This Week in Trek – November 18th edition

This Week in Trek comes news of a Czech Trek movie, a not-quite-ready-for-prime-time cloaking material, Brent Spiner telling it like it is, a new blog for Ron Moore, the final frontier in home theater centers, and much more!

Star Trek (2008 film):

  • Clifton Collins, Jr. (Capote, The Rules of Attraction) has signed on to play Ayel, cohort and general of Nero (the main villain played by Eric Bana), as reported by Variety.
  • In that same report, Chris Hemsworth was confirmed as playing Jim Kirk’s father.
  • We saw Zachary Quinto in his Spock makeup for the first time, thanks to spy photos taken by JFX Online.
  • Speculation continues as to what character Jennifer Morrison is playing in the film. J.J. Abrams revealed she is not playing Yeoman Rand. Citing sources close to the production, SyFy Portal says she is playing Number One (Captain Pike’s first officer) while IESB.net says she is a pregnant Winona Kirk (Jim Kirk’s mother).
  • [possible spoilers] IESB.net released plot details which they claim were given to them from studio sources. The new element in their report was use of the Guardian of Forever from the original series episode “The City on the Edge of Forever,” which caused episode story writer Harlan Ellison to respond, demanding compensation if any elements from his story are used in the film.
  • Keri Russell won’t be in the movie, after all. Here’s why.
  • New Voyages producer and star James Cawley doesn’t like the new design for the Enterprise created for the film. Find out why.
  • The current writers’ strike may not impact production on Star Trek directly, but it did prevent Abrams from adding at least one “great” new line, according to writer John August.
  • William Shatner may not be able to hear you over the sound of how awesome he is, but he’s still not in the movie.

Trek Stuff:

  • The combo HD-DVD/DVD box set of the first season of Star Trek: The Original Series Remastered will be released this Tuesday. You can order it now from Amazon.
  • Author Andy Mangels has released a teaser cover to his and Michael Martin’s next book, Star Trek: Enterprise – Kobayashi Maru, which features Romulan text that, when translated, read “The Romulan War Begins Late 2008″… or so TrekWeb says.
  • In a new interview, the producer for the new game Star Trek Conquest describes it as "perfect for either the strategy fan who wants to play a campaign that can be completed in a reasonable amount of time, or for the arcade fan that is looking for a little bit of strategy to accompany his blasting." Read the rest at StarTrekGames.
  • The folks behind Star Trek Online have a new development log which includes concept art of a Devidian. Enjoy.


Devidians from TNG’s “Time’s Arrow” make a comeback in Star Trek Online

Trek in the World:

  • Themes from two Star Trek movies were among the musical pieces played at a Midland Community Orchestra concert held today.
  • Czech Trekkies have made their own Star Trek film called The Metren Incident which will receive a showing at a theater in Prague later this month. Click here for more info on the film.
  • Someone in Palm Beach County, Florida, modeled their home theater center after the USS Enterprise-D (see image above). Check it out!

Trek Science:

  • Scientists at Oregon State University have developed a material capable of bending light, large amounts of which could serve as a limited cloaking device. See the article at Corvallis Gazette-Times for more.

Trek on the Web:

  • Rod Roddenberry talked remastered Trek, his new documentary, the upcoming Trek film, and New Voyages with StarTrek.com.
  • Cracked.com lists holodecks, transporters and replicators among the top 5 awesome sci-fi inventions that would actually suck.
  • Jay Garmon of TechRepublic thinks the Star Trek franchise “jumped the shark” with Star Trek: First Contact. Read this to find out why.
  • Payvand has an interview with Star Trek: Deep Space Nine director Reza Badiyi. You can read it here.
  • Apparently, Star Trek on Ice is among the ice skating shows The Daily Herald would like to see.
  • In an interview that appeared recently on the web (but seems a few months old), Brent Spiner steps up to the ‘honesty bar’ and tells it like it is on his time with Trek – including his frank opinions on the 4 TNG feature films which he ranks (best to worst) First Contact, Nemesis, Generations, Insurrection.


Spiner on Star Trek: Insurrection – “I didn’t understand it quite frankly”

Trek Celebrity News:

  • William Shatner ranked #18 in TV Land Entertainment Weekly‘s list of the 50 Greatest TV Icons.
  • In other Shat news, the Captain Kirk actor will be signing copies of his book, Star Trek Academy: Collision Course, at West Hollywood’s Book Soup this Tuesday and at Tahiti Village Consolidated Resorts in Las Vegas on November 19th. See StarTrek.com for more details.
  • Salome Jens (DS9’s Female Changeling) will be starring in the off-Broadway productions of I Knock at the Door and Pictures in the Hallway, beginning November 24th.
  • University of North Carolina alumna Louise Fletcher (Kai Winn) was honored with the PlayMakers Distinguished Achievement Award from UNC’s PlayMakers Repertory Company on November 10th.
  • Robert Zemeckis’ adaptation of Beowulf, which features Star Trek: Enterprise star Dominic Keating (Malcolm Reed) in the role of Cain, opened in theaters this weekend. See the movie’s official site for more details.
  • Matt Frewer (Berlinghoff Rasmussen) has been cast as Moloch the Mystic in the upcoming film adaptation of the DC Comics mini-series Watchmen, according to MTV. Star Trek scribes Alex Kurtzman and Roberto Orci were among those who took a crack at the Watchmen script.
  • Wil Wheaton has been voted the second Best Celebrity Blogger at the 2007 Weblog Awards.
  • InAlienable, the new film written and executive produced by Walter Koenig (Pavel Chekov) and starring the likes of Koenig, Marina Sirtis (Deanna Troi), and Gary Graham (Soval), will be released via pay-per-view internet streaming on December 15th.
  • Author Stephen King explains why he optioned his Dark Tower stories to Star Trek producer/director J.J. Abrams at MTV.com.
  • Former Star Trek writer and producer and current Battlestar Galactica head honcho Ronald D. Moore has started his own personal blog site, which you can find at RonDMoore.com.
  • Star Trek villain Eric Bana (Nero) is renovating his home in Brighton, Australia, adding a new two-storey section for an estimated $10 million.
  • Colm Meaney (Miles O’Brien) talked about his work on the pilot for the American version of Life on Mars with Rotten Tomatoes.


