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Science Fiction Association of Bergen County

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SPECIAL INTEREST GROUPS OF THE S.F.A.B.C. - The Final Frontier

The Final Frontier was organized to provide an alternative to the traditional Star Trek fan clubs in the area. It has been designed to be a relaxed, no frills group where people who enjoy the Star Trek shows can share news and discuss various aspects of the shows. Most meetings feature an "official topic" to serve as a guidepost, but conversations wander all over the place.

For a time, we had two chapters of the Final Frontier in New Jersey, one meeting in Bergen County, the other in Livingston. Both branches of The Final Frontier have evolved over time. The Livingston Chapter remains closer to the original conception while the Bergen County Chapter had become more of a video group. In 1998, the Bergen County Chapter became Armchair Odyssey. The Livingston chapter continues as before.

The Livingston chapter has a Moderator to lead the discussion and involve the rest of the group in the conversation (as did the Bergen chapter). Aside from that, there are no officers, ranks, uniforms, or regulations.

The Final Frontier meets once per month.

Advance to The Final Frontier, Bergen County Chapter; or The Final Frontier, Livingston Chapter.

THE FINAL FRONTIER, LIVINGSTON CHAPTER

This chapter of The Final Frontier meets at 7:30 PM on the second Friday of each month at Barnes & Noble, 518 Route 10 West, Livingston, New Jersey (201) 535 - 9595. Brian Gonigal is the Moderator of the Chapter. Mr. Gonigal is a member of the S F A B C, the Garden State Science Fiction Conspiracy, and a member of the defunct science fiction discussion group which met at Barnes & Noble in Springfield, New Jersey.

Discussions of Babylon 5 were officially made part of the agenda at the April 1996 meeting.

The first official meeting of this branch was held on Friday, September 8, 1995. Subsequent meeting dates and topics follow:

October 13, 1995 . . . . . . . . . . Star Trek Aliens: The Bad Guys
November 10, 1995 . . . . . . . . . . Talk by Trek novelist John Gregory Betancourt
December 1995 . . . . . . . . . . Canceled due to holidays

January 1996 . . . . . . . . . . The Blizzard of '96 (cancelled)
February 9, 1996 . . . . . . . . . . Love & Romance in Star Trek
March 8, 1996 . . . . . . . . . . The Life & Times of James T Kirk
April 12, 1996 . . . . . . . . . . The Life & Times of Jean-Luc Picard
May 10, 1996 . . . . . . . . . . The Life & Times of Benjamin Sisko
June 14, 1996 . . . . . . . . . . The Life & Times of Janeway
July 9, 1996 . . . . . . . . . . The Life & Times of B5 Sinclair &mp; Sheridan
August 9, 1996 . . . . . . . . . . Sci Fi Talk Radio Preview
September 13, 1996 . . . . . . . . . . Does Classic Star TrekStill Hold Up?
October 11, 1996 . . . . . . . . . . Season Debuts of Trek &mp; Babylon 5
November 8, 1996 . . . . . . . . . . H Ellison's: The City on the Edge of Forever
December 1996 . . . . . . . . . . Cancelled due to holidays

January 10, 1997 . . . . . . . . . . Discussion of Star Trek: First Contact
February 7, 1997 . . . . . . . . . . The Space Station as a Setting
March 14, 1997 . . . . . . . . . . General SF on TV Round Up
April 11, 1997 . . . . . . . . . . Treatments of Evil in Trek and Babylon 5
May 9, 1997 . . . . . . . . . . The Timeline of Star Trek
June 13, 1997 . . . . . . . . . . Cool Concepts in Science Fiction
July 11, 1997 . . . . . . . . . . The Timeline of Star Trek
August 8, 1997 . . . . . . . . . . Why Has DS9 Never Really Caught On?
September 12, 1997 . . . . . . . . . . What If Other Shows Had Been Cast As Star Trek?
October 10, 1997 . . . . . . . . . . The Prime Directive: Law Or Just a Suggestion?
November 14, 1997 . . . . . . . . . . Cast changes on Star Trek and Babylon 5

