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15 Publication of the U.S.S. Chesapeake and Science-Fiction Club January, 2009 Trek XI won’t be “too steamy;” Abrams assures fans of quality Despite hints in the trailer, don’t expect Television Critics Association press tour. “It Star Trek XI to be too steamy, according to honors what’s come before, but I didn’t really Chris Pine, who plays James T. Kirk. make the movie just for the people who are al- As reported by E!Online, in spite of Pine’s ready inside, because I like Star Trek but I was previous statement that the Star Trek franchise never a massive fan. So I think the movie’s go- Chris Pine says not to expect crazy sex in had been “sexed up for a new generation,” ing to not satisfy everyone, of course. It can’t. Trek XI. don’t expect anything that goes over the line. But it’ll satisfy most of both.” “It is a different Star Trek, but there’s no crazy Abrams made another effort to respond to sex scene,” said Pine, speaking at the HBO William Shatner’s recent YouTube interview, Golden Globes party. “There may be some in which the original Kirk actor disputed ever bare midriffs, but you know it’s been a long being asked by Abrams to appear in the . time since the bikini was invented, so I don’t “I think what Mr. Shatner was responding think we’re going to ruffle any feathers.” to was a misunderstanding,” Abrams said. “I Pine had previously predicted that the was quoted as saying we tried to get him in scene in which Uhura (Zoe Saldana) is shown the movie. What I meant was we were trying in her bra while changing would “become internally to find a way to take a dead charac- famous.” Another trailer scene showed Kirk ter and resurrect him without it seeming lame. in a provocative scene with an Orion woman We couldn’t figure out a way to do it. When (Rachel Nichols) in what was said to be one of I said we tried to get him into the movie, he the two love scenes in Star Trek XI. read it as if we were trying to call him. I would With the release of Star Trek XI several not have wasted his time with a bad idea.” months away, Pine is ready for what is to Finally, Abrams talked a bit about the come. “I’m waiting patiently,” he said. “I’m ships in the new film, following up on a com- like an 8-year-old on Christmas Eve.” ment by screenwriter Roberto Orci who had Trek XI director J.J. Abrams says that called the space battles as still being maritme- the new film should appeal to both existing influenced. “They’re big ships, so there’s a fans and people new to the franchise. little bit more flash, fun and action than you’ve “I would say that the fans of Star Trek will seen before,” Abrams said. “There are some be very happy with the movie,” Sci-Fi Wire pretty spectacular visual effects. [Industrial quoted Abrams as saying during the recent Light & Magic] outdid themselves.” In this issue: Art Credits 3 Captain’s Log 2 It’s Hard Times again for the first 2009 meeting! Club Members Insert front The next meeting of the U.S.S. Chesapeake what fellow club members have been up to re- Coming Events 6 Star Trek and Science-Fiction Club will be held cently, as well as discuss the latest news about Directions to Meeting Insert front on Saturday, January 24, at the Hard Times Star Trek and other sci-fi television shows and Meeting Minutes Cafe located in College Park, Maryland. feature . Insert back We’ll get together at 5:00 p.m. to order our Do you need directions to get to this Phasers on Fun 6 dinner. As usual, our club meeting will start month’s meeting? Then be sure to download Reflections 4 Science Trek 3 no later than 7:00 p.m. this month’s Insert, which is in our Yahoo! Wayne’s Worlds 5 During our time together, we’ll find out Group. Volume 18, Issue 1 CAPTAIN’S LOG: Of Gods And Men As a big fan of “independent produc- Kirk had never been born (yeah, like George tions,” I’ve been interested in Star Trek: Bailey), I’ve referred to the project as “It’s a Of Gods and Men for a while, but my old Wonderful Trek.” computer’s lethally So, let’s see. Where did I leave my Clint slow dial-up speed Eastwood hat? Oh, here it is. And by the prevented me from way, if you don’t want to be spoiled regard- watching it—until ing the plot, move along to Phil’s column for now. the month. The film was The good: There is lots of fun in the directed by Tim Russ movie, including some fannish ideas that (Tuvok on Voyager) had rolled around in our brains for a while, and featured many of such as who would win in a battle between the actors whose con- Charlie X and Gary Mitchell. It was great to tact with Trek had just see other actors strutting their stuff decades been playing a