This Week In Trek (week ending 8/18/08)

TrekMovie.com is proud to announce the triumphant return of "This Week In Trek" – your comprehensive guide to everything about Trek reported here and elsewhere.

For this week in Trek we bring news ranging from from Bakula on Comedy Central, to Trekkie Dating to Real Tricorders to a possible political campaign?

More details below.


Star Trek (2008):

  • Director/producer J.J. Abrams will be heading to Iceland to look look over locations scouted for filming back in June. Paramount has sent budgeting plans to Pegasus and Saga Film, the two Iceland-based production companies competing for the film.
  • Heroes actor James Kyson Lee stated he would like to play Sulu in the new film.
  • Internet rumors that Tom Cruise will appear as Christopher Pike and Russell Crowe will play the villain in the film have been picked up by British tabloids, claiming to have received their information from “inside sources.”
  • In an interview at BBC Radio1, Matt Damon stated that he was never offered the role of Captain Kirk and that he believed at least part of the movie takes place “when Captain Kirk graduates from the academy.”
  • William Shatner still isn’t in the movie.

Trek in the world:

Trek science:

  • Instrument companies such as PerkinElmer are currently designing portable tricorder-like devices, which they predict will soon be available to the general public.
  • We may be closer to achieving warp drive: two German physicists from the University of Koblenz (neither named Cochrane) claim to have broken the speed of light while investigating the phenomenon called quantum tunneling.
  • MSNBC predicts that one of the ten “hot jobs” of the future will be simulation engineer, which will “bring us one step closer to Star Trek’s holodeck.”

Trek on the web:

  • It’s eHarmony for Trekkies: a report by ABC News discusses Sweet on Geeks, an online dating service for “geeks” like Star Trek fans.
  • A completed version of the original ending for Star Trek Generations is available for download at the Brazilian website, Trek Brasilis. (Scroll down approximately 3/4 of the page for the download link.)
  • In an article at Blogcritics Magazine, writer Matthew Milam suggested in that J.J. Abrams cast actress Tichina Arnold as the captain of the next Star Trek series.
  • Bethesda Blog is giving curious gamers the chance to send in their questions to developers about Star Trek Conquest and other Bathesda titles.
  • Darrell Mays of the American Chronicle has his own idea for the next Star Trek series.
  • In a video on ShatnerVision, actor John Larroquette (Maltz) gave a quick comment about working with William Shatner on Star Trek III: The Search for Spock.
  • Unhappy with the current presidential candidates? Then show your support for Shatner Hasselhoff ’08 with a t-shirt from Printfection.com. “From Yesterday’s Tomorrow, for a Better Today!”

Where are they now:

  • As reported here, Nichelle Nichols (Uhura, TOS) will have a recurring role on NBC’s Heroes this upcoming season.
  • Patrick Stewart (Picard, TNG) is currently performing in a production of Shakespeare’s Macbeth and Twelfth Night in Chichester, England. Stewart will also be attending the London Film and Comic Con at Earls Court in London, England on September 1st and 2nd, as will Nana Visitor (Kira, DS9), Diana Muldaur (Pulaski, TNG), and Louise Fletcher (Kai Winn, DS9).
  • According to a message on her website, Denise Crosby (Tasha Yar, TNG) is set to begin filming an episode of the FOX series Bones.
  • Colm Meaney (O’Brien, TNG/DS9) is in final negotiations to star in a pilot for a series called Life on Mars, based on the British series of the same name. It is being developed by David E. Kelley, the man behind William Shatner’s current series, Boston Legal.
  • Alexander Siddig (Bashir, DS9) has a role in The Last Legion, a sword-and-sandals war epic which opened yesterday. In addition, the official site of Siddig’s upcoming film Doomsday (in which he co-stars with his uncle, Generations actor Malcolm McDowell) has been launched.
  • Kate Mulgrew (Janeway, VOY) is currently starring in the Off-Broadway production of Iphigenia 2.0, performing at New York’s Peter Norton Space through September 30th.
  • Robert Picardo (The Doctor, VOY) held a charity auction benefit dinner and auction at Ricardo’s Mexican Restaurant in Las Vegas on August 12th.
  • Tim Russ (Tuvok, VOY) was a guest at Denver’s 2007 Starfleet IC Convention this past weekend. Also, production on Russ’ new series, Samantha Who?, has begun in Los Angeles. the series is set to premiere October 15th at 9:30 EST on ABC.
  • Scott Bakula (Archer, ENT) will be appearing in an episode of Comedy Central’s American Body Shop airing Sunday at 10:30 EST. Bakula will be playing “a drunk, womanizing, one-legged Scott Bakula impersonator.”
  • Chase Masterson (Leeta, DS9) commented on Rick Berman, J.J. Abrams, and her role in Of Gods and Men in an interview with Associated Content.
  • Ronald D. Moore (Writer/Producer) has signed a two-year, seven-figure deal with Universal Media Studios.
  • TOS music editor Jim Henrikson was recently interviewed in a Hollywood Reporter article on music editing.

