It was announced today that Carolyn Porco, the leader of the Imaging Science team on NASA’S Cassini mission at Saturn, has accepted an invitation from Star Trek director/producer, J.J. Abrams, to join the Star Trek production crew as a consultant on planetary science and imagery. Porco spoke exclusively with TrekMovie.com about her role bringing science to the Star Trek film (and the fans).
In Empire Magazine’s ‘25 Most Exciting Movies of 2008‘ feature, Star Trek director JJ Abrams speaks briefly about the film he is currently shooting. Abrams tells Empire “I’m completely respectful of the Star Trek canon and I feel that there’s a great movie to be made.” And is Abrams worried about us famously persnickety fans?…nope….
Stardate 02.14.2008 is approaching rapidly, do you want to show that special Star Trek fan how much you care this Valentine’s Day? In this week’s ‘The Collective’ we look at the many presents for your Star Trek paramours now available in retail or online stores.
Star Trek (2008) composer and long-time JJ Abrams collaborator Michael Giacchino is having a very good weekend. On Friday he picked up his second ‘Annie‘ award for his Ratatouille score and tonight he nabbed a Grammy award for the same. These will sit nicely alongside his Emmy and other awards on his growing trophy shelf, and in two weeks he may have to make room for an Oscar. Giacchino joins James Horner, the only other previous Trek composer who has won a Grammy.
To quote one of my favorite bad Kirk lines: “Out of the nowhere; into the here!” It’s a pleasure to take a crack at another Trek Remastered review, and a very special one at that…Other than “The Doomsday Machine,” no classic Trek episode has been more anticipated in Remastered form than the late second season’s “The Ultimate Computer.” The spectacle of starship-on-starship action, achieved almost entirely through duped stock footage in the original episode, has had fans of the Remastered project slavering since the project was originally announced.
Over the weekend boards for the WGA recommended to the membership approve a new contract and end the 3 month long writer’s strike. Members vote on Tuesday to suspend the strike with a separate vote on the contract later in the Month. Picketing has been suspended and the Variety Strike Blog is reporting that ‘showrunners’ (writer/producers) will be returning to work on Monday.
Trekmovie.com broke the story a few weeks ago that Playmates Toys has the license to the new Star Trek film. Now, Ain’t It Cool News provides coverage from the German Toy Fair occurring this weekend, and their report gives specific costume and design details from the 2008 feature based on the prototype toys available. See below for a summary.
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TrekMovie.com has confirmed two more actors appearing in the new Star Trek film. Up and coming actor Kelvin Yu has already filmed his role as a medical technician, while Holland-born boxer turned actress Lucia Rijker will begin shooting her role as a communications officer (not on the Enterprise) next month.
Stephen Colbert showed what a fine American he is by honoring none other than Star Trek: The Next Generation’s Lt. Worf on Thursday’s “The Colbert Report.” So prepare yourself for some Klingon truthiness and check out the clip below.
This has been active week of news for retro Mego Star Trek action figures. Earlier this week we reported a newly designed Khan figure was coming out this summer and ToyNews is reporting the original Uhura and the Mugatu Megos are on their way later this year as well.
It has been another busy week in the world of SciFi news. We got news on Doctor Who, Venom, Wolfman and more. Plus casting news for the new voice of KITT, Stargate Atlantis, the new Terminator, the Land of the Lost remake, and JJ Abrams Fringe. Plus new photos from Indy 4, and Terry Gilliam’s new film.
The return of the Friday Night Movie — TrekMovie.com brings back a fan favorite feature of the site with a new compilation put together by our old friend GeneralGrin, just in time for Valentine’s Day (coming up next week guys and gals). Grin has found that if you look at things from a certain way, TNG could get rather racy….check it out below.
MSNBC has one of those ‘Most Anticipated Movies of 2008‘ articles…and it doesn’t even mention JJ Abrams Star Trek. The article features what MSNBC consider their top 5, but there is a poll listing 22 films and Star Trek is currently ranking 4th (in your face MSNBC). Trek trails Indy 4, Dark Knight and the new Harry Potter, but is ahead of Iron Man and the new James Bond, Get Smart, and X-Files movies. It would take a few thousand votes to get it to number one, but get voting and maybe Kirk and Spock can knock the boy wizard out of 3rd place. [UPDATE3: By Friday night Trek was in 3rd place, by Saturday it was 2nd and on Sunday number one!]
