A new feature of TrekMovie.com, we take a look back on the news of the week reported here and elsewhere.
Trek XI:
- The big news of the week was our report that JJ Abrams confirmed that Kirk will indeed ‘appear’ in Star Trek XI. This along with his ‘message to the fans‘ last weekend shows a bit of a growing openness on Abrams part.
- The only other movie news was a brief mention of Star Trek XI in Variety, where it was listed as one of the big movies that Paramount has high hopes for in the next year.
Trek Merchandise:
- Diamond Select has a couple of new ship models available: A Battle-damaged Refit Enterprise (ST II: TWOK) and a battle-damaged Enterprise E. More at Diamond Select.
- IDW have released some new cover artwork for upcoming Trek comic books
Trek in the Real World:
- Scientists are at work on real life Trek-like ‘deflector shields.’ The magnetic fields would protect astronauts from harmful radiation, but probably couldn’t take a hit from a Klingon disruptor. More at New Science.
- The TNG episode "The High Ground" will finally air in the UK & Ireland. The show was pulled from the air schedule because it predicted a unified Ireland, but will be shown at an arts festival in Belfast in May, details at BBC.com.
- Star Trek Enterprise is now available on iTunes.
- The town of Riverside, Iowa declared itself the birthplace of James T Kirk, and now want to erect a Star Trek museum, more at Reuters.
- In much much sadder news, it has been reported that one of the victims of the Virginia Tech shootings was a Trekkie. MorningCall.com and CNN.com report how Professor G.V. Loganathan incorporated Star Trek into his Engineering classes.
Where are they now:
- Gene Roddenberry is going to be inducted into the Science Fiction Hall of Fame in Seattle (yah I was as surprised as you that he wasn’t in it already). More details at StarTrek.com.
- Roddenberry’s successor as the head of the franchise Rick Berman is thinking of his legacy as well, as evidenced by his desire to be write a memoir of his Trek experiences.
- Kate Mulgrew’s new show Black Donnellys has been cancelled. Mulgrew joins William Shatner (Show Me the Money), John Billingsley (The Nine) and Tim Russ (Twenty Good Years) all of whom have had new shows cancelled this season. JJ Abrams also had the same misfortune with his show Six Degrees . It would no be a surprise of if Linda Park’s Raines joined them, leaving Jeri Ryan as the only Trek alum on a new (Shark) season to get to a second.
- John Billingsley may bounce back, the Enterprise actor told TrekMovie.com at last week’s Grand Slam he is in a pilot for a new comedy with Mad About You’ star Paul Reiser.
- JJ Abrams’ show Lost is coming back for a 4th season, but Broadcast and Cable reports that it may take the same route as 24 and air its entire season without repeats starting in January 2008.
- Trek XI producer and Lost co-creator Damon Lindelof will be a featured speaker at the MI6 Game conference in May
- Various Trek actors such as George Takei, Nana Visitor and Conner Trinneer appeared at last week’s GrandSlam, StarTrek.com has a good summary.I was there for my first Creation Convention and had a lot of fun, but one thing was clear looking at the aging and sparse crowd…we need more Trekkies!
- Colm Meaney will be appearing on Broadway in the play Moon For The Misbegotten, he is interviewed in Broadway World about the role (talks a little Star Trek as well).
Ah, good feature, it’s amzing how much Trek stuff happens all the time when you add it all up.
i am considering turning ‘this week in trek’ into a podcast as well
I like this feature! It’s a nice wrap up to the week. But I can tell you exactly why there are fewer and fewer people at Trek conventions. Are you ready?
It’s The Internet. When I was young and going to conventions, there was no real way to get news about Star Trek, or interact at all with any of it’s stars. So if you wanted to see one, or hear a behind the scenes story, you plunked down your dollars and went to the closest Trek convention.
Now, with email, and YouTube and even sites like this, you get every morsel given to you without having to interact with fellow Trek fans. With cell phone cameras recording bits of conventions and good coverage, you’re not forced to get up and go to a convention.
There were only a few reasons to go to these things, and access to the stars was a big one, the dealer’s room has been replaced by eBay. I used to love to go to a huckster’s room and look at the props I could never afford and wonder about them, talk to the men and women who made them… oh who am I kidding the men who made them. Now they are just a click away with eBay.
Then there were the stars, you could get close to them, even ask them a question or two. Now all of them have web sites, and email, you can simply post a topic in their forums or ask them a direct question. In a few days or hours you get an answer. If not from them, then from someone who knows them. Or someone who saw them once in a store, and can answer on their behalf.
Finally, the other reason to go to conventions was the women, tall, short, thin, fat, all there, and all of them Trek fans. Something to satisfy your interest. I can’t tell you how many lovely women I saw there. Now there’s Trek Passions, and Nerd Passions, so we don’t have to go to conventions to meet them.
