Articles by Matt Wright

Abrams admits Koncealing Khan was Mistake, hopes Joe Cornish is next director

In a recent interview with MTV, J.J. Abrams reflects on Into Darkness and now admits that it “probably would have been smarter just to say upfront” that Khan was in the movie.   On Khan: “The truth is I think it probably would have been smarter just to say upfront ‘This is who it is.’ It was only trying to preserve the fun of it, and it might have given more time to acclimate and accept that’s what the thing was,” he said. The idea to keep Khan on the D.L. apparently came from the studio, which, according to Abrams, didn’t want to give the impression that a comprehensive knowledge of “Star Trek” cannon was required in order to enjoy the latest installment. On Joe Cornish: “I don’t know if Joe Cornish is the guy. My guess is that’s up in the air. I adore him and love him and can’t wait to see what he does next. Hopefully it will be ‘Star Trek.’ Whatever it is, he’s brilliant. ‘Attack the Block’ was one of my favorite movies of the year when it came out.” Read the full article and see the video of the interview over at MTV.com


Turkey-Day Tidbits

New Takei cologne “Eau My” George Takei has joined the long list of celebs who have released their own fragrance. The name of the cologne is of course a take on his catchphrase  “oh myyyyy” It is described thusly: Set Phasers to Stunning. George Takei’s Eau My is a clean, refreshing fragrance for Men and Women. Subtle and charming, with top notes of mandarin zest, Italian bergamot and fresh ozone transitioning to night-blooming jasmine, white freesia petals and grated ginger. Sensual woods, crystalized amber, soft skin musk, and vetiver will delight you when dry. It will be released December 15th, it is available for pre-order at Amazon.


Star Trek: The Next Generation – Season 5 Blu-ray review

Season 5 continues the well oiled machine that we knew as TNG. Season 5 is one of the best seasons of TNG. Of course Season 5 includes “The Inner Light” and other excellent episodes such as “Power Play,” “I,Borg” and “Cause and Effect.” Read on to see how the season looks re-mastered and details of the generally excellent new bonus features, available November 19th in North America.



Enterprise Season 3 Blu-ray full details!

Star Trek Enterprise Season 3 is due out in the new year, January 7th, 2014 in North America. With that time fast approaching CBS has now officially sent out the details of the Blu-ray discs and the revised cover art (it still basically the same, but uses corrected Season 3 images of T’Pol and Archer). As we’ve come to expect from the Blu-ray bonus material team of Roger Lay, Jr. and Robert Meyer Burnett there is a new 3-part documentary charting the change in tone and direction that took place for Season 3 called “In a Time of War”. They also have an interesting sounding new feature called “Temporal Cold War: Declassified” which as the name implies is about the temporal cold war, it contains interviews with the writers and producers about what else might have gone on with the temporal cold war arc if Season 3 hadn’t changed directions. Plus there are new episode commentaries. Read on for the full details from the press release.


Summer Box Office budget reduction – Trek 3 tidbits

In an article released by The Hollywood Reporter earlier this fall titled “Summer Box Office Fallout: Studios’ New Fear of the $200 Million Tentpole” there was a little bit about Trek 3’s (and the previous Trek movie’s) production costs.  Moving to a more film tax friendly location has long been the standard for movie companies. This year’s summer blockbuster season was bigger and more crowded than ever, with more disappointing domestic box office results for most movies this summer. It has already officially been confirmed that the follow up to Man of Steel, the as yet unnamed Batman/Superman movie will be filmed in Michigan for the tax credits. Moving production for the next Star Trek movie to a state or country more film tax friendly seems to be one of the main ways to keep costs in check for the 3rd Abramsverse movie, while still providing the excellent level of set design, visual effects, etc. Paramount also will look to save money on another Star Trek — a franchise, but not quite in the top tier. This summer’s $190 million production Star Trek Into Darkness has earned over $462 million worldwide; its international haul has exceeded expectations at $234 million, but domestically, its $228.5 million hasn’t matched the first film. Whereas the first two were shot in L.A., the next will be filmed in a more tax-friendly location. “We’re making it for what it should have been shot for last time if we had made it outside of L.A., which we would have done except that [director J.J. Abrams] didn’t want to,” says a studio source. “That was a $20 million issue.” — The Hollywood Reporter


