Star Trek/Nine Inch Nails Mash-Up

Finally a Star Trek-related post that Scott will like.

For all the in-jokes, I especially like the sepia-tone effect and camera shaking that they put in here.

Well done.

Star Trek XI trailer

So you’re planning your night out on 1/18/08, right? Dinner at some cheap Thai place after stopping by the comic shop to see if they have any copies of Cemetary Blues or Umbrella Academy (I can’t seem to find any anywhere), then off to the cineplex to watch the first major motion picture of the year, JJ Abrams’ Cloverfield.

But wait… don’t hide out in the lobby in fear of bad movie trailers and weirdly music video-like Nation Guard ads that precede the film. This time there’s a trailer you’ll want to see.

Well, not Scott.

One of my devoted readers Scott has told me many times that he hates Star Trek and wishes that I’d stop blogging about it. So Scott should stay outside the cinema. Actually, Scott should be home watching Battlestar Galactica: Razor, but that’s another story altogether. He’s probably not reading this post anyway.

There’s a trailer for the forthcoming Star Trek XI that many will hoot and holler over and SyFy Portal has the details.

Excerpt here:

As previously reported, the trailer will feature quite extensively the construction of the USS Enterprise, but unexpectedly will also pay homage to America’s space program.

Following the studio cards for Paramount and Bad Robot, some sparks light up a black, saturated screen with audio of an old NASA radio countdown: “30 seconds and counting.”

The camera closes in on a “timeless guy with goggles” leaning forward as if he’s welding something. When he lifts his goggles, a futuristic head covering is seen, but it is not a space suit. As the man leans down, it’s discovered that he is standing on a giant sheet of metal just in time for “From Director J.J. Abrams” to appear in a blue font and with lens flare.

Then John F. Kennedy can be heard talking about space flight, saying that “the eyes of the world now look to space.” At the same time, there are people walking around the saucer section of the ship, and the welders are everywhere, showing the size of the massive structure.

Then the audio declares, “the Eagle has landed,” and a huge overhead shot pans, showing what looks like “miles of scaffolding underneath.” Also appearing on the screen is “The Future Begins.”

More here.

IDW’s Star Trek comics

Just announced by comic book publisher IDW, a brand new line of Star Trek comics is on its way this year and it looks like it will be huge!Both Marvel and DC Comics have tried in the past to capture the Star Trek fans with their own comics series, but this is the first time that a set of mini-series will be released attacking fans from various fronts with some of the biggest names in comics!

(official press release content)
MARCH — STAR TREK: NEW FRONTIER®

New York Times Best-Selling novelist Peter David, author of the first Star Trek series designed exclusively for print, celebrates the 10th anniversary of the New Frontier saga with its first-ever comic book series. The five-part epic, debuting in March with artist Stephen Thompson (Beneath the Valley of Rage), features all-new stories and the official continuation of the runaway hit novels by Pocket Books.

APRIL — STAR TREK YEAR FOUR: THE ENTERPRISE EXPERIMENT

D.C. Fontana, who started her career as Gene Roddenberry’s assistant during the Original Series, went on to write some of Star Trek’s most memorable episodes, including ground-breaking episodes of that first series, as well as the pilot for Star Trek: The Next Generation®, and contributions to the Star Trek animated series and Star Trek: Deep Space Nine®. Now Fontana adds Star Trek comic books to her literary legacy, continuing IDW’s successful Star Trek Year Four saga with co-writer Derek Chester (Star Trek: Legacy) and longtime Star Trek artist Gordon Purcell. Fan-favorite illustrators The Sharp Brothers will also contribute special covers for the five-part series, which debuts in April.

MAY — STAR TREK: ASSIGNMENT EARTH

Comics icon John Byrne provides a prequel to the SECOND STAGE titles with the February finale of IDW’s Alien Spotlight series in an issue showcasing the Romulans, the writer/artist’s first-ever illustrated Star Trek story in a decades-spanning career. But in May, Byrne will unveil his first full-blown Star Trek comic series, the five-part, time-jumping Star Trek: Assignment Earth.

JUNE — STAR TREK: MIRROR IMAGES

The Mirror Universe remains one of the most popular themes in Star Trek canon, and IDW will travel through the looking glass with Star Trek: Mirror Images, written by IDW Editor-in-Chief Chris Ryall together with Scott & David Tipton, brothers have become the new breakout stars of Star Trek comics writing with hit series like Klingons: Blood Will Tell. The new four-part epic launches in June, teaming the brothers once again with Klingons artist David Messina.

