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I apologize but I'm in a rush this morning as well (just like I was last week) so this is going to go quick! First, some comments from previous columns . . .
Vincent Morrone: What I would LOVE to see is: Captain Riker, First Officer Worf, Science Officer Dax. But I doubt that will happen Dax did sign for season 7 I believe but she was the last and I out she would commit to a new show. And Jonnathan frakes signed to do the new trek movie with a deal that gives him first crack at other non trek movies. Same with Patrick stewart but as in acting in not directing.
If you look at TOS it was the type of show that everyweek was a totally seperate story like the twilight zone almost. We always talk about it by saying, Do you remember the one with the plnet killer or the one with Spock go home to mate. TNG started out this way and was for the most part but they started to get into the recurring story lines like with all that klingon stuff( Sins of the Father, Redemtion, ect). DS9 started like that but because they're on the station they had problems getting a lot of good ones. But now the show is more like a serial and it is so much better. Voyager is sort of stuck. they seem to have problems doing the Individual episodes like TOS but they cant be a serial becase the are supposed to be on they way home. Remember how it was so lame that they kept runing into the Kazon.
My point is that if the new show is supposed to be just a ship within the Federation, and we follow their adventure then we can get the best of both worlds (don't say it!) The should keep the main cast small, so they can have a lot of parts to give to recurring characters like they do on DS9 like Garak and Nog. They could have that for the pilot or assitants in some departments or admirals or an ambassador or a ships counselor. Parts thats dont have to be that big at first then we can see how we respond to them.
Patrick T MacBlain: I believe that there is a basic conflict in making a new trek show. There is a need to grow and show us new aspects of the trek universe. The problem is that people have this image of trek being about the crew of a starship. The solution that I am offering is, have the show about a couple of Ships. If we go with computer generated imagines we can do an entire fleet. If we go with the traditional models (which I prefer) than maybe two of three ships. Perhaps the half of the ships can be Klings and half Feds. Maybe throw Roms into the mix. It may be tough juggling all the characters but I think it could be done.
Here are a few loose points that I would like the show to have. The head person should not be human. There should be a character of mixed races who is no part human (Vulcan and Klingon would be neat). Instead of a Show about other races becoming more like humans (Worf, Spock, Data, Quark and so on) I would like to see humans being influenced by other races.
Jason Barnes: You know, everyone is talking about a new series or nw character. Did you know that the novels have already created one? It's a book series called "The New Frontier" and one of the main character is Robin Lefler! I haven't had a chance to buy or read them but they look pretty interesting.
Phil: NGTH (Not Going To Happen). The stuff from the novels is not going to flow back to the television series from what I understand. It's called turf wars!
Mike Cheyne: Adding on to Joshua Truax's list of Bond films, in the 50s on CBS' "Climax" show, they showed a TV film based on "Casino Royale". It starred Barry Nelson as an American (!) Bond. Bond's trusty sidekick, Felix became CLARENCE LEITER--British agent. Peter Lorre was the baddie, Linda Christian as the girl. It did nothing at the time and was forgetten. Still, it's there.
Elie Greenwald: Well, here's one more request. MAKE A BOND GUIDE! ;) Remember, you didn't hear it here first!
Phil: Seventeen down . . .
Lee Thalbourne: I have at least 50 people in my neiborhood that are super-Bond fans. (I have to admit, I've only watched bits and pieces of each of the movies, but it looks pretty good...) So you've knocked of 10 more people of the countdown
Phil: Twenty-seven down . . .
Vincent Morrone: I will but the bond guide and I will buy one 4 my brother in law who loves bond so thats 2 more!!!
Phil: Twenty-nine down . . .
Big Bill: Seventeen down, and by the way it was David Niven, not Peter Sellers, in Casino Royale. There is another little known non-canonical Bond movie. I don't know the title, but it was a made-for-TV american effort, and our James was referred to as 'Jimmy'throughout. Don't have that ring, do it?
