The Final Frontier 8

home *** CD-ROM | disk | FTP | other *** search

/ The Final Frontier 8 / Final Frontier 8 (Disk 4 of 4).adf / LCARS / TextFile / Conventions / Con_Reports_1.pp / Con_Reports_1

Wrap

Text File | 1995-02-19 | 33.2 KB | 572 lines

TF01 3,Convention Reports - Part 1 4, Another helping of news and views from the world of Trek conventions! Just the one con report (although it is a little on the large side!), but we've another helping of photos and a massively expanded news section. Thanks to Tim Gaskill of the Official UK Fan Club and Anne Page from the Fan Convention Diary for helping out with some of the information on forthcoming cons. CONTAGION '94 --------------- Holiday Inn, Glasgow, Scotland -------------------------------- Report by Edward Woo ---------------------- Thursday - working between Cumbria and Merseyside and the M6. I spent 10 hours on the train to London and back with a brief visit to Forbidden Planet which had no photographs of Worf. It was 10.30 pm before I got home and began to pack for the con with clothes, food, maps et cetera, finishing at 30 minutes past midnight (Friday am.) Friday - Eight hours later I was up. First some cereal, followed by ham sandwiches and apple pies for the journey north. Fortunately there were only three bags to be loaded in the car. With biscuits in hand my first stop would be Motherwell. Heather and family won't be going to the con so I dropped off a load of videos and Trek merchandise for her to view the weekend. She's an avid Star Trek fan but couldn't go the con' because of her children. She gave me tea and sandwiches and told me of her brother who buys the videos but has not the courage to come to a con or an Away Team meeting yet. Urge him to do so, he'll have fun meeting us! I was back on the M8 to Glasgow and negotiated the traffic signs to the heart of Glasgow, arriving at about 2.30 pm and into the underground car park into place number 12 as 13 was already occupied. There in the car park was Scott as we said our hellos mentioning he was the only Contagion crew member who had arrived yet. One flight of stairs upto reception to find Sheila, Philip and Gary in the foyer. The hotle was not quite ready yet and so many of us had to wait for our rooms so we chatted. Stephen, Carol and Frances arrived and it seemed there was a mix up in rooms and so those on the fifth floor might not get to much sleep because of the proposed Klingon party. Philip mentioned Unicon was a poor con with it finishing in the afternoon and a video prepared by flip chart and no Majel as well. The hotel problems included many including Karinn's accomodation who was shunted in the central hotel despite registering with me sometime last year. I had seen Karinn only a week and a half ago whilst on business in London where she works. Sheila said they would be staying at Valerie's tonight as she only lived nearby saving a days hotel costs. Finally, I got my room key, first in and first choice of bed (still only 2 keys for a triple the whole weekend. It's a hotel policy despite 3 of us paying for the room.) Our room was on the 3rd floor, easy enough by stairs but this time Helen and Margaret were on the 1st floor after last years Fridays night Trek trivia till 3:00 am. The room was bigger with 2 double beds but missing another bed, not quite we did have a castor wheel. No Sky TV but everything worked, so I started filling the hotel complaint form. Took the nearest bed to the wall and flaked out. After a shower, shave, tidy up and munchies I left the unpacking except getting the battery charger going with one socket as Simon wanted the other socket, so Baggy would have none. It was later that I found Vicki, Judith and Taruka, next door and the newly formed USS Unicorn. The hotel was not quite ours as there were a group of Americans visiting. I spoke to one couple who said they enjoyed ST and I explained to them that we made money for charity as well as enjoying ourselves. The water fountain was not working but it later ran. That's one thing I spotted but I failed to notice the 6ft drinks machine on our floor 'til Simon pointed it out later. Baggy didn't see it either. Made my way down the stairs to Philip on the Balcony discussing Unicon when I saw Simon arrive with friends and I gave him a shout from above. I returned to my room to meet him and we were able to catch up on all the Trek news, swap photo's of T'kon and he handed me the Generations film script to read. Picard dies and the Enterprise blows up for starters. We were joined by Simon's friends, a projectionist and the person who will type this into the computer I think. I've forgotten both