Forgotten Heroes: Seaquest’s Dagwood

By Owen Quinn author of the Time Warriors and Zombie Blues

Photo copyright Amblin

I was recently made aware of just how many movies and television shows the younger generation have never heard of, never mind seen. So to that end, we look back at some characters you really need to see before you kick the bucket.

In the Seaquest universe, between 2001 and 2003 genetic engineering went wild resulting in the creation of humans called Daggers. They were bred for war and totally sterile so reproduction was impossible. The UN banned all such work meaning the Daggers had no function in society. They were kept in camps under armed guard, abused and despised by the guards who also use the “almost women” for sexual pleasure. But the seeds of revolution had been sown. But as Ian said in Jurassic Park life finds a way and one gives birth. That makes them human with full rights as any citizen which draws Captain Bridger and his crew in.

Aboard the Seaquest is a solitary Dagger called Dagwood with the mannerism of a shy child. As fate would have it, Dagwood would become instrumental to the plight of the Daggers and Seaquest itself. Captain Bridger is impressed by his insight into the Dagger situation that everything will work out. It is when Dagwood uses his enormous strength to save O’Neill )Ted Raimi) from being killed that Bridger offers Dagwood a permanent place on the Seaquest.

Dagger’s skin is multicoloured given the different gentc samples used. Dagwood goes largely ignored and unnoticed, used to clean only, He has the strength of a bull and as we soon learn he is much more than just another Dagger. He is an Alpha model K , the prototype for all Daggers. Bridger dislikes the term Dagger as racist. When they find the baby, Dagwood is delighted that he is now technically an uncle.

It is Dagwood that manages to convince his brethren that Bridger is on their side and avert total disaster.

Dagwood quickly becomes part of the crew and enjoys nights out with Lucas, Tony and the others. If nothing else, he is the best bodygusrd you could have on your side. His strength comes in useful time and again even when the crew go under the command of Captain Oliver Hudson (Michael Ironside) in season three.

I have a real soft spot for both Seaquest and the character of Dagwood. Played by Peter DeLuise, he is the son of Cannonball Run’s legend Dom DeLuise and brother of fellow Seaquest cast member Michael DeLuise who plays Merman Tony Piccolo. His performance is so nuanced and likeable you couldn’t help but feel protective of Dagwood. He was fiercely loyal to his friends and brutally honest. He looked like he could crush your skull but he was as gentle as a kitten with his childlike view of the world. Much to Tony’s disbelief, Dagwood doesn’t understand why women wore mini skirts in the 60s.

When Dagwood is accused of the murder of the scientist who created him but does not remember doing it, we discover he was one of mutiple clones. He finds versions of himself in various stages of development hidden in a secret lab. He refers to them as his family. What he also finds is his evil twin has kept on ice because it could not be reasoned with. This version was almost the perfect Dagger but it killed anyone it met rather than the enemy it was meant to. To get a beat down between two Dagwoods is well done and makes for exciting viewing. It is brutal and leaves our Dagwood battered and bruised. We know he is innocent as does the crew but the evidence is concrete up until this point. Brody and Ford take him to do things he would never do otherwise before going to prison like dance and be kissed. Perhaps the most telling scene in this episode is when Bridger tries to tell Dagwood what jail really is. Dagwood tells him he has been in a jail all his life; the only difference is this jail has bars on the windows. His jail has always been the fact he is different even to other Daggers. This shows that Dagwood is well aware of how the world sees him and we see this racism first hand firstly through a prison guard and when he is turned away from a bar. Not even prostitutes will kiss him. So when he gets a taste of an actual life he runs to keep it but thankfully he fights with his evil clone which proves his innocence.He also finally gets kissed by Henderson which is a great reaction moment. If only we got a deeper exploration of how layered Dagwood really was as a character.

This is further explored when the Seaquest is at the mercy of a powerful psychic. He brainwashes Dagwood using his deepest wishes to make him do what he wants. Dagwood admits he wants to be like everyone else and is shown what he would look like as a human. The psychic admires Dagwwod as the new Adam and he will be the template for all future humanity. He beleives this to the point that the villain sacrifices himself to save Dagwood from being killed in an explosion. Tony aand Dagwood have never been closer than in this episode when they share a nightmare implanted by the psychic and he saves Tony from a type of floatation tank when he has a panic attack induced by our friendly neighbourhood psychic. And it is Tony’s fledgling psychic abilities that get through to dagwood to save Lucas.

Someone as powerful as Dagwood is handy to have when facing killer aliens like the Stormers in Dream Weaver with guest star Mark Hamill. But when the Seaquest is taken to an alien world in the season two finale Splashdown, events turn sour very quickly. Tricked by alien forces, the crew are killed when the Seaquest episodes and they sacrifice themselves for the greater good. But Bridger entrusted Dagwood to save Lucas and look after him to find a way home. As the last three survivors, Dagwood, Darwin and Lucas face an unknown future.

However most of the crew are resurrected and wake up on Earth yen years later. Bridger hands command of the Seaquest to Oliver Hudson who makes Dagwood an ensign. He learns quickly from his human friends and you see him being protective of people especially Lucas and Tony whom have a penchant for getting into trouble. There is a DeLuise family reunion when both Michael and Dagwood act alongside their father Dom and brother David. In the episode Vapors, Dom plays Tony’s father, a heavy smoker who spends his time in Buddy’s Smokehouse.

