series episode 'Who Mourns For Adonais' at 4:00pm Eastern Time.

-On Wednesday in Canada, Space! will be showing the Original Series' 'Plato's Stepchildren' at 10:00am and at 4:00pm Eastern Time, and DS9's 'Destiny' at 10:00pm.

-On Wednesday in the United Kingdom, Sky One will be showing Voyager's 'The Killing Game, Part Two' at 17:00 and at 23:30 GMT, while BBC Two will be showing DS9's 'Wrongs Darker Than Death Or Night' at 18:45. Thanks go out to Kathryn Hughes for this!

-On Wednesday in Germany, Sat.1 will be showing 'Die Resistance' at 15:00 CET.

Trek BBS Today
Christian (5:32 pm CST)
Below are some of the topics currently being discussed at the Trek BBS:

-Do you think Leonardo DiCaprio would be a good choice to play Anakin Skywalker in 'Star Wars: Episode One'?

-How big is our galaxy?

Find more topics at the Trek BBS!

Hello World!
Christian (5:32 pm CST)
Spent practically all day working on the updated TrekToday design. It's now finally progressing nicely, and I actually expect it to be finished tomorrow, if I manage to find the time tomorrow evening to work on it. Then it'll finally be able to go up within the next two weeks or so, together with the completely revitalised Trek Nation. Yeehaa!

Slanted Fedora McNeill Pics
Christian (6:28 pm CST)
RanDoM Flight, the official fan site of Robert Duncan McNeill (Tom Paris) has put up a set of photos from Slanted Fedora's Weekend With The Stars, which was organised on the 12th and 13th of February in Champaign, Illinois. Most of the photos of course show McNeill, but there are also shots showing Robert Picardo (the Doctor), Ethan Phillips (Neelix) and Roxann Dawson (B'Elanna Torres). Click here to see the pictures.

Voyager UK Video Mistake
Christian (6:28 pm CST)
Fandom's Star Trek Central is reporting some interesting news about Voyager video 6.1, just released in the UK, and including the episodes 'Equinox, Part Two' and 'Survival Instinct'. Every box comes with a sticker proudly proclaiming 'Equinox, Part Two' to be "America's highest viewed episode ever", which is of course clearly untrue.

On 'Andromeda' Spec Scripts
Christian (6:28 pm CST)
On Usenet, Andromeda's Executive Producer Robert Hewitt Wolfe just answered a fan question about fan and freelance script submissions for the show, which Majel Barrett apparently said would be accepted once the series got going. Here's part of what Wolfe had to say about the question of unsolicited scripts:

So will we accept specs? It all depends. First off, we definitely won't be accepting specs in the first year. I just don't think there's much of a chance of getting reasonable specs until the episodes are on the air. The show airs in October, we wrap in December. So the earliest we'd be accepting specs would be in January as we're preparing for Season Two.

HOWEVER, and this is a big one, the final decision about whether we can take them isn't mine. It's Tribune's and Fireworks'. Because when push comes to shove, it's their money on the line. They'd have to provide the workforce to process, read, and cover the scripts. Their lawyers would have to deal with the inevitable, nuisance lawsuits, etc., etc.

So, this is a conversation I'll be having with Tribune as we're wrapping things up in December.

'Elite Force' Comic Interview
Christian (6:28 pm CST)
John Callaham at Stomped has put up a short interview with Raven's Brian Pelletier, the project lead for the 'Voyager: Elite Force' game. In the inerview, Pelletier talks about the recently announced 'Elite Force' comic. Take a look at one question from the interview:

JCal: The DC Comics description of the comic stated that the comic will contain clues that can be used in playing the game. How will that be accomplished?

Pelletier: We are working with the creative team to work details into the comic book like where a secret area is in the game, and even have the comic characters work through a puzzle in the book that the player will have to do in the game. We are also talking about putting in a page at the back of the comic that give some hints and strategies for the game, possibly with some artwork from artist at Raven. All of this is work in progress so we will see what we can do as time goes on.

Menosky Talks Continuity
Christian (6:27 pm CST)
Over at TrekWeb, they've put up an excerpt from an interview with Voyager writer Joe Menosky, which first appeared in the April 2000 issue of Cinefantastique Magazine. In the interview, Menosky talks about the Q episode which was rumoured a while ago (and which apparently doesn't yet exist), and also gives the writers' official position on Voyager's handling of continuity:

About the fan criticism of Voyager's lack of continuity, Menosky told Cinefantastique "[...] We're not willing to be that rigid about continuity. It's not that we don't know these things. It's just that we choose to ignore them when it suits our purposes. We know what we are doing when we dismiss continuity. You can't accuse us of ignorance. We can be accused of arrogance, but that's about as far as it goes."

New Sev Trek Competition
Christian (6:27 pm CST)
John Cook at Sev Trek has put up a new edition of the 'Write Your Own Sev Trek' competition:

Take a look at what this week's competition deals with:

Soran vs Captain Quirk.
This week features our first caricature of the evil Doctor Soran, the second Fantasy Island host to attempt to kill Captain Quirk (and finally succeeding).

