READER'S LETTERS ------------------ Once again, some of you seem to be writing in with your comments! What is going wrong?! Feedback from readers? Never! Anyway, on with the letters... --------------------------------- Roger Mamrang Hull England Dear Simon, What a lovely surprise! Many thanks for the free issue (#5) of TFF, a magnificent reward for merely submitting to you my humble lists of favourite Trek things for the readers' polls. This issue was as thoroughly enjoyable as the previous one. There's a real professional yet friendly feel to it, and the whole caboodle is quite superb! I'm even toying with the idea of getting Sky so I can watch all these new episodes which everyone goes on so much about, although I'll never take to them like the original ones. As a now-and-then editor and writer myself, I understand how important continuing feedback is, so I'll go on to give a few specific opinions and suggestions. Some of us have s-l-o-w machines. You know what I mean, Simon, you had to suffer your old 500+ while your flash one was being mended. Well just think, its like that all the time for me. So the problem's loading. Most things are quick, but if possible, perhaps you could make the loading of the background music optional - don't get me wrong, I like it fine, but as I have to use my computer in complete silence most of the time, the lengthy music loading time is redundant, as the volume remains down anyway. A printed list of contents of all the disks would be very useful, for when you fancy looking at things again but can't remember which disk they were on. Again, with the aeons it takes a 500+ to load, it's a bind. No-one's more sympathetic about printing costs than I, so I realise this might not be as easily said as done. I suppose I could always jot down things I might want to refer to again (such as your list of actors who played more than one character, thereby letting me check up and get my facts right before I go making more rash, erroneous accusations!), but there we go. By the way, after looking at one disk, I find I have to remove it and switch my computer off and on again before looking at the next. Is there a way round this? I am not technically-minded, so an obvious alternative might well have eluded me. I enjoyed most of your transcript of James Doohan's talks, as I have always been fond of Scotty and am also fascinated by the actor's diverse pre-showbiz career, especially his war experiences. However that may be, I was a little bit upset (as you quite correctly predicted some of us more timourous souls would be!) at the things he said about my childhood hero, Will the Shat. I know it would be wrong for you to edit out such things to protect our feelings, I just think such people with such a high profile and such influence over fans as Mr Doohan should bite their tongues. I for one do not want to know about Bill's wigs and implants (how come no-one pokes fun at ladies who use make-up to enhance their looks?), and as a bio-psychologist, I can tell you that "chemical imbalances" are certainly no laughing matter! I derive enormous enjoyment from William Shatner's acting and writing (for Mr Doohan's information, Bill makes no secret of the considerable help he receives from talented writer Ron Goulart, there is no deceit on his part), and while anecdotes about the actors are entertaining, I think personal remarks are bitchy, immature and highly unprofessional, especially when they induce vicious laughter. Never mind Hollywood movies, it's more like a jealous, back-biting amateur dramatic society. Personally, I think I'd be as crabby as Shat is alleged to be if my colleagues went around giving derogatory talks about me to my fans all over the world. Thank goodness the chances of that are remote! Now I've calmed down a little, here's a Trek question that I hope you can answer for me. Am I right in thinking that a few years ago someone did a musical stage version of Star Trek? Or am I thinking of something else? The reason being that I fancy chancing my arm at such a theatrical venture myself. I'm not quite as clued-up as some of you Trek-sperts are though, due mostly to a limited budget (I'm trying to wean my kids off Thunderbirds so I can cunningly get them Trek videos and books for birthday presents and the like, and as they're all PG or 15 films, I'll have to watch them with them - Darn!!!) so I wonder if there are any useful reference works suitable for someone who loves Star Trek but doesn't have the necessary facts at their fingertips to help them write about it. Some things even a trivia-duffer like me can spot though. In Star Trek IV where Spock is being tested by the computer and it asks, "How do you feel?", surely the logical response would be something about a series of nerve endings leading to the brain? Oh, and in "Journey To Babel" Spock's blood, although T-negative or whatever, is supposed to be not pure Vulcan blood, and containing traces of human blood cells. I don't mind boasting that this is physiologically impossible, as a developing baby in a human mother's womb contains the blood of just one parent - that two types never mix, as this would cause a right old brouhaha and probably be fatal. So time was wasted helping poor Sarek for nothing. Shame on Bones (why, oh why, oh why does he know nothing about Vulcan "physiognomy" as he calls it, if he's got a Vulcan on his crew?!!). Thank goodness Kirk had the constitution of a horse (speaking as someone who's had a punctured left lung myself, although not as a result of being stabbed in the right side of my waist!) otherwise Spock's dad would have come a cropper. As for Star Trek II: The Wrath Of Khan, does anyone know how Khan came across the Klingon proverb he quotes, "Revenge is a dish best served cold"? He's been marooned on that planet for fifteen years with no contact with anyone else, let alone Klingons! Presumably when he was swotting up in the Enterprise sick bay all those years ago, the ship's computer contained a file of "Klingon Proverbs". Incidentally, does anyone know of any screen references to the components of Spock's brain (sorry to bring it up!) and nervous system, or those of pure Vulcans, as I am working on a study into the possible physical reasons for Vulcan's supposed lack of emotion. Even the most respected psychology text books mention Spock and Kirk, and