So how do we fix this? We bring conventions up to the modern age. Host a small intimate convention with a number of stars, but instead of having everyone who loves Trek fly in, put it on Pay-Per-View. A twenty dollar ticket on PPV will let you watch all the panel sessions, on two channels for a day. Fifty dollars gets you four channels, two days, and one of those channels will run Trek films, fan films and even shorts like we produce for this site.
Would it make a ton of money? Not sure, but if several MILLION people pay thirty bucks to see some fake wrestlers dance about a cage and shave someone’s hair off, I’m pretty sure I would pay fifty bucks to see great panel discussions, Q&A with our favorite stars, and watch fan films for a few days. Hell, have a call in session where viewers at home can ask questions, or even have one of the channels be a QVC type for dealers room stuff.
Just my 2¢,
Kelvington
a deflector shields? impressive.
Kelvington, even before the Internet we had magazines, so conventions never had a monopoly on info
I was struck at how different the crowds were for Trek actors vs Heroes, BSG or Buffy’s James Marsters. And also to crowds I have seen at Comic Con and world Con. The age dif with Trekkies is stark.
Lucas is smart in that every new incarnation brings in new young viewers to keep the Star Wars franchise alive with each generation.
I truly hope that after Star Trek XI we will see Trek toys again at Target and such and that people under 20 and even under 30 love Trek again.
According to John Tenuto (our resident Trek sociologist) the data shows that the avg Trek fan is in his mid to late 30s…older than other franchises.
leaving me to my original conclusion….we need more Trekkkies
Yes, Anthony… more more. Love this stuff.
Oh, and thanks to whoever it was in the previous thread who posted the link to Star Trek vs. Batman. Been watching some of it. I owe HiddenFrontier a BIG apology. (kidding — they’re both dumb fun.)
http://racsofilms.com/trekdownloads.htm
This New Feature is Great and Informative. A Podcast would equally be so – – Thanks Anthony,
Great new feature, Anthony!
I like crib sheets, I used them throughout school and now I have one for my recreational love of Trek. I think you make a very interesting observation about the convention audience. How does this factor, if at all, into Trek XI’s box office potential? I’m of the opinion that Trek is first and foremost a TV show, and without a solid fanbase grown from there, the movies suffer. But my opinion and a nickel will get you a piece of Bazooka Joe chewing gum. :)
Excellent stuff.
Thanks for that.
Excellent points Rick and Anthony.
I think you are BOTH right.
An interesting new regular “roundup” Anthony. Any more news on the proposed “site changes” changes front yet?
As far as needing some new Trek fans… “Build it and they will come…”
Although the current “Star Trek:Original Series” remaster is very welcome, certainly from a “cleaned up image” point of view, it is NOT exactly getting the full blown “bells and whistles” treatment where effects work / changes / or additions are concerned. Some here say it’s changed TOO much, some say it’s just about right, and some like myself originally expected a whole lot more. These re-done episodes will no doubt gain an audience, but I don’t believe there is enough new sparkle being added to enthuse schedulers into giving it prime timeslots and recapture a wide new fanbase. However… if J.J. Abrams’ can hopefully direct a fun, adventure-filled blockbuster that makes enough money, we will most likely be given further movies AND more than likely ANOTHER type of “Star Trek” series at some point. There is a lot riding on how popular J.J.’s film will be, and if a new future series proves good enough to be a popular hit too, then there will a future supply of new “Trek” fans for a long time to come. The actual concept of “Star Trek” has always been sound, and it will be down to the direction that the makers involved choose to take it in, in the future, that will determine whether it will again be a mass popular culture hit…or a miss. Fingers crossed for great storylines, directors, actors, and a big hope for some fine designers, effects artists, cinematographers, musicians, and other behind the scenes talent.
Great new feature!
Incidentally, Scifi.com has a new poll asking which sci-fi fans who have been nurtured by the Internet are “the rockingest.” This kind of stuff is exactly I love this site, and why I voted for Star Trek fans there.
This week in Star Trek History……
Exeter still not completed with the last update from Feb 2006??????????
Rick Berman pisses everyone but the most stallwart Next Gen apologists off again
An eruption of bitching over a magnificant effects shot at the end of all our yesterdays and an equally magnificant effects shot by a Spockboy
Mr. Atox and his duplicates found in a Bangkok brothel chained to a striper pole overdosed on Tranya
Cool feature. Are their anymore site enhancement coming soon? How many other sites do you check for Trek info?
