Glen here...

...with a new message sent in by a source who will...hopefully...become a regular contributor to Coaxial.

Regular readers may recall my having a hell of a time finding a "source" on Star Trek. Any incarnation of Star Trek. There has been brief flirtation with people from time to time, but no one's really been willing to "go the distance". Maybe that's what true loyalty really looks like. Maybe that's simply a fear of swift and horrible retribution from The Powers That Be. Maybe it's a combination of both.

But now comes ATAVACHRON. Atavachron comes at "sourcing" from a different perspective, a perspective which I...personally...find rather interesting. He's not interested in what is actually happening on the series themselves, but what's happening with the making of various Trek productions. Sometimes, that's the most telling kind of information there is...

For starters, Atavachron offered a rather extensive report about what is currently happening over at Paramount now that Deep Space Nine is winding down. It's all rather self-explanatory, but I've added a few contextualizing notes just to speed things along.

Sounds like sad days beneath The Mountain. Many have described the last few weeks at Paramount as feeling very "down", "empty", and "somber".

Here's Atavachron's first report...

ATAVACHRON wrote:

Last Tues was the official "lunch" given by Paramount for DEEP SPACE NINE cast and crew. DS-9 baseball caps were given out. Principal filming at wrapped on Thurs with some retakes done on Friday.

((Glen Note: they're having some troubles with the last episode of VOYAGER this season. Many re-shoots. Atavachron says it's being called "the episode that wouldn't die" around the Paramount lot.))

Stage 18 is almost clear except for the "hell" planet set. Stage 4 and 17 are being taken apart, however contrary to what was said elsewhere last week, many parts of the Ops and Promenade are going to be saved.

I have to tell you it's really a sad day. However SOME of the sets -if not a large part of them - are going to be saved and are already starting to be packed up.

More discussion on another series - some people don't feel that Berman will be able to hold out two years with only VOYAGER on the air...

((Glen Note: I have heard some separate indication that Berman may not be able to take-on another series right now due to several issues, not the least of which is...simply...being tired as hell. This might result in the franchise being handed over to someone else, with Berman assuming a less hands-on, more "detached, supervisory" capacity. NOT FOR CERTAIN, so don't take this to the bank...))

Defiant, Hell planet, and overflow. At the end it was the Defiant without the engine room, Parts of the Klingon Bird of Prey, a Cardassian room of some kind, a Klingon storage bay I think, and of course the hell planet sets.

If people looked at the Definat's engine room when it was being used, they should have seen a similarity to the engine room of the very famous Enterprise from 30 years ago... that was done on purpose.

The Prominade.. one of the finest working sets around. Quark's bar was actually going to be a three story set, but it was held at two stories and the "third" story was used for lighting and cameras.

As of this date, all Okudagrams and loose objects have been cleared from the Promenade and it's a hollow shell of what it was when it was a working set. Odo's as well as the Doctor's offices are already gone.

Ops, misc corridors, personal quarters, air locks, parts of the Klingon Bird of prey including bridge sets, etc.

Ops is in very bad shape and looks like something that a riot has gone past, the air locks and corridors are still in fine shape and are being taken apart. Ops looks like it's suffered one to many souvenir hunters.

((Glen sniffles....souvenirs!?!?!?!?))

Retakes Friday were supposedly on Stage 7, and ALLY McBEAL was working on the NY sets as well as Stage 6.

The NY sets are very familiar to most people without realizing it, amongst many of the movies that have been filmed there is the outdoor cafe that Clint Eastwood used in ABSOLUTE POWER.

All in all things are rather quiet on the lot, in contrast to the days when FIRST CONTACT was filmed. The lot at the time was almost 2/3rds filled with ST related work.

Glen again...

..to save many of you some e-mail, YES I asked Atavachron about recent indications suggesting the ending of Deep Space Nine was being significantly re-configured due to Avery Brook's concern that his character's fate might offend many African American / religious viewers. Atavachron refused to "go there". As such, I don't have answers to such questions, but I'm still trying...

So there you have it. Hope this was interesting, and I'd like to offer a special THANK YOU to Atavachron for all its hard work. Looking forward to more reports...