Dagwood stares at him through the glass of the smoking booth and tells him that he is what he imagines his father would look like only with a brain.

In season three Dagwood got to wield weapons and in Good Soldiers, Bridger returns and takes Lucas and Commander Ford on a secret mission. Dagwood asks to go based on a feeling he needs to be there. He experiences visions of Daggers in agony and they discover a secret facility where Daggers were experimented upon to make the perfect soldier. Dagwood is furious angry at Ford and Bridger’s involvement in these atrocities. He says all he has ever wanted was to be like everyone else but not anymore. It triggers a crisis of conscience but he needs the world to know. But he chooses not to as it is too risky.

Hidson sees Dagwood as a civilian but in the episode In The Company of Ice and Profit, Dagwood risks his life taking a bullet in the process. Hudson makes him part of the crew with his own uniform.

Even though ten years have passed, th Daggers are still struggling to be accepted. Along with Brody and Henderson, Dagwood is refused entry to a restaurant but discovers the Dagger’ Sheath, a Daggers only club. There he meets a woman called Rachel who persuades him that the crew don’t really like him and he is only a slave to them, a novelty. He asks to leave but Hidson refuses giving him 48 hours leave or he will be classd as a deserter. despite her best efforts, Rchel fails and he returns to Seaquest. when asked if he wasn’t happier with his own kind, he replies that he is with his own kind. No one sees him as a Dagger here and he sees friends and family. It shows how far he has come since his arrival on the boat.

Dagwood could walk the line between comedy and drama in a heartbeat. It’s a pity they didn’t get further seasons of Seaquest because it would have been interesting watching his journey to almost human. For the one and a half seaosn we did get, Dagwood was easily the best character besides Tony because he brought the best out in others.

TW rewatches Star Trek SNW Tomorrow and Tomorrow and Tomorrow

By Owen Quinn author of the Time Warriors and Zombie Blues

copyyright Paramount Pictures

The lovely Christina Chong comes to the fore in this episode when she is sent back in time to stop an attack that will destroy history as she knows it. She’s having a bad enough time dealing with her genetically altered ancestry as well as who her infamous ancestor is; Khan Noonien Singh himself. The stakes are higher than any Trek episode that has tampered with this scenario when La’an finds herself stuck in the altered history which says she doesn’t exist with the new captain of the USS Enterprise….James T. Kirk of the USS Enterprise. She has no choice but to go back as not even Starfleet exists here.

We can assume that the fatally wounded time traveller that comes for La’an is either a member of Starfleet’s temporal division as seen in Trials and Tribblations. Or he could be one of Gary 7’s associates as encountered as our James Kirk in the original series Assignment Earth.

La’an’s story is met with disbelief by Kirk who accidentally sends them back to the present. This is a great chance to see a previously unknown Kirk adventure and indeed aspects to a Kirk whom we only know because of his face. This Kirk was born in space, his brother Sam is dead, Earth is an uninhabitable ruin, and he has never seen a sunset. On the flipside he is still the cocky confident chess playing man we know ready to jump right in to save the day. Given La’an has never met the real James Kirk in her history, it gives her a chance to form a real relationship here even falling for him. Given the fact Kirk is Khan’s greatest foe, it is as if fate is having a laugh teaming La’an up with him. This Kirk’s past is dark but he deals with it in a humorous manner like how he makes Vulcan soup and where he learned to nerve pinch. La’an sees in him someone she can relate to and be open with as seen in the scene where her name means nothing to him. His tragic past is something she can identify with given her history especially with the Gorn (again fate having a bit of fun given Kirk is the first to see what a Gorn looks like in Arena).

Both do what they do best; they have no tricorders or weapons so use their wits and abilities to steal clothes and get some money. They frame a woman for shoplifting then Kirk plays chess to hustle some cash.

After a car chase there is a nice commentary on our world now when an on-looker, Vanessa, forces the cops to release Kirk after a car chase due to social media pressure. It is the same woman whom they spoke to earlier when a bridge (which happens in both timelines) is destroyed by photonic charges. Vanessa is a conspiracy theorist tracking government activity and claims aliens are the big threat. She shows them photos which Kirk realises show a Romulan ship. They now know a cold fusion reactor will explode in a few days triggering Kirk’s future as La’an has never heard of it.

New chief engineer Pelia, played by Carol Kane, is alive and well in the 21st century given her species the Lanthanite lived in secret on Earth for centuries. However, this version of Pelia is not an engineer yet but a nice Voyage Home moment as La’an triggers Pelia’s engineering career. Indeed, the ghost of Star Trek 4 The Voyage Home is sprinkled throughout as Kirk learns of hotdogs, hot showers with water, memes and the Apple store.

Such is their connection La’an hopes to being Kirk back to her timeline as she admits he is special as she opens up about her heritage. Her speech about being marked as different as seen in the Scarlet Letter by Hawthorne. This is the first person La’an has met that takes her for who she is and not what her name of lineage represents. As seen in the scene in the hotel, she almost tells him in the middle of the night . She is torn and Christina Chong plays it perfectly. You can feel her agony at opening to, literally, a complete stranger.

