(Also available from Starland mirror site)
First, some comments from previous columns . . .
Vince Hamilton of Fresno, CA: I noticed that last week there weren't any ideas for a new trek series, so I thought that I'd bring the subject back up. I too have an idea for a new trek series! A few weeks ago I noticed someone mention an idea for a new series with Riker as captain and a few other characters from DS9 and TNG (of course this series should take place after DS9 ends). I thought that this idea should go one step further. To make this feel more like "Star Trek" I think that he should command the Enterprise. Not the E, but the A or the B. I was thinking that in the pilot, the A or B travels into the 24th century. The E-E goes to check it out and finds MOST of the crew dead (including the captain). At the end of the pilot the old Enterprise gets upgraded with the current technology. Also, Riker could become captain of the ship and his crew could consist of familiar faces. To get a few new faces, they could have some the original 23rd century crew stay on board. I personally think that it would be a better idea if the E-B came into the future because we have seen Excelsior class starships up and running in the 24th century, but I don't ever recall seeing a Constitution class ship (although I could be wrong). This type of series would also be great for occasional guest apperances from TNG & DS9 characters who are not regulars. One final comment, if Paramount has some old set left over from previous Trek movies, this would be a great time to use 'em! Maybe it's a stupid idea, but I for one, would love to see some of the TNG characters back in action!
Phil: The problem with getting the TNG characters back in action is . . . MONEY! ;-)
Mike Wyzard: The novels are in an entirely different canon ("universe") than the movies. The novels are loaded with Cold War topical references and probably constitute a fairly consistent canon but are very different in style and tone than the movies. The closest the movies came to the novels are "From Russia With Love" and "On Her Majesty's Secret Service," imho. And John Gardener was indeed picked by the Fleming estate to write more books so the character would live on.
As for the movies, the non-United Artists productions would be out. "Casino Royale" is a spoof and "Never Say Never Again" is basically "Thunderball" remade. But within the UA productions, one would have a tough time keeping continuity, as they have some topical references, as well. So unless Phil wanted to keep beating us over the head with "Bond is now obviously in the 1990s, does that mean he was a teenager during 1962's 'Dr. No'?" lines, that part of the series would have to be forgiven.
Also, it was David Niven that Fleming "got his wish" with in the movie "Casino Royale," though Peter Sellars was also in that movie as James Bond (but so was Woody Allen).
and yes, I'd buy a Bond nitpicking guide, too!
Phil: Let's see . . . I think that makes forty-four.
Craig Mason: Another vote for the BOnd nitpicker's guide here.
Joel Croteau: I would buy a bond guide.
Phil: Forty-Six down, 19,954 to go!
From Someone Identified only as Anomaly]: The tachyon comments make me think that they might have been used by Captain Nemo's timeship!
Robert Donahou: I have a theroy about your War at Warp.The use of phasers at warp speeds, in my opinion,is justified. The reason the disageers say it is imposible to use phasers at warp is that the ship will travel faster than the beam. The solution of this is simple physics. Ex. When you are driving a convertible and you stand up and shoot a water gun the water will come backwards and splatter you, but if you sit down and shoot the water will go forward even though the car is traveling at a much faster rate. What is the difference its the wind so if you took you"re convertible and shot the watergun inspace the water would go forward. Ergo a phaserbeam would not become useless the beam would actually gofaster than the ship.
Phil: Except . . . the creators themselves have said that phasers are pretty useless at warp! See the Technical Manual.
Shirley Kolb: I just wanted to mention that I agree with some of what's been said about UPN. Their first season, they had a show called "Legend" with Richard Dean Anderson & John DeLancie. It was something like "The Wild, Wild West" which I enjoyed when I was a kid. But they didn't give it a chance to gain an audience. They made 11 or 13 episodes & then just cancelled it. The episodes were fun & interesting & I think if they promoted it, it could have done great. I was frustrated that they never gave it a chance. Richard Dean Anderson mentioned it favorably in an interview in the TV Guide about his new series SG-1. He talked about believing in & enjoying being in the show. Since then they've just had one junky show after another for the most part. Voyager just doesn't have a strong enough following to carry the network.
Andrew Corcoran: I am glad you see sense in the Olympics this year. BBC2 has lost Voyager for the time being (we're halfway through the third season), probably because it was getting too expensive to run, and has replaced it with the sport.
