t
Newsletter of the U.S.S. Chesapeake Star Trek Club
August 2000 Vol. 10, No. 8
In This Issue
Art Credits ................................... 2 Club Members ..................... Insert Coming Events ............................ 6 Directions to Meeting .......... Insert F.Y.I. ............................................ 6 Meeting Minutes .................. Insert Officers ........................................ 2 Officers’ Logs ............................ 2, 5 Reflections ................................... 4 Science Trek................................. 3 Top 10 List .................................. 6
Star Trek books go electronic in new S.C.E.
The first in a new line of original Star Trek books is out now—but don’t go looking for it in bookstores. As of August 10, Star Trek fans can read completely new tales of the 24th century exclusively in electronic format through a special arrangement with Simon & Schuster’s Pocket Books division and Microsoft. Star Trek: S.C.E., a series of original adventures of the Starfleet Corps of Engineers, debuts initially in the electronic format of Microsoft Reader, a new software that brings the versatility of the eBook format to desktop and laptop PCs using Microsoft Windows. This venture represents the first time that content from Star Trek has been published electronically without a prior or simultaneous print publication, says Judith Curr, publisher of Pocket Books. Noting that six Star Trek books sold during each minute in 1999, Curr says she is thrilled to announce the line’s expansion into the world of electronic publishing. “Our Star Trek titles are the most successful series in both electronic and traditional publishing,” says Curr, “and offering Star Trek: S.C.E. exclusively to eBook readers is a perfect match of form and content for this new and expanding market.” First up is Star Trek: S.C.E., Book One: The Belly of the Beast, written by Dean Wesley Smith and featuring Commander Geordi La Forge of The Next Generation, Captain Montgomery Scott from Classic Trek and a new ship and crew. To download “The Belly of the Beast,” turn your web browser to http://www.simonsays.com.
Have fun at the club olympics during the August meeting of the U.S.S. Chesapeake!
So, it’s summer, and the living is easy. Well, okay—at least it is warm outside. That’s why it is time for our yearly club olympics during the next meeting of the U.S.S. Chesapeake Star Trek Club, which will be held on Saturday, August 19, at the Gaithersburg, Maryland, home of the parents of First Officer Abby Lindstrom. Please note that we will gather at Abby’s parents’ home at 4:00 p.m. to swim, with the games beginning at 5:00 p.m. During our regular business meeting following our dinner, we’ll update club member activities, talk about conventions and get the very latest news in the worlds of Star Trek. For directions to this month’s club meeting, check out the insert included with your copy of this edition of our newsletter, Comstar!
Shatner croons To Infinity and Beyond
In the recent release of Disney and Pixar’s straight-to-video Toy Story spin-off, Buzz Lightyear of Star Command: The Adventure Begins, Tim Allen reprises his character, Buzz Lightyear, in a non-CGI animated family special that features William Shatner (Captain James T. Kirk) singing “To Infinity and Beyond” under the final credits. Buzz Lightyear of Star Command: The Adventure Begins follows the adventures of the “original” Buzz Lightyear, the one the toys were designed after. Shatner continues to build his singing resume, adding “To Infinity and Beyond” to his song sets for his popular Priceline.com “singing” commercials. “To Infinity and Beyond!” is the Buzz Lightyear character’s signature catch-phrase.
