No, it never truly 'ended': Happy 20th, 'All Good Things'

Well, here's a benchmark everyone is talking about feeling "old" over.

For those of you who didn't get your TNG through a Blu-ray or Netflix binge-watch, today marks the 20th anniversary of the week-long birthday of the airing of TNG's celebrated finale, "All Good Things...".*

Yep, TWENTY.


I could only cram in so much for this wonderful and complex show in the TNG Companion show notes... still available on Kindle or the occasional rare paperback that pops up... Which is why I love doing the Trekland: On Speaker CD series now. Funny how we chose "All Good Things..." for our Vol. 2, this year!

Enjoy updates with Ron D. Moore and Brannon Braga for AGT all over the web this year, but if you want to actually hear them... much less showrunner Michael Piller, or director Rick Kolbe, both of whom have passed now... you might check out our great disk of their voices ...from 1994 ... and the liner notes.

Time has been very kind to Ron and Brannon's career milestone, but it only took a year or so before everyone (including the writers) realized, ironically, that the rushed, 24/7 writing job they cranked out on this series-ender was a far more powerful piece than the Generations feature film they'd slaved over for more than a year... for various reasons.

Filming was still mostly secreted to little ol' me, recent;y arrived in LA to write the TNG Companion update, but in my two-month stay I got an awful lot of sneak-peeks, and a look at the script as well, to be able to ask about it in time. I remember standing outside Stage 8-9 the day they shot the "full crew" scene of Past Picard's arrival address to his "new" crew, and seeing buddy and Trek extra Guy Vardeman emerge among the mob after it wrapped—wearing his "Darien Wallace" command red uniform, noticing he was wearing lieutenant commander pips, and getting shushed before I opened my big mouth too loud. Such was the mood and vibe and the way of things, back in the day.

Lots of folks will be hauling it out to watch, today, I'll bet. Just don't forget: you can legally party on this topic for six more days.* Just sayin.'





*I say week-long because, as you should recall, TNG was syndicated, with various markets seeing it on various days of the week... and May 23 was merely the first available date in the week for aiting: a Monday, as the LA and many other affiliates had it. We at the time in Oklahoma City, of course, had to wait til Sunday night as usual... 10:30 p.m. On May 29.

Don't forget 'TNG 365'—another new stunner of a book

And now—a long-overdue review in praise of another  Trek offering that I hope has gotten its proper share of attention in this crazy holiday season: Paula Block and Terry Erdmann's luscious five-star TNG 365 book, a 744-page follow-up to their earlier tome, both from Abrams (and no—no relation).

The above means, if you still need a gift or two for your Trek giftee list, GET THIS. Especially, of course, if your own name is on that list.

Look, as you regular readers and viewers will know, and as I promised back in Post #1... TREKLAND is all about a personal take on the daily diet of Trek news you can get everywhere—either my own POV, or someone's else's.

And this gets pretty personal.

The shallow things would be to say—"Oh look! The authors extraordinaire used one of my own uniques for Entry 339 (left), and tossed in a nice shout-out for me and the TNG Companion" (Which folks still want to buy at conventions, despite it going out-of-print and into eBooks last year). Previously, only fans in a convention audience from time to time for my "Between The Cracks" Trek show got a glimpse of this slice of TNG history: the late-season self-poke at otherwise outstanding writers who had come and gone from TNG's very demanding niche. (And yes, per his intro for the book: that poster hung in Ron Moore's corner office bathroom, where I had the good sense to snap it during one of our annual archival interview sessions.)

But truth is, I'm jealous because TNG 365 gets to be everything I had hoped the TNG Companion could have been, and I had initially planned for, as the first reference book of the "modern" Trek era: lots of behind-the-scenes pics to go with the tale-telling—and in COLOR. Some images here are from studio vaults we barely got to use over the years in magazines... And some are even better: from the files of all the series' Treklanders who were smart enough to snap their own work in progress (or those around them). Like that one of mine. Until the digital revolution revamped the landscape, your only shot was to catch it and its brethren at a cool con show. (Or break into my house).

The gorgeous and rare photos, sketches and even memos also give a chance to tack on some (gasp) text to tell anew some of the best moments of TNG—because so much is on the "cutting room floor," as with the space and reprint limitations of my TNG Companion, for one. A lot had been used and consumed by magazines that most fans today will never have a chance to ever see. (Hey! You finally get Pulaski's full Writer's Guide bio! And Dan Curry's "Visible Klingon" anatomy poster (aside from that Enterprise glimpse) (at right)! And a zillion other things). There's even some bits here I had never seen nor heard before —heavens! There's even room for lots of cool off-lot context and cultural tie-in sidebars to boot, like products and fan moments— but all based around imagery. And even with seven season to cram in this time.

It also means that, even with the great documentary being assembled for the TNG remastering on Blu-ray, a book still holds far more Trek treasure than video, in many ways. But thanks for the cpntinued 25th anniversary hoo-haw, nonetheless.

I guess what I'm saying is that, obviously, TNG 365 is the perfect companion to your TNG Companion (ahem).  

If you didn't think to gift it by now, from your local well-stocked bookseller or even a tad late via online, don't forget it during the inevitable gift-swapalooza coming up post-holiday Dec. 26. Or anytime. (It's on Kindle, too.) All this and about 18 bucks. In hardback!

Spelunking down-under: "Q'apla!"

Yes, this story hit the interwaves a couple of  weeks back... and if you did miss it, it's worth a smile and a read—and my added note, below:

nuqneH! Australian cave tours available in Klingon

SYDNEY (AFP) – An Australian cave system is offering tours in Klingon, the alien language featured in cult science fiction series Star Trek, in what is believed to be a world first.

Jenolan Caves west of Sydney, the inspiration for Star Trek spacecraft the USS Jenolan, will offer audio guides in the fictional language from August 22, catering for the show's fans who flock to the attraction.  ...

BTW--Then-TNG writer Ron D. Moore had vacationed there in Australia over the 1992 hiatus, then came back and did name Scotty's transporter-loopy craft after the caves he had visited—but he misspelled it accidentally in the script for "Relics." Thus, that ship is officially the Jenolen, while the caves are actually Jenolan.

But how far have we come such that even the tourism folks see fit to play up that obscure Trek connection? The Intertubes is an amazing thing, even Down Under....where they apparently read the TNG Companion, too.

L.A. ALERT! Hear Ron D. Moore THIS Tuesday, May 5 at the Writers Guild

As if this week of "Film Eve" couldn't get any more fun-crazy-interesting for you L.A.-area readers ... I'm told, unbelievably, that there are still lots of seats for this old Treklander-cum-Galacticator:

The Writers Guild Foundation presents
An Evening with
RONALD D. MOORE

BATTLESTAR GALACTICA

Tuesday, May 5 -- 7:30-9:30pm -- At the WG Theater

Join us for this unique opportunity to learn from the writer, developer, and executive producer of BATTLESTAR GALACTICA ... a cult classic and one of the most successful sci-fi series in a frakkin' long time. Moderated by Desperate Housewives writer and self-confessed BSG nerd Jeff Greenstein.

Tickets: https://www.brownpapertickets.com/event/63131
Or call 800-838-3006