xenexian

"Allegro Non Tropo." An animated Italian film from about 20 years ago. An great parody of Disney's Fantasia. Great classical pieces married to some very weird and hilarious animation. Instead of a philharmonic orchestra providing the music, Allegro had an old ladies band. It might be on video somewhere and if anyone finds it, please let me know. Also Fantastic Planet was another of my more favorite animated films.

If you read my post a bit more closely, I said the Dark Knight as envisioned by Frank Miller. I never said it was exactly like the graphic novel. I'm talking about the character as Frank saw him. There is a difference. As for Adam West being the best, Puh-leeze. The only people who really liked it in 1966 was anyone under the age of 10. I know, I was one of them. I do agree that it did save the Batman series of comics at the time but Marvel was going strong with their characters that were created by Jack (King) Kirby, and Stan (the man) Lee.

Finally, Batman the way it was meant to be. This is not some campy sanitized version but is instead the Dark Knight as envisioned by Frank Miller from the graphic novels. Bob Kane would no doubt approve of this movie version and it has now set the standard for all Batmans of the future. Personally, I didn't think the movie dragged at all in those first 45 min. When you set something up properly it just makes the middle and the end all the more satisfying.

While it would have been nice to bring back the Trek writers from TNG or DS9, what is overlooked about that is that these people have all gone on to other projects and ideas. Some of the aforementioned writers have been busy on other projects that they wanted and have been hired to do. D.C. Fontana, for example, while a great writer for Star Trek, has other projects that interest her as much, if not more. Ira and Ron Moore have already stated that they've done their time on Star Trek writing and producing and have left a formidable legacy and that it's time to move on to other things. Ira, is now involved on the hit NBC show "Medium", along with Rene Echevarria, and Ron has been busy the past three years with "Battlestar Gallactica". Even if B & B had approached them about doing something for "Enterprise", I doubt that they would have taken them up on the offer. Seriously, how long can someone keep doing and writing about the same things over and over before you yearn to do other projects? Even actors get tired of playing the same role over and over. I think B & B did they best they could with the ideas they had and I have no doubt that Paramount had a lot to say about what direction they wanted them to take the show. As for the canon situation, it really doesn't bother me. Since the starfleet we know didn't exist yet, they pretty much had literary and creative license to create those thread beginnings the best way they could. Some of which began to make more sense as we continued through season four. Even Gene, rest his soul, never gavea a thought to the years preceeding Kirk & Co., so who's to say anything they did was completely incorrect when it came to laying these foundations? I'll miss the program and the canon issue will fade as the years go by.

I won my season set through a local radio contest a couple of weeks ago. I've been watching a couple of episodes every other night or so. I no longer have the time to sit and watch more than that and it allows me to savor each one and you know, the first season wasn't all that bad at all. I have to admit I missed a few the first time around but catching them now and in sequence really allows me to see how the characters were developing and make more sense now out of certain things that have happened during seasons three and four. I'm developing a new appreciation for what the series was. As I was watching last night, Joanie Mitchell's song "Big Yellow Taxi", kept popping into my head. Especially the refrain, "Don't it always seem to go, that you don't know what you've got till it's gone." That's what I'm feeling now about the Enterprise series as a whole.

I certainly hope you are right, Mr. Phaserman. Everyyear that Brett plays causes me to worry about whether this will be the year someone takes him out. The O-line, though, does a pretty good job of protecting their leader. I just read an article in the Green Bay Press Gazette that says Brett feels better now, especially with his life, then has has during the past four years and is looking forward to playing again this year. All the troubles he's had, his father dying, his brother in law dying in an accident and His wife's cancer, were all major distractions for him and yet he turned in a year that most quarterbacks would give their right arm to have. I won't make a prediction here, although I like your 13-3, and just say to all the other NFL fans here, watch out. A healthy and happy Brett Favre is a dangerous Brett Farve.

Though I've never personally met any of the regular stars from TOS, I do maintain a contact with one of it's guest stars. Derek Partridge, who is now one of our voice talents, played Dionyd in the episode "Platos Stepchildren". He's now living in Vegas and doing commercial voice work with us on a regular basis. He's a former citizen of England now naturalized and still doing some acting as well. I hook up with him through ISDN lines when someone wants to use his voice in any commercial work I or the studio does. One of the nicest people I've ever met and we've had quite a few discussions regarding his time shooting the episode. He even sent one of his Star Trek publicity photos to me which I have on display in my control room alongside all the other Star Trek paraphenalia I've plastered on the walls here. I've also shook Gene Roddenberry's hand and had a brief talk with him back in the early 70's when one of the first early Sci-Fi conventions made an appearance in Milwaukee. I got to tell Gene that because of Star Trek, I planned on making a career in engineering, although that plan turned into a career in audio engineering. But because of Star Trek, I now make a living in the world of technology.

