This Week in Trek – October 6th Edition

This Week in Trek, we have several Trek performers on stage (in theaters and at conventions), as well as news on Shatner, a Captain Archer bust, a posthumous award for Jimmy Doohan, the possible development of transparent aluminum, and much more.

Star Trek (2008 film):

  • Roberto Orci spoke to TrekMovie.com about his Trek favorites and also talked about his hopes for the film to be as big as his Transformers movie
  • J.J. Abrams has discussed the casting of Zoe Saldana as Uhura with the original Uhura, Nichelle Nichols. In the meantime, Nichols still has some words of wisdom for Saldana.
  • You may remember that last week on Trekmovie.com, Chris Doohan supported actor Paul McGillion to play Scotty in the new film. This vote of support has since been picked up by The Sunday Mail. In addition, many websites have followed up on Trekmovie.com’s story, including About.com, National Post, Rotten Tomatoes, Latino Review, Movies.com, IGNDark Horizons, and oh the list goes on and on.
  • In the meantime, McGillion thanked Doohan for his vote of confidence and had more to say to Gateworld regarding his audition for the role of Scotty…plus he told a Scottish paper that the Scotty role was significant
  • Actress Sprague Grayden of TV’s Jericho has stated that she would audition for a role in Star Trek if there was an appropriate character for her.

 

Trek Stuff:

  • Star Trek: The Next Generation – The Complete Series DVD box set went on sale on October 2nd. You can purchase at Amazon at $305
  • In their latest development log, Perpetual Entertainment shows us how the folks behind Star Trek Online translate concept art into the environments we will see during gameplay.
  • Diamond Select Toys & Collectibles have released a first look at their Captain Jonathan Archer bust. This five-inch bust will be limited to 1,701 pieces and is expected to hit stores in March 2008.

Oh, boy…

 

Fan Productions:

  • The producers of the fan series Starship Farragut will be hosting a premiere event for the second episode, "For Want of a Nail," on October 13th. See the official site for more details.

 

Trek in the World:

  • Creation Entertainment’s convention saluting Star Trek, Star Wars and Battlestar Galactica is being held this weekend at the Wyndham O’Hare Hotel in Rosemont, Illinois. See Creation’s official site for more details.
  • The Virgin 1 network, which has rights to air various Star Trek programs, debuted in the UK on October 1st. The first Trek series aired was Deep Space Nine on October 2nd, which drew in the network’s biggest numbers, according to the Media Guardian.
  • Klingons and Romulans were among the attendees at the FantaSci science fiction and fantasy convention held at the Hampton Roads Convention Center in Hampton, Virginia.
  • Did you know there’s a program sponsored by the Klingon Language Institute at Harvard University? It’s true!
  • Screenings of Star Trek IV: The Voyage Home were held at the Piedmont Theater in Oakland, California on October 4th, while Star Trek II: The Wrath of Khan will be played at the Escapism Film Festival this weekend.
  • A degree in Trek: Some universities in the United States (such as Georgetown in Washington, D.C.) offer a course called "Philosophy and Star Trek," according to the American Free Press.
  • The Indiana-based Star Trek fan club known as The Maquis Freedom Alliance will be holding their annual convention and charity fundraiser from October 12th through 14th.
  • CBS announced Wednesday that both parts of the Star Trek Remastered version of "The Menagerie" will be played in some 300 theaters nationwide on November 13th. See StarTrek.com for more information.
  • The Comox Valley community concert band of Canada will be playing music from Star Trek at a concert to be held on November 12th.

 

Trek Science:

  • Can you see me now? University of Maryland researchers have apparently developed a cloaking device which covers a larger spectrum of light than previous attempts… although, as the story states, it’s "not quite up to Romulan standards." 
  • That’s the ticket, laddie: A University of Michigan researcher has developed a plastic material that may be strong as steel — much like the transparent aluminum mentioned in Star Trek IV: The Voyage Home

Is that worth somethin’ to ya, lad? Or shall I just punch up "clear?"

