/* ** ************************************************************************* ** ************************************************************************* ** The Non-Sequitur Express ** Published at random intervals by Phillip Thorne ** Volume 3, Issue 15: Wednesday, 28 November 2001 ** http://nsx.underbase.org/ ** ** "I love the design of the B-2. No matter what angle you see it from, ** it's always in forced perspective. And it backs up its forced ** perspective with megatons of force. If you don't love the B-2, it ** can MAKE you love it." [*] ** ************************************************************************* ** ************************************************************************* */ OBSERVATIONS & C: NSX irregular, Trek sweeps, portraits, quandry, life-v-object. ERRATA & O+A+A: Ancient liquids, formatting, callsigns, missed TV, site. UPCOMING: ReBoot, Buffy, movies, DVDs. BOOK OVERVIEW: The new ST:DS9 arc: Avatar, Abyss, Gateways. SWEEPS ANNOUNCE: Enterprise-Pentium 4 (ends 14-dec). plus Legalese, acknowledgements and opt-in/out instructions. http://nsx.underbase.org/ - back issues http://nsx.underbase.org/index_plus.htm - synopses, reviews, analyses, etc. http://nsx.underbase.org/tv/ - Philadelphia and network TV listings mailto://nsx-discuss-l@underbase.org - post on this issue (if subscribed) http://www.underbase.org/ - additional databases /* *************************************************************************** ** OBSERVATIONS & COGITATIONS ** ** Why you shouldn't despair over NSX's irregular schedule. ** "Star Trek" sweepstakes (end 14-dec). ** Ever notice --unattributed portraits of savants. ** Quandry --how to mark post-midnight programming. ** Wisdom challenged --can things really be replaced? ** Today's masthead quote. ** ************************************************************************ */ For a while in the beginning, I managed to transmit NSX on a weekly schedule. Then I slipped, to irregular intervals averaging eleven days. Lately, I've given up all pretense of periodicity and simply apologize for random publication. Do not fear lacunae of many weeks! They may simply indicate I'm otherwise occupied, or have not accumulated sufficient source material for a cross-section analysis, or have run aground in the bog (sorry, wetlands) of writer's block. For instance, I'm currently-for-some-weeks-now attempting to upgrade my PC with a new BIOS, hard drive and clean OS install; and that's a *lengthy* proposition if you haven't done it five times already. I'm also engaged in a short animation project that's due in early January, and even if I *do* employ every possible "limited animation" trick (ie moving pictures that don't... move), it's *still* an even lengthier proposition. And cleaning the cellar? The lengthiest proposition of all. (Well, actually a *proposition* would be, "cellar clean? t/nil".) *** Got a burning desire to appear on "Star Trek"? Full details follow, in section "Sweepstakes Announcement". You've got two weeks! Ever notice that...? ...the portraits of famous historical figures (as used to illustrate eg the history of mathematics) never indicate the artist, the date of the portrait, or the age of the subject? I, for one, would like to know if bewigged savant so-and-so is aged seventy, or if he *always*, even as a young man, sported a nose like a hatchet. A quandry... ...if a stripped (multiple days per week) show is televised in the wee hours of morning (what programming pros call "late night" and I call "earlymorn"), eg the 12:30-am weeknight slot (ie midnight-30, not noon-30), should I denote it as (TWRFZ-00:30)? or as (MTWRF- 24:30)? The former is the appropriate day-time for a VCR, but the latter matches the paging of printed TV listings. Challenging conventional wisdom...! ...a museum or archeological dig is being destroyed, Character A attempts to retrieve some artifact X, and Character B stops him, with the bromide that "things can be replaced; lives cannot". How many movies/eps can you name with this climax? Nonetheless, repetition of a rote plot doesn't make it true; it's an incomplete statement. *Commodities* can be replaced, but unique objects cannot. A *particular* life cannot be replaced, but people in general are a commodity. From an informational point of view, what is rarer: