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Feature Films (TMP-NEM), TNG | January 19, 2007 | By: Anthony Pascale 104 comments so far

Spiner On Nemesis Failure: The fans were done with us

In the latest issue of Star Trek Magazine, Brent Spiner (Data) talks about the last Trek movie, Star Trek Nemesis. Not only did Spiner star in Nemesis, but he co-wrote the story (along with screenwriter John Logan). Spiner on why the film failed We worked on the story with the intention of making it for the fans. With every Star Trek movie prior to that we tried to find a way to bridge the gap between the fans and the general public. Even reading the latest quotes from J.J. Abrams about the next movie, it makes sense for the movie to be as inclusive as possible. With Nemesis we said, ‘Forget that! Lets make a movie for the fans, because that’s the people who actually go to see the films.’ And what happened? They didn’t go! Usually the films opened big, even if they had a lot of competition, but Nemesis didn’t even do that. This was a message from the fans that they were done with us.

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Memorabilia | January 19, 2007 | By: Alec Peters 2 comments so far

Star Trek Auction Update: Week 5

Week Five of the Star Trek auctions on eBay from It’s a Wrap Hollywood ended today with 82 of the 100 lots selling for a total of $45,918. It was a good week as there were many interesting items up this week, including costumes from Star Trek: The Motion Picture and a slew of cadet uniforms from the movies, Next Generation and Voyager. The top item of the week was the Seven of Nine Jumpsuit which was bid up to $5,032.99, but still didn’t hit reserve! This was just another example of over-estimation of the potential price by It’s a Wrap.Plus the costume was imcomplete (didn’t include the inner corset or the shoes).This is the second week in a row where a costume was bid up to over $5,000 without being sold, perhaps It’s a Warp will realize the rich people who were bidding at Christie’s are not bidding on eBay.

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Feature Films (TMP-NEM), TOS Remastered | January 17, 2007 | By: Bill Hunt 75 comments so far

Trek Remastered and Trek Movies Coming To HD DVD (and Blu-ray) [UPDATED]

It looks like 2007 may be the year we start seeing Star Trek on High Definition media. Both The Hollywood Reporter and Home Media Retailing quote CBS Home Entertainment head Ken Ross as saying that Star Trek: The Original Series is going to be released on DVD/HD-DVD Combo format at the end of 2007. "The reason we chose to do that is to give us the ability to make high-definition transfers of the show available to people who don’t yet have high-definition players," Ross says in the interview. However the same piece also notes that while a Blu-ray Disc release hasn’t yet been scheduled, CBS will support both formats like Paramount does. So, to cut through all the hype, this likely means that while the HD-DVD camp can probably accurately say that The Original Series will be an HD-DVD exclusive in 2007, the release almost certainly won’t happen until the very end of the year (simply due to the fact that it’s going to take that long to finish at least a season’s worth of remastered episodes) and a Blu-ray Disc release probably won’t be far behind. There is also movement on the movie side as well. Exepct to see at least one of the Trek films on HD-DVD by the end of the year, with Blu-ray likely to follow.

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Review, TOS Remastered | January 17, 2007 | By: Jason Lee 59 comments so far

Review of “Wink of an Eye” Remastered

Imagine a race of aliens on a distant planet who exist in an accelerated state of being, moving so quickly in time that they are imperceptible to the ordinary world except for the insect-like buzzing of their sped-up voices. It’s an intriguing sci-fi concept with all sorts of dramatic and narrative possibilities, but the “Wink of an Eye” in this week’s Star Trek episode is from the writers to the audience telling them, “Yeah, we know this story makes no logical sense whatsoever but just ignore that and watch Captain Kirk bag another alien space babe."

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Memorabilia | January 17, 2007 | By: Alec Peters 9 comments so far

Star Trek Auction Update: Weeks 3 & 4

Due to technical difficulties with the site, we weren’t able to post the Week 3 results from the eBay It’s a Wrap Star Trek auctions, so this will cover the last two weeks Week 3 of Star Trek auctions on eBay from It’s a Wrap Hollywood ended with 84 of the 99 lots selling for a total of $45,921. This included several items from the first week that did not sell because they did not hit reserve were re-listed without a reserve this time. Unfortunately Its A Wrap have not learned their lesson as the listing for week 4 listings came out with more reserves than ever. This issue of high reserve prices is a real source of discontent with the collector community. The fact that two Klingon masks, one of which was listed week one with a starting price of $2,000, sold for just under $600 each, shows that It’s a Wrap greatly over-estimate’s the value of some of the items it puts reserves and high starting bids on.

