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First, some comments from previous columns . . .
Jennifer Pope of Longview, WA: Regarding previous roles of Star Trek actors, Patrick Stewart played King Claudius in Hamlet, part of a series of Shakespeare plays put out ten or so years ago by BBC.
Anne Magee of Fredericton, NB: Nana Visitor:
Matlock (the series) several times: Once as "homely" un-made-up, stringy-haired crippled woman who turned out to have a dual personality. Once as a psychiatrist (or maybe psychologist) divorcing her husband, also a member of the p-profession. (She got to throw a lot of serious hissy fits as well as props. Kinda fun.) Once as a (platinum blonde!) woman who hired Matlock but who turned out to actually be the murderer after all. (Matlock got the truth out of her in court by making a case against her best friend.)
Night Court: She played a crazy woman who identified too closely with movies. She went to a sleazy motel with Dan and tried to murder him using the methods and personalities from several old movies.
Remington Steele. One episode, and she wasn't in it much, just towards the end. She was married to the owner of some property that had lots of lawns. I remember Remington Steele chasing someone or being chased across those lawns at the end of the episode. I think she was a blonde here too.
Jonathan Frakes:
Voyagers: (NOT ST:Voyager. An old show with Jon-Erik Hexum and Meeno Peluce as time travellers) I'm pretty sure Frakes played Charles Lindburg (sp?) in one episode.
Armin Shimmerman:
Buffy the Vampire Slayer: (the series) He plays the principal. At least, he does in later episodes. I haven't seen the earlier ones.
Harvey H. Kitzman, Jr.: Regarding the other roles that Trek actors have played comments in the Ask the Chief column; I don't think this has been mentioned, but Kate Mulgrew was Billy Crystal's ex-wife who stole a book idea from him in "Throw Momma from the Train."
Phil: I had forgotten about that!
Shane Tourtellotte: Patrick Stewart had a sizable role in the British miniseries "I, Claudius", in which he appeared in not one, but two, toupees. (Brown and gray, for different ages.) He played Emperor Tiberius' right-hand man, Lucius Aelius Sejanus.
Cut to 1992 or '93. A NextGen novel entitled "The Captains' Honor" introduced an adversary to Picard from the Roman Empire world of Classic Trek's "Bread and Circuses". The name of this adversary: Lucius Aelius Sejanus, named after his world's version of the man, who deposed Tiberius and founded his own dynasty. The author(and I will have to dig up his name) must have been a fan of Stewart's previous work.
Mike Konczewski of Havertown, PA: This is a topic that is fertile ground for a website reference guide. With all of the actors that have appeared on the 4 shows, there has to be lots of obscure bit parts and one-ons.
Leonard Nimoy, "The Brain Eaters"--very bad SF movie, a loosely-based, unauthorized adaptation of Robert Heinlein's "The Puppet Masters." It's Nimoy's first role, but he's only on in the last 15 minutes. He's heavily made up, too.Mr. Nimoy also had a recurring role on "Mission: Impossible."
William Shatner, "The Devil's Rain" Also a lousy movie. Ernest Borgnine is the Devil, turning the local townsfolk into black-eyed zombies with his evil precipitation. "National Lampoon's Loaded Weapon"--one of the bad guys. He was pretty funny. "Airplane-The Sequel"--lunar base commander. Too over-the-top for my taste, but he had his moments. ST fans will like the Enterprise-door- sound-effect joke Mr. Shatner also appeared on "Gunsmoke" and "The Six Million Dollar Man"
Michele Forbes, "Seinfeld"--played George's girlfriend in one episode. I believe it was the "big salad" episode ("It was just a salad!"), but I'm a little fuzzy on this. Can someone confirm this?
Gates McFadden, "The Hunt For Red October"--plays Jack Ryan's (Alec Baldwin) wife. If you came into the theatre late, you missed her. "Mad About You"--recurring role as the head of The Explorer Channel and Paul Buchman's (Paul Reiser) boss.
Brent Spiner, "Mad About You"--played Murray the dog's talent agent. As always, Mr. Spiner excels in comedic roles. "Out to Sea"--just out this summer. He's Jack Lemmon and Walter Matthau's boss.
Andrew Robinson (Garak), "Dirty Harry"--Scorpio, the serial killer. Say, did you know he's Edward G. Robinson's son? "Liberace"--the eponymous piano player in this awful TV bio-pic. Mr. Robinson had what seemed to be a successful career playing really creepy bad guys in 1970's TV shows; somebody should research this.
Terry Farrel "Hellraiser III"--or was it IV? After a while, you can't tell the difference.
Rene A. (Odo) "Jeremiah Johnson"--a federal agent being guided by mountain man Robert Redford. A small role, but Rene plays it to the hilt.
I'm sure there's more.