Artifact X, or the experience-node that is Character A? From a power p.o.v., which desire-for-preservation is stronger, A-for-X or B-for-A? In Aldous Huxley's _Brave New World_, Henry Ford's admonition that "history is bunk" is taken to heart, and history is made a fluid thing, shaped to serve the needs of current society. It's a true statement, insofar as you can never be *truly* sure that historical records haven't been fabricated for your benefit, that your own memory of a personal history isn't an illusion. Ultimately, on a personal and societal level, you have to trust *someone*, and decide *which* statements will be axioms, your foundation. On that basis, it's entirely possible that an inanimate object is *crucial* to the continued historical identity of a people, that removing it will cause greater disruption in the social network (a metaphor I've used before) than removing any single person -- skills, friendships, familial support and all. (It just happens that this sort of thinking has caused generations of Jews and Arabs to argue over a few hundred square klicks of currently-parched land; to argue and to die. Well, that and personal power politics.) *** [*] Today's masthead quote is from a recent followup post by James "Kibo" Parry to news:alt.religion.kibology, in which he agrees that the B-2 bomber is one of the coolest things ever (and would be even cooler if it were made of "Black Cherry Pez! Pez so deep and dark you can't tell they're there until you taste them!"). All of Kibo's posts are followups: witty, erudite rejoinders to bad TV, bad newswire articles, bad food, and bad logic from crackpot non- scientists. He also knows more about fonts than you ever will. For reviews of bad imported food, photos of orange traffic cones, and stories in which horrible fates befall Spot, the Stupid Little Puppy, see [ www.kibo.com ]. /* *************************************************************************** ** ERRATA & OMISSIONS, ADDENDA & ADMISSIONS ** ** Liquids for pre-tech humans. ** Jagged-bad mail formatting. ** TV station callsign mixup (and how to fix it). ** Missed TV, TV site listings. ** Missed NSX archive updates. ** ************************************************************************ */ In issue 3.14's "How'd They Not Know That?" (14-nov), I stated that a pre-tech human might be familiar with "freshwater, saltwater, muddy water, vegetable oil, grape juice, honey, blood, and urine". Upon further thought, he might also be exposed to animal fat (tallow) and beeswax, which are liquid while melted for pouring. Among additional bodily fluids (human and otherwise) are perspiration, tears, and bile, but those aren't available in sufficient quantities, or easily collected, for bulk experimentation. The formatting of "Special TV Announcement #2" (16-nov) was horribly jagged. It happens that my mailer has an option for the column at which paragraphs are word-wrapped; I set it at 72 for normal messages, but at 100 for NSX, because I perform my own formatting in the latter (in particular, for wide tables). Sometimes I forget to change the setting: 72 columns, manually broken at 80, produces unsightly excess newlines. Oops. I suspect I've recently mixed up the callsigns for local (US/PA/Philadelphia) TV stations, particularly wphl-17-wb and wpsg- 57-upn. I've now put them where I can't forget them. (My preferred MSWindows prose text editor, Eric Fookes' NoteTabPro, has a "clipbooks" feature, in which you can create collections of commonly- used text or executable code; the clipbooks as buttons at the window's base, and the contents of the current clipbook are displayed to the side of the editing pane.) I haven't updated my TV site [ http://nsx.underbase.org/tv/ ] in six months, and so you may have missed telemovies, new eps or favorite repeats. For instance, SFC aired their original movie "Epoch" this past Saturday, sat-24-nov-2001 -- but you didn't miss much. Giant asteroid-ship-thing arrives on Earth, scientists explore, scientists argue with military, ship communicates telepathically with scientists, ship begins to re-terraform planet, nuke goes off, ship eats blast, ship goes away, scientists live happily ever after. And I'm pretty sure I saw this week's ep of "Smallville" seven years ago on "The X-Files": girl becomes hypermetabolic