There were so many good episodes from season 7 that it was really hard for me to pick one over the other. In fact, I almost consider the entire season one huge episode with different chapters. I do lean a bit toward the "Siege of AR-558", as one of my more favorite from that year. Watching Nog develop his character even more by accepting the fact that he's a starfleet officer more than just being a Ferangi and seeing Quark step out of his usual character to becoming almost a doting parent figure to Nog and even protects him by terminating some Jem Hadar. But one of the reasons I really like this episode is seeing Billy Mumy take a role in the saga. It was kind of like seeing young Will Robinson all grown up to become a member of Starfleet, a fitting homage of sorts. A gesture of respect, if you will, towards the early days of Sci-Fi on network television. I can't seem to remember but wasn't he killed off at the end of the episode?

In spite of everything that has happened to baseball on the major league level, I will still watch the games when my team plays or if it's important game in the standings. It may no longer really be the nation's past time, but it is still the quintessenal summer game. No clocks to countdown game times, a leisurely pace and a great way to kill some time on a summer afternoon, whether watching or playing. In my mind, there's nothing quite like being out at the ballpark on a summer afternoon or evening with a hot dog in one hand, a cold beer in the other (even at those expensive ballpark prices), and a bag of peanuts for the whole game. The game may be somewhat tarnished lately because of the steroid controversy but it's still a beautiful game. Some say it's even better at the minor league level. Baseball will never die and come October, I'm sure there will be many who will watch the world series no matter who is playing. Just look at the ratings from last year when the Red Sox beat the Yankees and won it all. The game is still bigger then the men who play it.

Just in time to set up an audience for the May sweeps. Who said they were stupid at Spike? This is typical programming. I'll bet come june, there will be something else occupying that time slot again. The suits sure know how to work us.

After reading the above posts of some, all I can say is, so much for the aspect of tolerance among the more religious individuals here. An aspect that is suppossed to be virtuous. It's a TV show. What they are saying isn't going to cause the world to crumble or society to fall apart overnight. It's a view from the writers to express a point and they have a right to make it as much as anyone. It may seem unflattering to some but in what way? I doubt if what is being written as script is going to cause the world to end. It's a well done show and it's science fiction. Leave it at that.

I think something a little more lower tier would be good. "Venusian Vampire Vixens" or "The Wild Sorority Girls of Planet Playtex", comes to mind.

If an all Trek network were to be launched, and it's very possible that it could, it would be short lived. The realities of programming are such that after the initial grand debut and probably some decent ratings at first, the viewership would probably decline and make it less attractive to the advertisers, the blood of all broadcasting. The demographics are so narrow that eventually most advertising dollars would either dry up or the advertisers would demand greatly reduced fees to make up for the lack of viewers. In either case, the network would have to fold. No dollars, no signal.

Oh Puh-leeze. Boycotting a network like UPN won't accomplish a thing. And since most people here only watched the network for Enterprise, the issue is irrelevent. All this teeth gnashing and wailing isn't going to bring back the show and because the choices available to todays viewer is so varied, the network won't even know that you're gone. Even threatening to boycott the network's sponsors won't do anything. The franchise had an incredible eighteen year run and now it's over. It won't be entirely gone with re-runs and the availability to buy entire seasons but it's hardly the end of the world. My goodness, some people might be forced into the sunlight and actually get a life. The sun will still come up tomorrow and life will go on, we'll all have our jobs to go to, at least most of us, and we can all worry about the more important things in life, like surviving and paying taxes. Star Trek may get revived again, Paramount has an underlying greed factor, but until then, enjoy what once was.