Phil: Thirty down, 19,970 to go!
Joe McLaughlin Jr.: I found a nit in this week's Voyager episode 81 "Message in a Bottle". It concerns the topic of the battles at warp. In the episode, one of the ships fires on a federation ship (Presumably the Prometheus) while at warp. The catch is that the ship uses phasers at warp and fires it at the ship in front of it. This should not work seeing that phasers only work at the speed of light and both ships are at warp. The ship that fires it should be hit by its own phaser blast because it's moving faster than the phaser beam, but in the episode, he fires it and it hits the ship infront of it.
Ed Kushnerick: Ok, here's what I remember from the B5 storyline and from digging around the B5 websites. The triluminary that Delenn used was the same one used by Valen, BUT it came from the Great Machine (the one on the planet with the blatantly obvious Krell-shaped doors >:) ). So the machine created it. Now the Great Machine has been there at least since the last Shadow War, possibly longer, and it was the one responsible for sending B4 back in time. So, it makes the triluminary (don't know exactally when, but could be before the last Shadow War), sends it back on B4, Valen uses it, the Minbari keep it for the next zillion years, then Delenn uses it.. so no real paradox
Phil: Thanks to Dave Andrews for sending this information along as well.
Brian Lombard: I wouldn't expect anyone outside of the Washington- Baltimore area to know this, but one of our local radio stations made reference to Picard in a song. The song was called "Rogaine", and was a parody of Eric Clapton's "Cocaine". The line went:
You're in the Hair Club For Men,
Captain Picard got you in...
Rogaine!
Corey Hines, Hamilton, ON: Some blooper clips of TNG's first season were shown on the show Reading Rainbow obviously because LeVar Burton was on both shows.
Corey Hines, Hamilton, ON: There was an episode of the Simpsons where Homer and Bart, in the future go to a movie. At the concession stand a customer asks, "One Soylent Green, hold the butter." at which Homer says "Mmmmmmm, Soylent Green."
Phil: Thanks to Dave Craig, JC Fernandez, Eddie Marshall and Matthew Patterson for sending this information along as well.
[From Someone Identified Only As Anomaly]: You said that "Waltz" was probably the first new episode since "Statistical Probabilities." "The Magnificent Ferengi" aired between these two, although it's easy to see why it has become a repressed memory.
Phil: Oops, sorry, oops! Thanks to Dan Wiese for sending this information along as well.
Meg Lahey: [Who's learned all this stuff about how syndication works thanks in part to the fact that TNG and Voyager have *never* run where she currently lives (due in no small part, IMHO, to TCI Cable shenanigans in this area) and I wanted to know why things were they way they were :-(. ]
You may not wish to post this since I get a bit rant-y here {a couple of buttons got pushed :-( })
[Concerning the airing of "Rocks and Shoals" instead of "Waltz,"] Oh @##%^&&%$#!!!!!! the screwed it up AGAIN!!!!! (I live in this market but hadn't check the tape till I read this :-(. )
YES! 'Waltz' was suppose to show last week (after 'The Magnificent Ferengi'). 'Rocks & Shoals should have aired THIS weekend :-(.
Actually, I haven't been watching DS9 this year due to the fact that the first time they were suppose to show 'Rocks & Shoals,' they showed 'Son's and Daughters' instead. However, like a good girl I try to be (>;-D), I've been taping (though not re- watching that well :-/) and didn't know they'd messed up YET again :-(.
KAKE TV has managed to screw up showing DS9 EVERY SINGLE YEAR since it's been on (starting with showing 'The Storyteller' and 'Battlelines' out of order during Season 1), and have managed to mess up airings *4* times this year alone!!! I'm starting to get very fed up with them, though I don't complain since at least I can watch DS9 since KAKE (via KUPK the local sister station) since they are on VHF and not UHF like the Voyager station :-(. [And they show strip weekly repeats at 12:05 AM weekdays to boot!]