your names - sorry. After comments about food, Trek, photo's, news clippings there was a knock on the door. I answered the door and some young lady stood there in a hat. I was half expecting to say she had the wrong room when Baggy's head pooped from the side. We hadn't expected him to arrive so early as he is usually late. He said "Hi!" carrying luggage and Graham's paintings in hand. Jane was the other person and it was her first con. Baggy's our punching bad for the weekend and we joked about his lack of bed, and the extra facilities for another person. Whilst Baggy and Jane read the script and Simon and company debated about food, I popped into Glasgow to collect my kilt costume and get some money from the Barclay's machine and to see a man about a bed. During my ups and downs on the stairs I bumped into Jean who was actually in Manchester this afternoon and had intended to drive upto Scotland but last minute work commitments meant she took a plane in desperation to get to the con. This meant she left her car at the airport and had reduced her lugagge from 3 to 2 bags. This meant she left a lot of 'zines for the IDIC table behind. She wouldn't give me her room number after last years wakeup call despite me having more Trek bits and pieces for her to read. It was 7pm and Stephen had got his con package being a senior steward and so was Ian. George had opened up registration early so room 144 was invaded by the attendees. it was still only 7.30 pm with an hour to go before the evenings video session. Found Harminder in the hotel lounge and Julie, Gerry and members of Lust. It was there first 2 day con as they normally do 1 day only. Lynn, I do like late night duties - always. We all used the steps to the eighth floor to watch The Maquis parts 1 and 2, Preemptive Strike and The Jem Ha'dar. I chose to suck an ice cube during the 3 hours. Keeps you cool despite choking a few times. We still had a problem with the lighting in the room but the hotel staff finally cured it. The loss of a Galaxy class starship in one episode has to be seen to be believed. Baggy and Jane came in for All Good Things as we exited. Dave "Comics" Houston was also due in the back saying he'd join saying join us in the bar later. He said Taruka had arrived somewhere. Gary's gathering had gone to see the Flintstones but I still prefer the cartoon. Let's hope Washington do better next year with a new coach and old and new faces. Simon and I joined Harminder, Michael and friend at the lounge bar for the next two hours. Margaret and Lynn joined us as well. I've forgotten that drink again. Harminder had to live as he was local and would be back early tomorrow. The real discussion was point was cons being professional and amateur and the future of Trek, the new film and Voyager. It was 1 am before we returned to our rooms. Baggy was asleep and we had set up 4 alarms. His, Simon's, mine and the hotels for 7 am or there about. Baggy did have a bed as one had come during the evening. Why is it always that the first night con beds are the most difficult to sleep in. I don't thik I really slept at all, it was probably the heat and even the noise of the heating system didn't help with the rumble of fans. At least I didn't have the problems of Margaret and Helen who had a leaking hot water tap that did eventually get repaired. Over that weekend, one lift failed, the right handside one must have been overused but it was working again within hours. Trek fans must be a heavy lot. Saturday - several wake up alarm calls but there was no rush to get up. In fact one alarm went off and we didn't know which one it was, I thought it was the hotel's but it was John's. Artificial light is a real eye opener in the morning - best to use one eye at a time. Whilst I remember, Baggy had asked the committee about a Michael Dorn cement print but there was no answer yet. John had bought a set of Pizza Hut mugs of the original series and TNG to see if any of the Americans wanted to buy. Richard Arnold also tried to con Baggy out of a set as well. It took time for us to dress and we even watched Joe 90 before we went to eat breakfast. From what I remember, it was juice x2, cereal and a mini fry up. It's always a slow start on the first day for food. Dawn and friend sat adjacent to us. I thought her accent was American. It was Scottish as she tried to sell me a copy of the original series blueprints. I got my set for £2.00. Simon felt weird as he was only an attendee this time, no steward badge, so he couldn't get a front row seat for the talks or photographs. After running conventions, being an attendee can be a relief except you can't get into the dealers