No complaints from me! I love to watch the Olympic games, winter or summer, and I can't believe that UPN would run such a degrading trailer as "No, no to Nagano." I agree that these games honor the best sportsmen and women in the world and show them at their best, competing for gold. And if it means losing Star Trek for a couple of weeks, then so be it!
"That's my mind for you on that, my man" (Captain Smollet, Treasure Island)
Trevor Ruppe: Okay, this might be a bit long, but bear with me. It has to do with the blown Sensor Array/Network in VOY and the latest episode of DS9, all tied up together to ask a single question. First of all, I thought "Far Beyond the Stars" was great and would've been even better without all the "hallucinations/flashbacks"--i.e. they should've had the guts to do a straight, 1950s episode about Benny the writer without having him hallucinate about Sisko (and vice versa). And Avery Brooks impressed me with Benny's breakdown scene--I used to think he and Alexander Siddig were the two worst actors on the show. (Quark and Odo are still the best.)
HOWEVER: Shows like this, in which the cast get to play wildly different characters, usually come near the end of a show's run. Instead of thinking of something new for the *characters* to do, they think of something new for the *actors* to do instead. In other words, DS9 could be on its last legs, and this could be a sign. (Next week, the only thing they've been able to come up with is a rip-off of "Fantastic Voyage")
ALSO: VOYAGER has been given the groundwork for coming home (the coded message from Starfleet). My question is, I grant you, one that has been asked before, but I'm asking it again because it seems more likely now. I'd like to know what the Guild Members think about the possibility of DS9 being cancelled and VOYAGER being brought back to the Alpha Quadrant for the rest of its run. Yes, there are some characters on Voyager who get on my nerves (because their actors can't act that well), but they could always retire from Starfleet upon returning home, and in fact *most* of the ship's roster could be re-assigned. Would Chakotay, for example, stay in Starfleet now that the Maquis is gone? There are so many neat things that VOYAGER could do if they'd just bring the ship home. And it's cheaper, too--much cheaper than doing a new all-Klingon show, or a new present-day Academy show, or a Kirk-as-a-kid Academy show. Is anyone else in favor of this, or am I all alone here in saying cancel DS9 and bring VOYAGER home?
Phil: Personally, it really doesn't matter to me one way or another but I'm happy to include the opinions of others in the next column!
James D. Meader: Concerning the "In Search of Voyager" thread... you do not need to be at the mercy of your local stations or cable company, but the solution involves some bucks. The answer is a satellite dish. I'm not talking about those silly 18" DSS things you get at Walmart, but a real honest-to-goodness 6-or-8 foot C-band dish. I put about $1400 into one a couple of years ago, but you can do one that would be perfectly adequate for well under a thousand. Best of all, there is an incredible amount of programming that is absolutely FREE. That includes, of course, Voyager and DS9, affiliate feeds directly from Paramount. Many, many other "wild feeds" of network shows, other network feeds, news feeds, just an amazing amount of stuff. The quality of the signal (if you do a good job putting the thing up) is absolutely stunning. I make beautiful tapes of the Trek shows, X-Files, etc, that are as good or better than VHS videos from the store. If you have a place where you could physically put one (back yard) and can make the investment, you might want to give it some thought. Search around the web or usenet for more info.
Angela Wilson-McGrath of Cheyenne, WY: I'm screaming in frustration, can you hear me? UPN is not available in all markets and is barely happening in the major markets. So, comparing ratings to the other networks is like comparing the productivity of a fully employed person to someone who works part time. It is superficial and the sign of poor business sense to make decisions based on comparisons of the aged, the mature, and the "Baby network". They will find their niche as long as they are not as quick to jump out as some of you. By the way, I seem to remember a lot of similar talk about a little network a few years ago, called FOX. As for ST:VOY being just riddled with other Trek rip-offs, here's a callenge, you name an episode and its alleged source and I'll give you a NextGen episode and its source. Your finding fault that has been there in others. ST:VOY is not perfect, but it's much better than the first season or two of NextGen, sorry, but it's true. The thing is that Voyager has potential. It has just begun and is capable of much. But you know what happens when the fans back off, the Suits get antsy, then the producers get panicky and the shows are aimed at ratings rather than being entirely Trek. So, if you want Trek, support Voyager until Paramount gets its act together. In addition to the ratings disparity mentioned above, I'd also like to point out that much of the country gets ST:VOY on independent stations. Believe me, this is hard. They move it around, pre-empt it, no waring, no rhyme or reason. It is a testament to Voyager that it has such a dedicated audience.