Editors Note: I want to welcome Charles Trotter to the TrekMovie.com family as our news correspondent and the compiler of ‘This Week In Trek’. Chuck will help ensure that this is the only site you need to visit to keep fully informed about what is going on in the world of Trek.

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Welcome Mr. Trotter this news brief looks great! Glad to have the this week in Trek back! Looked at the Siddig Doomsday movie site… Interesting looks kind of like a take off of 28 days later same feel at least and I loved both those movies.

Aaron R.

Oh oh oh 2nd!!!!

Awesome chuck, this is exactly the right type of summary article needed for this site. Keep up the great work!

Klingons fart in airlocks

Cool. I would like just one site to go to for all Trek news.

Welcome, Chuck! Thanks for keeping us informed and up to date!

um….what do you think this site is craig?

Let’s not be too cocky, shall we? :) You don’t need that competitive c*ap, just do your best and people will recognise it. Without self-promoting paroles.

Woo y find made it in. I’m a Trekmovie contributor….kinda

I keep thinking I still need to check some of the other Trek sites but since people in the Trek franchise post here now I don’t need to go those other site.

Hmm, haven’t seen the original ending for Generations before, and I gotta say it’s not that bad. It’s still pretty anticlimatic as a whole, but it’s not NEARLY as cheesy and contrived as all the bridge stuff in the final version.

There’s something a little edgier and more realistic the way it plays out here, with Kirk and Soran simply kicking the crap out of each other, Kirk getting shot in the back (which would have worked a lot better if it came out of nowhere) and Picard later blowing a big ass hole in Soran’s chest.

David I think they should have let Kirk live and had him Picard and Riker beam up to the Farrogut from the Enterprise D wreckage.

Actually, David, I think the revised ending is 100% better; in the original, while Kirk is beating up Soran, all Picard gets to do is work some stupid keyboard for what seems like an inordinate amount of time. I think that the revised ending is much better in this respect; having both of them go after Soran makes much more sense plot-wise, and it’s a lot more fun for the audience to see the ‘two captains’ go at it together. As for Kirk’s death, the original version of it is quite horrible; he fulfills his purpose in the mission (decloaking Soran’s missile), and then is immediately killed, for no other reason than that he’s fulfilled his purpose, and the writers promised to kill him off. The revised ending makes his death meaningful by actually having him die for something, as opposed to just getting knocked off like a glorified Redshirt. Kirk’s death in the released Generations, I still maintain, is quite good; but I think all of us would wish that they’d just let him live….how hard would it have been? Regardless, Generations is still one of the better Star Trek films.

Great news wrap-up — who needs the Sunday Times??

Quantum tunneling sounds pretty cool, unless and until they poke a hole through to another dimension and we’re all sucked through it like so much goo.

And I remember visiting Linlithgow more years ago than I care to remember, having no idea of its (future) place in Trek history. I hope the Four Mary’s Pub is still there…

waaaaabooowhimperpooey… my video player won’t show me the Generations clip.

Cool articles, though. I am totally stupid when it comes to relativity, but the explanation they offer for faster than light subatomic particles leaves holes you could drive a dreadnaught through.

#12

Yeah but in the new version it seems even more ridiculous that Soran is able to fend off not only Kirk but Picard too. And the whole thing comes across way too coreographed. I like it better when it’s simply Kirk and Soran wailing on each other — that was always Kirk’s thing anyway. I never cared for “Picard, the action hero” in the movies. He always looked kinda cheesy running around with a phaser rifle and punching guys out.