Just in time for the big budget film re-launch, these Star Trek comics offer fans of the series several different ways to relive their enjoyment of the cult sci-fi series.

Star Trek: The Menagerie set for cinemas

Fans of the recently remastered original Star Trek series have reason to be excited. It has just been announced that the two part story The Menagerie (which incorporates the original Star Trek pilot, The Cage) will be screened on November 13th in 300 cinemas nationwide.I have to admit, this is my favorite Star Trek story and the remastering alterations (including a stunning zoom in on the Enterprise bridge) are truly awe-inspiring. Check out the clip below for an idea on how great this is.

A short 30 minute film about the remastering process will accompany the episodes.

For more info, visit StarTrek.com and Fathom Events.

James T. Kirk finally cast… again

Today an announcement was made that will wake up many weary Trekkies across the planet… James T Kirk has been cast.

Actor Chris Pine (Smokin’ Aces) is officially the young Jim Kirk in what will be the eleventh Star Trek film and the grand hope that Paramount Pictures can turn around their ghostly quiet phenomenon.

The Star Trek franchise, once a giant of the airwaves and silver screen, has become a shadow of its former self. Even its recent 40th anniversary got very little mention in the press or the sci-fi community.

Whereas the feature films were at one time highly anticipated spectaculars, they became little known blips in the cinematic world with the tenth outing, ‘Nemesis,’ a financial and critical failure.

Even the last TV series, Star Trek: Enterprise, was a ho-hum to both TV viewers and lifelong Trek fans.

But all of that is going to change according to Paramount Pictures and ingenious director JJ Abrams (Lost, Alias, Cloverfield). This new film will turn the clock back, showing film viewers a young crew taking the Enterprise on its first missions into space. That’s right… much like the recent Superman, Batman and even Halloween films… it’s a big reset button. As in all these cases, I have no problem with it, so long as it works.

If rumors are correct, this will be more than just a reset, but an opportunity to revisit the entire franchise by creating a parallel timeline. Sure, it will obliterate everything we’ve seen so far, but if that’s what it takes, that’s what it takes.

If this works, expect Trek to be big again, maybe resulting in a new TV series and loads of Star Trek merchandise.

In the meantime, standby on phasers and fandango tickets.

Simon Pegg in Star Trek XI

As the release date of the upcoming eleventh Star Trek film, the big bloated hope of an all but dead franchise, nears… things get interesting with the announcement that Simon Pegg will play the part of Chief Engineer ‘Scotty’.

Comedic British actor Simon Pegg has been hard at work carving away the dream of any fanboy as he creates and stars in fantastic genre-loving films and TV series. Though he is known stateside for his films Shaun of the Dead and Hot Fuzz, in his homeland he is more popularly associated with arguably the best sitcom ever made, Spaced.

The premise for the series is very simple, two hard luck cases who cannot make their relationships work meet by chance and rent an apartment together. There’s a wacky downstairs neighbor named Brian (played by the absolutely brilliant Mark Heap) and the creepy wine-soaked landlady, Marsha. Hilarity ensues as the two unlikely friends fall into a ‘will they/won’t they’ situation.

But it’s not the premise that kept viewers rapt every week. Aside from its unique brand of comedy, Spaced contained a series of asides and homages to creator Simon Pegg and Edgar Wright’s favorite films and TV programs.

One episode features a Matrix-like gunfight while the closing of another is practically a shot-for-shot recreation of the Empire Strike’s Back finale.

Unfortunately for US readers of this blog, unless you buy a region-free DVD player or drop by my house for a cup of tea, you’ll never get to see it. The rights issues over musical tracks used in the program have deemed it to be far too expensive to release on this side of the pond.

After Spaced, Pegg appeared in Black Books and later Doctor Who as the traitor to the human race in the episode ‘The Long Game.’ A longtime fan of the Classic Doctor Who series, Pegg thoroughly understood the camp yet serious demands of a super villain role in Doctor Who and performed the role with consummate skill. I just wish we could have seen more of him.

The role of Scotty is essentially all down to the late James Doohan, to be honest. We know nothing about Scotty as a person, he has no real defining skills aside from fixing the Enterprise in the nick of time by crawling into the same circuit-lined corridor… the character resides entirely in Doohan’s delivery.

Keeping all that in mind, I’m very excited that Pegg has been cast in the role. As a skilled comedic and dramatic actor, he will bring a brand new take on the character that I am sure will pay homage to Doohan’s portrayal.

