News headlines from September 1999:

Hollywood Reporter 'Equinox' Review
Christian (5:09 pm CST)
Jeff 'Koganuts' Koga sends along word that the September 22 edition of the Hollywood Reporter included a review of the Voyager season premiere, written by Michael Farkash. Farkash was extremely positive about the series' sixth-season debut:

It's all up to "Star Trek: Voyager" to carry the torch. UPN's top-rated series (adults and households) warps through its sixth season as the only "Star Trek" series in production. The season premiere is a lively romp filled with action, intriguing character conflicts and imaginative visuals and will draw the interest of general viewers and ardent fans.

[...]

Mulgrew continues to play the role convincingly and passionately, Chakotay (Robert Beltran) is a powerful foil for her, and Seven of Nine (Jeri Ryan) is a resolutely courageous character.

Trek Author News
Christian (5:06 pm CST)
Psi Phi's David Henderson just sent in the following:

In March 2000, Star Trek author Josepha Sherman's book "Deep Water" (co-written with Laura Anne Gilman) will be out. [Josepha Sherman is the co-author 'Vulcan's Forge' and 'Vulcan's Heart.'] The following month, Trek comics editor Jeff Mariotte's young adult novelization "The Xander Years, Volume 2" will be out. Both books are "Buffy the Vampire Slayer" novels from Pocket Books.

Radio Free Decipher(Con)
Christian (5:06 pm CST)
Just a few days late, the people at Star Trek Customizable Card Game publisher Decipher have put up a new edition of 'Radio Free Decipher,' their weekly online radio show. This week, host Carol Wisely talks to Kendrick Summers about DecipherCon, the upcoming CCG convention in November. You can access the broadcast via this page.

'DS9: The Fallen' Designer Q&A
Christian (5:06 pm CST)
Unreality has put up a short Q&A with T. Elliot Cannon (better known as Myscha the Sled Dog), the Collective's Level Design Director currently in charge of 'DS9: The Fallen.' Though he doesn't really say much about the actual status of the Deep Space Nine game, he does answer a few questions on how he got started designing levels, the other projects the Collective is working on and general questions about creating levels. You can find the interview by visiting Unreality and scrolling down a bit.

Cult Times René Auberjonois Interview
Christian (5:06 pm CST)
Issue 49 of Visual Imaginations' British Cult Times magazine contains an interview with René Auberjonois, who starred on 'Star Trek: Deep Space Nine' as Security Chief Odo. As usual, their web site contains a short preview of the full interview, in which the actor talks about how he tried to make the character of Odo a bit different from himself:

"If you do your job properly you usually learn a lot from any role you do. Of course, getting to play someone like Odo over a period of years has given me a greater understanding of the character," notes Auberjonois. "For me, as I began to see the light at the end of the tunnel, I became aware of how on an instinctive level I made choices to cover myself.

"The mask of the character was already written into the show, but I actually lobbied for a denser and more complete mask than they initially considered. I also used very different vocal and physical qualities when playing Odo, so I really hid myself, Rene Auberjonois the person, within the character.

Animated Series On German TV
Christian (5:05 pm CST)
Daily Trek, the daily newsletter of our German partner site TrekZone.de, is reporting that the German digital television channel 'Premiere World' will start showing the animated Trek series 'Die Enterprise' every Saturday at 15:00. I assume 'Die Enterprise' is the German name of the Star Trek Animated Series, which ran in the early 1970s.

Happy Birthday!
Christian (5:05 pm CST)
Today would have been the 67th birthday of Roger C. Carmel, who created one of the Original Series' most popular recurring characters - Harry Fencourt Mudd. Sadly, he passed away on the 11th of Novermber, 1986.

Poll Results
Christian (5:05 pm CST)
It's been a while since we've had a 'Poll Results' update, but from now on they'll hopefully be appearing a bit more regularly. Below you'll find the results of the poll which was running over the past few days:

How would you grade 'Equinox, Part Two?' 7-8 31.6% (100 Votes) 9-10 30% (95 Votes) Wasn't able to see it 18.3% (58 Votes) 5-6 12.3% (39 Votes) 3-4 3.7% (12 Votes) 1-2 1.8% (6 Votes) Didn't want to see it 1.8% (6 Votes) Total Votes: 316

This week's poll doesn't directly deal with Star Trek, though it has some very strong ties to it. As you may recall, former DS9 writer Robert Hewitt Wolfe is currently developing a science fiction series based on Gene Roddenberry's files, and starring Kevin Sorbo as Captain of a long-lost starship in a galaxy which has just entered a state of turmoil. Originally this series was going to be called 'Phoenix Rising,' but now it has been officially retitled to 'Andromeda.' We're curious, though, what you think is the better title - do you think this series' title should be 'Phoenix Rising' or 'Andromeda?' Please vote in this week's poll, which you can find in the right-hand menu here at TrekToday.

Today On TV
Christian (5:04 pm CST)
-At 7:00pm and at 2:00am Eastern Time, the Sci-Fi Channel will be showing the third-season TOS episode 'Let That Be Your Last Battlefield.' At 9:00pm and at 11:30pm, they will be showing one of the best Trek movies ever made, 'Star Trek IV: The Voyage Home.'

-According to the Television Observation Unit of the Star Trek Collective (which is now accessible again), British Sky One will be showing Voyager's 'Worst Case Scenario' tomorrow at 17:00 and at 23:30 BST.

-At 00:40 CET tomorrow morning, German Sat.1 will be repeating DS9's ' Der Weg des Kriegers, Teil 1' (The Way of the Warrior, Part One). At 15:00 tomorrow, they'll be showing part two.

-On Tuesday at 11:05pm in Australia, Channel Nine will be showing DS9's 'Things Past.' Thanks go out to Jamie McGregor for this.

Trek BBS Today
Christian (5:04 pm CST)
Here's what's currently being discussed at the Trek BBS:

-Have you ever had 'actor sightings,' where you recognised a guest actor in another series as being from Star Trek?

-What about a new Star Trek series focusing on a Federation Ambassador?

Find more at the Trek BBS!

Hello World!
Christian (5:04 pm CST)
After using both Gooey and ICQ Surf, I have reached two conclusions:

1. Way too few people are using the program. I was logged in on both programs for several hours today, and only two people visited TrekToday using ICQ Surf and no one at all using Gooey. Even on sites such as Yahoo there were never more than 20 people logged in. Of course this has to do with the fact that ICQ Surf only launched a few days ago, but still.

2. ICQ Surf is definitely far superior to Gooey. It has more features, is easier to use, and appears a bit more stable, even though it is still in Alpha. If you decide to get one of these programs (and I think you should), I'd really recommend you go for ICQ Surf. You will need to have the latest version of the actual ICQ program installed, though. (And if you haven't installed ICQ yet, well, what are you waiting for :-)?)

Link of the Day: The Washington Post - Dutch 'Real Life' TV Is a Big Hit, dealing with the program 'Big Brother,' which is extremely popular here at the moment. It's also a bit scary and sick, but perhaps that's what makes it so much fun to watch for so many people.

Activision Trek Games Info
Christian (4:48 pm CST)
Over at the official Continuum, a short article has just gone up looking at the three upcoming Activision Trek games for the PC - 'Insurrection: Hidden Evil,' 'Armada' and 'Voyager: Elite Force.' The article includes the official suggested retail prices, system requirements and expected release dates for the three games, plus a bit of info in what they're actually about. Click here to read it.

TrekWeb Reviews 'Equinox II'
Christian (4:45 pm CST)
Reviewer Steve Perry at TrekWeb has just put up his review of 'Equinox, Part II.' Unlike what several other reviewers have been saying, Perry doesn't think the conclusion was better than the beginning:

It strikes me odd that a lot of Trek cliffhangers fall apart over the summer. With such great setups one would think that the writers could deliver a little more in Part Two. They deliver finality for certain, but in delivering that they forget that Trek isn't about easy answers.

GameCenter 'Elite Force' Preview
Christian (4:40 pm CST)
CNET's Gamecenter has put up a preview of Raven's upcoming first-person action game, 'Voyager: Elite Force.' Previewer Allen Rausch begins by saying something which I myself have also been wondering about already:

Like the Balkans, Star Trek fans are a splintered bunch. Some classic Trek fans have never accepted The Next Generation, whereas some Next Gen fans couldn't understand why people liked Deep Space Nine. Then there's Voyager,the series many feel is the weakest of the four. It's surprising, therefore, that given the lackluster history of Star Trek-based computer games, that one of the most promising in years happens to be based on the Voyager license.

'Equinox II' Credits
Christian (4:40 pm CST)
David Henderson at Psi Phi has just put up the credits for 'Equinox, Part Two,' the Voyager season premiere which aired on Wednesday. As usual, this is where you will find all the information on the episode's stars, creative staff and production crew. Interestingly, the credits still list Ronald D. Moore as co-executive producer - I wonder when his departure will also be reflected in the credits. You can find the full listing here.

New Starfleet Command Patch Status
Christian (4:40 pm CST)
The Starfleet Universe is reporting that Interplay just made the following announcement to their official Starfleet Command site:

We are currently working on the next patch. It will fix more stability issues, especially in multiplayer games, and game balance issues. For example, one of the changes will be to make it impossible to launch seeking weapons at a cloaked ship without a lock-on.

The Gorn elite campaign missions are nearing completion as well. We have been playtesting several of the missions for a while now and more are entering testing. We'll keep you informed as to their progress here.

Esther Friesner Chat On Tuesday
Christian (4:40 pm CST)
This Tuesday at 9:00pm Eastern Time, SF magazine Analog, together with Asimov's and the Sci-Fi Channel, will be hosting a live chat with Esther M. Friesner. Besides being a very active fantasy writer, Friesner also wrote a few Star Trek novels, including the DS9 book 'Warchild' and the TNG book 'To Storm Heaven.' During the chat, however, she won't be talking about Star Trek:

Chat with author George R.R. Martin and editor Esther Friesner about the current state of fantasy fiction. Hugo and Nebula winning author Martin's latest book is A Clash of Kings: A Song of Ice and Fire, No. 2. Friesner has recently edited the fantasy anthologies Chicks in Chainmail and Chicks'N Chained Males.

Voyager 'Last Gasp' Says Schedule
Christian (4:39 pm CST)
The Sunday, September 26 edition of the San José Mercury News contains a somewhat angry letter from reader Aaron Priven, who wrote in to complain about a mention of Voyager in Wednesday's TV schedule. In it, the paper apparently called Voyager the 'last gasp of the Star Trek franchise.' Needless to say, Priven didn't agree with this, as you can read in his full letter to the paper. I'm also a bit surprised at this - to me the Star Trek franchise still looks healthy. We know they're developing a new show, we just saw the Voyager ratings improve, and I think it's safe to assume we'll be guaranteed at least half a decade of new Trek.

Happy Birthday TNG!
Christian (4:39 pm CST)
John Ewald just sent in a news submission stating that today, the 26th of September, is the 12th anniversary of 'Star Trek: The Next Generation.' Precisely twelve years ago, the successor to Gene Roddenberry's original series premiered, immediately getting great ratings and a very loyal fan base. Unfortunately, I am not 100% sure about this date, as the official Continuum's guide page mentions a premiere date of the 28th of September - can anyone clarify this for me?

Today On TV
Christian (4:39 pm CST)
-Dave Arquati at the Star Trek Collective informs me that his ISP is to be blaimed for the site's downtime. In the meantime, he was kind enough to forward me a preview of his UK update for the next Optical Data Network issue, so I'm able to provide you with UK TV data again. According to it, tomorrow at 17:00 and at 23:30 BST Sky One will be showing Voyager's 'Displaced,' while at 20:00 they'll be showing the new DS9 episode 'Shadows and Symbols.'

-Tomorrow at 15:00 CET, German Sat.1 will be showing DS9's 'Der Weg des Kriegers, Teil 1' (The Way of the Warrior, Part One).

Trek BBS Today
Christian (4:38 pm CST)
Here are a few of the interesting topics currently being discussed at the Trek BBS:

-What would have happened had the Dominion won the war?

-How come Captain Janeway's hair seems to be getting redder and redder with each passing season?

Find more topics at the Trek BBS!

Hello World!
Christian (4:38 pm CST)
I just discovered two great programs, which could potentially be very useful in running this site - the first one being Gooey and the second one being ICQ Surf. Both programs basically do the same - they sit dormant in the background while you surf the internet, and when you visit a web site, they check to see if any other Gooey or ICQ Surf users are visiting that site. If there are, it builds a nice little chat room which lets you chat with other visitors of that site. Gooey is a stand-alone program, while ICQ Surf is an add-on to version 99b of the main ICQ program, still in very preliminary testing. Unfortunately neither of the programs seem to be having a lot of users yet (though ICQ Surf only few days ago, so that's understandable), but I can certainly see the great potential both programs have. I personally will be visiting TrekToday a lot while having one of these programs running, so it'd be fun if some of you installed it as well - I look forward to chatting with you!

Fourth Syndication Week Schedule
Christian (5:06 pm CST)
David Henderson at Psi Phi has put up the schedule for the fourth week of Voyager syndication, running from the 4th to the 8th of October. The theme of the fourth week is 'Destination Earth, Part One,' including episodes such as 'Message in a Bottle' and 'Future's End.' You can find the schedule here.

Cynic Reviews 'Equinox II'
Christian (5:06 pm CST)
Hiatus also appears to be over for the Cynics Corner, as David E. Sluss has just put up his review of 'Equinox, Part Two.' In his usual cynical manner, he looks at most of the weak points of the Voyager season premiere, including this one:

ONSCREEN RESET BUTTON OF THE WEEK: There was an awful lot of ammunition for the "court-martial Janeway" crowd this week, but unfortunately Janeway's attempted murder and abuse of authority was erased by the restoration of Voyager's dedication plaque to it's rightful place. All is forgiven and forgotten, as usual, and Janeway even got five new crew members to abuse and jeopardize. I confess that the "interrogation" scene made for one of the better Voyager moments, featuring actual drama (by Star Trek standards, anyway)[1] and decent acting, even from Beltran(!), but it stinks to know that such a pivotal moment, in which Janeway incontrovertibly crossed the line, will be totally whitewashed. Oh, and memo to Braga: Yeah, we get the symbolism about the fallen plaque and the fallen Captain, since you used the same exact schtick in Part I...

Two 'DS9: The Fallen' Previews
Christian (5:05 pm CST)
A new hands-on preview of the Collective's upcoming third-person action game 'Deep Space Nine: The Fallen' has gone up at IGN PC, written by Stephen Butts. The preview contains some information on the pretty impressive character animations:

The character animations are pretty sharp. The game is played, almost exclusively, from the third person perspective. This is for three reasons. First, fans of the show will get all goosey when they can see that they're running around as ol' Benny Sisko. Second, you get a real feel for the scale of the levels. And last, the third person view really highlights the neat character moves--rolls, climbing, and such.

One of the really amazing things added into this game is the speech animation. The Collective has obtained the use of a special technology that converts wav files into separate phonemes. Remember phonics? Then they created animations for each of the spoken sounds that the character makes. The result is that you can instantly translate any wav file into a pretty credible facial animation. The program can even give more or less emphasis based on the volume of the sound. Very cool.

Michael Mullen at GameSpot has also done a preview of the game, though a bit less in-depth than IGN's. What it does contain, however, are 9 new screenshots, one of them even being the first external shot of the station. You can find this preview (which includes a pretty funny reference to the series' Changeling, 'Otto') by going here.

New Sev Trek Comic
Christian (5:05 pm CST)

'TV Land' Celeb Sked Program
Christian (5:05 pm CST)
Viacom, the parent company of TV Land, has put up the detailed schedule of their 'Celeb Sked 1999,' a series of classic TV programs presented by celebrities from the world of television. On the 5th of October, from 8:00pm Eastern Time until midnight, Voyager stars Robert Picardo (the Holodoc), Robert Beltran (Chakotay), Robert Duncan McNeill (Tom Paris), and two of the three non-Robert male cast members Tim Russ (Tuvok) and Garrett Wang (Harry Kim) will be presenting their favourite shows. Some of the shows they've selected include an episode of "Hogan's Heroes,' an episode of "Tales of the Unexpected" and even the episode of "St. Elsewhere" which featured an appearance by Robert Picardo himself! You can find the full listing of Celeb Sked shows and hosts here, thanks go out to Picardo fan club CARPE for pointing me to this.

Three New 'Elite Force' Shots
Christian (5:04 pm CST)
In a short story about the opening of the official 'Voyager: Elite Force' web site, GameFan have included three new screenshots of the upcoming game by Raven Software. One of those is so gorgeous I simply had to include it here, showing the Voyager engine room manned by several crew members. Especially great-looking is the main warp core, which may turn out to be looking just as beautiful as the actual in-series version - I really can't wait to see this game arrive. You can find full-sized versions of the shots here.

First 'Animal Farm' Review
Christian (5:04 pm CST)
Cinescape's Mark Camron has put up the world's first review of 'Animal Farm,' the new TNT/Hallmark adaption of the George Orwell novel, featuring the voice of Patrick Stewart (Jean-Luc Picard) as Napoleon. Though praising the hard work of everyone involved with the mini-series, Camron doesn't feel it is worth more than 1 out of 4 stars:

Overall, everyone involved should be applauded for the efforts that went into this production. Orwell's works are very difficult to interpret on film, and it is apparent that all those involved with this version of Animal Farm took great care to bring this story to life.

Unfortunately, the end result doesn't do the book justice nor does it stand-up as an enjoyable film on its own.

New Voyager Cast Photo
Christian (5:04 pm CST)
Following the 'Cast In Black' picture which appeared in the official Voyager press kit, the October 1999 issue of Sci-Fi Entertainment apparently features another such fun portrait of the Voyager cast out of costume. The official Jeri Lynn Ryan Homepage has put up a scan of the picture, which is really well worth downloading - you can find it here. Thanks go out to Gustavo Leao for this.

Cinescape Reviews 'Equinox II'
Christian (5:04 pm CST)
Regular Cinescape contributor Michael Marek, who used to be providing the site with DS9 episode previews, has returned to the site as Voyager episode reviewer. In his first review for the site, he comments rather favourably on this year's season premiere:

"Equinox II" had one of the strongest examples of character development I have seen in Voyager in a long time. There are some flaws that can be nitpicked, but the fundamental character development of the story is impressive.

Lolita Fatjo Chat Transcript
Christian (5:03 pm CST)
TrekWeb has put up a transcript of yesterday's live chat with Voyager's Script Coordinator Lolita Fatjo. Though the transcript appears a bit short, it still is an interesting read, as can be seen from the below two sample questions:

Pasquale Macri II says: Have you ever had a spec script be made into a Star Trek Show?

Lolita says: Yes, but only four in the last ten years; Measure of a Man, The Bonding, The Offspring and Tin Man.

twkartist says: As an amateur astronomer, I loved the concept of "Voyager" for its potential of "exploration." In the past five seasons, however, we have had very little in the way of actual exploration of other worlds and other space phenomena. Could you please comment on this?

Lolita says: I feel Voyager, more then any other ST shows has shown exploration. What would you like to see happen? Janeway always makes a point of exploring on their way home.

Today On TV
Christian (5:03 pm CST)
-Tomorrow at 16:00 BST, British Sky One will be showing the DS9 episode 'The Circle,' followed an hour later by Voyager's 'Distant Origin,' according to Dave Arquati at the Star Trek Collective. Special thanks go out to the Optical Data Network's Adam Bailey for forwarding this info to me, as the Collective itself is still inaccessible.

-Tonight at 23:30 CET (i.e. about now) German Sat.1 will be repeating DS9's 'Wettkampf in der Holosuite.' (Take Me Out To The Holosuite).

-Unfortunately we didn't start out with Australian TV reporting all that well, as today's TNG episode apparently wasn't 'The Battle,' but 'Home Soil.' This of course also means that at 10:30am Sunday morning, Foxtel 1's repeat will be 'Home Soil.' Thanks go out to Jamie McGregor for this.

Trek BBS Today
Christian (5:03 pm CST)
As is usual for a Saturday, nothing much is really happening at the Trek BBS, though there still are a few interesting threads:

-Raven Software has just opened their official 'Voyager: Elite Force' web site, and one of the games's level designers has just dropped by at our forums to announce that and talk about the game!

-Do you think a Janeway/Paris romance would work?

Find more topics at the Trek BBS!

Hello World!
Christian (5:03 pm CST)
I don't know how this happened, but for some reason the last four TrekToday updates I wrote yesterday never made it to the site. They're the first four stories of today (i.e. right above 'Today On TV'), so my apologies for their being late.

'Survival Instinct' Trailer
Christian (5:44 pm CST)
As the first site on the net, Section 31 has just put up a 20-second trailer for 'Survival Instinct,' next week's new Voyager episode. The video is available as a 320*240 MPEG clip, with a frame rate of 15 FPS and a size of 2.84 MB. Obviously, the video contains a few major spoilers for the actual episode, so if you want to stay in the dark about what is going to happen you probably should not follow this link.

Trek Toy Review At Eon
Christian (5:44 pm CST)
The Trek action figure fans at Eon Magazine have reviewed the latest wave of 12" action figures, as released by Playmates Toys. The new release has a bit of a bitter taste to it, as Playmates also announced recently they'll pull out of the Trek toy line. In their article, Eon look back on nearly a decade of Playmates toy history:

Playmates introduced their TREK line at the height of STAR TREK-THE NEXT GENERATION's popularity in the early '90s and soon expanded the empire to include TNG's sequel shows DS9 and VOYAGER and a line of Classic TREK toys that were beloved by fans of the original series. But even at their height, the toys struggled to compete with the broader-based STAR WARS, comic book and wrestling lines that continually clog toy shelves. While the TNG line did well, sales for DS9 and VOYAGER toys never took off and those lines were quickly canceled for a holistic approach that parceled out characters and accessories from each of the four television series as well as individual TREK movies. But costly errors like a disastrous line of vehicles and playsets watered down Playmates' vision for fans, and their distribution practices left hard core collectors frustrated.

Nevertheless, the company produced some great toys, and their 9" and 12" TREK action figures remain some of the best ever produced. The 12" Wave 3 includes the long-awaited Gorn Captain, Chief Engineer Scott and Helmsman Sulu from the Classic series (leaving only Uhura remaining from the Classic bridge crew--she's due to be released with Wave 4), and Counselor Troi in new STAR TREK - THE NEXT GENERATION packaging.

'Perchance To Dream' Preview
Christian (5:43 pm CST)
After their general Trek comics previews, the people at the Detroit Comics Continuum have now also published a preview of 'Perchance to Dream,' the upcoming TNG comics mini-series written by Keith R.A. DeCandido. Besides two new pieces of artwork, it also includes the following description of the series:

"The Enterprise must provide security for an inauguration ceremony on the newly admitted Federation planet of Damiano. On this distant world, three genders are required for procreation, and anyone with fewer than two partners is considered a moral deviant. When it becomes known that the new governor-elect has only one partner, only Picard and his crew stand between the new governor and Damiano's deadly moralist faction."

IGN Sci-Fi 'Equinox II' Review
Christian (5:43 pm CST)
Replacing last year's Sarah Cox with new reviewer Blake Fischer, the folks at IGN Sci-Fi have put up their review of 'Equinox, Part Two,' this year's Voyager season premiere. Awarding the episode 3 stars out of 5, Fischer isn't altogether positive about the episode:

Forgetting about the characters for a moment, however, the pacing of the action in the show was excellent. There were plenty of space battles, phaser shootouts and high-speed chases to satisfy any sci-fi action fan. It's too bad that the story had to be wrapped up in one episode, because there were hints that Ransom likes to hide in nebulas and we were hoping for a Khan-like blind shootout at the end (lots of hints were dropped that this might happen, but alas). Still, the ending was fairly entertaining.

So, is this what we can expect from the new season of Voyager -- heavy action with light writing? I hope not (I'd like some balance), but next week's will deal with (gasp) Seven of Nine and the Borg coming to get her back. Not an auspicious start.

Eon Reviews 'I,Q'
Christian (5:43 pm CST)
Issue 20.3 of Eon Magazine contains a book review of 'I,Q,' the new Star Trek novel written by Peter David and John DeLancie (Q). Reviewer Arnold T. Blumberg has written an uncharacteristically negative review of the book:

I used to be such a Peter David fan, but it's been such a long time since he's written anything that measures up to his now classic early STAR TREK novels. In this latest effort, in collaboration with the ubiquitous Q himself, David proves once again that whatever spark he once had is long gone. I'm not sure what role DeLancie actually played in shaping this material, but I'm fairly certain the fault for its failure probably lies mostly with David.