room first. To make matters worse, Baggy and Jane were the first-aiders, carrying pocket pinchers for a few hours each, in Baggy's overnight bag. Honey and jam pots. There was a stewards meeting this morning but I completely forgot about it but Jean told me there was nothing I already knew of the job. Being a red badge holder I got into the dealers room early to drop off a few white Horta items for Moira and then spent some money on two photo's of Michael, one for me and Simon to be autographed by him later. From what I saw there were plenty of goodies and a couple of American dealers. The book I wanted, the authorised biography of Gene, none of the U.S. dealers had bought over so I will have to wait. Carol and Michael of Starbase had arrived at 7.30 am after driving overnight and were leaving Sunday as Carol was working on Monday am. Hello to all those members of the Away Team I met including Alison, David, Lorraine, John (KAG) and new members of IDIC. Not long since we saw Doctor M'Benga and a male nurse whose name I've forgotten, Marguritte and husband, Peter of Childwall and Jean's friend, Frankie. I saw Anne Page and Jacqueline of South Wales who I both saw at T'kon. Jean wanted the book "The Man Behind The Ears" and I told her that a dealers table had it. She came back saying the queue was too long and then I reminded her she was a steward and could go in early anyway! The art work was put in the dealers room, one or two pieces I had seen before at past cons. There were more exhibits than last year. Of the model and art exhibits, there was a DS9 space station, a Cardassian ship and an old style Klingon battle cruiser. The most impressive art work included a Worf portrait, Geordi and Scotty from Relics. Odo and Quark and a neat one of Picard, Riker and the Enterprise D. The picture of Worf was eventually autographed by Michael Dorn later. As attendees gathered, it was coming upto noon as we queued outside the main hall for the opening ceremony. Wheel chairs and the walking wounded got in first otherwise the would be a mad rush - rightly so. With my camera and bits and Simon's tape machine, we all waited patiently. We heard that our guest of honour was in the hotel having just flown in this morning. The doors opened and we were in. I chose the right side of the hall and got onto the second row next to Margaret, saving seats for Karinn and Jean. Jean needed it as she was taking notes for IDIC. The main rooms decor had changed and there were two new Star Trek theme posters on the stage but no orange ST bridge from last year. George came onto the stage announcing we were only a few minutes late but that's usual anyway. First came a group of Klingons including Gaile and a bunch of Klingon children and took root in front of us. Not forgetting Alison and Lorraine in their Klingon outfits. Next George mentioned that our first guest would be Terry Shuttleworth from CIC who came out to an appreciative audience. The next guest needed no introduction, and was not getting one, but a real favourite of Star Trek fans, Richard Arnold. He duly bounded onto the stage and said hello. Finally, what everyone had been awaiting, our Next Generation guest, Michael Dorn. Michael was first escorted by a group of Klingons carrying ceremonial torches with a hooded Klingon ambassador who later turned out to be a Ferengi/Klingon i.e. Stephen. Michael approached the stage to huge applause with a troop of Klingons beside and behind him. Michael was about to get into his talk when George intervened saying his guest spot would be in half an hours time and not just yet. So the whole stage gathering moved off stage and so the con had officially begun. Mr Dorn was still jet lagged and was staying at another hotel but would be on soon. With a bit of time available till Michael's first U.K. convention appearance we sat ourselves in and chatted. Philip was only a few seats behind away and Baggy and Jane were for the first time close to the front row. Jean was ready with her note pad. One pm arrived and Michael Dorn arrived on stage to a huge ovation and muiltiple flash photography. I got a couple of shots, hopefully they will come out. He was a commanding 6ft 3 inches tall and was very pleased to be in Scotland. He began talking about himself, his character and TNG in general. He mentioned on voice overs, he's always been compared to James Earl Jones. He does an excellent impression of Patrick's voice and Brent. He takes the mickey out of Patrick being English and Lord and Master. Especially as Patrick drives a Jaguar and does Pontiac voice overs. He says there is a lot of playing about on the set and one time Patrick leaped