This week, Celeb spied with its little eye an out of this world chat with the Shat, a Trek composer named as one of Michael Giacchino’s major influences, J.J. Abrams being political, the new Kirk and Spock out on the town, a new movie for Alexander Siddig, a potential series for John Billingsley, The Doctor and Q getting musical, and more. Plus lots of bdays to report, including one for JJ Abrams today! Read on!
Shatner: Star Trek and UFO believers
Earlier this month William Shatner did an hour long interview on the Coast to Coast with George Noory radio show. The show is famous for being an outlet for UFO enthusiasts, conspiracy theories, and the like. Shatner (who says he saw a UFO) drew the connection between those who believe and the Star Trek phenomenon:
The issues [the Star Trek writers] brought up were of interest in the same way you listen to people who see aliens–I caught a moment of you were talking to the guy from the SETI program–these are all intriguing mysteries. The mystery of life in the universe in the galaxy. The deep deep mystery of dark matter and black holes and things we can’t get our imagination around because we cant even begin to imagine what is really out there. We are limited by our human imagination, because it can only take in what we perceive. We cant imagine what we don’t know because that is why we don’t know it. It was issues like that that Star Trek dealt with became the rallying point of people who thought like that, who were intrigued by the mysteries and why a spaceship only exposes itself to somebody in the Florida swamps.
The entire interview has been uploaded onto YouTube. [CLICK to listen: Part 1, Part 2, Part 3, Part 4, Part 5, Part 6, Part 7]
Pine and Quinto spottings
Star Trek’s new Kirk (Chris Pine) and new Spock (Zachary Quinto) were spotted at two separate events over the last week, and WireImage has the shots. Quinto was seen at the Los Angeles premiere for Get Smart, but it isn’t anything new for the young actor to be seen around town. But it is a bit of a rarity to see the more elusive Pine, who attended the charity picnic for Casa de Milagros.
New Kirk and Spock out and about in LA (click to enlarge)
Giacchino talks Goldsmith influences
NJ.com has an interview with composer Michael Giacchino, the man currently scoring 2009’s Star Trek. Giacchino talks a lot about Lost and absolutely nothing about Trek, but he did explain how one veteran Trek composer was a major influence on his work.
I love Jerry Goldsmith, because he did so many different kinds of things. He did a lot of that spy stuff so great, Man from UNCLE, he was able to infuse jazz into the orchestra in such a great way that I loved. He is absolutely one of my favorites.
For the full interview as well as an interview with Battlestar Galactica composer Bear McCreary, head on over here.
Political Abrams
Star Trek director/producer J.J. Abrams and his wife, Katie McGrath, have been showing off their political activeness. According to The Los Angeles Times, Abrams opened his Pacific Palisades home to activist Donna Bojarsky for one of her foreign policy briefings. The briefing which took place at Abrams’ place was specifically about China and their ties with the Sudanese government. The Times also reports that Abrams and his wife were in attendance at Presidential candidate Barack Obama’s campaign fundraiser held at the Dorothy Chandler Pavilion in Los Angeles on Tuesday night. I’m sure everyone had tons of fun.
DeLancie and Picardo in concert…again this weekend
Last weekend Robert Picardo (Voyager The Doctor) and John DeLancie (Q) hosted ‘Star Trek The Music’ in Toronto. To promote the show, both stars spoke to the CBC about the music of Trek. Toronto resident (and Trekkie) has photos from the event up on Flickr. The pair are bringing the show to Cincinnati this weekend. For more info check out the official site.
Picardo and DeLancie in Toronto
Trek ladies make appearances & make a list
Nichelle Nichols (Uhura) was in attendance at the Supanova Pop Culture Expo in Sydney, Australia, where she signed autographs, according to Inner West Weekly and News.com.au. Terry Farrell (Jadzia Dax) will be attending the Polaris convention in Toronto, Canada, on 12 July 2008 (see the Polaris website for more). In the meantime, Jeri Ryan (Seven of Nine) and Ashley Judd (Robin Lefler) made Hecklerspray’s list of the Top 13 Sci-Fi Babes. I’m sure they’re honored.
Siddig on ‘Cairo Time’
Former DS9 regular Alexander Siddig (Dr. Julian Bashir) is working on Cairo time right now, both literally and figuratively. According to official fan site, Sid is currently on location in Cairo, Egypt, shooting a new movie called Cairo Time. The film involves a woman (played by Patricia Clarkson, Far from Heaven) who arrives in Cairo to meet her husband (Tom McManus, The Sweet Hereafter). Hubby, however, can’t make it and instead sends his friend, a retired Egyptian police officer (Siddig), to pick her up. Naturally, the two begin an affair. According to IMDb, the film is directed by Ruba Nadda (Sabah) and is currently slated for release in Canada on May 1st, 2009 — a week before the new Star Trek opens.