However, fate chose them for this mission for a much bigger reason. The real target is not a cold fusion reactor but Khan. Vanessa is really a surgically altered Romulan that has been trapped on Earth for 30 years. The Romulan plan to slow mankind’s progress has not achieved the results they wanted and should have happened in 1992 so if they kill Khan, the Eugenic Wars never happen and man does not reach the stars. Vanessa calls Kirk’s bluff and shoots him dead in an unexpected twist but we always knew he could never come back to La’an’s reality. There is an echo here of Edith Keeler’s death in City on the Edge of Forever when Kirk had to stand by and let her die to ensure his future. La’an declares Khan and his dark legacy for what it is and that she is a product of that same legacy. After a vicious fight, Vanessa is shot but self-destructs ending their threat. Despite our hope it will be a CGI appearance by Ricardo Montalban, we discover this Khan is a mere child along with others being kept secure by the government. There is the thought of would you kill Hitler as a child here in the background. La’an knows what he will become but also knows the good that will come out of it. With Khan safe she returns to her restored timeline where she is instructed by Temporal Investigations to keep what she has just been through.

She is furious that she was sent back to save a mass murderer and having to kill to do it. She is furious she lost Kirk in the process but realises it had it be done to keep her reality safe. In the final scene La’an contacts Kirk who is the Kirk she has never met. Speaking to him, it rams home that the version she has fallen for and trusted is gone forever. He may have the face of the only man she trusted to open herself too, but he is not him. She breaks down completely alone just as she has always been due to the mark of Khan.

This episode is a tour de force for Christina Chong and her character as get to see below the layers that make her so rigid in her duties. We thought her tales of being trapped by the Gorn were heart wrenching but here it delves into her very soul. A classic.

Rocky & Star Wars Actor Carl Weathers RIP

      By Owen Quinn author of the Time Warriors and Zombie Blues

Within hours of Dublin Comic Con announcing that actor Carl Weathers was coming to Dublin in March, the sad news came that Carl passed away at the age of 76.

His family say he died peacefully at home and his death has truly shocked the world. I met him in Belfast at a comic con a few years ago and he signed a boxing glove for one of my son’s friends who came with us. He was great with us and I was looking forward to meeting him again in a few weeks.

But now that isn’t going to happen.

Instead I’m thinking back at the performances that cemented him into a fan favourite for me. Looking back, to me he was the only man that could stand toe to toe with both Rocky and Arnie. Carl had an intensity about him that made you sit up and notice. None of us will ever forget his role as Apollo Creed and that fight in the ring with Stallone. That fight was raw and roared off the screen at us hypnotised masses. As much as we were rooting for Rocky, your eyes never left Apollo.

Former enemy turned friend to Rocky, I can hear james Brown singing Living in America with Apollo dancing around in his outrageous All American costume. He is confident that Dolph Lumgren’s Ivan Drago will fall like the others so it is with hearts in our mouths that we watcched him die in the ring, his wife crying out to him while Rocky cradles his body. Drago says, “if he dies, he dies.” Rocky glares at him and we shout out knowing Rocky is broken hearted and furious, “I wouldn’t be so cocky, you big blond bollocks. Rocky’s coming on the back of Apollo’s spirit!”

It still makes my blood boil to this day lol But that’s the magic issn’t it.

There’s a power and gut wrenching emotion in it that stayed with audiences long after the movie ended. To see Apollo pummelled to death is a piece of movie history but his legacy lived on in his son.

Similarly in Predator, Dillon against Dutch in the bicep scene shows what a match Weathers was for all of the big power houses at the time. His death in the movie was the most spectacular of them all although you can see his supposed amputated arm strapped up his back. The camera spinning as his gun rattled off shot after useless shot against certain death is brilliantly executed. Predator showed just how good an actor he was and it felt like Arnie was pushed to equal Weathers’ screen presence.

And when he joined the Mandalorian as Greef Karga, we saw another strong character that stood side by side with the Mandalorian in any situation. In the last season he was central in restoring his questionable past and giving the Mandalorian people a home to call their own. It was an act of redemption and a gesture of hope for the future as old enemies forgive and move forward to build a better future.

I’ve only mentioned those that stand out for me but he has so many acting and writing credits to his name; it is a legacy well deserved. He was an uncredited extra in Clint Eastwood’s Magnum Force, an MP in Close Encounters of the Third Kind, Force 10 from Navarone, Toy Story 4, Action Jaclson, Happy Gilmour and returned in Little Nicky with Adam Sandler. On television he met Starsky and Hutch, Six Million Dollar Man, Kung Fu and The Shield to name a few.

The thing about Carl was THAT when he walked into a room you noticed. he was intense and brooding but with a smile that melted our hearts that day in Belfast.

Another great loss to the world. Rest easy sir; I’m so glad I got to meet you.

Forgotten Villains: Space 1999’s Bringers of Wonder

By Owen Quinn author of the Time Warriors and Zombie Blues

photos copyright Gerry Anderson

I was recently made aware of just how many movies and television shows the younger generation have never heard of, never mind seen. So to that end, we look back at some characters you really need to see before you kick the bucket.

Gerry Anderson’s second season of Space 1999 is generally seen as the lesser of the two seasons with a splurge of aliens and the addition of shape shifting crew member Maya played by Catherine Schell. Logic was out the window but I don’t care. I love this show and prefer season two to the first one. But despite the moaners, there are some genuinely good episodes like The Metamorph and Dorzak. It’s widely agreed that the mid season two parter story Bringers of Wonder is an outstanding story that is well received.