Phil: Ding, ding, ding, ding, ding! I said last week that this topic was through unless something spectacular came in. Well, Leonard Nimoy in "The Brain Eaters" was it! Given the synchronisity of "Spock's Brain" it was too good to pass up!! (Snicker, snicker.)
Rene Charbonneau: In last week's Ask The Chief, you say that the Khitomer Accords had not been re-instated. Well, I got the impression from "By Inferno's Light", that it had. When Gowron was in sickbay on DS9, Sisko gave him a pad, and Gowron looked at it and said, "The Khitomer Accords? The Peace treatry between the Federation and The Klingon Empire is dead" to which Sisko says, "We can bring it back to life again." and Gowron gives his tumb print. Doesn't that clearly indicate that it has been re-instated? And that is why they also signed an agreement to have a permanent Klingon military presence on the station.
Phil: Oops, sorry, oops! I only re-watched the end of the episode and missed the scene in Sickbay. Sorry, sorry, sorry!
Mike Konczewski of Havertown, PA: Some of these sources are more inspiration or homage than adaptation, and a few are my opinion.
The Galileo Seven (TOS)--Harlan Ellison quoted the writer of this episode as saying that, for this script, he just rewrote the movie "Flight of the Phoenix" and gave Jimmy Stewart's role to Spock. The Doomsday Machine (TOS)--another "Moby Dick" inspired story. Decker is Ahab.
Wolf in the Fold--screenwriter Robert Bloch based this on his story, "Yours Truly, Jack the Ripper." The central plot was that the Ripper was some unknown lifeforce that existed only to kill. Aquiel (TNG)--Common plot elements with John Campbell's "Who Goes There?" and "The Thing": alien life form eats someone, then takes on its appearence.
All Good Things--I really see strong similarities to "A Christmas Carol": protaginist sees his past present and future, comes back to the present and decides to become friendly. Even has the famous line from Carol, "What day is it?" (I half expected Worf to answer, "Christmas Day, sir!"). There's also a slight similarity to Kurt Vonnegut's "Slaughterhouse Five;" the biggest difference is that Vonnegut's protaginist is unable to use his knowledge of the future to change events in the past.
Scott Vogt: Regarding what will stand the test of time, in Star Trek IV they made a joke about it. Kirk says you find profanity in all the literature of the time (meaning the 80's), Harrold Robbins and Suzanne. Then Spock says, "Ah, the giants." I'm sure they meant it as a joke, but who knows? Look at Shakespeare. He considered his poetry to be his true "art". He just wrote plays to pay the bills. But which is he known for? Maybe what is considered "escapist" reading today, will be the "Shakespeare" of tomorrow.
Phil: Personally, I took it to be a joke as well. There be arch-satire dripping from Spock's words as far as I'm concerned!! But who knows!
Scott Vogt: I've been thinking about this cheating thru the holodeck thing. Now, an on-line affair occurs between 2 people. The holodeck creations are not alive, right? So why would that be any different than any other way a person would, how shall I say, satisfy themselves? It may not be tasteful, but is it cheating?
Phil: Setting aside the legal issues, for me, it all comes done to your philosophical belief set when answering the question: For what, am I responsible? Am I responsible for what I think or only what I do? (Or--and here we have a new candidate in the responsibility quiz--Am I only responsible for what I do with "real" people.)
It seems to me that having sex with a holographic character produces exactly the same physiological responses as having sex with a "real" person.
For me, I see the response, "But the holodeck people aren't real" as simply a convenient way to shun responsibility and allow myself to violate the covenant I have made with my wife . . . that I will love her, honor her, keep myself only for her.
Granted, people usually make up all sorts of excuses for their behavior and "but I'm not doing it with a real person" is certainly as good as any other excuse.
But . . . just how much will be allowed? Counselor Troi seemed offended that Barclay had reproduced her as a holographic bunny. Why? If it's not real, it's not real, so who cares? Troi cares! So again we get back to the fact that while the perpetrator may be able to twist his motivations around in his mind and shun his responsibility, those affected by the perpetrator's actions will display emotions that are very similar to the emotions that would be display if the same activities occurred with "real" people.
Sean Breen, Alamosa, CO: A Bussard ramscoop is supposed to be a device which uses electromagnetic fields to suck hydrogen atoms in from interstellar space and condense them into usable fuel for a fusion-based rocket engine. The general concept's been kicked around for years as an economical way of bouncing between stars. The creators (surprise surprise) have managed to not use these properly, because in order to operate:
1) A ramscoop would need to be moving at reletivistic velocities (read: around .5 lightspeed and above) in order to pick up enough hydrogen to make any difference.
2) It would need a really powerful magnetic field to act as a "funnel" for the hydrogen.
My guess is that somebody realized the utter uselessness of Bussard ramscoops on a starship and decided that it would be better just to quietly drop the idea.