Auberjonois Reads 'Knock'
Christian (6:27 pm CST)
The Seeing Ear Theatre, the internet audio series of the Sci-Fi Channel, recently put up an audio version of 'Knock', a short story by Fredric Brown, narrated by René Auberjonois (Odo). Here's what the tale is about:

"The last man on earth sat alone in a room. There was a knock at the door..."

The horror of, of course, doesn't lie in the story but in the ellipses -- the implication of *what* knocked at the door?

The tale "Knock" opens with those two sentences, then spins a narrative that details a handful of surviving humans imprisoned in a zoo-like environment. They are under study by Zan, an alien race preparing to colonize the Earth.

Delta Blues 'Spirit Folk' Review
Christian (6:27 pm CST)
Jim Wright over at Delta Blues has put up his review of last week's 'Spirit Folk'. Here's a snippet from his review:

This episode was a farce, pure and simple. You can get away with stuff in a farce that you otherwise couldn't. Think of all those Vince Gilligan and Darin Morgan episodes of the X Files--which happen to be some of my favorites. "Jose Chung" and "Coprophage," just to name two. Or the "Mudd's Planet" episode of the original series, where illogic was used as a weapon to deactivate all those identical androids. Or "A Piece of the Action," though there was a plot buried in the bad driving and Tommy guns and bad gangster slang. Hardly high water marks in the canon, but they're fun--and in my book, entertainment is the Prime Directive.

I do like Trek when it (insert appropriately reverent music here) Means Something. I don't expect that every week, though. Sometimes a show has to be given the freedom to not take itself so seriously.

First 'DS9: The Fallen' Worf Shots
Christian (6:26 pm CST)
Over at Federation HQ, they've put up five new screenshots of the upcoming 'Deep Space Nine: The Fallen' action game, for the first time showing Worf in action. You can find the screenshots by going here. In addition, Evil Avatar has also posted five new screenshots of the episode.

Today On TV
Christian (6:26 pm CST)
-On Tuesday in the United States, the Sci-Fi Channel will be showing the Original Series episode 'Amok Time' at 4:00pm Eastern Time.

-On Tuesday in Canada, Space! will be showing DS9's 'Life Support' at 4:00am Eastern Time, the Original Series' 'Day of the Dove' at 10:00am and at 4:00pm, and DS9's 'Heart Of Stone' at 10:00pm.

-On Tuesday in the United Kingdom, Sky One will be showing Voyager's 'The Killing Game, Part One' 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 'Das Signal' at 15:00 CET.

Trek BBS Today
Christian (6:26 pm CST)
Below you'll find some of the topics currently being discussed at the Trek BBS:

-What do you think about Kate Mulgrew's appearance in a political television spot?

-Did you see the new Cleopatra 2525 series?

Find more topics at the Trek BBS!

Hello World!
Christian (6:26 pm CST)
One of the benefits of living in the Netherlands is that shows which air opposite of each other in the United States don't necessarily do so over here. Because of this, as of last week I'm already able to enjoy both 'Roswell' and 'Voyager', and today 'The West Wing' premiered on Dutch television, another show which airs opposite Voyager in the US. I'm already impressed by the series - the first episode felt a bit like the introduction to a really long movie, but maybe that's just a very good thing :-). This is definitely a series I'll be watching every week.

First 'Child's Play' Photos
Christian (5:50 pm CST)
NOTE: Below you will find spoilers for 'Child's Play', an upcoming Voyager episode. Click here to avoid them.

Again, this is where you need to click to avoid being spoiled.

Over at the official UPN site, they've just put up the following mini-synopsis of 'Child's Play':

Seven of Nine reveals her protective instincts for one of the children on board Voyager when his parents reclaim him and secretly place the child on a suicide mission against their Borg enemies.

New German SF Radio Shows
Christian (5:49 pm CST)
Over at SFRadio.de, they've put up new editions of Audio 51 and TrekMINDS, their bi-weekly online radio shows. Audio 51 deals with SF news in general, but also includes an interview with the president of the official German Trek fan club. TrekMINDS is dedicated completely to Star Trek, and includes as special feature an interview with Gertie Honeck, who provides the voice of Captain Janeway for the German version of the show. You canlisten to the two shows (which are, of course, in German) by going here. Thanks Corona for this!

More Armada Beta Reports
Christian (5:49 pm CST)
Kyle Rogers at StarBase Armada sends along word he's put up 4 new screenshots of the game, showing The Federation Special Weapon (Temporal Distortion), a Klingon BOP in cinematic Engaging the Borg, Sovy in front of a Starbase, and the Multiplayer game set up screen. The site has also been updated with the fourth installment in its series of beta reports, this time describing base layout. You can find the report by following this link.

Ryan Indie Films Release News
Christian (5:48 pm CST)
The Official Jeri Lynn Ryan Homepage has put up a list of four film festivals which will be showing 'The Last Man' and/or 'Men Cry Bullets', the two independent films starring Jeri Ryan (Seven of Nine). The festivals all fall in the period from March to April. You can find the list on the JLR's news page.