Billingsley going ‘twentysixmiles’
Former ENT regular John Billingsley (Dr. Phlox) has a role in the upcoming six-hour TV project twentysixmiles, which began principal photography earlier this week. As reported by ecatalina.com, the project is being shopped to various networks as either a six-part stand-alone miniseries or as the first season of a potential hour-long series. The plot involves a corporate exec (played by John Schneider) whose wife divorces him and moves with the kids to Catalina Island, twenty-six miles off the coast of Southern California (hence the title). The exec follows, making discoveries and rediscoveries along the way. Sounds… kind of boring, actually.
Cromwell and the AFTRA contract
Actor James Cromwell, known to Trekkies for playing Dr. Zefram Cochrane in Star Trek: First Contact, is urging his fellow actors to support the new contract deal reached by the American Federation of Television and Radio Artists (AFTRA) and thus prevent a strike within the Screen Actors Guild (SAG). Cromwell, a former SAG board member, tells The Associated Press that he believes ‘SAG was pressing for demands that could not be met.’ He explains:
You bargain as hard as you can. But when you make promises you can’t keep and then you hold this town hostage by your belligerence and intransigence to the realities of the industry … it ain’t gonna fly. Let’s get what we can get.
Forbes might be going back for ‘Treatment’
HBO has picked up the series In Treatment for a second season, according to Broadcasting & Cable and many other sources. TNG actress Michelle Forbes (Ro Laren) has a recurring role on this show portraying the wife of the lead character, a psychiatrist with psychological problems of his own. HBO has not confirmed the return of any other cast members beyond stars Gabriel Byrne and Dianne Wiest, but it seems likely that Forbes will be back given the importance of her character.
Forbes ready for more Treatment
Birthdays, birthdays, birthdays!
Break out the cellular peptide cake (with mint frosting!) because TrekMovie has quite a few birthdays to mention. Celebrating his 42nd birthday today is Star Trek 2009’s producer/director J.J. Abrams…what do you get the guy who has everything? Also celebrating today is actor Ken Marshall (DS9’s Michael Eddington) turns 58. Others celebrating birthdays this week: actress Mariette Hartley (Zarabeth, TOS: “All Our Yesterdays”) is 68; actor Leigh McCloskey (VOY: “Warlord” & DS9: “Field of Fire”) 53; actor Josh Pais (Gaila on DS9) is 50; actor/director Tim Russ (VOY’s Tuvok) is 52; VOY/ENT writer/producer Mike Sussman is 41; veteran Trek director Mike Vejar is 65; and actor Peter Weller (John Frederick Paxton on ENT) is 61.
Celebrating their birthdays in the coming week: VOY/ENT acting vet Bruce Davison will be 62; Chris and Montgomery Doohan both turn 49; Borg Queen Alice Krige will be 54; actor Alan Ruck (Capt. Harriman) will be 52; actor Kurtwood Smith (STVI’s Federation president; DS9’s Thrax; VOY’s Annorax) will be 65; and writer/producer Jeri Taylor will be 70. ENT stars Dominic Keating (Reed) and Anthony Montgomery (Mayweather) will gain an extra digit, as well, with Keating turning 46 on July 1st and Montgomery turning 37 the next day.
And if that wasn’t enough, here are some belated bdays which I failed to mention last week. Two actors from the upcoming Star Trek movie celebrated birthdays on June 16th: John Cho (Sulu), who turned 36, and Clifton Collins, Jr. (Ayel), who turned 38. Three days later, their co-star, Zoe Saldana (Uhurua), celebrated her 30th birthday. Other Trek actors who celebrated their birthdays last week include Robin Christopher (Neela – age 43), Bill Cobbs (Emory Erickson – 73), Robin Curtis (Saavik #2 & Tallera – 52), Terrence Evans (Baltrim, Proka Migdal & Treen – 64), and William Lucking (Furel & Herrad-Sar – 67).
For my birthday I get to edit the new ‘Star Trek’
Q directing an orchestra must be quite a site. Hah.
…BUT HIS FACIAL HAIR IS ALL WRONG THIS IS A DISASTER
:P
JJ’s got the best birthday present of all; now x-ray the damn mystery box; I wanna know what’s inside.
Michelle Forbes looks great. I always imagined that’s what Denise De Arman looks like, I donno why?
Officially tired of the Shat.