RUMOR: Joe Cornish being considerd as director for Trek 3

According to Deadline.com, Joe Cornish (Attack the Block, The Adventures of Tin Tin) is strongly being considered for the director’s chair of the next Star Trek movie: Cornish followed by being one of the writers on The Adventures Of Tin Tin, and he and Edgar Wright wrote the script for Ant-Man, the Marvel Studios film that Wright is going to direct. Long story short, he’s gotten exposure to bigger scale projects than Attack The Block, in which he admirably depicted a full scale alien invasion on a relatively small budget. Doing a movie like this would certainly put his career on a warp speed path. He’s already working with Paramount on the novel adaptation Snow Crash which he’s prepping to present to the studio. — Deadline.com


TNG Season 5 and Unification on Blu-ray Press Release

There are now a few more details of the Season 5 and Unification single-disc Blu-ray releases thanks to a new press release from CBS Home Entertainment today. Season 5’s special features include a new season 5 documentary titled “Requiem: A Remembrance of Star Trek: The Next Generation.” This two-part documentary explores the making of the series’ fifth season and focuses on the effect the passing of creator Gene Roddenberry on the show. Also exciting for fans of TNG’s music is the newest roundtable discussion documentary: “In Conversation: The Music of Star Trek: The Next Generation” which features TNG composers Ron Jones, Dennis McCarthy and Jay Chattaway. Both are due out in the US next month, November 19th to be exact. See the full details after the break.


UNCONFIRMED RUMOR: Orci talked to CBS about Trek TV Show

Putting Star Trek back on TV has been increasingly talked about as of late. Out of nowhere a tweet from reporter Joe Michalczuk who was covering the Ender’s Game press junket for the UK’s Sky News claims Roberto Orci told him he had a meeting with CBS. This is to be considered a totally unconfirmed rumor and should be taken with a large grain of salt. We also do not know who else (aside from Bob) “they” refers to in his tweet: Bob Orci just told me they’ve had a meeting with CBS to revive @StarTrek on TV…This made me v excited — Joe Michalczuk (@joemichalczuk) October 8, 2013   Orci has commented here at TrekMovie in the past about his own personal interest in maybe, perhaps, if the stars align, thinking about doing an Abramsverse Star Trek TV show. But it was mostly just personal interest, the issues with CBS and Paramount being separate companies with differing agendas seemed to be a bit of a mess. So we’ll shall see if this gets confirmed in any way. Even if it’s true, don’t count on it being publicly acknowledged, preliminary meetings are just that, preliminary, often times it’s just feeling out the parties involved, in many cases doesn’t go anywhere, or doesn’t happen quickly, so things are kept under wraps until a more concrete agreement is made.



Post-STID interviews with Kurtzman and Abrams

With the recent release of Star Trek Into Darkness on home video, members of the production team have been out doing interviews. While we hear from J.J. Abrams and Roberto Orci quite a bit, Orci’s writing partner Alex Kurtzman tends to be quieter, so in a bit of a rarity, Blastr has some interesting remarks from Kurtzman on the writing of Into Darkness. J.J. Abrams was also out for interviews recently, talking to Comic Book Resources about Khan’s blood and his mystery box paradigm.


Enterprise Season 3 Blu-ray trailer

CBS has released the trailer for the third season of Star Trek: Enterprise coming to Blu-ray in January 2014. Season 3 represents a big tonal shift for Enterprise, forced into action when a mysterious weapon leaves a swath of devastation across the surface of the Earth at the end of Season 2, Archer and crew now set out to find the previously unknown people called the Xindi and stop them from launching their final doomsday weapon. Click on to see the trailer.


