Newsletter of the U.S.S. Chesapeake Star Trek Club April, 2004 Deep Space Nine beams into Spike TV line-up Star Trek: Deep Space work before it was purchased by Paramount, Nine journeyed from the Spike TV has shown reruns of The Next Gen- edge of the final frontier to a eration for several years and will continue to Odo is featured in one cable television channel near you when it air that show each weekday at 1 p.m., 2 p.m. of Spike TV’s promos joined the regular slate of programs on Spike and 8 p.m. for Deep Space Nine. TV on Monday, April 5. Deep Space Nine premiered in January of To celebrate the arrival of DS9, the net- 1993 in the highest-rated series debut in work aired nine consecutive episodes of the syndication history and earned four Emmy series every day that week before moving the Awards during its seven-year run, which is show to its regular time slot of 7 p.m. Monday now available on DVD. Voyager is expected to through Friday. join its fellow Star Trek programs on Spike TV Also on Fridays, Spike TV will air a two- in late 2006. part episode of Deep Space Nine, uncut from Scott Bakula (Captain Jonathan its original broadcast, beginning at 9 p.m. with Archer) is doing the rounds of the talk shows no black bar at the bottom of the screen and this week to promote the final installments of limited commercial interruptions. Enterprise’s third season. Fans of the third Trek series can also mark On Thursday, April 15, Bakula will be the occasion by entering to win a four-day/ setting his alarm early to appear on The Early three night trip for two to Las Vegas, where Show on the CBS network. The newsmagazine they can enjoy the Borg Invasion 4D and runs from 7 to 9 a.m. each morning. Klingon Encounter rides at Star Trek: The Live with Regis & Kelly is scheduled to Experience. have Bakula as a guest on the following day, Those wishing to take part in Spike TV’s Friday, April 16. Live with Regis & Kelly is Deep Space Nine Sweepstakes must complete syndicated, so be sure to check your local the registration form at www.spiketv.com listings to see it in your area. before May 1. Winners will be chosen on May Enterprise returns from reruns on April 21 15 at random from all entries received, and the with “Damage,” which will pick up where grand prize winner will be notified by email “Azati Prime” left off. New episodes will be IN THIS ISSUE: within one week after the drawing. shown every week through to the season Art Credits 3 Book Review 2 Originally known as The Nashville Net- finale, “Zero Hour,” on May 26. Club Members Insert front Coming Events 6 Don’t miss the April club meeting! Directions to Meeting The next meeting of the U.S.S. Chesapeake upcoming Trek and sci-fi conventions, find Insert front Holodictation 6 will be held on Saturday, April 17, the first day out what fellow club members are up to and Meeting Minutes of spring, at the Montgomery Village, Mary- get the latest on Star Trek news, as well as an Insert back land, home of First Officer Abby Lindstrom. update on other areas of science fiction. Rantings 5 Reflections 4 We’ll gather around 6 p.m. at a nearby Do you need directions to this month’s Science Trek 3 restaurant for dinner, then head to Abby’s meeting? Then please be sure to check out the home for the meeting by 8 p.m. insert that is included with this month’s During the club meeting, we’ll discuss newsletter. Volume 13, Issue 4 Captain Randy Hall’s column will return in BOOK REVIEW: Avatar by S. D. Perry this space next “Return to the Edge of the Final Frontier. incredibly biased when it comes to DS9, so month! A bold new beginning for one of the most don’t listen to me. I nitpick and need to be compelling Star Trek sagas of all.” taken with a grain of salt where Deep Space This is the blurb on the back of Book One Nine is concerned. of Avatar, the first story in the much-antici- You can believe this: If you’re a fan of the pated “Deep Space Nine Relaunch” paperback show, you WILL be a fan of these books! series from Pocket Yes, the pacing and plotting are definitely Books. This novel like the series, and for most of us, that’s a picks up right where blessing. Even when some questions are “What You Leave answered, the answers only serve as spring- Behind ...” ended, boards for more questions. and I do mean There are lots of new characters, and I’ll PICKS UP! tell you this: They don’t all survive. I