Nov 23 | Chuck returns to NBC with a special two-hour show on Sunday, Jan 10, 2010, before returning to its regular time slot, Mondays at 8pm on the following night. It's return to prime time television can be attributed to a successful fan renewnal campaign last year. CHUCK is a one-hour, action-comedy series that follows Chuck Bartowski (Zachary Levi, "Less Than Perfect") -- a computer geek who is catapulted into a new career as the government's most vital secret agent. This upcoming season will include some special guest stars, including Brandon Routh of "Superman Returns" who will play CIA agent Daniel Shaw in an episode, and the addition of SUBWAY restaurant as a major advertiser to the show. Chuck averaged a 4.0/6 rating last season, about eight percent better than the recently cancelled "Trauma". Ratings-challenged Heroes moves back an hour when Chuck returns on Monday nights. STAR TREK VOYAGER's Robert Duncan McNeill serves Chuck as a supervising producer and director.
Nov 17 | Originally hired as co-executive producer to help with the second half of the show's first season, Kevin Murphy has now taken the reins of Caprica, the Battlestar Galactica prequel on Syfy, according to The Hollywood Reporter. He now serves as an executive producer along with Ronald D. Moore, David Eick and Jane Espenson and oversees the day-to-day functions of the show.
Nov 12 | Star Trek star Zachary Quinto is loosely attached to star in the romantic dramedy Whirligig, reports Risky Business.Quinto would play the lead role in the independent Canadian film, which is aiming to shoot early next year. The movie centers on a man who, in a misguided attempt to woo an older woman, befriends the woman's adopted son.Chaz Thorne is directing the pic, based on a screenplay by Michael Amo, creator of the Canadian supernatural series "The Listener."
Nov 11 | The CNS Foundation, is hosting an on-line charity auction at www.charitybuzz.com. One of the items they are auctioning is a signed movie poster of the new Star Trek movie which has all the cast members and writers. The president of our organization is Carol Abrams, JJ's mother, and she arranged for the donation from Bad Robot Production Company. J.J. Abrams is also a major donor to their organization. The funds raised will go to help find a cure to neurological disorders in children. The auction link is here.
Nov 10 | Candice Bergen, Charles Lisanby, Don Pardo, Gene Roddenberry, Tom and Dick Smothers and Bob Stewart have been selected as the next inductees into the Television Academy's Hall of Fame. They will be honored at a Jan. 20 ceremony at the Beverly Hills Hotel. "This year's inductees have challenged and shaped popular culture, changed television for the better and entertained us royally while doing so," TV Academy Chairman-CEO John Shaffner said. More info at the Hollywood Reporter
:
New Computer Voice. Do You Want Marina Sirtis as the Computer Voice in Star TreK XII?
By BWilliams / 12:30, 3 May 2004 / Reviews - Books
Synopsis: Now it can be told: The origin of the Starfleet Corps of Engineers!
Review: One of the most interesting and original STAR TREK novel series to come down the pike in recent years has been Pocket Books’ continuing monthly series S.C.E. Published each month in electronic format, S.C.E. gives readers a look into the lives of the Starfleet Corps of Engineers and their involvement in matters and adventures across the galaxy.
FOUNDATIONS, a paperback collection of three e-books written by Dayton Ward and Kevin Dilmore (itself a nod to the celebrated trilogy written by Isaac Asimov), goes back in time to the glory days of the S.C.E. and the Federation’s most celebrated and well-known engineer, Montgomery Scott. Even the old-style cover of FOUNDATIONS harkens back to simpler times, when starship technology was on the cutting edge in the 23rd century, where spit and bailing wire prevailed over phasers and transporters.
The majority of the novel is covered in flashback form, while Ward and Dilmore set the framework within the 24th century. The Starfleet vessel U.S.S. da Vinci responds to a distress call from an alien ship gone out of control. Looking for ways to assist the Senuta in their first contact with this alien species, the da Vinci crew researches the past history of the S.C.E. and finds its answers in the reports of Montgomery Scott. From there, the tales begin to unfold.
We first meet Scotty in the days before his posting on the Enterprise, as he is assigned to assist the crew of the U.S.S. Lovell with the repair of a Federation outpost near the Romulan Neutral Zone. When things go awry, Scotty and his companion Mahmud al-Khaled must get to the source of the problem.
The novel then jumps ahead a few years to a time just after the events of the Original Series episode “The Return of the Archons”. The berserk computer system known as Landru has been neutralized, and the denizens of Beta III must now adjust to life on their own for the first time. Scotty and al-Khaled head up the team to clean up the mess that Captain Kirk left behind. But they soon find out that they have more on their hands than they realized…
The final third of the novel occurs several years afterwards, following the events of STAR TREK: THE MOTION PICTURE, as Scotty and al-Khaled work with a group of Kelvan engineers on the U.S.S. Chandley, a decommissioned frigate, on an experimental transwarp drive. When the frigate jumps across the galaxy, both the Federation and the Kelvans face their first contact with an alien species that is bent on destroying them or forcing them to leave.
I must admit, I’ve not read any of the S.C.E. monthly e-books that have been released over the years, so I’m not familiar with the thematic arrangement of recaps and reviews that fans are familiar with. But with this compilation, FOUNDATIONS stands as a novel on its own merit, and one that is well told and well written from beginning to end.
This is basically Scotty and al-Khaled’s story, and their adventures and friendship over the years form the nucleus of what will become the Starfleet Corps of Engineers. While Mahmud al-Khaled stands out as the most defined of the original characters in this story, it’s also about the non-Starfleet personnel who take part in each mission, much like modern-day civilian contractors working alongside the military. Their involvement cannot be overlooked as well, as all work together. The story of FOUNDATIONS is about a very different Starfleet, one that has to get its hands dirty and do the work nobody else wants.
While it’s been difficult for me to get into the S.C.E. series overall, I found myself immersed completely in this particular tale. The old-school cover, Scotty’s appearance, and the flashback and stand-alone gimmicks serve as the lures to a fascinating tale within the 320-plus pages. Kick back with a steaming cup of raktajino and prepare to be entertained from start to finish.
| TrekWeb's Rating Scale | |
 |
A Must Read |
 |
Recommended |
 |
Average |
 |
Mediocre |
 |
Don't Bother |
| 
