Jan 17 | Variety reports that film studio Constantin has acquired the German film, VHS and DVD rights to produce "(T)Raumschiff Surprise" (spaceship / dreamboat), a gay STAR TREK spoof based on a German television sketch show.

Jan 16 | StarTrek.com reports on an effort to rename a segment of highway in El Paso, TX after Gene Roddenberry.

Jan 15 | Sci-Fi Wire reports on TDK Interactive's new STAR TREK: SHATTERED UNIVERSE game for the PlayStation 2 console. The game will find the post ST6-era Excelsior stuck in the mirror universe.

Jan 12 | Former TREK illustrator Rick Sternbach recently discussed his NEMESIS work and thoughts on ENTERPRISE at StarTrekUK.

Jan 10 | The Patrick Stewart Network reports that the actor will appear in the documentary THE SHAKESPEARE SESSIONS on PBS February 16th.

Jan 08 | The Official STAR TREK Fan Club and home of the STAR TREK COMMUNICATOR has launched its all-new web site.

Jan 07 | Paramount has created an award consideration web site, including STAR TREK NEMESIS, submitting the film and others for Academy Award consideration. (Thanks to 'Matt Klamm')

Jan 05 | Palm Digital Media reports that the STAR TREK NEMESIS novelization was the #3 selling e-book in December 2002.

