Well the consulting job is underway and I am busy. But . . . I'm having a blast so far!! Unfortunately, I not longer have time to do this column on Friday morning so this is actually the last thing I'm doing Thursday night. That means when I get this done, I get to go to bed! I leave it to you to guess what that means, dear fellow nitpickers. ;-) First, some comments from previous columns . . .
Bullies on the Playground and the End of the Nitpicker's Guides
Beginning with Phil Farrand's comments at the end of the
5/15/98 column
Ed Ouellette: I had the chance to visit the Star Trek exhibit in Las Vegas not too long ago and given that they won't be printing the Guides any longer I found it strange that they were selling them along with all the other Trek merchandise. Since they seem to have no problem selling them, could you use this as part of an argument to let you keep writing?
Phil: Well . . . actually . . . Paramount has never said that they had a problem with me writing the Guide. It just the publishers who are skittish!
Michael J. Frank: Isn't there any way to start a petition or send an influx of e-mails to Dell or Paramount to stop this? I've certainly enjoyed your Star Trek Nitpicker's Guides (was very much looking forward to a Voyager book & the next DS9 book as the series is stopping this season), and am very dissappointed that Evil Empires are causing changes in careers and loss of income. I'm certain that there are thousands of loyal nitpickers (like myself) who will back you up on this. Hey, if it wasn't for loyal fans, TOS would never have made it past it's first year, and then where would Paramount be??? There must be something that we can do to prevent this from happening and to get you back on the shelf for much entertainment!
Phil: Honestly, I appreciate the thought but I'm not sure there's anything that can be done!
Lauren: AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAH!! NOOOOOOOOOOOO!! sorry. this reply isn't going to get much more eloquent than that. i'm trying very hard to not violate our secondary directive right now, so i'll have to mail more later. Your faithful nitpicker despite evil publishing companies, lauren
The Death Of Jadzia
Beginning with Matt Greer's comments in the 6/12/98 column
Rob van Hulst Dordrecht: I have a question about the DS9 season finale, Tears of the Prophets. Although i haven't seen it myself yet, ( we are about half a season behind in Holland, the last episode i saw was Change of Heart), i do not mind knowing things about episodes to come. (i also read the last chapter of a book first to know how it ends). It appears that Jadzia is killed in this episode, but i cannot find a mention about the symbiont, Dax. Is it already known what happened to it, or is that saved for the new season's opening?
Phil: The symbiont did survive and from the sounds of it will soon find a news host! Read on . . .
Anastasia Brown: I've heard rumor that there will be a new Dax character in the next season of DS9. HOW CAN THIS BE? Trill's are NOT supposed to continue relationships when they get a new host! Dax staying on the station would not be allowed by Trill society. Phil, were the Trill invented just to give us an ever lasting supply of nits? I won't name them, you know what I mean.
Phil: I know what you mean! And it's more than just a rumor! Read on . . .
Shirley Kolb: Anyway I was wondering if you saw the blurb in last week's TV Guide about Dax's replacement. Her name is Nicole Debour and she played one of the clones on the Sci-Fi Channel's "Mission Genesis". My comment is: since Trills are not supposed to have contact with spouses, etc. of their previous host, how can they place a female Trill on DS9 where Jadzia's husband Worf is still stationed? It just seems like an inconsistency to me. They were even stretching it with Jadzia in the past, because Curzon was such a close friend of Sisko, and yet they placed Jadzia on DS9. So then I thought maybe the ban just applied to spouses, but now it looks like they aren't sticking to that. As you have pointed out in the past, they seem to have trouble with their handling of the Trill specie - ever since they made all the changes between the Trills on Next Gen and the ones on DS9.Also, same TV Guide article says Seven of Nine is going to have a baby with the Doctor through some sort of nanoprobe glitch or something. What will they think of next? (I don't think I want to know!)
