The celebrity stars of Star Trek, past and present, are just the gifts that keep on giving. As we continue our year end retrospective today we take a look at the top Star Trek celebrity moments and stories from 2009.
The news leaked out a couple of weeks ago, but today it became official as Patrick Stewart, Star Trek: The Next Generation’s Captain Picard, was awarded a knighthood for his work in drama. Stewart, along with others, was named on the New Year’s Honours List.
The next Star Trek movie is now expected to arrive in the Summer of 2012, or in about 30 months. Before that happens, it has to have a script written, go into pre-production, then production and then post-production. In a recent Avatar related interview, Zoe Saldana gave an update on when she thinks work will begin on the film.
Star Trek’s original Sulu, George Takei was a guest today on the National Public Radio game show Wait Wait, Don’t Tell Me. Before playing, the actor had a light-hearted chat with the hosts talking about his time on and after Trek. You can listen to the segment below.
It is time to catch up on some Star Trek celebrity news. We have rumors (and rumor control) on Captain Kirk’s daddy (Chris Hemsworth) dating Luke Skywalker’s mommy (Natalie Potrman). We also have all the latest with Chris Pine, including his dating rumor. Plus George Takei is the Emperor of China, JJ Abrams is hanging with Spielberg, Avery Brooks is back on stage, and more.
Zoe Saldana is getting a lot of attention these days as the star of the blockbuster hit Avatar. The actress is on the cover of Complex Magazine, which has includes an interesting and personal interview. See below for excerpts and a behind the scenes video on her photoshoot, and more.
Today is turning out to be a busy day for STO news as we have a second (and very exciting) update. Star Trek’s original Spock Leonard Nimoy is joining the other Spock (Zachary Quinto) and lending his voice to the game. Atari has released a behind the scenes video of Nimoy recording for the game, which you can watch below.
This week our regular science writer Kayla is attending an important science conference and learning important sciencey stuff, so instead of our regular science article, we bring you a new show airing this month on PBS, exploring the science of Star Trek, hosted by LeVar Burton on the set of the Enterprise D.
Patrick Stewart got used to being called ‘sir’ playing Captain Jean Luc Picard during seven seasons of Star Trek The Next Generation and four feature films. But now it appears he will be being called ‘sir’ in real life as news out of the UK reports the actor will be knighted by the Queen.
Last night was the American premiere for James Cameron’s epic sci-fi movie Avatar. (see TrekMovie review). The film stars Zoe Saldana as the blue-skinned Na’vi Neytiri. We have photos from the LA premiere below, plus the latest interviews and videos of the actress (including some Trek talk).
The January issue of GQ Magazine has an extensive feature and interview with the original Kirk, William Shatner. The article explores Shatner’s multi-faceted nature from actor, spokesman, and self-aware pop culture figure. We have a first look at some excerpts, plus links to Shat-tastic cutting room floor audio from his interview.
This morning the Hollywood Foreign Press Association announced their nominees for the 67th Annual Golden Globe Awards. Unfortunately JJ Abrams Star Trek feature did not pick up any nods, not that it was expected. However, a couple Star Trek music vets did get nods. See below for more info plus some more award season analysis of Star Trek. [UPDATE: Avatar director James Cameron talks Trek]
Today comes news of yet another list Star Trek is on. The Hollywood Reporter asked Inglourious Basterds director Quentin Tarantino to talk about his favorite movies of 2009 and JJ Abrams new Star Trek movie came out on top of the list. See below for video of Tarantino’s top 8 for 2009. Plus we have some Tarantino Star Trek mashups, just for fun.
Veteran Star Trek writer/producer Ronald D. Moore’s Battlestar Galactica wrapped up its fourth and final season earlier this year, but the story of the Colonies is not over. In January SyFy begins airing the new BSG prequel series Caprica (also co-created by Moore). And today SyFy put the entire pilot episode online. You can watch it below.
A recurring gag for the last few months on The Tonight Show With Conan O’Brien has been Star Trek’s William Shatner reading comments from former VP candidate Sarah Palin (see here and here and here). Friday night Bill was back, but this time there was a twist as Sarah Palin joined him.
Last night was the world premiere of James Cameron’s new sci-fi epic Avatar. Star Trek’s new Uhura Zoe Saldana continues her 2009 genre domination as playing the alien Neytiri. We have photos and video from the London premiere, along with some of Saldana’s latest comments on Trek. We also have Simon Pegg’s twitter review of Avatar, and some early reviews of the film and Saldana’s performance.
