News

February  1

Jeri Ryan Interview...

  The official Jeri Ryan homepage has posted her interview with Ian Spelling which was published in the Houston Chronicle on 1/29/00. In it, she pretty much talks about the episode "Tsunkatse". She also briefly mentions her role as Seven and her relationship with Brannon Braga. Here's a snippet...

In regards to her relationship with Braga: Even when she's away from the set these days, Voyager isn't far from Ryan's side. Ryan and producer/writer Brannon Braga are romantically involved. "It's not a secret," she said. "We are dating, and we're very happy."

In regards to her role as Seven of Nine: Ryan reiterates her opinion that Seven continues to be a well- developed character.  "She's done a lot," the actress said. "She's been a mom, essentially. She has made friends among the crew and, through Naomi Wildman (Scarlett Pomers), she's learning how to play and lighten up a little bit. "She's really gone through most of the stages of life at this point," Ryan said. "And that's great." Ryan said she's pleased with season six of Voyager.

The rest of the interview his her description of the show "Tsunkatse". you can find it here.

Picardo's Attempt at a Tribute...

  Voyager's Doctor, Robert Picardo, wants to pay tribute to his predecessor, Dr.Leonard McCoy - played by DeForest Kelley, who died last year. Though that may no longer be possible, the theme of an episode pitched by Picardo may be incorporated in a new episode entitled "I, Zimmerman" about the Doctor and his creator.

I talked to DeForest about being on our show and he was interested in doing it, but there were always issues of his health that concerned the producers, Picardo told Eon Magazine. They can?t commit to doing a story unless there?s a good chance they?re going to be able to do it, and to me it?s one of the great missed opportunities that we weren?t able to be on film together.

SPOILERS, SPOILERS, SPOILERS...

  Here are some spoilers I found while surfin around for some up-coming episodes...

"Memorial"
Voyager gets its own "Inner Light," as the crew begins experiencing flashbacks to a war they never actually fought in. Upon investigation they learn that an artifact found on a survey mission is a war memorial that transfers the memories of those who lived through it to anyone who comes within its range. Chakotay, who's one of the first crewmembers affected, believes it should be shut down, but Janeway's not so sure.

"Tsunkatse"
The much-ballyhooed Trek meets the WWF episode, Tuvok and Seven are taken prisoner by Penk (Jeffery Combs), described by the actor as "the Don King of the universe." Tuvok is injured, and Seven is forced to fight in the arena to save his life. WWF star makes a brief appearance, but most of the fighting is between Seven and an older Hirogen played by Deep Space Nine's Martok, J.G. Hertzler. Watch Mania's front page for exclusive interviews with both Combs and Hertzler about the show.

"Collective"
Because we can't ever have too much Seven of Nine, a group of isolated Borg children take several Voyager crewmembers hostage because they want to use the starship's deflector dish to contact the Collective. All the drones on their cube died of a pathogen, which Janeway has the Doctor reconstruct in case they need it to protect themselves. Seven interacts with the children and informs them that the Borg believe the children are defective, therefore undesirable, so the remaining children board Voyager until they can be returned to their species of origin.

"Spirit Folk"
The holograms of Fair Haven gain sentience and realize the Voyager crew has lied to them! Like TNG's Moriarty, they take hostages to prove their point, accusing Paris, Kim, and the Doctor of being spirits. Janeway's holo-boyfriend Michael Sullivan saves them, but not before Torres picks a fight with the captain because while Janeway's sweetie-pie can be reprogrammed if anything happens to him, Torres' sweetie-pie cannot. You'll all forgive me if I keep my review of this unoriginal and unpleasant episode to two words, won't you?

"Ashes to Ashes"
A crewmember who died on an away mission with Harry Kim returns to Voyager as a member of another species which procreates by reanimating dead bodies. The altered people are supposed to forget their previous lives, but the former Voyager crewmember didn't. The Doctor tries to make her human again and Harry tries to make her fall in love with him, but there are always complications dating dead people, as anyone who remembers the Vidiians from Voyager's first season should recall.