Phil: Take a deep breath, Angela! ;-) Everything is going to be okay. The problem is that rating *are* all that matters when it comes to television and the ratings are normalized for the fact that UPN in no in all the markets. And the ratings ain't good. I'm afraid that advertisers don't respond well to "Yeah, I know we can't deliver the numbers but you should pay us anyway because it's a show with a lot of potential and eventually a whole lot of people are going to watch!" And it's not that Voyager has never had the rating. The premiere episode did very well. Easily well enough to justify the series. Since, it's been sliding (although I'm sure Seven punched up the ratings a bit).
As for the first two seasons of TNG being weak. I will grant you that they weren't that strong (although, they did have some winners like "Q Who." Unfortunately, Voyager is in it's *fourth* season already and they *still* don't seem to have hit their stride! (Remember the third season of TNG? Lots-o-good-stuff!) And, when TNG was the only kid on the block, it could afford to bumble along for a while until the creators figured it out. The market is too crowded to do that now. A new sci-fi show has to hit the ground running if it is going to stand *any* chance of succeeding.
As far as I'm personally concerned, Voyager is okay but it's only okay and honestly the only reason I still watch it is because it's Trek. On the other hand, I don't feel that fans should feel constrained to watch a show they don't enjoy. The creative folks at Paramount (at least the writers) have been amply rewarded for their involvement with the show (and some of them have shown a fair amount of disdain for the fans). There's nothing in the Book of Television that say every Trek series has to succeed or that every Trek series has to be great.
Oh and, I know FOX (a little), I've watched FOX (sometimes) but . . . UPN is no FOX! For one thing, there were a whole lot more independant stations available from which to build a network when FOX made the bold leap to attempt to become the fourth network.
Scott McClenney: By the way I saw the alt.games on UPN pretty tedious stuff(yawn!)also the only UPN shows I watch are Voyager and The Sentinel(the only two good shows they have) all the rest that I watch on our local UPN station such as Sinbad,Soldier of Fortune,Inc. and Nightman are syndicated.
Craig Mason: Murray Leeder asked if the extended version of Aleins was still avaialable on VHS. To the best of y knowledge it never was released on VHS with extra footage, only on Laser Disc. However, Cameron's The Abyss was released with extra footage on VHS just this past year.
I too wish the Aliens extended version would be released on VHS, since I have no laser disc player.
Vicki Strzembosz: I vote against a Bond Guide. I am anxiously looking forward to the Voyager Guide. I also think you should write a Voyager novel, making Samantha and Naomi pertainent characters and have the timing be somewhere between the last 2 times she appeared. The baby's last appearance prior to the bedtime story situation was the episode when she had a fever on the planet with the aborigines. There was a reference to her in the episode with the macroviruses--Janeway and/or Neelix enter Samantha's quarters and there are toys on the floor. If you ever decide to do it I'd like to share some ideas with you. I have no talent for writing, but I've got some ideas about Holodeck scenes with kids(I'm a pediatrician)
Phil: I could write one but I doubt Pocket would print it! Tried that novel thing too with them!
Craig Mason: And a vote for The Highlander guide as well.
I'll second the B5 guide as well.
Your idea for an MST3K type guide sounds great.
Andrew Corcoran: A next nitpickers guide? Since it is 10 years old this year (on BBC2), how about a Guide for Red Dwarfers? Or isn't that show big over in America?
Phil; Red Drawf doesn't have the ratings here in the States to support a Guide but from what I understand it's a funny show!
Joe Griffin: If y'all say Roddenberry wrote the novelization of ST:TMP, I believe you. I coulda swore it was Foster but I haven't looked at my copy of the book for awhile. (With that and the Soylent Green goof, perhaps I should stop posting from work where I can't check my facts!)
