Nov 23 | Chuckreturns 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 Chuckas 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
Garrett Wang Reflects on Voyager
By Jacqueline Bundy
While STAR TREK: VOYAGER may have ended its run almost three years ago it is still widely viewed around the world in syndication and is now about to be released on DVD. The first season set of DVD's hits stores this coming Tuesday, February 24th. The recent Paramount salute to the space program also served as a launch party for the release of STAR TREK: VOYAGER on DVD.
With several of the cast members in attendance to celebrate the release, there was an air of reflection at the event as those actors looked back at the series they spent seven years filming. Among the guests was Garrett Wang, best known to fans as 'Ensign Harry Kim'.
When asked if there was anything he would have changed about the series or how his character, Harry Kim was portrayed Wang responded, "Now that it's all said and done I would say that there are certain things that I would have kept exactly the same and certain things I would have changed."
"For instance I think I would have pushed a lot harder a lot earlier in Voyager's seven-year run for more humorous interaction between Kim and the other characters. I think that's so key to a drama. Balancing all the dramatic life threatening moments with levity," said Wang.
When he expressed those thoughts to the producers Wang was ignored, however. "For some reason the producers had it in their mind that the only people who could be funny were 'Neelix' and 'The Doctor.' Each of the actors on the series has their own unique sense of humor and they are all very funny people. It would just kill me to see how we were all interacting when the cameras weren't rolling and I thought that those were some of the funniest moments I've ever seen or been a part of in my entire life. So if I had to a chance to change something I would have made it so that humor was a bigger of the show from day one."
A science fiction fan from childhood, Wang grew up watching many different science fiction programs, including STAR TREK. "The first Science fiction I ever saw was the first STAR WARS movie. After that I was pretty much hooked on any science fiction. Whether it was BATTLESTAR GALACTICA or STAR TREK. Anything that was sci-fi in space I watched."
Wang expressed some disappointment that there wasn't more of an effort to make VOYAGER stand out more from the series that preceded it. "When Roddenberry passed the reigns over to [Rick]Berman, unfortunately Berman kept the same formula. And he just kept plugging it in."
Wang went on to comment that to some extent he thinks that the same thing was done on TNG, DS9 and VOY. "That's something that I've always disagreed with," Wang said. "Maybe I'm not on Rick Berman's good list because of it but I've always said that risks should have been taken. Risks in terms of the way they film it in terms of where the storylines go, instead of just saying A + B = C for every single episode."
"So when I'm asked what made VOYAGER stand out...you are talking about the same overall formula so it doesn't. It has stayed the same for every single episode. But if you put that aside, what sets VOYAGER apart I think [is] the camaraderie among the cast was stronger with our cast than on the other series."
Speaking about the current state of the STAR TREK franchise and all the rumors that ENTERPRISE will be cancelled after the current season Wang said, "It would not surprise me."
"With any type of venture if you do the same thing for 21 straight years it gets old," he added. "People are bound to think--Would you please take some chances? Change it up a bit? That's what I think should have been done... That's human nature, everything needs to change periodically. Take the music industry for example and look at someone like Madonna. How many times has she reinvented herself? That's because she has to. You have to constantly reinvent yourself to stay interesting as a form entertainment, and it's the same thing with STAR TREK."
That being said however, Wang wouldn't be averse to appearing in an episode of ENTERPRISE if asked to do so. "Brannon Braga said something about that but with my rift with Berman I really doubt that will happen. But would definitely enjoy coming in as an alien. I love prosthetic work so I'd welcome that."
When asked what type of STAR TREK series he would like to see, Wang seemed to lean toward taking a new direction. "If you look at the newer shows today, the successful shows take chances in terms of the material they deal with and how they present the topics they are trying to deal with."
If it was up to him, the actor says that any new series would, "Add lot more humor. I would not being afraid of taking chances and I wouldn't stay status quo. You can't say that's good enough, it's our persona and we will settle for that. I wouldn't do that. That works for a little while but not for long. It's time for a change."
Wang wasn't particularly pleased with how the series ended. "I think the first hour was brilliant, absolutely brilliant," he said, but "the second hour seemed like the abridged version of the ending. That final hour really tied everything up in a nice neat little bow and ended it without anyone knowing what happened when we got home. All we saw was we're home-oh good-goodbye."
The final shot of the series was particularly dissatisfying for Wang. Speaking about what he was thinking during that final shot Wang said, "Janeway tells Paris set a course for home I was thinking that there was no real reaction among anyone here to the fact that we are home." That just didn't feel right to Wang, it seemed unnatural somehow that there wasn't more emotion from the crew on their homecoming.
"The last day of filming was very bizarre," he added. "Our last day was a bizarre kind of weird fog that everyone was in. Kate was very quiet and I think that set tone amongst everyone on the bridge."
Despite the current state of the franchise Wang is certain that STAR TREK will continue to inspire people to explore space and to work toward Gene Roddenberry's idealistic vision of the future. "I think it will always do that," Wang stated. "STAR TREK will run in syndication for infinity. All the shows, from the original series through ENERPRISE. They will always serve as inspiration for people to further space exploration and be excited about it. I mean that's the one big unknown out there."
Wang thinks that the fans of VOYAGER will be very happy to see it all again on DVD and that they will be very pleased with the special features the various sets will offer. Like all the cast members he was asked to film interviews for those special features. Something that will be a bit different with these DVD special features though is that "They go beyond the basic interview to try to incorporate different things." Sighting some examples Wang said, "They followed Roxanne Dawson around the set while she directed an episode of ENTERPRISE and asked me to take a video camera along on a STAR TREK cruise that I did. Those will be features on some of the other season sets coming out later this year."
Quote:
Perhaps... But, hey! What do we have to lose by trying?
Producing another ANIS. ;-)
--------
"I think the show talked to people through the characters. They're stories that speak to the heart. They talk about love, they talk about friendship, they talk about loyalty, they talk about patriotism, exploration, curiosity, reaching out... And I think all those things still touch people. Even when you look at a 30-year old show, it still has something to say." - D.C. Fontana, Sci Fi Channel Special Edition TOS 1998
----
"If the season finale involves the re-built USS Reliant coming back in time to the 21st Century crewed by Moogie, Dr. Selar, Morn, Transporter Chief Kyle, and the Salt Vampire, then we'll know that Coto has gone too far." - tomba1701
| 