"Childs Play"
One of the Borg children is reunited with his parents - to Seven of Nine's dismay, since she has grown fond of him. As it turns out, the child is a living time bomb of sorts infected with the pathogen that killed all the adult drones in "Collective," so Voyager must decide whether to interfere by returning for him. Since the season finale is reputed to be another Borg cliffhanger, I don't think this issue will necessarily be resolved.

January 29

The Real Kes Episode??...

  According to TrekToday: I was at a Slanted Fedora Con in Manhattan on Sunday. I asked [script coordinator] Lolita Fatjo if there was any truth to the rumor that Jennifer Lein was reprising her role as Kes this season on VOY and she said YES, the episode is called 'Fury' and they started filming on Monday. Well, at least this sounds better than the "Lower Decks" re-make that has been mentioned before as her possible episode.

Backstage Pass News on New Episode:

On the Backstage Pass website, they have posted this on their "News and Rumours" page.

Could it be the return of Harry Mudd? No but with a little luck we'll see something close.  In the upcoming episode "Live Long and Prosper" (set to begin shooting February 3rd) three aliens named Feydra, Mobar and Zev (no relation to the half lizard sex pot on board the star ship Lexx) impersonate Janeway, Tuvok and Chakotay. Having learned enough about the Voyager and her crew from other races the ship has visited, the three imposters use the Voyager crew's reputation to scam unsuspecting aliens.  Hilarity ensues when an inspector investigating the scams hold the Voyager crew for the crimes.

This was pretty much the extent of their update, but if you want to review what they have said before, voyage on over  here.

Yet Another Up-Coming Episode Plot...

  TrekWeb has received the following information on a sequal to the enormously successful "Pathfinder" episode, which guest starred Dwight Schultz as Reginald Barclay and Marina Sirtis as Deanna Troi: Story by John Bruno and Robert Picardo, Teleplay by Joe Menosky. When Earth's "Pathfinder Project" transmits its first block of data to Voyager, the Doctor receives disturbing news -- Louis Zimmerman, the creator of the Doctor's program, is dying. Hoping to save this "father" he's never met, the Doctor's program is transmitted back to the Alpha Quadrant. Guest characters include Reginald Barclay and Deanna Troi.

Marina Sirtis Interview...

A in-depth interview with the gorgeous Marina Sirtis has been posted. Here is part of it...

In some quarters, INSURRECTION was not perceived as quite the success STAR TREK FIRST CONTACT had been. Marina says, "The real Trekkers loved it because it was a real Roddenberry movie. Majel [Barrett Roddenberry] loved it because she felt it was something that Gene could have written. It was very STAR TREK in its original conception; it was an issues-based story. But it wasn?t an action movie, and after FIRST CONTACT, which is my personal favorite of the three, I think that probably a lot of the fans were disappointed that it was more cerebral. It?s hard for me to be objective because all I remember is what a good time we had shooting it, so I can?t really judge it. Ifs very difficult for an actor to objectively watch anything that they?re in, because usually they?re watching themselves on the screen and bemoaning the fact that their nose looks toobig or whatever!"

"I would like to do another series. I really like being on a show working all the time, knowing where you?re going to be most of the year, having regular employment, and playing a character for a long time and. being able to bring Out every facet. Also, the thing about doing a series is that you?re home, and my home life is very important to me. I?d like to be in Los Angeles and see my husband and my animals every day and be around my friends. Maybe when you?re younger that kind of nomadic lifestyle is OK, but now I?m getting older I just want to be home. I love my animals; I want to come home and see my little doggy every night. I think when you?re younger you don?t mind the traveling, but I travel a lot for conventions and things anyway, so if at all possible I?d like to do something based in Los Angeles. We?ve just bought a restaurant up in Lake Arrowhead, so we?ve got a business concern now too.

Her opinion on the next "Trek" series...

"I would say obviously, being a THE NEXT GENAERATION person - that they should take the best things out of NEXT GENAERATION, the main one being the chemistry between the characters. I think that?s probably the most important thing." And as for Troi, Marina says, "I?d love to revisit her whenever that?s possible, but I?m feeling much more confident purely because I?m in a different place emotionally now I know I just went back and did STAR TREK, but on a certain level I have accepted that it possibly could be over and that I have to move on. But I have to be honest. Looking back, it was probably the best experience of my life."