Ortiz TOS episode art prints colleced into a limited edition book and new TAS posters

Pop artist Juan Ortiz who has been creating retro movie-style posters for all Original Series episodes recently completed all TOS episodes. Titan Books is now releasing the entire TOS collection in a limited edition coffee table book in the US and UK. It’s a great deal for those who want all of the episode posters in one collection. Ortiz has now moved on to The Animated Series, and is on a fourth wave of posters for those episodes.


J.J. Abrams endorses Rupert Wyatt for Star Trek 3 director – still nothing official

While still nothing official has been announced about the next director for the 3rd Bad Robot Star Trek movie, the website HitFix caught up with J.J. Abrams during the home video release celebration of Into Darkness. They asked him about the rumor that Rupert Wyatt (Rise of the Planet of the Apes) was being considered, and the status of any pre-production progress on the 3rd movie.


Star Trek Into Darkness Easter Eggs – Blu-ray edition

Star Trek Into Darkness is now on home video, so we’re updating or original Easter eggs article with the appropriate screenshots. With repeat viewings, and the ability to pause your copy, there are opportunities for you to spot some fun ‘Easter egg’ tidbits put into the movie. See below for our selection of Into Darkness Easter eggs.


Star Trek: The Original Series “Origins” Blu-ray review

To coincide with the release of Star Trek Into Darkness on Blu-ray, CBS is offering up a new “best of” TOS Blu-ray disc release. This includes various “prime universe” episodes that are related to the characters or aliens seen in Into Darkness in some way. It naturally includes “Space Seed” for the introduction of Khan and “The Cage” for a look at Pike as captain, and more. There is a little bit of new content on this disc, there are new video introductions recorded by Rod Roddenberry.


TNG Season 5 Blu-ray set and single-disc version of Unification [UPDATED]

While we expected Star Trek: The Next Generation Season 5 to be the next up on the Blu-ray slate, we weren’t sure if CBS would do a single-disc release this time, since the Season 5/6 cliffhanger of “Time’s Arrow” is hardly a fan favorite. The most logical choice, that many had been speculating, is the two-part 25th anniversary celebration, “Unification”, featuring the return of original Trek legend Leonard Nimoy and his character Spock. We don’t have full details yet, but there is new partial information about both releases. Both are expected to be available on November 19th for the US and Canada. UPDATE Sept. 9 – CBS has posted a video trailer for Unification


Star Trek Into Darkness – Blu-ray review

After much pre-release hoopla, we have our review copy of the Blu-ray of J.J. Abrams Star Trek Into Darkness. In the wake of a shocking act of terror from within their own organization, the crew of The Enterprise is called back home to Earth. In defiance of regulations and with a personal score to settle, Captain Kirk leads his crew on a manhunt to capture an unstoppable force of destruction and bring those responsible to justice. As our heroes are propelled into an epic chess game of life and death, love will be challenged, friendships will be torn apart, and sacrifices must be made for the only family Kirk has left: his crew. Read on for our review of the Blu-ray release.


STID tidbits – Alternate Klingon Makeup ideas, STID in Motion Pictures! webcomic, Blu-ray retailer exclusives info, and more

Creature creator Neville Page has posted new design work from Into Darkness with alternate Klingon looks. Web comic Motion Pictures! has been exploring STID over the last number of weeks, concluding this week. Forbes says Star Trek Into Darkness is one of the worst marketed movies of the summer. We also have a list of which retailers will have exclusives with their Into Darkness Blu-ray copies.


Into Darkness Blu-ray where are all the bonus features? [UPDATE 2]

When the details of the Star Trek Into Darkness Blu-ray discs were released last month, there was a big fan outcry wondering what happened to a fully loaded version with extras, like we got with Star Trek (2009)? The DVD version fared even worse, being a totally barebones release. Friend of TrekMovie, Bill Hunt from The Digital Bits, has that answer. It turns out that a plethora of bonus features do exist… it’s just that Paramount doesn’t want them all in one place. They are being used for retailer and digital download vendor exclusives. UPDATED 9/2/2013 with even more details thanks to TrekCore’s diligence.