The Continuum Interviews Takei
Christian (5:43 pm CST)
Over at the official Continuum, they've put up an interview with George Takei, who starred on the Original Series as Hikaru Sulu. In it, Takei talks about the Asian American Coalition for Total Inclusion on the Networks (AACTION), for which he has been campaigning for a few months now. Take a look at a short quote from the interview, indicating what Takei is fighting for:

In an exclusive interview with Star Trek News, Takei shared his concern over the dearth of minority representation in the 26 new shows slated for the four big Networks. "We are trying to help them, and to us it's puzzling that they are so tone deaf and blind. All they have to do is look at the reality." Takei referred to a new show, set in a New England Prep School that has no minority characters, as an example. He feels the program doesn't reflect the real ethnic mix that is currently evident in private schools.

Mania Reviews 'Equinox, Part Two'
Christian (5:42 pm CST)
Michelle Erica Green at AnotherUniverse's Mania Magazine has posted the first of her Voyager reviews for this season, looking at Wednesday's 'Equinox, Part Two.' Judging by the review and the strong criticisms of Janeway in it, Green doesn't seem to have changed a lot over the summer:

Janeway's not even a passable battle commander: we all learned from Kirk in The Wrath of Khan that when your enemy goes sneaking around in the clouds to escape you, you don't follow him and fry your own ship; you pass right over his head and clobber him on the far side. But then, Spock and McCoy had the brains to relieve Kirk of duty on the few occasions when he went psycho. Janeway goes psycho every other week, yet not one of her boys has the guts to do what has to be done and toss her in the brig on her butt until she gets the therapy she so desperately needs. Maybe this is a conspiracy to make us appreciate Seven, so that if they can Janeway and put Borgette in command, we'll all feel grateful.

Tormé's 'Doomsday' Begins Production
Christian (5:42 pm CST)
Film Roman and Howard Stern Productions have just issued a press release about their new animation series 'Doomsday,' set to premiere on UPN in Fall 2000. The series was created and will be produced by Tracy Tormé, who worked on the early TNG seasons as staff writer. Besides several quotes from Film Roman, Howard Stern and UPN, the release also contains some more info on the series' storyline:

``Doomsday,'' an animated science-fiction comedy series, was conceived by writer/producer Tracy Torme (``Sliders,'' ``Star Trek: The Next Generation,'' ``Saturday Night Live''), follows the Bradley family as they travel in their typical Winnebago motorhome across post-apocalyptic America in search of traditional family values and the white house with a picket fence.

On this ultimate road trip they are met by mutated humans, 50-foot hillbillies and IRS agents (the only branch of the government to survive), and an assortment of funny, edgy, strange characters who have managed to survive destruction: man-eating Shriners, the road's most dangerous creatures; an overweight biker, Chick Sarasota, who fancies himself Peter Fonda and rides point for the Bradleys; and the family dog Orinthal, played by Howard Stern, who appears occasionally and adds his two bits.

Frakes' Voyager Competitor Does Well
Christian (5:42 pm CST)
Anthony C. Ferrante at Eon Magazine has just put up a review of the pilot episode of 'Roswell,' premiering next week Wednesday directly opposite 'Voyager' on the WB. 'Roswell' is a series developed by Jason Katims and co-produced by Jonathan Frakes (William T. Riker), dealing with a group of teens on a high school at Roswell, near the site of the 1947 crash incident. Unfortunately for Voyager, Ferrante liked the episode rather a lot, awarding it an A- and predicting it to be 'one of the first breakout shows of the new season.'

Besides all this praise, the review also contains the interesting revelation that Frakes will actually be making a short appearance in the pilot:

Executive producer Jonathan Frakes (NEXT GENERATION) is involved with the show creatively and also pokes fun at himself in the pilot episode. During a "Roswell" celebration of the Roswell crash, the town has hired a guest speaker involved with sci-fi – that being Frakes in one of the show's funniest and wickedly inside cameos. It's during this celebration (and a re-enactment of the "supposed" crash) that also shows the rich dynamic and emotional resonance the show has when our trio of aliens stand stone-faced as the ship crashes while their fellow peers are cheering on the cheesy proceedings.

BET Interested In UPN?
Christian (5:41 pm CST)
Variety's John Dempsey and Richard Katz have written a new article about the Viacom/CBS/UPN situation, putting a rather interesting new spin on things:

With UPN facing an uncertain future in the wake of its Viacom parent's planned $37 billion merger with CBS, the boss of Black Entertainment Television is proposing to take an equity stake in the minority-targeted network. Robert Johnson floated the idea as part of a deal that would give him the right to play some of UPN's sitcoms on the BET Network a week or two after their premiere on UPN. Johnson is chairman, CEO and controlling shareholder of BET Holdings, whose BET Network flagship broadcasts music videos and other programming to about 57 million households.

Hunter Wanted To Be Brady
Christian (5:37 pm CST)
Joal Ryan at E! Online has written a new article about the 30th anniversary of the classic show 'The Brady Bunch,' which is celebrated this Sunday with a special three-hour marathon starting at 9:00pm. One of the things the article talks about is the role of Mike Brady, for which several actors were actually considered before settling on Barry Williams. One actor who wouldn't have minded filling Williams' shoes was apparently Jeffrey Hunter, who appeared as Christopher Pike in 'The Cage:'

Jeffrey Hunter, who played TV's first Enterprise captain on the original 1964 Star Trek pilot, was another story--there, it was the actor who badly wanted the part, but [series creator Sherwood] Schwartz who wouldn't hear of it. Hunter was just too good-looking, the producer says. "If Mr. Brady were a model for men's clothes or something--fine, but he's supposed to be an architect," Schwartz jokes.

'Equinox' Tanks... Sorry, Ranks High
Christian (5:37 pm CST)
Someone at PR Newswire wasn't really paying attention, it seems. Paramount just issued a press release about the impressive 6.5 rating / 10 share scored by this year's Voyager season premiere. With this, they easily beat Fox and the WB, while also improving more than 14% over last year's ratings. Unfortunately, the original press release sent out by Paramount didn't quite reflect this, as instead of saying that the show ranked No.2 in its time period in New York, it read that the show tanked in New York :-). This wasn't the only typo in the release - executive producer Rick Berman was also suddenly known as Mr. Bennan.

Still, despite these rather hilarious typos, the news itself is of course great. You can find the full press release (including correction) by going here.

Today On TV
Christian (5:36 pm CST)
-The Television Observation Unit of the Star Trek Collective is still inaccessible, so there again won't be a UK TV report today.

-Tomorrow morning at 03:35 CET, German Sat.1 will be repeating DS9's 'Die Widersacher' (The Adversary). At 16:05 they'll be showing the new episode 'Wettkampf in der Holosuite' (Take Me Out To The Holosuite).

-As of today, I'll also be reporting on TV times for Australia, thanks to Australian TrekToday reader Jamie McGregor. Tomorrow at 8:30pm the pay-per-view channel Foxtel TV1 will be showing TNG's 'The Battle.'

Trek BBS Today
Christian (5:36 pm CST)
Take a look at some of the topics currently being discussed at the Trek BBS:

-Where can you buy Starfleet uniforms?

-What are your thoughts on Last Unicorn's Star Trek role-playing game?

Find more discussion topics over at the Trek BBS!

Hello World!
Christian (5:36 pm CST)
Well, it looks the summer is well and truly over and we can sit through a nice streak of traditional Dutch weather again. For the past tree hours, it's been thundering almost non-stop, and raining so hard I actually had to turn up the music. The worst thing about this is that I just remembered my (relatively new) bike is still standing outside, due to the severe lack of bike shelters around here. I hope my lock won't be rusted completely shut tomorrow morning...

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:

The first comic strip appearance of Ezri Dux! Apart from a brief cameo in the Deep Sev 9 Christmas card, this is the first actual comic strip appearance of the new Dux - parodying her first actual scene in the show.

SEVNOTE: You are welcome to suggest sevnames for Ezri Dux - just breeze on over to the Ideas Board and post your suggestion. I recommend you read the Ezri Dux threads that are already there to make sure you don't repeat other's suggestions.

You can submit your punchlines here.

Voyager Wishlist
Christian (5:36 pm CST)
Julia Houston at About.com's Star Trek Fans has put up a new article also dealing with Voyager's new season, but refreshingly without any spoilers for it. Instead, she provides us with a wishlist of what she would like to see happen in the new Voyager season, presenting us with one major wish per character. You can find the article here.

Trek Chats Tonight
Christian (5:27 pm CST)
Today at 06:30pm Pacific Time, the official Continuum will be hosting a live chat with Brannon Braga, executive producer of 'Star Trek: Voyager.' You can already submit advance questions or find info on how to participate.

At 7:00pm, Voyager's Script Coordinator Lolita Fatjo will be attending a live chat at TrekWeb. For that it is also already possible to submit questions.

Official Season Six Cast Photos
Christian (5:27 pm CST)
The official Star Trek Continuum has put up a set of 13 official publicity stills for 'Star Trek: Voyager,' all of which were taken for the sixth season. One of the pictures is the already-known Voyager cast photo, but most of the others seem new, as you can see here.

John Ordover To Auction Screenplay
Christian (5:27 pm CST)
In what is apparently a completely new way of trying to sell a script, Star Trek novels editor John Ordover and his writing partner David Mack have announced that they have just put up their feature film screenplay 'Heartland' up for bid on eBay:

In an attempt to cut through the Hollywood red tape, screenwriters DAVID MACK and JOHN J. ORDOVER have placed the rights to produce and distribute a motion picture of their feature screenplay HEARTLAND up for bid on eBay.com, the online auction site. The minimum bid is $250,000.

The action-thriller script, intended as a star vehicle for such actors as Will Smith or Cuba Gooding, Jr., tells the story of a lone U.S. marine who must face a band of nuclear-armed, white-supremacist militiamen who take over a small town in Iowa. The militiamen's goal is the permanent radioactive contamination of the agricultural heartland of America.

More on this, including a few quotes from Mack and Ordover on the reasons for this and their chances of success, can be found in the full press release.

Mania 'Voyager' Article
Christian (5:25 pm CST)
It's not quite an 'Equinox, Part Two' review, but Steve Johnson at AnotherUniverse's Mania Magazine has put up an article analysing the current state of Voyager. As is usual for Voyager articles at Mania, they're not very positive about Voyager:

I remember that Aristotle, or somebody like him, postulated four elements of drama, or maybe they were five. (So how many of YOU remember how to take a first derivative, huh? It was college.)

Anyway, the ones I remember were plot, character, music, and theme. Now Star Trek: Voyager just premiered its latest season, and I have to conclude they got "music" (by which Aristotle meant costumes, lighting, acting, set design, special effects, etc.; all the stuff you can see in a still picture) exactly right. This is a rewarding show to watch and listen to, as long as you don't listen to the words.

But in the plot, character and theme departments, it's as if the Voyager writers never heard of those four (or five) principles of drama (or it might have been poetry. I may not be able to quote chapter and verse, but at least I've heard of them.)

Newsweek Reviews 'Starfleet Command'
Christian (5:25 pm CST)
Even when it's only a very short review. In it, Newsweek's Michael E. Ryan talks about the game's 'spectacular 3D graphics,' and it's high level of addictiveness. Click here to read it.

Great Voyager Overnight Ratings
Christian (5:24 pm CST)
Now that the new Voyager season has started, I fortunately will not have to interpret any of Voyager's ratings anymore, as Greg Fuller has started doing that again at his Star Trek Nielsen Ratings Information Database, located right here at the Nation. In his first episode ratings update after the summer, he also has some excellent news:

Despite the fact that the odds were stacked against it, "Equinox, Part II" overcame the very low rating for "Equinox" and extremely stiff competition, scoring an excellent 6.9 rating, 9 share. That actually beats "Night"'s overnight from last year, and is Voyager's strongest showing in the overnights since "Dark Frontier" in February.

Coupled with the rerun of "Equinox," the season premiere led UPN to the 5th network spot, ahead of the WB, which is still in reruns, and just .2 off Fox, currently in its second week. The rerun of the first part of "Equinox" earned a 4.7/7, defeating the WB's "Dawson's Creek" (2.5/4); the second part beat out both the WB's "Charmed" (2.7/5) and Fox's "Get Real" (4.0/6). The other networks were far ahead of both "Equinox" segments. Voyager's only really soft competitor right now is "Get Real" on Fox, which will probably be gone by January, perhaps sooner, if its ratings don't improve. "Equinox, Part II"'s overnights easily beat out "WWF Smackdown," which earned a 5.1/8 last Thursday. Voyager should end the week as UPN's top show.

Discuss The 'Equinox, Part Two' Ratings At The Trek BBS!

Happy Birthday!
Christian (5:24 pm CST)
Today is the 50th birthday of Rosalind Chao (Keiko O'Brien), which is a lot older than I thought she would be. It's also the 40th birthday of Seinfield's Jason Alexander, who made a guest appearance on Voyager's 'Think Tank' as Kurros.

Today On TV
Christian (5:24 pm CST)
-At 7:00pm and at 11:00pm Eastern Time, the Sci-Fi Channel will be showing the TOS episode 'Whom Gods Destroy.'

-For some reason the Television Observation Unit of the Star Trek Collective returns an 'Access Forbidden' error, so I'm unable to find any UK TV data - am I the only one with this problem?

-At 01:15 CET tomorrow morning, German Sat.1 will be repeating DS9's 'Facetten' (Facets). At 15:00, they'll be showing 'Der Widersacher' (The Adversary).

Trek BBS Today
Christian (5:24 pm CST)
As was to be expected, the most important topic at the Trek BBS is 'Equinox, Part II,' yesterday's Voyager season premiere. Take a look at some of the discussions currently going on there:

-Here's one Equinox, Part Two thread....

-.... while here's another one.

-While if you want to discuss something else, there's also a thread about the old episode Coda.

Find more at the Trek BBS.

Hello World!
Christian (5:23 pm CST)
Hope you all enjoyed the Voyager season premiere - I hope I'll also enjoy it when it finally makes its way to Europe... :-(

TrekWeb 'Starfleet Command' Review
Christian (5:10 pm CST)
Steve Krutzler and Jason Boxman at TrekWeb have written a review of 'Starfleet Command,' Interplay's new real-time strategy game. Awarding it a 7, they are still extremely positive about the game:

Interplay isn't going to go silently. With their Star Trek games license being handed to Activision, one of Interplay's last breath efforts, Star Trek: Stafleet Command, delivers quite possibly the best Star Trek gaming experience in years.

A little less than perfect amalgam of strategy and action, Starfleet Command is what Starfleet Academy was supposed to be, and (like so many gaming titles) finally is. Stunning graphics are just the beginning when you delve into this processor-intensive jewel of a rainy afternoon salvage operation. In fact, the graphics are for the first time uncannily realistic, making Command the first Star Trek game to pull off the illusion of actually being in the Star Trek universe. But if you don't have the latest Voodoo 3500 video card, don't power down your weapons systems just yet; the game's voluptuous visuals perform just as smooth on an AMD K6-III 450 mhz system without a Voodoo card as a PIII 600 mhz system with it. This makes for an accessible entertainment package for a wide range of Star Trek fans and gamers.

'Lives Of Dax' Excerpt
Christian (4:58 pm CST)
David Henderson at Psi Phi sends along word that he has put up an exclusive excerpt from "The Lives of Dax", the upcoming anthology of stories about each of Dax's hosts, written by seven popular Star Trek authors and three newcomers. The book, edited by Marco Palmieri, will be available on-line and in bookstores this December.

The excerpt, which features part of the Audrid Dax story "Sins of the Mother", written by S.D. Perry, is available here. For more information about the other stories in this anthology, or to pre-order the book from Amazon.com or other international booksellers, visit Psi Phi'sguide page on it.

Stewart To Appear On SNL Anniversary
Christian (4:58 pm CST)
Patrick Stewart - the Actors' Actor is reporting that Patrick Stewart (Jean-Luc Picard) will be appearing on the special 'Saturday Night Live' 25th Anniversary show, which will be broadcasted this Sunday at 8:00pm on NBC, together with 'a galaxy of past Saturday Night Live host presenters and stars.' Stewart hosted one edition of the show on the 5th of February, 1994, an edition which proved to be quite popular. Find more on the Actors' Actor's news page. I wonder if William Shatner will also be appearing to do a reprise of his 'Get A Life!' sketch?

What To Win At DecipherCon
Christian (4:58 pm CST)
Decipher, the publisher of the official Star Trek Customizable Card Game, has posted two new features dealing with the upcoming DecipherCon, being held in mid-Novermber. The first feature is an online survey where you can give your opinion about the organisation of the event. The second feature probably is a bit more interesting for CCG tournament players, as it is a full list of prizes made available at the event.

'Disease' Overnight Ratings
Christian (4:58 pm CST)
UltimateTV have put up their Overnight Ratings Report for yesterday (Tuesday the 21st of September). In it, we learn that Voyager's repeat of 'The Disease' scored a 2.0 rating / 3 share, which is .3 ratings points and a full share point down from last week.

Mulgrew On Rosie O'Donnell
Christian (4:57 pm CST)
AnotherUniverse's Daily Buzz is reporting that Kate Mulgrew (Kathryn Janeway) will be making an appearance on the Rosie O'Donnell Show on ABC next Tuesday, the 28th of September. She will be accompanied there by Sarah Michelle Gellar of 'Buffy' fame. Mulgrew has appeared on the show several times before - apparently hostess Rosie O'Donnell was a great fan of Mulgrew's old show 'Ryan's Hope.'

Trek Stamp Campaign Leader Honoured
Christian (4:57 pm CST)
Channel 4000, a Minnesota television station, is reporting about Star Trek fan Bill Kraft, who was recently honoured for his efforts in trying to get the U.S. Postal Service to publish a Star Trek stamp. Kraft was more than successful in his campaign, getting 275,000 fans to vote for the Star Trek stamp, which was released to the general public last week. For his efforts, Kraft was presented with a framed sheet of the 1960s stamp set (which includes the Star Trek stamp) by the St. Cloud Post Office. The full article on this has more.

Voyager Premiere Chat
Christian (4:57 pm CST)
Space.com, the site providing a mix of space technology and sci-fi entertainment news, will be hosting a Voyager-related chat session tonight at 10:00pm Eastern Time, right after the Voyager premiere:

Space.com kicks off its Space Imagined chat schedule on Wednesday with an informal discussion of science fiction on television and other SF topics.

The chat session officially begins at 10 p.m. ET, immediately after the season premiere of Star Trek: Voyager. Both diehard fans and casual detractors of the series are invited to hang around the space.com chat room during the show's airing to provide running commentary and get acquainted during commercial breaks. After the final credits roll, the chat focus will swing around to dissect the future of Voyager, Star Trek and space-oriented television in general.

Good Performance UPN Syndication
Christian (4:57 pm CST)
In a new article by Variety's Chris Pursell it is mentioned that, with high-profile network shows costing local stations lots of money, syndication shows which first appeared on networks such as the WB and UPN are becoming increasingly attractive to station managers. This season, reruns from old UPN and WB shows have enjoyed good debuts at only a fraction of the cost of more well-known shows such as '3rd Rock From The Sun' and 'The Drew Carey Show.'

One of these shows which has apparently been made available cheaply for local stations is of course 'Star Trek: Voyager,' which debuted in syndication last week. According to the the article, the show managed to pull in a 2.0 rating / 4 share, which apparently is okay, but not great.

Today On TV
Christian (4:56 pm CST)
-At 7:00pm and at 11:00pm Eastern Time, the Sci-Fi Channel will be showing the third-season TOS episode 'Elaan of Troyius.'

-According to the Television Observation Unit of the Star Trek Collective, British Sky One will be showing Voyager's 'Favorite Son' tomorrow at 17:00 and at 23:30 BST. At 18:00, BBC Two will be showing DS9's 'The Maquis, Part One,' followed 45 minutes later by Part Two.

-At 01:45 CET tomorrow morning, German Sat.1 will be repeating DS9's 'Shakaar.' At 15:00 tomorrow, they'll be showing 'Facetten' (Facets).

-Oh, and at 8:00pm on the American channel UPN there's the two-hour premiere event of a certain science fiction series you may have heard about.

Trek BBS Today
Christian (4:56 pm CST)
You'd think that everyone at the Trek BBS would be spending all their time talking excitedly about today's Voyager season start, but surprisingly enough a few other subjects are also being discussed:

-Are Timothy Zahn's Star Wars books any good?

-Would a series based on the starship Relativity be a good idea?

Find more topics at the Trek BBS!

Hello World!
Christian (4:56 pm CST)
And welcome to the new Voyager season! Don't forget to tune in tonight, and let's hope the ratings will improve a bit.

Quote of the Day: "Red Alert! Today is the first episode of Star Trek: Voyager's exciting sixth season." - The Star Trek Continuum

Then, in what can truly be called a stroke of planning genius, TrekWeb will be hosting a chat with Voyager's script coordinator Lolita Fatjo at 7:00pm Pacific Time, only 30 minutes after the start of the Braga chat. It's also already possible to submit questions for this chat, or get participation instructions.

Trek Celebrities At UCLA Course
Christian (4:40 pm CST)
The UCLA (University of California at Los Angeles) has sent out the following:

UCLA Extensions office is offering a course this fall called "Producing a Series for Television Today"- A Case Study Approach. & The case study is Star Trek!

@ UCLA 2232 Public Policy Bldg.
Tuesday Evening. 7-10PM September
28-December
14 10 Classes. Cost is $475.00

Guest Speakers Subject To Avail are:

• Rick Berman
• Robert Blackman
• Levar Bertan
• Dan Curry
• Michael Dorn
• J.P. Farrell
• Jonathan Frakes
• Junie Lowery Johnson
• Peter Lauritson
• Dennis McCarthy
• Leonard Nimoy
• William Shatner
• Arman Shimmerman
• Patrick Stewart
• George Takai
• Tracy Torme
• Michael Westmore
• Herman Zimmerman

'Free Enterprise' Canadian Debut
Christian (4:40 pm CST)
According to a poster on the official Continuum's startrek.fandom newsgroup, the independent feature film Free Enterprise, starring William Shatner (James T. Kirk) as a parody on himself, will be opening at the Canada Square Cineplex Odeon Cinemas in Toronto for an exclusive run starting October 8th, 1999. Thanks go out to Psi Phi's David Henderson for pointing me to this.

Second 'Equinox, Part Two' Promo
Christian (4:40 pm CST)
As the first site on the net, SciFi Headquarters has put up a second promo for 'Equinox, Part Two,' tomorrow's Voyager season premiere. The episode is a special promotion piece for the '2-hour event,' and even includes some new footage from the episode. You can find it via the site's main page.

Colm Meaney Back On Stage
Christian (4:39 pm CST)
And he's been joined there by a really stupid looking beard, from what it looks like on the photo accompanying this new article. David Griffen at the Electric Telegraph has put up an interview with the actor best known to Star Trek fans for his portrayal of Chief Miles O'Brien on TNG and DS9. In it, Meaney talks about how he was still able to do other projects while acting in Star Trek:

Knowing [about other Trek star's problems] before signing on to Deep Space Nine (he had already served two years on The Next Generation), Meaney insisted on being given the latitude to act in films, too. "If I'd only done the series, I'd have gone insane. So Rick Berman, the series producer, told me I could get out of episodes I needed to get out of. And for once in this industry, here was a man who was as good as his word. So I'd go off, make a movie and come back refreshed."

Those absences tended to be short: a week here, a fortnight there. Because of his commitments to the Star Trek series, Meaney stayed away from the longer runs demanded by stage work. But though he's all over TV and cinema screens, he is originally a theatre actor. Now, after a 10-year absence from the London stage, Meaney is back, playing Captain Boyle in Sean O'Casey's classic play Juno and the Paycock at the Donmar Warehouse, in a production directed by John Crowley that has just opened.

Patrick Stewart As Dr. Who?
Christian (4:39 pm CST)
Cinescape is reporting on an interesting article which appeared in this weekend's edition of the Sunday Times, a British newspaper. Take a look at what the report had to say about the directors and, most surprisingly, a possible lead star for the project:

The Times reports that the BBC has approached and may even be negotiating with the makers of The Blair Witch Project to take on the big screen version of Doctor Who. According to the London Sunday Times, the reason cited for doing so is due to the box office success this summer compared to Blair Witch's sparse budget.

While that may come off as being unlikely, Who producer, Jeremy Bolt, talked to the paper revealing the scope of the Who film saying, "We intend, with the BBC, to make this bigger than Bond." The paper also suggest that Bolt's possible choices for the lead role include Patrick Stewart and Laurence Fishburne as strong contenders.