mutant, siphons body fat from classmates. I haven't updated the NSX archives site [ http://nsx.underbase.org/ ], or the auxiliary reviews, in two months -- despite collecting additional data. /* *************************************************************************** ** UPCOMING & ONGOING ** ** TV: "ReBoot", "Buffy". ** FILMS: "Monsters", "Harry Potter", "Lord of the Rings", "Jimmy Neutron". ** DVDs: "Osmosis Jones", "Planet of the Apes", "Star Trek: The Motion Picture", ** "Star Wars Episode I", "Tomb Raider". ** ************************************************************************ */ TV: "ReBoot": On fri-23-nov, TCN completed the third season of Mainframe's flagship CG series. On mon-26-nov-0600, they cycled back to the first ep. The fourth season is still airing Fridays, fri-1700. "Buffy the Vampire Slayer": FX is now airing it four times a day, MTWRF: 0700, 0800, 1800, 1900. The 1900 slot contains the new-to-FX eps, now in the fourth season. FILMS: wed-02-nov "The One" (now vanished) wed-02-nov "Monsters Inc." fri-16-nov "Harry Potter and the Sorceror's Stone" fri-21-dec "Lord of the Rings: The Fellowship of the Ring" fri-21-dec "Jimmy Neutron: Boy Genius" Given the enthusiastic reporting of box office records, someone should invent movie trading cards, with statistics after the baseball model. DVD: Nowadays, seeing a movie at a theatre is only the start of the experience. As soon as you rent or buy the DVD, you gain access to oodles of extra content (even if you're not bilingual): documentaries, cut scenes, alternate endings, plus DVD-ROM content for your PC. Of course, when the reviewer quote chosen for the TV ad is "most technically advanced DVD" ("Planet of the Apes"), you suspect it's like "stunning special effects" as said of the box office release: the plot stank. Publishers seem to now be competing to cram the most "extra hours" onto one or more disks: "Tomb Raider" with 3 hours, "Star Trek: the Motion Picture: Director's Edition" with 7, "Shrek" with 11, "Star Wars Episode I: The Phantom Menace" with -- hmmm, amazon.com doesn't actually say. Yes, ST:TMP has been "enhanced": but unlike the "Star Wars Special Edition", the CG additions were designed to (a) fill only the holes left to meet the original 1979 release date and (b) look like they were done in 1979. The dec-2001 issue of _Star Trek Magazine_ is devoted to the film: the VFX concepts that were and weren't used, matching the enhancements, the sound track, etc. /* *************************************************************************** ** BOOK OVERVIEW ** The new "Deep Space Nine" arc ** ** Star Trek: Deep Space Nine: Avatar (Books 1 and 2) ** S.D. (Stephani Danelle) Perry ** Pocket Books, may-2001, 284 and 234 pages softcover ** ** Star Trek: Deep Space Nine: Section 31: Abyss ** David Weddle and Jeffrey Lang ** Pocket Books, jul-2001, 292 pages softcover ** ** Star Trek: Deep Space Nine: Gateways #4/7: Demons of Air and Darkness ** Keith R.A. DeCandido ** Pocket Books, sep-2001, 286 pages softcover ** ** ************************************************************************ */ "Star Trek: Deep Space Nine" is widely regarded as the best of the four "Star Trek" TV series, because its stationary setting forced the characters to deal with their problems, to have actual long-term relations with their neighbors: Bajorans, Cardassians, Klingons and Ferengi. (Despite bad blood between "Babylon 5" creator J.Michael Straczynski and Paramount, similarities between DS9 and B5 are purely coincidental and superficial.) The editors at Pocket Books, publisher of the Trek novels, took special care to fit the off-screen stories into the official continuity (unlike the dozens of TOS novels, which have probably swelled the "five-year mission" to fifteen), but they were still traditionally episodic and independent. With the end of the TV series (1999), they've started a grand new arc of linked books, several of which intersect the multi-book crossover series. (The "Gateways" finale _What Lay Beyond_ includes a 51-page timeline with every TV ep (TOS, TAS, TNG, DS9, VGR) and Pocket novel (including NF "New Frontiers" and the SCE "Starfleet Corps of Engineers" e-books). Some books have had their stardates adjusted to be consistent.) (Many early TOS novels didn't *feel* like part of the