There’s a strange new improvisational comedy series on VH1 called Free Radio, and Star Trek‘s Zachary Quinto (the new Spock) was a guest on last week’s episode. The show is set in a dysfunctional radio station where an idiot DJ interviews celebrities. Quinto appeared as himself, and talked a bit about the new Trek film… at least, when the DJ lets him. Details and video below.
Trek Manga — Big Eyes, Small Mouths In September of 2006, TokyoPop did something that had not been done previously when they released an anthology of five stories from Star Trek The Original Series told in the Japanese ‘manga’ style. For this TrekInk we take a look at the first two volumes of Trek Manga plus we have an exclusive look at the next three from Tokyo Pop.
A couple more press outlets caught up with the Star Trek’s Simon Pegg at the Empire Awards on Sunday (see previous story). He told the BBC “It’s a great script and it’s going to be a fantastic film. So I think, Trekkies relax!” Pegg tells the UK Sun that it’s “amazing fun” to be playing Scotty and also discussed Abrams, life on the set, ‘getting wet’ and literally following Doohan to the finally frontier.
Last week Chris Pine, Star Trek’s new James T Kirk, told the USA today that he was “not trying to copy” William Shatner’s portrayal of the original character. Now comes news that the actor may be looking to another famous action star actor for ideas. When asked where he looked for inspiration, Pine told IGN “Harrison Ford in either Indiana Jones or Star Wars.”
Christmas is coming early as Hallmark’s 2008 ‘Dream Book’ (their annual catalog, usually available in April) has been leaked to the interweb. The ‘draft’ Dreambook details three Star Trek ornaments for 2008: The U.S.S. Reliant, a scene from “The Trouble With Tribbles” and a Kirk era communicator. See below for more details and (somewhat grainy) pictures
Roberto Orci and Alex Kurtzman are hot stuff these days. They have multiple big projects in the works from Transformers 2 to Eagle Eye to Fringe to a little thing called Star Trek. Which is why Entertainment Weekly’s new exclusive interview titled: “‘Star Trek’ Scribes: What Indiana Jones Means To Us” is a bit of a ‘WTF?’ But it turns out the pair are also huge Indy fans (as is TrekMovie.com…so deal with it). Kurtzman has even taught his two year-old son the Raiders theme.
At the Empire Awards in London on Sunday, Empire Online tracked down Simon Pegg (the new Scotty) and put the screws to him to get him to talk a about the super-secret Star Trek. Pegg kept mum about plot details, but did say he was finished shooting except for “some effects stuff” and that he though the film is “going to be fantastic.” He also talked about his predecessor and geeking out on set.
Creation Entertainment held their Official Star Trek convention in New Jersey this weekend and many Trek stars were on hand to entertain the fans (primarily from TNG, DS9 and Enterprise). We have some pictures and some first hand reports including an interesting tidbit from Patrick Stewart on a certain magical part he turned down. Plus a hilarious video of Brent Spiner joking with Patrick Stewart…check it all out below.
Last Friday, at a campaign event in Wyoming, presidential hopeful Barack Obama said the following: "I grew up on Star Trek. I believe in the final frontier." Obama went on to say he has issues with the way the space program is currently being run, and might trim funding until NASA’s mission has been clarified.
In January we reported that P2 Entertainment was looking to transfer the license for the MMORPG “Star Trek Online” after failing to secure new funding. Since then P2 shut down entirely (as their blank website indicates). In February both the official STO site as well as the largest fan site also shut down. However, in the last couple of days the official site has suddenly reappeared with the same old logo, but a new message “COMING SOON.”
Lots of news this week in the world of sci-fi. We got the first look at the cast of "Watchmen." Details on "Dark Knight," "G.I. Joe," and "Hulk." Spy shots from "Wolverine" and "X-Files 2." Plus TV series renewals and casting news, and even some answers (gasp) from "Lost." And green eggs and ham…for reals.
Stargate Atlantis actor Paul McGillion, who was first reported here to have a small part in the new Star Trek, talked a bit about his role with a hometown paper. The actor told the Canadian Welland Tribune “It does feel huge” to have worked on Trek. McGillion promises that the role will be an ‘amusing cameo’ for his fans, but still isn’t giving many details. He did talk a bit about the historic nature of being in Trek.
Just this week Diamond Select / Art Asylum has released the next item in their ‘Trek Tek’ line, the Kirk era version of the communicator. This joins the previously released TOS phasers and the forthcoming tricorder (announced at the recent Toy Fair). This is not the first TOS communicator made available, but for $29 it offers many features usually only available with high end replicas.
This week’s Science Friday brings you another Cassini Watch in preparation for the March 12th Enceladus flyby. Also, a Martian avalanche, tabletop black holes, a possible close-by plnaet, a bit of science politics, and a very special “Gadget of the Week” which features a top ten list of the best Trek Tech ever to come into existence thanks to Star Trek The Original Series . Plus we have some new Science Quickies for even more science fun!