Shatner To Anchor WebHouse Campaign
Christian (4:38 pm CST)
After the success of their airplane ticket comparing service, PriceLine.com are apparently also expanding into the grocery business, with a new service called the WebHouse Club. With WebHouse Club, 11 million NY/NJ/CT shoppers will be able to use the Internet to save money by naming their own private prices and then get those prices when they shop at over 600 participating supermarkets and grocery store. The new service will be introduced to the country with a large media campaign anchored by William Shatner (James T. Kirk):

A $25 million TV, radio and newspaper advertising campaign featuring William Shatner of Star Trek fame will introduce the WebHouse Club to New York area consumers as the first phase of a planned national rollout. Known coast-to-coast as the voice of priceline.com, Shatner will be featured in TV commercials, many of which will be filmed in local New York-area supermarkets. Over 15 million one-to-a-customer WebHouse Club membership cards will be distributed through New York metro-area newspapers and participating retail stores. Each of these cards will include $10.00 worth of free groceries for new club members.

Today On TV
Christian (4:38 pm CST)
-According to Psi Phi's episode schedule, UPN will be repeating Voyager's 'The Disease' tonight at 9:00pm. Take a look at how the official Continuum describes the episode:

Without Starfleet medical clearance and in violation of interspecies protocol, Ensign Harry Kim has a passionate love affair with an exotic alien explorer, Derran Tal of the Varro species. But the escapade puts both the Voyager crew and the Varro species in Jeopardy when Kim and Tal become biochemically interdependent.

-Unfortunately I don't seem to be able to connect to the Sat.1 site at the moment, so I'm afraid there won't be a German television update.

Trek BBS Today
Christian (4:38 pm CST)
Here's the usual mini-guide to what's hot and happening at the Trek BBS:

-How come Voyager's TNG-style phasers were replaced with the First Contact phasers even though the ship was in the Delta Quadrant?

-Are TPTB disrespectful of the Borg history?

Find more at the Trek BBS!

Hello World!
Christian (4:37 pm CST)
I may have made a few snide remarks about B5 in the past, but by now I'm really beginning to feel sorry for Babylon 5 fans. First the new show 'Crusade' is canned before even the show's premiere, then the official fan club is forced to shut down, and now Sierra has also halted production of the Babylon 5 game. I doubt any more bad things can still happen to the franchise. Hopefully for them (and a lot of you, probably) the B5 franchise will manage to resurrect in the same way Star Trek did after its original cancellation.

He had George Takei on the phone for a good 15-20 minutes talking about last week's protest about the lack of Asians in the upcoming fall TV season. He plugged his own Web site for people who wanted to find out how to contact the organizations behind the boycott. He also wanted fans to snail-mail McCluggage at Paramount in regards to the Captain Sulu TV series, an idea which he apparently still believes in. Thanks go out to Jeff for this!

DS9 Finale Part Two Syndie Promo
Christian (4:56 pm CST)
SciFi Headquarters has put up the syndication trailer for 'What You Leave Behind, Part Two,' the last hour of DS9 television ever filmed. 'What You Leave Behind' was originally shown as one two-hour episode earlier this year, but the episode has been cut up in two parts for syndication, also necessitating new trailers. You can find the new trailer via the Headquarters' main page.

Klingon Academy Demo Delayed
Christian (4:46 pm CST)
Tim Callahan at Klingon Academy News has posted some very bad news - due to framerate problems, the demo of Interplay's upcoming space shooter 'Klingon Academy' has been indefinitely delayed. Originally it was expected that the demo would be out in just a few weeks. Interplay's Ron Hodge made the following announcement about this at the official message boards:

We are having serious framerate problems in both solo-play and multiplayer, which are unacceptable. We have run code profiles (which are used to determine what parts of the code are eating the most clock cycles) but they've revealed pretty much what we feared the most. Everything appears to be consuming framerate at a roughly equal rate which makes it harder for us to work on, since we'll have to be heavily optimizing everything rather than just one or two things. :( There are also stability problems in multiplayer that are also unacceptable, and we are coordinating with Wombat (our multiplayer guys) to deal with these issues as well. Until these two issues get addressed to an acceptable level, we will not be releasing a demo. Because there isn't a cut and dried offender in either of these issues we cannot make an accurate estimate of how long it will take. I will be keeping you informed on any further developments.

Biggs Touched By An Angel
Christian (4:46 pm CST)
Holly Kim Wilson, TrekToday's correspondent on all matters Cardassian, sends in word that Casey Biggs (DS9, Damar) will be appearing on the drama series 'Touched by an Angel.' Biggs is currently in Salt Lake City, Utah, to film the episode. He will be appearing as "Dr. Duncan Dunzig, a friend of a man possessed." Unfortunately no airdate or episode title is yet known. This isn't the only show Biggs will soon be guest starring on - recently we already reported on his guest spot on the new show 'Snoops.' Thanks go out to Holly Kim Wilson and Tiffany Edenfield, president of Casey Biggs's official fan club, for this.

8 New 'Barge Of The Dead' Shots
Christian (4:46 pm CST)
Jason Davidson's Star Trek News has posted 8 new screenshots of 'Barge of the Dead,' next season's Voyager episode which will feature the most expensive set ever built for a Trek television series. The photos first appeared in Starburst, Visual Imagination's monthly magazine appearing in the UK. Most of them show B'Elanna Torres in full Klingon uniform (which by the way, doesn't really look good on her, if you ask me), though there also are several shots showing the other cast members. You can find the shots on this page. Thanks go out to Gustavo Leao for pointing me to this.

UPN Station Changes
Christian (4:45 pm CST)
As we gear up for the premiere of Voyager's sixth season, I thought I'd start doing a round-up of the UPN station changes in the various areas in the US. Below you'll find the changes I'm already aware of - if in your area you also lost or gained UPN, please drop me a line:

• Walker Johnson at the Knoxville New-Sentinel (in Tennessee) is reporting that WPXK television, Channel 54 over the air and Channel 99 on Comcast, has dropped UPN. Instead, they'll now be a full-time affiliate of the PAX network, the network which last year already beat UPN in the ratings several times. Thanks go out to Jai Jeffers for this.
  
• About the same situation exists in the entire West half of Michigan, including the cities Grand Rapids and Muskegon, where TrekToday reader Stan Strach hails from. Last year, a local PAX channel which was also a UPN affiliate was showing 'Voyager,' Unfortunately, the contract with UPN ended on the 31st of August, and after emailing them the station told Stan that the contract would not be picked up. After emailing the other local channels, they also all said they had passed on it.
  
• Also, if I have correctly interpreted the geographical situation of Psi Phi's David Henderson and Star Trek: Hypertext's Jamahl Epsicokhan, at least part of Illinois might also be without Voyager for the next few weeks. Last year, they didn't have an UPN affiliate, so they saw Voyager in a syndication deal that is now gone. There is a new UPN affiliate now, but not every cable company is immediately going to offer it, so for some people in Illinois it might be hard to see 'Voyager' for the next few weeks.

Again, if there are also UPN changes in your area, please do let me know.

Dorn To Appear On 'The Pretender'
Christian (4:45 pm CST)
Michael Dorn (Worf), the actor who probably has the honour of having appeared in more Star Trek episodes than anyone else, will soon be guest starring on the NBC series 'The Pretender.' In the episode, he will play a U.S. Colonel who tries to dissuade the series' main character Jarod (played by Michael T. Weiss) from investigation the mysterious suicide of a lieutenant. Dorn's episode is called 'Survival,' and will be broadcast on Saturday the 2nd of October at 9:00pm. Thanks go out to this UltimateTV article for this.

CCG Product Spotlight
Christian (4:44 pm CST)
The people at Decipher, the publisher of the official Star Trek Customizable Card Game, have put up a new product spotlight, highlighting all their upcoming CCG releases for the rest of the year. Besides some info on upcoming Star Wars, Young Jedi and Austin Powers games, this also includes a short description of the upcoming expansion set 'Rules of Acquisition' and the box set 'The Second Anthology.' You can find the spotlight here.

'Voyager' Stars To Host TV Land
Christian (4:44 pm CST)
According to Ultimate TV, kid channel TV Land will be running a series of 'Celeb Sked 1999' programs in October, where celebrities from the world of television will be hosting their favourite shows. Besides cast members from shows such as 'The Pretender,' 'V.I.P.' and 'Spin City,' also making an appearance will be Voyager's Ethan Phillips (Neelix), Robert Picardo (The Holodoc), Robert Beltran (Chakotay), Tim Russ (Tuvok), Garrett Wang (Harry Kim), and Robert Duncan McNeill (Tom Paris). The article contains a strong hint that the Voyager stars may be selecting Trek shows for the event:

"Many celebrities who've agreed to help TV Land program the October schedule selected shows that were pre-cursors to the current shows they appear on, while some of the hosts chose the shows they grew up watching," explains Diane Robina, Associate General Manager of TV Land and Senior Vice President of Programming. "TV Land thought it was time to give the TV stars the remote control so they can sit back and be entertained."

Today On TV
Christian (4:42 pm CST)
-At 7:00pm and at 11:00pm Eastern Time, the Sci-Fi Channel will continue with the broadcasting of Original Series episodes, today showing 'Wink of an Eye.'

-Tomorrow at 17:00 and at 23:30 BST, British Sky One will be showing Voyager's 'Darkling.'

-At 5 minutes past midnight in Germany, Sat.1 will be repeating DS9's 'Die Erforscher' (Explorers). At 15:00, they'll be showing 'Familienangelegenheiten' (Family Matters).

Trek BBS Today
Christian (4:42 pm CST)
Here's the usual look at some of the interesting discussions currently going on at the Trek BBS:

-Any Jem'Hadar fans out there?

-What do you think about the questionable decisions (from a moral viewpoint) made by Starfleet Captains in Star Trek?

Find more at the Trek BBS!

Hello World!
Christian (4:40 pm CST)
Urgent call for help - do any of you know someone who:

a) is not a Star Trek fan, and has seen almost or completely no Trek at all.
b) is able to write well
c) is frequently online
d) lives in the United States and
e) could be persuaded to start watching Trek and talk about his or her experiences while watching Trek.

I've been bugging lots of people about this for the past two months, but unfortunately it has turned out to be impossible for me to find someone like that. If you know someone like that, please have him or her contact me as soon as possible and I will be forever grateful to you.

Link of the Day: 'Blue Streak' Tops The Box Office - It had better, considering the fact that the 'Blue Streak' banner appeared to be in almost continuous rotation here at the Trek Nation for the past week or so.

Australian Video Release Dates
Christian (4:33 pm CST)
Planet Riker has put up the official list of Trek video release dates for Australia, which apparently isn't available anywhere else on the net. The information was obtained directly from CIC Video Australia, and lists all the videos still to be released in 1999. According to the schedule, the last videos of the year will be released on the 27th of December, which means that then Australians will also have had the opportunity of seeing all of Voyager's fifth and DS9's seventh season. You can find the full listing here.

GA-Source 'Starfleet Command' Review
Christian (4:33 pm CST)
Brian Rubin at GA-Source has just put up a review of 'Starfleet Command,' Interplay's real-time strategy game which came out about a month ago. In the review, he awards the game a score of 87%, based in no small part on the game's wonderful graphics:

This game is absolutely gorgeous. On my Matrox Millenium G400, this has to be one of the prettiest strategy games ever released. The ships have a level of such detail that you'll almost feel you're watching one of the movies. They have little lights for the portholes, bigger lights for ship identification, and beautiful hulls (especially the Romulans, who have some beautiful ships, in my opinion). The "landscape" of the game is also lovely. Planets, nebulae, asteroids, dust clouds, base stations, and what not, all add to the beauty of the plane that you're fighting on. The weapon effects are also very well done, with everything looking to come straight out of the movies.

The explosions for the ships are also some of the best I've ever seen, even though they seem to do no damage to your ship when up close. This is strange because a warning comes up, informing you that you're caught in the explosion blast. The shockwave effect of the explosions is also quite nice. Overall, the in game visuals do a great job of pulling the player into the conflict. They're beautiful and quick, and really do this great game justice.

Jeri Ryan Emmy Videos
Christian (4:32 pm CST)
Excite has put up two video clips from last week's Emmys ceremony showing Jeri Ryan (Seven of Nine), who presented one of the awards. They've got available an interview with her, which can be found on this page, and a clip of her actually presenting an award, which can be found here. Thanks go out to the Official Jeri Lynn Ryan Homepage for this.

Today On TV
Christian (4:32 pm CST)
-According to the Television Observation Unit of the Star Trek Collective, British Sky One will be showing Voyager's 'Unity' tomorrow at 17:00 and at 23:30 BST. At 20:00, they'll begin showing of DS9's seventh and final season with the episode 'Image in the Sand.'

-Tomorrow at 15:00 CET, German Sat.1 will be showing DS9's 'Die Erforscher' (Explorers).

Trek BBS Today
Christian (4:32 pm CST)
Amazingly, no less than 66 topics are being discussed at the Trek BBS today - here's a small sample:

-What did you think of Jeri Taylor's two Voyager novels?

-Why didn't we ever hear anything more about the Caretaker and the Ocampa after the Voyager pilot?

Find more topics at the Trek BBS!

Hello World!
Christian (4:32 pm CST)
Apparently a few days ago I failed to really make clear what I meant when I was complaining about the Eastern Timor-related spam, as I've received several emails about my comments and even noticed someone talk about it in a thread at the Trek BBS. As you may recall, I talked about someone sending me spam at five different e-mail aliases, asking me in a (badly written) email to contact President Clinton about the Eastern Timor situation. What many people apparently misunderstood is that I was not complaining because I don't care about the Eastern Timor people - rather, it is the opposite. I care very much for them, and believe their cause is a worthy one. That's also why I closely follow it in the news, and why I will be donating money to the aid campaign when it starts up. Because I believe that their cause is so important, I also feel that it is wrong for someone to purchase a spam list and send bulk mails out to everyone - spam is fundamentally wrong, and using it for something like this desecrates the goal.

New Sev Trek Comic Online
Christian (4:38 pm CST)

First Contact French Magazine Bundle
Christian (4:38 pm CST)
French TrekToday contributor Didier has once again sent in a report about recent Trek happenings in France. Apparently, a French version of the English magazine 'Fact Files' has just appeared in shops, called 'Les Dossiers Officiels.' The main difference with the English version (besides it being in French, of course) is that each magazine will come bundled with a video tape! The first edition features the French edition of 'First Contact.' The first edition of the magazine is sold at a low introduction price, future editions will cost more. Thanks go out to Didier for reporting about this!

100th Daily Trek Issue
Christian (4:37 pm CST)
In what can only be called a very impressive feat, the people at our German partner site TrekZone.de have sent out issue #100 of 'Daily Trek,' their daily German Trek newsletter based partially on TrekToday. To celebrate this, editors Lorenz Ulrich and Martin Emberger sent out an extra long edition, containing a lengthy look at the history of the newsletter, while tomorrow they will be appearing in a special online radio show, presumably to be found at TrekZone.de. My congratulations go out to the Daily Trek team for reaching this milestone - I'm looking very much forward to the next hundred newsletters!

Talax Regional CCG Report
Christian (4:35 pm CST)
Marcus Sheppard, a member of the Decipher Customizable Card Game EuroMarketing team, has posted a report of the 'Talax Regional Championship,' which took place on the 11th of September in Madrid. Take a look at a short quote from the report about which card sets were being used in the tournament:

The decks played in Regional the showed a real command of strategies introduced in The Dominion expansion, especially Headquarters. Blaze of Glory decks were few - only 3 players used Battle Bridge Doors, and neither of the finalists did - I think this is due to card availability.

Marina Sirtis Has No Daughter
Christian (4:35 pm CST)
And you won't believe how glad I am to hear about that. The official Star Trek Continuum has posted a letter to the fans, which begins as follows:

Actress Marina Sirtis recently informed STAR TREK: CONTINUUM that a person is making false claims about her. Sirtis said, "I don't have a daughter." In addition, she wanted her fans to know "there are no websites sanctioned by me [for me]. If I ever do create a website, I'll let the fans know."

Please be aware that on the Internet anyone can pose as someone else. Be suspicious when you encounter people using an actor's name, a character's name or both. Always beware of anyone claiming to be a relative of an actor.

After my computer crashed and I lost all my incoming email, the email exchange stopped, after which this person posted a few times to several message boards and newsgroups, also claiming to be working on the official Marina Sirtis site. Fortunately, she has now been officially exposed, hopefully preventing online Trek fans from falling for her story. You can read the full Continuum announcement here.

First Dreamcast Trek Game
Christian (4:34 pm CST)
Gamespot report by Sam Kennedy talks about the first Star Trek game which has been announced for the Dreamcast, the new game console launched in the US six days ago by Sega. Apparently, Sega of America recently held a press conference in Japan, where it was revealed that Interplay's upcoming real-time strategy game 'New Worlds' will be the first to make it to the Dreamcast. No release date was yet announced for the title, but Gamespot's full report was speculating it will probably make it out early next year in the US.

Today On TV
Christian (4:34 pm CST)
-According to the Television Observation Unit of the Star Trek Collective, British Sky One will be showing DS9's 'In The Hands of the Prophets' tomorrow at 16:00 BST, followed an hour later by Voyager's 'Blood Fever.'

-In Germany, Sat.1 will be repeating DS9's 'Nachempfindung' at 03:05 CET and Voyager's 'Skorpion' at 3:55.

Trek BBS Today
Christian (4:34 pm CST)
Here's the usual selection of interesting discussion threads currently to be found at the Trek BBS:

-In the history of Trek, how many and which scenes were cut from television episodes and movies?

-Should Paramount make Voyager more like DS9?

More topics can be found at the Trek BBS!

Hello World!
Christian (4:33 pm CST)
With the upcoming start of the new season, I thought I'd point out two sites in the Trek Nation to you which you probably should start visiting more frequently again. First of all there's Jamahl Epsicokhan's Star Trek: Hypertext, where you'll be able to find some of the most detailed episode reviews available on the net. Secondly there's Greg Fuller's Star Trek Nielsen Ratings Information Database, which is the net's only dedicated source of Trek ratings analyses. Both sites did an excellent job last season, and I'm sure they'll be just as useful this year around!

New Sev Trek Competition
Christian (5:16 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:

The detachable Bored Queen.
The leader of the Bored is partly mechanical, partly organic... in fact, she's simply in parts. A woman that goes to pieces is not my idea of the ideal partner but maybe that's what Beta looks for in a woman.

'Klingon Academy' Sound FX Interview
Christian (5:16 pm CST)
Klingon Academy News has posted an interview with Adam Levenson, the sound effects artist currently working on Interplay's upcoming 'Klingon Academy' game. Take a look at two of the most interesting questions answered in the interview:

We've heard the sound effects in the latest trailer, are these final for the most part?

Nope! Sounds are revised and revised and revised until we feel that we've hit on the best effect. For example, I made dozens of phaser 1's for SFC and only one made it into the game. The effects you hear in the trailer have already been revised.

Synchronizing the sound effects to events in KA is obviously a very precise thing. What has been the range of time that you've spent from the very simple to the more difficult when synchronizing sound effects and music?

In-game effects are synced based on video taped footage of game play. The movie sounds are not that time consuming to sync, the trick is finding where you need to place the effect to create the feeling of attachment to the action on picture.

'DS9: The Fallen' Interview
Christian (5:16 pm CST)
QAPete at PlanetUnreal has put up part one of an exclusive interview with the creators of 'Deep Space Nine: The Fallen,' the upcoming third-person strategy game in development at Collective Studios and to be published by Simon & Schuster Interactive. In it, the designers talk about how they are trying to make their game appeal to non-Trekkers, the pre-existing designs already present for a game such as this, and the aliens we'll be able to see in the game:

Kevin: Our talented Character modeling staff has generated a huge cast for the game, around 74 NPC or Enemies along with a host of ambient and environmental creatures. Races of note that will make appearances within the game are: Cardassians, Vorta, Jem'Hadar, a Founder, Bajorans, a Pa Wraith, and the list goes on. All of the game meshes were built using real show reference images and the result is photo realistic quality NPCs that will be readily recognizable by fans of the show! In addition we've had the fortune of being able to design a new race of creatures for the Star Trek Universe.....The Grigari. These terrifying creatures will play an important role in the games story.

'Starfleet Command' Interview
Christian (5:15 pm CST)
What's with all the gaming interviews today? The Starfleet Universe sends word that they just put up an interview with Interplay's Chris Taylor and Scott Bernie, which was conducted when Starfleet Command was first released. The first question is immediately the most interesting, talking about the division of design labour on the project:

Mark: Please describe the division of design labor on the project.

Chris: The initial design was handled by Quicksilver. When I joined the project, they had been working on the game for over a year. After I joined, we used the following system for design:

• Core Rules: The Star Fleet Battles Captain's Edition rulebook.
  
• Mission Design: The elite missions were designed by Scott Bennie. I did most of the non-elite mission design.
  
• Interface Design: A team effort, lead by Erik Bethke and the artists.
  
• Ship Model Design: The models either came from Klingon Academy, or were designed by Mondo Media, and approved by the team.

Star Trek Stamps Now Available
Christian (5:15 pm CST)
An official press release from the United States Postal Service mentions that the 15 new stamps commemorating the 1960s have just been released in post offices throughout the country. One of the fifteen stamps, some of which depict events such as the first man on the moon or the Beatles, is dedicated to Star Trek and shows the original Enterprise in orbit around Earth.

'Roswell' Preview Article
Christian (5:15 pm CST)
Christopher Allan Smith at Eon Magazine has put up a new interview with Jason Katims, the creator of the new WB science fiction show 'Roswell.' The series, dealing with the offspring of the Roswell aliens going to high school, will be co-produced by Jonathan Frakes (William T. Riker) and air directly opposite 'Voyager,' and will therefore be a show to watch. You can find the preview here.

Today On TV
Christian (5:14 pm CST)
-According to the Television Observation Unit of the Star Trek Collective, British Sky One will be the superb DS9 episode 'Duet' tomorrow at 16:00 BST, followed an hour later by Voyager's 'Coda.'

-In Germany, Sat.1 will be repeating DS9's 'Der geheimnisvolle Garak, Teil 2' tomorrow morning at 03:55 CET. At 15:00, they'll be showing Voyager's 'Skorpion,' and at 16:00 they'll be showing DS9's 'Nachempfindung.'

Trek BBS Today
Christian (5:14 pm CST)
Here are a few interesting topics currently being discussed at the Trek BBS:

-Who are Trek's worst and best recurring characters?

-Join in the countdown to the Voyager season premiere!

Find more at the actual Trek BBS!

Hello World!
Christian (5:14 pm CST)
Hello weekend!

Voyager Ratings Improve
Christian (5:36 pm CST)
UltimateTV's Wednesday Ratings Report has some good news - yesterday's Voyager rerun scored a 3.1 rating / 5 share, which is .3 higher than last week, and the highest in quite a while. Hopefully the ratings for next week's season premiere will be even higher. Does anyone know which episode actually aired yesterday, btw? I'm getting conflicting reports about this.

James Darren Chat Tonight
Christian (5:35 pm CST)
At 6:30pm Pacific Time, the official Star Trek Continuum will be hosting a live chat with James Darren (Vic Fontaine). Advance questions can be submitted here, info on how to participate here.

'New Worlds' Slips Slightly
Christian (5:35 pm CST)
A Gamecenter report on the closing of Binary Asylum, the developer behind the upcoming Interplay game 'Star Trek: New Worlds,' reveals that the game's release date will only be affected a bit by this:

Despite Binary Asylum being out of the picture, Interplay's 14 Degrees East division does plan to publish Star Trek: New Worlds. The game may slip past its November due date, but Gamecenter has confirmed that it will be delayed only slightly, because a new team that can finish it has been found.

Viacom And CBS Stocks Slip
Christian (5:35 pm CST)
This is only of borderline interest to people following the Viacom/CBS deal, but according to a report by Variety's Jil Goldsmith, Viacom stocks have slipped no less than 11% since the deal with CBS was announced. This apparently isn't an uncommon phenomenon - in the past, the same thing happened with stocks of other companies which had just announced big mergers, as it can often take six to nine months for the deal to actually be completed. Still, it also suggests that investors are not quite certain if it is a good deal, as several analysts also thought. Read more in the full article, which Jeff 'Koganuts' Koga was kind enough to forward to me.

'X-Men' Release Date
Christian (5:35 pm CST)
According to a press release sent out by 20th Century Fox, the 'X-Men' movie will be released on June 30, 2000. One of the major stars of the movie is Patrick Stewart (Jean-Luc Picard) who will play the role of Professor X, "the founder and backbone of the X-Men and one-time friend of Magneto." Other people involved with the movie who had previous experiences with Trek include Famke Janssen (from 'Perfect Mate') as Jean Grey, and producer Ralph Winter, who fullfilled the same role on 'Star Trek IV: The Voyage Home.'