charac- after a one-shot appearance in Classic Trek. Alan Ruck, Nichelle ter in one episode about 40 years ago. I liked a lot of Russ’s directing as well. In Nichols, James Cawley That reunion included Lawrence Mon- one segment, a weapon is fired at the planet and Walter Koenig take a break during filming taigne, who was Stonn in “Amok Time;” and below, and instead of viewing the trajectory of Of Gods and Men. Robert Walker, Jr., who played Charlie from the planet’s or starship’s perspective, Evans during “Charlie X.” we follow the missile in a beautiful sequence On the other hand, several actors who that intrigued me. had already been in Trek came back in dif- The costumes, props and makeup were Copyright 2009 U.S.S. Chesapeake ferent roles than the ones they played before, absolutely terrific, and Chase Masterson is NCC-9102, a such as Cirroc Lofton (who was Jake Sisko in very … green. not-for-profit Deep Space Nine) portraying Sevar, a half- The bad: Occasional deviations from organization. All rights reserved, human, half-Vulcan son to Uhura and her Trek continuity baffled me. For example, including husband, Stonn; and Garrett Wang (who was Uhura, Harriman and Chekov were stand- reproducing parts of Harry Kim in Voyager), was Garan, a suspi- ing right next to the Guardian of Forever this document. cious and devious security officer. and were thrust into a new timeline. That Check out our club Two other parts interested me. The first flies into the face of the episode “City on website: www. usschesapeake.org was the casting of Chase Masterson (Leeta the Edge of Forever,” when Kirk, Spock and the Dabo girl on DS9) as Xela, a sultry and other Enterprise crew members were said to The opinions very green Orion slave girl; and J. G. Hertzler be protected from the alterations because expressed in this publication do not (Martok from DS9) as Kovar, an ambitious they were near the Guardian. necessarily represent Klingon first officer on a very different En- Now, I realize Charlie X’s power could those of the terprise. have changed that, but it would have been entire club. The original script focused on Chekov nice to have that explained in a line or some- “Star Trek,” (Walter Koenig), Uhura (Nichelle Nichols) thing. “Star Trek: The Next Generation,” “Star and Sulu (George Takei). However, Takei While I absolutely loved the special ef- Trek: Deep Space was on his “I’m Gay and I’m OK” tour when fects, I think the big battle in space could Nine,” “Star Trek: filming was to start, so his part was rewritten have been cut in half to be made more dra- Voyager,” and “Star Trek: Enterprise,” for Alan Ruck (Harriman in Generations). matic. as well as the terms Many of the internal starship shots were Still, it’s nice to see someone who had “starship” and done at the New York base for Star Trek: too much FX than the alternative of not hav- “starship Enterprise,” are registered Phase II, which led to James Cawley getting ing enough. trademarks of a part in the film as a grown-up Peter Kirk, The ugly: The item that bothered me Paramount Pictures Corporation. who is all over the fan films lately (including most was Charlie Evans’ conversion to All rights reserved. the new “Blood and Fire”). the side of the angels. While the universe Absolutely no The premise was an interesting one: is hanging by a thread, Uhura sang (yes, infringement on these rights is “Legends come together one last time … SANG) to encourage Charlie to do battle. intended. to destroy each other.” Since the movie And then, Charlie says something to the featured what life would be like if James T. continued on page 6 COMSTAR, page 2 SCIENCE TREK: The fantasy village is closed The world of fandom lost two icons last Looks like he missed a show that appeared week: Patrick McGoohan, 80, and Ricardo on NBC (rival to The Prisoner’s American Montalbán, 88, on January 13 and 14, respec- broadcaster, CBS): Star Trek. Of course, men- tively. tioning that little show would have One is best known for his role as a spy blown his paradigm out an airlock. and prisoner in an enigmatic village, and the Speaking of Trek, it appears other for starring as an enigmatic host and a the white whale called death finally megalomaniac dictator who was overthrown caught up with Khan Noonien (and cast into space). “This is Ceti Alpha 5” Singh. A They were as dissimilar as their back- veteran of stage, film and televi- grounds: McGoohan, a son of Irish parents, sion, Montalban is best known for was born in New York City, raised in England his roles as the mysterious Mister and died in Los Angeles. Roarke of Fantasy Island (definitely Montalban was born in Mexico City to not SF) and Khan