Page Created: 09/25/10. Last Updated: 10/26/10. Last Google Group Page Update: 02/27/08.
STEVE WARNEK
Screening: Star Trek, Deep Space 9 Episode: The Abandoned.
MEETING SUMMARY:
Meeting Date: August 12, 1995.
Meeting Site: Peking Duck House, Closter, New Jersey.
Official Attendance: 54.
Meeting Program: Screening of STAR TREK Episode. Talk by Scriptwriter.
Notes:
Meeting Memories:
Newsletter Account:
The following account is reprinted with permission from THE STARSHIP EXPRESS Copyright 1995 Philip J De Parto:
The August meeting of the Science Fiction Association of Bergen County was held on Saturday the 12th at the Peking Duck House in Closter, New Jersey. Dinner orders were taken at 5:30 PM. The meeting itself started around 7:30 PM.
The Duck House made a sincere effort to clean up their act compared with the past two years. With nearly fifty people having dinner, not everyone could be expected to be pleased with the food and the service, but problems appeared to be on an individual, not tablewide, basis.
After dinner was cleared, we began the meeting by showing "The Abandoned," the episode of STAR TREK: DEEP SPACE 9 co-authored by Steve Warnek, our guest speaker for the evening. The main plot concerned the discovery of an infant Gem Hadar, an alien race bio-engineered to be aggressive warriors, and Odo's unsuccessful attempts to convert the soon full-grown creature to more peaceful pursuits. A secondary plot introduced the girlfriend of Jake Sisko and the couple's dinner with dad.
Steve Warnek and his former partner were fans of STAR TREK: THE NEXT GENERATION, a series which (like DEEP SPACE 9) accepted unagented scripts. They submitted two scripts, one of which, although ultimately not usable, caused Paramount to invite them to pitch ideas for NEXT GEN, first, and later, DEEP SPACE 9.
Mr Warnek described how the initial proposal changed along the way. Originally, Kira found the alien as a teenager and the castaway was not a Gem Hadar. Another alteration was dropping a sequence in which an exploration party from the station discovered a world in which young Gem Hadar battled to the death for the drug to which they're addicted.
He was pleasant and patient in answering a multitude of questions about STAR TREK and scriptwriting. He described visiting the set and seeing the behind the scenes activity. He also brought the show's writer's guidelines and other related materials.
After the talk was officially over, he stayed for some time chatting with our members as the restaurant closed around us.
Gary Blog and Anthony Tellado brought us up to date on the latest information about TREK and other shows. Anita Korsonsky, William Molendyk, Patricia Nash, George Thaddeus Smith, and John Upton won books as door prizes.
The total adult turnout for the meeting was 53, one shy of our largest ever. Nineteen of those at the Duck House were first time attendees. We hope to see them again in future gatherings.
A good sized contingent went to the Westwood Diner afterwards and had a really zany time of it. Eventually we closed that establishment as well.