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STXI Status | January 17, 2007 | By: Anthony Pascale 29 comments so far

Trek XI Release Still (Probably) Winter 2008

On Monday we ran a story from iF Magazine seemingly quoting Trek XI producer Damon Lindelof revealing an ‘official’ release date of July 2, 2008 for Star Trek XI. This was surprising as our Paramount sources have been telling us (off the record) that the date had moved from the summer to a winter release. We have reconfirmed that it still appears to be winter, but that officially Paramount are still not being more specific than ‘2008’. We contacted iF Magazine and apparently the release date in their article was not actually from Lindelof; they have now removed the date. So it was a false alarm, not the first related to Trek XI (remember the Tom Cruise thing) and we do not expect it to be the last.    

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ST09 Creative, STXI Status | January 15, 2007 | By: Anthony Pascale 171 comments so far

Lindelof Says Trek XI Will Focus On Character – Possibly Revealed Summer 08 Release Date? [UPDATE: did not reveal date]

Damon Lindelof (pictured with Abrams winning Emmys for Lost) is Star Trek XI’s ‘other producer’. We don’t hear much from Damon who is still busy working on Lost day to day, but iF magazine caught up with him and got him to talk a little Trek XI. Although Lindelof gave the usual company line, he did repeat Abrams comments about a wide audience and a focus on character…and he may have inadvertently announced a release date. "We’re not giving out any information about Trek at all,…J.J. and I are producing it and Alex Kurtzman and Bob Orci are writing it.Paramount has announced a release date of [July 2] 2008. That’s all that’s official."

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TOS Remastered | January 14, 2007 | By: Matt Wright 98 comments so far

New Opening Credits…now with new model [UPDATED]

The CBS Digital team took the opportunity of doing "Wink Of An Eye" to finally put the new improved model of the Enterprise into the opening credits. This episode was the first season 3 episode and each season has a slightly different opening title sequence. CBS-D will now ‘retrofit’ this title sequence for future season 1 and season 2 episodes. So here it is…IN STEREO (the music is slightly different for season 3 as well) UPDATE: The audio sync has been fixed in both the WMV and YouTube versions, enjoy!    [WMV Video] [MP3 Audio]

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Fandom, Trek Franchise | January 13, 2007 | By: Anthony Pascale 17 comments so far

Trek Invades US Politics

This week the long arm of Star Trek has stretched into the US political Arena. First up is U.S. Representitive David Wu (D-OR). Whether or not you agree with his politics, you got to admit he knows his Trek. The Oregonian has more on the controversey and suggests Wu may have a second career speaking at Trek conventions. But Wu wasn’t the only Trek fan making news in politics this week…

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TOS Remastered | January 13, 2007 | By: Anthony Pascale 43 comments so far

Remastered Wink Of An Eye Airs Today

The Enterprise is hijacked by scantily clad hyper-accelarated aliens who need the crew to populate their planet. PreviewLocal Station & ShowtimesMore at Memory Alpha This is the first remastered episode from Star Trek’s third season. There isn’t a whole lot for the CBS team to work with here, but expect to see: New planet Scalos with various shots of Ent in orbit New matte painting of Scalosian city new effects for phaser ‘area sweep’ and slowmo phaser A redone opening title sequence with blue text and new Enterprise model Expect TrekMovie.com’s screenshots and videos later So what did you think of the remastered wink?

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Fandom, Shatner | January 12, 2007 | By: Anthony Pascale 21 comments so far

Star Wars-themed ‘Fanboys’ Features Battle With Trekkies and Shatner Cameo

Fanboys is a film about a group of hardcore Star Wars fans who travel across the country to steal a pre-release copy of Episode I: The Phantom Menace so their terminally ill friend can see it before he dies. Although the film is about Star Wars fans, Star Trek makes an appearance in the form of original Captain Kirk himself William Shatner. Actor Jay Baruchel describes the Shatner cameo to MTV Movie News: Captain Kirk? Chalk that one up to the great ‘Star Trek’ wars…there’s a big-ass battle between all the Trekkies and all the fanboys. We fight with lirpa, which is the Vulcan weapon with the sickle on the top and mound on the bottom.