saga: the author might get the characters right, but created entirely new races and technologies that didn't link back to the TV episodes. (Of course, the TV scriptwriters did likewise.) Since the publication of the _Star Trek Encyclopedia_, the quantity and quality of refs has skyrocketed, and no author fails to acknowledge its assistance.) (In issue 3.13 (16-oct-2001), I argued that "Trek" is bad SF. Those arguments apply primarily to the TV eps; many of the novels, because they *are* novels, hence less constrained by format and production pressure, are far superior: characters actually have time for introspection and to puzzle out weird aliens.) *** Let's start with the characters: by the closing credits of the show half the station's crew has departed. Slightly afterward, as told in the novels, most everyone else has been promoted and changed jobs: Captain Sisko has vanished, snatched away from certain immolation in Bajor's Fire Caves while defeating Dukat, completing his role in the otherworldly battle between the Prophets (wormhole aliens) and their foes, the Pah Wraiths. Worf has assumed the post of Federation Ambassador to the Klingons, after killing Chancellor Gowron and replacing him with the honorable General Martok. Chief O'Brien has returned to Earth to teach at Starfleet Academy (taking Keiko, Molly, and Kirayoshi with him). Constable Odo has taken his leave of Kira and rejoined his people, the Founders, to teach them tolerance of Solids (ie, everyone else in the galaxy). Quark's brother Rom (married to the Bajoran Dabo girl, Leeta, one-time girlfriend to Bashir) has been appointed by Grand Nagus Zek, ruler of the Ferengi, as his replacement. (Meanwhile Zek and Quark's mother Ishka have retired to the resort planet of Risa.) Garak, the Cardassian tailor and one-time spy, has returned to his homeworld to assist in the war recovery efforts. Colonel Kira has been promoted to commander of DS9, and pines for Odo. Doctor Bashir and Ezri Dax are an item. Rom's son Nog, first Ferengi in Starfleet, briefly replaces Odo, then assumes O'Brien's post as chief engineer. Ro Laren, the irascible Bajoran Starfleeter who forsook the _Enterprise-D_ to join the Maquis rebels, is the new chief of security. Sisko's son Jake blunts the pain of his loss by taking part in the archeological excavation of B'hala, the ancient Bajoran city re-discovered by his father; and Sisko's wife Kasidy, freighter captain, is pregnant with Sisko's child. Quark is still a bartender, and Vic is still a holosuite recreation of a Las Vegas lounge singer. Lt.Nog gets a new friend in the brilliant but shy replacement science officer, the Andorian Ens.Thirishar ch'Thane; who is estranged from his mother, a Federation Councilor, because he refuses to come home and marry his three betrothed. Bashir gets a new assistant doctor, Simon Tarses, formerly of the _Enterprise-D_. Kira gets a new Starfleet first officer, the Bolian Cdr.Tiris Jast, but she's killed during an attack by renegade Jem'Hadar. That attack also delivers a special Jem'Hadar envoy, an observer sent by Odo: a 22-year-old Elder named Taran'atar, a mutant who can survive without ketracel white. The _Enterprise-E_ arrives during the aftermath and delivers a replacement first officer and captain for the _Defiant_, one Cdr.Elias Vaughn, an eighty-year Starfleet veteran and tactical advisor. The _Defiant's_ helm officer, one Ens.Prynn Tenmei, happens to be his estranged daughter. (Yes, this is beginning to sound disturbingly like the premise of a soap opera. I have an (admittedly elitist and based on minimal first-hand exposure) aversion to that format of entertainment, and rest assured, DS9 *isn't*. The crew deals with more than just trust- fund murders, addresses moral questions beyond sexual fidelity, and executes responsibilities of greater than small-town scale.) Risa: TNG-319:"Captain's Holiday", DS9-507:"Let He Who Is Without Sin...", et al Andorians: TOS-210:"Journey to Babel", ENT-107:"The Andorian Incident", et al Bolians: TNG-125:"Conspiracy", TNG-318:"Allegiance", et al Jem'Hadar: DS9-226:"The Jem'Hadar", et al Simon Tarses: TNG-421:"The Drumhead" *** ST:DS9: Avatar (Books 1 and 2) (The first book in the new arc, it begins with a detailed historical timeline of the Bajorans, the major characters, and the major