January 9, 1998 . . . . . . . . . . Mixed Marriages; or "Do You Take This Alien..."
February 13, 1998 . . . . . . . . . . Stand-Alones &mp; Story Arcs
March 13, 1998 . . . . . . . . . . The Naked & the Dead (in Star Trek &mp; Babylon 5)
April 10, 1998 . . . . . . . . . . Influences in Babylon 5
May 8, 1998 . . . . . . . . . . The X-Files
June 12, 1998 . . . . . . . . . . 7 of 9
July 10, 1998 . . . . . . . . . . The final season of Babylon 5
August 14, 1998 . . . . . . . . . . Not so Special Effects
September 11, 1998 . . . . . . . . . . Classic Trek: Does It Still Hold Up?
October 9, 1998 . . . . . . . . . . Monsters & Other Horrors in Star Trek
November 13, 1998 . . . . . . . . . . Religion and Star Trek
December , 1998 . . . . . . . . . . Event Cancelled Due to Holidays

January 08, 1999 . . . . . . . . . . Event Cancelled Due to Weather
February 12, 1999 . . . . . . . . . . The Mirror Universe
March 12, 1999 . . . . . . . . . . Self Sacrifice
April 09, 1999 . . . . . . . . . . The Rules of Acquisition
May 14, 1999 . . . . . . . . . . "Q"
June 11, 1999 . . . . . . . . . . Deep Space 9 Review
July 09, 1999 . . . . . . . . . . Strong Women
August 13, 1999 . . . . . . . . . . Spock
September 10, 1999 . . . . . . . . . . Star Trek in other venues
October 8, 1999 . . . . . . . . . . The Five Doctors
November 12, 1999 . . . . . . . . . . The greatest Star Trek captain

January 14, 2000 . . . . . . . . . . Star Trek as a Western
February 11, 2000 . . . . . . . . . . Teen Angst in Buffy, the Vampire Slayer
March 10, 2000 . . . . . . . . . . The Borg
April 14, 2000 . . . . . . . . . . Xena: Episodes Dark and Light
May 12, 2000 . . . . . . . . . . Farscape
June 9, 2000 . . . . . . . . . . Star Trek's Worst Ideas
July 14, 2000 . . . . . . . . . . Influences of Star Trek
August 11, 2000 . . . . . . . . . . Star Trek's Best Ideas
September 8, 2000 . . . . . . . . . . Godzilla 2000 by Marc Cerasini and classic 1950's science fiction/horror films
November 3, 2000 . . . . . . . . . . James Cameron
December 1, 2000 . . . . . . . . . . Star Trek: A New Hope

February 2, 2001 . . . . . . . . . . Andromeda to Voyager
March 2, 2001 . . . . . . . . . . 2001: What Went Wrong
April 6, 2001 . . . . . . . . . . Conflict and Violence on Star Trek
May 4, 2001 . . . . . . . . . . Feminism in Star Trek: Voyager
June 1, 2001 . . . . . . . . . . Retrospective on Star Trek: Voyager
July 6, 2001 . . . . . . . . . . Current season of Buffy: the Vampire Slayer and Angel
August 3, 2001 . . . . . . . . . . TV and movie treatments of "Vampires, Witches and Werewolves."
September 7, 2001 . . . . . . . . . . Dark Futures
October 5, 2001 . . . . . . . . . . The Simpsons Halloween episodes and some early reaction to Enterprise
November 2, 2001 . . . . . . . . . . The first formal discussion of Enterprise

Meetings last about 1-1/2 hours and are followed by a trip to the diner to eat and converse.

You may be interested in examining The Final Frontier and The Final Frontier, Bergen County Chapter.

THE FINAL FRONTIER, BERGEN COUNTY CHAPTER

The Bergen County Chapter of the Final Frontier met from 6:00 - 8:00 PM on the second Saturday of the month before the meeting of the Science Fiction Association of Bergen County during the period from September 1994 to March 1998, until it became Armchair Odyssey.

There were originally two parts to the Frontier's meetings. From 6:00 - 7:00 PM, there was a topic discussion and an update of Trek news. From 7:00 - 8:00 PM, was a viewing of the broadcast episode of Star Trek: Deep Space 9.

The Frontier was fortunate to have Tony Tellado as moderator of the group from November of 1994 to March of 1996. He then retired from the group in order to devote more time to his radio show, Sci-Fi Talk. Sharon Archer, Gary Blog, Philip De Parto, Brian Gonigal, Roy Greenberg, and Fernando Ruiz have all taken turns moderating Frontier meetings.

In January of 1997, we altered the format of the Bergen County Chapter. While continuing to watch the broadcast of Star Trek: Deep Space 9 at 7:00 PM, we also showed first season episodes of Babylon 5 during the months of September through May. Because the June, July, and August meetings are not held in our usual meeting site, we substituted a discussion for both the video and broadcast viewings.