Today On TV
Christian (5:34 pm CST)
-Tomorrow in the UK, Sky One will be showing Voyager's 'Fair Trade' at 17:00 and at 23:30 BST.

-In Germany, Sat.1 will be airing Voyager's 'Der geheimnisvolle Garak, Teil 2' tomorrow at 15:00 CET.

Trek BBS Today
Christian (5:34 pm CST)
No less than 47 topics are currently being discussed at the Trek BBS - take a look at two of the more interesting:

-What are your thoughts on 'Doomsday', the new Howard Stern/Tracy Tormé series scheduled to premiere on UPN in Fall 2000?

-Interesting thought - could the Bajoran Wormhole not only have allowed travel over all those tens of thousands of light years, but also through time?

Find more at the Trek BBS!

Hello World!
Christian (5:34 pm CST)
'Tis amazing how this works... Only yesterday, I spent four hours catching up on all the news I had missed on the previous two days, and I was determined to never get behind this much again. Then today a few friends came over and suddenly it's close to midnight and I haven't even started working on an update yet. Let's hope I'll be able to come up with something over the next 30 minutes.

Discuss this article at the Trek BBS.

Voyager Season Six Press Kit
Christian (5:25 pm CST)
Over on eBay, someone is trying to sell the official Paramount press kit for Voyager's 1999-2000 season. Take a look at what the press kit contains:

The press kit includes ELEVEN (11) COLOR SLIDES (one them SCANNED below features the entire cast out of costume) and TEN (10) great B&W glossy 8x10 PHOTOS (one group shot on the bridge and nine individual cast shots.) There's also Production Information, cast bios, credits, and additional information. And it comes in a very special, glossy color official folder (has some creases, but looks great).

James Darren Chat Tomorrow
Christian (5:25 pm CST)
Tomorrow at 6:30pm Eastern Time, the official Continuum will be hosting a live chat with James Darren, who appeared on DS9 as Vic Fontaine. You can already submit advance questions, or find info on how to participate.

'Animal Farm' Pics
Christian (5:24 pm CST)
Cinescape has posted several photos from TNT's upcoming miniseries based on George Orwell's book 'Animal Farm.' One of the stars of the movie is Patrick Stewart (Jean-Luc Picard), who voices the lead pic Napoleon. As such, you can't actually see Stewart on any of the pictures, though they're still rather interesting - you can find them on the main Cinescape page.

Inside Jeri Ryan's Purse
Christian (5:24 pm CST)
Sue Morris just sent in this link to a short video clip where Jeri Ryan (Seven of Nine) is asked what is in her purse, just before the Emmy Awards ceremony. The revelation isn't really that shocking, but can still be found here. In related news, Jeri Ryan was selected as one of the five best-dressed females in an article in the Daily News Los Angeles.

Trek Garage Door Opener Article
Christian (5:24 pm CST)
Mary Corcoran at the San Francisco Chronicle has written a short article about what is indeed one of the most unlikely pieces of Trek merchandise to ever appear in stores - the official Star Trek Communicator Garage Door Opener:

The opener is a replica of the original series ``Star Trek'' communicator -- you know, the one that recorded Capt. Kirk saying, ``Beam me up Scottie.'' What's more, the opener has ``Star Trek'' sound and light effects, and an extensive library that will open almost any automatic garage door. It also has a clip, complete with ``Star Trek'' logo, so you can put it on your car visor or even your pocket.

Mac Trek Icons Coming
Christian (5:24 pm CST)
The Icon Factory, a freeware icon creation site for the Mac, has just announced they're creating a set of Star Trek icons:

The Foreman is proud to post a sneak peek of Dave Brasgalla's latest pixel creation - Star Trek TOS: The Crew. Thanks in part to the huge success of our Star Wars: TPM set we released this summer, Dave decided to create the definitive collection of icons for fans of the original Star Trek TV series.

The entire collection will span 4 releases, starting with "The Crew" in early October and continuing onto "Humans", "Aliens" & "Locations". Some of you out there may be saying "Great, more "geeky sci-fi' sets". Well, The Iconfactory was founded on icons like these and one thing we'll never do is apologize for being fans of Star Trek. So, for now head on over to the Showroom for a small preview of things to come. Thanks!

Trek E-Books On Handspring Visor
Christian (5:23 pm CST)
Peanutpress.com, the company already responsible for bringing electronic books to the PalmPilot, has announced it will now also be offering its e-books for owners of the 'Handspring Visor.' Since a few months, Peanutpress.com's line of electronic books has included several Star Trek novels, so these will also be making its way to the Visor. Find more in the official press release.

Overnight Ratings 'Relativity'
Christian (5:23 pm CST)
According to UltimateTV's Tuesday Overnight Ratings Report, yesterday's special rerun of Voyager's 'Relativity' scored a 2.3 rating / 4 share, which is well up from last week's disastrous 1.5/2. As usual, this still didn't save UPN from being the worst-performing of the six networks.

Trek RPG Review
Christian (5:23 pm CST)
Steve Johnson at AnotherUniverse's Mania Magazine has posted a review of Last Unicorn's new Star Trek role-playing game, set in the Original Series universe. Johnson especially praises the fact that the TOS RPG conforms so strongly to the actual television series:

Star Trek Roleplaying devotes 25 pages to the core ideas of Star Trek: an episode is action-packed, virtuous, and optimistic, and if you want your adventure to feel like Star Trek, it should have lots of things moving around (either good things, which are being prevented from happening, or bad things, which must be prevented), opportunities to stand up for the good and just, and a chance to make the world a better place than when you sat down and unpacked your dice.

Torme Series 'Doomsday' On UPN
Christian (5:23 pm CST)
Despite several reports yesterday that Viacom/CBS wouldn't mind leaving UPN behind, the network just announced the acquisition of a new series which may suggest a stronger relationship between CBS and Viacom. Starting in Fall 2000, UPN will begin airing the new animated science-fiction series 'Doomsday,' starring Howard Stern and being developed by a former TNG writer Tracy Torme. Considering the strong ties between Howard Stern and CBS, this certainly looks like a sign that Viacom will still be backing their new network. In any case, take a look at what 'Doomsday' will actually deal with:

[The show] follows the Bradley family, who travel in their motor home across a post-apocalyptic America in search of traditional family values and a new home. What they find during their travels is a world inhabited by mutated humans -- barbaric road warriors, 50-foot hillbillies and IRS agents -- as a result of a mysterious, cataclysmic burst of radiation, which destroyed much of the civilized world.

UPN On UPN
Christian (5:22 pm CST)
Following recent speculations about the fate of UPN in general, and Voyager in specific, TrekToday reader Jeremy Stolfi decided to ask his local UPN station, actually owned by Viacom, if they could confirm any of it. Here's what they had to say:

NO:). This is not the last season of Voyager. UPN is not going under. Thank you for your question to UPN-27 WGNT.

Lowest Voyager Rating Ever
Christian (5:22 pm CST)
How great. According to a Reuters/Variety report by Tom Bierbaum on last week's primetime ratings on national television, last week Tuesday actually was the lowest-rated Tuesday ever for UPN. The network's evening began with "Dilbert's" first Tuesday try, while it was followed by a rerun of Voyager's "Someone To Watch Over Me,' which also set a new record - a 1.1 rating, easily Voyager's lowest ever.

Colm Meaney In Classic Play Revival
Christian (5:22 pm CST)
An article by Associated Press writer Matt Wolf talks about the more than 40 major theatre productions opening between now and Christmas in London. One of these projects will be a new staging of the Irish classic 'Juno and the Paycock,' written by Sean O'Casey. This play will mark the return of Colm Meaney (Chief Miles O'Brien) to the British stage:

``The play doesn't need rewriting,'' said Meaney, the 46-year-old Irishman whose home is Los Angeles, explaining his attraction to the project. Director John Crowley's revival opens a six-week run Sept. 20 at the studio-sized Donmar Warehouse. ``It doesn't need fixing. It's sort of there,'' Meaney said, ``so I thought, `Why not?'''

Takei Calls For More Asians On TV
Christian (5:22 pm CST)
After the National Latino Media Coalition and the NAACP already called for a greater role for ethnic groups on U.S. television, several Asian-American advocacy groups have also strongly denounced the so-called 'whitewashing' of most network shows. At a press conference yesterday, this campaign was led by none other than George Takei (Sulu), who said today's network shows ""present a version of America that's a bald-faced lie ... this reinforces the notion that we are a white nation and feeds into delusions of white supremacy." More on this can be found in an article by Variety's Susanne Ault, which also includes some info on a boycott of network television which is apparently going on at the moment.

Today On TV
Christian (5:21 pm CST)
-At 9:00pm Eastern Time, UPN will be repeating 'Equinox,' last season's Voyager finale. Take a look at how the official Continuum describes the episode:

The U.S.S. Voyager finds another Federation starship lost in the Delta Quadrant, the science vessel U.S.S. Equinox, and helps it stave off an attack by creatures from another spatial realm. Captain Janeway now has a kindred spirit in its commander, Captain John Ransom, and helps him salvage his war-torn vessel so they can journey home together. But when The Doctor retrieves data from the U.S.S. Equinox research lab, Janeway learns the hard truth that Captain Ransom has seriously violated the Starfleet oath by commiting mass murder in the Delta Quadrant. When she strips him of his command and confines him to quarters, he and his crew manage to escape with the U.S.S. Voyager's advanced technology - and The Doctor and Seven of Nine as hostages aboard their ship.

-Tomorrow morning at 01:40 CET, German Sat.1 will be repeating DS9's 'Durch den Spiegel' (Through the Looking Glass). At 15:00, they'll be showing 'Der geheimnisvolle Garak, Teil 1.'

Trek BBS Today
Christian (5:21 pm CST)
Take a look at what's currently being discussed at the Trek BBS:

-How come Star Trek suffers so much from five-minute endings?

-Have you also noticed Kate Mulgrew's obsession with romances for her character?

-What are your thoughts on the recently announced Voyager episode set in an Irish pub?

Find more topics at the Trek BBS!

Hello World!
Christian (5:20 pm CST)
It's been a very long while since I've been so late, but at least I've caught up with all the news items I missed over the past few days. I didn't know it was possible to amass such a large amount of Trek news in just two days...

New Voyager Episode Info
Christian (3:18 pm CST)
Warning: Below you will find spoilers for the new episode 'Safe Harbour.' Click here to avoid being spoiled.

Again, this is where you need to click if you want to hear nothing about this new episode yet.

The KJB at entertainment news site Backstage Pass was kind enough to send me some info on the new Voyager episode 'Safe Harbour,' for which Paramount just sent out a casting sheet. The episode will be directed by Allan Kroeker, and will be dealing at least in part with a new program Tom Paris has created on the holodeck. The program is set in a quaint rural town in the Ireland of the late 19th or early 20th Century. According to the casting sheet, all guest roles in this episode appear in this holodeck program, and therefore it requires 'authentic Irish accents.' Take a look at some info on the three guest roles they're looking to fill:

• Jared Declan is the barkeep of the town's tavern, aged somewhere between the mid 40s to the early 50s. Very interestingly, the casting sheet mentions that when Kathryn Janeway decides to pay a visit to the holodeck program, she meets Jared and finds something quite appealing about him. In light of the recent reports about Janeway becoming romantically involved with a holodeck character, this certainly sounds more than interesting. The role of Jared Declan is called a 'special guest star role.'
  
• Shaemus McGinty is a quirky older Irish man, somewhere in his 50s or 60s. He's a fun character in the Irish town.
  
• Lastly, there's a call for a 'Young Irish Lass,' pretty, easygoing, and in her early 20s.

This raises all sorts of interesting questions - I wonder if Janeway will really be getting romantically involved with this 'Jared' character, or if it's just a plotline for this one episode. In any case, major thanks go out to the KJB at Backstage Pass for sending in this casting info!

'Generations' Score On ET
Christian (3:16 pm CST)
Borg just sent in a news report about Monday's edition of 'Entertainment Tonight,' which apparently made extensive use of the "Star Trek Generations" musical score for their coverage of the 51st annual Emmy Awards. Thanks go out to Borg for reporting this!

Jake Simpson On 'Elite Force'
Christian (3:15 pm CST)
Raven Software's Jake Simpson has updated his .plan with some info on the status of 'Voyager: Elite Force,' their new first-person shooter. Apparently, the team has run into a slight problem related to their use of a licensed game engine:

Star Trek is coming along well too.There is much discussion right now about whether we use the new skeletal animation system that ['Quake 3: Arena' lead programmer John] Carmack is developing, and what this would do to our timelines if we did. While there is an argument for using it, the amount of re-development time it would take us to rebuild and animate our models is in question. The guys at Id can afford to do it easily since they only have about 40-50 frames per guy to deal with. We start at 200 and go up from there. You can see the problem of balance. Its basically memory vs re-development time. I'm just glad James Monroe makes that call. :)

More Trek Gaming News
Christian (3:15 pm CST)
A bunch of new game previews have popped up over the past 24 hours:

• GameSpot UK's 'Voyager: Elite Force' preview talks about the game's use of the 'Quake III' engine, its high degree of interaction with the environment, and the game's multiplayer capabilities.
  
• The Adrenaline Vault has posted 9 new screenshots of the upcoming Collective Studios game 'Deep Space Nine: The Fallen.' Again, they only appear to be showing Sisko.
  
• Interplay's Chris Taylor has posted a list of bugs they're still fixing in their new real-time strategy game 'Starfleet Command.'

Thanks go out to Blue for the first two stories, and the Starfleet Universe for the last one.

Happy Birhday!
Christian (3:15 pm CST)
Today is the 63rd birthday of Walter Koenig, who starred on the Original Series as the Russian security chief and navigator Pavel Andreievich Chekov.

Hello World!
Christian (3:14 pm CST)
Yes, I am actually doing a TrekToday update on my birthday, even when it's just a small one. The main reason for this is the news about a totally new 'Voyager' episode, obviously not something I could simply let pass by. I'll of course have a regular-sized news update tomorrow again.

And yes, I had a great day today - thanks go out to all those who sent in birthday wishes!

In other, not me-related and a lot less pleasant news, Fred Shedian, writer of our weekly A Take On Trek column, asked me to inform you all of the following:

Currently, my local area is under a hurricane warning and Hurricane Floyd is moving very close to the shore. As a result, my efforts and time have been spent preparing for this situation. Yet another advantage of living in the state of Florida over here in North America. I do not know when I will be able to get my next column online.

Kate Mulgrew Season Six Interview
Christian (4:19 pm CST)
VoyagerLady just reposted an interview with Kate Mulgrew to the alt.tv.star-trek.voyager newsgroup, in which she talks about Voyager's sixth season. The interview was conducted by Ian Spelling, and first appeared in the New York Times and the Houston Chronicle. In it, the Janeway romance rumour is confirmed:

Another intriguing development on tap: Janeway should finally beam some romance into her life. "It'll be a very big romance, very powerful and heartbreaking," she said. "I want it so unpredictable that it throws Janeway for the biggest lop you've ever seen her thrown for."

Michael Westmore Emmy Interview
Christian (4:19 pm CST)
SciFi Headquarters has put up a digitized version of an interview with Michael Westmore, in which the man in charge of all Trek make-up talks about his Emmy nomination. The clip also shows him actually working on a few 'aliens.' You can find it via the SciFi Headquarters Trek News page. Besides this, they've also put up the syndication promo for 'What You Leave Behind, Part One,' which can be found here.

French Star Trek News
Christian (4:19 pm CST)
A few days ago, I already had a report about the imminent arrival of 'Voyager' in France, thanks to Didier. Now, Didier has been kind enough to send in a few more French Trek news bits:

• The 'Star Trek: Insurrection' rental video has been released throughout the country, and is currently being advertised on TV.
  
• To celebrate the launch of Voyager on cable/sattelite channel CanalJimmy, they'll be running a Star Trek marathon this Wednesday, the 15th of September. The marathon night will begin at 9:05pm, with the airing of the French version of Voyager's 'Caretaker,' followed by DS9's 'The Search, Part Two' at 10:45pm. At 11:35, 'Star Trek II: The Wrath of Khan' will be shown in English, with French subtitles, while at 1:25am the night will end with the French version of the TOS episode 'The Menagerie.'

Major thanks go out to Didier for sending this in!

Emmy Awards Report
Christian (4:19 pm CST)
Most of you Americans will already have seen this, but for the benefit of the rest of the world (including me) here's a short Trek-related report of this year's 51st Annual Prime-Time Emmy Awards by Holly Kim Wilson:

The Emmy Awards broadcast ended a short while ago and it was a standard awards show. Very rare moments surrounded by mostly boredom. But when they did the usual salute to the people we have lost over the past year, there was a wonderful photo of DeForest Kelley as Dr. McCoy from the original series and the applause did seem to get lourder at that moment.

And on another, rather odd note, the show also noted the "ending of someshows" this past season, "that we will all miss". With that build up,one would expect something of interest. But no! They showed clips from only two shows- "Melrose Place" and "Mad About You". Nada on DS9! They didn't even do a run down of the tech awards.

Insurrection 'Star' At Emmy Experience
Christian (4:18 pm CST)
A press release from the Los Angeles Sports & Entertainment Commission talks about the 'Emmy Experience,' which was organised for several hundred members of the general public during the 51st Annual Prime-Time Emmy Awards. The people taking part in this were able to attend the actual ceremony, and later on visit an exclusive post-Emmy party where they could rub elbows with several 'well-known celebrities,' including Star Trek Insurrection star Eliott Woods. And no, I'd never heard of him before, either. According to his IMDB Biography, he appeared as a 'Starfleet Officer' in the film, while he also made an appearance on DS9's 'The Sons of Mogh' as a 'Klingon Officer.' More on this high-profile celebrity meeting can be found in the full press release.

DS9 Ends Run As 16th Syndie Show
Christian (4:18 pm CST)
Variety has compiled a list of the thirty top-rated syndicated TV shows for the 1998/1999 season, which ran from the 31st of August 1998 until the 29th of August 1999. On the list, 'Star Trek: Deep Space Nine' came in at a shared 16th place, together with 'The Simpsons,' and easily beating 'Xena' and 'Hercules.' The full list can be found here.

Today On TV
Christian (4:18 pm CST)
-No Original Series on the Sci-Fi Channel this week, unfortunately.

-According to the Television Observation Unit of the Star Trek Collective, British Sky One will be showing Voyager's 'The Q and the Grey' tomorrow at 17:00 and at 23:30 BST, while at 20:00 they'll be showing the new episode 'Equinox.'

-In Germany, Sat.1 will be repeating DS9's 'Der Visionär' (Visionary) at five minutes pas midnight. At 15:00, they'll be showing 'Ferne Stimmen' (Distant Voices)

Trek BBS Today
Christian (4:18 pm CST)
Here are some interesting topics currently being discussed at the Trek BBS:

-Were you also disappointed by the shocking ignoral of Deep Space Nine at this year's Emmy Awards Ceremony.

-Did you get the Starship Creator upgrade?

Find more at the Trek BBS!

Hello World!
Christian (4:17 pm CST)
Just so you know, tomorrow there might well be a very small or even no TrekToday update at all, the main reason for that being that tomorrow is actually my birthday :-). I'll try to get an update done after the celebrations, but I'm not making any guarantees ;-).

New Sev Trek Comic
Christian (4:16 pm CST)

New Trek Toys Available
Christian (4:16 pm CST)
The Raving Toy Maniac is reporting on the availability of several new Trek action figures from Playmates, namely:

• The 12" Captain Kirk as a Romulan figure (from 'The Enterprise Incident') will be officially made available for ordering in issue #124 of the Star Trek Communicator. It can already be ordered from the official Star Trek Store.

• The 9" Kay-Bee Exclusive action figures of Trelane (from 'The Squire of Gothos') and Edith Keeler (from 'The City on the Edge of Forever') have begun arriving in stores.

• The third wave of wide release 12" figures hasn't yet reached any of the major retailers, but some smaller shops who order directly from Playmates apparently already have them.

'Mystery, Alaska' Site Goes Live
Christian (4:16 pm CST)
Buena Vista has put up a new official site for the independent film 'Mystery, Alaska,' scheduled to open in limited release on the 1st of October. One of the stars of the movie is Colm Meaney (Chief Miles O'Brien), who plays a character named 'Pitcher.' On the site, which is unfortunately rather small, you'll be able to find the official film poster, a short plot description, and even a picture showing Meaney in his role - find it all here. Thanks go out to Eston Eurel Melton IV for this!

CCG Regional Championship Report
Christian (4:15 pm CST)
Over at Decipher, they've put up a report by organiser Kevin Reitzel of the recent Star Trek Customizable Card Game Andor Regional Championship. For the uninitiated, this was actually held in Aloha, Oregon, and the participants didn't actually sport any blue antennas. According to Reitzel, the event was quite interesting to see:

Of the decks being played, I saw Klingon, Fed, Cardassian and even those pesky Cytherian bonus point decks. My favorite deck title was Kevin Cline's The Non-Aligned Who Shagged Me deck. You should have seen the size of some of the draw decks used - I could swear a building permit was required for them, they were so big. Several of the new battle bridge side decks were played.

Several games ended in 1 point victories and a few true ties. One player, John Davis, had 2 true ties and five 1 point victories. His quote was the best I heard at the tournament: "Sorry for the timed wins and true ties, it's all because I'm battling and blowing stuff up." Watching the tactic cards come into play in a big tournament was a pleasure.

New 'New Worlds' Team
Christian (4:15 pm CST)
I can't believe I missed this, but a few days ago Federation HQ reported the rather surprising news that Binary Asylum, the company which was previously working on 'Star Trek: New Worlds,' has gone out of business. The development of the game has now been moved over to the Interplay in-house strategy division 14 Degrees East, according to this announcement:

As of September 1, 1999, 14° East has brought the development of Star Trek: New Worlds to our offices in the United States. Binary Asylum is no longer developing the Star Trek: New Worlds title. This was a difficult decision to make, but after much discussion, deemed in the best interest of the game. Our motivation for taking this action is to ensure the highest quality game for our fans. Currently, a team of programmers and artists is in place picking up the development of the game.
- Brian Christian, Director 14° East

Today On TV
Christian (4:15 pm CST)
-Tomorrow at 17:00 and at 23:30 BST, British Sky One will be showing Voyager's 'Warlord.' At 20:00, they'll be showing the new episode 'Warhead.' Thanks go out to the Television Observation Unit of the Star Trek Collective for this.

-In Germany, Sat.1 will be showing DS9's 'Der Visionär' (Visionary) at 15:00 CET tomorrow.

Trek BBS Today
Christian (4:15 pm CST)
Even though it's Sunday, a couple of interesting threads are still going on at the Trek BBS:

-Have you ever been able to see Spock's Face in the DS9 opening sequence?

-How does the Federation's anti-cloaking technology, as used in 'Redemption,' actually work?

More discussion topics can be found at the Trek BBS!

Hello World!
Christian (4:14 pm CST)
Do the ends always justify the means? An action group campaigning for East Timor seems to think so, as today they spammed me via 5 different e-mail aliases with a mail with the subject 'Please don't let Timor people die,' beginning their mail by saying "This is not a spam! This is SOS!" Few pieces of spam have irritated me more - not only is this the first time I've received the same spam five times, it's also not something I feel people should send spam mails for, as that will only cause me to dislike their movement. When I want to write letters to Bill Clinton, I'll do that when legitimate organisations such as Amnesty ask me to do that - I certainly do not want to be blackmailed into doing that by being told five times that I shouldn't let the Timor people die.

9 New Klingon Academy Shots
Christian (4:46 pm CST)
Tim Calahan at Klingon Academy News (which looks like a great site, btw) sends along word that he has posted 9 new screenshots from 'Klingon Academy,' the new space simulator in development at Interplay. These include 4 shots from the latest trailer, and 5 actually showing some of the cut-scenes developed for the game, including a Klingon ship bridge and what looks like the actual Academy.

You can find the shots, plus some quotes about them from Paramount's Harry Lang, by visiting Klingon Academy News.

DeBoer Engaged To Be Married!
Christian (4:36 pm CST)
Over on what is now the Official Nicole deBoer Site, Nicole deBoer (Ezri Dax) has posted a rather great announcement to the official message board - she's getting married!

It was fun to do the [Toronto] con thing in my home town because my family got to come hang out with me at the signing booth. They really enjoyed it, and were of course oh-so proud. As you know by now, my boyfriend ,John was also there. We've been together for the past year. Actually, that has to do with the reason I'm writing you now. I wanted to announce it to you guys before you may hear it elsewhere.