Phil: That would be a sensible guess although it appears that the creators are still using the collector idea! Read on! (By the way--I watch fuzzy TV when it comes to Voyager so I can't even see if the ship has Bussard collectors!)
Will Phillips: In regards to the question about Voyager's Bussard collectors, they are there. (At least on my Monogram model that I have.) They are little dinky red things on the top sides of the nacelles. If they are not really on the actual Voyager model, I will be mad because I spent an hour putting these dumb nacelles together. (The Bussard collectors and... um... Blue Things on the warp nacelles are seperate pieces and are a MAJOR PAIN to get to stay on.)
Phil: Thanks as well to Simon de Vet, Rob Sayer, Joshua Truax and Chris Ng for sending this information along!
Zachary Michael Vogt: In response to Jason Barnes comment in the August 8th column, Voyager DOES have Bussard collectors. I forgot which episode it was, but Voyger enters a cloud rich in some gas that is potentially very useful, and I distinctively remember B'Elanna saying that the Bussard collectors would act like ice cream scoops.
Phil: Would that be "The Cloud"?! (Not sure.)
Jason Liu: Even if the Voyager had Bussard collectors, I think the TNG Tech Manual states that the energy input required to make antimatter from collected hydrogen would be 12 units to 1. Not exactly the most energy efficient of processes.
Phil: Page 72 of The Technical manual states that the process is 10 to 1 but Jason's point is well taken. Even the Tech Manual admits that this onboard generation of antimatter would occur only in an emergency type situation.
Daniel Tyman of Philadelphia, PA: I have heard from the VFX supervisor that they did use ships from "First Contact." The classes used were Sabre, Steamrunner, and Akira, they were all CGI. Norway class ships were taken out for technical reasons. I have no idea what these ships look like, but anyone out there that does can help. He also confirmed that their was no Intrepid class ships in the fleet.
As for where the Enterprise will be, I have heard form Ron Moore(DS9 writer) that the E is in the fighting but not "in our neck of the woods." The real reason why we won't see it is because it would take too much money to get the actors back, but we don't deal in reality so we'll have to take [that] excuse.
Phil: Ah the joys of Hollywood! ;-)
Rene Charbonneau: First, you mention hearing that the first six or seven episodes of the season premiere of DS9 will feature a long plot arc. Well, this is confirmed at http://www.geocities.com/Hollywood/6759/DS9.html which has always been right so far. So, unlike the retake of Voyager from the Kazon last year, the retake of DS9 from the Dominion will not be so easy.
Joshua Truax: As for the final scene of "A Call to Arms", someone on the DS9 newsgroup claims to have seen an Intrepid-class starship there as well. If this is true, it would be the first appearance of this starship class on DS9. Unfortunately, I still can't spot it, nor can I find any Sovereign-class ships.
Phil: See Daniel Tyman's comment above!
Shane Cathcart: Even though the finale for th fifth season hasn't aired here yet, I caught a glimpse of the battle scenes and the fleet at the end. (We Aussies will probably have to wait until next year to see it).
I spotted one other ship from First Contact in the middle upper screen just before it fades to black. I think it was the one that fires Quantum Torpedoes at the borg cube when the Enterprise does.
I have also heard Richard Arnold stating that Alexander will be back this season, as a teenager (obviously a result of genetic enhancment) and will not be played by Brian Bonsall. :(
Jason Liu: Concerning the classes of ships in DS9, I believe that the Defiant is a Valiant class ship.
Phil: Sorry, sorry, sorry. My neurons weren't firing well last week!
Joshua Truax: Finally, regarding Federation citizenship and Starfleet membership: Didn't Ensign Ro Laren go into Starfleet straight out of the Bajoran labor camps? (Keep in mind that even now, Bajor is still not a Federation member yet...)
Phil: I'm guessing that Starfleet Academy has some kind of affirmative action-type program. Seems like if you're one of a kind or one of a small group it's easier to get in. Compare Super-Genius Wesley failing to win entrance to Starfleet academy in "Coming of Age" with the fact Ro made it in after growing up as a refugee, Nog makes it in and Data seemed to think that Ishara--Yar's sister--has a good chance as well in "Legacy." Somehow, I have a hard time imagining that a person who ran with a group of thugs all her life--and spent her formative years fleeing rape gangs--would have the educational background needed to enter this prestidious educational institution.
Craig A. Livingston: Regarding Craig Cicero's question about Trek Citizenship, I doubt that the Klingons cared about Worf's citizenship. They seem very race-oriented, so I think they'd accept anyone with "Klingon Blood."
Regarding Nog, when Nog first wanted to join Starfleet, Sisco said something like "Since Ferengi are not members of the Federation, you'd need a letter of recomendation from a command level officer to even apply to the Academy." BTW, most present-day countries do allow non-citizens to join their military (I know the U.S. does). In fact, joining our military shortens the time required to get U.S. citizenship.