I know a girl who looks just like a young Marriete Hartley– its very uncanny. Cool, though, since that’s one of my favorite episodes and it’s like being able to see one of the characters. Happy birthday to Ms. Hartley and all the rest! Including you, JJ. Forty-two’s a good number, here’s to a meaningful year ahead. ;)
Any trek star wanting a real mind reading birthday ala the tanens mystery box, call me… Ill do a mind meld long distance!
Happy Birthday Star Trek people! :-)
wow Zachary looks like a big girl there doesnt she?
(its ok im gay, i can say that)
Mr. Cromwell is a class act, and an excellent actor.
I was at the Toronto concert with my family, and it was absolutely magical. Very stirring to hear it performed to perfection right in front of you. Picardo and DeLancie were funny, and added a certain “Trekkiness” to the event, with backstories and insider info from their respective series.
All in all, a great evening!
Strange… I’ve seen Zach Quinto wearing a hat on many of his recent pictures… Is it just to hide his pointy ears?
The Toronto Trek concert was a really fun and rather stirring event. I’ve had the good fortune to see, in the past, the late Jerry Goldsmith conduct an evening of his film music with the TSO (including some TREK), and three years ago, I saw Erich Kunzel from the Cincinnati Pops, conduct the TSO in a program featuring music from all six STAR WARS scores (Anthony Daniels was the host, humorously narrating and manipulating the saga from 3P0’s role as the real protagonist and hero).
Taking us through the 23d and 24th century, the orchestra played the music beautifully (though, I think the TREK scores are generally a little less complex than much of the STAR WARS catalog and the choices of music tended a little toward repetition). The standout cues, in terms of both performance and source material were, for me, The Menagerie Suite (I actually got a lump in my throat — as much from the fact that an auditorium of people, Trek fans, film music lovers, and TSO subscribers, were enthralled by forty year old music written for a “failed” TV pilot by a recently deceased composer, as the dizzyingly involving music itself), the boldly emotional, humanistic march of The Voyage Home (by the late Leonard Rosenman) , and the swirling end titles of Eidelman’s The Undiscovered Country, which struck me as the most challenging piece performed. It’s amazing watching symphonic music that one is so in-the-bone aware of performed by real people; the effort it takes in a purely physical sense, and the coordination assumed by the conductor (Mr. Kunzel).
Mr. DeLancie and Mr. Picardo, two of my favorite actors from TREK (and from their other work — Picardo’s so good in Joe Dante’s films and back on “China Beach”) provided a lively and funny narration throughout. It was basically a kind of “by the book”, orthodox history of TREK (a little too Roddenberry- centric for my taste) but they grabbed hold of the audience effortlessly by filtering TREK through their own personal lenses.
The only disappointment: no encore — despite an awful lot of sustained applause. At the STAR WARS event, Kunzel led the orchestra (and the audience) through a hand-clapping rendition of the Cantina band piece. This time, nothing. A short suite of Fielding’s Tribbles score or Fried’s Amok Time “fight theme” would have had us on our feet.
Here’s a program list of the evening’s selections (I hope it hasn’t been posted elsewhere on the site):
Suite from The Menagerie
Main Theme from Star Trek (TOS) (great bongo playing but no woman’s voice)
Main Theme from ST:TMP
Klingon Battle from ST:TMP (the orchestra compensated for some of the subtle electronics of the film recording by emphasizing the role of the organ music, emphasizing the religioso nature of the V’Ger )
Main Title from ST II
Epilogue from ST II/End Credits from ST II
Main Theme from ST III (they did a great job with all of Horner’s music)
Main Title from ST IV
intermission
Main Theme from ST: TNG
“A Busy Man” from ST:V (I wish they could have sprinkled more actual “incidental” music like this — and the Klingon battle — throughout; the emphasis was on themes and fanfares)
End Titles from ST:VI
Main Theme from ST:DS9
End title from Generations (McCarthy’s music here and in the DS9 theme are really under appreciated)
Main Theme from Voyager (in some respects, the most beautiful of TREK themes in its representation of the cosmos and human aspiration and longing)
(strange, no First Contact — both a popular movie and a score/suite often included in Goldsmith’s concerts)
Man, that concert sounds absolutely *amazing.* I wish it had been held close enough for me to attend, but there’s always hope. Maybe someday they’ll pass my way. =)
42?!?!? You look frakkin’ 12! Happy Birthday, JJ! Now give us some clips to drool over.
Michelle Forbes is good in anything. Lord, I’d drink her bathwater.
Happy Birthday Chris, to you and your brother. (Didn’t know youze guyz wuz twinz.)
happy birthday to all past present and future star trek celeb’s. How come no mention of Michelle Forbes contribution to BSG razor? They unforgettable Commander Caine?
BTW I like a lot of JJ’s views, especially the one mentioned above.