believe On an archeolog- you have to have that threat in any type of ical dig, Jake un- storytelling, if just to keep your reader honest. earths an ancient Not to mention that it also keeps your stories Bajoran artifact with fresh and unpredictable. Granted, there are an inscription that some who wallow in the mundane and the convinces him he will obvious, but it’s really hard to believe that This collage features enter the wormhole and “come back with the these people were ever fans of the show. the covers of Book One and Book Two Herald, the lost messenger who communed The introductions of the new characters of Avatar. with the Prophets—and in time to witness the are deftly handled by the author, making them spiritually significant birth of an alien child.” real and not just expenditures. You bleed for Ro Laren is the new chief of security on the the new guys, and one new character is certain station. Kasidy Sisko’s baby is getting ready to to raise the hair on the back of your neck, at beam aboard. The U.S.S. Aldebaran, assigned least at first. Overall, Avatar is very well done, to guard DS9, is destroyed by three Jem‘Hadar due to a good grasp of the regular characters Copyright 2004 strike ships. And the Enterprise makes an and a nicely told story–though I am bothered U.S.S. Chesapeake appearance, but not where you think. Several by everyone calling Kasidy Sisko “Kas.” Only NCC-9102, a not-for-profit other storylines are going on as well, and Jake actually called her that, and that was at organization. that’s just Book One! the end of the last episode. Other than that, All rights reserved, Book Two opens with the after- the story is perfect. including reproducing parts of math of a devastating Jem‘Hadar These books are this document. attack on the station and a enough to make a would- series of random killings. be novelist turn in his Check out our club website: www. A rogue Jem‘Hadar word processor. They usschesapeake.org soldier is running loose, are that GOOD. Every “Star Trek,” “Star killing several people time I finished a chap- Trek: The Next and putting Doctor ter, I had to resist the Generation,” “Star Bashir in critical condi- temptation to re-read it, Trek: Deep Space Nine” and “Star tion. Kira, Ro and the newly but I knew if I did, I’d never Trek: Voyager,” arrived Commander Elias finish the story. And once I fin- as well as the terms Vaughn race the clock to find him ished Book One, I had to fight the temptation “starship” and “starship Enterprise,” before he can carry out his directive: the de- to read all 284 pages again. are registered struction of Deep Space Nine! But if you think that once you’re through trademarks of I consider this story to be the start of the with Avatar, all your questions and aspirations Paramount Pictures Corporation. much-wanted eighth season of Deep Space will be fulfilled, think again. You’ll be waiting All rights reserved. Nine. It has everything I could ask for. with bated breath for the follow-up books, Absolutely no Author S. D. Perry has a good grasp of the which in my opinion, take too long to come infringement on these rights is characters we already know, and she takes out, but then, I’m impatient. intended. them into new and exciting territory. I do Ratings: Book One—-1/2; think that Quark occasionally lapses into un- Book Two—. COMSTAR, page 2 Quark-like behavior, but I’m a purist and Conn Officer Lorenzo Heard SCIENCE TREK: The sky is falling! More precisely, rocks from the sky are meteorite striking the moon and caught it on falling to Earth; maybe not today, but they did videotape. in yesteryear, and they will again in the future. Risky business More scientifically, meteoroids and asteroids The solar system is less cluttered today, orbiting the sun find their orbit modified by but perhaps just as threatening. NASA’s Near the gravitational forces of other bodies in the Earth Object Program has observed nearly 54 solar system (e.g., Jupiter) and within a few percent of the estimated 1,100 potentially million years cross Earth’s orbit when our hazardous (see the definition on the first planet is in the way. Pretty spectacular to see, NASA page in Web Notes) near Earth. The if you’re not on Earth when it hits. estimate, though, has varied in recent years Blasts in the past both up and down, and that’s just the “small” Not as spectacular, perhaps, as those blasts stuff.