And like I said, I thought Kirk getting shot in the back would have worked if it was a SURPRISE (the scene is directed horribly as is; seeing Soran wake up and reach for his gun completely robs the scene of it’s power.)

Of course, all that being said, the ending and Kirk’s death never bothered me NEAR as much as all the other cheesy stuff that goes on in this movie.

Wow, they REALLY improved the film quality when they re-shot that ending. ;)

Thanks for the welcome, everyone. I’m glad you enjoyed the weekly wrap-up; I had a blast compiling it and look forward to the reports of coming weeks. I feel it is only right, however, to thank to Anthony, Matt, and everyone else who submitted their news tips. Keep them coming, guys! :)

# 15

Well, I guess we’ll just have to agree to disagree on this. Though I agree with you on your dislike of the Picard-action-hero mentality, I still think Picard & Kirk versus Soran makes for a much better scene than Kirk versus Soran and Picard versus Windows.

Oh, and the ‘Quantum tunneling’ thing is really cool, if it turns out to be true. We’ll see.

Some of those shots were used in the theatrical release… the “guy dangling on a rope falling down a cliff,” for one, though it was Kirk in this one, and Soran in the released version. All in all, I like what came out in the theater better.

Since the alternate Generations ending is the hot topic at the moment, I’d like to say that I prefer the theatrical version… although, woulda been nice if they just let Kirk live. Oh, well. It was… fun… while it lasted. Oh, my….

Yikes, the ending of Generations could have been far worse.

Our bad guy Soran jumping up and down to catch the Nexus which obviously way out of reach.

Kirk gets shot in the back.

Picard just decides shoot Soran point blank in the chest killing him.

At least they made it a little better. Of course they still killed off Kirk and destroyed the Enterprise D, but at least it was that bad.

Hmmm… a sort of tricorder device… which can actually be called a tricorder b/c of Roddenberry’s contract. Of course they’ve done it before, but they didn’t have that many capabilities. I’m still waiting on a working phaser. Or even a powerful hand laser.

Bring on the holodeck. I’ll live in there. Reality’s for suckers.

Welcome, Chuck. Nice work here–some stuff even I didn’t know yet.

Props on the Generations vid.

But why the frell did that weird guy who can’t spell get editorial space in the American Chronicle? That is, hands-down, the dullest, most poorly presented version of the post-Nemesis plan (an idea I already consider a lame rehash in so many ways) that I have ever seen. There are dozens of people on this site who could do a better job of that article!

Well, here’s one you guys missed – an article on our friend Joan Collins, who, at one point, needed Edith Keeler’s assistance.

http://www.dailymail.co.uk/pages/live/articles/showbiz/showbiznews.html?in_article_id=476107&in_page_id=1773

Apparently there’s a limit on the length of a link. Add 476107&in_page_id=1773 to the link above to get to the article.

WHAT THE HELL HAPPENED? Me and about 20 other people on the IMDB board for Trek 11 were like OMFG??? DID HE GET SHUT DOWN??

“Director/producer J.J. Abrams will be heading to Iceland to look look over locations scouted for filming back in June. Paramount has sent budgeting plans to Pegasus and Sega Film, the two Iceland-based production companies competing for the film.”

That’s Saga Film, actually.

Shatner Hasselhoff ’08.

Why am I not suprised by that ticket?

#26 Viking Bastard

Oops… :-/

Wellllcoooooooooome… Chuck!

Someone please tell me if they are putting “Shatner/Hasselhoff ’08” on a t-shirt!

“It’s eHarmony for Trekkies: a report by ABC News discusses Sweet on Geeks, an online dating service for “geeks” like Star Trek fans.”

But what if your a nerd; What do you do then?

Sorry, just looking out for all us nerds……

It’s a bit late in the game, but I just found out that Richard Compton, who appeared in the TOS episodes “The Doomsday Machine” and “The Enterprise Incident” and who later directed TNG’s “Haven,” died on August 11th. Since the report was not discovered until today, I shall include it in next week’s wrap-up, even though it should have been added here.

That said, it would be nice if major media outlets would report deaths like Compton’s. The original report, at Angel Cartwright’s blog (http://acartwrightstudio.blogspot.com/) was posted on August 12th; I only learned about it via a post that was added yesterday at Google Groups obituaries. Does this mean I have to start scanning through everybody’s blog in search of Trek-related deaths? Oy!