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Hold on to your keyboards. I'm already late with this today and I'm going to be typing like a maniac! First, some comments from previous columns . . .
Roger Sorensen: The movie trailer in question was put together before any effects for STFC had been finished. The battle shots in the trailer were either taken from Best of Both Worlds, DS9's premiere, or - in the case of Voayager - composites of whatever was on hand. If you have the trailer on video, notice also that the Borg cube Voyager fires on is not the same as the cube that appeared in FC. Remember, PAL. And besides, even if "Voyager" did appear to show up in FC, I'd regard it as a different Intrepid-class ship, not an error.
Phil: Except . . . according to Tri Minh Nguyen of Germany, you can freeze-frame the trailer and see Voyager's registry number! (Her comments are in the April 1997 Newsletter
Matt Nelson: ST:TMP This is not part of the "Enterprise Jacket"set, but merely one with a white spine. The back refers to Kirk as a Captain, not an Admiral as he still is in this pic.
STII:TWOK "Enterprise Jacket" set; the photos on back are reversed.
STIII:TSFS non "Enterprise Jacket" set; no nits I could locate.
STIV:TVH "Enterprise Jacket" set; no nits I could locate.
STV:TFF "Enterprise Jacket" set; someone may want to check the film for this given stardate: 8454.130. Didn't have time to watch it.
STVI:TUC "Enterprise Jacket" set; Kirk is referred to as an Admiral.
ST:G The summarizer plays loose with Soran's plan a bit, but it's forgivable.
ST:FC One of you lucky milksops out there with a copy will have to take care of this one, it's not for sale in my area yet!
Carrie Sager: A while ago someone asked about Dax's quarters, and you replied that we didn't know the location of anyone's quarters, only that they were in the habitat ring. Not true! In "The Wire," Bashir used a medical override to get into Garak's quarters. Specifically, what he said was, "Computer, open the door to chamber 901, habitat level H3," then gave his code. So we know the location of Garak's quarters (just none of the senior staff members' quarters).
Phil: Oops! Very good, very good!
Mark Allen of Sydney Australia: If voyager is about 70 years away from Federation space, shouldn't they be picking up subspace messages from 70 years ago? How fast does a subspace message travel? Could the crew of Voyager be watching old "lost" episodes of Dr Who?? In the Carl Sagan book , "Contact", it is pointed out that the first high powered , high frequency signals that left the Earths ionoshpere would have been the Nazi broadcasts of the 1936 Berlin Olympics!
Phil: It's an interesting thought but I believe electormagnetic waves do eventually lose strength and dissapate so I don't know if anyone out there will really ever hear the 1936 Berlin Olypics unless they are 'in the neighbor.' As for Voyager picking up subspace message from the Alpha Quadrant, the Tech manual says that subspace signals only propogate out 20 light years so you would have to be within 20 light years of a Federation subspace beacon--which, of course, Voyager isn't!
Joe Vrablik: In the episode "The Eye of the Needle", V'ger's crew sends that Romulan commander back with an issolinear chip containing a status report and messages to family. HOWEVER, Tuvok then told them, after sending the Romulan back, that he had died a few years before V'ger was lost. Again, HOWEVER, the crew speculated that the Romulan might have left a stipulation in his will or left reponsibility to someone to ship those messages off to Earth. As to whether or not they were actually sent or received...
Ronan Mitchell: I wonder if anyone at Starfleet noticed when the voyager returned briefly in "Death Wish"? Or did Q cloak the ship? I remember that he erased Rikers, Newtons and Woodstock bloke's memories so maybe not..
Josh Truax of Platteville, WI: About the music Picard is playing in his ready room in ST:FC: That is an excerpt from "Les Troyens" (The Trojans), an opera by early 19th-century French composer Hector Berlioz. According to the Encarta '96 CD-ROM, this is considered one of Berlioz's greatest works...
Jason Barnes: In regard to Murray Leeder's question about which TOS episode had Kirk correct himself in giving a stardate in the 6/6/97 column, I said there was no such episode. Scott Vogt in the next week's column suggested that it was the episode "The Deadly Years." You agreed. I watched this episode and Kirk makes only two or three log entries in it. Never once does he correct himself. I also watched "Shore Leave" that was suggested by Stephen Mendenhall. He doesn't correct himself in that episode either. So I stand by my initial statement that Kirk has never corrected himself when giving a stardate in a log entry. Only how to classify Decker and Ilia in ST:TMP.