I think a comparison between the human and Vulcan brain and nervous systems would be a super way to get students interested in the physiological processes involved with emotion. Thanks again Simon, for a great fanzine and the free copy. Live long and prosper, Roger Hi Roger, Thanks for writing again. Okay, after all that, where on Earth do I start?!! Okay, well taking your letter in order, I'll start with your point about the music. Now this is something that has caused a few minor disagreements behind the scenes on TFF. Some people think the music should be optional, I think it adds an extra dimension to TFF and is worth loading up automatically. However, it's not so much the loading time that is the problem, more the time it takes for the songs to decrunch which can sometimes be longer than the actual loading time! Still, if we don't crunch anything, TFF would have to be released on 7 or 8 disks!! This will be changed for Issue 7, and the music will need to be selected by the user (who says we don't listen to criticism?!!). Printed contents lists? Well, as soon as I can find someone in Infinite Frontiers willing to take on the job, I will try to arrange something like this. We are starting to enter a phase where we will have a great deal of work to pass on to someone with a good DTP system (including producing 2 magazines) and this person could also handle publicity material like this, but yes, we ARE working on it! Whether they will be made available freely or whether we'd need to charge, I'm not quite sure. If we are to charge, then they would probably be produced in the form of a mini-booklet containing a complete A-Z of every issue, updated every 4 months or so. Your next point about resetting after each disk. Well, the mag is designed that way, but our new menu system that should be in use from Issue 7 will rectify that. Put simply, you will load up from disk 1 and use disks 2-4 as "data" disks (or Picard disks or Worf disks..!). It will be a little annoying having to swap disks, but we will be able to squeeze an extra 450K of extra material onto each issue, so I think it's worth it. Just wait until you see the features built-in to the new menu system as well - it's looking pretty amazing! As far as Jimmy Doohan's opinion of Bill Shatner, many of the cast feel the same way and Bill himself admits it in his autobiography. And he also says that part of it is his OWN fault! Still, if I had edited the remarks out, I would have been cheating the readers in not giving them the full talk. Anyone at the con would have heard Jimmy say what he did, so why should TFF readers miss out? Also, as far as the Tek series of books, what Jimmy was trying to stress was that, as far as he was aware, the books were written ENTIRELY by Ron Goulart and Bill had very little to do with them other than the basic story ideas. Also, it's not unusual for people not to get on with their colleagues (there are a few people I work with that I don't get along with), and if the cast don't get on, why should we try to hide the fact. We can't blame any of the cast just because they're not all good friends - in a work environment, they work wonderfully together and that's what we all appreciate, but I don't think there's a need for a cover-up of their personal feelings towards each other. Back to what Jimmy said, being at the con I saw that it wasn't bitterness, or jealousy - Jimmy genuinely doesn't like Bill and, after hearing Jimmy's remarks you can understand that he has very good reasons to feel that way. I'm not going to judge Jimmy or Bill based on those remarks and I don't think any other readers will either. There hasn't been a Trek musical to my knowledge (apart from "The Way To Eden" or "Birthright Part 2"!!), but there WERE plans for a Star Trek opera a couple of years ago, but the project was abandoned. I couldn't really see it myself, and for you to do one yourself would obliterate your own and several other people's bank accounts just acquiring the licence from Paramount!! With your comment about Khan, don't forget that his wife, Marla McGivers, was the Enterprise's historian and would no doubt have been in contact with Klingons and would have a reasonable chance of knowing one or two phrases at least. Well, that's my limp excuse anyway! Finally, Spock's brain. Well, Vulcans are NOT without emotions so any study you would do would be wasted. Vulcans have emotions but they surpress them willingly. With saying that, there hasn't been anything on-screen about their nervous systems that I kmow of off-hand. Well, thanks for your comments and keep on Trekkin' Simon Steve Gray Northampton England Dear Simon, I was reading one of the sections in The Final Frontier Volume 5 and there was a question asked regarding who was the Captain of the USS Enterprise 1701-B. You replied that there has never been a Captain named and that it could be Captain Sulu. I write to advise you that this is not true and the details are as follows: Captain : Tomas Johnson Jr Class : Excelsior Built : Antares Ship Yards I hope that the above information is of use to you. Yours sincerely, Steve Gray Hi Steve, Thanks for your comments, but I have to say that you are wrong, although through no fault of your own!!! Yes, Tomas Johnson has been named as the Enterprise's Captain, but ONLY on the Next Gen Enterprise cut-away poster that was released last year. As I have said before, nothing with regards to Star Trek can be accepted as being Trek fact unless it has appeared in one of the episodes or films. Anything else is pure fiction and should be treated as such. As you know, we have seen models of the ship in TNG, so we know it is an Excelsior class ship, but -nothing- else has been established. As far as Sulu getting the ship, it's not unheard of in Starfleet to re-name ships (as was done with the Enterprise A, which was previously the USS Yorktown), so I can't see why the Excelsior couldn't be re-christened the Enterprise B. Thanks for writing anyway, but rest assured that the only information we cover in TFF is based on facts you can rely on! Simon --------------------------------- Send your letters about the mag, or anything to do with TREK, TNG or DS9 to: The Final Frontier - Letters P.O. Box 8966 Great Barr Birmingham B43 5ST ENGLAND Please note: We reserve the right to edit letters for length/suitability.