So, uh… who’s playing Kirk?

On Amazon:

Shaun of the Dead
Hot Fuzz (Widescreen Edition)

Star Trek: Next Gen 20th Anniversary DVD Set

In 1987, TV really needed some science fiction. It had been many moons since Star Trek graced TV screens across the world and despite an interest in starting up Star Trek Phase II in 1979 (which lead in time to the Star Trek Motion Picture), Paramount wasn’t convinced that another TV series could work. In fairness, I can see why.

The original Star Trek series was a program of its time. Filmed in the turbulent 1960’s, it was a statement on the counter culture movement, an optimistic statement that there was a Utopian future of spiritual prosperity and fine alien ladies.

In the introverted and superficial 1980’s, what kind of future could American TV culture look forward to? And would it get canceled after all that hard work?

Finally, Star Trek: The Next Generation was given the go-ahead and despite a very rocky first season, succeeded in winning the acceptance of fandom and non-fandom alike. The rich baritone Captain Jean-Luc Picard, the awkward Pinocchio android Data, the tooth grinding Worf and lovely Tasha Yar dragged the otherwise idealized crew of know-it-alls through a series of million dollar budget adventures that looked backward and forward into building an enduring TV legacy. Peabody Award and Emmy Awards surround the 7 year spanning program, so it must be the perfect TV experience, no?

Well… yes and no. I do like that that this series takes place 80 years after the classic crew’s adventures in space. Inserting such a wide berth of time introduces a new culture that the audience has to learn all over again. Of course, the fact that this culture is isolated and boringly placid doesn’t motivate the audience into a commitment to these strangers, but in time they would create a kind of wallpaper against which TV programming would play. Much like the classic 60’s Star Trek, there is something comforting about the fact that you could easily find the program playing late at night on some UHF channel. However, the talking head syndrome and technobabble-filled scripts do make staying awake a challenge sometimes.

For myself, I was never much of a Star Trek fan. I backed into the Next Gen series in its second year after overhearing two friends at school discussing it (that’s all it takes folks). I then got a job making props from the series for sale at a mail order company. As the program entered its third season (the good one), I began to get committed to these characters. The story lines had more conflict, action and dramatic tension… and the costumes were way cooler.

To answer my earlier question of what would the future from an 80’s perspective look like, all you have to do is turn on any random Star Trek Next Gen episode and you’ll see a board meeting in progress. Whereas Captain Kirk was more of a classic father figure who made rash judgments and wild decisions based on a whim that affected the lives of so many, Picard was a different sort of fellow. Picard tabled almost everything. Most episodes of Next Generation follow a certain kind of logic where the ship is en route to something or other and encounters an anomaly or alien craft and it is at that point that entire adventure is tabled.

Looking back now (through the lenses of the overly emotional and apocalyptic journey toward mythical fulfillment or extinction that is Battlestar Galactica), it seems very odd. At the time, the politics of modern business were extending outwards into society and this type of behavior just seemed natural. In fact, books were released that used Picard’s role as captain as a model for good supervisory skills. This was the era that gave us most of the self-made businesses and start-ups that ruled the 90’s, after all. Pooling your resources instead of making rash decisions was the vision of the future that Next Gen gave us.

It makes more sense, sure… but for my entertainment I prefer Kirk’s poker face or wry grin as he gives an order to Picard asking the entire command crew… and Wesley… retiring to the ready room.

To celebrate the 20th anniversary of Star Trek: The Next Generation, Paramount decided to release the entire program in one gigantic DVD box set. Despite the fact that the series is already available in multiple formats and collections, this is their decision. Looking around online for reviews, I’m not convinced that it is a wise purchase. The set is comprised of seven unmarked green cases that open up to reveal the individual discs that make up each year of programming. The inferior packaging opens the door to the brittle cases cracking and the discs themselves becoming dislodged and getting scratched. Not what you want to happen after shelling out $400, is it?

In addition to the episodes as they appeared on TV those many many years past (anyone else feeling older yet?), there is an additional bonus disc per season which is unique to this collection. The bonuses mainly focus on retrospectives, the special effects, the legacy of Trek and costume design. While many new interviews were conducted with cast and crew, I’m still not 100% sold on this set.

Looking online, I found details for the bonus DVDs from the TV Squad, where you can read hilarious reminiscences from Wil Wheaton (Wesley Crusher) as both a fan and actor on the program.

