The live chat with William Shatner last Friday was rife with tech issues, but it is now available online (and totally audible). The whole vid (below) is about 40 minutes long. Due to the various tangents, he ended up taking only eight questions, none of which were related to Star Trek. The most interesting part was regarding Shatner’s beliefs on ET and his claim to have inside info.
Captain James T. Kirk is bigger than life and now, his action figure is too. Diamond Select Toys today provided the first image of their new Ultimate Quarter Scale line Kirk action figure, first reported by Trekmovie.com from Toy Fair in February. See below for details and full size image
Earlier on Tuesday, TrekMovie.com reported that Paramount was in Bakersfield California shooting 2nd unit ‘Iowa’ scenes for the new Star Trek movie. Now we have video of executive producer Jeffrey Chernov talking to the local news about why they chose Kern County to stand in for Iowa. Plus another local news station caught the crew shooting an interesting spoilerific scene.
This week Library Computer takes a look at a number of ‘making of’ books for specific Star Trek episodes, including a review of the latest one about making the classic TNG episode "Yesterday’s Enterprise." We also have an interview with the author Eric Stillwell (who co-wrote the story for the episode) where he discusses both the episode and his time working on the TNG staff.
AOL Movies has a new interview with William Shatner covering the new Boston Legal episodes (where he reveals Denny Crane will be running for president) his upcoming autobiography (which he says will have you “laughing out loud”) and of course Trek. Shat talks about how he feels about not being in the new JJ Abrams Star Trek film, but how he hopes the movie will give new life to his Trek novels.
ABC23 from Bakersfield, Calif is reporting that the ‘site manager’ for location shooting on the Star Trek film has got into a car accident at the location. TrekMovie.com recently reported that principal photography has ended for film, but some ‘2nd unit’ filming would continue during early April. UPDATED: more details on accident and location (see below)
Tonight Patrick Stewart opens on Broadway at the Lyceum Theatre for a seven week run of MacBeth. Rupert Goold’s Stalinist interpretation of the Shakespeare classic originated with Stewart on the London stage in 2007. In a new interview promoting the show, Stewart also talked a little Trek and how Jean Luc Picard influences his MacBeth.
The TrekMovie.com and io9 ‘Make a Fake’ Contest is now over. We have received a number of entries, some of which were attempts at fooling Vreenak, and others were just a bit of fun foolishness. Although fakes, it is likely some of the entries could have spurred some internet rumors if they weren’t labeled as such. See below for all of the entries and the winner.
This week, The Collective has your details and a guide to new Diamond Select/Art Asylum’s Star Trek items for 2008 (announced at ToyFair) which are now available for presale. This week you can reserve DST’s first Enterprise D, their first TMP figures and the latest Minimates.
The world of sci-fi movie news has "The Hobbit" looking realer, Indy 4 getting realer, Batman and Transformers 2 details, and a remake for "Short Circuit"? Plus new images including Hellboy 2 and DragonBall. Also there’s lots of new video, including Iron Man and Indy 4 TV spots. And we got NBC’s new genre shows, details on Ron Moore’s Caprica and lots more TV news
According to Star Trek future history, on April 5th, 2063 Dr. Zefram Cochrane became the first man to break the warp barrier (with a little help from the crew of the NCC-1701E) and garnered the attention of some Vulcans in the neighborhood…sparking the ‘first contact’ between humans and aliens…and the beginnings of the United Federation of Planets and all that came with it.
Star Trek mash-ups on YouTube are ubiquitous and one sub-genre is alternative opening credit sequences (and a sub-sub-genre is credits made to mimic another show). In some cases it is a bit of fun, but in other cases they could be considered an improvement or at least a compelling possibility. So check out some of these ‘two great shows that taste great together’ mash-ups below.
This week’s Science Friday is full of interesting science news, but, isn’t it always? We bring you a look into future Enceladus missions with the Cassini Watch, a lesson in ancient Bajoran inter-planetary travel thanks to a new discovery about our Sun, how coffee can keep you healthy, and the “poop” on 14,000 year old fossils, along with an exciting new gadget of the week: the Senisphere.
5PM Pacific (8 PM Eastern):Chat live with William Shatner (along with his daughter Lisabeth) today on Live Video. The room is open now. 10 PM (9 Central): Ron Moore’s Battlestar Galactica kicks off its 4th and final season. More info at SciFi.