sociopolitics of the region. It opens in 2376, three months after the TV series ends.) DS9 is serving as clearinghouse for Cardassian war-relief efforts. Because Starfleet is spread thin after the Dominion war, the station is undergoing comprehensive refits with inadequate crew, and only one extra starship is assigned to security. That ship is destroyed by a trio of renegade Jem'Hadar ships, but DS9 is saved by a fourth; one renegade nearly destroys the station, and is stopped by a Jem'Hadar envoy, but not before the reactor is ejected. That envoy is able to avert the joint Starfleet-Klingon-Romulan response to apparent renewed Dominion aggression. A book of prophecy, long-suppressed by the official Bajoran religious authorities, is discovered in B'hala. Its discoverer, an old friend of Kira's, is murdered, and after much reflection (and argument with Ro) she releases it to the public, getting excommunicated for her troubles. Based on one passage, Jake journeys secretly into the wormhole in search of his father. While checking the Badlands for Breen activity, the _Enterprise-E_ discovers the lost Bajoran Orb of Memory, which inspires tactical adviser Cdr.Vaughn to new enthusiasm for his job; he joins the DS9 crew as station XO and CO of the _Defiant_. Breen: TNG-511:"Hero Worship", DS9-7xx, et al *** ST:DS9: Section 31: Abyss (For several years, Pocket's "Trek" marketing strategy has been multi-book sagas and crossovers: two- to seven-book clusters that are either larger than the standard novel, or involve all four TV crews (plus two more native to the books). One such is the four-book "Section 31" series. Introduced in DS9, "31" is a covert organization created by the original Starfleet charter, ostensibly dedicated to protecting the Federation by whatever dirty tricks necessary. They're responsible for the plague that was instrumental in the Dominion's surrender, and have attempted to recruit Dr.Bashir.) While packing to go on vacation with Ezri, Bashir is approached by Section 31 for a new mission. The group had discovered an abandoned Jem'Hadar hatchery in the Badlands, and intended to create their own flavor of soldier race to protect the Federation. Unfortunately the man they chose to lead the project, a genetically-engineered doctor, has Khan Singh-like delusions of grandeur; and they've decided only another enhanced human can stop him. Bashir heads to Sindorin with Dax, Ro (who had scouted the world while a Maquis), and Taran'atar (to face his kin), and first encounter Dr.Ethan Locken's symptoms in the dead crew of a Romulan ship. The runabout is shot down over the planet; Bashir and Dax are captured. Bashir confronts his changing relationship with Dax, his feelings about himself, and the questions raised by the urbane, charming, and endearingly shy Locken. Meanwhile Ro and Taran'atar meet the local Ingavi, whom Ro had kept secret. Back on DS9: Kira deals with her Attaintment, and gets a call from First Minister Sha'kaar about its impact on her authority; we learn that Tenmei is Vaugn's daughter; Quark meets Malic of the Orion Syndicate; and Kasidy and Joseph realize Jake is missing. On Sindorin, Locke is attacked from four sides: Taran'atar sows doubt in his Jem'Hadar, Ezri spikes their ketracel white, Bashir sabotages his plague plan, and the Ingavi attack. Section 31 arrives to salvage the pieces, and Bashir is left with no evidence and a possibly dead race. Back at DS9, Vaughn tells him he's not alone in his counter-conspiracy, and that the Ingavi were rescued via the holoship (rescued from "Star Trek Insurrection") and will be returned to their homeworld. *** ST:DS9: Gateways #4/7: Demons of Air and Darkness (The seven-book "Gateways" saga is yet another of Pocket's crossovers, set in 2376: after the end of DS9, and during VGR's sixth season. Aliens claiming to be the long-lost Iconians have arrived, offering to sell their ancient instant-travel network to the highest bidder; they've activated the entire system, and accidental travel through unsuspected planetside and orbital gates is causing havoc across the galaxy. At the end of each of the first six books, a character has reason to step blindly through a gateway; their further adventures transpire in the seventh, the hardcover collection _What Lies Beyond_.) In the Delta Quadrant, a