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(0 comments | Add) Buy new STAR TREK toys to support TrekWeb! Posted: 00:00:35 on January 06 2003 By: Steve Krutzler Dept: TrekWeb Features STAR TREK: THE NEXT GENERATION Complete Seventh Season DVD Gift Set 7 discs 25 episodes, 6 extras Retail: $99 Streets: December 31st, 2002 (U.S.) TrekWeb’s Rating: Purchase the set from any of the following merchants to help support TrekWeb: Amazon.com Amazon.co.uk Best Buy Other merchants in the TrekWeb Store menu Written by Steve Krutzler Our first DVD review of 2003 also marks the end of an era. With the NEXT GENERATION possibly gone forever after the domestic performance of STAR TREK NEMESIS, the television series’ final collection of episodes provides both a window to look back at the excellence of Gene Roddenberry’s creation and an opportunity to say goodbye to the characters many of us grew up with, one last time. While some fan circles have tended to view the seventh season as off the mark, with potentially outlandish stories like the crew de-evolving in “Genesis” or Doctor Crusher’s love affair with a ghost in “Sub Rosa,” you can’t help but be struck by the creativity of a season of television that was produced at the apex of STAR TREK’s popularity, and earned modern TREK’s only Emmy nomination for creative work—Best Drama Series. With the second season of DEEP SPACE NINE in production, VOYAGER going into pre-production and GENERATIONS about to shoot, the seventh season of ST:TNG was less an ending than a new beginning; a rebirth that nine years hence seems a distant memory. Browsing the seven discs for episodes to watch is something like being in a candy store. You want to leave the fully-intact (as originally aired) “All Good Things…” for last so you jump into “Parallels,” the intriguing episode about Worf traveling through multiple universes. From there you hop to “Interface,” the Geordi virtual reality story that includes nice friendship scenes with Data, something to savor with new meaning after watching NEMESIS. “Gambit” is next, that two-part adventure episode that took advantage of Picard’s archaeological ambitions, followed by the satisfying near-consummation of Picard and Crusher’s tantalizing history after seven years in “Attached.” Some are silly, like the season premiere “Descent, Part II,” the conclusion of what was arguably the series’ poorest two-part episode. Some are overly ambitious, like the delightfully imaginative “Masks,” while the love letter to scientific method is pleasantly saccharine in “Thine Own Self.” Season seven is littered with penultimate scenarios, like the phasing cloak in “The Pegasus,” the alternate realities in “Parallels,” a romance between Troi and Worf and even the destiny of Wesley Crusher in “Journey’s End.” By the time the season and series finale comes around, it’s no mystery why Michael Piller’s writing staff was recognized by the Academy. The Final Journey “All Good Things…” is the perfect cap to the season, erupting in a brilliant combination of scientific imagination, character indulgence, and romp-roaring adventure. Easily the best finale of any STAR TREK series, “All Good Things…” is not just an adventure episode or a goodbye to the characters, but as Q intimates, a brief glimpse of what STAR TREK has to offer and a spectacular summation of what THE NEXT GENERATION presented in its seven years on television. The final moments were written in an incredibly optimistic time for the franchise, when nothing seemed impossible and there was no end in sight. Perhaps it's this optimism that guided the show’s final episode to a level of inspiration that none of the four TNG movies, for better or worse, have approached. In fact, one almost wishes GENERATIONS had been scrapped for a big screen version of this very story. Companion to Roddenberry’s “Encounter At Farpoint” and the product of the series’ boundless love fest with scientific possibility, “All Good Things…” may represent the apex of what in retrospect has been cynically termed “technobabble.” From inverse tachyon beams to static warp shells to temporal reversion phenomena, TNG’s final episode succeeds where a gluttonous misuse of such terminology jaded writers and viewers alike in later spin-off series. John de Lancie delivers one of his best performances as Q, playing both the ruthless villain of “Farpoint,” the clown of “Qpid,” and the sage confidante of “Tapestry” in one performance that brings his character and his relationship with Picard full circle to enormous satisfaction. In this and other ways, “All Good Things…,” for all its scientific chicanery, is anything but devoid of the human element. Whether its Worf and Picard arguing in the future about the Klingon’s unswerving loyalty or Beverly and the captain sharing a tender moment in the ready room, you’ll be surprised just how much the characters seem to grow before your eyes, even as the episode resets in the end. You might even be surprised to realize that we had a sneak preview of Geordi’s ocular implants long before FIRST CONTACT. The Extras We begin with the seventh installment of the MISSION OVERVIEW program. Full of interview footage with some of the personalities who haven’t had much screen time in the other six seasons, Rick Berman talks broadly about the chaos of 1993-1994, Brannon Braga nonchalantly remembers the seventh season as the year that every character discovered a family member, and archival footage of Gates McFadden explains her delight at being given more to do during the show’s final year. Emphasis is placed on tying up loose ends and accordingly, Wil Wheaton has several prominent minutes, talking about the ultimate destiny of ‘Wesley Crusher’ in the episode “Journey’s End.” Michael Piller and Jeri Taylor discuss the need to set up VOYAGER with episodes about the Maquis on DS9 and the Native American theme of “Journey’s End,” which though not directly stated, was meant to setup the character of Chakotay. Despite the haphazard focus in the season suggested by Braga’s segment, Piller reminds us that this season was recognized with an Emmy nod. CAPTAIN’S TRIBUTE is essentially 16 minutes of Patrick Stewart talking about the rest of the cast and recalling personal stories about each of his fellow actors. As with the rest of these DVD sets, the seams between featurettes seem only superficial as the format, organization, style and even content of all the programs suggest that they all could’ve just been edited into one hour-long program. This is most apparent here, where the segment’s distinguishing factor is simply that it’s comprised solely of Stewart interview footage and some behind-the-scenes shots. DEPARTMENTAL BRIEFING: PRODUCTION rings in at 15 minutes and sometimes steps on the other features as well, with only half devoted to production issues and the rest concerning the writing of particular episodes. Typically this series involved a plethora of behind-the-scenes footage of visual effects, set and costume production, but here we only get such material with Gates McFadden recalling her directorial debut with “Genesis,” Westmore on the make up for the creatures in the episode, and visual effects artist Ronald B. Moore on creating the multiple Enterprise shot in “Parallels.” The balance includes Braga discussing both episodes, explaining his inspiration for the scripts with a fair amount of cynicism like, “back then, the idea of multiple universes on STAR TREK was ‘woo hoo!’” He seems keenly aware of the audience displeasure with the plethora of such “weird anomaly” stories that followed these early, pioneering TNG entries over the years. Notable is writer/producer Jeri Taylor on giving the women on the show more episodes and Marina Sirtis discusses the “strong yet non-aggressive” female she tried to play in the series. STARFLEET MEMORIES is nearly a half an hour of reminiscing along the lines of the earlier CAPTAIN’S TRIBUTE, but this time everyone jumps in. Interesting is archival footage of Michael Dorn and Marina Sirtis teasing each other on the set and a touching montage of the unknown faces behind the scenes that brought the series to life. Rick Berman waxes poetic about the lack of Emmy recognition for STAR TREK’s actors and seems almost teary-eyed when discussing his legacy as the man who took over for Gene Roddenberry. THE MAKING OF “ALL GOOD THINGS…” is easily the best featurette on the disc, at 17 minutes, blending footage of writers Ronald D. Moore, Piller and Taylor discussing the genesis of the episode. Moore says he wanted to do an episode where Q went insane and the universe started falling apart as a result—it never happened but Piller did want to use Q again. Make up artist Michael Westmore discusses aging every one of the crew for the future segments of the episode, with behind-the-scenes footage of applying the prosthetics. We also get a lot of archival interview footage with Denise Crosby from 1994, who genuinely thinks she never left the show! Tucked away at the end of the disc is a delightful preview of February’s STAR TREK: DEEP SPACE NINE DVD sets. More than just a trailer, this five minute segment includes interview clips with the actors, archival behind-the-scenes footage and other goodies that will be on the upcoming discs. From Berman and Piller to Avery Brooks, Colm Meaney, Nana Visitor, Andrew Robinson, Michael Dorn and producer Ira Steven Behr, there’s plenty of preview material here to get DS9 fans excited and Paramount should be applauded for including a substantive extract rather than just a trailer. Final Thoughts Although the DS9 sets are well into production, principle dictates that the limitations of these TNG sets be reiterated briefly in the hope that improvement will result. While the menu of extras has been satisfying, episode commentaries and outtakes and bloopers are significantly absent. Edited scenes from key episodes, hinted at for instance by Westmore when discussing the “Genesis” make up, are also excellent candidates for future series DVD sets. The cardboard packaging leaves a bit to be desired and just how long it’ll hold up is anyone’s guess—at about $100 it’s not too much to ask that future sets be crafted in durable plastic. More defined featurettes, with narration would also be welcome, as would images of script notes and storyboards. Season seven's menus present us with a most brilliant introductory computer rendering of Picard's ready room, but fall short by jettisoning the convenient "four corners" presentation of the disc's episodes--something that on previous sets aided in recognizing what a particular episode was about without having to select it first by depicting scenes in the four corners of the menu screen. The engaging DS9 DVD preview, however, isn’t quite enough to wash away the sentimental feeling after watching “All Good Things…” Prophetically titled, TNG’s final episode outshines all four feature films in both vision and energy. We’ve likely seen the end of the STAR TREK Gene Roddenberry had a hand in creating and as appropriate as the bittersweet conclusion of NEMESIS is, episode 747 remains the true swan song for Picard, Riker, Data, Geordi, Worf, Troi, and Crusher (and of course Q and Tasha). If all good things must really come to an end, then the future that TNG proposes for humanity in this episode couldn’t be a better prescription. There's also no better mission for this faultering franchise than to look toward the limitless possibilities of its own existence. © 2003 TrekWeb.com. All Rights Reserved. React to this story below and then see what others are saying about this topic at the STAR TREK BBS. Join our monthly e-mail newsletter!

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