Desmond L. Warzel of Cranberry, PA: Alan Dean Foster was mentioned in this week's column. He does seem to be the king when it comes to writing science fiction and fantasy novelizations; Clash of the Titans and The Dig (based on the CD-ROM) are two that sit on my shelf as we speak. However, even though Gene Roddenberry's name might be on the spine for the novelization of ST:TMP, there is precedent for it to have been written by Foster anyway. The original "novelization" of Star Wars (not really a novelization but actually written at the same time as the script and released in 1976) says "George Lucas" on the cover but was actually written by Alan Dean Foster writing under the pen name George Lucas! Note the continuity-nightmare of a sequel, Splinter of the Mind's Eye, written under Foster's own name. My point is, God Bless Gene Roddenberry, but I find it hard to believe he wrote the novel. Since ST:TMP was based at least partly on an idea from Foster. It seems logical thart Foster could have written this novel under a Roddenberry pen name. Just a thought.
Andrew Corcoran: Um.... I think I've seen it!
When checking my video of "Trials and Tribble-ations" I decided to pause it and slow-mo etc. I did this a few times, and then thought of what you said, so I waited until the comet had passed and advanced exactly 13 frames. At first there was definitely something there, so I went back again and again, looking for self-proof.
Unfortunately now what I can see is three faces together (all with pointed ears, I think) and a dog-shape with a pole sticking up from its back. Oh well....
It's like trying to find shapes in clouds! It goes by fast, though, doesn't it?
Thank you for your help anyway - I know EXACTLY where it is, now!
Phil: Happy to be of service!
Adam Howarter: Saw this a few years ago so don't hold me to it. But IIRC "The Sith" was/is the monk like order that took in Darth Vader after he had fallen into a lava pit (while fighting Ben) and rebuilt him and trained him to be...Darth Vader. Again IIRC they're seen in episode III "Fall Of The Republic."
Craig Mason: I too agree that it is strange that Vader was beneath Tarkin and yet in later films more powerful than the Gramd Moffs. It is ovbvious to me that Lucas switched gears between ANH and TESB. For one thing, it is never mentioned in ANH that the Emperor was a Jedi or used the Force. At the begining of the novelization of ANH, there is an open letter written by Princess Leia. This letter mentions Senator Palpatine becoming Emperor, but by more "normal" political activities. The letter does not mention the Force at all, or Palpatine's powers. Surely had Palpatine's powers existed, it would be widely known, in order taht his subject's feared him.
Scott McClenney: Concerning Darth Vader's title: According to the comic book series the title of Dark Lord of the Sith was held by the Dark Jedis who ruled over the Siths who were a race of Dark Side soccerers. The title was passed from generation to generation and presumably from father to son. In the Dark Empire series Luke is seduced(for a time) by the Dark Side and becomes the new Dark Lord of the Sith.
Murray Leeder: Mulder's mother (we know now, thanks to "Kitsunegari") is Teena. Yes, that's the correct spelling, not "Tina" (or so people with close-captioning on the newsgroups say).
Leeann C Walker: My friend that printed out my question from your Q & A column gave me your response today.
And my question was what MULDER'S mother's name was (as found at the end of this season's "Pusher"). You told me what Scully's mom's name was - but oh well... am I just nitpicking? :-)
Phil: Sorry, sorry, was in a hurry last week. (Actually, I'm in a hurry this week as well!)
Scott Neugroschl: Alexander Shearer's comment about Avery Brooks as the heavy in "The Big Hit". I'm afraid it's much more likely that they remember him as Hawk from Spencer for Hire.
Phil: Ee-yup!
Alexander Shearer: Another weird announcement for fans (I heard this on Public Radio this weekend): The newest Mattel toys will be X-Files Barbie toys, with Barbie as Scully (red hair and a trenchcoat) and Ken as Mulder. Scary, isn't it?
Phil: Cool! Gonna have get that one. I've got the Star Trek Ken and Barbie! ;-)
Craig Mason: One good place to look is in Starlog magazine. They post upcoming conventions there. Another place is the Fandom Directory, which lists them for years in advance. To reach Fandata go to fandata@aol.com
Brian Straight: Shawnee, Kansas: Kansas City, does host a Star Trek convetion every now and then. And they do manage to get some of the minot charcaters to come. I think one year we had Chase Master-what's her name (she plays Leeta). But, two years ago, we got a BIG treat in that William Shatner himself was at a convention here in KC. That convention was held in KCMO (not too far from KC). They'll advertise the conventions on Channel 38 "Family Greats" or on KCMO Ch. 62 when they have them. It's been a while though. Admission is usualy $20 or so.