John and I are getting married!!! eeeeeeek! I know, I can hardly believe it myself. But it's true, and I couldn't be happier. He's absolutely amazing!, and I know you'd all approve. Ask [fan club president] Jenn and Conrado.. they've both met him....

[...]

Take care everyone. I hope everything is going well for you all!
nikki:)

René Auberjonois In 'Patriot'
Christian (4:36 pm CST)
Carolyn Fulton at the official René Auberjonois Internet Link is reporting that René Auberjonois (Odo) has just signed to do the upcoming Revolutionary War epic, 'Patriot,' starring Mel Gibson:

The main character of the film is a fictitious Colonial general (played by Gibson) based on the "Swamp Fox", Francis Marion. René plays "a trepidatious reverend".

René will be heading south sometime in September to start location filming in South Carolina. He told me that he has to go down early for "riding lessons" (his quotes, not mine), something he doesn't look forward to as he's had less than stellar luck with horses while working on past films. "Horses and I have a long history...sometimes more pleasant than others. I've been kicked and bitten and thrown...it'll all work out." We all certainly hope so!

Dark Frontier German TV News
Christian (4:35 pm CST)
About two weeks ago, it was rumoured that the Voyager telefilm 'Dark Frontier' would not be shown on German television, and would only be available via CIC Video. However, today the German Star Trek Index is reporting that Sat.1 will actually be showing the episode, though a few violent scenes may have to be cut out. You can find the original (German) report here.

New Voyager Launch Promos
Christian (4:35 pm CST)
Mr. Video Productions has put up two new Voyager launch promos, containing the first clips of Voyager's sixth season. The first one, entitled 'Seven of Nine,' only runs for 12 seconds, while the second promo (called '1966') runs for 22 seconds. You can find both promos on this page.

Chris-Craft UPN Background Article
Christian (4:35 pm CST)
Reuters' Derek Caney has written an excellent background article on Herbert Siegel, chairman of Chris-Craft Industries, the company which owns 50% of struggling network UPN. The article doesn't really talk about Star Trek, but it is a very interesting read for anyone interested in UPN's future, and presents us with a good look at what Chris-Craft might be doing. Find it all here.

Happy Birthday!
Christian (4:35 pm CST)
Today is the 25th birthday of Roxann Dawson, who stars as B'Elanna Torres on 'Star Trek: Voyager.' Also, yesterday was the 51th birthday of Judy Geeson, who appeared on 'Voyager' a few times as Sandrine, owner of the bar of the same name.

[Update, Sunday, 10:47 CET:] Hello to the typo from hell - of course yesterday was Dawson's 35th birthday, not her 25th. Thanks go out to Geordi Padovan and Jason Turner for spotting this.

Today On TV
Christian (4:34 pm CST)
-Tomorrow at 16:00 BST, British Sky One will be showing DS9's 'Dramatis Personea,' followed by Voyager's 'Future's End, Part One' at 17:00. At 18:00, BBC Two will be showing two Voyager episodes - first 'Vis à Vis' and then 'The Omega Directive.' Thanks go out to the Television Observation Unit of the Star Trek Collective for this.

-In Germany, Sat.1 will be repeating DS9's 'Schatten und Symbole' at 15 minutes past midnight. Tomorrow morning at 10:15 they'll be repeating Voyager's 'Rebellion Alpha.'

Trek BBS Today
Christian (4:34 pm CST)
Take a look at some of the discussions currently going on at the Trek BBS:

-Did you also think the DS9 theme tune was a lot better in the first three seasons?

-How come Trek's Part Twos are always a bit disappointing?

Find more discussion topics at the Trek BBS!

Hello World!
Christian (4:33 pm CST)
Started working on answering email today - I'm about halfway through, so hopefully I'll manage to finish this before the weekend is over. I really should try to respond to email right when it gets in :-(.

'Andromeda' Plot Details, Biz Info
Christian (4:24 pm CST)
Tribune Entertainment, the company behind 'Gene Roddenberry's Andromeda,' has just sent out an official press release dealing with the series being developed by former DS9 writer Robert Hewitt Wolfe and starring Kevin Sorbo (Hercules). One of the things the press release mentions is the early success of the show, which has already been sold to television stations representing 60% of the US market, with still one year to go before the premiere. The press release also provides some more info on the series' storyline:

``Gene Roddenberry's Andromeda'' stars Kevin Sorbo as Dylan Hunt, the last starship captain of the System's Commonwealth, the Earth-based government that spans a thousand worlds, embracing hundreds of different races and cultures. Following a civil war that plunges the Commonwealth into darkness, civilization is in ruins and is spiraling into chaos.

Dylan Hunt is a man of action. Strong, determined, confident, he can see only one course open to him. He must restore the Commonwealth. Finding himself alone in this tumultuous landscape, Hunt allies himself with a group of mercenary aliens who sign on to crew his ship. Together, they set out to travel the cosmos, weaving together the many diverse worlds of the galaxy in order to once again bring peace to the far-flung reaches of space.

Furthermore, Cinescape is reporting on two more rumours related to this. Firstly, they are saying that Babylon 5's Bruce Boxleitner may have been cast for 'Andromeda,' but even the originators of this rumour aren't certain of its validity. Secondly, Cinescape has a report about the cancellation of the animated 'Gene Roddenberry's Starship,' which apparently got tangled up in some rights problems. More on both rumours can be found at Cinescape.

Cromwell In 'Case of Murder'
Christian (4:03 pm CST)
On Sunday the 19th of September, the new made-for-television movie 'A Slight Case Of Murder,' co-starring James Cromwell (Zefram Cochrane) will be premiering on TNT. Take a look at the official TNT description of the movie:

Based on the comedic novella A Travesty, by Donald E. Westlake, A SLIGHT CASE OF MURDER is a funny, suspenseful comic thriller that offers the surprising twists and turns of such classic films as Dial M for Murder and Blood Simple. Macy stars as a small-time film critic whose amoral behavior–adultery, larceny, possibly murder–finally starts to catch up with him when a quirky detective (Arkin) gets on his case.

Jeri Ryan Emmy Images Online
Christian (4:03 pm CST)
The Official Jeri Lynn Ryan Homepage has posted 14 images from the 1999 Television Creative Awards Emmy Ceremony, held on the 28th of August in Pasadena, California. One of the presenters of the awards was Jeri Ryan (Seven of Nine), and the screencaps show her announcing one of the awards together with someone else I'm afraid I don't recognize. You can find the screenshots by going here.

James Darren At Millennium Party
Christian (4:02 pm CST)
TrekWeb has just posted a press release about the Epicurean Fest 2000, yet another special Millennium event featuring an appearance by a Trek guest star. Take a look at what this event promises to bring you:

In the beautiful and elegant setting of the Historic Briarhurst Manor in Manitou Springs, near Colorado Springs, enjoy top European Cuisine from one of the top ten chefs in America today - Sigi Krauss, paired perfectly with over 20 Napa Valley rare wines (all signed by the winemakers and given as souvenirs at the conclusion of the evening.

Don't miss this Exclusive opportunity to have dinner with James ['Vic Fontaine'] Darren (and other mystery guests) and hear James ring in the New Year, performing from his new CD "This one is from the heart" live with his orchestra. Tickets start as low as $395/person including a gourmet meal, wine, beverages, dessert, dancing to James Darren and his Orchestra and an autographed CD!

Second Week Syndication Schedule
Christian (4:02 pm CST)
David Henderson at Psi Phi has posted several Voyager syndication news bits to his Voyager episode page. First of all, there appears to be a difference between the official Paramount schedule for week 1 ('The Launch') and the schedule which several stations around the country are using, with the Paramount schedule including several first and second season episodes while the local stations mostly show season four and season five episodes. Secondly, the schedule for the second week ('Time Travel') is now available, listing all the episodes shown in the second syndication week. Lastly, the episodes for the first few weekend showings are now available - these will be shown in order of production, at least for the moment. You can find the actual schedules here.

NASA Improves On Tricorder
Christian (4:02 pm CST)
Space.com is reporting about a new softball-sized device being developed by NASA for the International Space Station, which will not only be equipped with cameras, sensors, propulsion systems and a display panel, but also with the ability to understand spoken commands in English. The article certainly makes it seem as if this really is an improvement over the scanning device we all know from Star Trek:

The astronauts wanted a Tricorder, the handheld sensor used by Starfleet officers in Star Trek. NASA is giving them something better. It's called the Personal Satellite Assistant, a softball-sized space pal that could begin service in three years.

John Hertzler Charity Picnic
Christian (4:01 pm CST)
According to the news round-up of this week's edition of Eon Magazine, John G. Hertzler (DS9, General Martok) threw a starlight picnic on the 29th of August, featuring 'magic, music and the spoken word.' The goal of the (free) event was to call attention to saving the redwoods in California.

Filming Starts On Siddig Film
Christian (4:01 pm CST)
Cinescape is reporting that the new mountain climbing action film 'The Vertical Limit' has just started production in New Zealand. One of the stars of the film is Alexander Siddig (Julian Bashir), who will appear as the Pakistani leader of a rescue team. Apparently, the film's shooting isn't exactly a pleasure trip for those involved:

The only way for the cast and crew to get to the site is via helicopter… and then from there, they still have to climb a ways to the set location. Before they ever got to this point though, everyone was required to arrive on the production a month early for ice climbing lessons. ['Vertical Limit' star Scott] Glenn explains, "We started on walls, then with clips, and on to the ice. It was a pleasant surprise… I've fallen in love with it." Glenn adds, "While I do enjoy sky-diving and jumping out of planes, this puts your heart in your mouth. It's like doing pull-ups 100 feet up in the air."

Nimoy Hosts 'Our 20th Century'
Christian (4:00 pm CST)
AnotherUniverse's Daily Buzz is reporting that Leonard Nimoy (Spock) has signed on with the Alternative Entertainment Network to host a new series called 'Our 20th Century.' The show will be an anthology using video clips from the past 74 years to highlight great moments in sports, world news, entertainment, and technology, raising the question why the show won't be dealing with the first 25 years of this century. The show is scheduled for an October 18 premiere.

DS9 Returns To Dutch Television
Christian (4:00 pm CST)
This Sunday, Dutch television station RTL 5 will start showing 'Star Trek: Deep Space Nine,' new episodes haven't been shown here in the Netherlands for close to a year now. The station will be showing a new episode each Sunday at 18:10 CET, beginning with 'The Way of the Warrior' this Sunday. Thanks for this go out to Metro, a free Dutch newspaper distributed on railway stations - really about the last source I ever thought I'd get TrekToday news from.

Happy Birthday!
Christian (3:58 pm CST)
Today is the 85th birthday of Robert Wise, who in 1979 directed the first Trek movie 'Star Trek: The Motion Picture.' Also, Psi Phi's David Henderson informs me that today is also the 100th birthday of Jimmie Davis, the former governor of Louisiana who wrote "You Are My Sunshine", which was sung in Voyager's "Someone To Watch Over Me."

Today On TV
Christian (3:58 pm CST)
-According to the Television Observation Unit of the Star Trek Collective, British Sky One will be showing DS9's 'The Forsaken' at 16:00 tomorrow, followed by 'Future's End, Part One' at 17:00 BST.

-In Germany, Sat.1 will be repeating DS9's 'Das Motiv der Propheten' early tomorrow morning at 02:55 CET. Tomorrow at 15:00 they'll be showing Voyager's 'Rebellion Alpha,' followed an hour later by the new Deep Space Nine episode 'Schatten und Symbole.'

Trek BBS Today
Christian (3:57 pm CST)
Take a look at some of the interesting topics currently being discussed at the Trek BBS:

-Rather topical now that DS9's final season is about to start both in Brittain and in Germany, what are your thoughts on Ezri Dax?

-Whose tattoo is better - Chakotay's or his father's?

Find more at the Trek BBS!

Hello World!
Christian (3:57 pm CST)
And welcome to the weekend, in which I'll finally start answering that huge pile of email which is waiting for me again.

Link of the Day: Eat in the Dark

'Insurrection' Fifth For Hugo
Christian (4:11 pm CST)
Space.com, a web site primarily covering advances in space technology, has posted a report about the 1999 Hugo awards, which were voted on at this year's World Science Fiction Convention, held in Melbourne. The 'Hugos' can best be seen as the Oscars for science-fiction, together with the Science Fiction and Fantasy Writers of America's Nebula Awards.

This year, 'Star Trek: Insurrection' was nominated in the 'best dramatic presentation' category, but unfortunately lost out to 'The Truman Show.' As a matter of fact, 'Insurrection' placed fifth in the category, well below Babylon 5's 'Sleeping in Light,' which managed to place second. Find more in the full report, which was sent to me by Jose Gonzalez.

Brannon Braga Chat Tonight
Christian (4:11 pm CST)
Tonight at 06:30pm Pacific Time, the official Continuum will be hosting a live chat with Brannon Braga, Voyager's Executive Producer. Though he is unlikely to provide any earth-shattering news announcements during the chat, he will probably be mentioning at least a few interesting news bits. If you want to increase the chances of your question being answered, you can already submit questions, while if you just want to attend the chat information on how to do that is also available.

Voyager Starts, TNG Ends In France
Christian (4:11 pm CST)
I will never ever complain anymore about having to wait a year or more for new episodes to arrive here in the Netherlands. Didier just sent in the news that, starting on the 12th of September, 'Star Trek: Voyager' will be shown on French television for the first time ever. The series will be shown on cable and sattelite channel CanalJimmy, which also used to run TNG episodes. Each episode will be shown first on Sundays at 11:30pm in English, followed by the French version on Wednesdays at 9:00pm.

On the same date, CanalJimmy will start showing the third season of Deep Space Nine for the first time ever, on Sundays at 0:20am and on Wednesdays at 9:50pm, right after 'Voyager.' The shows will be aired in the same way TNG was - 52 episodes a year, without a summer hiatus. TNG just finished its first French run, which is why CanalJimmy is now moving over to the newer series. Major thanks go out to Didier for this!

Margaret Clark Answers
Christian (4:10 pm CST)
On the Pocket Books web site, non-fiction editor Margaret Clark just answered a new set of reader questions. Though most of the things she says aren't really new, she also provides a short excerpt of the upcoming coffee table book 'New Worlds, New Civilizations,' which looks set to be quite interesting. You can find it here.

More Info On Mars Episode
Christian (4:10 pm CST)
Yesterday, fellow Nation site Warp Eleven reported that this year's Mars Mission homage episode, directed by Robert Picardo, was going to be called 'The Gates of Heaven.' Now it appears, though, that this may be outdated information, as regular internet spoiler provider 415Man has posted the following information to the alt.tv.star-trek.voyager newsgroup:

It is episode 228 and is scheduled (currently) for air on November 17th in the U.S. The name of the ep is "One Small Step".

Space Sim Developer Chat
Christian (4:10 pm CST)
Beth Wasden at A Talent For War has sent out the following:

The latest of ATFW's developer chats is now set. It's scheduled for this Saturday, September 11th at 1 PM EST/10 AM PST/6 PM GMT. Guests at the third dev chat include representatives from Jumpgate, Klingon Academy, Parsec, Starfleet Command, Starlancer, and Tachyon. As always, the chat will be held in the #space-sim channel on Gameslink's IRC network. For your nearest server, check out their Servers page. The chat will also be mostly moderated; for more info, check out the Chat FAQ.

'The Fight' Overnight Ratings
Christian (4:09 pm CST)
According to UltimateTV's Wednesday Ratings Report, yesterday's Voyager rerun of 'The Fight' scored a 2.8 rating / 4 share, which is one tenth of a ratings point and a full share point up from last week. An hour earlier, 'Seven Days' scored a 2.8/5.

Official 'Andromeda' Announcement
Christian (4:09 pm CST)
I noticed in today's Cinescape cover story that Tribune Entertainment has officially greenlighted 'Andromeda,' the new series based on a Gene Roddenberry concept, in development by Robert Hewitt Wolfe and starring Kevin Sorbo. The full title of the series (which used to be called 'Phoenix Rising') is now 'Gene Roddenberry's Andromeda.' According to the trade paper 'Variety,' Tribune has committed for two years to the program, betting on Sorbo to generate lots of positive buzz for it. Take a look at how the series is being described:

Sorbo, who will also have partial ownership in the program, will play a starship captain who attempts to restore order in the galaxy overflowing with chaos while commanding a group of mercenary alien beings. The program will be co-financed by Fireworks Entertainment out of Toronto, who will also handle international distribution of the program.

'Trek: Animated' Cels To Be Sold
Christian (4:08 pm CST)
Premier Classic Art, a distributor of original and limited edition animation art, has just announced that it has obtained the non-exclusive right to sell reproductions of hand-painted cels for a variety of classic animated series, including the Animated Star Trek series from the 1970s. PCA specialises in bringing reproductions of such cels to the general public, so presumably this will mean that Animated Series cels will become a lot more easier to obtain for both collectors and casual fans alike. A bit more on this can be found in the full press release.

Happy Birthday!
Christian (4:08 pm CST)
Today is the 45th birthday of Jeffrey Combs, who frequently appeared on 'Star Trek: Deep Space Nine' as either the Vorta Weyoun or the Ferengi Liquidator Brunt. Thanks go out to Jackie Loeb for the reminder!

Today On TV
Christian (4:08 pm CST)
-Tonight at 7:00pm and at 11:00pm Eastern Time, the Sci-Fi Channel will be showing the TOS third-season episode 'Plato's Stepchildren.' This will also be the last Sci-Fi Channel TOS episode for quite a while - next week they won't be showing any Trek episodes, preferring to show 'Farscape' instead.

-According to the Television Observation Unit of the Star Trek Collective, British Sky One will be showing Voyager's 'Sacred Ground' tomorrow at 17:00 and at 23:30 BST.

-In Germany, Sat.1 will be repeating DS9's 'Trekors Prophezeiung' at 01:15 CET tomorrrow morning. At 15:00, they'll be showing 'Das Motiv der Propheten.'

Trek BBS Today
Christian (4:07 pm CST)
Take a look at some of the interesting discussions currently taking place at the Trek BBS

-What was Station Salem, the Pearl Harbour-like preamble to war mentioned in TNG's 'The Enemy'?

-Did you see the Voyager Year 6 promo on UPN showing one of the nacelles of the U.S.S. Equinox exploding? What did you think about it?

Find more topics at the Trek BBS!

Hello World!
Christian (4:07 pm CST)
To my great and enourmous shame, I completely forgot to mention Star Trek's 33rd birthday yesterday! Of course, 33 years and one day ago, NBC aired 'The Man Trap,' the very first Star Trek episode ever shown on national television. I'm really quite sorry for forgetting to mention this (or the campaign for the first-ever Star Trek Day) - I'll definitely try to remember this for next year.

What do you all think is going to happen? Please let us know at feedback@treknation.com, so we can use your thoughts in the soon-to-be resurrected Trek Nation mailbag!

'Insurrection: Hidden Evil' Interview
Christian (4:25 pm CST)
Following their recent preview of Activision's 'Hidden Evil' adventure game, the folks at Adventure Gamer have put up an interview with Eric Dallaire, Hidden Evil's scriptwriter. In the interview, Dallaire gives some more information on the player character, who should prove to be very interesting:

In Hidden Evil, you will assume the role of Ensign Sovok, a young Starfleet officer with a unique background. Although human, Sovok was raised on Vulcan after his natural parents died during an experiment they were conducting with the Vulcan Science Academy. Sovok was reared by a Vulcan master who would teach Sovok of the Vulcan disciplines.

Wanting to impress his patron, Sovok tried to become the only human to achieve Kolinahr, the rite of shedding all emotions. However, Sovok ultimately failed to achieve the rite. Once Sovok reached adulthood, the Vulcan Master urged him to go to Starfleet Academy. Sovok agreed, but never gave up trying to master the Vulcan disciplines. He uses holodeck training programs to practice his Vulcan Nerve Pinch, a maneuver that the player will master over the course of the adventure.

More of the interview can be found here. Thanks go out to TrekWeb for the link.

'Mirror, Mirror' Ship In 'Elite Force'
Christian (4:07 pm CST)
Jeff 'Koganuts' Koga just sent in a more than interesting news tidbit - apparently, according to the new edition of PC Accelator magazine, Raven's upcoming shooter 'Voyager: Elite Force' will be featuring the 'Mirror, Mirror' universe! In the game, Voyager gets trapped in a sort of interstellar graveyard for starships, and PC Accelator has some very interesting news on who you'll encounter there:

You'll also discover a Federation ship and its human crew. But, this Federation ship was snatched from the brilliant classic episode "Mirror, Mirror." Of course the plot device of an omnipotent alien race has enough cheese to threaten Wisconsin's industry dominance (and curiously, that's where Raven HQ is located). But this healthy heap of gouda is instantly forgiven, because it allows the developers to meld some of the most memorable villains from Trek history into one situation. [...] You will face humans from the "Mirror Mirror" universe and their Constitution class Federation ship.

Cromwell To Star As Space Cowboy
Christian (4:07 pm CST)
Jim Tosney at the official Star Trek Continuum has put up a news report about James Cromwell, best known to Trek fans for his role of Zefram Cochrane in 'First Contact.' Apparently, Cromwell has just joined the cast of the science-fiction film 'Space Cowboys,' to be directed by Clint Eastwood. The film, which also stars James Garner, Donald Sutherland, William Devane and Marcia Gay Harden, is currently scheduled for a Spring 2000 release. Find more on this here. Furthermore, the Continuum has also put up a short article about 'Leprechauns,' the new NBC miniseries starring Colm Meaney (O'Brien) and Whoopi Goldberg (Guinan), but as I already reported on that a few months ago I didn't think it needed a separate update.

DecipherCon Schedule
Christian (4:06 pm CST)
Decipher, the publisher of the official Star Trek Customizable Card Game, has posted the schedule for DecipherCon, which according to them is supposed to start on the non-existing date 'Thursday the 11th of September.' For people who actually know when the event is going to start, though, the schedule might still be interesting, as it provides the exact time of all the CCG events going on at the convention. You can find it by going here.

New Voyager Episode Title
Christian (4:05 pm CST)
NOTE: Below you'll find a few spoilers for 'The Gates of Heaven,' which will be shown sometime in Voyager's sixth season. Click here to avoid them.

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

Leonard Schuurmans at fellow Trek Nation site Warp Eleven is reporting that this year's Mars mission homage episode is to be called 'The Gates of Heaven.' Previously Jeri Ryan (Seven of Nine) already said the following about the episode "There's one we're shooting now that's an homage to the space program and the Mars mission, a really lovely story, and it's directed by Bob Picardo." The full report on this can be found here.

Star Trek Stamp Unveiled
Christian (4:05 pm CST)
Yesterday, the U.S. Postal Service officially presented the new stamp in their series honouring the 1960s, this one dealing with a very special phenomenon from the 1960s - Star Trek! Present at the ceremony were Majel Barrett-Roddenberry, the Star Trek Experience's Manager Jeff Victor, and John Fredricks, a 'television personality' who was representing NBC. Take a look at when you'll be able to expect the stamp, and what it'll be showing:

The stamps will be issued Sept. 17, 1999, in Green Bay, Wis., joining six panes of 15 stamps saluting the 1900s-1950s, now available at post offices nationwide. All 15 stamps saluting the 1960s were designed by Carl Herrman of Laguna Niguel, Cal. The STAR TREK stamp features the U.S.S. ``Enterprise,'' with brightly-lighted star fleet insignia in the background.

Voyager Tuesday Reruns Start
Christian (4:04 pm CST)
And, unfortunately, it's now Wednesday, so if you only rely on TrekToday for your episode info I'm very sorry to say that you missed the first one - I'll try to remember mentioning it next week Tuesday. Anyway, for the next few weeks, UPN will be running extra Voyager repeats on Tuesdays at 9:00pm, beginning with 'Someone To Watch Over Me' yesterday. The reason for this is that their new show 'Secret Agent Man,' which was originally scheduled to debut yesterday, has been pushed back to a midseason premiere, while its replacement 'The Strip' won't be ready for at least the next few weeks. Thanks go out to Meredith Donahue for reminding me of this!

In related news, I apparently wasn't the only one to miss the Voyager repeat, as UltimateTV is reporting it scored no more than a 1.5 rating / 2 share.

Today On TV
Christian (4:03 pm CST)
-At 9:00pm, UPN will be repeating Voyager's 'The Fight,' which first aired on 24th of March, 1999. Take a look at how the official Continuum describes the episode:

While the ship is caught in Chaotic Space, a zone where the laws of physics are in a state of flux, Commander Chakotay believes he's a 24th century boxer, The Maquis Mauler. Before long, he's going head to head with the Delta Quadrant's champion, Kid Chaos.

