The Press Conference was held the 29th of October in
the Estrel
convention center  . Present were Claudia Christian, Chase Masterson,
George Takei, Lolita Fatjo, J.G. Hertzler, Robert O'Reilly, Richard Arnold and Claudia
Voelker (unicef) |
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© Erich Habich 1999 |
The following topics were answered
by the panel:
Responding to
rumors from the Internet the question was raised if the eight season of DS 9 would
continue in book form, rather than in a TV format. Chase Masterson asked jokingly if they
(the actors from DS 9) would be in it.
Nobody from the panel of DS 9 actors could
substantiate that rumor. The rumor may have had it's origin in something different
that maybe J.G. Hertzler once said regarding the continuation of the story of Deep Space
9.
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The worry was
voiced that there would not be any further series of DS 9.
 Lolita Fatjo
voiced the opinion that there would be no chance of a DS 9 movie. She said further that a
new series or movie might be created which would bring in some of the characters from DS
9. As far as regarding a continuation of DS 9 in its former format, she did not
sound too optimistic.
Richard Arnold
mentioned that as soon as the last episode of DS 9 was filmed the whole set had been
completely dismantled. The set would need to be rebuild from scratch to do any more DS 9.
Richard expressed his surprise that the whole set was demolished instead of keeping it,
and be it as a tourist attraction.
As far as regarding the next movie Rick
Berman was to have said that they were considering a movie which would combine all three
elements of The Next Generation, Deep Space Nine and Voyager. He did not think that this
would happen anytime soon, but maybe in 2001. Lolita Fatjo agreed on this point.
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 George
Takei expressed gratitude that the death of De Forest Kelley touched the
heart of so many people, which only knew him through television. Despite the irascible
character that Mr. Kelley had played, he had deep down been a very decent, sweet and as a
matter of fact a very shy person. Although it was known that De Forest Kelley was
ill, the news of his passing came as a great shock to everyone.
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On the question
of how DS 9 measured up to the Star Trek ideal,
 Rick Berman was quoted by Richard Arnold. Rick
Berman was to have said that the future portrayed in DS 9 was going to be a darker view of
the future. In order to still keep DS 9 in the Star Trek universe the series was not
set aboard a Starship. Instead it played on an alien space station which was being
managed by Starfleet. Starfleet is not military. Gene Roddenberry's universe was not
military. Star Fleet was sent in almost as hotel management to take over the Deep Space
Nine facility. The goal was to help the Bajorans eventually to join the Federation.
And then the war began. Gene Roddenberry always said that Star Trek reflected the human
condition. And unfortunately a part of the human condition is war. There are several
wars ongoing at the moment.
It is not a positive expression of the
human condition but it is most certainly one of the things that we have to deal with.
Richard believes that in the final episode of DS 9 you could see Gene Roddenberry's
philosophy survive.
He thought that it is sometimes necessary
to step back a little bit and realize that what you are watching is entertainment and it
is being produced for an audience. At the same time an effort was made to try and keep, as
Rick Berman always says, Gene on his shoulder. To try and do something that Gene would
have wanted.
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A question was
put to Claudia Christian about rivalries between Star Trek and Babylon 5
fans.
Claudia was never aware of anything of that
nature. Every fan that she ever met from both camps has always been respectful and
wonderful, kind and compassionate. Apparently she didn't know what went on behind closed
doors. There had always been constant rumors that both series had the same story and kind
of love interest.
It appeared always very easy to distance
oneself from the show and the effect that it had on people. You just went about your life
and suddenly you were walking somewhere and somebody started shouting "Susan
Ivanova!". Many people appeared to be in one camp or another. But in the majority she
has met folk who just loved Science Fiction.
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A question was raised about the
Internet phenomena.
Chase Masterson replied
that she hadn't known as much about herself until she saw some websites about her. Claudia
Christian complained that she was apparently married and starred in the Lord of
the Rings trilogy, which isn't true. There are sixteen websites that she knows of, some of
which say things about her which are false. Like where she was born etc... The personal
privacy may be suffering because of this, but that is a part of being an actor, she
ventured. Some aspects are good about the Internet and some things are bad.
George Takei mentioned
that the best way of countering this kind of misinformation is to have a website of your
own. So that an actor can communicate the facts and the information that one wants people
to have. He mentioned his own personal website, http://www.georgetakei.com.
Richard Arnold said that unfortunately the laws in the Internet haven't
been put in place that are in place on other media. So that people could get away with
saying slanderous and libelous things. The laws have not caught up yet. There are some
things said that are true, which however should not be said publicly. There are just no
controls in place in the Internet right now. A lot of the information on the Internet
needed to be taken with a pinch of salt.
Richard Arnold mentioned that recently
terrible rumors went about one Star Trek actor. And they were simply not true. The actor
knew that there was nothing he could do about those rumors. He had tried to avoid them in
the beginning but it was to late. Everybody had tried everything to fight these rumors but
people kept saying: "But we read it on the Internet". It did not matter to those
folk that these rumors didn't mean anything. Sometimes even what you read in a
newspaper isn't necessarily accurate.
Richard said there was an understanding for
the necessity of the Internet. That it had also its good sides. But as far as the
rumors and the disseminating of information went, for example the printing of entire movie
scripts months before the movies came out, a terrible disservice was being done to the
fans. It also being a violation of copyright. The Internet has its good sides and it
has its bad sides, Richard concluded.
J.G. Hertzler didn't think
it had anything to do with laws. There was once a thing printed about him while he was
performing on Broadway. Somebody in the actors trade paper, the Union News, had printed
that he was doing a non-Union show in Washington DC. And he had told the guy
the story was wrong and chased him up. The paper did eventually print a retraction. The
retraction said "J.G. Hertzler says he is not doing a non-Equity show in Washington
DC." The retraction didn't say it was a wrong statement. It just said that he had
said that it wasn't true. J.G. Hertzler feels that nothing can be done about
something like that.
John believes that three quarters of the
stuff that comes through the Internet; you find out the next day that it was a hoax.
Nobody therefore believes automatically what the Internet says. This has destroyed the
credibility of the Internet. It's hard these days to find a true item on the
Internet. J.G. Hertzler doesn't think therefore there is anything to be worry about.
Because in his opinion nobody believes it.
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 J.G. Hertzler
talked about unicef's involvement with the Galileo 7 III convention.
He said that the convention was attached to
unicef. J.G. Hertzler doesn't see any greater cause than unicef. The future of the World
are its children. Which makes it perhaps the biggest cause of all. J.G. Hertzler is
proud to be attached to the UN and to unicef.
The unicef representative Claudia
Voelker said that specifically an unicef project in Rwanda was supported with the
proceeds from the convention. Unicef would receive a part of the admission fee, and
some actors were willing to donate a part of their earnings to unicef as well.
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