9 months until ST 11
6 months or so until BSG 4.5 and just in case nobody noticed, there were over 1 million additional viewers who watched the mid series finale of BSG 4.0. Thats not even including all the DVR’s out there. Thats good news for people hoping for the up to 3 additional BSG movies, one of which I would love to see the 1st cylon war.
Sorry for the off topic posting, but I could resist with that great picture of forbes.
1
I think he looks pretty much like an orchestral conductor even with the facial hair. His Dad played oboe with the Philadelphia orchestra.
Happy Belated Birthday, JJ.
Rock On.
Woo hoo! I live only 30 miles from Cincinnati! I’m going to a Star Trek concert tonight!!! :-D … and I believe I got front row tickets :-o
Happy belated Birthday, Mister Abrams :-)
So, when will you invite me to the STAR TREK editing?
I prefer working on Final Cut rather than AVID…
Happy Birthday JJ, my Birthday is tomorrow, I will be 44, damn I am older that the Director of the New Star Trek, it seems like he loves it as much as I do, I can’t wait for this movie.
#16 I live in Boca Fl, originally from cinci, more specifically I went to Indian High. If I would of known of the concert in Cincinnati, I would of hopped on a plane and went to see the concert. Bummer, are they still doing the Webn fireworks? Have not been in a few years, but they were always awsomr, especially the fireworks rolling off the bridge like water.
Cool stuff, how can I find if they will preform the concert down here? Any orchestra? Anyone know?
I wonder how many of them wanted a pony for thier birthdays?
I am a huge fan of Jerry Goldsmith, so I can certainly relate to Mr. Giacchino’s affection for him. Goldsmith had a great ability to write truly memorable melodies, and his scores were always potent and intricate. I cannot imagine TMP, for example, with another soundtrack, and were it not for this soundtrack, that movie would have suffered even more. Whatever emotion TMP had in it came from Goldsmith’s music, IMO.
I always found Goldsmith’s music to be kinda “psychedelic,” as compared to other, more traditional-sounding, composers. His score for “Planet Of the Apes,” and “The Omen” are two examples of truly mind-altering music! He was very experimental and unafraid to try unexpected sounds, or instrumentation. His melodies could be very lovely (one of my favorites is the opening of STV, when Kirk is climbing the face of El Capitan), and they could be very haunting (literally, “The Omen”).
Whenever I’ve felt creatively spent, I could always count on one of Goldsmith’s soundtracks to serve as a muse. He created a tremendous body of work which will live for many years to come… perhaps into the 23rd century? In any case, he has brought great joy to my ears…..
“TNG actress Michelle Forbes (Ro Laren) has a recurring role on this show portraying the life of the lead character, a psychiatrist with psychological problems of his own. ”
Huh? “Problems of *his* own”? “Portraying the life of the lead character”?
Oh, wait, did that mean to say “wife” instead of “life”? That would make more sense.
Honestly, it just takes a minute to proofread these before posting (sorry, pet peeve; I used to proofread for a living)…
Michelle Forbes is smokin’ HOT!!!
Be still my beatin’ heart! :-)
14.
The point was that Q doesn’t have facial hair in Star Trek canon, thus the joke. I could have continued it by saying something along the lines of “WHY IS THE DOCTOR WEARING THOSE SPECTACLES A HOLOGRAM CANNONT BE ALLERGIC TO RETNOX HIS OPTICAL SENSORS MUST BE MALFUNCTIONING” or stating the obvious about their “uniforms”. Haha?
#19 Yeah man they are still doing the WEBN fireworks… but I still have yet to go!! I hear they are awesome though. I just got home from the concert and I have to say it was INCREDIBLE. I had no idea the Cinci Pops were so good :) You wouldn’t believe it… I didn’t hear about this concert until I read about it on here last night, and I ended up with 3 tickets in the VERY FRONT AND CENTER! I was like 4 feel from the stage with nothing in front of me… And to my surprise there were actually quite a number of people there… I have no clue how I got those tickets :-p
It’s been really fun to read peoples’ comments and perceptions on the concerts. Lots of insight. I was at both Toronto nights of the event, and seeing what people thought of the Cincinnati one held last night was great.
I apologize if this is against the “rules” – frequent lurker here at Trekmovie.com, but first time poster. Anyway, I set up http://ST-TheMusic.net – it’s pretty simple (and ugly) at present, I know, but I’m working on it often and the idea is wanting to serve as a place to host information about the “Star Trek: The Music Concerts”, both already happened and upcoming, and eventually have submissions of attendee reviews, photos, etc. If any of you are interested in stopping by and contributing anything to it, please check it out.
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