This is a question that's been floating around my studio since new years day and I'm curious to get the opinions of those not directly related to the industry, namely the average music lover and buyer of cds. It seems that since the beginning of the 90's we have been exposed to more and more music acts of individuals or groups that have seemingly sprung up out of nowhere to become national acts. Some are still around and some have seemed to disappeared. NKOTB, 98 degrees, Backstreet Boys, the infamous Milli Vanilli, Brittany Spears and so on. And now, in the course of the past three months, we have been witness to the exposure of Ashley Simpson revealing that her live performances have been enhanced with pre-recorded vocals of her voice that have been auto-tuned in the studio to be played back during her performances to reinforce her so called singing. To anyone who witnessed the debacle of her Orange Bowl halftime performance knows what I'm talking about. These acts all originated by some producer who takes some unknowns off the street with little or no background in performing, brings them into the studio to record and does the old studio magic trick on them, trains them to do a few dance steps and voila, we have a music act that the producer sells to the unsuspecting public as talent. Since then, I have heard through the industry scuttlebutt that these types of acts may finally be on the way out as the core groups of original fans have, for the most part, grown up and have begun to realize that most of these people really have no talent at all. Most of them don't write their own music, can't play an instrument, can't really hold a tune and only do what their managers and producers tell them to do. If you've ever been to one of the above mentioned concerts, have you ever wondered how the people can jump all over the stage doing these elaborate dance steps, sing into a mic with the passion that you hear coming out of the speakers and yet, at the end of the song, talk to the audience without once sounding like they're out of breath? Have we all become so jaded to performers that all we require of them is to look good? Here, at the studio, we feel that yes, this could be the beginnings of the end of these pre-packaged acts and that we are going to be seeing a return to people who actually have talent and can write songs and play an instrument. What happened to Ashley underscored our feelings that these types of acts are really nothing more than con jobs forced on, for the most part, a gullible public. The ones that feel that if the song has a good beat and you can dance to it makes it a hit no matter who actually is doing the singing and playing. I would like to know if the members of this site feel the same way and that we will be seeing a return to acts that are really worth our time, attention and money. This is not a scientific poll or anything, I'm just really curious as to what most others, who live their lives outside of the media and entertainment industry, think.

To quote Montgomery Burns, "Excellent!"

I'm an audio production engineer, (a ten dollar phrase for recording engineer) and producer for a broadcast post production house specializing in audio for radio and tv. I've also taught audio production and recording techniques, as well as managing the house theater at a techinical college for three years. I've been doing this now for well over 27 years and it never gets boring and it sure beats office or factory work. I was also, at one time, a radio personality (dj) in my earlier days before realizing that there is no job security in radio and left for the happier confines of a control room.

I have a couple. First and foremost is the entire New Frontier series by Peter David. In fact, his latest in the series was just released recently. It titled, "After the Fall". I hope to pick it up this week and continue the adventures of Captain Calhoun.

The second series is the entire "Rama" series by Arthur C. Clarke. Long but extremely well worth it since it deals from a practical science standpoint, the idea of first contact by an alien culture.

And third, strange as this sounds, the Shadow series of pulp novels by Maxwell Grant, aka, Walter Gibson, from the 1930's. A great look in the world that was back then.

North division Champions indeed we are Mr. Phaserman. It certainly is a nice feeling, especially how they won. In Minnesota, after throwing an interception, driving the Packers downfield with Vikings in his face and still completing a pass to Javon Walker to set up the winning field goal with no time left. Now the Pack gets a playoff game at home and even though the home record this year was basically unacceptable, Lambeau is still the one place in the entire league where no one really wants to play the Packers in January. Nothing is a given with this team, though. The Bears still await for the last game and even though the game means nothing in how the playoffs shape up, I can't believe that Mike Sherman would allow his Packers to lose to the Bears twice in a single season. To quote that often used raspberry that is shouted across the Wisconsin-Illinois border, "The Bears Still Suck!". The Pack needs to finish 10-6.

I had the pleasure, when I was still living in Wisconsin, of being able to watch Reggie play in Lambeau. As a football defensive end, there were none better, but what I remember best, is how, on thew way off the field, he would stop and talk to the numerous fans that had disabilities that the Packers would allow on the sideline next to the wall under the first row of seats. The fact that he would take the time to talk to these fans after spending the last three hours beating up an opposing team, spoke more to me than the amount of sacks he got each game. I'm sure both the Eagles and the Packers will buck the NFL's suggestion and retire his numbers in both places anyway. He may have been an Eagle first in his NFL career, but it was in Green Bay that he won the championship that the Eagles could never give him. Because of this, I believe he will enter the Hall of Fame as a Packer. But also, the NFL should also recognize the two years he spent in the USFL as a member of the Memphis Showboats, and add the twenty plus sacks he achieved there as part of his final total. Bruce Smith may have been good but he will never be as good as Reggie was and as far as I'm concerned, is still the sacks leader. May his soul find peace and the fufillment of his search for the truth that he never found in this life. His life touched many and not just on the football field. A great player he was, but he was an ever better human being.