CAPTAINS LOG: Farscape finds its fans
The latest TV program to be considered “the next Trek” is Farscape, the most popular original series shown Friday nights on the Sci-Fi Channel. I know this because Creation Entertainment held the show’s first “official” convention in Burbank, California, the weekend of August 5-6. Chief of Security Wayne Hall and I flew out to the Left Coast for this gathering, though our plans to include Conn Officer Lorenzo Heard didn’t come together. But things got better from there. We had a great time, mostly due to the participation of the producers, writers and actors under the guidance of Brian Henson, son of the famous Muppeteer and head of the Jim Henson Company, which produces Farscape. The series began as an idea for a program based on the cantina bar scenes in Star Wars under the working title of Space Chase. It took years for the producers to finally find a home on the Sci-Fi Channel, but once this happened, Farscape as we know it was born. Every regular actor from the program appeared on stage except the guy who does Rygel’s voice. I found it interesting that most of these folks behave a lot like their Farscape counterparts. Ben Browder started things off by reading his suggestions for John Crichton’s “signature line,” the most popular of which was: “Humans arrrrre superioooooooor!” I got a chance to ask him what it was like working with Rygel and Pilot, both puppets with someone’s hand up their butt. The goatee-sporting actor replied that it was better than having someone’s hand up his butt, then complimented the expertise of the puppeteers and technical crew on the series. After a trivia contest, Lani Tupu (Captain Crais and the voice of Pilot) and Wayne Pygram (Scorpius) came on stage all dressed in black, even wearing black sunglasses. I didn’t know if we were supposed to applaud or boo and hiss at the guys who play the program’s biggest baddies. Kent McCord made an appearance that might have been longer than the total of his visits to the series as John’s father, Jack Crichton. And Claudia Black closed out Saturday by receiving congratulations for being chosen one of the sexiest sci-fi stars by TV Guide. Sunday started off with a writers/ producers panel, and I was happy to hear that most folks in attendance wanted to have each episode’s title put on the show instead of making us hunt it up on the SFC’s World Wide Web site. Next came Anthony Simcoe, who literally burst onto the stage, wiggling and gyrating all over the place. We were amazed and amused to see that under the noble, solemn warrior exterior of Ka D’Argo beats the heart of a wild stand-up comedian. Then, Gigi Edgley displayed Chiana’s sultry, sensual quality. We learned that she wasn’t told she was going to be in more than one episode until someone gave her a script for the next show, and she was in it! And Virginia Hey was as noble and calm as Zhaan ... until she was asked how such a quiet person handles her character’s violent side. She then invited the questioner to join her on stage so she could kick his ... er ... um ... his behind! But the best moment came at the end of the con, when everyone from Farscape came onto the stage to a tumultuous standing ovation from the audience. Some Farscape folks hadn’t really believed we were out there until that weekend, and it was obvious they enjoyed the audience’s enthusiasm and approval. Captain Randy Hall
PAGE
2
U.S.S. Chesapeake NCC-9102 OFFICERS
Captain Randy Hall (301) 854-2055 First Officer Abby Lindstrom (301) 869-6117 Second Officer, Ops Phil Margolies (301) 608-0122 Newsletter Editor/ Chief of Security Wayne Hall (240) 568-5197 Chief Science Officer David Brewer Chief Engineer Scott Klein (301) 990-7115 Conn Officer Lorenzo Heard (202) 583-9106
Copyright 2000 U.S.S. Chesapeake NCC-9102, a not-for-profit organization. All rights reserved, including reproducing parts of this document. “Star Trek,” “Star Trek: The Next Generation,” “Star Trek: Deep Space Nine,” “Star Trek: Voyager” and “Star Trek: Insurrection,” as well as the terms “starship” and “starship Enterprise,” are registered trademarks of Paramount Pictures Corporation. All rights reserved. Absolutely no infringement on these rights is intended. Art credits: Pages 1, 2, 3, insert front and insert back, Dynamic Graphics; and Pages 4 and 5, W & R Graphics.