As the Star Trek phenomenon enters its next phase (which sounds like a first phase all over again), it’s interesting to look back at the Next Gen era. While it does have its strengths and weaknesses (and one of the best series finales this side of Blake’s 7), it’s importance stems from the fact that it created a brand new phenomenon during its 7 years, it created the casual sci-fi fan. No longer was the program restricted to the much derided sad lonely fans who painstakingly pored over technical manuals and fan fiction.

1987 was the beginning of the era of the acceptable geek. Whereas it was once a sign of a troubled personality to wait in line at midnight for a book, videogame, DVD or movie ticket, it is now more or less expected. There are services to deliver DVDs to your door, online blogs that debate and analyze everything from scripts to bloopers, a slew of cable stations full of programming devoted to gaming, research into the paranormal and even science fiction TV series. Fans have become the majority at last.

This nation of passionate entertainment collectors and fans also justifies a $400 DVD set of previously available material.

Weird, innit?

On Amazon:

Star Trek: The Next Generation - Complete Series
Star Trek The Next Generation - The Complete Third Season
Star Trek Fan Collective - Borg

Plot details from Star Trek XI?

SyFy Portal revealed a few tidbits of info for the upcoming Star Trek XI film by JJ Abrams.

Here’s an excerpt:

Apparently the Romulans are looking to destroy Earth in the past as a way to mess up the overall timeline, and are mildly successful creating what could be best described as an alternate timeline, according to reports.

New details about the film’s storyline seems to explain why the casting of Zachary Quinto as Spock took on more of an importance than the casting of Kirk, and why Leonard Nimoy is definitely a part of the film while William Shatner is not. IESB says that the Spock portrayed by Nimoy will work with the Quinto’s Spock to try and stop the Romulan plan, and their battle against the Romulan baddie makes them the overall focus of the movie, not Kirk.

This is all still very much in the rumor stage, so no fear of spoilers just yet… but it sounds very clever in any case. I’ve always preferred the Romulans to the other alien races in the Star Trek universe. The fact that they are a loopy off-shoot of the restrained and calmly logical Vulcans has always been very interesting to me.

As long as no ‘Remians’ show up from the last Star Trek film, I think we’re in the clear.

Kirk cast?

Is this the face of young James Tiberius Kirk in the upcoming Star Trek film? Some say that young Mike Vogel, of Poseidon and Cloverfield, has been cast in the JJ Abrams franchise revival.

This is the 40th Anniversary year for the sci-fi TV empire and not much has been done so far. The remastered episodes (which I originally wrote about here) on iTunes still number only 11, a state they have simmered at for many months now, earning the spite of many ’season pass’ customers wondering where the rest of the season is.

An announcement of a new Kirk could turn things around and generate interest in the space faring
adventurers, but personally I’m hoping for a new box set of ‘remastered’ episodes.

Still… he does bear some resemblance, doesn’t he?

 

Star Trek - New Voyages

You gotta love the 21st Century.

Only in the age where fans are skilled enough to make the programs they love would a project as elaborate as this get done. Star Trek: The New Voyages is a message to Hollywood that if you do not provide entertainment worth the public’s time, your public will just make it themselves.

It’s also a direct lift from the Talking Heads ‘More Songs About Buildings and Food’ in which David Byrne urges his listeners to make TV rather than just sit and watch it.

And it’s pretty damned cool.

Taking place directly after the end of Season Three of the Classic Star Trek series, the New Voyages is a collaborative effort put up by fans in Ohio in their spare time.

CBS Morning News Piece 7/30/07

The love and dedication put forth in the series has been so powerful that it attracted the attention of Star Trek scribe DC Fontana, actors Walter Koenig, George Takei and Denise Crosby who have all contributed to The New Voyages. Additionally, top notch make-up experts and visual effects wizards have donated their time to work on the not for profit saga.

I’ve just never heard of anything like this.

‘World Enough And Time’ trailer

The goal is to develop an entire year of programming to build upon the legacy of Star Trek already developed by Roddenberry and others. With a new Star Trek film looking to leech off of the nostalgia craze currently in vogue in the Entertainment Industry, it’s more than a little heartening to see that the average Joe, armed with just determination, charisma and a LOT of free time can compete with the big boys.

‘In Harm’s Way’ part one

The series features a cast of experienced and green actors often working alongside the actors who inspired them into the project in the first place. This has to be the most bizarre and inspired productions I have ever heard of.

Episodes can be downloaded for free from their site, startreknewvoyages.com.