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STXI Plot, STXI Status | January 11, 2007 | By: Anthony Pascale 28 comments so far

IESB Reports Same Info As TrekMovie.com

In a new article, IESB is reporting that they have ‘new’ rumors about Star Trek XI. Apparently they are hearing the some of the same things that TrekMovie.com is hearing (and published over a week ago in our latest Trek XI Update). Specifically that a draft is complete, Abrams has held auditions, the film includes Scotty & Pike, and the story jumps around in time. Hopefully IESB’s ‘close source to the film’ wasn’t just reporting what he read on TrekMovie.com, but is actually confirming our report. If you missed it, make sure to read our latest Trek XI Update for even more details on Star Trek XI.   

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Games | January 11, 2007 | By: Anthony Pascale 34 comments so far

CBS Wants Trekkies To Get A Second Life

During his Keynote speech at CES this week, CBS Chairman Les Moonves talked up how CBS is getting hipper to the whole interweb thing. Moonves announced a series of initiatives and partnerships in the digital world, including making clips of its shows available for ‘video mashups’. Moonves told crowd: "there’s no such thing anymore as old or new media — there’s just media." Star Trek is part of this vision with the announcement of a partnership to build a ‘Star Trek Environment’ within the Second Life online community. Moonves brought out the Founder of Linden Labs, the makers of Second Life, to demonstrate the possiblities.  (mov)

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Shatner, ST09 Cast, STXI Plot | January 11, 2007 | By: Anthony Pascale 110 comments so far

Shatner Talks More About Being In Star Trek XI

Although JJ Abrams and Paramount aren’t confirming that Star Trek XI takes place before the Original Series and features a young James Kirk, William Shatner has no problem talking about it. In a brief interview with SciFi Wire, William Shatner repeated previous comments that he and producer JJ Abrams have met and that Abrams wants him in Star Trek XI. The Shat also told SciFi Wire "Yes, we know the story is based on young Kirk." The original Captain Kirk still seems fixated on how this will all work, but in this case he implies that he expects to be interacting with the young Kirk: They need to figure out how to put the dead captain in with the young captain…It’s a very complex, technical problem of how to write the character in, and I’m not sure how they will solve it.

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CBS/Paramount | January 10, 2007 | By: Anthony Pascale 11 comments so far

Departure of Paramount President Shouldn’t Affect Trek XI

Gail Berman (no relation to Rick) announced today that she is resigning as President of Paramount Pictures. Although Berman was involved in bringing in J.J. Abrams in a multi-year deal including Star Trek XI, Abrams’ primary champion within Viacom/Paramount has been Paramount CEO Brad Grey. A Paramount insider tells TrekMovie.com that Berman’s departure should have no impact on Star Trek XI as the project (along with Abrams himself) has too much support around the company. This support has recently been evidenced by the Chairman of Viacom talking up both Abrams and Trek XI to investors (on two separate occasions).  Berman’s departure is mostly due to changes in the company after the Viacom split, the Dreamworks acquisition, and changes made in reporting lines by Brad Grey resulting in Berman finding she had more and more of a diminished role. More info at Variety

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Abrams, STXI Status | January 9, 2007 | By: Anthony Pascale 86 comments so far

Abrams Wants You To Have An Open Mind

EW.com got a moment to talk Star Trek with JJ Abrams after his panel at the New York Times’ 6th Annual Arts & Leisure Weekend. Abrams confirmed TrekMovie.com’s earlier report that there is a draft of the script complete and that it will be ‘trimmed soon’. As usual JJ would not reveal any plot details but did address the contentious issue of who Trek XI is directed at. Abrams made it clear that they have a wide aim: On the one hand, for people who love Star Trek, the fix that they will get will be really satisfying…For people who’ve never seen it or know it vaguely, I think they will enjoy it equally, because the movie does not require you to know anything about Star Trek. I would actually prefer [that] people don’t know the series, because I feel like they will come to it with an open mind.’

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Feature Films (TMP-NEM), Of Gods and Men, Shatner, STXI Status, TOS Remastered | January 9, 2007 | By: Anthony Pascale 55 comments so far

TOSR on HD DVD?, Movies on iTunes? Trek Doc, and Shatner Making Moves In A Welcome Home News Roundup

There have been some reports that Trek Remastered may be released on HD DVD as early as this year. Last we heard they wouldn’t be finished with all the episodes until next year. TrekMovie is looking into this and will report back when we get it all sorted out. Of course HD versions of TOS-R are showing up on XBox Live already if you cannot wait.    Babylon 5’s Claudia Christian claims that William Shatner made some unwanted advances on her when she was a guest star on T.J. Hooker. In an interview with retroCRUSH the actress says the Shat tried to ‘shove his tongue’ down her throat. She also says she wished she punched him in his corset. 