A pretty long and in-depth interview with Marina, you can find over here.

Another Interview that has been Posted...

There has been another interview posted where Guy Haley talks with Picardo, Mcneill, Beltran and Phillips. This interview mainly covers their personal experiences and opinions of the show and is pretty in-depth. So in-depth in fact, instead of posting any of it here, I'll just tell ya to voyage on over here

January 17

The 11th Hour Reviews Directors...

  The 11th hour has put up some info about movie directors, reviewing what they have produced along the guidlines of "The Good", "The Bad", "The Ugly":  They have included a section for Jonathan Frakes, Rick Berman and Brannon Braga. Here's what they said on each of them respectively.

JONATHAN FRAKES
The Good: Star Trek: The Next Generation, First Contact
The Bad: Beyond Belief: Fact or Fiction?,  Insurrection
The Ugly: Roswell

From Trek to drek (a.k.a Roswell), Frake's most recent genre efforts are truly beyond relief. Though we dug him both as an actor and a director of The Next Generation and First Contact, the blink-and-you'll-miss-a-scene Insurrection combined with the for-the-love-of-God-make-something-happen Roswell proved the pacing of this guy's career is way off. It is the rare individual who can host a Fox reality series and not hit their career low, but Frakes is just such a man. And yeah, baby, that's fact.

RICK BERMAN
The Good: Star Trek: The Next Generation, First Contact
The Bad: Star Trek: Insurrection
The Ugly: Star Trek: Generations, Star Trek: Voyager

When Rick Berman is good, he is very, very good, but when he is bad, it is blasphemy. Gene Roddenberry's Chosen One ascended  to the Trek throne, took the helm, called the play and jumped in the deep end -- and those metaphors are almost as mixed as the quality of his work ever since. Generations broke a Trek movie rule -- don't irrevocably kill off beloved icons. No, not Kirk. He was asking for it. The Enterprise! What kind of an ignominious death was that? Taken out by an aged Klingon cruiser commanded by the Duras sisters? Oh, the humanity! Then there's the disaster that Voyager has turned into, which brings us to...

BRANNON BRAGA
The Good: Star Trek: First Contact
The Bad: Next Generation episodes "Aquiel" and "Sub Rosa"
The Ugly: Star Trek: Voyager

When you're Brannon Braga, the trip from Good Genre Guy to Bad Genre Guy isn't even long enough for an in-flight movie. His Next Generation forays included two of the worst episodes that the series ever produced, and this was the guy they put in charge of Voyager? What demon is he worshipping? For Voyager, Braga's wors sins are on the production side. The strong female captain we were excited about? Pathetic. The rebellious, independent Maquis? De-fanged early on. The new Delta Quadrant aliens we were expecting? These are new? And continuity? Well, it's a big word, isn't it?..

Of course they have put up stuff about a few others, if you want to check it out, go here.

Noteworthy Roddenberry Stuff...

  Over at the Backstage Pass site, they have posted something for the new Roddenberry seires "Andromeda". Here's part of it. .

Based on yet another concept by Star Trek creator Gene Roddenberry, Captain Dylan Hunt and his ship, the Andromeda Ascendant, are trapped in the even horizon of a black hole for 300 years.  Awakened to find that the galaxy he devoted his life to has collapsed, Hunt enlists a new crew to rebuild what has been lost.

The greatest civilization in history -- The Systems Commonwealth, encompassing ten thousand different worlds in six galaxies, has fallen. Dylan Hunt (Kevin Sorbo) and his ship, the Andromeda Ascendant, were believed lost at the beginning of the conflict. In truth, they were trapped in time just outside the event horizon of a black hole. Three hundred years later a mining ship, the Eureka Maru, stumbles across the Andromeda. The crew, led by Rebecca Valentine, frees the Andromeda and in doing so,also awakens Dylan Hunt. Devastated to find the Commonwealth, to which he had dedicated his life, has fallen, Hunt recruits the crew of the Eureka Maru to restore the Commonwealth to it original glory. Based on yet another concept by Star Trek creator Gene Roddenberry, Captain Dylan Hunt and his ship, the Andromeda Ascendant, are trapped in the even horizon of a black hole for 300 years.  Awakened to find that the galaxy he devoted his life to has collapsed, Hunt enlists a new crew to rebuild what has been lost.

