THE VIRGINIAN-PILOT
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: Saturday, January 14, 1995 TAG: 9501120058
SECTION: TELEVISION WEEK PAGE: 1 EDITION: FINAL
SOURCE: BY LARRY BONKO, TELEVISION COLUMNIST
LENGTH: Medium: 92 lines
PERHAPS THE DAY will come when man explores the far corners of the galaxy at warp speed, which is how they've been getting the job done on ``Star Trek'' and the series' spinoffs since 1966.
A third series based on producer Gene Roddenberry's dream of exploring the cosmos - four if you count the animated version - will premiere Monday at 8 p.m. on WGNT.
That's when the United Paramount Network starts up with ``Star Trek: Voyager.'' Can't wait.
Using great timing, the Public Broadcasting series, ``The New Explorers,'' takes up ``Star Trek'' on Wednesday night at 8 with a nice twist. ``The Science of Star Trek,'' hosted by Bill Kurtis, shows how much of the science seen in the ``Star Trek'' films and TV shows is within grasp of today's technology.
Warp speed? No one knows whether it's possible, Kurtis says. But the concept is based on the accepted scientific theory that space can be warped by the presence of mass. Ever heard of the theory of relativity?
Transporters? Risky stuff. ``Attempting to take apart and reassemble someone, molecule by molecule, means taking a chance, unless you don't mind arriving at your destination as somebody or something else.''
Androids? Kurtis shows how scientists are making rapid advancements in robotics, but he suggests that it will be a while before we see anything like Lt. Cmdr. Data of ``Star Trek: The Next Generation.''
But, hey, aren't the ``Star Trek'' phasers just a step or two beyond today's lasers? And aren't we already using a version of the ``Star Trek'' communicator? The cellular phone.
Leonard Nimoy, His Spockness, appears with Kurtis to say, ``The one consistently satisfying thing about being involved with `Star Trek' is hearing from scientists who say to me, `I grew up watching your show and I'm in science because of it.' ''
Beam us up, Scotty. But please see that our molecules are re-assembled in the proper fashion.
The producers of HBO's ``American Undercover'' series had a great idea: Install hidden cameras in New York City cabs and let them roll as a diverse group of passengers climb aboard. Nothing rehearsed here.
``Taxicab Confessions,'' airing Saturday night at 10, brings you 11 back-seat conversations with cabbies - the best of 150 sessions that covered four weeks.
Love the woman whose ears, eyebrow, nose and other body parts are pierced. And the transsexual whose parents paid $27,000 for her sex-change operation. And the elderly gent who plays ``Sweet Georgia Brown'' on his violin.
Also worth nothing:
The Family Channel on Sunday at 7 p.m. premieres the latest in the Young Indy series, which the Virginia Beach-based company revived with producer George Lucas. In ``Young Indiana Jones and the Treasure of the Peacock's Eye,'' Jones (Sean Patrick Flanery) starts his latest World War I adventure in Europe on Armistice Day, Nov. 11, 1918. This is the second film in a series produced for The Family Channel by Lucasfilm Ltd.
Remember when President Lyndon B. Johnson and the Congress discovered that millions of Americans were still in the grip of poverty? The Democrats three decades ago launched the war on poverty. ``America's War on Poverty: In This Affluent Society,'' a five-part, PBS series starting Monday night at 9, goes to the trenches and asks: Is the war won or lost?
If you like TV heroes who aren't particularly heroic, there's the overweight, heavy-drinking, heavy-smoking (60 cigs a day), insecure Robbie Coltrane as a criminal psychologist in the ``Cracker'' series on A&E. He makes Columbo look like Paul Newman. Coltrane returns as Eddie ``Fitz'' Fitzgerald on A&E Tuesday at 9 p.m. in ``To Be a Somebody,'' which deals with a brutal murderer on the loose in London. Watch this one, and you'll learn much about the racial prejudices of the Brits.
This is a good place to remind you that Monday at 8 p.m., A&E marks the birthday of Martin Luther King Jr. by featuring the civil rights leader in its ``Biography'' series. Cue your VCR for the ``I have a dream'' speech.
Your humble columnist's choice for the best in offbeat TV next week is the special ``Legends In Light,'' which TNT will show Monday at 8 p.m. It's about photographer George Hurrell and how he lovingly took pictures of the icons of The Golden Age of Hollywood. Said Esquire's editors: ``A Hurrell portrait is to ordinary publicity stills what a Rolls-Royce is to a roller skate.''
He's the one who made that famously, wicked picture of a young Jane Russell on the set of ``The Outlaw.'' Norma Shearer never looked better, either.
Marathon alert! Starting Monday at 9 a.m. and continuing well past midnight, the Sci-Fi Channel will show the pilot episode of ``Alien Nation'' and 17 other episodes. The series was set in 1995, which is, like, now, so any day the visitors from Out There should be arriving. ILLUSTRATION: Color photo
The "Star Trek: Voyager" crew co-stars Robert Beltran, fron row,
Kate Mulgrew, Tim Russ and Roxann Biggs-Dawson; Ethan Phillips, left
back, Garrett Wang, Jennifer Lien, Robert Duncan McNeill and Robert
Picardo...
by CNB