up over his tactical station and he found he was carrying Patrick Stewart in his arms literally. He jokingly said Patrick from England comes to the U.S., takes our money, our cars and our show. Patrick did have some pronunciation problems and Michael loved making fun of it. Patrick is just great fun and they have just finished making the movie Generations, he said go and see it once or twice. During filming he was forbidden to fly, his favourite hobby, now that he's onto jet fighters now. He said he started flying during the writers strike early in the second season and now does it as often as he can. He described how the pony tail was his idea for the seventh season and how he got the part originally. He knew what a Klingon was at the audition and pretended not to and came to rehearsal with a Worf like attitude and got the role. Michael asked for a drink and got a glass and a bottlefull, the committee member got a kiss. Then George came out with a tray of drinks for Michael but I don't think he was going to get a kiss from our guest. Michael continued on saying that his mother only worries that he has a job and has only finally come to realise his fame in ST after 7 years. Michael admitted he hates prune juice and regularly gets gifts of it and left it in his fridge one time only to find out that his mother was concerned. He replied it's all to do with ST. He said that this is sort of average size for a convention as he has done it for as few as 100 people to as many as 4000. He felt he would have liked the Troi relationship to have developed further and would liked Worf to be a better father to Alexander. As to a DS9 cross it would have to be Worf even though he enjoyed playing Worf's grandfather in STVI. After 1.5 hours Michael had to finish and again he left to a huge ovation. He is an excellent guest speaker and we really enjoyed it. Can't wait until tomorrow. As the hall emptied I stopped Simon's tape, I later checked it and it seemed to have recorded everything Michael said. Jean said she wouls need a second notebook for tomorrow's talks. A lot of people were heading towards Forbidden Planet as Michael was scheduled to be signing autographs - in fact a couple of hundred went. Baggy got his denim jacket signed with other Trek guests he's got on it. With a brief respite from the fray, I went back for tea and sandwiches till Richard Arnold's talk was due to begin. To another capacity audience I caught the last half hour of All Good Things before our Star Trek consultant Richard arrived. Richard had a stall in the dealers room and was doing good business in trading cards and Taruka bought three sets. I hear Judith spent £98 on Trek goodies. Fortunately I spent most of the day browsing before buying - the following day just one Starlog and CineFantastique. As the main hall was being reset up for Richard, the crowd gathered for his slide show. As he was running late he had to stand astride two parts of the stage with microphone in hand and slide controller. He even foung the zoom in and out control for the slides. So began his famous behind the scenes talk. We had a slide show of DS9 second season and TNG seventh season. We had a couple of shots of Generations including Kirk, the Klingon bridge from STV and the Enterprise B. The effects are done by ILM and David Carson is directing. He said no one from DS9 is leaving as they have just started filming season 3. DS9 is still behind the ratings compared to TNG. There is no chance of an 8th season TNG as the sets have been ripped for Voyager. So if Voyager fails they would have to rebuild the whole set. DS9 has already felt the budget pinch because of Voyager just like the NG cast previously. Paramount has been making money since the 5th season of TNG and hopefully DS9 by the 3rd season. Richard thinks that with Jeri Taylor in charge, Voyager will be okay, but still the Paramount bosses want a male captain, but Rick is holding out for a woman captain. ST has made Paramount over $650 million profit and rarely does it listen to the 5% who are the true fans. He said the film, video and merchandise divisions rarely talk to each other, but if ST sales are affected, the divisions do make murmurs to others to get their act together. The title of STVII is not being used otherwise Paramount has to pay the contracts of the original actors. It looks like DS9 may well have a permanent starship assigned to the station in the 3rd season. When Marina and Jonathan asked about doing Voyager, Paramount were only prepared to pay a fraction of what they earned in TNG. In fact, this problem of money is best exemplified by the Ted Danson scenario who gets $300,000 