Being part of the older generation (did I just write that?), I prefer the term trekker to trekkie. Even though in history, the term trekker referered to dutch settlers in South Africa after the Boar war who marched into the interior of Africa to escape British rule and establish their own communities. They were called Voortrekkers. The term trekkie, to me, conjures up images of young kids who giggle alot, drink lots of Pepsi, travel in packs and base their entire life around Star Trek. Not a very flattering image, IMO. Trekker has a more mature sound to it, to me, than trekkie and has a more receptive image to people who are not Star Trek fans. Based on the above definitions, I may be a bit of both. My control room is decorated in Star Trek paraphenalia and I do own a TNG engineering tunic which I wear to work every year during our halloween contests at the studio. But outside of that and my collection of dvd's and video tapes, I'm as normal as any sound engineer could be, although we are known to be somewhat brain damaged from years of contraband and alcohol use.

Methinks I see a bit of Patrick Stewart/star Trek bias here. I'm a movie buff, like alot of people here and I've seen just about everyone of those movies listed. The best by far, and many movie critics agree with me, is the Alistair Sim version from 1951. Stewart did a reasonable job in his version but his character was much too polished. Sim's version was far nastier and more believeable for the time period of the movie and his conversion far more heart warming. If you've never seen it, please rent it. The story and characters make this version the most enjoyable version I have every seen, plus, as an added bonus, you get to see a young Patrick Macnee in one of his early movie roles.

Well, I couldn't have said that any better. Are you sure you weren't born in Wisconsin? Every team has it's one stinker of a game every year, although I will have to admit that the Packers have had a couple more than their share this season, but here's hoping now that the Packers have gotten that out of their system. Even at 7-5, they are still considered by most experts around the league as the one team who has the best chance of knocking Philly off their perch. If the Pack win all of the December games, a month the team is actually built for, they finish at 11-5. Still a respectable record even if put up against the Eagles record. I also have to add two more factors into this equation. One is what I just mentioned. The Packers are a cold weather team. If the Packers have to go to Philadelphia in January, the weather certainly shouldn't bother them as it would Atlanta or any team from the west. There's no intimadation factor if the weather turns out to be cold and miserable. As I said, the Packers are built for outdoor cold weather games. The other factor is experience. All or most of the players that Mr. Phaserman has mentioned have been there since 2000 and they all know that Brett can still put together another hall of fame game. The experience a team receives from previous playoffs is a huge factors when teams have to suck it up to either go on or go home. Both teams, Philly and Green Bay, have the most playoff experienced players in the NFC this year. My question is, which team will have the most motivation to beat the other should they meet. Philly is trying to get over the hump that has stopped them the past three years as well as the past 44 years. Green Bay, from what I've read in the Wisconsim papers, has motivation to beat Philly no matter what. Getting embarrassed on national TV has a way of pumping up a team. And if there is any quarterback in the league that can direct a team to victory, it's Brett. I think both teams are actually pretty evenly matched in the talent department so I see a future possible payoff game as being, who has the most to prove. I do think Philly fans realize this and that the true threat of stopping the Eagles comes from Green Bay and not Atlanta. Atlanta just doesn't have enough horses yet to really challance for the title this year.

I've long ago gave up trying to figure out all the possible playoff formulas. Once the divison winners are determined, I no longer really fret about who gets the wild card spots. Although, as you pointed out with the Packers and Bears, it opens up a whole list of possible match ups that at the beginning of the season, no one would have thought about twice. The Packers and Lions played just this scenario a few years back. The Pack beat the Lions in one of the last two games of the season and thten turned right around and had them at Lambeau for a first round playoff game. I personally don't give much thought to the mediocrity excuse with the NFC this year at all. To me, it just shows that more teams are in contention for the playoffs and thus more fan interest in the league as a whole since more cities and teams have the real possibility of making some noise in the playoffs where anything can happen. Case in point, the 1999 viqueens. 15 and 1 in the regular season only to lose to the Falcons on a last second field goal to end their Super Bowl dreams, again. Don't worry so much about how the playoffs are going to be seeded and just enjoy the games leading up to the playoffs. It's going to be a great post season.

Ouch, that one hurt. I'll be a sport and admit that the Pack was not in the same league yesterday as the Eagles. I have to credit the birds for the way they took the game over almost immediately and stopped the Packers on just about everything they wanted to do. A great overall gameplan by Andy Reid. I now have to admit that stopping the Eagles from getting to the Super Bowl to going to be just about impossible. The saving grace is the Packers could very well meet the Eagles yet again in the playoffs and the law of averages could very play out. Perhaps we'll meet yet again. And being the Packers fan that I am I stayed and watched the whole game. Never give up, never surrender. congradulations though, are still in order. But enjoy it now, there are still four games yet to play and the playoffs.