This said, whether KAKE will go ahead and fix their mistake is a question. Half of the time in the past they haven't and I've usually have to wait for the summer repeats to get the missing episode(s) (that is if they don't screw up during the second showing also again {such as this last week}) :-(. However, some times they do correct stuff ('R&S' was simply flipped with 'S&D' and a few years ago when they completely messed up showing 'Return to Grace' during the Feb sweeps{they forgot to air it, instead showing 'Hippocratic Oath' two weeks running}, they did go ahead and show it in March), so it's VERY possible that they will do the same here, particularly since it is January (not sweeps) and 'Waltz' will still be showing first run in a few places this weekend anyway. [FYI, KAKE shows their episodes the last day of the first week of the DS9 syndication run (a syndication runs vary show to show and in DS9's case the run is a two weeks blocks)].
So please tell Shirley to keep watching, since they may just up and show 'Waltz' this weekend or next :-/.
[Addendum, sent 1/18/98]: Just thought I'd let you know that they *did* go ahead and play 'Waltz' tonight (just ran into the other room an checked :-).
Walter Czarniecki: I must also alert you to some bad news. This might be the last week that you receive any Voyager nits from me or anyone else in the Pittsburgh or Western Pennsylvania areas. You see, on Thursday, our local UPN affiliate is switching to WB, leaving us with no outlet for Voyager. The word is that negotiations are ongoing with a small station in the area to take over as a UPN affiliate, but that might take at least until the end of this season. I'm working on a plan to have my sister in Orlando, FL tape episodes for me, so I hope that I'll eventually be able to see the rest of this season. This is just to let you know that we nitpickers in Western PA will still be around, but we won't have any Voyager to nitpick. (DS9 will still be on, though. They're smart enough not to touch that show.) You might also lose a few nitpickers in Baltimore and Oklahoma City, also. Those cities are doing the same thing. The UPN affiliates in these three cities as well as two others which I can't remember are owned by one company - Sinclair Broadcasting. Apparently WB came up with enough money to make them switch.
Meg Lahey: Voyager's on KSAS Channel 24 in Wichita, with first airings on Fridays at 9:30PM and a repeat on either Saturday or Sunday (not sure of the time). I believe Sterling is around Hutchinson, which is NW of Wichita, so if she doesn't have cable she's most likely out of luck getting it since KSAS and it's repeaters are low power UHF (and if you live in SW Kansas {where I'm at} and are not on TCI {or whoever's in the middle of buying the systems they own around these parts} you don't get it at all :-(. The repeater in Garden City ONLY seems to work for their cable subscribers and I happen to live 50 miles south of there {and am on another cable system to boot} :-( ).
Phil: I included the following just to give you a flavor of what it's like to be a Trek fan in a country other than the US or Canada!
Richard Stier of New Zealand: Star Trek The Next Generation first screened on New Zealand Television in 1989 when TVNZ bought the rights to the first series. This is a common occurrence in N.Z. where the TV stations will buy the first few episodes of a new programme in order to determine if there is an audience for it. After the series screened TVNZ attempted to buy the rights to all future episodes of TNG only to discover that the new TV3 network had bought exclusive rights to all Star Trek series. In 1992 TV3 began screening Star Trek The Next Generation beginning with the second series. TV3 then ran the series through the second, third, fourth, fifth and two thirds of the sixth series on consecutive Friday nights at 7-30 pm -the last episode being Starship Mine which screened in November 1994.
After the summer break TV3 resumed where it had left off screening all the remaining episodes again at 7-30 Friday night during 1995. TV3 also screened the first few episodes of Deep Space Nine during 1995 DS9 playing at 7-30 Tuesday night. DS9, unlike in America, has not proved popular on N.Z. television and so, after very few episodes, it was canned. In 1996 TV3 started screening re-runs of the Classic series at noon on Saturday with Deep Space Nine screening straight afterwards. When they reached the end of the second series Deep Space Nine was taken off the air until July this year when it returned on TV3's subsidiary channel TV4. Also at this time TV4 began screening re-runs of Classic Star Trek - the most recent episode being Patterns Of Force. These episodes are being broadcast in original airdate order and I am keeping a record of each episode as it airs.