PAGE
3
SCIENCE TREK: Cosmic erector set
By Second Officer Phil Margolies look like? Surely, they cannot look like us. The skeptical and critical tend to believe that having evolved in a different environment, aliens would look nothing like us nor would they think or act like us. (Of course, these tend to be the same people who, in the next breath, tell us what aliens would do.) Flipping the coin for a moment, we have to consider that other than human beings, we know of no other sentient species. Sure, there are plenty of intelligent species here on Earth: dogs, cats and dolphins, for in(since I missed the PowerBall by only six numbers). In two long-ago columns (September and October of 1996, to be precise), I wrote about the formation of the solar system, the history of Earth and the tenacity of life. Re-read them if you’ve got them. Those are concepts that we will once again explore, not with the purpose of discovering our world, but creating a new one. Presuming the existence of the universe and everything between its start and say, five billion years ago, we can get started on our solar system. Somewhere nearby (then, not now), an aged star of the Milky Way that grew larger than James Doohan suddenly collapsed upon itself and exploded. Long years later, the blast wave crashed into a cloud of dust and gas, compressing it and causing it to spin. After another few million years, several gravitational cores began to form and gathered onto themselves spinning disks of particles of dust and gas, molecules organic and inorganic. Let us focus on one such disk, where countless years after the supernova, motes of gathering lint circle an embryonic sun. It’s a long and indiscriminate process, but the universe doesn’t count birthdays. Soon enough, there are eight major balls of dust and rocks: four smaller bodies closer in and four farther out, past the invisible line where the baby sun’s heat doesn’t vaporize the water and other liquids. And that is how we will leave our newborn solar system until next month. In the meantime, you may wish to peruse some guides and Web sites on solar system and planet creation (plus a cool solar system simulator from NASA). Here’s one suggestion—The Writer’s Guide to Creating a Science Fiction Universe, George Ochoa and Jeffrey Osier, 1993. Or check out these web sites—http://www.nocturne. org/world/, http://web.calstatela.edu/ academic/builders/index.html or http:// space.jpl.nasa.gov/.
Gazing out the window, a thought occurs to me: Look at all the trees. Some are shrouded in the evening mist, but all are verdant green. Not all the same species, of course, but all are secure in their place in the world. Then, I wonder about trees on other planets. Then I think of Ann and John’s favorite show: Earth 2. Now, I didn’t watch all the episodes (though I would never admit that to the audience). Still, something always bothered me. Here these people were, supposedly light years from Earth on a planet that looks remarkably like Earth. There are the strange alien life forms, of course, but apparently the air is okay for humans (and the pesky strange alien bacteria and viruses must have been dormant). Yet, look at the trees. To me, Pacifica was closer to somewhere far west of the Mississippi than a few light years past Alpha Centauri. It’s not just trees that make me think too much of Earth. Though make-up artistry is getting better—as is computer graphics imagery—far too many “aliens” just get a piece of putty on their head and a bad haircut. Either that, or they’re Muppets. Of course, the concept of suspension of disbelief aside, all the actors are just humans in makeup—as far as we know. Just the same for the settings: due to budget restraints, most sciencefiction shows are filmed in L.A., Vancouver, Australia or inside somebody’s computer. Aside from the shortage of alien actors, not to mention the $10,000-per-pound cost of getting equipment and people into space, most shows are prepped, produced and packaged on good ol’ terra firma. Pop quiz: What is the probability of life in the universe? If you answered 100 percent, you guessed right. Unless we’re a figment of no one’s imagination, we humans on Earth are living and breathing proof of life in the universe. So, we know that at least one species has evolved into a high enough form to ask—Is there anyone else out there? If “they” are out there, what do they
stance. But no other species that spends its time sitting around writing science columns, pondering its origins and watching people get booted off a resort island. Since we know what we look like, can we presume that other sentient species would appear vastly different? I know Voyager suggested velociraptors in space, but I doubt they got past Cleveland. The truth is we don’t know what aliens or their homeworlds would look like. So, we speculate and watch other people’s guesses on television and in the movie theater. Let’s not be so passive. Let’s build our own planet! Not just our own planet, but also everything that goes with it—solar system, atmosphere, flora and fauna. Of course, this will be a thought experiment, as Albert Einstein called it
REFLECTIONS: My Companion, my ally