Lord Garth.If you WERE’ Lord of Izor’ ,and now your formerly of Izor are you still a Lord? Is it just a ceremonial title as the good people of IZOR banished you with honors?What happened?Does this mean your just going to spend the rest of your life going to cocktail parties with rich socialites for philanthropic causes?Will we be reading about you in Cindy Adams?
Prince Edward,The Shah of Iran,and now…Lord Garth.Take your place amongst deposed rulers.
Lord Garth.Do not dismay.There are those of us on Izor who remember the uptopian days of Izor .Before the phantom zombies of the black nebula enslaved our people.
Much like Khan, I and my loyal minions are mearly biding our time before I retake my rightful place as supreme ruler of the Universe. As of now my mute, knife wielding Andorian and Tellerite henchman have taken jobs as night managers at the Hilton-Alpha Centuri to gather intelligence on visiting V.I.P.s. Marta is helping Rick Berman write his magnum opus.
Soon,.. Very Soon! i shall wear the crown once more upon my weary brow. I proclaim that #16 shall be my ambassador to Axanar.
Ah, Lord Garth of Izor.It is I .Prince Detox of the guardian planet Solace.I have set emnity between you and the people of Izor.The phantom zombies of the black nebula which separates Izor from the guardian planet are working to bring the people of Izor to thier end.Your pride has blinded you Lord Garth and your people once great and noble are being ravaged by their lack of dilligence.Yet, once the bearers of the oracle of virtue that shed light through the universe they are now captives of the phantom zombies of the black nebula.You must throw down your vice and corruption and retake the oracle of virtue to return triumphant or , or the people of Izor will …die.
In order to retake the oracle of virtue you must wrest it from the belly of the sloth queen of the planet Phsycidelia,who visited your youth during the social uproar she and her minstrals caused on Izor 40 years ago .You will need to contact (scratch ,sounds of transmission being jammmed) who will assist you in breaking their angry delusion.
Hey Lord Garth! What just happened?
Garth,Garth ,Gaaarth!! I need You to drive the minivan down to the Piggly Wiggly and pick up some milk for the morning
Jon, ambassador to Praxis and RuaPenthe, you shall be my champion to reclaim this Oracle of Virtue
What !You’ re the once great ruler guy who lost his way and has to reclaim his virtue thing. Didn’t you pay attension to Prince Detox of solace?You have to do it yourself to correct your wrongs and save your rudderless people(return triuphant etc.)! And I aint going to no psychedelic sloth drug planet to meet no sloth queen either!
Jon,, why have you forsaken me, I had planned on making you military governor of a Planet called Alderan. Everyone conspires against me. No matter I shall reclaim the Oracle myself, the glory shall be mine. While on this sojurn Josh T shall rule in my stead as my heir apparent. The sloth queen will lay defeated at my feat.
#24 “defeated at my feat”
Aw, you had me up ’til the typo! I’d say, “feet, don’t fail me now!” but, too late!!
I haven’t forsaken you.This is a journey YOU must take…alone.But first ,be warned! You must take power with you, bring wisdom and prudence.The sloth queen captivated and subverted your people with the hypnotic power of her minstrals who gave them mantras and chants.Now sadly they re under the destructive power of the phantom zombies of the black nebula.To get to her and reclaim the oracle of virtue you must disarm each of the minstrals chants for the lies they are! The people of Izor await freedom.This means you must face down your own phantoms first, do not go for power but freedom and truth for all.Now go.
Garth , the glory goes to he who gives you the pow , power
– Meanwhile –
In an alternate reality…..
Kirk : What’s all this about ?
Spock : I do believe they called this ‘The Internet’
Kirk : Didn’t that vanish sometime in 2012 ?
Spock : We’ve traveled back in time to 2007….
Kirk : Ah, I see….
– W –
* That Alternate Reality Guy *
# “the destructive power of the phantom zombies of the black nebula”.
Now is that any way to refer to “the suits” at Paramount Pictures? Let’s not “alien”-ate them at THIS point!!
Er, that was for #26. Damn that Romulan Ale!
Someone say something that the rest can be pissed about… do it for the good of the thread.
Oh….I know…
THE way to have Shatner and a new actor play Kirk in Trek XI….
The universe is fracturing and new Kirk and Spock must find a way for all the alternate universes to reunite. They are joined by Shatner’s Kirk and Nimoy’s Spock in this quest. As the heros strive to the goal, the younger pair realize that they don’t want to become what the older pair is and vow to eat right, avoid sex with green women and cut down on the Romulan Ale. This change closes the rift and then we can really have a new movie without the baggage of original actors.
or…
Is it my imagination or has Nimoy shrunk?
There are the thought starters… ready, set, go…
If there’s no sex with green women you can count me out…
Denny Crane tonight
This thread is out of control. And not in a good way.
Interesting news keep the good work up.
LLAP