Bob Canada: Regarding Jason Barnes' comments about the Treks using the same guest stars--I think another reason for re-using actors is for make-up purposes. These shows are always pressed for time, and creating those bumpy forehead appliances takes time. They usually need to take a life cast of an actor's face in order to sculpt the alien ridges and such over them. I'm assuming that after a mold is made of an actor's face, they save it. So it would save the makeup people a lot of time if they knew an actor was coming in for a different role--they'd just pull his or her life mask out & start sculpting, eliminating a step in the process.
Jim Elek of Sterling Heights: Many shows "recycle" actors as you give in your X-Files example. On Happy Days, Richie's wife, Laurie-Beth was first a date for Ralph. Fonzie's latter-day girlfriend, Ashley, was once one of Richie's dates. Quantum Leap reused several actors such as Zoe from the "evil leaper" project. I'm sure that shows like the A-Team recycled thugs all the time.
Robert Cook of Anacortes, WA: Christer Nyberg's question about Vulcan/Romulan names for heaven. He wondered why they weren't the same. Why should all the members of an alien race share the same religious beliefs? Humans sure don't. Might be interesting if it turned out, say, there was a minority group of Klingons who don't believe in (sp?) Stovokor.
Phil: "Ferengi" seems to have a lot of different origins. Hmmm. I may have to do some checking on this and get back with you!
Murray Leeder: Here's a brilliant one. The word "Ferengi" is a corruption of the name which the Chinese first gave European explorers! Apparently it's a corruption of "frank"!
Michael Gurwitz of Washington, DC: FYI, "Ferengi" is the Thai word for "foreigner"
Robert Cook of Anacortes, WA: In Hindu, the word for "foreigner" is "Feringi". I suppose this might be a coincidence.
Rob Orton: Feringi is a french word meaning traveler.
Jody Seim of Oakland, CA: My all-time favorite historical earth term used in Star Trek? Ferengi. It sounds almost identical to (and is spelled almost the same as the English transliteration of) the term the Malayans gave to the Portguese traders who showed up in the Indian ocean in the fifteenth/sixteen centuries.
Too bad the writers have never made the Ferengi as consistently interesting a species, even "just as" profit-driven traders, as the link suggests they could be....
The question I have is, was this just a coincidence? Because I've never gotten the feeling the Trek creators do as much reading as, say, JMS at Babylon 5. But if it's just a coincidence, it's darn eerie.
P.S. I'd be happy to provide you with a source for this, including spelling, if you'd like. I'm busy reading for orals now and my second field is British Imperial history.
Ronan Mitchell: The TNG episode "Up the long ladder" featured a colony with people known as the "Briongloidi" who spoke with dodgy Irish accents. The word "Briongloid" is Irish for "Dream" so the colony's name, translated, means "The colony of dreams"!
Mike Leinoff: I have another one. "Uhura" is Swahili for "freedom." Does this count, since it's not a secret? (It says so in the Star Trek Encyclopedia, and she may have said it on screen.) How about Lal? That's an even more blatent one, since I'm SURE Data explained his use of the word "lal."
Shane Tourtellotte: I found/recalled a few more interesting foreign-language uses in Star Trek. Ferengi: an Arabic word meaning 'foreigner'. (You can even see the resemblance in the letter structure.) Nausicaan(TNG -- 'Samaritan Snare' & 'Tapestry'): derived from Nausicaa, a character in Greek mythology. Cytherean(TNG -- 'The Nth Degree'): from an ancient Greek name for Venus. Vaal(Classic -- 'The Apple'): obviously from Ba'al, a Hebrew name for a false idol.
There are other ones(Minos, Moab), but these were likely given by people who knew the derivations. My original example of Maquis is similar, since the rebels plainly intended the parallel to the French Resistance. What I'm really looking for are words with Terran origins, but used by alien races before they had contact with us(like Romulans, Ferengi, Nausicaans). In other words, I'm looking for *nits*! See, there was a reason for all this!