It opens with Commander Keoing (the late legend Martin Landau) seemingly having a breakdown while piloting an Eagle. He crashes it and his only hope for survival is being hooked to a brain machine that Doctor Helena Russell (Landau’s real life wife at the time, Barbara Bain) hopes can restore him to normal. In the meantime an advanced Earth ship, a Swift, arrives on Moonbase Alpha. Aboard are family, friends and colleagues of the Alphans. They claim to be a rescue mission from Earth thanks to technological advancement. They can all go home, however when Koenig is healed, he sees something else. He sees horrible plasmatic monsters. He freaks out and is sedated again. It soon becomes clear he is right and they are facing an alien race that even Maya falls before.

The beauty of these episodes is that the aliens can control the mind and make you see whatever they want you to. While Keonig’s reaction to them is totally OTT in order to satisfy the ‘Koenig has had a mental breakdown’ aspect of the story, the rest is quite good. The Alphans are mere puppets before the aliens which are never named but can speak telepathically. Their design is disgusting and by far one of the most memorable aliens from my childhood. What is also nice is that they are not the usual man in a rubber suit monster but something unique. Maya describes them as being like the stuff that grows on decaying matter when she has to transform into one of them to discover their plans for the moonbase.

They are capable of space travel and have been drawn to the moonbase because of its nuclear reserves, the same reserves that caused them to be torn out of Earth’s orbit. While this at first seems an ideal solution to both parties, Maya reveals that to consume the nuclear waste, the aliens will have to detonate it destroying them all in the process. They control every aspect of the Alphan’s behavior except for Keonig, Maya and Helena who Koenig has persuaded them to use the brain machine to free their minds.

Under the guise of a lottery to choose the first three Alphans to go home, the nuclear experts are picked. To them they are on Earth, reunited with their loved ones. Alan Carter (Nick Tate) is having a great time with women and living it up under the sun again but in reality they are sabotaging the nuclear reactors to blow. None of them will even know they have killed everyone they care about as the illusions are so powerful. When Koenig tries to stop them Alan thinks he is using a dune buggy to stop a man killing him and his ladies but is simply driving the surface vehicle.

Helena races to find how the brain machine is protecting their minds and discovers a signal blocks the alien influence. She releases it over the intercoms and frees the others who see what the aliens are for the first time. But Alan and the others are still possessed as the signal doesn’t filter through their helmets. Koenig is viciously attacked as the aliens focus all their mental power on Alan and the others. However the more they do the more it weakens them. Without the explosion they will die. Koenig manages to save the day and the aliens and their ship fade away.

Whoever these beings were are master manipulators of the human mind. They targeted Koenig to kill him as the leader. He was meant to die in the Eagle crash leaving the arrival of friends and family from Earth a welcome distraction for the grieving Alphans. With his death they would willingly follow the alien lead. Without Koenig surviving the crash, their plan would have succeeded and Moonbase Alpha would have been destroyed with all hands dead. They even blocked the obvious problem of all the people on the ship being the same age as when the moon left Earth. They would be dead by this stage and Maya’s keen scientific mind is scrambled to not register this. But that doesn’t explain how they never knew she was a metamorph.

Such is the allure of the aliens illusions that we get some beautiful dialogue that reaches themes that were never really touched upon. When Tony asks his brother Guido how his parents took the loss of Tony, Guido’s answer is beautiful. He says their mother complained to every government and authority and never let it go. Their father however became quiet. Then he became thin. In just one line we see the reaction of those left behind and the impact the moon being blown out of orbit had on them. It conveys both sides of the relative’s reactions and the delivery is spot on. Both actors speak volumes with just a few words. For the aliens to go into so much detail shows how powerful they are. With their nonhumanoid bodies, it is quite logical they have evolved their mental abilities to giant levels. What made them really stand out for the audience was the blood pumping through their veins round the eye and their glowing veins especially when on the surface of the moon in semi-darkness. They look totally eerie like something out of a horror film making their impact even more vivid on the minds of the viewer. With their lack of speed and mobility, they use the humanoids around them to do their bidding for them and build space ships. This suggests they have enslaved other cultures to do this for them and they force Sandstrom to try to murder Koenig and Clive Kander to destroy all his film evidence of the aliens’ presence by blowing up the lab and himself. But the presence of others affects their control, meaning it has to be confined and insular in order for an individual to complete a task for them.

These nameless blobs are by far the most lethal race the Alphans have ever faced and almost succeeded in destroying them. Even nearly fifty years later these aliens stand out as one of the most original and terrifying from the seventies sci-fi genre.

Book Excerpt: The Time Warriors Venom: Vampire Baby Swarm

            By and copyright of Owen Quinn

Hunted by the Veldro vampire drones , Jacke and Mivhael make a horrifying discovery. The Time Warriors venom out now on Amazzon.

“I love the way the Irish swear,” he grinned which quickly faded. “Although you scare the crap out of me when you do to be honest. It’s like you’re possessed. We’ll keep to the alleyways as much a possible. Let’s go.”