per half hour episode of Cheers whilst the whole cast of TNG per episode is $200,000 for the 7 cast members. That's what Brent says all the time, Ted Danson. Levar's recently had a baby and Jonathan's wife Genie is due very soon. Richard's talk came to an end and we had a special treat in the single Queen "Bohemian Rhapsody" soundtrack was intermixed with the NG clips. It was an excellent pieced video and editing by a couple of attendees who did it over three weeks and the video would be up for sale in the charity auction. In fact CIC wanted a copy of it as well and it went down very well with the Trek audience. The people who did it might be doing one for the Klingons later. At 5.30 pm it was Terry Shuttleworth's guest talk and he's the man from CIC video with the latest DS9 and TNG releases. He's also responsible for Northern Exposure and Quantum Leap. I would have liked to have stayed but other things were pressing. It gave me an oppurtunity to get into line for Michael Dorn's autograph. Jean got part of his talk on Trek on notepad. Simon stayed for Terry's talk whilst I returned back to our room to find Baggy stretched out on his bed, tired out. Jane was still reading the Generations script in between her medicine and bananas. In the meantime we were shouting to people from our window to Jean, Donna, Margaret et cetera, just for fun. The next time I will shout to passerbys, let's hope they are not in the middle of road crossings, eh Baggy? John left the window to our room open so we could see it from below later. In fact it even rained today. Baggy had headed for the bank whilst I headed for the 8th floor and autograph queue. Tried to persuade Scott to give me a head start but no joy. I joined the rest and started talking to an attendee - it was his first convention in 14 years after being in the Territorial Army. I would like to thank various new IDIC members who thanked me for my writings in the newsletter. And to all the others who have not written something yet, please do. Whilst waiting Dave joined the line and got a brief word and then Pearl arrived. She started talking about her neck operation and the use of staples to hold the flesh together whilst it healed. This is to be done by her doctor in between Star Trek conventions in September. The autograph queue moved far quicker than last year and we only waited 25 minutes to be in and out. We were in and out and got Michael to quickly give his autograph on a colour photo of Worf. I carried onto Richard Arnold and mentioned Baggy who was tired out. He autographed my NG Technical Manual as he was a contributor to its contents. Thanks, a great book. Jean mentioned that we should have an IDIC meeting up in Scotland but the time table is a bit congested at a con. Only ran into the IDIC committee briefly in the hotel for quick chats, but passed on a few more stamps to the Guide Dog Collection. Blue Circle cement. Next was dinner and trying to gather as many people as possible. Eventually Harminder, Ian, Baggy, Donna and Adrian headed for Pizzaland. I was still trying to drum up others as Jane grabbed me and we followed the rest. She said I kept on stopping to talk to people. We had intended to go to a cafe but ended up at Pizzaland like many others with a table for seven. There was a slight drinks order confusion concerning diet cokes and Sprites but eventually the waiter was able to cope. Next mixup was the pizza orders aver 7" and 10" pizzas but Ian and myself eventually sorted it out with the waitress confused. I mentioned to Baggy about the last Peking duck question as it was not the true version. We told the Pizzaland staff we would be only here for the weekend for them to survive. Simon, our room mate was off to dinner with Tim Gaskill and Terry Shuttleworth doing interviews for his magazine and the UK Official Fan Club - it had been prearranged. Donna was the Quantum Leap fan and Ian our senior steward was now detached from his headset. After food was consumed we headed for the door not forgetting our discount by showing our badge numbers. We all wandered back in good time to find the first part of the Ceilidh had already started. The fancy dress would be an hour later. Asty the alsatian was in attendance with owner and I'm sure she was one of the people in the Victorian top hat and tails. Jacqueline Comben had also bought her two dogs along and this time she didn't get lost in the Glasgow streets like in Bradford. With time to spare it was back to our rooms, so I could climb into my kilt. I did it for a bet last year and this time just for fun, getting it fitted the right way around. Jane was in a dress whilst Baggy had a shirt