Also in 1996 TV3 started screening Star Trek Voyager but, due mainly to bad scheduling, this series was also a failure (it screened at 9-30 Wednesday night against popular movies). Voyager, too, was canned but now screens on TV4. At present Voyager screens at 8-30 Tuesday night with the most recent episode screened being Investigations. Deep Space Nine was being screened on TV4 at 9.30 Thursday night but with the end of the third series it was taken off the air. Until last week Voyager screened immediately before DS9 on Thursday also.
On Christmas day TV4 screened the Classic episode The Cage - only the second time this episode has screened in New Zealand - the first being part of a special (twentieth anniversary special I think).
This is just a quick summery of how we in N.Z. get to see Star Trek. Incidentally, on Boxing day the movie Star Trek V The Final Frontier screened - the only Star Trek movie to screen during 1997. At the beginning of January TV3 screened Star Trek VI The Undiscovered Country so hopefully we will get to see more movies this year.
[From Someone Identified Only As Petez]: Cincinnati is now a Star Trek wasteland! Last year, our Fox affiliate canceled DS9. Now our UPN station has converted to the WB network, so Voyager is gone, too! This reverts us back to our pre-1987 condition of having no new ST. Is the franchise slipping like this in other markets, too?
Jonathan Klein: To find out if there is a viewing station near you, go to www.tvguide.com They will ask you your zip code, and you can get a complete listing of all programs in the area. Also, if you have Internet Explorer (or in the near future, Netscape Naviagator will also work) you can go to www.startrek.com and access the part of the sight called viewing stations.
Rhiannon Battles of Cushing, Oklahoma: I was so upset last night to turn on my TV to watch Voyager, only to find "Sister, Sister" on in it's place! My local UPN television station is now the WB network - and there is no Voyager in sight! There is no other UPN network in my area of Oklahoma. I read the summary of last night's Voyager (and although I have been somewhat disappointed witht he quality of the shows lately) I am furious that I had to miss it. I emailed the station with my complaint, and I am trying to gather other local Star Trek fans to do the same. I just wanted you to be aware of this injustice to Star Trek fans all over Oklahoma.
PS - Thank the Prophets I still have DS9 (knock on wood!)
Phil: SPOILERS AHEAD! If you don't want to know this stuff skip to the next section! By the way, I will include information from PUBLISHED interviews with the principles involved with the project but that's it. No rumors. No "what I'd like to see is . . ." ;-)
Heather B. Smith: In visiting the Internet Movie Database, I found a listing for the next Trek Movie. The specific link is http://us.imdb.com/M/title-exact?Star+Trek+IX+(1998). The only information showing there so far is the release date (Nov 20/98), several working titles, Frakes directing, and Stewart, Frakes and Spiner the only cast so far. But IMDB updates frequently so keep your eye on that site. That site also links to other 'official'(?) sites that discuss the film and have comments and interviews with the writers.
Vincent Morrone: As far as the new movie is concerned everyone including Worf is back. Jonathan frakes is directing and Michael Piller is writing it and Rick Berman is Producing With Patrick Stewart.
Shane Cathcart: I am also skeptical about rumors I hear on the Internet, however, Micheal Piller gave an interview in Cinescape last month in which he revealed the following about his script for Star Trek 9 (no title yet).
It will feature all of the crew (including Worf), with two male and one female lead villans (yet to be cast).
(Be warned this is only in the current draft of the script): Data will begin displaying odd behaviour, which we will find the outcome of during the movie. A planet of aliens with a population of 600 is dying and Captain Picard must make a choice that will go against Starfleet orders, which will cause the Federation and another alien race called the S'Ona to retaliate.
During the cause of this, Picard forces Riker to become Captain (of either the Enterprise or another ship). Riker will also have a romance and will make a major defensive maneuver against an attacking force.