Robert Donahou: In response to the question about the DS9 cast in the 50's episode I believe that the punk kid was Cirroc Lofton (Jake) and the bald writer was Armin Shermen (Quark). Please correct me if I'm wrong.
Phil: Sounds right to me!
Rob van Hulst: Continueing the questions about who was in "Far beyond the stars" (i haven't seen it myself yet, though) you replied that you recognized one of the actors by his voice. That happens to me a lot too. I was watching an old episode of the sitcom The Nanny this week and in it was a little guy with a very squeeky voice. I thought: hey who is that, and boing, it struck me, it was Grand Nagus Zek! the funny thing was, in that same episode were two other Trek guest stars: The guy who plays Niles the butler portrayed Prof. Moriarty on TNG twice, and Ben Vereen, who played Geordi's father, had a cameo as himself.
Phil: Them actors have to make a living! ;-)
Elise: As far as I know, Mark Allan Shepard (Morn) wasn't in "Far Beyond the Stars," but he was out of makeup in "Who Mourns for Morn," as the first guy Quark pulls over to fill Morn's chair.
Joe Griffin: [Continuing with Phil's comments in the recent "This Week at NitCentral" files,] I agree that addressing the issue of racism by going back to a time when racists were a lot less subtle can be a copout. But at the same time, this was a well-constructed story and all the performances were fantastic. But most of all, for me at least, this was the first really solid Founders episode. DS9 has never lived up to the promise of the pilot as far as delivering an element of high mysticism, and now finally we are starting to see some of that. Perhaps there has been some kind of build to this point, but it's been frustrating. All of Sisko's previous flirtations with Emissary-hood have been nothing more than those silly sequences where Nana Visitor and Rene Auberjonois et al. are lit funny and say strange things. If I want "odd for the sake of odd" I'll watch _Twin Peaks_. We're starting to see the trappings of a really nice mythology here.
Just a thought as regards the era-as-plot-device issue: in the same way that TOS took us out of our world to point up the issues of our world (see "Let That Be Your Last Battlefield" as a great example of an anti-racist tale), aren't the Founders taking Sisko out of his time to show him what he has to do in his time? Is this device forgivable, then, on the part of the writers (to some degree at least...)?
Phil: Maybe . . . although if you want mysticism and other-worldly-ness there's a whole lot of ways to do that gig!
Craig Mason: Concerning Voyager's "Message In a Bottle", wasn't the Romulan played by Juddson Scott? He also starred in "Wrath Of Khan" as Khan's first. Juddson Scott also starred in ashort lived series entitled "The Phoenix."
Clay: I always thought that it could be that the Ferengi were very strong and their bodies were such that they could lift more than humans. When they tried to give Quark some sodium pentathol to make him tell the truth in "Little Green Men" the needle broke every time they tried. I assumed this to meant that thier skin and bones and muscle must be very tough and strong. Just a thought. Anyway, this is why Quark crushing the gold didn't bother me. On a note about why gold isn't valuable, the replicator may be able to make gold but NOT latinum. It goes back to what is considered too molecularly complex for the replicator.
Phil: Actually, if I recall from "Little Green Men," the needle didn't break, the drug simply had no effect on him.
Joe McLaughlin Jr. of Medway, MA: I can answer part of my own question now. Last night my local WB station aired the episode of DS9 (I don't remember the name) where Quark thought he was dying and he sold his vacuum dessicated remains to Brunt, Quark sold his body for 500 bars of latinum. Then him and Rom said that that was 10,000 strips, and 1,000,000 slips. So if I do my math correctly, that's 100 slips per strip, and 20 strips per bar (2,000 slips per bar). But, I still don't know how many bars are in a brick.
Brian Straight, Shawnee, Kansas.: Yes, gold is VERY heavy. Remember in Die Hard: With a Vegance? Where Zeus finds the gold bar, he starts lugging it around and says "D* this IS heavy!" And, pure gold is pretty soft, and easy to break. Gold, is usualy mixed with some other metals to make it tougher."