and tie, but denim jeans. He said the only kilt he would wear is an English tartan. Down to the mayhem of the main hall to find various costumed SF characters, waiting for their spot light. Our resident Ferengi- Klingon, Stephen had taken off his tailor made mask of rubber, Frances was a defective Borg, Carol - Consellor Troi once again, Taruka in a wrapped around sheet, or that's how I'd describe it only to be revealed in the fancy dress. Carol and myself tried to make our way forward for the fancy dress but ended up near the entrance doorway. Not the best view for photographs. Jean thought Baggy was in a kilt but only saw his upper half. The fancy dress began with the following entrants. A distinctive looking kitchen foil Cylon with a roving red eye, an ancient Klingon warrior, a Klingon Laurel and Hardy duo, a Star Wars speeder bike rider and X-wing pilot, a Scottish kilted Klingon, a fluffy looking Federation bear officer which I liked, the ever macho colonial marine, Taruka's skimpy Bolivian costume, a holidaying surf board Ferengi, a defective Borg with car aerial, another Troi, more Klingons, a character from Masks and finally a Klingon male nurse in red hair. There were plenty of video camera's including a German TV crew and CIC were in the process of making a video about ST fans and those who wanted to be in it were welcome to be interviewed. We had another gentleman with his tape and microphone getting views of all Trek fans and why they came. Myself, Gaile and many others were now on tape. I can't remember which of the entrants won the fancy dress but I was able to a few shots of the participants. Dave had arrived but was too late to enter his Christmas card outfit as it was a Christmas Ceilidh and we even has our Christmas tree with lights. Unfortunately we missed the panel discussion about the futre of ST fandom, due to food and fancy dress - anybody know how it went? Part 2 of the Ceilidh was next and it's far better than a disco - it's a real crowd puller. It's great fun and it's a bit of a problem if you don't know the steps but you soon learn. At least I got to dance with some lovely ladies. Jean whose been practising on the side, Donna, Fran, Mhairi and Jane who swings fast. After one hour of dancing you needed a rest and drink especially in a kilt. Jean had a bruised ankle - not of my doing I hope. Taruka and Dave stayed only a short while as shw was stewarding at 2 am and wanted a bit of sleep beforehand. During the break we had a Father Christmas Ferengi giving sweets and crisps. One packet included a free registration to Conundrum next year. Jelly Babies are the best, head eaten first. Karinn should have stayed as it's far more fun than video watching. So one more final hour till just before midnight with everyone doing Old Lang Syne. As the Ceilidh broke up we sat around watching various committee members clearing up the hall discussing what to wear next year. Baggy has come in a kilt and I would consider some sort of military uniform like Jim's, the confederate army uniform, maybe a calvary officer. Like you said Jean it takes me slowly to pluck up the courage over the weekend to wear a kilt and a DS9 uniform tomorrow. Simon joined us as he had been to the Klingon party and it was great fun on the 8th floor, even worse than the Stewards party tomorrow. Baggy took a couple of photo's of my kilt outfit before I returned to my room to get out of it and cool down. It's nice and impressive to wear, but hot. It was now 1am so we went to see some original Trek videos missing the end of Saturday Night Live with Patrick. I thought it was really funny but Harminder didn't think so. With a couple of chairs as seats or beds I watched Where No Man..., Corbomite Maneuver and part of Mudd's Women. I was stewarding in that room anyway at 2 am. John went off to bed at about 2.30 am, In fact I was awoken by the steward who I was relieving at 2 am or a bit before and so missed a bit of The Corbomite Maneuver. By then I was alert again. As the videos were on long play we just kept an eye on its running. Ieven signed in this year for my duties - as I remembered. What was missing was the little TV screens by the videos in the main hall so the stewards could watch it at close range. Come 3 am it was time to sleep, everyone else was in bed as I searched my way to the pillow. Tomorrow's, sorry, today's wakeup was a little different. Sunday - slight miscalculation as we had folk music on the radio at 6.30 am until I turned it off. The 7.30 am hotel alarm call sounded and having slept better I made my way to the bathroom at slow motion speed. One way to wake people up is to draw back the