 

Trek on the Web:

  • Star Trek Gaming Universe (or STGU) has changed its domain name to Star Trek Games. They have also acquired new screenshots for the Half-Life 2 mod Enterprise: Temporal Cold War.
  • Gaming Nexus discussed Star Trek: Conquest in a new interview with the game’s director and producer, Frank Arnot. Check it out here.
  • Beginning October 1st, StarTrek.com’s "The Trek Life" comic strip began showing three times a week. Click here for the original announcement.
  • Remember when we reported the launch of a billboard campaign from a health provider proclaiming "You Deserve the RedShirt Treatment"? Well, Buffalo-based Independent Health still has a funny idea on what the Red Shirt treatment really is, having now launched a website, RedShirtTreatment.com.
  • iDNES.cz briefly discussed TOS, Marina Sirtis‘ recent visit to Prague, and the upcoming Star Trek film in an article called "Here Comes the Trekkers – Part 2." (Part 1 was covered two weeks ago.)
  • William Astore of Middle East Online compared the situation in Iraq with the Kobayshi Maru simulation, the no-win scenario described in Star Trek II: The Wrath of Khan. In his article entitled "Saving the Military from Itself," Astore states that the war in Iraq is a no-win scenario — one which the military has been attempting to "reprogram" by using a "campaign of lies" to achieve victory or claim progress.

 

Trek Celebrity News:

  • According to his official newsletter, William Shatner (Kirk, TOS) did a radio promotional tour for Boston Legal on ABC radio stations and affiliates on October 1st. His official site also has video of a recent public service announcement The Shriner’s Hospital for Children.
  • Speaking of Shatner, the actor will be presented with the Jules Verne Lifetime Achievement Award at this year’s Jules Verne Adventure Film Festival, which will be hosted by Malcolm McDowell — the man who, as Dr. Soran, killed Shatner’s Captain Kirk in Star Trek Generations. See StarTrek.com for more information.
  • Still speaking of Shatner, an award-winning documentary narrated by the Shat entitled Trinity and Beyond, the Atomic Bomb Movie, received a free screening at the Clyde W. Tombaugh IMAX Dome Theater in New Mexico on October 6th.
  • Leonard Nimoy (Spock, TOS) will be attending The St. Louis Jewish Book Festival in November.
  • James Doohan (Scotty, TOS) won the Gene Roddenberry Lifetime Achievement Award from the 2007 SyFy Genre Awards. You can see the announcement at YouTube.
  • George Takei (Sulu, TOS) now has an asteroid named after him. 7307 Takei (as is the asteroid is now known) was discovered in 1994 and is located between Mars and Jupiter.
  • The Sacramento Bee has a piece dedicated to Bobby Clark, the stunt actor who played the Gorn captain in the original Trek series episode "Arena", who attended the Creation convention in Sacramento, California last weekend. You can read it here.
  • Also in attendance at the Sacramento convention were TNG stars Jonathan Frakes (Riker) and Marina Sirtis (Troi) and TOS guest actors Laurence Montaigne (Decius, "Balance of Terror;" Stonn, "Amok Time") and Don Marshall (Boma, "The Galileo Seven").
  • Scott Bakula (Archer, ENT) is starring in the play The Quality of Life, currently previewing at LA’s Geffen Playhouse. The show began on October 2nd and officially opens October 10th, according to Playbill News.
  • DS9 stars Avery Brooks (Sisko) and Rene Auberjonois (Odo) will each be performing with the Shakespeare Theatre Company in D.C. in the coming months. Brooks will be playing the title role in Tamburlane, which begins October 28th, while Auberjonois will star in The Imaginary Invalid, beginning in June.
  • If you didn’t get a chance to see Kate Mulgrew (Janeway, VOY) in her critically-acclaimed performance in Iphigenia 2.0, you better hurry — the play closes this weekend.
  • Camille Saviola (Opaka, DS9) is now starring as the title role of the William Gibson play Golda’s Balcony, which began performing at TheatreWorks’ Mountain View Center for the Performing Arts in Palo Alto, California, on October 3rd.
  • Alive, a new zombie series co-created by Judith & Garfield Reeves-Stevens and starring John Billingsley and Gary Graham is in the works for 2008.
  • Star Trek (2008) producer and director J.J. Abrams sold two television projects this week as part of his TV deal with Warner Bros. The first was the pilot for a comic drama called Boundaries, which has been purchased by ABC. The second was a science fiction/horror series called Fringe, which has been picked up by Fox.
  • Star Trek (2008) writers and executive producers Roberto Orci and Alex Kurtzman co-developed the aforementioned Fringe with Abrams and will be executive producing the series with Abrams and another Trek exec producer, Bryan Burk. In the meantime, it has also been announced that Orci & Kurtzman did a re-write for the upcoming film adaptation of DC Comics’ Watchmen and will be co-writing the sequel to Transformers.
  • Star Trek: Enterprise writer Marie Jacquemetton ("Breaking the Ice," "Dear Doctor," "Acquisition") is leading a workshop on television writing today and tomorrow at the University of Hawaii-Manoa.
  • The home of Deep Space Nine & Voyager writer Bryan Fuller is the topic of a Los Angeles Times article called "Geek goes glam."
  • Have you been wondering where the cast of TNG have been trekking since they last parted ways in 2002? Entertainment Weekly has the answers you seek.