They broke from the bushes heading in behind the nearest building, an amusement arcade, spotting a group of the infected milling down the street towards them. Their hearts raced as the fear that the hand units wouldn’t protect them from the creatures remained ever present in their minds. Because of the topography of the town, there seemed to be literally a rat run using the buildings. Illuminated by the electrical lights, they could avoid tripping over stuff. They kept checking that the hand unit was masking them from the infected’s senses but best not to tempt fate.

Jacke found it easier to navigate than Michael who made a mental note to do more exercise, a futile promise to himself he knew. They climbed on top of a large blue metal trash dumper and used the concrete wall to drop down to a small courtyard. A peeling green painted gate led out to the main road close to the hotel he and Rachel had booked into the night before. That seemed an age ago to him.

Jacke grabbed Michael, hissing at him to freeze. The road before them was filled with the infected, all as still as statues. Against the black background of the night sky, wisped with bright white flakes of cloud and the deep growl of the ocean hidden by the rise in the street, the infected, of which there were at least fifty, made for a frightening sight. Men, women and children of all shapes and sizes were just standing doing nothing.

“They must be the excess while the rest are patrolling,” Michael whispered.

“Hunting you mean for us,” Jacke retorted. Michael glanced up at the revolving pulse of the lighthouse and thought of Rachel. He looked to Jacke, squeezing her hand. She caught the expression in his face and nodded.

Hearts racing they moved along out into the open and froze for a second, gauging any reaction from the infected. Their black veined faces were lifeless as if they were in suspended animation. Jacke noticed one was looking right at them with those chilling black eyes but it was only the way they were standing and little more than coincidence. They skirted the edge of the group as quickly as possible careful not to make much noise.

Mindful of every footstep they moved onward, past the hotel, weaving their way through the infected as quickly as possible. Neither spoke for fear it alerted the infected to attack. Michael tried to keep his eyes on the monastery while Jacke kept looking for Tyran and Stephen. But even if they came across them there was nothing they could do yet. Varran had given them explicit instructions and the clock was ticking but then again, she mused, when was it not?

Suddenly from round a junction, came a squad of the infected, every sense pulling at the night to find their prey. Jacke and Michael froze at the sight. “Sweet Jesus!” breathed Jacke grabbing Michael’s arm. They were infants, toddlers, the eldest being no more than two. Stifling a horrified gasp, they could only watch as the kids scuttled round the corner. Their little faces seemed worse than the adults as the black eyes and veiny flesh seemed more pronounced because of their small frames. They made screeching noises as if they were mewling for their feed. Even the act of crawling had been perverted as the babies shot along on all fours like spiders on speed. Michael jumped back as one darted up the wall and up over the roof above a nearby building. The toddlers’ legs were jerking and arms flailing like they had barely learned to walk. Those little eyes that should be looking round the world drinking everything in were fiercely searching for the fugitive Xerebans. Tiny fangs protruded from each of their gums even if they had no other teeth. The distorted sound of the giggling children tore at them. Jacke almost threw up on the spot. They were stuck between both groups, indecision making them falter.

Book Excerpt: Zombie Blues Maternity Nurse Zombie

By and copyright Owen Quinn author of the Time Warriors and Zombie Blues

“I got outside and realised I only had my hospital gown on which promptly fell off because it wasn’t tied at the back. I was naked…almost. When they do an operation like this, you’re fitted with a catheter. So there I am, naked as the day I was born with a big frigging catheter hanging between my legs. I am scundered, I thought to myself. I tried to remove it but my zombie fingers wouldn’t work.”For far too long zombies have been seen as the monsters they are not so it’s time for a few changes! Welcome to Zombie Blues where you will discover what really goes on behind those dead eyes and shuffling walk. You will meet ten different zombies each with a story to tell. From Vegetarian Zombie to Kidney Trans[plant Zombie to The Zombie who would be King, you will reevaluate everything you thought you knew about the undead. You will finally get to hear their side of the story. What lies behind their tears and how did the apocalypse really begin? Enter if you dare because everything you knew about zombies is about to change.

It was a day like any other.

 We had three newborns that morning alone, two boys and a girl. There was Henry first, born at a quarter past seven after a twenty three hour labour. Then we had Jasmine delivered at ten to nine after thirty minutes. Last but not least we had Charlie, a bruiser of a baby at ten pounds arriving at seven minutes past ten. His poor mother forgot her pain immediately I placed him in her arms. Strangely all mothers do that. That’s why we’re superior to men: we have a higher pain threshold. The air was abuzz with new life and new hope as the warmth and joy of a newborn on a family spread as quickly as the zombie virus. It filled everyone with a happy buzz.

Little did we know that chaos was brewing nearby as the emergency department was overrun with victims of some mysterious pathogen. Governmental cuts had stretched us to breaking point over the years but this was nuts. And while the world was falling apart, we were safe in our cocoon of ‘oohs’ and ‘ahs’.

We would take the babies to clean them up before returning them to their mothers. It was a necessary time to give those ladies much needed rest after the birth.

Standing watching over the babies in their cradles was truly like seeing a miracle come to life. I dismissed my sudden light head as mere fatigue from such a busy morning. Blood sugars were probably low, I thought to myself. I was on my way to get a sugar filled coffee and a jam doughnut (I know sugar’s bad for you but given what was coming, it doesn’t really count anymore) and when I heard a commotion.