The full article is here.

January 16

The Go Ahead Was Given...

  Over at Cleveland Live Entertainment, there was an interview with Tim Hagan, husband of Kate Mulgrew. Three-fourths of the article is with Tim, but, there is a brief quote from Kate, and a two paragraph statement made from Brannon Braga saying the Paramount has given them the gren light to develop both a fifth series and a tenth motion picture. Here is whqt he had to say...

"There's a concept, but it's in the very preliminary stages," said the 1983 graduate of Canton McKinley High School. "It's just way too early to talk about, because there are so many ideas on the table. We're all in agreement that it needs to be "Star Trek' - it needs to embody the "Star Trek' philosophy, but it also needs to be a little bit different."

"It can't just be another group of people on a ship with a different name. It has to have something about it that will give people a compelling reason to watch, without straying too far away from the core elements. How exactly that will develop is hard to say at this point, so I couldn't imagine anything getting on the air before January or fall 2001."

  Well, I guess we can all start the rumour mill up again. Personally, I think it's time for Mr. Braga and Uncle Rick to take a step back and let someone else bring in a "Fresh Trek" perspective. But, thats just me. if you want to read the interview with Tim Hagain (like I said, I put everything Braga said up for ya), then, just go on over here.

January 14

Kess Returns/Three EON articles...

  I first saw on Guinan's Bar and Grille (an awesome site) that Kess (Jennifer Lein) will be making a guest appearance on Voyager, re-visiting her role as Kess. Then, I went to EON magazines site and saw three article on Star Trek, one of which is an interview with Ethan Phillips (Neelix), where he says "I heard Jennifer Lein will be on the next episode," Phillips says of the actress who plays Kes, confirming that the character will return for an episode despite her evolving into some kind of higher energy form and leaving the series in the fourth season episode The Gift. Guinan's site added that this episode will present Voyager and her crew with another giant leap home. I will put a link to all the seperate articles at the end of this report.

  Another article has to do with the original captain, William Shatner. He, or maybe I should say his likeness has been put on display at a function on a "merry-go-round". This one isnt a ride, but what will be turning on the stage will be figures from entertainment that spans all areas, music, movies, etc. The carousel art, created by 34 students from SVA, is on display at the auto show through Jan. 16. The art piece will move on to Chicago, Ill., where it will be displayed at Union Station during February and March. It will then be displayed in April and May in Union Station in Washington, DC. If you follow the link to this below, you will be able to read the full story, PLUS see some of the Carousel art that they have posted.

  The third and final article is EON's ""Not_Coming_Soon" section on Star Trek. They apparantely added some to this page, however, since I have to get some sleep so I can be at work in a few hours (I hate workin the 2-10 shift), I didnt have time to read it. But, the link will follow. I will be back tonight will further updates, either here or on my Behind The Scenes page (o O, since I cant ever update my site until after midnight when I get off work, it might be tomrrow to some of you. Right now, it is 4:44 a.m. on the 14 just in case some of you were curious).

Ethan Phillips interview is here.

William Shatner News is here.

Eon's Not-Coming-Soon section is here.

January 13

Mulgrew a Happy Camper...

  Howdy folks. Hope ya'll (yes I am 100% Texan) are all doin well. Over at the Canadian Internet Network, they have posted an interview with Kate Mulgrew in which she says she is totally happy with the series right now. Although, she admits I wouldn't say I was tired of the show. I was preoccupied with my private life -- which I think is fair," she explains of the period. It is a pretty short little interview, but she also lets us know her thoughts on when the crew should get back to the Alpha Quadrant, and a couple other things. You can check it out here.

TV Guide Awards Time...