Ronan Mitchell: Maybe they needed a medical officer as experienced as Crusher for the expected casualties? She did have experience de-assimilating Picard/Locutus.
Jim Elek of Sterling Heights: In my circle of Trek fans, we came to the concensus that Borg Queen seen in First Contact and the one that Picard remembers are not the *the* actual Queen. Each cube probably has an avatar or representive of the Queen. However the Queen herself resides on the homeworld and is simply connected to all her dopplegangers.
Roger Sorensen: Only the Creators know for sure, but here's a 'maybe' idea that sprang to mind: if each Borg cube has a queen, then these queens may operate in layer of 'collectivity' separate from or, at least, able to influence the drone layer of the Collective. The queen layer might moderate inter-cube communications, filter out the relevant from the irrelevant, make the drones conform, and so on. This could explain why the "Hugh" infection didn't spread throughout the entire Collective. Could also explain why the 'good' Borg in Unity were able to exert their will over the others on the planet (assuming the good Borg were able to tap some of the queen-layer software). Also, this might mean that somewhere deep within Borg space there's a superqueen layer of the Collective.
Paul Steele of Springfield, VA: In response to Erin Hunt's question about the origins of Starfleet personnel; specifically: how someone who has spent nearly their entire life on different Starfleet vessels would explain "where they are from."
Many people I have met in the military are military "brats." That is to say their father (nowdays even their mother) was in the military. Therefore, they moved from base to base frequently. Normally, these individuals identify with one location for different reasons. Some choose to identify with the place they remember being at the longest. Others choose their favorite location or the one they would like to return to as an adult. Still others identify with the one they spent their high school years and/or graduation.
There are modern day nomads everywhere, not just in Sci-Fi.
Jim Elek of Sterling Heights: It's always struck me as odd that these intrepid Starfleet explorers are whining over the food! Give me a break. Riker and Bashir didn't shy away from live serpent worms. In fact, on almost every other Trek show, the crew seemed to enjoy tring new and exotic food. What's with these wimps on Voyager? Plus, the PTB missed out on great running gag. They could have had everyone hate the food expect for, say, Kim who gobbled down everything put in front of him. It would be like that time Riker made omlettes and Worf was the only one that liked them.
Phil: I made a few comments about the viability of Lost World merchandise given the the lack of lot in the actual movie on Sunday in This Week at NitCentral. Matt Nelson sent along some comments.
Matt Nelson: Well, first of all, if sales in my area are any indication, you're going to see a LOT of these suckers [Lost World action figures] in the discount bin before too long. The new toys don't look as good as the first JP toy line, and are all hard plastic, no "rubberized" skin like the first one. They are lame! In fact, I'm surprised by all the Star Wars ones out there too. The movie companies are overestimating their demand a LOT. On the other hand, Playmates, who makes the Trek figures, is screwing up royally. They've been shorting their production on some figures, and slow to get them to retailers, which makes them HARD to find. Unless of course, you're looking for Tom Paris Mutated (Now THERE'S a stellar figure.) Sorry, my sarcasm got the best of me there. But as a collector, I get furious at toy companies who can't figure out how supply and demand works. Some of these guys need to get out of their stuffed chairs and go look at some toy stores.
(Note from Phil on 6/22/97: I misplaced a few Lost World toys comments and finally added them today! Sorry.)
Bob Canada: Concerning all the Lost World merchandise--you have no idea how much there is. As a toy hunter, every toy-related store I go to has been brimming with it since April. They'll never sell it all. In fact, some store have Lost World figures sitting on the shelf next to the original Jurassic Park figures that they've still got laying around! And its not just toys--I saw LW images plastered all over cereal boxes (if this box roars when you open it, you win! Really. It really did say that). I even bought some film this weekend and it had some kind of LW thing on the film box. Although I did enjoy the movie (as an entertaining way to spend a couple hours; certainly not for its brilliant writing or witty dialogue), I have a theory about all this hype--I've noticed that more often than not, the more they spend on promotion and merchandise tie-ins, the lamer the movie is...a truly good movie doesn't need Lost World Sunscreen.