ST Central Ron Moore Week
Christian (5:48 pm CST)
AntonyF at Fandom's Star Trek Central sends along word that he's just launched a Ronald D. Moore Week on his site, dedicated to the former Trek writer:

This week (starting 27 Feb) is Ron Moore week at Star Trek Central. There's a daily poll, where fans can say whether they agree/disagree with Ron's views. There will also be a look at Ron's work with Trek, and an interview with Anna L. Kaplan, who did the interview with Ron. Finally, on Saturday, there's a live chat where fans can discuss the interviews and the future of Trek.

Krauss To Speak In Arkansas
Christian (5:47 pm CST)
The Arkansas Democrat-Gazette is reporting that Lawrence Krauss, author of 'The Physics Of Star Trek', will be giving a free lecture at the University of Kansas next Thursday, the second of March:

Sponsored by the UA physics department, the free lecture will be held in the Donald W. Reynolds Center in the Sam Walton School of Business. A rather pedestrian setting for such a stellar event, to be sure, but Krauss' speech will blast audiences though a multidimensional tour of the Star Trek universe, which he uses as a pop-culture template to explain the rapidly evolving world of modern physics.

Through the use of slides, props and video clips (not to mention the wit and charm for which Trekkers are famous), Krauss will deal with heady topics such as time travel and its relationship to warp speed (a k a the speed of light), the Big Bang Theory and the search for extraterrestrial life (a k a our attempts to boldly go where no man has gone before).

Happy Birthday!
Christian (5:46 pm CST)
Today is the 63rd birtday of Barbara Babcock, who made frequent guest appearances on the Original Series for both live roles and voice-overs. She voiced Trelane's mother in 'The Squire Of Gothos', Isis the cat in 'Assignment: Earth', Commander Loskene in 'The Tholian Web', and she appeared as Mea 349 in 'A Taste For Armageddon' and as Philana in 'Plato's Stepchildren'. Her full bio can be found at the IMDB.

Correction
Christian (5:46 pm CST)
Here's a correction to yesterday's news item about Kate Mulgrew (Kathryn Janeway) appearing in a political television spot, sent in by Elton Elliott:

James Trafficant is an incumbant Democrat. His opponent, whom Ms. Mulgrew is supporting, is also a Democrat, and is challenging Rep. Trafficant in the Ohio Democrat Primary, which will be this March 7. Republicans and Democrats do not run against each other until the general election, which is on the first Tuesday in November.

Poll Results
Christian (5:45 pm CST)
Below you'll find the results of the most recent TrekToday poll, asking you what you thought of 'Spirit Folk':

How would you grade 'Spirit Folk'? 1-2 24.3% - (69 Votes) 7-8 17.3% - (49 Votes) 5-6 15.9% - (45 Votes) Wasn't able to see it 14.8% - (42 Votes) 9-10 11.3% - (32 Votes) 3-4 8.8% - (25 Votes) Didn't want to see it 7.4% - (21 Votes) Total Votes: 283

Apparently 'Spirit Folk' really was shockingly bad - the episode's average grade is a 5.05, which is more then a full point lower than the second-wordt episode of the season, 'Fair Haven', which scored a 6.09. Hopefully TPTB finally get the message and stop visiting Fair Haven again. Anyway, please also participate in our new poll, asking if you will be watching the new Gene Roddenberry / Robert Hewitt Wolfe / Kevin Sorbo series 'Andromeda', when it premieres next Fall.

Today On TV
Christian (5:44 pm CST)
-On Monday in the United States, the Sci-Fi Channel will be showing the Original Series episode 'Operation: Annihilate!' at 4:00pm Eastern Time.

-On Monday in Canada, Space! will be showing the Original Series' 'For The World Is Hollow And I Have Touched The Sky' at 10:00am and at 4:00pm Eastern Time, and DS9's 'Life Support' at 10:00pm.

-On Monday in the United Kingdom, Sky One will be showing Voyager's 'Retrospect' at 17:00 and at 23:30 GMT, and DS9's 'The Changing Face Of Evil' at 20:00. Thanks go out to Kathryn Hughes for this!

-On Monday in Germany, Sat.1 will be showing Voyager's 'Suspiria' at 15:00 CET.

Trek BBS Today
Christian (5:44 pm CST)
Below are some of the topics currently being discussed at the Trek BBS:

-Which episode of the Animated Series was your favourite?

-What do you think about the recently announced Section 31 novel series? (And why did I miss this post when it first appeared? Groan.)

-Take part in the petition to change Voyager's name!

Find more topics at the Trek BBS!

Hello World!
Christian (5:43 pm CST)
Unfortunately I have some very sad news for fans of A Take On Trek, Fred Shedian's weekly column at the Trek Nation. I just received the following mail from a relative of Fred:

I am writing on behalf of Fred Shedian. Mr. Shedian, a relative of mine, was recently hospitalized. His time at the hospital has thus far consisted of at least one biopsy and numerous tests in an effort to detect the status of a cronic liver condition he suffers from. Per his request, I was told to alert everyone in his address book of this.