Meaney taking on the role of Gene Hunt originally played by Philip Glenister

In Memoriam

  • George A. Rutter, the script supervisor on the original Star Trek series, died on November 4th from an infection according to an obituary posted on his nephew’s blog space. He was 91 years old.
  • Makeup artist Monty Westmore, who worked on Star Trek: First Contact and Star Trek: Insurrection, died of prostate cancer on November 13th. Monty was a member of the legendary Westmore family of Hollywood makeup artists which also includes his brother, veteran Star Trek makeup artist Michael Westmore.

YouTube Clip of the week

The Voyager crew celebrate Thanksgiving in and olde timey way

 

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This “first” crap is… astounding.

I salute the author of the article for claiming “this first crap”. Kudos.

I read that “Cracked” article earlier in the week. Funny stuff.

THIRST!
I really need a beer.

“Star Trek on Ice” is what happens when methheads reenact “The Trouble With Tribbles” using dead cats.

That TNG home theater is soo cool. It must have cost a bundle of cash.

Really looking forward to Kobayashi Maru. The Good That Men Do was great.

Insurrection was such a waste, why did Paramount greenlight that story?!

#8…
because The Suits have no conception of what makes good Star Trek.

#8, 9

Didn’t they greenlight STXI, as well?

Is it just me, or is not being able to add a line to an already written script becasue of the writer’s strike a wee bit extreme?

WURST!
I’d love some pate….
#8-
Insurrection was a fun and entertaining installment, which it was what it was meant to be. First Contact was the one with all the annoying inconsistencies and plot holes and is tremendously overrated.
Many, I believe even Mark Altman, would agree.

I’d have preferred the crew exploring, and having a run-in with the likes of those nicely designed ‘Devidians’ above, rather than ‘time-travelling’ Romulans…

The ome theater is cool, but as can be expected, the designer, or whoever he is in the article says it’s the bridge from the Enterprise A.

Oh well. We’ll be the geeks and he can design cool stuff for rich people.

Balance achieved.

#11

First of all, it’s a fine excuse.

Insurrection was the first time I fell asleep during a star trek film. I was thinking that the colonists were going to double cross picard, so the movie would make sense..I didnt care about the villians…I didnt care about the colonists…Its only saving grace was the opening chase and the scene when picard and worf were trying to capture data using the shuttlecraft.

#8…because The Suits have no conception of what makes good Star Trek.
#10– Didn’t they greenlight STXI, as well?

Even a blind squirrel occasionally finds a nut :-)

#17

That remains to be seen…

#17 “Even a blind squirrel occasionally finds a nut”

Yes, around this time of year I try to stay as far away from squirrels as I can!! :)

5. Wellshaved Scrotum…… THIRST!…… I really need a beer.
Very funny. Are you Harry Ballz’ Clean-shaven nut of a cousin? (Rhetorical question).

I went to the link on
“Keri Russell won’t be in the movie, after all. Here’s why.”

And here is what she said:
She responded that, “there was maybe a thing but it turns out that I played it in so many other parts that we just decided not to do it. But I was just with JJ last week and if we could find something else we would. I want to be in everything he does, literally I would be the caterer in anything he does but I don’t think what was talked about is going to work.

I don’t know what version of English she’s using, but she’s probably speaking gibberish to keep from giving up any script info. She said she would be a caterer, but doesn’t want to do what JJ asked her to do. What the heck did he ask her to do?

Iowagirl, you dating Stanky now?

21.
Seems like a fine, sensible gal.

#21, 22

Probably the best casting choice I could make – he seems like a fine, sensible lad who’s true to his word.

First!

..

.crap

Spiner is actually dead-on with his reviews of the films. Everyone agrees with First Contact. Generations works up to the point the Captains cook breakfast together. His review of Insurrection is hilarious (although I have a soft spot for the film, which in many ways resembled a regular TNG episode). And finally Nemesis really doesn’t work…..but no one can particularly pinpoint why. Direction? Story? Were the actors just not up to snuff that time? I am not sure, but there is something wrong with that movie, somewhere.

Good day! I know this is kind of off topic but I was wondering if you knew where I could find a captcha plugin for my comment form? I’m using the same blog platform as yours and I’m having problems finding one? Thanks a lot!