Into Darkness Blu-ray bonus feature clip, production art & contest, and Honest Trailers take on STID

With the physical disc release of Star Trek Into Darkness only a few weeks away (September 10th in the US) and the digital download version available now, Paramount has sent out a clip of the “making of” feature included on the Blu-ray editions of the movie. Paramount has also shared exclusive production art from production designer Scott Chambliss with comingsoon.net and Yahoo! Movies. The art has a code you can enter to win a trip to the performance of the music from Into Darkness live in London. Also, the guys at Screen Junkies have released their Honest Trailers edit of the Into Darkness trailer.


Star Trek: Enterprise – Season 2 Blu-ray review

Conventional Trekker wisdom says that Enterprise didn’t get good until Season 3, but as I looked over Season 2’s episodes I was a little bit surprised to see how many episodes I looked forward to revisiting. There are some very good episodes nestled throughout Season 2, though the less said about “Precious Cargo”, the better. As Scott Bakula says in the cast reunion feature on the set, about half-way through season 2 things changed for the better. I’m inclined to agree. Read on for the full review of Enterprise Season 2 on Blu-ray!



Star Trek:The Next Generation Season 4 Blu-ray review

Season 4 is the start of the well oiled machine that we knew as TNG, coming off the success of Season 3 and the attention of using the cliffhanger format for “The Best of Both Worlds”, Season 4 is the first season to have all of the production staff that would be there through the series end. Season 4 contains a lot of fan favorites such as Family, Brothers, Data’s Day, The Wounded, The Drumhead, Qpid, and Redemption. Read on to see how the season looks remastered and details of the new bonus features.



Star Trek: The Original Series “Origins” Blu-ray information

To coincide with the release of Star Trek Into Darkness on Blu-ray, CBS and Paramount have teamed up to offer a new “best of” TOS Blu-ray disc release available the same day as the Blu-ray release of Star Trek Into Darkness, September 10. This includes various “prime universe” episodes that are related to the characters or themes of Into Darkness in some way. It naturally includes “Space Seed” for the introduction of Khan and “The Cage” for a look at Pike as captain, and more. There is a little bit of new content on this disc, there are new video introductions recorded by Rod Roddenberry. Plus an announcement of new TOS DVD packaging.


Star Trek Into Darkness home video release details [UPDATED]

The dates for the U.S. home video release of JJ Abrams’ Star Trek Into Darkness have been announced. It comes earlier than expected. Paramount is also trying something other studios have been toying with in the last year or so by offering an earlier release date of August 20, 2013 for the digital download version, compared to the physical disc releases that come a few weeks later on September 10 , 2013. UPDATE: Official cover art has been released


TNG Season 5 Blu-ray trailer is up along with other Trek Blu-ray release previews

A welcome unannounced gift appeared on CBS Home Entertainment’s YouTube channel last week in the form of a Star Trek: The Next Generation Season 5 trailer for the remastered Blu-ray edition. After the break we’ve also got the trailer for the imminent releases of the TNG Season 4 set and the single-disc edition of the Season 4/5 cliffhanger Redemption along with full details on the July releases. Plus the Enterprise Season 2 trailer!


Star Trek Enterprise Season 2 on Blu-ray

The official announcement has been made of the second season of Enterprise in high definition on Blu-ray. The clear standout of the set looks to be “In Conversation: The First Crew” where the Roger Lay Jr. the producer of the Enterprise sets has managed to get the main cast together for a chat. If this is anything like the great conversational interviews done for TNG and ENT Season 1 we should be in for a treat! Click on for full disc-by-disc details from the press release.


Fan Production Star Trek Continues releases first episode

The fan production Star Trek Continues, a new TOS era fan film led by anime voice actor Vic Mignogna as Kirk and features Chris Doohan as Mr. Scott (his Dad’s old job), Trek author Larry Nemecek, and Mythbuster Grant Imahara as Mr. Sulu, has now completed their first episode “Pilgrim Of Eternity”. As previously reported, it features the return of original actor Michael Forest as Apollo. Keep a look out for a cameo by BSG’s Jamie Bamber, Trek art department alum Doug Drexler as the holographic cowboy, and the voice of the ship’s computer sounds pretty familiar too. Click on to see the episode.