in Trek’s “Space Spanish immigrants, spent his teenage years Seed” and The Wrath of Khan (most in Los Angeles and his career in those cities definitely SF). and New York. He died in Los Angeles. It’s The two roles were quite dif- fitting that these men should pass through the ferent (Can you imagine Khan in “Great Barrier” in the city of angels. a pressed white suit?), but Montal- McGoohan was not known for science- ban’s talent brought them both to life. fiction roles (though I suppose Mel Gibson’s For those whose memory Braveheart could be considered historical fan- reaches back that far, I wrote a tasy). Still, we can view his career as a study column on Wrath of Khan in April in happenstance, chance and coincidence. 2006 in my “Science by Season” In the 1940s, for whatever reason, he be- series (shameless plug: SbS IX on came a stage manager for a repertory theatre STV coming in March). company, which led to his becoming an actor, Not one of my observations whereby he appeared in a production in the dealt specifically with Khan, so let’s West End (London’s Broadway), where he look at what his superior intellect was noticed by Orson Wells, who cast him in accomplished: saved many of his “Moby Dick Rehearsed,” which gave him big- followers after a planet-wide envi- ger and better opportunities that in turn won ronmental disaster, took control of him a role in a Henrik Ibsen play, after which a starship (but apparently missed he was given the leading role in Danger Man the section on “override” in the aka Secret Agent, and the rest is history. manual), unsuccessfully tortured a is not all astronomy, bi- bunch of scientists and figured out ology and transwarp physics. It is also sociol- how to activate the Genesis device Top: Patrick McGoohan ogy and other so-called soft sciences. The (okay, he read that manual). in The Prisoner. Bottom: Ricardo Mon- Prisoner and its village of eccentric and myste- And not once did Khan mention anything talbahn as Khannnn! rious characters—er, numbers—is an excellent about the “soft Corinthian leather” of Reliant’s opportunity to apply those sociological and command chair. psychological (Lorenzo...) skills you’ve picked There’s a long line of actors—stars, extras up from years of watching television. And it’s and unknowns—waiting for these two gentle- got Rover, the intelligent bouncing ball o’ fun. men on the other side. Their gain, our loss. The obituary in Wayne’s newspaper One last sociological comment: In a world ART CREDITS: quotes a Robert Thompson of Syracuse where Hollywood marriages last about as long images.google.com University: “‘[The Prisoner] was an early taste as this sentence, Montalban was married for 1, 3, 4, 5, Insert back of really complex, literate and thematically 63 years until his wife’s death, and McGoohan Insert front dense programming” at a time when most for 58 year-long spins around the sun until startrekofgodsandmen.com 2 Americans were used to talking horses, genies he passed away. Even in the realm of wedded sev.com 6 as hapless homemakers and courtroom shows bliss, these two men set the bar high. where Perry Mason wins every case.” Second Officer Phil Margolies COMSTAR, page 3 REFLECTIONS: Earth’s fourth season revisited “They have come to Earth with the and all of those writers returned for the fourth promise of peace. An alien race called the season, which explains the return to stability Taelons. But there are those who resist these and a much more even and pleasing season. Alien companions. For the Taelons’ true mis- It was obvious from the beginning that sion, the secrets they hide will forever alter our the show was back world. The fate of humanity now relies on those on track. Even who dare challenge the future of Earth.”—Sea- though there was son Four introduction kind of a mass As I mentioned last month, Earth’s third exodus of main season was less than successful. Not terrible, characters in mind you, but not as smooth as the previous this season, the seasons. departures were Part of the reason was turnover, inside deftly handled and and outside. Not only was there actor turn- mostly foreshad- over, but producer and writer turnover as owed throughout well. Granted, the audience is most affected the season. The with the actor turnover. They empathize with writers knew who certain characters and do not bode well when was leaving and these characters are no longer around. made sure it was As many of you know, I don’t care about reflected in the Augur, Liam and Lilly actors. In the immortal words of Alfred scripts in an intelligent manner. lead the resistance in Hitchcock: “I suppose they have their uses, but The writers even