What do Mercurian arachnids, a map of multi-dimensional subspace, Paul McCartney, and the Navy all have in common? They are all topics on this week’s edition of Science Friday! All that plus our newest gadget of the week. Read on!
This week we’re bringing you news on nominations for Patrick Stewart and Simon Pegg, Robert Picardo getting more work than he knows what to do with, and it’s ladies night at the Trek Celeb Watch as we have news on Kate Mulgrew, Nichelle Nichols, Zoe Saldana, Jeri Ryan and Terry Farrell! Plus… Shatner for president?
Last week Leonard Nimoy appeared on KPCC’s arts show AirTalk. The focus was on his new most recent photography book and exhibition, “Full Body Project,” but the original Spock did get around to talking Trek. Nimoy explained why he decided to reprise his role again and also talked about typecasting.
EXCLUSIVE: This weekend on the digitally remastered Star Trek airing in syndication we will be treated to a brand new version of "The Ultimate Computer." This effects-heavy episode features the USS Enterprise facing off against four Federation Starships in a wargame that turns deadly. The TOS-R producers talked exclusively with TrekMovie.com about the episode and also shared some new preview images.
Yesterday we reported on JJ Abrams comments to the USA Today, which (as it so often does) kicked up a lot of comments from a lot of fans (500+ and still going). Luckily Star Trek co-writer and exec producer Roberto Orci dropped in to TrekMovie.com and answered many of the questions and took some more. Orci talked about mainstream v fan appeal, canon, publicity photos and more. For those that don’t dive into the comments, there are some excerpts below in easy to ready format.
Our friends over at the On Network webshow “Bif Bam Pow Wow” have dedicated their most recent episode to all things Star Trek. Their focus is comics, but there are also interview snippets from last summer’s Vegas con with Rod Roddenberry and Wil Wheaton talking about the new Star Trek movie. Check it out below.
Star Trek’s new villain, Eric Bana called into to an Australian morning radio show to talk about his new movies and of course things got around to talking about his upcoming stint as Nero. The actor portrayed his Trek role as “a cameo as the bad guy,” but when asked what kind of alien make-up he will be in the actor would only say “you will have to wait and see.” Bana also spoke about director JJ Abrams and then had some fun with some ‘spoilers.’ Details and audio clip below.
CBS just sent TrekMovie.com a first look of a new image from this weekend’s TOS-R episode “The Ultimate Computer”…check it out below
NEW FEATURE: The latest regular column to add to the TrekMovie.com mix is “The Collective” from regular contributor and all around expert in ‘stuff’ John Tenuto. Every week or so John will bring news, reviews, retrospectives and more from the worlds of toys and collectibles. This first week brings breaking news on a new Khan figure done in the MEGO style, plus a look back at Mr. Singh’s history with Trek collectibles.
The SciFi Channel announced today that Robert Picardo, The Doctor from Star Trek Voyager, has been tapped as a full-time cast member for the 5th season of Stargate Atlantis. Picardo’s recurring character Richard Woolsey is stepping in as head of the Atlantis Expedition. SciFi also announced that former SGA cast member Paul McGillion (who has a small part in the new Star Trek film) will reprise his role as Carson Beckett for five episodes.
When JJ Abrams comes to TrekMovie.com for a live chat or speaks at some tech conference, he shows off his geek cred. But, of course his plan for the new Star Trek is to appeal to everyone so he has to shed that when he talks to the ‘norms.’ Which is exactly what you can see with some quotes buried in one of those ‘Movies to look forward to in 2008’ previews over at USA Today where Abrams is quoted saying…
The current issue (which came out last Friday) of The National Enquirer has a story titled WILLIAM SHATNER SURGERY TURNS INTO LIFE-OR-DEATH DRAMA which would be pretty big news if it were true. The story states that Mr. Shatner suffered heart complications during hip surgery. After being sent tips to the story, TrekMovie.com checked in at Shatner HQ and was told that Bill was fine, that he has had no surgeries and the whole thing was made up.
NEW FEATURE: In the last year Star Trek made its comeback into comics and with more and more issues coming out every month, TrekMovie.com will now devote a weekly column to them. This first TrekInk column takes a look IDW’s first year including reviews of January’s comics. Plus we have some previews for upcoming issues.
In the last few years Australian actor Eric Bana has graduated to leading man territory and has fronted big movies such as Steven Spielberg’s Munich and the upcoming Time Traveler’s Wife. So it was big news that he was tapped as the villain Nero in JJ Abrams new Star Trek. However in a new interview, the actor raises the question about how big a role he will play in the film.