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Review, TOS Remastered | January 8, 2007 | By: Jeff Bond 45 comments so far

Review of Friday’s Child Remastered

While I’m curious as to why anything written by Dorothy Fontana would qualify as “underappreciated,” the second season episode “Friday’s Child” often produces a shrug of disaffection when you mention it to fans. I’ve never understood this and it’s always been a favorite of mine. Maybe it’s the patently ridiculous costumes, the mix of cyclorama “planet” sets and somewhat overused (but cool!) Vasquez Rocks location work, but I’ve always suspected that the chief thorn in many fans’ sides is one of the reasons I’ve always been drawn to the story: the unusual characterization of El’een, the pregnant tribal queen doomed to die by regime change. Despite being played by an actress known for her sex kitten roles, El’een is far from the usual green-skinned alien sexpot provided for Kirk to seduce. Pregnant, stubborn and disagreeable, she establishes her prickly personality early on by siding with the episode’s sneaky Klingon Kras (Mod Squad’s Tighe Andrews) when Kirk and company start their negotiations for the Capellans’ “rocks.” Even better, after Kirk valiantly sabotages her ritual execution after the coup, El’een asks for our hero to be put to death for daring to touch her!

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Editorial | January 7, 2007 | By: Brian Lowry 24 comments so far

Keeping ‘Trek’ flying Without Tube Power

Reprinted with permission from Variety For anybody looking to start the year on a hopeful note, consider this: "Star Trek: The Experience," a theme-park-style attraction at the Las Vegas Hilton, does a brisk wedding business, allowing happy couples to get hitched or renew their vows on the bridge of the U.S.S. Enterprise. Now just consider the odds against this: Not only do such unions require a big enough "Star Trek" enthusiast to want to be married on a mock starship (up to four extras in full Klingon, BORG or Ferengi regalia, by the way, are part of the "Admiral’s Wedding" package), but said party must find someone willing to become Mr. or Mrs. Geek under these circumstances. Clearly, there are no quadrants of the galaxy where love doesn’t reach.

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Of Gods and Men | January 6, 2007 | By: Anthony Pascale 31 comments so far

‘Of Gods And Men’ Delayed Until April

‘Of Gods and Men’ is probably the most anticipated fan (or independent) Trek film ever made. Unfortunately those who have been waiting to download it will have a bit longer to wait. Originally the first part of the 3-part miniseries was to premiere in late December, however TrekMovie.com has learned that it has been pushed back to mid April. TrekMovie recently got a heads up on this from inside the OGaM team, apparently the issue isn’t actually Part 1 which is ready to go, but all the effects work needed in the other two parts (especially part 3). The team want to have all 3 parts released closer together, hence the delay. Parts 2 and 3 will be released in May and June respectively.

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TOS Remastered | January 6, 2007 | By: Matt Wright 20 comments so far

Remastered Friday’s Child Airs Today

The Enterprise becomes involved in a local power struggle on planet Capella IV, where the Klingons want mining rights. PreviewLocal Station & ShowtimesMore at Memory Alpha Trek Remastered returns from its hiatus with another one of Trek’s Cold War allegory using Klingons episodes. This week the new effects include: Various shots of a new very blue Capella IV (including the usual orbit and leaving orbit shots) A more recognizable Klingon ship in the distance Redone hand phaser effect (towards the end when the Klingon steals a hand phaser) Slight tweaks to readout screen on the bridge Expect TrekMovie.com’s screenshots and videos later So what did you think of the remastered Ten Tribes?

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Rumor, ST09 Cast | January 5, 2007 | By: Anthony Pascale 63 comments so far

Daniel Craig Wants In To Star Trek?

Well there is another rumor on the internets about an actor wanting in to Trek. This time it is none other than the new James Bond, Daniel Craig. World Entertainment News Network is reporting that Craig is a huge Trekkie, and quotes him as saying "I would love a stint in the (Star Trek) TV Show or in a film. It’s been a secret ambition of mine for years." However before you start screaming ‘Bond is Kirk’, remember that WENN aren’t exactly considered the most trustworthy lot in the industry. They are the same outfit that put out the ‘Cruise in Trek XI’ rumor, which TrekMovie.com quickly debunked as completely made up. We have put out some inquiries on this one as well and will see if we can get it confirmed (not holding our breath).