By Conn Officer Lorenzo Heard After five long years of wishin’ and hopin’ and thinkin’ and prayin’ to the Prophets (Hey, whatever it takes!), I’ve finally been blessed! What, you might ask, could possibly make me so filled with joy, as giddy as a school girl, as happy as a Targ in .... , well as giddy as a school girl. “Could I have discovered the plot of the next Trek movie?” No. “Have I perfected instantaneous transportation to Risa?” No. “Chase Masterson’s phone number?” I have that already, but that was a good guess. I guess you’d say, what can make me feel this way? (Those of you too young to get that joke, I hate you!) I’ll tell you what ... the Deep Space Nine Companion has arrived! Eight hundred pages of pure, unadulturated DS9 bliss! The stuff dreams are made of! I’m so happy I could drop a log! The Quickening by Naren Shankar Bashir, Dax and Kira discover a planet in the Gamma Quadrant the inhabitants of which have been stricken with a fatal disease administered by the Jem’Hadar. Bashir, confident he can find a cure, tries to do so, but only ends up making the disease worse. Naren Shankar, a former science consultant for the Next Generation and eventual staff writer who was now a freelance writer (The Outer Limits had not quite started and Voyager didn't even ask. Hmmm ... .), received a call from Ira Steven Behr to write his idea of “Bashir on a plague planet.” The results were incredible. Only DS9 would attempt an episode about one of the principal characters that depends on that character’s snotty arrogance, then have that character not only fail in his task, but deal with fatal results. Bashir is devastated after one of his few attempts at his goal of “frontier medicine,” and he fails miserably. DS9 has a knack for making the best out of ambiguity, from Bashir’s dubious intentions to Trevean’s Kervorkian-like treatments. Clearly the best Bashir episode to date, not just focusing on the good Doctor’s tremendous ego, but his overwhelming compassion as well. A super job of directing by Rene Auberjonois, lending a rather ecumenical but tasteful look to the show. Also, there’s a hilarious teaser featuring Quark and commercials on the station, a much-needed light moment for a rather somber episode. One of DS9’s best. Rating: b b b b b. Body Parts, story by Louis P. Desantis/Robert J.Bolivar, teleplay by Hans Beimler Quark thinks he’s dying and, per Ferengi custom, he auctions off his body parts. Unfortunately, he was misdiagnosed and is not dying, but the buyer, Brunt, intends to see that Quark fullfills his contractual obligation. It’s funny, but since I’ve been doing this episode guide, there has been one surprising constant—episodes that I initially thought were bad turn out to be better than I remembered in the repeat viewing. Such is the case here. In most TV shows, when faced with the possibility of a main star losing something significant (i.e., Quark’s assets or his life), they always manage to find some way to rectify the situation and make everything come out clean in the wash. The thing that I loved the most about this show is the fact that the writers took great pains to avoid those obvious, cliched and easy resolutions, which is very evident in these last three episodes of the fourth season. This is the episode in which Keiko is injured in a shuttle accident and her baby is transported into Kira to carry to term. Interestingly enough, this was Ira’s wife’s idea, and it worked. A rather superb if subdued directing
PAGE
4
turn by Avery Brooks. Brunt is so evil you want to reach into the screen to strangle him. Hilarity ensues as Quark enlists Garak’s help to kill him. The practice sessions killed me, no pun intended. And the final scene is both in character and heart-warming as Quark finds out that he is indeed family on the station. Rating: b b b. Broken Link, story by George A. Brozak, teleplay by Ira Steven Behr/ Robert Hewitt Wolfe Odo suffers from a mysterious disease and is taken to the Founders’ planet for a cure. As I mentioned earlier, on this show, there are rarely the easy solutions to abnormal circumstances that you’d find on most shows. A case in point is Odo dying from a disease given to him by the Founders just to get him home to stand trial for killing another changeling, something that had never happened before. This was a bold move. Having a main character stand trial and be found guilty is routine—it happens all the time on television. But having that sentence carried out took nerve. Taking away Odo’s shape-shifting abilities is bad enough, but making him human is the ultimate insult and embarassment. Odo always considered himself superior to the solids, and now he had to suffer the indignity of living as one. Some great scenes, including Quark’s touching concern about Odo’s return as he gathers what little strength he has left to make a dignified walk to the runabout; Garak’s talk with “Morphy Brown” (the female changeling), then watching her go from sympathetic concern for Odo to venom-spewing evil as she tells him his entire race will be destroyed; Bashir about to skip a rock on the Great Link (I nearly died laughing at that scene); Garak trying to destroy the Founders’ homeworld; Worf finding him and the fight that ensued; and finally, the revelation that Gowron is a Founder. Whew! Rating: b b b b. Until next month, peace.
PAGE
5
OFFICERS LOG: Get it right the first time!