-In Germany, Sat.1 will be repeating DS9's 'Herz aus Stein' (Heart of Stone) at 01:35 CET tomorrow morning. At 15:00, they'll be showing 'Trekors Prophezeiung.'

Trek BBS Today
Christian (4:03 pm CST)
In an effort to revive the TNG Forum at the Trek BBS a bit, below you'll find two TNG-centred threads:

-Whatever happened to Whalen, the 'fiction expert' who was shot on the holodeck in the early TNG episode 'The Big Goodbye'? Did he survive?

-What will be the next states to join the USA, following the prediction from 'The Royale' that the USA would have 52 states?

More discussions (also on non-TNG related subjects) can be found at the Trek BBS.

Hello World!
Christian (4:02 pm CST)
This link is so funny I just had to share it with you: Attack of the Killer Potatoes.

Viacom Set To Buy CBS
Christian (4:28 pm CST)
In what is the largest media transaction ever, Viacom (Paramount's parent company) has announced that it will be buying CBS for an estimated amount of $34.45 billion in stock. The end result will be a 80 billion dollar company consisting of two nationwide networks, Paramount Pictures, MTV, and several more related companies. The new company will still be called Viacom.

A few days ago, word already leaked out that Viacom CEO Summer Redstone and his CBS counterpart Mel Karmazin were engaged in secret talks about this, but that it would happen so soon was still rather surprising. Redstone will be heading the new company, while Karmazin will succeed Redstone when he retires.

It isn't yet certain what this will mean for the struggling network UPN, which is owned for 50% by Viacom (the other half being in the hands of Chris-Craft Industries). Although government rules used to prevent companies from owning more than one broadcast network, the Federal Communications Commission decided last month to allow companies to own more than one television station in a single market, which several analysts were already speculating actually caused the talks. Still, it is unlikely that the new company will be allowed to own both CBS and UPN, so this will probably result either in the sale or the closing down of the network. Until recently, the station's shutdown seemed like the only option available, but now, with the increased ratings, maybe the station will actually be able to live on in some form. More on Viacom's UPN problems attached to this deal can be found in this article, which Jeff 'Koganuts' Koga was kind enough to point me to.

For Star Trek, this also has a few interesting ramifications. 'Voyager' is still on UPN, so if the new Viacom will have to deal with the UPN situation quick, this might also affect Voyager. Still, the series only has a maximum of two years left, so there probably won't be any major results for it. The situation is a lot different for Series V, which could conceivably end up on CBS now - certainly it'd help them get the younger demographic they so badly want to attract.

I'll of course keep you informed if anything more happens with this, for now you might want to visit Yahoo!'s full coverage of the news.

Starburst 'Barge of the Dead' Feature
Christian (4:26 pm CST)
British Visual Imaginations Publications has just put up a preview of issue 254 of Starburst Magazine, their monthly science-fiction magazine. One of the things to be found in the preview is a one-page excerpt of their look at 'Barge of the Dead,' the Voyager episode featuring the most expensive set ever built for a Trek series. You can find the feature (which contains some major spoilers for the episode) by going here. Thanks go out to Gustavo Leao for the link.

Roxann Dawson On 'Any Day Now'
Christian (4:20 pm CST)
Tod Ellsworth just sent in a news report about the drama series 'Any Day Now,' currently being shown on the Lifetime cable channel. Apparently, last night during the preview for next week's episode, there was a fast shot of a woman saying "I never got the message." According to Tod, this woman is actually Roxann Dawson, who currently stars on Voyager as B'Elanna Torres. Make sure you don't miss her role next week! Thanks go out to Tod for sending this in.

ODN Issue 92 Available
Christian (4:14 pm CST)
Just a day late, Adam Bailey at the Optical Data Network has sent out a new edition of the bi-weekly Trek newsletter. Take a look at what this issue contains:

This issue of Optical Data Network has an extensive set of NewsBits, due in part to lots of great interviews. Rick Berman was a busy man, giving several major interviews, and his words were too important to just reference. Combined with a variety of other things, and, of course, as many game articles as there are game players, there's a lot of news here. This issue sees the official return of the US Airdates article, now that Voyager's schedule is shaping up. It's a bit of a mess, and my primary sources aren't quite in synch, but it'll give you an idea of what's happening. As usual, David Arquati's UK Airdates article is also present.

Rounding out this issue are two articles from the venerable David Henderson. First, he talks about the Voyager syndication that begins this season, and answers many frequently-asked questions. In his second article, he updates us on forthcoming book releases, again switching formats. Thank you, David, for knowing so much -- and being willing to write about it all.

You can find the full edition by going here.

ODN News Bits
Christian (4:12 pm CST)
Below you'll find a list of news items which appeared in the new edition of the Optical Data Network and which I missed when they first appeared:

• On the 16th of September, US Vice President Al Gore will be attending a pre-reception of the Earth Communication Office's 10th anniversary, to be held at Paramount. At the reception, they'll be showing the film 'A Perfect Balance,' co-narrated by Patrick Stewart (Jean-Luc Picard).
  
• George Takei (Sulu) will be providing voice talent for the upcoming Treyarch adventure game 'Draconus: Cult of the Wyrm,' to be released around Christmas.
  
• An interview with Tony Todd (Kurn, The Visitor's Adult Jake) can be found here.
  
• The American-Statesman's Jay DeFoore has written an article about the indie film 'East of Hope Street,' produced by Tim Russ (Tuvok).

Lots and lots more news updates can be found in the full ODN Issue.

Two New Sev Treks
Christian (4:12 pm CST)
John Cook at Sev Trek has just put up two new Sev Trek comics he hadn't yet been able to, including this one:

Besides this one, John Cook has also posted the winning punchline for the Why Cuss Dumped Kneelicks competition.

Play CCG In Y2K
Christian (4:12 pm CST)
What would you most like to do at the start of the new Millennium? If, for some inexplicable reason, the answer is 'play the Star Trek Customizable Card Game,' Decipher has some good news for you - apparently two CCG fans will be organising a two-week long CCG marathon at the end of this year:

Star Trek CCG players (and online players) everywhere are invited by event honchos Chris Lobban and Wesley Crusher to join in 11 sanctioned tournaments, fun pickup games, field trips into Toronto and the surrounding area, and lots of fun just hanging out with good friends from across the world at Kedanyathon Y2K, two non-stop weeks of Star Trek CCG activity, December 27, 1999 through January 9, 2000. The centerpiece of the gaming action will be a huge MILLENNIUM tournament, half in 1999, half in 2000.

More info on this event can be found in the full article, written by Decipher's Rich Loftus.

Brannon Braga Chat On Thursday
Christian (4:11 pm CST)
This Thursday, the official Continuum will be hosting a live chat with Brannon Braga, executive producer of 'Star Trek: Voyager' and also rumoured to be developing Series V, together with Rick Berman. Though he probably won't want to provide us with a detailed plot summary of the next series, chances are he will have a few interesting things to say on Voyager's sixth season. If you want to ask him questions about Voyager, you can actually already do that here, while if you just want to know how you'll be able to participate, you should go here.

New Series V Rumours
Christian (4:11 pm CST)
And I very strongly say rumours, as these do not at all sound likely to happen. Then again, I thought Flight Academy was actually going to happen, so I'm not sure how valid my opinion on any Series V rumours still is, but I thought I'd offer it to you anyway :-). Yesterday, SF Crowsnest, presumably a science-fiction news site, published a report about what they believe will be the next Star Trek series. As the very popular 'News for Nerds' site Slashdot mentioned the report, teh SF Crowsnest server apparently overloaded, as it has been inaccessible all day.

Fortunately, the people at TrekWeb were able to mirror the story, so now you just have to go here to read all about the supposed adventures of the 'USS Excellent,' in a series synopsis which sounds an awful lot like Pocket Books' 'New Frontier' series. I wouldn't actually believe any of this, but you can still read about it (together with TrekWeb's comments) by following this link.

'Armada' And 'Elite Force' On WON
Christian (4:11 pm CST)
Activision, the current holder of the Star Trek game license, has just announced it will be supporting WON.net, the online gaming service. Previously WON.net was only supported by Sierra (with games such as 'Half-Life'), but now WON.net's multiplayer tools will also be integrated into 9 Activision games, including 'Star Trek: Armada' and 'Voyager: Elite Force.' The full press release on this can be found here.

Today On TV
Christian (4:11 pm CST)
-In the US, the Sci-Fi Channel will be showing the TOS episode with the most megalomanic title ever, 'For The World Is Hollow And I Have Touched The Sky,' at 7:00pm and at 11:00pm Eastern Time.

-According to the Television Observation Unit of the Star Trek Collective British Sky One will be showing Voyager's 'The Swarm' at 17:00 and at 23:30 BST tomorrow. At 20:00 tomorrow, they'll be showing the new episode '11:59.' BBC Two, meanwhile, will be showing two TNG episodes tomorrow - 'Rightful Heir' at 18:00, followed by 'Second Chances' at 18:45.

-In Germany, Sat.1 will be repeating DS9's 'Der Funke des Lebens' (Life Support) at 01:35. At 15:00, they'll be showing 'Herz aus Stein' (Heart of Stone).

Trek BBS Today
Christian (4:10 pm CST)
Over at the Trek BBS, where we now have more than 535 registered members, some very interesting discussions are currently going on, including the following two:

-Do you agree that the best part of DS9 that it showed the real world of Star Trek?

-Take a look at the really weird Trek storyline Transfigurations.

Find more at the Trek BBS!

Hello World!
Christian (4:10 pm CST)
If you visited any of the sites in the Trek Nation over the past day or so, you might have noticed a banner ad showing a near-nude 'Lara Croft' (a character from the game 'Tomb Raider'). Upon first seeing this potentially offensive banner in the ad rotation, I immediately contacted the banner ad company with a complaint, after which they removed this one banner from the rotation on TrekToday and all other sites in the Nation. If you encountered the banner, please accept my apologies - I certainly am not in favour of such ads, and I'm really sorry it was shown here a few times.

Monday September 6, 1999

EXTRA: CBS And Viacom Merge
Christian (Tuesday, 15:30 CET)
A few days ago, we already reported that talks between the two companies were going on, but now it is official - CBS and Viacom are to merge. I'll have more on this deal (which will undoubtedly affect Paramount and UPN as well) in today's update, but, for now, you might want to check out the official press release.

Upcoming George Takei Projects
Christian (4:16 pm CST)
Yesterday, Metro Comics in Santa Barbara had a book signing with George Takei, who starred in the Original Series as Hikaru Sulu. Present at the event was Jeff 'Koganuts' Koga, who was kind enough to write up a report of Takei's appearance for the Nation. In it, we hear about Takei's appearance on the Howard Stern show, Takei's official site, and even a bit of info on his current projects:

In terms of current projects, Takei has an independent film coming out that he recently shot called Who Gets a House?. It's a comedy, filmed in Montreal, about two warring couples. Takei plays a contractor. In addition, he has also recently done three voice-overs for commercials -- eTrade, the state of Montana, and another one that he couldn't remember.

The full report of Takei's appearance at Metro Comics can be found by going here. Major thanks go out to Jeff for sending this in!

Updated Info On Y2K Tuvok Show
Christian (4:16 pm CST)
NOTE: Below you'll find some major spoilers for an untitled Tuvok show, as well as a few spoilers for the episode 'Riddles.' As ever, click here to avoid those.

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

Jason Davidson at Star Trek News has updated his report about the 'Untitled Tuvok Show,' currently expected to be airing in January. Strangely enough, Davidson's description of the episode seems to have a lot in common with earlier rumours about the episode 'Riddles:'

Tuvok and Neelix are attacked by aliens during a shuttle mission. The aliens use a neural paralyzer weapon which erases the memory of the attack in the victim, leaving the mysery of what happened to them and dealing with the after affects of this attack. Because of Tuvok's complicated brain, the weapon not only erases his short term memories, but his entire brain's programming. This means that after regaining consciousness from a coma, the crew has to re-educate Tuvok in every thing-- how to talk, how to eat, how to walk, etc. Neelix becomes Tuvok's tutor in these matters, serving as a father figure to him.

As a result of this injury, Tuvok has also lost his Vulcan programming, and his brain is no longer to repress his emotions. With a flood of new emotions to experience and a new life, Tuvok finds himself having fun and getting closer to friends in a way that the old Tuvok never could. Tuvok finds that he greatly enjoys his new emotions and relationships, however, after finding about the stoic, emotionless nature of the old Tuvok, he becomes frightened that he might go back to a life that he would be unable to enjoy, figuring that the old Tuvok never had any fun.

In the full update, it is specificially mentioned that this episode is not 'Riddles,' which has already been filmed. I'm a bit surprised about this, as I seem to recall Tim Russ (Tuvok) mentioning at a recent convention a plotline just like this, but then for 'Riddles' - are the untitled Tuvok episode and 'Riddles' perhaps one and the same? I suppose we'll have to wait and see how this turns out.

54 ECTS Interplay Shots
Christian (4:16 pm CST)
Now that the ECTS (a European computer game trade show) has started, GameSpot UK has been able to post no less than 54 screenshots of upcoming Star Trek games from Interplay. The screenshots show new scenes from the real-time strategy game 'New Worlds' and the space simulator 'Klingon Academy,' and are evenly divided between the two. You can find the New Worlds screenshots here, and the Klingon Academy shots here. Thanks go out to TrekWeb for the link.

Voyager Syndication Schedule Online
Christian (4:15 pm CST)
David Henderson at Psi Phi has put up Paramount's schedule for the first week of Voyager's syndicated episodes. For Voyager's first syndication run, Paramount has recommended that stations show the episodes according to special 'theme weeks,' beginning with the 'Launch' week. As this is the first week, I'll just quote the entire schedule here:

• 13/9/99 - 'Caretaker, Part One'
  
• 14/9/99 - 'Caretaker, Part Two'
  
• 15/9/99 - 'The Raven'
  
• 16/9/99 - 'The Omega Directive'
  
• 17/9/99 - 'In The Flesh'

I'm not really sure what some of those episodes have to do with 'Launch,' but I'm sure Paramount knows best. The schedules of upcoming weeks will undoubtedly be put up on this page at Psi Phi as they become available.

New Sev Trek Cartoon Online
Christian (4:15 pm CST)

Scarlett Pomers In Voyager Conspiracy
Christian (4:15 pm CST)
The official Scarlett Pomers Homepage, which has finally updated again, is reporting about several new projects Scarlett Pomers (Naomi Wildman) is involved in. First of all, she guest starred as 'Suzie' on an episode of the show 'Hang Time,' which will be shown sometime this fall. Secondly, this week Scarlett is in New Zealand, to film a commercial for Halls cough drops. The commercial is about a ski trip, which is why they're in New Zealand (where it's winter now).

Perhaps more interesting is the news that Scarlett was also back on the Voyager set recently, to film a scene with Jeri Ryan (Seven of Nine):

Scarlett got to spend a day on the set of Voyager, working with Jeri Ryan on a scene for a new episode. The episode is called The Voyager Conspiracy. Naomi gets a new outfit for this episode. Scarlett describes it as, "Sort of like the orange-ish overalls, only the shirt is purple and the overalls are a yellow pattern."

More on these projects can be found on the Scarlett Pomers news page.

Full-Colour Comics Artwork
Christian (4:15 pm CST)
Jim Tosney at the Star Trek Continuum has put up a sneak preview of Wildstorm's new Star Trek comics line, which is set to launch this year November. The article contains a few quotes by Trek editor Jeff Mariotte, while, perhaps more interestingly, it also includes two full-colour preview images of the Trek comics. One of the images shows Seven of Nine, Chakotay and Tuvok, while the other shows us Captain Picard. You can find the preview here.

Today On TV
Christian (4:14 pm CST)
-No Original Series from the Sci-Fi Channel today, due to their Amazing Stories marathon.

-According to the newly redesigned Television Observation Unit of the Star Trek Collective, British Sky One will be showing Voyager's 'The Swarm' tomorrow at 17:00 and at 23:30 BST. At 20:00 tomorrow, they'll be showing the new episode 'Someone To Watch Over Me.' During the rest of the week they'll be showing more Voyager Season Five episodes, in an effort to get ready for DS9's 7th season.

-In Germany, Sat.1 will be repeating DS9's 'Gefangen in der Vergangenheit, Teil 2' (Past Tense, Part Two) at 01:50 CET tomorrow morning. At 15:00, they'll be showing 'Der Funke des Lebens' (Life Support).

Trek BBS Today
Christian (4:14 pm CST)
Below are some discussions you can participate in at the Trek BBS:

-Only at the Trek BBS a thread about the worst Voyager episodes could turn into a thread praising the series.

-What are the Great Loves of the main Trek characters?

Find more topics at the Trek BBS.

Hello World!
Christian (4:14 pm CST)
Hello, World, to which I have nothing to say, due to typical Monday-like lack of inspiration. Wait another 48 minutes and I might have something profound to share with you (due to it then not being Monday anymore), but at the moment I fear this 'Hello World!' won't be able to serve as your usual source of wit, insight and thoughtfulness.

Sunday September 5, 1999

Article: The Resurrection Of Kirk?
Christian (4:14 pm CST)
Over at the Trek Nation, we've just put up a new article by Michael Hinman, looking at a subject which is hotly debated in fandom these days: the possible resurrection of James T. Kirk. Take a look at how Michael starts his article:

In just a week or two, Star Trek: Voyager will be premiering its sixth season in the U.S. as the lone original-run Trek franchise. This time for Star Trek is a rather tumultuous one as fans impatiently wait to see what the next Trek series is going to be about, and if the big-screen crew can go back to the glory days of Star Trek: First Contact after the cold Insurrection release.

There are many fans with lots of different ideas, creating debate all across the Internet. Despite this influx of ideas, however, the one thing that most fans can agree on is that the franchise is slipping, and some kind of breath of fresh air has to be pushed into Star Trek, or its future could become history.

Probably one of the more expected ideas to come from all this talk is from die-hard enthusiasts of the original Star Trek, and its captain, James T. Kirk.

The full article can be found here, after which you can send your comments to feedback@treknation.com - judging by the recent huge debates at the Trek BBS, I'm quite sure we'll be flooded with mail.

Darren Wants Vic To Continue
Christian (4:10 pm CST)
Holly Kim Wilson just sent in a news bit which she found in the New York Vue, the weekly television guide of the New York Daily News. The short article mentions how Darren had to be 'be coaxed out of 15 years behind the scenes as a TV director to play the character,' but that he loved it so much he doesn't want it to end. Apparently, he's been trying to convince the producers that Vic Fontaine should actually appear on 'Voyager' as well. Even if that doesn't work out, Darren won't be out of a job - apparently he was recently sent the script of another project about a singer.

German Trek DVDs
Christian (4:10 pm CST)
Our German partner site TrekZone.de is reporting that Star Trek will finally also arrive on DVD in Germany. Around Christmas, CIC Germany will be releasing 'First Contact' and 'Insurrection' on video, while they also have plans to release digitally reworked versions of 'The Motion Picture' and 'Generations.' All films will feature extras such as never-before-seen extra scenes or background info, while the film will include English, German and French versions. The price of each DVD will be DM 39,95 (about $20) according to CIC. Somewhere in 2000 or 2001 they'll also start releasing German TOS DVDs.

Brent Spiner Chat Transcript
Christian (4:10 pm CST)
I was already looking for this at the official Star Trek Continuum, but they seem to be rather slow with chat transcripts these days. Spiner's Domain has just put up an unofficial transcript of the chat with Brent Spiner (Data), which took place on Thursday the 2nd of September. A quick glance reveals that Spiner said nothing really newsworthy, but you can still find the transcript here.

[Update:] I don't know how he found it, but Timothy Verheecke at WebTrek has put up a link to the official transcript - you can find that by going here.

Cult Times Special Released
Christian (4:10 pm CST)
Visual Imaginations Publications have published issue 11 of their quarterly 'Cult Times Special' magazine, this time looking at spin-offs in the world of Cult TV. Besides lengthy features on 'Crusade' and 'Angel,' there of course also is room for a look at Trek, including an interview with Majel Barrett Roddenberry and Deep Space Nine. A preview of this DS9 feature has actually been made available online, giving us one episode highlight per season - you can find that here. Thanks go out to TrekWeb for the link.

New Radio Free Decipher
Christian (4:09 pm CST)
Decipher, the publishers of the official Star Trek Customizable Card Game, have put up a new edition of Radio Free Decipher, their weekly online radio show. In this week's edition, host Carol Wisely talks to Kendrick Summers, Evan Lorentz, and Juz Pakes about some of Decipher's upcoming CCG projects, including something called the 'Star Trek CCG Second Anthology.' You can listen to the show by going here.

Today On TV
Christian (4:09 pm CST)
-UK TV data goes on hiatus for a couple of days again, until the Television Observation Unit of the Star Trek Collective is updated.

-In Germany, Sat.1 will be showing DS9's 'Gefangen in der Vergangenheit, Teil 2' (Past Tense, Part Two)

Trek BBS Today
Christian (4:09 pm CST)
Here are some interesting topics currently being discussed at the Trek BBS:

-What class of ships did we see in What You Leave Behind?

-Do you think Star Trek X should deal with Ambassador Spock's mission on Romulus?

Find more interesting topics at the Trek BBS!

Hello World!
Christian (4:08 pm CST)
Yes! Every single remaining internet connection problem I still had has now been solved, and my connectivity is better than ever before! To celebrate this, I finally got around to updating the main Trek Nation page, put up a superb new article by Michael Hinman, and installed a discussion board at our soon-to-open Trek comics site! From here on, we hope to expand the Nation even more than ever before - as usual, I'm always open for suggestions about what more we can add to the site!

Link of the Day: Just noticed this - apparently UPN is still doing extremely well with their 'WWF Smackdown!' show. Looks like the network might not fold this year after all.

Saturday September 4, 1999

New 'Insurrection: Hidden Evil' Preview
Christian (5:36 pm CST)
A new preview of the 'Insurrection: Hidden Evil' game, written by Marek Bronstring, has just gone up at Adventure Gamer. Take a look at a short quote from the preview:

Star Trek: Hidden Evil is based on the latest Star Trek movie Insurrection. If you were disappointed by the movie's thin story, you will be surprised by the amount of work Presto has put in the story of the game. Hidden Evil takes place nine months after the events of the movie, and once again puts the crew of the USS Enterprise-E on a dangerous mission. The magical Ba'Ku planet is this time being threatened by the insidious Romulans, who have a plan that endangers the entire Federation (I wonder what plan does not).

The history of the Ba'Ku planet will also be explored, as the Enterprise crew excavates the ruins of an ancient alien civilization. These mysterious aliens lived on the planet long before the Ba'Ku and thrived because of the planet's rejuvenating radiation.

The full preview has more info on the game, plus several all-new screenshots.

CBS And Viacom To Merge?
Christian (5:33 pm CST)
As of yesterday, one of the hottest subjects in the business is the rumoured merger talks between CBS and Viacom, the parent company of both Paramount and UPN. According to an article in the Los Angeles Times, Viacom chairman Summer Redstone and CBS chief executive Mel Karmazin have been discussing a deal which would lead to a full-blown merger of the two companies, or perhaps just a downsized deal involving CBS' cable networks and Viacom's television stations. One of the complicating factors in the deal is apparently UPN:

Sources said a complicating factor in the Viacom-CBS negotiations is Chris-Craft Industries, the nation's seventh-largest television station operator, which is locked with Viacom in a troubled 50-50 partnership that owns the UPN network. One source said Chris-Craft would be included as part of any merger.

Sources say that Paramount has been aggressive in looking for a duopoly partner because it is vulnerable should Chris-Craft find a partner and dissolve the money-losing UPN.

If this CBS-Viacom deal works out, it would certainly affect UPN, and might actually signal the long-expected destruction of the network. More can be found in the full LA Times article, though several dozen other places also have stories on this.

German 'Dark Frontier' Promo
Christian (5:25 pm CST)
The German Star Trek Voyager Central page has put up the CIC promo clip for the video release of Voyager's 'Dark Frontier.' Apparently, CIC Germany is spending no less than $150,000 to promote the film in television spots and magazines, and this is particular video is currently being shown on Sat.1 in between regular Trek episodes. You can find the trailer here.

Starfleet Command Patch
Christian (5:25 pm CST)
Interplay has released the official version of their 'Starfleet Command' 1.01.00 patch, which fixes several serious bugs, adds in a few game enhancements, and includes some mission changes. You can find the patch (plus a full description of the changes) here at the Adrenaline Vault. Thanks go out to Evil Avatar for the link.