Jason Barnes: You've got a point about the Lost World toys and paraphanilia (sp?) that's going around. But it can be answered in three words: kids and dinosaurs. Kids like dinosaurs so most of them see the movie (whose parents let them see it) and don't worry about the story. They like the dinosaurs. I'll bet ya that more then half the stuff on sale are toys. Kids see dinosaur. They say "Mommy, me want dinosaur (or some other kid lingo.)" Bingo.
Phil: Ah . . . but how do you insure that mommy and daddy will buy Lost World dinos? Have you noticed how many dino products are out in the stores now? ;-)
On to the questions . . . .
Brian Dominguez, Oswego, NY: How is Harry a senior officer when he is fresh out of the Academy? Was that explained? Doesn't he have the same position that Data held on the Enterprise, and he was a lieutenant commander, yet Harry was (and still is) an Ensign? (I could also ask how is it that Harry hasn't been promoted in the past three years, when in "TNG's Lower Decks, LaVelle was promoted to LT. JG in six months after the academy--but that's not my question of the day.) Do you think "junior" officers ranked above him have to call him sir? I've imagined that lieutenant that relieves him of his post seriously upset that this kid could just come in and run an important post such as ops.
Phil: I've never really understood how Kim can be classed a "senior" officer. Perhaps there are mysteries in the ranking system of Starfleet!
Will Phillips of North Royalton, OH: About a week ago, my friend and I visited the Star Trek: Federation Science exhibit (showing at the Great Lakes Science Center in Cleveland, OH, plopped right next to the Rock N' Roll Hall of Fame. Anyway...) and in the gift shop, what did I see, but NextGen 1 on cassette tape! I noticed it was read by Denise Crosby and some guy I've never heard of. I also saw Star Trek Trivia or something that seemed to be by you. What is that?
Anyway, here's my real question(s).
a) Does Dell publishing let you know that they are making books-on-tape of your books?
b) Do you get to meet the celebrities who read said tapes?
Phil: Both the NextGen Guide and the Classic Guide are out on audio tape. The NextGen Guide was read by Denise Crosby (Yar), Robert O'Reilly (Gowron) and Dwight Schultz (Barclay). The Classic Guide was read by Walter Koenig (Chekov), Nichelle Nichols (Uhura), and George Takei (Sulu). And yes, I did know about them but unfortunately I didn't get to meet any of them when they did the sessions because the sessions were on the West Coast and I'm in Springfield. I did holler a hello to Denise Crosby across the phone when she needed a little pronunciation help. It was one of those odd moments when an assistant was on the phone with me going over the words that Denise didn't recognize and we got to "K'Ehleyr" and nobody out there had any idea how that was supposed to be pronounced and I thought, "Oh yeah, that's right Denise Crosby is an actor. She probably didn't even follow the show after she left at the end of the first season. There's really no reason for her to know who K'Ehleyr is!" Finally, I did have an opportunity to read the trivia and I should have done it but I would have had to pay my own way and I paused long enough to think about it over a weekend that the tape people got someone else to do it! Ah well, missed opportunities!
Scott Vogt of Cedar Rapids, IA In "Deadlock," when the other Harry gets sucked out the hull breech into space, shouldn't the other Voyager (undamaged at the time) dectect the body? After all, they both detected the incoming Viidian ship.
Phil: There's some weirdness--actually plenty of weirdness--in that whole duplication thing in "Deadlock" that I'm sure I spend several column inches on when I do the Voyager Guide!
Matthew McLauchlin: Why do all Fleet ships seem to have human names? Why haven't we ever seen the USS. Surak or the USS 1010100100 (after the famous Bynar philosopher, of course)?
Phil: Makes sense to me!
Corey Hines, Hamilton, ON - I noticed in the season finale of call to arms, they showed that there is more than one Defiant-Class starship. If this is so why does the Defiant still have a registry number of NX.
Also what happen to all the starship designs that were in ST:FC? It would look better of there was some variety in the fleet.
One last thing, I liked this season finale better than VGR's. What do you think, Phil?
Phil: Well it certainly is cheaper to have less variety in the fleet and this is television not a big-budget movie . . . . As for the season finales of Trek this year, I thought both were good!
Have a great weekend, everybody!
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Copyright 1997 by Phil Farrand. All rights reserved.