curtains for the sunlight or turn on the wrong light switch and get a fluorescent glare. As with any Sunday you want a lie in but there were only videos till noon. Well planned. After a wash, shave, and general wake up alert, Simon and myself were down to breakfast or up for breakfast if you've had too much and travelling in the lift at the time. I can't remember where we sat. It was somewhere in the restaurant. All I can remember is two fruit juices, cornflakes, bread and the bacon fat builder and several cups of tea as Simon likes his coffee and hates decaffinated coffee. Somehow I can't remember much of that morning even though it's only been a week as I write this report. I'm sure it was well past nine o'clock before the dealers room was open and again did my homework of what I wanted to buy. There was a 3D chess set that I had a look at but the instructions were brief but had no idea who had wrote them or where printed. I got my CineFantastique of the Trek trilogy from Futureshock. I must have sort of wandered for a little bit between rooms, floors et cetera and phoned home to let them know I was still alive. Decided I needed a good seat for Richard's second talk and so made my way in the dark along the side walls to the video room where Liasons was being shown. Once again Karinn and Jean joined me on the second row for Richard Arnold's Voyager talk. At 11.45 am Richard began with a video by A&E (whoever that company is) about the life and works of Gene Roddenberry including US adverts in all. It ran a good half hour and when it came to the section on Gene's last few minutes it was emotionally described by both Majel and Marina's reaction later. The doctor had wanted all of Gene's family to leave whilst attempting to save his life but Majel said no and they all stayed till he passed on. I, like many others, were caught by the description of Gene's death and there were plenty of sniffles in the hall and I shed a tear or two at that point like many others . When it was finished there was a tremendous round of applause - it's well worth watching and getting if you can. With the lights back on and off - there were a few problems with the lighting system, even to have the dealers room plunged into pitch blackness. Richard jumped up onto stage and was ready with the Voyager news. He said he had misadvertantly left the cast sheet of Voyager on the table yesterday and so couldn't do what he was proposing. Luckily someone passed him an unofficial listing and he was able to describe the characters. The captain of Voyager would be called Elizabeth Janeway and as to the actress it's unlikely to be Kirstie Alley (wouldn't take the salary drop) and Lindsay Wagner would be good but still expensive. Viacom want a male lead but Rick and Jery are fighting for a female lead. Other characters include a native American, a Vulcan security officer, a holographic character and an alien. Richard felt the Vulcan security officer at 150 years old would be too old to be active. The doctor couldn't touch anyone but could only advise and the idea of an ugly alien should be described as a different alien. It seemed none of the possible characters from Lower Decks, Preemptive Strike and the Maquis would be returning to Voyager. Richard thought TNG is Gene's idea of the Enterprise travelling through space whilst DS9 sits there and Voyager is returning back. As to the effects being done on film and ILM, they would continue to do so even though the Babylon 5 and Seaquest DSV done computer i.e. cheaper. It's unlikely Paramount would throw away 7 years of experience to buy brand new equipment. Personally Richard thinks films and models look better on screen. Plus the fact the same effects team has been retained for Voyager. Voyager has only been signed up by 55 stations over the last months where as with TNG only 200 stations were signed up in one weekend. DS9 is feeling the Voyager costs and publicity as being a new show. Richard also had an impromptu vote about TNG, DS9 and Voyager and it would seem the majority of the fans would prefer TNG to continue. Voyager is expected to start filming in August and the director is ready and is just waiting for a cast. There will be 21 episodes of Voyager expected to air in February to coincide with the UK launch of the film Generations. Paramount is only interested in making money and does not care about the fans and, if the film or Voyager fails, Paramount might just say that's it for Star Trek and might even cut DS9 at the end of the third season blaming the fans for lack of interest. Richard's talk came promptly to an end as Michael was due on next at 13:15 hours. To be continued...