Stewart (left) takes aim in Macbeth, while Dorn dons a nightcap in Santa Clause 2

YouTube Clip of the Week – Asimov on Trek

From 1971 Science Fiction giant Isaac Asimov talks about the state of sci-fi from the 50s and 60s including Trek

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yeh I still laugh at that “computer part”,,,

thats classic trek to me,, good stuff,,

and,,,

FIRST !!

The story on Paul McGillion also ran in the Scottish edition of the ‘Daily Express’ and ‘The Daily Star’ this weekend, two more big national papers…oh and its the ‘Sunday Post’ not ‘Sunday Mail’, Sunday Post is Scotland’s biggest sunday paper!

Nice to see lots of mentions for TrekMovie.com in ‘The Scotsman’, the quinticential Scottish newspaper!

“Have you been wondering where the cast of TNG have been trekking since they last parted ways in 2002?

No.

#3

Me neither.

– James Doohan (Scotty, TOS) won the Gene Roddenberry Lifetime Achievement Award from the 2007 SyFy Genre Awards. –

Good to hear that. He deserves it!

I hope the next gen cast gets to make another movie, and god bless jimmy doohan

5 – maybe if Bryan Singer dosnt do his superman sequel (which i hope he does) he’ll want to pursue his passion for Trek and direct a final TNG movie ….

or a sequel to the 2008 movie…

That’s a truly horrible bust. Looks nothing like Bakula.

SCOTTY…

Busy week. Cool news. Thanks.
It occurs to me (no a mere two decades later) that the whales probably didn’t give a poo whether they could look out at Scotty and Gillian. And I’m sure the tricorders could read through ‘regular aluminum.’ So, I’m beginning to think there was a bit of running around for the heck of it in STTVH.
hmmmmm

Oh, and Bakula looks like a Pez should come out of his mouth.

I agree with Cox of Seagulls. That bust doesn’t look like Scott Bakula at all.

It’s with a heavy heart that I must report the passing of our beloved Mugatu. (read below from TMZ.com)

Moshie Mugatuwitz AKA Mugatu was found dead Sat evening in his Cirque Lodge suite by fellow fellow rehabber and world wide celebrity, Lindsay Lohan. The two had developed a close friendship during their stay at the Celebrity Rehabilitation center. Says Lohan ” I had stopped by his room to pick him up for the Sat night pottery class,,,,,snifff,,,,,sobbb,,, and and knocked repeatedly on the door and I knew something was wrong,,, sniff,,sobb,, he was doing so god,,,, sobb ,,,he was helping me so much,,,,,” Attendees unlocked his door to find the legendary Trek Icon passed away sitting in his balcony chair, apparently watching one last magnificent Utah mountain sunset.
Foul play has at this time been ruled out. Doctors say that the years of hard drinking, drugs and hill people cannibalism finally caught up to him and his heart. It was a little known fact that Mugatu had a triple bypass in 1987. Mugatu was 208 (71 in human years) He is survived by his estranged son Gumatu a stunt ape at the Universal Studios King Kong adventure. Gumatu could not be reached for comment. Mugatuwitz will be laid to rest at the Ira Goldfarb cemetary in west Hollywood.

His close friend and intergalactic tyrant, Lord Garth, formarly of Izar, had these choked up words to say “Rest in peace buddy, every time I look to the heavens I will see your magnificent spirit in the stars.”

Moshie Mugatuwitz b(stardate) 2210 d 2002

Paul McGillion for Scotty!

Michael Dorn looks terrific.

“What Are Little Girls Made Of?” was disappointing, btw. Just the ship-in-space shots replaced. No phaser beam enhancements, no android circuitry replacement, no precarious cavern set extention. Just very pretty scenes of the ship in orbit. I was disappointed. That episode could have benefitted from some additional lovin’. Although I still smile when Roger Korby calls him “Cap’um Kirk”.

I love the photo from ST:IV. That film featured one of my favorite Scotty lines…

“A keyboard. How quaint.”

Wow! I haven’t seen any footage of Isaac Asimov in years. Thanks.

Love that photo: “On Computer”

Best lines ever.

