This Week in Trek – Special Two-Week Edition

I didn’t do This Week in Trek last week, so This Week in Trek actually includes news for the last two weeks. Got it? Anyway, this week… er, these last two weeks brings news of picketers at the Star Trek shoot, Star Trek style gambling, Trek on Demand, yet another Trek dating service, a Trek movie poster contest, and oh, so much more.

Star Trek (2008 film):

• Ben Cross (Chariots of Fire) was cast as Spock’s father, Ambassador Sarek.
• More images of Zachary Quinto as Spock surfaced on the French website Buzzline.
• Actor Timothy Olyphant (Deadwood, Hitman) revealed he was almost cast in the film.
• It was announced that the famed Vasquez Rocks will be appearing in the film. Scenes at Vasquez were shot this week and were apparently used for a scene involving “a birth” with “plenty of Vulcans” standing around.
• That latter report also described the new design of the Enterprise as having “the basic shape” of the classic vessel, with “a new, grittier metal texture.”
• There was a rumor that George Takei had been cast in the new film and would reprise his role of Sulu in a “flash forward” scene between himself and Leonard Nimoy’s Spock. As TrekMovie.com revealed, it isn’t true.
• It was confirmed this week that the teaser trailer for Star Trek will be attached to Cloverfield, another Paramount movie being produced by J.J. Abrams. Cloverfield and the Trek trailer will be released on January 18th.
• Variety reports that Keri Russell (who previously stated she has spoken to JJ Abrams about a role in Star Trek) has been cast in the female lead opposite Adam Sandler in Disney’s Bedtime Stories,. The news makes an appearance in Star Trek highly unlikely. Ironically, Bedtime Stories is currently slated to open on the same day as Trek — Christmas 2008.
• The Hollywood writers’ strike isn’t supposed to affect production on the Star Trek film, but that didn’t stop a group of striking writers and their families from hiking to Vasquez Valley to picket the set of the film.
• Zachary Quinto (Spock) discussed his Vulcan hand salute and the makeup process he endures to become Spock at Monsters and Critics.
• And for the ladies…scans of Quinto’s photoshoot from January’s FHM can be found here

Is it logical to appear in FHM?

Trek Stuff:

• The TOS Remastered Season One HD DVD/DVD combo set was released two weeks ago and it includes seven remastered episodes that hadn’t aired yet. TrekMovie posted a sneak peak of these episodes here.
• CBS/Paramount Home Entertainment has set March 25th Summer 2008, as for the release of the second season HD DVD set of TOS Remastered, according to TV Shows on DVD.
• The much-anticipated Star Trek: Conquest was finally released for Wii and Playstation 2 game systems.
• Star Trek: Online may be going through some changes as developer Perpetual Entertainment has been acquired by a new company. See our report for more details.
• The latest Star Trek: Titan novel, Sword of Damocles, is now available for your reading pleasure.
• WMS Gaming unveiled a new, interactive Star Trek slot machine at the Global Gaming Expo in Las Vegas, according to the Chicago Sun-Times.
• A synopsis and a cover image for IDW Publishing’s fifth issue of Star Trek: Year Four are available at TrekWeb.

Cover for Star Trek: Year Four #5

Fan Productions:

• The folks behind the popular fan series Star Trek: New Voyages are revamping their episode “To Serve All My Days” to be more in tune with 1969. The new version will be released on Christmas. See our exclusive report and interview with James Cawley for more information.
• Speaking of New Voyages, their episode “World Enough and Time” has won TV Guide’s Best Sci-Fi Webisode Award. Congratulations again to Cawley and his team!
• The preview for Star Trek Odyssey’s second episode, "The Wine Dark Sea" is available on their website
• The audio production Star Trek The Continuing Mission released a new trailer for their premiere episode "Ghost Ship" featuring Lawrence Montaigne (Stonn – TOS "Amok Time") which is also to be released on Christmas.
• Another new audio production, Star Trek Unity, announced their premiere episode "Disunity" will be released December 15th

Trek in the World:

• Virgin Media, the company currently airing DS9 and ENT on its flagship digital cable channel Virgin 1 in the UK, has secured the rights to offer TNG, DS9, VOY and ENT episodes to UK customers via its on-demand service. See the report at Digital Spy for more information.
• “It’s turkey time… no, not William Shatner.” (Hardy har har…) Folks from San Antonio, Texas, received online invitations to a Star Trek-themed dinner for Thanksgiving.
• An Irish folk-rock band called The Saw Doctors began a November 24th concert in Durham, England, by walking on-stage to the Star Trek theme music. See?
• The tiny town of Vulcan, Alberta, is hoping to expand its Star Trek theme to local businesses such as restaurants to draw more Trekkie tourists to their town. Read the Vulcan Advocate for more information.
• A number of Remastered TOS episodes will be shown at The Jules Verne Adventure Film Festival at the Shrine Auditorium in Los Angeles on December 9th. See the full schedule of events here.