It was one of the porters. It was Pete, a thin man with tattoos right up to his neck. He was screaming and yelling clutching his shoulder which I could see was blood stained. My immediate reaction was to shut him up in case he disturbed the children. There was nothing worse than a room full of babies crying in fear because some fool had blundered into the wrong part of the hospital.

I rushed up to him as he stumbled and fell against the wall. Pete was writhing in agony, his skin paltry and soaked in sweat. His mouth kept opening and closing as if he were trying to speak. I swore he was calling to his loved ones. It didn’t register with me until he bit my hand that his ‘speaking’ was in fact biting. I screamed and recoiled, falling backwards. I instinctively lashed out and kicked him in the face. His head jolted back and smacked into the wall with a force that knocked him unconscious.

Everything was a blur then as visitors and colleagues ran up to assist me. There were a lot of confused panicked voices. I could hear someone talking calmly to me through the storm. Jenny I think it was, a fellow midwife. But there were other voices, other cries. My vision was getting blurry but I could see other people lurching up the corridor. There were frightened screams and I was pulled down the corridor by someone. I could hear the babies crying. I tried to stand up but couldn’t. My whole body seemed to be on fire and my mind was becoming muddy with strange urges like chicken. Little did I know at the time but the reason no one made a go for me was because I was transitioning. It was at that moment that I knew what was happening to me as Mother Nature filled my head with her plans.

From The Archives: Star Trek Writer Melinda Snodgrass

By Owen Quinn author of the Time Warriors and Zombie Blues

I used to write and share interviews with another site. Recently I discovered three of my interviews had someone else’s name, Chevy Chase as Fletcher with photo of said character in a sad attempt to humiliate me and take my credit away for the interview. Thing was they forgot to remove my name from the bottom; what a horrible nasty thing to do. Credit belongs to the person who did the work, (screenshots available). Oops! So here is the interview I did in all its glory back where it belongs; on the Time Warriors site.

Melinda M Snodgrass is a professional writer best known for her work in science fiction in print and television. She wrote the classic Next Generation episode The Measure of a Man that has just received an extended cut for the second season Blu Ray release. The Nerd caught up with Melinda recently to discuss her career.

Hi Melinda, thanks so much for taking the time to talk to us. It truly is an honour.

TW: Can you tell us how you got started as a writer?

MS: I was an unhappy lawyer, and my best friend at the time was a science fiction writer, Victor Milan. I had read S.F. since childhood, and he said to me, “I bet you could write it you tried. So I did. I wrote romance novels under a pseudonym to pay my mortgage (I had quit the law firm), and to learn how to plot and finish a book. At the same time I was working on a big space law book called CIRCUIT about a Federal Court judge riding circuit in outer space. But I was a new comer, and I couldn’t break in. Then David Hartwell met me and suggested I write a Star Trek novel since I was such a fan. That would get my foot in the door. So I wrote The Tears Of The Singers, and it launched my career. David also gave me another piece of advice which I have followed. He told me to never write a second Trek book or I would end up being known as a Trek writer and never get out of that. Shortly after Tears came out I sold the Circuit Trilogy.

TW: Were you a science fiction fan growing up, if so what influenced your writing?

MS: [I’m a] Huge SF fan. I read through every science fiction book in the library. I just started at A and went down the shelves. Maybe this was due to my dad reading 20,000 Leagues Under the Sea aloud to me when I was tiny. Then I discovered Asimov and Heinlein and Norton and Poul Anderson, and, and, and,

TW: You wrote for LALaw before Star Trek; did you find it a culture shock at all switching genres?

MS: Actually I didn’t write for LA Law. Star Trek was my first gig. I managed to sell a story to LA Law, but that was it. Here’s the story of how I got into Hollywood. So, I had become (and still am) very close friends with George R.R. Martin (left). We were gaming buddies, and we created the Wild Card series so (as George put it) “we could make some money off this Superworld game obsession.”

Then George went off to Hollywood to work on The New Twilight Zone and Beauty and the Beast. I’m back in N.M. writing my books, and George calls me one day and says: “I think you’d be good at this script writing thing. You’ve got a strong sense of structure (plot), crisp dialog, and powerful characters. If you write a spec script I’ll show it to my agent.”

So I did.

I didn’t want to write a B&B script — that would have put George on the spot, L.A. Law looked too tightly plotted, and I had grown up watching original Trek so it was a no brainer. I wrote The Measure of A Man as my spec script.

TW: Can you tell us exactly what a story editor does?

MS: Story editor is just a fancy title for writer. You help develop and beat out the outlines for scripts. You write scripts. You often hear pitches from freelance writers (though that is less common now.) You rewrite scripts that come in from freelance writers to bring them more in line with the tenor of the show. You have to understand if you have the word “writer” in your title in Hollywood you are the lowest of the low. For example Staff Writer is the entry position. What you want is that producer title which has no mention of writing anywhere. I made it up to Co-executive producer on a pilot I wrote that got filmed, but didn’t get picked up to series.

TW: One of the best episodes was of course, the Data story, the Measure of a Man where our favourite android had to fight for his right to be recognized as an individual. How did that story come about?