In April of 1998, we changed the name of the Bergen Chapter to Armchair Odyssey. At 6:0PM we view the broadcast of Earth: Final Conflict, and then Star Trek: Deep Space Nine at 7:00PM.

This first chapter of The Final Frontier held its initial meeting on Saturday, September 10, 1994. It was an organizational meeting and previewed the upcoming series Star Trek: Voyager. A list of meetings appears below, with the moderator of the meeting in parentheses.

September 10, 1994 . . . . . . . . . . Star Trek: Voyager Preview (DeParto)
October 8, 1994 . . . . . . . . . . Best &mp; Worst Star Trek novels (Smith/Greenberg)
November 12, 1994 . . . . . . . . . . A Look at the Dominion. - - Pigs in Spaaaaace! The Next Generation (Tellado)
December 10, 1994 . . . . . . . . . . Holiday Party & Pot Luck Dinner

January 14, 1995 . . . . . . . . . . Discussion of Star Trek: Generations movie (Tellado)
February 11, 1995 . . . . . . . . . . Discussion of Star Trek: Voyager (Tellado)
March 11, 1995 . . . . . . . . . . The Science of Star Trek (Tellado)
April 8, 1995 . . . . . . . . . . The Prime Directive (Tellado)
May 13, 1995 . . . . . . . . . . Time Travel (Tellado)
June 10, 1995 . . . . . . . . . . Review of first season on Voyager (Tellado)
July 8, 1995 . . . . . . . . . . The Time Line of the Federation (Tellado)
August 12, 1995 . . . . . . . . . . Screening: Deep Space 9 Episode "The Abandoned" - - Talk by "Abandoned" Scriptwriter Steve Warnek
September 9, 1995 . . . . . . . . . . Previews of DS9 and Voyager (Tellado)
October 14, 1995 . . . . . . . . . . Star Trek Aliens (Tellado)
November 11, 1995 . . . . . . . . . . More Star Trek Aliens (Tellado)
December 9, 1995 . . . . . . . . . . Holiday Party & Pot Luck Dinner

January 13, 1996 . . . . . . . . . . Star Fleet Economics (Tellado)
February 10, 1996 . . . . . . . . . . The Captains of the Enterprise (Tellado)
March 9, 1996 . . . . . . . . . . The Ideal Away Team (Archer)
April 13, 1996 . . . . . . . . . . Sequels We'd Like to See (Gonigal)
May 11, 1996 . . . . . . . . . . Humor in Star Trek
June 8, 1996 . . . . . . . . . . New & Recommended Star Trek Books
July 13, 1996 . . . . . . . . . . Update on Trek Happenings (Blog)
August 10, 1996 . . . . . . . . . . Screening: Deep Space 9 Episode "Starship Down" - - Talk by Scriptwriters David Mack and John Ordover
September 14, 1996 . . . . . . . . . . The Ten Best Star Trek Episodes? (Ruiz)
October 12, 1996 . . . . . . . . . . No Official Discussion
November 9, 1996 . . . . . . . . . . Space Stations as Settings
December 14, 1996 . . . . . . . . . . Meeting Cancelled for Holidays

January 11, 1997 . . . . . . . . . . Babylon 5: "Midnight on the Firing Line"
February 8, 1997 . . . . . . . . . . Babylon 5: "Born to the Purple"
March 15, 1997 . . . . . . . . . . Babylon 5: "Infection"
April 12, 1997 . . . . . . . . . . Babylon 5: "The Parliament of Dreams"
May 10, 1997 . . . . . . . . . . Babylon 5: "Mind War"
June 14, 1997 . . . . . . . . . . Science Fiction Television Update (Blog)
July 12, 1997 . . . . . . . . . . Trek in Books, TV, & Movies (Greenberg)
August 9, 1997 . . . . . . . . . . No Meeting
September 13, 1997 . . . . . . . . . . Babylon 5: The War Prayer
October 11, 1997 . . . . . . . . . . Babylon 5: Ant the Sky is Full of Stars
November 8, 1997 . . . . . . . . . . Babylon 5: Death Walker

January 10, 1998 . . . . . . . . . . Babylon 5: "Believers"
February 14, 1998 . . . . . . . . . . Babylon 5: preview of Season 5
March 14, 1998 . . . . . . . . . . Earth: Final Conflict: (broadcast episode)

You may also be interested in examining The Final Frontier and The Final Frontier, Livingston Chapter.

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