Evil Avatar Starfleet Command Review
Christian (5:24 pm CST)
And in even more Starfleet Command news, Steve Erhardt at Evil Avatar has put up his review of 'Starfleet Command,' the new Trek-based real-time strategy game. It won't be a surprise to anyone who's been following Evil Avatar over the past few weeks, but Erhardt was rather impressed by the game:

Well you could blow me over with a feather! After about a billion sucky-ass Star Trek games have gone down the pike, we finally get a winner.

Interplay pulled the rabbit out of the proverbial hat with Starfleet Command. Based on the tabletop game Starfleet Battles, the game lets you take control over the ships of Star Trek in Kirk's time. As far as I'm concerned, it was the right choice. For some reason, despite all the wonderful fleet combat we've seen in the closing season of Deep Space Nine, the ships from Kirk's era seem the most suited to duking it out between the stars.

Besides his review of the actual game, Ehrhard has also put up a review of the strategy guide, which is apparently also pretty good:

Starfleet Command is a damn good game, and Sybex has come through with a damn good companion guide. As usual, you can survive and even excel without it, but if you've got the greenmeal to spread around, you should pick these two up as a pair. You won't be sorry.

The full strategy guide review can be found here.

Voyager Season Six Cast Photo
Christian (5:24 pm CST)
Together with their Rick Berman interview (which we already reported on yesterday), the people at Eon Magazine have also put up a preview of Voyager's sixth season, which mostly consists of a few statements by Berman on the next season. Almost everything said in this preview already appeared in the Rick Berman interview, but, fortunately, EON also included the official season six Voyager cast photo, so the preview is still worth checking out. Thanks go out to Gustavo Leao for this.

Activision Trek Game Focus Group
Christian (5:23 pm CST)
Do you regularly play Star Trek games, and do you live in the Los Angeles area? If so, the following focus group session Activision just announced might be interesting for you:

As a means to gain insight into the desires of the Star Trek gamer, Activision is holding a focus group at its offices in Santa Monica. The focus group will last approximately 1-2 hours. Activision is looking for Star Trek fans living in the Los Angeles area who are also interested in collectable card games. If you are or know of any Star Trek fans that meet this criteria please have them e-mail [Associate Brand Manager Mike Webster] at mwebster@activision.com. Please have them include their full name, phone number (don't forget area code) and the best time to reach them.

It's certainly nice to see Activision actually paying attention to what Star Trek fans want to see in their games - let's hope this will lead to them also being able to create games as good as Interplay's 'Starfleet Command.'

'Avalon Rising' Comic Announced
Christian (5:22 pm CST)
Michael Doran at AnotherUniverse's Newsarama is reporting about a new one-shot Star Trek comic currently being written by Janine Ellen Young and Doselle Young. The comic, entitled 'Star Trek: Voyager - Avalon Rising,' will focus mostly on the adventures of The Doctor on a medieval Earth-like alien world. More can be found in the full column. Thanks go out to Jim Zimmerman for pointing me to this.

Nimoy On CBS' This Morning
Christian (5:22 pm CST)
A few days ago, Leonard Nimoy (Spock) appeared on the CBS 'This Morning' show. Now, a short summary of his appearance has gone up at the CBS web site, in which Nimoy talks about first appearing with his pointed ears after having played 'heavies' for years, his good fortune after Trek, and his Alien Voices production company:

And he started a company with John Delancy to do audio reproductions of science fiction classics for Simon & Schuster. "We have done five Journey to the Center of the Earth, The Time Machine and several television specials," he says. In October these original audio productions will be broadcast on the Internet.

Find a bit more here. Thanks go out to Roy Gales for reminding me of this.

New 'DS9: The Fallen' Screenshots
Christian (5:22 pm CST)
The Adrenaline Vault has posted 18 new screenshots of 'DS9: The Fallen,' the upcoming third-person action game in development at Collective Studios. The shots still only show Benjamin Sisko, even though the full game will also allow you to play as (I think) Kira Nerys and Worf. You can find the shots here. Thanks go out to Blue for this.

Today On TV
Christian (5:20 pm CST)
-In the UK, Sky One will be showing DS9's 'If Wishes Were Horses' tomorrow at 16:00 BST, followed an hour later by Voyager's 'Basics, Part Two.' Thanks go out to the Television Observation Unit of the Star Trek Collective for this.

-For some reason, I'm unable to access the Sat.1 web site at the moment, so unfortunately there'll be no German TV news today.

Trek BBS Today
Christian (5:18 pm CST)
Take a look at some interesting Trek BBS discussions:

-What is the worst Trek book ever written?

-What do you think will be happening in Equinox, Part Two?

Find more at the Trek BBS!

Hello World!
Christian (5:17 pm CST)
Today's update really is incredibly late - sorry!

Friday September 3, 1999

Eon Rick Berman Interview
Christian (4:22 pm CST)
In what is easily the biggest news of the past few weeks, Christopher Allan Smith at Eon Magazine has put up an interview with Rick Berman, the man in charge of all things Trek. In it, he spends no less than five paragraphs strongly denying the Flight Academy reports:

I can tell you definitely that I am in very involved discussions with a studio right now about what direction the next STAR TREK TV series is going to go. These are discussions that have narrowed to some degree, but What, Where, When – none of these things have been decided. We are in no way considering a STARFLEET ACADEMY show. A STARFLEET ACADEMY show …. if I had the time and inclination, I would describe to you why that would be a very bad idea. No script has been written, no one at Paramount is involved in any design. We are in very cautious discussions about what's next for the STAR TREK television franchise.

Anything else you hear is bullshit. What I find amusing is, well, say I'm some 15-year-old kid in Wakosha, Wisconsin. I can get on the Internet and make something up and then l can have someone like you ask it to me and then someone like you can print it … Say, supposedly, I say we're going to have a character named Dork or something. You ask me about it, I say there's no new character named Dork and then all of a sudden the NEW YORK TIMES OR TV GUIDE responds to it .. It's all rumors.

There hasn't been a single rumor I've heard in the last seven months that's even been close to valid.

Okay, at this point I'm officially without a clue. On the one hand, we've got people such as Brannon Braga and now Rick Berman strongly denying the Flight Academy rumurs, and on the other hand we've got nearly every source who has ever provided reliable rumours (including TrekWeb and Dangermouse) saying that Flight Academy has actually been discussed. What's going on here? Are all internet spoiler providers completely wrong? I really can't figure this out.

Anyways, the full Rick Berman interview can be found here - thanks go out to Gustavo Leao for pointing me to this.

More Voyager Episode Spoilers
Christian (4:22 pm CST)
Following the recent Usenet post by regular internet spoiler provider Dangermouse, his 'colleague' 415Man has just posted a response to Dangermouse's story descriptions. 415Man, who appears to work in sound postproduction, provides some updates to Dangermouse's reports, and gives some more detail about the first several episodes. It's not something you want to read if you don't like spoilers, but, still, you can find it here. Thanks go out to AJ for this.

Voyager 'Home Fires' Episode Info
Christian (4:20 pm CST)
NOTE: Below you'll find spoilers for the new Voyager episoe 'Home Fires.' Clicking here would not be unwise if you want to avoid those.

Apparently, Paramount just sent out a casting sheet for a new upcoming Voyager episode, entitled 'Home Fires.' According to the casting sheet, the episode is to be directed by Mike Vejar, and will feature two human guest stars. One will be 'Harkins', a human male somewhere between 35 and 50 years old. He is a career Starfleet scientist who spent most of his career on Earth. Harkins is supposed to have an easy-going manner with warmth, though he can also be strict and forceful if he is needed to. The other will be 'Admiral Jenkins,' a human Caucasian male who is about 60 years old. Jenkins is the Starfleet officer in charge of the project Harkins is currently working on.

Major thanks go out to the KJB at Backstage Pass for sending me this!

More On Troi/Barclay Rumour
Christian (4:14 pm CST)
TrekWeb has posted a new set of rumours, which they obtained from a source who wishes to remain anonymous. Besides revealing that Jeri Taylor did not work on the 'Tinker Tenor Doctor Spy' story, it also contains some interesting info on the Troi/Barclay rumours TrekWeb reported on earlier:

Barclay and Troi will be seen in an upcoming episode of Voyager, but they will NOT be travelling to the Delta Quadrant. They WILL, however, be working for Starfleet in an attempt to CONTACT Voyager (which is how we'll see them in that episode).

Besides this, the source confirmed the story of Braga leaving Voyager for Series V, and provided another chapter in the ongoing Series V Soap with a denial of the Starfleet Academy series. Find more here.

Another Ryan Convention Report
Christian (4:14 pm CST)
Following the IGN Sci-Fi report a few days ago, Greg Oliver at the Canadian Jam! Showbiz has put up a rather lengthy report of the recent appearance by Jeri Ryan (Seven of Nine) at the Canadian National Science Fiction Expo. In it, she relates the following rather amusing story about Garrett Wang (Harry Kim):

One fan asked why Ryan calls Wang, a.k.a. Harry Kim, 'Goober'. She said that it was just a pet name, and Wang has gotten to like it. Ryan also told a fun story about Wang. One day on a set, walking down one of Voyager's many corridors, Wang accidentally grabbed one of her breasts, and in his embarrassment, claimed that he thought he was grabbing her elbow. Wang fled the set, and the crew took post-it notes, and wrote "ELBOW" and "NOT AN ELBOW", and posted them in the appropriate places on Ryan. "Goober got his little anatomy lesson when he came back to the set," she recalled.

Find more here.

Happy Birthday!
Christian (4:14 pm CST)
Today would have been the 40th birthday of Merritt Butrick, who starred as Kirk's son David in 'Star Trek III: The Search For Spock,' had he not tragically passed away far before his time ten years ago.

Today On TV
Christian (4:14 pm CST)
-According to the Television Observation Unit of the Star Trek Collective, British Sky One will be showing DS9's 'Progress' tomorrow at 16:00 BST, followed an hour later by Voyager's 'Basics, Part One.'

-In Germany, Sat.1 will be repeating DS9's 'Gefangen in der Vergangenheit, Teil 1' (Past Tense, Part One) tomorrow morning at 01:10 CET. At 15:00 tomorrow, they'll be showing Voyager's 'Translokalisation,' while at 16:00 they'll start showing DS9's seventh season with 'Das Gesicht im Sand' (Image in the Sand).

Trek BBS Today
Christian (4:13 pm CST)
Here is the usual selection of interesting topics being discussed at the Trek BBS:

-Is TNG still in syndication?

-Registration is back up! If you hadn't already done so, you can now register again!

More threads can be found at the Trek BBS!

Hello World!
Christian (4:12 pm CST)
What's it with the news today? I doubt there has ever been such a large proportion of 'hard' Trek info before...

Thursday September 2, 1999

'Voyager: Elite Force' Interview
Christian (4:11 pm CST)
GamePen has put up what may well be one of the most weirdest Trek interviews ever to appear. In it, new reviewer Russel 'Radpipe' Lauzon interviews Raven's Jake Simpson about their upcoming 'Elite Force' game, though he doesn't really seem to grasp the interview thing yet:

RADPIPE: You are Lead Programmer for Star Trek: Voyager?
JAKE: No, I'm not Lead Programmer for Star Trek: Voyager.
RADPIPE: Oops.
JAKE: Lead Programmer for Star Trek: Voyager is James Monroe. I'm helping him out in a, sort of more of an administrative/managerial capacity.
RADPIPE: Oh!

More monosyllabic questions (and the somewhat longer answers to them) can be found in the full interview, which is actually quite interesting.

Trek: Too Much And Too Thin?
Christian (4:06 pm CST)
Julia Houston at About.com's Star Trek Fans, has written a new editorial called 'Too Much and Too Thin?' In it, she wonders if with the recent exodus of DS9 writers and the rumoured transfer of Brannon Braga to Series V, Trek won't be spread too thin:

An over-extended business will spread its talent too thinly. When you have a corral of writers, you want more talent in there than you need, you want the good people to challenge each other to do better, and you want some good stuff to go to waste because there's just so much of it. That's how you keep the junk out.

When you don't have enough top writers, you lose that competitive edge and tend to be happy if you have one or two top writers who are producing their own scripts, and "keeping an eye" on everyone else's work. Since writers tend to be married to whatever they write, the concern becomes making sure everything good gets used, rather than making sure everything used is good for the show.

Julia has a lot more to say about this, but to know what you'll have to read the full article.

Starburst 'Barge of the Dead' Feature
Christian (4:00 pm CST)
TrekWeb is reporting that the October issue of the British Starburst Magazine will be featuring a set report from 'Barge of the Dead,' the episode which is supposed to include the most expensive set ever built for a Star Trek episode:

The feature runs to seven pages (interviews with Roxann Dawson and writer Bryan Fuller included) and contains 11 pictures from the episode, including larger versions of 2 of the smaller selection of images that TV Zone sneaked into print with its issue #118 last month. Official publication is Sept 9 (UK), Sept 20 (US).

The feature will undoubtedly go online soon at Visual Imaginations Publications, Starburst's publisher. Apparently, they'll also soon be publishing the 11th Cult Times Special, which is set to focus on Gene Roddenberry's legacy. Thanks go out to TrekWeb for their report on this.

New Sev Trek Competition
Christian (4:00 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:

Deep Sev Nine's mission.
This is the third in our series of "mission comic strips", already covering Jurassic Trek and The X Generation (I'm planning to use these strips as the introduction to each section in the second Sev Trek book. :-)

Submit your punchlines here.

'Voyager: Elite Force' Feature
Christian (3:59 pm CST)
New gaming site Game Strategy has just put up a feature dealing with 'Voyager: Elite Force,' the new first-hand shooter currently being developed by Raven Software. For their feature, the GameStrategy were able to spend a whole afternoon at Raven, getting all the latest info on the first ever Voyager game:

For the first feature article of the new GameStrategy.Com, we knew we needed something big, and few things today are bigger than Raven Software and their upcoming games Star Trek Voyager: Elite Force. We were able to travel to Madison, Wisconsin to Raven's home offices and speak to Brian Pelletier, the project lead for Voyager: Elite Force. We arrived in the afternoon and after Kenn Hoekstra gave us a tour of the facilities, he took us to the conference room, where we met with Brian and saw Voyager: Elite Force. While we weren't lucky enough to play ourselves, we saw some amazing game play and graphics, and it looks as though Raven has a hit on their hands.

You can find the full feature, written by Loser (I kid you not, the man really decided to name himself that way) by following this link. Thanks go out to Blue for the lead.

DeBoer On (No) More DS9
Christian (3:59 pm CST)
As part of their coverage of Canada's National Science Fiction Expo, which took place this weekend in Toronto, the folks at IGN Sci-Fi have put up a report of the appearance by Nicole deBoer (Ezri Dax). In it, she gives the usual answers about working on DS9, her other projects both now and in the future, and she provides an amusing story about how Alexander Siddig is like the 'older dorky brother' she never had. Also, she talks about how all the cast members are still asking Rick Berman what will be happening to them:

Now that DS9 has ended, the question on everyone's mind is obvious: will we be seeing Ezri in future TV or film installments of Trek? As of yet, deBoer says she hasn't heard anything about a new show. "We're all bugging Rick Berman, but he said that there's nothing," she says. "The only thing Rick Berman said to me -- and he was just joking -- [was], 'So, Nicole, we're doing another show, and we were thinking about calling you six years afterwards for one final season.' I'm like, 'Very funny.'"

Find more in the full report, written by Sarah Kuhn.

'Once Upon A Time' Overnight Ratings
Christian (3:59 pm CST)
Yesterday, Voyager's repeat of 'Once Upon A Time' scored a 2.7 rating / 3 share for UPN, which was .2 ratings points higher than last week, and, due to apparent very strong competition, a fall of 2 share points. Earlier on 'Seven Days' grabbed a 2.5/5, while all the other networks of course easily beat UPN. Earlier this week, UPN's comedies 'Moesha,' 'The Parkers' and 'Malcolm & Eddie' all did better than Voyager, but, then again, those shows already started their new seasons.

James Doohan Promotes ZipLip
Christian (3:59 pm CST)
In reaction to the recent Hotmail security concerns, several other free e-mail providers have been promoting their service as safer alternatives, obviously hoping to lure several millions of users away from the current webmail market leader. According to an article on the CNN web site dealing with this, one of the companies doing this is ZipLip, which has a special encryption feature for each incoming and outgoing email. Apparently, ZipLip was able to quickly gain a lot of users by using James Doohan (Montgomery Scott) in radio spots airing in California. Doohan is also used on the front page of ZipLip, in an image which is presumably intended to look like Scotty's 'Hello, Computer' scene in 'Star Trek IV: The Voyage Home.' Thanks go out to Psi Phi's David Henderson for this.

Stewart Remakes 'Assasination Bureau'
Christian (3:58 pm CST)
Incredibly, 'Flying Freehold Productions,' the production company of Patrick Stewart (Jean-Luc Picard) and his wife Wendy Neuss, has actually just announced a few solid projects they're working on. First up is the film 'The Assasination Bureau,' a remake of the 1969, to be written by 'Dumb and Dumber' writers Mark Steilen and Bennet Michael Yellin. The film will deal with an IRS agent who accidentally infiltrates a club comprised of the world's best hitmen. The killers try to cancel the audit, and, if necessary, the auditor. Stewart won't be starring in the movie, though he will be producing it, as he already did so... erm... impressively for 'Star Trek: Insurrection.'

Other Flying Freehold films currently in development include the western 'Winding Star' and the crime drama 'Delivering Gen,' both of which Stewart eventually hopes to star in. The first project to actually become reality, though, will be 'A Conspiracy Of Tall Men,' based on a Noah Hawley novel now getting a second draft from screenwriter Jeff Lieber. All the above was mentioned in Michael Fleming's entertainment column for Variety, the full version of which you can find here - it also contains some extra info on Flying Freehold's other projects.

Hello World!
Christian (3:58 pm CST)
Just a short update today - as, for some reason, seems to be happening more and more on Thursdays, I'm a bit out of time, so 'Trek BBS Today' and 'Today On TV' will have to be skipped today.

Wednesday September 1, 1999

Voyager Year Six Summary
Christian (3:08 pm CST)
In the alt.tv.star-trek.voyager newsgroup, well-known internet spoiler provider Dangermouse just posted a summary of the currently known Voyager episodes. Most of the general episode info were already known before, though now they have all been bundled together for the first time and also include some extra information on each of the episodes. All the info can be found on this Deja page, and I really recommend you check it out if you want to know something about Voyager's sixth season. Thanks go out to David Henderson for pointing me to this.

Sci-Fi Weekly Reviews SFC
Christian (3:00 pm CST)
Yet another review of Interplay's 'Starfleet Command' game has appeared, this one written by Mark H. Walker at the Sci-Fi Weekly. It's getting a bit boring, but Walker also thinks the game is extremely great:

A great game, a deep game, a rich game. This is a prime example of what happens when true gamers truly design a game for gamers. We'll be talking about this one for a while to come.

Find more in the full review, which I was only able to find thanks to WebTrek.

Braga On Voyager
Christian (2:57 pm CST)
The new edition of TV Guide contains its huge preview of this year's fall season, which of course also includes a short look at 'Star Trek: Voyager.' For their preview, they managed to get Executive Producer Brannon Braga to say something on what the next Voyager season will bring, including some info on both Kate Mulgrew and her character Kathryn Janeway:

Word is, Kate Mulgrew (Captain Janeway) came close to quitting over hiatus. But how close? Says Braga: "There was a scary moment when I didn't know whether we would get her back. Kate feels it's time to take her character to another level." Thus, expect a serious love interest for Janeway, though not with a crew member. Says Braga: "It'll probably be with an alien or a hologram. After six years alone, she needs this."

Janeway's serious love interest is supposed to be a hologram? This had better be not true, as I doubt they'd be able to pull that off believably. More on Voyager's sixth season (including the news that the Klingon Barge of the Dead for the episode of the same name will actually be the most expensive set ever built for a Star Trek series) can be found in the full interview.

Official Star Trek Novel Schedules
Christian (2:42 pm CST)
John Ordover, the Star Trek editor at Pocket Books has posted the current official fiction publication schedule for the year 2000. The schedule contains some interesting news bits, such as the info that the Garak 'autobiography' written by Andrew Robinson has gained the title 'A Stitch in Time.' Besides this, Ordover also posted a list of Classic Reprints which will be published in August 2000 for the rather nice price of $3.99:

• Rihannsu: Book One: My Enemy, My Ally
  
• Rihannsu: Book Two: The Romulan Way
  
• Sarek
  
• Spock's World
  
• Corona
  
• Uhura's Song

You can find the full Y2K fiction schedule at this page.

New 'Incubus' Review
Christian (2:42 pm CST)
Just a year before getting his starring role on the original 'Star Trek,' William Shatner appeared in what can easily be called one of the oddest projects of American cinema - the horror film 'Incubus,' shot entirely in Esperanto. A few months ago, the film was rediscovered, and now Phil Anderson at Kaos 2000 Magazine has put up a review of the new video version. Take a look at a short quote from the full review:

For William Shatner fans, here is a chance to see some of his very early work in films - and as a starring role for the time - and to see him speak in Esperanto. Though some may feel that Shatner is an overactor, he plays this role straight and believably. The other actors - basically never to be heard from again after this film - do a fine job as well. The most amusing aspect of the film, outside of the use of Esperanto, is that, in some places, it truly appears as an American-made Ingmar Bergman (legendary Swedish director) film. The scene on the beach between Kia and her sister facing each other at angles is a riot in some ways for the formulation. As far as horror films go, it is not grotesque in any manner but mainly focuses on the old "good vs. evil" ideals in which evil tempts good and is eventually destroyed by good.

You can find the full review by going here. Thanks go out to the official William Shatner Connection for pointing me to this.

Refugees Learn English Through Trek
Christian (2:42 pm CST)
Marjorie Coeyman at the Christian Science Monitor has written a rather amusing article talking about the Mohawk Valley Resource Center for Refugees in Utica, NY. Apparently, teachers there have been rather creative about finding ways to teach the refugees English while at the same time giving them a primer on US culture. One of the teachers apparently had a rather great idea:

One instructor, a self-confessed "Trekkie," introduced his class to old episodes of Star Trek, for example. The students became so interested that they finally participated in a day-long debate in English as to which was the best of the Star Trek characters. "They were so excited we couldn't get them to leave at the end of the day," says Richard Sessler, the center's executive director.

More can be found in the full article.

PC Zone 'Voyager: Elite Force' Preview
Christian (2:42 pm CST)
David McCandless at the British PC Zone has written a new preview of 'Voyager: Elite Force,' the new first-person shooter currently under development by Raven software. The preview contains a Q&A with the game developers, some new screenshots (including one which appears to be showing a nurse healing a patient, raising all sorts of interesting gameplay questions), and the following info on the game's multiplayer:

"For the most part, the multiplayer game will be just like Quake III deathmatch. And because it takes place in a holodeck and is considered a simulated hologram, we can get away with fighting deathmatch style with all the main characters from Voyager. They never actually die, but holographically look like they die, while being teleported to another spot within the arena." Hmmmm... frying Neelix with a phaser? Nice.

"Aside from just classic deathmatch, we are also having co-op holomatch games, where a team of people can play out a scenario like attacking the Borg cube or protecting the warp core."

You can find the full preview by going here. Thanks go out to Blue for the link.

Final 'Timeless' Rating
Christian (2:41 pm CST)
Michael Iversen at the Star Trek Universe has put up the final ratings for last week's Voyager rerun of 'Timeless.' The episode scored a 2.0, and ended up at no. 104. A lot more successful was UPN's 'WWF Smackdown!' show, which got a 4.2 rating and had more than 6.2 million viewers - this definitely seems to be a hit for the struggling network.

Colm Meany In 'Four Days'
Christian (2:41 pm CST)
A news report on Yahoo! is talking about the upcoming independent Canadian film 'Four Days,' which is set to debute at next week's Toronto Internation Film Festival. The film deals with a father and son's disastrous bank robbery attempt, and was directed by Curtis Wehrfritz, while one of the stars of the movie is Colm Meaney, appearing as someone called 'Fury.' More on the film, and a cameo appearance in it by author and real-life bank robber Stephen Reid, can be found in the full article.

Today On TV
Christian (2:41 pm CST)
-At 9:00pm, UPN will be repeating the Voyager episode 'Once Upon A Time,' which first aired on the 11th of November 1998. Take a look at how the official Continuum describes the episode:

As the U.S.S. Voyager searches for the crash-landed Delta Flyer and its crew, Lt. Paris, Tuvok, Ensign Samantha Wildman and Neelix help the littlest crewmember, Naomi Wildman, cope without her mother. Together, they are kept occupied by the odd character's in Naomi's storybook holonovel, the classic Adventures of Flotter, but Neelix soon decides that a starship is no place for a child.