There is currently a mention of Dax in the script. Q is not in the story. Jonathan Frakes is directing. Filming starts in March. That's all I can really tell you. You will just have to wait until November.
Clay: I always assumed that Data didn't need a "power source" because he has chemical nutrients and some biological components as stated in "The Naked Now". I thought those are what kept him going. He also said he ingests a "something" (can't remember) kind of liquid that lubricates his biofunctions. You can't have biofunctions without biological parts.
Phil: It's true Data has some biological parts but he also has a lot of hardware and it does seem like he would need a traditional power source of some kind.
Patrick Sweeney: The only reason the Doctor on Voyager is downloadable now is cause that guy from 1996 made him that way when he put doctor into the portable projector from the 29th century. It is was just on my page-a-day calender yesterday! Hello Paul Lalli.
Brian Straight: Regarding the warp-scale question. Since voyager is a smaller ship, it's likely a different warp-scale exsits for it. Voyager is like a 3-Cylinder Geo, while the Enterprise is a V-8. Obviously the Enterprise has a larger engine, so it can go faster than Voyager. (Note from Phil: Ummmm . . . I don't think so! The warp scale is the warp scale and it's the same across the board as far as I know!)
Regarding the sun in FC question. I belive the color the sun looks to us here on the earth depends alot on the angle of the light, amount of dust in the atmosphere, and other things that can obscure, bend, and refract beams of light to make them appear differently colored. Or it could be a nit.
Regarding the Holodoc question. They didn't have the portibale device in the 2nd season They aquired that from the 29th Century Timeship in "Future's End: Part 2"
Regarding Data's power cell. I think Data has said before that he does take in food, although he can't taste it. It's possible that Data's body can turn the food he takes in and turns it into energy, much like how our body works.
Jim Elek of Sterling Heights, MI: In asking his 3rd question about the Holodoc and "Eye of the Needle", Joe answers his question. He noted that the episode is from the first season. In the first season, the doc could only exist in sick bay and the holo deck. B'lanna tried to set up holo emitters in engineering, but it turned the Doc into the Incredible Shrinking Hologram. Since then, they acquired the portable holo emitter in the two-part episode "Future's End" in the 3rd season. This portable emitter is acutally stolen 29th Century technology. So, if they encounter any more microscopic worm holes, then the Doc can tag along.
His 4th question about Data's power supply is a good one and I believe you are correct in pointing out that this has never been mentioned in the series. However, I do have a theory. Perhaps Data is like a car in that he has a battery (or more likely capacitors) and an alternator. So, when we walks or performs some other kind of physical activity, it runs the alternator and charges the battery. The question then is does he have to change his battery every 100,000 miles or what? The answer is probably not with a few well placed superconductors. So, if he's feeling run down, then all he needs to do is go for a walk!
Jason Barnes: In the Ask the Chief Column last week, Dan Wiese asked about the end of First Contact where Data ruptured a coolant tank. He asked if a coolant leak was what caused a warp core breach. He is right. In Generations, LaForge screams "Coolant leak! We've have a coolant leak!" He then says they are five minutes from a warp core breach. So coolant leaking from the core is part of a breach.
I'm not sure how Enterprise E's warp core is structured, but Picard specifically says "plasma coolant tank." It would seem that these tanks are seperate from the main core. Perhaps it is a storage tank that has an automatic cut off? And there are two of them, one on either side of the core so maybe that is what saved the ship. [shrugs] Without fact, it's all speculation. What do you think?
On to the questions . . .
Scott Newton of New Brunswick, NJ: I read (in a fairly UNreliable local newspaper) that Jeri Taylor is leaving Voyager and Brannon Braga will be taking over as co-executive producer, starting next season. Have you heard anything about this? (Are you at liberty to say?)
Phil: It's not a matter of me not being at liberty to say, I assure you! I'm an outsider--way outside! But I have heard that Braga is being groomed to take over for Taylor. I leave it for you to decide if you think that's a good thing.
