LATEST TNG & DS9 SCHEDULE & CONVENTION NEWS FROM TREK/DWARF, LEICESTER, ENGLAND
For those who don't want to read the rest of the news, here's the latest uplink schedule first (I've even got my maths right on the number of DS9 episodes this time!)
ST:TNG
244 Starship Mine 27 March 1993
245 Lessons 3 April 1993
(then two weeks of repeats)
246 The Chase 24 April 1993
247 Frame of Mind 1 May 1993
248 Suspicions 8 May 1993
249 Rightful Heir
250 Second Chances
251 (filming now)
252 (Borg cliffhanger)
ST:DS9
412 Vortex 24 April 1993
413 Battle Lines 1 May 1993
414 Story Teller 8 May 1993
(was If Wishes Were Horses)
415 Inner Conflict
416 ?
417 ?
418 ?
419 ?
420 (season finale)
(Shooting on both series finishes 20th April)
Now, for the news. *** SPOILERS FOLLOW!!! ***
I'll take this episode by episode. There's less DS9 stuff than TNG as most of the convention attendees hadn't seen any DS9 when the talk was given. Also, I wonder if Richard Arnold doesn't get to find out as much DS9 gossip as he does TNG?
TNG
---
"Man of the People": Troi's ageing make-up was actually the same prosthetic moulded for Patrick Stewart in "Inner Light". This was due to budgetary problems (DS9 gets all the money!) and Marina was *not* impressed. BTW, when Patrick saw her setting in the make-up department, he initially didn't recognise her. "Ahem. Good morning, Patrick...". Patrick does a double-take, "Marina???!"
"Relics": Clips for the old bridge footage came from "This Side of Paradise". As you probably guessed, the lines spoken by Data at the Ten-Forward bar were intended for Guinan, but Whoopi was not available for shooting that day. The original script intended Scotty's line "Lassie, I've been drinking this stuff since before you were born" to prompt her to reply "I kinda doubt that..."
"True Q": The Q-girl was going to be called Samantha, but it soon dawned on them that her witch-like powers could cause some confusion with another TV Samantha...
"Quality of Life": The author, Naren Shankar, is the series' technical author, after whom the planet Narendra III (from "The Defector") was named.
"Chain of Command II": The original script had Picard remaining naked throughout the rest of the episode, but they decided this wasn't fair on Stewart.
"Aquiel": This was a bit tricky for LeVar Burton as he had just come back from his honeymoon, and had to play all those romantic scenes... with his *ex-girlfriend*!
"Birthright": The girl definitely stays behind with her parents. Some people thought she might have left, apparently.
"Starship Mine" (dir Cliff Bole): All of the crew are off the ship while it is purged of gas (or something). The ship is stolen by terrorists. Somehow, Picard is still aboard and must try to save the day, while the rest of the crew are being held prisoner on the planet.
"Lessons": Love story for Picard. At 3am, Picard can't sleep and decides to get a drink and do some work, but Stellar Cartography are using up all the computer power (hmmm....). When her gets down to the lab to find out what's going on, he opens the door and ruins the experiment. However, he and the Lieutenant Commander doing the work fall for each other. (She is a pianist, and we have another scene with Data playing the violin).
"The Chase" (dir Jonathan Frakes): Norman Lloyd (St Elsewhere) plays Picard's old archeology tutor. He tries to talk Picard into leaving Starfleet and going off on some mega-important dig with him. Lots of dilemma. Eventually, the ship gets roped into this trip anyway. Loads of aliens: Klingons, Romulans, Cardassians and some new ones.
"Frame of Mind": Riker is taking part in Bev's theatre group, playing a man in an insane asylum. As time goes on, he inexplicably finds himself in a real asylum, and the story mixes between these events. The others try to rescue him, but he doesn't trust them. A 'what the heck's going on?' sort of story.
"Suspicions": Dr Crusher is accused of murder. While she tries to investigate a killing, a second murder takes place - and this time, she is the only one who could have done it! Whoopi makes an appearance in his one.
"Rightful Heir": Worf goes to a Klingon spiritual world to seek some answers (after Birthright). Gowron is in this episode, plus a *load* of Klingon extras.
"Second Chances" (dir LeVar Burton): Tackles the Riker/Troi romance.
Season 7 is confirmed, after which there will be a very short break (2 weeks) before the cast start filming Star Trek VII for a Christmas '94 release. Yes, a TNG movie. Anyone who doesn't sign up for season 7 doesn't get to be in the movie. BTW, Patrick has signed for season 7, but not anyone else yet - but they are all very likely to! :-) The movie will probably feature some of the old cast (Shatner and Nimoy have been approached, apparently), but the cost would be prohibitive to have all of both casts in major roles. It's all in the melting pot for now, so expect lots of changes over the coming months.
DS9
---
"Past Prologue": The female Admiral was played by Leonard Nimoy's wife.
"Vortex": Another 'fabulous object' story, and the Ferengi naturally want it.
"Battle Lines": (another) terrorist story.
"Story Teller": A young girl meets Nog and the Sisko Kid, and the overhear some aliens plotting. Much of the story is set on Bajor, which is where the story teller of the title comes in.
"Inner Conflict": Nog has something he wants to sell. Kira spends much of this episode on the planet, with a Bajoran group.
Tidbits
-------
Stephen Hawkins (sp?) is indeed a big Star Trek fan. When his "A Brief History of Time" was released in the US, several of the Star Trek cast attended the premiere, including Nichelle Nichols and Leonard Nimoy. Leonard actually introduced the piece, much to Hawkins delight. He also visited the TNG sets, and asked if he could be lifted out of his wheelchair and sat in the Captain's Chair to have his photograph taken. He *really* wants to appear in the series (he asked almost everyone he met, apparently) and they are actively looking to see if a cameo role can be created.
Guinan is meant to be about 700 years old.
Hugh Borg might be back at some stage - maybe in the season seven opener?
Adam Nimoy (Leonard's son) will be directing another episode.
Brannon Braga tends to write all the fear/psychosis/etc stories. Richard Arnold joked he is a well-known paranoid, and is afraid of everything, so that makes him an ideal candidate to write those stories.
The Enterprise is still technically on a 15-year deep space mission, although this has been largely ignored in the series.
Both series officially cost $2 million per episode, but since Rick Berman gets it all as a single budget, funds tend to get diverted from TNG into DS9 (that being the prestige project at present) - which is annoying some of the TNG folks a bit.
Bill Theiss (costumes) died in December. I can't remember seeing a post to that effect, so please forgive me if that's old news.
DS9 cast have all been signed for a 7 year contract (although it may not go that far, obviously). They do not have photo approval on merchandising, etc. Nor do they have script approval.