Thanks go out to the Continuum for this description.

-Tomorrow in the UK, Sky One will be showing Voyager's 'Tuvix' at 17:00 and at 23:30 BST. At 18:00, BBC Two will be showing DS9's 'Whispers.' Considering they also showed two TNG episodes today, perhaps they'll also be showing 'Paradise' right after 'Whispers.' Thanks go out to the Television Observation Unit of the Star Trek Collective for this.

-In Germany, Sat.1 will be repeating DS9's 'Defiant' tomorrow morning at 01:40 CET. At 15:00, they'll be showing 'Das Festival.'

Trek BBS Today
Christian (2:41 pm CST)
Take a look at some of the discussions currently going on at the Trek BBS:

-In what may be one of our most surprising threads yet, the daughter of the actor who played Lieutenant Galloway on the Original Series asks for some recognition of her father's work.

-Do you think The Next Generation looks a bit dated?

-What is a Trill? The humanoid host, the worm-like symbiont, or both of them together?

Find more at the Trek BBS!

Hello World!
Christian (2:40 pm CST)
And welcome to September, which should prove to be a very interesting month for Trek fans. At the Trek Nation, we've got lots of interesting features planned for this month. First of all, somewhere this weekend we'll probably be expanding the Comics Q&A site with an extra message board, while once the actual comics start appearing it will also be featuring reviews written by Jim Zimmerman. In regular Trek news, this month will of course see the premiere of Voyager's sixth season - we're precisely three weeks away from it now, and at the Trek Nation we've already got one very interesting feature planned which I'm sure you'll enjoy.

As ever, if you also want to contribute to the site, please send your article submissions to articles@treknation.com - we'd really love to publish your article!

Tuesday August 31, 1999

Psi Phi Moves To New Address
Christian (1:58 pm CST)
David Henderson at Psi Phi sends along word that his site has moved to a new location. Thanks to this, the site's IP number has also changed, causing almost every Internet Service Provider to redirect its visitors to the wrong location. However, for the next few days, you can still visit the site by going to the following address: http://206.68.131.65/, while the DS9 discussion board can be found here. The regular addresses should start working for everyone sometime this week again. My apologies go out to David for not mentioning this here before - unfortunately I completely forgot about it.

New Voyager Episode Info
Christian (1:50 pm CST)
Below you'll find spoilers for an untitled, unconfirmed, undated, and still completely unofficial new Voyager episode. If you still want to avoid reading anything about this, click here.

Again, this is where you need to click to avoid any and all spoilers.

Jason Davidson's Star Trek News Site has been updated to include one new Voyager episode, which will probably air sometime in January 2000:

Tuvok and Neelix are attacked by aliens during a shuttle mission. The aliens use weapons which erases the memory of the attack in the victim, leaving the mysery of what happened to them and dealing with the after affects of this attack.

No title is yet known for the episode, which as yet of course also hasn't been officially confirmed yet.

'Star Trek: Armada' Chat Transcript
Christian (1:42 pm CST)
Kyle Rogers at Starbase Armada has put up the transcript of yesterday's live chat dealing with the upcoming strategy game 'Star Trek: Armada.' Present at the chat were Activision's Star Trek brand manager Laird Malamed and Armada's lead designer Eric Gewirtz. I'd quote some of the more interesting questions, but unfortunately the transcript format doesn't really make that easy - rest assured you can find everything here.

Patrick Stewart Supports 'Odyssey'
Christian (1:42 pm CST)
Patrick Stewart - The Actors' Actor is reporting that Patrick Stewart (Jean-Luc Picard) recently was in Monterey, California to help launch the research vessel 'Odyssey' on a 3-year voyage during which it will investigate the effects of pollution on the sperm whale population:

The project - developed by marine biologist Dr Roger Payne of the Ocean Alliance/WCI - is supported by the WWF, Pacific Life, and Sustainable Ecosystems Institiute(SEI), whose founder & president Dr Deborah Brosnan is chief scientist aboard the 'Odyssey'. Patrick already supports the work of Ocean Alliance and will act as the public spokesperson for the 'Odyssey' project. He will also make several visits to the vessel throughout the voyage.

Links to more info on these organisations can be found by visiting this page.

Casey Biggs On 'Snoops'
Christian (1:42 pm CST)
Holly Kim Wilson, now also serving as the librarian of the official fan club of Casey Biggs (Damar), tells me Biggs will be appearing in the fourth episode of David E. Kelley's new show, "Snoops!". Casey will play a character named Gary Marlow and this character has the potential of being a recurring one. Casey will be shooting this all week. Thanks go out to Holly Kim and Tiffany Edenfield, president of the Biggs fan club.

Jeri Ryan Convention Report
Christian (1:41 pm CST)
NOTE: Below you'll find some episode spoilers for Voyager's sixth season. To avoid them, click here.

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

IGN Sci-Fi has put up a convention report of the recent National Sci-Fi Expo in Canada, which also included a Q&A session with Jeri Ryan (Seven of Nine). In the Q&A, she responded to the usual batch of questions from Trek fans, dealing with everything from her great looks to her form-fitting uniform. Besides that, however, she apparently also got a few questions which allowed her to provide some info on Voyager's sixth season:

Ryan has plenty of interesting tidbits to share with the crowd, including some insights into Voyager's next season. "There's a Borg flashback episode with Seven, so, yes, I am back in Borg costume," she says. "There's one we're shooting now that's an homage to the space program and the Mars mission, a really lovely story, and it's directed by Bob Picardo [The Doctor]. There's an episode in Klingon hell with Torres. Part of it takes place on a barge to hell and B'Elanna has these visions of all of us being on this barge." Later, she notes that Voyager will encounter a new foe. "There's some scary new bad guys coming up," she says. Also, Seven will be showing off her singing prowess once again -- much to Ryan's chagrin. "I called Brannon [Braga] and said, 'Enough with the singing!'" Ryan laughs. And what should be featured in the first script she received? "Seven singing!"

The full convention report can be found by going here.

Regional Dutch CCG Championships
Christian (1:41 pm CST)
Decipher, the publisher of the official Star Trek Customizable Card Game, just announced that it will be organising its Benelux Regional Open Championships right here in the Netherlands, on the 11th of September. The event will be hold right next to our biggest theme park 'The Efteling,' and promises to be a rather challenging event:

September 11, Dutch players will gather at De Werft Hall in Kaatsheuvel for the Star Wars CCG and Star Trek CCG Regional Championship events. Don't forget, Star Wars CCG is a Regional Open - everyone's welcome to play, you don't have to have won a regional preliminary to enter.

Visitors will find lots to do. Food and drinks can be bought at De Werft. Young Jedi, Star Wars CCG and Star Trek CCG demos will be given at 10:00 and 18:00. A trading room will allow fans to trade back and forth to get the cards they want for their decks. At 14:00, there will be a Star Trek OTSD Booster Draft tournament, and at 19:00, a Star Wars EPP- overdrive tournament. Both are sanctioned events.

More can be found in the full announcement.

Brent Spiner Chat On Thursday
Christian (1:40 pm CST)
This Thursday, the Star Trek Continuum will be hosting a live chat with Brent Spiner, best known for his role as the yellow android Data. His new TV movie 'Introducing Dorothy Dandridge' also just premiered, however, and undoubtedly he'll want to talk about that as well. Advance questions can already be submitted, while you can find more info on how to actually participate in the chat by going here.

Starfleet Command Enters Top 10
Christian (1:40 pm CST)
According to the new PC Data sales charts, Interplay's real-time strategy game 'Starfleet Command' has entered the top 10 for the week ending the 14th of August. The game entered at No.8, still below chart favourites such as 'Simcity 3000' and 'Rollercoaster Tycoon.' The full charts can be found here, and thanks go out to the Starfleet Universe.

Happy Birthday!
Christian (1:40 pm CST)
Today is the birthday of Anthony D. Call, who starred as Lieutenant Bailey in the first regular TOS episode 'The Corbomite Maneuever.'

Today On TV
Christian (1:40 pm CST)
-Tonight at 7:00pm and at 11:00pm Eastern Time, the Sci-Fi Channel will be showing the TOS episode 'Is There In Truth No Beauty?'

-According to the Television Observation Unit of the Star Trek Collective, British Sky One will be showing Voyager's 'The Thaw' tomorrow at 17:00 and at 23:30 BST. At 18:00, BBC Two will be showing the superb TNG episode 'Frame of Mind.'

-In Germany, Sat.1 will be repeating DS9's 'Meridian' tomorrow morning at 01:40 CET. At 15:00 tomorrow, they'll be showing the new episode 'Defiant.'

Trek BBS Today
Christian (1:39 pm CST)
Here's the usual selection of interesting topics currently being discussed at the Trek BBS:

-Besides Trek fanfic, do you ever read fan fiction about any series besides Star Trek? If so, which series?

-Is the Holodoc sentient?

More interesting threads can be found at the Trek BBS, where we'll probably be turning on registration tomorrow again.

Hello World!
Christian (1:39 pm CST)
A more than interesting article dealing with the new fall line-up of UPN (which I'm posting in 'Hello World!' because it isn't really Trek-related) can be found by going here. Few times have I seen an article which is so right.

Monday August 30, 1999

The Future Of Star Trek DVDs
Christian (2:53 pm CST)
A new interview with Paramount's Vice President Jeffrey Radoycis has just gone up at the Digital Bayou. In it, Radoycis is interviewed about the future of Trek on DVD, and, while he seems to answer most questions with a generic 'we are always evaluating the possibility of adding extras,' he does at least provide the following solid info:

• 'Star Trek: The Motion Picture' will be released on DVD sometime in 2000, while 'The Wrath of Khan' will follow in the 3rd quarter of that year.
  
• Leonard Nimoy (Spock) will be appearing between 8 and 9 on CBS's 'This Morning' on Thursday, September 2, to talk about the release of the TOS DVDs.
  
• 'The Next Generation' DVDs will start being released sometime in 2000.

More details and promises can be found in the full interview. Major thanks go out to Daniel Kikin for pointing me to this.

Seven Of Nine Toy Changes Colour
Christian (2:53 pm CST)
The Raving Toy Maniac is reporting that the Star Trek 5" ToyFare Exclusive, which would originally have been Seven of Nine in her brown uniform, will be getting a colour change so that she'll be dressed in the newer purple uniform. The figure is now expected to be solicited in the December issue of ToyFare, which is a month later than originally planned. More on this can be found at the Toy Maniac's Trek news page.

Bob Blackman Chat Transcript
Christian (2:53 pm CST)
The official Continuum has put up a transcript of the live chat with Trek's costume designer Robert Blackman, which took place this Thursday. Take a look at three of the most interesting questions asked:

Jovia asks:
Okay, so what's the deal w/ the jackets that Capt. Picard and some other sr. staff kept having to pull down all the time?

Bob Blackman:
That pulling down is referred to as "The Picard Maneuver". It started actually with the spandex suits. Patrick has a keen sense of close-up. He would grab the middle of his spandex suit as he sat in order to give it a tug so that as he was seated and they were pushing in for a close-up... so he would look picture-perfect. When the uniforms became two piece uniforms for comfort, he just naturally continued. And hence, the Picard Maneuver.

J.B.Hutt asks:
Hello, for some time feminist organizations have accused star trek of being sexist on clothes design from the day one. Starting with Uhura and Rand miniskirts and ending up with 7 of 9 cat suite. I'm interested on your take of the matter.

Bob Blackman:
As soon as the male populace decides to control their hormones, there won't be a need for this question. There is something to physical attraction on a pure physical level. It is a fantasy. What we do at Star Trek, is create fantasy. It is a complete world and yet completely unreal. Those garments/images that are considered sexist are usually considered without the character that wears them. If we thought for a second that 7 of 9 was flaunting her perfect body, it would be offensive. But she doesn't. She's a highly intelligent scientist. With a bod. It means nothing to her. So...

Stanley Barr asks:
When Star Trek: Generations was made, you had designed some new uniforms for the movies that wound up on the Playmates Toys action figures for the movie. Why did those uniforms not show up in the movie?

Bob Blackman:
The original costumes for Generations were to be a further development of the Starfleet uniform. The idea was good, on paper. In real life, not very practical. Also, in trying to accomodate many requests, I ended up sabotaging the design itself. So wisely, they were cut from the movie in the 11th hour. And Playmate's lead time is about six weeks before we started shooting.

A truly enourmous amount of more answers can be found in the full transcript. Thanks go out to WebTrek for finding this link - I have no idea how they did it, considering it isn't yet mention at the Continuum's 'latest transcripts' page.

'Insurrection' Video Release Date
Christian (2:52 pm CST)
According to Amazon.com, 'Star Trek: Insurrection' will be available for consumer sale on the 19th of October, for the price of $14.95. A widescreen version will also be released. Thanks go out to Gustavo Leao for this.

'Armada' Online Interview
Christian (2:52 pm CST)
Tonight at 10:00pm Eastern Time, Starbase Armada will be hosting a live chat with Laird Malamed, Star Trek game brand manager at Activision, and Eric Gewirtz, lead designer of the 'Star Trek: Armada' game. The chat will be held here or through IRC at irc.ram-page.com room name #armada.

Marc Alaimo In 'The Greeks.'
Christian (2:52 pm CST)
According to Holly Kim Wilson of the Official Marc Alaimo Fan Club, Marc Alaimo (Gul Dukat) is currently rehearsing the play 'The Greeks' at the Odyssey Theatre in Los Angeles. The play will be presented in two parts, and will open on the 11th of September 1999. Alaimo will play the role of Agamemnon.

More info on how to attend the play can be obtained from the Odyssey Theatre, which can be reached at (310) 477-2055 or found at 2055 S. Sepalveda Blvd. in Los Angeles. Major thanks go out to Holly Kim Wilson for sending this in!

Two New Starfleet Command Reviews
Christian (2:51 pm CST)
I just noticed over at the Starfleet Universe that two new reviews of Interplay's real-time strategy game have popped up. The first one, by GameSpot's Stephen Poole isn't as positive as most other reviews, awarding the game only a 7.5:

[I don't want] to suggest that Starfleet Command isn't any fun. The huge array of options you're provided in battle - sending shuttles to attack enemies, reallocating power to meet the changing combat conditions, using tractors to hold incoming missiles at bay, and more - provide Starfleet Command with an unprecedented level of depth for a Star Trek game. Multiplayer Starfleet Command is also a real blast: Even with relatively high latencies on Mplayer, the action was smooth and satisfying. And the different multiplayer modes - base attack/defense, several variations on a "last man standing" theme, and a "pass the tribble" game where you attack enemies by beaming tribbles aboard their ships - meshed nicely with the game's complex tactics. But though you'll enjoy it for quite some time, you'll also realize that Starfleet Command could have spent more time in the dry dock before shipping to retail outlets.

The full review can be found by following this link. After you've read that, you might want to move on to the review written by AGN 3D's Allan Briggs, who awards the game no less than a 9:

Those with little patience or those who think a thick manual is great for smacking cockroaches may be turned off by the daunting learning curve of StarFleet Command. However, if you are at all interested in Star Trek and ever wished for a game that let's you really be in control, you should take the time to play this game. Even those with a passing interest in the universe of Klingons, Romulans and those fiendish root-beer drinking Federation types should not miss out. With a strong online community presence already releasing extra missions and ships and gameplay to keep you busy for months this is a must buy game and will be on my hard drive for a long time. Get it.

Find more in the full review.

Barbara March Interview
Christian (2:51 pm CST)
Michelle Erica Green at AnotherUniverse's Mania Magazine has put up a new interview with Barbara March, who starred as Klingon Duras sister Lursa in several TNG episodes and in 'Star Trek: Generations.' In the interview, she reveals she's considering writing a book on the backstory of Lursa and B'Etor:

I'm one of these people who reads five books at the same time and I never finish anything, so don't wait for it," she warned. "But people ask me these questions, and I said to myself, come on, Barbara, you're a woman, you're a writer, you're an actress - write something! I want to go right to the homeworld - birth, death, life, and what about love? What about nurturing? That takes a lot of philosophical thinking. You could do it off the cuff, but I don't want to do that. There are so many things you cannot do onscreen. Their remarkableness has to be not just villainous evil. It has to be something else about it."

In the full interview (which, as most other Mania interviews, is quite long, even if part of that is due to Mania accidentally printing the interview twice), March talks about her experiences on Trek, the work of her husban Alan Scarfe on UPN's 'Seven Days,' and her other roles - find it all here.

Today On TV
Christian (2:51 pm CST)
-At 7:00pm and at 11:00pm Eastern Time, the Sci-Fi Channel will be showing the really bad TOS episode 'And The Children Shall Lead.'

-According to the Television Observation Unit of the Star Trek Collective, British Sky One will be showing the second-season Voyager episode 'Innocence' tomorrow at 17:00 and at 23:30 BST.

-In Germany, Sat.1 will be repeating DS9's 'In der Falle' early tomorrow morning at 00:20 CET. At 15:00, they'll be showing 'Meridian.'

Trek BBS Today
Christian (2:51 pm CST)
Here is today's selection of interesting topics from our Trek BBS:

-Is Ship of the Line really such a bad book?

-Are you able to see a Star Trek episode and identify which one it is within five minutes?

-What are your thoughts on the (lack of) continuity in Star Trek?

Find more topics at the Trek BBS!

Hello World!
Christian (2:51 pm CST)
I'm exhausted. I truly am. Earlier on this evening, I actually spent over an hour typing up *one* post at the Trek BBS - part, of course, of the thread which is already reaching epic proportions. I doubt I'd be able to survive it if that debate would go on any longer.

Sunday August 29, 1999

Pete Pachoumis Interview
Christian (3:28 pm CST)
After his interview with writer Keith R.A. DeCandido, Jim Zimmerman has now also written an interview with Pete Pachoumis, pencil artist for the upcoming Star Trek comics mini-series 'Perchance to Dream.' In it, Pachoumis tells us how he actually got to work on Wildstorm's Trek comics:

Let's move on to "Perchance to Dream." Writer Keith DeCandido says he recommended you for the assignment, based on his fondness for your work. How did you first become acquainted with Keith? And what were the series of events which led to you receiving this assignment? Did editor Jeff Mariotte contact you and ask for samples of your work, had you already submitted samples, or what?

I met Keith through Howard Zimmerman up at Byron Preiss. I had known Howard for a few years and always enjoyed setting up appointments to show him my work and getting an honest critique. One day I went up there and Howard was genuinely impressed with my samples and set up a meeting to show Keith my work. Unfortunately, the project that Keith had planned for me fell through, but I asked him to keep me in mind for future assignments,

I never really expected to hear from him, but a few months later I received a phone call asking if I would be interested in penciling a book that he was writing for WildStorm. I told him that I was definitely interested and asked him what it was. He said it was a Next Generation story and my interest grew. I didn't know that WildStorm had the license and I sent my samples to Jeff Mariotte after he gave me a call requesting them. Fortunately, Jeff liked the samples and Paramount was already familiar with my work, so I landed the assignment.

More info on what you will be able to expect from 'Perchance to Dream,' plus some info on the making of this first WildStorm miniseries, can be found in the full interview. If you've still got questions after that, please head over to our Comics Q&A with editor Jeff Mariotte - we should have a new batch of questions ready in just a few short days!

Article On Trek Romances
Christian (3:18 pm CST)
Over at the newly resurrected Trek Nation, we've put up a new featured article by Karen Comer, in which she looks at why romances in Star Trek don't work:

It all started with Gene Roddenberry's puerile attitudes towards, women and sex. To him women were to be cute and kinda dumb, cute and available, cute and subordinate. You get the picture. After this unfortunate legacy Trek romances have never gotten off the ground. When was the last time a Trek couple was famous for their on-screen chemistry? I don't mean do their respective fanclubs like them, but do they "light up the screen?" The answer is NO!

In the full article, Karen analyzes what usually goes wrong with Trek romances, gives us six ways in which the creators try to make sex as unappealing as possible, and gives us a few ideas on how to bring more sex into Series V. Here is where you can read all about it, while feedback@treknation.com is where you can send all your comments to!

Trek Game Audio Interviews
Christian (3:09 pm CST)
Glide Underground has put up two audio interviews with the designers of two the upcoming Activision Trek games, namely 'Armada' and 'Insurrection: Hidden Evil.' The interviews were made during the Gencon 99 Game Fair, which took place several weeks ago in Milwaukee, Wisconsin. You can find listen to both interviews from here. Thanks go out to Federation HQ for this.

New Sev Trek Cartoon Online
Christian (3:09 pm CST)

New Interviews At The Great Link
Christian (3:09 pm CST)
Trek news site the Great Link has finally updated again, after more than a month of silence. Together with several new news items, the update also includes the reposting of three interviews with important Trek people which first appeared in the British 'Star Trek Monthly' magazine. In one of these interviews, Star Trek's Executive Producer Rick Berman talks to Ian Spelling about some of the upcoming Trek projects:

"My conversations with Paramount about a future film have been very preliminary, there certainly won't be any film in 1999 or 2000. At the earliest, the next Star Trek film would be out in 2001. The Star Trek IMAX film is on a very distant back burner. It's not dead like a crushed cockroach, but it's not an immediate possibility, either. It has nothing to do with creative elements, but more with business elements."

"Hopefully, we'll start to see things very soon, We've had things in the works, but I needed to concentrate on Insurrection, finish out DS9 and wrap Voyager for the season. We've got some very interesting projects that we'll be starting up, but I can't talk about them yet. Maybe the next time we speak I'll be able to give you more information..."

The full interview (which I seem to recall having read before somewhere, though I'm not sure) can be found here. Also available are interviews with DS9 staff writer Rene Echevarria and Salome Jens, the actress who portrayed the female shapeshifter.

[Update, Monday, 11:18 CET:] The Rick Berman interview is indeed old news - WebTrek reposted it three weeks ago. As a matter of fact, back when I reported about the WebTrek repost, I probably even quoted the same piece I did now. You can find the WebTrek version here, if for some reason you prefer reading that.

'Best of Both Girls' Finished
Christian (3:08 pm CST)
Jim Wright, Voyager episode reviewer over at Delta Blues, is announcing that he's finally finished his fanfic story 'Best of Both Girls.' The story was well over two years in the making, and now consists of 11 chapters and a short epilogue, though 'short' will probably always remain a relative term for Jim :-). You can find the finished story (which might be a good way of passing the time while you're waiting for Voyager's sixth season to start) by going here.

New Jeri Ryan Magazine Images
Christian (3:08 pm CST)
The Official Jeri Lynn Ryan Homepage has just put up scans of pictures showing Jeri Ryan, taken from the September 1999 issue of the British 'Star Trek Monthly,' the Summer 1999 issue of the American 'Flair' and the August 1999 issue of the German 'PC Action.' You can find all scans via the JLR Homepage's news page.

Voyager Wins Special Effects Emmy
Christian (3:08 pm CST)
The Academy of Television Arts & Sciences just announced the winners of the 51st Annual Creative Arts Awards, otherwise known as the Emmys. Star Trek managed to win the grand total of one emmy, namely the 'special visual effects for a series' award for Voyager's 'Dark Frontier.'

Today On TV
Christian (3:08 pm CST)
-Tomorrow at 17:00 and at 23:30 BST, British Sky One will be showing Voyager's 'Deadlock.' At 20:00 BST, they'll be showing the new Voyager episode 'Think Tank.' Thanks go out to the Television Observation Unit of the Star Trek Collective for this.

-In Germany, Sat.1 will be showing DS9's 'In der Falle' tomorrow at 15:00 CET.

Trek BBS Today
Christian (3:08 pm CST)
Over at the Trek BBS, some more than interesting threads are currently going on:

-Do you think the high ratings UPN is currently achieving will also affect Voyager's fall season?

-At the moment, registration is temporarily disabled at the Trek BBS. Click here to read why!

-Take a look at our new Trek literature forum!

More topics can be found at the Trek BBS, where you're of course more than welcome to also participate in our discussions - assuming you're already registered, that is. If you still want to register within the next few days, please contact me at christian@trektoday.com and I'll register you manually - sorry if this causes you any problems.

Hello World!
Christian (3:07 pm CST)
I know it sounds incredible, but today I actually started doing some stuff over at the Nation again - it's amazing how far you can fall behind during a week without net access at home. Today I've put up Jim Zimmerman's interview with comics artist Pete Pachoumis and Karen Comer's article looking at the romances in Star Trek.