A new award created to celebrate underground movies and those which have otherwise flown under the radar will have its inaugural ceremony hosted by William Shatner. The "Golden Groundhog" will be awarded on Groundhog Day, February 2, to one of five films deemed "genuinely outstanding" but which have "lacked the distribution and marketing support needed to propel them into the public consciousness," according to a press release from Fullturn Media of New York.

Shatner was selected in part because he recently founded his own DVD Club which distributes little-known sci-fi, fantasy and horror films. "I believe that great movies deserve to be seen, regardless of who makes them or how much money is available to market them. I'm thrilled to work with the Golden Groundhogs to bring the unjustly overlooked movies of 2005 into the limelight," Shatner said.

Golden Groundhog-eligible films can be of any genre, but must have been released during the previous year, grossed less than $1 million at the U.S. box office, and received rave reviews from the limited audiences who saw the film. This year's five nominees include "Green Street Hooligans" starring Elijah Wood.

No location for the award ceremony has been announced. Visit www.goldengroundhogs.com for more information.

Koenig Slated for Film Premiere in San Francisco

Speaking of underground films, Walter Koenig will be appearing at the world premiere of a low-budget horror film in which he stars, in the city which serves as the home of Starfleet. "Mad Cowgirl" will screen in the San Francisco Independent Film Festival on Saturday, February 4th at 9:30 p.m. at the Roxie Cinema.

"Mad Cowgirl" is described as an "experimental-art-comedy-horror-tragedy-Kung Fu epic." The story follows a young woman working for the Los Angeles health department who is badly treated by the males in her life. As reports of mad cow disease begin to spread, she descends into madness which may or may not be brought on by the disease, and goes on a violent rampage against men. Koenig plays a "slimy sex-addicted preacher," according to the festival Web site, www.sfindie.com.

New Season of 24 Premieres with Star Trek Connections

Finally the fifth season of 24 debuts over four hours on Sunday and Monday, and this new year of sleepless excitement has more than its usual share of Trek connections. Namely, Manny Coto — writer/producer on Star Trek: Enterprise and showrunner in its fourth season — is one of the writers this season on 24, and is also listed as co-executive producer.

In addition, it has been announced that Peter Weller will join the cast this season as "Christopher Henderson," a former mentor of Jack Bauer (Kiefer Sutherland). According to an Associated Press article, Weller probably has a better understanding of Bauer's character than most. "My father was a colonel in the Army who flew President Johnson by helicopter in Texas. He was answerable only to the president," he says.

Weller played "Paxton" in the penultimate storyline of Enterprise, "Demons" and "Terra Prime." He also starred in Odyssey 5, Coto's pre-Trek TV show. (Coincidence? You be the judge.)

Also this year in 24, Gregory Itzin continues as "President Charles Logan," who ascended from the vice-presidency last year after the crash of Air Force One. Itzin has played numerous roles in Star Trek, the latest being "Admiral Black" in "In a Mirror, Darkly, Part II." Another frequent Trek guest star, Glenn Morshower — most recently "Sheriff MacReady" in "North Star" — continues from previous season of 24 as "Agent Aaron Pierce." Jude Ciccolella — "Commander Suran" in "Star Trek Nemesis" — is also holding over as "Mike Novick." Other familiar faces will probably pop up this year.