Heralding the release of Star Trek: The Next Generation's third season on DVD, the August issue of Star Trek: The Magazine examines the series' pivotal year in depth. The issue also features an interview with Ethan Phillips ("Neelix"), who began his Trek career in TNG's third season episode "Ménage à Troi."

Phillips discusses his Trek experience in great detail, and addresses Neelix's departure from Star Trek: Voyager. Phillips says that he was initially sad that the jovial Talaxian wasn't going back to Earth with the rest of the crew. "But the more I thought about it, the more I decided they were right; why should he go back to Earth? He's not from Earth; he doesn't have anything going on down there," he says. "Instead he runs into this beautiful creature who is Talaxian, just like him, and she has a child, and he has the option to be a father and a husband and a man of respect in a community of his own people."

The issue's extensive TNG Season 3 coverage features an in-depth look behind the scenes, with articles on costumes, production design, the making of the fan favorite episode "Yesterday's Enterprise," and more. There are also interviews with some of the key players behind the season, including writer Ira Steven Behr and Jonathan Frakes ("William Riker"), who directed his first episode that year ("The Offspring"). "I'd been on the set so much, obviously, that I knew how to shoot Patrick and me heroically, and we always went low on Dorn too; and we went into the eyes of the girls so they would look glamorous," Frakes remembers. "So there were certain signature things that were tried and true that I stole and used."

The issue also includes four technical briefings: Admiral Janeway's shuttle, the Son'a mission scout ship, a handful of notable Starfleet personnel and a character profile of TNG's Beverly Crusher. For Spock and T'Pol fans, there's a humorous featured titled "Vulcans Acting Illogically."

All this and much more can be found in the August 2002 issue of Star Trek: The Magazine, on sale at newsstands.

Star Trek Communicator Issue 139

The new issue of Star Trek Communicator takes a look back at the first season of Enterprise while it also looks forward to "Star Trek: Nemesis."

The Enterprise "Year in Review" feature begins with a discussion by Brannon Braga, executive producer and head writer of the show, offering his observations about each episode and the season in general. "We pretty much accomplished what we set out to do," Braga sums up. "The characters turned out better than we could've hoped. The show's look and feel is just the way we wanted. And the icing on the cake was the overwhelming response of the audience and critics."

Braga also talks about how the show may unfold in the future. Promising that the conclusion of the season cliffhanger "Shockwave" will reveal more about the mysterious Temporal Cold War, he says, "We're going to hint that someone out there doesn't want to see the humans succeed in space, because it's going to eventually result in the formation of an interplanetary alliance. Take that as you will."

The Enterprise discussion continues with a provocative piece called, "Whose Canon Is It, Anyway?" weighing in on that old sacred cow "continuity" with comments from the show's writers and from fans. "We're very conscious of what's come before, and we always try to respect it," says Mike Sussman, executive story editor who writes with partner Phyllis Strong. "We're all fans of the other series, and we enjoy tossing in a future reference, even if only a handful of viewers will get it."

The cover story is an exclusive interview with Scott Bakula, with his own perspective on how the first season progressed, particularly for his character, Captain Archer. "I think what has been nice about this season, overall, is that there hasn't been a defining moment for Archer yet. It's really been a learning process for everybody. We've taken two steps forward and three steps back, and that's what the show was intending to do."

The Communicator also caught up with two of Trek's newest villains, Tom Hardy and Ron Perlman, on the set of "Nemesis." "We met in some sort of a mining situation on the planet Remus," Perlman explains about his character, the Reman Viceroy, and Hardy's title character, Shinzon. "The guy I work for was a young boy when we met and it's like we are exiled in the Siberia of this dark planet. I took some sort of control over his development and evolution, and eventually he comes to power in the Romulan Empire and it's his goal to forge an alliance of sorts with the Federation."

"The script is really good ... a really good story," Perlman adds. "It's not predictable and it's not obvious and it's very well-written, which to me is the key." More comments from Perlman and Hardy, as well as Patrick Stewart and the rest of the cast of "Nemesis," can be found in the new issue of the Communicator.