By Officer Peter Chewning PICTURE with an iron-clad release date. Unfortunately, most of the effects had to be redone since they were originally done for a TV pilot. When the effects were finally finished, there was only enough time to stick them in and get the film out to the distributors. This is why you have a 25-minute sequence of the Enterprise flying through V’ger interspersed with crew reaction shots. This is also why people would doze off in the middle of the film and really not miss anything. But that isn’t the only scene like that. In fact, no one in this picture seemed to remember how to play these characters. Nimoy had left Equus on Broadway to be in this picture. He played Spock like he was waiting for the applause to begin. However, I would not say it is the worst Star Trek film ever made. That singular honor had gone to Star Trek V: The Final Frontier, but Star Trek: Insurrection is close up there behind. For a while, an urban legend was being circulated that the head of production at Paramount decreed that since special effects cost the most on a film budget, that was what the public would see. I dismiss this, however. Studio heads of production are not greedy, slack-jawed, slope-headed, knuckledragging mutants with six toes on each foot who would not know a good story if it swam up and bit them in the backside. They are caring, compassionate, highly intelligent, sensitive people who want to tell the best story to the public. They are more interested in making the film the best that it can be, rather than showing a profit. Shyeah, RIGHT! And President Clinton “did NOT have sex with that woman” either. Maybe Robert Wise is trying to generate some good karma for himself. His first editing assignment was in 1942. He edited The Magnificent Ambersons under the direction of the studio after they fired the previous director, Orson Welles. About an hour of footage was butchered out of the film and then burned. Certain scenes were re-shot, with none of the artistry that Welles put into them. The film was released and promptly died at the box office, effectively ending Orson Welles’ career in Hollywood. Or, more likely, he is being paid a whole mess of money, and he doesn’t really give a damn about any of this at all. As usual, the e-mail address for questions, comments, threats or for telling me you want to vote me off the island is DarKNyt4@aol.com. …that you have but slumbered here, while these visions did appear.
On the web site trektoday.com, I read that director Robert Wise is completely re-editing Star Trek: The Motion Picture so that it reflects his vision for the DVD version. According to the site, “It is going to be fast, colorful and a lot more fun and coherent than the original film version. The effects are going to be redone by Foundation Imaging. Scenes that were shot and deleted for the theatrical release are going to be used. The scenes inside V’Ger are going to be redone so that they reflect the original vision.” Okay, that’s great. We all look forward to the DVD release sometime in the year 2001. We should be glad that Robert Wise is still alive and active enough to undertake this project and to give the fans of Star Trek (at last) a correct version of Star Trek:The Motion Picture. I would just like to know why in the hell it took over 20 years for them to get around to doing “that!” Everyone knows the story of how “Star Trek: Phase II” became Star Trek: The Motion Picture. Books have been written about this. I submitted a rather brilliantly written account of the story some months ago myself, so I won’t go into it again. But it is beginning to seem like the book on that film will never be truly closed. To be fair, the studio did try to correct this with the VHS release of the film. They added 12 minutes of footage. Unfortunately, the only thing the additional footage added was running time to an already ponderous movie. I would have understood it if this had been Wise’s first foray into science fiction, but it wasn’t. This is the man who directed the classic The Day The Earth Stood Still and The Andromeda Strain. So what was the major problem? Well, suffice it to say it is a prime example of what happens when filmmakers cannot make up their minds. After much screwing around on a lot of sides trying to get either a film or television series off the ground, it was finally decided to make it a BIG
Scotty taking Admiral Kirk to the Enterprise goes on for five and a half minutes and doesn’t really add anything to the film. Hopefully, this will be cut down to size. (We’ve all seen Star Trek II: The Wrath of Khan, so we know it can be done.) In those scenes alone, you can cut a half hour out of the film and NOT CUT ONE LINE OF DIALOGUE! Not that the dialogue of this film was all that scintillating. It was one of the most boring films I have seen. Jack Webb could have played James T. Kirk and would have done just as well. (“Just the phasers, ma’am.”) Shatner was so stiff that he looked like he was waiting for Dorothy and the Scarecrow to come by and find his can of oil. (Bill, PLEASE do not break into a chorus of “If I Only Had A Heart!” For God’s sake, your Priceline.com ads are torture enough.)