started foreshadowing Earth: Final Conflict. to me they are not unlike cattle. They perform the fifth season in the middle of the fourth. a service, and it’s on to the next one.” They were really on top of things and weren’t I may not be as harsh as “Hitch,” but I afraid to take chances, something most shows understand where he’s coming from. I like a NEVER do, and they made it work. The fourth lot of actors, but I don’t watch a show or a film season was not the complete return to the just because these actors may be involved. glory of the first season, but they managed to In the immortal words of Shakespeare, make a little history in the process of produc- “The play’s the thing.” If it ain’t on the page, ing genre television. it ain’t on the stage. I don’t care how bril- When we last left our heroes, Lilly was in liant the actor may be, if the script ain’t right, labor with a Human/Jaridian hybrid child. something’s wrong ... Hmmm, let’s see how Liam and Renee Palmer were helping her de- many more theatrical cliches I can spew out liver. Da’an helped make sure that the Human/ here. I’ll try to contain myself. Jaridian child lived. The Jaridians were dying, My point is that the turnover in the writ- and Vorjack (the child’s father) had hoped that ing staff contributed much more to the un- the child would hold the key to their salvation, even third season than the turnover in acting but this did not happen as expected. Lilly and talent. Vorjack escaped with their child and Liam’s An unstable writing staff is a disaster wait- blessing. ing to happen. Just ask the folks on the staff Augur ran into trouble with the law and of Star Trek: The Next Generation in the first was forced into hiding. He offered his friend season. While that show’s first season was not Juliet Street the opportunity to take over his the disaster a lot of people claim it was (That role in the Resistance, and she accepted. She was due to the presence of Gene Roddenberry proved savvy and intelligent. and Maurice Hurley, who kept it all together.), The Resistance went above ground once it was ....well, uneven. A writing staff needs again when Renee and Liam teamed up with stability and a clear vision. This is why there is an international group dedicated to defending a “Head Writer.” His job is to keep the scripts human interests against the Taelons. on the chosen path and protect the vision. Toward the end of the season, we discov- The last half of the third season became ered that the Taelons were also dying off since more and more stable as the season went on, continued on page 6 COMSTAR, page 4 WAYNE’S WORLDS: To DVD or not to DVD Now that the fifth season of Stargate who don’t enjoy science fiction to join us so a Atlantis has come to an end, the future of that show can survive. For example, a lot of people particular show lies in DVDs. who wouldn’t dream of turning on a “starship” This continues the trend begun by the show will watch Eureka on the Sci Fi Channel. program’s predecessor, Stargate SG-1. After Another example was The 4400 on the USA sales for two SG-1 films stunned MGM by Network. So many people who despised sci- how much they could take in, I guess it was no ence fiction where I work loved that show. surprise that Atlantis would follow suit. When I asked these people if the shows are After the 2008 Writers’ Strike, television science fiction, they always said, “No, it is just a ratings have been in quite a slump. And that’s drama or comedy about people.” bad news for science-fiction fans. I remember the producers of ABC’s Inva- Sci-fi shows tend to be expensive, with all sion telling reporters that it wasn’t science the unique make-up and special effects. It’s fiction, not at all. Aliens landed on Earth and going to be much more difficult for networks are replacing human beings -- nah, that’s not to want to invest that kind of money into a science fiction! show that is likely to only get a certain audi- Honestly, if a pay-per-view channel with ence. It is show business, after all, and it makes science fiction started, I’d support it whole- more sense to keep the costs down so the heartedly. We need new ways to offer new profits are as high as possible. freedoms in programming. I know that some folks think that science I’m tired of shows that masquerade as “ac- fiction, like other forms of art, should be made tion drama” and expect science-fiction fans to just for the love of it. If that would work in automatically step in line. the real world, I’d be all for it. But especially in Where has all the REAL science fiction the current economic environment, I don’t see gone? You know, the programs that dealt with that