Tom Servo on the Promenade
Beginning with the comments of Matt Nelson in the 8/7/98 Column
JH Carter: Someone identified Yoyodyne as a generic name for an internet company. I think there really is a Yoyodyne website, but the name comes from 'Buckaroo Banzai.' It was the company owned by the evil Lectroids. The Forbin Project comes from the movie 'Colossus: The Forbin Project,' which is about a supercomputer called Colossus.
The Happy Bottom Riding Club is from 'The Right Stuff.' (It's not science fiction, but you can see the connection.)
David Williams: Chez Zimmerman goes back to the orignal source for this sign and the character Dr. Lewis Zimmerman: Hans Zimmerman.
Scott Padulsky: [Converning Del Floria's Taylor Shop and the tie-in to Jeri Taylor] > I'm sure the Jeri Taylor reference is right (plus it's a funny pun on "tailor") but does "Del Floria" mean anything to anyone?
[As for Jupiter Mining Corporation] Red Dwarf again.
James D. Meader: Pancho's Happy Bottom Riding Club For many years, from probably the WWII era until at least the fifties, near Muroc Field (would later become Edwards Air Force Base) in California was a dude ranch/resort/bar owned and run by thirties-era avatrix "Pancho" Barnes named "Pancho's Happy Bottom Riding Club". That's where all the test pilots from Muroc hung out. The night before his first-ever Mach 1 flight, Chuck Yeager was riding a horse at Pancho's, in the dark, ran into something (not sure what, a fence or maybe one of the few trees in the area), fell off and cracked some ribs. After breaking the sound barrier, while circling to land, Bob Hoover, who was flying chase radioed Yeager in congratulations "Hey pard, you'll get a free steak at Pancho's tonight!".
Phil: Thanks to Lisa Shock, Alex Otis, Hugh Mowen, Sarah Applegate, Anne Magee, J. L. Sloan and Tony F. Joe for sending information along as well!
An NCC Prefix For The Defiant
Beginning with the comments of Aaron Dotter in the 8/15/98
Column
Robert Donahou: It has been my knowledge that the Defiant has a NX prefix. This can be seen on several photographs of the Defiant. I allways believed that NX prefixes were assigned to prototype vessels. This how ever would not explain the Excelsior's NCC-2000. One would have to look at the Voyager episode with the Promethius(sp?) and other episodes that feature prototype vessels to get a more accurate answer.
"This Man Is Dead, Jim"
Beginning with the comments of Tom Clarke in the 8/21/98 Column
No takers on this one? No one can remember if McCoy ever said, "This man is dead, Jim?!" Well . . . now that the sci-fi channel is string they're reruns . . .
No Chaplain For Star Trek
Beginning with the comments of Chris Ashley in the 8/21/98
Column
Clay: You said "I supposed I could observe here that those who live excessive lifestyles often comfort themselves with the notion that humanity will abandon religion as some point but I believe I will postpone!" What do you believe being rich has to do with abandoning religion? Just curious.
Phil: When I used the term "excessive lifestyles," I was referring to those who excess in terms of morality! From most reports, Roddenberry spent a great deal of time with the ladies.
Commodore Josh K: About the comment that Gene Roddenberry probably expected people to outgrow their need for religion in the 24th century: I must say I am dismayed to hear that Roddenberry's vision for the future apparently does not include God. The phrase "outgrow its need for religion" suggests that Roddenberry may have seen the idea of religion as some kind of psychological crutch for humans. I haven't read or heard as much about Gene's philosophy as some people have; was he an agnostic? An atheist, perhaps? If he envisioned a godless future, then perhaps his vision for the future needs to be reconceived.
Phil: My understanding is that Roddenberry was a humanist. He didn't believe that man needed God.
Chris Ashley: Well...it seems at least that Native Americans haven't "outgrown" religion.....but maybe politically correct religions survive. You know, historically persecuted ones. (But wait! That includes Christianity, Judaism, Islam, Buddhism, Hinduism......)