Star Star Trek: Trek: The The Motion Motion Picture Picture
COMING EVENTS
AUGUST August 19 ..................................It is time for our yearly club olympics! Now that the warm weather is here, let’s go outside and enjoy it. For directions to this year’s event, check out the insert included with this newsletter. SEPTEMBER September 16 ............................ Our first club meeting of the new fall season! Be sure not to miss it! OCTOBER October 6-8 .............................. Farpoint convention at the Hunt Valley Inn in Hunt Valley, Maryland. Guests will include Andreas Kitsulas (G’Kar from B5) on Saturday only, Aron Eisenberg (Nog from DS9), Max Grodenchik (Rom from DS9), Chase Masterson (Leeta from DS9), Cecily Adams (Moogie from DS9), Tucker Smallwood (from Space: Above and Beyond) and Lolita Fatjo, production coordinator for Voyager. For more information and to order your tickets early, turn your web browser to http://www.bcpl.net/~wilsonr, e-mail swilson15@ home.com or call (410) 579-1257. October 21 ............................... Our October club meeting! Let’s talk about how Farpoint went, so please be there! NOVEMBER November 18 ........................... Here’s something we can all be thankful for ... our November meeting! Be sure to mark your calendar today! DECEMBER December 16 ............................ Let’s celebrate the season with our yearly holiday party! Be sure to watch this space for more information as it becomes available.
PAGE
6
Top 10 List
The Top 10 Signs that the Star Trek and Pokémon Universes Have Merged
Adapted from a submission on America Online by Atlashill. 10. The voice of the Pokédex is now Jeri Ryan’s. 9. Veridian is finally spelled with an “I.” 8. Chief O’Brien accidentally beams the crew of DS9 into a Pokéball. 7. Misty talks to Counselor Troi about her anger problem. 6. Meowth is now Quark’s assistant and bar mascot. 5. Brock falls in love with every woman Riker has. 4. Ash has a spoon on his forehead. 3. Three words: Resistance is futile. 2. Worf gives up his bat’leth and relies on Hitmonlee. And the number one sign that the Star Trek and Pokémon universes have merged ... 1. Forget your phasers—Pikachu is all that you really need to stop the Dominion.
Birthday wishes Trek stars enjoying birthdays in the next month include: Patrick Kirkpatrick (Razik in TNG’s “Initiations” and Reese in DS9’s “The Siege at AR558”) on Sunday, August 20; Kim Catrall (Lieutentant Valeris in Star Trek VI: The Undiscovered Country) and Clarence Williams III (First Ometiklan in DS9’s “To the Death”) on Monday, August 21; Jennifer Lien (Kes on Voyager) on Thursday, August 24; John Savage (the captain of the starship on the Voyager episodes, “Equinox,” I and II) on Friday, August 25; Kathryn Hayes (Gem from the Classic Trek episode, “The Empath”) on Sunday, August 27; David Soul (Makora in the Classic Trek episode, “The Apple”) on Monday, August 28; Anthony Call (Lieutenant Bailey in the Classic Trek episode, “The Corbomite Maneuver”) on Thursday, August 31; Patricia Tallman (Kiros in TNG’s “Starship Mine” and Nurse Tagano in DS9’s “The Muse”), and Corbin Bernsen (Q2 on the Next Generation episode, “Deja Q”) on Thursday, September 7; Roxann Dawson (B’Elanna Torres on Voyager) on Monday, September 11; Mary Kay Adams (Grilka from Deep Space Nine) on Tuesday, September 12; Walter Koenig (Chekov from Classic Trek) and Mary Crosby (Natima Lang from DS9’s episode, “Profit and Loss”) on Thursday, September 14; and Ed Begley, Jr., (Henry Starling of the Voyager episodes, “Future’s End,” I and II) on Sunday, September 16. Happy birthday to crew members and friends of the Chesapeake celebrating in the next month. Haven’t seen your birthday appear in this column yet? Then send your information to Chief of Security Wayne Hall at waynehall@aol.com so he can include your day!