The USA TODAY has a new ‘cast preview’ for JJ Abrams’ Star Trek , with pictures and blurbs about each of the new crew. Much of it is old news but there are a couple of interesting tidbits. The first is on Chris Pine (Kirk) getting a hair style (and advice) from William Shatner. There is also news from Simon Pegg (Scotty) on what role Chris Doohan (son of James Doohan, the original Scotty) will be playing.
CBS just sent us some cool preview shots for the remastered Star Trek episode “By Any Other Name,” airing this weekend
Last week we ran some quotes from a recently released audio interview with Gene Roddenberry from the 70s where he discussed changes in Trek designs and that he had considered doing his own prequel to The Original Series. In the last week some friends of the site have found other quotes from Star Trek’s creator that showed that he was pretty flexible and open to a future of Trek without him.
This week in The Watch you can find out why Simon Pegg is pissed, why Shatner (with some help from Jason Alexander) is going country, why Koenig is in court, why Billingsley is taking on Superman, why Scott Bakula is dancing and where you can see Patrick Stewart, Brent Spiner and a bunch of other Trek stars this weekend…plus much more.
Recently TrekMovie.com has been picking up rumblings of work on new DVD special features for previous Trek feature films. However, as of now Paramount still do not have a single new Star Trek title announced for 2008 or 2009 on either DVD or Blu-ray, but a new blog post from David Gerrold (writer: “Trouble with Tribbles”) has let the cat out of the bag. Gerrold writes about a recent trip to the Paramount lot to shoot special features for a new DVD box set…and while on the lot, Gerrold was also treated to a visit to the set of JJ Abrams’ new Star Trek.
The third in our series of guest blogs from Leonard Nimoy. I’ve had a great time working on the movie. I expect to finish around the end of March. The level of production, the quality, the size and the talent continue to impress me. The people I’ve worked with have all been extremely enthusiastic and JJ Abrams impresses me as a very special talent and as a person.
As the Star Trek editor for IDW Publishing, one might think I would use my ‘guest TrekInk columns’ as a venue to hype our latest releases, but instead, I’m actually going to talk about all of the Star Trek stories that we don’t publish. Either comics that have come before—little gems of storytelling from other publishers that you might have missed the first time around—or, also, interesting pitches that we receive, which for some reason we’re not able to use. This week we will focus on past comics from Trek celebrities.
NEW FEATURE: ‘FanMade,’ the latest of TrekMovie’s regular columns, will focus entirely on fan productions. This week we have news and a controversy around a nomination for Star Trek Phase II (formerly New Voyages), plus Of Gods and Men part 2 has a release date and two popular fan films are joining forces for a special project. And there are some new releases and previews to see.
Leonard Rosenman, the composer for Star Trek IV: The Voyage Home, died today at the age of 83. Rosenman, a two-time Oscar and Emmy winner, died of a heart attack at the Motion Picture & Television Country House and Hospital in Woodland Hills, CA. His score for Star Trek IV received an Oscar nomination; the only other Trek music to be nominated was Goldsmith’s TMP score.
On Sunday Jeri Ryan, Voyager’s Seven of Nine, welcomed Gisele into the collective, her first child with restaurateur hubby Christophe Emé. A rep for Jeri tells People Magazine “Both parents are thrilled, Jeri is resting comfortably, and Christophe is playing the part of proud new papa quite well.” Gisele Emé weighs in at 7 pounds, 13 ounces and is Ryan’s second child, joining Alex (13), from her first marriage. Congrats Jeri!
It’s the beginning of March, and winter is nearly done, so it’s time to head out and grab a novel, and prepare to settle in for one final winter reading-fest. This week, the Library Computer is taking a look at “Forged In Fire,” the new Excelsior adventure by Michael A. Martin and Andy Mangels. We’ll also be catching up with Bones Rodriguez, and keeping an eye out on upcoming releases.
The last director to go to the final frontier was Stuart Baird for Star Trek Nemesis. Baird (who is an Oscar nominated editor) only got the Trek gig as payback for help he provided re-cutting Paramount’s M:I:II and Tomb Raider movies. After Nemesis bombed, the TNG cast have made no secret about how they feel about their final director. The latest example is in a new SciFi Pulse interview with LeVar Burton and TOS star Nichelle Nichols.
Late last month we reported that William Shatner had signed a multi-project deal with Big Screen Entertainment. The first project for that deal is the already announced "Gonzo Ballet" documentary centering on the Milwaukee Ballet’s performance based on Shatner’s Album "Has Been." TrekMovie.com now has the exclusive scoop on the second project, a new comedy feature film to be produced, directed (and possibly starring) William Shatner.
Although much of the talk about collectibles focuses on models, figures, toys, statues, and the like, there is a lot more to Trek merchandise. Some of the stranger items in the past have included the Mr. Spock liquor decanter, cigar wrappers, candy bars, a marshmallow dispenser, and even a garage door opener. But there are still a number of strange Trek products for you to add to your collection. In this week’s "Collective" we have gathered together some of these lesser known items which are currently available…check it out below