Writer-director James Kerwin’s Yesterday Was a Lie starring (and produced by) DS9 vet Chase Masterson opens in Los Angeles today. The independent film was extremely well-received on the indie film circuit, picking up several awards along the way. The film runs on a limited engagement, so see below for our spoiler-free review of Yesterday Was a Lie.
Last night Bill Shatner was on Jimmy Kimmel Live, promoting his show Raw Nerve, but things swung around to discussion of Star Trek. Bill said he thought the Star Trek movie was "wonderful", implying he finally saw it, and revealed he and JJ Abrams recently had lunch. However, he said he didn’t know if he would be in the sequel. See video below.
Monday night TNT premieres their new drama Men of a Certain Age, which stars Scott Bakula as one of three old friends dealing with middle age. In an exclusive interview, Bakula talked to TrekMovie about the show, working with Matt Damon in The Informant! along with what he would have liked to have done with Archer on Enterprise and how he would be interested in appearing in JJ Abrams next Star Trek movie.
Tonight, continuing TrekMovie and Geek Monthly’s Star Trek Weekend, we are hosting a Star Trek triple feature, showing the ‘Genesis’ Trilogy at the Aero Theater in Santa Monica. On hand will be Nick Meyer, to talk about his time with the Star Trek franchise. See below for clips of Meyer from another recent event talking about his book and Star Trek.
Star Trek’s new Uhura, Zoe Saldana’s will next be seen (rendered in 3D CGI as the Na’vi princess Neytiri) in James Cameron’s new sci-fi epic Avatar. The actress is gearing up for lots of press for the film, including a live chat today with the director and other stars. There is also a chance for you to submit questions to another Q&A. Details below.
Last week we reported that Chris Pine, JJ Abrams (and the ‘Surpreme Court) were Men of the year in GQ, and Zoe Saldana was being featured in the new DETAILS. But we were remiss to mention that the week before People Magazine was also honoring the new Star Trek by naming three of the stars in their list of the Sexiest Men Alive. We also have video of William Shatner talking about how he is also on a ‘sexy list’.
Star Trek’s captains have been in the news lately so today we check in with the latest celebrity buzz starting off with William Shatner talking about his Trek co-stars, Patrick Stewart talking about his childhood, Scott Bakula talking type-casting and Avery Brook’s talking DS9 movie. Plus we have clips of Mulgrew from DragonAge and the latest on Chris Pine’s next projects.
TrekMovie is gearing up to celebrate our second annual "Shatcember". Below we have a preview of the second season of William Shatner’s Raw Nerve, plus a preview of the special edition of Kingdom of the Spiders. We also have your guide to keeping an eye on Bill for the next month. [UPDATE: added video of Shatner with Kate Mulgrew and Brent Spiner]
Zoe Saldana, Star Trek’s new Uhura, is doing the franchise proud today by pitching in and helping out at at the Los Angeles Mission & Anne Douglas Center’s Thanksgiving Meal for the Homeless in Los Angeles. Saldana, along with other celebs, handed out meals to the crowd of thouasands. Photos below.
Over the last week we have been putting up videos from our interviews from the Star Trek DVD party. The Jimmy Kimmel show also sent their friend Yehya to cover the event, and last week they ran a 6 minute segment with interview snippets with Bruce Greenwood, Jacob Kogan, Leonard Nimoy, JJ Abrams, John Cho, and Zach Quinto. See below for more.
Not to be outdone by Chris Pine, JJ Abrams and the boys of Star Trek who are all over the December GQ Magazine, Zoe Saldana is featured in the December issue of Details Magazine. We have some excerpts, including some racy comments from the actress, plus DETAILS has sent us some hot hi-res photos of the new Uhura below.
In yet another mainstream accolade, the December issue of GQ magazine celebrates the return of Star Trek by naming Chris Pine and the Star Trek team as men of the year (in two categories). We have photos below, plus some excerpts and an additional MTV interview with Pine and Abrams.
Last night Paramount held a star-studded party for the release of Star Trek on home video. The party was held under the stars at the Griffith Park Observatory in Los Angeles. Many of the Star Trek cast and crew were there, and we have photos from the red carpet, as well as from inside the party.
The original Spock (aka ‘Spock Prime’), Leonard Nimoy is returning to his home town of Boston this weekend to attend The New England Fan Experience. And Boston is so proud of their native son, that they are declaring Saturday (November 14th) "Leonard Nimoy Day". We have the text of the proclamation below, plus some new comments from the actor.