Trek Science:

• Britain’s Orla Protein Technologies have apparently developed a medical tricorder, although they’re calling it a diagnostic biosensor. Sinners…
• Are we one step closer to a Star Trek PADD? Agora Vox thinks so, with Amazon’s release of their slim, lightweight e-book reader, the Kindle.
• Not quite a hypospray, but I’ll take it over a needle any day: there’s a new skin patch which uses microneedle technology to deliver painless injections. Check out The Future of Things for more.
• Japanese electronics company NEC is developing a Universal Translator, but don’t expect it to tell you what that angry Klingon is yelling at you… right now, it only translates Japanese into English. Hey, it’s a start, anyway.
• Remember that military holodeck we told you about back in September? Well, VirTra Systems demonstrated a similar infantry training simulator at this year’s I/ITSEC in Orlando, Florida. You can read more about it here.

Love is a holographic battlefield

Trek on the Web:

• Profiles in History will be holding an auction of Star Trek memorabilia on eBay on December 13th and 14th. Click here for a full list of all Trek-related items being sold at the auction; the official auction page can be found here.
• First there was Sweet on Geeks (first discussed here). Now there’s a new online dating service for Star Trek fans called Trek Passions. Apparently, we need all the help we can get… :/
• In celebration of the release of the TOS Remastered HD DVD/DVD combo set, Wired.com has compiled a list of Star Trek’s 10 Cheesiest Classic Creatures.
• The proposed zombie series Alive, as co-created by Trek writers Judith and Garfield Reeves-Stevens, has a new promotional video available which features Enterprise star John Billingsley (Phlox) as “The Pastor.” You can watch it here.
• Star Trek IV: The Voyage Home was named one of the Greatest Environmental Movies of All Time by EnvironmentalGraffiti.com.
• Harold Walters of The Charter posted an article in which he rants about Star Trek and… something about Captain Kirk and fiber?
• The St. Louis Jewish Light Online has an article on Leonard Nimoy‘s (Spock) appearance at the Jewish Book Festival earlier this month, with the actor discussing his latest photography project, his experience with photography and, of course, Spock. You can read it here.
• The unfortunate “Rodent” who got a bit too curious about a phaser in the original series episode “The City on the Edge of Forever” was IGN’s Obscure Character of the Day on November 26th.
• FARK.com is holding a Photoshop contest challenging readers to create a new poster for 2008’s Star Trek.Click here to check out the madness!

Idle minds are the devil’s playground

Trek Celebrity News:

• Star Trek creator Gene Roddenberry will be given a posthumous Pioneer Award from the first ever Academy of Wireless Arts, Video and Entertainment (aka the Waves). Read this for more information.
• George Takei (Hikaru Sulu) will be a special guest at the Baltimore Symphony Orchestra’s “Sci-Fi Spectacular” concert in January, which will feature music from the Star Trek franchise. See StarTrek.com for more details, including information on how to get a special discount.
• The Fairfield Mirror has a brief interview with Walter Koenig (Pavel Chekov) from his appearance at the Big Apple Comic-Con held earlier this month; you can read it here.
• Patrick Stewart (Jean-Luc Picard) was named the Best Actor of 2007 by London’s Evening Standard Theater Awards for his performance in the West End production of Macbeth.
• Michael Dorn (Worf) guest-starred on Without a Trace… two weeks ago. Hope you didn’t miss it!
• Dorn’s TNG co-star Wil Wheaton (Wesley Crusher) and Star Trek III actor Christopher Lloyd (Kruge) had guest roles in an episode ofNumb3rs… again, two weeks ago. Sorry.
• Guess what else happened two weeks ago? Robert Picardo (The Doctor) was seen in the Carton Network original movie Ben 10: Race Against Time.
• Marina Sirtis (Deanna Troi) discussed her role in the video game Mass Effect with Sci Fi Pulse.
• Rene Auberjonois (Odo) returns to Boston Legal as former Crane, Poole & Schmidt managing partner Paul Lewiston for this week’s episode, “Oral Contracts.” In addition to reuniting with William Shatner (James T. Kirk), he will be working with the man who replaced him, John Larroquette (Star Trek III‘s Maltz).
• In other Auberjonois news, the actor will receive the Don and Barb Hennigs Chair for Theatre Guest Artists at the University of Findlay on December 7th; see theToledo Blade for more information.
• In a letter posted on his website, Alexander Siddig (Dr. Julian Bashir) revealed he is currently working on a French film calledL’Espion. Head to SidCity.net for more.
• Ethan Phillips (Neelix) has joined the cast of the Broadway production of David Mamet’sNovember, set to open at the Ethel Barrymore Theatre on January 17th.
• Tickets for Scott Bakula’s (Jonathan Archer)one-night-only cabaret performance at Ford’s Theatre in Washington, D.C., will go on sale tomorrow. See the Ford’s Theatre site for more details.
• This month’s Starlog magazine features interviews with John Billingsley (Phlox), Phyllis Douglas (Yeoman Mears), and Joanna Cassidy (T’Les).
• Billingsley also has an interview with StarTrek.com, discussing his work on Jerome Bixby’sThe Man From Earth and his charity work; you can read it here and here.
• Billingsley was also seen on the November 22nd episode of Grey’s Anatomy, which was directed by three-time Enterprise director Michael Grossman.
• In addition to playing Chekov in the new Star Trek, Anton Yelchin is up for the role of The Flash in the upcoming adaptation of DC Comics’ Justice League of America, according to Superhero Hype.
• Bruce Greenwood (the new Christopher Pike) will be one of the actors who receive the Robert Altman Award from the Independent Spirit Awards for his part in the film I’m Not There.
• Frank Langella (DS9’s Jaro Essa) has been nominated for Best Male Lead for his role inStarting Out the Evening. You can see the full list of nominees here.
• James Darren (DS9’s Vic Fontaine) received the Art Gilmore Career Achievement Award from Pacific Pioneer Broadcasters on November 16th. See StarTrek.com for more info.
• Gary Lockwood, known to Trekkies for playing Kirk’s pal Gary Mitchell in “Where No Man Has Gone Before,” is among the actors who lend their voice to the audio-book production of Paul Kyriazi’sMcKnight’s Memory.
• Vanessa Williams (Arandis in DS9’s “Let He Who Is Without Sin…”) was named one ofEntertainment Weekly‘s Top 25 Entertainers of the Year. They also named the new Scotty, Simon Pegg, as the fourth of “Eight to Watch in ’08.”
• Brian Brophy (Cmdr. Maddox in TNG’s “The Measure of a Man”) was a special guest acting lecturer at Subhash Ghai’s Whistling Woods International fromNovember 28th through the 30th.
• The Sci Fi Channel original mini-series Tin Man, starring Star Trek: First Contact‘s Neal McDonough (Lt. Hawk) in the title role and featuring Duras sisterGwynyth Walsh (B’Etor), premiered tonight at 9/8c. See theofficial site for more information.
• This one’s older than two weeks, but here it is anyway: Malcolm McDowell (Dr. Soran) talks about killing Kirk and receiving death threats for doing so in an interview withKyleSmithOnline.com.
• Star Trek VI villain Christopher Plummer (General Chang) has been cast in the title role of Terry Gilliam’s The Imaginarium of Doctor Parnassus, according to StarTrek.com.
• “The Enemy Within” writer Richard Matheson signed copies of his book I Am Legend today at Dark Delicacies bookstore in Burbank, California.
• The first long-awaited Futurama movie, Bender’s Big Score, arrived on DVD this week. Comedienne and one-time Voyager guest star Sarah Silverman (Rain Robinson) is among the voices in the film; you can also spot Leonard Nimoy‘s head!
• William Shatner (James T. Kirk) did an amusing commercial for World of Warcraft, check it out…
  
  
  Shatner declares himself a Shaman

   

YouTube Clip of the week

Shatner and Nimoy on the Arsenio Hall Show in 1991

Special thanks to The Most Righteous Reverend Bp, Kevin Ganster and John Tenuto for contributing to this report.