Phil: Somehow, I'm not content to prove that gold is heavy by using a scene from a movie! ;-)
Brad Higgins: Joe McLaughlin asked about gold pressed latinum: how many slips in a strip, strips in a bar, etc. This is explained in the DS9 4th season episode "Body Parts," the one where Quark thinks he's dying, and, in order to pay his debts, auctions his dessicated remains on the Ferengi Open Market. Unfortunately I do not have my tapes here with me in Korea, so I can't check for the actual scene to find out what the exact graduations are, but anyone who has the tape can check it out.
Angela Wilson-McGrath of Cheyenne, WY: Slips, bars and bricks of gold-pressed latinum are just that. The "worthless" gold houses the liquid latinum, or in some cases, the hollow gold vessels contain gold DUST. In the "Morn" show Quark broke them OPEN, not apart. There was, I think, some mention of why gold and its properties were right for the transport of liquid latinum, versus "making change with an eye dropper".
Jared Showalter: Gold has a density of 19.3 g/cc at 27 degrees C. For comparison, iron has a density of 7.874 g/cc. I don't really remember how big the bricks were, but they probably weighed more than forty pounds. At first I thought that the bricks were light because they were diluted with latinum, and crumbled because they were incredibly porous once the latinum was extracted, but then I saw that 100 bricks barely fills the bottom of a cup!
Phil: Aha! Now we have a starting place! Let's guesstimate that the brick was 18 centimeters long, 11 centimeters wide and 4 centimeters thick (yes, I know, that it was angles on the edges but let's forget that for now). That means the brick has approximately 792 cubic centimeters and therefor contains approximately 15285.6 grams! Okay so how much does that weigh. Well a kilogram is about 2.2 pounds so a brick of gold the size shown in the episode would weigh about 34 pounds. Which is *a lot* to sling around with one hand as Quark does in this episode.
On to the questions . . .
Robert Donahou: Would you consider the Blueprints of the Enterprize-D an authoritative guide? How many brigs does the D have and on what decks are they?
Phil: Normally, yes, but from what I understand Rick Sternbach sort of hedges in the introduction and since I don't have the blueprints, I'm at a loss to answer the rest of your question! Sorry. Anybody? (I know, I know. I should have them but I just haven't gotten around to buying them.)
Corey Hines, Hamilton, ON: I saw the TNG episode "Violations" again and wondered if there was a time that Riker tried to rape Troi. I realize the images were distorted but there had to be something that was originally there that triggered it. And since Crusher and Riker had disurbing images in their coma memories, I would assume the same was for Troi. And if she did try to rape her, why are they still good friends?
Phil: It's true that Riker and Cursher had disturbing images but Jev was enthralled with Troi so I would guess he would pick something pleasant when it came to violating her.
Jacob Boxer: If you look at the cover of the magazine Sisko buys, it is almost the exact same thing as a picture of Starbase 11 (Not sure if it was 11) that was seen in TOS. Can you verify this?
Phil: I took another look at it! I'm a bit short on time this morning but I believe that is correct!
Andrew Corcoran: Are you able to answer the query I sent along a few weeks ago regarding the ships docking at DS9? Or has that already been discussed?
I'm referring to when the Enterprise docks at DS9 in "Emissary," and Voyager in "Caretaker."
I am sure I remember thinking they looked EXACTLY THE SAME SIZE!
Is this just my bad memory, or is it actually a nit?
Phil: I apologize by I'm going to have to pass on this until next week! Don't have time to look this stuff up at the moment. I'll comment in next week's column.
Brian Dominguez: I have a slight hearing disability, so I often use the closed captioning. Now I know that sometimes you site in nitpickers guide about them. Do you consider it a continuity error when the closed captioning is different than the dialogue?
Although it happens sometimes in Trek--a person will say 'Run' while the captions says "we must run"-- but that's very minimal.
However with the X-files, an entire episode can be littered with captioning different than the spoken dialogue. "Chinga" is a good episode for that, but there are several episodes were the epilogue that Scully or Mulder say is nothing at all like the captioning--and sometimes it can give a different meaning to the end.
There are sometimes when its neat, for there are times when no one is speaking, but the captioning is going crazy with dialogue that sometimes explains what's happening or about to happen.
In your research, did you come to discover what's up with that? I almost had expected a section in the X-files guide to deal with this topic.
Phil: I did note it in a few places in the X-Phile Guide when whole sections of dialogue or monologue were deleted. My feeling was that the creators looked at it after the episode was close to completion and said, "Nah, we don't need that!" or "We need to rework that monologue a bit!"