  The TV Guide Awards have actually been happenin for a few days now, but I thought I would post it anyway. According to the official Jeri Lynn Ryan Homepage, Jeri Ryan (Seven of Nine) has been nominated as Best Actress in a Drama by the editors of TV Guide, for the 2000 TV Guide Awards. Ballots for voting are available in both the January 8-14 and the January 15-21 issue. So go get your copy and get that sexy thing some votes!! Also, at the TV Guide website, you can vote for your favorite shows in five categories. Of course one is Sci-Fi/Fantasy and obviously, Voyager is on the list. You can place your vote by going to thier website here.

More Trek: Series V Talk...

  Ain't It Cool News has struck again with some interesting info. Seems there was a group session where a discussion about three possible directions the next series could go. The focus group consisted of about 10 people, representing all demographics (male, female, young, old, all races.). It's NOT a Paramount "focus group" or anything so grandeous. But, if you would like to check it out, it's right here.

January 9

Howdy My Friends!!!

  Howdy folks. Sorry for such a long time in updating the news section, but I had some unforseen things come up. But, I'm BACK :-). Hope you will forgive me and let's see some more signatures on the guestbook!!! :-). On with the news. (And I have also finished the Behind the Scenes" section of "Star Trek: Phase II", check it out!!!)

Majel talks New Series to Sci Fi,

  Majel Roddenberry told Sci Fi that two series proposals have been rejected by Paramount (as everyone has already posted on the net, but I thought coming from her mouth directly would be, what?, more "Official"?) Here is the brief article.

Paramount Studios has rejected two pitches for a new Star Trek television series from Star Trek: Voyager executive producers Rick Berman and Brannon Braga, Majel Roddenberry told SCI FI Wire. The studio plans to air a new series once Voyager ends its seven-year run next season, "but it's not giving away any information to say they've already turned down two premises that have already been handed in," said Roddenberry.

One premise centered on a much younger cast than in previous series, and another was based at a non-Federation outpost, said Roddenberry, whose own involvement with the franchise is limited to providing a voice for the computers. No new ideas have been pitched since the last one was rejected. "I think everyone is taking a little vacation right now," she said.

Roddenberry added that a proposed tenth Star Trek feature film is "on the back burner for the while."

I posted the full article there for you, but if you want to check it out, you can find it here.

Two more Sci Fi articles....

  Sci Fi has posted two more Star Trek articles. The first pertaining to a group of Trekkers organizing to bring back the "Old School Star Trek" type/feel for the next series. Here's a little snippet.

Trekkers, the die-hard fans of the Star Trek franchise, are organizing to pressure Paramount Studios to consider actor George Takei's idea for a new series to replace Star Trek: Voyager. The International Federation of Trekkers fan group wants Paramount to endorse a series featuring Captain Sulu (Takei) in command of the USS Excelsior, a show with the look and feel of the first six Trek feature films.

The full article and the url to the group doing this can be found here.

The second has to do with Roxann Dawson's interview. Such as:

Roxann Dawson, who plays half-Klingon Chief Engineer B'Elanna Torres on Star Trek: Voyager, wants to avoid the type-casting that has plagued her Trek colleagues "I'm just an actor," she told the San Antonio Express-News (MY HOME NEWS PAPER!!!!). "I go from job to job. And once we're through doing Voyager, I'd like to be able to move on to the next job without any restrictions, without having to be B'Elanna for the rest of my life."

You can bet your ass I'll be double cheking all my papers, and if there is more in the interview than what "Sci Fi" has posted, I will put the whole article up here for ya'll!!! In the mean time, this short part of it can be found here.

January 3

Happy New Year Everyone!!!

  Happy New Year my fellow Trekkers. Welcome to the year 2000. I hope that all of you are going to make the best of this year and everything goes YOUR way! Being that I was unable to find very much news this evening, I am punching away at my newest section right now. Along with attempting to put all of December's news on one page, without it looking like crap. My apologies for the way the Archives look at the moment, but I will have that remedied soon. Well, back to the Behind the Scenes pages. Back tomorrow with more news. I PROMISE!!!!