MS: As I said above that was my spec script, and I wrote it because of my legal training. When I was watching Next Gen I found Data to be the most interesting character — which is sort of sad when you think about it. Anyway, it occurred to me that the infamous Dred Scott decision was a perfect analogy to Data’s situation. In that case the Supreme Court held that a black man was in fact property and not a person. It worked beautifully for Data. George had warned me that you never, ever, ever, never sell your spec script. The best I could hope for was to get invited in to pitch so I should prepare 3 to 5 more story ideas. I said to George — “But this is such a good idea maybe I ought to hold it back for a pitch and write a different story.” That’s when George gave me one of the single best pieces of advice I’ve ever gotten as a writer. He told me “never hoard your silver bullet.” Meaning lead with the strongest thing you’ve got. So I did, and they bought the script and hired me on the show.

The other piece of invaluable advice I got was from my boss, Maurice Hurley on Trek. He said to me “Just say the words.” Sometimes writers try to get too cute or too subtle. What you need to do is just say the words.

Photos copyright Paramount Pictures

TW: My favourite moment is when Data sees the hologram of Tasha Yar and is forced to reveal they were intimate.

MS: It’s that expression on Bent Spiner’s face as we see him express sorrow at her passing without a word. That was simply beautiful.

Thank you. The fact that Data was “fully functional in every way” was actually kind of a pain. I cause a lot of problems on my script the Ensigns of Command. People can read my original version of it on my website. I think it’s better then what aired.

TW: You recently did a commentary for the Blu ray release. Was the episode still as good as you thought or was there anything you would have changed? (Personally it’s the perfect script and still stands today as first class drama, never mind science fiction)

MS: Thank you again. That’s very kind. I was actually surprised at how well it held up, and I thought the scenes that had been cut due to time issues added a lot. They were character moments, and sadly those are always the first things to get cut when a script runs long. I’m a much more accomplished screenwriter now, and I wince a bit over the rookies mistakes. There’s one place where I came into a scene way too early, and repeated stuff the audience already knew. Today I would have started that scene in the middle of the conversation between Picard and Data.

TW: Is it true we were going to see Maddox again?

MS: I had hoped to bring him back. I thought the actor did a good job with playing the obsessed scientist. Just didn’t work out.

TW: I have to ask, did you get to go on the bridge set?

MS: Maurie took me over one day to watch a bit of filming. I actually don’t remember the set. I just remember the stunned awe and amazement at hearing actors deliver my lines. I think it was one of the courtroom scenes. Trek was odd in that the writers weren’t welcome or even permitted on the set. I later learned that was a strange rule. Every other show I worked we went to the set when we wanted, watched dailies, set in on casting and editing, etc.

TW: Which of your scripts are you most proud of?

MS: Meaure.

TW:  Your third season script the High Ground was controversial over here because it mentioned a United Ireland , a line that was cut over here in transmission. It was seen as an allegory on the Troubles in Northern Ireland. As an Irish person that line never bothered me, the story was such high quality and balanced both sides of the argument. Did that reaction surprise you?

In this country anti-abortion people got angry when Riker talks about his right to choose. Guess it depends on the each culture which reaction you get. I just wanted to do a story about how immigrants and fresh blood are good things. They make societies stronger.

TW: Is there a Trek story you would loved to have seen made but never happened?

MS: I wanted to do a triptych about Data. First Measure – is he a person. Then Ensigns — he learns that command is an ephemeral thing, I wanted to end it where Data had to premeditate and kill in defense of another. Never got to do that one.

TW: You also wrote for SeaQuest DSV; Knight of Shadows. Its first season was notorious for trying to avoid sci fi fantasy stories, how did you get a supernatural tale in there? Personally I thought it was one of the better episodes because of that.

MS: I’m not sure how that got through. I was just a freelancer on the show. I was thinking of all those wonderful stories about ghost ships, and I thought it would be fun.

TW:  I imagine it’s a dream writing for Roy Schneider, he has such a distinctive voice and personality.

MS: A character with a powerful and distinct voice is much more fun for a writer.

TW: Your own project Star Command was originally a pitch for a Star Trek spin off series wasn’t it?

MS: Actually no. At the time a couple of studios really wanted space shows with young characters. Mine was just one of the ones that got picked.

TW: Is there a certain pressure when you write for a show like the Outer Limits to be as good as the old version?

MS: Definitely. You’re up against people’s memories of those shows. Sometimes those memories aren’t all that clear. I was so excited when I heard I could watch The Man From U.N.C.L.E. again. I watched two episodes and called a friend, and said “When did they refilm this show and make it crappy?” Outer Limits was good, but it was never in the same class as original Twilight Zone.

TW: Odyssey Five was one of our favourite shows and went before its time; I honestly can’t think of a bad episode and was hooked five minutes into the pilot. It’s a shame it was cancelled with its superb cliffhanger. Did you feel the same way as a writer on the show? It was such a strong first season I couldn’t believe they cancelled it.

MS: I also couldn’t believe it. It was such a great show and it had good numbers. I’ll never understand what happened. I loved writing my one script. I was especially heart broken because I’m pretty sure they would have hired me on full time if the show had returned.

TW: I know you’re a huge original Star Trek fan (like us). Are you looking forward to the new Star Trek movie?

MS: I’m a bit ambivalent. The first film had all the fun and energy of the original show and I loved that, but the script was a god awful mess. I kept wanting to say to the Romulans “Why don’t y’all just go home and warn folks that the planet is going to get destroyed instead of chasing around after Spock and blowing up Vulcan? And what they did with the transporter was terrible. Why have ships? Overuse of the transporter like the horrible holo deck can lead to bad story telling with unintended consequences.