happening any time soon. the human condition or what the future might I think that MGM may be on to something bring? There are precious few of those around here with direct-to-DVD productions. any more, and I want them to come back. Science-fiction fans will save their hard- It’s been a long time since I watched a earned money to buy things they want to sup- show and said, “Wow, that’s really daring! I’m port. Look at all the action figures, costumes, glad they challenged my thinking that way!” statues and video games we’ve bought over Battlestar Galactica has been the closest thing the years. Perhaps it is time to put our money to that in years. where our mouths are and buy DVDs instead I say it is time to abandon hope for the of expecting the networks to provide program- broadcast networks. If we want science fic- ming for us. tion, the kind that we really enjoy, we need to The head of the department I work in explore new avenues. I don’t want any more walked into a store and saw the new Star Trek Knight Rider or Bionic Woman-level shows. It’s Pez dispensers. He immediately bought one insulting, really. I’ll likely still watch what the for me because he knew I’d want it. (He was networks offer if they come close, but not with surprised that I knew they existed, but he was a lot of enthusiasm. happy that I hadn’t purchased it yet.) And I don’t think cable will able to fill the I think this is the way we’ll have to sup- void, either. They are now just as ratings-hun- port science fiction in the future. We’ll have gry as the “big 5.” It wasn’t long ago one cable to communicate with each other so we can channel wanted to be the “Action Network.” let people know what is good and what isn’t. Also, the networks are infamous for We’ll have to use the Internet to do this as well tinkering with successful shows so “they can as local friends. We may have to host viewing attract a larger audience.” I’d much rather see parties to show others about DVDs we really creators fulfill their dreams. Will every project like so we can turn them on to it. It may be be a success? Of course not! But it is time we harder than simply turning on the television, had more than just a few science-fiction fans but I think it will be worth it. making genre shows. Right now, we’re dependent on people Chief of Security Wayne Hall COMSTAR, page 5 COMING EVENTS JANUARY January 24 ...... The next meeting will be on Saturday, January 24, at the Hard Times Cafe located in College Park, Maryland. We’ll gather for dinner at 5 p.m. Our monthly meeting will begin no later than 7 p.m. Don’t miss our discussions about the upcoming Farpoint convention in February!

FEBRUARY February 13-15 ...... It’s time for Farpoint 2009! Check out the new location: the Crowne Plaza Hotel in Timonium, Maryland. Guests will include Alan Tudyk, Harve Bennett and Phil Weyland. Don’t miss it!

CAPTAIN’s LOG: Of Gods And Men (concluded) continued from page 2 While Mitchell would say how fragile hu- effect of “You’re right. I’ve been evil, but man life is, he would threaten Rand, and that I’m gonna change that right now!” would cause Charlie to do battle with Mitchell. I’d much rather have seen Charlie actu- Rating: b b b. ally team up with Gary Mitchell. Then near I promise to get back to my comics re- the Guardian, he could have brought Janice views, though a lot is happening in the Trek Rand (yep, Grace Lee Whitney was there) to universe these days. the planet to demonstrate his power. Captain Randy Hall

REFLECTIONS: Earth’s fourth season revisited (concluded) continued from page 4 went down to the regeneration chamber just as the their core energy was almost spent. More Jaridian fleet led by Vorjack arrived on the scene. and more, Taelons were entering stasis, and Zo’or, greedy to ensure his own survival, Zo’or became increasingly desperate to save touched an energy pool in the chamber and his species. was absorbed into it. Liam convinced the Ja- Finally, Liam and Renee discovered a re- ridians to attempt a “joining” with the Taelons generation chamber hidden deep in a volcano, which, it was believed, would return them to set in place long ago by Ma’el (the Taelon who an earlier evolutionary form better suited to first visited Earth). Liam realized that all spe- survival. As the volcano erupted, the joining cies were interconnected, and he must play a procedure began with Liam’s help, but it was role in saving the Taelons. He brought them unclear who or what would survive. out of stasis. To conserve energy, they com- Next month: the coveted fifth season. bined their essence in just six Taelons who Conn Officer Lorenzo Heard

PHASERS ON FUN: Sev Trek

COMSTAR, page 6