Jacob Boxer: Phil, do you know if there's any way to get in touch with some of the people involved with Voyager? I'd like to voice my discontent with the show. It's really gone downhill. Especially with this series of epsisodes. Message In A Bottle was a good episode, but so far it's really the only one. So many plots have been re-used and re-written so obviously, you might as well just watch the originals they ripped off. How can DS9 keep coming up with fresh stories? Oh well, I'll save it for the letter. Thanks if you know!
Phil: You can write to Paramount but I don't have the address in my brain. I'll hunt around for it. They do not have an email address as far as I know!
Ben Riley: I was wondering if you would know when your nitpicker's guide for the X-Files comes out in the UK. Also, can you tell me whether you have any plans for a Voyager guide.
Phil: Unfortunately, there is currently no British version of the X-phile Guide. It is available in a few selected books stores that ship it over from the States.
Karen Fischer of Hercules, CA: I haven't been as vocal in nitpicking of late, mainly because I've been more involved recently with a group that would like to see the relationship between Janeway and Chakotay taken futher than it has. I don't know if you've heard, but there is a letter writing campagne that has been going on to politely convince TPTB at Paramount and Voyager to show a closer relationship between Voyager's two most senior officers.
One of the women from a group that I'm with asked me if I would write you and get your input on the idea. From a male perspective, as well as from a nitpicker's view.
After episodes like Resolutions and Coda and the scenes in Scorpion I, where there is an obvious chemistry between the characters and the actors, word is that those in charge want to forget that anything ever happened between Janeway and Chakotay. Joe Menosky seems content to say it never happened at all, which has advocates for the couple angered. Do you have any comments or insight to what may or may not be happening as far as any kind of relationship for Janeway and Chakotay?
All the advocates are asking for is that TPTB show a mature and loving relationsip between two people, that are the best of friends.
Phil: Well, without sounding too cynical, I would be stunned if the Hollywoodites would know *how* to write "a mature and loving relationship between two people, who are the best of friends." The Cosby Show and Mad About You comes to might but I consider those the exceptions that make the rule (and directly attributable to the influence of the two leads). Writers write what they know. Hollywood isn't famous for mature and loving relationships!
On a more practical note, however, it is been my observation that taking a relationship too far between the mael and female leads of a show is usually disasterous. Moonlighting was driven by the tenuous relationship. Lois and Clark work relaly well as a series until they got married. The X-Files wisely keeps Mulder and Scully platonic while almost constantly teasing the audience. There's something fun about watching two people manuever and there's something intriguing about characters who are available. So, while the Janeway/Chakotay romance is reasonable, I'm not sure it would be good for the show in terms of the ratings!
Katherine Ashforth of Alberta, Canada: I currently purchased the x-files book and I eagerly turned to the episode "3". I was very disappointed that you didn't point out that this seems to be the first time Mulder has casual sex on screen. It seemed out of place for the show sinse they seldom get into the gritty details of Scully and Mulders lives (other than their family lives). My questions are: did this Mulder-sex-act stand out as odd in your mind? And secondly, do you know if the actress who played the "vampire" girl-friend was Duchuvny's(sp?) real-life girl-friend at the time. (That's just something I heard.)
Phil: I found the episode very odd and Mulder's actions even odder. And, yes, I believe that was his girlfriend at the time!
Mark Blankenship: The Local UPN affiliate has been playing "The Best of TNG" this last week. Last night was "Best of Both Worlds P2". As the Enterprise arrives at Wolf 359, I saw what looked like the secondary hull of a uprated Constitution class starship. I don't have a tape yet (my Columbia House subscription is only up to the beginning of season three :-) ) so I turn to the Guild to confirm what I saw. The sequence goes something like: 1. Bridge scene where Shelby says "...the Melbourne" then 2. cut to outside shot then 3. cut to commercial. In the outside shot, the E-D enters from the viewers right. In the the forground to the viewers left, just before fadeout, the hull in question drifts on to the screen. No other ship has those huge "picture" windows, right?
Phil: I leave it to you fellow nitpickers! I've *got* to get some work done today!
Have a great weekend, everybody!
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Copyright 1998 by Phil Farrand. All rights reserved.