TW: what are you currently working on?

MS: I’m writing the Wild Card movie for Universal Pictures. I’m into the final third of the next book is the EDGE series. I have another urban fantasy to write in my personae as Phillipa Bornikova, I need to prepare a proposal and chapters for a new space opera series, and I’ve got a TV show we’re going to pitch after the holidays.

And I have a new horse arriving to join my Lusitano stallion Vento. Sometimes I just want to take a nap.

TW: Please tell our readers where they can find you and your books.

MS: Right now you can only get my Edge books as an ebook though that is going to change. They are going to reissue the first two to lay the ground work for book three. The titles are The Edge Of Reason, The Edge Of Ruin. The new one is The Edge Of Darkness. There will also be Audible versions of all three books coming soon.

This Case Is Gonna Kill Me written under my pen name is available both electronically and as a trade paperback. The second book Box Office Prison will be out sometime next year.

I would suggest Amazon. There are also links to independent book sellers who keep them in stock. You can find those on my website. www.melindasnodgrass.com

TW: Melinda, thank you so much for taking the time to do this; if there’s anything you don’t want to answer, that’s fine but again it really is an honour to talk to you. Be well and good luck.

Owen Quinn

Alien Nation star Gary Graham RIP

By Owen Quinn author of the Time Warriors and Zombie Blues

Photo copyright 20th century Fox

With every loss we get the usual tributes and outpouring of sympathy but over the years I’ve realised that when it is someone from a scifi, horror or fantasy background it seems to have a deeper resonance to that loss. It speaks of fandom in general as the same can be applied to any sport or musiian also. You forget that time passes and suddenly old age has woven itself into the lives of actors whom we tend to think are timeless. Maybe that’s because we watch the movies or television shows over and over forgetting those were twenty or thirty years ago. Or maybe it is that old saying time flies when you’re having fun until your body creaks alerting you that time has moved further than you think.

This week the death of Gary Graham was announced. He died at the age of 73 and immediately I thought, “Bloody hell, he was 73? He looked so young!” And for fans everywhere their minds went to one of two places; Star Trek Enterprise and Alien Nation. Although there might be a few of us that remember Gary going up against the Incredible Hulk (heck it out on YouTube.).

Following the success of the movie Alien Nation, Kenneth Johnson developed a series based on it. It dealt with the arrival and integration into our populace of a ship full of aliens called the Tenctonese, slaves bred to adapt to any environment who must make Earth their new home. They are not welcomed wholeheartedly and face racism from all quarters. It would take the premise of the movie and expand upon it. As with V, the show would take social commentary and explore it through the eyes of the characters. It took a hard hitting look at immigration and racism opening up intriguing questions. In the first episode we see both Asian and a black police officer openly racist towards Newcomer George played by Eric Pierpoint. It asks the question if an alien race that looked different and biologically were different from us, would that be enough to cease racism towards each other? Would a new race living among us unite us in global racism to the point we see each other as humans just as it always should have? The Tenctonese culture was explored and as always they had a lot in common with us but a lot different, one of which is the men getting pregnant and giving birth.

Gary was Sykes, George’s at first unwilling partner but gradually over time became brothers. In the pilot episode Sykes was as racist as anyone else to the point George grabbed him by the scruff of the neck in anger. It isn’t until Sykes sees George’s family facing a mob of racists that he changes his mind. Where he once saw an alien, A Slag or a Spongehead, he now sees a little girl, his partner’s daughter who is terrified. Over the course of the first and only season Sykes and George break down the barriers between races in one of television’s best partnerships.

There was nothing like Alien Nation and never has been since but its themes are relevant even to this day more than ever. But it was cancelled but fan power brought it back for five television movies which further highlighted the layers of racism as we learned the Newcomers could be as racist as any human. Ironically it was Sykes that made George change his mind in that instance. People have clamoured for the show’s return for years so it was wonderful when both Pierpoint and Graham appeared in Star Trek on multiple occasions.

Gary appeared in one episode of Voyager before taking on the semi regular role of Vulcan Ambassador Soval, Captain Archer’s(Scott Bakula) biggest pain in the ass. Soval wanted humanity kept back from space travel and often clashed with Archer until he was revealed as being a good guy after all working for the Vulcan return to the ways of surak. He was a Syrrannite and maybe it was because a human, Admiral Forrest died saving his life in an alleged Syrrannite bombing. Graham played the multilayered character seamlessly even starring in the Mirror Universe two parter as a slave of the Terran empire. He even sported the classic Spock beard in a nod to spock from the classic episode Mirror, Mirror.

Gary was also a musician and singer adding his talents to a group called the Sons of Kirk, The Gary Graham Garage Band and The Gary Graham Band. He was a fan favourite at conventions and on the Shuttlepod One Podcast sang the theme tune as well as guesting.

Gary had a long career spanning web shows, music, movies, gaming and television. He has met the greats like Starsky and Hutch, the Hulk, Remington Steel, Knots Landing, Moonlighting and met the Shatner in T.J. Hooker. He was an everyman actor that people just fell in love with and with his death, it is a sad day for fans everywhere.