And the press on Paul for Scotty is nuts, seriously PTB, just CAST him. :)

# 12 “I must report the passing of our beloved Mugatu”

Yeah, well….years of eating human flesh is murder on the arteries! Now, if Mugatu had eaten a vegetable once in a while……ah, but alas, I guess there were no Star Wars dweebs in the region!

I have such a craving to watch ‘The Voyage Home’ now but I’m stuck at work!!!!! ‘Hello Computer?’…hehehe priceless Scotty moment, closely followed by the love it/hate it moment in 5, ‘I know this ship like the back of my…**CLUNK**

Paul McG for Scotty!!! ;)

#12 Lord Garth — bah, you ruined the joke I had planned for next week (actually for this week, but I forgot it). Now everyone’s gonna think I copied you. Curse you, Garth Formerly of Izar! May Russell Crowe NEVER play you in a movie! :-P

Oh, and RIP Mugatu

By the way, that is soooo not how he died.

you believe TMZ?

I have spoken to Mugatu recently after he got out of rehab, he is fine

http://bringbackmugatu.com

Lord Garth says Mugatu died, Anthony says he’s alive and well.
How long before somebody pitches the idea for a movie called The Search For Mugatu??

Not to mention that Mugatu’s great-great-great-great-grandfather was Bigfoot! But, that’s another story!!

#23 Harry Ballz

Frankly Harry, think about it. Is Anthony ever wrong? (and I think Lord Garth is still on his meds…)

So that means Mugatu is somewhere in Utah hitching a ride. We have any posters in Utah?

# 24 Xai: Don’t you mean Lord Garth is OFF his meds? Somebody, get him meds, stat!

Guys no one wants to believe that he is still alive more than me but I spoke with his estranged son Gumatu, who has called me to help with the memorial services. Marta will be contacting a number of you to sit Shiva for Mugatu. Perhaps some good has come from this terrible tragedy in that Gumatu has vowed to follow in his father’s footsteps and continue the dream. Gumatu hopes JJ and company will let him portray his legendary father in the upcoming film. Mugatu may be gone but his legend will never die.

The armless Archer bust….. WWHHHHHYYYYYYYYYYYY?????

Dorn does not look like a merry man.

Hats off again to my guy, Rene A. The classiest of acts.
(Oh, DS9 forever, BTW.)

Lord Garth there seems to be something screwy here. I just got an e-mail from Salt Vampire saying that he and Horta and Mugatu are going out on the town next Friday for margaritas and can they borrow the car? Now, as worried as I might be about loaning these three hoodlums my automobile I’m more worried about the fact that Mugatu seems to be alive and well, and, as I predicted, back to swilling whiskey and biting innocent people. I fear a certain horned white ape has pulled a fast one on you. It happens to the best of us.

#28 “loaning these three hoodlums my automobile”

Rub-a-Dub-Dub,

Three beasts in a Tub,

The Horta, The Mugatu, the Salt Vampire,

Turn them out, knaves all three.

Even Vegas wouldn’t be a match for THESE three!!

#26 Lord Garth “I spoke with his estranged son Gumatu”

What, no mention of Gumatu’s alcoholic (hypochondriac) twin brother, My-gout-hurts??

You want Star Trek science? Here’s Star Trek science:

http://my.earthlink.net/article/top?guid=20071007/470859c0_3ca6_1552620071007-260313860

(you may have to piece that together)

#25 JBS,
Yes, thanks for the clarification. Seems nobody understands me these days. That IS what I meant.
Um…. Lord Garth… please have a seat and look at the pretty lights….
#28 Heywood
Don’t do it. Mugatu lost his license and Salty has two OUI’s (over-indulged on pretzels and chips). And the pizza-faced Horta has no arms to steer anyway. They usually have Lindsay Lohan drive and you know where THAT usually ends up.

***** TRAFFIC BULLETIN*****

Mugatu has been spotted on the Interstate near Cedar City, UT heading southwest toward Vegas.

As Elvis would say, “Viva Las Horta!”

lol!! Love you guys, you crack me up.Harry it’s your turn under the Van gelding machine, then I’m next!!

Sorry, Van Gelder machine. Hurry, up Harry, I need a fix!

Heywood, I went under the Van Gelder machine twice back in the 60’s which, now that I think about it, would explain A LOT!!!

F-U-N-N-Y! Anthony thanks for hosting this great site, allowing nut jobs like me and Harry and Xai and Lord Garth to come together, where normally we would all have to wait until we found ourselves roomed next to one another at the local booby-hatch. Keep up the fantastic work, and keep all your salt locked up!