Phil: Thanks to Jeff Flowers for mentioning this as well!
On to the questions . . .
Cassie Miller: I was just wondering what the deal with the Excelcior class ship is, if transwarp worked as they said that the Excelcior had in "Star Trek 3: The Search For Spock" then why aren't all starships Excelcior class? And if it didn't work then why did they make more of them like the Enterprise-B and the Melinche(spelling?) in the DS9 episode "For the Uniform" I believe the name was.
Phil: Ah yes! "Transwarp" drive. Seems to be a lot of those "transwarp" drives in Star Trek. Delta quadrant races have them. Voyager had one that turned people into big fat salamanders. And then there's the Excelsior. You might recall from the movie that it was a new propulsion system that could have easily overtaken Kirk and company in their attempt to recover Spock's body from the Genesis planet. So, Scotty scuttled the drive. Now, it's been a long time since I've seen the movie but if I recall there is nothing in the movie about the fact that the transwarp drive didn't work! Yet, the Star Trek Encyclopedia states about transwarp drive--at least in my edition--"Although initially showing great promise, the transwarp development project eventually proved unsuccessful and was abandonded after extensive testing on the Starship Excelsior." Now as far as I know, there is no dialogue in the movies or television serieses that supports this contention. However, the Encyclopedia is canonical and there is no dialogue which opposes the contention. So . . . I guess we have to accept it! (Personally, I think this is just a Fleet-wide case of techno-amnesia!)
[From somone identified only as Writter79]: Has anyone else notice/nitted this before? The deflector dish of the Enterprise-E was yellow-orange. Now.... In the battle sceen with the Borg Cube we see several other new starship designs (all of which sport the ususual blue circle-deflector). But the new Enterprise's is a different design all together, it has the Trivial Pursuit Piece design to it (with many more wedges). Now this may not eb a nit, unless, you factor in if you look at the pictures of the Enterprise E in the new version of the Star Trek Chronolgy the Enterprise has the much more elegant blue dish. The only reason why I can see that the E has an orange one, is so that the entire sceen on the dish in the middle of the movie would look good. It WOULD be hard to see what was happening if Worf and Picard where fighting the Borg on giant blue circle!
Phil: Could be! Of course, it's hard to know what fabulous new inventions those folks at Starfleet Research and Development have come up with for the Enterprise-E until we get a tech manual! ;-)
Jonathan Carter of Greensboro, NC: Deep Space Nine was able to inflict heavy damage on the enemy fleet that attacked it during the season finale, because apparently the Cardassian and Dominion forgot to raise their shields! Why, why, why? Also, Deep Space Nine was hit frequently but showed absolutely no outside damage. How is that possible? (Answer: they only have one model of the station.)
Phil: I first noticed this "no-shields" thing in "Shattered Mirror." Sisko is whipping the Alt-Defiant around a large Klingon battle cruiser, firing on it continuously. In fact, Sisko was so close that he would have been within the shield bubble for the ship . . . except . . . he wasn't! And when the weapons hit the Klingon cruiser it didn't appear to have any shields at all! (A fact that I mentioned on pages 367 and 268 of the DS9 Guide.) At the time, I sort of chalked it up to the fact that the episode occurred in an alternate universe. Ah well. Maybe not. Maybe all the sheild bubbles for all enemy ships just decided to quite working. (Or . . . perhaps the visual effects guys are tired of the shield bubble thing and they decided to dispense with it?!) As for the station surviving without a scratch, no doubt, it's just that good!
Scott Vogt: Don't you think the creators missed the boat on T'Rul? Martha Hackett does a good job as Seska, but don't you think having a recurring Romulan character would have been great for DS9? She had the perfect reason for being there, the cloak on the Defiant.
Phil: Yes, I do! And even if the creators missed the boat, they could have at least bought a ticket for T'Rul. Didn't she just disappear?! Or, is that what happens to old Romulan engineers? They don't die, they get cloaked!
Patrick Sweeney of Torrington, CT: I noticed in the DS9 edpisodes "Past Tense (1&2)" that Dax, Sisko and Bashir are all speaking very good English to 21st century humans in San Fransicso. Does this mean that Federation Standard is English? If not, do Sisko and Bashir suddenly start remembering the "ancient native tounge" of this part of Earth? They are with out com badges, which I understand are essential to the universal translator. And Bashir is European . . . he knows English? I find it hard to believe these two know which parts of FS that are from alien languages, and not use them by mistake. And what about Dax? How does she survive without her combadge for those few minutes where she has lost it (the badge)? Any ideas?
Phil: Language and the difficulties of aliens speaking different languages has been the source of profound confusion on Trek for many, many years. The only really complete answer is to say that somehow, every race eventually evolves to the place where they speak and understand English! ;-)
Have a great weekend, everybody!
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Copyright 1997 by Phil Farrand. All rights reserved.