Malon supertanker is attacked by Hirogen hunters, and dumps its load of antimatter waste into an inviting void. This happens to be an Iconian gateway that debouches in the Alpha Quadrant, alongside the human colony world of Europa Nova. A Starfleet, Bajoran and civilian fleet rushes off to evacuate the three million population, while Nog and Shar investigate why there are no gateways within 10-Ly of the Bajoran wormhole, and if that hints at a way to shut them down. Nog upgrades their shields' radiation resistance with a Sheliak device. Vaughn negotiates for 500,000 people to step through a gateway onto Jarada. Meanwhile, Quark has been recruited by Malic, a boss of the criminal Orion Syndicate, as their negotiator for the gateway rights; but the Iconians have retained Quark's cousin Gaila. Disguised as a Dabo girl, Ro accompanies him, and grabs some key evidence during the confusion. At Europa Nova, the fleet gets some help from the Cardassian Gul Macet (Gul Dukat's cousin), while Kira and Taran'atar journey through the gateway to stop the waste flow. The Jem'Hadar gets to fight the Hirogen (celebrity! alien! deathmatch!), and Kira is stranded on a desert world. Delirious from heat, radiation and thirst, she stumbles through a beckoning gateway. In WLB: Kira is transported 30,000 years into Bajor's past, before the planet is united, and becomes a soldier fighting on the Perikian Peninsula. She befriends a general, they're captured by a rival power, and escape; but Torrna's family have been killed, still thinking him dead. She talks him out of his depression, and applies her advice to herself when she returns to DS9. On the way out she sees the entire galaxy and meets an Iconian. Iconians: TNG-211:"Contagion", DS9 Jarada: TNG-113:"The Big Goodbye" Sheliak: TNG-301:"The Ensigns of Command" Green Orions: TOS-101:"The Cage", TOS-210:"Journey to Babel", RPGs, novels Orion Syndicate: DS9 Malons: VGR-401:"Night" Gul Macet: TNG-112:"The Wounded" Hirogens: VGR-413:"Message in a Bottle" et al /* *************************************************************************** ** SWEEPSTAKES ANNOUNCEMENT ** ** "Enterprise Walk-On Role Sweepstakes" ** ************************************************************************ */ Paramount periodically conducts sweepstakes with the grand prize of a non-speaking walk-on role. The previous such was for the finale ep of "Voyager", and the current such is co-sponsored by Intel: "The PentiumŪ 4 Processor Presents The Enterprise Walk-On Role Sweepstakes". (Perhaps they've discovered that no ordinary human using ordinary software actually *needs* a 2-GHz CPU, that R&D has outrun consumer demand?) The contest runs wed-14-nov- through fri-14-dec-2001. There is one (1) grand prize and ten (10) first prizes. You can enter online or by mail. Online, you can optionally create a music video using Pentium 4-promoting Flash applet; not recommended over a dial-up connection, I can tell you. The grand prize is a walk-on, non-speaking, un-paid role in an episode of "Enterprise"; plus 3-days/2-nights hotel; plus air, air- hotel and hotel-studio transport (if applicable); plus a VHS copy of the episode. (And must be completed by 31-may-2002.) Each first prize is a Sony Vaio Digital Studio Desktop Series RX500 Digital Studio PC. Standard snailmail protocol: on a postcard (or envelope-enclosed paper), hand-print (typed would be easier to read, but probably permits nefarious-fraudulent duplicate entries) name, address, day- and-eve phone numbers, date of birth, and optionally e-ddress; then mail to: The Pentium 4 Processor Presents The Enterprise Walk-On Role Sweepstakes P.O. Box 70 Ojai, California 93024-0070 [ http://www.startrek.com/ ] [ http://www.intel.com/home/enterprise ] Here's a hunk (in the sense of, "solid hunk of neutronium") of the legalese, edited for clarity: +++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++ "Usage of Grand Prize winner's non-speaking, walk-on part Disclosure: The Grand Prize winner, by accepting the Grand Prize and completing the Affidavit of Eligibility/Release of Liability and On-Set Liability and Release Form, grants to PPC and UPN and their parent companies, subsidiaries, affiliates, successors, assigns and licensees and each of their respective employees, officers, directors, shareholders, agents