This week, The Celeb Watcher brings you casting news for Trek vets Scott Bakula, Connor Trinneer, Simon Pegg, and George Takei. We also got appearances for Nichelle Nichols and Jolene Blalock, confessions of a Star Trek: Voyager writer, Saldana getting the cold shoulder at a Beverly Hills jeweler, and more. Plus: Win a date with Paul McGillion!
CBS has sent us two shots from weekend’s remastered "The Enterprise Incident"
In a recent interview the new Chekov, Anton Yelchin, talked about Walter Koenig visiting him on the set of JJ Abrams Star Trek. Now in a new interview with the Joplin Globethe original Chekov says that, although it was ‘odd’ to see someone else play Chekov, what he saw on his visit to Paramount was ‘conscientiousness’ and ‘loyal’ to the original Trek.
George Takei appeared on Conan O’Brien last night and immediately Conan asked George about his ‘hate’ for William Shatner and how he got a chance to roast bill on Comedy Central. Takei talked about how Shatner never got his name right and how he thought Bill’s acting “sucked.” The original Sulu also talked about the Stern show, dubbing Godzilla, and appearing on a new talent show…check out video below.
Back in February we reported that Patrick Stewart (TNG’s Capt. Picard) had to ask fans not to come to his plays dressed in Starfleet uniforms. In a new interview with Newsweek, however, the actor gets a bit testy (much like Simon Pegg did recently) and shows his love for Trekkies, assuring that we are not, as Newsweek calls us, “weird.” He still doesn’t like those damn uniforms, though.
Captain Jonathan Archer and the crew of the NX-01 may have cut their TV adventures short, but they continue in print. This week’s Library Computer takes a look at the Star Trek Enterprise releaunch including an exclusive sneak peek at the next fall’s "Kobayashi Maru," written by Andy Mangels and Michael A. Martin, as well as a tease on next year’s Romulan War books.
Over 40 years old and yet every week Star Trek still gets talked about all over the web…not just on Trek sites. This week the Great Links has discussions on the Prime Directive in relation to the real world, Trek making it into two different top 50 lists, and another chapter in the battle between Star Trek and Star Wars. Plus we have my favorite topic — Trek women!
“Fool me once, shame on you. Fool me twice, shame on me.” – Scotty, Friday’s Child Practical jokes are a serious concern for the crew of the Enterprise in the animated episode “The Practical Joker.” Luckily, practical jokes involving Star Trek on the internet are much less worrisome. Here are the Star Trek April Fool’s Day virtual pranks for April 1, 2008.
The twice postponed Live chat with William Shatner has now been set for this Friday. Bill (and his daughter) will be taking fan questions at LiveVideo.com April 4th at 5PM (Pacific). Instructions on participating below. Plus we have some recent ‘ShatnerVisions’ videoblogs about Boston Legal season 5, his new autobio and Shat discussing some of his favorite things.
Just when you thought it was safe…there is even more Trek talk from Simon Pegg’s Run Fatboy Run publicity tour. Believe it or not there have been many interviews we haven’t reported on due to repetition, but there are a couple of new interesting ones. First there is a video clip from MTV with Star Trek’s new Scotty talking about how everyone is ‘a fan.’ Plus Pegg talks to Moviehole about Comic-con.
On Saturday in Beverly Hills, the team behind the fan series Star Trek Phase II (formerly New Voyages) premiered the ‘Night in 1969 Edition’ for “To Serve All My Days” featuring Walter Koenig. The original Chekov was there, along with PII star/exec producer James Cawley and much of his cast and crew. TrekMovie.com was there as well…see below for a report along with pictures from the event.
The latest museum quality prop replicas from Master Replicas (which were announced at last month’s ToyFair) are now available for pre-order. This year MR are offering the Starfleet Assault Phaser (from Star Trek V and Star Trek VI) and the Mark IX Science Tricorder (from DS9, VOY and TNG feature films). Both ship in October, but often MR products sell out with pre-orders. More info below.
James Cawley is not the only veteran of the fan film Star Trek New Voyages (now Phase II) who is headed to the big screen in JJ Abrams’ new Star Trek. Jeff Quinn, New Voyages’ first Spock, has also landed a small Trek role. At the Saturday night screening for the Phase II episode “To Serve all My Days – 1969 edition,” Quinn talked to TrekMovie about his Star Trek movie experience.
This week in Sci-Fi we got McKellen talking Gandalf, Lucas downplaying Indy 4, Yelchin talking up Terminator (and Trek), Hirsch on Speed Racer, Keanu playing up the environmental Earth Stood Still, Wolfman getting real, Weinsteins doubling up on Fanboys and tons of new movie trailers and images. For TV we got news on Jericho, BSG, Smallville and much more