Dan Wiese, El Cajon: On my copy of ST:1 it say's "12 minutes of extra fotage" Do you by any chance know which 12 minutes these are?
Phil: Don't know for sure but I think it was a lot of very sl-o-o-o-ow ship shots!
Vincent Morrone: Hey Phil, 2 more guide ideas. One for genre films like the superman and alien movies and one for cop movies like Leathal weapon! what do you think? I know 1 down 900,900 to go right?
Phil: I'll put it on the list. Speaking of the short list of potential new Nitpicker's Guides: (LISTEN UP, THIS IS IMPORTANT! ;-) Just how big is the Star Wars Universe. I know we've got three movies. And what else? A bunch of novels, right? And comics? And radio plays? Anybody know if Lucas considers all that stuff to be part of the same universe and all canonical. Because, if it is . . . .
Chris Marks: [Concerning the new Dax,] Am I the only one who thinks that bringing in a new major cast member for one year is a bad idea? Unless, TPTB decide to put the new host on the next star trek series. If the new host is too much like Jadzia then it'll look unbelievable, But if they go the other way, and have a completely new personality, there's no time for character development. I would suggest that they just promote Dax at the end of the year, and send her off into the Gamma quadrant as commander of a science vessel.
Ps I'd buy a Bond guide too.
Phil: There's going to be a new Dax?! I thought she signed for a seventh season. (I am so behind on this stuff! ;-) Oh and that's thirty-one down and 19,969 to go!
Robert Donahou: I have a few questions concerning ship design. 1. While watching the DS9 episode "By Infernos Light" when the task force of UFP ships arrivesome of them are Miranda class (ex. Reliant ST:II) does it seem a little odd that starfleet is still using miranda class vessals, they were used during TOS and they are not as sophisticated as a Constitution class. 2. What classification is Voyager?
Phil: It is not inconceivable that the Miranda class might still be in use. I know that I've snickered about this kind of thing in previous Guide but I've had some Navy guys point out that ship designs can last for eighty and ninety years! As far as Voyager's class goes, I was going to look that up this week and I forgot. I have no doubt that someone out there knows! (Is it Intrepid?)
Melanie Koleini and Derek Moffitt: Just how bad are Voyager's ratings anyway? Our local station decided to preempt "Waking Moments" and air an old TNG episode instead, and it looks like they may start doing this sort of thing on a regular basis now. AARGH! (Anyway, that's why we're not sending any nits on it.)
Phil: See above under "In Search of Voyager." It is a very bad sign when stations can get better rating with an episode from a series that was cancelled years ago instead of showing a new episode from a new series.
Laurel Iverson, New London, MN: I enjoyed watching this week's Voyager episode, "Message in a Bottle", however, I couldn't help noticing the obviousness of Roxann Biggs-Dawson's pregnancy. It seems to me that if someone didn't already know that she was pregnant, they'd be thinking "Hey, is she pregnant?!" Anyway, it is my understanding that some eps. of Next Gen were filmed around a pregnancy of Gates McFadden's. If so, can you tell me what episodes they were? It would be kind of interesting to be able to point out scenes where she was filmed behind a counter or in a particularly billowy lab coat.
Phil: I don't believe Gate MacFadden was ever pregnant during her time on NextGen (or maybe I'm just blank on the subject.) Of course, Nana Visitor was last year but the creators just worked it into the storyline. The other hidden pregnancy that comes to mind is Gillian Anderson's during the second season of X-Files. The creators hid that with camera angles and a trench coat although there is one clear, clear shot of her at the end of the Flukeman episode "The Host."
Have a great weekend, everybody!
If you would like to submit a question or comment, send it to: chief@nitcentral.com with "Question" in the Subject line. (Remember the legalese: Everything you submit becomes mine and you grant me the right to use your name in any future publication by me.)
Copyright 1998 by Phil Farrand. All rights reserved.