and representatives, irrevocable and perpetual right to use their name, visual, audio, actual or simulated likeness, personal characteristics, entry contents, biographical data and statements; to [exploit:] photograph, record, depict, display, fictionalize, modify, reproduce or otherwise exploit in any manner in PPC and UPN's sole discretion, if at all, in whole or in part, your performance in a future episode of Enterprise or alternate show ("Footage"), including any and all other personal identification, artwork, images, service marks, trade names, logos and copyrights incorporated therein or relating thereto, for and in connection with the Sweepstakes and/or any and all other PPC and UPN productions, and for advertising, promoting, publicizing, distributing, exhibiting and/or other exploiting thereof, including all ancillary and subsidiary rights therein, in any and all languages, formats and media now known and later devised throughout the universe and in perpetuity. The Grand Prize winner also releases PPC and UPN from all claims, liabilities and obligations whatsoever in connection with PPC and UPN's use of the Footage, and agrees and acknowledges that the Grand Prize and the publicity and exposure which the Footage will receive, if used, constitutes valuable, sufficient and complete consideration for the rights granted therein to PPC and UPN and that there shall be no payment of any monetary compensation. In no event shall you have any right to seek or obtain injunctive or other equitable relief in connection with your nonspeaking, walk-on part or any other PPC and/or UPN production, or the production, distribution, exhibition, advertising, promotion or publicizing thereof." +++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++ Hmmm. Think LISP-ish parens would've helped? I am not a lawyer (ie IANAL), nor do I play one on TV, but I think all that distills to: (1) You don't get paid for your role, you don't get residuals, you have no union rights. (2) Your photo as Ensign J.Random Greenbean can appear in future episodes on computer screens or in flashbacks, in future editions of _The Star Trek Encyclopedia_, and so forth; and you *still* don't get paid. (3) They can retouch your photo any way they want. (4) But only for "Star Trek" properties, not other Paramount productions. (5) You can't escape by emigrating to Mars or another timezone. /* ************************************************************************ ** Legalese ** Acknowledgments ** Opt-in/out Instructions ** *********************************************************************** */ The set of creative works herein reviewed and analyzed, including the subset {books, movies, TV shows, toys}, are the property of their respective copyright holders. No infringement or endorsement is expressed, implied or intended. The original reviews and analyses are themselves copyright 2001 by Phillip Thorne. In this issue, certain data (possibly not otherwise acknowledged) have been obtained, aggregated and synthesized from: Tribune Media Services Excite TV tv.excite.com The Internet Movie Database imdb.com Masto's Auto-Kibo Mailer Star Trek startrek.com The Star Trek Encyclopedia _Star Trek Magazine_ Upcoming Movies upcomingmovies.com If you're receiving this newsletter, you've probably intentionally subscribed to it, or possibly you're interested in special topical coverage, or maybe I've sent you a teaser issue. To subscribe and unsubscribe, follow standard mailing list protocol with the addresses below: Publisher: nsx@underbase.org Newsletter: nsx-l@underbase.org nsx-l-subscribe (to subscribe; blank subject) nsx-l-unsubscribe (to unsubscribe) Discussion list: nsx-discuss-l@underbase.org nsx-discuss-l-subscribe (to subscribe; blank subject) nsx-discuss-l (to post) nsx-discuss-l-unsubscribe (to unsubscribe) /* *************************************************************************** ** *************************************************************************** ** The Non-Sequitur Express ** http://nsx.underbase.org/ ** Volume 3, Issue 15: Wednesday, 28 November 2001 ** Copyright 1999-2001 Phillip Thorne, nsx@underbase.org ** *************************************************************************** ** ************************************************************************ */