And of course, aliens don't have human standards imposed on them by the Federation, right? ;-) Actually, if religion is defined as a life-unifying philosophy, Klingon honor and Vulcan logical practice would both qualify. Or Hirogen hunting, Bajor obviously, even (pick-a-name forbid) Ferengi acquisition! Or do you not need chaplains for any of those?
Hmm.....
Phil: Hmm, indeed!
The Invisible Man From Past Tense
Beginning with the comments of Commodore Josh K in the 8/21/98
Column
Bryan Foster: Josh K asked about the strange man who stole Dax's combadge in "Past Tense" part 2. His name is Cliff Howard, who is the brother of Ron Howard (Opie). Cliff appeared as Balok in the original Star Trek episode "The Corbomite Maneuver" (the little kid who drank tranya). Cliff also has cameos in some of Ron Howard's films. He was in Apollo 13 as "EECOM". Just wanted to fill everyone in. Have a great day everyone!
On to the questions . . .
Kevin Weiler: I've got a question regarding the infamous Treaty of Algeron.
I've been told that after " In he Pale Moonlight", with the Romulans joining the war, the Treaty of Algeron was put on hold, or nullified, or something. I've also been told that this means the Federation can use cloaking devices. I've heard that all the newer ships have cloaks installed. Is this true? I don't remember it being mentioned in any episode.
Phil: Well, it is a nice thought but I've never heard any dialogue to support it!! ;-)
Robert J Woolley: Watching "Detour" (red-eyed monster in the woods) again last night, I noticed something that had never previously caught my attention. Mulder and Skully's guns shoot with absolutely no recoil!
Now, I'll have to be watching for this in the cable nightly re-runs, but "Detour" gives us an unusual number of rapid-fire shots to observe; Mulder ticks off 5, and Skully 6 and later another 4. In each case, that pistol just stays stock-still--no backward motion, no muzzle flip.
I assume they're shooting 9mm rounds. I'm aware that for some kinds of competitive shooting, where there is a premium placed on rapidly putting two or more shots into the same target, pistols can be tricked-out in various ways to make the recoil/muzzle flip like shooting a BB gun: ported barrels, counterweights, very light hand-loaded charges, etc. But it seems unlikely that FBI agents would resort to such tricks for their service weapons. The only other explanation would be that they're shooting blanks--but this is *obviously* impossible!
So my question is this: can we ordinary civilians somewhere buy these wonderful no-recoil, full-power 9mm pistols? If so, where? Or are they restricted to law enforcement only?
BTW, within the last year, The Real FBI has selected Glock .40 pistols (models 22 and 23, in case you care) as their official duty weapons. It will be interesting to see if Our Heroes start carrying Glocks next season. (Of course, those with basement offices may be last in line for replacement pistols.)
Phil: Yeah, the FBI gets all the fun toys. I was "this close" to buyin a Glock once. Am are nice pistols!
Christian Becker: Do you know when the DS9-guide will be published in Germany? It seems to last more then one year to translate the guides in german. I just bought the TNG2-guide, today! In Germany we get everything from Star Trek very late. The voyager just found some dead borgs. From your point of view it must be an "old hat" (so it is called in german) :-) Therefore I was shocked to read about the death of Dax. Isn´t there any choice of resuscitation? The last DS9 episode in Germany dealed with a mission of Worff and Dax trying to meet a traitor of Cardassia. Do you know how many episodes are between this episode and the last episode in the USA?
Phil: Unfortunately, I have no control of translations of the Guide! And doubly-unfortunately, I need to go to bed so I can get to work in the morning! Any one want to count up the number of episodes from 'Change of Heart" till the end of the season? (At least, I think that was the name of that episode!)
Corey Hines: Do you happen to know when the new season of DS9 and/or Voyager begins?
Phil: October for both, from what I hear!
Have a great weekend, everybody!
If you would like to submit a question or comment, send it to: chief@nitcentral.com with "Ask the Chief" or "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.